NEW YEAR ADDRESS       Rev. HENRY HEINRICHS       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          JANUARY, 1931          No. 1
     The conclusion of a major cycle of time in nature is a very appropriate occasion for turning our thoughts to things new, and especially to this,-that the Church in whose name we are associated, and whose life we strive to safeguard and promote, is called a New Church.

     It is well to distinguish between what is old and what is new. Indeed, it is of great importance to do so.

     With respect to time, the old and the new are the past and the future. The old is the past receding from us, and the new is the future becoming the present. He who dwells in the past, whose interests are centered in the past, can have little quickening realization of the wonder of things new,-a capacity that is to be counted as one of the blessings of life. It is one of the things that adults envy in children. In children it is natural. Having little or no past, their eyes are of necessity forward-looking. Each thing they sense for the first time strikes them with force, with an arresting force. They wonder; they marvel; they stand enraptured, their senses all a tingle. This capacity in children is, as we have said, the envy of adults. But repetition blunts the sensation of things as new, and then the experience draws away into the past, perhaps to be completely forgotten.

     At the commencement of adult life, nature's power to amaze is largely broken. The appearances of things are not primary in the regard of the grown man. The soul, being furnished with a body of things sensed, begins to perfect the spirit; and influx from the soul purposes that the gaze be turned to things more interior. The interior things of nature and the internal things of the spiritual world are thenceforth to be the proper and inexhaustible field from which to draw forth new things for the renovation of the mind's life.

     It is regrettable to find the capacity of sensing things as new dormant or departed in youth-to find youth wearing an air of sophistication. If that air is real, it is most regrettable; if merely assumed, there is some hope. The air of sophistication is the mantle of the spiritually dead or dying. It is a protective armor manufactured by Satan, woven out of the proprial conceits of man to prevent the entrance of new things, and thus to cut off progress into the deeper realities of life-the realities of the spirit. For at the commencement of adult age the object of the soul and its influx is to build up a spirit,-an angelic spirit. Normally the eyes of man's spirit, or his interests, should be directed to living the life of the spiritual world. When, therefore, we encounter that air of sophistication which denies that there is anything new, we may know that we have seen death,-the harvest of a dead church. It is perhaps a less tragic omen, when we look about us and see the spirit of unrest rampant among the youth of this age. There is still some vigor left in the spirit which turns to a feverish pursuit of temporal things. The restlessness argues that the opposition to spiritual things has not become fixed and settled, that the gate of entrance for new things from the spiritual world is not altogether closed.

     The orderly thing,-the end which governs in the influx from the soul,-is that the eyes of those who are arriving at adult age should be turned to the contemplation of spiritual things, and their efforts devoted to a striving for a realization in life. Those whose eves are so turned will find themselves vitalized. They will retain their power of sensing life as new. Frequently, however, when in the thrall of the conceits of the proprium, they will find the shadow of that mantle of death upon them. But they will be freed from it if they desire, and if they will go to the fountain of eternal youth,-the Lord's Holy Word,-and drink of the truths therein contained,-new truths, fresh from their source,-the Lord, the Creator.

     The truths of the Word, the truths of spiritual life, the truths of eternal life-these are always new, as long as they remain connected with their source, which is the Lord. All that is from the Lord is new. All things in heaven are constantly new; and the angels of heaven live forever in that newness of life, the image of which we see in little children when they are brought into contact with things new and strange to them.

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The reason is, that there is really only one thing that is new,-namely, Life. He Who is the Divine Life Itself continually flows into His finite creation with new life, building, sustaining and strengthening forms receptive of life. The influx of life is constant, yet ever changing, never the same in one moment as in another. Hence it is always new. He who acknowledges the Creator in His true identity, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it were by his acknowledgment of Him traces the currents of his life back to their source; and so tracing them, he becomes conscious of their living flux. The consciousness of this exhilarates him, and he lives in newness of life.

     We have dwelt upon the fact that it is spiritual truth-the truth of spiritual life-that can make man sensible of the newness of life and its joys, when the power of natural phenomena fails to bring a realization of it. It is a point that should not be lost sight of. We may see the force of it, and also why and how the angels are constantly in the sensation of life as new, by considering what principles are, and what they effect.

     Life is new to the angels because they receive it fresh from the Fountain of Life. According to the degree of their acknowledgment of the Lord the angels are near that Fountain. But they receive life only through means, which are truths,-truths called primary truths or principles. Principles are truths which take the first place; they are beginning truths,-truths which are nearest to Him Who is the Beginning, and which therefore convey and communicate His Essence in the fullest measure. They are also general truths, which contain particular truths, and connect particular truths with the Lord, and thence by connection give life to particular truths. Such are principles.

     There are also false principles. These are falsities that take the first Place in man's mind, but are not near the origin, are not near Him Who is THE BEGINNING.

     True principles are the true starting point. And the truest principle,-the truest starting point, because it is the most general and the most universal truth,-is the truth that there is only one God, the Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ.

     False principles are a wrong beginning, and set man upon the wrong way.

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     The angels are in true principles. All their life is received through true principles. Thence they have life from the Lord; and therefore they have new life-life that is ever new because it is eternal. And their life is the delight of new things.

     If, then, we would have new life, we know what to do. Cherish those beginning truths-the true principles-that have been revealed to the New Church in the Heavenly Doctrines. For all these are new truths. Although they were, for the most part, known to the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, yet are they new, because they are "principles"-truths-which take the first Place in the eternal order of the universe. If we, in our own minds, hold them as principles; if they take the first place with us; then are we connected with the Lord; we are in His immediate presence; His Life flows into us immediately; and we are sustained and made new every moment. For we will be held close to the Source of life, where things never grow old.
SPIRITUAL MEDITATION 1931

SPIRITUAL MEDITATION       Rev. W. B. CALDWELL       1931

     "My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord." (Psalm 104:34.)

     Man's knowledge of God is progressive, from infancy throughout life in this world and to eternity. The first idea of a Heavenly Father, implanted in infancy, is enlarged in childhood and youth by information from the Word concerning Jehovah God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Divine attributes as Creator and Savior of mankind; also by information from the Writings concerning the Divine Man who actually appears to the angels of heaven. And if the spiritual mind be opened by the Heavenly Doctrine in adult age, the understanding is enlightened in Divine celestial truths concerning the Lord, even to some grasp and perception of the Divine Essence,-the glory of the Divine Person, of the Divine Human,-a seeing of God in His sanctuary, and a meeting with Him face to face.

     It was a saying of the ancients, and of the Jews, that no one could see God and live.

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Finite man cannot live in the immediate presence of the Infinite, and so cannot look upon the very Divine Itself. And this ancient saying was renewed by the Lord in the world: "No man hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." (John 1:18.) And in many other sayings our Lord taught that in the Son,-the Divine Human,-God is now visible to those who have opened eyes, who, from spiritual love, see Him in the Divine Truths of the Word, which are so many "mirrors of the Lord" (T. C. R. 508); who, in heaven after death, will see Him in His Divine Person, for there the "pure in heart shall see God,"-see Him as the Sun of heaven while they are "in spiritual meditation," as we are told. And we are further assured that a like thing is possible with the man of the church as to the sight of his spirit, though this is veiled over by his natural sight, so that he is not aware of this state of his spirit. (T. C. R. 767.)

     Whether or no the man of the church, in his spiritual meditation, be granted this vision, still he is given to see the Lord in the Divine Truths He has revealed concerning Himself, to see Him when thinking those truths interiorly in his mind. Those Truths manifest the Divine Essence,-Love and Mercy Itself, Wisdom and Truth Itself, Use and Fewer Itself,-to the mind opened by the celestial sense of the Word, where the glory of the Lord is now revealed to rational thought, revealed to him who approaches in humility and enters from a pure heart, a pure love, a pure affection, desiring only a knowledge of the Divine Man, after whose image and likeness human life is to be patterned, that it may become angelic. And the mind becomes of that pattern when it thinks of the Lord from love, thinks Divine Truths from genuine affection, so that it is above all things the most sweet and delightful to dwell in thought upon the Lord. Such an affection is expressed in the words of the Psalm: "My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord."

     There are many like expressions in the Psalms: "I will meditate on all Thy works; I will muse on the works of Thy hands." (143:5.) "I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches." (63: 6.) "O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day." (119:97.) "His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." (1:2.)

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     An example is given to the man of the New Church in the rule of life with the Revelator of the Second Coming,-"Often to read and meditate upon the Word of God." To read and meditate. That this was his constant practice is evident from his saying in the Writings: "Once I fell into Profound meditation about God...." (A. R. 961.) "One day I was in meditation about the creation of the universe." (T. C. R. 76.) Wonderful things were then revealed to him by the Lord, as if in answer to the prayer, the longing for instruction, involved in his meditation.

     Meditation is a special form of mental activity, in which our thought freely and pleasantly dwells upon some object of interest, holding it, as it were, before the mind's eye. We then keep the mind in a state of contemplation; we muse, cogitate, reflect, ruminate. It is not that exercise of the mind which we call rational thought and perception; nor is it that active state of the memory which is recollection and imagination. In meditation all of these may be engaged.

     We have no need to learn natural meditation,-to day-dream upon the objects of our natural loves. But the faculty of spiritual meditation is acquired. In spiritual meditation, or in meditating upon the truths of the Word and the Church, our perception and rational 'understanding are involved, and may take objective form in the imagination, and also call forth confirmatory knowledges from the memory. The doctrine we have learned by reading and hearing is then seen and acknowledged in our own mind, and is appropriated, made our own, in affection and faith, in purpose and life.

     The practice of spiritual meditation is thus of greatest importance to New Churchmen, and one that should be made a habit of life. The New Church is to be an internal church, and is first to grow in the internal minds of men. Until it is firmly established there,-in the affection of the heart and the perception of the mind,-it cannot be transferred from the few to the many. The woman must be "nourished in the wilderness, for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent."

     Since the practice of internal thinking and meditation is of such vital importance to the New Church, we may well consider how the habit may be acquired.

     Once recognized as a desirable thing, it will only be a matter of time and place. The Sabbath was the last day of the week with the Jews, but became the first day of the week with Christians.

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"When the Lord came into the world," we read, "the Sabbath was made a day of instruction in Divine things, and thus also a day of rest from labors, and of meditation in such things as belong to salvation and eternal life." (T. C. R. 301.) In such an observance of the Lord's Day, we make Him the beginning of all things of life by opening our hearts and minds to Him on that day, if at no other time.

     Conditions required for profound meditation are: 1. Mental calm and bodily repose; a passive state of the body, and an active state of the mind, in which the thought is removed from the realm of time, hurry and impatience. Swedenborg saw spirits lying down when they were deliberating, and as standing up when they had reached a conclusion. (A. R. 417:4.) 2. A second requirement for deep meditation is solitude, or a quiet environment. To obtain this, one must withdraw from the company of others, and from the distracting influences of the outer world, preferably to the seclusion of one's own room. This is at least necessary at first, and until the habit of interior reflection is acquired. Then it may be practiced under various conditions. Spirits who are in meditation are sometimes seen riding upon horses.

     The Writings have much to say about the difference between man's state when alone and when in company. "When a man is meditating with himself at home, then he thinks from his spirit, from the affection of his love." (D. P. 61.) He is not really alone. He is in the presence of the Lord. Spirits and angels are with him, though he is not aware of it. And we are told that those who are given much to introspection sometimes appear in their heavenly society, going about meditating; but they disappear if anyone speaks to them. (H. H. 438.)

     When at home, a man thinks from the inner love of his spirit. When abroad, and in company, his thought is more external, and more under restraint; but when alone he is in greater freedom to choose what he shall think about. If he be evil, he then meditates evil and plans it; if he be good, he will delight to meditate the uses of charity, to turn his thoughts to Divine things, to look to the Lord and find His truth sweet and delightful, as the way of spiritual life and use. At the same time, if he examine himself, he will turn away from reflections arising from self-love and the passions of the animus, or from indulging in vain fancies to no good purpose.

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Of great spiritual benefit is this communing with one's self in spirit, opening the thoughts of the heart in the presence of the Lord. The good purposes then formed and strengthened become realities in the after activities of the outer life. "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." (Matt. 6:6.)

     Few at this day are let into the state of spiritual meditation, because they would then come into spiritual temptation,-the interior choice between good and evil,-in which they would fall, their after state being worse than before. There is a protecting Providence in the fact that the man of the Christian world is immersed in external activities, and in thoughts of the body and the world, so that he seldom reflects upon his own spiritual state. Many men fear solitude, fear to be alone, knowing that they would then come face to face with themselves and their inner wickedness, and face to face with their God.

     In most ancient times they were much given to what we would call the contemplative life,-the life of interior thought and affection. But they were not then alone, for the Lord appeared to them and spoke with them. By virtue of the gift of internal respiration they were able to be among the angels as one of them, as to sight, hearing, and every sense, and as to their wisdom and intelligence. They cared little for the earthly life. But with the decline of the Churches, when everything became externalized, this practice of the abstract life took the form of asceticism with many, involving a retirement from society and a life in solitude, that they might commune with God. A mistaken application of the idea that a man cannot live the heavenly life without a withdrawal from the life of the body and the world, without self-denial and the mortification of the flesh, took the form of a complete renunciation of society, its uses and companionship. In the decline of the Ancient Church, and to this day among gentiles, this survives in an extreme form with those who betake themselves to a solitary life, practice suspended animation and self-affliction, and give themselves up completely to a life of meditation and prayer. And the ancient asceticism was adopted by many Christians, as with the hermits; and they found warrant for the practice in the Gospel teachings of self-denial, and in the Lord's own fastings and His withdrawals into mountains and desert places to pray.

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     It is revealed to us, however, that such a renunciation breeds selfishness and contempt of others. It is a sad existence, leading away from the Lord and heaven, because away from the exercise of love towards the neighbor in uses,-the proper ultimate of a true love of God. We are enjoined, therefore, to lead a normal human life, engaged in the uses of society, while cultivating the life of heaven within, that it may come forth in all our activities of use.

     Yet this cultivation of the heavenly life is not possible without some abstraction from the natural life, without some withdrawal of the mind from earthly things, that it may think interiorly in the light of heaven. The ascetic life was simply the overemphasis and exaggeration, and thus the abuse, of a practice that had its use in the church from the beginning. The true man of the church in all ages has found it delightful to meditate upon God and eternal life, but this did not mean that he did nothing else. The ascetic made it the all of his life, believing it to be the way of his salvation, and he confirmed himself by the Scripture sayings concerning "meditation in the Divine law day and night," "prayer without ceasing," and like things. A rigid application of the letter would mean that we are to think constantly about God and another life, but the rational doctrine teaches how this is to be understood.

     We are told that when the love and perception of Divine things has once become established in the mind, it is present even when man is thinking about other things. "This is what is meant when it is said that one is to think continually of the Lord; not that a man is sensibly to hold his thoughts continually (upon the Lord). This can be done in the beginning, and even until he is gifted with such an (internal) continuity." (S.D. 4226.) The same may be said of that other teaching of our Doctrine, that "in the life of the body the end of all human thoughts and actions should be for the sake of the life after death," and that "all the thoughts of man should be directed to eternal life." (S. D. 2809.)

     "This can be done in the beginning!" Early in life, and especially at the beginning of adult life, when the faith and purpose are adopted, and regeneration may begin, it is well for a man to think continually of the Lord and eternal life,-to engage in long-sustained meditation upon the wonderful things which the Lord has revealed concerning Himself and His heavenly kingdom, even until those Divine things become the inmost and supreme delight of the heart's love.

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The habit of spiritual meditation will thus become established, to remain throughout life, and he will ever afterwards say, "My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord." Amen.

LESSONS: Jeremiah 31:27-40. Luke 9:18-36. T. C. R. 767.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 509, 669, 594.
PRAYERS: LITURGY, nos. 89 and 115.
RESPONSIBILITY OF STEWARDSHIP 1931

RESPONSIBILITY OF STEWARDSHIP       Rev. GEORGE G. STARKEY       1931

     The definition of "Steward" given in the Standard Dictionary is: "One who is entrusted with the management of estates or affairs not his own." Spiritually understood, it applies to man as the creation of God, entrusted by Him with the functions and responsibilities involved in our relations with Him and with the neighbor. Spiritual stewardship includes all the arcana of wisdom which reveal to us life that is truly human,-life as it really is,-life as to its origin in God; life as to its essence, which is love; life as to its activities, which is love going forth as wisdom to perform uses. Uses are love and wisdom in form, constituting life visible and tangible, life as to its ultimate ends,-its purposes carried into effect.

     The appointment to this stewardship is of God alone; the fulfillment is with man alone; that is, he has freedom of choice between fulfilling or not fulfilling the terms of his stewardship. It is this Divinely given freedom which constitutes man a potential image and likeness of God. For God alone is the absolutely free; and He makes man potentially free by endowing him with freedom of choice between the real freedom of doing good from Him, on the one hand, and the delusive freedom of acting from self, on the other. The difference between the two freedoms is depicted in the contrast of life in heaven with life in hell. Life in heaven is a life of ever-increasing delight, in use, while the life of hell-is centered in self, and is a life of self-destroying pleasures that unescapably end in the deprivation of delight,-the torment of hell.

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The contrast as to desirableness between that true freedom and its miserable counterpart can be seen by even the natural mind not yet made spiritual; and thus there may arise the aspiration to exchange the false for the true freedom,-the degrading servitude of the one for the noble ministry of the other.

     We are taught that the Son of Man Himself "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." The ministry of God extends to all His creatures,-to every soul on all the planets of uncounted stellar universes-to all who were ever born or who can be born thereon. And man, lost in the contemplation of that Divine Stewardship, can only bow in wonder and self-abasement, and murmur, "I am but an unprofitable servant; I have done that which was my duty to do." (Luke 17:10.) Happy are we if we thus respond to enjoined duty.

     And, hovering over the inconceivably many varieties of human affections and human activities in use, on countless planes of finite human life, weaves the Infinite and Perfect One, despite finite imperfections,-a web and fabric of Divine perfection; perfect, because of the supreme gift of spiritual freedom. However much or however little angel or man may seem to achieve, in attuning his will to that of his Maker, his effort makes it precious in the sight of his Lord and Savior, because it is free, because it is an effort to be one with the Infinite Doer and Giver. I may say further; in the sight of Divinely perfect Love, even the insane delights of doing evil in hell are less abhorrent than would be compulsion to will good, for that would destroy the remotest resemblance to humanity; it would be obliteration.

     Man's life, then, is a stewardship, bestowed upon him from infinite love and mercy as the God-like and God-given faculty and power to work for the common good, in the measure of his puny, finite capacity and scope of view. And small though his capacity may be and is, let him not think slightingly of what is God-given,-given in measure limited only by man's ability and willingness to receive and co-operate.

     It is of prime importance that man should come to view his stewardship in its true light,-that is, not as a means of earning for himself the so-called "desirable things of life,"-possessions, honors, and whatever gives pleasure to the natural man,-nor even as an ushering into the visible blessings of heaven.

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To make these external joys the end in life is to defeat the Divine purpose for us, and to put those joys forever out of reach. For the real Divine purpose is that man's stewardship shall not look to reward, but to promoting, with others outside of self the true spiritual joys of life. It is only as man discovers the true ends of life,-as he seeks no longer to obtain, but instead to give",-that he can really be said to live. It is only then that man emulates Him who is Life Itself,-the only Giver, the Very Itself, yet who knows now the slightest touch of self-seeking, who yearns only to bless, who sayst "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." "Freely ye have received; freely give." Then, and then only, can man, from a newly created, "clean" heart, come to think, not only according to the Writings, but from the Writings, in actual life,-in thought, word and deed.

     Then, with the Divine Stewardship in our vision, we shall learn the feebleness and defectiveness of our poor efforts, and with vision newly cleared we shall see in our fellow-stewards, not the shortcomings, but what is in them from the Lord. "For the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord."

     In all that he sets his hand unto,-in the church, in the community, and in the state,-he will see the real Power and Guiding Hand. Conscious of the lack of ratio between the best and most that he can do, as compared with Divine perfection, he will throw himself upon the Divine Mercy in humility and holy fear, and he will hear the reviving words: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." And again, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The Rise of the Nations. The tenth chapter of Genesis is a remarkable document, a hoary book of national and racial genealogy, which, on its surface, recounts the amazing interrelations of the ancient stocks that rise from the shadows of the past to confront us in the history of the Orient.

     The chapter is written in a style intermediate between the "made-up history" which mentions Adam, Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth,-although "such persons never existed" (1140),-and the "true history" which begins with Eber and the family of Abram. The various peoples of the Ancient Church are represented as descending, each from that "son of Noah" who signifies the special state of religious enlightenment dominant in that nation. (On the various styles of the Word, see A. C. 66.)

     The Japhetic nations received the religious light of the Ancient Word only externally. They were in an external worship which corresponded to internal worship, but knew no other doctrine than external rites. In their first states they were characterized, not only by simplicity, but also by a life of mutual charity, friendship and courtesy. "There were formerly very many such nations." (A. C. 1150, 1158.) Peoples geographically remote from Palestine are mentioned in this group, and scholars have puzzled much as to their identity with various Indo-European stocks whose dispersion "to the isles of the gentiles" seems to have been effected from the Caucasus, or from the highlands of Ararat, the landing-place of the ark.

     The Hamites indeed received the interior knowledge of the primitive revelations, and explored the mysteries of the ancient faith; but their worship was devoid of love, and tended to be reduced to mere knowledge, to perverted magical practices and external idolatry, Ethiopia (in the larger sense), Egypt and Lybia, are mentioned in this group (1163), and to these must be added the sensual Phoenicians and the Canaanites.

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It would seem that the original Sumero-Accadians, who gave their shaven priesthood, their magic, and their sacred script to later Babylonia, were also of this Hamitic stock. Speculation has also dared to include the Mongols (with the venerable Chinese civilization) among Hamites, and has added the American aborigines to the list*; all these nations showing a similar culture, with vast building schemes, and with a predilection for developed magical rituals. The black race, which shows only very superficial contacts with the Ancient Church, is popularly forced into the vast Hamitic family. The only discernible reason for such inclusion comes from the literalistic idea that all existing peoples "descend" from Noah; which, of course, is an error.
     * C. Th. Odhner, Correspondences of Canaan, p. 104.

     The curse of Noah had fallen upon Canaan, son of Ham, because of the father's offence (A. C. 1093); and Canaan was to be "a servant of servants unto his brethren." The Canaanites, it seems, were driven from their homes near the Persian Gulf in the restless period marked by the great Semitic expansion, and spread all over the Levant, first settling around the Dead Sea, and later colonizing the fertile lowlands of Palestine and Phoenicia during Abram's days. There they went by various tribal names, amalgamating now and then with the aborigines (the Rephaim), and with the southern Hittites and Hivites, who thus became "sons of Canaan" by adoption. (Gen. 10:15, 17.) The Rev. C. T. Odhner, in his Correspondences of Canaan, vividly describes the horrors of the Canaanitish religious cults (p. 83), and traces the incursions of evils and falsities, which these nations represent, into the theology of Christendom (p. 86).

     The Land of Canaan derives its ancient name, not from Ham's son (whose name means "low"), but from the Hebrew word for trade. (A. C. 4453e.) Spiritually, the country was the center of the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, and as such a bartering place for spiritual merchandise; it was crossed, moreover, by some of the most important trade routes of the ancient world.

     The final group of those who derived their doctrine from the church called Noah consisted of the Semitic nations. "Shem" signifies "name" or quality; and the Semites were indeed that kernel which gave quality to the Ancient Church. They represent, and once were, the "internal church."

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Theirs was that doctrine of charity which caused it to be stated that "the Ancient Church did not differ one whit from the Christian as to internals, but only as to externals." (A. C. 1083.)

     What the nations of this group were like, in the hey-day of the Silver Age, we know not, except from the Writings. But they appear in the dawn of history as a virile conquering race which, in Divine Providence, was permitted to flood the colonies of hoary Hamite Chaldea, and to impose new characteristics upon the effete religions of the East. In the process of fusion between the two civilizations, the Semites, too, became corrupted by the magic of pervert and sensualistic ritualism. Again and again, however, representatives of the Semitic races have stood alone in a world of polytheisms as champions of the worship of the One God. From the line of Shem came Eber, a reformer who founded the Hebrew Church. Its chief ritual was animal sacrifice, introduced as a substitute and deterrent for the atrocious tendency toward human sacrifices. But Eber was only a "transition" church, although its remnants were widespread in Syrian lands.

     The faith of Church "Eber" revived in "Abram the Hebrew," who became the ancestor of the Israelites. The prophets of Israel became the watchmen on the walls of the Semitic citadel of monotheism, and the unwitting heralds of the incarnation of the One God; and their ancient bugle-calls were distantly echoed by Mohammed, who, after Christendom had turned to the mental worship of three personal Gods, rekindled in the East (and especially among the Semitic Arabs) the old reverence for the doctrine that God is One.

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INFORMATIVE STATEMENTS 1931

INFORMATIVE STATEMENTS              1931

     At the suggestion of the Executive Committee of the General Church, we have obtained the following statements from three organizations which are performing valuable uses within the sphere of the general body. Some time ago, it was brought to the attention of the Executive Committee that there are members of the General Church in various parts of the world who are not fully informed as to the aims of these organizations and their chosen fields of activity. The statements which they have kindly prepared for us will, we believe, make clear the specific uses they have undertaken to perform.
THETA ALPHA 1931

THETA ALPHA       DOROTHY BURNHAM       1931

     Theta Alpha is composed of women ex-students of the Academy Schools. There are at present 377 members, living in nine countries, and organized into eleven chapters. Begun as an alumnae society in 1901, its boundaries have been gradually widened, until today all those women are invited to become members who have completed at least three regular courses in the College or Girls' Seminary, and are also members of the General Church.

     The name "Theta Alpha" is derived from the Greek words, Thugateres Akademeias,-Daughters of the Academy. The purpose is to keep alive, not only the memories of useful years spent ill gaining an education within the sphere of the Academy, but also an affection for the truths learned there. Theta Alpha holds an annual meeting. This is preceded by a chapel service, conducted by one of the ministers, who also delivers an address. In the course of the service the well-known Hebrew anthems are sung, and the Commandments are recited in Hebrew.

     The members have taken as their use the furtherance of New Church education, by befriending and encouraging the students, and by assisting them with financial support. The present school-year, two students, one in the Seminary and one in the College, have been given complete scholarships, covering tuition and board, and two other girls have received money or other gifts from the chapters. Since 1906, thirty-five scholarships have been given.

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     The chapters assist their local societies in various uses, such as the Sunday School, the social life of the day school, and the festivals at Christmas and Easter.

     A recent activity in Theta Alpha has been the publication of a volume of addresses to children by Bishop George de Charms, entitled John in the Isle of Patmos. The financial responsibility of this undertaking has been assumed by Theta Alpha. It is hoped that the book will be of use, especially to those isolated parents who wish to maintain worship in the home and educate their little children in the truths of the Church.
     DOROTHY BURNHAM,
          President.
SONS OF THE ACADEMY 1931

SONS OF THE ACADEMY       RANDOLPH W. CHILDS       1931

     The object of this organization, as set forth in its constitution and by-laws, is "to promote the uses of the Alma Mater and to establish fraternal good-fellowship among its members."

     The Sons of the Academy have endeavored to extend and to promote the ideal and uses of distinctive New Church education in all its phases.

     The most ultimate use of the body is the financial support of education. In the school yea' 1928-29 the organization was supporting 14 1/2 working scholarships. These scholarships involve a contribution of $75. by the parents or student, $175. contributed by the student's work, a contribution of $75. from the Academy by remission of tuition, and $175. contributed by the Sons of the Academy. (Total, $500.00.)

     Other ultimate uses include: Payment of the expenses of a representative of the Academy Faculty at annual meetings of the association; the support of the headmaster of the boys' dormitory in suppers given to student counselors: the support by the Bryn Athyn members of a banquet given by the local Sons to the boys of the Academy School, the defrayal of the cost of medals given to honor students of the Academy School; and the support of the BULLETIN.

     Recently the Sons of the Academy have devoted attention to the matter of supporting educational extension-work throughout the Church.

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     The membership is open to any adult male who has attended any of the General Church or Academy schools; and any other male member of the General Church who is interested in New Church education may be elected to membership.
     RANDOLPH W. CHILDS,
          President.
ACADEMY FINANCE ASSOCIATION 1931

ACADEMY FINANCE ASSOCIATION       PHILIP C. PENDLETON       1931

     The Academy Finance Association is a voluntary organization of New Churchmen interested in the support of the Academy of the New Church. It was formed in 1919 to meet the serious financial situation which confronted the Academy at that time. The campaign resulted in the collection of approximately one hundred thousand dollars, and this sum went far toward relieving the strain upon the Academy's resources. Since that year, collections have been more modest, but they have proved a welcome addition to the Academy's treasury.

     For the past two years the contributions to the Academy Finance Association have been devoted to the payment of salaries of the teaching staff. The entire salary of one teacher is paid from funds derived from the Association, and the balance is distributed generally.

     The Academy Finance Association performs a distinctive and vital use in the Church. It is the one organization to which the Academy can turn when new needs arise. By means of the Association small contributions are made available for any purpose, and no strings are attached to the gift. The discretion rests with the Board of Directors of the Academy.

     The value of such an organization as the Academy Finance Association should be clear to all. In a small way, it sustains the uses of the Academy, and these uses are too well known to require a re-statement here. It is fitting and proper that the members of the Church should make a return to that institution which has nourished and strengthened our life, and it is the purpose of the Association to make possible a tangible expression of our love and gratitude.
     PHILIP C. PENDLETON,
          Chairman.

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SOCIAL SONG BOOK 1931

SOCIAL SONG BOOK       Editor       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single Copy, 30 cents.
     A revised edition of the Social Song Book has recently come from the press, and is on sale at the Academy Book Room. It contains sufficient new material to make it a substitute for the first edition, and will doubtless replace that edition in the societies, schools and homes of the General Church.

     When the Song Book was brought out by the Book Room in 1916, it was the successor to a little volume containing words only, and aimed to make more generally available both the words and music of the best of the social songs produced in the General Church, together with the patriotic and popular songs commonly used on social occasions and in the schools. Last Spring, when the supply of copies on hand in the Book Room was exhausted, and a new printing from the plates became necessary, it was suggested to the Publication Committee that some changes and additions would be desirable in a book that had been in use for fourteen years. After due consideration this plan was adopted.

     As the Song Book has been used continuously in the instruction and training of the students in the Academy Schools, who learn a large number of the songs while at school in Bryn Athyn, and carry this knowledge with them into the social life of the Church, the Instructor, Mrs. Besse E. Smith, was especially interested in a revision of the book. In the course of her teaching from year to year, she kept a record of changes that might be made in the music, gathered new material for possible publication, and consulted with others interested in this field, in Bryn Athyn and elsewhere.

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The Book Room is therefore greatly indebted to Mrs. Smith for what she has done, and especially for her painstaking labors in preparing manuscript for the press and assisting in the work of publication.

     The changes and insertions involved the making of about fifty new plates and alterations in a number of the old ones. It was not possible, in such a revision, to preserve the topical grouping of songs according to the arrangement in the first edition; but the new volume is furnished with a Classified Table of Contents, which, with an Index of Titles and First Lines, makes the songs readily accessible, either singly or in topical groups. At $1.50 a copy, the book is being sold at cost.

     Among the new songs will be found a number that have been produced in recent years by our own members, and have come into use at church and school gatherings. A few of the old songs have been furnished with new musical settings. Some favorites have been added from the general field of sacred and secular songs, among which we may note "O God, the Rock of Ages" and Brahms' "Lullaby."

     "The New Church Forever," by Mr. W. H. Junge, has been sung for years at our banquets, and now appears in print for the first time. Many verses in lighter vein have been sung to this chorus, honoring the various societies of the General Church. They are too numerous to print, but for the guidance of those who may wish to write others like them we cite the following examples:

     In Glenview the hill is still lapped by the lake,
     And O what a picture the two of them make!
     Whenever I see them I holler Hooray!
     You're handsomer now than you were yesterday.

     Bryn Athyn is O such a beautiful place,
     Where angels walk round with a smile on their face;
     And by this I mean to be well understood
     That Bryn Athyn people are awfully good

     As time goes on there will be many new songs produced or adopted I for use in our social gatherings. Copies of these should be sent to the Book Room, that they may be preserved for publication at some future time. For a new and enlarged book of music for our schools and church socials will eventually be needed. The revised edition of the Social Song Book answers the present call for some new material in this field.

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VISIBLE CHURCH 1931

VISIBLE CHURCH       L. C. KNUDSEN       1931

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Permit me to make a few observations upon the astonishing viewpoint set forth by a correspondent of THE NEW AGE (Australia) in regard to the New Church in its visible form, as to whether this can exist apart from a knowledge of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the same being cited in the editorial department of your November issue, p. 740.

     Seemingly the fundamental truth has not dawned upon this writer that, apart from the Doctrines revealed in or by Swedenborg's Writings-all of them, none excepted-no one has ever known, still less understood, the very phrases he cites, such as the "Divine Human," the "Internal Sense of the Word," and the rest of the distinctive New Church terms and ideas characteristic of the New Theology and Philosophy in and by which the Lord has effected His perpetual Second and Final Advent. Where, allow me to ask, did that correspondent obtain and appropriate to his use the terms he employs, except by a reading knowledge of "Swedenborg's Writings," as the New Church Doctrines are familiarly called!

     He says: "I hope I appreciate the value of the sublime truths Swedenborg has given us, but to have a knowledge of them makes only an external difference between them. Would you seriously suggest that a knowledge of his writings makes any difference in the sight of the Lord?" In other words, a knowledge of the Divine Truth of the Doctrines, which are the means of salvation, is not essential to salvation! Is this New Church wisdom or Old Church folly speaking! Outside of the Doctrines, as they themselves expressly state, there is no Truth, essentially, on any subject. Apart from a knowledge of the Doctrines, which are Divine Truth, to what kind of "truth" does he refer when he uses the expression "Divine Truth"? It would be interesting to have an answer to this question. To claim knowledge and understanding of spiritual and truly moral things, apart from the Word and its internal meaning, now first revealed and never before, is the part of that self-intelligence which is represented by the serpent in Eden.

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Does any genuine New Church mind acknowledge kinship of that kind?

     Verily it appears that he who reads the Doctrines in the negative state of faith, far from gaining knowledge from them, falls into every error. "Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins," is the message which the Doctrines deliver anew and in perpetuity. For they are the "Divine Human,"-the Lord with us. In and by them He speaks to the sanely rational mind, teaching it clearly to see where before it was blind. To profess New Churchmanship, and yet deny, ignore, or pervert the plain teachings of the Doctrines, is to enact the farce-play of the faithless servant, who said that he would, but did not. It is like saluting the flag while breaking the law which it represents.

     Further, may I ask the same writer: What is an "invisible Church"? The Lord's Kingdom and the Church are identical. And the Lord's kingdom, the Doctrines declare, is a kingdom of uses. But uses, to be such, must be mutual, even as love is; and uses, in the form they take, discriminate between good and evil. To protect the good and chastise the evil is the function of law by which order is maintained among men, and without which anarchy must ensue.

     On this conception of rational order the Church is founded, and by its ultimation or enactment it exists in practical and thus visible form, without which it is a non-entity, or like a soul without a body, or a principle without a tangible form whereby it acts and can act. Thus the Church exists by a body, as is the case with every other thing that lives. And, as everybody knows, a body is composed of organs and members which co-operate to a mutual end,-the well-being of the whole by which social order comes about truly. And when this occurs, Heaven exists in its ultimate form on earth, which is known as the Church, made up of human societies. And these are certainly not invisible affairs, engaged in, imperceptible deeds, and without location.

     All ideas not in alignment with the Doctrines are phantastic. What is invisible to mind or body is inconceivable and beyond thought. And so, if the Church be invisible, it does not exist to anyone's perception or notice, and never was in being. Thus analyzed, such a conception amounts to a denial of all Churches, including the New Church, which John saw, at Patmos in representative form.

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Is this what the Doctrines teach? No! But it shows plainly of what duality knowledge apart from them is, when laid bare.
     L. C. KNUDSEN.
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.
NOTES FROM THE SWEDISH 1931

NOTES FROM THE SWEDISH       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     TWO BOOKS BY PASTOR BAECKSTROM.

     EFTER DODEN. (After Death: Will friends meet? Will husband and wife, parents and children, be reunited?) By Gustaf Baeckstrom. Bokforlaget Nova Ecclesia, Appelviken, Stockholm,1929. Paper, 152 pages. Kr. 2: 50.

     TABERNAKLET. (The Tabernacle: A Picture of Heaven.) By Gustaf Baeckstrom. Same Publishers, 1929. Paper, 116 pages. Kr. 2: 00.

     These two titles are new evidences of the author's untiring missionary writing, which has so far produced at least fourteen small books and some pamphlets, being mostly reprints of popular lectures and sermons. They also testify that the circle of his Swedish readers is steadily increasing.

     In a popular style, not devoid of sentiment, the first of the two volumes treats of various questions of the after-life, such as recur to those who are not acquainted with the Heavenly Doctrine, as well as to New Churchmen. The doctrinal teachings are couched in simple language, adapted to pious rather than sophisticated people. And much of Mr. Baeckstrom's success is, we believe, due to the wisdom of addressing himself to such states.

     The second book treats of the Tabernacle and its contents, in a series of discourses which give the use and significance of the parts of the sacred tent, and this in a devotional rather than doctrinal manner. The subject matter is based upon the explanations given in the Arcana Celestia, and in the construction of the book use has been made of Dr. Bayley's From Egypt to Canaan, Bruce's Sermons, and discourses printed in the NEW CHURCH SERMONS periodically issued by the General Church. The volume is furnished with a number of illustrations.

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     HOLLAND, BELGIUM, INDIA.

     A fair, friendly and interesting sketch of the history and present status of the New Church in Holland; and mentioning specifically the work of Barger, Ottley, Deltenre and Pfeiffer, and the support of "the American Pitcairn," is given in the October issue of SWEDENBORG'S MINNESKYRKA, the organ of the New Church society in Stockholm that is under the charge of Dr. Eric von Born, recently ordained by the General Conference. This article is a welcome relief from the stupid policy of silence which has long been pursued in America in all matters pertaining to the General Church.

     The same issue contains an interesting account of the New Church movement in Burma, which began about 1922 and is centered in Moulmein and Rangoan. The MINNESKYRKA, which is ably edited by Dr. von Born, is thus placing before its readers a series of articles which depict the progress and hopes of the New Church in various lands. We trust that its policy of hopeful encouragement towards the organized New Church movements everywhere will never vacillate nor shift into the morbid reliance upon the supposition that other churches are to be the agents for the establishment of the New Church,-an attitude which is not only contrary to the truth, but which also engenders a passive fatalism which discourages the vital and distinctive work of New Churchmen in their varied fields of use, and weakens their sense of responsibility to carry forward the collective uses of the Church.

     A FALSE "SWEDENBORG."

     A correspondent has sent us a clipping from a Swedish newspaper which recounts how a relatively young "confidence man" of Swedish descent, named Charles Andrew Swedberg, has imposed upon society people in the resorts of Florida and California as a descendant of the famous Emanuel Swedenborg, and as a risen and returned Messiah, until his career was cut short recently by the Pasadena police authorities. His profitable schemes were worked mainly among elderly society ladies, and hundreds of thousands of dollars came into his hands for the alleged founding of a new universal church, he himself being established in luxury, and with a cellar that showed slight respect for the Volstead Act. He gained thousands of adherents, over whom he is reported to have exercised a remarkable influence.

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Ladies would pay as high as one hundred dollars to be baptized by the "Risen Messiah," while "spiritual anointment" and the "laying on of hands" were considerably more costly.

     Finally, the newspaper informs us, the adventurer found his match in Aimee McPherson, the well-known Pentecostal prophetess of Los Angeles, when, with a threat of exposure, he tried to blackmail her for $50,000.
     H. L. O.
NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931

     QUEST FOR THE ANCIENT WORD.

     The prevailing urge to explore every portion of our globe will some day take hold of a New Churchman animated by a desire to comply with Swedenborg's injunction concerning the Ancient Word: "Seek for it in China, and perchance you will find it there among the Tartars!" (A. R. 11.) The search might well begin in the region of Thibet, where there are ancient volumes which no European has ever been permitted to see. We have learned recently of such a volume treasured in Sikkim, in the northeastern part of India, adjacent to Thibet:

     "The recent unsuccessful siege of mighty Mount Kanchenjunga is the cause of smiles among a group of Holy Llamas who have in their possession a sacred book in which an account is given of five paths which make the conquest of that peak comparatively easy. The cherished volume is Said to be preserved by the Buddhist priests in the secret archives of the Telung Monastery in Central Sikkim,-a region to which few Europeans have penetrated. The eyes of no European have ever dwelt upon the mysteries of the holy book, so far as is known. The book is called 'Neyik,' and is kept under lock and key in the Monastery, together with relies of former kings and Holy Llamas and deeply sacred objects." (NEW YORK TIMES, July 16, 1930.)

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"DE HEMELSCHE LEER" 1931

"DE HEMELSCHE LEER"       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     AND THE CONCEPT OF AN INTERNAL SENSE IN THE WRITINGS.

DE HEMELSCHE LEER. A Monthly Magazine devoted to the Doc trine of Genuine Truth out of the Latin Word revealed from the Lord . . . Extracts from Nos. 1 to 8, January to August, 1930. (English Translation, 136 pp.) The Hague, 1930. Price, 85 cents.

     An article bearing the title, "From the Internal Sense of the Writings," appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE for September, 1929. It consisted of papers translated from the Dutch periodical, DE WARE CHRISTELIJKE GODSDIENST, and intended to illustrate the proposition that the Writings, being a new Letter of the Divine Word, contained no arbitrary metaphors but a correspondential language in which was concealed a spiritual sense which can be opened through the science of correspondences. To the systematic presentation of this position, the new monthly, now under review, seems to have been dedicated.

     The title DE HEMELSCHE LEER (The Heavenly Doctrine) would seem to be unfortunately chosen. But its editor, the Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer, explains that "by 'the Heavenly Doctrine,' not the literal sense of the Latin Word, as has been thought hitherto, but its spiritual sense," is meant (p. 8). The Doctrine of the Church is taken from that Heavenly Doctrine according to the state of the Church's regeneration, when the hidden sense of the Writings is unfolded by the use of correspondences. The resulting Doctrine of the Church, so far as it has been obtained "according to order," is of "a purely Divine origin, a Divine essence and Divine authority," Because these propositions have not hitherto been granted in the General Church, it has been kept in a "purely natural state"; "the Lord Himself, because He Himself is that Doctrine, has as it were remained unthroned in the Church " (p. 9).

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     Such large claims, and their vaster implications, deserve examination, both in a historical perspective and in their detailed statements. For a new view is apt to appear to its proponents as of greater import and novelty than it actually is; and it is liable to overreach itself.

     The concept that the Writings have an internal sense is not new. They are the Word of the Lord to His New Church; and the Divine voice which we hear in their terse, dogmatic sentences, weighty with truth, will to all ages continue to sound forth the inexhaustible wisdom of God. Coming to us in literal form, their obvious sense and intended meaning are yet spiritual, and their purpose is to lift the mind to see spiritual and celestial laws. But to New Churchmen whose comfort it has been to feel that this surpassing Revelation has disclosed the spiritual sense, and ended the age of mystery and uncertainty, there comes a decided disturbance of mind when it is suggested that the Writings are, perhaps, only another sealed Letter, whose treasury of hidden truths has to be drawn out by some special process, or translated into spiritual doctrine by specially enlightened prophets yet to come! The doubts thus suggested can be cleared away only by a stricter defining of the differences that exist between the Letter of the Old and New Testaments and the new "Letter" of the Word given in the Writings. The present recrudescence of interest in the question may given occasion for a clearer sight of the status and significance of our Revelation, provided only that the church is neither stultified by mere tradition, nor carried off into one-sided and extreme positions by the attraction which novelty and high-sounding claims seem to exert.

     The Doctrine about the Writings in Historical Perspective.

     As early as the year 1799, a correspondent of the AURORA wrote of a class of receivers who held 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. . . ." The leaders of the Academy, when they began to champion the cause of the Divine authority of the Writings, approached this position by degrees. Bishop Benade, in his first formulations, contented himself with saying that they were a spiritual-natural revelation, and that the Second Coming of the Lord in the Word was effected "not by the provision of a new Word in a literal form, . . . but by the opening of the Word," and that "this opening, this revelation, this unfolding, is given in the Doctrines of the New Church, which are the spiritual sense of the Word."

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(Address before the Council of Ministers, 1873. See NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1902, p. 365.) But he, and with him the Academy, affirmed "that if 'the Divinity of the Word resides in its spiritual sense ' (S. S. 18, 19), and if the spiritual sense of the Word is the doctrine of the New Church' (S. S. 25, 79), this doctrine must be the Divine and infallible Word of the Lord," Who had "come again in the Word, not as to the letter, but as to the spirit of the letter."

     Quite outside the Academy circle, in the year 1880, the voice of Henry C. Cone, a Tulkite, was raised in a passionate but incoherent plea that the Writings come to us "in all ultimate fullness" as a Third Word, a Third Lesson, "the Latin Word" wherein the Spiritual Divine descends into the human rational, the only degree that can receive the spiritual; and that this "Word of the Latin superscription" is composed in mere scientifics, "its literal-like the Hebrew and Greek-" having "its internal system of doctrine," "the true Doctrine of the Church" being the internal sense.

     But the men of the Academy, who were principally concerned with challenging those who wished to destroy the Writings as a standard of truth, did not verbally distinguish letter and spirit within the Writings, until the Rev. E. S Hyatt (pastor at Parkdale, Toronto), in his paper, NEW CHURCH TIDINGS, 1891-1894, met the objection that "the celestial and spiritual sense are not the Word without the natural sense," or unless given in an ultimate literal form (A. E. 1087; SS. 39), and completed the Academy's defense by showing that "the Writings are the new literal form of the Word given at the Lord's new Advent, as the Word of the New Testament was the new literal form of the Word given at His First Advent"; and that all the teachings about the "sense of the letter of the Word," given in the Heavenly Doctrine, apply also to the literal form of the Writings, unless the context limits the application. (NEW CHURCH TIDINGS, 1892, p. 92.)

     Mr. Hyatt explains that the letter of the Writings is "the most ultimate that can be received on the rational Diane," being a rational-natural covering for the body of Doctrine contained in them. For the upbuilding of the rational degree of the mind, we "must draw doctrine from the letter of the Writings," and also confirm it thereby: which, of course, is precisely what New Churchmen have done since the beginning.

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     While the Writings have the internal sense within them, it is not hidden, as in former Testaments, but "comparatively on the surface, that is, sufficiently so to enable those who rightly approach them to draw from the store which is infinitely therein" (1892: 72). But since the attempt had not yet been made, in the days of the TIDINGS, to translate the words of the Writings into a correspondential sense, its editor only briefly calls attention to the warning given in the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture:

     "It can be believed that the doctrine of genuine truth can be acquired by the spiritual sense of the Word which is given by means of the science of correspondences; but doctrine is not acquired by that, but only illustrated and corroborated." (n. 56.)

     The whole purport of Mr. Hyatt's teaching is to show that, to all intents and purposes, the Writings are the internal sense of the Word; that to the man who views the Writings from the spiritual rational, or who is in enlightenment, the "letter" of their teaching is transparent. He therefore cites the luminous teaching of the Apocalypse Explained (n. 1061), where Swedenborg notes the distinction, on the one hand, between the merely natural sense which is seen in the letter of the former Testaments, and in which a spiritual sense is "concealed," and, on the other hand, the explanations given in the Writings as the main purpose of his writing,-explanations which constitute "a natural sense from the spiritual," because they are the direct rational expression or display of the spiritual sense, and of which the Revelator states: " This is the natural sense from the spiritual, which is called the internal sense, as also the spiritual-natural sense." (A. E. 1061.)

     Thus Mr. Hyatt confirmed the truth that the internal sense, which is the same in every revelation, is now truly revealed; and that the Lord in His Second Coming, while He is seen as "Glory" breaking through the "clouds of heaven," is in no wise clothed in shadow. Mr. Hyatt's position, therefore, evoked no controversy within the Academy, but was met with the silence of approval.

     The Rev. C. T. Odhner, long editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, soon adopted the same view in his vigorous defenses of the Academy's shibboleth that the Writings are the Word. He cites a passage which implies that the Writings were penned with an internal content "like a literal sense" (S. D. 2185), and grants that, while the Writings display the spiritual sense, they also contain the celestial, and shows that the limitation against anyone entering into this celestial sense lies not in the Writings, but in the person reading them (1902:345).

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Those who falsify the Writings remain in their literal sense (1913:139). He shows that every Divine Revelation must be "correspondential, and . . . has internal senses, one within the other." Within the rational appearances of truth in the Writings, there are deeper intellectual ideas, which in turn contain celestial perceptions, etc. But the internal sense is not there "remote" from the letter, as is the case in the Old Testament, where a sensual symbolism is used (T. 279). In an article on "The Writings as the Divine Rational," he explains at great length the differences between the literal forms of the three Revelations, and speaks of the rational correspondences in the Writings as "the continuous correspondence or harmony between external rational thought with ever more internal rational ideas and perceptions. Being accommodated to the highest plane of the natural mind, the Writings do not contain any further discrete natural degree, such as would require the services of a further distinct revelation. . . . Any attempt to translate the Writings into a discretely interior sense, by means of sensual correspondences, is bound to meet with failure, as was the fate of a recent attempt to spiritualize and explain away the plain teachings of the work on Conjugial Love." (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1915, p. 199.)

     What is here referred to is the claim of Mr. William McGeorge that a symbolic meaning lies hidden in all those words which are found in capitals in the Latin editions of the Writings. The objection of critics that the printer had been left to his own devices in the matter, since Swedenborg's manuscripts show no consistent use of capitals, did not deter Mr. McGeorge, who echoed many another allegorizer in regarding his system quite fool-proof, and pointed triumphantly to this loophole for those who found certain doctrines of the Writings unsavory or unacceptable. Swedenborg wrote partly in "mere correspondences," in order to disguise his spiritual teachings (for were not the Writings given at a time when evil was at its fullest flood?) and also, in order to give the lure of mystery to his Writings, since men have always liked to solve riddles.

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     Whenever any contradiction or obscurity seemed to Mr. McGeorge to appear in the Writings, he could thus apply his mental closure-rule, and interpret the passage by correspondences. The work on Conjugial Love, he claimed, actually talks of sex-matters only to interest the reader, the real purpose of it being to set forth the relations of good and truth. But the system actually makes the doctrine of the New Church of no effect, depriving it not only of teachings about the love of sex and every other human circumstance, but also of those-that provide the institutional safeguards with which the Church must surround its sanctities,-Betrothal, Marriage, Worship and Government; and we would then be left with abstract principles of good and truth, utterly inapplicable to life in the concrete. The temptation of New Churchmen holding such a theory in regard to the Writings would be to revert to a state of rampant individualism, and religious and social chaos.

     The Rev. Alfred Acton, addressing the British Assembly in 1920, showed that "it behooves the men of the New Church humbly to approach this new Word of the Lord (the Writings), to the end that, by study of its letter and comparison of its teachings, they may enter into a more interior understanding of it." He definitely guards against any idea that such derived doctrine is an "internal sense" drawn by correspondences. Similarly, Bishop N. D. Pendleton, in 1923, speaks of the Writings as having "their own ultimate, their defined formulas, which, in their own way, call for interpretive explanations," from which a secondary body of doctrine arises, consisting of interpretative formulas. In fact, "the vital things of revelation come to us through our interpretations," if these be guided by the genuine love of truth. (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1923, P. 343, 346.) Yet, in the case of the Writings, the mode of such interpretation is merely the normal process of man's thinking. He also stresses the danger of forgetting that the Divine Doctrine is the prime "key" for the opening of Scripture, and that the study of correspondences is subordinate. (Ibid. 1926:391; 1922:15.)

     The view of the Rev. Albert Bjorck, who from time to time had given form to the thought of the Writings coming to us in a letter more closely correspondent with the Divine Truth, and as being a final part of the one body of literal revelation in which the spiritual sense dwells as a common soul (1922: 694; 1929: 93), gave occasion to many statements of similar character.

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The Rev. F. E. Waelchli, for instance, admitted the application of the laws of exposition to the letter of the Writings, a position in which he was supported by the editor of the LIFE (1929:115, 554). And, in a lengthy article, the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn suggests that even the abstractions in the Writings have an interior sense, inexpressible by human language (1929:351), although no further revelation is needed to expound the Writings, since the means are given in the doctrine.

     Certain lay correspondents, anxious lest the ascription of a "letter" to the Writings should make their Divine authority only a phrase without reality to sustain it, questioned some of these views.

     But their fears were groundless, since none of these writers had claimed that the literal ultimate of the Writings consisted of "mere" correspondences, or that its real meaning was in any sense cryptic, or made accessible only to those who resorted to hieroglyphic methods.

     The Claims of "De Hemelsche Leer."

     It has always been recognized in the General Church that the "letter" of the Writings serves as a protecting veil, which prevents those who are in immature or unworthy states from entering into the spiritual light which the Doctrines freely yield to the earnest reader. But our people have never been acutely conscious of this literal veil before our Revelation, any more than of the sunspots or of the thin mists of noonday; and we judge this to indicate perceptiveness on the part of the Church.

     DE HEMELSCHE LEER, on the other hand, claims that "one thing especially has now become evident beyond all doubt, namely, that the belief that the Word in the Third Testament is not clothed with a purely natural literal sense, just as in the Old and New Testaments, is a mischievous fallacy by which man is kept in a purely natural state, and is absolutely prevented from rising to a rational, let alone a spiritual or a celestial state" (p. 70).

     These are strong words, which would seem to make the sunspots and the morning mists very important indeed. Harking back to the undeveloped doctrine of the early Academy, the editor charges that it was "a fundamental mistake" to call the text of the Writings "the spiritual sense itself."

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The way from the rational-natural ideas derived from the literal sense of the Writings to genuine rational ideas is "not one step shorter than the way from the sensual-natural ideas of the Old Testament to genuine rational ideas" (p. 79). The Writings are also closed with seven seals. "In reality the veil has become still thicker and the arcana still deeper" (p. 22). Another opening of the seals is in order. The whole and all the details of the Writings "are open anew to the exegesis of an internal sense" (p. 34).

     Mr. Pfeiffer then illustrates how this can be done, by making an exposition of the "spiritual" sense of the title-page of the Arcana Coelestia. A title, of course, involves the contents of the book, and this with no pretense of having an internal sense; but Mr. Pfeiffer finds "a much deeper significance than has hitherto been realized," viz., "a complete description of the Word and of the Doctrine of the Church." To reach this, he goes into the minute etymology of the separate words, drawing the correspondential meaning out of the root-words, and thus feels that he has "opened" the letter, arrived at the spiritual sense, and is thus furnished to formulate "the genuine Doctrine of the Church," which consists of "rational, spiritual and celestial truths," which the Church gradually acquires according to the state of its regeneration, by the "orderly opening" of the literal sense of the Writings (p. 77 et passim). The development of such Doctrine is the real Advent of the Lord (pp. 43, 31); he who hinders the rise of the Doctrine of the Church thus opposes himself to the Advent of the Lord (pp. 43, 31); and in this, we are left to conclude, lies the sin against the Holy Spirit. For the Doctrine of the Church, so produced, is the Lord Himself; it is Divine, celestial and authoritative. And although it may be due to unfortunate wording, the impression is left upon the reader of DE HEMELSCHE LEER that until the studies recently undertaken in Holland, the Church as a whole has been in a merely natural state, seeing only the "natural" sense of the Writings.

     Is the "Doctrine of the Church" Divine?

     "The Doctrine of the Church" is a term used with varying meanings in the Writings, and in no case is the meaning of it occult. In itself regarded, the Doctrine of the Church is of Divine origin, and exists as wholly Divine in the Word and in the Writings.

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It is identical with the Internal Sense of the Word or with the Heavenly Doctrine which the Writings bring to men's apprehension. It is Immanuel, the Lord in His Second Advent.

     If men hail the Word and the Writings as Divine, and accept them without reservations, the Divine Doctrine becomes also the Doctrine of the Church. It is present in the minds of men as a whole, no matter how barely the books of Revelation may be understood; present as a whole, because the affirmative attitude extends to things not yet grasped, but still involved in the idea of Divine Doctrine. It is thus the Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of truth which leadeth into all truth," and may truly be called Divine, because it is thought of as the source of all doctrine, and is not qualified by human states.

     The understanding of the Word and the Writings, however, depends upon human states, and is a human sight of a Divine and infinite thing. The growing and yet finite body of truth which men draw from Revelation may be called the "doctrine of the church" in a different sense. With those who are in good, the truths learned are allowed to fall into the pattern of the Divine Doctrine, and thus they harmonize with the internal sense in such fashion that that sense may be said to be "inscribed" upon will and understanding. (A. C. 9430.) A consensus of thought upon some doctrine may also be called a "doctrine of the church," and may represent human perceptions of any kind, perfect in inverse proportion to the elements of ignorance and fallacy present therein, but never Divine or infallible.

     We are indeed given the teaching that Divine Doctrine is the Word, and that therefore doctrine from the literal sense is also Divine (A. C. 3712), because by the letter the Lord's Divine Truth proceeds and appears to men. But this does not mean that man's reception of it is Divine, or that human statements of doctrine-unless they be mere compilations from the Writings-can be called Divine. The moment we depart from the wording of the Divine Revelation, we must also waive the Divine authority of the statement, and leave the sentiment that we seek to express to be judged by its fidelity to the sphere of thought proceeding from the Writings themselves.

     It is therefore surprising to find that DE HEMELSCHE LEER claims not only a Divine origin, but Divine essence and authority (and even the title "The Heavenly Doctrine") for the admittedly partial doctrine which is dependent upon the perceptive powers of the church at the time.

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As an example of such doctrine, Mr. Pfeiffer points to the "Principles of the Academy, as far as in the future they will prove to be imperishable." To those parts of the Principles of the Academy, a "purely Divine origin, a Divine essence, and Divine authority must be ascribed" (p. 9). To our simple mind, which clearly admits the truth of these principles, their purely Divine origin does not seem so clear. Humanly conceived, they may contain errors, both of perception and formulation, which future ages may discover. And Mr. Pfeiffer himself therefore has to admit that we have to wait to eternity to find out what particular details of them we should have regarded as of Divine authority while we were here on earth. The purely theoretical authority, which Mr. Pfeiffer would have us recognize in humanly framed doctrine, is nullified by the fact that it is Divine only so far as it reflects the statements of the Writings,-the Divine Doctrine in which all Divinity and authority lodges.

     In the Christian Church, the disposition to elevate the interpretative doctrine of the Church as Divine and authoritative tended to the Roman Catholic tenet which subordinates Scripture to Tradition "as a dead page is subordinate to a living mind," or "as the living author of a book is above the book." (God and Creation, by T. B. Chetwood, S. J., page 44.) Doctrines which the Church has established by consensus, and which it upholds by papal and priestly dictum, is regarded as "the living voice of God," while the written Word is a dead letter. In the Writings, all authority is vested in the Word.

     All real New Churchmen believe that unless they can and do obtain authentic Divine teachings from the statements of the Writings, there would be no spiritual use in reading them. But Mr. Pfeiffer seems to go further when he claims that the Church cannot see a single spiritual truth in the Writings unless what he calls "the Doctrine of the Church" is acknowledged as Divine. Nor is his position helped by the modification which he allows, that "as to its proper essence, the spiritual out of celestial origin, the Doctrine (of the Church) is a purely Divine work of the Lord alone, but as to its natural text, its literal sense, the Doctrine is the work of man as from himself, but nevertheless from the Lord. The essence of the Doctrine in itself is therefore purely Divine, but the natural text, or the literal sense, of the Doctrine of the Church might have been expressed differently, or perhaps better" (p. 122).

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     Even this grudging admission of the fallibility (?) of the external form of derivative doctrine, we heartily welcome. It at least excuses us from taking the "literal sense" (faulty as it may be) of such derived doctrine as a new Revelation. But it does not explain how Mr. Pfeiffer can judge of the presence or absence of heavenly illustration in the General Church as a whole, which he believes to have been up to now in a purely natural state, or how the merely terminological distinction between the Latin Word and the Doctrine of the Church could so invalidate its progress.

     The answer seems to be clear enough, however, for Mr. Pfeiffer shows his belief that the true Doctrine of the Church can only arise from his own particular mode of exegesis,-the reading of the Writings according to correspondences,-and that the system he uses marks the sunrise of the celestial-spiritual doctrine!

     A Correspondential Interpretation of the Writings.

     The science of correspondences, DE HEMELSCHE LEER asseverates, is "indispensable for the interior understanding of the Writings," and that, besides the rational-natural ideas which constitute their main material, the Writings contain "also a fulness of sensual-natural ideas, derived from the visible things of the world, which first must all be opened according to order with the assistance of the science of correspondences, before man by means of the Doctrine of the Church can approach the spiritual sense of the Writings" (p. 81). In other words, we must resort to the correspondential mode of interpreting what they really mean. "Only by the opening of the folds of truth does man arrive at the true Doctrine of the Church " (p. 103). Such, indeed, is the method used by Professor van Os in his article (N. C. LIFE, 1929: 532); such is the mode; pursued by the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn in an address before the New Church Club, London, in 1930 (p. 802); such also the mode employed by Mr. Pfeiffer to elucidate his system in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. And after diligent use of it he summarizes his discovery of the "spiritual sense" of the title-page of the Arcana Coelestia as follows:

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     "The words the Heavenly Arcana which are disclosed in the Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord, are contained in the Explanation, therefore signify that the genuine truths for the Church are contained in the Latin Word, but that nevertheless they remain hidden, unless the literal sense thereof is unfolded by the genuine Doctrine of the Church along the folds of truth. The words which is the internal Sense of the Word signify that the Latin Word is indeed the internal sense, but only when it is read not from without but from within. The words as to the quality of this sense, see, signify that the genuine truths or the internal sense are for the man of the Church, and that he should not remain in the literal sense alone. This appears from the signification of the word see, being the opening of the understanding" (pp. 103, 104).

     The men of the General Church have always viewed with concern the effort to exalt the science of correspondences above doctrine, or the effort to make doctrine by correspondences. Correspondences only corroborate and illustrate doctrine, and can be turned to confirm almost any doctrine. "It may be believed," the Writings teach, "that doctrine of genuine truth can be gathered by means of the spiritual sense of the Word which is given through a knowledge of correspondences; but doctrine is not so gathered. " (S. S. 56.)

     What Mr. Pfeiffer attempts, however, is precisely this thing. But true doctrine is not so gathered; it is gathered from the naked truths which stand forth with but slight correspondential veiling in the letter of Revelation. (S. S. 53-55.)* What Mr. Pfeiffer has actually done is to take his interesting but confusing definition of the "Doctrine of the Church," and read it into the Writings by viewing their letter from the lofty heights of hyperbole and analogy. The obvious sense which the Writings ordinarily convey certainly does not corroborate his doctrine.
     * That true doctrine is gathered, not from the internal sense of passages veiled in correspondential language and thus concealing the genuine truths, but from the internal sense where this stands forth in the letter, or from that "internal sense which results from a number of passages of the sense of the letter rightly collated," is the burden of A. C. 7233. Mr. Pfeiffer seems not to have noticed the important distinction made in this key-passage.

     But DE HEMELSCHE LEER pleads that there are "sensual-natural" ideas in the Writings,-names of persons and nations, etc.,-which should be translated by correspondences into another "text," lest the thought of the Church be anchored in nature.

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Yet the Writings here do their own translating. We read of "Babylon" and Charles XII, and shudder at the insatiable love of dominion for which they stand as symbols. The Writings thus express, reveal, or disclose the spiritual sense in its natural form, and their symbols are not new correspondences, but are "a natural sense from the spiritual." (A. E. 1061.)

     To obtain the full significance of the teachings of the Writings, we must, of course, free our minds from mere personalities, and from the limiting notions of time and space. Nor can it be denied that the law of correspondence enters into the details of our thought, and that the rational mind rejoices in analogies. But the lifting of the thought from material ideas into realms devoid of limitations is not a conscious effort, but is what is meant by illustration. It is effected when the symbol dissolves into its higher meaning, its spiritual contents. In this sense, the words of natural language are all symbols, and outwardly denote some material idea. Mr. Pfeiffer's interpretations are also couched in such material forms, and are no closer to the spiritual sense than the words of the Writings themselves.                         

     The correspondential appearances in the other life, related in the Memorabilia, are thus always pregnant with a deeper meaning, which spirits perceive by a special faculty. (A. C. 3226.) And the science of correspondences is of undoubted use at times for a better understanding of these representations. Yet the revelator aids the experienced student to see beyond the external scenes, and to vision states of life and the inexorable logic of their progress. This is the evident purpose of the very "literal" sense of the Writings. Similarly, the purpose with the comparisons and illustrations, used so abundantly in the True Christian Religion, is not to provide a new ultimate of pure correspondences from which we are to unravel a new spiritual sense, intentionally concealed therein for the doctrine (the spiritual sense) is first openly given, and then the illustrations are added for the simple, who need concrete thought. (T. C. R. 131.) And so in the case of those applications of the abstract doctrine which are sometimes appended to some doctrinal series, as is the treatise on "Ecclesiastical and Civil Government" at the close of the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine.

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Such applications have been regarded in the Church, not as mystical esoteric doctrine couched in correspondences lest they be profaned, but rather as illustrations of eternal principles of order, the understanding of which is aided, not so much by correspondences (which can but corroborate), but by the focusing of other teachings upon the subject, so that the application is broadened in the mind to any age or condition. In short, in the Writings, sensual correspondences are presented, not as they appear from without, but as they appear frost within.

     It is gratifying to observe that in no case where DE HEMELSCHE LEER uses the new method has there been any effort to invalidate the actual sense of the "letter" of the Writings; although there is a constant insistence that the internal sense of the Writings is unrecognizably different from the alleged sense of the letter (which makes it no easy thing to find an internal sense there). But we have failed to discern any teachings in the volume under review for whose birth the correspondential method is at all responsible. Similarly, in all the articles written by its exponents; we only find certain principles about the mind and the spiritual world (which are clearly set forth in the Writings), laboriously unraveled from their own applications or illustrations, i.e., from the doctrines of Betrothal, Government, etc.

     The thesis that the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture, "without any difference or reserve, should be applied also to the Latin Word" (p. 27), is the keynote of the new theory. But the attempts to apply this thesis prove only the wisdom of Mr. Hyatt and other students, who long ago realized that, while universal principles of exposition hold for every revelation alike, applications necessarily must differ with each of the three Testaments.

     Subversive Tendencies of Correspondential Exegesis.

     The members of the "Gezelschap" at the Hague, which chiefly sponsors the new exegesis, are sincere and intelligent men, whose allegiance to the Writings has no doubt been strengthened by their enthusiastic research. A movement based upon the acknowledgment that doctrine must be confirmed by the letter of Revelation has the means for its own correction. Frank ventilation of doctrinal differences, in a spirit of mutual patience, and devoid of the desire to judge interior states, can ultimately lead to nothing but good.

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     But we cannot blind ourselves to certain dangers which lie hidden in the formulas advanced. For if the obvious sense of the Writings be frowned upon as only fit for children, the authority of our Revelation will become nil; and then will the Writings, as did the Bible, become a "book of heresies," affording no sure guide to the truth-seeker.

     The allegorisms of Philo the Jew, and of the phantastical Cabalistic schools; of Clement and Origen; of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy and others; find their striking parallels in the New Church, in certain past efforts to invalidate the "literal" Doctrine by construing it as correspondential. Mr. McGeorge's theories fell of their own weight. The Doctrines are too circumstantial to pervert singly; and the only consistent heresies have resulted from some false "universal" that was imported into our thought from the world. Such was the idealism of Tulk and Spalding, the materialism of various interpreters, and the eclectic theosophical viewpoints of many who sought to fit the coat of New Church doctrine upon worldly philosophies. Charles A. Tulk and his followers reduced the whole material world into a mass of representative images which were caused by the states of our minds, and thus raised the ghost of ancient "docetism" by claiming the Lord's incarnation to have been a purely mental event, and the letter of Revelation to be mere made-up allegories of the evolution of the racial mind. Thus Henry C. Cone, a Tulkite, took a "Dictionary of Correspondences" and turned all the Law, Prophets and Gospels into a spiritual allegory directed against the New Church people, and especially those of the Academy, whom he charged with burying the Lord in the new tomb of "the consecutive literal of the Latin superscription." The "spiritual" sense of the Writings, devoid of even the acknowledgment of natural existence, was, according to him, pure Tulkite doctrine.

     And the pity is, that in all doctrinal positions, even that of the Academy, there is the possibility that slavish literalism may develop with some, whether through an indiscriminate application of the laws of exposition, or through making traditional interpretations an obstacle to a deeper understanding of the spiritual burden of Revelation; dangers of taking the shell for the kernel, and of worshiping the dead, crucified body of Jesus rather than His glorified and flaming presence in His Divine Human.

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     But there are other dangers also,-the danger of individuals rising up as infallible prophets, who cry out concerning the Lord that He is in their "secret chambers," and that His advent occurs only when the mind is opened to their particular intellections; who may even defend a recourse to private revelations and spiritistic methods, as a means of finding a sense superior to the "spiritual" sense that is disclosed in the Writings; whose aberrations may ultimately range from the celestialism of James Johnston to the cosmic phantasies of Cyrus-Teed ("Koresh") and the blasphemies of Thomas Lake Harris.

     The tendency of such prophets is to regard Swedenborg's special gift of seership as within the scope of every New Churchman's attainment, as did Harris when he painted Swedenborg as "the illustrious exponent of the state, capacity, and varied powers of performance which belong to the man of the New Church, the man of the New Age"! Harris thus undertook to extract the celestial sense where Swedenborg had "failed" I and as a virtual incarnation of the "Twain-in-one," and inspired by the World Soul, he felt in need neither of the science of correspondences nor the spiritual discipline of doctrine.

     Surely it becomes clear from the lessons of the past that no true progress takes place by the denial or explaining away of the general truths of the Writings. A merely critical literalism would be deadly. To deny the infinitely versatile application of their revealed truths would belie our faith and be fatal to the Church. To transfer our allegiance from the Writings to a body of nude and abstract doctrine drawn therefrom is also insufficient in a world which needs revealed directions, not only about the spiritual truth itself, but also about the relation or ratio of the spiritual to the natural. Rational men can see and express truths only rationally, and the pursuit of "celestial" truths-unless these be regarded as the burden of their rational formulas and their corresponding mental states is like trying to carry wine without a chalice.

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TWENTY-FIFTH CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1931

TWENTY-FIFTH CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       G. A. MCQUEEN       1931

     HELD AT GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 10-12, 1930.

     After an interval of two years, the members and friends of the General Church in the Chicago District gathered for an Assembly in the Parish Hall of the Immanuel Church on Friday evening, October 10th. Bishop George de Charms presided, and delivered a message from Bishop Pendleton in which he sent his best wishes for a truly successful Assembly. Among visitors from a distance were Messrs. Charles G. Merrell and Donald Merrell, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

     The Report of the Twenty-fourth Chicago District Assembly, held in Glenview, October 12-14, 1928, as Printed in NEW CHURCH LIFE for December, 1928, pp. 802-805, was adopted as the Minutes of that meeting.

     The subject of the best method of arranging for our District Assembly was introduced by the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, who moved that it be left to the Pastor and Council of the entertaining society. In the course of the discussion, several speakers expressed the view that the arrangements should be made by a committee representing all the societies taking part in the meetings. As the result of a suggestion by Bishop de Charms that the matter be left open for further consideration, it was voted to lay the resolution on the table.

     The Pastor of the Immanuel Church then welcomed the Assembly to Glenview, expressed his regret that Bishop Pendleton was unable to be present, and asked the Assistant Bishop to convey to him our affectionate appreciation of the work he had done at past Assemblies. He then spoke of our pleasure at having the Assistant Bishop with us. Bishop de Charms then delivered an Address on the subject of "The End of the Divine Providence in Man's Regeneration."

     He said it was a subject that had long been discussed in the New Church, and more recently in Bryn Athyn. He brought it up because he was interested in it, and because he believed it involved a very important attitude of mind with respect to the interpretation of the Writings.

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Is it possible for all men to reach the celestial heaven, or are there fundamental differences in men at birth which limit their attainment of this goal? There are many passages in the Writings which seem to support both of these views, and the aim is to discover their true meaning. We trust the paper will appear in print. The subject was discussed as follows:

     The Rev. W. L. Gladish expressed his delight in hearing the paper. He had never had any other conception than that the Lord's Love wills to draw every man to the highest heaven. Continuing, he said: "Every man must learn to perform his use from love. It makes a lot of difference to us individually whether we think celestially or not. Even in natural things we aim to do the highest we can. We should think that the Lord calls every man to the highest heaven. It is open to every man. I am sure that is the teaching of the Word and the Writings. Let us set a high goal before ourselves and our children, that we are not limited to merely natural loves, nor to spiritual loves, but may attain to the highest loves."

     The Rev. Gilbert H. Smith concurred with the previous speaker, and expressed his joy at hearing the subject elucidated as it had been in the Address.

     Mr. Alvin E. Nelson said that it must be disheartening to the individual to think that it is his own fault if he does not reach the highest to which he has not only been called, but also invited.

     Mr. Winfred Junge asked whether there are not two distinct kingdoms in heaven, and that the angels of the celestial kingdom can never enter the spiritual kingdom.

     Bishop de Charms replied in the affirmative, and said further: "It is a vain thing for us to try to conceive of what would have happened if there had been no fall. We have no data to go on. My own line of thought has been that the development of the human race was fundamentally changed by the fall. In that change the ends of the Divine Providence were not defeated, but the mode of their accomplishment was modified. If there had been no fall, the development of the celestial heaven would not have been what it has been. Due to the fact that there was a fall, the lower heavens developed. If we remain in these lower heavens, it is either our own fault, or it is the fault of somebody else, or it is the Lord's fault. I feel that it is much more wholesome for us to lay the blame at our own door, and to realize that there is no limit to what we can do if we follow the Lord's leading. The Lord is infinite Love and infinite Wisdom, and it would seem to be incredible that He should give a greater measure of these to some than to others.

     Rev. George G. Starkey: It is not clear to me as to how primitive peoples, who yet have an idea of God, can reach the celestial degree, since they have not the opportunity to attain to interior wisdom.

     Rev. W. L. Gladish: Primitive peoples can become celestial because there are all degrees in the celestial heaven. The celestial degree reaches down to the very ultimate. It may be opened with a very simple soul, if he has not wilfully closed it.

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At the present time the people of the celestial genius are the Africans."

     Bishop de Charms: There is a passage in the Writings which describes an idolater bowing down to an image of stone, and Swedenborg told him that he should not worship a dead image, since God is a Divine Man. The passage states that the humility and interior delight evidenced by that man when the truth dawned upon him for the first time was beyond anything that Swedenborg had ever seen among Christian people. I see no reason why such a thing is not possible now. Consider the case of infants who die and go to the celestial heaven. Can we imagine an adult mind that is more simple, more ignorant, than that of the infant a day old? If one can become celestial, why not the other?

     Mr. Harold P. McQueen: "It has been my thought that there are both wise and simple in the celestial heaven. It is not the quantity of a man's knowledge that takes him there, but the quality of his love. The thing that will determine our place in heaven will be one interior love,-the love of the use that is given us to perform. While all have an opportunity to go to the celestial heaven, is it not best for us as individuals to remember that we have only a certain amount of ability, and that we should endeavor to employ this ability to the fullest extent? This will be doing our best, and that is all we can do to reach the celestial heaven."

     Dr. Harvey Farrington: "It is the love which is man's life. Men in the world say that there is only one thing which can be true; but the Lord provides His finite creatures with vessels for the reception of the infinite variety of truths which proceed from Him. I think we should try to avoid the natural idea of the three heavens."

     Mr. Alvin E. Nelson asked whether it could be said that each heaven is in the human form.

     Bishop de Charms: "Yes, and each society. Every human society, the Lord sees as a man."

     Mr. Charles G. Merrell: "The Lord in creation is Love, Wisdom and Use. Man does not become a form of use all at once, but step by step; first, by obedience, then by his sense of duty, and finally he may get to the state when he acts from love; this, I understand, is the celestial degree."

     Bishop de Charms: "From all the teaching of the Writings we cannot avoid the conclusion that the essence of life is love. The truth of the intellect is the standing forth, or the form. I believe that the degree in which man has ability is the degree to which he can open his mind to love from the Lord. A man may grow up in this world loving a certain thing very much, and yet be deprived of an opportunity to ultimate it; but in the freedom of heaven the love is realized. The limitations of this world will fall away in the other life. That is what is meant when it is said that when a spirit enters a society of heaven he enters into all the wisdom of that society. We would not come to that love if we were not obliged to fight for it. Through the struggle there is built into us an appreciation of what it is we ought to love. Every man is able to love the Lord above all things, and to act in his use from that love, This is the very essence of the celestial state, and I believe it is open to all."

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     A Children's Meeting.

     On Saturday afternoon a meeting was held out of doors in the quadrangle of the Parish Hall, at which Bishop de Charms addressed the children on "The Furniture of the Ark," illustrating his remarks by models of the ark, altar of incense, lampstand, table of shew-bread, laver, and altar of burnt offering. All present, both children and adults, were highly delighted with this instructive talk, and gained a lasting idea of the objects about which they have read in the Word.

     Assembly Banquet.

     We have never held a more successful banquet than the one on Saturday evening, October 11th, with nearly two hundred present. After some enlivening topical songs, written for the occasion by Mr. W. H. Junge and Mr. Winfred Junge, and sung by Mr. Crebert Burnham with all joining in the chorus, Mr. Sydney E. Lee, as toastmaster, proposed a toast to "The Church," and then one to "The Priesthood," expressing our pleasure in having Bishop de Charms with us for the first time as a Bishop in the General Church. Responding, Bishop de Charms said:

     "Thank you, my friends. I have been looking forward for several months to the pleasure of meeting you all again. Of all places in the General Church, there is none nearer to me than Glenview. I treasure the memory of my beginning in the work of the priesthood here. It seems but yesterday, and coming back is like returning home. It is true that I am a very young Bishop; all that is involved in the office is beyond my years. Yet my introduction into this office involves a call, given in the Divine Providence, that I must meet as best I can. I thank you for the help and kindly assistance you have lavished upon me here."

     After a toast to "The Academy," the toastmaster introduced the subject of the evening,-that of "Stewardship." Citing one of the early Christian Fathers, Irenaeus, who preached that the Lord had given a new law, he quoted: "And for this reason, while the Jews considered the tithes from their property as consecrated, they, on the contrary, who have apprehended freedom, decree to the uses of the Lord all things which they have, joyfully and freely, giving not that which is less, inasmuch as they have a greater hope." Surely if Irenaeus had that "greater hope," how much more can this be said of New Churchmen!

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     The toastmaster then introduced, as the first speaker, the Rev. George C. Starkey, who read a short paper on "The Responsibility of Stewardship" (see page 10). He was followed by Mr. Harold P. McQueen, who spoke on "The Stewardship of Charity," and by Mr. Felix Junge, whose theme was "Stewardship in its Relation to the External Church."

     In the course of the ensuing discussion, the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith referred to the use of providing education for the children and thus preparing them to appreciate the internal uses of the church and also of our stewardship in providing for the uses of external worship, in which we "should throw aside entirely the attitude prevailing in the world around us." The Rev. W. L. Gladish, referring to the discussion at the opening session, said that he had been asked: "How do we get that love which opens the celestial heaven? Are we born with it!" He had answered that we acquired it only by shunning evils as sins against God. "As sins are revealed to us, we shun them, even as the Lord Himself did when in the world. Since that is the way to become celestial men, and to respond to the Lord's drawing, it is also the way to meet the demands of our stewardship."

     Mr. G. A. McQueen drew attention to a passage in the Writings which teaches that it is only in proportion as men acknowledge that they are but stewards of even the most external things, that the Lord can impart spiritual riches. He suggested that it is easier for men to think of spiritual things as coming from the Lord than to see that all material things are equally the Lord's gifts to mankind.

     Bishop de Charms: "I have been much interested in the series of speeches we have had this evening, as touching upon the very heart and center of our New Church thought and life. I have been thinking of a phrase used by Bishop N. D. Pendleton a few years ago, when he spoke of the people of the New Church as 'bearing the Ark of the Covenant.' That is a Scriptural picture of what I believe to be the fact with reference to our stewardship. The New Church has been called upon to bear the Ark of the Covenant, because real internal worship of the Lord Jesus Christ as God of heaven and earth has passed from the Christian Church; and because that has passed, the power of religion to continue the connection between earth and heaven is broken, and the Lord has come again, revealing the Divinity of His Human, making clear once more that which has been lost to men,-the vision of God as a Divine Man in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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He has given a revelation of Divine Truth in rational language; and has thereby opened the internal sense of the Word. He has placed that Revelation in books which are to be read, studied and reflected upon, that their truths may be assimilated and brought into life, and that heaven may be restored to men, and the way from earth to heaven kept open for mankind. These books are altogether comparable to the Ten Commandments given to Moses upon Mount Sinai. The Commandments are said to be a summary of the whole Word of God, both in the Old and New Testaments, but they also embrace that Word of the Lord which has been given by Him at His Second Coming. Of this also the Tell Commandments placed in the Ark are an epitome. To bear that Ark, the Lord chose the people of Israel, but the Church in all ages is to bear the Ark of the Covenant.

     "Now, in this day, there is no other way by which that can he done than through and by means of the Heavenly Doctrine, to the reception of which all men are called and invited by the Lord Himself. The responsibility of performing that use inevitably rests upon those who respond to that call and that invitation. This places upon those who belong to the New Church a peculiar responsibility, than which there is none greater or more important to the human race. It gives us pause to think that we poor, ignorant, ill-prepared, finite, erring human creatures have been chosen to bear the Ark of the Covenant. We can live up to that responsibility just in the measure that we realize it,-that we envision what the Lord has called us to do. The degree in which any man fulfills it will depend upon his own vision, received from within from the Lord out of heaven. In moments of exaltation we realize the precious gifts with which we have been entrusted, and sometimes we may be tempted to think ourselves superior to others because we have been given that responsibility. But there are two things that make up our stewardship. The first is our realization of what the Lord has given us, and the second is a spiritual humility before that thing.

     Why have we been chosen to bear the Ark? The general reason is given in the Writings,-that we can thereby be regenerated, while without it we could not. Others can be saved by such religion as they have, if they live well according to their faith. In spite of their ignorance, the Lord will lead them in the way to heaven. But the Writings have been given because there are some who need them for their salvation, some who could not be saved without them.

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The Lord, in His mercy, leads such as these to accept the Heavenly Doctrine. The day will come when few can any longer be saved without the Heavenly Doctrine, and that is the day when the Church will spread. At present it is we who need that Doctrine. What would we be without it! What would we be in the world today if we had not the realization that the Lord has made His Second Coming? We look over the world and find no belief that would satisfy our minds or fill us with a deep realization of the Lord's presence, which alone can awaken spiritual life within us. This does not imply that we are any better than those outside of the Church who can be saved. It may mean quite the opposite. It does mean that our reception of the Doctrines is vital to ourselves, in order that we may receive the blessings of eternal life, and be prepared for a use in heaven.

     "Three things are required of us as individuals: First, that we receive the Truth into our hearts and minds; second, that we pass it on to those who follow,-the children entrusted to our care by the Lord; and third, that we proclaim the Truth to the world, and, as far as in us lies, make it possible that everyone in the world who can receive the Heavenly Doctrine may do so. Everything we do is but a means looking to those three ends, whether in our worship, in our schools, our church organizations or our missionary work. Inmostly in all this is the end that the Lord's Truth, present in the Heavenly Doctrine, shall be protected, preserved, and placed before the world of men, to the end that, in His Divine Providence, and in His own time, it may be received. If we think of our stewardship in the light of those great uses, which together make up what we call 'The Church,' forgetting personalities and those external things which would divide us, then our Church will grow, and the blessing of the Lord will rest upon it."

     Sunday, October 12th.

     The congregation at the morning service filled the church. Bishop de Charms delivered the sermon, and most of the worshipers partook of the Holy Supper, which he administered with the assistance of the Revs. W. L. Gladish and Gilbert H. Smith.

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     In the afternoon at four o'clock, Bishop de Charms attended a meeting of the Ladies' Guild, and gave an address on the subject of "Teaching Religion to the Pre-school Child." He emphasized the teaching that no formal education should be given during the first seven years of the child's life, because the Lord is then storing up remains that are essential to salvation. The way for us to co-operate is by surrounding the child with a sphere of peace and love, and by living, a life of religion ourselves.

     In the evening there was a Men's Meeting, held under the auspices of the Sons of the Academy. After the supper, Bishop de Charms gave an address on the subject of "Heredity," which stimulated much thought and discussion, many questions being asked and answered. The meeting terminated with an expression of thanks for the benefits derived from Bishop de Charms' visit, and gratitude for the words of wisdom and love he had been permitted to bring with him.     
     G. A. MCQUEEN.
RESPIRATION AND THE STATE OF LIFE 1931

RESPIRATION AND THE STATE OF LIFE              1931

     "Breathing or respiration, when mentioned in the Word, signifies man's state of life as to the goods and truths of faith. The reason is, that the lungs, to which breathing belongs, correspond to the life of faith from charity, which is spiritual life. Man has an external breathing and an internal breathing; the external is from the world, but the internal is from heaven. When a man dies, his external breathing ceases, but his internal breathing, which is tacit and imperceptible to him as long as he lives in the world, continues; and this latter breathing is altogether according to his affection of truth, thus according to the life of his faith. They who are in no faith, as is the case with those who are in hell, derive their breathing, not from the interior, but from the exterior, thus from a contrary alternation; wherefore, when such approach an angelic society, where the breathing is from the interior, they begin to be suffocated, and to become like images of death; and therefore they east themselves headlong into their own hell, where they again receive their former breathing, which is contrary to the breathing of heaven." (A. C. 9281.)

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DIRECTORY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1931

DIRECTORY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM              1931

     OFFICIALS AND COUNCILS.

     Bishop
Right Rev. N. D. Pendleton

     Assistant Bishop
Right Rev. George de Charms

     Secretary
Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner

     Treasurer
Mr. H. Hyatt

     Consistory
Bishop N. D. Pendleton
Rev. Alfred Acton                    Rev. E. E. Iungerich
Rev. C. E. Doering, Secretary      Right Rev. George de Charms
Rev. Homer Synnestvedt               Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner
Right Rev. R. J. Tilson                    Rev. Theodore Pitcairn
Rev. F. E. Waelchli                    Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal
Rev. Gilbert H. Smith

     Executive Committee
     Bishop N. D. Pendleton, President
     Right Rev. George de Charms, Vice President
Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs, Secretary
Mr. Hubert Hyatt, Treasurer
Mr. Edward C. Bostock                    Mr. Seymour G. Nelson
Mr. C. Raynor Brown                    Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn
Mr. Randolph W. Childs               Mr. Raymond Pitcairn
Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay           Mr. Colley Pryke
Mr. Samuel S. Lindsay                    Mr. J. Henry Ridgway
Mr. Nils E. Loven                    Mr. Rudolph Roschman
Mr. Charles G. Merrell                    Mr. Paul Synnestvedt
Mr. Alvin E. Nelson                    Mr. Victor Tilson

     Honorary Members
Mr. Walter C. Childs          
Mr. Jacob Schoenberger.

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     THE CLERGY.

     Bishops.

     PENDLETON, NATHANIEL DANDRIDGE. Ordained, June 16, 1889; 2d Degree, March 2, 1891; 3d Degree, October 27, 1912. Bishop of the General Church. Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. President of the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     DE CHARMS, GEORGE. Ordained, June 28, 1914; 2d Degree, June 19, 1916; 3d Degree, March 11, 1928. Assistant Bishop of the General Church. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Vice-President, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     TILSON, ROBERT JAMES. Ordained, August 23d, 1882; 2d Degree, June 19, 1892; 3d Degree, August 5,.1928. Pastor of Michael Church, Burton Road, Brixton, London, England. Address: 7 Templar Street, Camberwell, London, S. E. 5.

     Pastors.

     ACTON, ALFRED. Ordained, June 4, 1893; 2d Degree, January 10, 1897. Pastor of the Society in Washington, D. C. Dean of the Theological School, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ACTON, ELMO CARMAN. Ordained, June 14, 1925; 2d Degree, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Durban Society. Address: 125 Musgrave Road, Durban, Natal, South Africa.

     ALDEN, KARL RICHARDSON. Ordained, June 19, 1917; 2d Degree, October 12, 1919. Principal of the Boys' Academy and Housemaster of Stuart Hall, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ALDEN, WILLIAM HYDE. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, May 30, 1886. Instructor, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     BAECKSTROM, GUSTAF. Ordained, June 6, 1915; 2d Degree, June 27, 1920. Pastor of the Society in Stockholm, Sweden. Address: Svedjevagen, Appelviken, Stockholm.

     BJORCK, ALBERT. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, August 17, 1890. Pastor of Woodgreen Circle. Address: The Birches, Woodgreen, Salisbury, England.

     BOEF, HENDRIK WILLEM. Ordained, June 17, 1928; 2d Degree, September 8, 1929. Pastor of the Los Angeles Society. Address: 6742 Colgate Ave., Los Angeles, California.

     BRICKMAN, WALTER EDWARD. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, January 7, 1900. Address: Edinburgh, Texas.

     BROWN, REGINALD WILLIAM. Ordained, October 21, 1900; 2d Degree, October 12, 1919. Professor and Librarian, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     CALDWELL, WILLIAM BEEBE. Ordained, October 19, 1902; 2d Degree, October, 23, 1904. Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     CRONLUND, EMIL ROBERT. Ordained, December 31, 1899; 2d Degree, May 18, 1902. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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     DAVID, LLEWELLYN WARREN TOWNE. Ordained, June 28, 1914; 2d Degree, June 19, 1916. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     DOERING, CHARLES EMIL. Ordained, June 7, 1896; 2d Degree, January 29, 1899. Dean of Faculties, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ELPHICK, FREDERICK WILLIAM. Ordained, February 7, 1926; 2d Degree, June 19, 1926. Superintendent of the South African Mission. Pastor of the Alpha Circle. Address: P. O. Box 18, Ladybrand, Orange Free State.

     GILL, ALAN. Ordained, June 14, 1925; 2d Degree, June 19, 1926. Pastor of Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ont. Address: 316 Park St., Kitchener, Ont., Canada.

     GLADISH, VICTOR JEREMIAH. Ordained, June 17, 1928; 2d Degree, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Colchester Society. Address: 43 Lexden Road, Colchester, England.

     GLADISH, WILLIS LINDSAY. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, June 3, 1894. Pastor of Sharon Church, Chicago, Ill. Address: 5220 Wayne Ave., Chicago, Ill.

     GYLLENHAAL, FREDERICK EDMUND. Ordained, June 23, 1901; 2d Degree, June 19, 1910. Pastor of Olivet Church, Toronto, Ont. Address: 2 Elm Grove Ave., Toronto, 3 Ont., Canada.

     HARRIS, THOMAS STARK. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, April 8, 1897. Pastor of the Society in Arbutus, Maryland; Visiting Pastor of the Abington, Mass., and Meriden, Conn., Circles. Address: Halethorpe P. O., Maryland.

     HEINRICHS, HENRY. Ordained, June 24, 1923; 2d Degree, February 8, 1925. Pastor of the Society in Denver, Colorado. Address: 543 Delaware Street

     HUSSENET, FERNAND. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degree, October 10, 1909. Pastor of the Society in Paris, 84 Avenue de Breteuil. Address: 31 Rue Henri Regnault, St. Cloud, Seine et Oise, France.

     IUNGERICH, ELDRED EDWARD. Ordained, June 13, 1909; 2d Degree, May 26, 1912. Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. Address: 299 Le Ro Road, Pittsburgh, Pa.

     LEONARDOS, HENRY. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Rio de Janeiro Society. Address: 25 rua Sachet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

     LIMA, JOAO DE MENDONCA. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, August 5, 1928 Pastor of the Rio de Janeiro Society. Address: 25 rua Sachet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

     MORSE, RICHARD. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, October 12, 1919. Pastor of the Sydney Society. Address: Dudley Street, Hurstville, Sydney, N. S. W., Australia.

     ODHNER, HUGO LJUNGBERG. Ordained, June 23, 1914; 2d Degree, June 24, 1917. Secretary of the General Church. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Professor, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     PFEIFFER, ERNST. Ordained, June 20, 1920; 2d Degree, May 1, 1921. Pastor of the Society at The Hague, Holland. Address: Laan van Meerdervoort 229, The Hague, Holland.

     PITCAIRN, THEODORE. Ordained, June 19, 1917; 2d Degree, October 12, 1919. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Instructor, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

53




     PRICE, ENOCH SPRADLING. Ordained, June 10, 1888; 2d Degree, June 19, 1891. Professor, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     REUTER, NORMAN HAROLD. Ordained, June 17, 1928; 2d Degree, June 15, 1930. Assistant to the Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Ill. Address: Glenview, Ill.

     ROSENQVIST, JOSEPH ELIAS. Ordained, June 19, 1891; 2d Degree, June 23, 1895. Address: Skanstorget 7, Gothenburg, Sweden.

     SMITH, GILBERT HAVEN. Ordained, June 25, 1911; 2d Degree, June 19, 1913. Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Ill.

     STARREY, GEORGE GODDARD. Ordained, June 3, 1894; 2d Degree, October 19, 1902. Address: Glenview, Ill.

     SYNNESTVEDT, HOMER. Ordained, June 19, 1891; 2d Degree, January 13,1895. Professor, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     WAELCHLI, FRED. EDWIN. Ordained, June 10, 1888; 2d Degree, June 19, 1891. Visiting Pastor, General Church. Address, 232 Worthington Ave., Wyoming, Ohio.

     WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM. Ordained, June 19, 1922; 2d Degree, June 19, 1926. Professor, Academy of the New Church. Secretary, Council of the Clergy. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Ministers.

     CRANCH, RAYMOND GREENLEAF. Ordained, June 19, 1922. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ODHNER, VINCENT CARMOND. Ordained, June 17, 1928. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Ministers in the South African Mission.

     BASUTO.

     MAQELEPO, BERRY. Ordained, September 29, 1929; 2d Degree, September 30, 1929. Leader at Greylingstad, Transvaal. Address: P. O. Box 13, Greylingstad, Transvaal.

     MOTSI, JONAS. Ordained, September 29, 1929; 2d Degree, September 30, 1929. Address: P. O. Box 78, Ladybrand, O. F. S., South Africa.

     MOFOKENG, TWENTYMAN. Ordained, September 29, 1929; 2d Degree, October 6, 1929. Leader at Alpha, Ladybrand, O. F. S. Address: P. O. Box 78, Ladybrand, O. F. S.

     MPHATSE, JONAS. Ordained, September 29, 1929. Leader at Lukas' Village, Basutoland. Address: P. O Upper Qeme, Maseru, Basutoland.

     MPHATSE, NATHANIEJ,. Ordained, September 29, 1929. Leader at Mafika-Lisiu, Basutoland. Address: P. O. Thaba Bosiu, Maseru, Basutoland.

     MOSOANG, SOFONIA. Ordained, October 6, 1929 Leader at Khopane, Basutoland. Address: P. O. Majara, via Maseru, Basutoland.

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     ZULU.

     JIPANA, JOHN MOSES. Ordained, September 29, 1929; 2d Degree, September 30, 1929. Newcastle, Natal, South Africa.

     JIYANA, JULIUS. Ordained, September 29, 1929. Address: Tongaat P. O., North Coast, Natal, South Africa.

     MCANYANA, MOFFAT. Ordained, August 12, 1928; 2d Degree, September 30, 1929. Address: Kent Manor, lmpapala, Fortyolland, via Eshowe, Zululand, South Africa.

     NGIBA, BENJI\MIN THOMAS. Ordained, October 6, 1929. Address: 33 Oakleiah Drive, off Ridge Road, Durban, Natal, South Africa.

     STOLE, PHILIP. Ordained, September 29, 1929. Address: 19 Turner's Avenue, off Berea Road, Durban, Natal, South Africa.
NEW CHURCH SERMONS 1931

NEW CHURCH SERMONS              1931

     Expounding the Scriptures in the Light of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

     Selected Discourses by Ministers of the General Church. Also Stories for Children. These pamphlets are convenient for individual reading, missionary purposes, or for use in family worship and Sunday services. Issued Monthly, October to June.

     Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.
     Assistant Editor: Rev. Alan Gill.
CALENDAR READINGS FOR 1931 1931

CALENDAR READINGS FOR 1931              1931

     Daily Readings from the Word and the Writings.

     Prepared by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner.

     New Church Sermons and Calendar Readings sent free of charge to any address upon application to Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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HOW TO MAKE BEQUESTS 1931

HOW TO MAKE BEQUESTS              1931

     FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     "I hereby give and bequeath unto the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, U. S. A., the sum of .............................. Dollars, ($..........)."

     
FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE ACADEMY.
"I hereby give and bequeath unto the Academy of the New Church, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, U. S. A., the sum of ............................. Dollars, ($..........)."

     NOTE.

     The laws of most jurisdictions require that a will be witnessed by two disinterested persons. Some jurisdictions require three witnesses. The safest practice is to consult an attorney or a trust company. Such a precaution is especially important in countries governed by the civil law, and where special uses are designated or where trusts are created.

     FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE ORPHANAGE FUND.

     I hereby give and bequeath unto the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, the sum of $................, for the uses of the Orphanage Fund.

     FORM OF CODICIL.

     I, ......................................, the within named testator (or testatrix) do hereby make and publish this codicil, to be added to my last will and testament, bearing date the .................. day of A. D. 192.... in manner following, to wit:

     1. I hereby give and bequeath unto the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, the sum of $.................. for the uses of the Orphanage Fund.

     2. I do hereby ratify and confirm my said will in all other respects. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and seal this ................ day of .................. in the year of our Lord one
thousand nine hundred and ..........................
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . (SEAL)

     Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said ....................... as and for a codicil to his (or her) last will and testament, in the presence of us, who, in his (or her) presence, and in the presence of each other, have, at his (or her) request, subscribed our names at witnesses thereto.
................... ........... residing at ...........................
................... ........... residing at ...........................

     Note. A will or codicil containing a bequest to a charitable corporation should be attested by two disinterested witnesses. Such witnesses should not be officers or directors of the General Church.

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     DENVER, COLORADO.

     After our customary summer vacation we entered upon our uses during the first week in September, and very auspiciously with a visit from the Rev. F. E. Waelchli. The services of worship were resumed first; then, in order, the Sunday School, the ladies' meetings, and the doctrinal class. All the little readjustments that a reopening calls for have been made, and we are now pursuing our quiet way along well-established lines.

     In the Sunday School, where for some time we have had an annual decrease of one or two children who have come to maturity, this year we record a net increase of three. At the ladies' meetings the Pastor is giving a series of addresses on the general subject of admittance into heaven, being principally an examination of certain groups of passages in the Writings treating of the World of Spirits' state. The doctrinal class is continuing its study of the work on the Divine Providence, beginning this year at number 100.

     As noted above, we again had the pleasure and benefit of a visit from the Rev. F. E. Waelchli. We regret that Mrs. Waelchli was not with him, as was the case last year; for we did enjoy her company. In his report, published in the November issue of New Church Life, Mr. Waelchli has mentioned the series of meetings that were held during his stay here, but we shall add the following to what he said therein.

     The reception held in his honor at the Chapel was the first social meeting of the year, and therefore the Pastor, besides welcoming Mr. Waelchli, spoke of the uses of the work which was being resumed in the society, the discouragements that may be encountered, and of the need of renewing and increasing our devotion to the Church. Both the Pastor and Mr. Waelchli then gave accounts of their summer's work among the isolated. Mr. Waelchli has called Mr. Heinrichs' account interesting: we can assure him that we found his equally so. He certainly has the ability of arousing an appreciation of the usefulness of the work among the isolated, and thence also of the uses of the General Church, whose order and organization makes it possible for that work to be carried on. On this occasion we also had the opportunity of meeting the Misses Berith and Thyra Schroder, who were home for the summer's vacation; and we were glad to be able to give them our good wishes for a happy and profitable year in the Academy Schools, to which they were returning the following day.

     At the ladies meeting, Mr. Waelchli spoke on the subject of the Lord's presence "by aspect." (H. H. 121.) His treatment was enlightening and made us feel that the subject of the Lord's presence is an extremely important one, which will repay any amount of study that is given to it.

     It was a source of satisfaction to us that, in his doctrinal class, Mr. Waelchli chose to discuss the subject of faith-healing in the light of the Writings; for, in this age of rank materialism, bodily health, important as it is, receives an overemphasis in the world, even to the extent of supplanting religion, or being made a religion. This being a dominant tendency, no one in contact with the sensually materialistic sphere of the world can he entirely free from infestation in this matter. It is important that New Churchmen should know and understand the teaching of our Doctrines on the subject. Mr. Waelchli cited and explained the first two sections of the third law of Divine Providence-the law that there is no salvation but external compulsion-and in the light of this law be examined the various shades of faith-healing from the muttering of the "hexes" of the Pennsylvania Dutch to Christian Science.

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     His sermon on Sunday was a very clear exposition of Psalm 84:11, and rounded out a fine feast of instruction. He also spoke many words of encouragement and cheer to us, which we hope will not be forgotten in the course of the year that is before us.

     On October 30th there was a Hallowe'en party for the children of the Sunday School, and all enjoyed themselves in a style appropriate to the occasion. The room was decorated with crepe paper in the traditional color motive; there were Jack o'lanterns; and, as an echo of the General Assembly, each one was given a red-and-white balloon with "Assembly 1930" inscribed upon it. These had been brought back from the Assembly for such a purpose by Mrs. Schroder; and with these in their hands the children could not fail to have a good time.

     The Society has greatly missed the presence of our faithful friends, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Lindrooth, whose seats in the Chapel have remained consistently empty for the first time in some thirty years. We hope they will return to us in the near future renewed in health and vigor.
     HENRY HEINRICHS.

     JAPAN.

     From a Report of the General Convention Board of Missions, appearing in The New-Church Messenger of November 26, 1930, we learn that the Rev. I. L. Watanabe has severed his connection with the Music School established by him some years ago in Tokyo. He had hoped to make known the teachings of the New Church among the students, but we are not told of what success he had in this direction. In the beginning, funds to the amount of $31,000 were raised by friends in Great Britain and America for the erection of the main building of the School, of which Mr. Watanabe was President and Manager, and it was definitely understood that no further amounts could he contributed for maintenance. Difficulties in financing the undertaking have now arisen, and the institution has passed into secular hands, so that the New Church can hardly hope to exercise any further influence in its management.

     It is expected that Mr. Watanabe will now be able to devote his full time and strength to the work of the New Church in Japan, where the Board of Missions is also represented by the Rev. Yonezo Doi, the Pastor of the New-Church Society in Tokyo.

     MRS. CHARLES BROWN.

     An Obituary.

     Mrs. Charles Brown, nee Wilhelmina Roschman, who passed into the spiritual world on October 12th, 1930, was born at Ulm, Germany, on March 11th, 1855. She came to Canada in 1884, having been preceded some years earlier by her two brothers, Richard and Rudolph, who were resident in Kitchener, Ont. (then Berlin), and who had both come into the New Church after their arrival there. She first heard of the Doctrines by correspondence with these two brothers, and the seed thus sown had fallen into receptive ground, for she also became a member of the Church after her arrival in Canada. She was married to Mr. Charles Brown in 1894, and their home in Cowan Avenue, Toronto, was one of those centers of activity and hospitality which are the bulwarks of the Church.

     A diligent reader of the Writings, it was ever Mrs. Brown's delight to converse upon their spiritual teachings. She was unfailing in her attendance at worship and doctrinal class, and all church activities found her a devoted and consistent supporter, so much so that she had come to be looked upon as an integral part of the institution,-one who was immediately missed when, for any reason beyond her control, she was unable to attend. Such an instance was the last quarterly business meeting of the Olivet Church, on September 24th, when the meeting sent her flowers as a token of affectionate regard, with a message expressing sympathy and the hope that she would soon be restored to health and strength.

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Shortly afterwards, however, she passed to her eternal home, beloved and respected by a circle of friends throughout the General Church.

     The funeral service, conducted by the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, was held in the Olivet Church, and was attended by a capacity congregation which included the Rev. R. W. Brown, of Bryn Athyn, Mr. and Mrs. G. Percy Brown, of Pittsburgh, Mr. and Mrs. R. G. Brown, of Meadowvale, Ont., and Mr. and Mrs. J. T. A. Smithson; Mr. Smithson being President and General Manager of the Carswell Co., Ltd., of which Mr. Charles Brown was Treasurer for many years. Many and beautiful were the floral tributes that graced the chancel, adding to the beauty of the sphere and the solemnity of the occasion.

     One has thus gone from among those faithful and diligent members of our society who for long years have held aloft the torch of truth, leaving behind her a record of devoted service which is at once an example and an inspiration to succeeding generations.
     F. W.

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

     The first meeting of a several days' visit to MIDDLEPORT, OHIO, was doctrinal class on Thursday evening, November 6th, at which the subject was the Ancient Word. Only four persons were present. But the next evening there was an attendance of twelve, including three strangers, one of them an Episcopal minister. A missionary talk on the future life was given. The minister had no comments to make, but one of the other visitors, whose home is in Charleston, W. Va., was enthusiastic in approval of what he had heard. On Saturday afternoon, at the home of Mrs. Skinner, instruction was given her six grand children. Resides telling a Bible story, we spoke of the approaching Thanksgiving Day, and of the many things for which we should be thankful, among which, first of all, is that we are permitted to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one only God. At the service on Sunday morning, fourteen persons were present, including four children and one stranger, and nine partook of the Holy Supper. In the evening we again had class, attendance nine, and the subject considered was the Divine Providence in earthly happenings. All the meetings were held in the church building.

     On Monday, November 10th, I went to COLUMBUS, where two evening doctrinal classes were held in the family circle of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Wiley. At the first, a visitor being present, a missionary talk was given; and at the second the teaching was presented that the Divine Providence, being universal, must be in least particulars. One afternoon, instruction was given the young son of the family on man's resuscitation or awakening after death, and of his experiences thereafter until he comes to his eternal abode.

     On Sunday, November 23d, a service was held at DETROIT in the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Walker, with an attendance of nineteen, including five children. As Thanksgiving Day came during the following week, the service and sermon had relation to the subject of thanksgiving. There was also the baptism of the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bellinger. During the afternoon a number of the Circle motored forty miles to the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Field at Ann Arbor, where we had an enjoyable social supper in the attractive dramatic art studio of Miss Marjorie Field. In the evening there was doctrinal class, with seventeen attending, and the question considered was whether the Christian Church, including the New Church, is the Lord's Church of today,-the Church Specific; or whether the New Church is that Church Specific, having taken the place of the former. The first view is that prevailing in the General Convention; the latter is that of the General Church.

     On Monday afternoon, instruction was given five children in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Gould at Windsor, Ont., and in the evening a doctrinal class was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bellinger in East Windsor, Ont., attendance five.

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Our subject was the life of heaven as a life of use.-Tuesday evening, we again had a class in Detroit, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Synnestvedt, attendance seven. On request, I presented teaching showing the harmony of the two doctrines,-the one concerning the Lord's Omniscience, the other concerning man's free will. It was also shown how heinous is the idea that any persons are predestined to hell; for all are predestined to heaven, and man himself is in fault if this end be not fulfilled.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     Our Thanksgiving Service was largely attended, and we listened to a splendid sermon on the subject of "Bringing Spiritual Gifts."

     At the Friday doctrinal class, our pastor has been giving us a very illuminating series of papers on the History of the Christian Church. He has thrown the light of the Doctrines upon these human events, and thus has shown how the Divine Providence leads the Church, even in its darkest and most external states. It is a satisfaction to locate, definitely as to time, the beliefs of those Christians of whom we so often hear in the sermons,-Arius, Athanasius, and the rest.

     There is also a class meeting on Sunday evenings at the homes of the members, with an attendance of twenty. The class is reading the work on the Divine Providence under the leadership of the Rev. Norman H. Reuter.

     The society has gone back to the old, reliable way of getting funds for our social uses; that is, to collect for this use separately. When it was provided for in the regular budget, it was naturally the first thing to be cut in times of stress. An active social committee of young people has now been appointed, and the season was opened by a lecture given by a Professor of English from Northwestern University, the same who has been instructing our class in public speaking.
     J. B. S.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The biweekly Friday suppers and doctrinal classes began on October 17th. The work entitled Canons of the New Church is the subject of the classes this year, the chapters being taken in consecutive order.

     The Philosophy Club is continuing the study of the work on Rational Psychology, with occasional addresses by the members on allied subjects.

     The Day School has had several seasonal celebrations, the first being a play in memory of Christopher Columbus, even by the fourth, fifth, and seventh grades, the younger children assisting with the singing. There were three scenes in the play: 1. A Street in Genoa; 2. The Monastery at La Rabida; and 3. On Board the Santa Maria. There was a party for the children on Hallowe'en. It was planned by the older group of children, and given in the auditorium, the refreshments being provided by Mrs. Charles H. Ebert. On Armistice Day, Dr. Frank L. Doering gave an address to the school on Training Camp Experiences, and there were recitations by some of the pupils. The first, third and fourth grades acted the Thanksgiving story of the Pilgrims inviting the Indians to the feast. This was depicted by songs and dances.

     On Thanksgiving morning a service was held, opening with a procession of the children bearing gifts of fruit. The Pastor Rave an extemporaneous sermon on the text: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy is forever."

     Card parties were given in the auditorium during October, and on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day. Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay showed motion pictures of a European journey, and also pictures of the building of the church and community building. The evenings closed with dancing.

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     During the past two months we have had the pleasure of welcoming the following visitors from Bryn Athyn: Miss Helene Iungerich, Miss Carrie Doering, Miss Winifred Simons, Mr. Elmer Simons, Mr. Joseph Powell, Mr. Theodore Doering, and Mr. Karl Doering.
     E. R. D.

     MONTREAL, QUEBEC.

     A report of my first visit to Montreal at the end of August appeared in the October issue of New Church Life, page 682. Since then I have visited there twice and formed a Circle. These visits were on Mondays and Tuesdays, October 13-14 and November 17-18.

     On Monday, October 13th, a service was held in the evening. On the following evening a doctrinal class was held, followed by a social time with cards and conversation. On the afternoons of both days instruction was given the children, with six in attendance, although only three of these are old enough for such instruction. There was an attendance of eight adults at the service and class, which were held in the homes of the members.

     On the occasion of my visit in November the doctrinal class was held on Monday evening and the service on Tuesday evening, with an attendance of eight adults at each meeting. Instruction was given three children in the afternoons.

     It is my expectation that I shall be able to minister to this Circle every two months, and perhaps oftener. The field seems very promising, and one that will repay cultivation and careful attention.
     F. E. GYLLENHAAL.

     GENERAL CONVENTION.

     The New-Church Messenger of November 12, 1930, gives a biographical account of the Rev. William H. Schliffer, who passed into the spiritual world on August 13, 1930, at the age of seventy-two years. He was born in New York City on October 5, 1858, and received his early education there. Later he entered the Academy of the New Church in Philadelphia, from which he received the degrees of A. B. and B. Th., being ordained into the First Degree of the Priesthood by Bishop Benade on June 10, 1883. His first ministerial activities were in Chicago, Peoria, and Henry, Illinois, and for a time he was a member of the Clergy of the General Church of Pennsylvania. In 1887, he was ordained a Pastor by the Rev. Chauncey Giles, and officiated in that office for the New York German Society, which he served for more than forty years, Preaching both in German and in English. He also served at various times as missionary pastor for the societies in Allentown, Pa., Paterson, N. J., and Riverhead and Buffalo, N. Y. For many years he was also actively interested in civic work in the Borough of Brooklyn.

     Death of the Rev. John Whitehead.

     We learn from the Messenger of December 10, 1930, that the Rev. John Whitehead passed into the spiritual world at Cambridge, Mass., on November 30, at the age of eighty years. At the last meeting of the General Convention, during a session of the Council of Ministers on June 19, 1930, Mr. Whitehead was warmly congratulated upon his attaining the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination into the Priesthood of the New Church, which took place on June 19, 1880. He was founder and editor of The Swedenborg Student and director of the Arcana Class, to which he gave much of his time and effort in recent years; and he was also engaged in work upon the New Church Version of the Scriptures sponsored by Mr. Marchant of Australia. Always deeply interested in Swedenborg's Philosophy, Mr. Whitehead was one of the most active members of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, and was founder and first editor of The New Philosophy. An account of his life and ministry will appear in subsequent issue of New Church Life.

     Radio broadcasting in the name of the New Church is bringing results at various places in the United States, especially in California and at Chicago, Ill.

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From Station WMAQ, Chicago, on October 19, 1930, the Rev. Hiram Vrooman gave an address on "From the Time of Death for One Year-What!" At the close of the address he made an offer to send copies of Heaven and Hell free of charge to all applicants, and received 402 responses, and 42 persons called at the Book Room in the Stevens Building. Members of the Church in Chicago are actively engaged in the work of sending out the books, as we learn from their mimeographed sheet entitled "Book Room News." In connection with the undertaking there is a Friday noon class, and this has been well attended by strangers, sometimes as many as sixty-five availing themselves of the opportunity to hear the teachings of the New Church.

     From the Cincinnati Enquirer of November 27, 1930, we learn of the holding of a Union Thanksgiving Service at the New Thought Temple, in that city, the Churches combining in the service including Unitarian, Jewish, Universalist, New Thought,-and the Church of the New Jerusalem; the latter being represented by the pastor of the Cincinnati Society, the Rev. Louis G. Hoeck, who participated in the service. A similar Thanksgiving Service was held at Brockton, Mass., the Rev. Wm. R. Reese being present, while a Unitarian delivered the address.

     The Third Convention of the German New Church was held in Berlin from September 13th to 15th, 1930. The Rev. Erich L. G. Reissner presided, and the attendance included New Church people from various parts of Germany, as well as from Denmark, Sweden, and Austria. At the Sunday Service, which closed with the administration of the Holy Supper, the room was filled to overflowing. The celebration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Berlin Society was held at the Schubert-Saal, and brought together 150 members and friends. A feature of the occasion was a play called "Paradise," having nos. 731-740 of True Christian Religion as its inspiration and background. It was enacted by the members of the Men's Class, and made a deep impression on the audience. (Messenger, December 3, 1930.)

     KITCHENER, ONT.

     Following a very successful meeting of the Ontario District Assembly, held at Toronto from November 8th to 10th, the Bishop and Mrs. N. D. Pendleton visited Kitchener for a few days. On the first afternoon of their stay, the children of the society gave an entertainment consisting of two plays. One was entitled "The House of the Heart," and was given by the older children. It was well presented, and showed thoughtful preparation. The little children gave "Mary Quite Contrary and Her Garden," and I am sure that it was as much enjoyed by the tiny actors and actresses themselves as by the audience.

     On Tuesday evening, November 11th, the men of the society met with the Bishop at a supper, and the Principles of the Academy were the subject of discussion. At the same time the ladies of the society gathered at the home of Mrs. Rudolf Roschman to meet Mrs. Pendleton, who, in the course of an informal evening, told us about some interesting incidents connected with her trip to South Africa last year.

     Our Thanksgiving Celebration was held on the following evening, when we were joined by seven of the friends from Toronto, who decided that they had not had too much Assembly! We all sat down to an excellent chicken supper in the school room, which was appropriately decorated with fruits and chrysanthemums in a profusion of varieties and colors. After the supper we listened to very fine address by our Bishop on "The Duties and Responsibilities of New Churchmanship." He spoke chiefly of Baptism, the Holy Supper, and Marriage, and left a profound impression upon us all.

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We are in the habit of holding such meetings as an aftermath of the District Assembly, and I feel that they are of real value, and that they in no way detract from the Assembly meetings proper. Besides, a meeting with the Bishop is thus provided for those who are unable to attend the Assembly.

     Before the cold weather set in, the local chapter of Theta Alpha entertained the school children at a picnic in Freeport. It was the last outing of the season, and the children made the most of it, a special attraction being the camp fire at which bacon and wieners were toasted.

     Mr. and Mrs. George Scott celebrated the forty-fifth anniversary of their wedding on November 25th. As a token of congratulations and best wishes, the society presented them with a bouquet of red roses. Now that King Winter has come to stay, the older school boys and the young men have everything in readiness for making ice on the skating rink, and we are hoping it will be cold enough for skating during the Christmas holidays.
     C. R.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     "Life" Meeting, etc.

     Beginning its eleventh consecutive year, the regular meeting to read New Church Life has been resumed for this season, and is held every Tuesday evening at the home of Mr. G. A. McQueen. Those attending this year are particularly fortunate, as the Rev. George G. Starkey, during the first half of the meeting, is reading for us Dr. Acton's Introduction to the Word Explained. While he disclaims any authority as an instructor, Dr. Starkey is of great help to those present. At each meeting an article from the current issue of the Life is read and discussed. For several weeks past we have also been re-reading the Addresses delivered at the Fourteenth General Assembly.

     On Sunday evening, November 16, a meeting of the Glenview Chapter of the Sons of the Academy had the pleasure of listening to a review of Ernst Haeckel's Riddle of the Universe by the Rev. W. L. Gladish, the subject being most ably presented by him. Reading from the author's Introduction, he contrasted its apparent humility, and its claim that for fifty years the author had been seeking the truth, with the profound egotism that could imagine for a moment that, by scientific proof and philosophical reasoning, he had solved the riddle of the universe.

     A Study Class under the leadership of the Rev. Norman H. Reuter meets every Sunday evening at the homes of the members. The attendance has increased this year, and the interest is maintained at a high level. Last year the attendance for the season was one hundred per cent.

     The doctrine of Divine Providence is being studied, and passages in the Writings are assigned for home reading, these being reviewed and elucidated at the following meeting. At the close of the hour devoted to the class, light refreshments are served, and the discussion of the subject continues informally for the rest of the evening.
     S. E. L.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1931

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1931




     Announcements.



     The Annual Council Meetings of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., from February 2d to 8th, 1931.

     The Philadelphia District Assembly (Banquet) will be held in the Assembly Hall, on Friday evening, February 6th, 1931.

     All who expect to attend the above meetings are requested to notify Miss Florence Roehner, Bryn Athyn, Pa., in order that provision may be made for their entertainment.
     WILLIAM WHITEHEAD,
Secretary, Council of the Clergy.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1931

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS              1931

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., FEBRUARY 2D TO 8TH, 1931.

Monday, February 2.
     3:00 p.m. Consistory.

Tuesday, February 3.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Council of the Clergy and General Faculty.
               Address: Professor Camille Vinet.

Wednesday, February 4.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Council of the Clergy and General Faculty.
               Address: Rev. E. E. Iungerich.
               Subject: "Starting Latin in the Seventh Grade."

Thursday, February 5.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Council of the Clergy and General Faculty.
               Address: To be announced later.
     8:00 p.m. Public Session of Council of the Clergy.
               Address: Bishop George de Charms.

Friday, February 6.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Executive Committee.
     7:00 p.m. Philadelphia District Assembly-Banquet.

Saturday, February 7.
     10:00 a.m. Joint Council.
     3:00 p.m. Joint Council.
     8:00 p.m. Civic and Social Club Play.

Sunday, February 8.
     11:00 a.m. Divine Worship.
     8:00 p.m. Service of Praise.

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CHARTER DAY ADDRESS 1931

        N. D. PENDLETON       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          FEBRUARY, 1931          No. 2
     (Delivered in the Cathedral at Bryn Athyn, October 17, 1930.)

     In selecting a day to be memorialized by the Schools of the Academy, the date of the granting of a charter was chosen, not only because that grant was the sign of the Academy's empowerment by the State, but also because it marked the actual beginning of the School.

     The Academy existed in idea and intent long before its charter was applied for. Indeed, the conception of the need of education, as a means of establishing the Church on a firmer basis, goes back to near the beginning of the Church. The realization of this need led to repeated efforts to found New Church schools, with a view to training young people in the Doctrines; but the founding of the Academy was impelled by a more earnest conviction and a deeper feeling of the need of such training than that which inspired any former attempts. This is said in no boasting spirit, but in acknowledgment of the debt that the Academy owes to the past. The earlier attempts were the preliminary efforts of the Church to bring into being a use which, however, could only be successfully carried into effect after sufficient experimentation and seeming failure, after the Church had gathered sufficient strength, and had stored within itself an adequate depth of remains to give body and vitality to the undertaking.

     Through these past experiences of the Church, the Academy was able to define a more discerning policy with reference to the status of New Church schools. The chief difficulty encountered in every New Church school was to hold it in bond to the spirit of the Church. The determination to do this has so far been sustained.

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This is the leading motive in the Academy's policy with reference to the composition both of its faculty and its student body. This policy of distinctiveness, not exclusiveness, we must continue to maintain against that liberalizing influence, so alluring to many minds, which follows the prevailing current in the world of education, and which would lead us to regard that world with such generosity that we would ultimately lose the original purpose which inspired our foundation. It is interesting to note that when this so-called liberal spirit prevails for a sufficient time, the loss of a distinct New Church character is applauded as a blessing. Certainly such a gradual diversion would, by its advocates, be regarded as a sign of progress and an increase of freedom. Yet this would be true only of those schools whose foundation was inspired by a mere sectarian spirit, which, as such, affords no sufficient cause of existence, and therefore no spiritual right of survival.

     Our policy is defensive, and that which we defend has reference to a spiritual quality, favored by a congenial environment sufficiently clear and strong to encourage the development, not only of New Church societies, but also the formation and growth of a new philosophy, as an embodiment of the internal truths of our Revelation. We cannot allow that this is a mere sectarian motive; but we may not expect that others will regard it in any other light. To those who are not of us, we may perhaps be regarded as the narrowest of sects. But, in our own view, the doctrine which we nourish holds the promise of a future civilization. It encompasses the whole field of religious and philosophic thought, with reforming power. We are content for the present with a small foothold; but it is imperative that that foothold should be separate, in order that it may be qualified for its service as ground for the new truth of the Second Advent.

     Yet we know that in our separation we bring the world with us. We are sensitive to its every current of thought, even as we are affected by its changes in custom. A separation which would exclude all outside influence, being impossible, is not in accord with the will of Providence. But that kind of separation which arises from a linking together in intimate association those who are in a like thought and affection for the new truth is in accord with the mode whereby angelic societies are established. Influenced as we are by the changing moods of the world to which we belong, yet together, and as it were apart from it, we aspire to that of which the world has no knowledge.

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Our fate, therefore, is to be moved by two counter-currents, and our safety lies in a steadfast holding to our spiritual ideals, not primarily as formulas worked out by the elders but as living perceptions drawn from intimate studies of the Revelation. It is in this way that we may keep close to the impulse which gave our body its origin, and from which impulse we may draw a renewal of vitality, since that impulse is to us as the soul of our body.

     When Charter Day was chosen as an occasion to be memorialized, the desire was to make it a day for the School, for its officers, teachers, and the entire student body, present and past; in other words, a day for all who are being and have been educated by the Academy. The program was arranged with this in view, the opening feature of which was designed to signalize the deepest underlying factor in the School's existence, namely, the recognition of a relationship which was vital to the School's future as a New Church institution in spirit as well as in form. This feature of the program, therefore, symbolized a rededication of the School to its original spiritual purpose, and in so doing to call to mind afresh the true relation which should exist between the School and the Church. The motive in this was to secure for the School its rightful place in the Church, which, if maintained, would in time make of it a unique institution among the so-called religious schools, in that it would remain faithful to the original purpose of its foundation. To this end it was and is necessary to resist the continued drag of secularization, which by slow but steady degrees would divorce the School from its spiritual allegiance. A tendency in this direction has lodgment in some form with us all. Our racial inheritance swings us back and in line with aims which would divorce us from our first love.

     The Academy has, from its beginning, been intimately bound up in the life of the Church, and this so much so that to speak of the one is to imply the other. Its Schools, as distinguished from our society schools, have not been formally taken over by the Church organization, but they have been and are of its spiritual formation, and they signify to the Church its surest means of perpetuation. If we hold that the work of the schools has, in large part, produced the desired result, yet we realize the need of unceasing care, lest we encounter a falling away. Every new generation must be converted and consecrated to this endeavor.

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     It is the gift of the young to look for something different. Children, sooner or later, take cognizance of the limitations of their elders. To those who are newly awakened to life, a change is ever a happy prospect. Their instinctive desire is to strike out a new way, and this is indeed a God-given gift. While it holds the possibility of straying from the right path, it also opens the way to a higher reformation. Reconstruction is ever the order of life, and to this end a breaking up is inevitable. Our prayer is that our spiritual ideal may win through every such change.

     Judged from the outer appearance, our schools have encountered no little success. Some of those who have studied in them have entered with affectionate interest into the thought and life of the Church; others have shown but a milder interest. Yet we are encouraged to believe that our labors have, in fair measure, filled the need of our generation, and so we look to the future with increasing hope.

     We believe that the cure for every recalcitrancy, and for every ill temptation, lies in a devout recurrence to the teaching of the Writings as the medium provided for an approach to the Lord; and that the preservation of an institution of the church calls for a rededication to its spiritual purpose. Modes and means change, but the soul of a movement, if once lost, makes redemption impossible. This motive-soul is not infrequently lost. Institutions called into being by a high purpose endure, but in time are turned to another service. Religious movements are no exception to this rule. They can be held to their original purpose only through successive redemptions, and this, not by a blind holding to old forms-quite the contrary. The need may be for a breaking through past accumulations to a more vivid interpretation of the soul of the movement; this as a ward against death. All things that continue to live must pass through successive judgments. This is one of our most familiar doctrines; and yet a judgment ever comes as a surprise. We instinctively hold to that which we have. A judgment takes something away; but this, we may happily afterwards see, is a removal called for, in order that the soul may live. We must ever recur to Revelation for guidance. This alone will lift us above the slow process of death, above nature's drag. This alone will protect us from diverting influences, and from the rule of alien ideas.

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     We are not unaware of the lure of nature and the power of natural ideas. And we would not forget that something other than a blind rejection, even of the theories of science, is called for. We freely grant that the facts of science and their amazing increase is an allowance of Providence, with a view to an ultimate Divine service when their correspondence with spiritual verities is established. Such a correspondence will be given, not through ignorance, but by knowledge, and by an increase of spiritual perception. We place our hope in such schools as the Academy so to open the way that in time every true representation of science, every vision of the outer world and its laws, may yield a spiritual interpretation. The hope that this may be given is encouraged by Revelation.

     We, at this time, are not unlike the men of the Church Noah. Not that we are the subjects of celestial remains, for it is quite otherwise; but we are like that Church in that we are the point of passing; being a remnant from the first Christian Church, it is ours to carry over. It may be that we have entered into the ark of the new covenant; and if so, we cannot but be moved by the waters of the flood. So near are we to the day of the Last Judgment that our mental states vacillate. It may be also that this ark is not unlike a prison to us, and that at times we feel it so. The bond of our doctrine may irk; but this only when we have fallen from spiritual thought.

     Whenever a church is newly under way, the ark of its covenant is on the waters. It was so at the time of the first flood; it was so when Moses was an infant. A like representation was given then another Ark led the way through the wilderness, and when it later inspired the armies of Israel to victory, and became the instrument of other surpassing miracles. To the New Church is given an Ark containing a new Covenant, and in it also there lies a miracle of power, if we hold ourselves within the sphere of its holiness. It is in this that we vacillate. There are questions in our minds, and we turn one way and another. There are moods which diminish our spiritual perception. We have spirit-born ideals, and adverse natural propensities. Because of this we stand between the kingdom of the world and that of heaven. Since we vacillate, we are-given a recurrence,-a return,-and the opportunity of a rededication.

     It is in this rededication, in the movement thereto, that the miracle we hope for becomes possible.

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This we would represent,-a rededication of our educational endeavors to the service of the Church. Being the children of a new Covenant, it is incumbent upon us to ultimate our devotion thereto, not merely by an external representation, but by the labors involved in the work of education. It is this that we bring to the service of the Church, and now by a representation of the subordination of these labors, even as we would kneel before the Lord as a token of humility in His presence. This, and other like representations, when sincerely expressive of something in the heart, offers a becoming vessel for the reception of a fuller influx, and this even while the representation satisfies the innocence of the child within us.

     On this day we assemble in our schools, and in procession go up to the altar of our God in the house of our worship, to renew our covenant with Him, and to signify our intent to make our schools ever increasingly a means for the advancement of His Kingdom on earth. We would bring our children with us, in order that they also may receive the benefits of the covenant. To signify this to ourselves, and to leave the impress of its significance on their minds, is a worthy service. If this be understood, and if it has our affectionate approval, there is a power in the representation at once external and internal, even the power of a miracle,-of that miracle which was represented of old by the falling of the walls when the Ark was carried in procession around the city of Jericho, or when the Ark of the Covenant was carried through the wilderness, and later at the head of Israel's victorious armies. This miracle, internally regarded, is the same as that which we would invite when we go up to the altar, bringing with us the fruits of our labors. The miracle is ever and solely the Lord's work; yet we must advance to it. The Lord gives us in seeming to do all that is done, but He gives us to know that every deed of power is His. It is ours to place our hearts and minds to His service, to represent inwardly, and at times formally, that ultimate through and by which He accomplishes the miracle.

     A form may not be filled. A representation may be empty. A meaningless rite may be worse than useless. Yet such forms do hold out a promise; and it is well to observe them with hope, and with a patient expectation. In this it is as with those forms which guard human freedom.

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It is wise and prudent to preserve such forms when freedom itself is lacking; in Providence they may be filled again with the true spirit; for the form is a constant invitation to the spirit. On this ground it is that the letter of God's Word has ever been preserved and maintained in the minds of men; and this, even when men no longer regard its sanctity or know its saving power. Its reading by men brings an imaginative re-enactment of the deeds therein recorded. This, as we know, serves as a basis for simple believing spirits to interpret its meaning, and this interpretation is carried-to the angels. This service holds and carries through a period and in states when otherwise all would be lost. Though our own hearts be cold, yet we kneel in prayer for the sake of the child by our side; and then it may be that the child of God within us may awake to life. For this cause, and in this service, we go up in procession to the house of God, and join in prayer for the miracle of His presence. Amen.
VISION 1931

VISION       Rev. VICTOR J. GLADISH       1931

     (Delivered at the British Assembly Service, 1930.)

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit." (Joel 2:28, 29.)

     Without visions or prophetic day-dreams, or where there is not some foresight of the future, a people becomes inert and ceases to progress. "Where there is no vision, the people perish," we are told in the Book of Proverbs (29:18). And of the Jews when they heeded not the Lord's prophets, it is said, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:11). Such a state-when spiritual vision is lacking-is also destructive of all practical progress; for the reality cannot be attained until there has been some foretaste of it through dream or envisionment. The power of the remains, by which man may be led away from self and toward the Lord, lies in the implantation of a vision of the regenerate life,-a foretaste of angelic delights presented, as it were, in a dream of the future possibilities.

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     The reason vision can have such importance is because all foretaste of the future that is orderly, or indeed that is genuine, is derived from Revelation. But let us examine more closely the relation between the "prophecy," "vision," and "dream"-of which our text treats-and the infallible Revelation of the Divine.

     "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." The internal meaning of this verse is briefly summarized in the Heavenly Doctrine in these words: "By His Divine the Lord will fill those who are of the church with all things, and will vivify them." (P. P.) As to the particular expression of the text, the "Spirit" that will be poured out upon all flesh signifies Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, for this is meant in the Word by the Holy Spirit; "to Prophesy" means to understand and teach the truths of doctrine; to "dream dreams" signifies to receive revelation, while "to see visions" is to perceive it; "sons and daughters" are those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good; the "old men" are those who are in wisdom; and "young men" those who are in intelligence. (A. E. 624:8.)

     This pouring out of the Divine Spirit, with its various effects upon the "sons and daughters," the "old men" and the "young men," is predicted for a certain time; for we are told that "it shall come to pass afterward," which means after the vastation of the unfaithful church, concerning which the foregoing portion of the prophecy in Joel treats. Now this prophecy of our text is that to which the Apostle Peter referred on the Day of Pentecost. And then, as related in the Book of the Acts (2:17), he said: "In the last days it shall come to pass." In substituting the phrase "the last days "for" afterward," Peter was but following the context of the passage; for it is said in a verse following the text that these things were to happen "before the great and terrible day of the Lord,"-a phrase synonymous with "the last day." And we know from the Writings of the Church that "the great day of the Lord," the "last day," and many similar phrases, mean at the time of a last judgment upon a false church and the establishment of a new church.

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We are therefore prepared to agree with Peter's interpretation, but also to extend the application. When the multitude had witnessed the descent of the Spirit upon the apostles, so that every man then heard in his own tongue, Peter stood forth and proclaimed that that Day of Pentecost, and that gift of inspiration, was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, which foretold that the "Spirit of Jehovah should be poured forth upon all flesh," so that they should prophesy, and vision, and dream.

     Now the Day of Pentecost did indeed come at the "last day" of the Jewish Church, when the power of the Spirit was gone forth for the establishment of a new church. This was the first fulfilment of the prophecy, but not its completion. Because there were "many things" the Lord had to say unto men which they could not bear to receive at His First Coming, and because the First Christian Church proved increasingly unfaithful to what had been revealed to it, there must needs be a Second Coming, and the crown and completion of the great Last Judgments of the world's history, by which the Fourth or Christian Dispensation was judged, and a way prepared for the Church of the New Jerusalem.

     There was, therefore, a pouring forth of the Holy Spirit at the inception of the Christian Church, so that spiritual prophecy, vision, and dream were spread abroad. But very little of this was on an interior plane. The power of the Spirit was present, but the receptive vessels among men were crude at the first; and instead of developing a finer, more interior quality of receptivity-as they could and should have done-the men of that Church, for the most part, remained in the external, surface things of their Revelation, and at length perverted even these. And so the complete fulfilment of Joel's prophecy awaits the genuine growth of the crowning Church "which shall not pass away." Therein shall the "prophecy," "dream," and "vision" ever grow more interior in character, as men increase in strength and force through application to the life of charity.

     But let us here develop further the internal meaning of "dream," and "vision," and the other expressions of the text. That "your sons and daughters shall prophesy" means, as we have noted, that those of the church who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good will understand and teach the truths of doctrine.

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This is because "son" signifies the affection of truth, and "daughter" the affection of good, and "prophecy" signifies revelation or doctrine derived therefrom. A prophet was one who received and taught revelation from the Divine; but, since the internal sense regards the use and not the man, the word "prophet," where found in the Word, denotes that use of receiving and conveying Revelation. This appears very plainly in the following statement from the Apocalypse Explained:

     "Since 'prophets' are mentioned in many places in the Word, and no one takes any other idea from these than of the prophets of the Old Testament through whom the Lord spoke to the people, and through whom the Lord dictated the Word, when yet the Word has also a spiritual sense in each and every particular, therefore, in this sense, by 'prophets' are meant all whom the Lord teaches, thus all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who love truth because it is truth; for these the Lord teaches, and inflows into their understanding, and illustrates; and this more than with the prophets of the Old Testament, who were not enlightened as to the understanding, but only received by the hearing the words which were to be spoken or to be written; yea, they understood not the interior sense of these things, still less the spiritual sense. From these things it is evident that by 'prophets' in the spiritual sense are meant all who are wise from the Lord, whether they also teach or do not teach. And because every meaning truly spiritual is abstracted from the idea of persons, places and times, so a 'prophet' also signifies, in the supreme sense, the Lord as to the Word and as to doctrine from the Word, and likewise the Word and doctrine; and, in the opposite sense, by 'prophets' are signified perversions and falsifications of the Word, and falsities of doctrine." (A. E. 624:16.)

     But as there is an immutable distinction between the Word (or the Divine Doctrine Itself fixed in ultimate form) and the derivative doctrine which is received and taught by those in the spiritual affection of truth,-who, in a less exalted sense are also meant by "prophets"-this distinction is taught in these words of the Lord: "If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses (is) not so. . . . With him will I speak mouth to mouth, and not in dark sayings; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." (Numbers 12:6-8.)

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     From the general prediction of prophetic gifts,-"your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,"-to the end of the text, there follows a series of expressions in triple order concerning the outflowing Divine Truth in the Church,-the pouring forth of the Spirit of God. It is said: "Your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit." "Your old men shall dream dreams," signifies that the wise shall receive Revelation; for "dreams," in the supreme sense, here signifies Revelation itself. "Your young men shall see visions," means that those who are in intelligence will have a perception of Revelation, perception referring to the intellectual comprehension, whereas the reception with the wise is of the life's affection. And the final statement, that the Spirit will be poured out even upon "the servants and handmaids," means that those who are merely in knowledges or scientific truths will be led and enlightened.

     This day witnesses the beginning of these things. As in the morning of the First Christian Church, the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit in the New Revelation, and the power of the spiritual world operating through that Revelation, are received in an external and fragmentary manner. As is the historic on-sweep of outward Christianity, so now the face of the world is changed. It has become a reasoning world,-a world which prides itself upon facing facts. At times it would seem to be a rational world, if we did not reflect that the essence of rationality is to see that there is an infinite origin of finite things, and a Divinely Human Governor of the universe. This essential vision is fading from view, except with that remnant which has already accepted the New Revelation in spirit and in truth; even as the belief in a personal God is rapidly dying as a historical of faith, while yet there is plenty of appeal to Jesus as a sort of demigod.

     This reasoning and almost reasonable world is fast reaching a state as to unfaith and spiritual blindness which is comparable with that upon which the waters of Noah descended. Only the Divine Word Itself can give us confidence that order will be built out of this chaos,-that this blending of good and evil states can be the matrix of the Lord's Crowning Church, which, despite any rise and fall of its groups and convocations, shall not pass away, nor need the renewal of ultimate Revelation.

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     The ability to see and believe this crown of faith set in the mists of the future is the power to see visions and to dream dreams. The vision is the perception of Revelation, and the "dreaming of dreams" is the actual reception of the Divine Message in one's heart. Dreams, which we are apt to think of only as a vague and filmy tissue, can have this high significance in the Word because Divine dreams (which were visions into the spiritual world) have often been the means of Revelation, and were the first means of Divine speech with the celestial men.

     The foresight of the future which comes as a Divinely sanctioned dream of a rejuvenated world, and of a Church established in the "beauty of holiness"-this, a "vision" with the intelligent, and a "dreaming of dreams" with the wise, is fundamental to the immediate tasks, to the daily shouldering of our work as New Churchmen. It is very true that we cannot progress only by dreaming dreams and dwelling upon visions of the future, but still we cannot progress without such vision. We must not, dare not, sit in idleness, converting the foresight of Revelation into unproductive day-dreams. Nevertheless, the daily task is unprofitable if it be regarded as leading nowhere,-s sinking into oblivion with the setting sun.

     Only that is worth while which looks to eternity. Eternal things alone are real; others are transitory. And yet, as we have said, the eternal goal is to be reached only by the sincere, just, and faithful performance of that which lies immediately before us. There lies before us a double duty. We need to renew our vision of the New Jerusalem and its final triumph,-to dream great dreams of the tremendous changes in which our puny efforts are to bear a part; and, with all this, we must realize that the daily work of our calling, our service to the external church, and the battle of regeneration in the contacts which Providence provides,-that these are the means by which we can expedite the fruition of radiant dream and golden vision; at the same time, they are the only means of attaining our individual crown of life.

     It is the vision of eternity which alone can rescue mankind from itself. Only spiritual vision, together with grim battle against the natural man--love to the Lord and the neighbor subduing self and the world-this alone can save the world. Eternity must be placed at the heart of all the institutions and fields of endeavor which the Lord maintains and defends.

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Marriage must be viewed as an eternal union; for eternity is the distinguishing mark of that which is spiritual. All education likewise is true and complete only in so far as it looks through the future and to eternity.

     To this goal of living in time for eternity we must consecrate ourselves, and to its daily task we must set our shoulders, so that it may be said of us: "Four sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions"; or, as it is written in another place, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." (Isaiah 44:3.) Amen.

LESSONS: Joel 2:21-32. Luke 24:25-53. A. C. 4682.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 517, 543, 638.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 156, 160.
WAYSIDE NOTES 1931

WAYSIDE NOTES       G. A. MCQUEEN       1931

     XIV.

     Misinterpreting Phrases.

New Church people are commonly in danger of misinterpreting statements made by Old Church preachers and lecturers who use words that are familiar, but which are used in the New Church with an entirely different meaning. In radio talks on the subject of religion, the speaker may quote the Letter of the Word with such aptness that we immediately surmise that the teaching given must be from a New Church source. The same applies to many books published today on the subject of religion. Their authors quote the Scriptures, and bring out many new ideas which seem to be in agreement with New Church doctrine, leading some to think that they see in this the "signs of the progress of human thought, and an appreciation of spiritual values resulting from the New Age." This is one way of describing "Permeation."

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     Use of the Lord's Name.

     That great care should be exercised it drawing conclusions from utterances apparently in agreement with New Church doctrine, is well shown in an editorial of the NEW CHURCH REVIEW for October, 1930, pp. 463-471. It is there pointed out that, while all the churches may use the same words, they do not mean the same thing, the conclusion being that New Churchmen should not rest satisfied until they have made sure of the meaning intended. The writer of the editorial illustrates the subject by showing the conflicting meanings of words used by people when expressing their belief in the Lord. Referring to the fact that New Church organizations "rest upon the basis of a commonly accepted body of knowledge, and upon certain convictions that are held in common," he continues: "Those convictions are expressed variously in words, and are held more or less definitely and consistently; but they bind together the members into a community. Of these convictions there are two which are supreme and controlling. We express them by saying, We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Humanity is the one only God of heaven and earth; and we believe that the Bible, by virtue of its spiritual meaning, is the Word of God to men. These two articles of faith are distinctive; and it is this feeling and conviction of distinctiveness that makes the New Church membership into a spiritual communion" (p. 464).

     He then goes on to show how differently the words of our belief are understood in the Christian Church, especially in the use of the Lord's name. The phrase "Jesus was divine," or "Christ was God," usually means to a Christian "that Jesus Christ was the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity; or it may mean, as it does in the faith of the New Jerusalem, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the glorified Human, the one only God of heaven and earth " (p. 465).

     Further he notes: "It is one thing to acknowledge the Lord Jesus, the exemplary good man, and quite another to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as uniquely Divine.. .. Then the phrases, 'Jesus the merely good man,' 'Jesus the uniquely divine man,' 'Jesus Christ the Son of God,' and 'the Lord Jesus Christ Glorified is the one only God,' have each a distinct religious meaning and value" (p. 466).

     Similar ambiguities are found in the present-day references to the "Word of God," many conflicting meanings being held by different speakers and writers.

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The article should be read by all New Churchmen.

     Another Point of View.

     We might ask whether Old Church people may not be misled by those of the New Church who do not make clear their distinctive beliefs regarding the Lord and His Word. Many people have been heard to say, after listening to a New Church teacher, that they could not see any difference from what they had heard in their own churches. I remember an interesting case of this kind. Many years ago a fellow townsman had attended a number of New Church lectures. He was a Wesleyan. One evening he stopped me in the street and asked what we really believed about the Lord. I answered him to the best of my ability, with the result that he agreed that our understanding of the Word did not agree with his belief. He always remained friendly, but attended no more New Church lectures.

     Children's Ideas of God.

     Some months ago, the LITERARY DIGEST published a summary of answers given by children when asked to give their ideas of God. The questions were asked of 575 Sunday School children by Dr. Angus H. McLean, the object being to test their knowledge of religion and prayer. The answers were such as would naturally come from children attending Sunday School. While most of them pictured God in forms harmless to the child mind, a small percentage replied in a way which, in an adult, would be called profane.

     The report well says: "The majority of the children's ideas show a striking parallel with thought expressed in religious literature and in church services. Many are vague and fantastic." The Knickerbocker Press comments: "The vagueness of the child-mind pictures of the Almighty is only an analog of the vagueness of the mental picture of grown-ups in this and other ages. When precision is attained by reasoning adults, it may be transmitted to youngsters, and not before."

     The concluding words of the comment just quoted furnish much food for thought to New Churchmen who wish the children to grow up and remain in the Church. Dr. McLean further states that "there is not anywhere a hint of the difficulties Biblical scholars have encountered in the study of the records."

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Is not this last statement a wonderful illustration of the Lord's protection of little children? It is also a warning against anticipating states of doubt with children, who should be kept in an affirmative faith as long as possible. They will thus be prepared to meet doubts when they arise.
CHOIR IN THE CHURCH 1931

CHOIR IN THE CHURCH       BESSE E. SMITH       1931

     "The internal of the church consists in willing good from the heart, and in being affected with good; and the external consists in putting it into practice, according to the truth of faith which is known from good. But the external of the church consists in the holy performance of rituals, and in doing the works of charity, according to the precepts of the church." (A. C. 6587.)

     All of the arts are used in the ritual of the church service, but the one art that is outstanding is that of music, wherever two or three are gathered together. Music is the universal means of expressing common affections. It is one way in which a group may express itself. By means of music, a number of people may do the same thing in the same way at the same time. Music prolongs and amplifies the service, developing and satisfying an affectional state; it raises and sustains in a group a similar state of feeling, and gives opportunity for simultaneous expression. Addison says: "Music, when applied to religious worship, raises noble hints in the minds of the hearers and fills them with great conceptions. It strengthens devotion and advances praise into rapture. Sometimes it can remove the mists which hide for us the oneness and peace that lie at the center of existence."

     The music of the church service is intended to be sung by all the people who come together to worship. All people are given voices with which to sing, and if everyone were accustomed to sing from early childhood, the unanimous sound of the voice in worship would have an overpowering beauty.

     In his "Notes on the Service and Ritual," Bishop W. F. Pendleton says: "In an ideal condition the whole congregation would be trained as a choir or chorus, but in our present limitations a specially appointed choir is necessary."

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We should look forward to a time when all the people will be able to sing, and to sing well, all the music of the church service. What, then, is the office of the present choir?

     The choir has a twofold office: to represent the people, and to lead the people. I can imagine a day when the whole congregation marches into the church, in perfect unity, all singing a song of praise, of penitence, or whatever subject belongs to the day. In its procession, the choir represents the people, entering for worship solemnly and gladly; and that state of mind, which is proper to entrance into conjunction with the Lord, has much to do with a preparation for worship, which is initiated when the choir enters.

     In general, the singing of the choir should lead the people to sing. It would be better to have no choir at all than one to which the people merely listen. The choir, as a part of the congregation, represents the whole; and as it sings the whole people should sing. There are places in the service where the choir may sing alone, or there may be instrumental music, and the office of this music is to lead the people into a higher spiritual state through the delight of hearing. Also, there are special musical services where the choir sings much more than usually; in these there is a recognition of the office of music in closing the mind to external things, and opening it interiorly to something that is akin to the songs of heaven.

     The choir, as a representative of the people, and as leading the people, should be composed only of members of the church, or of young people brought up in the church, who are presumably to become members. Several years ago, Bishop N. D. Pendleton suggested that the young people of the Seminary and Boy's Academy should be trained to act as a choir in the church service. The main reason for this suggestion was that these young people are being taught the music of the church as a part of their school work; moreover, some of them do sing in the choir. Oh further consideration, however, this suggestion was not carried out, for the reason that most of these young people are too immature for real choir singing. They have lost their childish voices, and have not gained their adult voices in full degree. Only a small proportion of the students is ready to sing in an adult choir, and these should not be called upon to take the lead. Judgment is needed, not only in musical matters, but in the things of worship. The more adult members should furnish a sphere of worship for the younger members.

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     Who, then, should form the choir? Those of the congregation who are the most musical, those who have good voices. In the recent Pageant, "The Story of Joseph," given by the Academy students, there was one part sung off the stage by a group of men. They were not Academy students, but men busy with varied profession or business, who took time, and spent effort and thought, that they might sing well the words that carried the action on the pageant stage. The students on the stage sang the internal of the representation; the men behind the scenes sang the literal story of the action. Leisure for preparation was scant, but they knew how to sing, and the beauty of their part of the pageant appealed to all. These are the men who should form the nucleus of our choir; and there is an equal number of women endowed by the Lord with the voices to form the other half of the choir.

     There should be a great delight in this form of use in the church. There is the delight in the use of the voice, in the music of the service, in taking part worthily in the movement and rhythm of the ritual of worship, and the delight in giving one's self to form a part of a perfect whole.

     We might inquire into the kind of choirs in use in the former church, especially those who are volunteers, not professional musicians paid to sing in a church toward which they feel no allegiance. In some there are choirs of men and boys. Boys from eight to sixteen years of age sing the soprano and alto. At the period of mutation they leave the choir, to return later when the man's voice has developed to sing tenor or bass. Many of the professional musicians of the present day began their musical life as choir boys, profiting by the training given by the choir director. In the years before the change of voice, many boys who have been trained to use the head voice develop a beautiful tone of brilliant quality. Some churches have a volunteer chorus-choir of men and women, and often the members take vocal lessons privately, that they may give good service in their choir. The poorest sort of choir as an adjunct of worship is the quartet of professional singers. The pastors of these churches and their music committees would tell us that the most important thing is to have a good choir director, and the second is to have a good organist.

     The ideal choir is not so much a musical excellence as a state of mind.

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The thought must be concerned with worship, and with music as a part of the rhythm of Divine worship. The object of the choir is to give the best possible service to the worship and honor of the Lord, That every member should have such single-minded purpose is difficult, seemingly impossible, when we consider the complexities and problems of our nature and life. But we should continually remind ourselves, as church musicians, that the object of music in worship is to intensify the words. A choir should not carry passengers; everyone should pull his own weight. By constant practice and performing together, each member can and should understand his own capabilities and those of every other singer; and they must be in sympathy with one another. Encouragement should be given to individuals, but never at the expense of the whole, for a perfect ensemble is the goal to be attained.
ADVENT OF THE LORD 1931

ADVENT OF THE LORD              1931

     The Salvation of the Human Race by the Advent of the Lord into the World.

     Without the advent of the Lord into the world, no one on this earth could have believed that it is He who rules the universe, and that He is the Only Son of God; for the prophecies concerning Him were then so obscured in human minds that they would not have believed in any but a Messiah who would be King upon earth. That there is an interior man, and what the interior man is, would have been wholly unknown throughout the world; at length there would have been no interior man upon earth, and consequently no remains of the interior and more interior man could have been preserved in the man of this earth. (Spiritual Diary 1502-1504.)

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DISTINCTIVENESS 1931

DISTINCTIVENESS       Rev. F. W. ELPHICK       1931

     (A paper read at The First South African Assembly, Durban, Natal, September 12th, 1929.)

     Every religion, every race, and every nation, is known by its distinctive character. Every sect of religion, and every lesser society of men promoting the uses of science, art, medicine, law or commerce, has its distinctive membership, rules, signs and technical phrases. Such distinctiveness brings order among men. They honor and respect it.

     When the distinctive doctrines of the New Jerusalem began to affect the hearts and minds of men, this same quality-distinctiveness-came into being. Strangely, however, its birth and growth have met with opposition. For although distinctiveness, in its origin, is a law of heaven; although this law enters into the economy of the three kingdoms of nature; and although it influences the conduct of men and their uses; yet it has been said, and is often said in this, our day, that in the case of the New Church, distinctiveness is not necessary.

     Mindful of the fact that many have written upon this subject, it is here purposed to recapitulate briefly the origin and need for distinctive thought and life in the upbuilding of the New Church on earth.     

     I.

     Since history and historical comparison induce a breadth of view, it will be useful to travel back to the time when the first Christian Church was in its infancy. With the few records of that period which are to hand, some idea of primitive Christianity may be gathered. In an anonymous epistle to Diognetus, the following interesting passage, written in striking antitheses, describes the life of the early Christians:

     "The Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe.

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For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has been determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as foreigners. Every foreign country is to them their native land, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry as do all; they beget children. . . . They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are the citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and are restored to life. . . . They are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign a reason for their hatred." (A Source Book for Ancient Church History, by J. C. Ayer, pp 28, 29.)

     Here we have a glimpse of how the early Christians were viewed about the end of the first century and at the beginning of the second century. Now the New Church, dating from A.D. 1770, is in her one hundred and sixtieth year. If an apology were needed, how would it read? It might read as follows:

     "New Churchmen are distinguished from other men, neither by country, nor by race, nor by language, nor by the customs which they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, but they endeavor to form communities some distance from a city, when circumstances permit. They do not employ a particular kind of speech, but are prone to use distinctive words and phrases, as found in their Divinely given theology. They do not lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The conduct which they follow is not of human device, but the result of adherence to the Divine Word of the Old and New Testaments, as Divinely explained in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, revealed through Emanuel Swedenborg. They inhabit the towns and cities of their respective countries, according as the lot of each has been ordained by Providence. They follow, for the most part, the customs and fashions of their countrymen in respect to clothing and food; they are men and women of affairs. Yet, if their motive were shown, they display a wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.

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They dwell in their own countries; for their country is a neighbor whose good is to be consulted. As citizens, they share in all things with others; for a community, to them, is also a neighbor whose good is to be consulted. Even the payment of taxes, and other like obligations, are to them the private duties of charity; while they regard charity itself as acting justly and faithfully in their business and employment. They marry as do all, yet preferably among those who have accepted in heart and in mind the doctrine of the True Christian Religion. They beget children, and some prefer their children to be educated in their own schools and colleges. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh, regarding the pleasures of life as means for the performance of spiritual and natural uses. Thus they pass their days on earth in preparation for a life in heaven. They obey the prescribed laws of their countries, but endeavor to place in such obedience a spiritual-moral motive, shunning all evil as sin against God. They love the good in all men, yet with discretion, being doctrinally conscious of the difference between merely natural good and spiritual good. They ale often persecuted by innuendo and studied silence. They are misunderstood by the Christian sects around them, being regarded as followers of an "insane" man named Swedenborg; while their learning, though in appearance like that of the learned world, is not the learning of the learned."

     It is doubtful if such a paraphrase and apology for the New Church of the present day is adequate. But whatever might be the improvement thereon, the experiment helps to focus the difficulty of exactly defining all that is involved in New Church distinctiveness. The summary, moreover, visualizes the complex nature of allegiance to the New Church-to be in the world, but not of the world; to be of the Church, as well as being in the Church.

     II.

     With the problem thus presented, the next step in the analysis of "distinctiveness," as applied to the New Church, is to note the teaching of doctrine.

     It is said in the Writings (A. E. 299) that the real internal 'state' of the Church is known to the Lord alone. From this it can be seen that He alone knows the real distinctive form of the New Church.

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This is hidden from man. Since, too, the New Church is a universal church, an internal church, a spiritual church, its distinctiveness on the part of man is also one of spirit; and it is according to love, affection, conscience, motive-the purging of evil, and the doing of right, according to individual reception of Divine Good and Divine Truth in a state of freedom.

     There are also passages in the Doctrines which relate to the origin of distinctiveness, as the following:-

     "The holy proceeding from the Lord causes the heavens to be most distinct." (A. C. 6864.)

     "It is supposed that wisdom distinguishes; but wisdom is from love; it is the form of love. Love is the esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life from that esse. . . . Inasmuch as love makes the life of man, and thus the man himself, all societies of heaven, and all angels in societies, are arranged according to affections belonging to love, and no society, nor any angel in a society, according to anything of the understanding apart from love." (D. L. W. 368.)

     "Nothing that a man merely thinks, nor even that which he thinks to will, is appropriated to him, unless at the same time he so far wills it as to do it if the opportunity offers." (D. P. 80.)

     Such considerations are necessary, since when attention is directed to the ultimate forms of distinctiveness in the individual and collective life in this world, the mind is concentrated upon external concerns, and these, though useful in their place and season, are not the essentials. "It is the spirit that quickeneth." It is the spirit entering into externals which really builds the distinctive New Church; and this holds true irrespective of age, century, customs, race, nationality and the acquisition of scientific knowledge. When considering, therefore, the outward external conditions of distinctiveness, it is essential that the real things which make the Church be borne in mind. Unless this be done, attention to mere external forms may detract from a true balance.

     III.

     From the quotations just cited from the Doctrines, it may be seen that love for the truths of the Church causes distinctiveness, and not anything of the understanding apart from love. Again, it is the love, affection, or desire to apply truths to life when opportunity offers that causes distinctiveness. This is just what the history of the New Church on earth confirms.

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It is the great affection which some men have had that has brought the ultimate distinctiveness of the New Church into being. By loving to approach the Lord in the light of all His Revelations to men, by loving the truths of His Word, and by loving to live in conformity with them, a beginning has been made in the ultimate forms of distinctive ritual, distinctive education, distinctive thought, distinctive social life, and distinctive marriage. Providence has given opportunities, and in the Divine Providence men have seen those opportunities. Indeed, such opportunities have often been surrounded with opposition and not a little persecution. The future, too, will no doubt present opportunities, but men must be in a state of true enlightenment to see them.

     Let us pause here for a moment, and consider these ultimate forms of distinctive life. What are they? For what do they stand?

     Distinctive Ritual in worship implies a ritual in which all the details of external worship are in accordance with the revealed science of correspondences and the use of significatives employed and understood in the light of true doctrine. Such ritual is a dress or covering of Divine Truth, resulting from an affection for that truth, and providing opportunity for a united approach to the Lord, and for learning the truths of His Word in unison of thought. Ritual is a means for the re-creation of worship, to the end that true worship may abide in the faithful, daily performance of the uses of life; while this means and this end lead to the final end,-the blessing of heavenly life in the Lord's kingdom.

     Distinctive Education-here specifically that of home, school and college-again provides for approaching the Lord, learning the truths of His Word, and living in conformity therewith. It involves the distinctive discipline of human hearts, the beginnings and establishment of reverence, honesty, decorum, gratitude, respect for law and order, thoughtfulness for the neighbor's freedom and feelings-all attributes of the will or love; all attributes embraced by the terms "charity" and "good." Distinctive education, moreover, provides opportunity to view the wonders of the Lord's creation and the rule of His Providence over the affairs of men. It is the opportunity for a new curriculum, as a means of developing intelligence, wisdom, understanding, or all those qualities embraced in the terms "faith" and "truth."

     Distinctive New Church Thought is consequently strengthened by the two uses just named-ritual and education.

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For every New Churchman, having once seen the vision of the New Church, must have felt (and if he remains steadfast to his "first love," must always feel) that distinctive light within him which is due to the white stone, "and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." Love and affection for the New Church Doctrines brings a sphere of light which modifies and qualifies the reading of all other literature, whether this be of science, of art of philosophy, or of fiction. It may not, indeed, be necessary to record such thought in a written form-and time and attention to the specific uses of life may not permit such memoranda-but it is always possible to make mental modification and qualification in the light of heavenly truth. In so far as this is done; in so far as this distinctive attitude is encouraged and educated; and in so far as all the opportunities of reading afford. a mental plane is developed into which influx from the New Heaven may flow. For the love and thence the understanding derive their warmth and light from that sphere, and not from the light of mere human intelligence. In proportion as this plane is formed, individuals are daily helping the establishment of distinctive New Church thought in this world. They are even giving their quota to potential influences which will, in the good time of Providence, support more perfect forms of distinctive uses and recreations of the New Church of the future.

     Distinctive Social Life is another power for good in the upbuilding of the Church. It unites those who have a common love for the Church, and creates a sphere corresponding to that love. Here, also, opportunities abound. Speech, song, ditty, toast, and dance; vocal and instrumental music, theatricals, recitations. All these need skill, talent, efficiency, originality, and New Church distinctiveness. For example: What an uplifting sphere, if author, text, libretto, score, stage-setting, actors, actresses-one and all-could derive inspiration from the ideals and imagery set forth in the pages of Revelation, and their contrast with the evil, falsity, and false imaginations of merely worldly aspirations and delusions! There is, indeed, an infinite field of activity lying in this direction. New Church social life needs thinkers and workers. There should be no spirit of cold criticism-destructive criticism; no motive of what personal pleasure can be got out of this social life; but rather the spirit of what each can give towards its development.

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     Distinctive Marriage must also come under review. All the distinctive forms of the external life of the Church which we have noted pertain, for the most part, to the collective life of men,-their institutional life. But in the centre of all this is the life of marriage, the life of the home, the life of distinctive marriage according to the new doctrine of conjugial love. This word "conjugial," as is well known, is a distinctive word. "Conjugal" is the word known in the Christian Church, and in the civil law framed within the sphere of the Christian Church; but "conjugial" is the word given to the New Church by Divine Revelation. It means not only the conjunction of the qualities of good and truth, love and wisdom, charity and faith, but also the unition of minds.

     Now, if minds are to be conjoined-really conjoined-or, even more accurately stated, in the continual regenerative effort to be conjoined-those minds must be of the same religion. Moreover, if conjugial love is according to the state of the Church with man (C. L. 130), the following effects result: Providence provides similitudes of character, in order that conjugial love may grow. If it be of Providence, homes with children will come into being from such unions. Such children will require education in the home, and then in the schools and colleges of the Church. Thus the uses of the church, country and society will be sustained; all such uses being regarded as preparations for a life of use in the heavenly kingdom. It is the circle of life: from the Creator and heaven to men on earth; from men on earth to heaven and the Creator. If this be the beautiful doctrine, the inspiring ideal of the New Church, then how important it is that the conjugial union, the distinctive married life within the church, be desired and sought!

     IV.

     Now, as the organized church on earth extends and becomes more perfect, it will enlist those who have been born and educated in other spheres. The external distinctive life will, in many instances, arrest attention. It may be the ritual, the social life, the mode of thought, or even the attraction of sex. Such folk, at first sight, will see the effects of the experience of previous New Church generations who have brought such external life into being. They will see the results of that pioneer work which required study, concentration, application of doctrine to life, in an age when there were no settled, distinctively New Church forms of intellectual, social, or religious life.

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     Thus, as the Church grows in outward power and strength, newcomers (and they should always be welcomed) will have their own perplexities and problems. Their manner of thinking may be shown in such questions as these: "Why this form of ritual!" "Why is this social life, apparently seclusive?" "Why the strange expressions so often used,-sphere, influx, good, truth, will, understanding, internal, external, conjugial, devastation, Old Church!" "And why so necessary that both married partners be of this religion!"

     To all such the admonition must be, that whatever the attraction, there must be an affection for the source of all these external forms and signs. Ritual may afford pleasing music and the reverential feeling of Sunday worship; social life may afford dances, cards, and all the amenities of recreation; readings, reasonings and discussions may stimulate the intellect; pleasant faces and chivalric manners may induce courtship; but all these things are not the vital life of the Church, although they may be the means given by Providence whereby men and women may be led to the Church. A desire to search for the truth; a willingness to find out what this New Dispensation really is and means; an affection for the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem and their application to one's own reformation and regeneration;-these are the things which are to be sought and examined, and these are the things that will help the realization of conjugial love, which inmostly qualifies the distinctive life of the Church.

     If, under the guidance of Providence, courtship and marriage be a means of introducing a partner to the Church, then, on the side of the one so introduced and in heartfelt favor of the New Church, let the saying of Ruth come to mind, "Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." (Ruth 1:16.)

     We have dwelt upon this theme, because reflection upon the external distinctive life of the Church is sometimes called for. When the "first love" of the early Christian Church passed away, and when that Church became a power in the world, and grew in external influence, then a spiritual decline set in. Here history, and the doctrine of the New Church viewing that history, give warning.

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The New Church itself, however, will not decline, for it is ordained to be the Crown of all the preceding Churches; but organizations of the New Church will decline, unless the essential things which make the Church abide in the love and thence in the understanding of men. Each generation will have its own viewpoint, but if there be not prayerful attention to the internal and vital life of the Church, external conditions may lead astray. The efficiency, talent, learning and social attractions of the world,-the modern spiritual Egypt surrounding the New Church,-though useful in place and season,-are ever pressing and alluring. There will always be the necessity of leaving Egypt, especially her fleshpots, and crossing the Jordan into the Land of Canaan,-the Church. If men are to be true to the Church, they cannot avoid that distinctive journey, whatever the means of entrance may be.

     V.

     If, now, the function of distinctiveness enters into ritual, education, social life; qualifies thought in matters of philosophy, science and art; and uplifts the institution of marriage to a purer and higher plane; then the factor of nationality receives a modifying influence. Already the march of civilization and the wonderful inventions of men, bridging time and space, are changing the character of the relationship between nations. To dwell upon such changes is not, however, our present purpose. The emphasis here lies in the direction of the distinctive life of the New Church in relation to nationality. Will this distinctive life take the same external form the world over? In some respects, yes; in some respects, no. Again, it will be the real essentials of the Church that must be borne in mind. These pertain to the spiritual life of mankind, the spiritual life of all nations. Such life will find ultimate or distinctive clothing, according to the opportunities given by Providence to men, and according to their reception of the truths of the Second Coming from affection.

     This clothing or dress will necessarily be modified by the customs, traditions and genius of any particular race or nation. Indeed, differences of national character and genius are of decided use in the upbuilding of the New Church; for the New Church has to learn what is meant by unity in variety. Such conditions, however, can only come about in a state of freedom,-a freedom in which men compel themselves to obey that-which is of Divine Order.

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Hence there will be no rigid laws enforcing distinctiveness of any particular form. There will be no Papal Bulls from Rome dictating in defiant terms how this and that is to be understood or done. For example, there will be no such commands as these:

     "If any one shall say that in divine revelation there are no mysteries, truly and properly so called, but that all doctrines of faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles, by properly cultivated reason: let him be anathema." (Schaff's Creeds of Christendom, Vol. II, pp. 254-295.)

     "If any one shall assert it to be possible that sometimes, according to the progress of science, a sense is to be given to the doctrines propounded by the Church different from that which the Church has understood and understands: let him be anathema." (Ibid.)

     "If any one-which may God avert-presume to contradict this our definition: let him be anathema." (Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 270, 271.)

     Such dicta are not of the spirit of the New Church. Yet, because the New Church,-a new dispensation of the government of the Lord,-is a universal church, a spiritual church, above nation and race, therefore, because of this condition, and because of the affection of truth in the light of truth, and the desire to apply those truths to life, distinctiveness must assume, in many instances, a similar dress. Hence it is that those who are in the common love of the Church, and thence in the common faith of the Church, and are agreed upon one or two definite revealed principles the world over, feel drawn to each other, and perceive the sphere of the universal True Christian Religion.

     The subject of nationality and New Church distinctiveness leads to the consideration of race. Here again distinctiveness is involved. It requires a distinctive attitude between race and race. In this, all kinds of difficulties may attend. But if the New Church is to be what its Doctrines declare, namely, the Crown of all the Churches, and to endure for ever, then, verily, the difficulties of race adjustment must, in the end, be solved by the True Christian Religion. It will be the distinctive message of the New Church Doctrines that will furnish a solution. The process will be slow, great patience will be needed, and prayerful discretion required, on the part of all men. Self-pride, self-prejudice, human ideas of inferiority, superiority, and of mastery and servility, will receive correction and adjustment by the Word of God now revealed in its fullness.

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     VI.

     To sum up: It has been briefly shown that distinctiveness is a law which pertains to the spiritual and natural worlds. It is a law of order. It is love and affection which is the vital cause of distinctiveness; and there is no wisdom, intelligence, faith and belief apart from love. It was affection for the teachings of the Lord at His First Coming that brought distinctiveness to the Christian Church. It is affection for the teachings of the Lord at His First and Second Comings that has brought distinctiveness to the New Church. Real distinctiveness, as applied to the New Church, is one of spirit and motive,-the cleansing of that spirit by the affection of truth and its application to life, when opportunity offers. Without the continuance of such a spirit, external forms, however proficient, may become empty and lifeless. It has been noted how Providence gives opportunity, and that it is of Providence that men see those opportunities. Thus it has been love for the truth, and application to individual and collective life, that has brought into being the beginnings of distinctive ritual, distinctive education, distinctive social life, distinctive thought, and distinctive marriage. It is distinctiveness that modifies, and will modify, the earthly distinction of nationality and race.

     It may be concluded, therefore, that distinctiveness, and a spiritual-rational understanding of it, derived from heartfelt affection for the Lord's New Church, needs all the attention that can be given it. The New Church is not a self-righteous, prudish, exclusive, and seclusive sect. It may so appear to those who do not perceive its doctrine of life and its doctrine of faith. There is, however, a clear fact which cannot be avoided. It is this. Loyal adherence to the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem causes distinctiveness. Indeed, such loyalty involves the existence of a "peculiar people," as were the Israelites of old-representing the Church. Hence it is, that without any attachment of self-pride, self-merit, and without any pretension to being the "elect," the words of the Old Testament become applicable to the New Church, enduring, as this Church will, throughout the ages: "For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." (Deuteronomy 7:6.)

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AUTHOR OF "THE GOLDEN DOG." 1931

AUTHOR OF "THE GOLDEN DOG."       ARTHUR CARTER       1931

     WILLIAM KIRBY AND THE NEW CHURCH.

WILLIAM KIRBY. The Portrait of a Tory Loyalist. By Lorne Pierce. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited, at St. Martin's House, 1929. Pp. xiv, 477.

     Historic Quebec, the only walled city on the American continent, is singularly rich in souvenirs of the past. Of these souvenirs probably none exceeds in romantic interest the gilded and sculptured tablet known as "Le Chien d'Or," or "The Golden Dog." Modeled in low relief, a dog is stretched at ease gnawing the thigh bone of a man. Above and below the couchant figure, a portentous and enigmatic verse in old French is deeply graven in the stone. It reads:

     Je suis un chien qui ronge l'os,
     En le rongeant je prend mon repos.
     Un temps viendra qui n'est pas venu
     Que je mordrai qui m'aura mordul.
          1736

     Kirby's translation

     I am a dog that gnaws his bone;
     I couch and gnaw it all alone.
     A time will come, which is not yet,
     When I'll bite him by whom I'm bit.

     The tablet originally proclaimed its warning from the facade of the imposing edifice of Philibert the trader. The edifice has long since been razed, but the Golden Dog, surviving every vicissitude, has been preserved uninjured for two centuries. It is now placed, where it may be seen by all, over the main entrance of the city post office, which, strangely enough, occupies the former site of the trader's establishment.

     Whilst visiting Quebec in the summer of 1865, William Kirby conceived the idea of writing an historical romance. He selected the declining years of the Old Regime (1748-59) as the period in which his characters were to act, and built his plot upon the legendary tales which had grown around the Golden Dog.

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He little thought, when he assumed his self-imposed task, that twelve laborious years would elapse before he had completed his masterpiece. But the result justified his efforts, however prolonged. Since its publication in 1877, The Golden Dog has gradually obtained recognition as a work of permanent value. Numberless editions have been printed during the past fifty years, and its popularity has in no wise diminished. That the merits of the book have not been overestimated by the reading public may be supported by the opinion of so competent a judge as Sir Gilbert Parker, himself an authority on the Old Regime. He says: "It is a singular thing, to my mind, that all the history of Canada had produced only one really notable work of fiction,-William Kirby's Le Chien d'Or,-a veritable mine of information and research, a powerful and admirable piece of romance, not the easiest in the world to read, and yet one to which I wish to pay my tribute."

     Until wantonly butchered and mutilated by its Publisher (1897), The Golden Dog was welcomed in New Church circles. The author, evidently a receiver of the Doctrines, had deftly woven into his romance an unusually pleasing and well-informed sketch of Swedenborg and his teachings. The New Church Evidence Society issued a statement warmly praising the volume, and the Rev. C. T. Odhner, equally as enthusiastic in the columns of NEW CHURCH LIFE (1897), commended Kirby for his minute and correct knowledge of Swedish history. Mr. Odhner would have been more than gratified, could he have seen the following on page 416 of the biography under review: "He (Kirby) was particularly happy over a notice of The Golden Dog which appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE for December: 'We have never come across a more affirmative notice of Swedenborg and his mission, nor one introduced with more accuracy and skill.' That from the official organ of the Church of the New Jerusalem." Evidently a copy of the LIFE was amongst Kirby's papers. It would be interesting to know how he came by it.

     In the editions prior to the year 1897, the major part of Chapter 39 consisted of conversations between Peter Kalm and Galissoniere, Governor of Canada, and subsequent victor over the luckless Admiral Byng. Kalm, the Swedish scientist and traveler, visited Quebec in 1749. On his return to Europe he recorded his impressions of the New World in Voyage de Kalm en Amerique (1770).

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"This latter work," says Kirby's biographer, "gave him the excuse of introducing a long chapter on the teachings of Swedenborg."

     For the purposes of the story, Kalm and Galissoniere are represented as having been fellow students at the University of Upsala when the celebrated Linnaeus was the pride of that seat of learning. The chapter we are describing commences with Kalm's acceptance of an invitation to dine with the Governor at his residence, the Castle of St. Louis. Other guests are present, several high in the affairs of the colony, such as Bishop Pontbriand, Reauharnois, Vaudreuil and La Come St. Luc. After the table is cleared, the wine brought out, and the pipes lit, a conversation upon various topics of interest ensues,-the age of the earth, the origin of the American Indians, and the political future of the continent. At this juncture, addressing Kalm, the Governor turns reminiscent, lingering over his student days at Upsala. He recalls the names of old classmates, wondering how they had fared throughout the years. When Kalm had satisfied his curiosity in this respect he finally asks:

     "There was one more of our class, Kalm, that wonderful youth Swedenborg where is he?"

     "Ah! he is at Stockholm in the body, but as to his spirit in all the seven heavens," replied Kalm, hardly explicit enough in his answer.

     "What mean you, Kalm? He was the brightest genius of the University," observed the Governor, his curiosity still quite piqued.

     "And still is," replied Kalm, emphatically. "Few can follow to the heights where soars the spirit of Swedenborg. After exhausting the philosophy of earth, he is now exploring that of heaven and hell. He is not, like Dante, led by the eidolon of a Virgil or a Beatrice through scenes of intensest imagery, but, in visions of divine permission, sees and converses with angels and spirits in their abodes of happiness or misery."

     As it continues, the dialogue gradually unfolds, in a plausible, unobtrusive manner, the high character, the great attainments and the mission of Swedenborg. It is the longest disquisition of the kind in any work of fiction, with the possible exception of Balzac's Seraphita. That, unfortunately, is disfigured by extravagant and erroneous statements, and portrays the Revelator as Somewhat of a high-society miracle monger.

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Kirby's chapter, on the other hand, is restrained and accurate throughout, calculated to inspire an affirmative reader with the desire to seek for further information. Too lengthy for reproduction in extense, one more quotation from the concluding part of the dialogue must here suffice:

     "When did you see him, Kalm?" asked the Governor, conjuring up to his mind's eye the handsome, grave youth of his early acquaintance.

     "Just before I left Stockholm on my present voyage," said Kalm. "He was in his favorite summer house in the orchard behind his residence in the Hornsgatan. You know the place, Count. It is there the heavens are opened to him, and there he writes the wonders of the Arcana Coelestia, which he will one day deliver to the world."

     Thirty years ago, New Churchmen were greatly astonished, and even piqued, on discovering that their favorite passages in The Golden Dog were omitted in the 1897 and subsequent editions. The work had been considerably abridged, the 39th Chapter excised, and so altered in other ways as to destroy much of its original character. No explanation was offered for the drastic changes beyond that of a prefatory note signed by Kirby, and dated May, 1897, to the effect that he had corrected and revised his work, and that this was the only edition offered with the sanction and approval of the author. It was natural to suppose, as many did, that Kirby had succumbed to the world, or had renounced his former convictions. This doubtful matter is now satisfactorily cleared up in Lorne Pierce's biography. Kirby was the victim of his publisher. His work was deliberately mutilated without his knowledge, and contrary to his written instructions.

     The Golden Dog was first printed by Lovell, Adam Pr Co., of Montreal, in 1877. The Company failed the following year, and the simultaneous collapse of the New York connection,-Lovell, Adam, Wesson & Co.,-threw the plates into the hands of the creditors. But the worst was yet to come. Kirby now learned that the publishers had not secured his copyright, as they had agreed to do, either in Canada or in the United States. In consequence of this neglect, he found himself without any legal or proprietary rights in The Golden Dog, within the first Year of its publication. And the fruit of his twelve laborious years became the spoil of every pirate printer.

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     The stereotype plates ultimately fell into the hands of R. Worthington, of New York, who brought out a new edition in 1878, which retained the numerous errors of the original. In 1880, Kirby wrote Worthington as follows:

     "It is useless for me to find fault with you for publishing my book, nor can I prevent it, seeing that my original publishers failed to register copyright for me, as they should have done. What I wish to say is, that if you are going to continue the issue of it, I should like it for my own sake to be corrected. The original work was got out in such a hurry by Messrs. Lovell, Wesson & Co., and was stereotyped without being revised, and contains many errors which I would willingly correct, merely for the sake of seeing my work as free from error as I wrote it. If you will send me a copy, I will correct it, and add the preface which Lovells by oversight left out."

     Worthington acknowledged the letter, but nothing was ever done. The plates of The Golden Dog passed from Worthington to Joseph Knight & Co., of Boston. In December, 1896, L. C. Page, who subsequently incorporated the publishing house under his own name, wrote on behalf of Knight & Co.: "We should be very glad indeed if it were possible to have an Authorized Edition from you, which would prevent the original pirates from having a sale of their book, and give us a good sale." Kirby did not reply.

     In March, after Page had taken over the Knight business as L. C. Page & Co., he wrote to Kirby: " We have decided to Publish a new edition if we can make satisfactory terms with you" It was proposed that Kirby should bring out a new edition, and, by authorizing it, obtain an advantage over the pirate printers. He should rewrite the book extensively, add new matter, and thus enable them to protect both parties. If this were done, and an explanatory preface added to show that it was the only proper edition, they were prepared to offer a small royalty. Kirby wrote his friend, Sir James Le Moine, about these proposed changes, and the reply received was in these words: "I entirely concur in your views; allow no mutilation." It was with this determination that Kirby replied to Page.

     The high-handed procedure on the part of Kirby's publisher is made known to the reading public, probably for the first time, in Lorne Pierce's biography. His account of the transactions between author and publisher is as follows:

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     "Page was disappointed over Kirby's unwillingness to make a condensed edition, but, since there seemed no way out, he decided to make a new set of plates of the complete book, with the proviso that Kirby give them an authorized edition, and accept a royalty as stated. 'With all due respect to your moral rights to the book, we suggest that legally you have no rights at all....' Kirby voiced his disgust at the shameful way in which he had been cheated out of his rights from the first, but the reply he received was, that if he did not accept the offer, they would likely have the book rewritten in condensed form. If Kirby, however, would accept the proposition, they would make a new set of plates in its 'present exact form' (italics ours). Upon accepting this agreement, Kirby received a rough draft of a prefatory note which he was to edit and return. The last sentence read thus: 'The result is the present edition, which I have corrected and revised in the light of the latest developments in the history of Quebec, and which is the only edition offered to my readers with the sanction and approval of its author.' (May, 1897.) With a copy sent for revision, and the request to add to the new edition as he thought best, Kirby began work. The result was not altogether satisfactory to the Boston firm. There was not much new material, and little abridgment. In consequence, they notified him that they were cutting out occasional sentences, and parts of paragraphs, which would 'not affect the contents.' Time went by, and Kirby's first intimation that the book was published came from a friend. He was surprised and grieved. He wrote his friends that it was L not his book, but the publisher's, a poor mutilated thing.'"

     During the ten years, 1896-1906, Kirby received about one hundred dollars from the Page edition, payments ceasing with his death. But such regrets as he undoubtedly felt over the mean reward for his labor were slight as compared with his bitter disappointment that his book had not appeared in the complete, unmutilated form in which he had every right to expect that it would. "If I get no profit out of the book," he wrote Page, "I ought to receive the credit as an author for what I really have written." In response, the publisher stated that, as for abridgments, it was merely a matter of opinion as to whether the book was benefited or not. Again, in reply to a correspondent who had complained about the omissions, the publisher said: "The reason the chapters you mention, together with a large amount of other matter, were omitted from the revised edition, was because our editors considered that such omissions were extraneous matter, and that the romance was consequently improved." Burdened with eighty years, without means, and at a legal disadvantage, Kirby was compelled to submit.

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     II. WILLIAM KIRBY AND ALEXANDER KINMONT.

     Born in the year 1817, in the north of England village of Kingston-upon-Hull, William Kirby came of humble ancestry. After he had received a schooling of the meagerest description, his father, John Kirby, a tanner and the son of a tanner, apprenticed him to the family calling. In 1832, the parents, with William and his four sisters, emigrated to America. Remaining a short time in New York, they proceeded westward, and eventually settled in Cincinnati. Here John Kirby secured employment as journeyman tanner at $8.00 a week, and William followed the same occupation:

     The picture of Cincinnati one hundred years ago is indelibly preserved in the pages of the amusing Mrs. Trollope. It was little more than a crude frontier town, uncouth, unkempt, and showed slight promise of its future development into a great commercial and industrial community. At this period, Alexander Kinmont, M.A., a brilliant young Scotchman, identified himself with the growing settlement, and, during a brief term of years, exercised an influence as unusual as it was profound.

     Alexander Kinmont was born near Montrose, Angusshire, Scotland, in 1799. Between the ages of five and eight he was hired out to a farmer. His father died about this time, and he was sent to school, where he was distinguished equally for his brilliance and his wilfulness. During a vacation he had the misfortune to lose an arm in a threshing machine, which proved to be the steadying influence he required. He entered St. Andrews, and then proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he obtained a high reputation for his classical attainments. Imbibing the principles of the French Revolution, and becoming the enemy of aristocracy and privilege, he naturally turned toward the Great Republic, and emigrated to America in 1823. Here he readily secured a position as teacher in the Classical Academy at Bedford, Pa.* His mind at this time was harassed with religious doubts, but a friend induced him to read the Arcana Coelestia, and thenceforth the course of his life was entirely changed.
     *It was at Bedford that Miss Hetty Barclay died in 1796. She has been "classed as the first woman in the world to accept the faith of the New Church." See Sketches of the New Church, in America, by Ednah C. Silver, who visited Kinmont's daughters at Glendale, Ohio, in 1908 (pp. 22-27).

     In 1827, he joined the westward flow of population and located in Cincinnati, where he entered business.

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Two years later he married Mary Eckstein, whose grandfather was a New Churchman who came to America from Germany about the year 1790. In 1833, Kinmont was asked to accept the office of minister of the First New Jerusalem Society of Cincinnati. This he declined, preferring to teach a class in their meetings, to speak occasionally, and to conduct a school for young men. "These students, one of whom was William Kirby, later became distinguished in many walks of life." During the winter of 1837-38, he delivered a series of lectures which were published the following year in a volume entitled Twelve Lectures on the Natural History of Man, and the Rise and Progress of Philosophy. (U. P. James, Cincinnati, 1839.) In 1864, a catechism of his was posthumously published as Plain Lessons from the Holy Word. Both of these works are in the Academy Library.

     Kinmont is briefly mentioned four times in the Annals of the New Church, and is described as "a man of extraordinary intellectual abilities, with very radical notions as to the priesthood and order in the Church."

     A description of this brilliant man and transient figure in the early New Church is preserved in one of Kirby's letters addressed to William Cooper Howells, who was U. S. Consul at Toronto, father of the novelist, and a receiver of the Doctrines. To quote:

     William Kirby to W. C. Howells, December 9, 1879

     Mr. Kinmont was the noblest character and most gifted, both in intellect and power of expression, I ever met in my discourse with mankind. And yet his manners were most simple and unaffected. A manly humility, without a trace of pretentiousness, as if he tried to place himself just on the best level of the person he spoke to, and always with such a frank, cordial sincerity that you felt at once that here was a God-made brother for you.

     His neat school room was adorned inside with a fine picture of Socrates,-the St. Paul of the pre-Christian Grecian world. Above the porch outside were conspicuously painted the following words, so indicative of the true character of the master:

     "Nil dictu foedum visuque haec limina tangitintra puer est. Procul, O, procul profani! Maxima debetur puero reverentia."

     He was a new advent in Cincinnati. His like had not been seen before, nor, I am sorry to think, has it since.

     I see him vividly coming up on Sunday morning, especially with his Greek Testament tucked under his one arm, leaving his hand free to salute his friends in that hearty, kindly way they never forgot.

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There would generally be about fifty people assembled (I must say the most eminent in the city). A hymn would be sung; then he would read a chapter out of the Scriptures; then he always recited the 51st Psalm and the Lord's Prayer. He generally took a chapter or a whole paragraph for a text, and such an eloquent, enlightening sermon would follow as I think no preacher ever surpassed. His mind was full of sciences. He abounded in the most apt illustrations from them, especially botany and physiology. Theology and science, to make a concord between which is the crux of the present age, wert in turn so elucidated and reconciled that you saw they were really at unison if rightly understood. Those ten years of his in Cincinnati were an apostolic lifetime which even yet bears fruit, and yet he met with those who could not appreciate him. His sensitive mind was cruelly hurt by ungenerous criticisms which proved that even in the Church there were not wanting those who fail in the practice of that large charity it so abundantly inculcates. If he had been spared, such a mind as his would have made a great mark in literature; but in his day there was no literature in the United States, and his efforts were disregarded. Yet I cannot but think that one of his works, his twelve lectures on the Natural History of Man, will be revived and held as one of the immortal products of the human mind. I heard them delivered by him. I know nothing in our language that surpasses them for vigor, depth and eloquence.

     The most fortunate episode in the early life of Kirby was the friendly interest of Alexander Kinmont. He gave him the freedom of his home, imbued him with the doctrines of the New Church, and transformed the uneducated youth into a man of culture. For years Kirby worked in the tannery with his father by day, and in the evening and on holidays studied under Kinmont. The thorough grounding he received in English prepared him for his literary career; and possessing, in common with his mentor, the flair for language, he mastered Latin, Greek, French and German. Later his linguistic studies included Hebrew, Italian, Swedish, and a number of Indian dialects.

     We are not informed as to whether Kirby was baptized into the New Church, but, with Kinmont, he signed the roll of the Second New Jerusalem Society of Cincinnati in 1837. The members of the Society were reluctant to lose Kirby when he departed for Canada, and the many letters he continued to receive from them long after he had settled at Niagara-on-the-Lake exhibit a striking testimonial of their esteem. We are convinced by a study of Kirby's biography that the 39th Chapter of The Golden Dog was intended to be a tribute to the memory of Alexander Kinmont, as well as a gesture of affection toward the old Cincinnati New Church friends.

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     III. KIRBY IN CANADA.

     In 1839, the Union was seething with sympathy and help for the cause of Mackenzie and Papineau, whose rebellion had recently been crushed in Upper and Lower Canada. Numerous clashes had occurred at various points along the border, and a dangerous state of tension was in the air. "War with England," said Kirby, "was fully expected, and many British-born like myself came to a resolution to go to Canada and aid in the defence of the Provinces." Kirby entered the Dominion at Chippawa, and saw many a burned and ruined homestead on the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake. The glory of that pleasant spot has long since departed, but when Kirby saw it ninety years ago it was a thriving community of 1500 people. It was a seat of government, an important military station, and a shipbuilding center of considerable magnitude. Although Kirby had come prepared to shoulder his musket, he found no outlet for his martial ardor, as the trouble had virtually subsided. Thereupon he crossed the lake to Toronto, and continued eastward as far as Quebec. He was greatly enamored of the old city, and saw for the first time the celebrated Golden Dog, then in its original position in the facade of the Philibert house on rue Buade.

     Retracing his steps, he decided to locate at Niagara-on-the-Lake, and there he set up in business on his own account as a tanner. Six years later an absconding partner ruined the enterprise. Kirby, unable to meet his liabilities, was jailed for debt. Escaping from his financial embarrassments through the assistance of friends, he abandoned his former occupation and taught school. In 1847 he married Eliza Madaline Whitmore, scion of an old U. E. Loyalist family. His matrimonial venture was not without material benefits, for part of his wife's dowry consisted of 150 fair acres of farm land.

     Kirby's circumstances had now improved to such an extent that, three years later, he was able to purchase the Niagara Mail, one of the oldest newspapers in Ontario. He edited and conducted the Mail until he disposed of it in 1863, in order that he might enter into politics and gratify his aspirations for office. Locally he served as reeve, councilman and mayor. And under the Dominion Government he successively held the positions of curator of the Niagara military reserve, collector of customs, and magistrate. He was relieved of the latter a year before his demise.

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The remuneration from these offices was barely sufficient, even for a man of his frugal habits and temperament.

     That Kirby, the favorite pupil of the radical Kinmont, should have been an extreme political reactionary is an anomaly difficult of explanation. But he was at least a man of independent views, and not of the herd. He believed in the splendor of the throne, the privileges of aristocracy, and the restricted liberty of the masses. He defended measures and abuses which none would support today, and he regarded all modern movements of reform as so many works of the devil. He used frequently to be called "the last of the Loyalists," and he was not a little Proud of the appellation.

     The Ursuline Convent of Quebec, in its every part, was described by Kirby in The Golden Dog with wonderful minuteness and exactitude. It has long been a mystery whence he obtained his intimate knowledge of this historic institution, since none but the highly privileged was permitted within the most sacred precincts. It now transpires that, while Kirby was engaged upon his novel, Josephine Lowe, a girl in her teens from the home town, lived within the Convent walls and was his constant correspondent. Little by little, in response to his inquiries, she furnished him with details which he incorporated in his romance, revealing to the world what was never intended it should either see or know. "She told him of the four buildings which formed a square, of the garden behind the convent, the oak tree sacred to the memory of Mere Marie de l'Incarnation, and the manner in which the church was divided, its iron grills, paintings, relies, and traditions. She answered his question in regard to the enclosure which separated the nuns and pupils, the size of the cells and their furnishings, and an ordinary day in the convent."

     In this connection the story of Josephine Lowe is not without interest. Dr. Lowe of Niagara, a gentleman of considerable means, sent his daughters, Hannah and Josephine, to the Ursuline Convent of Quebec, that they might complete their education. Hannah resented the constant efforts made to proselytize them, and made her stay short, but Josephine remained. When nearly six years had come and gone, Dr. Lowe was one day rudely startled by the receipt of a message from a friend in Quebec advising him to take his daughter out of the Convent.

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Only then did the parents learn that Josephine, yielding to the blandishments of her tutors, had become a postulant, and was bent upon entering the Romish Communion. In their distress, Dr. Lowe and his wife turned to Kirby for assistance, and, by dint of their united protests and appeals, the girl was induced to return to her home. Josephine Lowe, sixteen years old, was the living model from which Kirby drew the character of Amelia de Repentigny.

     Kirby's total literary output would fill an ordinary bookshelf. Besides his one novel, he wrote three heavy-footed dramas, reams of indifferent poetry, works of antiquarian interest, local histories, and numerous political pamphlets in the trenchant style of the day.

     Some time after Kirby had settled at Niagara-on-the-Lake (we are not informed when) he joined the Church of England. It need not be inferred that by taking this step he had abandoned his New Church faith. There was not at the time, nor for many years later, any congregation of receivers in the entire Dominion. Nor was it altogether unnatural that an isolated receiver who happened to be a Tory Loyalist should eventually drift into the very tolerant "Church as by law established." Kirby was an Anglican in good standing when he wrote the strongly affirmative chapter on Swedenborg in The Golden Dog; and the dubious character of his membership is even more openly displayed in his clash with Bishop Strachan, after which he absented himself from church for seventeen years.

     Kirby's biographer states that his library contained "everything of Swedenborg," and that his numerous notebooks were filled with copious quotations from the Writings, as well as from collateral authors. He maintained a link, almost to the last, with his Cincinnati friends. In 1884, Mrs. Kinmont and her daughters spent the summer in his home, and he made a return visit to the widow and a daughter at Cincinnati in 1892.

     Kirby passed away in his residence at Niagara-on-the-Lake on June 23, 1906, at the age of eighty-nine. He was survived by one son, John Colborne Kirby, who married Mary Blake, grandniece of William Blake, the English poet, artist and mystic. The heirs paid no attention to the mass of literary material which Kirby had accumulated, but left it moldering for eighteen years in the lumber room of the old home. On its removal to Toronto it proved to be a veritable treasure trove. Kirby had exchanged letters with most of the statesmen and distinguished writers of his time. Lorne Pierce's biography, a labor of five years, is based upon this invaluable find.
     ARTHUR CARTER.

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"THE GOLDEN DOG." 1931

"THE GOLDEN DOG."       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1931

NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1897, p. 190.

     "As the New Church reader follows along the always interesting and often quite exciting pages of this book, he often experiences a curious sensation as of something familiar and sympathetic in the views of life presented. He wonders where the author gets his ideas, but hardly discovers the source until, a little after the middle of the book, on page 420, his eye is attracted by the name of Swedenborg. Swedenborg is the subject of a conversation which occurs in the then wilds of Canada in the year 1748. A somewhat unexpected encounter this, yet arranged most skillfully by the author, whose historical knowledge and accuracy are as great as his literary power." [The conversation is here quoted.]

     "It is quite evident that the author is more than a mere admirer of Swedenborg, that he is an affirmative and profound student of the Writings, not only of their directly theological teachings, but of their application to the things of Science, Philosophy, and Life.

     "None the less, he remains a highly entertaining writer, as befits the author of a professed work of fiction. In this he differs from a good many New Churchmen who have tried to teach theology under a very poor covering of romance. It would be better if they would 'stick to their shoemakers' last,' and write plain missionary works, instead of introducing the Doctrines, as the Quack does his patent medicine, at the end of a pretended romance. It is not the purpose which we criticize in either case, but the infliction of poor literature on a suffering humanity. New Church works are highly desirable, but do let them be real novels, written by men who are 'in the business.'

     "It is clear that Mr. Kirby is a real novelist, as well as a believer in the Doctrines. Can any one tell us anything more about him?"
     C. Th. O."

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The February Daily Readings from the Arcana describe the rise and frustration, in the Ancient Church, of that state which is called "Babel" or Babylon,-the profanation of religious truths by self-love and the lust of dominion. The building of the tower of Babel, with bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar, marked the fall of the Ancient Church. Archeology confirms the method of building Zikkurats or towers like that of the Biblical story, and it is striking that, while the temples of Egypt still stand as imposing structures, the towers of Shinar are heaps of crumbled dust.

     The evil within the Church sought to put on the guise of religion, because through this there awaited them the greatest possible power over men. By gradual and almost imperceptible steps they turned the truths of the Church into tools for self-advancement, aspiring after the worship of self and precedence over others. "Such men in the church could not but be as a kind of ferment, or as a firebrand causing a conflagration" (1327). The fact that its truths were couched in symbolic forms, or in representatives, saved the Ancient Church from the interior profanation which later cropped up in the more modern "Babylon" of papacy. All became at variance-a confusion of tongues-and the ancient truths were preserved only here and there among esoteric priesthoods, while idolatry and superstition reigned among the multitudes in every nation.

     The Second Ancient Church, also called the Hebrew Church from Eber the reformer and founder, originated from the seed of "Shem," or from a remnant of the Internal Church of the Ancients. To it was restored the knowledge of the name of Jehovah, and its chief rites were sacrificial, and similar to those of the Levites. But it also declined into mere idolatry, and its last stage is pictured by Abram, Nahor and Haran in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, with whom, in their utter spiritual ignorance, no spiritual truths remained that could possibly be profaned.

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     When this point had been reached, a fresh beginning could be made, and a new church-of a sort-established. Such idolatrous worship as was purely external, and devoid of actual and conscious perversions of truths, could be turned into "representations" of a true church, because, the reality being absent, it became more than ever of need that its symbol at least should be preserved, lest heaven be altogether alienated from mankind. To form such a representative of a church, Abram was called to leave the land and idols of his father's house.

     That a vastation of all internal truths in an old church must be completed before a new church can be established, is a principle which still holds. The present process of paganization which is visibly affecting the world, while many of the faiths of Christianity and Gentilism are merging into a vague and undogmatic philosophy of religion, is no doubt of need to break down the authority of the former church, and to remove the responsibility of accepting a Revelation from those who could in no other wise escape from profaning it. Perhaps it is among such Gentiles of the future that the New Church will largely spread.                         

     Situation and Place in the Spiritual World (A. C. 1376-1382).

     We are taught that in the other life all things appear as if related by distances and times, even as on earth, because these spatial relations are the only categories by which a human mind can sensate, as "phenomena," the substances and changes of its world. The spiritual world, however, is purely human. All that is sensated there is the "appearance" or expression of a spiritual state, but such a state in its relation to other states, good and bad, simple and complicated. Consequently, the ordinary scenic and geographical relationships of nature as we know it are not flexible enough to cover all the needs of such representation, except in the usual social contacts of the angels and spirits in their own separate sphere of life. Where spiritual contrasts are pictured, as when angels arrive from other heavens, or when new spirits approach, or when disorderly conditions or distant contacts are to be represented, the appearances common to the natural world have to be supplemented by new kinds of phenomena. Angels may thus be seen to descend from the sky, in ways contrary to natural laws; devils may seem to break forth suddenly out of the earth; winds may blow away mountains.

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New modes of a spatial representation of the active states of spirits spontaneously arise, modes which seem for the time to contradict the reality of the "geographical" ultimates of the spiritual world, but which actually are visualizations of the changes of state which the ordinary permanent environment of a society of spirits is unable to express.

     One of these subsidiary laws or modes of representation is described in the February readings from the Arcana as the situation of spirits in relation to the human body, or to the Lord as the Soul of the Gorand Man of heaven. (A. C. 1276; 1376, 3638, 3639; S. D. 2332-2338, 2357-2360.) Place must not only be predicated of that "limbus" of natural substance which remains in interior nature as the individualizing basis of each spirit; but the spirit itself has also a definite situation or place in the spiritual kingdom of the Gorand Man of Uses; and this, his spiritual position, is permanent, and is assigned in accordance with his quality and his faculties. It appears to him as his home-society, and as answering to a physical environment. But if he "approaches" other spirits who are in a different state, he would appear to them in a definite relation to their bodies! He would approach them on a certain "plane" or line towards a certain part of their bodies, and from a certain quarter or side definitely corresponding to his quality or state, so that all spirits who thus view him can immediately, by their innate perception, see his character and origin.

     This is called his "real appearance," and is a normal occurrence. We thus read in the Writings about spirits appearing to the left or to the right, in the plane of Swedenborg's left shoulder, or in the plane below the right elbow, below the heel or overhead; or of their insinuating themselves into the left ear, or appearing at the occiput. In such cases, the spirit did not leave his home-society, but the Revelator saw instantly his origin.

     But evil or deceitful spirits, or such as are in a mixed state, may appear in a plane or from a direction which does not, to the spiritual sight, immediately disclose their true character; and such presence is then called a "fallacy" or a phantastic appearance (1376). Usually these appearances, whether true or false, are like particular visions insinuated into the field of the beholder's general environment.

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But because such laws-foreign to the natural order of our purely physical world-dominate in the other life, the essential differences of the two worlds can be ocularly shown to novitiate spirits. The spiritual world is to a degree permanent and coherent as a continuous environment. But it is more plastic than ours for the representation of spiritual states, and can exhibit to the eye the contrasts between discrete degrees.

     The Visions of Isaiah.

     The Book of Isaiah divides naturally into three portions. In the first (chapters 1-36) the prophet visions the approach of the Assyrian hosts which ultimately were destined to destroy Samaria and to sift the nations "with the sieve of vanity." The drawing near of the Last Judgment is pictured under the figure of this scourge of the Lord which caused the punishment of Israel's foes and the devastation of many nations; and the restoration of the chosen people is touched upon. The second part (chs. 37-39) gives the historical record of Sennacherib's fateful attack upon Jerusalem, and of Hezekiah's recovery and old age. The sign of the sundial, the shadow of which turned back, signifies the merciful postponement of the Judgment.

     The third part (chs. 40-66) is distinguished by an apparently new point of view. The prophet here speaks as if the penalty of Judah's sins was fulfilled, as if Jerusalem had already been burnt down and the captive people were crying for deliverance from Babylon. In these latter chapters, Isaiah foretells the restoration of Jerusalem by Cyrus the Persian king, who is used (in the prophecy) as a figure of the Divine Human of the Lord. He also sketches certain phases of the coming Messiah's life,-His power (chs. 42, 43), His passion (53), His redemptive work (44, 59, 61, 63, etc.), His mercy upon the Gentiles (60), and the glory of the Messianic kingdom, with its new heavens and its new earth (65, 66). The spiritual sense of the book is given in summary in the Prophets and Psalms (vol. ii. of the Posthumous Theological Works).

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DEPRESSIONS 1931

DEPRESSIONS       Editor       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single Copy, 30 cents.
     In the light of revealed wisdom, New Churchmen know that the tides of prosperity and adversity in the ultimate affairs of mankind are of the Lord's Divine Providence, which operates both by direct and indirect benefits for the spiritual welfare of the race. The man of the church acknowledges this overruling Providence, submits to it, and inmostly adjusts himself to it, recognizing that it is as much beyond his control as the operation of the laws of the physical universe. He knows also that "they who put their trust in the Lord receive good from Him continually; for whatever befalls them, whether it appear as prosperous or as not prosperous, is still good, because it is a means conducive to their eternal felicity; while they, on the other hand, who put their trust in themselves bring evil upon themselves continually, because whatever befalls them, even though it appear as prosperous and happy, is nevertheless evil, and hence is a means conducive to their eternal unhappiness." (A. C. 8480.)

     And so the spiritual man is "content under the dispensations of God's Providence," though he does not allow this to justify a fatalistic attitude or "waiting for influx," or a failure to do his utmost in every contingency of life, while trusting in the Lord. It is common with men, in times of natural prosperity, to neglect religion and the spiritual side of life, so that when adversity comes they have no internal faith and confidence to support them, but either become hopeless, or angry, or betake themselves to devices of their own prudence and cunning.

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In an age in which there is little belief in God and eternal life, men thus easily become victims of the spirits of darkness and despair.

     When the equilibrium in the natural affairs of mankind is disturbed, the primary causes are in the spiritual world, where some needed adjustments are made, and their influence is felt among men in the world. These, we know, are in the nature of judgments performed by an all-wise, merciful God, who cannot otherwise avert the destruction toward which men gravitate when left to themselves. At such times the natural man is angry and resentful, but the spiritual man submits to the Lord, saying: "The judgments of the Lord are true and just altogether; moreover by them is thy servant: warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward." (Psalm 19:9, 11)

     From natural wisdom alone men see that the laws of action and reaction must run their course, and that many ebbs and flows in human states are no more subject to the control of men than the tides of the sea or changes in the weather. As high and low pressure areas pass in succession around the earth, bringing changes in the weather, so the human race is subject to certain inevitable alternations of state and condition, both naturally and spiritually. As we write, the economic world is in the "trough of a low pressure area," known as a "business depression," with its psychological "low," affecting many minds. Men study the causes and cures of the condition, and make laudable efforts to bring back "good times." Meanwhile they wait, more or less patiently, for the passing of the "low" and the arrival of the "high," much as the mariner awaits the turn of the tide. And in this there is some recognition of forces beyond human control, in which men of spiritual faith discern an overruling, beneficent Providence, and recall the Lord's admonition: "In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:19.)

     With New Churchmen this faith is not blind or merely sentimental, but is grounded in a rational understanding of the laws according to which Divine omnipotence deals with human freedom, governing all things with infinite wisdom, yet furnishing the individual man with power to deal with his environment, that he may not be a mere creature of fate.

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It is through the inner light and free will of the rational mind that man is able to "Possess his soul in patience" when adversity arises or the hells invade. Outer influences may affect and even overwhelm the lower mind, but not the higher mind when it has been opened to that spiritual faith which is able to "remove mountains,"-to control and moderate the states of the animus, the body, and the outward circumstances of life. "To this end man has been gifted with the faculty of elevating his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, so that he may see what it behooves him to will and thence to do, that he may be prosperous in the world for a time, and happy after death to eternity; and he becomes prosperous and happy if he acquire wisdom, and hold his will under obedience to it, but unprosperous and unhappy if he places his understanding under obedience to his will." (Influx 14.)

     In our endeavor to live according to this doctrine, to gain that inner control or self-government under Providence by which we may "possess our souls in patience," we slowly learn the blessings of moderation and temperance in all things, even in the regenerate life of the church. The best of the angels receive love and wisdom from the Lord in equal measure. It was so in the world with the men of the Golden Age, whose love and light were great, but in equal balance. Our post-diluvian man can scarcely attain to this perfection except through the way of more or less violent alternations of state-of heat and cold, of exaltation and depression. "That such is the case, every regenerating man may know from experience; namely, that while he is in corporeal and worldly things, he is then absent and remote from internal things, so that he not only thinks nothing about them, but feels in himself, as it were, cold; but that when corporeal and worldly things are quiescent, then he is in faith and charity. So also he may know from experience that these states alternate. Wherefore, also, when corporeal and worldly things begin to overflow, and desire to have dominion, then he comes into distress and temptations, until he is brought into such a state that the external man is submissive to the internal, which can only be the case when it is quiescent, and as it were nothing." (A. C. 933.)

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     As we witness violent reactions in the world at large, we may see as in a mirror the alternations that mark the course of regeneration, and may learn this lesson for the spiritual life-that a steady, day by day, progress is better than a hasty advance to states which cannot be maintained. An army that goes forward too rapidly must afterwards retreat, but not if it strengthen a position gained before attempting a new advance. "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land." (Exodus 23:29, 30.)
"INCONSISTENT" MISSIONARIES 1931

"INCONSISTENT" MISSIONARIES       LOUIS PENDLETON       1931

     A NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL.

     Race prejudice in the East, and the inconsistency of American missionaries who preach brotherly love while "turning up their noses" in their personal attitude toward the "natives"-this is the subject of an interesting "Conversation in Peking" published in the November, 1930, ATLANTIC MONTHLY. A Chinese philosopher of much learning and wide knowledge critically discusses the Christian world in general and its "arrogant" missionaries in particular, one or two Americans and Englishmen joining in to agree with and support this Eastern view. Reference is made to a sign formerly to be seen in a Shanghai park, "Dogs and Chinese Not Allowed," and to the beautiful summer resort of Kuling, largely controlled by missionaries, with its inexorable law that no Chinese may be admitted. The Chinese philosopher not only holds that some of the missionaries "are themselves the worst offenders against the principle of brotherly love," but contends that Christians in general do not shape their lives according to the teachings of their religions any more than their Chinese converts do, and that they merely reverence their religion as something idealistic and pleasing, but something altogether outside of themselves.

     An American in the company, after referring to race prejudice in his own country as well as in the East, scoffingly asked why a missionary who personally despised the heathen natives should "frantically try to bring them into heaven, so that he can live with them forever?"

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Possibly there are white missionaries of the very literal sort who expect to meet their dark-skinned converts in what the creeks called the Elysian Fields, but the comment of the Chinese philosopher would seem to indicate that he is too rational to share such a view.

     As for the extravagant American critic, his ideas are obviously based on the absurd assumption that heaven is a very small place where everybody knows and associates with everybody else. Without implying that there is any excuse for the lack of real brotherly love, or undertaking to defend the persons criticized, it seems pertinent to venture a suggestion as follows:

     The only conceivable heaven peopled from the different races of our earth alone, to say nothing of the innumerable earths circling about the millions of suns of the universe or series of universes, would be an incalculably immense spiritual realm, with countless sections and countless subdivisions of these, thus providing not only separate and congenial dwelling-places for all the races of men but for the differing representatives of each race-in a word, exactly the right place for all, and social communion only between those of a kind, or of similar affection and quality, otherwise heaven would not be designed for the happiness of its inhabitants.
     LOUIS PENDLETON.
ON THE ORIGIN OF MAN 1931

ON THE ORIGIN OF MAN       GUSTAF BAECKSTROM       1931

THE APE VERSUS MAN. By Francis Black, R.B.A. London: New Church Press, Ltd., 1930. Paper, 32 pp., and plate; 9d.

     This is a reprint, with some slight alterations, of some articles which appeared in the NEW CHURCH HERALD. Mr. Black's purpose is to show that the philosophy set forth in Divine Love and Wisdom is the only philosophy that can satisfy any inquiry into the cause of creation. Despite his title, he does not go into particulars with regard to evolution, and makes no mention whatever of Swedenborg's teaching in the Worship and Love of God.

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The character of his treatment of the subject may be gathered from a paragraph at the conclusion of the pamphlet, as follows:

     "Such as have the privilege of reading Swedenborg's Philosophy of Creation may learn the true origin of man, which is spiritual, nature being used to cover and fixate that spiritual creation, and to allow it to appear and live for a time in the natural world. Naturalists believe that Nature is alive, but Swedenborg avers that it is dead and cannot possibly create anything."

     BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT.

     About forty years ago a young man attended an auction sale in a small town in Sweden called Kristinehamn. At one point in the sale the auctioneer took a copy of the True Christian Religion in his hand, and said: "I suppose no one cares for this book." He then placed the volume in a basket beside an alarm clock. The young man bought the basket, with the book and the alarm clock, for his parents. Whether they were "alarmed" or not, I do not know, but the book caused a real awakening in their minds, and became a dear treasure to them to the end of their lives.

     Another incident has been told me by the one concerned. Many years ago he was sitting upon a bench in a park, and was reflecting upon the problem of the Trinity. Suddenly a gust of wind blew some sheets of paper in his direction, and they proved to be pages from the True Christian Religion treating of the subject of the Trinity! The man is now a member of the New Church Society in Stockholm, although residing in another town.
     GUSTAF BAECKSTROM.
SWEDISH VERSION OF "THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINE." 1931

SWEDISH VERSION OF "THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINE."              1931

DET NYA JERUSALEM OCH DESS HIMMELSKA LARA (The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine). By Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated from the Latin by T. Helm. Stockholm: Bokforlaget Nova Ecclesia, 1930. Paper, 12mo, 103 pages. Price, Kr. 1: -.

     This volume is printed in large, clear type, and is of convenient pocket size, since it omits the extensive footnote references to the Arcana Celestia which are found in the original. In sending us a copy, Mr. Baeckstrom explains that the earlier Swedish version translated by the Rev. C. J. N. Manby, and issued in two editions, one with the footnotes, the other without, is not yet out of print, but that the language of that version is rather heavy and hard to read, this being the reason for the new translation, which is in good Swedish, with modern spelling, and is at the same time faithful to the original.

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CORRECTION 1931

CORRECTION              1931

     The Rev. Theodore Pitcairn has written calling attention to an error made in reporting his remarks at the British Assembly. He writes:

     "I am quoted as saying: 'I do not want you to think that all spiritual truth is contained in the Writings.' What I said was: 'I do not want you to think that all spiritual truth is not contained in the Writings.' Due to the double negative used in extemporaneous speaking, I was misquoted. The statement as it appears in the LIFE would be a most direful falsity. Will you kindly make this correction in the LIFE."

     The report of Mr. Pitcairn's speech is printed on page 787 of our December, 1930, issue, and the sentence referred to occurs in the last paragraph on that page, where the correction should be made by inserting the word "not" in the place indicated above.

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MISSIONARY WORK IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN 1931

MISSIONARY WORK IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN       GUSTAF BAECKSTROM       1931

     During November I was away from Stockholm for two weeks on a missionary trip to Norway. During the past two years, because of the heavy traveling expense, I have not been able to visit Norway oftener than once a year, instead of twice a year as before. And for some years I have not been able to go to Bergen and Stavanger on the western coast, where there are some receivers of the Doctrines, and where many books have been sold. But I wanted at least to visit our group at the center in Oslo, and to administer the Holy Supper once a year. On this trip I therefore arranged to be in Oslo on a Sunday, and used the preceding days in the week for lectures in the four towns of Horten, Tonsberg, Larvik and Porsgrund, situated south of Oslo on the Oslofjord. These are small places, ranging from 7,000 to 14,000 inhabitants. The attendance at the lectures was 95, 225, 63 and 94, respectively.

     Horton has a harbor for the Norwegian Royal Navy, but I was told by the Norwegian who helped me to arrange for the lecture that the place is spiritually dead, and that lectures have no success there. I did not sell a single book,-a fact that does not contradict the man's statement. But in the other three places I sold books to the value of $16.00.

     I arrived at Oslo on Saturday, November 15th, and in the evening gave a talk on "The Dispensations of the Church compared with the Growth of a Man" to a group of specially invited persons in a private house. Some were not able to come, but there were eighteen present. Among them was a Mr. Falleide, who lives on the western coast of Norway, and who had traveled a day and a night to "meet the New Church minister from Sweden." He has recently become interested in the Heavenly Doctrines, and seems to be an earnest receiver. He has two daughters who also read the Writings with interest. One of them is engaged to marry a young man who is studying for the ministry of the Norwegian Lutheran State Church.

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This young student lead the Writings for two months last summer, and said afterwards that he had learned more theology in these two months than during years before at the university.

     A service was held on Sunday, at which I administered the sacrament of the Holy Supper. On Monday I gave a public lecture which was attend by 97 persons, and books were sold to the value of $11.00, which shows a good deal of interest.

     On my way home I gave a lecture at Sarpsborg, a Norwegian town of 13,000 population. This lecture was attended by 112 persons, and the sale of books amounted to $2.50.

     Then I stayed in Gothenburg for two days, administering the Holy Supper to a small group of the members of our society, and delivering two public lectures, attended by 88 and 74 persons respectively, and the sale of books amounting to $7.50.

     Finally I stopped at the little town of Kristinehamn, where there is a small group of elderly people, who are baptized members of the New Church. The first time I visited them, the group consisted of six persons, but now only three are left, and one of these is ninety-five years old. But she is quite clear in her mind, and is a sound New Church woman. The members of an Old Church sect who call themselves Pentecost Friends (a branch of the Baptists) have tried to "convert" this old lady. For that purpose they came to her in her room, throwing themselves headlong on the floor and crying out, but to no purpose beyond their own bodily exercise. She quietly said to them: "You are waiting for the Lord to come. I say that the Lord has already come. Don't be too sure that you are right." They also tried to persuade her that I was Antichrist going about and confusing minds!

     A public lecture was given at Kristinehamn, with an attendance of 103 persons and a sale of books amounting to $3.00. One lady expressed her special thankfulness for the lecture.

     During my thirteen days' absence I gave 9 public lectures and one private, and administered the Holy Supper to 3 groups. I arrived in Stockholm late Saturday night, in time for the service on the following morning. On this trip, books were sold to the value of $45.50, and the average attendance at the nine lectures was 106 persons.

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     THE NEW CHURCH CLUB.

     As many readers of the Life are aware, the New Church Club, of London, England, consists of a group of New Churchmen who meet once month for the presentation and discussion of various subjects in the light of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. Its organization, on December 3, 1920, was the outcome of the efforts of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, and for the last four years it has met under the presidency of the Right Rev. R. J. Tilson. The greater proportion of its members belong to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, but membership in any New Church organization is not made the criterion of eligibility; it is rather the expressed desire to join the Club in its discussions of the Heavenly Doctrine in an attitude affirmative to its Divine Authority.

     In recent years it has become the custom to hold an Annual Dinner, to which ladies and other friends of the Club are invited. This year the Dinner was held on Friday, November 21st, at the Old Bell Restaurant, Holborn. Sixty-six members and friends sat down to dinner. Bishop Tilson presided, and the Paper for the evening was by the Rev. Victor J. Gladish, of Colchester, on "The Doctrine of Influx and the Inspiration of the Word," which proved to be an interesting and instructive subject. It was discussed by the Revs. Theodore Pitcairn, J. R. Presland, Albert Bjorck, and by Messrs. Stanley Parker, A. Godfrey, Horace Howard, and Conrad Howard.

     In addition to those who attended the Dinner we should mention that the Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer, of the Hague, came and greeted as many of his friends and acquaintances as he could locate in the throng, just before the Dinner commenced. He did not feel equal to staying longer, as he intended to catch the night boat for Holland. Mr. Pfeiffer and Mr. Theodore Pitcairn had come to England two days before, and had visited the Bjorck and Oyler families at Woodgreen. Also, on the morning and afternoon of the Club Dinner, the Revs. Pitcairn, Pfeiffer, Bjorck, and Gladish, had come together in London on the invitation of Bishop Tilson, to discuss affairs of the Church.

     In addition to the friends from across the Channel, there were members and friends present from Colchester, Brighten, Northampton, and other places nearly as distant from London. Among the guests were: the Rev. J. R. Presland, Secretary of the Swedenborg Society; Capt. H. G. Brown, Hon. Treasurer of the Swedenborg Society; and Mr. G. H. Dicks, President of the Theological and Philosophical Society, in London.
     V. J. G.

     SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

     In the account of the Teachers' Meeting held in Toronto, June 23-30, 1922, the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt is reported as emphasizing "the need of our realizing that we alone are occupying the field of truly Christian education, and that we must be prepared to cultivate it with great patience, in the face of difficulties little realized in the days of our enthusiastic beginnings. A tendency of adolescence is to go to extremes." And, towards the end of the meeting, the Rev. George de Charms, "in advocating a recurrence of elementary teachers' meetings, urged each member to give thought to some particular subject. The first need, however, is for a revival, among priests and pastors, of their sense of responsibility in leading the educational work of their societies." (N. C. Life, Sept., 1922.)

     Our last news report gave an account of the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of our Founders' Day, July 11th, 1905; also of the welcome social given to Miss Taylor and Miss White on their return to Australia, August 15th, when reference was made to the day school that was to be opened "when Miss White returns from a visit to her people in South Australia." (October, 1930, p. 685.)

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     Well, that visit has been made, and Miss White is now an important factor in New Church education in the environs of the oldest and largest city of the Australian Commonwealth. Hurstville is an elevated and healthy suburb, nine miles south of Sydney. A few minutes after the train's departure for the City, a fine view may be obtained of the obelisk that stands on the eastern shore of Botany Bay, a little south of the heads, which marks the landing of Captain Cook at a period closely associated with the Second Advent,-to be exact, April 28th, 1770. The first New Church day school came into being at Hurstville on Tuesday, October 7th, 1930,-a date that may be deemed important to the New Church historian a century hence. The distinction of being the first pupils is held by five children,-Nellie and Tommy Taylor, Betty Adams, Fred. and Theodore Kirschstein, whose ages range down from 12 1/2 to 7 years. Alwyn Kirschstein and Lois Joice Srheers, both 5 years of age, have since increased the roll to seven. Baptism will be the gate of entrance into the school. So far, all excepting Betty have been baptized. She will remain for three months, and will probably be baptized within that period.

     In such a school as this, having only one teacher, and with kindergarten and higher grades blending, the teacher's task is exceptionally difficult; and unless, with the coming year, or years, the kindergarten difficulty can be surmounted by a separate room and teacher, this very important phase of teaching must be temporarily and reluctantly abandoned, and we shall do the next best thing by providing for the little ones in the Sunday School. The realistic sand-tray pictures, with which Mrs. T. R. Taylor delights her little pupils in the Sunday School, causes her class to be, probably, the most important of our six classes; for the teaching is received eagerly at a very receptive age.

     On the last Sunday in November, and prior to the inauguration of the Wednesday Literary Evenings, the usual sermon will be substituted by the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith's fine article entitled "The New Church and Youth," which appeared in New Church Life for June, 1930.

     A literary evening, each month, will take the place of the indoor games that now occupy the young people every Wednesday. It will be inaugurated by a contribution from the Pastor. The suggestion to have such an evening came from Miss White. It is hoped that considerable mental and spiritual benefit may result.

     When these notes, which will leave Australia on November 27th, are received by readers of the Life, Christmas will have passed, and a new year will have been registered on the calendar. May the "great joy," of which the angels brought good tidings to the shepherds nineteen hundred and thirty years ago, be stirred again in the minds of our people by the recurrence of the anniversary of that Divine and wonderful event; and may the incoming year bring spiritual wealth and happiness!
     RICHARD MORSE.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     Our Christmas celebration, as usual, took the form of a service for the children. Seven pews were reserved for the school, and the pupils recited passages from the Word and sang the familiar songs, in which the congregation joined. After the address by the pastor, everyone went forward, taking gifts to the altar. All then marched to the Assembly Hall in the order of priests, choir, school and congregation, singing that inspiring song, "Come All Ye Faithful." The refrain was continued in the Hall to the leading of the piano. Here the service was continued in a darkened room under the soft glow of many candles, and before a beautiful representation of the Nativity, built upon the stage.

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The pastor, with his assistants, then presented gifts from the Church to the children.

     As the Christmas Service in Sharon Church, Chicago, had been held the previous evening, a number of the members attended our service, and the seating capacity of our chapel was taxed by an attendance of two hundred and sixty persons, several being obliged to stand.

     The holidays this year were marked by an unusual amount of entertaining in the homes, many parties being given. The celebration of New Year's Eve took the form of a general social, with a hired orchestra for the dancing. A serious note was given by a short service in the chapel about midnight, noting the approach of eternity and the arrival of the New Year. The festivities continued well into the morning. There was also a party for the school, and the pupils of all the grades and their friends made merry with games, music and dancing.

     Mr. Alec McQueen came home from Cincinnati to spend the holidays with his father, Mr. George A. McQueen, and the Sons of the Academy called a special meeting at which Alec gave a talk on "Curiosities of Advertising," illustrated with pictures. Needless to say, it was thoroughly enjoyable, jolly and instructive. In our many church and society activities we miss our versatile friend Alec, whose duties now keep him away from Glenview.

     The "Sons" meeting in December discussed "College Education, For and Against." Several of our men were assigned as proponents and antagonists, and while the issue was not definitely settled the discussion brought out many ideas, and the expressions of loyalty to the Church were of distinct value to the large membership present.

     Several of our people have come back to Glenview for the holidays: Miss Edith Goerwitz came from her music teaching in Kansas; John Goerwitz and Gerald Nelson, from the University of Illinois; Miss Dorothy Cole, from her work in Cincinnati; Mrs. Elizabeth Pollock, from Wheeling, W. Va., visited her sons, John and Thomas, in Chicago and Glenview; Miss Katharine Norris, of Pittsburgh, is visiting her sister, Mrs. Herbert Fuller.

     Mr. and Mrs. Seymour G. Nelson, with his sisters, Miss Emelia Nelson and Miss Adah Nelson, with Miss Sophie Falk, have gone to their winter residence at St. Petersburg, Florida. Their hospitable home looks dark and cold, but we know they have an active center of the New Church in St. Petersburg, and that they also keep in close touch with the Church through New Church Life and correspondence.
     J. B. S.

     CHICAGO, ILL.

     Our Christmas Festival, as is usual in Sharon Church, was held on Christmas Eve. The pastor's address to the children dwelt upon the meaning of the words, "Because there was no room for them in the inn." The "inn" represents the worldly mind, filled with thoughts of pleasure and of gain-a mind where the Lord has no place. But the "manger" is a place built within us by the Lord, being formed from remains, from heavenly truths and affections. Here He can be born and abide with us whenever we open our hearts to Him.

     The pastor's remarks on this theme came after the children had recited the beautiful story of the Nativity. They also sang the familiar, but always affecting, Christmas songs. At the close of the service the children enjoyed the tree and the gifts. Light refreshments were served, and the evening ended happily with a general social.

     At the service on the Sunday following Christmas we had the pleasure of hearing a sermon by the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt. He spoke of the great necessity, in this age, of a quiet hour each day when, by reflection, we can become acquainted with our real selves. After the service our members had the privilege of meeting Mr. Synnestvedt and enjoying his genial, friendly conversation.

     Our Christmas Party on December 30th was ably managed by Miss Esther Cronwall, who received rousing vote of thanks for her successful efforts in providing for our entertainment.

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There was not a dull moment the whole evening. What with Intelligence Tests-in which many of us were shown up as morons-contests of speed, recitations, playlets, etc., we passed a delightful evening.

     The Ladies Society was entertained by Mrs. Harvey Farrington on January 3rd. There was a large attendance, and everyone seemed to be sociably inclined. It was reported that the returns from our Bazaar are not all in, though a substantial amount will be added to our building fund. The pastor's talk to the ladies was in the form of a reading from The Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah, by Edersheim, a Christianized Jew. The reading dealt with the subject of the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple, and all the circumstances connected with this ceremony were given in detail, providing a very full picture of this incident and period in the Lord's the upon earth.
     E. V. W.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The Children's Christmas Service was held in the auditorium on the evening of December 24th at seven o'clock. There were four tableaux: (1) The Angel Appearing to Joseph; (2) The Nativity (the little Lord Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds); (3) The Wise Men, with Herod and a Scribe; (4) The Wise Men warned by the Angel not to re turn to Herod, and Joseph warned to take the Child and Mary into Egypt. Christmas songs and recitations were given by the children, and the pastor told the story of the tableaux. At the conclusion of the service, gifts and fruit were presented to the children.

     A song service for the adults was held at eleven o'clock on Christmas eve, the church being simply and beautifully decorated with laurel and candles. The choir sang a number of Christmas hymns and anthems, and the pastor delivered an extemporaneous sermon upon the text: "O Jehovah, bow the heavens, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke." (Psalm 144:5.) This showed Who came down to earth, as also why and how He came, and concluded with a reference to the glorification of the Human and the subjugation of the hells, as meant by the two clauses of the text.

     The society appreciates and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Roy Jansen for their able and satisfying work with the tableaux, Mr, Gilbert Smith for the decoration of the church, and Mr. Elmer Horigan for the effective outside lighting of the church, and all those who helped make such a successful celebration possible. We were pleased to welcome a number of guests at each of the Christmas services.

     A most successful dance was held in the auditorium on Monday evening, December 29th, the hall being attractively decorated for the occasion. Most of the Academy students from Pittsburgh and vicinity were home from Bryn Athyn for the holidays, and in addition we were happy to have with us the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt and Miss Sylvia Synnestvedt, Mrs. Theodore Bellinger and Miss Celia Bellinger, of Bryn Athyn, Miss Anita Doering, of Berwyn, Pa., and Mrs. Wilson, of New York. Mrs. E. C. Iungerich has returned to Bryn Athyn, and we regret that her stay among us was not longer, and hope she will come again soon.
     E. R. D.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     As no account of the meetings of the Forward Club has appeared in the Life since its present season opened under the Presidency of Mr. J. Knight, we shall give a brief resume up to date, for the purpose of maintaining continuity of record and any other use that may be served thereby. At the 92d meeting in September, only necessary business was transacted, after which the members tackled some of the many little things requiring to be done towards completing the alterations and decorations in our assembly room.

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     At the 93d meeting, October 16th we had an interesting paper by Mr. Desmond McMaster on "The New Churchman and the Newspaper," tracing the modern product from earliest times, when "news" was inscribed on rocks and stone tablets, through the period of placards, broadsides, and pamphlets, to the present newspaper, covering every phase of world-wide human activity, with its consequent molding of public opinion.

     At the 94th meeting, November 20th, Mr. Adrian van Paassen gave us a somewhat unique presentation of the subject of "Moses,"-unique, in that it contained many, to us, quite new hypotheses to account for the remarkable achievements of this outstanding leader of the Jews, and their sustained influence down through the long succession of years since hit time. As the Secretary put it in his minutes covering the meeting, the paper evoked a discussion that was "argumentative in its quality," but all, needless to say, carried on in a spirit of goodwill, and with a desire to keep our feet on the solid ground of sound New Church doctrine and viewpoint.

     Mr. Arthur G. Carter is back in town-has been for some time-and at our 95th meeting, on December 11th, he gave us a scholarly review entitled "The Author of 'The Golden Dog.'" As this review is to appear in the Life [see p. 95] we will content ourselves with remarking that Mr. Carter's effort was enthusiastically received as a distinctive contribution, both from the point of view of interest and of literary quality.

     This brings us to the 96th meeting, held on January 15th, when Mr. John A. White read a paper on the subject of "Modernism," his presentation being able, and marked by a clear analysis of the situation, citing succinctly and clearly the position of the Modernists, and showing the trend, in another branch of the New Church, towards that position, as evidenced by quotations from the spoken and printed utterances of its proponents.

     The regular Quarterly Business Meeting of the Society was held on Wednesday, December 10th, prefaced by a short address on the use and importance of the Calendar Reading of the Writings, quoting from the address of the Bishop on this subject at the Thirteenth General Assembly (New Church Life, 1928, p. 521) as to the spiritual benefit,-the drawing together of the Church into a greater unity, and the development of an interior creative power that will have sufficient force to bring together all men in a common unity. The business was of a routine nature, the Pastor's report showing that classes in Religion and Hebrew had been commenced for ex-pupils of the Day School, the textbooks used being the Rev. Hugo L. Odhner's Elements of the True Christian Religion and Dr. Acton's introduction to the Study of the Hebrew Word.

     The Ladies Circle held a successful Sale of Work on December 2d for the purpose of augmenting their funds to carry on the particular uses of the Society which come within the orbit of their activities. They also arranged for pre-wedding "showers" for Miss Lois Motum at the home of Miss Edina Carswell on November 25th, and for Miss Emily Raymond at the home of Mrs. F. Wilson on December 10th, when both young ladies were generously "showered" with gifts.

     On Saturday, December 6th, Miss Lois Motum and Mr. Edward J. Parker were joined in the bonds of holy matrimony, the ceremony being performed by our Pastor and attended by a congregation of about eighty persons. The chancel for this occasion was tastefully decorated with varicolored chrysanthemums, palms and candles. The bridesmaid was Miss Sylvia Synnestvedt, and the best man Mr. Robert M. Brown, with Mr. Sydney Parker and Mr. Frank Longstaff, Jr., as assistant groomsmen. The bride, beautifully arrayed in white, was escorted to the chancel by Mr. T. P. Bellinger, to the strains of the Lohengrin wedding march, preceded by Jean and Clair Bellinger as flower girls, who strewed rose petals in the path of the happy couple on the return procession after the ceremony, with the beautiful march by Mendelssohn speeding them on their way.

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Immediately afterwards a reception was held in the assembly hall, when the bride and groom received the felicitations and good wishes of all for a long and happy married life. Toasts were honored in song and speech, and thus came into being a new home-unit in the life of our Church and of the Olivet Society.

     Next in order is the Christmas celebration, commencing on December 21st with the Christmas Tableaux and Christmas tree. The tableaux were four in number, with connectional readings by the Pastor: (1) "The Prodigal Son," Luke 15:11-32; (2) "The Good Samaritan," Luke 1:26-38; (3) "The Annunciation," Luke 10:25-37; and (4) "The Adoration of the Wise Men," Matt. 2:1-11. The hymns used were: "Hark! the herald angels sing"; "From the Eastern mountains"; chant, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel"; "Come, all ye faithful"; "Who is He in yon der stall" sung antiphonally; chant. "My soul doth magnify the Lord"; "We three kings of orient are"; Redner's setting of the Rev. Phillips Brooks' "O Little Town of Bethlehem," sung as a solo; and the transitional hymn, carrying over between the two sections of the program, "Merry Christmas bells are ringing," preceding the unfolding to the wondering gaze of excited eyes the beautifully decorated Christmas tree, laden with its presents for nearly sixty children under the age of sixteen, which were forthwith distributed by Father Christmas Gyllenhaal. By 9.30 p.m. it was all over, and some 150 adults and children, inspired by the beauty of the Bible stories depicted in the tableaux, and cheered by the sphere of the occasion, went home impressed with the never-diminishing power of the Christmas message of "peace on earth, good-will to men."

     By way of preparation for the observance of the great Christian Festival connoted by the keeping of Christmas Day as a celebration of the Lord's Advent, our Pastor's sermons were: Sunday, December 14th, "Repentance," Matt. 3:1-2; December 21st, "The Incarnation," Matt. 1:18; and an address at the Christmas Day service on "Why we celebrate the Lord's Birth," listened to by a good congregation, who also thoroughly enjoyed it and the singing of the Christmas music.

     Three days afterwards, on Sunday, December 28th, Mr. and Mrs. Frank R. Longstaff celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary, the third such celebration we have had in the past six months. A short service was held at the church, at which our friends Lois and Frank renewed their marriage vows and plighted their troth anew, and exchanged their tokens thereof. The hymns used were "O Precious Sign and Seal of Heavenly Union," and "O Perfect Love!" This was a most impressive and beautiful ceremony. The readings from Conjugial Love, coupled with the objective picture presented by the husband and wife on the chancel in the presence of the Lord, entering anew into this solemn, sacred, yet joyous covenant, made it not difficult to envision the ideas portrayed in the teachings and memorabilia of the Writings. The Pastor's charge, admonition or instruction, whichever name be applied to what he had to say, was extremely beautiful and encouraging to those who contemplate or have entered the marriage state Following the service, a reception was held at the home of the "Bride and Groom," at which bounteous refreshment was served, toasts were honored, short speeches were made, and excerpts read by Mr. T. Rothermel, on "The Husband," from a speech by Rev. Alfred Acton; and on "The Wife," from a speech by Rev. C. T. Odhner. (See New Church Life for 1903.) Other short, impromptu speeches were made by Messrs. C. R. Brown, A. McNaughton, Alan and Frank Longstaff, Jr., after which Mr. Longstaff responded in feeling terms expressive of the gratitude of his wife and himself, and of the pleasure the occasion had afforded them.

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     And so we come to the end of the year,-New Year's Eve,-celebrated by a dance social, one of the most largely attended in recent times, with Mr. T. P. Bellinger as Master of Ceremonies. He was in excellent mood, and kept things rolling along in great style. Joining hands, in a huge circle, we sang the Old Year out to the strains of "Auld Lang Syne." An excellent hot supper was served shortly after midnight, followed by more dancing until about 1:30 a.m., when, after singing the National Anthem, we departed, a tired, happy crowd, to seek the couches of repose and be ready for the "Happy New Year," just dawning.
     F. W.
ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1931

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS              1931




     Announcements.




     BRYN ATHYN, PA., FEBRUARY 2D TO 8TH, 1931.

Monday, February 2.
     3:00 p.m. Consistory.

Tuesday, February 3.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Council of the Clergy and General Faculty.
               Address: Mr. Edward Allen.
               Subject: "The Motions of an Electron."

Wednesday, February 4.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Council of the Clergy and General Faculty.
               Address: Professor Camille Vinet.
               Subject to be announced later.

Thursday, February 5.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Council of the Clergy and General Faculty.
               Address: Rev. E. E. Iungerich.
               Subject: "Starting Latin in the Seventh Grade."
     8:00 p.m. Public Session of Council of the Clergy.
               Address: Bishop George de Charms.

Friday, February 6.
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:00 p.m. Executive Committee.
     7:00 p.m. Philadelphia District Assembly-Banquet.

Saturday, February 7.
     10:00 a.m. Joint Council.
     3:00 p.m. Joint Council.
     8:00 p.m. Civic and Social Club Play.

Sunday, February 8.
     11:00 a.m. Divine Worship.
     8:00 p.m. Service of Praise.

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SIBYLLINE BOOKS AND ORACLES 1931

SIBYLLINE BOOKS AND ORACLES       Rev. ENOCH S. PRICE       1931

     
NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI.          MARCH, 1931           No. 3
     In the Spiritual Diary, no. 4094, being the entry for November 28, l748, is found the following statement:

     "The Sibyl.

     "A certain Roman, a celebrated one, when it was said to him that it had been prophesied of the Lord, that He would come into the world and save the universal human race, listened attentively; and he immediately began to be shaken by a kind of sacred tremor. 'This [tremor] was perceived, and that it ran from his head to his breast. And he said that he also knew, from the Sibylline books, as he called them, that some one would come; but that he had thought that the one to come would dominate over the whole circle of the lands. But it was insinuated into him that He that would come should reign over the universe and all men."

     It will, I think, be conceded that the Roman here referred to had been, while on earth, a pagan with whom Swedenborg met and conversed in the spiritual world. Had he not been a pagan, there would have been no point in his mention of the Sibylline books, and of some one to come; for had he been a Christian he would or might have known of many prophecies of "some one to come," in what were called Sibylline books. But of these more later.

     What has been said above raises the question: What are or were the Sibylline books, and who were the Sibyls? Since Sibyl is the original and Sibylline the derivative word, it will be more convenient to investigate the latter part of the question first; that is, Who were the Sibyls?

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     The Sibyls.

     The ancient tradition of the Sibyls is, in origin, entirely Greek, though later much is said about them by Roman writers. The Greek writers are not in agreement as to the origin of the myth or tradition, nor do they agree as to the meaning of the word "Sibyl." Some seem to teach that there was a woman by the name of Sibylla, who had the gift of prophecy; others make the word a common noun, with a meaning about the same as prophetess, and derive the word from Sou, for Theou, God, and boulle, will, that is, the will of God,-a woman who had the power of revealing the will of God. The god, whose will she revealed, was Zeus through Apollo his son.

     Apollo was the favorite son of Zeus, and through him the will of Zeus was made known to men, through the instrumentality of inspired women, especially through the Pythoness at Delphi. Some Greek writers, however, insist that the Pythoness was not a Sibyl; but the weight of opinion seems to be on the other side.

     The other tradition, that there was a woman by the name of Sibylla, says that she was a native of the village of Marpessa, in the neighborhood of Troy, or that she was born in Erythrai, a less important town in the same region.

     As to the earliest Sibyl, the name of Cassandra, daughter of Priam, king of Troy, is mentioned, and there are numerous stories about her. One of these traditions is familiar to most readers of classical story; that is, that she was by Apollo gifted with the power of foretelling future events, but also that it was decreed by the fates that no one should believe what she said.

     Another story is that Apollo fell in love with her, but that she repelled his advances. Nevertheless he promised to grant any wish that she might make. She picked up a handful of sand, and wished for as many years of life as she held grains of sand in her hand. Her wish was immediately granted, and when her hand was opened it was found that she held one thousand grains. But she made the sad mistake of not wishing at the same time for continued youth. The result was, that as age advanced, she began to shrivel up, so that long before the thousand years were completed she had become a little dried up thing that was kept in a bottle hanging on the wall. It became a favorite sport of the children of the place to ask her: "Sibyl, what do you wish?" Her answer was: "Only that I might die."

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     The Sibyl or Pythoness at Delphi, so the story goes, was always an unlettered girl, so chosen in order that her own intelligence might not enter in and disturb whatever she was called upon to reveal. When called upon for responses concerning something of which foreknowledge was desired, she first took a drink of water from the sacred spring, and then seated herself upon a tall three-legged stool or tripod over a cleft in the rock floor of the cavern of Delphi, and became possessed, hysterical, or went into a trance, in a way very suggestive of the modern spiritistic medium. The responses were vague and equivocal, and could be interpreted in one way or another. This was especially so when the question was of a political character,-a wise provision, since it defended the god from ever becoming a false prophet.

     This will be the proper place for an etymological remark concerning the word "prophet." In Greek, the word had originally nothing to do with foretelling, but was the name given to the scribes who wrote down, in crude hexameters, the responses of the Sibyl, and in some measure interpreted them.

     The following is an example of the vagueness of the Sibylline responses. I cannot tell the story exactly, as it is a memory of the long ago; but in general it is this: A certain Persian ruler inquired of a Sibyl when a certain undesirable event might be expected to happen. The reply was that this thing should come to pass when a mule sat upon the throne of Persia. That satisfied the prince completely, as meaning never; but the prophecy was interpreted as being fulfilled when the dynasty was overthrown, and a man, the offspring of royalty with a commoner, sat upon the throne.

     The legend of the long life of Cassandra, given above, probably explains why the Sibylline oracles are usually spoken of by the ancients, through the centuries, as though they came from one person. The earliest mention of a Sibyl found in writing, according to Plutarch, is made by Heraclitus (B.C. 540-475). Plutarch quotes him as follows: "The Sibyl, with raving voice, speaks words that have no part in laughter nor in perfumes. Yet she prevails; for it is a god who drives her."

     Pausanius, who lived in the 2nd century of the Christian era, that is, in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Plus, and Marcus Aurelius, describes in his writings the cavern of a certain Sibyl. The Sibyls are practically always said to reside in caves or grottoes.

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The grot described by Pausanius was discovered by archeologists in 1891, and in it was found an inscription which declared that at the time of the inscription the resident Sibyl was 900 years old.

     The number of the Sibyls is much in dispute, and none of the lists seems to be at all exact. Varro (B.C. 116-28) gives what may be considered as the orthodox list, which names ten, but this again is confused. The Sibyls, according to Varro's list, are as follows: The Fersian, the Lybian (i.e., African), the Delphian, the Kimmerian (who, being located in Italy, seems to be the same as the Cumaean), the Erythraian, called Herophile, the Samian Phemonoe, the Hellespontine (i.e., the Erythraian over again), the Phrygian (again the Marpessan), and finally the Tiburtine (" the result of an attempt to find a Grek equivalent for the local goddess Abbunea: hence the name 'Sibyl's Temple,' quite unjustifiably given to one of the most famous ruins of Tivoli"). There was also said to be a Babylonian Sibyl. There was an Alexandrian Sibyl, probably-as I have indicated elsewhere-a Jewish forgery.

     The Greek stories of the Sibyls begin before the classical period, and continue, according to some writers, down to the coming of the Lord, when they ceased. But there is evidence that they did not cease with the coming of Christ, but that the Sibyls continued to be consulted for some hundreds of years thereafter. They were certainly still consulted in the lifetime of Plutarch, who was born about 50 A. D., and lived well into the second century.

     The Sibylline Oracles.

     Among Plutarch's Miscellaned is a long article in the form of a conversation in a party of friends at Delphi, wherein they discuss the question, Wherefore the Pythian priestess now, ceases to deliver her oracles in verse? After long digressions, in which everything under the sun is discussed, but ever and anon recurring to the main question, it was finally concluded by one of the speakers that the oracles are no longer delivered "in bad Greek hexameters," because it is no longer necessary. The age of enlightenment has arrived, when questions may be answered clearly and unequivocally in plain prose, which is a much better medium for dealing with facts than is enigmatic verse.

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     That the oracles were delivered or written out by the scribes in bad Greek hexameters, reminds the writer that in his youth he knew an old lady-a devout Methodist-who, strange to say, was at the same time a spiritist. She had, framed and hanging on her wall, a communication for her from the spirit world, through a medium or modern Sibyl. The communication was in limping verse, and very badly spelled.

     The consultation of the oracles occurs twice in the poems of Virgil: Once in book iv of the Georgics; and again, notably, in book vi of the Aeneid.

     In book iv of the Georgics, which is about the care and management of bees, the story is briefly this: A young farmer was having trouble with his bees. He went to the dwelling place of Proteus to find out about the trouble. Proteus angrily asks him why he has come to his house, and the farmer answers, "Thou knowest, Proteus, thou thyself knowest. None is able to deceive thee, and do thou cease wishing to deceive me. Obeying the commands of the gods, we have come hither to inquire of the oracles into the failure of our business." (Geor. iv, 446-449.)

     The beginning of book vi of the AEneid tells of the landing of AEneas and his followers on the coast of Italy, at Cumae, a Greek settlement about twenty miles west of the present city of Naples. The party busy themselves in making a camp, but AEneas repairs immediately to the cave of the Sibyl. Let it be mentioned, by the way, that the remains of a temple of Apollo, and a cavern that had been used for religious purposes, have been discovered at Cumae by modern archeologists. The story of AEneas' visit is too long to insert here, but a few lines will tell of the appearance of the Sibyl, whom Virgil calls by the personal name Deiphobe (fear of God) When meas approached her she cried out:

     "The time is at hand to consult the fates; the god, lo, the god is here!" Even as she spoke, neither her features nor her complexion remained the same, nor did her hair stay in order; her bosom heaved and her wild heart was swollen with frenzy; her stature was larger than usual to the sight: her voice was no longer that of a mortal; so soon was she inspired by the breath of the god as it came ever nearer (vi, 46-51). . . . At length, no longer submitting herself to Phoebus, the prophetess rages furiously in her cavern, if so she may succeed in hinging off the mighty god from her bosom.

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All the more he plies her phrenzied mouth, subduing her wild heart, and fashions her to his will.

     When finally, Phoebus Apollo has her in complete possession, the Sibyl prophesies to AEneas his future course. Through her, also, he gets permission to visit the world of shades, and at the end of her instruction is the famous warning:

     "Easy is the descent to Avernus; night and day Pluto's doors stand wide open; but to retrace one's steps, to come back again to the upper airs,-this is the work, this is the labor."

     There is one mention of the oracles in Horace, in Carmen Saeculare, verses 5-8, where is the following.

     Quo Sibyllini nonuere versus
     Virgines lectas puerosque castes
     Dis quibus septem placuere colies
     Dicere carmen.

     Which, being freely interpreted, is as follows:

     In which (the sacred festival) the Sibylline verses have warned us that a band of chosen virgins and clean boys must sing a hymn to the gods to whom the seven hills are pleasing.

     The Sibylline Books.

     Let us now pass from the consideration of the oracles to that of the Sibylline books. The oracles, as mentioned above, were written out by the scribes, and were for the questioners at the shrine, who had come to ask about the success or failure of what they intended or hoped to do. The scattered answers were, according to tradition, gradually collected into books, which have altogether disappeared. A good many separate responses, however, have been preserved as quotations by historians and others.

     The books come into history in the account of the Cumaean Sibyl's bringing to Tarquin, king of Rome, nine books of oracles, which she offered for sale at a price. Tarquin, since he considered the Sibyl's demand exorbitant, refused to buy.

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She departed, and burnt three of the books. After a time-a year, some say-she returned to the king with six books, which she offered to sell at the same price as she had asked for the nine. Again Tarquin refused, and she again departed, and burnt three more of the books. Finally she returned, and offered the remaining three at the original price. By this time Tarquin's curiosity or superstition was so piqued that he bought the books at the price demanded.

     These books were preserved in a stone chest in the vaults under the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline. At first two commissioners, afterwards five, and finally fifteen (the quindecimvirs) were appointed to guard them, and to consult them on occasion.

     The books were never consulted in prosperous times, but only in times of crisis, as, for instance, in seasons of devastating floods, famine, drought, and defeat in war. At such times the quindecimvirs, who were really a college of priests, consulted the books, not to find out what to do in what may be called a practical way, but to ascertain what religious rites should be performed to avert the anger of the gods. The quindecimvirs examined the books and reported their conclusions, but were never permitted to quote the words of the oracles. Nothing is known exactly, but it is believed that the oracles were written on separate sheets, perhaps palm leaves, and that they were consulted by drawing a leaf, in much the same way as players draw cards from a pack to determine who is to be dealer.

     In the year 82 B.C., the capitol was destroyed by fire, and the Sibylline books perished with the rest. Seven years later, three men were sent to Erythrai and the East to collect what could be found of the oracles still remaining. They brought back to Rome about a thousand verses. This would make a book a little larger than one of the books of the AEneid. Other verses were brought from other places, and again, the guindccimviri sacris faciundis,-the fifteen who had charge of sacred things that must be done, were directed to make a selection of this material. This selection was later subjected to a searching criticism by Augustus, who rejected all but a few verses. These were carefully preserved, this time appropriately in the temple of Apollo; for it was he who controlled the Sibyl, and whose mouthpiece she was. But the days of the Sibylline oracles were over, and they were more and more neglected.

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A temporary revival of interest occurred under Aurelian (emperor from 270 to 275), and later under Julian, called the Apostate (emperor from 361 to 363); but they never regained their hold upon the minds of men.

     In all accounts of the Sibylline books will be found the statement that they were finally burned by Stilicho. No one, so far as I have been able to find, says why he destroyed them. I have in mind two answers to that question, either of which may be taken for what it is worth, or both rejected. Stilicho was chief commander of the armies of the Western Empire, and the protector of the Emperor Honorius during his minority. He became emperor of the West at the age of eleven. Stilicho, though a Vandal, was faithful to his trust, and was one of the last generals, if not the last, who successfully drove back the barbarians, who were pressing in upon Italy and Rome. Nevertheless Honorius, as soon as he arrived at maturity, ordered the execution of Stilicho, on the charge of treason. If there were any grounds for the charge, then Stilicho was aiming to make himself emperor, and perhaps did not wish that there should be found a set of prophecies that could be interpreted against him.

     Honorius became emperor of the West in 395 A.D.; Stilicho was executed in 408 A.D. It was, therefore, at the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth that the recorded Sibylline books were destroyed. The other possible reason for the destruction is, to my mind, this: Stilicho was a Christian of sorts, and perhaps wished that the minds of Romans should no longer be affected by pagan prophecies.

     With the destruction of the books preserved at Rome any knowledge of a collection of pagan Sibylline oracles ceased; but it was not the en? of the oracles; for there had been a number of Jewish predictions calling themselves Sibylline, dating from even before the beginning of the Christian era. These, in all probability, emanated from Alexandria, whither the Jews of the diaspora had flocked in great numbers. They were on friendly terms with the Alexandrian Greeks, who encouraged them to the fullest extent. It was there that the Septudgint,-the first translation of the Old Testament into Greek,-was made by learned Jews, who were well acquainted with the Greek language and literature. These Jews, it is supposed, encouraged by the Greek traditions of the Sibyls, made Sibylline oracles of their own for purposes of propaganda.

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But there is another set of Jewish oracles, also calling themselves Sibylline, that were composed much later; for they breathe nothing but hatred of Rome, and predict its destruction. These must have been composed after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D.

     Later there began to appear predictions claiming for themselves pagan Sibylline origin, in which the coming of the Lord is plainly foretold in the phraseology of both the Old Testament and the New. These are so palpably Christian propaganda that their spurious character is evident at once to the mind of any modern student. And yet the religious writers of the 17th century swallowed them with open-mouthed credulity, and accepted them as wonderful confirmations of the Christian religion from pagan sources. They were not yet acquainted with Richard Bentley, although he was a 17th century writer. The middle ages never doubted them.

     There is one mention of the Sibyl in Christian hymnology. It is in the hymn written by Thomas of Celano, which is popularly known as the Dies Irae. I give the first stanza from a memory of my boyhood, when I knew most of the Dies Irae by heart before I began to study Latin. I have, while working on this paper, been able to find only the title. The first stanza is as follows:

     Dies irae! dies illa!
     Solvet saeclum in favilla
     Teste David cum Sibylla.

     A free translation is as follows: O day of wrath! that dreadful day, the world shall dissolve in ashes as testifieth David, together with the Sibyl; or

     O day of wrath! that dreadful day!
     The world in ash shall melt away;
     as David and the Sibyl say.

     That, as you see, is good Old Church doctrine concerning the end of the world.

     In concluding, let us return to the matter of the Spiritual Diary with which we began. The Roman told Swedenborg that he knew from the Sibylline books that some one would come. It would be strange indeed if, in all the mass of the oracles, which at one time were a great many, and always cast in enigmatic form, there should not have been more than one that could be interpreted as predicting some great one to come.

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As with the Jews, so with the pagans, it would naturally be believed that the one to come would be a great national hero, who should conquer and reduce to order the whole world, do away with war, crime, and poverty, and usher in the return of the earthly Golden Age. Furthermore, we know that the Divine Providence overrules all the acts of men; so, therefore, without knowing anything about what they did, is it not Possible that the Sibyls did actually prophesy the coming of the Lord? Then again, a knowledge of many things of religion had drifted across to the Greeks from the lands to the east and south of them, where the Ancient Church had been spread abroad; and while they turned these things into fables, many of them scandalous, nevertheless there was always a residuum of truth; for otherwise they could not have continued to exist.

     BIBLIOGRAPHY.

     WORKS CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS ARTICLE.

     The Sibylline Oracles, Sir John Foyer, London, 1713; Servatii Gallaei Dissertationes de Sibyllis, Amstelodami, 1688; Plutarch, Miscellanea (Colonial Co., Lim., 1905); A Handbook of Greek Mythology (E. D. Dent & Co., 1928); Gibbon's Decline and Fall; The Encyclopaedia Britandca; The Encyclopaedia of Religion; The Catholic Encyclopaedia; Schaff-Herzog, Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge; McClintock & Strong, Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature; Jewish Encyclopaedia; Brockhaus, Konversations Lexicon (German); Nordish Konversations Lexicon (Swedish); Harper's Classical Dictionary; Smith's Classical Dictionary; Seyfert's Classical Dictionary; Horace's Carmen Saeculare; Virgil's AEneid; Fairbanks, Greek Religion (Am. Bk. Co., 1910).

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LORD'S DIVINE GENERATION 1931

LORD'S DIVINE GENERATION        N. D. PENDLETON       1931

     "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matthew 1:1.)

     The Writings tell us that the Lord was born a King. And indeed He was born of the royal line of David. He was born a King of the everlasting kingdom of Truth; yet, as this Truth, He was born, not of Mary, but of God. Therefore He was Truth Divine at birth, and during His life in the world He made His Human ever more to be that Truth; yet this Truth was not separated from Divine Good, but the two were joined in Him from nativity. (A. E. 449.) Therefore it is said in the text, not only that Jesus was the son of David, but also that David was the son of Abraham. These two, Divine Truth conjoined with the Divine Good, were the essentials in the Lord's Divine generation.

     In the second verse of this chapter, Abraham is again mentioned, but there as having beget Isaac, and Isaac, Jacob, and so on down in succession to Joseph. This sequence of procreative names stands as an enlarged representation of the Lord's Divine generation, and as such it may be called His genealogy. We note with interest that this genealogy does not mention Mary, but ends with Joseph. Yet the Lord was born of Mary. In this chapter it is recorded that "the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit." In view of this, why does the Lord's genealogy end with Joseph? But if it be regarded as the genealogy of Joseph, how then may it be taken as the book of the generation of Jesus Christ? This question has been asked since the beginning of the Christian Church, and many answers have been given by the fathers of the church and the pious learned.

     The difficulty becomes even more perplexing by a comparison with the genealogy given in Luke. There also the table stands as a list of the Lord's progenitors, but in a reverse order, and with many differences. Also, we there find the name of Joseph instead of Mary.

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Luke, however, begins with Joseph, and goes back, not only to Abraham, but to Noah, and Adam, and to God. Here, then, the same question arises. How may this be a genealogy of the Lord, since it is traced back from Joseph! Of the many efforts at reconciliation we shall mention only one which has found wide acceptance. This explanation is, that in both genealogies the name of Joseph has been substituted for that of Mary because the Jews would not allow a woman's name to be inserted in their genealogical tables. Also, that the difference in names between Matthew and Luke arises from the fact that one is given according to natural generation, and the other in accord with legal requirements, as when a man died childless, his brother was obliged to take his wife and credit the issue to his deceased brother. But neither this nor any other theory has solved the many perplexing difficulties.

     As the two genealogies stand, both seem intended to be taken according to the flesh, and at the same time as the genealogy of the Lord. However, as noted, the one ends and the other begins, not with Mary, but with Joseph, her betrothed, who "knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born Son."

     It is a happy circumstance that the English version of our text reads, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ," and not. His genealogy. The word generation is not only more fitting, but it enlarges the meaning and releases a spiritual idea, enabling us to perceive the truth that the book of the generation of Jesus Christ is, in verity, the book of His Divine generation. The Writings give us no direct statement to this effect; yet the teaching concerning other genealogies in the Word provide ample warrant for this conclusion.

     In treating of the succession of the descendants of Adam, we are told that "it was customary with the most ancient people to give names, and by them to signify things, and thus to frame a genealogy. For the things of the church are related to each other in this way, one being born from another, as in generation." (A. C. 399, 400.)

     In like manner, in treating of the succession of descendants from Esau, it is shown that that succession represents the derivations of the Divine Good Natural in the Lord's Divine Human, and it is said of these derivations, which are contained in the names mentioned, that they are represented to the angels in a general way, and that by an influx of Divine Love from the Lord the angels are profoundly affected thereby.

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In other words, while the angels may not be given a clearly defined idea of the verities of this Divine Good, but only a "faint outline" thereof (A. C. 4644), yet they are profoundly affected by an influx of love when the names in that chapter are recited. If this be so in the case of the names of the descendants of Esau, what may be said of the sacred table in Matthew! May there not be a like, if not a more intimate, effect upon the angels! And from what is said of the signification of Esau's descendants, may we not gain some idea of the meaning of the genealogy in Matthew? May we not realize that the table of names in Matthew, in a most exalted sense, is a record of the Divine generation of the Lord, and this the more so, since just that is the direct claim made for it in the text!

     It is clear, therefore, that this book of the generation of Jesus Christ should' not, by any adroit interpretation, be turned into a genealogy of Mary, as by the claim that Joseph's name was inserted in place of hers. The Word of the Lord is right as it stands, and an enforced interpretation, a strained reconciliation based on a false natural premise, cannot but impose an injurious violence on the sacred letter. Spiritual interpretation alone will join together that which appears as if disunited and contradictory in the letter. The table of names in Matthew is therefore not a genealogy of Mary, but in truth of Joseph, and yet it is also, in supreme verity, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, and for this reason it begins with Abraham and ends with Joseph.

     In spiritual fact, and of Divine reason, the name of the protective Joseph, with all the other names in the list, stands for an angel, or an angelic society; that is, for all the departments of heaven, and yet not for the angels themselves, but for the Divine in them.

     It should be noted that this Divine generation of Jesus Christ was threefold. It was effected by the Supreme Divine, by the Divine in and with the angels, and by birth into the world. The sacred record of names in Matthew stands for the second of these; that is, it stands for the Lord's heavenly generation, which was prior to His earthly birth. Therefore, in Matthew, the record of His heavenly generation comes before the account of His actual birth into the world, the point being that all the societies of heaven, and every angel, unconsciously mediated in this sacred service, and that they did so by protective and moderative accommodations of the Divine transflowing on the occasion.

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Let us, however, recall that His passing through heaven was clear; that is, nothing was taken from the angels, nothing proprial to them, but only, as it were, a molding or an apparent finition, an accommodation whereby His conception and birth into the world was made possible. It was in this way that the Lord bowed the heavens to obeisance in His coming down. May we not, then, understand that the record of births in Matthew, from Abraham to Joseph, is in utmost reality and highest verity, the book of the heavenly generation of Jesus Christ, that is, His generation prior to the Mary conception and birth? In fact, this heavenly generation took Place from eternity, and its first product was the Divine Man in the heavens, and its second was that Man in the world.

     In the Matthew record, therefore, Abraham is the first named and Joseph the last. It is a spiritual law that both the first and the last stand for the whole here the whole of heaven, and all the angels, in this their gift of an unconscious service,-a service which was ordained from the beginning, and effected through infinite heavenly mediations, until the event could no longer be delayed. If so, then may we conclude, in sympathy with the teaching in Arcana Coelestia 4642, that while this Divine transflux transcends the understanding of men, and while its procedure is but "faintly outlined" to the angels, yet, when the sacred list of names significant of it is recited, the angels are affected by an influx of love which profoundly moves them. And knowing this, even we may be moved.

     If, then, it is the Divine and heavenly generation of Jesus Christ which is recorded in Matthew, and not the genealogy of Mary, what may be said of that other like record in Luke? Is it also the book of the generation of Jesus Christ?

     In the first place, it is not so called in the text. Besides, in Luke the record runs in a reverse order, and in an ascending, instead of a descending, series. Luke begins his genealogy with Joseph, and goes back to Abraham, and to Noah and Adam, and finally to God. Also, in the Section between Joseph and Abraham, in many cases quite other names are given. We note also that Matthew treats definitively of the subject of generation. His record is called the "book of the generation," and it records the fact that Abraham begat Isaac, and that Isaac begat Jacob, and so on down to Joseph. The vital generative word, in its continuity, is lacking in Luke.

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After noting that Jesus was supposed to be the son of Joseph, Luke's record runs as follows: "Joseph of Hell, and Hell of Matthat, and Matthat of Levi," and so on back to Abraham, Noah, Adam, and God.

     Moreover, in Matthew the story of the Lord's birth from Mary follows after the recorded generation of Jesus Christ. It is very different in this respect in Luke. The Lord had arrived at His maturity; He was baptized, and had entered upon His mission, before the reputed genealogy in Luke is recorded. This important fact as to the time and place of the record, with reference to the Lord's life, taken in connection with that other fact that Luke's genealogy is given in an ascending series from Joseph to God, suggests the thought that Luke's record is not a generative sequence, representing the Lord's descent through heaven into the world, but that it is a Divine regenerative series, significant of His ascent through heaven to the Divine. If this be so, then the names in this list stand as a record in forecast of the series and degrees of the heavenly societies which responded to the Lord's ascent; and more interiorly it is significant of the successive states of the Lord's ascending glorification. As He came down through heaven by a Divine generation, so also He ascended through heaven by a Divine re-generation, beginning with the heavenly Joseph, and passing through all the states signified by the sacred names in their order, ending with God.

     By the way in which the Lord came down, so He went up, but with a difference. In His ascent, He made new heavens and also, in a greater or less degree, He changed the states of the fore-established heavens. For instance, we know that in the process of His glorification He, at will, called to Himself certain heavenly societies, and instructed them as to the imperative need of abandoning their former attempt to worship the invisible Divine, and of the need of their entering into the worship of God as Man. The fulfillment of this need could not but change the entire state of heaven. Also, we know that on the occasion of His ascent He raised many from the world of spirits and the lower earth, and formed them into new angelic societies. May it not be that all this is briefly represented by the new and the changed names discovered in Luke's
genealogy?

     Let us, then, take the Divine Word as it stands in the sacred letter, in both these series, the one ending and the other beginning with Joseph; and let us note again that the name of Mary occurs in neither.

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Her sacred function was other than that implied by the angelic intermediation; yet she was of ultimate service to the whole, the entire transflux. Her part was that of a woman in the world, a virgin betrothed to heaven; and her contribution was a material body, stamped with the heredity of her race.

     Finally, it is clear why the generative list of names in Matthew should begin with Abraham. He stands not only as an inclusive representative of the Divine, but specifically for the Divine in the heavens, sometimes called the Divine from eternity, and also the Divine Human from eternity, and the Divine Man in the heavens. Thus Abraham stands for just that which was taking place, when by the Divine transflux the Lord came down by a generative descent. Because Abraham represents this heavenly generation of the Lord in its eternal beginning, his name follows through to the end, even to the ultimate fulfillment, and so it comes to pass that Abraham represents the infancy and childhood of the Lord, and in general the state of the Lord at birth, which state is said, in the Writings, to have been most arcane; for in the child at birth was involved, not only the Divine, but a heavenly accommodation thereof. Hence the teaching that the Lord alone of all men was born of heavenly seed, and that in this He was unlike any man. All other men are born of a seed with the stain of evil, which engenders an infernal proprium. The evil that tempted the Lord during His life on earth came from without, through the door of His natural inheritance.

     Because the Lord alone was born of heavenly seed, therefore, in His infancy and childhood, He entered into the celestial things of love. Because of this, the opening of His mind as a child to the light of truth was quick beyond the measure of any man; for His love, even in the beginning, was celestial. The doctrine is, that while all men are born natural, He alone was born a spiritual celestial Man, by which is signified His Divine and heavenly inheritance. Because He was born of heavenly seed, He was holy at birth, and this even as to His body, in so far as His body was derived from His soul. In touching upon this derivation, the Writings teach that the bodies of men are from their souls. There was with Him at birth, as with all men, not only a mother vestment, but also a derivation from the Father; and this derivation so profoundly qualified Him, so wrought from within the very fibres of His body, that it was holy.

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Moreover, and because of this, at a later date He was empowered to walk upon the waters, and still later to rise from death, leaving nothing in the sepulchre. This miracle of His resurrection was a fulfillment of all that was in Him by virtue of His Divine generation, which also was signified by the signs and wonders which accompanied His birth. The coming of the wise men, bringing gifts, signifies that all the wisdom of the East was in Him; and the story of the shepherds tells of the child then born to be the Divine Shepherd of Israel. Wisdom was in Him at birth, and the guardian love of the human race. Amen.

LESSONS: Matthew 1. Luke 3:21-38. A. C. 1414.
HYMNS: Liturgy, pages 612, 637, 708.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 74, 176.
SUMMING UP 1931

SUMMING UP       Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1931

     In bringing to a close a general series upon any subject, it is very important to take time to review the ground covered, for it is not without a repetition and summing up that we derive lasting benefit from any teaching. "Line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, there a little," is the law given in the Word for the building in of God's laws among a wayward and rebellious people, such as we find ourselves to be at the end of a church. (Isaiah 28:13.)

     It is not clearly realized in the learned world that our lives are composed of affections as well as thoughts, and that time and repetition are necessary to impress the substances of our affections. Perhaps the thing that is not realized is just this, namely, that affections are merely changes in the form and structure of the substances of our mental organism, which is substantial. Moreover, they may not be aware that our thoughts are but superficial modifications of these same organic vessels, while the feelings are more intrinsic.

     This is the real reason why it is not enough merely to see and understand a truth once; why it is useful to take time to let it soak in, to mull it over, to discuss it from several angles, and to digest it slowly.

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     The best education gives opportunity for such reactions. Some of our greatest minds were nourished upon a few of the world's best books, which were imbibed between tasks that left time for reflection, and with a mother or some wise friend to discuss things, and to insinuate the warmth of deep appreciation.

     It is a fault of our age, being so strongly an intellectual age, to make the intellect the whole of life, and to give too little time and attention to the will. And yet it is the will that is our innermost life. Thought,-the understanding,-can indeed be elevated above the will, can quickly fly to and fro throughout the world and the whole universe; but, like a bird, it must come home at last to rest, and to renew itself.

     It is significant of the trend of the age that even the term "will" is now discredited by advanced thinkers, and ridiculed as a worn-out figment of the theologians, useful mainly as a name to conceal ignorance. The will, they say, about which the churchmen have so long concerned themselves, is not capable of definition in any concrete terms, either of structure or of function. It is a myth, along with the old theological notion of free will, of spiritual responsibility, and thus of sin and damnation. All these ideas they condemn and brush aside, since to them there is only one plane of life,-the material plane. They close their eyes to all the forces in life except the forces of the great mechanism which we call "nature."

     How this machine got started, with such a comprehensive plan, and how it keeps going so consistently, deponent sayeth not. Any forces and substances, any faculties especially, that cannot be demonstrated to the physical senses, these men refuse to consider as real. They admit, indeed, that we do have dreams, emotions, imaginings, hopes, and so on, but in their view these are mere by-products of some disorderly working of the brain-cells. In this they are apparently right, but really wrong. It is true that all inner life-forces work down into and by means of the organic forms of the natural world, and are necessarily conditioned by the state of the latter. Moreover, it is a law that the active force always appears to be of the instrumental; but, upon reflection, and by instruction, we are able to see clearly that they are distinct. Materialists, however, cannot do this.

     Such materialistic thinking has always been in evidence, but there are times when it seems to rise like a flood and threaten to sweep all before it.

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Yet there are always some who cling to the deeper perception of the presence of God and the power of spiritual realities. And this common sense has an appeal to the instinctive common perception of the less scientific, which is sufficient at least to check the tide of materialism.

     It was notably so in the time of our Lord's First Advent. Greek civilization, Greek philosophy, Greek art, had gone stale under the rigid dominion of Rome, but the secret cause was the loss of all real religious faith and life. They had become too immoral to have any high and holy communion with the gods and the muses. But "the common people received the Gospel gladly."

     Again, at the Lord's Second Coming, in the year 1757 and thereafter, the doctrine of faith alone and the wide prevalence of unchastity and impiety, resulted in an era of rationalism that bore wild fruits in the French Revolution. Later, the pendulum swung to the other extreme of highly orgiastic religious "revivals," as bad, if not worse, in their effect upon the development of real religion and rational faith, than the negative ratiocination of a Voltaire, an Ingersoll, or such other modern Sadducees.

     Is it any wonder, then, that Religion seems more and more to be losing its rightful place at the center of things, and that the churches are empty, or are filled by appealing to other interests than those that open heaven and lead to the detection of our unseen evils and their removal as sins against God? Only by most patient evangelization, and this especially among the children, can any progress be made in stemming this deadly flood. And to succeed in our efforts we must use the Lord's admonition to employ patient iteration: "Line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, there a little."

     Lastly, let us beware lest we become discouraged if our first enthusiastic charges upon the sales-resistance of our generation are not as wholly and permanently successful as we had hoped.

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CORRESPONDENCES, REPRESENTATIVES, AND SIGNIFICATIVES 1931

CORRESPONDENCES, REPRESENTATIVES, AND SIGNIFICATIVES       Rev. ELMO C. ACTON       1931

     (At the First South African Assembly, Durban, September 12, 1929.)

     Words are means of expressing ideas. The words used in speech, therefore, are to be regarded as means to an end,-the clear setting forth of ideas. It is important, however, that words be used in a clear and distinct sense, because the idea within is thus more perfectly brought to view. Words or terms are to be used carefully, to the end that an idea may be clearly presented, but care should be exercised lest the delight in the use of words for their own sake cause concealment of the idea that is to be expressed. It is necessary to study the definite meaning of words, to the end that ideas may be exactly clothed in them; for every idea has a word or series of words that express it in clearer light than any other word or series of words. This is so in human language; how much more must it be the case in Divine speech, or in the Word of God? For the words used in Divine Revelation express Divine celestial and spiritual ideas with an exactitude and excellence infinitely above that which any human document can hope to attain. It is most useful, therefore, to study the meanings of the words or terms employed in Revelation, in order that we may enter more interiorly into their meaning, and thus grasp the ideas thereby put forth. And since it is necessary to understand clearly the ideas presented in the literal sense, before the glory of the internal sense can shine through, such a study is highly desirable.

     The distinction between the three terms, "correspondences," "representatives," and "significatives" is frequently disregarded, and in many cases unknown. It is our purpose to set forth our understanding of these terms, as gathered from an examination of the passages in the Writings in which they occur. The conclusions at which we have arrived will first be given.

     CORRESPONDENCE refers to the relation of a cause on a higher plane to its resultant effect on the plane a discrete degree lower; to the relation of the effect to its cause, and to their mutual relationship.

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     REPRESENTATIVES refer to the appearance of the cause on the plane of the effect, the effect being the re-presenting of the cause in the lower plane, so that it may appear on that plane.

     SIGNIFICATIVES refer to the spiritual thing that is to be understood by any individual word or series of words.

     To give a general example: The whole of the letter of the Word has its cause in heaven, and therefore corresponds to the things of heaven; the lives of the characters of the Word represent, in the natural world; the things of heaven to which they correspond, and the words by means of which the representations are expressed, and also the natural objects used in the representative acts, signify, or are a sign of those spiritual things.

     But a detailed study will bring out more clearly this conclusion, and also the various shades of meaning involved in these terms according to the context in which they are used. We shall first treat of Correspondence, as the more universal of the three.

     CORRESPONDENCES.

     The Divine Love is the only source of life. From it all things came into being, and from it all things continue to exist. If the influx of life from the Lord should be cut off for one moment, the whole of creation would perish, because creation depends upon the Lord as its First Cause. The Divine cannot, as some suppose, create a form of life, and then leave that form to develop itself; for creation is an effect of the First Cause, and unless that Cause be continually in the effect, the effect ceases to exist. "An effect is not an effect unless the cause be in it, and be continually in it. Hence it is evident that as all things general and particular in the world have existed from the Divine, so also do they exist from the Divine." (A. C. 5711.) In order that there may be life, the Divine must not only create, but must also continually inflow with life, or continually create; for creation is perpetual preservation. And so it may be said that in the whole of creation the Divine alone lives. But there is a danger in this idea. If the Divine alone lives, then it would seem that everything which has life must be Divine; but this leads to pantheism,-the belief that the universe is God. And here is where the laws of correspondence are necessary to clear thought; for it is according to these laws that creation was effected and is sustained.

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     Creation is not God, but is a finite receptacle of God's life. Creation took place by the finiting of the Infinite, which finiting resulted in finite substance, between which and Divine substance there is no ratio; that is to say, there is no possible approach to the Divine by a refining of the finite. But still there is a relation, and that relation is according to the laws of correspondence. A like relation exists between the natural and spiritual worlds. There is no ratio between them, but there is communication by means of correspondence. As the Divine is the cause of all spiritual and natural creation, so in the spiritual world are all secondary causes of creation in the natural world. Hence it is said that "there is no ratio between the natural and the spiritual, but there is conjunction by means of correspondences." (D. Wis. XII:4.)

     The multiplication of a seed to infinity corresponds to the infinity of God, not in some theoretical sense, but actually, because the infinity of God is the actual and only cause of the ability of a seed to multiply itself to infinity. And so it is with all created things. In one way or another they show forth some Divine quality in the Lord, and this quality is the cause, not only at the beginning, but also perpetually, of the existence and subsistence of that thing. For example: Thought is the cause of speech. In this case the thought does not start the organs of speech moving, and leave them automatically to continue, but thought is present in every word spoken, and is the only life in the words; if thought should cease, the organs of speech would instantly stop acting.

     Now since it is a truth that from nothing nothing comes (ex nihilo nihil fit); and since the whole of creation came, and continually comes, from God; therefore creation can be nothing but an appearing of the Cause from which it came; that is to say, the whole of creation must in some way show forth the Divine qualities of its Maker. From this is the teaching that the whole of creation is a theater representative of the Lord and His kingdom. And since the Lord as to Essence is Divine Good and Divine Truth, therefore all things of creation refer themselves to good and truth. Indeed, it could not be otherwise. Therefore, each created object has correspondence with the Divine according to the quality of the Divine that it shows forth; that is, it receives influx from the Divine according to its form, which latter determines the quality of the Divine which it portrays. (A. C. 3484.)

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     Again, everything receives influx from the Divine in relation to its correspondence with that special Divine attribute which it represents. The whole of the Divine is present in every created thing, since the Divine of the Lord is omnipresent; but any individual created thing receives that Divine presence according to its form of use, which makes it to correspond. This reception is influx, and from this influx is subsistence. Thus influx is according to correspondence. The appearance is that the Divine is thus divided, that it gives itself in part, but the truth is that it is the reception only that is limited. The whole of the Divine is present in the oak tree, but it receives only that portion of the Divine to which its form corresponds. There is no withholding of the Divine life; the inability to receive in fulness is owing to the limitations of the finite form.

     Correspondence, therefore, designates the relation between the cause and its effect. Between things on the same plane there is no relation as of cause and effect, and therefore no correspondence. This relation exists between God and creation; between the celestial and spiritual heavens; between the spiritual and natural heavens: between the heavens and the natural world; between the mind and the body; and so there is correspondence between the things on these different planes. This is important; for many confuse simile and metaphor with correspondence. Simile and metaphor carry with them the idea of likeness as to external appearance; correspondence involves a likeness as to internal agreement; that is to say, agreement as to essential form. Between a lamb and the external life of a child there is a likeness or comparison, but no correspondence. A lamb corresponds to the innocence from which the actions of an infant proceed, and this because the same innocence is the cause in the spiritual world from which the lamb has its existence. The kingdom of heaven corresponds to the Lord's Divine Human, because it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven, that is, its Cause. And so there is the relation of correspondence between the form of heaven and the Divine of the Lord. If the Divine were not the Cause from which heaven exists, and if the angels were not forms recipient of that Divine on the plane of the heavens, there could be no correspondence between them. In like manner, the causes of all things that exist in the natural world are from the spiritual world, and therefore correspond to them.

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     God is the First Cause, the spiritual world is the secondary cause, and the natural world is the effect. The first cause is called the end. All ends are in the Divine, all causes in the spiritual world, and all effects in the natural world. The end of creation was an angelic heaven from the human race. This end first produced a world of causes, and then a world of effects, in which it reached its ultimate goal in the creation of man. Man is the end to which the whole of creation looks, and in which it terminates; and since the end is the all in all in the cause, and, through the cause, the all in all in the effect, therefore the whole of creation is correspondentially present in man. In him the world of causes and the world of effects are united. He is a correspondential image of all creation. His soul corresponds to God, his mind to the spiritual world, and his body to the natural world. We therefore turn to man for a clearer Idea of this subject.

     CORRESPONDENCE IN MAN.

     All ends in man are in his soul; the causes from these ends are in the mind; and the effects of the prior two are in the body. Or, in another series, ends are predicated of the will, causes of the understanding, and effects of the speech and act. But since man's mind is really his spiritual world, and is a spiritual world in least form, it matters not whether we say that the things of the body correspond to the spiritual world or that they correspond to the things of the mind.

     One of the first things to grasp in the understanding of the correspondence between the spiritual and natural worlds is this,-that the correspondent of a spiritual cause is not in the same appearance, aspect or form in the effect as that to which it corresponds. "There is a correspondence between the things which are in the internal man and those which are in the external man, and hence they appear in all cases under another form, insomuch that they are not discovered except by the knowledge of correspondences." (H. H. 356, footnote. See also A. C. 3425, 3630, 3632, 2994, 5131.) The affections are the causes of the acts of the body, and are that to which they correspond. The acts of the body are actually the appearing of the affections on the plane of the body, and yet it cannot be said that the affections are in the same form as the acts, even though they be the only thing in the acts.

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Thought corresponds to speech; that is to say, thought is the cause and living reality within speech, and yet it cannot be said that thought is in the same form in the mind as speech is in the body.

     This is important for a clear understanding of what is meant by correspondence. Too often people are inclined to think of the correspondent of a thing as being that same thing in the same shape and form on another plane. Too often is the spiritual world thought to be a finer natural world, and the things of the spiritual world to be nothing more than natural objects continuously refined. The spiritual is real and living; the natural is only apparently real, and in itself is dead. What makes the natural to live is the spiritual within; and between the two there is no relation except one of correspondence. If we have a clear idea of the difference between sight and the eye, thought and speech, will and action, obedience and the ear, we may have a clear idea of the relation between the spiritual and the natural.

     The spiritual correspondent of a thing in the natural world is just as much the creative force of that thing as thought is the creative force of speech. All the organs of the body have their correspondents in the mind; or, what is the same thing, in the spiritual world. Nothing can exist from itself; and therefore everything in the natural world must have a cause in the spiritual world through which it may receive life from the Lord. People have difficulty in conceiving how obedience, to which the ear corresponds, can be the producing and sustaining cause of that organ. But if we see how necessary it is that every natural object have a cause on a higher plane, and this cause again a cause, until the ascent ends in the Lord, with Whom all causes originate, then we must admit, even though we fail to understand how the process works, that all things of the natural world have correspondent creative causes in the spiritual world.

     In trying to comprehend this teaching, we are to think, not so much of the organ of the body as corresponding, but of the use of the organ; for it is principally the use that corresponds, and from the use the organ. Every organ of the body has a certain definite use, and it is principally that use to which the things in the spiritual world correspond. But since the organ is the form of that use, (for otherwise it could not be the means of its ultimation); and since this form was created by the use; therefore, whether we designate the use by the organ, or the organ by the use, it is the same thing.

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The use comes first, but before the resultant organ of that use is created, the use is invisible and without power, for all power resides in ultimates. The organ having been created, the use proceeds from the organ, and even appears to have come into existence only after the creation of the organ; but that such is not the case is clearly taught, as follows:

     "When a man wills to do this or that, and to act thus or otherwise, and makes it the subject of his thought, then the organs are moved accordingly, thus according to the intention of the function or use; for it is use which commands the forms. Hence also it is evident that the use existed before the organic forms of the body came into existence, and that the use produced and adapted them to itself, and not contrariwise. But when the forms have been produced, or the organs adapted, uses proceed thence, and then it appears as if the forms or organs were prior to the use, when yet it is not so; for the use inflows from the Lord, and thus through heaven, according to the order and according to the form in which heaven has been arranged by the Lord, thus according to correspondence." (A. C. 4223. See also T. C. R. 375; H. H. 112; D. Wis. II:4.)

     A man has in mind a certain use, say the use of manufacturing a certain article. This use descends from the mind into the material world, and from that world it takes materials suitable to itself and builds a factory, which factory is the material form or embodiment of that use. This having been done, it appears that the use first existed after the factory had been completed, but in reality it was the use that built and adapted the factory to itself. Experience of the truth of this teaching was given Swedenborg in the other world. He says: "When I spoke of any part of the human body, the angels not only knew the whole structure of that part, and its manner of acting and use, but likewise innumerable things besides, more than man is capable of exploring, yea, of understanding." (A. C. 3626.) For he who is in causes knows therefrom all that is involved in effects.

     The principle use of correspondences is the conjunction of man with the angels of heaven, and thus with the Lord. The Divine, in Itself, is infinite, and above all human understanding. In its descent, it passes through the three heavens, being accommodated in each heaven to the understanding of the angels, and from the last or natural heaven it descends to men upon earth, and is accommodated to their apprehension and thence reception.

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Spiritual ideas, in themselves, are above man's comprehension, or rather above the grasp of his natural mind; but since there is a correspondence of the natural mind with the spiritual mind, the natural is receptive of the spiritual, or rather is the containant of the spiritual. In other words, spiritual ideas clothe themselves in natural ideas, and, with the regenerating, are seen within them. This is the way in which all revelation is given. Hence the excellence of the Word, and its power of conjoining man with heaven, that is, if he prepares the natural to receive the spiritual. It is a spiritual idea that the Lord is love, and does good to all. This idea, in descending into the sensual, where there is disorder, takes on the form of anger, punishment, and revenge. This latter idea is sensual, but at the same time it is receptive of the spiritual reality within, and therefore, with the simple and with children, it is a means of conjunction with the angels of heaven, and this because there is a correspondence between natural and spiritual ideas. (A. C. 3425.)

     All things of the Word are thus the most perfect means of conjunction with heaven, and thence with the Lord; for while man is in the natural idea, the angels are in the spiritual idea. But the conjunction is most perfect with those who are able to elevate their minds into the light of heaven, which can be done in the degree that they humbly look to the Lord, and shun evils as sins against Him. In this case, man is no longer present with the angels by means of correspondence, but is present with them actually; or rather, his internal, which is in the company of angels, is present in his external or natural, in the same way in which angels are present with children and the simple. The natural then disappears; not that it is lost, but that the spiritual is present in it to such a degree that the natural no longer appears. This is evident from the fact that man never loses the natural which he acquired in the world, for it always remains as a basis in which the spiritual and celestial degrees terminate and come to rest. "Correspondence is what causes angels to seem to themselves not to be natural spirits, when yet they are natural; but the natural as it were disappears in certain states through correspondence." (S. D. 2158.) We may see an example of this in the tendency to disregard a man's external appearance when his spiritual quality or his character is well known.

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     From the teaching that everything must have a cause, a question may arise as to the cause of evil in man, and the causes of evil animals and plants. It is beyond the scope of this paper to enter into the subject of the origin of evil, but it may be well to add a few words on the causes of these evil forms.

     Evil had its origin in man's spiritual world, that is, in the human mind, particularly in the animus (n. C. 5712), by a perverting of the life inflowing from the Divine. The form of the mind was warped by self-love, and turned the forms below it into corresponding ones. There is no evil that does not originate in man's spiritual world. The mind or the spiritual world is the world of causes, so far as the body and the natural world are concerned; and since all things proceed to the last in order, and there rest, these causes, in proceeding, created correspondential forms in which they came to rest. In man these forms are evil actions and evil speech; in the kingdom of nature, they are evil animals and noxious plants. In this way was created the sphere of hell, which is the origin and cause of all evil. There are no causes of evil in heaven, and there is nothing orderly in the body or in nature to which they correspond. Their correspondence is with the diseases of the organs of the body (A. C. 5712),-with the organs of the body put to an evil use; for all correspondence is according to function or use.

     A consideration of the fact that every cause desires to ultimate itself on a lower plane leads us to the subject of representatives.

     REPRESENTATIVES

     A representative is that which re-presents. As shown above, a thing in the spiritual world, or in the internal man, cannot be presented in the same form and shape in the natural world, or in the external man. In order that it may be seen, it must be represented,-presented anew,-in another form, adapted to apprehension in the lower sphere. (A. C. 4053, 5373.) Representatives are nothing more than the correspondences which appear on the plane of effects. The actions of the body, and more especially the expressions of the face, correspond to the affections of the will, and therefore represent the affections of the will, or re-present them on a lower plane.

     An external act represents, however, in the degree that it corresponds.

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The expressions of the face may be an index of a man's loves, or they may cover and conceal those loves, as in the case of dissemblers and hypocrites. With the sincere, they both represent and correspond to the internal form from which they proceed; with hypocrites, they represent something extraneous to the man's ruling affections, proceeding from a desire to appear otherwise than he really is. Hence it is that an external act can represent something to which it does not correspond, or rather from which it does not proceed. (See A. C. 2987-3003, 3225, 3226, 3337, 4044, and H. H. 91.)

     There is here an apparent breaking of the law of correspondence; but the fact is, that in the case of the hypocrite the expressions of friendship, being a representation of love to the neighbor, have causes to which they correspond, but those causes are outside of the man's ruling affection. They have their causes in the influx of the Lord into the external man from without; that is to say, through the civil and moral codes of the world. The man who performs acts of charity from love toward the neighbor is in correspondence; and his acts, being in correspondence with his internal state, are representative of it. The man who performs acts of charity from an end of self-glory and gain is not in correspondence, and his acts are not representative of his internal state. They are indeed representative of the Divine in ultimates to which they correspond; but they have no correspondence with any genuine cause in the man himself. Hence it is evident that an external act or gesture may represent, and yet not correspond to, the cause from which it immediately proceeds. This point is important to a clear understanding of the representatives of the Word, especially those of the Old Testament. But to pursue the subject further it will be necessary to study the origin of representatives, and their use in the representative churches.

     ORIGIN OF REPRESENTATIVES.

     Nature is truly a theater representative of the Lord and His kingdom; for all things came forth from the Divine, and have impressed upon them a representative of some Divine quality. (A. C. 2999.) The whole of nature is a clothing of the Divine, and when these ultimate representatives are unfolded, the Divine may be seen within. (S. D. 3393.)

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The necessity of representatives is seen when it is realized that the Divine, such as it is in Itself, cannot be seen, and so must be accommodated to reception on each plane into which it descends.

     The Divine, such as it is in the celestial and spiritual heavens, cannot be apprehended by the angels of the natural heaven; with the latter, therefore, the things of the spiritual and celestial heavens take the form of most beautiful representations. In no other way can celestial and spiritual ideas be communicated to those in the natural heaven. Yet the angels of the natural heaven are able to perceive with delight that what is celestial and spiritual is within these representatives, because of their correspondence with the things of the celestial and spiritual heavens.

     Here, in heaven, is the origin of representatives; and from them all the representatives of the Word proceed. In hell also, interior things are presented by means of representations, and these representations may appear beautiful and delightful; but since these appearances do not correspond to the cause from which they proceed, they are called phantasies and unrealities; and when the light of heaven flows in upon them, they are seen as they really are, namely, as hideous and ugly. Representations in heaven are beautiful and real because they correspond to good and truth from the Lord. In heaven, therefore, correspondence and representation make one.

     This was also the case in the Most Ancient Church. In that Church the representatives of the Divine, as portrayed in the kingdom of nature, were correspondences of the interiors of the Church. With the men of that Church there could be no representation without correspondence, for the Divine inflowed directly into their interiors, and through these into the exteriors. Thus it was impossible for the expressions of the face to do otherwise than represent, in correspondential form, the state of the affections. And so, when evil arose, there was no means of checking its ultimation in act, no way by which an evil intention could take form and ultimate itself in a non-corresponding representative. For this reason, at the end of the Most Ancient Church, the order of influx from the Lord was changed. Influx into man's exteriors was instituted, and into his interiors only in the degree that the Divine in lasts was received.

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Thus it became possible for man to receive the Divine in ultimates without receiving the Divine in firsts.

     But the science of correspondences was preserved for the use of the Ancient Church, and from this science men constructed representatives of celestial and spiritual things. (A. C. 2722 6.) The state of the Ancient Church may be compared to that of a man whose good actions and benign expressions correspond to his internal. That Church, therefore, was called a "representative church"; for it re-presented the life of heaven.

     At the time of the Jewish Church, these knowledges had been lost, but the representative forms still remained. Thus the state of the Jewish Church may be likened to a man whose external deeds and expressions represent the life of heaven, although, with the man himself, there is no corresponding life of heaven within them. The distinction between these two states,-the state of the Ancient Church and that of the Jewish Church,-is signified in the Writings by the expressions, "the representative church," and "the representative of a church." The Ancient Church was a representative church; the Jewish Church was a representative of a church. And the distinction between these two Churches will give us the difference between corresponding representatives and non-corresponding representatives.

     In the representative church, the interiors of the worshipers were in agreement with the external representative acts of worship, and thus there was conjunction with heaven, the external representative acts being the ultimate plane in which influx from heaven terminated. In the representative of a church, the representative worship corresponded to worship in the heavens, but because the interiors of the worshipers were not in agreement, they had no communication with heaven as to interiors. (A. C. 4288.) Their worship was not a representative worship, but was a worship consisting of representatives apart from their corresponding internal. The representative church was led by the Lord through internal means, but the representative of a church rejected any such internal leading, and was thus forced by external means to perform the use of the representative of a church, in much the same way that an evil man is forced by civil law to lead an externally good life.

     An evil man desires his own good, and he is willing to obtain it at the expense of others. If such a man were allowed to ultimate his desires unhindered by the fear of punishment, and of the loss of honor and gain, society could not exist.

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But, under the Divine government, he is compelled by external means-by the Divine in ultimates-to conform to a representative life of good. As to his spirit, he is not really a man, but only the representative of a man, because his representative or external life does not correspond to the loves from which it proceeds. So it was in the representative of a church. The Israelites were compelled by external means to carry on the work of the representative church; not that the Lord drove them to this use, but that they, because of their refusal to lead an internal life, caused themselves to be driven. (A. C. 4281.) When they failed to obey the Divine commands, they suffered as to their natural state; famine, captivity or plague came upon them. But when they obeyed those commands, they were rewarded with peace and fruitfulness. Thus, by external means, they were driven to lead a life representative of heaven, in the same way that an evil man is forced into a similar life by fear of the loss of reputation, honor and gain. This clearly illustrates the point that there can be representation without correspondence.

     And this leads to a further confirmation of the same truth. A person may represent, quite apart from his character. All the kings of Judah and Israel represented the Lord as to the rule of the Divine Truth, and this even though they were the most evil of men; for it is the use that represents, and not the man apart from the use. (A. C. 1361.) The use is represented in the function or office, and this the man cannot destroy. While in the performance of his function, an evil priest represents the Lord equally as a good priest. The representation is the same in either case, and cannot be destroyed; for in this case, the function corresponds to the Divine, and not to anything in the man himself. That which is Divine cannot be destroyed by any man.

     It is interesting here to note the miraculous way in which non-corresponding representatives could be the means of maintaining the communication between heaven and earth, as was done in the case of the Israelitish Church. (See A. C. 4545, 10499, 10500.)

     Before the Lord's advent, all churches were representative because the Lord was present with men in a representative human, and every church takes its duality from its relation to the Lord. (T. C. R. 109; Coronis 42, 51; A. E. 700:33; Q. 15.)

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This representative human was the human of an angel temporarily infilled and taken possession of by the influx of Divine Life. But since there are limitations in the human of an angel, the Divine could not be fully present in all degrees of life. It could reach to the celestial, but with men in whom this degree was closed, it could be received only in representative types and images. The Divine could not be fully received in the natural until after the glorification, when the Lord made His Human Divine.

     Before the Lord's advent, therefore, communication with heaven could be effected by means of these representative types and images; not, however, directly with the angels of heaven, for these primarily regard man's interiors, and his exteriors only in so far as they agree or correspond with his interiors. An intermediate was needed, and this was afforded by the simple good in the world of spirits, who regard the external, because they have not the spiritual light in which they may see the internal. (A. C. 3480, 4307.) Thus, when the rituals of the Jewish Church were performed in a holy manner, these simple spirits saw and paid attention only to the external ritualistic acts, putting into these their own internal state of simple good. The angels of heaven, who regard man's internal state, were not present in the internal state of the worshipers in the Jewish Church, but in the internal state of the simple good spirits in the world of spirits, who in turn were present in the rituals themselves. Thus the conjunction between heaven and earth, without which there is no salvation, was maintained by means of the external representative rituals of the Jewish Church. (A. C. 8588 5.)

     But when the Lord came upon earth, these representatives were abolished, for they all looked to Him, and when the effigy appears the representatives must necessarily cease. (A. C. 4904, 9002.) Hence it is said that, since the Lord's advent, representatives have no power unless they are corresponding representatives, that is, unless the internal state of the worshipper corresponds to the external representatives which are used. And so it is also said that, since the Lord's advent, man is no longer considered in heaven as from externals, but from internals. (A. C. 1003.) And because the representatives of the Israelitish Church represented apart from their correspondence with the internal state of the worshipers, therefore these representatives have been abrogated.

     But two representatives are retained,-Baptism and the Holy Supper. (A. C. 4904.)

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These are retained, not because they represent in the same way as the rituals of the representative of a church, but because they not only represent but also correspond to the spiritual things they portray. Spiritual truths are no longer clothed and hidden under representative types and images; they are openly revealed, this being now possible because the Lord has made His Human Divine. The Lord's Divine Human is no longer representative, for it was made one with the Divine Love. Therefore, Divine celestial and spiritual truths are now revealed nakedly in natural and rational truths. Baptism and the Holy Supper have been kept as correspondential representatives of the two great works of the Lord,-redemption and glorification, reformation and regeneration, deliverance from evil and salvation. So it is that, in Baptism and the Holy Supper, not only does the representative act correspond, but, in the Holy Supper, the elements also correspond to celestial and spiritual things, and the worthy partaker is thereby actually introduced into those societies in heaven which are in a corresponding worship of the Lord.

     In general, a representative is the appearance of the cause on the plane of the effect, which appearance may or may not be correspondential to the immediate cause from which it proceeds.

     SIGNIFICATIVES.

     A significative, from the Latin signum-a sign, denotes a sign by which a correspondence is designated. As used in the Word, it means a sign in nature of some spiritual thing within. In the Ancient Church, the Word was entirely significative, because their histories were made up, and used merely as signs or significatives to call to mind some spiritual reality. In the Jewish Church these significatives became representatives; for the history was not at that time made up, but actually enacted. (A. C. 1361, 1409, 1416, 1410.) The significatives of the Jewish Church were the words used to express the representatives.

     The term "significatives," used in relation to the Word of God, refers to the words and phrases by which the spiritual ideas within are expressed; thus they stand for a sign of the things represented. (A. C. 1540.) For example: The names of the animals and utensils used in the sacrifices signified the corresponding spiritual things of which they were the natural signs, but the procedure of the sacrifices represented the worship made up of the things signified.

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In one sense they represented the true worship of the Lord, and in another sense they represented the external and profane state of the worshipers. Significatives, therefore, accommodate themselves to the thing represented; or, significatives remain the same although the representation changes. (A. C. 8732.) Again, it may be said that the historical facts represent, and the words signify. This statement is repeated many times in the Writings. (A. C. 1401, 1404, 1409, 1540, 2075, 2333, 2607, 2899, 3482; A. E. 405:24.)

     In the Most Ancient Church, all the words were truly significative of celestial and spiritual things. At that time there was no artificial language; the words of the mouth proceeded immediately from the states of the mind; and as they represented those states, they also signified them. This signification continued in the Ancient Church, not, however, from an innate knowledge of the meaning of sounds, as was the case with the Most Ancient Church, but from a conscious knowledge of correspondences, that is to say, from a knowledge of the correspondence of sounds and words with heavenly things. A considerable remnant of this was retained in the Hebrew language, which, therefore, was most suited to the conveyance of the significatives of the Word. For in the Hebrew, not only do the words signify, but even the very letters of which the words consist.

     In our language at the present day we have a remnant of this correspondence of words with spiritual states, and thus we may say that the words of our language are to a certain extent significative. The sounds of onomatopoetic or imitative words are taken from nature, and are therefore significative of the sounds, which again correspond to the spiritual cause from which the sounds proceed. Thus the word is a sign of that correspondence. The farther back words are traced, the smaller the number of roots, and the more manifest their onomatopoetic character, which points to the teaching of the Writings that in the beginning all language was of that character, and thence was truly significative. Words were then living signs of celestial and spiritual things, and thus of the causes of the representative objects for which they stood.

     To sum up. Correspondence refers to the interrelation of spiritual causes and natural objects; the way in which they communicate with each other; the way in which the spiritual creates and sustains the natural, and inflows into it, and thence is the cause and only living reality in it.

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This same may be applied to the relation between any two discrete degrees. Correspondence is universal, for all things represent and signify in the degree that they correspond. (A. C. 7850.) Representatives refer to the appearing of the cause on the plane of effects, but do not necessarily refer to any internal agreement between the two. The affections of the will, in proceeding, present, or rather re-present, themselves in the expressions of the face, but those expressions may be the same with either an evil or a good man; in the case of the good man, they represent and correspond; in the case of the evil man, they do indeed represent, but they do not represent that from which they come forth. Significatives refer themselves to the spiritual meaning of the words and phrases by which correspondences and representatives are expressed, and they are a sign of those things.

     THE PROGRESSION OF TRUTH.

     "I spoke with angels about the progression of truth into good, thus of faith into charity. The angels have joy when man as an infant and child learns and imbibes truths from affection, thus when truths become of knowledge; and still more joy when they become of the understanding; then there is joy with the angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom. There is still greater joy when truth, from the understanding, becomes of the will; then there is joy with the angels in the Lord's celestial kingdom. And when, from will, it becomes of the act, then there is joy with the angels of the three heavens. How great are the joy and delights that are within that progression cannot be described, because they are ineffable; for thus man enters more and more into heaven, and becomes a heaven in least form." (Spiritual Diary 6011.)

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IMMORTALITY 1931

IMMORTALITY       LUDMILA M. KUBATOVA       1931

     A STORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

     (From the Bohemian magazine Novy Jerusalem, nos. 3 and 4. 1929. Translated by Mr. Anton Sellner. Mrs. Kubatova resides in northeastern Bohemia, and is a member of the New Church Society at Prague, which is under the pastorate of the Rev. Jar. Im. Janacek.)

     Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there lived a powerful king. His many beautiful palaces were filled with treasures of gold and silver; he had numberless servants, and a great kingdom. But still he was not satisfied. Ever he reasoned with himself about the marvelous ways of the world. People are born, grow up, become old and die, and that is the end! This, decidedly, he did not like. He was all alone in the world. His parents had died, and he had never married, for he thought that if he had a wife and children they might die, or he might die first and leave them here.

     So he was very sad and lonely, for his counselors and servants were not his companions. Evening after evening he sat alone, meditating, with his head bowed in his hands, as he tried to think out a way so that he would not have to die, but could live forever.

     Finally he issued a proclamation throughout the whole kingdom, that whosoever could accomplish this for him would be rewarded with great power and riches. There was indeed great consternation among the learned of the land, as they gathered together in council, and consulted all the available books on the subject. But they found nothing, as there was nothing to find.

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     At length one wise man spoke, saying, "O king, the name of your majesty will be immortal, for it will be written in gold in the history of the kingdom!" Another wise man thought that the building of a great and wonderful palace might bring fame and immortality. Another thought a city of palaces would be better. The king listened sadly, but replied: "By all these I die. It is I myself that wishes to live, and not die."

     One day, when the king, in his grief and despondency, seemed actually ready to die, there came to the palace an old man, white-haired and bent, and besought audience with the king, declaring that he had news of Immortality.

     The king immediately received him into his presence, and when he saw the old man shaking as from weakness, he at once commanded that food and drink be brought. Comfortably seated before the king, the old man turned his whole attention to the food, eating his meat and sipping his wine slowly and deliberately. This was an unusual experience for the impatient king, who was accustomed to homage and obeisance from everyone. But there sat the old man, complacently eating, apparently oblivious of the king's presence; in fact, rather like a king himself, so that the real king was even afraid to disturb him or hurry him with his question of Immortality.

     But the old man was not as oblivious of the king as he seemed. With a wary eye he was observing the king's attitude; and the corners of his mouth betrayed satisfaction. Finally the old man stopped eating, and settled himself more comfortably in his chair, while the king, with drawn breath, waited expectantly.

     Turning toward him, the old man spoke. "It is known throughout all your kingdom," he said, "that you wish to become immortal. It is also known that no one has succeeded in granting you this gift.

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But there is One who can grant you this gift. He is the most powerful King in the whole universe. His name is Hero Mighty." On hearing these words the king bowed his head with relief and thankfulness that his wish was to be granted, and he eagerly lifted his head to ask where he might find this kingdom. But the old man was not there!

     II.

     When the astonished king realized that the old man had really gone, he set everyone to searching, not only the palace, but the entire city, but to no avail. Sad and disappointed that his hopes had seemed so near realization, only to be crushed, the king again called together the wise men, and asked them to consider who might be this Hero Mighty, and where His kingdom. But none could help him.

     So, one day, selecting the bravest of his warriors as escort, he rode off in search, entrusting his kingdom meanwhile to his ministers. They rode far and wide, ever inquiring of those they met; but none had ever heard of Hero Mighty and His kingdom.

     One night, tired and discouraged, they reached a spring at the edge of a great desert, and sat down to rest and to drink of the fresh water. As though bewitched, they all fell asleep. And the king dreamed a dream. Just as in his wanderings he was searching, so in his dream he seemed to be looking for a road that he could not find. He was lost, and did not know which way to turn, but suddenly there appeared before him, coming down from a path at the right, the old man who had visited him at the palace.

     Here was his chance to ask for information of the kingdom he was seeking.

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But before he could speak, the old man stepped forward and took him by the hand. Immediately they two seemed to be lifted in space and soaring above the earth toward a wonderful mountain, on top of which a great light shone as of the sun. Turning to ask the old man a question, he found that he had again disappeared. And the king then discovered that he was rapidly dropping down to earth. In a great fright he awoke, to find himself once more beside the spring and his sleeping men.

     As the king sat and pondered on his dream, he realized that the shining mountain was in some way the goal he must attain, and that, on account of the sun upon it, it must be somewhere in the east. He woke his men, and told them. But they pointed out to him that toward the east lay the great, limitless desert, with its uncertain dangers, for which they were not equipped. Thus they tried to dissuade him, but he would not be turned from his purpose, for he felt that here lay the way of his success. He said that those who wished might accompany him, but that they were free to return home. None, however, would go with him; so, bidding them farewell, he set out alone, after telling them that if he did not return in a year and a day, they would know he had failed in his quest.

     III.

     Journeying eastward, the king became more and more weary and discouraged, his feet sinking into the sand of the desert, and the hot sun beating down upon him. Often he thought of turning back, but the desire for Immortality ever urged him on, across the seemingly boundless wastes of the desert.

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     When, at last, he had reached the limit of his endurance, and was looking around for a place where he might sink to rest, he beheld before him, in what had seemed to be an empty stretch of desert, two houses. The one to the left was a large, comfortable, and very handsome residence, while the one to the right was a modest but neat little cottage. Hastening forward, yet with the wary feeling that here was magic of some sort, and that he must be careful, he gazed thoughtfully at the two houses, one at the left, and the other at the right.

     He would rather have gone to the large, comfortable house on the left, but remembering his dream, and the path to the right from which the old man had appeared to him, he chose that one instead.

     As he went forward on the path to the right, he hesitated for a moment, and turned for one more look at the large house, when, to his surprise, he found that it had disappeared! But the cottage ahead of him was still very real; and hurrying to the door, he knocked. He knocked three times before he finally heard footsteps, and saw the door open. There stood a plainly dressed but pleasing little lady, as neat as her cottage, with the pleasantest smile imaginable.

     "Tell me, lady, I beg of you," said the king, wonderingly, "how you happen to be here in the midst of the loneliness of the desert. Who are you?"

     The lady, smiling, replied, "My name is Humility, and where there is need for me, I appear!"

     "Then perhaps you will help me," the king pleaded, "by giving me a refuge for a little while, for I am utterly weary and discouraged."

     As she led him within, the king was impressed by something intangible that pervaded the air, shedding a radiance over the simple furnishings of the room.

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As soon as they were seated, the king began to relate to his new acquaintance the tale of his desires and his wanderings, ending with a plea that possibly she could help him.

     "Indeed I can," she said, "but the way is still long and tiring, and without help you could not reach the goal. I know the Mighty King to whom you refer; and to those who love Him, and believe in Him, there is no death, but life to eternity. Refresh yourself now, and sleep, for you will have great need of strength and endurance."

     Happy indeed was the king, and he felt sure that he could endure all manner of hardship, now that it seemed possible he might attain his desires. It was in great humility, therefore, that he ate of the food provided for him, and then retired for a night's rest, falling asleep amidst his blissful meditations.

     Upon the morrow, when he was ready to continue his journey, he turned to his hostess, and said, "Lady Humility, if you would but go with me over the desert, to show me the way, how much more easily would I achieve my aim!"

     "If you wish me to," said Humility, smiling, "I will gladly go with you. It is seldom that kings of the earth desire my company."

     IV.

     So they set off together, Humility ever with a smile upon her lips, and the king, with difficulty, pressing forward beside her through the glowing sand. When he grew faint with his efforts, he had only to look upon his companion, and his weariness dropped away, and he again went forward with cheerful heart. However, as they advanced, he grew more and more weary, and though he longed to rest, he did not complain.

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Just when he seemed ready to drop, as on the day before, there appeared to the left a great and beautiful castle, and to the right a small stone house.

     "Which way shall we go?" asked Humility.

     "Forgive me, Lady," answered the king, "I would like to take you to the beautiful castle, but I know from my dream that it is the path to the right that I must take."

     Humility smiled with satisfaction, and bowed her head in assent. As they turned into the path to the right, they heard a great, rumbling noise, and turning about, they beheld the great castle crash in ruins. The earth opened to swallow it, and, closing up, left only a crack where the castle had stood.

     When they reached the house, the king knocked three times before the door was finally opened by a very beautiful and majestic lady, kindly, yet firm and determined in bearing. He was about to address her, when the two women embraced; and Humility, turning to the king, introduced her sister, Perseverance.

     The king marveled at the difference in beauty between the two sisters, and perceiving the strength of Perseverance, said to her, "I had thought that Humility alone might lead me to the King and the kingdom that I seek, but I perceive that, with your help also, I will the more easily attain my goal. Might it be that I could persuade you to join us?"

     "I deny my escort to none who ask for it," she answered; "much less to you, O king, since you have already secured the aid of my sister, Humility. But rest here tonight, and tomorrow we shall set forth together."

     V.

     As they journeyed onward the next day, the king again wrestled with the heat and sand of the desert, turning ever to his two companions for encouragement,-to Perseverance, with her strong and steady gaze, to Humility, with her helping smile.

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     At last, in utter exhaustion, he was ready to drop, when just ahead they saw the edge of the desert, and a wide, paved roadway turning upward to the left. There was also a pathway to the right, but it was narrow and stony, and not nearly as inviting as the other. As the king hesitated, the two sisters seemed to turn toward the paved roadway, but the king called after them, and besought them to come back, and to turn with him up the narrow path to the right. "For so," said he, "was I counseled in my dream, and by following this direction twice before I have benefitted in finding both of you."

     So, with a knowing smile, they followed him up the path to the right. Suddenly, and without warning, a great wind arose, and everything around them seemed to whirl. Then, as it died away, the king looked around him in wonder, for they stood upon a green lawn before a small villa, nestling at the foot of a very high mountain. As the king raised his head, he saw, exactly as in his dream, a great shining light at the top of the mountain!

     Realizing that this was indeed the realm of Hero Mighty, and that he had only to climb the mountain, he fell to his knees in thankfulness.

     Meanwhile, the sisters had gone to the villa, where they were greeted by a third beautiful woman. They called to the king, and when he joined them, they introduced their sister, Confidence.

     "May I hope," said the king, gazing upon her gentle face, "that you too will join us in my quest? for I anticipate that I shall need your help also."

     "You are not mistaken," she replied, "you will need us all, not only now, but also later throughout your life.

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But come now, and eat, and rest yourself, for you must be very weary."

     VI.

     The king's journey up the mountain the next day, in company with the three sisters, was easy in comparison with the former hardships he had endured. Before he realized it, they had reached the top, where the great light shone. It seemed to come from the center of a walled city, and to spread out over the tops of the houses. All around him were scenes of great beauty, such as he had never seen before,-gardens of color and sweet odor, singing birds without number, green lawns, and fields with grazing sheep; and, over all, the balmy air breathed peace and contentment.

     The sisters led him toward the city, and to the gate, which was guarded by two watchmen. Here they left him, saying that he should wait until they returned from a visit in the city. As the sisters entered, he stepped toward the gate, but was immediately stopped by the guards, who asked him what he wanted. The king, accustomed to homage from all those around him, was quite taken aback by the questions and the manner of the guards. He explained to them that he was a king, and had come to visit the King of their city, to ask advice on the subject of Immortality. The guards told him that the ruler, Hero Mighty, did indeed live within the city, but they also informed the king that he evidently did not know the laws of their city, for no one could enter who did not wear the prescribed garments.

     "I have been on a long and toilsome journey," said the king, "and my clothes are torn and dusty. Tell me where I may obtain the necessary garments, that I may enter."

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     But the guards shrugged their shoulders, and turned their backs upon the now disappointed and desolate king. Was this, then, the way his adventure was to end! Had he come so far, only to be bitterly disappointed! He sank to the ground in despair.

     VII.

     The king felt a hand on his shoulder, and, looking up, beheld the three sisters. Each gave her message,-Humility! Perseverance! Confidence! The words were as a healing balm to his soul. Then he saw, coming toward him, the old man of the palace and of the dream.

     "You have come as far as you can for the present, my friend," said he, "you can but look within from the outside. Do you see the beauty and splendor? Do you feel the peace and harmony? That is the abode of Hero Mighty, and of those who have acquired Immortality by obeying His commands. They have been humble before Him, have persevered in His works and hoped and trusted in Him at all times. Now you know that there is such a ruler, and that there is Immortality indeed. If you follow all these precepts, you too will dwell here when your time comes. But that time is not yet. Meanwhile you must be prepared."

     "And how," asked the king, "can I be prepared?"

     "That you must do for yourself, throughout your life," answered the old man, and immediately disappeared from sight.

     Humility now spoke: "Without us you could never have come so far. We have helped you, and will continue to do so, if you will promise never to forget us."

     "Forget you!" cried the king. "I realize that without you I am lost, irresolute and without power.

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But come back with me to my kingdom, where I can always call upon you for help, and I will bestow upon you all the riches and comforts in my power."

     The answer to this from all three was, that they would be his invisible guests always, to guide and help him whenever he so desired, but that he would no longer see them. Before they parted, they had each a present to give him, which would help him on his way of preparation for Immortality.

     Humility then held out to him a beautiful leather bound book, upon which, in resplendent letters of gold, he read: "The Holy Word."

     Perseverance stepped forward with a second book, in a gold and silver binding, having upon it the words: "The True Christian Religion."

     Confidence, with a smile, gave him a third book, whereon he noticed a strange inscription, the first name in shining letters, and the other in letters of black as of mourning: "Heaven and Hell."

     "These three books," said Humility, his first guide, "are the key to Immortality. Read diligently therein; believe and live according to what is written; and you will receive the great reward you desire."

     As he looked upon the three books which he held, he felt himself slowly sinking, sinking. He called to his three friends, but they were nowhere at hand.

     Then, with a start, he found himself back upon the earth in a place he knew, not far from the gates of his own city. His first thought was that he had been asleep, and that all the suffering and adventures through which he had been were only a dream.

     But his eyes fell upon the three books in his hands, and as he looked more closely he realized that something very real and wonderful had happened to him He opened the first book, "The Holy Word," and read: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace."

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     "This book, then," he thought, "tells all about the Mighty Ruler, and since it is the gift of Humility, I must keep her ever in my mind when I read."

     He opened the second book, and read: "Religion is of life, and the life of religion is to do good." This, and the other words he glanced over, were entirely new to the mind of the king. "I will have to think deeply when I read this book," he said, "and think constantly of Perseverance, whose gift it is, so that she will be near me to help."

     The third book he opened at these words: "Some, who in the natural world were in more power than others, wanted to rule in the other life also. But it was told them that they were under another government, where everyone is valued according to his good and truth." Here also were thoughts new to him, and silently he prayed and hoped that Confidence would ever stand by, when he read from the book that was her gift.

     As the king was perusing his gifts, three beautiful white doves were hovering over his head; then they flew toward his city and back again. It seemed to him that they symbolized his three friends, who were now flying over him in farewell, then beckoning him back to the city, and to his duties which it now seemed he had left so long ago.

     Then the king decided that he, too, must start for the city. Taking his precious books under his arm, he followed where the doves were leading. They soared for a little while before him; then circled once above his head and flew up, up, out of sight.

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     VIII.

     As the travel-worn king entered his own gates, no one knew him or recognized him as their sovereign. In his palace he found sorrow and confusion, for the year and a day were passed,-the time in which he was to return,-and they had now given him up for lost.

     There was great rejoicing when it was proclaimed throughout the land that the king had not only returned in safety, but had been successful in his quest, and had brought back with him the secrets of Immortality.

     From far and wide the people now made pilgrimages to the palace, to hear from the king's own lips that Immortality is not of the body, but of the spirit.

     The king immediately had many copies of his books printed, and to all who came these were freely given. He himself spent many hours reading and re-reading from the precious books, like a hungry man finding the food he needed. How much better the new Immortality he had found than the one he selfishly hoped to find on earth!

     And so it came to pass, after many useful years, during which he ever had before him the need of his preparation for the Immortality that was to come, the king died. And when he found himself again standing before the gates of the city of his adventure, the keepers immediately stepped aside, and he entered. Here he found love and welcome from those within.

     We, too, have the three books from which the king received his knowledge and inspiration. We also have other books that tell us of the land of immortality, and of our duty in this world to prepare ourselves for that land.

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If we will be obedient to these principles, we also may hope to find a welcome when the time comes to stand at the gates of the City. So let us be watchful, and pray that we may not be misled from the right path, lest we wander into the broad way that leads to destruction.
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     With the twelfth chapter of Genesis the true historicals of the Word begin. All things occurred as told therein; yet the account is still representative, containing-in every word of the sacred record -an internal sense which is wholly hidden by the historicals. (A. C. 1403-1409.) To perceive the continuous trend of the spiritual teaching, the reader must abstract his thought from the natural sense and its inadequate sequence, which only remotely parallels the doctrine that rests upon it.

     Those who have followed the Calendar Readings thus far, have now reached what appears to the annotator as the very heart of the Arcana Coelestia. For with the story of Abram the inspired exposition has risen from the plane of the internal historical sense (which treated of the Churches), and later from the spiritual sense (which treated of the regenerate life), to the supreme sense itself, which treats of the Lord alone. This is the chief burden of chapter xii., wherein we are introduced into the sacred realm of the incarnate Lord's thoughts and perceptions when as yet a child.

     It is first shown that the Lord (as are other men) was first introduced into the celestial things of infancy, and later into knowledges; but, unlike other men, He was to be instructed first in celestial things, and later in spiritual things (1464, comp. 1434).

     The Lord possessed all truth previous to His instruction (A. 1469), because His soul was Divine, He being conceived from a celestial seed (1438). "With the Lord there was good affection from birth" (Ath. Creed 219), which with men has to be acquired from the Lord by regeneration.

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"Every man is born ignorant of truth and desirous of evil, because his soul, from his father, is an evil affection. But the Lord alone was born striving for good and desiring truth, because His soul from the Father was the Divine Itself, thus the affection of His Divine Love, or the Divine Love, from which He subdued the external which was from the mother." (De Dom. 70.)

     And from this celestial good of His internal man the Lord had also "celestial truth" which was the light of love's own flame, and which became a striving for good and a desire that celestial truth be confirmed by knowledge in the external human. Yet the external human from Mary was in imperfections and hereditary evils (tendencies), and had to manifest its potential states in the common course of human growth, in order that the Lord might purify and glorify that human, step by step. For the Lord's "external man" was at first in obscurity, even as is the case with men, until instruction in religious knowledge from the Word gave a basis for enlightenment (1453). This scarcity of knowledge is referred to as a famine in Canaan (1460), and resulted in Abram's sojourning for a time in Egypt.

     Sarai as Sister. From the omniscience of His internal man, the Lord perceived and provided against all the tendencies of His assumed human. He perceived that during His childhood the truths of celestial love (signified by Sarai the wife of Abram) could not be appropriated and confirmed by scientifics (or knowledges) in the external human from any real appreciation of the ends, purposes and uses of the soul; even as we, in childhood, cannot learn from any conscious desire for celestial usefulness. He also perceived the danger that, if celestial truths be recognized by the immature mind as the very truths of celestial love, they would be seized upon from the mere corporeal love of knowledge, and furnish a cause for conceit in His inherited human.

     And thus He provided that in His external man celestial truth should as yet appear only as intellectual truth (Sarai posing as a "sister"), and thus be received on the visible merit of their intellectual beauty and consistency, received as means for obtaining intelligence, received because they were perceived to be so, to be truths; rather than from any direct affection of their celestial use. By this mode, celestial truths could be confirmed in the external man without being profaned; the internal man (Abram) could be blessed: and the state called "Egypt" would be plagued until humiliated.

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     The important principle here involved is that of Accommodation, which is of universal application in our lives, especially in the field of education, as has been pointed out in an article in NEW CHURCH LIFE, October, 1930, pp. 613-626. The chapter as a whole is elucidated in a discourse printed in the LIFE for 1920, pp. 456-463. Chapters 20 and 26 of Genesis furnish other examples of the ruse here adopted by Abram for his self-protection.

     The Prophecies of Jeremiah (whose name is said to mean "Jah is high") were made both before and after Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Jerusalem. Jeremiah warned the kings of Judah to surrender to Babylon (because they had fallen for the evils of Babylon), and foretells the date of the city's destruction. Severe persecutions did not suffice to silence his outspoken threats and unwelcome "jeremiads."

     To cite a commentator: This prophet lived to see "the city besieged and taken, his warnings neglected but fulfilled, his fellow-citizens carried captive, and Jerusalem a heap of ruins; and in an adjoining cave he wrote his Lamentations over it. A remnant rallied round him after the murder of Gedaliah, and were forbidden by God, through his mouth, to flee into Egypt; but they accused him of falsehood, and, disregarding the Divine command, carried him with them into that country (xliii), where, according to Jerome, he was put to death, having prophesied for about forty years."

     His prophecies-in the Book of Jeremiah-are not arranged in chronological order, since they describe the state of the church at its consummation, or at its judgment, when all states return together. This latter is also true of the prophetic books, regarded as a compilation.

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MORALITY WITHOUT RELIGION 1931

MORALITY WITHOUT RELIGION       Editor       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single Copy, 30 cents.
     The idea that it does not matter what a man believes, if only he live a good life,-an utterance commonly heard today among those who are in revolt against creeds and theological "niceties,"-found expression in rather startling form recently when a lecturer held that the "religious basis of morality is degrading," and that religion, as the "precarious foundation of morality," should be abandoned! For the good life which is thus believed to require no faith is, to the New Churchman, the moral life without religion, morality without piety, natural good without that spirituality which is imparted by an affection for the truths of faith, and obedience to the Word of God in a life of interior repentance, which is the life of religion. Our Doctrine is quite clear on this point:

     "A man lives a moral life from a spiritual origin when he lives it from religion. Whenever anything evil, insincere, or unjust, presents itself, he thinks that it must not be done, because it is contrary to the Divine laws. One thus acquires spiritual life, and his moral life is then from it. . . . Thus to lead a moral life from a spiritual origin is to do so from religion; and, within the Church, it is to do so from the Word." (A. E. 195.)

     "A moral life is lived either for the sake of the Divine, or for the sake of men in the world. A moral life that is lived for the sake of the Divine is a spiritual life.

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In the external form both appear alike; but in the internal form they are completely unlike; the one saves man, the other does not."

     "But to lead a moral life not from religion, but only from fear of the law in the world, or from fear of the loss of reputation, honor, and gain, is to lead a moral life from a natural origin, thus from the love of self and the world." (A. E. 195:3.)

     The religion that is held to be "degrading" is especially the religion of childhood. For some reason this is to be "abandoned," if the adult would acquire genuine morality. It is put in this way:

     "The human race as a whole cannot attain rationality and maturity until it puts away the attitudes suited to the first, prerational years of its individual members. To make religion the basis of morality, to make the obligation to follow the better way and to do the noble thing contingent upon the will of a god, is not only to degrade the nature both of morality and religion; it is to put their very existence in jeopardy."

     According to this opinion, the obedience to commandment and law in infancy is not to be carried over into years of rationality; in other words, what is good for the child is not good for the man.

     "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when a I became a man, I put away childish things." If this change of state is what the remarks quoted above are intended to describe, is it not pretty strong language to speak of "abandoning" a "degrading" religion?

     We can agree, of course, that the mere obedience to law and command in childhood, if carried over into adult years, may become a binding thing of custom and habit, affording no room for the development of the rational understanding and rational motive within the compliance of early years. But if the alternative be the casting away of the religious habit in years of maturity, in favor of a self-developed morality, then surely it were better to abide in the "simple good" of childhood; for the alternative would be an utterly selfish and worldly good; and it is to be feared that many Christians travel in that direction, by abandoning the faith of their childhood when they reach adult years.

     Fortunately this is not the only alternative.

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While the passing from years of obedience and subordination to those of adult freedom are commonly marked by a break from childhood's traditions, in religious faith and practice as in other things, this is only temporary with those who afterwards adopt the faith and life of the church in which they have been reared, as is especially the case with those whose early faith and obedience were attended with an innocent affection and delight. From remains of this affection they begin, even in youth, to see the reasons for the things they have been taught to believe and to do, and thus pass normally to adult rationality, and thence to that spirituality which is the proper spring and fountain of true morality. Such a development is thus described in the Doctrines:

     "Every man learns from parents and masters to live morally, that is, to act as a civil person, and to exhibit the offices of honesty, which refer themselves to the various virtues, which are the essentials of honesty, and also to produce them by its formalities which are called decorum. And as he advances in age, he begins to superadd reasons, and to perfect his moral life thereby; for moral life with children, even to first adolescence, is natural, and afterwards becomes more and more rational." (T. C. R. 443.)

     Thus the transition from a keeping of the Commandments in childhood to a keeping of the Commandments in adult age does not call for a rejection of the Commandments as precepts of religion, but rather to a continued keeping of them from reason, from a will of rational good, within which a will of spiritual good is formed by means of the truths of faith and a life according to them. This kind of transition takes places with those who suffer themselves to be regenerated by the Lord, who, far from "abandoning'' the religion of their childhood, adopt it in freedom and joy, and make it their own. Bearing upon this, we read:

     "Everyone in his childhood, when he is first imbued with goods and truths, is held by the Lord in the affirmative that what is said and taught by parents and masters is true; and this affirmative, with those who become spiritual men, is more and more confirmed even to affection. . . . It is otherwise with those who cannot become spiritual. These, although they are in the affirmative during childhood, in the succeeding age admit doubts, and so break down the affirmative of good and truth; and when they enter upon adult age, they admit negative things, even to the affection of falsity.

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The real cause, however, why they admit doubts and negative things, derives the whole of its origin from a life of evil; they who are in a life of evil cannot do otherwise." (A. C. 2689:3.)

     It is these latter who "abandon" their childhood's religion in favor of a life of evil, which commonly, also, they cloak with a spurious morality. But they who are unwilling to "abandon" the affirmative of early years gladly embrace the truths of faith in adult age, and are led in the regenerate life to that spiritual good which inspires from a new origin the morality and obedience of their childhood, making it a saving spiritual morality. Of this we are told:

     "When the Lord makes man new, He first instructs him in the truths of faith; for without these truths he does not know what the Lord is, what heaven is, and what hell, nor even that they exist; still less does he know the innumerable things which are of the Lord, of His kingdom in heaven, and of His kingdom on earth, that is, in the church; also what are the things of hell, which are opposite to these. Before he knows these things, he cannot know what good is. By good here is not meant civil and moral good, for these are learned in the world by laws and statutes, and by reflections upon the manners of men; but by good here is meant spiritual good, which in the Word is called charity, and in general consists in willing and doing good to another, from no selfish reason, but from the delight of affection. This good is spiritual good, which it is impossible for any man to attain except through the truths of faith, which are taught by the Lord through the Word and the preaching of the Word." (A. C. 45383.)

     These words of our Doctrine are an answer to those who hold that it matters little what a man believes, if only he live a good life; who would separate theology and the creeds from morality; who hold religion to be "degrading," and as something to be "abandoned," if man is to escape this "precarious foundation of morality." "A God who can be too precisely defined," they say, "it not worthwhile, for a moral God is always busy with the living men."

     But we ask: Whence this fear of a God who is "too precisely defined"! Can men know God too well? May it be that they do not wish to know this "moral God" too well?-to see the true qualities of His Divine Goodness, as revealed in the truths of His Wisdom,-His Word,-lest they be compelled to acknowledge that "there is none good but God," and are thus deprived of their self-created goodness, their egocentric, man-made, meritorious morality?

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     The answer to this question unmasks, we think, the real reason why religion is held to be "degrading," and to be "abandoned," in favor of a so-called " rational" morality in adult years. It is "degrading" to the pride of proprial morality, and for this reason is to be "abandoned." The worshiper of self does not wish to worship God, to see Him "too precisely defined" in the myriad truths of revealed theology, which are so many mirrors of the Divinely Human God, after whose image truly human good is patterned in the spiritual life of religion,-a good that is from God only, acquired by man through self-renunciation and that inner repentance which renders pure the source of a true morality, which "cleanses first the inside of the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."
NOTES AND REVIEWS 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS              1931

     A LESSON FROM THE WRITINGS.

     In a letter to THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD (London), published in the issue of December 20, 1930, Mr. Stanley E. Parker, of Deal, England, appeals for the reading of a Lesson from the Writings in the worship of Conference churches. We quote in part from his letter:

     "Jews read the Old Testament, and Christians who abide in the sense of the letter read both the Old and New Testaments in their places of worship. Surely, then, we who are privileged to behold some of the glory which beams through the clouds of the letter should use our places of worship for the reading of that which reveals those bright beams to us! In the baptismal service (for adults) in our liturgy, diligent cultivation of an acquaintance with the Heavenly Doctrines is enjoined, and, indeed, we are continually being exhorted to read and study the Writings. . . . It is through them alone that we know that the religion of the New Church is implanted by the Word and the light which is there from the Lord. (Consummation of the Age 31.) And yet the Revelation through which the knowledge is given, and from which all true theology is derived, is not commonly read in our churches!

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Such being the case, it is not perhaps altogether surprising that the remark should sometimes be made, 'I cannot see any difference between your Church and another.'

     "Seeing, then, that it is only by means of the Writings that the Doctrines taught in our churches are known; that it is by them alone that we may know what the Church is; that it is by them, as nowhere else, that we can be enlightened; that they are The Writings which all our ministers and institutions exhort and encourage us to read and study; and that the practice of reading a lesson from them has long been usual in the Kensington and Flodden Road-and, I believe, some of the other London Societies-would it not be more consistent with what I have here briefly advanced or referred to, and show our deeper appreciation of their inestimable worth, if they were regularly read in all our churches?
     "STANLEY E. PARKER."
MIND SUBSTANTIAL 1931

MIND SUBSTANTIAL              1931

     "That the will and understanding are called receptacles of love and wisdom, is because the will is not any abstract spiritual thing, but is a subject substantiated and formed for the reception of love from the Lord; and the understanding is not any abstract spiritual thing, but is a subject substantiated and formed for the reception of wisdom from the Lord. They actually exist, although hidden from view, being interiorly in the substances that constitute the cortex of the brain, and also here and there in the medullary substance of the cerebrum, especially in the striated bodies, as also interiorly in the medullary substance of the cerebellum, and in the spinal marrow, of which they constitute the nucleus. . . . In infants these receptacles are small and tender; afterwards they derive increase and are perfected according to knowledges and the affection for them; they are made complete according to intelligence and the love of uses; they grow soft according to innocence and love to the Lord, but solidify and harden from the opposites of these. Their changes of state are affections; their variations of form are thoughts; the existence and permanence of the latter and the former is memory, and their reproduction is recollection; both taken together are the human mind." (Divine Wisdom V.)

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

     The Christmas Tableaux this year were given by the young people of our society, instead of by the children, as last year. The subjects represented were: The Annunciation to Mary; The Three Wise Men; The Shepherds in the Field; and The Nativity. All four tableaux were ably presented by the participants, and the young people deserve credit and encouragement. Their efforts and their interest and cooperation made the evening a useful and enjoyable success. Before each tableau the Pastor gave a short summary of the internal meaning of the story involved, which was very instructive, and made our understanding of the scenes more complete. During the intervals between the tableaux, songs were sung by the congregation, while during the tableaux a trio sang appropriate Christmas hymns and chants. This celebration took place on Sunday evening, December 21st. Our attempts at such representations are necessarily rather primitive, but the committee of young ladies performed wonders in costuming with the few available materials. We are only making a beginning in such undertakings, but we feel encouraged by what was accomplished this year.

     On Christmas Day, a service of Divine Worship was held at 11.00 a.m., and the good attendance was due partly to the addition of our members from Trona,-Mr. and Mrs. Royal Davis and their two sons,-who spent the holidays with Mr. and Mrs. Fred Davis.

     But our Christmas festivities were saddened by the sudden and unexpected passing from this world of Mr. Abram Klippenstein, of Long Beach. The whole society was stunned by the shock of losing one of our most earnest members and staunchest supporters. Of a very quiet and retiring disposition, Mr. Klippenstein nevertheless could always be relied upon for good counsel and faithful support of the uses of the Church, which he had so much at heart that he spared himself neither trouble nor hardships to promote them. These qualities, together with his genial character and kindliness, endeared Mr. Klippenstein to us all, and his going has left us with a sense of loss that is deeply felt. We are keenly conscious of his absence from our gatherings. Our most heartfelt sympathies are with Mrs. Klippenstein and the family.

     We have temporarily changed our place of worship to one nearer the center of the city, more conveniently located for the majority of the members. As it is more accessible to some of the congregation who have found it difficult to attend hitherto, we hope that this change will be of benefit to the society in the form of increased attendance at worship.

     The weekly doctrinal classes are being held in the homes of the members. In this way we have cut down expenses, by renting a room for services only. We had found it difficult to maintain a place for both classes and services. At present the monthly suppers are held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred G. Davis, whose always generous hospitality makes many delightful gatherings possible. The first of these suppers this year was held on January 16th, and was unusually successful. After a delicious repast, followed by a short business meeting, the majority of those present disported themselves at dancing and ping-pong. We will conclude with the trite expression that "all were sorry when the evening came to an end."
     V. G. B.

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     NEW YORK, N. Y.

     It is almost banal to remark how time flies! Yet it seems as though we were being this same thing only yesterday, and it is nearly half a year since the last report, acquainting our friends and brothers with the state of our health and well-being, went into print. And as that state is manifested rather by concrete or objective movements and activities than by the inner calm and peace reigning in our body politic, we are happy to say that we are quite well, and, with the Lord's help, hope to remain so.

     Recapitulating the routine of services and classes, though these be a joy in themselves to us, does not make for a brilliant news account; but the addition of one or two happenings in our society-life will redeem it, perhaps, from being perilously near a mere bulletin.

     Our opening service for the season, on September 21st, was well attended by members and a few visitors. The same may be said of all the services up to date, except that we have not had so many callers lately. The doctrinal classes have been held regularly in New York and New Jersey, with consistently good attendances. The men's meeting has been held monthly at the home of Mr. A. A. Sellner, 214 West 21st Street, New York.

     After each Sunday service, the members lunch together, with the officiating minister as guest of honor, and with as much zest and enjoyment as at the first informal meal eaten together at the beginning of our present regime. No one cares to miss, if it is at all possible to be present. At the chosen restaurant we are usually given a large table to ourselves, thus providing time and opportunity for pleasant chat and social intercourse generally.

     Al the first service in October, the two children of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Hecker (Vera Fitzpatrick) were baptized, the ceremony forming part of the day's worship conducted by the Rev. William Whitehead, and being particularly touching and beautiful. By a happy coincidence it was also the Sunday for the quarterly administration of the Lord's Supper, this in itself adding greatly to the richness and perfection of the sphere about us.

     On the evening of Friday, November 7th, Mrs. Mary Breitstein passed into the spiritual world. Though she had been in rather poor health for some time, there was no illness or suffering, and her demise was quite sudden and unexpected. Mrs. Breitstein was a loyal supporter and very friendly member of our society, being one of the earliest. Owing to the great distance at which she lived, and a difficulty in traveling, we did not see her as often as formerly during the last two or three years, but her heart was ever with the Church, and she gave to the limit of her means in support of the uses. Only a day or two before her death, the Orphanage Fund and the Treasury of the General Church received her regular contributions. She was the sister of the late Rev. Andrew Czerny, and first cousin of Mr. A. A. Sellner. With her parents, brothers and sisters, she attended the services of the old New York German Society of the New Church. She will be greatly missed by all of us of her own generation.

     On the afternoon of Friday, December 5th, a shower was given for Mrs. Harold E. Sellner (Rachelle Vinet) in their new home at Forest Hills West, Long Island. It was by way of a surprise arranged by Theta Alpha members. There were some lovely gifts, and a great deal of fun-a very successful party indeed.

     The Christmas Service, held on Sunday, December 21st, was mostly for the children, as last year, and about twelve of varying ages were in attendance. They were suitably addressed by the Rev. W. B. Caldwell, and, after the offerings had teen made, each child received a gift from the Church. The solo sung by Mrs. Robert Hilldale was a much enjoyed feature of the service. As a rule, our Christmas services are quite simple, but they are entered into with a warmth and sincerity,-a true estimate of the spirit of the season, which is entirely delightful.

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On behalf of the society, Mr. A. A. Sellner presented our two visiting ministers with a Christmas gift, as a slight token of our appreciation and esteem, and these were gracefully acknowledged by letters which were read to the members.

     This brief survey cannot be closed without a tribute to the fine spirit of true co-operation for the society's good shown by all our women, to the genial spirit of hospitality in the matter of home or rooms for our uses, and, lastly, for the deep and abiding sense of peace within and among us, which is the most precious of our possessions today.
     FLORENCE A. WILDE.

     KITCHENER, ONT.

     Our celebration of Christmas commenced with the Children's Festival on December 24th at 3.30 p.m. This service always has a special appeal for both children and adults, and in consequence the attendance was very large and filled our hall to capacity. The Lessons were from the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke, and the Pastor's address treated of the Lord's coming, enumerating those who saw and acknowledged Him when He was born. Speaking especially of the shepherds on the hillsides of Judea, their "watching over their flocks by night" was likened to those in the church today who watch and preserve the truths which are learned, and who are like the "pure in heart who see God."

     As a voluntary, some of the school children sang an old French carol entitled "The City of David," with words by a New Churchman. The two table representations of the Nativity scene were placed on either side of the chancel. One depicted the Shepherds in the Field, and the other the Adoration of the Shepherds at the Manger. The children had an opportunity to view these scenes as they filed slowly past at the close of the service. Then, assembling in the schoolroom, they were presented with gifts of Christmas stockings. The adult service on Christmas morning was also very delightful, and the sermon was on the text, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, there came wise men from the east,...and they worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh." (Matt. 2:1, 11.)

     On New Year's Eve there was a supper followed by a social. The New Year was ushered in by all joining hands in a large circle and singing "Auld Lang Syne." A flute solo by Mr. Nathaniel Stroh was a special feature of the program.

     The Misses Anita and Olivia Doering and Miss Venita Roschman spent the holidays in Kitchener with their respective families.

     Our day school celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday with a party commencing at 10 a.m. After playing a variety of games, we sat down to a delightful dinner. The room and the tables were decorated in the Swedish national colors, while little yellow and blue baskets held candy for each child and served as place cards. The Pastor spoke to the children about Swedenborg, and they assisted in recalling the most interesting incidents of his life.

     In the evening of the same day a society supper was held, after which the Pastor gave an address in which he showed the workings of Providence in Swedenborg's life, having regard to his preparation for his great mission. It proved very interesting, and brought forth comments by several members. The remainder of the evening was devoted to entertainment in the form of progressive games and other "stunts."

     The skating rink on our church grounds has afforded much enjoyment this winter, both the ice and the weather being favorable since the beginning of the New Year. Many informal skating parties have been held, and the children skate every afternoon after school. The primary grades were given a holiday during the absence of their teacher, Miss Phillis Cooper, who, with the Pastor and Mrs. Gill, attended the Annual Council Meetings in Bryn Athyn.
     C. R.

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     CHICAGO, ILL.

     Swedenborg's Birthday was celebrated by Sharon Church on January 30th, that being our regular supper and class night. Miss Esther Cronwall, with her well-known artistic hand, decorated the tables beautifully in blue and gold. Our Pastor was toastmaster, and the first speaker was Dr. Harvey Farrington, who spoke on Swedenborg's experiences in the world of spirits, referring to his meeting with spirits from all former Churches, and his illuminating conversations with them; of his meeting evil spirits, and his intense suffering when attacked by devils and satans; of other marvelous things recorded in the Memorabilia, revealing to us the conditions and phenomena of the spirit-world.

     Mr. John Pollock spoke on Swedenborg's early education, noting the influence of a wise father, who allowed his son great freedom for those times, making it possible for him to develop naturally and spiritually. Mr. George Rex followed with an interesting paper on Swedenborg's intromissions into the spiritual world. Mr. Neville Wright treated of Swedenborg's home and garden, of his simple and quiet habits of life, which afforded him the time and peaceful surroundings necessary to the performance of his great use. Mr. David Gladish spoke of the beautiful language used in the descriptions of the scenery in the spiritual world, especially in the Memorable Relations in Conjugial Love, and notably in the account of the wives in the Rose Garden. Speaking of the use of the study of Swedenborg's Philosophical Works, Mr. Theodore Gladish believed that this would be of great help in furthering our advance in the other life, if we should be among the happy who are saved. He also expressed a wish for the revival of a class which met several years ago for such study, and advocated The Worship and Love of God as a good textbook to begin with.

     Our Pastor concluded the program of speeches with a talk on the specific uses of the Church. These we can further by reading, thinking, and living the truths we love. In this way we can, by our sphere, promote our specific use of evangelization.

     Many songs were interspersed among the speeches, Mrs. David Gladish singing a new one which featured the various pilgrimages and habitats of Sharon Church, the chorus being:

     Lift high your voice and sing,
     We must have a new building!

     The meeting closed with a toast to our Pastor, whose birthday also we were celebrating on this occasion.

     At our Friday supper on February 13th, our Pastor gave us a very interesting account of the Annual Council Meetings which he had attended in Bryn Athyn. He also stated that, on his journey eastward, he had stopped off at Toledo, Ohio, to officiate at the baptism of Mr. Adolph Christian Petersen, who had become interested in the doctrinal position of the General Church by finding some copies of New Church Life. He is a firm believer in the Divine Authority of the Writings, in New Church Education, and in Degrees in the Priesthood.

     On February 14th, the Misses Alma and Bobby Cronwall staged a lively and enjoyable Valentine Party. In Chicago we are returning to the days of Father Pendleton, when old and young enjoyed their fun together.
     E. V. W.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     Our celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday took the form of a banquet, the first part of the program providing some readings illustrating different phases of his life and character. Passages from his writings were read by each of the following gentlemen: Mr. G. A. McQueen, on Swedenborg as a Publisher; Mr. W. H. Junge, "poem on His Father's Birthday "; Mr. Hubert Nelson, a Letter to Benzelius, illustrating Swedenborg as a Business Promoter; Mr. George Fiske, a Letter to the House of Nobles, showing his Political Life; Rev. George G. Starkey pictured the Philosopher by reading the Introduction to the work On the Infinite; Mr. Harold P. McQueen read a letter indicating Swedenborg's attitude regarding the confiscated copies of Conjugial Love; and the Revelator's Modest Bearing was illustrated by a reading from The Word Explained.

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     These selections from the pen of Swedenborg were interspersed with songs, Mr. T. O. Rydstrom rendering "Honor to Swedenborg," and Mrs. Crebert Burnham and Miss Jane Scalbom singing "Swedenborg the Revelator."

     The final number on the program was a short play, being an adaptation of a story by Louis Pendleton entitled "A Dreamer of Dreams," published in New Church Life for 1889 (p. 42). For over forty years the writer of this report has desired to see this story dramatized, and Swedenborg's Birthday seemed a most appropriate occasion on which to produce it. We had been hearing about the confiscated copies of Conjugial Love, and now we were to see what was happening to one of the few receivers of the Doctrines in the city of Stockholm in the year 1789,-only seven, according to the story. As the curtain rose, the "Dreamer of Dreams"-an aged shoemaker-was discovered reading by candlelight from a copy of Conjugial Love. As the action develops, his granddaughter, Sigrid, escapes an alliance with an unloved suitor, and is happily married to another receiver of the Doctrines, a Nils Svenson, before the old shoemaker reaches the end of his days, and is able to impart his blessing upon their union.

     The singing of various beautiful selections from the Psalmody during the play greatly added to the sphere of the occasion. At the close, Mr. W. H. Junge read the "Ode to Swedenborg," and all then joined in the singing of "To Swedenborg, our Wondrous Seer."

     The children's celebration included a luncheon with speeches by the pupils of the eighth grade, several dramatized scenes from the Life of Swedenborg, an exhibition of school singing under the direction of Mr. Rydstrom, and finally some movies.

     The following officers were elected at the January meeting of the Sons of the Academy: Mr. Harold P. McQueen, President; Rev. Norman Reuter, Secretary; Mr. Hubert Nelson, Treasurer. The subject of "Progress" was presented by Mr. Reuter, and discussed by the meeting.

     The Rev. and Mrs. John E. Smith, parents of our Pastor, the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, have recently passed into the spiritual world, the father preceding the mother by three weeks. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1923. The Rev. J. E. Smith had been a clergyman in the Methodist Church before he was ordained as a minister of the Church of the New Jerusalem in 1886. In 1929, an the anniversary of his fiftieth year in the ministry, he was presented with a purse by the Pennsylvania Association of the General Convention, in recognition of his having been the Missionary Pastor of the Association for thirty-three years. In this capacity he had also ministered to societies of the New Church at Preston and Williston, Maryland, and Montgomery's Ferry, Pennsylvania.
     G. A. MCQUEEN.

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WHAT CAN I DO FOR MY CHURCH? 1931

WHAT CAN I DO FOR MY CHURCH?       Rev. W. L. GLADISH       1931




     Announcements.





NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          APRIL, 1931           No. 4
     When our Lord was on earth among men, He was wont to point out in others the evils His disciples should avoid. "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them." (Matt. 6:7.) "If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others! Do not even the publicans so? (Matt. 5: 46, 47.) He thus appealed to His hearers' contempt of the heathen and of the publican, that He might win them from the practice of error or stimulate them to embrace higher standards.

     Possibly it will be of use to us, in clarifying our ideas and exalting our ideals of the proper relation of the New Churchman to his church, to look at some of the reasons given in the churches about us for joining and supporting a church. Church attendance for social reasons is often advocated. It is one way to make friends among the "best people." For those going among strangers, it is the quickest and most effective way to find acquaintances and friends. Many attend church for business reasons,-for the sake of gaining patrons, or strengthening confidence and credit, thus of extending and increasing their friendship with the well-to-do. Others openly seek health, power and wealth through their church.

     What should be the New Churchman's attitude toward his church? May we not paraphrase the Lord's words, and say: Be ye not as the heathen and publicans about you, who use the church to advance their worldly interests.

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Go not to the church for social standing, for business, health, or any worldly or material advancement. A man can get out of his church only what he puts into it. If he goes for worldly reasons, he will get only worldly life and love, instead of spiritual and eternal life.

     May we not go a little further, and ask: Is it sufficient to go because you like to go, because you like to take part in the worship with your New Church friends, to engage in the responses, hear the sermon! Should you go to pet or to give, to be served or to serve? Granted you may find delight in the services of your church, is that good and sufficient reason for attending them!

     Our Lord said: "I am among you as One that serveth." Our attitude toward His Church should be as of one who seeks not to be ministered unto; but to minister. Then let us not ask, What can I hope to get from my church, but what can I do for my church?

     Our church is to be valued, not as a means of enriching us, or even for the happiness it may give us, but rather because it shows us worthy opportunities of use and service. A good rule in all you do for your church is, "Let not your left hand know what your right hand doeth." Serve your church con amore, as you serve your best beloved, as parents serve their children, or as friend serves friend, forgetting any toil and hardship, in joy that the friend or loved one is made happy.

     Far be it from us to keep, as it were, a record, saying: "This, and this, and this, have I done for the church," while at the same time we are gladly giving time, and effort, and money in family and social entertainment, in clubs and worldly amusements, never stopping to count the cost.

     Let us consider a few of the things we can do to carry out this attitude in the public worship of the church. First, there is regular attendance. Surely our conscience should demand at least as good a reason for absenting ourselves from church as is required for absenting ourselves from our daily work. Then there is punctuality. Those of us who have to punch a time-clock, or to register the time of our going to work, will do almost anything rather than be recorded late, even though there be no penalty for tardiness.

     Let us consider our public worship as our united offering or gift to the Lord, which we render in recognition of His benefits towards us. Should it not be as perfect as possible?

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Should we suffer our tardiness to spoil it? Think how much more perfect and acceptable to the Lord our united worship must be when everyone is in his place in good time, with the places in the Liturgy found and marked ready to enter heartily and intelligently into the service, as into a grand chorus of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord our Redeemer!

     We have not come to be entertained, to criticize, to be idle spectators, but to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. If we remember that our brother (charity) has ought against us, let us first be quickly reconciled with our brother, that we may offer an acceptable gift.

     Other uses of the church are education and evangelization. The New Churchman should so educate and evangelize himself that he may do his full share in the education and evangelization of others. He must find time to read the Doctrine, and to meditate upon it, that he may be an intelligent member of the body,-not a dead weight to be carried by others. He should imbue his mind with the spirit of the Heavenly Doctrine, that he may, in all charity, and with due respect for the freedom of an inquirer, yet with zeal, give a reason for the faith that is in him.

     While interior friendships should be formed within the church, that they may be an aid and not a hindrance on the way toward heaven, yet the New Churchman should seek to establish contacts and acquaintances outside of the church, for the sake of extending its benefits to others. We are always to bear in mind that the church is not given us for our own salvation primarily, but for the salvation of the whole human race, and that our own regeneration is achieved, not in working for ourselves, but for others.

     Would you think it too much to say that the crowning purpose of the Lord's Providence in our creation and education,-His supreme end in the formation of those who have the Heavenly Doctrine, is that He may work through us for the establishment of His Church and Kingdom? Since the Lord is infinite and eternal, and must look to the infinite and eternal in all that He does, nothing short of this supreme use can be altogether adequate reason for our being here. If so, our regeneration will progress to the extent that we adopt that Divine end as our own, and make it of our love.

     It is true that all the laymen in the church have other, secular, uses, in which they serve mankind, and in which, indeed, they are regenerated.

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Yet the fruits of that regeneration should be made to minister to the church as their supreme service. Every lower, secular, use should regard the church and the Lord's kingdom as its final end.

     In our dreams of success, what goal shall we set before us? What shall we desire as the crown of life! Riches! Power? The plaudits of men! Or shall we seek rather to add our mite to the building of the Lord's Temple among men!

     In the education of our children, what end shall we seek! Shall we fit them primarily for worldly success, or shall we regard their love and service of that which is spiritual and eternal as of greater importance? Upon which shall we set our hearts, and which shall we seek? We cannot love both,-cannot serve God and mammon. One must be supreme, and the other must be a servant.

     In the Arcana Coelestia we read of one who, in the life of the body, was in power over others, and who retained in the other life the desire to govern; "but he was told that he was in another kingdom, which is eternal; that his rule on earth was dead; and that now no one is esteemed except according to the good and truth, and according to the Lord's mercy, in which he is. And further, that it is in this kingdom, as on earth, where everyone is rated according to his wealth and his favor with his sovereign. Here good and truth are wealth, and favor with the sovereign is the Lord's mercy. If he would govern otherwise, he was a rebel, for he was in another's kingdom. Hearing this, he was ashamed."

     Not everyone can devote himself to priestly uses in this world. Men must be fed, and clothed, and housed; there are many uses for the body and the world that must be carried on. But the Lord's tithe (or tenth), which sanctifies all secular uses, is the priestly love in the heart of every regenerate man,-the love of adding his mite to the upbuilding of the Lord's church and kingdom. This love is the touch which turns all meaner things to gold, so that in the hereafter we shall not be ashamed, but shall find ourselves possessed of the true riches and the mercy of our Lord.

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CONSCIENCE 1931

CONSCIENCE       Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1931

     "And they heard the voice of Jehovah God, going by itself in the garden at the breath of day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of Jehovah God, in the midst of the tree of the garden. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said to him, Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:8, 9.)

     The internal sense of this chapter treats of the Fall of man, or his decline from a celestial to a spiritual state, or from a clear perception of all things of faith to a state of relative obscurity, in which he could only be led by conscience, by a kind of dictate recalling him to duty, by admonitions from the memory of things previously learned and acknowledged.

     The "voice of Jehovah God, going by itself," signifies a certain dictate which they had. That they feared it, is shown by their hiding themselves. For the "voice of the Lord," when mentioned in the Scriptures, means the Word itself, the Doctrine of Faith; also, on the part of man, an internal turning of the attention to a thing, as well as all deliberation thence, as to whether anything is right or wrong.

     When conscience dictates, it is said in the Word that Jehovah "speaks," because conscience is formed from things revealed and known from the Word. And when the Word says or dictates, it is the Lord who speaks. (A. C. 371.) The Lord must speak in some way to everyone, or he would perish. Life is not possible where law or order does not reach. But the Lord's voice sounds different to each one, according to his state of reception. With a celestial man, His voice is like love itself speaking, and is heard continually. With the spiritual man, it is like a gentle voice, speaking as it were within him, and suggesting, more or less obscurely, that this is right and that is wrong. But with the natural man, and with the evil man who will not hearken to more loving admonitions, the Lord's voice is stern and harsh, or as the sound of thunder, inspiring terror.

     It is said that the Lord saves man by means of His revelations, and that if He had not revealed Himself and made His Second Coming, mankind would have perished.

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Yet how would even this most excellent Revelation save man, unless he took it unto himself, and made it as his own? This is done by conscience alone, which is the link that makes a connection between the teaching given and the life of the receivers, that it may produce results. There is no other link than the bond of conscience, which is an internal bond that can only be forged by the man himself, freely. A free cooperation is the only kind that will benefit a man's soul in the end. For we all come into full freedom at the last day; and what, then, will be the binding force of a code that binds us only from fear of others and of what they will think or do?

     To repeat, conscience is the voice of God speaking within man, and admonishing him. It would be in vain for man to know truths, to be able to distinguish right from wrong, the just and fair from the unjust and unfair, the chaste from the unchaste, the sincere from the insincere, unless something from within moved his heart, so that he would choose the one and refuse the other. This something that prompts him, and condemns him when he does wrong, is his conscience. And it is nothing else than the voice of God.

     There is but one place in the Scriptures where the word "conscience" occurs, where it says that the scribes and Pharisees were "convicted by conscience" (John 8:9), showing that even the wicked and hypocritical have some conscience,-at least, a sense of shame in the presence of others. But a true conscience is more than this. Let us illustrate.

     The New Churchman knows, and every upright and earnest gentile knows, that law is law from its source in the Divine, and that there is no authority or essential truth in any theory, just because a great number of men have framed it, or have been led to demand it. The very cornerstone and rock foundation of all obedience is this,-that Law is Divine, that the laws which we are asked to obey are essentially just in themselves, and thus have so much of the Divine in them. It is this feeling, this perception alone, that gives law its rightful place above all considerations of mere expediency. This feeling, ingrained in the bosoms of the people by diligent teaching and training, at home and in school, and lastly in business intercourse, is what is called the "sanction" of their conscience,-that which makes it holy and inviolate, and which causes a sense of outrage when it is violated.

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No law accomplishes much in holding the people, if it lack this sanction, this feeling that it is right in itself, and thus a part of the Divine scheme of things. To Christians, this sanction is primarily ascribed to the Word of God, and to this the New Church adds the Divine Revelation given in the Heavenly Doctrine, from which we understand the genuine sense of the former Testaments in the light of their internal sense.

     Everyone has his own code of what is right and wrong, but it is only a true conscience when it is derived from the Word in a spirit of charity and consideration for others. In the end of the age, however, when religion is so external and self-righteous, even the word "conscience" becomes synonymous with censoriousness, rigidity, and intolerance, and is recognized dimly as a bond of meritorious self-justification and spiritual pride, and by no means of love, and freedom, and well wishing.

     So other codes, pagan or of merely natural charity or friendship, come into use; and a code of honor, based upon the appearances of charity or loyalty to one's own group, comes to take the place of the true conscience, which is so obviously lacking. As knowledge of the Lord and heaven fail, then a lower good or limited loyalty takes its place in the conscience. This now invades and rules the consciences of many who consider themselves upright and honorable. But it needs scrutiny. We, of the New Church, are responsible above others, not only for keeping our conscience clear, but for a diligent examination of what its requirements are in the light of the new charity now revealed.

     What is primarily needed for the welfare of the race, and for the maintenance of order and ordered service in the community, is Religion. "All religion is of life, and the life of religion is to do good." Good is not merely kindliness, or the benefactions of charity; good is use,-the daily work that gives us our place and part in the world. But the very first duty, before any good can really be genuine, is to shun the evils that prevent,-to shun them as sins against God. These are what keep us away from God. The more we disobey the Lord, the more do we tend to wince before the voice of truth. And, instead of going gladly and joyfully, or even dutifully, to meet Him, when we hear His "voice in the garden in the cool of the day," we are filled with misgivings; we are afraid of Him, and we hide ourselves among the intellectual screens that we have framed for ourselves,-the moral camouflage that is so popular among the unregenerate in every age.

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     But even here His eyes see us, and His voice follows us. For, remember, it is the time of early dawn, when there is a state of quiet, interior reflection. Everyone has such precious moments. It is not always daytime, with its rush and confusion, although many of us do our utmost to prevent our ever having any time or state of spiritual dawn, with its interior reflection. We seldom expose ourselves to the chance of meeting the Lord God, walking in the garden,-our garden, which is our mind, planted with all manner of shady foliage, and perchance with some good trees. Still, He does not forget us. If necessary, He permits something to happen to compel a period of reflection, and to check for a time the course of our self-will and folly. Then we hear His voice-and it says, "Where art thou?" Not that He does not know. But He wants us to pause and think, and to formulate an answer; for it is only by what we do ourselves, with our own effort, that we obtain anything.

     No amount of telling ever teaches anybody anything, unless there be also a feeling of conscience. It gets to be merely a dinning into the ears, which the interior will resists and resents more and more. But there come precious moments, in some state when it is "the cool of the day" and we have just awakened, and the celestial angels who have been guarding us all night have not yet departed, and the rush of our selfish and worldly cares has not yet swept in upon us. It is then that we hear "the voice of the Lord God going by Himself in the midst of the garden" of our mind. And at first we make haste to excuse ourselves,-that is, when our ruling loves are laid bare, before we have put on the aprons of fig leaves that we weave for ourselves, to make a figment of natural appearances, which are really nothing but excuses, and which take the place of the sphere of innocence which so completely protects the good man, by making him unconscious of himself.

     Let us bring this lesson home to ourselves, each one of us. The Lord asks everyone: "Where art thou?" And it is of the highest importance that we reflect upon it in every crisis and contingency of life, that we map find the answer to the question: Is this thing of heaven, or is it of hell?

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Which way is our face turned? Let each one, when alone, examine what his intentions are, what he thinks to be allowable, all restraints being removed, and he will then be able to answer the Lord's question: "Where art thou?" Amen.

LESSONS: Genesis 3. Matthew 5:17-26. A. C. 1033.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 658, 630, 544.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 77, 130.
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The spiritual sense of the twelfth chapter of Genesis was commented on last month. Between the chapters there occur as usual some doctrinal teachings, in this case about the spiritual world, which invite discussion.

     No Sense of Taste in Heaven?

     The universal law is, that there exists in the spiritual world a cause for everything existing on earth. These causes cohere together as a world as complete as the natural world, and appear like their earthly and natural correspondences. Thus the spiritual bodies of after-death beings are furnished with the same interior organs and faculties as mortal man possesses, and also the same senses, which are, in fact, keener than man's. Yet these interior senses (which caused the mind to feel when still on earth) are entirely spiritual, and sense only spiritual things,-spiritual realities or spiritual phantasies. Thus "spirits and angels have taste equally as a man." (A. E. 618.) "When what is spiritual tastes what is spiritual, it is just as when what is material tastes what is material." (L. J. Post., 323.) The banquets of heaven also testify to the enjoyment of this sense by the celestial.

     Surprising, therefore, may seem certain statements made in the April Readings (A. 1516, 1521), to the apparent effect that spirits and angels-although they enjoy all other senses, even ultimate touch-do not possess the sense of taste, but only something analogous to it (A. 4794, D. 3657).

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Would this not indicate that the law of a complete correspondence between the two worlds has, in this instance, broken down?

     Before we draw such a, fatal conclusion, it were best to examine the spiritual functions which in the other world answer to the senses of man. Sight corresponds to the affection of understanding or of being wise; hearing to the affection of learning with a view to obedience; smell to the affection of perceiving truths; and touch to the affection of good (A. 4404). All these have their place in the eternal life. The purpose of taste is to serve the soul in selecting it food for its body. And on first reflection we would certainly expect that something directly corresponding to taste would be needful for the selection of spiritual food for angels.

     But taste corresponds to the affection of knowing; and the mental appetites of spirits and angels are not satisfied by mere knowing. The corporeal memory, which is built up from material ideas and earthly objects felt in the world, is closed after death. Spirits do not need the affection of knowing which answers to taste, for such knowledge is for use in the natural world alone. What spirits need is, not to gain knowledge, but to perceive truths. Thus, while men on earth have actual spiritual taste in the fullest sense of that word, yet spirits have no taste, but only an "analogue" of it. Spirits are, however, delighted when men enjoy the taste of spiritual foods, i.e., when they are in the delight of knowledges (D. 3567).

     Taste is a sense which easily becomes dominant, and in such a case man becomes sensual. In the planet Jupiter "they do not prepare food according to the taste, but especially according to the use. . . . It would be well for man to prepare his food according to this rule, . . . differently from what is the case with those with whom the taste exercises command, which causes the body to become unwell, or at least inwardly languid, and consequently the mind also. . . Hence comes obeseness in the things of thought and judgment, and shrewdness [only] in such things as are of the body and the world" (A. 8378). Men become "stupid in respect to spiritual truths in proportion as they indulge the taste and the tactile blandishments of the body" (H. 462).

     When taste rules the appetite, it corresponds to an affection of corporeal and material ideas, which is forbidden to spirits.

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Only obsessing spirits, such as sirens, labor to inflow into man's sense of taste, which corresponds to the lowest of the mental faculties; if they succeed, they are able to "possess" his interiors, since they command the plane of material ideas on which all thoughts and affections rest. Such interior obsession was very frequent in Swedenborg's day, and presumably still is (D. 3716; A. 4793).

     The spiritual faculty which corresponds to taste is thus active in that plane of the spiritual world which exists with men,-in the corporeal memory. Spirits do not have any sense closely corresponding to taste, when by this is signified natural perception of good and truth in contrast to smell, which signifies spiritual perception (E. 990). But there is an analogue of taste. Taste there is the servant, the dependent, of smell. Angels and spirits taste not for the sake of testing and distinguishing the use of various material ideas or discerning the agreement of things of knowledge with their natural affections or sensual prejudices. They have-for taste-"a desire like an appetite for knowing and learning" (A. 1973) those things which confirm and fulfill their loves. They do immediately perceive that knowledge and those material ideas which are in agreement with their spiritual perceptions.

     This perception is, with them, a sense like our sense of taste, but is ruled from within only. They "have taste equally as men; but their taste flows forth from a spiritual origin." (A. E. 618.) In the angelic life, therefore, taste would seem to occupy a subordinate position, even as it does increasingly with men who govern their lives from considerations of what is useful, rather than from luxury and indulgence.

     The Perception of Spheres.

     The Arcana mentions that taste and smell meet in a certain intermediate sense like the power of scent in animals. The perception of the quality of spiritual spheres, which is universal to all in the other world, although with varying perfection, is analogous to this "third" sense, by which the need of taste is largely supplanted. (A. 1382, ff., 1504, ff., 1516; D. 3998.)

     Only men who have their spiritual sense opened, as did Swedenborg, can perceive spiritual spheres as odors (1514). With man, the spiritual sphere is hidden by his material spheres, which, of course, are also subtle enough to elude the reach of science.

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Still, the Lord's desire that all goods be communicable causes even men at times to be able to judge, though uncertainly, of the quality or the "sphere" of others, by what are called "first impressions." The sphere is present, and affects us; but few people are so devoid of "complexes" and strange anomalies of mind as to interpret such first impressions without prejudice.

     The Light of Angels.

     Angelic light comes not from this world. "If an angel were to derive the least bit from natural heat and light, he would perish." (D. L. W. 90.) Angels receive light from the Sun of Divine Wisdom. As an abstract proposition, this statement would appeal to many, since poetical truth is always convincing for the moment, and agrees with common perception. But how many of the thinking people of the world regard the departed as living in a world of actual and visible light?

     Even Swedenborg confesses that, before his sight was opened, his ideas had been obscure upon this point, because of the vacuity suggested by the terms of philosophy; "immaterial" things, instead of being the most real and most organic of all things, had come to mean something indescribable and utterly devoid of objective reality. (A. 1533 compare Rat. Psych. 498.) Until the immaterial world was seen In its light by Swedenborg, its reality was but a vague theoretical admission, with no meaning for the imaginations of men and no power to create faith within the human reason. But even before the full opening of his spiritual sight, Swedenborg became keenly conscious that unless one acknowledge, in the spiritual and thus in the soul, something analogous to extension, motion and parts, "one cannot avoid the idea of nothing" when we define-as we must-the spiritual as "immaterial" (Rat. Psych., 498).

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WOMEN'S USE 1931

WOMEN'S USE        M. M. WHITE       1931

     (Reprinted from The New Age (Australia), December, 1930.)

     That women have uses to perform, none will deny; but what those uses should be, and their value compared with the uses of men, has been a subject of much contention in the past, and at present it is a matter much discussed in the press, and is actually, in fact, being fought out in the world around us in a veritable war of woman versus man.

     Women have risen in revolt during the last half century, and are now endeavoring to demonstrate by actual facts that they, as human beings, are intellectually and practically the equal of men. Will Durant, in an article entitled "The Modern Woman," says: "The outstanding feature of the first quarter of the twentieth century is the change in the status of women. History has rarely seen so startling a transformation in so short a time."

     The reason for this is not hard to see, for it has been many years since women were really free,-free to live the life of their choice. Since the fall of the Egyptian civilization, or the end of the Ancient Church, until the reception of the New Church doctrines, woman was regarded no otherwise than as the weaker vessel, the property of her male relations. Many cases of happy family connections and true marriages existed as isolated cases, without a doubt, but the general opinion in the world was that the man was lord and master.

     During the Greek civilization, Plato pleaded for the equal opportunity of both sexes. But Aristotle classed woman as an arrested development, and explained her as being "nature's failure to make a man." She belonged with the slaves, as naturally subordinate.

     In the Hebrew Church, the women were classed with the children-there was no way of entrance for them into the Church. It was not until the Christian Church was established by the Lord that women were accorded equality of membership. By the institution of the Sacrament of baptism, and its application to both sexes, a door of entrance was made for women, as well as men, into the Church.

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The status of women generally was thereby considerably raised as the Church grew, and Christian civilization is noted for the comparatively high regard and respect shown by the men towards the women. Still, women were not free; and it is not surprising that, at the end of the Church, when Christian truths were neither seen nor lived, women revolted and insisted on freedom. 'Twas economic freedom they craved. The opportunity came with the coming of machinery. Women could manipulate machines, but they were not willing to do so unless what they earned was legally theirs. Factory owners in England had an Act of Parliament passed, allowing the women to own the money they earned. Thus they obtained the necessary labor required.

     This was the great opening for woman's economic freedom; and, for better or worse, woman grasped the opportunity. Avenue after avenue of various uses have opened to her since that time, and she has proved a successful competitor with men in an ever-widening field of uses.

     What of the New Church during this time? It has not escaped the controversy, for we find varying views held by its members regarding women's uses and the quality of their intellectual attainments. Some resentment, maybe, has resulted from the repetition of such statements as "women belong to the home," "a woman, cannot understand in the same way as a man," and so forth. I venture to suggest that the resentment does not lie so much in the statements themselves, but in the old idea lying behind,-that women and their uses are secondary, and that they should rely on the guidance of the men.

     New Church women can afford to smile, however, at any recurrence of such ideas, and let a little patience take the place of resentment, realizing that in the New Church they are to reap the heritage that was truly woman's from the beginning of time.

     In the Writings of our Church, the relation of men and women has been clearly explained, and great stress has been laid on the freedom which each must have as a necessity to true existence. There are New Church men and women who have seen the truth on this subject, and are endeavoring to build up a new civilization by its means. They see that the proper recognition of the uses of the wife and husband in the home are vital to the order and happiness therein.

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The home is the basis of society, and the principles there displayed we find in all the Various ramifications of the life of a nation.

     We are taught in the Writings that every single person has been born to perform a use which is peculiarly his, and which no other person could so well perform. How precious is each individual soul in the eyes of the Lord! And how precious should our use be in our eyes! How diligently should each seek the special use they are born to perform, and strive to become better and better in its performance.

     Women have uses to perform which cannot be done by men, and likewise men have uses which cannot rightly be done by women. The reason is that men and women are complementary to each other; separate, they are not complete. An angel is a married pair in heaven. It follows that the uses of men and women are complementary also. In fact, for a use to be a use, it must have something from both man and woman in it. There is not a single use in the world but needs for its successful accomplishment the efforts of men and women. There are many uses that appear to be done as well by women as men, but where do we find these things isolated? It is the common working together that causes the success. In other uses, common sense shows that men cannot do those things that always have been peculiar to women, and likewise there are things done by men that women, even in their advanced state, would shrink from attempting.

     The questions that seem uppermost in New Church people's minds are: Can women think like men? Can they understand and enjoy intellectual accomplishments in any degree, as men can?

     To the first I would answer, "No." To the latter, in the affirmative. This would appear to be a paradox; but the great difference, as I see it, is in the way in Which men and women think. Men have immediate influx into their understandings from the Lord. This women have not. They are dependent on the men, as mediate vessels, for their powers to think and understand. The reception by the men of this influx from the Lord creates a sphere which is diffused from their minds, and by means of this sphere women can understand truths and rise to heights of intellectuality equal to men. In women, however, thought is feminine-not masculine. Does this, then, make the man superior? Is there no compensating balance?

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Yes. The Lord uses women also as a medium of influx. To her is entrusted the most universal of all spheres, something which is more universal than heat and light. If men did not come under the influence of this sphere, through women, the powers of their intellects would be impotent for the performance of any use. This sphere, in its highest sense, is the sphere of the preservation of the created universe, and is called the conjugial sphere. All love of use is in it. Without this sphere from women, men would love the things of their understandings in themselves; that is, they would seek truths, knowledges and facts, without any idea of love of use, but merely for the sake of knowing them. The same would apply on the lower plane of life-the getting of money and property from the love of ownership, not for the sake of extending uses to the neighbor.

     This gives us the keynote to women's use. Good women love all those things that preserve natural and spiritual life, and, because of this love, they have a perception of how this is to be done. They also love the means that will enable those uses to become realities. Truth is the universal means of love ultimating itself; and, as man is the medium of the influx of truth from the Lord, good women love truth in men. And when women love truth in men, good men are inspired to seek and obtain it for the sake of the uses loved by the women. What a heritage has woman! What a noble use! She is the guardian of the sacred flame of love-a love that comes to her from the Lord, and which reaches out into every field of usefulness. The home will ever be woman's peculiar shrine. The care and education of little children, none can accomplish as she can. But if these uses be denied her, and she finds it necessary to earn a living to gain independence, she surely may accomplish it in very many ways. In doing so, she may bring into her usefulness her womanly love of uses, which perhaps was not there in very full measure before.

     The statement of the angel regarding himself and his wife, given to us in the Writings, "She is my heart, and I am her lungs," applies to men and women generally. In the church or community, women represent the heart, and men the lungs. And, as the uses of the heart and lungs react to every part of the body, so the uses of men and women reign universally and reciprocally throughout the church and community, when it is in a healthy state.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
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     THE ISSUE IN CONVENTION.

     In our October, 1930, number, p. 667, we set down for the information of our readers an outline of developments in the General Convention during the past year, as recorded in their periodicals, with special reference to a radical divergence of view and practice existing between two groups in that body, known as "Conservatives" and "Liberals" or "Progressives." A more recent statement of the same issue is given by Mr. John H. James, of Urbana, Ohio, in the December, 1930, number of THE NEW-CHURCH VISITOR, monthly News Bulletin of the Illinois Association, edited by the Rev. Dirk Diephuis, of St. Louis, Mo.

     While manifestly belonging to the "Conservative" group, Mr. James holds that there is a middle course "between the Academy position, on the one hand, and that extreme reactionary element at the other end of the scale which calls itself 'progressive,' but which (tinctured as it is with Old Church modernism) would carry the Church off into mere sectarianism. But that middle course is the one which the great majority of our Church membership wishes to take." He is emphatic in his belief in the organized New Church, and is frank in his characterizations of the less distinctive "Liberals."

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We commend the reading of Mr. James' paper, which was delivered as an Address to the Ohio Association, but for the benefit of those of our readers who have not access to THE NEW-CHURCH VISITOR we reprint below a number of paragraphs from the Address, which is entitled:
"A TREND TOWARD SECTARIANISM. 1931

"A TREND TOWARD SECTARIANISM.       JOHN H. JAMES       1931

     "What should be expected of the Minister from the standpoint of the Layman? What should be expected of the Layman from the standpoint of the Minister?

     "The thing that enables us to be here tonight, and the reason there can be a discussion of the questions just stated, is because there are ministers and there are laymen-because there is a visible and organized New Church body-viz: The General Convention of the New Jerusalem in America, of which the Ohio Association of the New Church is a definite constituent part. And the reason there is an organized New Church today is because devoted men and women now gone from this earthly life were willing, because they believed, to make the sacrifices and do the work which have given us our church heritage. We are members of the General Convention, and that has a very definite meaning, as you will see by looking at the constitution printed in the Convention Journal: 'The Convention shall consist of all who acknowledge the doctrines of the New Church as revealed by the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ in His Word by means of the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and who unite with this body in performing the general uses of a church.' If the Church had not been organized, we would not be here tonight.

     "There are dangers that threaten the Church, and they are very real dangers. There is the danger of worldliness, from which we suffer, together with all sects. This shows itself in many ways: We seem to want to be like everybody else; we suffer from a bad case of faith alone, which is certainly not a new malady in our Church or in any other. . . . It manifests itself with us in a tendency to point with pride to a wonderful body of doctrine, while we content ourselves with going about our business with little or no attempt to live the life which those doctrines enjoin upon us.

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It manifests itself in many other ways.

     "But there are other dangers which threaten the very life and existence of our Church, and which cannot be glossed over as trifling differences of opinion or as mere matters of personality. It is not an easy matter for a New Church layman to steer a straight course between the Academy position, on the one hand, and that extreme reactionary element at the other end of the scale which calls itself 'progressive,' but which (tinctured as it is with Old Church modernism) would carry the Church off into mere sectarianism. But that middle course is the one which the great majority of our Church membership wishes to take. . . ."

     Contrasting the Roman Catholic Church, whose strength is said to "lie in its authority," with the weakness of all the Protestant sects, which "inheres in their lack of authority, and in their appeal to private judgment," Mr. James continues:

     "Although we possess the most precious jewel of a true authority in the doctrinal writings of our Church, there has crept into our Church body this reactionary and sectarian tendency to set up individual judgment on doctrinal points,-a tendency to bring Swedenborg down to the level of the ordinary Bible commentator, a tendency to adopt an attitude of condescension toward portions of the doctrinal writings of the Church, a tendency to be overimpressed with what the higher critics have had to say, a tendency to attempt to keep step with Old Church modernism, a tendency to take pleasure in pointing out and expatiating upon some apparent inconsistency between the doctrines of our Church and the developments of recent science and psychology, a tendency to impute to books and sermons produced by Old Church writers who know nothing of the New Church doctrines a meaning and a significance that is not there.

     "The result of all this is that the Church is facing a serious crisis. Can it be denied that it is the most serious that it has ever faced in all its history? No one can deny that the Church has within its membership two resolutely antagonistic parties, the one promoting the sad things I have hinted at, the other strongly opposing them. There are real issues at stake that cannot be settled on the basis of sentiment, personalities, irrelevant generalities, and Church politics. They must be settled on the facts and on principle.

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If we have, on the one hand, the view that the New Church organization is the Lord's New Church on earth, and therefore must continue, and grow, and encompass the earth, while, on the other hand, there are those who say that the New Church organization is dying and is not worth saving, then we have a radical difference involving a fundamental principle.

     "Again, if we have, on the one hand, a recognition of the New Church organization as the only New Church that we know anything about-as the only visible body which acknowledges the Lord in His Second Coming: and if, on the other hand, we hear that this 'pitiful and contemptible little organization which calls itself the New Church' is not the real New Church, but that the real New Church is outside the organization, then again we have a difference which strikes at the life of the Church. It is an issue that will have to be made clear and settled.

     "When a New Church layman says: 'Fosdick's idea of the Bible is my idea of the Bible'-and we have others that think as he does, while the most of us still believe that the doctrines of our Church are true doctrines-then again we have a fundamental difference which strikes at the very life of the Church.

     "When a New Church minister speaks of his interesting discussion of 'Swedenborg's Views of the Lord and the Word,' he reveals that he regards Swedenborg, not as a revelator, but as a commentator. Now a man either believes or he doesn't believe in Swedenborg's illumination-I mean a man who knows something of our Church's doctrines, and who has read some of the doctrinal writings. The New Church minister who brings Swedenborg down to the level of a commentator has drifted from his moorings. He is a reactionary pure and simple, however much he may like to label himself progressive and liberal. The quality of his work is affected by his attitude toward the doctrinal writings of the Church, and that in turn affects the life of the Church in a deleterious way.

     "When a New Church minister states that he 'does not identify the New Jerusalem with the General Convention, or with any other body that stands for it,' the question is raised as to what we mean by the New Church. If the New Church is not to be identified with any organization, what is it? Is it a sentiment, an idea, a body of thought, or a body of doctrine which has no lodgment among men individually or collectively?

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If the Church has a lodgment among men collectively, what body is it? Statements like the one quoted involve fundamental issues which affect the life of the Church. They are issues that must be cleared up."
     JOHN H. JAMES.
WRITINGS IN THE CHURCH. 1931

WRITINGS IN THE CHURCH.              1931

     Under this title, the NEW-CHURCH HERALD for January 24, 1931, publishes a letter from Mr. A. E. Friend, who supports the proposal to have a reading from the Writings in the services of Conference churches, as set forth by Mr. Stanley E. Parker in a previous communication to the HERALD, part of which was reprinted in our last issue, (p. 185). Mr. Friend states that he is "convinced from actual experience, in a society where a portion of the Heavenly Doctrines is read at every Sunday service, that much positive good is done" by the custom. He comments further on the subject, as follows:

     "I know well the arguments: that are put forward against the suggestion, but can they not all be traced to the Old Church associations and prejudices? Were not the sphere of the Old Church so insistent, most, if not all, of these arguments would vanish into thin air, because the value of the Heavenly Doctrines would be so obvious and precious that we should welcome every opportunity for publicly proclaiming them to the people who attend our worship.

     "One criticism urged against the inclusion of a reading from the Writings is the difficulty of selecting suitable passages; but is this an insuperable objection? There are passages from the letter of the Word which are quite unsuitable for inclusion in a public service. In like manner, it is foolish to select any and every passage from the Writings for reading in church. . . . I venture to say that in those places where the experiment has failed, it has failed because of the careless manner in which the passages have been selected and presented.

     "The Swedenborg Society offers prizes to successful candidates in their annual examination in the Writings, and the Churches endeavor by various other means to encourage the study of the Heavenly Doctrines.

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Yet we have to acknowledge that the proportion of those who make a daily practice of reading the books in and by which the Lord has made His Second Advent is woefully small. In many cases absorption in worldly affairs and business probably affords a genuine ground for the neglect. Men are not intentionally and willingly careless about their spiritual welfare, but they do not find the time, and even if they did, their minds are often not sufficiently free to be in a fit state to derive full benefit from the perusal of heavenly truth. Physical and mental weariness deprives them of the necessary ability; yet they desire to keep in touch with the Lord as He is revealed to the New Church. Ought we not then, in our services, to provide them with the Divine Truth in the very words of the Doctrines as written by the Lord's commissioned servant, unaffected by another's interpretation? Why keep these Doctrines in the background, referring to them only in the same way as one might refer to Shakespeare or Whittier? Why not bring them into prominence as the source of the teachings of the New Church? What better opportunity can there be for instilling into the minds of our people a direct knowledge of the Doctrines to which they profess allegiance? The mind is in a holy state peculiarly receptive of Divine Truth when in the state of worship.

     "'Ah,' says one; 'but that is placing the Writings of Swedenborg on a level with the Word,' and a sinister prejudice is imported into what is manifestly a practice fraught with ever-increasing good for the Church.

     "We are all satisfied-at least presumably so-that the teachings given to the world by Swedenborg are from the Lord, and that consequently they constitute a Divine revelation, which it is the duty and privilege of the New Church to promulgate. In these books is contained instruction from the Lord. What more appropriate time could be conceived for the impartation of this priceless teaching than that when we are met together for the purpose of spiritual recreation, worship, and thanksgiving? The all-important question of the use to be served should be in our minds. The status and position of the Heavenly Doctrines is a question which every New Churchman sooner or later will settle for himself, if he is serious and honest, but I protest most emphatically that, in this connection of reading the Heavenly Doctrines to our congregations, the question is not germane, and is raised merely to create prejudice against the great gift of the Lord in these latter days.

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The irony of the situation is that those among us who criticize the suggestion are never antagonized when Paul's Epistles are read in our churches; neither are they disturbed when the uninspired portions of the Bible are bound up with the Word and placed on our communion tables. Remember that, in regard to the Second Coming, it is stated that this Divine act was effected by means of a man to whom the Lord had manifested Himself in Person, and whom He filled with His Spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church from Himself through the Word. (T. C. R. 779.)"
OPPOSES A LESSON FROM THE WRITINGS. 1931

OPPOSES A LESSON FROM THE WRITINGS.              1931

     In radical contrast with the above cited arguments of Mr. Friend, in favor of the reading of the Writings in worship, is an article by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack, entitled "The Word and the Writings of Swedenborg," which appears in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD for February 21, 1931. As an indication of the position taken in this article, we need cite only a few paragraphs:
"At first sight it may seem that there is abundant justification for regarding Swedenborg's works, if not actually as of equal value to the Sacred Scriptures of the Two Testaments, as of such peculiar worth and significance that they merit public recognition, being of Divine Origination. But a candid study of the facts in respect to the production of those works, and a frank consideration of the works themselves, must lead to the opposite conclusion.

     "In the first place, let it be noted that, in speaking of the Divine Word, the Word, or the So-red Scripture, Swedenborg consistently affirms that the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments alone are such. He ascribes to those Scriptures qualities and powers that, he says, cannot possibly belong to any other writings whatsoever. . . .

     "I submit, therefore, that it is positively wrong and harmful to permit a reading from the writings of Swedenborg as a part of public worship, especially if such reading take the place of a Lesson, or be so located in the order of the service that there be a semblance of equality between that reading and a Lesson from the Word.

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     "The absolute supremacy, on account of the unique Divinity and Holiness of the Word of God or Sacred Scriptures, must be upheld; and in my judgment it is rank profanity for any New Churchman who accepts the Doctrine of the Word as made known by Swedenborg to challenge or modify, in the slightest degree, that absolute supremacy.

     "In the next place, Swedenborg's own claims in regard to his works should convince every rational mind that they are not fitted for use in public worship. The character of Swedenborg's illumination was such that, inevitably, what he wrote is deficient in those perfections of quality and diction that are needed for such use. . . .

     "The fact that his writings present doctrines in a rational manner obliges us to acknowledge their distinctive limitations, despite the claim which we should loyally uphold, namely, that the doctrines which he seeks rationally to make known were received, not 'from any angel, but from the Lord alone.' The rational presentation of doctrine obviously must be limited by the rationality of the writer; the rationality of the writer must be dependent upon the writer's knowledge, experience, language, and style of thought and expression. . . . Consequently, the candid reader cannot possibly approach the writings of Swedenborg in the same spirit and in the same attitude of mind as he approaches the Word.

     "And therefore the writings of Swedenborg ought not to be introduced into any public service of worship where the Lord alone is to be adored, thought of, and approached through the Letter of the Word, wherein-and nowhere else-'Divine Truth is in its fulness, its sanctity, and its Power ' (S. S. 37; T. C. R. 214). And by the Word Swedenborg means the inspired books of the Old and New Testaments.

     "The very sphere of true worship is bound to be destroyed by the introduction of any humanly written book; the receptive attitude of soul is impossible; the humble confidence that one feels when reading that which has been expressed or written by Divine Dictation and Direction will pass; the service must lose its supreme beauty and value.

     "Moreover, the practical difficulties are such as to condemn the reading of the writings of Swedenborg in public worship. Are worshipers to provide themselves with the volumes, as they do the Word, that they may follow the reading? A service of worship should not become a reading meeting! . . .

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     "I am deeply convinced that very grave harm results from the reading of the writings of Swedenborg in public worship, when the whole souls of all the worshipers should be directed towards the Lord and His Word, and brought to states of humiliation and receptiveness of blessings that come from Him direct.

     "Of course, it may be admitted that from certain works, e.g., The Divine Providence, The True Christian Religion, and some others, passages may be chosen, very helpful, very elucidating, regarding the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith; but public worship is not the occasion for such readings."

     And more to the same purport. We shall be interested to see a rejoinder to such arguments on the part of other writers of the General Conference who, like Mr. Parker and Mr. Friend, rightly favor the reading of the Writings in the worship of the New Church.
REV. JOHN WHITEHEAD. 1931

REV. JOHN WHITEHEAD.              1931

     Appreciative accounts of the life and labors of the Rev. John Whitehead, who died on November 30, 1930, at the age of eighty years, have appeared recently in periodicals of the General Convention, and pay fitting tribute to the character and attainments of one whose career of fifty years in the ministry of the New Church was signally useful. A biography by the Rev. H. Clinton Hay was published in THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER for January 7, 1931, accompanied by an excellent photograph of Mr. Whitehead as he appeared in recent years. During this Period he was chiefly occupied with the translation of the Old Testament for the Marchant Committee on a New Church Version of the Scriptures, and with the editing of THE SWEDENBORG STUDENT, Monthly Bulletin of the Arcana Class, which he founded in 1918, and conducted with successful results among a wide circle of readers of the Arcana Celestia, numbering over one thousand persons. The January issue of the STUDENT, therefore, is an In Memoriam number to its late editor, and features an especially appreciative biography and tribute by the Rev. Everett K. Bray. To this article we are indebted for most of the following:

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     BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT.

     John Whitehead was born March 14th, 1850, at Ashton-under-Lyne, England. His father, David Whitehead, was a Methodist, and became a lay preacher in that Church. At the age of twenty-seven he became a New Churchman; this was in 1830. Later he became a lay preacher in the New Church in England. With his family he came to the United States in 1863, and for a time preached here. The family settled near Philadelphia, and he became a member of the New Church at Edenfield, Pa.

     John attended school in England from the age of six to thirteen, and during the last year in England he learned the art of weaving. After the arrival in this country he was employed in a woolen mill until the end of the Civil War, and for a time attended a private school. One of his teachers, Miss Mary Leonard, who was a New Church lady, prevailed upon his father to send him to the Waltham New Church School. He was there from September, 1868, until June, 1869.

     In 1876 he decided to study for the New Church ministry, as he had begun to read the Writings with great interest. At this time he was attending the Broad Street Church in Philadelphia. He consulted Miss Leonard regarding the best place to Pursue his preparation for the ministry, and she sent him to the Revs. L. H. Tafel and W. F. Pendleton in Philadelphia. The result was that he studied with them from January until June, when, at the opening of the term in the Theological School at Waltham, Mass., he took up his studies there. After completing the work of one year there, he returned to Philadelphia, finishing his preparation in the Theological School of the Academy, being graduated there, A.B. in 1879, Th.B. 1880, and receiving A.M. 1899.

     In 1880 he was united in marriage with Mary Aitken, of Philadelphia, and the same year became minister in Pittsburgh, where he continued for fifteen years. It was at this time (1892) that he separated from the Academy, and became a minister of the General Convention.

     From 1895 to 1899 he was pastor of the New Church in Urbana, Ohio, and President of Urbana University. While there, in the year 1897, he began publication of THE NEW PHILOSOPHY, as a journal "devoted to the exposition of the philosophy presented in the scientific, philosophical and theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg."

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In 1900, the journal became the official organ of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, of which Mr. Whitehead was an active member and director until his death.

     From 1899 to 1901 he was Professor of Theology at the New Church Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. In 1902 he became Pastor of the Detroit Society, and during the four years that he was there he was President of the Michigan Association, Pastor at Almont, and Director of the Almont Summer School for five summers.

     In 1906 he returned to Boston, and there devoted himself to almost continuous lecture work on behalf of the New Church until 1929. He also Served as State Lecturer for the Massachusetts Association, and as Librarian of the Theological School. During this period he translated from the Latin Swedenborg's Apocalypse Explained, six volumes; Miscellaneous Theological Works, one volume; and Posthumous Theological Works, two volumes. He compiled a volume of Hebrew Synonyms, and was Chairman of the American Committee on the Marchant Version of the Scriptures. He was author of The Illusions of Christian Science, and of many articles and tracts relating to the teachings of Swedenborg. He was deeply interested in the Manuscripts of Swedenborg, and skilled in reading the author's handwriting.

     THE ARCANA CLASS.

     In 1918, Mr. Whitehead inaugurated a movement for the systematic reading of the theological works of Swedenborg. By advertizing for volunteers who would engage to do regular weekly reading (better if daily) of the Arcana Celestia, he was able to establish a group of people, gratifyingly large in number, who were glad to follow weekly assignments outlined by him, and to avail themselves of his freely given help by correspondence to answer any questions which arose in the course of their reading. The numbers applying for this course so rapidly increased that he soon was starting new classes, and eventually he was conducting several groups through this wonder-ground of heaven-given knowledge and wisdom. After two years the work of mimeographing and letter writing became so taxing upon the leader's time and strength that The Swedenborg Student was instituted as a monthly bulletin of the Arcana Class. Of this under taking, so near Mr. Whitehead's heart, Mr. Bray says:

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     "It is the opinion of many, in which the writer shares, that an upward turn in the history of the New Church in this country was set in process when increasing numbers were initiated into the regular, systematic and habitual reading of the heaven-lit Writings of the New Jerusalem. We believe that the Church will live, and increase intensively and extensively when, and only when, those who belong to her belong to her because her message is so precious to them that they live by her light, and cannot live content with themselves or with their life without the habitual cultivation of that light; and this means habitual reading of the pages which give that light. The experience of the Arcana Classes proved the utter fallacy of the belief, held by some, that only the highly trained mind could appreciate the reading of Swedenborg and be profited by it; it is evidence that the heart has quite as much to do with it as the head.

     "The question which stands chief in determining appreciation is this: Does the prospective reader really hunger and thirst for heavenly truth! Does he want to know the heaven-way of life so that he can begin living that way now? As the years advance, and the New Church increases in the power and blessing and glory of her Lord, we believe that there will be increasing recognition of the significance of the day which saw the tide away from reading the Church Writings stemmed, and the return to their increasing use inaugurated. And it will be remembered by those who record her history that Rev. John Whitehead was conspicuously led of the Lord in this turning of the tide. In this it was never glory that he sought, but the high privilege of serving the Lord in the advancement of His Church."

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"DE HEMELSCHE LEER." 1931

"DE HEMELSCHE LEER."       THEODORE PITCAIRN       1931

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In the January number of NEW CHURCH LIFE, there appeared a review of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, a, magazine published by The Hague Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, the most essential parts of which have been published in an English translation. As the above mentioned review appeared in our sight totally to misinterpret the spirit, the contents, and the purpose of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, we wish to add the following:

     We read in the review: "The men of the General Church have always viewed with concern the effort to exalt the science of correspondences above doctrine, or the effort to make doctrine by correspondences. Correspondences only corroborate and illustrate doctrine, and can be turned to confirm almost any doctrine. 'It may be believed,' the Writings teach, L that doctrine of genuine truth can be gathered by means of the spiritual sense of the Word which is given through a knowledge of correspondences; but doctrine is not so gathered. . . .' (S. S. 56.) What Mr. Pfeiffer attempts, however, is precisely this thing." (Page 37.)

     This is a total misinterpretation of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, for on every page of the magazine Doctrine is drawn from the Writings and confirmed thereby. DE HEMELSCHE LEER arose from reflection and meditation on what the Writings say concerning Doctrine drawn from the Word, and on the Doctrine of the Church. Concerning Doctrine from the Word we read:

     "'Christ' is the Lord as to Divine Truth, hence as to the Word and as to Doctrine from the Word." (A. C. 3900.)

     "'The Son of Man' is the Divine Truth from the Word in the church; and this cannot be seen by all." (Canons, Holy Spirit, V:9.)

     "The Word and Doctrine from the Word are the voice of the Lord." (A. C. 9307.)

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     Because it is the Lord "from Whom faith is, He Himself is the faith with man, and if He is the faith, He is also every truth which the doctrine of faith which is from the Word contains." (A. C. 8864.)

     In the above quotations, which expression refers to the Writings?-the "Word" or "Doctrine from the Word"? If we say "Doctrine from the Word," then the whole position maintained by the General Church is an error. On the other hand, if we say that the Writings are the Word, then we must acknowledge that there is Divine Doctrine to be drawn from the Word by the Church, and that this Doctrine is the voice of the Lord.

     But as to whether the Doctrine from the Word refers to Doctrine born in the Church, we need be in no doubt. Doctrine from the Word is frequently defined as the Doctrine that those draw from the Word who are in enlightenment from the Lord, and this whether they teach or not. (See A. C. 8694; A. E. 624.)

     The matter is also clear from the above reference to the Canons, where we read: "That to him who 'speaks a word against the Son of Man' it is remitted, is because [it is remitted] him who denies this and that to be Divine Truth from the Word in the church, if only he believes that in the Word and from the Word are Divine Truths. The 'Son of Man' is the Divine Truth from the Word in the church; and this cannot be seen by all." (Canons, Holy Spirit, V: 9.)

     To make the Writings to be Divine Truth from the Word in the Church, and not the Word itself, would be to deprive the sentence of all meaning; for what genuine member of the New Church cannot see that the Writings are true, and what genuine member of the New Church can speak against the Writings, and have it remitted!

     The Doctrine, as it is in itself in the Word, is infinite, and is beyond the comprehension of any man in heaven or on earth; this is therefore not what is meant by the Doctrine of the Church; by the Doctrine of the Church is meant the Doctrine that has been drawn from the Word by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord, as is frequently taught in the Writings. That, at least in general, the Principles of the Academy are such Doctrine, no genuine member of the General Church can deny.

     It is the universal teaching of the Writings that all truth is Divine; for all truth is from the Lord; there is no other source of truth. To deny that genuine, that is, Divine Truth, can be drawn from the Writings, by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord, is to deny the Holy Spirit in the Church.

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     These are the principles of Doctrine that have guided the writing of DE HEMELSCHE LEER,-principles that are clearly stated in the Writings in their literal sense. The exposition given in DE HEMELSCHE LEER is a confirmation of the Doctrine.

     It is further shown in DE HEMELSCHE LEER that, as is frequently taught in the Writings, man's mind is of discrete degrees, and that these degrees are opened successively. The understanding of the Church develops according to the opening of these degrees, and hence the Doctrine of the Church, according to which is the understanding of the Word, has similar degrees. These degrees of Doctrine are described in the Arcana Celestia as follows:

     "When a man is being purified, then first of all are learned such truths as can be apprehended by the sensual man; such are the truths in the sense of the letter of the Word. Afterwards are learned interior truths, such as are collected from the Word by those who are in enlightenment; for these collect its interior sense from various passages where the sense of the letter is unfolded. From these, when known, truths still more interior are afterwards drawn forth by those who are enlightened, which truths, together with the former, serve the Church for Doctrine, the more interior truths for Doctrine to those who are men of the internal Church, the less interior for Doctrine to those who are men of the external Church. Both the former and the latter men, if they have lived according to these truths, are taken up into heaven among the angels, and are there imbued with angelic wisdom, which is from truths still more interior, and finally is from inmost truths in the third heaven. These truths, together with the former in their order, close in the ultimate truths of the external sensuous, and are there together. From this it is plain that all interior truths are together in the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, for these truths, as said above, are the ultimate ones." (A. C. 10028.)

     The opening of the degrees of Doctrine here described is the principal subject of DE HEMELSCHE LEER.

     The order and means by which these degrees are opened, as is extensively shown in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, is contained in the Arcana Celestia where the 12th, 20th, and 26th chapters of Genesis are explained.

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These chapters treat of the sojourn of Abram in Egypt, where he calls Sarai his sister; of the sojourn of Abraham in Gerar where he again called Sarah his sister; and of the sojourn of Isaac in Gerar, where he called Rebecca his sister. These chapters describe the opening of the interior degrees of truth, and the birth of the Doctrine of the Church.

     Further, the relation of the Word and Doctrine from the Word, and how the latter is drawn from the former, is remarkably illustrated by an exegesis of the concepts of "experience" and "test" which occurs on page three of the Arcana; but as these essential parts of DE HEMELSCHE LEER cannot be summarized in a paragraph is such a way as to be comprehended by the reader, we refer him to the work itself, where the doctrine is set forth with abundant illustration.
     THEODORE PITCAIRN.
Chateau les Pleignes, Grez sur Loing, S. et M., France, February 1, 1931.

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"DE HEMELSCHE LEER." 1931

"DE HEMELSCHE LEER."       PHILIP OYLER       1931

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In the January issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE there appears under the signature of the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner what is entitled a review of DE HEMELSCHE LEER. It cites a number of opinions al present held in the Academy, and it presents also a very interesting historical sketch of those held in the past, which is marred somewhat by a vein of sarcasm. Its main purpose, however, is to show that the internal sense of the Writings cannot be unfolded by means of the science of correspondences. But as DE HEMELSCHE LEER attempts no such thing, the review appears to have no real relation to the book under consideration. One might as well suggest that the Academy has obtained by means of the science of correspondences its doctrine that the Writings are the Word as to suppose that those advanced in DE HEMELSCHE LEER have been obtained in that way; for it is surely evident to the unprejudiced observer that both have been obtained in the same way, viz., by enlightenment from the Lord, and that both can be confirmed in the same way, viz., by the letter of the Writings.

     One cannot help wondering whether the book has really been studied with a sincere desire to understand its intent, or whether its patent faults in the matter of tactless expressions (which the reviewer has chosen to quote) have by any chance been the seeming cause of some slight offence, and thereby upset that unbiased attitude of mind which is essential for the understanding of anyone or anything. Everyone's view depends at all times upon the spiritual spectacles that he is wearing, and so every independent thinker sees the Writings (and everything else) differently than his fellows to some extent, and forms for himself (so to speak) doctrine, true or false, according to the measure and degree in which he shuns evils as sins against the Lord, or not. In other words, the truth that he sees depends upon the good which the Lord in His mercy has implanted in his will.

     If there are no remains of good left in a man, he accepts no Divine revelation of any kind. If there is some good, he is enlightened so that he believes in some Word-in its literal sense at least. If he obeys what he understands in that, he is given more good in the will, and is enlightened so that he becomes aware of some sense underlying the letter, and so on, if the process of regeneration is continued. For though the appearance is that truth precedes good, the fact is that truth proceeds from good, as light does from heat.

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This fact is stated in countless places and ways throughout the Writings, and it is the denial of this which has always led to the death of every church-a belief in faith above or without charity. The Lord alone knows the will of any man, but all of us in the General Church know that good and truth are from Him alone, that good loves truth, and evil loves falsity, that we are enlightened to see more truth in proportion to the good that is implanted in the will, and that we react in every state (so long as we are in it) against the next, just as each atmosphere reacts against the one above it.

     A careful consideration of DE HEMELSCHE LEER should convince anyone that its authors would repudiate the idea that the internal sense of the Writings could be expounded either by a knowledge of the science of correspondences or by a study of their letter, or by a comparison of their passages. They would agree, of course, that all these were very necessary; but if a man were to know the Writings by heart from beginning to end, this accomplishment by itself would not avail in any way to arrive at the internal sense, which is received by man when in enlightenment from the Lord.

     Each Word is as a man, the Divine Man, whose face and hands are bare, but whose body is clothed. So in each Word there are sufficient naked truths for the simplest enlightened mind to form for itself from the letter (and so from the Lord) a true doctrine of life and charity, provided, of course, that he shuns evils as sins. Others, however, would not be content with this doctrine, but, having a thirst for truth (for truth's sake, be it understood), they would be more diligent in their studies, and by applying truths learned to the uses of life they would receive more enlightenment from the Lord, and their doctrine would be of a discrete degree different from the former. Stress should be laid on the fact that this doctrine is from the Lord, and has been given by Him to them, because they applied the truths learned to the uses of life, and not because they studied more diligently. Others, again, may not be content with this doctrine either, but, having a hunger for good even greater than their thirst for truth, they would receive still greater enlightenment from the Lord, and their doctrine would be of a discrete degree different from the last.

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Stress should again be laid on the fact that their doctrine is from the Lord, and has been given by Him to them, because their longing has been to apply good perceived to all uses of life.

     Now all these doctrines are from the Lord (for He is the sole source of truth), are drawn from the letter of the Word in states of enlightenment, and are confirmed by the letter in states of conscious judgment; and the knowledge of the science of correspondences is only the means whereby that which is seen in spiritual light can be conveyed into natural language. It is the servant of enlightenment, not the cause of it.

     Reduced to very practical terms, the above appears to the writer to be the principle in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, and it has, therefore, ample confirmation in the letter of the Writings; for though the doctrines of the simple, the intelligent, and the wise, are all received from the Lord, they differ by discrete degrees, because they are tempered respectively by the light of the natural, spiritual, and celestial heavens, which are in discrete degrees, though in each case it is the natural degree of the mind which becomes conscious of illustration.
     PHILIP OYLER.
Woodgreen, Salisbury, England.
February 5, 1931.

228


Title Unspecified 1931

Title Unspecified              1931


     [Photo of REV. HENRY LEONARDOS, PASTOR AT RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL.]

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1931

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1931

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., FEBRUARY 3D TO 6TH, 1931.

     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

     The Thirty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy was held in the Council Hall of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral-Church, February 3d to 6th, 1931, Bishop N. D. Pendleton presiding. Besides the Bishop and Assistant-Bishop, there were present: the Revs. A. Acton, K. R. Alden, W. H. Alden, R. W. Brown, W. B. Caldwell, L. W. T. David, C. E. Doering, A. Gill, W. L. Gladish, F. E. Gyllenhaal. T. S. Harris, E. E. Iungerich, H. Lj. Odhner, Enoch S. Price, N. H. Reuter, G. H. Smith, H. Synnestvedt, W. Whitehead and R. G. Cranch (a total attendance of 21).

     After the initial meeting of the Consistory on Monday, the Council held four regular morning sessions; one public session; three joint afternoon sessions with the Academy Faculty and visiting teachers from societies of the General Church; two joint sessions with the Executive Committee (see Minutes of the "Joint Council" elsewhere in this issue); and a special meeting of those pastors actively engaged in pastoral work.

     At two of the early sessions, a prolonged discussion took place concerning doctrines contained in a booklet published by "The Swedenborg Genootschap," entitled DE HEMELSCHE LEER, described as: "A Monthly Magazine devoted to the Doctrine of Genuine Truth out of the Latin Word revealed from the Lord: Organ of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in Holland. Extracts from Nos. 1 to 8, January to August, 1930 (English Translation)."

     As copies of this work had been generously forwarded to all members of the Council of the Clergy, and of the Executive Committee, discussion arose concerning the same.

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This discussion was opened by a paper read by the Rev. Alfred Acton. As the paper was understood to be in the nature of a reply to the doctrines promoted in DE HEMELSCHE LEER,-a reply already offered to its Editor for publication,-it naturally formed the basis for doctrinal comparison during the discussion in Council.

     An interesting discussion also centered around a projected "Life of the Lord" to involve the recognition of the Doctrine of Glorification. The Rev. W. L. Gladish, who has been working on this project, for the instruction of young people, read some interesting examples of the treatment adopted.

     Among other matters, valuable discussions of "The Doctrine of the Interior Memory," introduced by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner; and of "How to reconcile the doctrine of similitudes with the doctrine of born conjugial pairs?"-initiated by the Rev. K. R. Alden;-were held during the sessions.

     A special resolution was passed, as follows:

     "That we send our sincere sympathies and greetings to Brother F. E. Waelchli in his present trials; and assure him, and all who are dear to him, of our best thoughts at this time."

     The annual Public Session was held in the Assembly Hall on Thursday evening, February 5th, when Bishop George de Charms delivered an eloquent and inspiring paper on: "The Human Organic." It stimulated a vigorous discussion, in which the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, Dr. Chas. R. Pendleton, and the Revs. Alfred Acton and Hugo Lj. Odhner, played a prominent part.

     The Joint Meetings of the Council with the Faculty of the Academy and other teachers were held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons, February 3d to 5th, in the Council Hall. The average attendance was 63.

     On Tuesday afternoon, with Bishop George de Charms in the chair Mr. Edward Allen, Instructor in Mathematics in the Academy Schools, contributed a paper on: "The Motions of an Electron."

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Although the subject was handled from the abstract mathematical point of view, and accompanied by a series of diagrams and algebraic formulae terrifying to the uninitiated, it did not daunt the adventurous comment and discussion by several speakers.

     On Wednesday afternoon, with Bishop N. D. Pendleton in the chair, Professor Camille Vinet presented a paper on: "The Voice," in which, with characteristic charm and wit, he pleaded for a sincere cultivation of the art of speech. Perhaps the most extended discussion of all three meetings ensued.

     On Thursday afternoon,-Dr. Charles E. Doering presiding,-the Rev. E. E. Iungerich gave a concise and astonishingly interesting oral address on the severely academic theme: "Starting Latin in the Seventh Grade." This provoked a lively debate which, however, at no point lacked in sincere appreciation of Dr. Iungerich's presentation and work.

     An epitome of the various discussions at these educational meetings appears in the current literary issue of the Academy's JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

     It should be added that a brief account of the "Philadelphia District Assembly Banquet" appears in the news notes of this issue of the LIFE.
     WILLIAM WHITEHEAD,
          Secretary.

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JOINT COUNCIL 1931

JOINT COUNCIL       Various       1931

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., FEBRUARY 7TH, 1931.

     First Session-10:00 a.m.

     1. The Thirty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Joint Council of the Clergy and the Executive Committee of the General Church of the New Jerusalem opened with prayer and reading from the Word by the Bishop, the Rt. Rev. N. D. Pendleton.

     2. There were present:

     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY:

     Bishop Pendleton, presiding; Rt. Rev. George de Charms; the Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Karl R. Alden, William Hyde Alden, Reginald W. Brown, William B. Caldwell, L. W. T. David, Charles E. Doering, Alan Gill, Willis L. Gladish, Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, T. S. Harris, Eldred E. Iungerich, Hugo Lj. Odhner, Norman H. Reuter, Gilbert H. Smith, Homer Synnestvedt, William Whitehead, Raymond G. Cranch. TOTAL: 20.

     EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

     Messrs. Randolph W. Childs (Secretary), Hubert Hyatt (Treasurer), Edward C. Bostock, C. Raynor Brown, Geoffrey S. Childs, Alexander P. Lindsay, Charles G. Merrell, Alvin E. Nelson, Harold F. Pitcairn, Raymond Pitcairn, Walter C. Childs. TOTAL: 11.

     3. The Minutes of the Thirty-Seventh Annual Meeting were submitted as printed in the NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1930, pp. 293-297. They were approved without being read.

     4. The fuller secretarial record of items 15 and 16 of these Minutes were then read. These Addenda, which contained the remarks of the Bishop concerning the proposal that an Assistant Bishop be provided, and a full resume of the discussion which followed, were approved.

     On motion, the Secretary was instructed to furnish the members of the Council with copies of the Addenda.

     5. The Minutes of a Special Meeting of the Joint Council, held November 17th, 1929, were read, corrected, and approved.

     6. The Bishop announced that the Assistant Bishop, the Rt. Rev. George de Charms, would visit the various societies of the General Church in Europe, next summer.

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     7. A letter from Mr. Seymour G. Nelson was read, conveying greetings to the Joint Council.

     8. The Bishop read a Resolution from the Olivet Church, inviting the next General Assembly to hold its meetings at Toronto, Canada.

     9. The Secretary of the General Church presented a verbal report and submitted his Statistical Report, which was adopted and filed. (See p. 237.)

     10. The Rev. William Whitehead, Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, read the report of that body, which was, after minor corrections, adopted and filed. (See p. 239.)

     11. After a recess of five minutes, Mr. Randolph W. Childs, as Secretary, read the report of the Executive Committee, which on motion, was accepted and filed:

     REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

     During the past year the Executive Committee has held a number of meetings, which have largely been occupied by the execution of routine business. The needs of the Church, especially in the field of extension work, have grown to such an extent that a large increase of support has become necessary. Notwithstanding the difficulty of financing an increased budget, the Executive Committee believes that this situation is a source of encouragement. In view of depressed business conditions, the Executive Committee has with deliberation appropriated increased amounts out of the Emergency Reserve Fund, in the expectation that when normal business conditions are resumed, increased support for the General Church can be obtained.
     Respectfully submitted,
          RANDOLPH W. CHILDS,
               Secretary.

     12. The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, as Editor of the NEW CHURCH SERMONS, made a verbal report. He had been appointed by the Bishop last September, since which time five issues of the SERMONS had been published. If children's stories are to be included, it will be necessary to maintain a thirty-two page issue. He indicated ways of enlarging the number of readers, and suggested certain changes in the style of the magazine; and, as there seemed to be no difficulty about obtaining the required number of sermons, he felt that twelve issues a year should be printed, instead of nine, as hitherto, so that the summer months may be provided for also.

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     13. Dr. Iungerich offered the following motion:

     Resolved, that this Joint Council looks with favor upon the extension of the publication of the NEW CHURCH SERMONS from nine to twelve times yearly. Adopted.

     14. The Rev. W. B. Caldwell, as Editor of the NEW CHURCH LIFE, made a verbal report, explaining the policy of the past many years of publishing the reports of the General Assemblies in the LIFE, rather than issuing a separate Journal. He commented on the relative merits of devoting many issues of the LIFE to such reports, and of publishing a Year-Book, which might also serve as a compendium of information. A different kind of paper had been adopted for the LIFE, so that more photographs may be used.

     The value and usefulness of the LIFE was testified to by a number of speakers.

     15. The Treasurer of the General Church, Mr. Hubert Hyatt, submitted a printed Financial Report for the year 1930, which will be sent to all members of the Church. (An abbreviated statement will be found on p. 246.) He also reported verbally that the Colchester Society, on its own initiative, had reduced the subsidy which it had received from the Extension Fund, by eight per cent. The year 1929 showed the maximum of contributions to the General Church; despite the financial depression, only two hundred dollars less had been contributed in 1930.

     The Treasurer appealed to the members of the Council to make our people acquainted with the beginnings and history of the General Church, since thus the aims and objects of the Church would be plainly shown.

     On motion, the printed Treasurer's Report was accepted and filed.

     16. Mr. Walter C. Childs reported as Treasurer of the Orphanage Fund. (See p. 248.) Verbally, Mr. Childs added that the appeal of the Orphanage Committee had resulted in the encouraging response of nineteen new contributors. The report was accepted and filed.

     17. The Council adjourned to 3.00 p.m.

     Second Session-3:00 p.m.

     18. The Invitation from the Olivet Church, that the next General Assembly be held in Toronto, was considered.

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     The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal explained the nature of the invitation and the accommodations available. A building could be rented for the week in the spacious grounds of the National Exhibition Park, which, at that time of the year, is not overrun with visitors. Catering could be arranged for in a nearby building, and assembly guests could partake of all meals together. But as for housing, all the visitors could not be housed with New Church friends. He told of the provisions for tourist accommodation in the vicinity of the Exhibition Grounds, and of the hotels downtown.

     Dr. Acton, and other speakers, showed that, while it was usual in the past for societies to seek to accommodate all visitors in their homes, we have found that in most cases this now places too great a strain upon the society. Our Assemblies are now too large; and if societies are to feel free to invite the Assembly in the future, we are inevitably obliged to expect that visitors shall have to provide for themselves, except for eating together.

     The Bishop stated that he welcomed such arrangements.

     19. On motion, unanimously adopted, it was

     Resolved, that the Joint Council accept with appreciation the cordial invitation of the Olivet Church to entertain the next General Assembly in Toronto.

     20. After some discussion, it was

     Resolved, that the next General Assembly be held in the year 1933, the period of the Assembly to include the 19th day of June.

     21. It was moved by the Rev. K. R. Alden, and unanimously

     Resolved, that the Joint Council extend its thanks and appreciation to the Ladies of the Bryn Athyn Society, who have so delightfully provided tea at the close of the afternoon meetings, for their active maintenance of this use.

     22. On motion of Rev. H. L. Odhner, seconded, and passed by a rising vote, it was

     Resolved, that this Joint Council records the universal affection and esteem of the people of the General Church of the New Jerusalem for our late member, the Rev. John Eby Bowers, who, on August the Twelfth, Nineteen Hundred and Thirty, was called to his eternal labors of love in the larger field of the Kingdom of the Lord. His zeal and modesty, his sincerity and singleness of purpose, will long be remembered by the Clergy and Laity of the Church.

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     23. After the Docket had been revised, the subject of "The Extension Work of the General Church, its Plan and Scope," was introduced by the Rev. R. G. Cranch.

     Mr. Cranch showed in his address that about three hundred members of the General Church were not visited by any minister, and after reviewing the missionary fields of the General Church, he offered certain suggestions for taking pastoral care of the isolated.

     Among the ideas which were expressed in the discussion which followed, these points stood out:

     A visiting pastor must have peculiar gifts. Missionaries of outstanding abilities are rare. It was harder to "convert" a man today than formerly; the attitude of people of today in spiritual matters being expressible by the vulgar term "hard-boiled."

     The law of growth is that growth occurs from centers. Instances were given of such growth. Gradually each society should take up its responsibility for Church Extension by extending its ministrations to the district isolated. This could be done, at least in part, and more fully where an assistant pastor is stationed.

     One speaker mentioned that the late Rev. J. E. Bowers had baptized 666 people in the course of his work among isolated families. His passing out of the work was held responsible for the fact that of late fewer and fewer of our High School students came from among the isolated. Examples were given to show how baptized people who had received little or no instruction in the Church were sometimes drawn back to the Church.

     A need was expressed for more men working in the interests of the Church as "contact-men," just as large business-firms employ men merely to maintain contact with their customers.

     The presence in the Kitchener Society of eighty-one children under High School age was pointed to, with the hope that the educational work there should not be in any way curtailed for lack of support.

     23. The Council adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

     Respectfully submitted,
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
               Secretary.

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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1931

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     During the year 1930, 75 new members were received. Deducting 29 deaths, the net increase for the year was 46. As the total membership, at the end of 1929, was 1992 members, this increase of 46 members brings the total at the end of 1930 to 2038 members. There were no resignations.

     Geographically, the 75 members received during the past year were distributed as follows:

     United States           42
     Canada                11
     England                4
     France               2
     Belgium                1
     Holland                6
     Sweden                1
     South America           3
     South Africa           5
                         75

     These figures do not include the membership of the South African Native Missions. According to the report of the Missions, to December 31, 1930, there is a total of 837 native members in various parts of South Africa.

     
     NEW MEMBERS.

     May 15, 1930, to December 31, 1930.

     A. IN THE UNITED STATES.

     Denver, Colorado
Miss Berith Hildegarde Schroder

     Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Lucile Patricia Reiner Stebbing

     Glenview, Illinois
Miss Sarah Elizebath Galbraith
Miss Lois Helen Nelson
Miss Luelle Kavahra Starkey

     Cleveland, Ohio
Mr. Franklin Parker Norman

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Schoenberger Acton
Miss Jeannette Pendleton Caldwell
Mr. Ralph Herbert McClarren
Mr. Willard Dandridge Pendleton
Mr. Randal Brackett Smith
Mr. Harry Joseph White

     Chester, Pennsylvania
Miss Mary Naomi Dahms

     Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
Mr. James Price Coffin, Jr.
Mr. Robert Ayres Mansfield

     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mrs. Helen Cadwalader Soderberg

     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Miss Freda Schoenberger

     Knoxville, Tennessee
Miss Ethel Rae Hutchinson
Mr. Richard Sprigg Canby Hutchinson
Mrs. Carrie Marshall Hutchinson

     Bellaire, Texas
Mr. Herbert Nathaniel Schoenberger
Mrs. Theda Gray Schoenberger

     Weslaco, Texas
Mr. August John Schoenberger
Mrs. Inez Viola Witt Schoenberger

     B. IN CANADA.

     Craigie Lea, Ontario
Mr. Arthur Jean-Marie

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     Toronto, Ontario
Mr. Thomas Joseph Fountain

     Waterloo, Ontario
Mrs. Beatrice Watters Gardiner Glebe

     Windsor, Ontario
Mrs. Annette Sarah Northgraves Gould

     C. IN ENGLAND.

     Hove, Sussex
Mr. Felix Hector Elphick
Mrs. Florence Clara Niblett Elphick

     Woodgreen, Salisbury
Miss Soldanella Oyler

     D. IN HOLLAND.

     Groningen
Mr. Christoffel Wilhelmus Heijer
Mrs. Henriette Adriana Cornelia Groeneveld Heijer

     The Hague
Mr. Cornelis de Mooij
Miss Christina Hendrika van der Meijden

     E. IN SWEDEN.

     Stockholm
Miss Louisa Margareta Schmidt

     F. IN SOUTH AFRICA.

     Rio de Janeiro
Mrs. Angelina Gianelli Dellisanti
Mr. Pasqualino Dellisanti
Miss Vera Sarmanho de Mello

     G. IN SOUTH AFRICA.

     Durban, Natal
Mr. William Nicholls Ridgway

     Ladybrand, Orange Free State
Mr. Norman Aristede Ridgway
Mrs. Iona Theodora Leask Ridgway

     Saron, Cape Province
Miss Yveline Alice Rogers

     DEATHS.

     May 15, 1950, to December 31, 1930.

Mrs. Elizabeth Upton Ridgway, Durban, Natal, South Africa, April 1, 1930.
Miss Alice Eliza Grant, Bryn Athyn, Pa., May 16, 1930.
Mr. Arthur C. V. Schott, Laurel, Md., May 23, 1930.
Mr. Homer Allen Waelchli, Springfield, Ill., May 26, 1930.
Mme. Arnold Louis Nicolet (Anna Eugenie Paris), Lausanne, Switzerland, June 15, 1930.
Dr. Henry Becker, Katrine, Ont., Canada, July 23, 1930.
Miss Harriet Sturtevant Ashley, Avalon, N. J., July 24, 1930.
Rev. John Eby Bowers, Toronto, Ont., Canada, August 12, 1930.
Mrs. Samuel H. Roschman (Wilhelmina Glebe), Waterloo, Ont., Canada, August 13, 1930.
Dr. William L. Grubb, Wilkinsburg, Pa., August 16, 1930.
Miss Ellen Potts, Bryn Athyn, Pa., September 12, 1930.
Mr. Peter Knapp, Baltimore, Md., September 20, 1930.
Mrs. Charles Brown (Wilhelmina Roschman), Toronto, Ont., Canada, October 12, 1930.
Mrs. August Magnusson (Ellen Anna Helena Emanuella Lindenstein), Stockholm, Sweden, October 21, 1930.

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Mrs. F. O. Breitstein (Maria Czerny), Laurelton, Long Island, N. Y., November 15, 1930.
Mrs. Anton D. Sorenson (Mariane Damgaard), Spokane, Washington, November 17, 1930.
Mr. Abram Klippenstein, Long Beach, Cal., December 22, 1930.
                                        
     Respectfully submitted,
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
               Secretary.
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY 1931

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1931

     January 1, 1930 to January 15, 1931.

     Since the last, regular Annual Report (see New Church Life, May, 1930, pp. 301-307), a special report was made by your Secretary as of June 1, 1930, to the Fourteenth General Assembly, Bryn Athyn, Pa., (see New Church Life, August, 1930, pp. 488-489), covering the two-year period since the London Assembly.

     At present, the Clergy of the General Church comprise three members of the episcopal degree including the Bishop and Assistant Bishop of the General Church); 36 members of the pastoral degree; and 2 members of the first or ministerial degree. (For directory of these, see New Church Life, January, 1931, pp. 50-54.) Added to these, and connected with the South African Mission, are: 5 Pastors, 6 ministers, and 6 leaders; also 6 theological students (2 Basuto, 3 Zulu, and 1 Xosa).

     Up to January 15, 1931, the Bishop of the General Church has received reports of the past year's activities from all members of the Clergy except Pastors Elmo C. Acton, Henry Leonardos, Joao de Mendonca Lima, and Julius Jiyana.

     These reports reveal that the Rites and Sacraments of the Church have been performed as follows:

Baptisms                               138
Confessions of Faith                     29
Betrothals                               22
Marriages                               27
Funeral Services                          36
Holy Supper:
Quarterly: as Celebrant 72; as Assistant 28           100
Monthly: as Celebrant 50; as Assistant 16           66
Private                               40
Ordinations                               1
Dedications: Ecclesiastical Buildings          1     
Private Homes                         8

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     In connection with the South African Mission to Natives, Superintendent F. W. Elphick reports 136 Baptisms (Infant, 70; Adults, 66); and 7 deaths.

     From the various reports received, the following facts have been selected as of possible general interest:

     BISHOP N. D. PENDLETON, Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, President of The Academy of the New Church, and Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, reports that he has presided over the weekly meetings of the Consistory; the Annual Meetings of the Council of the Clergy, February 3d-9th; the Joint Meetings, and the Executive Committee; the 14th General Assembly, held in Bryn Athyn, June 13th-19th; the 18th Ontario District Assembly, held in Toronto, Canada, Nov. 8th-10th. On the latter occasion he gave the opening address, preached on Sunday, and administered the Holy Supper. After the Assembly in Toronto, he visited the Kitchener Society; met with the men of that society on the evening of Nov. 11th, and discussed the subject of the Principles of the Academy; on the morning of November 12th, he spoke to the school children; and, on the evening of the same day, addressed the society on "The Duties and Responsibilities of New Churchmanship."

     He presided over the regular meetings of the Pastor's Council, the Board of Trustees, and the Spring Meeting of the Bryn Athyn Society; preached in Bryn Athyn 13 times, and conducted services regularly when not absent.

     He presided over the meetings of the Board of Directors of the Academy, the regular meetings of the Faculties and Committees, and taught twice a week in the Theological School.

     He ordained the Rev. Norman H. Reuter on June 15, 1930.

     The Dedication of the new Pittsburgh Church was on September 28, 1930.

     BISHOP GEORGE DE CHARMS, as Assistant Bishop of the General Church, Vice-President of the Academy, and Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, reports that, in his capacity of Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, he preached 7 times in Bryn Athyn, and conducted a series of 4 doctrinal classes in the months of March and April, and a series of 7 doctrinal classes in the months of October to January.

     He continued to supervise the work of Religious Instruction in the Elementary School, and to teach Religion to the 7th and 8th grades.

     Children's services were held from January to May 18th, and from October 19th to Christmas. In this latter work he received valuable assistance from the Rev. L. W. T. David and the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt.

     He resigned as Dean of the College in June; but continued to teach an educational course in the College Department.

     He was appointed Assistant Bishop of the General Church, and Vice-President of the Academy, in June.

     At the request of the Bishop, he presided at the Chicago District Assembly, held in Glenview in October, preaching there and administering the Holy Supper. Also lectured 5 times. Also presided at the Annual Meeting of the Bryn Athyn Church.

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     BISHOP ROBERT J. TILSON, as Pastor of the Michael Church, Burton Road, Brixton, England, performed the customary duties of that office.

     He presided at the Twenty-third British Assembly, held at the Michael Church in August last, and acted as Celebrant at the Holy Supper.

     He visited Kilburn, near York, in August; and Failsworth in October; holding services and administering the Sacraments in both places. He also visited Colchester, preached there on two occasions, and baptized the little daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Victor Gladish.

     He has also served as a member of the Council of the Swedenborg Society, and of its Revision Board.

     REV. ALFRED ACTON reports that during the past year he has been engaged as Dean of the Theological School of the Academy; and also as non-resident pastor of the Washington society. He has also continued to serve as a member of the Bishop's Consistory.

     REV. KARL R. ALDEN reports that, in addition to acting as Principal of the Boys' Academy and Housemaster of the boys' dormitory, he has preached five missionary sermons in the Cathedral; and has organized and conducted the Whittington Chorus.

     REV. GUSTAF BAECKSTROM reports that, in addition to his duties as Pastor of the Stockholm Society, he delivered twenty-six public lectures, of which three were in Stockholm, with an average attendance of 100 persons. He has also visited isolated members and other receivers, some in Norway, where one service was held in Oslo, and five lectures delivered in different places (included in above mentioned 26). Three of the administrations of the Holy Supper were in Norway. Books have been sold for about Kr. 4,000.

     REV. ALBERT BJORCK, as Pastor of the Woodgreen circle, near Salisbury, England, states there are four members of the circle; but five General Church members who live in Bristol have now asked to have his pastoral care. He has conducted services at Woodgreen 35 times, at Bristol twice, six times in Colchester, and twice at the Michael Church, London.

     REV. H. W. BOEF, as Pastor of the Gabriel Church, Los Angeles, reports that, in addition to his weekly pastoral duties there, he has preached twice in San Francisco, and once in Bryn Athyn.

     REV. W. B. CALDWELL reports that he has been engaged as Editor of New Church Life, and as Professor of Theology in the Academy. During the year he visited the New York Society nine times, conducting a doctrinal class and Sunday service on each occasion. In addition, he preached once in Bryn Athyn.

     REV. L. W. T. DAVID reports that from January to April he conducted doctrinal classes in West Philadelphia each Tuesday; and in May three classes in Fox Chase. He also conducted the children's services in Bryn Athyn eight times. He assisted in the editing of New Church Sermons until July, and reports that the work on the Fifty-year Index of New Church Life has been going forward steadily.

     REV. CHARLES E. DOERING reports that, in addition to his duties as Dean of Faculties in the Academy, he continued to serve as Secretary of the Consistory.

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He also preached once in Pittsburgh, performed 3 baptisms, 1 betrothal, 1 marriage, and assisted three times in the administration of the Holy Supper.

     REV. F. W. ELPHICK, as Superintendent of the General Church Mission in South Africa, reports five native pastors, six ministers, and six leaders. Of the seven theological students, two are Basutos, four are Zulus (one of these recently died), and one is Xosa. There are eight day schools; and one night school; with fourteen teachers (seven men and seven women); also three native instructors in trades. The total estimated number of pupils is 300.

     The new center at Impapala, Eshowe, Zululand, is growing rapidly, the church and outlying school buildings having been completed. The church was dedicated on November 9th, 1930, by the Rev. Elmo C. Acton, with the assistance of several of the Durban and Zululand native ministers. Mr. Frazee is encouraging "music" in the form of a Native Brass Band, and is giving every facility for elementary education within the sphere of the Mission.

     REV. ALAN GILL, Pastor of the Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, reports that, besides the weekly adults' and children's services and the doctrinal classes, the following uses have been maintained: weekly Young People's classes, a monthly class for the ladies, and monthly meetings of the parents and teachers at which various problems are considered. Also, a series of class (monthly) is now being given for the men on the subject of Conjugial Love. The Day School grows apace. There are now 32 pupils enrolled,-an increase of 8 over last year. There are 81 children in the Society, of 14 years old and under.

     REV. VICTOR J. GLADISH, Pastor of the Colchester Society, England, in reporting his various official duties, pastoral and educational, notes that he has acted as Secretary of the British Assembly, and Secretary of the "New Church Club," of London, at whose meetings he has read papers from time to time.

     REV. W. L. GLADISH, of Sharon Church, Chicago, reports that eight new members have been added, and none lost. Four of these were converts from the Swedish Lutheran Church. It is hoped soon to be able to build a combined church, parish house and pastor's residence. In addition to the $5,000 bequest from the estate of Mr. Nels Johnson, the ladies raised about $215 by means of a bazaar; and the Men's Bowling League added over $150. At the bi-weekly church suppers, preceded by a class for children, and followed by doctrinal class and singing practice, the attendance often reaches 50.

     REV. F. E. GYLLENHAAL, as Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, reports that he preached fifty times in Toronto, three times in Montreal, and once in Kitchener. As Headmaster of the Day School, he taught in the School, from January until June, Religion, Hebrew, History, Arithmetic and Reading; in all, 21 half-hour periods. Since September he has taught Religion and Hebrew, 10 half-hour periods a week. In November, he started classes in Religion and Hebrew for ex-pupils.

     In August, he was in Montreal, and visited four New Church families. This resulted in the formation of a Circle, which was visited again in October and November.

243


The General Church has undertaken to pay travelling expenses for six visits up to August, 1931. In the Circle are eight adults and six children. On each visit he conducted a service, held a doctrinal class followed by a social evening, and held two classes for children. He has the names and addresses of eighteen other adult readers of the Writings in Montreal, some of whom have been baptized into the New Church. There are also approximately forty isolated New Church people in Ontario, and several in Quebec. He considers the above to be fruitful fields of endeavor, in which the Olivet Church, also, is much interested.

     REV. HENRY HEINRICHS, Pastor of the Denver (Colorado) Society, reports that the year was somewhat broken up by illness among the members and in the pastor's family. He again visited the isolated in the Canadian North-West, a detailed account of which was published in New Church Life for November, 1930.

     REV. E. E. IUNGERICH, Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society, notes, as the outstanding event of the year, the completion of the Church and Community Building, and the dedication of the former by Bishop Pendleton, on September 28, 1936. There has been a pleasing increase of attendance at the services. A choir of seventeen members has been successfully organized by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur O. Lechner. During August, the pastor visited groups at Youngstown, Ohio, Johnstown, Erie, and Renovo, Pa.;-in all of which places Sunday services were held. Doctrinal classes were also held at Springboro, Pa., and Niles, Ohio. People were also visited in Leetonia and Columbiana, Ohio; Blairsville, and Tarentum, Pa.; East Aurora and Niagara Falls, N. Y.; and lectures given in the Kitchener and Toronto societies.

     REV. HUGO L. ODHNER reports, as Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, that he has preached thirteen times, conducted and assisted at services, presided over the activities of the Chancel Guild and the ushers' organization, and conducted six general doctrinal classes and twenty-five young people's classes. As Professor of Theology in the Academy, he has taught in various departments. He has acted as Secretary of the General Church, and of its Joint Council; and has contributed monthly "Notes on the Calendar Readings" to its official organ.

     REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN reports that during the past year he has been on leave of absence from the Bryn Athyn Society, and that he has spent the year studying the Arcana Coelestia, and ministering to the Circle at Thoury-Ferrottes, Seine et Marne, France.

     REV. JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST reports from Gothenburg, Sweden, that, after having finished the translation of the two volumes of Swedenborg's Posthumous Theological Works, he started in July the translation into Swedish of Apocalypse Explained, the first volume of which has now been translated to the extent of 368 pages.

     REV. GILBERT H. SMITH, as Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, and Headmaster of the School, reports that the last two or three years have shown steady growth in the number of its adult membership and of the School, the latter having 53 pupils at the beginning of the present term, the largest in its history.

244




     REV. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT reports that he has preached several times in the Cathedral at Bryn Athyn, and has led the children's service two or three times. He reports that the doctrinal class in Philadelphia was very much alive, and a great delight to teach.

     REV. F. E. WAELCHLI, as Visiting Pastor of the General Church, and Pastor of the Cincinnati Circle, reports that during the year, in the Middle West, he had visited Detroit five times; Windsor four times; Middleport three times; Cleveland and Erie each twice; Columbus, Niles and Johnstown each once. In the South, during February and March, Knoxville, Birmingham, Atlanta, Macon, St. Petersburg and Apopka were visited.

     On the Pacific Coast trip during the summer the following places were visited: Los Angeles, Ontario, Norco, San Diego, Pale Alto, Portland, Spokane, Walla Walla, La Gorande, Baker and Denver.

     Full reports of the work done at the twenty-five places mentioned have appeared in New Church Life.

     The total number of persons ministered to, including children, is 1264. This includes twenty at Cincinnati, but does not include Los Angeles and Denver.

     At Cincinnati, he officiated at twenty-five Sunday services. Members of the Circle conduct services during his absence. A weekly doctrinal class is conducted when he is at home. Sunday School is held regularly.

     REV. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD reports that he has conducted nine services and nine doctrinal classes in the New York society. A gratifying feature is that out of a total of 34 members, the average attendance at service is 30, at the Holy Supper 32, and at Doctrinal classes 21, and this notwithstanding the physical difficulties.

     He continued as editor of New Church Sermons until July, when he resigned in order to concentrate on the Academy's Journal of Education and other work.

     REV. RAYMOND CRANCH reports having devoted several weeks of time to co-operating with Bishop de Charms in the work of preparing his lectures on "The Growth of the Mind" for publication.

     REV. VINCENT C. ODHNER, as minister by appointment to the West Philadelphia group, reports that the average attendance at doctrinal classes has been very good. The theme chosen is a review of the True Christian Religion.

     In addition to the above, reports were also received from the Revs. W. H. Alden, W. E. Brickman, Enoch S. Price, E. R. Cronlund, F. Hussenet, T. S. Harris, Richard Morse, Ernst Pfeiffer, and N. H. Reuter.

245




     MINISTERS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

     All of the eleven Basuto and Zulu pastors and ministers have made individual reports to the Bishop, as follows:

     Basuto.

     REV. BERRY MAQELEPO, as Pastor of the Greylingstad Society in the Transvaal Districts, reports that, in addition to his duties there, he also gave instruction to the day school children five times a week. He also visited Silver-Bank, Vaal, Heidelberg and Chester, where New Church groups exist.

     REV. JONAS MOTSI reports having acted as Assistant to the Superintendent, October to December, 1930, and previous to that as Minister of the Quthing Society.

     REV. TWENTYMAN M. MOFOXENG acted as Minister to the Alpha Society from January to April, and as Assistant to the Superintendent, April to December.

     REV. JONAS MPHATSE reports various duties as Minister to the Lukas' Village Society.

     REV. NATHANTEL MPRATSE reports numerous duties as Minister to the Mafika-Lisiu Society.

     REV. SOFONIA MOSOANG reports as Minister of the Khopane Society.

     Zulu.

     REV. JOHN MOSES JIYANA reported his works as Pastor at Lusitania and Newcastle districts.

     REV. JULIUS S. M. JIYANA reported as minister to the Tongaat Society. He also performed numerous baptisms in other districts. He also gave sermons, doctrinal classes and lectures monthly in the Driefontein district Shakas' kraal. He also teaches his day school children five times a week.

     REV. MOFFAT MCANYANA, as minister at Rent Manor, Impapala, reported, amongst his other duties, 56 baptisms.

     REV. BENJAMIN THOMAS NGIBA reported as minister to the Tongaat Society from January to March, and as minister to the Mayville Society from March to January.

     REV. PHILIP STOLE reported as minister to the Turner's Avenue, (Durban) Society, and also as minister to the Springfield Society. He also does visiting outside of these fields, and gives instruction in his own night-school four times a week.
     Respectfully submitted,
          WILLIAM WHITEHEAD,
               Secretary, Council of the Clergy.

246


REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1931

REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       WALTER C. CHILDS       1931

     FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1930.

     The four following Statements are for the Period beginning January 1st, 1930, and ending December 31st, 1930. They reflect the condition, as of December 31st, 1930, of all Funds owned or held in trust by the General Church.

     GENERAL FUND.

Assets
Investments                              $24,202.51
Cash                                   2,886.90
New Church Life Subscriptions in Arrears          86.00
Bills Receivable                         1,181.09
Total Assets                              $28,356.59

     Expense
Expenditures as per details elsewhere in this
     Report                              $16,848.69
Transfer to Extension Fund                    3,869.12
Total Expense                              $20,717.81
                                   $20,717.81

     Accountability
Endowment                              $22,701.29
Emergency Reserve                         4,879.13
New Church Life Subscriptions Paid in Advance     776.17
Total Accountability                         $28,356.59

     Income
Cash Contributions to General Church           $12,896.30
     New Church Sermons               151.22
New Church Life Subscriptions               1,728.16
Special Donations                         270.00
Interest                              2,408.40
Sundries                              132.92
Total Income                              17,587.00
Deficit Transferred from Emergency Reserve     3,130.81
                                   $20,717.81

     EXTENSION FUND.
Assets
Investments                              $72,791.37
Cash                                   435.07
Bills Receivable                         37.75
Total Assets                              $73,264.19

     Expense
Expenditures as per details elsewhere in this
     Report                              $10,166.10
Total Expense                              $10,166.10

     Accountability
Endowment                              $72,955.87
Bills Payable                              308.32
Total Accountability                         $73,264.19

     Income
Cash Contributions                         $82.50
Special Donations                         1,850.00
Interest                              4,364.48
Transfer from General Fund                    3,869.12
Total Income                              $10,166.10

247




     PENSION FUND.
Assets
Investments                              $68,672.31
Cash                                   389.00
Bills Receivable                         162.50
Total Assets                              $69,223.81

     Expense
Expenditures as per details elsewhere in this
     Report                              $3,807.24
Total Expense                              $3,807.24
Surplus Transferred to Depreciation Reserve     339.89
                                   $4,147.13

     Accountability
Endowment                              $67,615.30
Depreciation Reserve                         1,608.51
Total Accountability                         $69,223.81

     Income
Interest                              $4,147.13
Total Income                              $4,147.13
          
     TRUST FUNDS
Assets
Investments                              $37,956.04
Cash                                   1,755.05
Bills Receivable                         646.10
Total Assets                              $40,357.19

     Accountability
Advent Church Fund                         $18,152.57
Episcopal Visits Fund                    197.60
Orphanage Fund                         4,591.90
South American Fund                    15,177.62
Miscellaneous Funds                         2,237.50
Total Accountability                         $40,357.19

     1930 EXPENDITURES.

     The 1930 Expenditures from the General Fund, Extension Fund and Pension Fund, as above, were $16,848.69, $10,166.10, and $3,807.24, respectively, making a total of $30,822.03. This total is itemized as follows:

          Office of Bishop of the General Church                         $5,803.46
     "New Church Life"                                        6,471.57
     "New Church Sermons"                                   1,019.78
     1931 Daily Reading Calendar                              106.01
     Salary and Traveling Expenses of Rev. F. E. Waelchli               3,198.10
     Traveling Expenses of Revs. Henry Heinrichs, F. E. Gyllenhaal,
          and T. S. Harris                                   331.80
VII.     Aid given for the partial support of the work being done at Colchester,
Denver, Kitchener, Los Angels, Paris, Stockholm and The Hague          7,370.00
VIII.     Pensions                                             3,724.30
IX.      1930 General Assembly                                   1,134.20
X.          Administration of Extension and Pension Funds                    379.04
XI.      Treasurer's Office                                        1,232.36
XII.      Sundries                                             51.41
Total 1930 Expenditures                                        $30,822.03

     H. HYATT,
          Treasurer

248




     ORPHANAGE FUND.

     Statement from January 1 to December 31, 1930

     RECEIPTS
Cash Balance, December 31, 1929                         $575.19
Interest on Investments                              274.06
Bank Interest                                        11.27
                                             $860.52

     CONTRIBUTIONS
Bryn Athyn Catedral Boxes                    $169.57
Bryn Athyn Collections                    271.00
Kitchener Society                         30.15
Pittsburgh Society                         43.00
Pittsburgh, Children's Christmas Service          24.74
Middleport Society                         11.00
Cincinnati Society                         25.00
Denver Society                         8.57
Colchester Society                         14.54
Washington Society                         1.38
Toronto Society, 1929, 1930                    144.82
Glenview Society                         67.03
Chicago society                         40.37
New York Society, Christmas Offering          26.35
Mrs. Cara S. Glenn                         100.00
Mrs. F. O. Breitstein                         20.00
Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn                    360.00
Mr. Louis B. Pendleton                    20.00
Miss Zella Pendleton                         5.00
Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn                    875.00
Mrs. W. S. Howland                         12.00
Mr. Morel Leonard                         51.19
Rev. Enoch S. Price                         3.42
Mr. Lewis J. Allen                         2.00
Miss H. M. Hager                         10.00
Miss Edith R. Cranch                         4.50
Mrs. Selma Boericke                         50.00
Miss Winnie Boericke                    10.00
Mr. Colley Pryke and Family                    13.87
Miss Josephine Sellner                    15.00
Mr. Bert M. Berg                         2.00
Miss Martha Schroeder                    1.00
Mr. Walter C. Childs                         25.00

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Mrs. Florence K. Hyde                    10.00
Miss Clara Wallenberg                    5.00
Miss Ellen V. Wallenberg                    7.00
Mr. G. A. Hallowell                         25.00
Mr. Edmond Congar Brown                    5.00
Miss Elizabeth C. Brown                    5.00
Mr. David F. Gladish                         40.00
Mr. O. H. Hamilton                         5.00
Mrs. Regina Iungerich                    10.00
Mrs. Emma S. Asplundh                    2.50
Miss Iva G. Woods                         5.00
Mrs. Edna R. McElory                    10.00
Mr. C. A. McElvain                         15.00
Miss Rebecca E. Sullivan                    2.00
Mrs. Alice R. Harrold                    50.00
Mrs. Marion D. Sorrensen and Boys               4.34
Miss Flora Edina Carswell                    5.00
Mrs. W. D. Uptegraff                         5.00
Mr. Wm. J. Cowley                         2.50                    
Mrs. Mary D. Schott                         5.00
Mr. Jacob Schoenberger                    9.71
Mr. David McC. Cowley                    2.50
                                             $2,688.05
Total Receipts                                   $3,548.57

     DISBURSEMENTS
Assistance to Sundry Persons               $2,810.00
Expense                              11.00          $2,821.00
Cash Balance, December 31, 1930                         $727.57

     WALTER C. CHILDS,
          Treasurer

250


FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE GENERAL CHURCH 1931

FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE GENERAL CHURCH              1931

     "I hereby give and bequeath unto the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, U. S. A., the sum of .......... Dollars, ($......)."

     FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE ACADEMY.

     "I hereby give and bequeath unto the Academy of the New Church, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, U. S. A.. the sum of .......... Dollars, ($......)."

     NOTE.

     The laws of most jurisdictions require that a will be witnessed by two disinterested persons. Some jurisdictions require three witnesses. The safest practice is to consult an attorney or a trust company. Such a precaution is especially important in countries governed by the civil law, and where special uses are designated or where trusts are created.

     FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE ORPHANAGE FUND.

     I hereby give and bequeath unto the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, the sum of $......, for the uses of the Orphanage Fund.

     FORM OF CODICIL.

     I, ......................., the within named testator (or testatrix) do hereby make and publish this codicil, to be added to my last will and testament, bearing date the .............. day of A. D. 193.... in manner following, to wit:

     1. I hereby give and bequeath unto the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, the sum of ........... for the uses of the Orphanage Fund.

     2. I do hereby ratify and confirm my said will in all other respects. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and seal this ........ day of ............. in the year of our Lord one
thousand nine hundred and ........................
.. . . . . . . . (SEAL)

     Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said ................. as and for a codicil to his (or her) last will and testament, in the presence of us, who, in his (or her) presence, and in the presence of each other, have, at his (or her) request, subscribed our names as witnesses thereto. .............................. residing at ...............................
.............................. residing at ..............................

     Note. A will or codicil containing a bequest to a charitable corporation should be attested by two disinterested witnesses. Such witnesses should not be officers or directors of the General Church.     

251


Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     OBITUARY.

     Joseph Thomas Briscoe.

     Passing into the spiritual world very suddenly on January 23, 1931, at the age of seventy-five years, Mr. Briscoe, up to the day of his death, was still actively engaged in his use in life as a Surveyer and Consultant Engineer. He was a member of Michael Church, London, and a diligent student of the Heavenly Doctrines, with which he became acquainted whilst living in Liverpool (about the year 1887), having attended a course of Missionary Lectures by various ministers of the General Conference. He joined in membership in the Liverpool Society, then under the ministry of the Rev. Isaiah Tansley. There he met his future wife, Miss Charlotte Acton, sister of the Revs. Dr. Alfred and William H. Acton. Miss Acton, with several others, resigned her membership at Liverpool, owing to the rupture caused by the Committee's urging all members to cease reading New Church Life. These members, upon leaving, went to worship at the house of Mr. Richard Shaw, a devoted and valiant defender of the Writings as the Word of the Lord. This little circle came under the pastorate of the Rev. R. J. Tilson, who visited them occasionally from London. Mr. Briscoe ultimately joined this circle, but came to London in April, 1891, being followed soon after by Mr. and Mrs. Acton rind their daughter Charlotte. In October of that year, Mr. Briscoe and Miss Acton were betrothed by the Rev. E. C. Bostock, who also officiated at their marriage on October 15th. Their union was blessed with seven daughters and two sons, all living save one daughter, Muriel.

     In June, 1895, on the occasion of the baptism of their infant daughter Beryl, Mr. Briscoe surprised his wife by asking the Rev. R. J. Tilson to perform that sacrament for him also, as he had come to see the necessity of distinctive New Church Baptism.
     R. J. T.

     PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY.

     The Philadelphia District Assembly Banquet, held this year on Friday evening, February 6th, in the Assembly Hall, was composed of that singular blending of gravity and gaiety which is said to be an ancient Academy tradition. This tradition was well sustained by the toastmaster, Mr. Randolph W. Childs, who-with characteristic generosity-leaped in at the eleventh hour to fill the breach created by broken arrangements.

     The topic of the evening was "The Conservation of the Church," introduced by the toastmaster in admirable style. The three leading, prepared speeches were: "Charity," by Mr. Paul Synnestvedt; " The Development of Doctrine," by the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith; and "Freedom," by the Rev. Alfred Acton.

     These excellent and well-appreciated addresses were followed by a discussion in which the Revs. E. E. Iungerich, William Whitehead, Karl R. Alden, and Mr. Raymond Synnestvedt participated. In this discussion, the ancient "blending of gravity and gaiety" of which we have already spoken was, perhaps, given a more than usual proportion of spontaneous hilarity. At any rate, those who like variety were fully satisfied; and those who do not found plenty of mental food of a more solid sort. After all, it takes all kinds of speeches to make a District Assembly Banquet.
     W. W.

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     GENERAL CONFERENCE.

     Death of the Rev. Isaiah Tansley.

     From a Memorial Notice by the Rev. W. A. Presland, appearing in The New-Church Herald of February 14, 1931, we learn of the death, on January 21st, of the Rev. Isaiah Tansley, B.A., long prominent in the activities of the General Conference, and twice chosen as President of that body. Ordained in 1875, his ministerial career embraced a period of fifty-five years, during which he held the pastorate of eight Conference societies. From 1900 to 1907 he was Principal of the New-Church College and was also Professor of Sacred Languages there. He was editor of The New-Church Weekly until this was succeeded by the present New-Church Herald.

     Long a member of the Swedenborg Society's Council, and Chairman of its Advisory and Revision Board, his scholarship was often in demand for translations and revisions of translations, several volumes of the Writings in their latest versions being his work. With the Rev. J. R. Rendell, B.A., he worked on a new edition of the Principia, published in 1912, and wrote for it an Introduction of eighty-seven pages. Critical reviews of this edition of the Principia appeared in New Church Life in 1913, pp. 168, 677, and in The New Philosophy for July, 1913. He also translated the Minor Principia.

     ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.

     For some years past it has been the custom of a number of New Church people residing in this city to meet at the Winter home of the undersigned, 804 Tenth Ave., South. This year, regular meetings for worship have been held since the first Sunday in January, and on these occasions the sermons by the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, of Glenview, Ill., have been read. During the week we have been reading a series of papers by Bishop de Charms on the subject of "Miracles." which were given at the Friday doctrinal class in Bryn Athyn some years ago.

     Two of our members have been removed to the spiritual world during the past year. Last Summer, Mrs. Alice Puig departed this life at the age of 86 years, having lived near St. Petersburg for about 60 years. Her brother and sister survive her, and are members of our circle. Mrs. Puig was an earnest New Church woman, a constant reader of the Writings, and always delighted to talk about the Doctrines.

     Another member we shall miss is our dear little Scotch lady, Miss Elizabeth Boss, who passed away on February 24th at the age of 78 years. Miss Boss came from Scotland to this country to work in the textile mills of Manchester, N. H. She became acquainted with Miss Martha Hubbard of that city, through whom she learned of the New Church, and whose companion she has been for about ten years. They have been Winter visitors here for the past eight years, and regular attendants at all our meetings. Miss Ross endeared herself to us all by her intense devotion to the Doctrines and her quaint and happy wit. Burial services were conducted by the Rev. Frank A. Gustafson, Convention Missionary for the Southern States, who has been living at Tampa, Fla., across the bay from St. Petersburg, an hour's journey.
     SEYMOUR G. NELSON.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     On Sunday evening, February 15th, the Glenview Chapter of the Sons of the Academy spent an evening of unusual interest listening to two papers,-"The Newest Atlantis" and "Atlantis, Inc.,"-presented by Messrs. Sydney E. Lee and Louis S. Cole, who had just returned from an exploring trip in the South. The papers were unique, and got a reception seldom equaled at these meetings.

     The first was a speculation as to what the future civilization of the New Church will be, and suggested that the political, moral and economic ailments that surround us are but symptoms of a decaying civilization, whose soul-the Christian Church-is already dead; it pictured a simplified external, with a philosophy and culture based on Revelation, as the era to come.

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Emphasis was laid upon the responsibility of the members of the organized church as "stewards" of the truths entrusted to their care; and it was urged that they must exercise prudence, lest they bury the talents entrusted to them. The importance of environment was emphasized, and the idea advanced that environment is the external soil in which the truths of the church will either flourish and thrive, or, if the soil be poor, live with difficulty, and that it is, therefore, the privilege of the men of the church at this day to do the work of pioneers, and, if necessary, through the sacrifice of external comforts, to provide the natural environments in which the life of the church can best develop.

     The second paper, read by Mr. Cole, and illustrated with maps and plats of a favorable locality in northern Florida, was in the nature of an illustration of an ideal New Church community, far from the madding crowd, rural and semi-agricultural in type, where climate is friendly and nature profuse in her blessings, with the Church as the center of life, and education no longer competitive with that of a decadent civilization.

     No report can do justice to the presentation of the subject, but there is food for thought, and, of course, room for difference of opinion, and we wish the whole church might hear these papers and consider them.

     On St. Valentine's Day, February 14th, a very enjoyable and novel social for all was held. It was prepared by our young social committee, and took the form of a Mother Goose party. A chop-suey supper served in the Assembly Hall at small tables started affairs at 1.00 p.m. Bizarre decorations emphasized the occasion, and most of those attending were in costume. Among them we met Simple Simon. Dr. Foster, Little Bo Peep, and all those other notables found in the book. Many specialties, good music, and fun, testified to an unusually happy evening spent by the very large number present.
     J. B. S.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     Our celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday this year was divided into three distinct phases. First, on Wednesday, January 28, instead of the regular doctrinal class, the Pastor gave us a descriptive talk on "Phases of Swedenborg's Preparation" for his great mission as Revelator, premising his remarks by the simple declaration that the " Second Coming of the Lord was a Coming in the Word." He pointed out that one of the main purposes in Swedenborg's life before his "call" was his search for the soul,-started in 1734, when forty-five years of age, as a result of his contact with Chr. Wolff, and how all lines of knowledge were leads in that direction, his excursions into the realms of philosophy, science and theology, all of which in turn were the handmaidens of his supreme purpose. Letters to M. Venator in 1771, and to Dr. Beyer in 1769, were read, showing the manner and matter of his communications when writing to the former for publication, and to the latter, not for publication. And in this quest for the soul, Swedenborg acquired vast knowledge. These years of arduous scholarship, commenced and carried on in middle life, bear eloquent testimony to the easy, gigantic grasp of an imperial intellect, being moulded by a Divine Providence of which he was not cognizant at the time, culminating, at the height of his fame in 1743, in his giving it all up and taking up the new work to which he was called, as a result of which the Second Coming of the Lord has come about, and for the proclaiming of which the New Church has been established.

     The second phase, on Thursday, the 29th, from 4 to 7 p. m., the little tots and younger children had a party, and the older children from 6 to 9 p. m., the overlapping hour when both lots were together being supper-time. They had their games and a talk from the Pastor on the day they were celebrating.

     The third phase took the form of a fancy-dress military euchre and dance social, sponsored by a committee of the young people with Mr. Beverly B. Carter as master of ceremonies, and an enjoyable time was had by all who were there.

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Many of our young ladies who dressed in the costumes of the last quarter of the 17th century looked just as pretty as the pictures we see, and which are our only source of comparison.

     Our Pastor attended the Annual Council Meetings at Bryn Athyn, and we had no society functions between February 2nd and 10th, on which date he gave us a most interesting and instructive account of the meetings, whetting our appetites for a perusal of the official account and some of the papers which we understand are to be published. And right there he gave us by far the most important news it is our pleasure to chronicle this month, and which was enthusiastically received, namely, that the Fifteenth General Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is to be held in 1933 at TORONTO! Here and now a most cordial invitation is extended to all who can possibly be with us on that occasion, to come to the first General Assembly to be held in our fair city. To East and West, to North and South, to the whole wide world around, we send this invitation,-Come one, come all!

     On Thursday evening, February 12th, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Longstaff entertained a party of friends at the church, to celebrate with them their Silver Wedding Anniversary. As we were received and welcomed by the happy couple, Master Fred Longstaff presented each lady with a "red, red rose" and each gentleman with a white carnation. For our entertainment, our host and hostess had provided bridge, supper, and dancing, which latter was carried on until the wee sma' hours. All were young again. Despite the "few odd grey hairs" appearing here and there none would admit the soft impeachment of advancing years. The hands of the clock were set back twenty-five years. At supper table toasts, serious and gay, were given and honored, testifying to the affection and esteem in which Fred and Margaret are held by us all, and were suitably responded to by Fredon behalf of his wife and himself. F. W.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     Since our last report the activities of the society have been running fully and smoothly. During the past year the average attendance at our Sunday morning services was 43, slightly higher than the previous year. Our pastor, in his sermons, has been following as closely as possible a series of doctrinal subjects suited to a New Church ecclesiastical year, according to an outline suggested by the Rev. W. B. Caldwell during a course in the theological school.

     The Wednesday evening doctrinal classes continue the study of The True Christian Religion. The young people's class enjoyed a very good attendance up to Christmas, but since then the attendance has fallen, owing to continued illness among the members. The subject under consideration in this class is Bishop de Charms' "Growth of the Mind." The reading circle under the chairmanship of Mr. Horace Howard is going forward with the study of The Word Explained.

     Our social committee completed a very full year of service with an excellent New Year's Eve social, when about forty sat down to supper. After the usual toasts a splendid evening's entertainment was provided in the form of games, competitions, etc., and these were augmented by a short comedy sketch, entitled "Joint Owners In Spain," admirably acted by Miss Gertrude Nelson, Miss Muriel Gill, and Mrs. John Potter. A few minutes before midnight the gaiety ceased, and we fittingly ended the year with a short service conducted by our pastor, dosing with the singing of the 19th Psalm.

     The annual meeting of the society, held January 12, 1931, was indeed an historic one for Colchester, for at this meeting the building was cleared of debt,-the culmination of eleven years' work.

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The building fund was commenced at the suggestion of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal-before he became our pastor-on New Year's Eve, 1919, at a gathering of young people in the home of Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Cooper. The fund grew steadily, and the land was purchased on October 29, 1923. The corner stone was laid on May 2?, 1924, and Bishop N. D. Pendleton dedicated the building on August 17, 1924.

     The celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday has become quite an event in Colchester of recent years, and is now a miniature Assembly. The observance this year brought seventeen visitors from various parts of the country, and the pleasing muster of fifty sat down to supper. The Rev. Victor J. Gladish, as toastmaster, had a full toast list, with addresses on various phases of Swedenborg's life and work. The speakers were: Bishop R. J. Tilson, Rev. Albert Bjorck, and Messrs. Horace Howard, R. Anderson, and J. S. Pryke. On the Sunday morning following the celebration there was an attendance of fifty-four at the service. Bishop Tilson preached the sermon, and also administered the sacrament of the Holy Supper to forty communicants.

     I have left to the last the announcement of two very important events in our society,-the birth of a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Wyncoll on January 22d, and the birth of a son to the Rev. and Mrs. Victor J. Gladish on February 19th.
     JOHN F. COOPER.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The children of our Day School celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday by holding a Swedish school and taking familiar Swedish names for themselves. At eleven o'clock the classes adjourned to the auditorium, where speeches, songs, recitations, and two Swedish dances were given by the pupils.

     The adults of the society celebrated the same anniversary with a supper, Mr. W. F. Blair officiating very ably as toastmaster, introducing a series of appropriate addresses. Mr. Samuel S. Lindsay, Jr., gave a brief historical sketch of Swedenborg's life. Mrs. S. E. Walker spoke of the times in which Swedenborg lived, emphasizing the customs in Sweden and England. Rev. E. E. Iungerich showed what an able "Servant of the Lord" Swedenborg had been, and told of some of the famous people who had been influenced by the teachings of Swedenborg and the Doctrines contained in the Writings. Mrs. Gilbert M. Smith sang a song which Mr. Iungerich had written for the occasion, and was accompanied by Miss Alicia Burson. After the tables had been cleared and put away, the rest of the evening was given over to cards and dancing to radio music. It was the first church holiday to be celebrated in the new building, and the consensus was that all present had had an enjoyable time. By curtailing the Christmas vacation of the pupils of the Day School, and closing the school during the first week in February, all of the teachers were able to attend the Annual Meetings in Bryn Athyn this year. The registration in the school for the second semester is nineteen. A sub-first grade or kindergarten of four pupils has been added. Kathleen Sybil White was baptized on February 15th, and is registered in the first grade.

     An impromptu Washington's Birthday program was given by the school children. Mr. Iungerich spoke to them about the Battle of Braddock, poems were recited, songs sung, a flag drill held, groups illustrated Washington's rules of life, and candies were served.

     We have been fortunate in having the services of Miss Emma Steiner, Director of Music at the Taylor-Alderdice High School, who has instructed our choir with most satisfactory results. Mr. William B. McCreery has ably assisted with his violin at choir practice and Sunday service.

     Under the direction of our architect, Mr. Harold Thorp Carswell, a photographer has taken about ten exposures of our Church and Community Building, both interior and exterior, and we are looking forward with pleasant anticipations to seeing the pictures.
     E. R. D.

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END OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN MAN'S REGENERATION 1931

END OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN MAN'S REGENERATION       Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS       1931




     Announcements.




NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          MAY, 1931           No. 5
     (An Address delivered at the Chicago District Assembly, 1930. )

     We find, in the Writings, the internal sense of the Word laid open. We there find, plainly expressed in rational language, truth which has hitherto been concealed under the types, images, and dark sayings of the literal Scriptures. Yet, even in the Heavenly Doctrine, the Divine Truth is necessarily veiled. That truth, in itself, is infinite, transcending the wisdom of the celestial angels. It cannot be fully contained in any statement of human language. The words in which it is clothed, that it may be transmitted from the Lord to man, and from man to man, are finite, limited. The ideas they convey to the mind differ according to their association with other ideas; with the conditions, the experiences, which accompanied their use in the past; with their historical background; as a result of which they acquire a connotation. As soon as the Divine Truth is couched in the terms of ultimate language, it takes on an embodiment which is inadequate to express its full significance. Such a statement of truth, even if directed to the rational mind, may there fore be misinterpreted. It is a body containing a soul or spirit which may or may not be inwardly perceived. Taken by itself, it may produce in the mind a fallacious impression, which, if confirmed, will become a falsity. The inner spirit is disclosed by a comparison of passages, by viewing the truth under various aspects, by bringing together apparently divergent statements and seeking for a higher truth that will bring these into harmony.

     This is a necessity arising out of the finite character of human speech. But it is a necessity which is utilized by the Divine Providence in two ways.

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It is used in the first place to protect the truth from profanation. By this finite embodiment, the Lord's teaching may be revealed to some, and withheld from others. It may be revealed to those who are in the spiritual love of the truth, and who, by virtue of that love, are gifted with illustration from the Lord out of heaven. And it may be withheld from those who, inspired by the love of self and the world, would only turn it to the achievement of personal advantages, and to the injury of others. This necessity is used in the second place to provide that the truth may be received by man as his own, that it may come to him apparently as a result of effort, study, and reflection.

     This is the reason why we find in the Writings, on every conceivable subject of doctrinal instruction, at least two seemingly divergent lines of teaching given. Either one, taken by itself, would lead to a fallacious conclusion. The inner truth is discovered by checking the one against the other, and thus arriving at a balanced view. There is a natural tendency of individuals to place too great emphasis upon one series of passages, either ignoring the other or explaining it away by a process of reasoning that is fallacious. In consequence, there is a tendency of the church to fall, from time to time, into extreme views which need to be somewhat modified and corrected by the consideration of apparent opposites. Perhaps this has been the case with reference to the teaching given in the Heavenly Doctrine concerning the end of the Divine Providence in man's regeneration. At least, it would appear that there are two distinct series of passages on this subject which need to be reconciled. On the basis of one series, a doctrine was developed which may be called traditional with us; while, more recently, the other series has been brought forward as the ground for an interpretation which leads to conclusions apparently irreconcilable. It appears to us that a deeper truth will emerge from a comparative study of both lines of teaching.

     The traditional view has been that the Divine Providence has for its end the regeneration of every individual man, even to the celestial degree, that he may become an angel of the celestial heaven. This the Writings plainly teach in the Arcana Celestia where we read:

     "In the Lord's kingdom there are those who are external, those who are interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits, who are in the first heaven, are external; angelic spirits, who are in the second heaven, are interior; and angels, who are in the third, are internal.

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They who are external are not so closely related or so near to the Lord as they who are interior; nor are these so closely related or so near to the Lord as they who are internal. The Lord from Divine love or mercy wills to have all near to Himself, so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third, and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself." (A. C. 1799.)

     The very fact that the Lord wills to bring every man into the celestial heaven involves, as a necessary corollary, that He also provides the means for the accomplishment of that end. It involves that the attainment of that goal is not merely a vain ideal, but that it lies actually within the reach of every individual. For, as we are taught elsewhere, "that which the Lord, from Divine Love, wills, this from Divine Wisdom He provides." (D. P. 234.) It is admitted, of course, that this end is not accomplished with all. Indeed, it is realized by only a small proportion of mankind. But this is not because the Lord does not will it; nor is it because He does not, from infinite Wisdom, provide the means to its attainment. It is because of man's failure to reciprocate, because of his unwillingness to follow the leading of Providence.

     The essential of human life and happiness is freedom of choice. If the truth and good, even of the celestial heaven, were given under compulsion, the angels would be deprived of all that sense of joy and blessedness which it is the Lord's will to impart by means of them. In order, therefore, that man may come into the possession of these Divine gifts of his own free will, by virtue of his own choice and election, the Lord makes it possible for men to refuse them. It is provided that men may accept the Lord's gifts in varying degrees, or they may reject them entirely. For such as can be brought freely to accept them in a lower degree, the Lord provides a lower heaven, where He may impart to them as much of heavenly happiness and use as they are willing to receive. For such as reject them altogether He provides the hells, where He withholds them from the more direful evils, and gives them as great a measure of use, with its contentment, as they can be induced by punishment and fear to perform.

     The lower heavens, therefore, are but accommodations to the freedom of man.

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They are not of the Divine will, but their production falls under the same general law as that which brings the hells into existence. Unlike the hells, they do not represent the complete rejection of the Lord; yet they are the result of a refusal to accept His highest gifts, although these have been freely offered. It would follow that the celestial heaven is the only one which is of the Divine will. The spiritual heaven may be said to be, not of the Lord's will, but of His good pleasure, the natural heaven of His leave, and the hells of His permission.

     Concerning this we read that "the things which are from the Lord are either nearer to or more remote from Him, and are said to be from His will, from good pleasure, from leave, and from permission. The things which are from will are most nearly from Him; those which are from good pleasure are somewhat more remotely from Him; those which are from leave still more remotely; and those which are from permission are most remotely from Him. These are the degrees of the influx and reception of the Divine." (A. C. 9940.) Surely the "degrees of influx and reception" are none other than the heavens and the hells, in successive order. This is clearly indicated in the Spiritual Diary, where "leave" is said to belong to "good spirits," that is, to the natural heaven, while "good pleasure" is said to belong to angels, presumably of the spiritual heaven, since will, which is the highest, is not there mentioned. (S. D. 2296.)

     II.

     That every man, by virtue of his original endowment from the Lord, can be elevated even into the celestial heaven, is indicated in the teaching given concerning the constitution of the human mind. We are told that the mind of every man is a heaven in least form; that it consists of three degrees corresponding to the three heavens; that entrance into a, heaven is none other than the opening and formation of its corresponding degree in the mind. And further, it is specifically stated that these degrees are not only present with all, but that they can be opened successively, even to the highest. To quote a few of the statements on the subject:

     "In every man from creation there are three degrees of life, celestial, spiritual, and natural." (S. S. 68.) "That there are these three degrees in man, can be seen from the elevation of his mind even to the degrees of love and wisdom in which the angels of the second and the third heavens are." (W. 231.)

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"Man has three degrees of mind, that is, three degrees of understanding and will, which degrees can be opened successively." (W. 255.) "As these are opened, he becomes an angel of either the third, the second, or the ultimate heaven." (A. R. 49) That the Lord is ever willing and able to open them, just so far as man is willing to cooperate, is the teaching in the following:

     "The human mind, organized in accordance with these three degrees, is a receptacle of Divine influx; nevertheless the Divine flows into it no further than man prepares the way and opens the door. If man does this as far as to the highest or celestial degree, he becomes truly an image of God, and after death an angel of the highest heaven; but if he prepares the way or opens the door only to the middle or spiritual degree, he indeed becomes an image of God, but not in the same perfection, and after death he becomes an angel of the middle heaven. But if man prepares the way and opens the door only to the lowest or natural degree, in case he acknowledges God and worships Him with actual piety, he becomes an image of God in the lowest degree, and after death an angel of the lowest heaven." (T. C. R. 34.)

     There is even more specific teaching to the same purport:

     "The three degrees of life in man are opened successively; the first degree by a life in accordance with what is equitable and just; the second degree by a life in accordance with the truths of faith from the Word, and in accordance with the consequent goods of charity toward the neighbor; and the third degree by a life in accordance with the good of mutual love and the good of love to the Lord. These are the means whereby are successively opened these three degrees of life in man, thus the three heavens in him. But be it known, that in proportion as a man recedes from the good of life, and accedes to a life of evil, these degrees are closed in him; for just as the good of life opens them, so the evil of life closes them. It is from this that all who are in evil are outside of heaven, thus are in hell. And because, as before said, the heavens are successively opened in a man according to the good of life, be it known that, for this reason, in some the first heaven is opened, and not the second; and in some the second heaven is opened, and not the third; and that the third heaven is opened in those only who are in the good of life from love to the Lord." (A. C. 9594.)

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     It would seem to follow, as a necessary corollary of this interpretation of the ends of Divine Providence, that if man had remained in the order of his life; if he had not receded from that pristine innocence into which he was originally created; if he had not freely chosen a lower good; then the Lord, from Divine will, would have elevated all into the celestial heaven. There would have been no other heaven. And further, it would follow that, in spite of the Fall, since this made no change in the essential will of God, and since it did not deprive Him of the power to provide the means for the accomplishment of that will, it is still true of every human being born into the world, that the Lord from love would bring him into the celestial heaven, and from wisdom places the achievement of this goal within his reach. Here, however, we come into apparent conflict with other teachings of the Heavenly Doctrine, and with what would seem to be the obvious facts of human experience.

     III.

     It certainly appears, from many passages, as though the formation of all three heavens were of the Divine will, planned and intended from the beginning. It appears as if the end of the Divine Providence is not to elevate all men into the celestial heaven, but rather to produce from the human race a Gorand Man possessing all three degrees, celestial, spiritual and natural, each of which is essential, as expressing or representing something in the Lord Himself. We read:

     "In the Lord there are three degrees of height, infinite and uncreate, because the Lord is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself; and because He is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, He is also Use Itself. For love has use as its end, and brings forth use by means of wisdom. Love and wisdom...cannot be said to be and exist unless there be use in which they are." (W. 230.)

     "There is in the Lord, and therefore from the Lord, the Divine Celestial, the Divine Spiritual, and the Divine Natural. . . . Because these three me in the Lord, therefore they are in the angelic heaven; the third or supreme heaven is in the Divine Celestial; the second or middle heaven is in the Divine Spiritual; and the first or natural heaven is in the Divine Natural. . .

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For the universal heaven is before the Lord as one man, in which those who are in the Divine Celestial constitute the head, those who are in the Divine Spiritual constitute the body, and those who are in the Divine Natural constitute the feet." (A. R. 49.)

     The logical consequence of this teaching would be, that the lower heavens are not merely accommodations to the freedom of man, but that they have their origin in the Lord Himself. They are an essential part of the Divine plan to form of the heavens a complete Gorand Man in three degrees, representative of the three infinite and uncreate degrees in God. In this case, the formation of these lower heavens must be as fully a part of the Divine will as that of the celestial heaven. And the Lord, from His Wisdom, must provide the means of bringing it into being, quite apart from the choice of men. If He did not do so, the Gorand Man would be incomplete. It would be as a head without its body and feet.

     In support of this idea, there are many passages in the Writings which indicate that the celestial angels cannot be in the conscious enjoyment of their life, unless the activity of their love and wisdom is received in the lower heavens, and at last in the church with men on earth. There must be, in the Gorand Man, a connection of all things, even to ultimates, in which alone there is power and fixation. This may be compared to the life of an individual man. The highest delights of human life reside in the interiors of the mind, in thoughts, affections, and perceptions. But these are impossible without the intermediation of imaginative ideas and the ultimate ground of sensation. If there is neither ultimate sensation nor the imaginative reproduction of sensations in the mind from the memory, unconsciousness ensues. If the eye were not formed to receive the vibrations of the ether; if the optic nerves were not constructed to convey those vibrations to the cortex of the brain; if the cortical glands were not adapted to record them in a form suitable to the apperception of the soul, there would be no sensation of sight. The same is true of the other sense-organs, with their nerve tracts and their terminations in the brain. If all of these were lacking, there could be no sensation, no imagination, no thought, no perception. Complete unconsciousness would follow.

     Similarly it is taught that, if there were no church among men, no ultimates of heavenly influx and reception with them, the angels would become as it were unconscious.

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They would fall into a swoon. That their life might be restored, it would be necessary to transfer them to some other earth, with which they might have communication.

     The uses performed by the physical sense-organs, by the nerves, and by the cortex, may indeed be called subordinate. For they have to do only with the reception and transmission of vibrations; while the uses of the mind itself are concerned with the sensation of these vibrations, the understanding of their significance, the perception of their quality. Yet those subordinate uses are essential. They are vital, since without them the higher uses could not exist. When we consider the Divine end as being the production of human understanding and will, we must regard all the necessary means to the formation of these as of equal importance in the sight of the Lord, as part of His Divine will, as ends of His Divine Providence.

     If the lower heavens are to be considered as necessary means to the realization of the delight and happiness of the celestial angels themselves, must they not have been provided from the beginning? The only conclusion would seem to be that the Lord created men for the specific purpose of fulfilling these subordinate uses. Having in view the formation of a complete Gorand Man in three discrete degrees, He must have created some to enter into the celestial heaven, and to perform the uses of that degree; others to fulfill the uses of the spiritual heaven; and still others to fulfill the uses of the natural heaven. This would imply that there are three degrees of human beings from creation. Those, then, who belong to the natural degree would be incapable of performing spiritual or celestial uses, incapable of regeneration to the spiritual or the celestial degrees, predestined to remain in the subordinate uses of the lowest heaven. This is, in fact, the conclusion reached by some on the basis of the teaching we have cited.

     The proponents of this view hold that it does not involve that doctrine of predestination which is condemned in the Writings. For it is predestination to hell that is denied, while it is clearly taught that men are not only predestined to heaven, but to a specific use in heaven. Uses are various. They are of necessity higher or lower, as understood by men. Yet, all together, they are essential to the perfection of the Gorand Man.

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This is true, whether we hold that the Lord provides from His own will for three degrees, or only for the celestial degree. For there are higher and lower uses in the celestial heaven itself. If this were the only heaven created, still there must be some adapted to Perform more exalted uses therein than others. If this carries with it no implication of Divine injustice; if it contains no element of predestination such as is condemned in the Writings; then there is no reason to consider that it would do so if applied to all three heavens.

     This interpretation gains support from the following teaching:

     "Among the arcana of heaven there is also this-that the angelic heaven is in the sight of the Lord as one man, of whom the Lord is the soul and life, and that this Divine man is in every particular of his form a man, not only as to his external, but also as to his internal, members and organs, which are many, and likewise as to the skins, membranes, cartilages, and bones: but none of these parts in that man are material, but all are spiritual. And it is provided by the Lord that those to whom the Gospel cannot reach, but only some religion, may likewise have a place in that man, that is, in heaven, by constituting the parts called the skins, membranes, cartilages, and bones; and that, like others, they may live in heavenly joy: for it makes no difference whether a person be in such joy as is experienced by the angels of the highest heaven, or in such as is experienced by the angels of the lowest heaven, since everyone who is received into heaven enters into the supreme joy of his heart; and greater than that he cannot support, for thereby he would be suffocated." (D. P. 254.)

     If "it makes no difference" which heaven a man enters, but he may be gifted with the fulness of joy, even in the lowest heaven, there can be no charge of injustice against the Lord because He creates some who are incapable of ascending to the higher heavens.

     There is also teaching in the Letter of the Word which would seem to point in this same direction, indicating the existence of three distinct orders of human beings from creation. Thus, in the Parable of the Sower, it is said of the seed which fell into good ground that it brought forth fruit, "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold." (Matthew 13:8.) And again, in the Parable of the Talents, it is said of the man traveling into a far country, and who represented the Lord, that he "called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

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And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability." (Matthew 25:14, 15.) This might well be applied to the subject before us, being interpreted to mean that the Lord creates some for the celestial heaven, some for the spiritual heaven, and some for the natural heaven.

     Is not some such interpretation required by the facts of everyday experience? For in actuality men are not all created equal. They possess every conceivable degree of mentality. Their endowments, both spiritual and natural, are various. They are limited by hereditary and environmental circumstances quite beyond their control. There are primitive peoples, raised in savagery, who have no access to the sources of learning, of civilization, of higher mental development, which others, through the mere accident of birth, enjoy. There are individuals who are incapable by native temperament and disposition of making the full use of the advantages to which they fall heir. Some men are gifted with unusual powers of intellect, of will, of physique, to do things which are denied to others. There are born leaders, teachers, inventors, organizers, discoverers, blessed with a genius which makes them greater than their fellows, and this by virtue of powers freely given to them at their creation,-powers which others lack. These facts must be harmonized with our conception of the Divine Justice. Are we to suppose that such varieties belong only to this world? That similar differences of character will not continue to distinguish them in the life to come? If they do persist, would they not naturally produce degrees in the heavens? Would they not imply a kind of predestination to higher and lower uses there? If so, this must be a kind of predestination other than that which the Writings condemn.

     IV.

     Here, then, we have two opposing views as to the end of the Divine Providence in the regeneration of man. According to one, that end is to regenerate every man to the celestial degree, and to elevate him into the highest heaven. According to the other, that end is to form a complete Gorand Man, in three discrete degrees, and to create human beings specifically to perform the uses of all three heavens.

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Each is based upon a series of passages in the Writings which seems to support it and give it a rational foundation. It is our opinion that the deeper truth will appear only in an interpretation which will bring both sets of passages into harmony. We have not time here to compare them in detail. We can do no more than present the suggestions that have occurred to our mind as the result of such a comparison.

     No conclusion can be admitted which would vitiate the teaching that the Lord, from His Divine will, seeks to draw all men unto Himself, that they may enter into the enjoyment of the most exalted uses. No conclusion is admissible that does not take into account the fact that every man is endowed with three degrees of life, corresponding to the three heavens, and that these degrees can be opened successively in him. We cannot conceive of the Lord's creating men with spiritual and celestial faculties, and at the same time, of His own will, rendering them incapable of entering into the enjoyment of them. The Lord spoke to all men when He said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20.) The "door" here referred to is the means of entrance into the interior degrees of the human mind; and all of these degrees possess such a door, at which the Lord stands and knocks. No man is incapable by birth of opening the door, either in this world or in the other. The high destiny of every human soul is that he may do so, even to the inmost, and come thereby into the celestial heaven.

     That if all men should freely have co-operated with the Divine Providence, and ascended to the celestial degree by regeneration, the angelic heaven would have been incomplete, does not, it seems to us, necessarily follow. Nor would it, for that reason, be lacking those essential connections with the ultimates of men on earth, without which it could not enjoy its blessedness of life. This condition, in fact, existed in the Golden Age, before the Fall, and no such consequences ensued. That the lower heavens are now essential, as a medium through which such a connection must be preserved, is due to the fallen state of the human race. Men have so far fallen away from love and charity, that the celestial angels could find no basis of influx with them without such intermediation. But we have no grounds for saying that this would have been true if men were still in the order of their life.

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     The idea that the three heavens are essential, because there are three infinite and uncreate degrees in the Lord which would otherwise be unrepresented in the Gorand Man, presents a more serious difficulty. Toward the solution of this, however, we can offer two suggestions: First, that, in the process of regeneration, men are first natural, then spiritual, and at last celestial. There would be those, both in the natural world and in the world of spirits at all times, who were in the process of transition through the life of these degrees, and in them there would be an ultimate representation of the three degrees in the Lord. And secondly, the celestials of them would be present in the celestial heaven itself. For in that heaven there would be love, there would be wisdom, and there would be use. There would be some in whom love, with its perceptions, predominated; others in whom wisdom with its intelligence and understanding dominated; and still others in whom use, with its ultimate service, would predominate. For we regard the celestial heaven, in itself, as a complete man, in whom there are found every conceivable variety of human uses, some of which are, humanly speaking, higher, and others lower. This is clearly taught in the Writings. It is said of the celestial angels for instance, that they "are distinguished into internal and external, the internal being more celestial than the external." (A. C. 4286.)

     That some are predestined to one use, and others to another use, and that in this predestination there is the appearance of higher and lower, seems to us to be in accord with all human experience, and to involve no element of Divine injustice, if only it is provided that the celestial degree of the mind can be opened, and that man can enter into the enjoyment of the highest faculties with which he is Divinely endowed by birth.

     Entrance into the celestial degree is defined as performing uses from love to the Lord, and from mutual love. There is no conceivable use among men which cannot be so performed. That the simplest mind of one who belongs to a gentile race may still be moved by a profound love to the Lord, exceeding that which is attained by the most cultured of Christian peoples, is amply attested in the Writings. The differences between the heavens are not based upon different kinds of uses, but upon the quality of the love from which they are performed.

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There is no use in the spiritual heaven which could not be performed from a celestial love. There is no use in the natural heaven which could not be performed from a celestial love. We cannot conceive that, if they were so performed, they would be less perfectly done, or that the well-being of the Gorand Man would be injured thereby.

     Men are not, indeed, created equal, in the sense that they are endowed with the same combination of mental and spiritual faculties. Each is by creation fitted for a specific use, and is thereby rendered incapable of successfully performing any other. All these uses are necessary to the perfection of the heavens. But no man is incapable of coming to love the Lord above all things and his neighbor more than himself. No man is incapable of performing his individual use from that love, and imparting to it the quality of that love. In so far as he does so, he will come into the celestial heaven. If he does not do so, it is not of the Lord's will, but rather of His good pleasure, His leave, or His permission.

     A study of the passages in the Writings apparently conflicting with this view may indeed broaden our understanding of it. Consideration of the facts of experience, as we find them, presenting, as they do, serious obstacles to the human explanation of the ways of the Divine Providence, may have a modifying effect upon it. But, as it appears to me, the fundamental truth must prevail,-namely, that the Lord gives of His Love in fullest measure to all men; that He pours out His mercy without measure; that He opens the way to the enjoyment of the highest heavenly felicities, so far as man is willing to receive them; and, therefore, that regeneration to the highest degree, and entrance into the celestial heaven, is the supreme end of the Divine Providence with every individual. No external circumstances can inhibit man's achievement of this goal. He is the arbiter of his own destiny. For the Lord has said, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." (Rev. 3: 8.)

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SLANDER 1931

SLANDER       Rev. K. R. ALDEN       1931

     "Let the lips of a lie become dumb; that speak against the just one a harsh thing in pride and scorn." (Psalm 31:18.)

     As the Lord hung upon the cross, in the agony of His last temptation, His enemies reviled Him; the "lips of a lie" were parted, and they spake against Him "a harsh thing in pride and scorn."

     The rabble, passing beneath the cross, wagging their heads, cried out: "Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross." (Mark 15: 29-30.)

     The chief priests, mocking among themselves, said: "He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe." (Mark 15:31-32.)

     The soldiers, with cold jest, called up to Him: "If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself." (Luke 23:36-37.)

     And one of the malefactors hanging beside Him cast the same in His teeth, railing at Him with the words: "Art not thou the Christ? Save thyself and us." (Luke 23:39.)

     The Lord's life was always the object of slander. The hells had risen up to destroy Him, and one weapon they used was slander. For the evil heart cannot abide the kingdom of love, and the perverted mind is turned into bitterness when it is pierced by the light of wisdom. The Lord had said to the Jews: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44.) The nation which He came to save had risen up against Him; and the malice of their words, and the envy of their hearts, formed a plane in this world into which all the hells could rush to attack Him.

     That His life would be a continual conflict with slander, was clearly prophesied in the Psalms, where we read: "They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and roaring lion."

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"All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him." (Psalm 22:13, 7.) "I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance; they that see me in the street flee away from me." "For I have heard the slander of many; fear was on every side; while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life." And finally, in the words of our text: "Let the lips of a lie become dumb; that speak against the just one a harsh thing in pride and scorn." (Psalm 31:11, 13, 18.)

     When He came upon the earth as the Savior of the world, how truly were these words fulfilled! The learned scribe, the proud Pharisee, the worldly-wise Sadducee, sought at every turn to undermine His power by slandering Him.

     Once a poor man was brought before Him. This sorrowful soul lived in a world of darkness, for he was blind; and no speech went forth from his mouth, for he was dumb; and the cause of all his suffering was, that a devil lurked within him. When Jesus saw him, He was moved with compassion, and healed him, insomuch that he both spake and saw. Here was truly a cause for rejoicing! But joy comes not to the evil in heart through the happiness of others. Another's success, another's welfare, another's honor, bring only a stab of pain to the heart of the slanderer. When, then, the Pharisees heard of the new joy that had come to the dumb and blind man who now spake and saw, they cried out against the One who had healed him this hideous slander: "This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." (Matt. 12:24.)

     When the final hour of the Lord's glorification came, and He had been delivered up to be crucified, even in that hour the Jews sought false witnesses against Him. On the cross, too, He was slandered. And after He was risen from the dead, the Roman soldiers who had watched the sepulchre were paid to circulate a monstrous lie. The Jews bribed those wretched men with gold to say that, while they slept, the Lord's disciples had come and stolen away His body.

     Nor did the slanders cease then. They have continued to our own day. From the time when Arius arose to proclaim that the Lord was not the Son of God, except as all men partake of life from God, even to the present day, He has been slandered.

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Outside of the Church, the Lord's Divinity is scoffed at; and within the crumbling walls of pagan Christianity He is regarded as one of three Divine Persons. On the one hand, He is supposed to have yielded His earthly power to the pope; and on the other hand, He is regarded as the Mediator through whose grace a vicarious salvation is supposed to be possible, through faith alone.

     The Lord's life was the only perfect life, and He said to His disciples: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." No man can reach this goal; yet we are taught that our Savior's life is the perfect pattern. As He ascended the road that led to glorification, so we may walk in the path that leads to regeneration. We are to conquer in His name, shunning evils as sins against Him; and because He has subdued the hells, and reduced them to order, it is now possible for us to shun the infestation of evil spirits through the power of His Divine Word.

     What, then, shall we say of slander in human affairs! Let us consider it under two aspects: First, in regard to the person who is slandered; and second, in respect to the person who does the slandering.

     What is our plain duty when we are slandered? The Lord's attitude toward His slanderers can all be summed up in two short sentences: He instructed them; and He forgave them.

     When the Pharisees accused Him of casting out devils because He was in league with Beelzebub, He showed them the error of their thought, and then said unto them: "But I say unto you, That every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."

     When they slandered Him at the crucifixion, He said: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

     When we are slandered, we have the right to state the truth: but we also have the duty to forgive the slanderer. In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord has given definite instruction to guide us in our conduct under slanderous persecution: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (Matt. 5:11.)

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     Slander is permitted, of the Divine Providence, to the end that man's evils may be put away through judgment. If we hear slander concerning ourselves, a duty lies before us. First, we must examine it, and if there be any truth in it, we must profit by it. What is beyond the truth we may well forget. And through it all we are called upon to make a mighty spiritual struggle,-a struggle against hatred in our own hearts, a struggle to "love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us." The Writings say: "It is wonderful that one can speak chidingly of another who intends evil, or say to him, 'Do not do this, because it is a sin'; and yet with difficulty can he say it to himself." (T. C. R. 535.)

     Slander may help us to search deeply into our own hearts, and thus bring us into a state of self-examination, from which we may be led to genuine repentance; and so it may be made use of, in the Providence of the Lord, to bear us aloft into higher states of spiritual love. This much we know from Revelation, that slander is powerless to destroy the truth. It is an impotent enemy who is without weapons to crush our spiritual life. In so far as we set our hearts upon the kingdom of God, and build the foundation of our spiritual mansion upon His Word, the winds of slander may blow, and the rain of false accusation may descend, and beat upon that house, but it will stand, for it is founded upon a rock.

     Let us now consider slander from the other side,-from the part that we ourselves may play in it. And who is entirely free from the "idle word"? Who, at times, has not said things to the detriment of his neighbor?

     From whence comes the slanderous word to our lips? If only we could apply literally the words of our text to our own lives: "Let the lips of a lie become dumb"! How often we have uttered a word which afterwards, in the quiet of meditation, we have regretted! We would fain recall that word, but it has gone whither we know not. On and on it goes, from mouth to ear, from mouth to ear, growing belike in the telling, until it is a monstrous, mishapen and ugly thing. And we gave it the initial impulse! If only we had "let the lips of a lie remain dumb"!

     But why do we speak slander, and why does malicious gossip pass our lips? Is it not because envy is in our hearts?

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We measure our own worth by those with whom we compare ourselves. If we can lower them, then, by the same token, in our own hearts we raise ourselves. And so we like to hear,-with all the power of self-love in our unregenerate hearts-we like to hear things that lower those whom we envy; words that defame those of whom we are jealous; anecdotes to the detriment of those against whom we bear malice. We love to hear of calamities overtaking those whom we hate. We secretly rejoice to hear of the misfortunes of those upon whom we would be avenged.

     These are the causes that make it so difficult to resist speaking the "idle word." These are the fountain-heads that produce so much outward unhappiness in the lives of the victims of the "idle word." If only we could see the great web of misery which the powers of darkness can spin from an idle word! If only we knew the wretched unhappiness that is caused by the whispered slander, we would pray to the Lord that the "lips of a lie become dumb.

     And what a sad lot awaits those who indulge in this evil slander against the neighbor! Their poisoned words fill their own hearts with bitterness. In the end, their suspicion of others can only make them feel that the eyes of the world are upon themselves, and that suspicion is lurking in the thousand glances that are cast upon them. Because they distrust others, they will feel, by all the power of a God-given law, that others are distrusting them. Convicted by their own hearts, they will experience the loneliness of the self-centered, the solitude of the outcast.

     In slandering the neighbor we also join that throng of evil spirits who delight in slandering the Lord; for has He not said: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"?

     The remedy for slander resides in prayer to God for Divine aid in overcoming this evil,-deep prayer to God, and meditation upon His Word, where we will find help, and comfort, and light.

     In the law of Exodus it was written: "Thou shalt not raise a false report." (23:1.) And in the Psalms we read:

     "He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his companions, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, . . . be that doeth these things shall never be moved." (15:3, 5.)

     "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. (34:13.)

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     "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off."

     "Let the lips of a lie become dumb; that speak against the just one a harsh thing in pride and scorn."

     Slander is the abuse of a God-given faculty, for words are wonderful messengers of the spirit. They are the Lord's appointed means through which we may enjoy the minds of one another. Conversation is one of the greatest joys of life. By it we, like the Primitive Christians, may strengthen one another's faith and may rejoice to hear and talk of the increase of the Church.

     The Writings tell us that cheerful company and animated conversation at meals actually feed the mind in correspondence with the body, and thereby recreates the spirit. In the heavens themselves, we are told, one of the chief joys of the angels is sweet conversation with their brethren and companions.

     And finally, when we contemplate the Divine Word, we realize that it is our veritable communion with the Lord Himself. It is God speaking to us, showing us the light and wisdom of heaven; displaying before our eyes the harmony and happiness of the angels; revealing to us our inmost evils, and the death to which they lead; calling us His children; urging us to be strong, and of good courage, because He has overcome the world, with all its slanders.

     The life that is before us turns at each point to the right hand and to the left. We must not "halt between two opinions." All the weight of our moral force must be inbound in our discipleship. Ours is not the day of physical crucifixion. Those days are past, and we know the forces that crucified our Lord. But ours is the day of spiritual crucifixion through the word of slander against Him; and upon us rests the burden of maintaining, in lesser things and greater, the confession of our Lord's Divinity.

     We are called to be the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming. Mightily must we serve Him. With all the strength of our being we must put aside the evils of our nature, that His kingdom may be born on earth,-a kingdom wherein the truth shall reign in the heart, "and the lips of a lie shall become dumb." Amen.

LESSONS: Psalm 31. Matthew 21:33-66. T. C. R. 433-434.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 536, 564, 612.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 177, 168.

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MENTAL GARMENTS OF THE SEXES 1931

MENTAL GARMENTS OF THE SEXES       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1931

     In the work on Conjugial Love, where it treats specifically of the distinctive offices proper to man and wife, and shows how neither can enter into the offices proper to the other and perform them aright, we find this statement:

     "Since the affections and perceptions of the male sex, from creation and hence from nature, are thus discriminated [from those of the female sex], therefore among the statutes with the sons of Israel was also this: 'The garment of a man shall not be upon a woman, neither the garment of a woman upon a man, because this is an abomination' (Deut. xxii. 5). The reason was, that all in the spiritual world are clothed according to their affections, and the two affections, of the woman and of the man, cannot be united except between two, and never in one." (C. L. 175.)

     That law among the Israelites was thus derived from heaven, where all are clothed in garments corresponding to their affections, and where it is impossible for one of either sex to put on the garments of the other. Many other nations have placed this law upon their statute books, to guard against that infringement of the social order which arises when men and women masquerade in the garments of the other sex. And because this law is grounded in the discrimination of the sexes "from creation and hence from nature," it is instinctive with men and women to regard a violation of it as an abomination.

     To those whose thought rises to planes higher than this physical one of which the civil law takes cognizance, it is just as imperative that the demarcations between man and woman in animus, mind, and soul, be not blurred. For a clear view in regard to these will enable each to see what are his special characteristics which the Lord wills to have enhanced, besides illustrating the laws of the influx of good and truth from Him to both.

     In his earliest treatment of this law as recorded in Deuteronomy, Swedenborg wrote:

     "No one should change his nature.

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The woman must not put on the nature of the man, and thus want to dominate; nor should the man put on that of the woman, by allowing her to dominate over him, for this is contrary to the precept of God Messiah, given to mankind after the fall [' Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee']. The man is to put on his character by means of the intellect, but the woman an intellect from the man; for the man is to instruct her, because she is so born that she is ruled by her affection if by herself. It is in the human mind that such a marriage is formed. . . . " (The Word Explained, IV: 7666.)

     In the upright state of society, when men were born in order, and regenerated under the sway of pure affections, the husband, as is the case in heaven, followed his wife whithersoever her affection led, the law then being that "he should leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife." But when men's affections were no longer inspired from heaven, and were merely of self and worldly, it was only by opposition thereto, through the intellect's firmly putting revealed truth into the life, that headway against the surge of those affections could be made. Of the two sexes, man is born into a greater capability of detaching his intellect from the passion-swayed animus, and so of elevating it into a higher light than woman's intellect can enter. For, unaided by him, she cannot view matters impartially, abstractedly, and apart from the drag of the concrete upon her decisions. But when she is grateful for the results of a man's intellect which has been guided by the Lord, she is able, through her capability of elevation into a superior warmth of love, to lead him subtly into the heavenly affection that inspires their use of service. His domination in the preliminary stage when truths inculcate good is more obvious to the sense, more conspicuous and showy. Hers is much less so, since it is in keeping with a later stage, in which good reigns imperceptibly, only touching the surface of the man's attention when he is thankful that the Lord rules from within, and by means of the wife from without.

     But we are living in an age which has lost correct thinking along spiritual lines. Today men either use their intellectual prerogative in the advocacy of falsities, or they immerse themselves in material concerns which look to a reward here below. The result is a revolt among women, who no longer sense any mental ascendency in what men propound.

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Their affections, unrefined by the uplifting spiritual precepts which men should present, now sweep them on to seek domination under the spur of the loves of self and the world.

     Angels who in the world had been of the Socratic School characterize this age as one in which the interiors of human minds have been successively closed, even until a faith in what is false shines as truth, and a fatuous ingenuity as wisdom. The light of wisdom, they say, has been lowered from the interiors of the brain to the mouth beneath the nose, where that light appears before the eyes as a splendor of the lips, so that the speech of the mouth appears as wisdom. (C. L. 182.) In other words, men are prone to admire what is eloquently expressed with fervent diction, but have no discernment as to whether what is said be spiritually true or no. Writings of a glib ingenuity are acclaimed quite apart from what is within them, and a clever efficiency in handling practical emergencies, regardless of any justice within, wins a popular applause. As women may be equally proficient with men on the plane of externals, the world, not looking beneath the surface, ignores the mental difference between men and women, regards both as equally qualified for any sort of public use, and brands as narrow and bigoted any effort to discriminate between their capabilities from a deeper ground than mere surface achievement.

     In the Heavenly Doctrine we are told that the writings of some women have led to the belief that women can elevate the acumen of their intellect into the sphere of light into which men elevate theirs, and view matters there from the same altitude. But this impression was found to have arisen from ingenuity and sprightliness, the elegance and conciseness of their compositions having given rise to this semblance of sublimity and erudition. . . . While it is true that women can be initiated in childhood into the exercise of uses proper to men, still they do not enter into the judgment upon which the right performance of these offices depends, and, in order that they may fulfill them at all, they must consult men in matters of judgment, and from their counsels select those which favor their loves. (See C. L. 175.)

     "The two sexes," wrote Swedenborg in one of his Philosophical Works, "have innumerable characteristics which, though diverse, are yet conformable to one another. . . . The male sex is more in the enjoyment of the rational mind and of its active force, in such a way that the man not only rules over the affections of his own animus, as over servants and forces of a lower order, but also rules over his married partner, who possesses, not an active, but a passive force of will.

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It naturally follows, therefore, that in all matters that concern ends, the woman is subject and yielding to the decisions of her husband. Women are more prone to be excited by changes of the external senses. Relatively to the violence of the affections of the animus, they enjoy less judgment, in that they regard ends at a remote distance, and that the more present ends, to which the affection of the animus incites them, they regard as being verimost rational ends. They enjoy a more lively imagination than men; and their rational mind, which is a superior animus, acts chiefly as a passive and reactive force, and descends with much persuasion into the imaginary fancies of the lower animus. Hence also it is that women arrive sooner at maturity, within fourteen or fifteen years, while men require a longer period; for the more the inmost faculty prevails, the later is the maturity; and, on the other hand, the more the exterior powers prevail, the quicker the maturity. Now the genius of the present age consists in our excelling in the power of imagination, and in our rational mind's being merely passive or reactive in respect to the objects that come in through the external senses. On the other hand, 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." (Gen. 290.)

     II.

     In Hebrew, the word for the man's accoutrements is [Hebrew characters] rendered by Swedenborg as vasa (A. E. 195 17), and also as vestis. It is connected with a root meaning complete, consummate, perfect. The woman's garment, [Hebrew characters], translated vestis, is of the same root as the word for the left hand or side, thus denoting what is subordinate.

     Inmostly, but supraconsciously, the man is the love of growing wise. Its accoutrements, vessels, or outer cloak, are the wisdom thence acquired.

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These, in the mind, are a superlative arrangement of truths that were ordinated by a love of growing wise in order to serve the Lord. They are therefore fitly expressed by the word which means consummate, etc. As this form of truths in the masculine mind develops into greater perfection, the man has flashes of enlightenment from an elevation into a superior light, which is reflected from many facets or a multitude of points seen to constitute a unanimous whole.

     Inmostly, but supraconsciously, the woman is the wisdom acquired by some man. Before meeting the man who is to furbish this intimate shrine of her life, she holds steadfastly to the traditions of her father and brothers, or to the precepts of men whose intellectual views have stirred her fancy. Outwardly, as a garment to this, she is the love of what this wisdom teaches. As her husband, or the men upon whom she depends, grow in wisdom, there is an embroidering in this garment of hers, and she is said to have an elevation into a superior heat or more sublime love, which she apperceives, not as a perceptive illumination, but as a deliciation with tremulatory ecstasies that make her a still tenderer wife, all atingle with love for her only one, from whom has come the increment of wisdom which she loves to foster.

     Obviously, the accouterments of the man's love of growing wise, on the one side, and on the other, the woman's garment of love, which envelops what he has contributed to the shrine in her inmost, are quite distinct, the one from the other. If either sex attempts to put on the other's garment as the outward conscious cloak of his or her supraconscious inmost, there results what is abominable; the man or woman who persists in doing this being called "an abomination of the Lord thy God."

     The term "abomination" is used to describe a state where truths have become impotent to defend the loves of heaven, with the result that cupidites burst out and infringe the Divine Order. (A. C. 622, 7454, 7319; A. E. 653:4.)

     Let us suppose that the man has put on the woman's garment, and has surrounded his love of growing wise, not with continual increments of wisdom, with the perceptive flashes of illustration that come thence, but with a love of what he has already acquired and accomplished? and is thrilled by a deliciation at the thought of what he has done.

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Socrates saw that wisdom was accompanied with a humility which begat a sincere conviction that one had none whatsoever. And Swedenborg heard from the lips of angels that many a man might have attained to wisdom, if he had not come under the delusion that he had it already. He was also told that he alone is wise who, in his striving after wisdom, sincerely acknowledges that what he knows at any given time is as a drop of water to the great ocean of what yet remains to be known. For a man to love, gloat over, and be proud of what he has already acquired or attained to, is to love himself, and not the Lord, but merely the past reactions upon what the Lord had tried to infuse. He thereby fosters a pride and conceit which, on the one hand, make him incapable of receiving more from the Lord, and on the other, rebuffs the effort of his wife in her longing to cherish, safeguard and sustain him in his acquisition of wisdom, past, present, and future. He thus cuts himself off from the Lord, and from conjugial love

     But suppose it is the woman who, instead of being deliciated as to her feelings over the increments of wisdom which her beloved contributes to the shrine in her inmosts, longs to have illustrative flashes from correlative studies which she may have the ability to make along some scientific line in which her experience has caused her to become competent and well-versed, her inmost, as to the intellect, is not directly something from the Lord, such as the love of growing wise and, instead of making a shrine there for the wisdom which came from one who has such a love as a Divine gift, she puts in its place a series of maxims or methods of doing things that did not grow out of a love inspired by the Lord, but from some inferior motive. It may have been the love of competition, of showing that she was as intellectually capable as any man; or it may have been done as an outlet for her energies, because of the fact that her mate had not yet been found. Outwardly she may appear to others as a successful woman who has accomplished what she set out to do, but in the sight of the angels there is something abominable. She has withheld herself as a source of conjugial love to some man who needs her cherishing care.

     In the Spiritual Diary we find the following warning: "Women who think like men about religious things, and speak much about them, and still more if they preach at meetings, lose the feminine nature, which is that of affection, . . . and become material, so that affection perishes, and the interiors are closed.

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They also begin to rave in their thoughts, which comes about because the destroyed affection causes the intellectual to rave. But in external form they can still appear like other women." (S. D. 5936.)

     Of the two abominations, the woman's is the more grievous. The man thereby shuts himself away from the influx of conjugial love emanating from her, but she destroys in herself the fomenting center of that love. The harm done to what is so central is obviously more serious than the harm done to what is more external when it is shut off from the benefits of the other. Again, the man's deliciating himself in past achievements does not destroy the inner spring of the love of growing wise, but merely places a callosity about it which checks its outward extension and its putting on the accouterments of wisdom. But the woman's putting away all deliciation in some man's wisdom causes her to furbish the inmost of her intellect with something that is not of heavenly origin. Lacking this internal, she may be said to "rave in her thoughts"; and having thus no apt terminations as cups to catch the influx of good into her will, she may be said to have "become material."

     The teachings we have drawn from the Word of the Lord in His Second Advent are, of course, quite contrary to ideas now current in the world, as each of us can appraise for himself by noting how difficult it is to follow them with sympathy when the worldly notions of what strike him as broadminded and tolerant are peculiarly active.

     Note, however, that the stress of what the Writings say is not so much upon the external things done by either sex as upon the mental attitude assumed in doing them. Most vocations in the world can be filled satisfactorily by either sex, so far as a mere external efficiency is concerned. Still, the internal quality of mind put into them will eventually manifest itself. Those desiring the good of society would therefore allot important uses to that sex which is better fitted to perform them. When a use may fail for lack of one of the better qualified sex, it may be necessary to call upon one of the other sex to perform it, as Joan of Are was called to head the armies of France. In such a case, the use safeguards the mind from injury.

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     New Churchmen, knowing that the equal reception of good and truth is what makes the angelic, and that heaven opens only to those linked in wedlock to an eternal mate, will rise above current notions, and value the revealed teachings which show how each sex is to depend upon the other, and how each is to enhance its own capabilities. The conjunction between mates is inspired into the man by the wife according to her love, and received by the husband according to his wisdom. The wife is conjoined to him by the sphere of her life going out from her love of him. The resulting conjugial love is a union of souls, a conjunction of minds, and a desire that nothing intervene which might withhold any plane of life from entering into the union; from primes to ultimates.
INFLUX AND INSPIRATION 1931

INFLUX AND INSPIRATION       Rev. VICTOR J. GLADISH       1931

     THE DOCTRINE OF INFLUX AND THE INSPIRATION OF THE WORD.

     (An Address delivered at The New Church Club, London, November, 1930.)

     "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27); and since we know that it is "the Divine of the Lord which makes heaven" (H. H. 7),-that the essence of heaven is the unobstructed presence of the Divine,-it is plain that the broad meaning of the Gospel statement that a man receives all from heaven is that everything comes to him from the Divine Itself by means of the Proceeding Divine; that is, by the Divine which makes heaven. Within this teaching lies the doctrine of universal influx,-that every created thing is what it is because of an inflowing, a descent, an influx of something higher or more interior than itself. Thus nothing in the universe is self-derived or self-sustained, but everything owes its continuation, as well as its origin, to something prior to itself, and of a more interior form than itself; and this, in turn, is derived from that which is next antecedent in the orderly chain and sequence of creation, until at length the chain reaches back to its Divine Beginning,-the Creator, the Lord Himself.

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     But influx is according to reception. "It is the same God," we read in T. C. R. 8," Who vivifies man, and who vivifies every beast; but the recipient form is what causes the beast to be a beast, and man to be a man. The same is true of man when he induces on his mind the form of a beast. There is the same influx from the sun into every kind of tree, but the influx is varied in accordance with the form of each. That which flows into the vine is the same as that which flows into the thorn; but if a thorn were to be engrafted upon a vine, the influx would be inverted and go forth in accordance with the form of the thorn. The same is true of the subjects of the mineral kingdom. The same light flows into the limestone and the diamond; but in the diamond it is transparent, while in the limestone it is rendered opaque."

     In the Heavenly Doctrine, scarcely any other testimony concerning influx is more often stated than this,-that it inflows according to the form of that into which it is inflowing. It would seem, moreover, that the mind can readily accept this as a general truth. And the great correspondent of spiritual influx,-the heat and light of the sun,-is seen to be a remarkable illustration and confirmation of the doctrine.

     This doctrine is acceptable to the unprejudiced mind; for it is not merely a general truth, but also a universal truth, and there is an implanted tendency with men to acknowledge universal verities when they are presented. But the various applications of universal truths are not always so simple a matter. The mind often searches with doubt and difficulty for clear light upon the particulars and singulars of an all-embracing truth such as that before us. Apparent exceptions frequently confront us; and only a careful and extensive application (and, it may not be out of place to add, a humble application) of the Light of Divine Revelation will show that what appears to be an exception or objection is in reality a part of the law itself. Indeed, in certain instances, the ordinary mind cannot penetrate very far into the how and the why, but needs rather to content itself with the acknowledgment of the authority and reasonableness of the Truth as revealed,-to see that it must be so, even though particulars of operation, and of correlation with other things known, do not readily yield themselves to the conception of the natural mind.

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     We say that the "ordinary mind" must be content to see dimly many particulars of doctrine, but the extraordinary mind, the "mind that has wisdom," is wise just because it readily sees that what it knows and comprehends is to that which is yet unknown as a drop of water to the bulk of a shoreless ocean. The infinity of Divine Wisdom lies beyond our grasp, but we may see it, as it were, from behind, when the glory that would blind our eyes has passed by. And those who strive for the spiritual love of truth may penetrate further and further to all eternity into the arcana of Influx and Providence, of Inspiration and Revelation, with their numberless connecting strands which weave themselves in and about every thought, affection, and action of the human understanding, will, and body.

     II.

     There is one such arcanum into which it is the purpose of this paper to inquire. We wish to seek a little further light upon the seeming paradox that the Divine inflows into every man with a universal, unvaried, and equal influx, and that yet there is the inspiration of Divine Revelation, which selects some one man, at some one time, to receive the Lord's Voice in a way totally different and apart from its reception in conscience and perception by his millions of brethren. Perhaps some one may say at this point: "The influx of life and thought is one thing; the inspiration of the Word is quite another." To this we would reply, first, that everything that can come from God to man is al; influx, and must obey the laws of influx; and secondly, we quote the following specific statement of the Divine Doctrine: "Inspiration is not dictation, but is influx from the Divine. That which inflows from the Divine passes through heaven, and there is celestial and spiritual; but when it comes into the world, it becomes worldly, within which is what is celestial and spiritual." (A. C. 9094e.) The statement that "inspiration is not dictation" may not seem to agree with what is revealed to us concerning the giving of Revelation through the prophets; but the harmonizing of these two teachings concerning the special nature of the inspiration which gives us Divine Revelation, on the one hand, and the universality of influx, on the other hand-the attempt to bring together these two doctrines in their mutual interrelation-shall be the effort of this paper.

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     But before proceeding further, let us have more definitely and fully before us the teaching concerning the nature of influx, and concerning the nature of inspiration. To that end we shall quote some outstanding passages from the Heavenly Doctrine; first, concerning the oneness of all influx.

     In the True Christian Religion it is written:

     "What flows in from the Lord is received by man according to his form. By form here is meant man's state as to his love and at the same time as to his wisdom, consequently also as to his affections of the goods of charity, and as to his perceptions of the truths of faith. That God is one, indivisible, and the same from eternity to eternity, not the same simply, but infinitely the same, and that all variableness is in the subject in which He dwells, has been shown above. That the recipient form or state induces variations, can be seen from the life of infants, children, youths, adults and aged persons; in each there is the same life, because the same soul, from infancy to old age; but as one's state is varied according to age and what is suitable thereto, in like manner is life perceived. The life of God in all its fulness is not only with good and pious men, but also with evil and impious men, in like manner as it is with the angels of heaven and with the spirits of hell. The difference is, that the evil obstruct the way and close the door, lest God should enter the lower regions of their minds; while the good clear the way and open the door, and also invite God to enter into the lower regions of their minds as He dwells in the highest regions; and thus they form the state of the will for the influx of love and charity, and the state of the understanding for the influx of wisdom and faith, consequently for the reception of God." (T. C. R. 366.)

     Another representative passage to this same effect,-that the Lord's inflowing life goes forth to all men equally and impartially, but that the difference lies in what man takes,-is found in the Arcana:

     "There is one only life, namely, that of the Lord, which inflows into all, but is variously received, and this according to the quality which man has induced on his soul by his life in the world . . . . This may be compared to the light which flows into objects from the sun, which is diversely modified and variegated in objects, in accordance with the form of their parts, and hence is turned into colors either sorrowful or gladsome, thus in accordance with the quality." The number concludes with the words: "Be it known that life from the Lord is the life of love towards the universal human race." (A. C. 6467.)

     Such teaching is to be found throughout the Writings, showing that what goes forth from the Lord goes forth to one man as to another. Let us now quote some of the statements, likewise to be found throughout the Writings, that speak of a special influx, as it were, which governs those through whom Divine Revelation is given.

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We read:

     "Some who were raised into heaven saw particularly that the things written in God's Word are inspired; for there appeared to them the manner and also the abundance of what flowed into the things that were written by me. . . . It seemed to them, also, as if certain ones were holding my hand, and were writing, thinking that it was they who wrote. This also it was granted to me formerly to perceive by a spiritual idea-yea even to feel, as it were-namely, that [there is such an influx] into every smallest thing of each little letter that I wrote. Hence it appears in clear light that the Lord's Word is inspired as to each letter." (S. D. 2270.)

     This passage speaks very plainly of a control and governance from the Lord (but by subsidiary means of spirit associations) over the instruments of written Revelation, such as not experienced by other men. In passing, we may note also that this number speaks by implication of the Revelation given through Swedenborg as inspired in every particular, alike as of the former Revelations.

     Further teaching as to the eminent and special gifts which come from the Lord to His instruments of Revelation is given in the little work called the Invitation to the New Church:

     "The manifestation of the Lord in person: and introduction by the Lord into the spiritual world as to hearing and speech, as well as to sight, is superior to all miracles; for it is not stated anywhere in history that such an intercourse with angels and spirits has been granted to anyone since the creation of the world. For I am daily with the angels there as with men in the world, and this now for twenty-seven years." And it is also said in this work: ". . . The spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me. Who has known anything respecting this sense since the Word was revealed in the Israelitish writings!.. . Not an iota of this can be opened except by the Lord alone." (Inv. 43, 44.)

     One more brief quotation on the nature of the influx by which the Word is inspired:

     "That which flowed in from the Lord led in this manner all the series of my thoughts into the consequent things, and although gently, still powerfully, so that I could not possibly wander into other thoughts, which also I was allowed to attempt, but in vain." (A. C. 6474.)

     While many more passages on both sides might be quoted, we think that sufficient has been brought forward to demonstrate clearly that a seeming contrariety of teaching exists.

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It seems evident that there is a difficulty in comprehending how a control over certain men, so particular and so exact as to cause them to transcribe the Lord's own Word, holy in every detail, could be exactly the same influx as that which is turned by other men into thousands of varying degrees of truth or falsity. Is it possible to gain a vision of the Divine Influx, or, what is the same thing, of the Divine Providence, so broad as to include the inspiration of the Word as an essential part of the law of influx? We believe such a vision is possible, and we shall now indicate some of the avenues of approach which seem to us to lead toward such a vision.

     III.

     The end of creation is a heaven from the human race. This being the Lord's supreme end and purpose in creating and sustaining the universe, it must be the very essence of the Divine Influx. That which flows forth from the Lord contains every element for the creation, sustentation, and perfection of the angelic heavens. It contains even the gift of free-will, or free determination, for man; by which gift alone man becomes man, and not an animal or an automaton-even though the giving seems to the eye of the natural man to be a "voluntary limiting by God of His own omnipotence."

     The Divine that goes forth from the Lord also contains every use which goes to make up the complete Gorand Man, or Maximus Home. That is to say, it contains the potential soul of every man who shall be born to eternity. And, if you can rightly conceive it, the quality and quantity of the souls who are born from age to age, and from minute to minute, depends upon the nature and degree of the reception of the Lord's universal influx by mankind. In other words, the creation and birth of men is according to God's "infinite awareness" of the state and needs of the Gorand Man of heaven and earth. Within this provision for the ever perfected angelic heaven must be the means for Divine Revelation,-the giving of the Divine Word to man, whether the unwritten Word of the most ancients, the Ancient Word of pure correspondences, the Hebrew Covenant, the Gospel of the Incarnate Lord, or the Crowning Revelation, which, of all these, was most immediately revealed "from God out of heaven."

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     But to this we might hear the objection, "If the men who have been instruments of Revelation were born for that use, and created to perform its functions, they would not have been in freedom." To this we reply that every man must be born for the performance of a certain use. It could not be otherwise; and it is a part of the law of influx according to reception, and thus according to the needs of mankind; but still he has freedom as to how, he will perform that use. Even here there cannot be complete freedom; for man must needs be circumscribed by his environment; and this again is due to the reception of the Divine on the part of other men. From the Lord flows forth nothing but perfect freedom.

     Moreover, the free reaction of man is an essential part of the raising up of revelators to meet the needs of their times. According to the number and quality of the men in any given age who choose evil rather than good, or good rather than evil, just such is the nature of the Revelation which is required, and which is given for the sake of the world's salvation. For example, in the Israelitish representative of a church it was not possible that an immediate Revelation from the Lord be given, but there was given a dictation to the prophets and others through angels and spirits. All this, in some way which we can see in glimpses here and there, is the operation of influx from the Lord taking form in the world according to its reception by man, and thus upholding, guarding, and leading men according to their needs. For we must remember that the Divine influx is the "life of love toward the universal human race." (A. C. 6467.)

     IV.

     But since we have referred to the Revelation through the prophets by dictation, it is time that we returned to the specific explanation of the statement quoted earlier in this paper, that "inspiration is not dictation, but is influx from the Divine." (A. C. 9094e.) We read of the prophets that at times "spirits had possession of their bodies, insomuch that scarcely anything was left, except that they knew that they existed"; also, that there were other influxes at times, "to enable them to be at their own disposal, but that this influx was not into the thought and the will, but was merely a discourse that came to their hearing." (A. C. 6212.) It does not require much reflection to see that this type of inspiration was not immediate "influx from the Divine," but was an external analogue of inspiration,-a representative of inspiration, as the church of that time was a representative of a church. The genuine inspiration to which the quoted passage refers,-the real influx of the Divine Truth into thought and will,-was, in those cases, into an angel or spirit who inspired the Divine Truth in the spiritual form which it took on with him-perhaps through the intermediation of spirits more gross and nearer the Jewish state-into the natural and often crude ideas and memory-forms of the prophet or historian.

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     It is true that the Writings again and again refer to the case of the prophets as the great example of the infallible nature of the inspiration of the Word. This is for the same reason that, in the Heavenly Doctrine, the forms and rituals of the Jewish Church are so constantly referred to as Pictures of the principles of the genuine Church. In both cases it is the ultimate representative,-the example or illustration on the most external plane,-that is used to demonstrate the truth, or, we might say, to give a picture in ultimates of the internal truth. The infilling of the prophets, even to obsession, represents graphically the infallibility of the genuine or immediate inspiration, which, in itself, is a very different thing. It is, in fact, the internal thing corresponding with that external.

     Thus we see that the actual nature of that inspiration which is direct influx from the Divine is very different from the trance like state of the prophets, which some customarily regard as the one thoroughly trustworthy type of inspiration. There have been many in the New Church who have impugned the authority and holiness of the Revelation given through Swedenborg, because the inspiration was into his thought and will, rather than into his ear and hand. But is it not evident that the inspiration which Swedenborg enjoyed must have been of the type which came to the angels and spirits who dictated that which the prophets wrote, and that his inspiration was fully as reliable and authoritative as theirs? If, then, it was not inferior to the Divine inspiration of those who were the mediate source of the prophetic Word, surely it was not inferior to that mechanical inspiration of the prophets who wrote these things down. A stream cannot rise higher than its source.

     And here we wish to put into words something that is implied in what we have just been saying: It seems to be a logical deduction from the teaching that is given us concerning inspiration, that the unmediated inspiration from God (that is, the Divine origin of the Word in its highest fount) can be given only to an inhabitant of the spiritual world; which means that all Revelation until the Second Coming (with the possible exception of that to the most ancients) flowed first into an angel, and thence-with further intermediation-into a man in the world.

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When the Lord called Swedenborg to his great work, then for the first time Revelation was given direct to the man who wrote it down in the natural world; for this man was an inhabitant of the spiritual world at the same time as he lived in the natural world. This crowning Divine work in the history of the Revelation of the Word is stated to be "superior to all miracles." (Inv. 43.)

     V.

     We have mentioned the Revelation to the men of the Most Ancient Church as in some degree an exception to the rule that the Word was given by the Lord to angels, and from them was mediated to the men who gave it form in the natural world. This does not, however, involve any infringement of the general law that the immediate vessel of the promulgation of the Divine Word must be an inhabitant of the spiritual world; for the most ancients were, from time to time, inhabitants of that world. Strange as it may seem at first sight, it is stated in the Invitation to the New Church that these celestial men were in "no other than natural light" when they conversed with angels, but that it was granted to Swedenborg to be at the same time in natural and in spiritual light. (Inv. 52.) That is to say, the most ancients were not conscious of any distinction between the two worlds; they conversed with angels as a part of their natural life in this world; it was an unconscious transition with them. But Swedenborg was so prepared that it could be granted to him to be conscious in both worlds at the same time, and to enjoy a spiritual illumination on the things of both worlds. This spiritual illumination consisted in an interior reflection in which he was held, as he says in these words: "What I have learned from representations, visions, and from conversations with spirits and angels, is from the Lord alone. Whenever any representation, vision, or conversation took place, I was kept interiorly and more interiorly in reflection upon these things, as to what thence was useful and good, and thus what I was to learn from them." (S. D. 1647.)

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Swedenborg, therefore, could reflect upon and write down what was revealed to him, but the revelation to the most ancients was rather a perception which became embodied in their lives.

     But let us note here a significant fact. In the Writings, this personal revelation in the Golden Age is called their "Word." (A. C. 2896.) We also read: "What the Divine has revealed is with us the Word."(A. C. 10320.) By analogy, what the Divine revealed to the most ancients was with them the Word. The Word is essentially the Voice of the Lord speaking to men. In the New Church we have long suffered from not understanding the universal, as well as the specific, meaning of various terms. I fully believe that, in the above quotation, the specific reference of the term "Word" is to the Word of the Old and New Testaments; the immediate meaning being that "what the Divine has revealed is with us the Word (then accepted in the Christian world)." (Compare A. C. 1756.) To us, of the New Church, however, to whom the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem has been revealed, it is now true in a broader sense that " what the Divine has revealed is with us the Word." Is it not evident that the very words were Divinely fashioned to carry the broader burden of meaning? Indeed, this phrase-and many more like it are to be found-was Divinely fashioned to teach, as its inner and deeper meaning, that all Divine Revelation is the Word of God to those to whom it comes.

     Much that the Divine has revealed to one age or people has not been preserved as the Word to another. The Most Ancient Word was not written; the Ancient Word is not accessible to us now; the Revelations of all other earths but our own are not written, and are not known to us, except in the teaching of the Writings that they are in complete agreement with the Word on our earth. But nothing which the Lord reveals can ever be lost. All is preserved in the angelic heavens of the people to whom it was given, where it is, in a very real sense, the property of the human race. But, more than this, the written Word of our earth-now completed in its trinal form-has been provided by the Lord as an ultimate basis and summation of all Revelations which have existed or will exist throughout the universe. All previous Revelations looked forward to this written Word-which is built round the Incarnation and Second Coming of the Lord, made on this earth for all the universe-and the succeeding revelations will look back to it as a foundation.

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When we speak of succeeding revelations, we refer to the continuance of perceptive revelation on other earths, and its restoral on this earth in the return of the Golden Age.

     VI.

     Before going further we wish to discuss two points which have underlain much of the doctrine so far brought forward: (1) The means and mode of immediate inspiration, as a general point, and (2) the relation of the celestial to this inspiration, in particular.

     By immediate inspiration we mean here, as before, the inspiration into the first human medium of giving the Word to men. We have already postulated that the Word cannot be given on earth without coming to an inhabitant, or inhabitants, of the spiritual world. It is evident that one who could receive such immediate influx as this from the Lord must be in an angelic state. Moreover, in view of the doctrine of the three heavens, and the teaching that the Lord's immediate influx flows primarily into the celestial heaven, it would follow that the first vessel of Divine Revelation must be in the interiors of the mind of one who is regenerated to the celestial state. It will be seen that this could readily apply to men of the Most Ancient Church. As to the angels who transmitted the influx, through spirits, to the prophets and evangelists, there is nothing said, so far as I can find, as to whether they were celestial or not, but there is no manifest reason why the principle just adduced should not hold good here.

     In the case of Swedenborg, we have definite testimony that he was in a celestial state when he became a revelator. That this unique "servant of the Lord" was a regenerating man, scarcely anyone who has accepted anything of the New Church would doubt. As to his being brought into a celestial state before he was fully inaugurated as a revelator, he wrote, in one of the Bible Indexes which he prepared after the Lord appeared to him and called him to the great work, as follows: "1747, August 7, . . . There was a change of state in me into the celestial kingdom in an image." The meaning of the words, "in an image," would seem to be that the elevation was as to his understanding or intellectual part only, the will not undergoing the same change as long as he retained an earthly body.

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     Time does not permit our going into the details of this point, but the reason for this interpretation, together with citations on the subject from the Writings, can be consulted in Dr. R. L. Tafel's Authority in the New Church, p. 79, et seq. We shall assume the matter as strongly indicated, if not proven; for the above-quoted statement is evidence that he came into a celestial state. That it was not a fleeting state, but coincident with his service as revelator, there is very good evidence, but it is not of the type to be made plain in a few words. We shall merely adduce a passage which treats of perceptive revelation from the conjunction of mediate with immediate influx. It is evident from many statements that this revelation was a part of the inspiration which Swedenborg enjoyed, and it is to be noted that in the paragraph now to be quoted this perceptive revelation is said to take place principally with the celestial angels. Shall we deny that such perception existed principally, or inmostly, with him through whom the Crowning Revelation was given; and who from time to time instructed angels of all the heavens? The passage is as follows:

     "Instruction in the particulars of doctrine takes place when the truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord's Divine is conjoined with the truth which proceeds mediately, for then perception is given. This conjunction takes place principally with the angels of the third or inmost heaven, and who are called celestial. They have the most exquisite perception of both kinds of truth, and hence of the Lord's presence, because they are in good above others; for they have the good of innocence " (A. C. 7058.)

     We would also call attention to the fact that Dr. Tafel has taken up each of the characteristics of the celestial state herein named, and shown from the Writings that Swedenborg was admitted to such states. (Authority, p. 77.)

     But, having given some indication of the teaching in regard to the relation of the celestial degree to immediate revelation, we turn to the other point which we mentioned as underlying much of what we have said,-that is, the whole question of the nature and mode of immediate inspiration.

     By immediate inspiration, we repeat, is here meant the first in-breathing into a human mind of that Divine Truth which is to be ultimated as the written Word. The essence of this inspiration is the conjunction of immediate influx with mediate influx, spoken of in the above-quoted passage. (A. C. 7058.)

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The point is, that the conjunction of the two influxes exists in various degrees. Wherever it exists it gives revelation from the Lord to that mind in which it takes place; but it is not always the initiament of written or ultimate revelation, such as is "with us the Word."

     We have brought forward evidence to show that Swedenborg enjoyed this conjunction of influxes in its original, inmost, or celestial degree, but, in addition to this, he was yet a man living in the natural world, and the revelation thus made to him through an internal perception he was able to commit to ultimate, basic, and stable form in the world of nature-upon which world the angelic heavens rest as upon a foundation. Moreover, he had been brought by the Lord into that unique state of inhabiting both worlds by means of lung-continued preparation, ranging from the physical basis of tacit respiration to years of arduous study and the profoundest philosophical and spiritual thought. He had been brought into that condition solely for the purpose of revealing in ultimate form that which could then be revealed to his spiritual senses and inspired into the inmosts of his mind. From this, some faint conception can be formed of how the Lord, by means of immediate influx into the inmost degree of his mind, could guide the selection of such things from the knowledges he had gained in both worlds as were required to be ultimated in the crowning dispensation of the Divine Word. The knowledges were from the mediate influx; the internal dictate was from the immediate influx. In this case alone were the inmost and the ultimate vessels of Revelation found in one man.

     That the Revelation was of this nature and mode, it testifies of itself unmistakably in these statements:

     "It was given me to see, and from that to perceive distinctly, what came from the Lord [immediate influx] and what came from the angels [mediate influx]. What came from the Lord was written, and what came from the angels was not written." (A. E. 1183.)

     "During an hour's time it was shown me by experience how all thoughts art directed by the Lord. It was an influx like that of an extremely soft and almost imperceptible stream, the source of which does not appear, and which yet leads and draws. That which flowed in from the Lord led every series of my thoughts in succession, and although gently, still so powerfully that I could by no means stray away into other thoughts. I tried to do so, but in vain." (A. C. 6474.)

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     Such is the description of the infallible control exercised by internal or immediate inspiration, and its resultant effect in that unique case in universal history when it proceeded from brain to hand in one person.

     And at this point, and upon this thought, we intend to "rest our case," so to speak. While preparing this paper, certain words of Swedenborg the philosopher have been ringing in my ears. Many years before his eyes were opened into the spiritual world, and he was called to reveal Divine things, he wrote in his Economy of the Animal Kingdom on the paradox that the influx of the Divine Being must be shed universally and impartially on all His creation, and yet that so many diverse and even opposite things live from, and bring forth their diverse fruits, under this universal influx. In the midst of a powerful and intuitive treatment of the general aspect of the subject, Swedenborg makes the following admissions of insufficiency:

     "How, then, the mutable and immutable should at one and the same time be conceived as existing in us, I do not know; at least it is more than I can understand. . . . " And later, "I confess that while I am lingering on this threshold that conducts me almost beyond the bounds of nature, or while I am daring to speak of the unition of God with the souls of His creatures, I feel a certain holy trembling stealing over me, and warning me to pause; for the mind thinks it sees what it does not see, and sees where no intuition can penetrate. . . . And what increases this awe is a love of the truth, which, that it may hold in my mind the supreme place, is the end of all my endeavors, and which, whenever I deviate from it, converts itself into a representation of justice and condign punishment, or into that fear which an inferior being is wont to feel towards a superior; so that I would rather resign this subject into the hands of others more competent than myself. This much I perceive most clearly, that the order of nature exists for the sake of ends, which flow through universal nature to return to the first end; and that the worshipers of nature are insane." (II E. A. K., pp. 241, 243.)

     The writer of this paper has felt promptings to "resign the subject into the hands of others more competent than himself"; he has felt various "warnings to pause," as he swam into some of the deepest waters of theology and philosophy. It was intended to devote a great part of the paper to a discussion of the so-called higher criticism of the Bible, and to show that, amongst all the incoherent shreds which the modern students make of this internally united Book, there was no sound footing without the help of the Crowning Revelation,-by its doctrine of inspiration, and by its statement of what belongs and what does not belong to the Word.

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This subject, which at first seemed primary, eventually found no place, and must needs be reserved for later formulation.

     We repeat that we indicated only the bare outline of the subject of influx, necessarily taking a general knowledge of the teaching for granted; and we have not attempted to reduce the nature of inspiration to any formula or system. But there are two things with which we have tried to deal: First, that the inspiration of the Word is no exception to the universal law of influx from the Divine, but an integral part of that law. Second, that the method of inspiration need not forever be as utter a mystery as, for example, wireless communication would be to an untaught barbarian. Even God does nothing without His own mechanism or law. To delve too deeply into particulars in these two arcane problems would not be wise, even if we felt able to carry the work forward; yet we can see that certain things are so, and can thereby gain some enlightenment along the way.

     We have desired not to stray too far from universals and generals, lest we should seem to cast up a mere mechanization, instead of Divine Providence,-a machine driven universe, instead of the Lord's tender care over mankind. The mechanism is indeed there; for the necessity of means for the accomplishing of ends in the natural world flows forth from the similar Divine Law which governs the spiritual world. Nevertheless, when some conception of the Lord as Order and Law, as Divine Wisdom and Divine Love, has been gained, we have need to remember that it is love and wisdom which makes man, and that the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom makes the Divine Man. The end of the true philosophy, as well as the goal of pure religion, is God who is also Man,-our Lord in His Divine Human.

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The April and May Arcana readings give the spiritual significance of Lot's separation from Abram (Gen. xii) and of the political complications of Canaan at this time (Gen. xiv), which caused both Lot and Abram to be drawn into the currents of martial events, and left Abram as a hero and a redeemer.

     It is the Lord in His childhood of which these chapters inwardly speak. Abraham's going into Egypt describes the instruction of the Lord in His infancy. The ensuing dissensions, between the herdsmen of Abram and those of his brother's son, show how, in the Lord's Human as an infant, His sensual mind was in a holy, childlike state in which, as with men, there were present also worldly things and hereditary evils and their falsities (1557, 1573), which had to be removed whenever they rose into consciousness as pleasures that were disagreeable to the internal man. These things were signified by Lot.

     Lot's Choice.

     The valley of the Plain of Sodom was then a land of alluring fertility, "even as the garden of Jehovah," or like the Paradise which had existed as a reality with the celestial people in their correspondential externals. We are assured (in A. C. 1582) that any country in which Abram might have settled would have become representative of the Lord's kingdom and of the spiritual mind. But Lot's choice was probably determined, not only by his free predilections,-his apparent love of the ease and luxury of city life,-but was also influenced by the unseen hosts of spirits who caused him unerringly to do what best corresponded with his representation.

     The physical features of the valley of what is now the "Dead Sea " made it very pertinent that Lot should have chosen this country for his own, since he represented those things of the lowest sensual and corporeal man which had to be removed from the Lord's human. From the following account it is seen that this valley is the lowest accessible portion of the earth's surface:

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     "The basin or hollow in which the Dead Sea reposes forms part of the great depression through which the Jordan flows, that river entering it at its northern extremity. The surface of the lake (which has fluctuations amounting to several yards) is about 1300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, being the most depressed accessible portion of the earth's surface. This trough has a continuation southward in the valley called El-Arabah, which extends to the Gulf of Akabah, in the Red Sea. The depth of the lake in the deepest portion is about equal to the depression of the surface below the sea-level. The southern portion is very shallow. The Dead Sea lies embedded between lofty cliffs of naked limestone, its shores presenting a scene of desolation and solitude, encompassed by desert sands and bleak, stony salt hills, except where there are fresh-water streams, in which localities the shores are fertile. Lofty mountains, exhibiting stupendous precipices, rise on the E. shore to a height of 2000 and 2500 feet above the water, and on the West the rocky barriers attain an elevation of 1500 feet. Its waters are so thoroughly impregnated with salt that their specific gravity, as compared with pure water, is about one-and-one-sixth, and no fish or shell fish-or, indeed, animal forms of any kind but the lowest-are known to exist in it. . . . Asphaltum was thrown to the surface at its southern extremity in large quantities after the earthquakes of 1834 and 1837." (Lippincott's Gazetteer., 1905, s. v.)

     The Lord's Childhood Temptations.

     The Lord's government over the things of hereditary evil in His sensual during infancy, is pictured in the Word by the people of the valley of Sodom serving Chedorlaomer, their Eastern conqueror, for twelve years (Gen. xiv. 4). Chedorlaomer and his allies represent the "apparent good" of innocence which so wonderfully covers over hereditary evil, especially with small children, and which prevents evil spirits from effecting their purposes with them. But "in the thirteenth year" the population rebelled, and the Eastern allies had to take sterner measures, especially against the aborigines of Canaan,-the giantlike Rephaim, Anakim, etc.; which signifies that a state of actual temptations now broke out. By means of apparent truths and goods, the Lord in His earliest childhood fought against the most direful of the hells of the Nephilim or Antediluvians. As Hercules, in his cradle, is said to have strangled the serpents who attacked him, so the Lord, from states of Divine perception, and with the exquisite pain of His wounded love of saving men, subdued the most ancient hells, which at the time just before the Advent had again broken loose into rebellion. But His victory over them was as yet only partial (1676).

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     Chedorlaomer's army thoroughly broke the power of Sodom and Gomorrah, and carried away Lot and all his substance as loot, when it returned home by the usual military route through northern Canaan. When "Abram the Hebrew" heard of this, he called his friends together, and rescued Lot by defeating Chedorlaomer's punitive force in a night attack. Abram here represents the Lord's "interior man," or the rational as it was in His childhood. This perceived that the external man had been taken in possession, not by genuine, but by apparent goods and truths; that the evils of natural cupidity had been overcome from states which were not altogether Divine, but which were imbued with hereditary things from the mother (1661). Such apparent goods and truths had to be purified and made genuine; these states, so to speak, had to be convinced that they had no merit in the subjection of the natural, that they indeed had no right to the external man, but that the real master was the interior or rational man, signified by "Abram the Hebrew." As Abram brought Lot back to Sodom, together with all the recaptured loot, retaining nothing for himself, so the Lord, after subduing the hells, restores to them the gift of life and a limited freedom, and allows the heavens (Abram's allies) the power to control the hells.

     History amply confirms the historic truth of the chapter. About this time, various tribes of Canaanites were pursuing the colonization of these districts, the Perizzites seemingly during Abram's sojourn in Egypt; and the power and civilization of Elam and Babylonia were extending towards the Mediterranean coast. The period was one of great migrations. Some scholars would have us recognize in "Amraphel king of Shinar" (Gen. xiv. 1) the Hebrew name of none other than Khammu-rabi, the great Babylonion lawgiver (Sayce, Monument Facts, etc., London, 1910). But all proposed identifications of the foreign kings here mentioned must as yet be regarded as speculation.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single Copy, 30 cents.
     RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

     IN SESUTO.

     The Rev. Frederick W. Elphick has kindly sent us copies of two books in the Sesuto language recently printed and published by the General Church Native Mission at Alpha. One is a Liturgy based upon that of the General Church, and containing one General Office and the Offices for Baptism, the Holy Supper, etc. The other is a Sesuto translation of the Rev. C. Th. Odhner's Emanuel Swedenborg: A True Story far the Young, with two illustrations.

     The Mission Press will shortly publish a Sesuto version of The Book Sealed zenith Seven Seals, by the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, and then expects to bring out a Zulu translation of Heaven and Hell.

     We have also received the December, 1930, number of the Mission magazine, TLHAHISO (The Expositor), its twenty-four pages featuring articles and news in the Sesuto, Zulu and English languages.

     We warmly congratulate the Mission upon these evidences of its enterprise and industry, which not only provide New Church literature for the native members, but also furnish work of an educative character in the print shop.

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MISSIONARY PAMPHLET. 1931

MISSIONARY PAMPHLET.              1931

CHRISTIANITY RE-BORN. By Rev. H Gordon Drummond. London: The New Church Missionary and Tract Society, 1931. Pocket-size, 25 pages, 3d.

     In the brief compass of this tract the writer deals in an interesting way with four topics: The Mission of the New Church; The Life Beyond; The Divine Providence; The Gorand Man. The style is that of a reasonable missionary appeal calculated to engage the interest of one who is a stranger to the claims of the New Church

     In the opening chapter, mindful of the prevailing misgivings as to the need of a new "sect" or "denomination," seeing that "the divisions and dissensions of organized Religion have been its reproach through countless generations," Mr. Drummond holds that the mission of the New Church is to "bear witness to the truth," and explains:

     "It might be urged, with justice, that to bear witness to the truth is the mission of the Christian Church as a whole, and, possibly, of every other religious institution. Something more explicit and distinctive is therefore required to justify the claim. Let us then ask, Wherein does the mission of the New Church differ from that of any other religious denomination!

     "The Christian Church itself is divided into sects and denominations. . . . Why should the number of these be increased? While we have to admit the appearance of a further division, and another denomination added to the many already in existence, the case, when carefully examined, is not necessarily so. Any one with sufficient self-confidence and presumption may found a sect: only the Lord Himself can establish a Church. What the New Church claims to be is not a sect or a division, either of Christianity or any of its branches, but a Church in the full sense of the term. It is the New Christian Church. It is Christianity Re-born from above. Christianity re-born is Christianity made new; hence the name assumed."

     While we miss a statement in regard to the Last Judgment, which might have been introduced in speaking of the "new heaven and the new earth," the declaration that "the Lord has made His second coming in the opening of the spiritual sense of His Word," and other like statements, bring into this pamphlet a tone of frankness that is absent from many missionary appeals in the name of the New Church.

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We think, however, that pamphlets of this kind should always contain an advertisement of the Theological Works, the very titles of which may lead the inquiring mind to the source of the Doctrine of the New Church.
ORDERLY OBSERVANCE OF THE HOLY SUPPER. 1931

ORDERLY OBSERVANCE OF THE HOLY SUPPER.              1931

THE USES AND BENEFITS OF THE HOLY SUPPER. By Rev. Jas. F. Buss. London: New-Church Press, Ltd., 1931. Pocket-size, 16 pages, 6d.

     The contents of this brochure are a valuable contribution to the literature of the New Church. The subject is an able setting forth of the plain teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines, and is treated with that thorough analysis and argument which are characteristic of the writer, and which were better known to the New Church reader in the days of THE NEW-CHURCH QUARTERLY.

     Showing at the outset that the "uses and benefits" (usus fructus) of the Sacraments are now first to be enjoyed in the New Church, by virtue of the revealed spiritual sense of the Word, according to the declaration in True Christian Religion, nos. 698-700, the writer states:

     The essential points of this teaching are: (1) That the "real use and benefit of the Holy Supper" are so inextricably involved in "the spiritual sense of the Word" that they cannot be enjoyed where that sense is unknown; and (2) that, on this account, they were not enjoyed by the former Christian Church at any stage of its career, even in its palmiest days. It indubitably follows, therefore, that they are not, and cannot be, enjoyed now in the various denominations of present-day Christendom, for the same reason-namely, that not one of these accepts, still less teaches, or will even look at, that "spiritual sense of the Word" without which they cannot be enjoyed. Even in the New Church they can only be enjoyed on the condition of its members, clerical and lay, "seeing with the eyes of the spirit, that is, with the understanding, the holiness lying hidden therein, and applying it to themselves by means which the Lord has taught in His Word." (P. 3.)

     As the Sacrament is truly representative and significative, it calls for an exactness of observance with regard to the elements employed, if it is to be fully and truly efficacious. But, even in the New Church, loose methods of observance are practiced and advocated:

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     "It has more than once been publicly stated among us that it is of no consequence what elements are used in this holy Sacrament; that the benefits would follow whatever the kind of bread-indeed, even food-white, brown or black, leavened or unleavened bread, biscuit or cake-and whatever kind of drink-wine (fermented or unfermented), water, milk, tea, cocoa, coffee or any other beverage whatever-provided only that the communicant came to the Lord's
Table in 'the proper frame of mind.'" (Pp. 6, 7.)

     But the internal preparation of mind and spirit to partake worthily is not sufficient. The power of correspondence in ultimates requires that the proper elements be used,-unleavened bread and fermented wine. And this is demonstrated clearly from the Doctrine, including this convincing statement: "Correspondence is such that, when man is partaking of food, the angels with him are in the idea of good and truth; and, what is wonderful, with a difference according to the species of food. Thus, when man in the Holy Supper takes the bread and the wine, the angels with him are in the idea of the good of love and the good of faith, for the reason that bread corresponds to the good of love and wine to the good of faith." (A. C. 5915.)

     Mr. Buss closes his treatment of the subject with a description of the spiritual uses and benefits of the Supper, and shows how these are not received by a devout reading of the account and words of its institution in the Word, but only by an actual eating and drinking of the Divinely prescribed elements as an ultimate of holiness and power.

     This pamphlet, and that by Mr. Francis Black, entitled The Holy Supper and Its Administering Mediums, reviewed by us in August, 1930, p. 520, set forth the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines in unmistakable terms and convincing light. They leave no support for the idea that the Old Church administration is efficacious for the New Churchman, and no excuse for a continuance of the disorderly practices which have crept into the observance of the Sacrament in many societies of the New Church, both in England and America.
     W. B. C.
BOHEMIAN BOOKLET. 1931

BOHEMIAN BOOKLET.              1931

CIRKVE.-Churches, From the Beginning to the Present Time, and the Second Coming of the Lord. Extracts from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Jaroslav Im. Janacek. Prague, 1930. Pp. 72.

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     Under forty-three headings, the admirably selected passages from the Writings which comprise this booklet bring before the reader a description of the Five Churches which have been successively established upon this earth. Each chapter presents facts so concise and attractive that it is complete in itself, but the reader is referred to Writings themselves for further study.

     Since publishing a Life of Swedenborg about twenty years ago, Mr. Janacek has translated into the Bohemian tongue and published the following: Heaven and Hell; Intercourse between the Soul and the Body; New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine; Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, Doctrine of Charity; Concerning Faith; The Last Judgment; The White Horse; The Earths in the Universe; and Brief Exposition. He has also translated and published a number of New Church collateral works, and in addition has edited and published the Bohemian magazine, New-Jerusalem. We extend our congratulations to him for this able and extensive work for the
Church.

     We hope that the land of the Hussites may yet prove a good ground for the spread of the New Church. There were New Churchmen in Bohemia as early as the year 1845. It is recorded that, in that year, a Dr. Mach, professed New Churchman, and leader of a circle of receivers in the town of Warnsdorf, was arrested by the Austrian authorities and imprisoned in chains, on the charge of being a disturber in the matters of religion. Other members of his circle were variously persecuted. (See Annals of the New Church, p. 513.)
     ANTON SELLNER.
"RIGHT" AND "LEFT" IN CONVENTION. 1931

"RIGHT" AND "LEFT" IN CONVENTION.              1931

     As a sequel to Mr. John H. James' address, entitled "A Trend Toward Sectarianism," cited in our April issue, p. 210, THE NEW-CHURCH VISITOR for February, 1931, publishes a "Call to Arms" by Judge Foster W. Freeman, Jr., of Paterson, N. J., where there is a society which had its beginning in the year 1842 with a number of New Churchmen who had come to this country from England.

     Judge Freeman, in his "Call to Arms," takes similar ground to that of Mr. James, in rallying to a defense of the integrity of the New Church as a distinct entity, and of the General Convention itself, which, according to its Constitution, "shall consist of all who 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, and who unite with this body in the performance of the general uses of a church."

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     That the extreme liberalism of certain elements in Convention has thoroughly aroused the more conservative members, is evident from Judge Freeman's suggestion that "one side or the other must start a separate organization," and his demand that certain ministers whom he considers recreant to the "solemn oaths" taken at their ordination should "forfeit their situations."

     In thus making public such frank utterances, the NEW-CHURCH VISITOR "believes that an Open Forum for both writers and speakers is not only a matter of policy, but a matter of justice as well," and therefore explains in these words:

     "It seems that both Mr. James and Judge Freeman have had difficulty, at one time or another, in getting admission to the columns of the official paper of the Convention. And there are others. Conceding that both these gentlemen have decided opinions and convictions not in accord with the official 'right side' of the Convention, it seems to us that nothing is ultimately gained for the welfare of the New Church organization by suppressing these opinions or ignoring these convictions. The friction between 'right' and 'left' side in Convention has been aggravated in the past by this very policy of paying no attention to opposition, or suppressing it as being 'controversial.' No movement or organization can ultimately flourish where free expression of honest opinion is curtailed."

     The editor of the VISITOR, the Rev. Dirk Diephuis, of St. Louis, Mo., is here on the solid ground of a law prevailing in the spiritual world, and also among enlightened communities in the natural world,-a law which provides for the free setting forth of both sides of a question, to the end that a broad understanding of the truth may be the eventual result. We may here recall the statement of this law in the Doctrines:

     "It is according to the laws of order that no one ought to be persuaded of a truth in a moment, that is, that a truth should be so confirmed in a moment that no doubt remains.

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The reason is, that truth which is impressed in this way becomes persuasive truth, and is without any extension, and also is without any yielding. Such truth is represented in the other life as hard, and as such as not to admit good into it, so that it may be applicable. Hence it is that as soon as any truth is presented by manifest experience before good spirits in the other life, something opposite is immediately afterwards presented, which causes doubt. By this it is given them to think and weigh whether it be so, and to collect reasons, and thus to bring that truth rationally into their mind. This gives the spiritual sight extension as to that truth, even also as to its opposites; hence it sees and perceives with the understanding every quality of the truth, and can admit influx from heaven according to the state of things; for truths receive various forms according to circumstances." (A. C. 7298:2.)

     As contributing to a balanced view of the developments in the General Convention, and of the vital issues involved, we lay before our readers the following paragraphs from Judge Freeman's article:
"A CALL TO ARMS 1931

"A CALL TO ARMS              1931

     "The stirring and well-pointed address by John H. James, entitled 'A Trend Toward Sectarianism,' should be read and digested by all of the members of the Genera Convention. It is a timely warning, and should be heeded, as our organization is in danger of being usurped by intruders who have unceremoniously crept in.

     "Those of the Lord's New Church in the United States who have been in close enough touch with its internal activities have watched the creeping in of foreign policies, and the breaking up of its sphere of harmony, with tearful eyes. It is much easier to view the Hand of Divine Providence in events which have passed than it is to see that Hand while it is at work. Yet it is our duty to try and see Divine Providence in events as they come, and to render that Hand our utmost assistance.

     "Various churches in the past have gone through states of temptation and regeneration, and perhaps a glimpse of what happened in the early stages of the Christian Church will enable us to see the Hand of Divine Providence working in the Lord's New Church.

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After the Lord's first coming, there sprang up in the Christian Church those who were so wrapped up in the thoughts of this world that they were unable to follow the teachings of Christ as they should have. Many disputed the Divinity of Christ. Grievous disputes arose in the Church. The Council of Nice was called in an attempt to settle the dispute and compromise the differences. There was compounded, as a compromise, the Athanasian Creed, which bore fragments of falsity and of truth. It asserts the Divinity of Christ in one sentence, and denies it in another. Then, with Swedenborg, came the Second Coming of the Lord to settle these disputes and shed the light of truth upon the world.

     "Little by little there has crept into our church false doctrine of equal magnitude. Those who would reform our doctrines do not accept the Second Coming of the Lord, and deny the inspiration of Swedenborg. They place him side by side with other reformers. Those of the New Church who do not accept the Second Coming of the Lord are to our Church just what those were to the Christian Church who denied the Divinity of the Lord. Little by little, they have crept into our theological school, and are now filling some of our pulpits. At first they did not dare to express their true thoughts, because of the overwhelming majority against them, but now, as their numbers grow, they become more bold, and openly denounce the Second Coming of the Lord and the inspiration of our inspired leader, Emanuel Swedenborg. They have already gained control of some of our societies; they have tried to gain control of our theological school; and they have gained control of one of our most important magazines. With clever brains, and enormous worldly wealth behind them, they seek to force their views upon our younger generation and on our entire church. . . .

     "There appear now to be three groups of so-called 'Swedenborgians,'-those of the Academy Church, those who would be reformers and do not accept the Second Coming, and the orthodox Swedenborgians who have thus far controlled the 'General Convention' in the United States. Those 'reformers' might properly be called 'deformers,' but they have their use, and their teachings will doubtless continue to exist for the use they can perform until the world has reached a higher state of regeneration.

     "It seems quite clear that these three groups cannot remain under the same roof in harmony.

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The orthodox Swedenborgian cannot submit to what he believes to be falsities of the reformer with any degree of tranquillity. Consequently, the question which now arises is, 'Which group is to be forced out of the General Convention and start a separate organization!' They cannot remain together in harmony. It does not seem logical that those who are loyal to their church should be dislodged from it, and be made to forfeit all of their church goods to strangers who have come into their midst, or be compelled to sit and listen to their false preachings. Yet this is what these newcomers are trying to do. Well-laid plans, made by brainy men, with fortunes at their call, are in action for this purpose. Those who remain loyal must gather their forces in battle array, choosing leaders of marked ability to defend their church homes from the intruder. We must assist our Good Shepherd in separating the sheep from the goats. One side or the other must start a separate organization."
READING THE WRITINGS IN WORSHIP. 1931

READING THE WRITINGS IN WORSHIP.              1931

     In this department last month we quoted from an article by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack, entitled "The Word and the Writings of Swedenborg," which appeared in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD for February 21, 1931, and in which he presented arguments against the custom of reading from the Writings in the services of worship in the New Church. As we anticipated, other Conference writers have challenged the extreme position taken by him, and we find a number of interesting rejoinders in recent numbers of the HERALD.

     The long-established custom in the services of the General Church, where the Writings are usually read as a Third Lesson, is based upon our acknowledgment of their status as the Word of God. We would hardly accord them that place in the service if they were "humanly written" works, as is the contention of Mr. Goldsack. We think, therefore, that he was justified in raising the question as to the relation of the Writings to the Old and New Testaments, in a discussion of the question as to whether there might be a reading from the Writings in the worship of the New Church.

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     The answer to this question depends upon how the Writings are regarded, and there is quite a variety of recognition and acknowledgment among the ministers and laymen of both Conference and Convention. In quite a number of the societies of both bodies there is a reading from the Writings in the services of worship, not as a "Lesson," we believe, but as a "reading." And this is consistent with a belief that the Writings are not a form of the Word of God, even though they be regarded as Divine Revelation, and as "useful books" to be read in church. Testimony to the value of such a "reading" in worship has recently been given by Mr. Stanley E. Parker and Mr. A. E. Friend, as cited in our March and April issues, and by Convention ministers, as noted in our October, 1930, number, p. 679. These facts should be borne in mind when considering the variety of views expressed in the course of the discussion of the subject in the HERALD, from which we will now quote.

     Commenting upon Mr. Goldsack's article in the issue of March 7th, Mr. Harold Goyder Smith asks:

     "Does the New Church need a discussion on the place of the Writings in regard to the Word? I do not think so. But a discussion on the place of the Writings in the hearts of members of the New Church might be productive of much good. Are there many or few in the Church who never look at a volume of the Writings from one year's end to another? Are there many or few who are solely dependent on their minister or lay preacher for instruction in the spiritual sense of the Divine Word, who make no attempt to find out for themselves what the Writings have to teach them on the one thing that matters,-their regeneration?

     "Is it really, then, rank profanity for a New Church minister to introduce a reading from the Writings which shall do either of these things for the many or few? It is a terrible thought; for so many of us have been uplifted by the sublimity of the ideas enunciated. We had thought that strangers paying a chance visit to our service might have their attention arrested and seek to learn more. But never have I heard of such a reading superseding a Lesson from the Divine Word. And never have I heard of any difficulty in finding passages suitable for reading. Generally they have been chosen for their bearing on the subject of the sermon which was to follow.

     "The inference to be drawn from Mr. Goldsack's article is that the Lord was present with and gave the Revelation to Swedenborg while he was reading the Divine Word, and withdrew from him while he endeavored to put it on paper as best he could. Is this in accord with a statement of Swedenborg himself, recorded in the Documents, Vol. ii, p. 404, thus: 'When I think of what I am about to write, and while I am in the act of writing, I am gifted with a perfect inspiration; for otherwise it would be my own; but now I know for certain that what I write is the living truth of God'?" (New-Church Herald, March 7, 1931, p. 153.)

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     In the issue of the HERALD for March 14th, M. P. Fairlie writes:

     "There is one question I should like to ask Mr. Goldsack. Why should Swedenborg's rational understanding of the Heavenly Truths he was privileged to convey in the Writings detract from their value as revealed truth? Also, there must be many in the New Church who, having heard passages from the Writings read Sunday after Sunday from the pulpit, disagree that there are no suitable passages for such treatment" (p. 169).

     In the same number of the HERALD, the Rev. A. E. Beilby, writing in his usual sprightly style, expresses the belief that Mr. Goldsack's "guardian angel was certainly sleeping at his post when he permitted the publication of the article on 'The Word and the Writings of Swedenborg.'" He goes on to say:

     "I have read the article with dismay, and almost with incredulity. Its gratuitous assumptions and inconsequent conclusions, piled one upon another, sentence after sentence; and, above all, its obdurate and unbending dogmatism they affright me. No decretals fulminated from any popedom could be quite so final and forbidding as these from Birmingham.

     "One would have supposed that the main or only issue of the article-viz., the propriety or otherwise of including passages from Swedenborg in divine service-could be settled on its own merits, according to rules of use and common sense, and that ex cathedra quotations designed to closure the question by appeal to authority would be out of place.

     "That, at any rate, is my own attitude. While never having adopted any stereotyped plan, which surely is not essential, I have often varied the service by a reading from the Seer's Writings, nor has the departure ever met with any objection or lack of appreciation, nor has any avalanche of disaster ever descended on us for venturing to act from liberty according to reason. There is no need to omit either of the Lessons, or any other integral part of the usual order; though that order, be it said, is in no sense of divine appointment, but, like other human arrangements, simply a question of convention and convenience.

     "Still less need we be suspected of placing any Writings on an equality with the Word; though here again we may recall that Swedenborg, being a less dogmatic doctrinaire than the Birmingham minister, frequently quotes from the Epistles and other uninspired Scriptures, and quotes them as authoritative. "Mr. Goldsack protests a little too much his devotion to the Scriptures, and claims for them a meticulous and mechanical perfection in the letter which he must know cannot be maintained. . . .

     "He says again, 'The very sphere of worship is bound to be destroyed by the introduction of any humanly written book.' Really, this is fanaticism, not to say frenzy.

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A church service is not for worship only; it is also for 'instruction in Divine things,' etc. Is not a sermon a human composition, and does not Wretham Road listen to a couple of them every Sunday? Are not our feeble, faltering prayers human compositions? Are not our hymns human, except when they are inhuman? Are pulpit notices of week-night appointments, including dancing and refreshments, in any sense superhuman?

     "Mr. Goldsack proclaims again: 'The character of Swedenborg's illumination was such that, inevitably, what he wrote is deficient in those perfections of quality and diction that are needed for such use.' Well, my taste may not be as nice as his, but I simply deny the assertion. When he proceeds to allege that 'Swedenborg nowhere provides a concise, crystallized gem of wisdom,' etc., I reply that he has Provided hundreds!

     "But we are further if not finally assured that 'the very grandeur of Swedenborg's works is the very reason why they are not suited for use in public worship'! Dear me! Is that the reason, after all? Mr. Goldsack seems resolved to have it both ways and all ways.

     "No doubt the selection of passages from the works demands care and discrimination, and the absence of such attention might bring discredit on the practice. But that applies in some degrees to the Word itself, large proportions of which are not really suitable for public recital, unless with explanatory comments.

     "It grieves me to challenge an honored friend and colleague, but his megaphone manner suggestive of the quarter-deck is disquieting, without being in the least convincing. I advise my brother ministers to preserve their freedom, and to act in this matter as seems to them good.
     "A. E. BEILY."
ANCIENTS AND THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES 1931

ANCIENTS AND THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES              1931

     "If a man of the Most Ancient Church had read the historical or prophetical Word, he would have seen its internal sense without previous instruction or any explication, and this in such a manner that the celestial and spiritual things which are of the internal sense would instantly have come to his notice, and scarcely anything which is in the sense of the letter. Thus the internal sense would have been in clearness to him, but the sense of the letter in obscurity; and he would be as one who hears another speaking, and only imbibes the sense, but does not attend to the expressions of the speaker. But if a man of the Ancient Church had read the Word, he would not have been able to see its internal sense without previous instruction or explication. Thus the internal sense would have been in obscurity to him, but the sense of the letter in clearness; and he would be as one who hears another speaking, and in his thought is intent on the expressions, and in the meantime does not attend to the sense, which is therefore lost to him. But when a man of the Jewish Church reads the Word, he comprehends nothing but the sense of the letter; he does not know that there is any internal sense, and he also denies it. The case is similar at this day with the man of the Christian Church." (A. C. 4493:4.)

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     ALENA HUGHES WAELCHLI.

     After a severe and trying illness of four months' duration, Alena Hughes Waelchli, the wife of the Rev. Fred E. Waelchli, passed peacefully into the spiritual world on March 11th, at Wyoming, Cincinnati, Ohio.

     She was born on October 2d, 1868, at Kitchener, then "Berlin," Ontario, Canada. Her father, Dr. Samuel Hughes, died in her early childhood. Her mother, as a most earnest New Church woman, did everything possible to awaken with her only child a love for the Church and the Doctrines, but died when Alena was about fifteen years of age; and Alena was then taken into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Roschman, the latter being her mother's sister. The Roschmans were members of the Academy, and in their cordial home there burned an unfailing affection for the things of the Church. Alena became active in the young people's life of the First New Jerusalem Society of Berlin, of which the Rev. F. W. Tuerk was pastor. After a time in high school, and a brief business-course in Toronto, where she formed an enduring friendship with Miss Maude Carter (now Mrs. Heath), she was employed in the office of Mr. Roschman's button business.

     In the autumn of 1887, Alena grasped the opportunity to attend the Academy Schools in Philadelphia, and there she met Fred Waelchli, then in his last year of the Theological School. Between them there sprang up almost immediately mutual attachment which resulted in their engagement the next summer. After his ordination in 1888, Mr. Waelchli went to Berlin, and became head-master of the school of the local New Jerusalem Society, of which quite a number of "Academicians" were members. Alena spent in all a year and a half in the Academy School at Philadelphia, and was married at Berlin, April 25th, 1889. Her deep affectionate interest in the life of the Church sustained her husband's active part in the separation of the Academy group from the Berlin Society, in 1891. The immediate result of the breach was the establishment of the Carmel Church and its parish school,-a use which had been renounced by the old society.

     For nearly thirty years the new society went on prosperously under Mr. Waelchli's care. His ministrations were interrupted for three years, 1897 to 1900, during which he had charge of the German New Church Society at Baltimore, Md. Through extreme poverty, through spiritual and natural afflictions, and through health and sickness, Mrs. Waelchli was typical of all the loving wives of the early Academy period, whose loyalty stood firm and smiling through storms of slander and difficult times.

     In 1918, Mr. Waelchli's gradual assumption of the duties of Visiting Pastor made desirable his settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and those of his family who were not already married. Kitchener, however, was still the home of her affections, as it was of her life-long friends. And at her funeral the red and white floral tribute from the Carmel Church was received with much emotion, as significant of this long attachment.

     Mrs. Waelchli was open-hearted and friendly in disposition, and devoid of any trace of malice. She made friends of all acquaintances, and took a self-less interest in everybody. Her home was always the center for the young people, who naturally turned to her with affection.

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It is very hard to express the place she filled in the life of the Kitchener Society.

     [Photos of REV. AND MRS. FRED E. WAELCHLI]

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     Her generous nature was not made for parsimony. Yet, despite the smallest conceivable pastor's income, and with a constitution which she-in her restless activity-never sufficiently guarded, and which at one period was seriously threatened by her growing responsibilities, she and her husband managed to raise a family of seven, in addition to one child who died in infancy. The was bound with a very strong affection to her children, and when, between 1915 and 1919, five of them were married, it was her compensation that all found their partners happily within the New Church. She has now twenty-eight grandchildren, all but one still in this world.

     The travels of her husband as Visiting Pastor left Mrs. Waelchli often alone, and despite failing health she therefore spent some time each Year with her various children and grandchildren. She had never had much opportunity to travel before this, if we except a visit to Germany with her mother when she was young. Never accustomed to luxuries, she therefore regarded it as an epochal event in her life to be able to accompany her husband in 1929 to the Pacific Coast, sightseeing, and visiting New Church families whose friendship she immediately captured. In 1927, her daughter Provida (Mrs. J. H. Hilldale) died, leaving four small children, two of whom remained at Cincinnati.

     Mrs. Waelchli is survived by her husband, and by the following children: Olivia (Mrs. Geoffrey S. Childs); Victor (married to Lucy Boggess); Flora (Mrs. Loyal Odhner); Constance (wife of the Rev. H. L. Odhner); Carol (Mrs. Richard Kintner); and Richard. All except the last are living in Bryn Athyn, where also their father expects to settle shortly.

     It is our understanding that Mr. Waelchli has now made his arrangements to take up his residence in Bryn Athyn about the middle of May.
     H. L. O.

     SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

     On the 23d of October the women of the Society met in "Baringa," and established what is now known as "The Hurstville New Church Women's Guild." Miss Taylor was elected President, Miss White Secretary, and Mrs. Morgan Treasurer. Meetings will be held monthly in various homes, the main purpose being the fostering of the social life of the church.

     At the time of writing, March 6th, our day school has entered the second quarter of its existence, with increased attendance. There are now ten children. Miss Taylor has relieved Miss White of some of the work of the Kindergarten section, so that this very important phase of instruction and education will not be abandoned temporarily, as was feared when our last report was made. Bettie Adams, one of the first five children mentioned, will be baptized into the Church next Sunday. In Sydney there are five or six Kindergarten schools conducted by the Government, three of which are especially well equipped. The head of one of these has given Miss Taylor valuable information, and also the privilege of seeing the class in action whenever she desires.

     The Christmas vacation was associated with a pleasant ceremony on the 18th of December. The school was arranged for a social gathering of the parents and friends whom Miss White invited, and who were welcomed by the Pastor. They were shown the work done by the children, which gave evidence of remarkable progress for so brief a period. The chief item of a well-arranged program was then presented. It was a Christmas play, which taught that the heart's desire is attained by total submission and sacrifice. But it is a moot question whether plays which have their setting in Northern dimes, amid ice and snow, are appreciated most by witnesses of it in a sympathetic temperature, or in a temperature that is antipathic, such as we have here at the Christmas season.

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It may be said of this play, however, that the unselfish actions that were exhibited tended to warm the heart, while the vision of snow had a cooling effect in a temperature of about 80 degrees.

     After the play, many pleasing rhythmic movements by the children were performed. Then the last item,-a cake given "To Our School" by Mrs. T. R. Taylor,-occupied everyone's attention. It was in the form of a school-house covered with snow. Upon it were eight lighted candles, representing the teacher and her seven pupils.

     RICHARD MORSE.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     The Rev. Karl R. Alden spent a busy three days with us the weekend of March 14-16, having come in response to the invitation of the local chapter of the Sons of the Academy. At the annual installation banquet on Saturday, he was introduced by the new president, Mr. Harold P. McQueen, and time passed unnoticed as we listened to his enthusiastic address on "Our Responsibilities as Sons of the Academy,"-which responsibilities loomed larger and larger as he proceeded. His description of the Apostles and their deaths as martyrs made us wonder whether we should not be fasting instead of feasting And in his development of the theme he showed that the opportunity for sacrifice did not cease with the cross and the stake, but that it is normal to the progress of the church and the individual. Discussion followed, and the spirit of the evening was expressed in a closing remark of one speaker: "If our sphere tonight is perceived in the other world, the stalwart Academicians there will know that the Academy spirit is still a living thing."

     At the service on Sunday morning, Mr. Alden delivered the sermon, which was heard by a large congregation, and in the evening again addressed the local chapter of the Sons of the Academy at the regular monthly supper of the organization, when he spoke of the spiritual leaders of the Church, past and present, and called our attention to their labors and their achievements. On Monday he met with the ladies of the society in a very instructive meeting which dealt with problems in the field of education. Certainly Mr. Alden is an eager, welcome and effective "propagandist" in the interests of Academy education, and highly useful in promoting mutual understanding and good feeling among the societies of the General Church.

     Our Palm Sunday service was particularly for the children. The pupils of the school, suitably robed, entered in procession, and the choir sang the Hosanna for double quartet of voices on page 366 of the Psalmody. Later the school and younger children brought their gifts of flowers to the chancel, as the choir sang the Gloria from Mozart's Twelfth Mass. Then the school, carrying palm branches, came upon the chancel, where they deposited the palms as they recited and sang. The Pastor then delivered an address in which he explained the meaning of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, and the significance of the palms and flowers. The whole service was reverent and inspiring.

     On Good Friday there was a special service, with the administration of the sacrament of the Holy Supper. On Sunday morning Easter was celebrated with a special service, a sermon appropriate to the day, and an augmented choir. In the afternoon there was a series of tableaux on the stage of the assembly hall, depicting incidents of the time of the Resurrection, costumed and lighted in such a way that all could see and feel the actual presence of the characters represented. Between the tableaux, the Pastor read the text of the Gospel describing the scenes represented, and the congregation sang appropriate Psalms. Both services were largely attended, and the spirit of this holy day was felt by everyone present.

     During the past month, Professors Jesse Stevens and Jean Rydstrom delighted us with a musical soiree at which they and their musician helpers rendered some splendid instrumental and vocal numbers.

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     Mr. and Mrs. Gerardin Smith (nee Jean Synnestvedt) have just started housekeeping in the Park subdivision. The members of the society assembled one evening to give the newly married couple a "shower" of useful and ornamental gifts, and we all had a jolly time.
     J. B. S.

     BRAZIL.

     The Rev. Joao de Mendonca Lima, a pastor of the General Church Society in Rio de Janeiro, has made a splendid Portuguese translation of the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, which will be published Shortly al Rio de Janeiro.

     During the recent political changes in Brazil, Senhor Lima, who is a Colonel and very highly regarded in the Brazilian Army, played a prominent role in the states of Matto Grosso, Parana, and Sao Paolo, and in the latter state is a leading figure in the new government.

     Our readers will be interested to know that the Rev. Henry Leonardos, whose portrait appeared in our last issue, is of Greek ancestry, his father being the minister of Greece to Brazil. He speaks modern Greek, as well as French and Portuguese, the latter being the prevailing language of Brazil.

     LONDON-MICHAEL CHURCH.

     An unusually long interval has elapsed since our last report, for while the work has gone on steadily, there did not seem to be much in the last session that called for special comment. Meetings, especially of a social character, have of necessity been fewer, owing to the distance from the church at which so many members now live. To meet this difficulty, a new effort has been made in the form of occasional Social Suppers, which are held at 6.30 p.m. to "catch" the business man on his way home, and which conclude at a comparatively early hour. At the three suppers so far given, the attendance was good, and a pleasant sphere prevailed. A specific subject has been introduced on each occasion, and considered in the light of the Doctrines, all present being free to take part in the discussion. The question, "Why am I a New Churchman?" perhaps seemed to make the widest appeal, while a more recent paper on "Habit" excited considerable interest.

     Death of Mrs. Benade.

     But the event which has made the deepest impression in the last few weeks has been the brief illness, followed by the removal from this world, of our beloved friend, Mrs. Benade. Those who knew her best have been aware for some time that she was "going," but always her wonderful mind strove to ignore the increasing physical weakness, and she was possessed with the idea of "finishing her work,"-the work of dealing with the many documents left in her care by Bishop Benade, whose office and use in the Church were the very life and soul of her existence.

     On Friday, March 13th, the call came, and she quietly and peacefully said "good-bye" and "crossed the road" in the presence of her only surviving sister. The interment at Highgate was preceded by a simple service and affectionate address by Bishop Tilson at the chapel of the London Necropolis. There were some lovely floral tributes from Miss Gibbs, the Pastor and congregation of Michael Church (in the Academy colors), the Pastor and members of the Colchester Society, and others.

     On Sunday, March 22d, a Memorial Service was held at Michael Church. There was a good attendance, and again the beautiful flowers on the chancel added much to the sphere of worship and of affection for her who was in truth very present, although, in the earthly sense, her place "knew her no more,"-that place which she had occupied so long and so loyally. She had attended church but a week or two before, and had taken the Holy Supper, having the great joy of seeing Bishop Tilson wear the beautiful crimson silk robe which had be longed to Bishop Benade.

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As he passed out after the service, the Pastor shook hands with her, and the thought that it was the "last time" came to many of those who saw that pastoral blessing.

     The Memorial Service began, after the opening of the Word, with the hymn, "O God our Help in Ages Past." The Fourth General Office was used, with Psalm xxiii for the alternate reading. The Lessons were Psalm xc; John xi. 18-46; A. C. 6221 and 553. The culminating point of the service was reached in the singing of the very beautiful hymn 60 from the General Church Liturgy,-"God of the living, in whose eyes,"-which made us realize anew that our beloved friend was indeed still "living." It was a fitting prelude to the living sermon of which the text was John xi. 25, 26, and was almost entirely extempore.

     Bishop Tilson forcefully applied the lessons of the text to the event that was in the minds of his hearers, and then passed in review some of the more prominent circumstances in connection with the church life of Mrs. Benade and her family. After early days at Bath under the Rev. Keene, they moved to London under the pastoral care of Dr. R. L. Tafel at Camden Road, supporting whole heartedly his "Authority" position. When that position seemed to weaken, they, in spite of great personal affection for Dr. Tafel, "followed the Banner" to Flodden Road, where, under great difficulties, it was still being held aloft by our present Pastor. And when the inevitable split came there, the Gibbs family, this time with their Pastor, came out and followed on still.

     When Bishop Benade visited England, a close friendship was formed on this same foundation, and culminated some years later, on a second visit, in the marriage at Michael Church, of the eldest daughter, Kate, to him who was the outstanding figure in the work of the Church of the Academy. Pastors Tilson and Bostock took part in the ceremony. Some of us can remember the scene as though it were yesterday! Henceforth Mrs. Benade set herself to the Chancellor of the Academy and his great work like "sweetest music unto noble words." She was a most unselfish and devoted wife. When, some years later, the hour of trial came, and the principles of the Academy were threatened, she supported her husband loyally under the banner with the "strange device"-Authority-a banner which, by God's help, shall be still upheld as long as life shall last.

     Thus spoke our Pastor, after which the singing of Psalm xxxix and the Benediction brought a memorable service to a close. May its sphere and influence long remain with us. "She hath done what she could." Let us go and do likewise.
     K. M. D.

     GENERAL CONVENTION.

     Death of the Rev. Adolph Roeder.

     In The New-Church Messenger of April 1st, the Rev. E. M. Lawrence Could gives a biographical account of the Rev. Adolph Roeder, Pastor Emeritus of the Orange, N. J., Society, who passed into the spiritual world on his seventy-second birthday, March 1, 1931. The same issue contains a portrait of Dr. Roeder.

     Born in Baltimore, Md., March 1, 1859, Adolph Roeder studied for the ministry in the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church in Philadelphia, 1877-1878, and was ordained by the Rev. Chauncey Giles in 1880. During a ministerial career of fifty-one years, he served as pastor of the societies at Frankford, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Allentown, Pa., Vineland, N. J., and Orange, N. J., filling the pastorate of the Orange Society for thirty-three years, and also taking a prominent part in the civic life of the community. For seven years he was President of the New York Association. He succeeded the Rev. A. O. Brickman as editor of Bote der Neuen Kirche, contributed extensively to the periodicals of the New Church, and was the author of several books. His special interest was in the field of Psychology and Symbolism, as typified by his book, Symbol Psychology.

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His latest work, Man's Two Memories, has just been published by The New-Church Press, New York.

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

     On Thursday, March 26th, a four days' visit at MIDDLEPORT, OHIO, was begun. Three evening doctrinal classes were held, at two of which our subject was the teaching that by means of the Word they also have light who are outside the church and have not the Word (S. S. 104); and at the third, the teaching that the Lord alone leads and teaches man through the angelic heaven and from it. (D. P. 162.) On Saturday, instruction was given to five children, and as Easter was near at hand our subject was the Lord's Resurrection. Services were held on Sunday, with an attendance of ten, of whom eight partook of the Holy Supper.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The Rev. Karl R. Alden, Principal of the Boys' Academy at Bryn Athyn, spent Tuesday, March 17th, in Pittsburgh. During the day he visited the School, and in the evening gave an address to the society which was of stimulating interest in the field of New Church education. It was an enjoyable meeting, and we are sorry that Mr. Alden could not be with us for a longer visit.

     A Cafeteria Supper was given in the auditorium on Friday, March 20th, and netted a tidy sum for the radio fund. The supper was followed by the Annual Meeting of the society. The usual reports were made, and an additional one by Mr. Arthur O. Lechner as chairman of the choir.

     There was a dance and cards on Saturday, March 28th. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert M. Smith acted as host and hostess. Special dances by Miss Aneella Bergstrom and Miss Nadezhda Iungerich added much to the entertainment. As no one wished to leave at twelve o'clock, it would follow that the occasion was an enjoyable one.

     We were happy to have the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt with us for a visit. He preached at the service on Sunday, March 22nd. He was accompanied in his car by Mrs. Stuart Synnestvedt and her son Richard, Miss Vera Bergstrom and Mr. Wynne Acton. A number of the Pittsburgh students returned home during the three weeks' quarantine period when the Academy Schools at Bryn Athyn were closed, March 15-April 6.

     Our service on Easter Sunday was beautiful and impressive. It began at 10.45 a.m. with a procession of children bringing floral offerings, which were placed upon the outer chancel. The children then joined their parents for the service. At its close the congregation partook of the Holy Supper in its regular quarterly administration. One hundred and five attended, this number including visitors from the Pittsburgh district. We express grateful appreciation to Miss Norris for her most able decoration of the chancel, which was resplendent with flowers and candles.

     We welcome Mrs. E. C. Iungerich to Pittsburgh again. She is teaching French to a group of eleven of the youngest children in the Day School.

     Mrs. Charles E. Doering, of Bryn Athyn, visited in Pittsburgh for several days. Mrs. Samuel S. Lindsay, Jr., nee Catherine Doering, has returned with her mother for a visit in Bryn Athyn. Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lindsay and their two daughters, of Springfield, Pa., spent several days visiting Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Lindsay Sr.
     E. R. D.

     SOUTH AFRICAN ASSEMBLY.

     The March, 1931, issue of the South African New Church Open Letter announces that the Second South African Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Durban, Natal, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 19th-21st, 1931.

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WAYSIDE NOTES 1931

WAYSIDE NOTES       G. A. MCQUEEN       1931




     Announcements.





NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          JUNE, 1931           No. 6
     "In the spiritual world the ways in which anyone walks are actual determinations of the thoughts of his mind; and hence it is that ways, 'walkings,' and the like, in the spiritual sense in the Word, signify determinations and progressions of spiritual life." (L. J. 48.) So in these Wayside Notes, in which the aim is to look at every subject from a New Church standpoint, it is important that we keep close to the way of truth, and especially so when quoting from Divine Revelation. Readers would be performing a real use if they would point out those places where the writer of these notes may be wandering from the way. Let us all look for the fulfillment of the prophecy, "I will give them one heart and one way to fear me," signifying "one will and one understanding to worship the Lord. . . .'Way,' the truth of the understanding leading." (A. E. 696.)

     Popularizing the Language of the Writings.

     The subject of the existing translations of the Writings has come to the front again, and the Swedenborg Society of London has agreed to prepare and publish several works in a more popular style. It is an important undertaking, and a serious one, but we believe that the Swedenborg Society, as in the past, will realize its great responsibility as publisher of books given from heaven through the instrumentality of Swedenborg, and, in making changes in the language of the Writings, will be careful that the truths revealed are not obscured in any way.

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Later on, it will be possible to conclude as to what extent the present translations have retarded the acceptance of the Heavenly Doctrine.

     The Style of the Prophetical Word.

     There are many passages in the literal sense of the Word, especially in the Prophets, which have never been understood in the church. In Genesis, we have the story of the creation, which, while not intended to be taken literally, is a connected narrative which can be followed by the general reader without difficulty. But in reading some parts of the Prophets, there is so much breaking up of the continuity in the literal sense that the reader ultimately has to confess his utter inability to understand what is meant. If he be a devout reader, he will be content to leave this matter of the literal sense, and be thankful for the light given in the Writings concerning the continuous chain of spiritual truth contained in all those places where the literal sense may be said to be disturbing. The following quotation furnishes consolation to those who have been regretting their inability to understand the "unintelligible." Referring to the third style of the Word, as in the Prophets, which took its rise in the Most Ancient Church, we read: "This, however, is not connected, and as it were historical, like the most ancient style, but broken and interrupted, being scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense." (A. C. 66.)

     Interior Understanding of Doctrine Not Essential to Salvation.

     New Churchmen have been heard to lament their inability to enter deeply into the teachings of the Writings. This should cause no anxiety to those who are really searching for the truth. In the Arcana Coelestia there is a remarkable statement in regard to this state of things in the minds of men at the present day. It describes the distinctions between the internal, interior and external man, and says that few will appreciate the teaching given, because the generality of mankind are living in externals, and make them the ground of their thoughts. Assuming that New Churchmen, with all their abundance of spiritual truths, may still be counted as part of the generality of mankind, we have on this plane the encouraging statement that what had been said about the internal man, as being above the comprehension of many, is not necessary to salvation, and that it is enough to know that there is an internal and an external man and to acknowledge and believe that all good and truth are from the Lord. (A. C. 978.)

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It is to be hoped, however, that what has just been said will not be accepted as an excuse for spiritual and mental laziness, but rather that it may spur readers of the Writings to hasten the time when they can class themselves as no longer of the "generality of mankind."

     New Church Communities.

     The subject of the benefits to be derived from the establishment of New Church communities has been revived during recent years. The story of past attempts to form self-sustaining communities, in which people could live according to their own religion, tells of many failures and few successes. This has not discouraged men of the New Church from looking to movements of this kind as a means of promoting the growth of the Church of the New Jerusalem on earth. They believe it would be well to get away from the worldly distractions of modern life to a spot where they might live a distinctive New Church life, with more time to study spiritual things, and to apply the principles learned to their economical, social and religious

     The subject may be considered from many angles; and, after considering many points of view, there will still be the main question as to whether the idea of separation from the world is essential to the progress of the church, or, as some think, that it would be detrimental to that growth. It is almost inconceivable that people reared in modern ways of living would be prepared to forsake these ways to start afresh in primitive surroundings and conditions.

     What has happened in Bryn Athyn and Glenview always comes to mind when considering this question. At Glenview, it was a case of hard, pioneering work on the part of a few people who were filled with the desire to bring up their children in the New Church, and who proposed to accomplish this aim by forming a center where they might establish a church and provide for the work of education and it has been accomplished with great success. This could not have been done if the people had remained scattered in different parts of a great city. But, had the attempt been made to establish a self-sustaining community, it is doubtful whether the work would have prospered.

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When the Glenview movement started, it was to a large extent separated from the world, but it is so no longer; and it remains to be seen whether the surrounding spheres of the world will injuriously affect the church, or, on the other hand, whether the spiritual life of the society will grow in such proportion that it will exercise a beneficial influence in the surrounding neighborhood.

     The Main Question.

     At a recent meeting of New Churchmen, a discussion of the subject referred to created much interest, and brought out many aspects of the question. A laudable effort was made to view the subject from an interior standpoint, and both the Word in the Letter and the Writings were quoted. It was claimed by some that a body of New Church people working together with a spiritual purpose would be better able to enter into the love of use. There seemed to be some confusion of thought as to the real meaning of the word "use" which so frequently occurs in the Writings. It was not seen clearly that a man's real use, which is not known to the man himself, can be something entirely different from his daily employment. To support the idea that it was not necessary to separate from the world around us, the Lord's words were quoted to show that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. A very good point was made, that when the time came that it was clearly seen from an interior principle to be the duty of New Churchmen to separate and start communities, it would be done in spite of economic difficulties. This note has been written to indicate the confusion which must arise when trying to apply principles from the Doctrines, and the necessity for proceeding slowly in matters of this kind.

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WEDDING GUESTS 1931

WEDDING GUESTS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931


     THE WEDDING GUESTS.

     A SERMON BY THE REV. HUGO LJ. ODHNER.

     "And (the King) saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And (the man) was speechless." (Matthew 22:12.)

     To the Scribes and the Pharisees the Lord had said, "Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you." "The kingdom of God," He said, "shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." The Jewish Church had become as a vineyard bringing forth wild grapes, and as a barren fig tree; there was in it no spiritual good, nor any genuine natural good.

     And now the Lord, by a parable, justified this impending transfer of the Church to the despised gentiles. He likened the kingdom of heaven to a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call those that were bidden to the wedding-feast. But the guests would not come. Even when he sent other servants, telling that the feast was prepared and the oxen and the fatling killed, some of those bidden made light of it, being too busy with their farms or their merchandise, and others (probably subject kings or liege-lords) entreated the messengers spitefully and slew them; wherefore the king was wroth, and sent his soldiers against them, and destroyed them and their cities. Then he saith to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage." And so the servants went out into the highways, and gathered together both good and bad, as many as they could find, and the wedding was furnished with guests.

     The Lord, in this parable, taught of the kingdom of heaven, or of the church in this world and in the world of spirits. The Lord's love toward the entire human race is expressed as a preparation for a wedding-a betrothal of His Son.

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And by "the Son" is signified the Divine Human of the Lord,-the Lord as He is revealed to the Church, the Lord as He is known and made visible in a Human adorable form. The continual effort of the Divine Love is to conjoin the human race to Himself in a celestial marriage bond, in a covenant of mutual and reciprocal love. This conjunction, it may be noted, is not possible with the Divine Esse Itself, or with the Father, directly. For the Divine Being or Esse Itself is invisible, and cannot be approached, even by human thought, except through the Only Begotten Son, the Divine forthstanding Human. Pure mercy or essential love cannot be seen or received except so far as it is revealed in Divine Truth, in Divine Form; that is, so far as it is centered in the Divine Human.

     It is thus the marriage of the Divine Human and the Lord's Church, which is the Bride and Wife of the Lamb, that is here spoken of in the interior sense. There are those who are bidden to this feast, bidden by the command of the Heavenly King to take part in the festivities, bidden to eat and drink at the table of the King. These represent those who are within the Church, who do claim to be the friends of the Bridegroom, that is, who know, the Lord and who have His Word. These are now bidden to come to the feast.

     But the story relates that they would not come. They were too busy-they could not come. One had a farm, and another must attend to his merchandise. One had bought five yoke of oxen; another had married a wife. And some, in the spite of anger, slew the messengers of the King!

     Clearly these were not the friends of the princely Bridegroom! It is the state of a consummated church that is here described, when the Lord is known, and yet not loved; when the truth comes to men, enters into the forecourt of their minds, and knocks at the gates of their hearts for admission, but is not received; when indifference to spiritual right and wrong and repugnance to spiritual duties turn all instruction away; when, finally, the truth itself is assailed, and perverted, and denied, until men kill every spark of spiritual perception within them; kill it so that nothing may deter them from indulging freely in the lusts of gain and avarice, or, at best, in the merely moral and civil uses before them.

      And the eternal King is then forced to seek for other wedding guests.

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The Lord must permit a judgment to fall upon the degenerate church, and take the kingdom of heaven from them, to give it to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, and to establish a new church, sending the truth forth into the highways and the hedges, the streets and the lanes, among the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind, and to give out a universal invitation to the wedding feast that is prepared in the heavens! And all that are bidden by royal mandate, and gathered in, are given a garment for the feast wedding-garment from the King.

     The call which the Lord issues in these latter days is a universal invitation to His marriage feast,-to the Church, where spiritual nourishment is granted to all according to their state. The call is universal. But it is only those who are in the highways and lanes that can meet the servants of the King, and thus be invited. By "highways " or "roads," in the spiritual sense, are meant truths. Those who are "in the highway" are those who are seeking truths, who long to know the faith of life, who are searching and yearning for the knowledge of heaven, and thus for the road to heaven; who have their minds open to receive some greater light, and speculate concerning the spiritual issues of right and wrong that are involved in the incidents of their life. These are they that meet with the servants of the King! These are they who are invited. And yet some of these are good and some bad,-so we are told in the parable. Some inquire after truths only from an idle curiosity, or from a desire to profit by gain or honor or some natural ambition. But none the less they receive their wedding garment, that they may come to the feast; although all do not adorn themselves with it.

      And now, what is this Wedding garment? For the story shows that without it none could partake of the feast. The King came in to see the guests; and he found one without the wedding garment. He asked him how he came in thither. And when the man remained Speechless, the king commanded that the stranger be bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness, where there should be but "wailing and gnashing of teeth."

     There is a general recognition among men that courtesy should make continual demands upon the details of one's whole life. Courtesy is not only the proper ultimate of kindly relations among men in their civic and social intercourse, but it is also the ultimate of mutual love.

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It is based upon a regard for the feelings and customs of the neighbor, upon a desire to comply with his wishes whenever it is feasible, whether these wishes be expressed or not. And it should have within it a consideration for his delights,-a desire not to interfere with his enjoyments, but to enhance them so long as they are good and proper. On this account, many of these rules of courtesy have reference to a representative expression of states, whether of solemnity, dignity, respect, joy, or informal ease. Wherefore, at a feast, joy and festivity are expressed even in the very apparel. This is so, to a limited extent, in this world. It is doubly true in the heavens, where no material limitations exist. There, we are told, garments are truly representative-yea, correspondential Their colors flame and change, shine and grow dull, according to the moods of the angels. With the entrance into new states, new garments are also provided, gratis, by the Lord. And in each case they represent and manifest the quality of the truths with which the love of the angel is clothed.

     The garments are a token of the preparation of an angel, or a man, for entrance into a certain state; and, particularly, they are tokens of the truths which furnish that preparation. To assume the robes or garments of an office or degree means to be ready and prepared for that use. And so, in the great school of life, each man is furnished with a wedding garment-is prepared by instruction and experience to take his place, exalted or lowly, at the Marriage Supper of the great God. Each human soul is thus prepared for entrance into the heaven of his delight, and of his greatest usefulness. And, marvellous to say, with no two men is that preparation the same; each, in the Divine Providence, is given a different garment for his spirit.

      Every state requires preparation. We must enter into a state of worship in a different manner from that in which we approach our times of pleasure. When we draw near unto the Lord, we must prepare our spirits by thoughts of a different kind than those with which we are accustomed to prepare ourselves for approach to our fellow men. The truths that must be active in our minds as a preparation for worship or instruction are truths of humiliation and confession, truths of acknowledgment of the one only God and Savior, before whom all the earth must be silent.

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      But there are other garments than wedding garments. Life in the natural world requires us to assume external truths of civil and moral application. We are required to set up for ourselves standards of knowledge, of industry, of civility and courtesy, which we must live up to as citizens of the world. Without these we can command no respect or consideration from our fellowmen, but are shunned and hated, and regarded as outcasts and vagabonds on the earth. But behind such garments our spirits are safe on earth. Few will inquire concerning any other garments. Few see beyond the surface, so long as a man lives in a becoming way; but he is judged by his moral clothes.

     We are told in the Writings that it sometimes happens that one who is clothed in the garments of becoming morality may, by virtue of these alone, be admitted into a society of heaven itself. But he cannot remain there. He cannot breathe the air of heaven. His internal thought turns in a gyre that opposes the thoughts of the angels. And though, sometimes, the simpler of the angels may be misled, the Lord of the feast comes to inspect His guests, and His eyes pierce through the appearance. Unless the wedding garments are worn, the spirit cannot remain in heaven. No other raiment will prepare him to Partake of the feast. None other will enable him to enter into the harmony of that heaven or cause him to feel at ease. He cannot remain without the wedding garments.

     The garments of heaven are called by that remarkable name, because the sphere of conjugial love reigns supreme in heaven. It is the center into which every other love is gathered, and in which, indeed, all wisdom converges, The science of conjugial love, in heaven, becomes the wisdom of life. All the thoughts of the angels lend increased glory to that conjugial life, and exalt it, continually. And thus the life of heaven is compared to a wedding feast, where the beauty of conjugial love is celebrated. He whose mind is not purified from the dress of earth; he whose heart is not instructed in the holiness of the true conjugial; he whose eye cannot bear the beauty of heaven-cannot sit at the feast. His mind swoons, his vision is blurred, his garments of external morality cannot hide him, but he is cast down, lest he defile the feast.

     Those who are able to enter into the company of angels or upright men, only by virtue of having cultivated external appearances, are in the Writings classified as hypocrites.

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The guest who came to the feast without a wedding garment was such a hypocrite.

     Much is said, in the world and in the church, about hypocrisy. It is much condemned. It is a charge that is constantly hurled against public men, as well as against the lowly in rank, against acquaintances, and against those little known. And yet hypocrisy has never been laid so bare, and been so shown up in all its heinousness, as by the Revelation given to the New Church. It is there shown that all the power of hell is exerted by hypocrisy and deceit. For hell has no power unless it poses in the guise of what is good and true. And for this reason the Writings reveal not only the state of the heavens but also the state of the hells. We are told that the deepest and most dangerous of the hells are those of the genii, or the deceitful, whose operations against spirits and men are secret and magical, and who love to assume the cloak of innocence and piety.

     But the man of the church is not only warned against hypocrites among men and hypocrites among spirits. He is also warned against hypocrisy itself, which is constantly being insinuated into his evils whenever he ceases to examine himself and drifts into a state of self-satisfaction. He is warned that a man may "become a hypocrite" if "he thinks much about himself and prefers himself to others; for thus he determines and infuses the thoughts and affections of his mind into his body, and conjoins them with the senses," and becomes sensual in his mental tastes and preferences. He comes to think sensually, and to govern his life, interiorly, for the secret and undisturbed indulgence of sensual delights. He then also learns to conceal these secret delights within him, not shunning them as sins against God, but hiding them because they are considered evils among men-or rather, hiding them, unless he is among suds as do not consider them evils. Hypocrisy-we are therefore told-is an evil which, if confirmed, cannot be remitted or removed. It lies as a worm which gnaws at the core of the heart. It infects with its deceit the most interior regions of the mind, and destroys those states of remains which alone can enable man to repent and be reformed.

     The power of hypocrites comes from their cunning. What evil men call "prudence" is really only "cunning," which becomes subtler the more deceitful it is.

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Hypocrites acquire the habits of practising cunning and deceit until it becomes instinctive with them to clothe evil intentions in kindly words, and lustful thoughts in propriety of behavior. While they are with others, they think from the memory, and can converse even of spiritual things with apparent intelligence and zeal. But when they are alone their thoughts relapse into self, and self alone. The cunning with the evil is that which gives quality to their evils. It receives the influx from hell. It enables them to enter more deeply into their evil fantasies and lusts.

     Such is the nature of hypocrisy. And though it be a grievous evil, into which man may easily lead himself, yet it is also easy to shun it, provided the man is not already partly confirmed in it. Hypocrisy is abhorred, and cunning or deceitfulness is abhorred, by all true men of the church, because it is contrary to the love of truth. To cherish and nourish evils under the cloak of respectability is to profane the goods of charity with evils-to commingle heaven and hell. Perhaps it is on this account that it is often supposed among men that their hypocrisy is best shunned by their being frank in their evils-by throwing prudence to the winds, by displaying their evils, and no longer veiling them with the external courtesies of moral life. When anger or spite moves them, they act and speak impulsively, and give no thought as to the extent to which they injure the spiritual or natural states of their fellow men. When passion stirs them, when evil words are on their lips, they fling open the restraining bars and let forth that of which their heart is full, without shame, but rather with a pride in their frankness, disdainful of those whom they call "cringing hypocrites." Such men are indeed bold in their evil and shameless in their falsities, because they think evil of all men, and say openly what they believe all others merely hide from timidity, or for the sake of prudence, or from stupidity. And so they call themselves frank and sincere!

     But such as these are not sincere. It is not sincere to speak lies or blasphemies. It is not sincere to do evil from rage and malice. For evil word and evil deed alike are living lies,-lies spoken or done, but yet lies. Nor is it on account of love of sincerity that they permit evils and falsities and blasphemies to flow freely from their hearts. It is on account of a love of self, on account of self-pride, and from lack of a controlling reason. Theirs is not hypocrisy of the kind that is usually seen in the world.

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Theirs is hypocrisy when it is finally unveiled, when it is baffled and the mask is torn off.

     It is no credit to a man to be frank in the expression of his evils; for in the spiritual world, when men come before the face of the Eternal King, hypocrisy is of no avail. All alike are judged-all alike are stripped of their outer cloaks-whether they succeed, by simulation, in gaining entrance into a society of good spirits, or not.

     All eventually lose the power of hiding their internal character. Then, if not sooner, it will be seen whether they have clothed themselves in the wedding garments of the heavenly King, or have cast them aside for garments of a cheaper make, such as fit them only for the "outer darkness," where they are "bound hand and foot," and where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth."

      Man is not saved from the evils inwardly latent within hypocrisy, by indulging in those evils openly, and by giving vent to their falsities. He is saved from them only when he retains the external order of moral life, when he orders his life still more according to the moral and civil law, and then, at the same time, prays for the Lord's kelp to shun the evil delights that strive for predominance; to shun them as sins against God, and guard lest they should ever lead him to sin against the neighbor, or to hurt his fellowmen in any manner, or to interfere with the Lord's own work among men. Then he can become sincere. With that prayer in his heart, his endeavors to lead a life of courtesy, and morality, and equity, and industry and zeal, and becoming humility of manner, cannot be called hypocritical.

     There is nothing hidden from the Lord. He tries our hearts and our reins. He knows all the worldly motives that add themselves even to the purest of our resolves to do what is right. But He does not stop there (as we often do in judging our fellowmen); He sees also the inmost love that burns in the rational mind. When we, half-hearted, from a feeling of duty rather than from affection or delight, walk in the path of His precepts, and do the truths that we love to believe, but find hard, at times, to live: then He counts it Unto us-as far as He can-unto righteousness. He does not, as many men and all evil spirits would do, accuse us of hypocrisy! For hypocrisy has in it no interior intention of piety or obedience-no rational love. He chides us not with our imperfection, but gives us His blessing in answer to our prayers, gives us power to rise by degrees from the dust of worldly things, and to acquire a purer good than that of mere obedience,

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Still we must know that obedience is not hypocrisy, but is the beginning of a genuine effort of repentance. And if man persists in it, there are woven about his spirit the wedding garments of spiritual truth.

     Man's regeneration is impossible without spiritual truths-truths loved from a genuine good. And these garments of truth are wedding garments; for in his mind they are joined to good, and good and truth become wedded together. Those who are clothed in these are alone worthy and prepared to Partake of the Supper of the Great God. Amen.

LESSONS: Daniel 9: 1-19. Matthew 21: 33-46 and 22: 1-14. C. L. 101-2
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 501, 581, 600, 638.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 55, 58, 114.
GLEANINGS FROM NEW CHURCH HISTORY 1931

GLEANINGS FROM NEW CHURCH HISTORY       T. H       1931

     HARTLEY TO MESSITER, 1769.

     FROM THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, BOSTON, AUGUST, 1840, P. 566.

      Copy of a part of a Letter from the Rev. Thomas Hartley to Dr. Messiter, which mentions the receipt of the manuscript of the Appendix to the Treatise on the White Horse.

East Malling, near Maidstone, Kent.
                                             September 17, 1769.
     Dear Sir,-I have been in some uneasy suspense at not hearing from you, as you were under some indisposition when we parted last, but I hope this has not been owing to a continuance of your disorder. I suppose that our honorable friend set sail about the time he proposed; but I have not heard any thing concerning him since I saw you; only about a week ago, there was brought from Maidstone, directed for me, a little basket, stuffed with hay, and in it a sheet of paper, in Mr. Swedenborg's hand, in a cover directed to me, but not in his own handwriting.

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In the sheet of his writing, neither you nor I are mentioned; it is superscribed thus: Appendix ad Codicillum de Equo A160, and contains many additional illustrations of the word Equus, signifying intellect, from the Scriptures, with some observations on the Egyptian Hieroglyphics towards the end, concluding thus:-" Nunc quia a Domino," &c. &c. An. 1769, Mens. Aug.

     To whose care the Appendix was committed, or how it was so long in coming to hand, I know not; but think it proper to send you this notice, and would have sent you the original, could I have trusted any thing so valuable as what comes from the author to the hazard of a post letter; however, I shall bring it with me when I come to town, which, I think, will be the first week in November. By "dliquis e vestra societate," he certainly means you or me, or both. Accordingly, I am ready to join with you in this work, which he seems to lay upon us, to the best of my power, and to concur with you in the expense as well as pains, if so be we may in any degree be useful in preparing the minds of some for the New Jerusalem state, shortly to be opened. I shall be glad to settle our parts with you in this work when we meet, and in the meantime desire you will make such collection of remarks on the correspondences in the Apocalypse Revealed, as may suit with your time and inclinations, and be subservient to the author's plan.

     I am now engaged in translating De Commercio, &c. This translation will be attended with more Pains than I expected, as it will be for the use of the learned, and the first specimen (that may be called a translation) of the author's works; and as it will be necessary to take in some of his references to his other works, to illustrate and explain his meaning; and likewise to add explanatory notes.

     As to the doctrine of correspondences, you will find abundant references in his Treatise, De Equo Albo. I wish we could pick up any useful books on hieroglyphical learning. I lately met with the following title: Ellis's Knowledge of Divine Things from Natural, or to that purport; as the title promises something, suppose you make inquiry for it.
     T. H.

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HUMAN ORGANIC 1931

HUMAN ORGANIC       Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS       1931

     (Delivered at a Public Session of the Council of the Clergy, 1931.)

      The purpose of philosophy is to discover truth. To the attainment of this goal the highest faculties of the human mind have been earnestly devoted in every age. Systems of thought have been laboriously constructed, seeking to forge a chain of causes such as might bind together the seemingly disconnected phenomena of nature into a united whole, and trace the origin of all things to their common source. But the effort has always been in vain. At best it has been rewarded by no more than a very partial success. The answers that have appeared satisfactory for a time have always been found inadequate to meet the demands of increasing knowledge and experience. And while the fund of factual knowledge in the possession of the race has grown into an enormous mass, far beyond the compass of any single mind, there has been no appreciable advance toward the discovery of that truth which is the goal of philosophical inquiry. For this reason, many have come to doubt the very existence of such truth. Many have become convinced that, if it does exist, it lies so far beyond the reach of human thought that any effort to attain it would be futile. Many in our own day have come to ask with Pilate, "What is Truth?" and, in a spirit of complete skepticism, have relinquished all endeavor to find an answer, resting satisfied with a mere observation, tabulation, and practical application of phenomena.

     We, of the New Church, have steadily resisted this tendency of modern thought, believing that we have in the Heavenly Doctrine a Divinely revealed source of truth. Here is a truth that is absolute, eternal, and independent of the shifting opinions of men; its foundations laid deep, resting secure upon the Rock of Ages. Out of this faith, philosophy has been born again, and the search for truth has been resumed with renewed hope and vigor. Something of the spirit of the ancient philosophers has been restored among us. Encouraged by the assurance of Divine aid in our quest, we have lifted our eyes once more above the plane of superficial appearances, and have sought to penetrate with some degree of insight into the realm of causes, that we might trace the origin of things, step by step, back to the Lord, the One Infinite Source of all.

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     The task is not a simple one. Even with the aid of Revelation, we find ourselves subject to the same limitations that have always prevented men from entering into the perception of absolute truth. With us also there is no final answer to the question, "What is truth? " The conclusions of one generation with us, as with others, have always been inadequate to meet the larger requirements of its successors, and they have been subjected to revision. It might appear that our hopes have been ill founded, and that, after all, we have nothing more than has the world around us. There is, how- ever, a difference that is induced by our faith in Revelation,-a difference as great as that between night and day. It is not that we, any more than other men, have the power now, or at any future time, to discover absolute truth. It is rather that, with the knowledge, the assurance, that such truth does exist, and with the indications clearly given as to the direction in which it lies, we may journey toward it, making definite advance from generation to generation, and may not continue to wander in a trackless wilderness, hopelessly lost.

     The truth contained in the Writings is indeed absolute, but it is also infinite, and it is absolute only because it is infinite. This infinite, and therefore this absolute, no finite mind can ever grasp. But, having the Heavenly Doctrine for our guide, we can hope for a closer and closer approximation to the Truth. The process by which such an approximation is accomplished is never that of an advance in a straight line, directly to the goal. Hampered, as we are, by hereditary and actual evils, confused by preconceived ideas derived from alien sources, or absorbed unconsciously by our intellectual environment, we are ever prone to turn aside into by-paths. In our study of the Writings, we look in one direction at a time; and, following the course there indicated, it is our tendency to go too far. We are apt to make certain teachings so central, so all-important, that we fail to see their true relation to other teachings, by which they have been modified in the Heavenly Doctrine. For this reason we pursue a zigzag course, following an apparent road until it leads to an obvious parting from other truths clearly stated and acknowledged.

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This is indeed the only possible mode of human progress. But if we are to attain the desired goal, we must, from time to time, check our bearings by reference to the guiding compass of Revelation, and alter our course by bending it again toward the East, in which the Sun of Heaven shines.

                     II.

      It has seemed to me that the time has now come to examine somewhat critically our present situation in regard to the understanding of what we have called the " human organic." In our search for a true answer to the question, "What is man?" the trend of philosophic thought in our Church has been leading us, during the past few years, in one direction. There are certain teachings given in the Writings which, if followed to their logical conclusion, would compel us to the view that man, as an organic being, is material, being composed of those finest things of nature which constitute what the Writings call the "Limbus." We would be forced to believe that, as to substance and form, and thus as to subjective reality, this is the man, and the only man. Aside from this, there is nothing but the Divine of the Lord, present as the activity of Divine Love and Wisdom, moving or actuating this material vessel.

     To one, so far as I am aware, has definitely accepted this view, with all its consequences. Yet it is the only possible outcome of the present direction of our thought. There are, however, certain teachings in the Writings, clear and unmistakable, which should give us pause. I have felt that the time has arrived when we should face this fact squarely, and question whether there is not some flaw in our approach to the subject which ought to be corrected, that we may more fully embrace these other truths, and not be led unconsciously to some invalidation of them. It is with this in mind that I have made the present study, being fully aware that in so doing I shall be able to bring into focus only a single line of thought, while other considerations, having an equally important bearing upon the subject, must of necessity be omitted.

     It is said in the book of Genesis that " the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (2: 7.)

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The whole philosophy of the New Church, both present and future, with reference to the creation of man and his inherent nature, is involved in these simple words. They contain two dominant ideas, either one of which may be given first place in our thought, according to the direction from which we approach the consideration of the subject. The first is, that because man was " formed from the dust of the ground," he is fundamentally a material being. He is, as the Writings state, " nothing but an organ or vessel that receives life from the Lord." (A. C. 3318:2.) He must be born on earth, and must live in a material body, before he can become a spirit or angel, capable of enjoying eternal life; this, because an organic vessel cannot be created apart from nature. For it implies something dead, inert, passive.

     The only true passive in the universe is to be found in those "substances and matters such as are in the earths"; for here first does the Infinite Life that is God come to rest. The whole spiritual world is living, and the material creation alone is dead. Wherefore, that from which organic vessels may be formed must be drawn from nature. The units of which matter consists are, therefore, the only units out of which an organic vessel may be built. These units may vary greatly in the degree of their refinement, from the gross, ponderable elements of which the mineral kingdom is composed, even to those "purest substances of nature" of which the inmost vessels of the human mind consist. Yet, even in this highest degree, they must be conceived of as retaining the essential properties of matter. We must think of this human organic as made up of least parts, each of which is dead, and all of which together produce something spatial. In theory, at least, it must possess a size that is measurable, a shape that is the result of its corpuscular arrangement, and three dimensions that would render it visible to the eye of the body if sufficient assistance were given that organ by some mechanical means.

     It has been said that this organic, which is called in the Writings the "limbus " or "border," although formed of the purest things of nature, is none the less to be called "spiritual." This term has been applied to it, not because of its inherent nature, but rather to express its use and function. As to use, it is discretely removed from all other created organisms. For man alone can see God.

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He alone can be moved or affected consciously by Divine Love and Wisdom; and, by virtue of this fact, can become an inhabitant of a spiritual world, where he may enjoy a continuance of life after the death of the earthly body. Because the vessels of his mind, although in themselves material, are thus capable of responding to the touch and impulse of spiritual forces, man may be called a " spiritual being," and thus distinguished from the animal creation. This, of course, is true. Yet it does not remove from the thought the basic conception of man, when regarded as to substance and form, as being in reality a limbus, composed of the "purest substances of nature," and thus a material being. According to this view, the man himself is the material vessel. The life which inflows to affect or move the vessel is not the man, but is the Divine of the Lord as distinguished from the man.

     The second leading idea contained in the verse quoted from Genesis stands in direct opposition to this view. For it is said that, after the Lord God had " formed man from the dust of the ground," He " breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The "living soul" is not the "dust of the ground." The two are discretely different. Yet it is declared that, after he had received the breath of life from God, man was no longer to be considered as " the dust of the ground," for he had now become "a living soul." What is this "living soul"? It is not God, for it is finite. It is not material, for it is living. It is not merely the Divine of the Lord, for it is called man, and is endowed with individuality.

     There is a similar apparent contradiction in the Writings where we are told that " every man is his own love and his own intelligence" (T. C. R. 778); and elsewhere: " Love makes the whole man, for every man is such as his love is. From this it is that the angels in the heavens are loves and charities in form; the very form they have is from this human form, because in respect to the Divine Human, the Lord, who is in them and forms them, is the Divine Love Itself." (A. C. 10177.)

     If man is " nothing but an organ or vessel which receives life from the Lord," and thus in actuality a material being, how can it be said that man is loved. For the definitive characteristics of love are the very negation of matter. Love is not dead, but living. It is not inert, but active. It is not composed of parts, and is in no sense corpuscular.

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It is non-spatial, immeasurable, imponderable, wholly spiritual in quality. And yet this love is not spoken of merely as some force which moves the material vessel, and thus actuates the man. It is declared to be the very man himself, the essential substance that makes him to be man. It is spoken of as if it were itself a vessel that receives life,-as if it were a passive subject, moved and affected by forces outside of itself. Concerning this we read in the Divine Love and Wisdom: (Italics ours)

     "The idea of men in general about love and wisdom is as of something flying and floating in subtile air or ether, or as an exhalation from something of the kind; and scarcely anyone thinks that they are really and actually substance and form. Those who recognize that they are substance and form still perceive the love and wisdom outside the subject, as flowing forth from it; and that which they perceive as outside the subject and flowing forth from it, although to them flying and floating, they still call substance and form. . . . Nevertheless, the truth is that love and wisdom are the real and actual substance and form which constitute the subject itself." (D. L. W. 40.)

     There then follows a comparison with the senses of the body, to illustrate what is meant by 8 " subject."

     "A man has five external senses, which are called touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. The subject of touch is the skin with which man is encompassed. The very substance and form of the skin cause it to feel the things applied to it; the sense of touch is not in the things which are applied, but it is in the substance and form of the skin, which are the subject. This sense is merely an affection of the subject from the things applied."

     The same is shown to be the case with the other senses, and then the passage continues:

     "Hence it follows that sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, are not anything volatile, effluent from their organs, but that they are the organs, regarded in their substance and form, and that when the organs are affected, sense takes place. The same is the case with love and wisdom, with this difference only, that the substances and forms which are love and wisdom are not extant before the eyes like the organs of the external senses. And yet no one can deny that those things of love and wisdom which are called thoughts, perceptions, and affections, are substances and forms, and that they are not entities flying and flowing out of nothing, or abstracted from real and actual substance and form, which are subjects.

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For in the brain there are innumerable substances and forms, in which resides every interior sense which has relation to the understanding and the will. That all the affections, perceptions and thoughts there are not exhalations from these substances, but that they are really and actually subjects, which emit nothing from themselves, but merely undergo changes according to the waves of things by which they are affected, can appear from what has been said above concerning the external senses." (D. L. W. 41, 42.)

                         III.

     It should be carefully noted that "the innumerable substances and forms" in the brain, which are referred to in this number, are not the material substances there, however refined. They are not "the purest things of nature." They are the "substances and forms" which "are love and wisdom." Of these it is said that they "undergo changes according to the waves of things by which they are affected." Thus love and wisdom are here spoken of as an organic subject, although a spiritual one. Does not this teaching give a key to the understanding of the apparently contradictory statements, on the one hand that "man is nothing but an organ or vessel that receives life from the Lord," because he is " formed from the dust of the ground," and, on the other hand, that man is love and wisdom, and thus that, being imbued with life from God, he "becomes a living soul"? Does it not imply that the material organism formed from the "purest things of nature" is not, after all, the man himself, but is merely a necessary means by which man, as a spiritual being, may come into existence?

     Certain it is, that, if the two divergent definitions of man are to be reconciled, the "vessel receptive of life," which is said to be the man himself, must in some way be identified with the "love and wisdom" which are also said to be the man himself. Philosophically, there are only two possible modes by which this may be done. It may be said that, because God is Love and Wisdom Itself, He is substance and form itself, and the only substance and form out of which the entire universe was created.

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From this it would follow that even matter, while it appears to be dead, is nothing but love and wisdom, when considered as to its inmost essence. The love and wisdom of which matter consists have, however, been reduced to such deadness that they may become a passive vessel, and thus a subject. And so, whether we speak of man as "a material vessel receptive of life " or as a love in human form, it is really the same thing; the sole difference being, that in the one case we are speaking from the appearance, while in the other case we are speaking according to the inner reality. Such a mode of identification, however, is not at all satisfactory. It proves entirely too much. If we follow this reasoning, we must be prepared to call man, not only the material body which is left behind at death, but also every animal organism, every vegetable organism, and even the earth itself. There would be nothing in this conception which would distinguish man from the rest of material creation. There would be nothing in it characteristic of that human organic which is formed from the purest things of nature, by virtue of which man lives after death. Something else must therefore be meant, when it is said that man is love and wisdom; and this leads us to follow the only other line of reasoning which lies open to us.

     Since we cannot identify the material vessel which is man with the love which is man, merely by considering that interiorly all matter is love, may we not conceive that, under certain conditions, love itself may be regarded as a vessel, although a spiritual one, and that this is the vessel which is specifically meant when it is said that " a man is nothing but an organ or vessel which receives life from the Lord"? This requires, however, that we ascribe to love, as it exists in the human mind, the properties and attributes of substance and form, and thus that we conceive of it as a finite subject, or vessel, such as may be affected by forces that play upon it from without. Indeed, it would appear that the passage from Divine Love and Wisdom quoted above, compels us to entertain some such idea.

     A little reflection will reveal the fact that this idea plays an important part in Swedenborg's philosophy of creation. There, as is recognized by every student of the Writings, love must be conceived as in some sense a substantial subject, and thus as a receptacle, moved and actuated by inflowing life, in spite of the fact that it is purely spiritual and living.

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To quote from the True Christian Religion: (Italics ours)

     "Every created thing is finite, because all things are from Jehovah God through the sun of the spiritual world, which most nearly encompasses Him; and that sun is composed of the substance that has gone forth from Him, the essence of which is love. From that sun, by means of its heat and light, the universe has been created, from firsts to lasts. . . . One thing was formed from another, and thus degrees were constituted, three in the spiritual world, and three corresponding to them in the natural world, and the same number in the passive materials out of which the terraqueous globe is composed. . . Through these degrees all things posterior are made receptacles of things prior, and these again of things still prior, and so in succession receptacles of the primitives which constitute the sun of the angelic heaven; and thus have things finite been made receptacles of the infinite." (T. C. R. 33.)

     Here it is clearly taught that every finite, created thing is a receptacle,-a vessel receptive of life. Even those which are entirely above nature, and are found in the spiritual world, are such. In the same number it is further said:

     "In what has been set forth in my works respecting creation, it has been shown that God first rendered. His Infinity finite by means of substances emitted from Himself, from which His nearest surrounding [sphere], which constitutes the sun of the spiritual world, came into existence; and that then, through that sun, He perfected the other surrounding spheres, even to the outermost, which consists of things quiescent."

     From this it is clearly evident that the primitives of the spiritual sun, although they are pure love, are at the same time to be conceived of as finite substances emitted from the Infinite. Thus they are not the Infinite, but are subjects actuated continually by the influx of life from the Infinite. From these primitives there is formed an atmosphere, or aura, which is still purely spiritual, and may be said to be nothing but love. Yet it is a substance, serving as the medium through which the activity of the spiritual sun may be conveyed, in accommodated form, as heat and light to all the angels of heaven. The heat and light thus conveyed are nothing but love and wisdom.

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      Thus, in the spiritual atmosphere, we have love and wisdom presented in two distinctly different relations: First, as substance and form, and thus as a finite subject receptive of life; and secondly, as the modifications or activities transmitted by that substance. Both the substance and the activity are love and wisdom, but under very different aspects, which are not to be confused. Because we think of love as life, and thence as activity, we cannot lose our conception of it as substance, and thus as a subject actuated by life. Both are true; and only by a distinct acknowledgment of both can we understand what is taught concerning the Process of creation.

     IV.

     Do not the more recent developments in the field of science help us to visualize this dual character of love? Is not a corresponding duality found to exist in the realm of nature itself? So long as the atomic theory remained unshaken, the universe was conceived of as being made up of little, hard, solid, dead particles. Of these there were supposed to be as many kinds as there are chemical elements in nature, and it was thought that all varieties of substances were produced by the combinations, in varying proportion and relation, of these primitive atomic elements. According to this theory, the only starting point of thought, in its effort to grasp the idea of substance, was the atom, with its solidity and its inertia. Then, suddenly, it was discovered that this atom, which, it had been sup- posed, was the simplest unit of material creation, was, in fact, far from simple. This also was composed of parts, and possessed its own highly complex organization. Nor were these parts at all inert. They were found to be highly active, and to Possess unimaginable stores of energy. The final units of the universe were then transferred from the atom to the electrons and the proton of which it was found to consist. Yet these were still regarded as dead units, as simple substances, similar to atoms, only very much smaller, and kept in continual motion by some mysterious force. Curiously enough, in studying these electrons, it was found that in some respects their phenomena could be explained on the theory that they were little hard corpuscles moving with intense rapidity; but in other respects the phenomena produced by them could be explained only on the assumption that they were pure activities, or wave motions.

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They seem to act, now in one way, now in another, so that the characteristics of corpuscles and of wave motions must be thought of as being in some sense interchangeable.

     We do not know how this apparent anomaly may come to be explained by further discoveries in the future, but the fact that these two different characteristics appear to be interchangeable is none the less deeply significant. We are apt to base our thought concerning all substance upon the atomic theory;-to consider that, in the last analysis, the essence of substantiality must be found in some simple unit,-in some dead, solid corpuscle. Yet this theory is directly opposed to the philosophy of the New Church. We are taught in the Writings that there is no such simple unit. We are told that matter becomes, not more simple, but more complex, the more we divide it, even until it is resolved back to the Infinite. And we are told that God, Who is Life Itself, and to Whom death or inertia cannot be ascribed, even in the least degree, is at the same time Substance Itself. Does it not follow of necessity that our idea of substantiality must not rest upon any simple unit of dead matter, but must be founded upon the idea of life, or activity,-that, in some way, substance and activity must be identified? Or, to put it in other words, must we not conceive of substance and of activity as two distinct manifestations of the same thing? In no other way, it seems to me, can we conceive of' an atmosphere proceeding from the Sun of heaven, which is Divine Love as Substance,-an atmosphere which is created and finite, and thus a subject or receptacle of life,-and at the same time conceive of that atmosphere as transmitting love and wisdom as activity to be perceived by the angels as heat and light.

     If, in the series of the Divine Proceeding, we admit that love and wisdom must be manifested in two such distinct ways,-on the one hand as a substantial subject, and on the other as pure activity,- why need we contend that in the return kingdom this is impossible? Why need we hold that, in considering the forms of uses that have been built up from the ultimates of nature, our concept of love and wisdom must be confined to the one aspect of activity? Why should we not here also think of it as substance, and thus as a subject, "undergoing changes according to the waves of things by which it is affected"?

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      We have, I think, hesitated to do this, lest we come to conceive of a spiritual world altogether independent of the natural world; lest we picture that world as possessing its own organic ultimates, quite apart from the material substances of nature. The complete dependence of all things in the spiritual world upon the things of nature, for their permanence and fixation, which is so clearly taught in the Writings, will not permit any such conception. In explaining why no spirit or angel can be produced immediately in the spiritual world, but that all must first be born men on earth, it is said:

     " For this there are many reasons. For all Divine influx is from firsts into ultimates, and through ultimates into intermediates, and thus the Lord binds together all things of creation, and for this reason He is called the First and the Last. . . . All creation has been effected in ultimates, and every Divine operation passes through to ultimates, and there creates and operates. . . . One who knows what the substances in the spiritual world are, and relatively what the matters in the natural world are, can easily see that no procreation of angelic minds is possible, except in those and from those who dwell upon an earth, the ultimate work of creation. . . . Substances in the spiritual world appear to be material, but 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 of 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." (Divine Wisdom VIII.)

     Here it is unquestionably taught that no organic forms of use are created immediately in the spiritual world, or can be there created. If they are to be permanent, they must be formed of "substances and matters at rest, such as are in the earths." For this reason we have come to conceive of all organic forms as necessarily material, even that "human organic" by means of which man becomes immortal. This is directly taught in Divine Providence, where it is said:

     "No angel or spirit was immediately created such, but all were first born men, and so introduced. Therefore they have extremes and ultimates, which in themselves are fixed and stated, within which and by which their interiors can be retained in their state and connection.

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A man first puts on the grosser substances of nature, his body consisting of them; but these he puts off by death, and retains the purer substances of nature, which are next to what is spiritual, and which then are his continents. . . . As the extremes and ultimates of nature cannot receive things spiritual and eternal for which the human mind is formed, as they are in themselves, and yet a man is born that he may be made spiritual, and live to eternity, therefore he puts them off, and retains only interior natural things, which are convenient and accord with things spiritual and celestial, and serve them as continents." (D. P. 220:2.)

     V.     

     All this illustrates and confirms the idea that man is "nothing but a vessel which receives life from the Lord," and that he must be formed by Jehovah God "from the dust of the ground." Yet, although we clearly admit that man is so formed, we must still understand what is meant when it is said that he "becomes a living soul," and that he is then, as to the very substance and form which make him to be man, his own love and wisdom. It would appear that such an understanding necessarily involves the idea that, while there can be no such thing as a spiritual organic apart from the material ultimates of nature, none the less, through the ultimates of nature, such a spiritual organic does come into existence, and is rendered fixed and permanent.

     Certainly it is a misnomer to speak of any organic vessel as a purely material entity. The very idea of an organic vessel involves two things,-namely, a soul and abody in perfect conjunction. For the term "organic" implies not only a fixed ultimate,-an entity made up of parts or least units which are dead,-but also that these units must be organized, arranged, and ordered for use. Such an arrangement is as vital to the idea of an organic vessel as are the parts which are arranged. Matter that is disordered, chaotic, like the dust of the earth, is not called organic. But this same matter, floating aimlessly in the air or in the ether, dissolved in water, or lying concealed in the ground, first becomes organic when it has been taken up by the soul of a plant, an animal, or a man, and ordered for use. Then first does it become a vessel receptive of life. Such a soul is necessary to the production of any organic vessel, and is essential to its preservation.

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For while we may speak of a dead body as being composed of organic substances, yet the bond which made them organic has been broken, and they quickly disintegrate, returning to the inorganic elements from which they were originally drawn.
     If, then, it is true that there is no such thing as a purely spiritual organic, it is equally true that there is no such thing as a purely material organic. If it is true that matter becomes organic only when it has been ordered for use by a soul, it must also be true that spiritual substance becomes organic by virtue of the fact that it is enclosed by a fixed material ultimate. When so enclosed, we cannot conceive of it as mere activity, as a wave motion or vibration. It becomes a substantial entity, a finite subject, which "undergoes changes according to the waves of things by which it is affected." For consider: Sensation is not an attribute of the body, but of the soul; and this requires that the soul be such that it can be moved or affected as an organ. How does sensation take place? A vibration of the air strikes upon the ear. It is taken up and transmitted along the auditory nerves to the brain. It produces a change in the form of the cortical glands. So far it is nothing but a vibration. But because of the universal law that "influx is according to form," the change in the form of the gland at once produces a change in the mode or path by which life inflows. This change is what we call " sound " as a sensation; and because it is produced by influx from the soul, it is discretely different from the vibration which affected the material form of the gland. For this reason we are taught that the organs of the body do not feel. The nerves do not feel. Even the finest things of nature, of which the cortical glands are woven, do not feel. It is the soul that feels; and in order to feel, it must be an organ,-a substantial subject,-capable of being affected.

     If Sensation is an attribute of the soul, and not of the body, how much more must this be true of every higher faculty of the mind. It must be the soul that thinks, perceives, wills, and acts. Indeed, the soul must be possessed of a still higher sense, such as can never come to our consciousness. For, in order that the soul may govern and preserve its body, it must be marvelously aware of the State of the body, continually, and this even as to the least singulars thereof. Such awareness implies that it is subtly affected by every change of state in its body. What is affected? Not the body. Not even the finest things of nature.

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But the soul. And in order that the soul may be affected, and thus stirred to a specific reaction, a specific in- flux, it must be regarded as a substantial subject, a passive vessel, a finite form of life possessing a genius of its own, a form organized to the production of a specific use.

     Moreover, the soul as a subject, as a substantial finite entity, must exist prior to the body,-prior even to the first beginnings of the body. It cannot then be called an organic, because it cannot produce its effects except in and by means of ultimates, as explained above. But it must none the less be a subject, as truly as are the units of the spiritual atmosphere, or the primitives of the spiritual sun, and in a similar sense. As such, it must pre-exist the body, because it is the soul that forms its body. This is evident from the teaching concerning the process of conception, during which process those material coverings which had been swathed about the soul to Produce seed are successively thrown off, being as it were unfolded in the reverse order to that in which they were assumed. So complete is this unfolding that nothing material whatever is retained from the father. The soul alone remains, and begins to weave to itself a new body from the materials provided in the womb of the mother. This soul which remains is a purely spiritual thing. Yet it is finite; it is substantial; it is a subject; it possesses specific qualities and attributes; while the body formed by its activity mirrors forth and presents to view those very qualities and attributes which were already present in the soul.

     It has been said that this is not the case; that a soul is not a finite entity apart from a body, or prior to its conjunction with material ultimates. It is contended that the term "soul" applies only to the Divine of the Lord, present throughout the universe, as the activity of the Lord's Love and Wisdom. Such activity is said to be uncreate, and thus not to be regarded as a finite entity or subject. It is not individuated. It is present everywhere in the universe, pressing for expression or ultimation, and is the same for all. It merely operates differently according to the kind of vessels which are provided to receive it. The kind of vessel is determined, not by any difference in the activity of the soul, but by the kind of material which is offered. Thus differentiation arises from matter, and not from the soul.

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      I have never been able to understand this, in the light of the teaching given, both in the Writings and in the Philosophical Works. It is true, indeed, that the Divine of the Lord is present everywhere as activity, and that this activity is varied according to the vessels which receive it. But it must also be true that the Divine Love and Wisdom must be present as substance and form, and that in such substantial form it must act as the soul to bring into being organs receptive of Divine Love and Wisdom as activity. It is true that, before such a soul can become organic, suitable materials for the production of a body must be provided. But these materials are not the active force in determining the quality of the vessel formed. In fact, out of an ocean of heterogeneous materials, the soul selects such as are suitable to its use. These selected materials it then arranges into a new order. It is this new order that qualifies the resultant body. It is this that gives character to the organic vessel. And this order must be already present, in potency, in the soul. Thus the cause of differentiation, and the determination to a specific quality, must reside in the soul, and is not to be found in the materials of which the body consists.

     If this is true, the soul must be a finite subject, possessing an individuality of its own. This appears evidently in the life of the human body. The blood stream carries in its bosom materials of every kind, formed and prepared as chyle from the food. Such material is necessary, if the soul is to renew and restore the wasted tissues of the body. The blood, however, distributes many kinds of materials impartially through its vessels and capillaries to every part of the body, and out of this abundant supply every single cell selects what is necessary to its own Particular use and function. That which it selects it draws in, digests, and reduces to a new form,-a form which is human, and which is determined, not by the materials, but by the soul in the cell. How can we conceive of this, if we do not think of the soul as a substantial subject, a finite form of love and wisdom, determined to the production of a particular use? Is not this the idea of the soul that is given repeatedly in the Writings, as for instance in True Christian Religion, as follows:

     "The soul, which is from the father, is the man himself, while the body, which is from the mother, is not the man himself, but is from the man. It is simply the soul's clothing, woven of such things as are from the natural world, while the soul is woven of such things as exist in the spiritual world.

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After death, every man lays aside the natural which he took from the mother, and retains the spiritual which is from the father, together with a Kind of border from the purest things of nature about it." (T. C. R. 103.)

     The soul, which is derived from the father, the soul which weaves its body into the image of itself, the soul which is itself woven of "such things as exist in the spiritual world," is not here identified with the limbus. It is described as being retained in addition to this, "together with a kind of border from the purest things of nature about it."

     VI.

     When, then, we think of that human organic which continues human life after death, it is a mistake to center our attention upon the material vessel which constitutes the "cutaneous envelope" as if this were the very man himself, and the only man. The use of this cutaneous covering is for fixation and permanence. As to its form and structure, it does indeed minutely express the inherent quality of the man's love and consequent life. It is built according to his life on earth, and by its lay and texture renders that life fixed and unchangeable to eternity. Yet this is not the man. The man him- self is a love, as a finite substance or subject, which has been the active force present as a soul to build a house in which it might dwell. This love is responsible for the lay and texture of the material embodiment. Every quality which is expressed by that embodiment was already present in potency in the love, before the organic vessel was formed. When thus enveloped by a material covering, this love becomes itself an organic subject, a finite vessel having no life in itself, but receiving life continually from the Lord, Who alone is the Source of every human love. Only thus can we conceive of man as a finite image of God, Who is Love Itself and Substance Itself.

     That it is such a spiritual subject, and not the limbus, which is to be considered as the man that lives after death, is clear from the following teaching:

     "Man's natural mind consists of spiritual substances, and at the same time of natural substances.

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Thought comes from its spiritual substances, but not from its natural substances; these substances recede when man dies, but not its spiritual substances. Consequently, after death, when man becomes a spirit or angel, the same mind remains in a form like that which it had in the world. The natural substances of that mind, which recede by death, constitute the cutaneous covering of the spiritual body in which are spirits and angels." (D. L. W. 257.)

     Here the "cutaneous covering" is identified with those natural substances "which recede by death," and is carefully distinguished from the mind or spirit which lives in the spiritual world. It is this spirit that is obviously referred to in another place where we read: "The natural mind derives its form in part from substances of the natural world; but the spiritual mind from substances of the spiritual world only." (W. 270.) Evidently the mind of man, as a spiritual organic which lives as an angel in heaven, consists of substances which are spiritual, and which cannot be identified with the "purest things of nature." What are these spiritual substances if they are not human loves, which have become the soul of man's thought and action, and thus have woven for themselves a "cutaneous envelope" from the finest things of nature, whereby they may become fixed and permanent, as a substantial forthstanding subject in the spiritual world?

     It is of the highest importance that we conceive of man as primarily a spiritual being. He must be spiritual, and he must at the same time be finite, created, and thus a subject. He must be living, yet he cannot be life itself, but a vessel receptive of life from God. If he is spiritual, and at the same time a vessel, we can think of him only as a spiritual vessel; and here we are faced with a Philosophic difficulty that appears as a contradiction. The term implies a vessel composed of a substance that is non-spatial, that does not consist of parts, and yet that bears to the Lord and to the spiritual world the relation of a finite subject, moved and actuated by forces from without. If we can dimly perceive the quality of such a substance, we cannot express it in the language of human words, all of which derive their origin from sense experience, and thus from space, time, and matter. We can use these terms only by analogy and correspondence. Yet it is just this that is required of us, if we are to attain a truly spiritual idea.

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      Such an idea must have its basis in something substantial, If we fear to speak of love as substance, lest we ascribe to it something material, we cannot avoid the difficulty by substituting the idea of activity. This also with us is spatial. It is derived from our conception of natural forces as we see them operating in the material world. A material organism, moved by an activity that we call spiritual, an activity which is not the man, but is the Divine of the Lord surrounding and affecting the man, does not produce a spiritual idea of man. Man in his essence is love; not the Infinite Love that is God, but a finite love, derived from God, created by Him, continually maintained in being and existence by His Omnipresent Power. We cannot conceive of such a finite human love as the uncreate activity that is felt in heaven as heat and light, but only as something which feels that heat and light, as a subject that receives it and is affected by it: It has no permanent existence apart from that surrounding envelope of finest natural matters, by which it becomes fixed and permanent; but, given this fixation, it does exist as a spiritual subject, which is the man himself, a vessel receptive of life from God.

     It appears to me essential, if we are to acquire a truly spiritual idea of man, that we should lift our thought above the "Limbus,"-the material ultimate of his life in the spiritual world,-and center it upon that in him which is truly living and human, remembering that this also is finite, and that it has no life in itself, although it is a living soul. In such a concept there is place for the acknowledgment that man is nothing, that he has been "formed from the dust of the ground," that he is a mere receptive vessel. But at the same time there is in it a place for the recognition of his spiritual character, his exalted destiny, and his eternal use, even as is expressed in the words of the Psalmist: "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him. For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth." (Psalm 8: 3-5, 9.)

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     Illustration with the Evil.

     In the Arcana the doctrine is given that, with every regenerate man who lives in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbor, the "internal man" flows into the "interior man" through celestial things; but that still every man, no matter what his quality or state of regeneration, has an influx from the internal man through spiritual things. (A. C. 1725, 1707.) "Thence is his light from heaven, that is, his ability to think and to speak, and to be a man." By spiritual things are meant the things of knowledge and intelligence.

     We find the same teaching in a different form elsewhere: "A man can be in illustration in respect to the understanding, and yet in evil in respect to the will; for the intellectual faculty is separated from the voluntary with all who are not regenerated. . . . Evil spirits, when they turn themselves towards good spirits, also understand truths and even acknowledge them, almost as if they were enlightened; but as soon as they turn themselves away from good spirits, they return to the love of their will and see nothing of truth, and even deny the things they have heard." (A. E. 140:6; see also H. H. 153, 424, 455.) "To be able to have the understanding illustrated is is granted to man for the sake of his reformation; . . . the will cannot be corrected unless man knows, and by the understanding acknowledges, truths and goods, and also evils and falsities." (A. E. 140:6.)

     Such elevation of the understanding into spiritual light, even with the evil, who do not likewise elevate their will into spiritual heat, makes it possible even for the evil to think, speak and teach truths. A bad man can still understand the Divine things of the Church which in his heart he denies, "and can also speak of and preach them, and in writing learnedly prove them." (D. L. W. 244.) Sometimes evil priests, from selfish zeal for their office, "perform more eminent uses than those who are in the spiritual affection of use." (D. Love xvii:3.)

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Nor is there any theoretical limit to the truths which the evil, from a detached state of the understanding, can perceive.

     In the Divine Love and Wisdom, this raising of the understanding into heavenly light is described (255 to 267). Thus it is shown that, when love is not also raised into the spiritual degree, wisdom-"however it may have ascended"-falls back again to the level of its own love, so that the man remains rational only in the lowest or natural degree; although his understanding can still be elevated " to any extent he desires," " even to the light in which angels of the third heaven are, and can see truths, acknowledge them, and then give expression to them." Yet when one who is evil sees spiritual truths, the delight of his love perishes, and therefore he raises his understanding only "into the upper region of his natural mind, and rarely as far as the border of the spiritual mind." And the indubitable tendency of an evil man is thus to lose his illustration and to pervert true doctrine into falsity, if not in this life, yet in the other world.

     The evil are in enlightenment of understanding when in the sphere of others. With them it is a borrowed and inconstant state. But as to degree and extent, the illustration of the good and that of the evil are much the same potentially, and suffer the same limitations. For "so long as a man lives in the world, and is thereby in the natural degree, he cannot be elevated into wisdom itself, such as it is with the angels," "but only into some image of it." (D. L. W. 256, 257.) Only the regenerate man, however, reaps the internal fruits of illustration. These are the treasures of the kingdom of heaven, hidden within his spiritual degree, which with him is " opened " and furnished without his being aware of it, and " filled by the Lord with thousands of arcana of wisdom and with thousands of delights of love,"-things which as yet are not at his conscious disposal, but which he can perceive only as a light in the understanding and an affection of use in his will. (D. L. W. 252.)

     This, then, is the reason for the general teaching that only the good-only those who are in a spiritual affection of truth are enlightened when reading the Word. What the evil have is a " mere natural illustration" (A. E. 176:4), which-being only in their understanding-is really outside of them (H. H. 423), and is fatuous and unreliable (A. E. 242:8).

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The unregenerate man, when in his delight and thus in his own state, increasingly beclouds his thoughts with lusts (A. C. 1044), until all his desire to separate his understanding from evil is lost, and he sees only falsities. Thence comes the darkness of hell. It may also be useful to note that "he who supposes himself to have the least cloud, has sometimes a very great one; and he who believes that he has very much cloud has less. There are such clouds with the spiritual man, but not so great ones with the celestial." (A. C. 1043.)

     Who was Melchizedek?

     The majestic and mysterious figure of Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, and King of Salem; who came out to receive tithes of Abram and to bless him (Gen. xiv. 18); stands out in unexplained isolation. To cite from McClintock and Strong, he " crosses for a moment the path of Abraham, and is unhesitatingly recognized as a person of higher spiritual rank than the friend of God. Disappearing as suddenly as he came in, he is lost to the sacred writings for a thousand years, and then a few emphatic words for another moment bring him into sight as the type of the coming Lord of David." In the Psalms (ex. 4) the Son of David (Solomon, representing the glorified Human of the Lord) is seen as "a priest after the order of Melchizedek" rather than of Aaron. Another thousand years pass, and Paul refers to him as a type of Christ (Hebrews, vi. 20, vii. 3), as he is certainly recognized among Christians. The Arcana shows that he represented the Divine celestial, which is of mercy, while Abram represented the Divine Truth. (A. C. 1725, 1728.)

     Many curious guesses have been made as to the identity of this venerable, royal priest. Many Jews and Christians believe him to have been Shem, the eldest of Noah's sons! Shem, according to the literalistic chronology, would have been alive at the time of Abraham, and would thus have been able to pass on the patriarchal blessing to the ancestor of the Israelites. But New Churchmen-knowing that Shem was not a person, but a state of the Church-will not labor overmuch to Place this figure. Whether the King of Salem was merely a Semitic priest whom Abram knew and revered; or whether (as seems more probable) he was-like Shechem and other Hivites-one of those externally good remnants from the Most Ancient Church (A. C. 4447, 4489, 4493) which still preserved, through the representative Ancient Church, the sacred priest-king tradition (A. C. 6148), and were "among the better ones in the land of Canaan " (A. C. 2913); still, his representation as the Divine celestial need not depend upon his ancestry.

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     Melchizedek ruled over Salem, which is sometimes identified with the Hivite city Shalem, ruled over by Shechem, whose family is definitely said to be a remnant of the Most Ancient Church (A. C. 4430, 4447), and sometimes with the name Jerusalem, which first appears in history as a Jebusite stronghold under king Adonizedec. (Joshua x. 1; W. E. 182; A. E. 365:38.)
DESIRE FOR INSTRUCTION 1931

DESIRE FOR INSTRUCTION              1931

      "It is well known that there are many within the Church who are affected by the Word of the Lord, and apply themselves closely to the reading of it; but still there are few who have as the end to be instructed concerning the truth; for they mostly remain in their own dogma, which alone they endeavor to confirm from the Word. They appear as if they were in the affection of truth, but they are not. Those only are in the affection of truth who love to be instructed concerning truths, that is, to know what the truth is, and to search the Scriptures for that end. No one is in this affection unless he is in good, that is, in charity towards the neighbor, and, still more, he who is in love to the Lord. With these, good itself inflows into truth, and makes the affection; for the Lord is present in that good." (A. C. 4368:2.)

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
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     LINCOLN'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE DOCTRINES.

      While we have never seen sufficient evidence to support the belief that Abraham Lincoln was a receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines, there is abundant proof of his having had opportunities to gain a knowledge of the teachings of the New Church through his acquaintance with New Churchmen.

     The Rev. J. R. Hibbard, in his " Reminiscences of a Pioneer," went so far as to say that Lincoln's " views concerning the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifest, and concerning the Sacred Scriptures and the life they teach, were largely formed and influenced by the Writings of Swedenborg, furnished him by his friend, Mr. I. S. Britton, about the year 1842 or 1843." (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, 115, p. 72.)

     Dr. Acton has called our attention to another statement by Mr. Hibbard in his " Reminiscences." He speaks of having met a Mr. A. D. Wright in Petersburgh, county seat of Menard County, Illinois, where he was Judge of the County Court. Mr. Wright served as a captain during the Mexican War, had a large family, all baptized in the New Church, and was " an intimate friend of Mr. Lincoln, who at one time lived in Petersburgh." (NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER, 1886, p. 10.)

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     Further evidence of these opportunities to learn of the Doctrines is cited in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1915, pages 72, 74, 214, 264, including a letter on the subject from President Lincoln's son, Robert Lincoln, who states, however, that he "never heard his father speak of Swedenborg or of the New Church," and that he "never had any reason to suppose that his father ever knew anything at all about the New Church." Yet, in the same letter, Mr. Robert Lincoln also says:

     "Mr. Lincoln began the practice of law about 1836; the Bar Of Illinois was then small, and those who practised in the Supreme Court were well acquainted with one another. . . . Among them was J. Young Scammon. A friendship then begun with Mr. Lincoln was, after his death, continued by Mr. Scammon to me, as long as he lived. I doubt if there was ever a more ardent Swedenborgian than Mr. Scammon; I never knew a layman who made his religion so prominent a part of his daily business and social life as did Mr. Scammon. If, in the years of his close friendship with my father, he talked of and quoted Swedenborg a mere fraction of as much as he did later with me, my father became familiar with the subject." (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1915, pp. 74, 75.)

      It is not unnatural that New Churchmen today should be tempted to draw exaggerated conclusions from such evidence as this, and to believe that the teachings of the New Church have largely influenced the thoughts and lives of great personages. Similar claims have been made for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Queen Victoria, and a host of others, and so far as the facts can be established in any such case they are at least of historic interest, and occasion for gratification that the knowledge of the Truth has blest the lives of those who have played a prominent part in human affairs. But we think that such facts have less value and appeal than some New Churchmen suppose, when they use them as "testimonials" in advertizing the Writings. The Divine Truths of the Second Coming are their own best witness. The Lord said: "I receive not testimony from man." (John 5: 34.)

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CRABBE ON SWEDENBORGIANS. 1931

CRABBE ON SWEDENBORGIANS.              1931

     In the year 1810, the Rev. George Crabbe, sometimes called "pope in worsted stockings," published "The Borough," one of his later and more lengthy poems. Section iv of this effusion, entitled " Sects and Professions in Religion," describes in terms of sarcasm a number of the religious bodies whose activities evidently were disturbing the equanimity of the Church " as by law established,"- such, for example, as the Methodists, Baptists, Papists, etc., etc. Even at this early date (1810), New Churchmen were numerous enough or energetic enough to Provoke the scorn of the reverend gentleman, who unburdened himself in the following lines:

          Some Swedenborgians in our streets are found,
     Those wandering walkers on enchanted ground
     Who in our world can other worlds survey,
     And speak with spirits though confined in clay.
     Of Bible-mysteries they the keys possess,
     Assured themselves, where wiser men but guess:
     'Tis theirs to see around, about, above,-
     How spirits mingle thoughts, and angels move.
     Those whom our grosser views from us exclude,
     To them appear-a heavenly multitude;
     While the dark sayings, seal'd to men like us,
     Their priests interpret, and their flocks discuss.

          But while these gifted men, a favour'd fold,
     New powers exhibit and new worlds behold,
     Is there not danger lest their minds confound
     The pure above them with the gross around?
     May not these Phaetons, who thus contrive
     'Twixt heaven above and earth beneath to drive,
     When from their chariots they descend,
     The worlds they visit in their fancies blend?
     Alas! too sure on both they bring disgrace,
     Their earth is crazy, and their heav'n is base.

      From the recently published Private Letter-Books of Sir Walter Scott, we learn that Crabbe's unwarranted remarks upon Swedenborganianism did not Pass unchallenged, but that some anonymous New Churchman called him to account, probably in no measured terms.

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Writing to Sir Walter Scott on December 21, 1812, Crabbe said: "A very angry letter attacks me with Bitterness for a few rash lines on Swedenborg's opinions, and if I credit his Pupil my state is very desperate."
     The poetry of Crabbe is little read today, but his monotonous and sombre descriptions of English rural life were immensely popular one hundred and twenty-five years ago. After an early life of extreme penury, the poet was persuaded by friends to enter the Anglican Church, where influence secured him four comfortable livings. He did not take his duties very seriously, however, his bishop on one occasion ordering him back to his rectory after he had absented himself for thirteen years.
     ARTHUR CARTER.
THE WRITINGS IN WORSHIP. 1931

THE WRITINGS IN WORSHIP.              1931

     A Symposium.

     In recent issues of THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, We find a number of letters contributing further to the discussion of the question as to whether it is proper to have readings from the Writings in the public services of worship in the New Church, the question involving the larger one as to the status of the Writings and their relation to the Scriptures. The editorial policy which has made possible this thoroughgoing ventilation of the subject in the HERALD is worthy of highest commendation, and the same is to be said of the spirit in which the discussion has been carried on.

     As we have shown by citations in our April and May issues, the position taken by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack in his paper on "The Word and the Writings of Swedenborg," wherein lie opposed a reading from the Writings in public worship, has called forth both approval and objection on the part of other writers. The same applies to later expressions of opinion in the HERALD. And as we believe the subject to be of continuing interest to our readers, and of special value as illustrating the variety and divergence of views held by present-day New Churchmen upon the vital matter of the place of the Writings in the Church, we reprint below some further examples of the opinions advanced on both sides of the question.

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      In the HERALD Of March 21st appear letters from Mr. Harold Goyder Smith, Mr. Stanley E. Parker, and the Rev. Arthur Clapham, all of them taking exception to Points in Mr. Goldsack's article. We quote the major portion of Mr. Clapham's letter, as follows:

      ". . . Without venturing to define the status of the Writings in exact terms, we ought, I think, to have a much more definite idea of what the Lord has wrought in them than that which Mr. Goldsack has expressed in his article. Is Swedenborg only 'the herald of the age of the Lord's Second Coming') Is it not the testimony of the Writings themselves that he was the instrument whereby the Lord did make His Second Advent?

     "The truths revealed in the Writings were revealed by the Lord Himself, not, surely, to Swedenborg alone, but through him to the world. And for this reason the Lord guarded Swedenborg when he wrote, lest he should write from himself or even from angels. He says that what was from the Lord was written, but what was from angels was not written, and that he had an exquisite perception of the difference. No one will question that Swedenborg has used his rationality in the Writings, but he used it entirely and absolutely as a servant. His rationality was an interiorly enlightened and an exteriorly guarded rationality.

     "One must therefore take some exception to Mr. Goldsack's statement that 'the Writings of Swedenborg are the rational thoughts of a specialist to make known rationally his rational conception of doctrines received from the Lord.' If the Writings give us only Swedenborg's own rational conception of the heavenly doctrines, would it not follow that the real truths of doctrine from the Lord never were revealed to the world, but only to Swedenborg, and that the vital truths of the Lord's Second Advent-the very Revelation which is the Lord's Second Coming-have reached us in very doubtful manner and perhaps only in part? We should have no assurance of any single thing therein, and should have to fall back on our natural reason alone. I am sure that Mr. Goldsack would not wish us to draw this conclusion.

     "If indeed the Lord has made His Second Coming through the instrumentality of Swedenborg, I submit that we must recognize the Writings as being themselves of Divine origination and as carrying Divine Authority. And it is as such that we must declare them and bring them to public recognition.

     "In so doing we shall in no wise derogate from the Authority of the Divine Word. We shall add to it, for we recognize the Authority of the Lord in both. The Lord Himself, in the Writings, points us to the Word as the basis and sup- port of all spiritual truth. But it was precisely that the Word in its letter might be understood that He revealed the doctrine of genuine truth in the Writings.

     "Quite apart, however, from all this, I find nothing in Mr. Goldsack's article which convinces me that the reading of the Writings in worship is in any way harmful or even undesirable. . . .

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      "That rational thought on Divine things is in any way unworshipful, or takes away from the sphere of worship, is a doctrine to which I cannot subscribe. That the thought of the hearer is held down to the plane of the rational might be answered by saying that a great use has been performed if, in relation to Divine and spiritual things, the thought of the hearer is led up to the plane of the rational. For we reach the spiritual through the rational, and the influx of the spiritual into the natural plane is through the rational, which is intermediate. I would even venture to suggest that a good deal more rational thought is desirable in worship. . . .

     "I can assure Mr. Goldsack that personally I know of no use that the Writings more surely or more adequately perform than that of directing the thought continually to the Lord and to the Word, and of bringing about a sense of humiliation before Him. It is obvious that in the choice of passages to be read in a service of worship there must be as much care and thought exercised as in choosing the passages to be read from the Word; possibly more care.

     "The passage chosen may not present the whole truth about the whole subject. But then no one would really suppose that it does, any more than he would suppose that a single passage from the letter of the Word represents all that the letter of the Word has to say on that particular subject.

     "I may say in conclusion that I began to read the Writings in worship with a certain measure of hesitancy, due, I think, to old prejudices in my own case, but after some years' experience I do not now care to omit such reading.
     ARTHUR CLAPHAM."

     FROM THE HERALD OF MARCH 28, 1931.

      I have read with singular pleasure and satisfaction the Rev. S. J. C. Gold- sack's article on "The Word and the Writings of Swedenborg." The title itself is just what it ought to be. " The Writings of the Church " appears to many people to be wrong, and if more New Church ministers and leaders held the views of Mr. Goldsack the membership of the New Church would go up by leaps and bounds. Mr. Goldsack would not debar any preacher from quoting from Swedenborg, but one sometimes listens to speakers and then one feels one would like to tell them to read their Bibles more. The views of some " organized " New Church people would drive many people away from Swedenborg. "There is no other Name under heaven whereby men might be saved," and that Name is not Swedenborg. I am not alone in feeling almost repelled by the expression, "But We are Swedenborgians." Let us put first things first, as the great Swedenborg himself always did. The teachings of Swedenborg are likely to have the highest success outside the organised "sect" of that name, although there is a possibility that the "sect" has its necessary uses.
     "INTERESTED."

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                         II.

      The systematic use of the Writings as a part of Divine Worship seems to me to be a matter of Theology and not Religion, and our Divine services should be kept dear of theological problems and disputes. The Writings are indispensable as interpretations of the Word of God, but the interpreter must not be put before the Master. This has been the practice in the Christian Church, which has gradually put Paul, then the Pope, then Luther, Calvin and others, before the Lord Jesus Christ, and now He is, in some official quarters, being reduced to be merely "the son of a carpenter." In our Church He is the Supreme Authority.

     By introducing Swedenborg's Writings in the manner proposed we run the risk eventually of making the same mistake. Mr. Goldsack is, I think, quite right in giving his warning, which I hope will be duly observed both in this country and elsewhere.

     Swedenborg was enabled by the Lord to see and describe the glories of the internal senses of Scripture. So also John the Apostle was enabled to see and describe in allegorical form the glories of the New Jerusalem, which is the bourne of every Christian pilgrim. But, when transported into the view he, John, was naturally lost in wonder, love and praise, and wanted to fall down and worship the Angel who showed him these things, but was reproved. "See thou do it not," said the Angel, ". . . worship God." We also should observe this command. It is all very well to be able to penetrate intellectually into the mysteries of faith, but this, it seems to me, is first a matter for our Clergy. The Laity need more warmth in the Divine services to strengthen their love for the Lord, rather than more doctrinal enlightenment. Swedenborg's Writings disclose profound and brilliant truths which, as presented by him, are rather like the distant snow mountains resplendent in the light of the sun, but not intended for places of residence. They are, eventually, sources of blessing to the dwellers in the valleys below. . . .

     The minister in his sermons may introduce Swedenborg's Writings, in a simplified form, as much as he may find necessary to explain abstruse texts in the Word of God-always remembering that it is only through the Word of God that the congregation can receive the Bread of Life. Used in this way, the Writings will serve the purpose for which they were given. But to give them as readings in their present form is not advisable. They need much explanation and simplification, and this work should be done in the Colleges, the Study Circles, and Bible Classes.

     Swedenborg himself never wanted to be treated as an authority in the Church. He made no such claim, and by distributing his works among the Clergy in his lifetime he no doubt intended to infer that it was their duty first to study and then prepare them for the edification of the Laity.
     "AN OCTOGENARIAN LAYMAN."

                     III.

      I was pleased for several reasons that you accepted the article on this subject by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack. It is only by a frank exchange and examination of views that we can be helped, and adjust, where necessary, our own.

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      The article was largely based on the quotation from the Writings," Divine Truth in the sense of the Letter of the Word is in its fulness, its holiness, and its power." But is this Divine teaching or merely human? Is it part of the Lord's instruction to His Church or a proposition of Swedenborg's) It relates to Divine Truth in its fulness, and so any proof of the matter is quite beyond the power of the finite human mind. We may be able to see that it is a rational proposition, but the perception of its rationality is not evidence of its truth.

     It is, I suppose, a proposition we all accept. Some of us accept it because, in addition to recognizing it as rational, we believe it is true, being part of the Lord's own instruction to the seer. If it is merely human, the Church cannot know if it is true. There are thousands of similar teachings in the Writings whose rationality we can discern, but whose truth, apart from their being given in Revelation, we cannot demonstrate. For example, the Writings delete Job and Ruth from the Inspired Canon. We cannot reduce such teaching as this to rational proof. We accept it as Revelation from the Lord.

     Now if Mr. Goldsack accepts as Divine Instruction the quotation he himself makes, when yet its truth cannot be demonstrated, by what criterion does he distinguish between those teachings in the Writings that are Divine instruction and those that "are not"? I ask this in all sincerity. Least of all men, perhaps, could I affirm that I have not my difficulties.

     Historians tell us that the more the Arians of the Fourth Century denied the Divinity of the Lord, the more florid became their eulogies of His Humanity. But their eulogies were sapped of all worth. If Swedenborg's Writings are merely human, and not a body of Divine Instruction, why does a Church concern itself about the man's scholarship and perception? Ought a New Dispensation to take anything from a mere man? If the Writings are merely human, where can we go, when differences of view arise among us, for the explicit formulation of the Heavenly Doctrines? If someone can delete something from the Writings, then anyone can delete anything. And that means that everything can be deleted, unless, of course, there is some other criterion, universally recognized and acknowledged in the Church.

     I trust no one will reply that we have the Letter of the Old and New Testaments. So have the Roman Catholics, the Methodists, the Christian Scientists, and the Four-Square Gospelists. And they are all using their heads on that Letter. We have to note an important fact. When the Lord established the First Christian Church, He revealed interior truths out of the Word. The truths of the New Testament were already implicit in the Old. But that men might see them, they had to be expressly formulated and defined in new cognitive and scientific vessels. The new wine required new bottles. What are the new bottles necessary for the new wine of the New Church? It is little use talking of influx from the New Heaven if there are no vessels of rational cognitions, objectively supplied, wherewith to receive it.

     There is another teaching from the same work as that from which Mr. Goldsack quotes, which I believe is Divine Instruction:

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"The Word is the Word according to the understanding of it with man, that is, as it is understood. If it is not understood, the Word is indeed called the Word, but, with the man, it is not." When, in Divine service, is (for example) Revelation, chapter xxi, best understood,-when the Letter is read alone, or when the Letter is read, followed by a reading from Apocalypse Revealed? Swedenborg writes: "I have been enjoined by the Lord to make public various things . . . of the Revelation (etc.). . . which, WHEN READ AND UNDERSTOOD, will enable everyone to see what is meant by the Coming of the Lord, the New Heaven, and the New Jerusalem." (T. C. R. 771.)
     ERIC A. SUTTON.

     FROM THE HERALD OF APRIL 4, 1931.

     In this question of reading the Writings as part of Divine Worship there is vastly more at issue than at first appears. Neither Mr. Goldsack nor any other sane man would question the right of a preacher quoting at length anything whereby the truths expounded could be emphasized or made plain, and to suggest such a thing is only to divert from the original quest; and though our friend may not know it, yet there is a growing inclination on the part of some members of the Church to urge this innovation of reading from the Writings in our services, on the ground that these not merely contain revealed truths, but are the Word of God. If proof is requisite, the following published quotations will suffice: (1) "The Writings of the Church are more the Word of the Lord than is the Bible we possess; or, rather, they are the Word of the Lord in a higher and purer sense than is the inspired portion of our Bibles"; (2) "The Writings . . . are His third and last Testament." . . .

     Inasmuch as the Writings have no internal sense, and since Swedenborg in giving the revealed truth as to the Divine Word never includes or mentions his Writings in connection therewith, the conclusion to me is inevitable that the Writings are not the Word; that, in fact, "Christians have Divine Truth from no other source than the Word, which is the fountain from which all churches named after Christ draw living waters in their fullness" (T. C. R. 777). And Swedenborg's emphatic claim is that " from the first day of that call I have not received anything relating to the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while I have been reading the Word" (T. C. R. 779).

     Anything, therefore, which openly or covertly seems to suggest other writings as on an equality with, or detracts from the absolute supremacy of, the Divine Word should, I submit, be strenuously opposed by every thoughtful New Churchman.
     J. G. DUFTY.


     II.

      I have read the Writings for fifty years or more, and the impression always and continuously left on my mind is their subservience to the Word.

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Swedenborg's exposition and explanation of the spiritual sense of the Word shows that this spiritual sense has been in the Word for ages, though it has not been seen, but in glimpses, by men. This applies also to the Doctrine of the Lord, of the Sacred Scriptures, and the Second Coming.

     I feel sure, if we could ask Swedenborg for his opinion, he would say emphatically "NO!" to his Writings being read in our services as part of our worship of the Lord.

     The Word, even when read in the literal sense, has the power of conjoining men with heaven and the Lord. Can we say this of the Writings? Do they possess this correspondential relationship) I think not. Their office is to help us to understand the Word spiritually. . . .
      ALFRED BROWN.


     III.

      In my view, Societies of the New Church should be free to make their own arrangements for worship and instruction, and enthusiasts for certain practices should not be dogmatic about them. I see not the slightest objection to the introduction of a passage from the Writings Where such would emphasize the main theme of the service and strengthen the instruction. But I should deplore any action conveying the impression that the Writings are exalted to the status of the Word. I may be wrong, but I am under the impression that the most zealous advocates of reading the Writings in our services are men who contend that the Writings are the new Word. If I am right, it might be better if these gentlemen would state their conviction. We should then have a clear issue. For myself, I think their conviction, honest as it is, is badly founded. The few isolated passages advanced in support are open to more than one interpretation, and in the whole of the Writings there is not one passage which states, without equivocation, that they are to be given such high status. The conviction seems to me to be based on an extremely subtle but unjustifiable exegesis. However, I hope you, Mr. Editor, will decide to bring the present correspondence to an early conclusion. Such academic discussions do not enhance the value of The Herald. Our chief interest should be centred in ordering our life according to the principles we profess to accept. That in task enough, and leaves little time for theoretical issues.
     "GOODWILL."

     FROM THE HERALD OF APRIL 18, 1931.

      A writer in your issue of March 20th says that the systematic use of the Writings in Divine Worship is a matter of theology and not of religion, and apparently he wants the theology left out and the religion retained. I am puzzled. What is theology but an attempt to realize the nature of God and our relation to Him, and does not the Word throughout treat of this matter? What is revelation for, but to help us in that realization, and on what is religion founded except such realization? We have the revelation by the Word and the revelation through Swedenborg. The latter is given to aid our understanding of the former.

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Why are we to use the one in Divine Worship and reject the other? What New Churchman is there who is not helped in his conception of God by the Writings, and is not our religion aided by a better understanding of that on which it tests? I would point out also that we only know through Swedenborg what writings really are the Word. We have no innate capacity for deciding that question for ourselves. This is abundantly shown by the age-long differences of opinion on this subject outside the New Church.

     With regard to the general question as to reading the Writings in our services, it seems to me folly to disregard the fact that vast numbers are not naturally readers or students, and to such the reading of them is a real help. They can take in and assimilate what is read to them, while only by self-compulsion and with conscious effort will they read for themselves. Has the New Church a greater or more urgent duty than to spread the knowledge of what the Writings tell us) . . .
      H. P. BALY,
          Octogenarian No. 2.

      Several contributors to the discussion of this subject have favored a reading from the Writings in worship, on the ground that many do not read them at home. We recall the case of a New Churchman who ceased attending church, and gave as his reason: "I can read the Writings at home. Why should I go to church to hear them read?" "Christians have been known to say: "I can read the Bible at home. Why should I go to church to hear it read?" To which the reply was given on one occasion: "Yes, but do they read the Bible at home!" We think it may be set down as a general rule that they who read the Word of God in private are they who gain most from its reading and exposition in public worship.

               FROM THE HERALD OF APRIL 25, 1931.

      The correspondence which has resulted from the article by Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack reveals an interesting circumstance. Those who agree with and those who dissent from the conclusions offered in the aforesaid article, alike make the Writings their court of appeal. We may take it, therefore, that their authority is not in dispute, but only the nature of their authority.

     All that is affirmed in the article in question is based upon statements made in the Writings. All that is said about the power of the Word in its letter is gathered from the same source. But for the statements in the Writings Mr. Goldsack himself would have had no knowledge of which books of the Bible are the Word and which are not. Without reserve these statements are accepted and assured to be true. On whose authority are they made? If on Swedenborg's, it is a fallible basis for so far-reaching and revolutionary a result.

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Rome herself could not be more pontifical in declaring the vulgate version, complete with Apocrypha, to be the only inspired Scriptures, than is Swedenborg in making and the New Church in repeating his statement that only such and such books of the Bible are the Word. Nothing less than the assurance of Divine authority is sufficient for our complete confidence in all that Swedenborg says on this matter, and if such authority be granted anywhere, why not in everything that is contained in the Writings as doctrine for the New Church?

     From the general argument of the article in question it appears that we are to believe that the only authority possessed by the Writings is that of the exceptional nature of Swedenborg's rational mind, assisted by Divine illumination. But the very fact of such illumination disposes completely of the idea that the Writings produced by Swedenborg from that illumination are merely superior presentations of spiritual-rational truths, for it is the fact of such illumination that is the significant thing, not Swedenborg's rational apprehension of revealed truths. That he did rationally apprehend what was revealed to him has nothing whatever to do with the question of whether or not what he wrote is Divine truth. His apprehension or lack of apprehension does not affect the truth of what he wrote, but only the manner of its presentation. It would still be Divine truth, if it had been couched in the language of correspondence, and it is not less so because it is presented in the language of the rational mind.

     To say, as is said in Mr. Goldsack's article, that the revelation was "to Swedenborg's mind only," and did not extend to his Writings, is a curious and illogical distinction to make, since the only purpose of making the revelation at all was that it might be presented to the world. And it would be an amazing thing if the revelation being so important that illumination should be withdrawn from the very means employed to the end Of making it known. Hence, Swedenborg wrote that the revelation was made to a man who was able NOT ONLY TO RECEIVE THE DOCTRINES INTO HIS UNDERSTANDING, BUT ALSO TO MAKE THEM KNOWN BY THE PRESS." SO essential an element in the process of the Second Advent is surely not without the Providential oversight that guarded his mind against possibility of error.

     If, however, it is the fact that "the Writings of Swedenborg are not the rational thoughts of a specialist to make known rationally his rational conceptions of doctrines received from the Lord while he was reading the Word," then we are in the anomalous position of having to believe in a revelation upon which a new dispensation could be based, a revelation which is said to be "the Second Coming of the Lord," but of which we have no guarantee whatever that Swedenborg's rational conceptions of it are anything like the actual revelation which was the subject of his rational thought. We are to postulate a specific Divine revelation to his mind, and then affirm that the books which contain it represent only Swedenborg's rational apprehension of it, so that after all the Church really is the Swedenborgian Church, not the New Church of the Lord.

     The propriety or otherwise of reading from the Writings in Church has been so capably dealt with by Mr. Goyder Smith, Rev. A. E. Beilby and others, that it is superfluous to add anything more; but the subject is irrelevant to the main issue.

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Is the New Church based upon no more solid a foundation than "thus saith Emanuel Swedenborg"? If such be the case, we have but one more voice added to the multitudes who have proclaimed, " This is the way, walk ye in it."

     The weighty and valuable letter of Rev. E. A. Sutton raises questions that need the most serious considerations of the best minds of the Church. After all, the Word of the Old and New Testaments contain in their letter nothing but cognitions of truth adapted to the respective dispensations of the former churches. These cognitions are of a different kind and order in the New Testament from what they are in the Old Testament. What are the rational explanations and presentations of interior spiritual truths in the Writings if they also are not cognitions addressed to and apprehensible by the highest plane of the rational [natural?] mind, and the lowest plane of the spiritual rational) Mr. Goldsack speaks of the Writings as being "the greatest human writings at present in the world." Does he anticipate that he has any warrant for anticipating any further Divine Revelation than that which is now made to the highest and most interior plane of the natural mind, the highest plane upon which in this world man may be conscious) Mr. Goldsack's article does not dispose of these and kindred considerations.
     CLIFFORD HARLEY.

     A DEFENCE OF NEW CHURCH LIBERALISM.

     In the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER for April 15th, the Rev. E. M. Lawrence Could, editor, accepts the challenge of Judge Freeman's "Call to Arms" (cited in our last issue, P. 307), and anticipates a renewal of last year's conflict between opposing groups when the Convention meets at Cincinnati this year (May 13-19). Of this he says editorially:

     "Most of us believed that at the Convention last June the Church had expressed a definite decision on the subjects in regard to which there had been so much controversy up to that time. We had hoped for peace upon that basis. But apparently-at least in some quarters-the same issues are to be raised once more. The same arguments and charges, so often brought forward and refuted, are being reiterated. One can only repeat that the actual issue is in no sense one of 'loyalty to the doctrines of the New Church'; it is simply and entirely whether all men shall be forced into compliance with what seems to many of us a quite incorrect interpretation of them."

     As noted in our comments upon last year's Convention (October, 1930, p. 667), the issue was settled on the terms of the "Liberal" group, by a majority vote in the ratio of about 5 to 3.

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But as the Board of Managers of the Theological School, by unanimous action in the Wunsch case, chose to disregard this "mandate" of the majority of Convention, and during the past year the "Conservative" minority has shown in other ways that it is still aggressive, and far from satisfied with the so-called settlement, it would seem that it is yet to be decided whether the two groups are too far apart to work together in the same general body of the Church. We are not here concerned with the internal affairs of the General Convention, but all New Church people are deeply interested in the principles at stake in the division which has become so acute in that body,-principles involving fundamentally the Divine Authority of the Writings and the distinctiveness of the New Church.

     That this is the real issue, is shown by Mr. Could's article in the same number of the MESSENGER, entitled "The Meaning of 'Nunc Licet'-What is New-Church Liberalism?" He there outlines his own view of the "Liberal" position, which is none other than what we have come to regard as the "Permeation" point of view. On the two central principles of distinctiveness and authority, he defines the Liberal position as follows:

     "Willingness to recognize in any phase of the developing natural and spiritual life of the age we live in, the presence and activity of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming. If our Gospel for mankind is the message: 'The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns' (T. C. R. 791), we must surely look for-and find-widespread and increasing evidences of His sovereignty.

     "Unwillingness to limit the real and spiritual New Church or Church of the New Jerusalem to the membership of any humanly organized religious body. Such bodies are necessary, and even essential, at once to the Lord and to man, but should be regarded as societies for the promotion of the New Church rather than as the New Church itself. . . . But they realize that it cannot be demonstrated that Swedenborg ever definitely foresaw or referred to the establishment of a separate ecclesiastical movement which should call itself the Church of the New Jerusalem."

     We here have a plain statement of what the Conservatives in Convention would regard as anything but "distinctive." Our own views on the subject have been frequently set forth, and need no reiteration here. On the question of " authority," Mr. Gould thus defines the Liberal view:

     "Recognition of the fact that the essence of a Divine Revelation is the truth it makes known rather than the verbal forms or material illustrations in which it expresses itself; and that it is in the truth itself, as self-evident to enlightened or spiritual reason, that all the authority of Revelation inheres.

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The more fully, therefore, we believe that any book or books contain a Revelation, the greater our obligation to do more than merely assent to their statements-the greater our need to meditate on them, study them, and seek to penetrate into their inner meanings."

     "In the liberal position we have the embodiment of the attitude which has been characteristic of the General Convention, especially as distinct from other New-Church bodies, throughout the course of its history. In the Constitution of Convention, for example, we find that the body is said to consist of those who 'acknowledge the doctrines of the New Church as revealed by the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ in His Word by means of the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.' Nothing is said of 'authority,' or of any duty to accept an understanding or interpretation of the doctrines other than one's own. The Convention has consistently refused to arrogate to itself, or to confer upon any person or group, the right to define the doctrines, or to judge the truth or falsity of any honest man's interpretation of them. In point of fact, it was the Convention's insistence upon intellectual freedom, not the controversy over certain aspects of the teaching about marriage,-which was the real cause of the withdrawal from Convention of those who became the organizers of the General Church, popularly known as The Academy.

     Curiously enough, if we should be asked why the organizers of the General Church withdrew from the Convention, we would say that it was for the sake of their "intellectual freedom,"-freedom to exercise their undoubted right of individual judgment and interpretation, to derive from the Writings as a Divine Revelation the principles according to which they believed the distinctive faith and life of the New Church are to be established,-principles which seemed to them "self-evident to enlightened or spiritual reason," but which were not acceptable to the ruling majority in the General Convention, on which account it became no longer possible for those who organized the General Church to remain in that body without compromising their principles.

     In the interests of historical accuracy, may we remind Mr. Gould that in the past the General Convention has "defined the doctrines," and "judged the truth or falsity of honest men's interpretation of them," and this by official declarations on at least two occasions,- at Philadelphia in 1902, and at Brockton, Mass., in 1909. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1902, pp. 381, 412; 1909, p. 450.) He implies that "other New-Church bodies" have done this, but we may assure him that it has never been done by the General Church, where "it is not of right or order that council or assembly should, by a majority vote, or by pronouncement from the Chair, decide doctrinal issues, and thereby bind the conscience of the Church.

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The Writings, as given, are the supreme authority in matters of faith." (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1925,p. 178.)

     The so-called "Authority position" is much misunderstood. Briefly we would say that we are in agreement with Mr. Gould's statement, quoted above, that "it is in the truth itself, as self-evident to enlightened or spiritual reason, that all the authority of Revelation inheres," and that it is not for the man of the New Church " merely to assent to the statements " found in the books of Revelation. But when a New Churchman, in the exercise of his "intellectual freedom," has come to see and acknowledge that the Theological Works of Emanuel Swedenborg are a Divine Revelation, thus of Divine Authorship and Authority, and not the human, fallible works of a man, is it inconsistent with rational freedom to regard those works thenceforth as the authoritative source of Divine Truth, which remains whether we see it or not, but which we ought to endeavor to see, that it may enter interiorly into the mind?

     This is the attitude of the man who believes hi the Divine Authority of the Writings, and so he feels the continual "need to meditate on them, study them, and seek to penetrate into their inner meanings," as Mr. Could has expressed it. Once the Writings are seen to be of that Authority, the man of the New Church no longer stands in the outer court, "halting between two opinions," asking whether it is true or not; but he accepts it as true, and strives to understand it. Nor is this a Position of blind faith, but one of growing, enlightened faith, continually confirmed by Revelation itself, and by experience. Such a position does not bind and close the rational, but opens it more and more, or rather, suffers the Lord to open it more and more.

     Do not New Churchmen go to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as works of Divine Authority? Why not to that Revelation of Divine Truth which reveals to them the Divine Truth in the Greek Testament and the Hebrew Testament, and without which they would not know which books of the Bible are the Word of God?

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     EPISCOPAL VISIT TO EUROPE.

      The Right Rev. George de Charms, Assistant Bishop of the General Church, will visit centers of the General Church in Europe during the coming Summer. Mrs. de Charms will accompany him, and they will sail June 27th on the S. S. New Amsterdam, disembarking at Rotterdam on July 4th. On the Continent, visits will be paid at The Hague, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and the nearby residence of the Rev. and Mrs. Theodore Pitcairn. In England, from ten days to two weeks will be spent in London and Colchester prior to the meeting of the British Assembly, August 1st to 3d, at which Bishop de Charms will preside. He will then sail for Norway, visiting Oslo, going thence to Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen, and sailing for home on August 29th.

     DURBAN, NATAL.

      It is to be regretted that no report has come from the Durban Society for so many months. We hope we have not been forgotten after so long a silence.

     Kainon School is flourishing, with its twenty-one pupils and five teachers. That may seem like a big pro- portion of teachers, but we take our children from Kindergarten to what, in the Academy Schools at Bryn Athyn, would be the equivalent of first and second-year high school. Owing to our geographical position it is impossible to send our pupils to Bryn Athyn at the usual high-school age, so we try to take them as far as possible in our own school. I would like to mention here the invaluable work of Miss Colette de Carcenac, who comes from the Mauritian Society. She became a teacher at Kainon School in February, 1930, and, like most of our teachers, gives her services for a meagre salary. We are very grateful for her keen and indefatigable work.

      A new system is being tried at the school. It seems that the English public schools (called private schools in America) are divided into " houses," and Miss Champion thought it might be a good plan to adopt this idea by dividing Kainon School into two " houses," with a prefect at the head of each. The pupils of Benade House and De Charms House have taken to the idea, and all are working to uphold a high standard in deportment and study for each house. Good luck to the houses, and may they help to keep up the high standard of our school! In October, Mrs. Frederick Gyllenhaal arrived from Canada, and will spend several months with her mother, Mrs. Pemberton. She was accompanied by her daughter, Zoe, who is now attending Kainon School. It seems a little bit like old times to have Mrs. Gyllenhaal in our midst again.

      Miss Jennie Gaskill, who came to augment our teaching staff at Kainon School, arrived in August, and has already proved to be a great success.

      Our Christmas was a very pleasant one this year, "old man" weather being kind and allowing us to be cool instead of boiled, as in most of the previous years. The tableaux have become a fixed institution, and as the years pass they seem to improve; for those who present them become more and more efficient as they gather experience and better equipment. This year the tableaux went off so smoothly that the producers felt almost uncomfortable, because of the lack of the customary bustle and confusion.

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We always try to present one of the prophecies, but this year pictured "Zacharias in the Temple." The scene was very impressive with its seven-branched candlestick alight, the fire on the altar with its smoke rising, and the imposing figure of Zacharias in gorgeous robes and long white beard. A voice was heard off stage giving the account from the Word, The tableau of the Wise Men was especially beautiful with camels and palm trees silhouetted against an illuminated sky. In the foreground, the Wise Men were gathered around a small fire, one reading a scroll. A hidden choir sang "We Three Rings of Orient Are." Miss Emmeline de Carcenac is to be congratulated upon the success of her artistic scenic effects. The other two tableaux-"The Shepherds" and "The Nativity"-were accompanied by the music from the " Christ Child " cantata, the beauty of which seems to increase year by year, bringing us the very spirit of Christmas.

     There was also a most effective Representation of the Shepherds and Angels, the Wise Men on camels, the stable with its glow of light, and the town of Bethlehem in silhouette in the background. This is the first time in many years that we have had a Representation, and we are grateful to Mrs. Henry Ridgway for giving the children this added pleasure.

     The Durban Society is not without its organizations, and it might be interesting to describe them here. There is the Women's Guild, to which any woman in the Society may belong. Then there is Theta Alpha,- "the baby chapter." We have ten members now, which is rather splendid when we consider that eight years ago we started with only four each holding an office! "The Sorority " is the new name for the club that was once called "The Octette," this consisting of the girls over school age. Their use is to further social life among the younger set. The Eta Kappa Pi is a school club which takes in the girls over twelve years of age. Its use is to promote school spirit. Each of these organizations gives an annual banquet or some other special feature. One of the most interesting banquets was the one given to the children of the school last year by the "old girls" of Eta Kappa Pi. There were speeches given by the older ones on the subject of school spirit, and these were discussed extemporaneously by the others down to the youngest -their ages being from 5 to 15! Needless to say, they were all tremendously impressed.

     The Men's Class should also be mentioned here. It is not an organization, although it holds regular fortnightly meetings, and all the men in the society are free to attend the series of lectures conducted by the pastor. I believe it is their aim to write papers themselves from time to time on various philosophical subjects, and to present these for discussion at the meetings.

     There are other activities too numerous to mention here. I shall endeavor to send more frequent reports in the future, so as to keep us in closer touch with our friends across the sea.
     V. H. R.

     MRS. WILLIAM HENRY BENADE.

     An Obituary.

      At dawn on Friday, March 13th, one of the most remarkable of the many women of outstanding loyalty and fidelity who have labored in the cause of the Lord's New Church on earth passed from conscious life in this world in the person of Mrs. Mary Ann Katharine Benade, widow of the late Bishop Benade, Founder and first Chancellor of the Academy of the New Church. To all who knew her, she had endeared herself as a gracious friend, and as a well-in-formed and enthusiastic New Church woman.

     She was the eldest daughter of William and Mary Gibbs, and in her early years was associated with the New Church Society in Bath, England, under the pastorate of the Rev. James Keen, to whom she was greatly devoted in affectionate appreciation of his teaching and work.

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Upon removing to London, her parents and their four daughters joined the Camden Road Society, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. R. L. Tafel, and became very active workers therein.

     Soon after the formation of the Academy of the New Church, in 1876, Miss Kate, as she was affectionately called, became a member of that epoch-making institution. It is not too much to say that she became the feminine soul of that organization in England. Her grasp of the Heavenly Doctrines was very profound, and no work was too great for her to do in the endeavor to make the Academy a living force in our midst. Together with the Whittington family, the members of the Gibbs' household formed a centre of life-giving power in London. It was Miss Rate's good fortune to become intimately associated with Mr. and Mrs. John Pitcairn, and she soon entered into and became part of that unique companionship which was so thoroughly characterized by an insight into the Truths in which the Lord had made His Second Advent. The very term "Authority," as applied to the Writings of the Church, became sacred in their eyes, and very fully governed their lives.

     In course of time their then pastor ceased to hold the banner of "Authority in the New Church" as steadily and fully as he had previously done, and the Gibbs family left the Camden Road Society and became members of the church in Flodden Road, Camberwell, under the pastorate of the Rev. R. J. Tilson. And there Miss Rate was a tower of strength to all who stood firmly for the recognition of the Divine Authority of Revealed Truth.

     When the Academy School was formed in London, its first Head Master, the Rev. E. C. Bostock, received her whole-hearted support and cooperation. And when the beloved Bishop Benade came to England, he found in Mr. Gibbs' house a true New Church home ready and eager to receive him. It was there, in 1889, that he was taken seriously ill, and was carefully and devotedly nursed back to comparative good health.

     In 1893, Bishop Benade paid another visit to Old England, and in the following year married Miss Rate, with whom he returned to Philadelphia at the close of that year. There Mrs. Benade won all hearts, and found herself surrounded by those to whom she could give a strong and devoted affection. Troublesome times were soon encountered, but through them all she remained a devoted help-meet, exercising a trustful influence of reliance upon Divine Providence.

     Soon after the formation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Bishop and Mrs. Benade returned to England, and became more closely associated with the Church in Brixton, giving great power and strength to the work of the two priests,-the Revs. Ottley and Tilson. In 1905, Bishop Benade passed over into the Great Beyond, and, in connection with that ever memorable passing, the sweet devotion, the tender care, and the uplifting faith of Mrs. Benade were most splendidly manifested.

     After the Bishop's passing, Mrs. Benade set herself with truly marvellous devotion to an undertaking which she always referred to as "my work,"-namely, a diligent search for all the letters, speeches or papers written by her husband to all and sundry of his very numerous friends and correspondents. Having obtained a great number of these, she began to copy all, sometimes in duplicate and even in triplicate, that they might be of future use, and probably form the basis of a biography; for they are finally to find their place in the Archives of the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn. This was truly a colossal undertaking, and has been a marvellously accomplished task. She never fully realized that she had finished it, although assured that she had done all that there was to be done. Even in the last hours she still declared that she must get on with "my work."

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     During the summer of 1930, Mrs. Benade's health, and especially her memory, began to fail, making it necessary for her to give up her hat and to seek a home in a boarding house. Here she had the considerate care of the proprietress, whom she called her "angel," and was frequently visited by her pastor and friends. She was able to attend church on February 22d, and partake of the Sacrament. A few weeks later the end came, and she passed peace- fully away on March 13th.

     One of the Church's noblest women has thus gone from our earthly presence, and the memory of all who knew her is sacredly charged with the thought of her personification of genuine friendship, of remarkable generosity, of unswerving fidelity to principle, and of sustained devotion to duty-all "in the Name of the Lord."
     R. J. T.

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

      Services were held at DETROIT on Sunday afternoon, April 12th, at which twenty-two persons were present. In the evening there was a doctrinal class, with an attendance of ten, at which the question as to what church is today the Lord's Church Specific, consideration of which was begun at a previous visit, was again taken up. Passages from the Writings were read which apparently speak of Protestant Christendom as that church; as also passages which tell that the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem, is to be so regarded. In regard to the former it was shown that, in the revelation given at the time of a new dispensation, the preceding church is spoken of as the church. The Lord, when on earth, so spoke of the Jewish Church. Again, in the Gospel of His Second Advent, we find the same with reference to Protestant Christianity. (See S. S. 105 and 110.) Yet, as the Lord spoke also of the consummation of the Jewish Church, and of a new church that was to be His church, so also now in the Writings He reveals the consummation of the Christian

     Church and the establishment of the New Church as His true and eternal church,-the basis on which the New Heaven rests, and the means by which salvation can come to all who are of the Church Universal. (See S. S. 112, in the same chapter as the numbers cited above.) It needs to be added that there is always a period of transition from one Church Specific to another.

     On Monday afternoon, at WINDSOR, ONT., instruction was given to five children. And in the evening a doctrinal class was held at which the teaching concerning the dwellings or homes of the angels was presented. Seven Windsor residents and one visitor, Mrs. George Deppisch, of Kitchener, were present.-Tuesday evening, there was again class at Detroit, the subject being the regeneration of the internal man first, and then of the external by means of the internal. After the class some time was given to reviewing the article in the Messenger for April 15th, on "New Church Liberalism."

     On Wednesday, the 15th, at CLEVELAND, OHIO, an enjoyable evening was spent with a group of nine persons, all but one being of the General Church. At the class we turned our thoughts to an interior teaching, such as the members of the General Church are fond of having set forth, namely, the manner in which the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord, is effected,-by the Lord's inflowing into the life's love, and, affections thence intermediating, being received in wisdom; thus the Lord's looking at the forehead, and those receiving Him looking to Him with the eyes. (D. P. 28, 29.)-The next morning a pleasant hour was spent with Mrs. Rouette Cranch and her daughter, Miss Edith.

          On Thursday, the 16th, began a four days' visit at ERIE, PA. Our circle there, with its numbers increased, has entered into a greater activity of church life. Four evening doctrinal classes were held. At the first, third and fourth of these, our subject was the chapter in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture (62 to 68), teaching that "by the sense of the letter of the Word there is conjunction with the Lord and consociation with the angels"; while at the second class the doctrine of New Church Baptism was considered.

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On Sunday afternoon a service was held, and eight persons partook of the Holy Supper. At all the gatherings the attendance was good, in most cases fourteen persons; and the spirit was one of affectionate interest. But the very remarkable feature of the visit was the number of baptisms, five in all. One was that of an infant, during an afternoon; another that of a young lady, a new receiver, after the second doctrinal class; and the others were of three children, aged six to fourteen years, at the service on Sunday.-The Erie Circle meets every Sunday, under the leadership of Mr. C. E. Cranch. Instruction is first given to the young people, with whom John in the Isle of Patmos is being read at present; and then follows a simple service, including a reading from New Church Sermons.

     After the Friday evening gathering, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin DeMaine took me with them to their home at Springbore, thirty miles distant. We sat up well into the morning conversing for the most part on doctrinal subjects. The next forenoon, quite early, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Williamson arrived from Niles, Ohio. And from then until the time in the afternoon when I returned to Erie, our topics for the most part were the life of the church and the doctrines. It was a great pleasure to be with these friends, in whose former Middleport homes I had so often been delightfully entertained.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

      Our chronicle of events commences with the 97th meeting of the Forward Club, on February 17th, when Mr. Arnold Thompson gave us an able and interesting talk on "New Church Doctrine and the Factory." He drew attention to the rapidity of industrial progress along the lines of mass production during the past fifty years, due in large measure to pioneer work of the previous hundred years, and showed how Watts' invention of the steam engine-the immediate genesis of this development,-coincided with the period of the Second Coming of the Lord, suggesting the commencement of the fulfilment of the Apocalyptic prophecy of the " new heaven and the new earth " on the factory plane. If man had been as zealous in the study and application of the Doctrines of the Church during the same period, the New Church would to-day be the predominating religion of the world. We ourselves have a strong suspicion that it is even so, if quality, and not quantity, be the determining factor. And, whilst Swedenborg could not foresee the present industrial development, the Writings are full of doctrine that is applicable to it. (Vide T. C. R. 752, 32, 321, 422, 499, 801.) He pointed out the need of a distinctive New Church education as a counter- poise to man's eight hours a day association with the non-religious, even atheistic, sphere of modern business, citing the use to the church of such contributions as Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn's "Mechanical Age," and Mr. Randolph W. Childs' "Vocational Education." Our spiritual welfare is based upon the fundamental principle of love and wisdom; natural life as a derivative from heat and light; mechanics from the wedge and the lever; mathematics from addition and subtraction; commodities from labor and material; and so on. His talk, replete with pertinent analogy and illustration, was followed with keen interest and appreciation.

     Whilst on the subject of the doings of the Forward Club, we may as well include here the March meeting, which was 'L Ladies Night," Saturday the 21st, when a jovial crowd of some seventy people sat down to a delicious chicken-salad supper prepared under the capable supervision of Mr. Theodore Rothermel. At the table our Pastor read a paper on " What is Meant by the Doctrine of the Church?" in which he dealt at some length with questions that have been raised by De Hemelsche Leer, a monthly magazine published at The Hague, Holland, under the editorship of the Rev. Ernst Pfieffer.

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The reading of the paper was closely followed throughout, but we are free to confess that we ourselves have not gained a sufficient understanding of the points at issue to attempt any resume of Mr. Gyllenhaal's paper. We do hope that proper consideration all round will be given to the subject, that the good of the Church may be enhanced and not retarded. The remainder of the evening was enjoyably spent in giving and partaking of a varied bill of entertainment comprising a little of everything.

     A male quartet and a mixed voice octet sang some of the old English, Canadian and Plantation Folk Songs that are so much in radio-vogue just now. There was a clever impersonation of high-pressure quack medicine salesmanship; an amusing little three character skit, "Between the Silk and the Savory," being a most realistic portrayal of life below-stairs, by the " cook," the "waiting-maid" and the ubiquitous "general," and finally a "class in school," in which the dominie had outlined on the black-board a journal for entering up the "laughs," "applause," and "groans" occasioned by the wisecracks of the pupils and the ever-ready comeback of their professor. Needless to say, with charitably disposed audience, the "laughs" had the edge.

     Another interesting and enjoyable affair was the Dramatic Social Evening under the direction of Mrs. C. R. Brown, on Friday, February 27th, when a dramatic sketch, "A Pair of Lunatics," by W. R. Walkes, was "put on" by Miss Gwen Knight and Mr. Alec Craigie. Perhaps the best tribute we can pay to their work would be to quote an " aside" of the young lady, "How awfully natural it is to be mad!" The second offering was a one-act comedy, "Wurzel-Flummery," by A. A. Milne; the characters being portrayed by Mrs. H. P. Izzard, Miss M. Smith, Mrs. John Parker, Messrs. J. Knight, J. Parker and T. P. Bellinger. It was a good presentation of a clever little comedy, and even the covering-up work showed resourcefulness of no mean order. We are wondering whether, with the budding material at command, this phase of activity may not ultimately develop some distinctive contribution in and to the social and cultural life of the church.

     The event of the period under review was the visit of the Rev. K. R. Alden, who sojourned with us two days, March 12th and 13th, by invitation of the local chapter of the Sons of the Academy. Mr. Alden was in good form, and, at a men's meeting in the home of Mr. T. Rothermel, gave us an informing outline of Bishop de Charms' development of his educational work; and, at a meeting of the whole society, after supper, he delivered an inspiring address on "Our Responsibilities in the Field of Education." We all thoroughly enjoyed having Mr. Alden with us again, and we hope he enjoyed it as much c as we did.

     The Quarterly Business Meeting of the Society was held on Wednesday, a March 18th, when routine business was transacted. Miss Dora Brown was re-engaged as teacher of the Day School for the scholastic year 1931-2.

     The regular subject at Doctrinal Class was waived on Wednesdays, March 25th and April 2d, appropriate instruction in matters pertaining to Easter and the Holy Supper being given instead.

     At the Palm Sunday service there was the usual procession of the children taking their offering of flowers to the chancel, with a short thanksgiving immediately following. A brief address was given to the children on d the significance and meaning of the Day. There was an attendance of 107 at this service. We had our regular Good Friday evening service, the sermon being on "The Two Thieves Crucified with the Lord." Mrs. Frank Longstaff pleasingly rendered as a solo, "Holy Body," by Wm. P. Byrd (1543-)

     Easter Sunday dawned beautiful and bright with us here in Toronto, foretelling the new life soon to break forth in field and garden, hedgerow and woodland glade.

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And it was with feelings of happy contentment that we assembled for worship and, appropriately enough, found expression of the spirit of the morning in the opening hymn: "Chant Him, ye flowers, fresh from the sod." (Hymnal 50.) The sermon was from Matthew 28 2, on the "Rolling Back of the Stone,"-the opening of the Word to men. The Holy Supper was administered, the Revised Holy Supper Service being used for the first time, closing with the soul-stirring, majestic music of the Te Dominum, and we left the church to the strains of the postlude, "The Hallelujah Chorus," on Easter Day, 1931.
     F. W.

     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

     Since our last contribution to these columns, in October and November last, the following happenings are of interest:-

     Writing for the Mission Magazine -The Tlhahiso-the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana reports as under:

     "Recently we have witnessed, among other things, two important events. The first of these was when we were blessed in having the Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem presiding over our First Assembly, when he ordained a group of Ministers who were to be teachers and spiritual guides of the Church and its doctrine among our people; and the second event when the Rev. E. C. Acton dedicated the church building at 'Kent Manor,' Impapala (Zululand), on Sunday, November 9th, 1930. The building thus dedicated will, at present, serve two uses, namely, for the worship of the Lord, and for school purposes.

     "The Dedication Service was the first of its kind among the natives along this coast. It was opened before 11 o'clock on the date mentioned, when the Rev. E. C. Acton laid the Word in the repository. The Service was conducted by the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana. There were three Lessons. The First Lesson was from 1 Kings, 8th Chapter, verses 1-30, and s read by the Rev. B. T. Ngiba the Second Lesson was from the same book and chapter-verses 31-43- and read by the Rev. Julius Jiyana; while the Third Lesson was from The True Christian Religion, No. 508, and read by the Rev. P. J. Stole. The Sermon was then delivered by the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana, the text being taken from the first part of the 127th Psalm: "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it." The teaching presented dealt with the importance of acknowledging the Lord.

     "The Dedication then followed, conducted by the Rev. E. C. Acton, and opened with the reading of the 127th Psalm by the Rev. J. Jiyana. After the delivery of the Dedicatory Address, based upon the story of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the Holy Supper was administered.

     "The music added much to the sphere of the Occasion. Mrs. F. C. Frazee presided at the organ, while the band, under the leadership of Mr. Frazee, played appropriate selections. There was an attendance of over 180. After the Service a feast was held, on which occasion speeches were made by the Natal Native Ministers."

     The Annual Meeting of the Ministers, Leaders, and Teachers of the whole Mission was held at "Alpha" from January 26th to 30th, 1931. Interesting papers were presented, these being: "The Second Advent," by the Rev. J. Motsi; "To See, or Sight," by the Rev. John Jiyana; "A New Affection of Love to the Lord and Charity," by the Rev. P. Stole. At the afternoon meetings, educational subjects were considered. These included: " The Home Maker," by Mrs. C. Letele; "Annual Examinations," by Mr. C. H. Mofokeng; and "The First Lesson in Tonic Sol Fa," by Mr. Lutayi. Other questions were discussed, especially the difference between ordinary Education and New Church Education. An item for next year's Agenda is: "What should be the attitude of New Church Doctrine to Modern Psychology?" (! !)

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     The evening of January 28th was an open Mission Meeting at which the whole of the Mission Staff were present, as well as visitors from the Alpha Circle and Durban. The Speeches were in keeping with Swedenborg's Birthday, and with the great work he was the means of performing. The entire programme, interspersed with vocal hymns and part songs, was framed by the Native Leaders themselves, and presided over by the Rev. Jonas Motsi.

     On March 15th, the church building at Lusitania, Cundycleugh, Natal, was dedicated. Concerning this event we quote, in part, from a report sent by the Rev. John Jiyana. This reads as follows:

     "On the 14th day of March, 1931, the members of the New Church Mission Society at the above address cordially received their Superintendent, who was accompanied by Mrs. F. W. Elphick and the Rev. Berry Maqelepo. The main object of visiting the society was for the purpose of dedicating the new church building which had been erected by the members and the help of the Mission-for the glory and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only God of heaven and earth.

     "This, I suppose, is the first Mission building in Natal which has been constructed by the members themselves, together with the help of the Mission.

     "The Dedication Service even satisfied the desire of members who missed seeing the Bishop when he visited South Africa in 1929. This was their first time to be in a New Church Temple; and it seemed to them as if it were their first time to be in a New Church Service.

     "Owing to the attendance of a few white families in our service, the whole of the proceedings were conducted in two languages-English and Zulu. The service opened on Sunday, the 15th of March, at 11.30 A.M. . . . Two Lessons were read. The First Lesson was from the 1st Book of Kings, Chapter 8, verses 1-15. It was read in English by the Superintendent, and then in Zulu by Mr. Johannes Lunga. The Second Lesson was read in English, and translated into Zulu by the Rev. Berry Maclelepo. This was taken from The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine. (Nos. 241-245.)

     "After these readings, the Dedication ceremony commenced. The keys were given to the Superintendent by Mr. Elijah Mntsele (Linda), the Dedicatory Address being given by the Rev. F. W. Elphick.

     "After the Address, the Superintendent gave a sermon on the text, "Behold I make all things new." (Rev. 21: 5.) He treated of the newness of the spiritual sense of the Word, as now revealed to the New Church; the new form of charity; Baptism and the Holy Supper. After the sermon, the Holy Supper was administered.

     "The attendance in the morning was 190 (adults and children), and at the Dedication Feast, 203. In the afternoon, the Superintendent gave a lecture on the subject of 'The Second Advent.' 175 attended."

     In respect to the Alpha Circle we quote the following from the March issue of the Open Letter:

     "Sunday morning services have been held as regularly as possible; and now that Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Ridgway are temporarily-permanent members at Alpha, not only has the attendance increased, but Mrs. Ridgway is carrying on the same duties as she did in Durban by playing the organ at the services. Her help is much appreciated."

     The Thursday evening readings at the four homes at Alpha have also continued. The work on The Earths in the Universe has been completed, and attention is now being given to The True Christian Religion. These evenings have also been enlivened by exchange of thought on the theories advanced in our Dutch contemporary, De Hemelsche Leer.

     Swedenborg's Birthday was duly honored by the Circle on January 29th. Happening at a time when visitors were present from Durban, the occasion was marked by a group of fourteen sitting round a festive board at the Alpha Homestead.

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The attractive table was the result of the good attention given by Mrs. J. H. Ridgway, while the responsibilities of toastmaster were vested in Mr. J. H. Ridgway. During the evening the following subjects were presented, being interspersed with the usual songs from the Social Song Book: "Why should we commemorate Swedenborg's Birthday)" by Mr. S. F. Parker; "Swedenborg's Qualifications for the Office of 'Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,'" by Mr. E. J. Waters; "Swedenborg and his Journal of Dreams," by Mr. S. Forfar; "Swedenborg and his Relationship to the New Church," by Mr. N. A. Ridgway; "Swedenborg's Preparation" (especially dealing with the evidences of humility in his philosophical studies), by the Rev. E. C. Acton; and "A Visit to Swedenborg," by the Rev. F. W. Elphick.

     The remainder of the evening was devoted to matters of lighter vein, the party dispersing on the morning of January 30th, after drinking birthday toast to Mrs. N. A. Ridgway.

     Recent visitors to Alpha have been: Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Ridgway and family; Mr. F. C. Frazee, Mr. And Mrs. P. D. Ridgway; Rev. and Mrs. E. C. Acton and family; Mr. and Mrs. Scott Forfar and baby; Mr. and Mrs. S. Y. Ford from Bloemfontein; and Mr. Leo Hubscher from Impapala, Zululand.
     F. W. E.
"Alpha,"
Ladybrand, O. F. S.
April 4th, 1931.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The society's activities have continued as usual this month. An informal dance and card party was held on April 24th. Mr. and Mrs. D. P. Lindsay acted as host and hostess.

     We are most grateful to Mr. And Mrs. Seymour Nelson and Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Nelson, of Glenview, for their generous gift of trees and shrubs for our grounds. This necessitated some real work on the part of the young men of the society, as there were some eight hundred holes to be dug and prepared for the planting. This has now been accomplished, and as we have been favored with some rainy weather the plants have burst into leaf.

     The school work is progressing toward the close of the year in fine form. The seventh grade has completed Dr. Iungerich's Latin textbook for beginners, and is reading some easy Latin until the close of the term.

     There is a committee collecting suggestions for a suitable name for the church, other than the long incorporated name, and when one has been chosen a bulletin board will be placed outside, giving members and visitors information about the services and other meetings.

     During the month we have welcomed a number of visitors from various parts of the country: Mr. And Mrs. Harold K. Lindsay, of Philadelphia; Miss Emma Hoffman, Mrs. Edward H. Davis, Misses Virginia and Anita Synnestvedt, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Asplundh, and Miss Elizabeth Meisel, of Bryn Athyn; Mr. and Mrs. Walter Glenn, of New York; Miss Bertha Farrington, of Chicago; and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kintner, of Cincinnati.
      E. R. D.

     KITCHENER, ONT.

     Easter Sunday in Carmel Church was observed with appropriate services, first by the children's service, and later by an adult service. In preparation for the latter, a special class was held on the evening of Good Friday.

     On Easter Monday there was a supper and social, when a program of speeches on "The Obligations of a New Churchman" was presented by three speakers. "Obligations in the Home" were discussed by Mr. Nathaniel Stroh. Mr. Samuel Roschman took up the "Obligations in the World of Business," and our pastor, Rev. Alan Gill, spoke on "Obligations in the Church." Progressive cards and dancing completed the evening.

     The school children invited their parents to an entertainment on the last day of school before the Easter holidays.

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The small children had been studying rhythm, and gave two numbers by their rhythm band which were quite unusual and very interesting. The older children gave recitations and several songs which showed careful training and were much enjoyed.

     Our Men's Club was entertained by the Forward Club of Toronto on April 18th. About twenty of our members attended, and had the usual good time. No doubt a full account of the affair will appear in the report from Toronto.

     On April 15th we had an entertainment to raise money for a special use. After a varied program, including a short play, a buffet lunch was served. We are glad to say that a substantial sum was realized.

     Of late our building plans seem to be progressing. Two society meetings have been held, and four plans were presented. We hope that in the near future we will have decided on one of them, so we can really begin to build.

     The Ladies' Guild continues to hold monthly meetings. The subjects our pastor presents at these times are of interest to us all. The local chapter of Theta Alpha also meets regularly, and at present is assisting the school teachers in making and cataloguing a picture collection.
     C. R.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     Spring is a coy maiden around here, inclined to be distant and cold, but it appears that she has at last arrived. Votive fires arise on every side to the goddess Ceres, or whoever it is that is responsible for the young onion and spinach. Rubbish and dead leaves disappear, and the Park takes on new beauty. Golden forsythia glows against the dark green of the new grass, and the budding lilacs give promise of the gorgeous, scented blossoms for which we are noted.

     The annual meeting of the Immanuel Church was held according to by-laws on the second Friday of April, and routine matters were disposed of. The three retiring trustees were unanimously re-elected: George K. Fiske, Winfred Junge, and J. Ralph Synnestvedt.

     It is understood that Candidate Philip Odhner is to be with us this summer, helping with the church work and gaining experience.

     Miss Bertha Farrington, of Chicago, is to teach kindergarten in our school next fall.

     Mr. and Mrs. Seymour G. Nelson and the Misses Nelson have returned from their Florida home in good health, and Mr. Nelson immediately resumed his place at the organ, also assisting with the Friday evening singing class.

     The Charles S. Cole family have moved into their new house, erected on the site of the old one which burned down. It is a commodious home and an artistic addition to the Park.

     Mr. E. Crebert Burnham has just been elected to the office of President of the village of Glenview, an office once filled by his father, Mr. Hugh L. Burnham, who was elected the first president thirty-two years ago.

     At the regular April meeting of the Sons of the Academy there was a further discussion of the "Newest Atlantis," and several speakers who had been appointed for the purpose presented their different viewpoints, varying from the ultraconservative, which holds that we need daily contact with the outside world, etc., to the most optimistic, which favors the community idea. Perhaps the outstanding thought was, that if the growth of the Church demands a Newest Atlantis, it will come in spite of opposition; and that a careful study with an open mind will be necessary before steps are taken in any direction.

      Chicago is having a big jubilee week, and incidental thereto is holding an art-exhibition of paintings by artists of the city and vicinity. We are pleased to learn that our pastor, Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, is represented there by four canvasses.
     J. B. S.

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CHANGE OF ADDRESS 1931

CHANGE OF ADDRESS              1931

     As the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, Visiting Pastor of the General Church, has moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, and taken up his residence in Bryn Athyn, his home address hereafter will be: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
24TH BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1931

24TH BRITISH ASSEMBLY       VICTOR J. GLADISH       1931

     Members and friends of the General Church of the New Jerusalem are cordially invited to attend the Twenty-fourth British Assembly, which will be held at Colchester on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday,

     August 1st, 2d and 3d, 1931. Those expecting to be present are requested to communicate as early as possible with Mr. Horace Howard, 30 Drury Road, Colchester, England.
     VICTOR J. GLADISH,
           Secretary.
ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1931

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH       E. S. KLEIN       1931

     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa., will be held in the Chapel of Benade Hall on Saturday, June 13th, 1931, at 9.30 a.m.

      At this meeting an opportunity will be given for the discussion of the annual reports of the officers of the Academy. These reports, in published form, will be available to the general public at some date before the meeting. The public is cordially invited to attend.
     E. S. KLEIN,
          Secretary.

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BACKGROUND OF NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1931

BACKGROUND OF NEW CHURCH EDUCATION       Rev. KARL R. ALDEN       1931

     
NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          JULY, 1931           No. 7
     (The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to Dr. C. E. Doering, who generously allowed him to consult the MS. of his book on "The History of New Church Education.")

     Today the maintenance of New Church education demands a new birth of courage. Doubtless we shall not be called upon to suffer physical death in the cause; yet we have called upon to exhibit that fearless vision of faith which is willing to risk all our energy, time, and effort, that the Church of today may be so builded that the Church of tomorrow will be greater and mightier than the Church of today! We are still pioneers in the domain of New Church education, and the characteristic mark of a pioneer is that he is willing to work today, to sacrifice today, to endure hardship today, that the men of tomorrow, the children yet unborn, may enter into the fruit of that labor.

     The Church today is threatened from two sources: there are foes within, and there are foes without.

     The foes within are those who, for the time being, have lost their vision, and the compelling power of that vision. They have become soft, and they cry, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. Perhaps the cares of this world, or mayhap the deceitfulness of riches, have weaned them away. Who can tell? But they are counseling expediency, when there should be no compromise; urging worldly standards, when the Divine Truth alone is worthy to be our ensign. And these foes within are powerful. They do not act with violence; rather do they pour forth discouragement. They make it difficult to maintain a spirit of enthusiasm; and when the first gale of adversity must be met, they surrender.

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     The foe without must also be reckoned with. He is a bold fighter, and his stronghold lies deep within the heart of our great universities. He is cold to God, but warm to self-advancement. He is unmoved by the appeal of religion, but he grows intensely enthusiastic over the research of human science. For him the kingdom of God is no incentive, but the kingdoms of this world are dear, and to their increase he has given his soul. His birthright to the eternal kingdom he is willing to sell for a miserable mess of pottage, concocted of the cares and anxieties of this world.

     To maintain the sphere of New Church education in the face of these foes is indeed the task of a hero, nay, of a race of heroes!

     There is just one institution in the world, with its children far-flung in many nations, that is dedicated to the carrying on of this great struggle, and that is the Academy of the New Church, with all the local schools of the Church. And what a conflict it is! Where the children of the world are numbered in millions, ours must be called in one's and two's. Where the children of the world have millions to spend, we have pennies; and where they have thousands of workers, we have but a handful. And, yet we have inherited an institution that is priceless in the history of the world. The far-famed Academy at Athens was not destined to be half so influential in history as this same beloved Academy of which I speak.

     Have you ever considered that the Academy was not born until nearly a century of New Church history had run its course? That for which we find ourselves called upon to fight was not founded in a day. It was conceived in the midst of a bitter struggle which ran back to the very beginning of the New Church: and it was brought forth in pain and anguish, only after three generations of heroes had fought and prepared the way. If I can make you see the struggle which gave birth to the Academy; if you will briefly review with me the deep historical roots from which it sprang, I think you will love it more, be willing to sacrifice more for it, and also, should the test come, be willing to give your life for it.

     Before a permanent New Church institution for education could be founded, there had to be a background. That is the law of God. When we read of the birth of the earth itself, we read of emptiness, and a void, and darkness upon the faces of the deep. It was only after the Spirit of God had moved upon the faces of the waters that there was light.

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Here is the Divine recitation of the growth of the mind,-the growth of the mind of each individual, and the growth of the composite mind of the Church. From the beginning of the foundation of the New Church there was darkness upon the faces of the deep; but there was also the tender, loving Spirit of God brooding upon the faces of those same waters, striving with infinite care to bring forth the light that should not fail. And so it was with the birth of the light of the Church which we call the "doctrine of New Church education."

     You will think it passing strange when I tell you that the first considerable body of men that assembled to array themselves under the banner of New Churchmanship saw the first gleaming streaks of this light. It was in London, at the first Conference, that we find the following resolution introduced:

     That it is the opinion of this Conference, that the Old Church worship and doctrine are highly dangerous to the rising generation, inasmuch as they tend to implant in the young people the idea of three Divine Persons, to which is unavoidably annexed the idea of three Gods, the consequence of which is spiritual death to all those who confirm themselves in such opinions." (Article 9, Constitution, 1789.) And further: "That it is the opinion of this Conference that it is the duty of every true Christian to train up his children in the principles and heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem alone." (Article 10, Constitution, 1789.)

     Here, in faith, we see the enunciation of the doctrine of Church education. But nothing came of it. A decade passed, and the only voice raised suggested New Church tutors in the home.

     The dawn of the new century brought a worthy appeal from one who signed himself "Etudiant." He said in part: "When we consider the difficulty we meet in removing prejudice; when we consider the labor that is lost by endeavoring to root out opinions that have once gained a form in the mind of the adult; when we hear with what anxiety parents of the new dispensation express their desire of bringing up their children in a knowledge of the truth; and when we recollect how much it is wished by all members of the New Jerusalem that there should be a school established upon a foundation of New Church principles; I say, when I hear these things so frequently mentioned, I am really surprised that nothing has been done to forward this very desirable undertaking." (AURORA 1800, Vol. 11., P. 165.)

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But it proved to be a voice crying in the wilderness. Nothing beyond the founding of Sunday Schools was accomplished.

     Another decade, and we hear the voice of Hindmarsh calling for a school.

     In the meantime, Pestalazzi, an Italian Swiss, had given impetus to free schools for the poor. This gave the New Church the needed impulse to found its first school. A society, known as "The Chain of Christian Friendship," was established in London, and in 1822 a New Church school was actually opened in connection with the Temple Church in London. It was called the "Temple New Church Free School." Manchester and Salford soon followed, and the movement grew by leaps and bounds until, about 1835, these New Church schools in England had about 6,000 pupils. But, alas, their vision lacked two essentials,-they did not require baptism, and they often employed Old Church teachers. The result was that, of all those schools, not one has lived to see the light of the twentieth century. Suppose they had been founded upon true principles, what would not be the results in England today?

     In 1828, William Malins opened the Woodford School, on a fifty-one acre tract of land and with a good school building. The purpose was "to afford a liberal education on the true Christian principles of the New Church." (INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY, Jan., 1828, pp. 53-54.) It opened with thirty-eight New Church boys and girls, and sixteen Old Church boys and girls. At that time the New Church families embosomed hundreds of children, but the parents, for worldly reasons, would not send them to the New Church school; and so, after two years, it was thrown open to the Old Church public, and in four years it was dead. This was the last of these New Church schools in England, until the Academy, in the year 1890, established its school in London.

     When we turn to America, we are filled with amazement; for we find that here, as in England, from a very early time, men arose and preached the absolute necessity of New Church education.

     As early as 1832, the Rev. Richard de Charms made a move for New Church education in Cincinnati, but it was thwarted by powerful laymen who did not believe in separate Schools.

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But in 1835 the Rev. Samuel Worcester introduced the following noteworthy resolution into the General Convention:

     "Whereas the education of children in the heavenly doctrines is of vital importance in the advancement of the New Jerusalem Church, Resolved, That: A standing Committee be appointed whose duty it shall be to select, write, or cause to be written, such books as they deem well-suited to the instruction of children and youths in the heavenly doctrines, and make such suggestions as to the method of instruction as they think proper, and said committee be required to report to the next Convention," (Minutes, General Convention, 1835.)

     At the same time, the powerful Boston Society appointed a committee to consider the following:

     "I. The first duty of parents is to educate their children in the doctrines of the New Church."

     II. It is very important, if not absolutely essential, to have day schools to accomplish this end, and with New Church teachers. It should be called a New Church school, and its great aim should be the making of New Churchmen." (NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, 1826.)

     The Massachusetts Association followed suit with the following resolution:

     "I. The duty of the New Church in regard to education is to establish schools."

     "II. Each Society should have a school."

     It was about this time that the famous Hobart Resolution was presented to the General Convention. It proposed:

     "I. Primary schools for all societies."

     "II. High schools for groups of societies."

     "III. One institution of higher learning for the whole of Convention."

               (NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, September, 1838.)
     In the same ye at, Samuel Worcester reported to Convention, and proposed "baptism for both teachers and pupils." (NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, July, 1838.)

     For a time it looked as though New Church education would take New England by storm. A few societies did establish elementary schools, but none of them survived ten years.

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There seemed to be a force at work against them. This force was none other than the powerful and magnetic personality of the Rev. Thomas Worcester, who not only opposed New Church education, but claimed that it was opposed to the teachings of the Writings. On the ground of the distinction between ecclesiastical and civil uses, he held that education is a civil use, and that the Church has no more right to embark upon it than it has to conduct New Church schools of medicine, law, or plumbing. The power of this single foe of New Church education within the Church was such that it destroyed the movement at the time.

     In 1850, the Church in the West opened Urbana University. From the beginning, however, it was doomed to failure, because it did not confine its attention to New Church pupils. At first it was governed by twelve trustees, of whom J. P. Stuart was the Secretary. For a time it looked as though the Rev. Wm. Henry Benade would lend his strength to the University, but he finally decided not to do so, and for the following reasons:

     "1. Because I do not regard myself as qualified to fulfill the duties of that office, being altogether without experience in them, and not conscious of possessing any abilities which might be so developed as to enable me to perform them.

     "2. Because, even if I possessed these abilities, and some experience in addition, I could not conscientiously employ them for your institution, before it had assumed such a form of order, by the introduction of a distinctive and fully expressed New Church religious and theological element, and a proper arrangement of its government, and its course of studies, so as to develop this element, which I could confidently and honesty recommend to the patronage of societies and individual members of the Church throughout the land.

     "3. Because I cannot consent to place my ministerial office under the direction and control of a layman or laymen, believing, as I do, that the schools of the Church, as well as the Church itself, must be under the government of ministers, as representatives of the Lord.

     4. Because I do not think that your Board is fully acquainted with my views of the teachings of the Church in regard to the Order of its government, and I do not wish to be placed in a situation in which I might impair their freedom and my own.

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     5. Because I do not like the manner in which it is proposed that I shall obtain my support. It savors too much of a mere business operation or contract, and is too precarious and uncertain.

     6. Because circumstances have arisen in this city which seem to indicate plainly that it is my duty to remain here, or, at least within the bounds of this State, in order to give my humble aid in carrying out the principles of order to which I have become committed by an entire conviction of their Divine truth, and such as can alone promote the real welfare of the Lord's Church on earth.

     "7. Because there is a prospect of our being able to start an educational movement here, which shall, in its inception and progress, embrace the whole Church, while it shall receive its character from the whole Church." (Letter from Wm. H. Benade to J. P. Stuart, October 28, 1854.)

     Later, the General Convention gained control of Urbana when it matched Col. Du Pont's $150,000 gift; and from that time on it has continued as a private school, chiefly benefitting an Old Church clientele, not making instruction in the Heavenly Doctrines obligatory, nor requiring New Church baptism of its teachers and pupils.

     The Waltham New Church School has followed a similar and even more disastrous course. It was founded in 1860 for New Church boys and girls, but gradually became less and less New Church, until, in 1912, even its name was changed from the Waltham New Church School to the Waltham School for Girls.

     II

     What was really lacking in all of these abortive movements to found New Church education was the conviction that the Writings are the very Word of God,-the Divine Human of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in His Second Advent.

     While all these pseudo movements were taking place, the real foundation of our schools was being laid by an internal propaganda of sound doctrine. The Rev. Richard de Charms had buckled on his armor to preach the Authority of the Writings. Everywhere he went he laid down the principles which later made the Academy possible. These principles, summed up by Dr. C. E. Doering, are as follows:

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     1. Authority of the Writings.

     2. Individuals and the organized Church must conform to what is there taught.

     3. A distinctive priesthood.

     4. Order in externals of the Church.

     5. The deadness of the Old Church.

     6. The distinctiveness of the New Church.

     7. The need of distinctive New Church education.

     8. The importance to the New Church of Hebrew.

     In 1838, the Convention outlawed all the Societies that did not believe in the same principles as itself. The result was that the malcontents met in 1840 and organized the Central Convention. In this the Rev. Richard de Charms was the prime mover, and it gave him the opportunity to publish THE PRECURSOR, THE NEW CHURCHMAN, and THE NEW CHURCH EXTRA, wherein are contained all of the Academy principles.

     The Central Convention immediately adopted as a standing rule: "That this body thinks the establishment of a complete New Church seminary, to be under the control of and support of this general body, and to be devoted to the education of our children on the spiritual principles of the New Jerusalem, vastly important; and that whenever the Lord, in His Providence, shall clearly open the way, and afford the means of establishing and maintaining such an institution, it will be one of much the most important uses to which this Convention can devote its best and most enduring energies." (Central Convention Minutes, 1840.)

     But the Central Convention never founded a school; it did, however, enable the Rev. Richard de Charms to pass on his vision to a younger generation. Among his pupils were to be found William Henry Benade, J. P. Stuart, J. R. Hibbard, and N. C. Burnham.

     Benade was a man of action, and in 1848 he actually established a New Church school for boys in Philadelphia. It was not until 1856, however, that the first Now Church school was erected on a corner stone unequivocally laid upon the acknowledgment of the Lord in the Writings. The words that Bishop Benade used in laying this stone are as follows:

     "This stone is laid in the foundation of a building now to be erected and hereafter devoted to the great and holy use of instructing and educating children and youths according to the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem, in and by means of which the Lord is now making His Second Coming." (Dedication Service, Cherry Street Church, September 11, 1856.)

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     In 1861, the school, which had ministered to about thirty-five children each year, was forced to close on account of the Civil War.

     From this time on, the foundation of the Academy was nothing but the gathering together of great men who saw a great vision. Shoulder to shoulder they worked, first preparing the mind of the Church through internal propaganda, and later receiving a Charter from the State of Pennsylvania to organize and conduct a New Church school. The "twelve apostles" of the Academy met on the Nineteenth of June, 1876, and founded the Academy. The following year it began its educational work. And from that day to this it has never closed its doors. Its glorious history, its trials, its successes, are familiar to you all. They are spread over more than half a century of New Church history. They have demonstrated beyond the shadow of doubt that the reasons for the failure of the former efforts to secure New Church education were six in number. They did not:

     1. Regard the Writings as the Word,

     2. Acknowledge the hopeless state of the Christian world,

     3. See the need for distinctiveness.

     4. Recognize New Church education as an ecclesiastical use.

     5. Require New Church baptism for the pupils of their schools.

     6. Demand the services of New Church teachers alone.

     On the contrary, the Academy from the beginning applied these principles. And, in no spirit of boasting, let us ask: What has half a century of New Church education done for the General Church of the New Jerusalem? To quote:

     "Let us take the thirty years between 1897 and 1927. In 1897, the General Conference reported a membership of 6054; General Convention 6496; the General Church 396.

     "In 1927, the number reported by Conference was 6432, an increase of 278 members, or 6.2 per cent. Convention reported 5789, a loss of 707 members, or a decrease of 10.9 per cent. The Genera, Church reported 1912, an increase of 1516 members, or an increase of 382.8 per cent." (BULLETIN, Sons of the Academy, Vol. 16.)

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     Who can gainsay that New Church education has been beneficial to the General Church, or that the lack of it has been fatal to Conference and Convention?

     Today the General Church is maintaining schools of varying enrollment in the following places: Bryn Athyn 289: Glenview 52; Kitchener 31; Pittsburgh 15; Toronto 6; Colchester 13; Durban 24; Sydney, Australia 7; Alpha 5; and eight native schools in Africa with 282 pupils.

     We are proud of these schools, but we must also face a distasteful fact. Our responsibilities have now descended upon the shoulders of the second and third generations. How are these generations answering the call? As far as the central schools in Bryn Athyn are concerned, the parents of our Church are failing to answer the call as their fathers did! For the last decade there has been a continual falling off in the number of pupils sent to Bryn Athyn per thousand members, of the General Church. In the school-term of 1921-1922, the General Church sent to Bryn Athyn ninety pupils per thousand of her membership. Almost a decade later the number had dropped nearly to one-half; for in 1928-1929 we find only fifty-five pupils sent to Bryn Athyn from every thousand members of the General Church. Here, indeed, is food for thought!

     Is it possible that we lack the courage of our fathers to accept our full share in the maintenance of New Church education in our generation? Have we become flabby, and worldly-minded, and timid? And, most of all, are we going to turn our backs upon the lessons of the past?

     Numbers mean little in the work of New Church education. It is the indomitable spirit that counts for everything. At the Academy in Bryn Athyn there are nearly three-hundred pupils, but what is that in comparison with a single city High School which numbers its pupils by the thousands?

     In Glenview there are fifty-two pupils. In Kitchener there are thirty-two. In Pittsburgh there are fifteen. In Toronto there are six. Yet the spirit that maintains that school of six is as noble, as far-seeing, and as spiritual, as the spirit that maintains a school of two hundred and eighty-one in Bryn Athyn.

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If we can only remain faithful, so that, no matter how large or how small our school is, it will always be a New Church school, then, of a truth, will the future bless our efforts with untold increase.

     The organized New Church is fast approaching its one hundred and fiftieth birthday, and we have seen that it was nearly a century before a true New Church school could be founded. It needed background from which to grow; principles had to be seen and established in this world; and societies had to be inaugurated in the spiritual world from which we could grow on earth.

     Like the Christian Church, the New Church has had its martyrs,-men who dared to live a life that testified to their principles. Let us glance for just a moment into that society in the spiritual world with which we, who have dedicated our lives to New Church education, are connected.

     We see, at the head of the Society, Robert Hindmarsh, who in his day and age proclaimed the Divinity of the Writings. And there is Richard de Charms, despised by men, buffeted from society to society, dying in poverty because the Church was not ready for his vision. And then we see Bishop William Henry Benade, masterful personality, an intellectual and spiritual giant. Nearby stands Bishop William Frederic Pendleton, a saint among men, and the apostle of freedom to the Church. Grouped about these beloved leaders we see many others. Truly they are a worthy company,-saints from whose spiritual power and inspiration we must fight today.

     May their courage be our inspiration! Let us neither falter because our numbers are few, nor grow boastful because they are relatively many. Let us rather keep our faces steadfastly upon the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He appears to us in the Writings of the Church. Let us remember that He is our God, and that our fathers, through sacrifice and toil, have made Him known unto us. Shall we rob our children of this vision?

     I cannot do better than end this address with the words of Bishop Benade, uttered in 1856, when the corner stone of the first real New Church schoolhouse had been laid. He foresaw with the eye of a prophet the glorious vision that is a reality today. He looked forward to that which today we have received as our heritage from the past, and these are his words:

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     "In contemplating the future of this beginning, we may be permitted to think of the time when this house shall be completed and receiving that small flock which shall first enter within its walls, be opened with prayer to the Lord for His presence and aid, and praise for His goodness and mercy, in having enabled us so to came together for such a purpose. Happy will be that day for us I And far happier, we trust, for them! And looking past that period, down the vista of coming years, we may suffer our thought to run on another and many more forms of youthful life gathered together in the same place, and for the same end, and enjoying the benefits of that which we have begun to do. And then, turning the eye to the right hand and to the left, may we not behold many, very many, other and like houses, smaller and larger, with their inmates, and their labors, and their uses, and their irradiating spheres of New Church life and heavenly charity, and, in the midst of all, and high above all, a great house, a wonderful house of science and knowledge, of instruction and education, with its youths and young men, and middle aged and old men, with its learning and intelligence and wisdom. and its universal sphere of New Church educational life, extending to all sides and to all parts, flowing into and forming, and confirming, all the lesser and least houses into accordance and agreement with itself, being to them as a perpetual fountain for the replenishing of their uses, and receiving from them its supplies of needed material, to elaborate and send forth again and again in the performances of its great universal use? (Dedication Service, Cherry Street Church, Sept. 11, 1856.)

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SALVATION BY PURE MERCY 1931

SALVATION BY PURE MERCY       Rev. HENRY HEINRICHS       1931

     It is the teaching of the New Church, the acknowledgment of which is fundamental to salvation, that nothing of man's own can ever save him,-that he is saved only by the pure mercy of the Lord. Not, however, by "immediate" mercy, without respect to his state and quality of life, if only he has faith, as is taught in the former Christian Church. It is important that we should understand the teaching of the New Church on this subject.

     There is an appearance that man is saved by his merit. For he is saved in the degree of his reception of good, and is admitted into a society of angels on account of the good that is with him. According to the kind and degree of good that be has acquired, such will be the society to which he is admitted. This accords wit our sense of what is just and right, But if a man have only this in mind, he is liable to grievous error, and may propose to himself, "I will acquire the good of the first, second, or third heaven (as the case may be); and when I go to the other world, I will be admitted to that heaven." Salvation by merit is an appearance only. Underlying it is the pure mercy of the Lord. For the good which is with the angel-man, and with the society in which he dwells, is of the Lord, bestowed out of pure mercy, without any consideration of worth or merit; and indeed because man is relatively nothing.

     Definitions of the Divine mercy are given in the Writings as follows: It is the Divine Love going forth to those who are in miseries; thus relatively to the whole human race. (A. C. 9219.) It is said to be the Divine Love going forth to the whole human race, to save it from evils and falsities, thus from hell. (H.H. 522.) Such it must be, since by the fall all men are born into evils, and enter into the miseries to which their evils lay them open. More universally, or including the age before the Fall, the Divine mercy is the Divine Love going forth and operating with all who are such that they can do nothing from themselves; that is to say, to the whole of human creation on our earth, on all other earths in the universe, and in the heavens from every earth; for all are such that they can do nothing from themselves.

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All are but vessels acted on by the Lord, their action being but a reaction to the Divine action. it operates equally with the evil as with the good, in that it leads those who are in bell, struggles with them, and fights for them against the devil; acting to render clean the things that are unclean, and sane the things that are insane. (D. P. 337.)

     But we are not to think that the Divine mercy, because it is extended to all, is received by all in the same way. All men are not saved as Divine mercy intends. Nevertheless, that mercy does not forsake them on that account, but applies itself to them in another way. For the Divine mercy, being one with the Divine Love, regards first of all that men shall be free-free to receive or reject the Divine Love. It operates that men shall be free, in order that they may have the reciprocal by which they may as of themselves, be conjoined to the Lord, and by conjunction with Him receive the life of heaven, with its blessedness. Wherefore, the Divine mercy does not operate immediately from the Divine Love, but in and by means of Divine Truth, by which it is provided that men shall be free.

     When men freely reject the Divine Truth, they also reject the Divine Love. Then that Love cannot enter into them as it is in itself, that is, as the happiness, blessedness, and delight of good. Its end being to save from hell, and to bring into heaven, it must apply itself in the may calculated to attain its end: to those in bell as punishment, in order to restrain the evil and correct the false; to those in heaven with a view to gifting them with happiness. In Divine Truth, or in Divine order and its laws, the Divine mercy is omnipresent-in one way with those who are in order, in another with those who are in disorder. And because everyone perceives and sees things according to his own quality, the evil perceive the Lord's mercy as wrath, and receive it as punishment.

     Now the natural mind of man, which is the outmost degree of his spirit, is evil from birth. What is its nature in respect to the Divine, or in relation to everything of good and truth, but abject ignorance and complete resistance thereto! It was the natural degree of the mind that was destroyed by the Fall. And it is now overlaid with an evil heredity-an evil proprium-which perverts, destroys, and profanes everything that comes from the Divine. Its life is the life of evil and falsity, and is in eternal opposition to good and truth.

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Yet the Lord never destroys this evil proprium; it remains forever as the terminus of man's life,-the ultimate vessel into which the Divine Life inflows. In the contemplation of the natural mind such as it is in itself, and before renovation has taken place, having a life identical with the proprium in respect to its opposition to good and truth-in this we see clearly the hopelessness of man's ever being saved by his own merit. There is never anything of man's own that can save him. And he can never be saved except from pure mercy, which wills to overlook and condone all evil and falsity.

     Actually this is possible only because man is born into ignorance: for with that state of ignorance the Lord can associate something of innocence, and thereafter regard the man and accept him on account of his innocence. By pure mercy man is elevated out of hell, and by innocence he is lifted up into heaven. Innocence-even the innocence of ignorance, the innocence of the new-born child, who is in the greatest degree ignorant-even this innocence places man in the sphere of heaven; because innocence is the one universal of heaven proceeding, as it does, immediately from the Lord. So we read that "innocence is that from which is all the good of heaven," and that it is such that "all things of heaven can be implanted in it; for innocence is the receptacle of the truth of faith and the good of love."

     The means of reformation are, that a new-born child is kept in a state of external innocence-the innocence of ignorance-which the Lord guards and protects with all the power of His Divine Wisdom; for with the destruction o that state of innocence perishes man's hope of salvation. Carefully preserving innocence, the Lord endeavors to lead man, and does lead the regenerating man from the innocence of ignorance to the innocence of wisdom.

     Ultimately it is innocence-the innocence of ignorance-that saves man, and not anything of good or truth that may be with him. This is the truth; and it explains and is confirmed by two apparently paradoxical teachings: (a) that all infants are saved, and (b) that infantile good, like all merely natural good, is full of all manner of uncleanness. In the light of this teaching we may also read a new meaning into the general doctrine that all who are saved must have entered upon the way of heaven while still in the world.

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All men are set upon the way of heaven at birth by being born without knowledge.

     It is the conscious mind that rises to the other life; and although this mind, as to its, roots, is grounded in evil, because its roots are hidden from the child's view, the Lord averts His sight from evils of the child, and draws near to it, and enfolds it in the sphere of innocence which goes forth from Him. Thence the child has innocence, and thence to a degree all men may have something of innocence; but it is an innocence that is only separated from the evils of the proprium by an intervening cloud of ignorance. And this innocence, although it is the Lord's, is, in the mercy of the Lord, imputed to the child as good, which good in turn places the infant on the threshold of heaven. It is an entrance upon the way to heaven, and, when infilled during the regenerate life, it is a state of heaven.

     The case of an adult in respect to his salvation by means of innocence differs in no wise from that of a child; for the progress of the adult into heaven commences from that same imputation of good at his birth, made possible by the fact of his being born into a state of ignorance, and therefore capable of being carried in the sphere of innocence that proceeds from the Lord and makes heaven. Moreover, there are always innumerable evils in the proprium of man which he does not see, and which, if they were taken into account by the Lord, would exclude him from being saved.

     Thus it is that we trace man's salvation to the pure mercy of the Lord, in His providing that man is not born, as the animals are, into the knowledges corresponding to his loves, but, otherwise than animals, into no knowledge. Thus constituted, he may come into all knowledges, and may progress from the innocence of ignorance to the innocence of wisdom.

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DE HEMELSCHE LEER 1931

DE HEMELSCHE LEER       ALFRED ACTON       1931

     A CRITICAL EXAMINATION BY THE REV. ALFRED ACTON.

     (This letter was submitted to the Editor of De Hemelsche Leer for publication in that magazine, and appeared in a Dutch translation in the issue for February, 1931. It was read by Dr. Acton to the Council of the Clergy on February 3, 1931.)

To the Editor of DE HEMELSCHE LEER:
     In DE HEMELSCHE LEER, January-August, 1930, appeared a series of doctrinal studies (later translated into English and published in book form), the purpose of which was to show: (1) That since the Writings are the Word, it logically follows that those Writings are not the internal sense of the Word, but themselves have an internal sense; and (2) that this internal sense is the Heavenly Doctrine, and is made manifest to men by the doctrines formulated by the Church.

     The fact that we acknowledge the Writings as the Word should be a sufficient guarantee of welcome to studies, the aim of which is to exalt the vision of those Writings, and to make it more manifest that they are the Word. At the same time, it is incumbent on us to examine the conclusions arrived at that so we may see whether or not they fulfill their purpose.

     The "crowning thesis" of the studies referred to is, that, since the Writings are the Word, "the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture must also be applied to them" (p. 5). Thus the Writings, being full of natural ideas, ideas of persons, places, etc., of which angels can have no comprehension, are not the Heavenly or Angelic Doctrine (pp. 7-8, 14 note), but are written like former Revelations in "pure correspondences" which veil the, spiritual sense so that it is "not apparent in the sense of the letter" (p. 73); indeed, "in reality the veil has become still thicker" (p. 22). The Writings, therefore, are to be unfolded, and their internal or spiritual sense drawn forth, by using the same laws of exposition as in the case of the Old and New Testaments (p. 103). The spiritual sense, thus drawn forth, is that Heavenly Doctrine which in the Writings could be revealed only wrapped up in the veil of correspondences.

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     Such in brief is the new view. And it is thought that, with the view, it can now "for the first time be rationally understood that the Writings are the Word" (p. 80); and "the Church will receive an entirely new inspiration," and "for the first time" will be able "to develop the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit in its real importance" (p. 30).

     In developing this view, various comments are made which indicate a lack of information concerning the positions that have been held in the past with regard to the Writings as the Word. It seems advisable, therefore, briefly to review these portions.

     VIEWS HELD IN THE PAST.

     The belief in the Divine Authority of the Writings very soon developed into the public statement that the Writings are the Word "clothed in rational appearances." (W. H. Acton in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1886, p. 152:2). Among the thoughtful men of the Church this could not but lead to a consideration of the relation of this Word to the Old and New Testaments. The matter was discussed in a most thorough way by the Rev. E. S. Hyatt, in a series of articles which appeared in NEW CHURCH TIDINGS from 1892 to 1894. Here he set forth the teaching that the Writings, while being a rational revelation, are yet in "a literal form"; and therefore, "unless the context limits the application, the expression 'sense of the Letter of the Word' applies to the literal form of the Writings" (loc. cit. 1892, p. 922). Noting the statement in Apocalypse, Explained 1061, that "the Writings ultimately present a natural sense, although not the merely natural sense," he concludes that "all laws concerning the nature and use of the natural sense, unless they are otherwise limited by the context. . . . have application to the sense of the Word which the Writings ultimately present " (ibid., p. 87 2). And furthermore, "the laws revealed concerning Sacred Scripture apply to the written forms of every Divine Revelation, though with discrimination according to the place in the series of revelations which each form of the Word has" (ibid., p. 682: see also 84, 87).

     Therefore, like every Divine Revelation, the Writings are "written in correspondences," but not in the same way as in the Old and New Testaments (ibid., 1894, p. 118:2). They "present to us the Word clothed in appearances; though, differently from those of the Old and New Testaments, they are rational appearances.

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Still, like all appearances, they will seem to be contradictory to each other unless they are understood" (ibid., 1892, p. 95 2). In the Writings, the internal sense of the Word is "clothed in literal forms taken from the world, thus to some extent clouded and guarded by cherubim lest the hand of profanation should be laid upon it" (ibid., P. 103:1). "In the Writings, the internal and the external so closely approximate that the essential distinction . . . between the external forms and their spirit and life is apt to be overlooked"; a distinction "not so much between sensual appearances and spiritual realities, as between natural-rational and spiritual-rational appearances. As long as men view the Writings in a merely natural-rational manner, their genuine spirit and life will be bidden" (ibid., 1894, p. 119:2).

     The following is given by Mr. Hyatt as an illustration of what he means by the "internal sense" of the Writings: "Our understanding of the law of Love to the Lord depends upon how much we see to be involved therein, of what is taught concerning the Lord, and of what is taught concerning how He is truly loved. . . . Thus it is necessary to learn, first as doctrine, that every statement in the Writings teaches a particular of the law of Love to the Lord; and then it is necessary to proceed to actually receive an understanding of those laws formed from such particulars-a work which cannot be exhausted to eternity" (ibid., 1892, p. 721). Another illustration he gives is: "The teaching [respecting the Jews] has not been given merely that we may know how evil the Jews are. If we wish to see something of the spiritual sense within in the passage, we must put away the idea of the Jews as persons, and then we will find that it applies to all persons, thus to our own selves" (ibid., p. 100 2).*
     * From a footnote in the English translation of the articles we are reviewing, we learn that the editor did not know of Mr. Hyatt's work in this field. As is readily seen, he is mistaken, however, in implying that Mr. Hyatt's position is the same as that advocated in Holland.

     In 1900, Bishop W. F. Pendleton, writing in NEW CHURCH LIFE, contrasts the form of the Writings with that of the Old and New Testaments. In the former, "the Word as it is in heaven descends into the world, but it no longer veils itself in figures, in representatives, in correspondences it clothes itself in human language indeed, but in the language of science and philosophy, the language of the learned, the language of rational thought among men, but at the same time in language so chosen that it accommodates itself to the understanding of the simple.

404


This is the angelic Word, the Divine Word, the Lord Himself appearing in great glory and power to establish a church that is to endure forever. . . . The Word or Divine Truth in heaven cannot be completely expressed or written out in natural language; but still the Word in heaven can be involved and interiorly contained in books that are written, and by means of the written books man may enter interiorly into the light of Divine Truth as it is in heaven " (ibid., pp. 114-15, 116).

     Later in the year, Bishop Pendleton wrote further: "What is spiritual and Divine cannot appear in nature except by a clothing from nature, but they can appear to men of spiritual discernment whose thought is elevated above time and space. . . . The Divine Truth of the Writings does not appear before the senses of men, and they who are capable of seeing only what is manifest to the senses, when they read the Writings, neither see the Lord nor anything spiritual in them" (ibid., p. 322). Yet, he continues, Swedenborg, "when he was giving expression to the truths of the internal sense, did not use the language of correspondences and representation, but taught spiritual truths in a rational manner " (ibid., p. 325).

     In the same year, the present writer stated that the Divine Truth appearing to men takes on various media-words, images, ideas-on the Diane in which it is to appear. These media in the Old Testament were "sensual ideas and images, even to the very forms of letters"; in the New Testament they were "spiritual-natural ideas implanted in the minds of the disciples by the Lord Himself"; in the Writings "they are rational, ideas." "The media existed before the revelation was written," but in revelation they "became arranged, even as to their least particulars, by the infilling Divine," and "molded so as to correspond universally and particularly with the Divine Truth itself; and thus they became the body, the face, the appearance of the Lord, through which and in which, to those who would receive, the Divine itself shone forth " (N. C. L., 1900, pp. 314-15).

     Two years later, the Editor of the LIFE, the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, wrote: "The Writings are written according to the law of correspondence, and have within them an internal sense."

405


(This he supports by quoting Spiritual Diary 2185 to the effect that Swedenborg's Writings were merely vessels into which more interior things could be infused); were this not the case (he continues), the Writings would be an exception to all writing (ibid., 1902, p. 347). The following year, he continues the subject as follows: We do not claim "that the Writings have an internal sense in the same way as the Word in the Letter. . . . The doctrine of discrete degrees applies to the science of correspondences as to all other things. Every Divine Revelation is correspondential, and has an internal sense and internal senses, one within the other, even unto the Divine itself, but each revelation is in this respect somewhat different from every other." He then shows that in the Ancient Word the correspondences were more remote (T. C. R. 279); in the Old Testament they rested on the very letters; in the New Testament the internal sense rests chiefly upon the significance of the words and sentences; in the Writings" the natural-rational appearances of truth contain deeper intellectual ideas " (ibid., 1903, pp. 102-4).

     The following year, 1904, Dr. Cranch, a prominent member of the General Church, wrote: "While the Writings reveal the internal or spiritual sense [or the Word] as it has never been revealed before, they are yet part of the literal sense, for they are in the world, in the natural degree of Divine Truth, which is for men. Hence, in the Writings, Divine Truth is present in its fullness, its holiness and its power; from them doctrine for the Church is to be drawn, and by them it is to be confirmed; they are a basis, container and support of the highest spiritual and celestial senses, which are now revealed to men through them as in the clouds of heaven " (ibid., 1904, p. 593). And further: In the Writings "we cannot have an absolute internal sense, but only a literal form of it suited to men: and malting a one by correspondence with the actual angelic Word " (p. 594).

     In 1913, Mr. Odhner again returned to the subject discussed in 1903. After quoting Arcana Coelestia n. 1476 to show that the Writings are written according to correspondences, the teaching being that ultimate vessels correspond to rational things, the latter to spiritual things, these to celestial, and these to Divine, he says: "In the Writings the internal sense rests upon rational forms,-forms adapted to the highest degree of the natural mind" (ibid., 1913, pp. 139-40).

406




     Two years later he writes: "The Writings are written in rational not sensuous correspondences, i.e., the continuous correspondence or harmony between external rational thought with ever more internal rational ideas and perceptions" (ibid., 1915, p. 199).

     In an address to the British Assembly, published in the LIFE for 1920, it was stated by the present writer that Divine Revelation or "the written Word" is always given "in the language of appearances adapted to the natural mind"; and that in the "Letter of the Word" thus revealed, men are to seek for the internal sense, the genuine doctrine, that so they might draw from the letter the doctrine of the Church embodying their understanding of the Word. In the New Church also the Revelation is given "in the form of appearances, adapted to the apprehension of all manner of men"; and, "as in former Churches, so in the New, the doctrines of the Church must be drawn from the Word in its Letter, and confirmed thereby. To the New Church, this Word includes the Writings of the Church as given to us in literal form " (ibid., 1920, p. 652 seq.).

     Finally, in 1927, the Rev. Albert Bjorck wrote: "The natural language of Swedenborg is the literal sense of the Writings; and, because it is natural, it more or less veils or clouds the truth revealed through it. This veil admits more of the light of heaven to the man of the Church as he develops an internal rational sight by reflecting upon the meaning of the many different statements in and through which the truth is revealed in the Writings. . . . Such reflection is, as I understand it, what is meant by the statement that 'all doctrine should be drawn from the Letter of the Word'" (ibid., 1927, pp. 713-14).

     THE NEW VIEWS.

     Contrast with the above the assertions made by DE HEMELSCHE LEER With respect to past students of the subject, that they have "not yet entertained the thought" that the doctrine of Sacred Scripture might be applied to the Writings (p. 71); that they have had the "curious idea" that correspondences did not apply to the Writings (pp. 52-53); and that they have mistaken the natural ideas of the Writings for genuine rational truths (pp. 79, 69), and their literal sense for "the precious things within-them" (p. 72).

     The new element in the views brought out in DE HEMELSCHE LEER is not that the Writings have been written in correspondences, and therefore have an internal sense; but it lies in what is asserted concerning the nature of those correspondences and the mode whereby the internal sense is to be drawn forth.

407




     It has long been acknowledged, says DE HEMELSCHE LEER, that we must penetrate more deeply into the understanding of the Writings; but that this penetration "is based on an orderly unfolding along the discrete degrees of the human mind," and this by the science of correspondences, the doctrine of genuine truth, and enlightenment from the Lord, has thus far remained hidden from the Church (p. 103).

     According to the view long held in the Church, the Word or Revelation has been clothed in different correspondences in the Old Testament than in the New, and in the New than in the Writings. Consequently, there is a difference in the mode whereby the internal sense is to be elucidated.

     But, according to the new view, no such discrimination is observed. In the Writings, spiritual truths are not to be seen shining out of the natural-rational truths in which they are clothed, but are to be elucidated in the same way as the Old and New Testaments are now elucidated from our pulpits. A distinction is indeed made, namely, that while the Old and New Testaments consist "entirely of merely natural scientifics," the Writings, being a revelation of the Divine Rational, are "not sensual-natural but rational-natural scientifics" (p. 99); and again, that these scientifics or "natural-rational ideas," which constitute the "main material" of the Writings, are "a kind of correspondence different from the sensual correspondences of the Old Testament" (p. 81). Yet, in the actual expositions of the Writings, no use is made of this manifestly important distinction, and emphasis seems rather to be laid on the consideration (to continue our citation) that the Writings contain "also a fullness of sensual-natural ideas derived from the visible things of the world, which first must all be opened according to order with the assistance of the science of correspondences, before man, by means of the doctrine of the Church, can approach the spiritual sense of the Writings " (p. 81).

     The reader, therefore, will not be surprised that DE HEMELSCHE LEER holds that, since the Writings are written by "pure correspondence," the spiritual sense "is not apparent in the sense of their letter " (p. 73); does not become manifest unless their "natural signification" is "put entirely aside"; and is "to be understood abstractedly from the letter, just as if the letter did not exist " (p. 105); or that it declares: "It has long been the opinion, even of well-read members of the New Church, that in a book such as Heaven and Hell the quality of the spiritual world and of heaven and hell has been made known in naked truths.

408


In reality, man can see no genuine internal truth there unless he be able to read the book from within." In illustration of this, we are given the meaning of the teaching, "Man lives a man after death," as read "from within," namely: By these words "the really living man of the New Church is described, who, as he rises from the grave of the letter, becomes a Man, that is; an image and likeness of the Lord" (p. 49).

     These positions have been arrived at as a logical consequence of the assumption that what, in the Writings, is said of Sacred Scripture must be applied to those Writings themselves "without any difference or reserve" (pp. 27, 80). Fast students have held that there must here be discrimination, because of the different plane on which the Writings are written; for if the ultimates of revelation are distinctly different, then the means of unfolding those ultimates must likewise be distinctly different. Certainly we could not apply to the Writings, "without any difference or reserve," the teaching that, "being inwardly spiritual and celestial, the Word has been written by mere correspondences; and what is written by mere correspondences is written in the ultimate sense, in a style such as in the Prophets and Gospels" (S. S. 8.) Clearly the Writings are not written in such style.

     As a result of applying to the Writings, "without difference or reserve," the teaching concerning the Word given in Arcana Coelestia 8615, DE HEMELSCHE LEER states that " the Latin Word has been so written, that every particular therein, even to the most minute, corresponds to things that are in heaven" (p. 52). Yet reserve, or rather discrimination, seems here imperatively to be called for. Otherwise we would be led to the conclusion that every detail in Swedenborg's MS, every slip in spelling or grammar, every capitalization, "corresponds to things in heaven"; nay, even the fact that sometimes, as in the Arcana Coelestia, drafts of letters are interpolated in the MS, or calculations of the cost of printing.

409


Is it not more rational to interpret the teaching of Arcana Coelestia 8615 as meaning that the Word is so written that every particular therein, even to the most minute, corresponds on its own plane to things that are in heaven? and that, since the Writings are written on the plane of natural-rational truths, every particular truth therein so corresponds?

     The frequent teaching that the literal sense of the Word is written "for the simplest sort of persons and for children," who believe only "in the appearances of things," (A. C. 10441, 6839, 9025, etc.), can surely not be said of the Writings, which, though adapted also to the simple, are yet designed to lead them to distinguish between appearances and realities; and which sometimes are so manifestly and even specifically addressed, not mainly to the simple, but to "the intelligent."

     Moreover, unreservedly to apply to the Writings the literal statements of those Writings concerning Sacred Scripture, seems opposed to the very position advanced in DE HEMELSCHE LEER; for the core of that position is, that to understand the Writings we must enter into their spiritual sense,-a sense which is not apparent in the Letter.

     EXAMPLES.

     I have already presented a specimen of what Mr. Hyatt meant by the internal sense or deeper meaning of the Writings. As further illustrations of the same thing we might adduce a progress in the understanding of the doctrines, which, it is hoped, testifies to some advance toward a deeper insight into the Writings. Let me now present in brief form the spiritual sense of certain statements of the Writings as elucidated in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. The text elucidated is taken from the Title-page and part of the Table of Contents of the Arcana Coelestia.

     Arcana together with wonderful things.

For those who read the Word from within, in all particulars there are, inseparably connected to the arcana of the letter, actually experienced states of a spiritual insight into the Divine nature of the things that constitute the Church and heaven. As regards the Lord, wonderful indicates His Divine Providence, and in that sense the text signifies the laws of the Divine Providence in respect to the form and contents of the Word (n. 45).

410




     The heavenly arcana which are disclosed in the Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord,

By Disclosed heavenly arcana are meant the genuine cognitions of good and truth which determine the spiritual understanding of the Divine Essence of the things that make the Church and heaven (p. 67).

     are contained in the explanation

These genuine cognitions are to be found nowhere but in the Writings, and therefore not in the Old and New Testaments except as illuminated by the light of the third Testament (ibid.); and, nevertheless, they re main hidden unless the literal sense thereof is unfolded by the genuine doctrine of the Church (pp. 103-4).

     which is the internal sense of the Word.

The Latin Word is indeed the internal sense, but only when it is read, not from without, but from within (p.104).

     As to the quality of this sense, see

The genuine truths or the genuine sense are for the man of the New Church; and he should not remain in the literal sense alone. This appears from the signification of the word see being the opening of the understanding (ibid.).

     what has been shown concerning it from experience,

The ascent of the forms of truth out of the natural, that is, the good of truth or the apparent natural influx (ibid).

     and, moreover, in the text.

The forms of the Doctrine of the Church, that is, the truth of good or the actual spiritual influx (ibid.). The ascent from the truth of the Letter to the good of life, which is taught by that truth, is meant by experience; and the tissue that the Lord weaves in the descent out of this good with man, or out of this celestial is meant by the text (p. 101).

     The wonderful things seen in the world of spirits and in the heaven of angels are prefixed and subjoined to each chapter.

Each genuine rational state of man, or each state determined by the rational from the celestial, is preceded by states of faith, and is followed by states of faith from the celestial. A chapter (caput) signifies a spiritual state in which the Lord makes and determines everything. It therefore signifies a state of man from the Lord (p. 123).

     This "spiritual sense" is explained at length, and is confirmed by proof passages drawn from the Writings, just as, in the latter, proof passages are drawn from the Old and New Testaments.

411


Thus, in confirmation of the internal sense of the word chapter, the sentence, "Man must read the Word every day, one or two chapters," is quoted from Apocalypse Explained 803, and followed by the explanation: "By days are signified the states of man in general (A. C. 488). To read the Word every day therefore signifies that all states in general should be founded on the Word. One or two chapters signifies not one or two literal chapters, but that the state is actually founded on the Word only if man by experience raises himself to one of the summits where the Lord in him can weave the spiritual out of the celestial. One or two refers to the difference between the states of reformation which precede and the states of regeneration which follow the reformation. As regards the Lord Himself and His Word, which in the literal sense consists of chapters, the concept chapter refers to the states in the Divine Human determined by the Divine Truth from the Divine Good by which the Lord became the Word in ultimates " (p. 124).

     Let me give one more example:

     The manifestation of the Lord and intromission into the spiritual world surpass all miracles.

This means, not the Lord's manifestation before Swedenborg, but His appearance in the fullness of His second coming in the Doctrine of the Church.

     This has not been granted to anyone since the creation, as it has been to me (Invitation 52).

The New Church, through the Divine Human of the Lord, is the crown of all churches; and all previous churches from the beginning have existed for the sake of this church, and have striven toward it (pp. 50-51).

     Whether or not one agrees with what is said in the above expositions, he can entertain no doubt but that they are couched in language with which he has been made familiar by the Writings. There is nothing new or strange in them, and the thoughts they express are thoughts which might easily have been gathered from a plain reading of the Writings without any recourse to the science of exposition. Indeed, DE HEMELSCHE LEER itself shows that what it puts forth as elucidations is plainly taught in the Writings as ordinarily read. Thus, we find a very interesting discussion of the teaching that the truth of a higher degree becomes the good of the next lower (pp. 97, 105). This teaching, as developed in the discussion, is given as the internal sense of the words "experience" and "text"; but what is the internal sense of the teaching itself?

412


Here we note that, while appeal is constantly made to the literal statements of the Writings, no appeal is made to their "internal sense"; yet, according to DE HEMELSCHE LEER, the "natural signification" of the Writings "must be put entirely aside" (p. 105) if we would arrive at its spiritual teaching.

     Moreover, why should truths be thus concealed in the Writings? They were veiled in the Old and New Testaments because of the needs of the age and the limitations of the instrument or scribe. But of the present age we are told that "now it is permitted to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith" (T. C. R. 508); and as regards limitations in the scribe, we cannot imagine that Swedenborg was ignorant of the "spiritual sense" of his Writings, or that it was "thickly veiled" because of his limitations; for how then could we understand his solemn asseveration that he had been prepared to receive the doctrines in his understanding, and then to publish them by the press (T. C. R. 779)? But if, on the other hand, Swedenborg knew the "internal sense" of the Writings, why should he seek to conceal it beneath the cover of an obscure letter? especially since elsewhere he is at pains to set forth the arcana of spiritual wisdom with all possible clarity. And if the Writings are thus thickly veiled, how can they be considered as the coming the Lord in "glory"? Would it not be "clouds" that have come? Would we not still be waiting for the coming of the Glory?

     NATURE OF THE WRITINGS.

     DE HEMELSCHE LEER criticizes those who call the Writings the internal sense of the Word. But do not the Writings so designate themselves! Listen: "The spiritual sense is opened at this day, and with it are disclosed genuine truths and goods, because the Last Judgment has been wrought." (A. E. 376.) "That man may again be conjoined with heaven, Divine Truth such as it is in heaven has been revealed, and this confirmed by the spiritual sense of the Word." (A. E. 950.) "These are most evident testimonies that the spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me. . . . This exceeds all revelations that have hitherto been given from the creation of the world." (Inv. 44.) "The spiritual sense of the Word has now been disclosed for the New Church, for the sake of its use in the worship of the Lord," and "that the Lord may be constantly present." (T. C. R. 669, 680.)

413


"This [i.e., the explanations that have been given] then is the internal sense of the Word, its verimost life, which never appears from the sense of the letter." (A. C. 64.) But why multiply passages! If words mean anything, the Writings are in very truth the spiritual sense of the Word. That this sense is there clothed in the language of rational thought is evident.

     It is contended, however, that the Heavenly Doctrine cannot possibly be revealed in the Letter of the Writings, because that letter speaks of persons, places, etc., of which angels can have no idea. But surely it is not suggested that New Churchmen have thought of the Writings as the naked truth such as it is in heaven, unclothed by things drawn from the world. "It is not contended," wrote Bishop W. F. Pendleton, "that the Writings are the Word such as it is in heaven in its entirety or fullness." And, as though foreseeing the future, he adds: "It seems necessary to say this, but it should not be necessary" (N. C. L. 1900, p. 116). We are taught that "the spiritual sense is for angels, and also for men." (A. E. 697.) And what else do devout men see when they read the rationally ordered language of the Writings but those spiritual and angelic truths which that language was used to convey to human minds? "Through this revelation (we read) there has been opened a communication with the angels of heaven, and a conjunction of the two worlds has been effected." (Inv. 44.)

     The Writings are indeed clothed in correspondences, but these correspondences are rational truths. What man can question this, who knows that Swedenborg was "an investigator of natural truths," to the end that, on the foundation of these, he might become "an investigator of spiritual truths" (Influx 20)?

     DE HEMELSCHE LEER seems to recognize this when it says: "The correspondences [in the Writings] are indeed of another kind than in the case of the sensual ideas, where they are based on the difference between the natural and the spiritual." And yet, curiously enough, it immediately adds: "But also the rational ideas such as God, the Lord, . . . the Natural World, Heaven, . . . Salvation, Regeneration, etc., in the different degrees are entirely different, and they stand in relation to each other by correspondence only" (p. 118). Surely the meaning is not that the ideas of "God," "the Lord," etc., given in the letter of the Writings, are "entirely different" from the interior ideas involved within, in the same way that "stone" or "wood" are different from the things which they signify.

414


Yet DE HEMELSCHE LEER declares that in the Writings the distance between the letter and the spiritual sense is just as great as in the Old and New Testaments (p. 79).

     Against this, however, we have the teaching that the revelation now made is the crown of all revelations because it is based on an open intercourse with angels and spirits never before granted to mankind (Inv. 43). Its nature, moreover, was represented in the spiritual world by the lifted veil, signifying "that now the Word is laid open," which was seen in that temple over whose gate was written NUNC LICET: "Now it is allowed to enter intellectually into the arcana of faith." While the Word has been closed to the Roman Catholics and Protestants, now "in the New Church it is allowed to enter with the understanding, and to penetrate into all its secrets; and this, because its doctrinals are continuous truths disclosed by the Lord by means of the Word; and confirmations of these by things rational result in the opening of the understanding above, more and more, and so it is elevated into the light in which are the angels of heaven " (T. C. R. 508).

     The veil is lifted. Divine Truth now comes to us, no longer veiled and concealed, but so set forth in the clear language of rational thought that all who will may see. Entrance into the understanding of interior truths is no longer limited by the nature of the revelation, as was the case in the Old Testament and in the New-for the Lord said there were many things which they could not then bear-but solely by the state of the reader. It is this fact which marks the revelation to the New Church as a revelation of "truths continuous from the Lord''-truths uninterrupted in their descent from firsts to lasts. This was not the case in the Old Testament or the New; for there, and especially in the Old Testament, the appearing of Divine Truth in ultimate form is often interrupted by the sensual and even perverse clothing which it received from the minds of the scribes. The veil is now lifted. The Divine invitation is now given us: "ENTER HENCEFORTH INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE WORD HERETOFORE CLOSED; FOR ALL ITS TRUTHS ARE SO MANY MIRRORS OF THE LORD."

415


Clearly these "mirrors of the Lord" are the rational truths of the Writings, which form the last and ultimate link in the chain of "truths continuous from the Lord"; and in which the Lord is plainly revealed in His glorified Human to such as will see. What would be the significance of the expression "henceforth," if the Word, that is, the Writings, is still shut up behind a veil-and a veil that is "still thicker than before " (p. 22)?

     Into this revelation we are, of course, to enter ever more interiorly; and the mode of entrance is involved in Swedenborg's words to certain angels: "Enter more deeply into my thought, and you will see." (A. R. 961; T. C. R. 26.) We note that they entered into his thoughts, not by the application of verbal and sensuous correspondences, but by a deeper perception of the meaning of his ideas. (cf. S. D. 4149.)

     DE HEMELSCHE LEER limits the application of the words, "the doctrinals of the New Church are continuous truths disclosed from the Lord by the Word," to the doctrines which the men of the New Church have drawn from the Latin Word by the mode of exegesis referred to above; and holds that it is these doctrinals that are "so many mirrors of the Lord" (p. 117). This conclusion would be a logical one, once it is conceded that the Writings are a letter of the Word in which the "spiritual sense is not apparent" (p. 73); for then the truths revealed by the Lord through Swedenborg would most certainly be interrupted by the thick veil of a Letter which cannot be pierced by the gaze of the rational mind, but must be interpreted by the laws of Biblical exegesis. But a further consequence would be that the term, "continuous truths disclosed by the Lord," could not be applied to the Writings in any sense whatever, but only to such doctrinals as have been formulated in the way spoken of.

     But though this further conclusion is a logical consequence of the position now advocated, yet we doubt not that DE HEMELSCHE LEER would agree with us in rejecting it. The conclusion is at fault because the premises are at fault. It is the truths revealed in the Writings that are continuous truths from the Lord; and it is this fact that makes the Writings different from and superior to all revelations that have hitherto been made. Of course, men may read the Writings without seeing these truths; they may even misinterpret and pervert them. But if the Writings are read in humility, and not in the light of self-intelligence, the truths there revealed will come to be seen and acknowledged as the doctrines of the New Church-doctrines not couched in obscure language, but in statements comprehensible to the rational mind without artificial aids.

416


As a confirmation, I might again note the fact that DE HEMELSCHE LEER frequently appeals to the plain teachings of the Writings, and not to their "internal sense," to establish what it draws from those Writings by its mode of exegesis.

     The Writings do indeed have an internal sense, but it is the internal sense of a revelation couched in language, the direct and only purpose of which is to remove fallacies and appearances, to implant rational truths, and so to lead to the knowledge of spiritual truths, and thus of the Lord Himself in the glory of His Divine Human.

     That we must enter more interiorly into the understanding of the Writings, has always been acknowledged. In the past, moreover, this deeper understanding has sometimes been called the spiritual or internal sense of the Writings. As a definition, however, this term is not only vague and lacking in the element of nice discrimination, but it is also open to serious misinterpretation. By usage, the term "internal or spiritual sense" has come to connote a letter more or less remote from the truth which it clothes-and the Writings are far from being such a letter. We would therefore follow the leading of Swedenborg's own words, when he said to some angels, "Enter more deeply into my thought" (T. C. R. 26), and so to use the expression "the deeper or more interior" understanding of the Writings, rather than their "spiritual or internal sense."

     The point, however, is of importance only if by "spiritual sense" is meant a sense that must be unfolded by the same laws of exposition as apply to the Old and New Testaments. Certainly we would not speak of an "internal sense" in the Writings, such as is not apparent save by sensual types or correspondences. What, for instance could we understand as the "internal sense" of those many passages where Swedenborg sets forth in rational language the deeper arcana concerning the glorification of the Lord? or where he emphasizes the fundamental truths of Christianity? In unfolding the "spiritual sense" of these truths, is there not a latent danger of weakening the force of the ultimate truths, and even of paving the way for their neglect or denial! When, for instance, we read that the Lord "as to His Human was an infant as an infant, a child as a child, etc." (T. C. R. 89), is the "natural signification" of these words to be "put entirely aside if one wishes to arrive at the internal sense"? (P. 105.)

417




     THE "DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH."

     We turn now to another phase of the position set forth by DE HEMELSCHE LEER, and which indeed is a necessary consequence of its teaching concerning the nature of the letter of the Writings. We read: "The truth, which for some time now has been acknowledged by us as the very heart of the second coming of the Lord and of the New Church, is the thesis taken from the literal sense of the Latin Word, First, that by the Doctrine of the Church, not the Writings of Swedenborg are meant, but the vision of those Writings, and of the Word as a whole, which the Church gradually, in an orderly way, acquires for itself; and Second, that this Doctrine of the Church is of purely Divine origin and of a purely Divine essence" (p. 56).

     By the "Doctrine of the Church," DE HEMELSCHE LEER understands what is ordinarily called the Heavenly Doctrine. Of this Doctrine it is said in the Writings: "This Doctrine is also from heaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Word, and the spiritual sense of the Word is the same as the doctrine which is in heaven. . . . But I proceed to the Doctrine itself, which is for the New Church; which is called the Heavenly Doctrine, because it has been revealed to me out of heaven; for to deliver this doctrine is the purpose of this work." (N. J. N. D. 7.) And again: "By the male child is signified the Doctrine of that Church; the doctrine here meant is The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, published in London in 1758; as also The Doctrine Concerning the Lord, Concerning the Sacred Scripture, and Concerning Life, . . . published in Amsterdam. When these Doctrines were written, the dragonists stood around me, and endeavored with all their fury to devour them." (A. R. 543; A. E. 711.) From these passages, it would seem clear beyond a doubt that the Writings are the Heavenly Doctrine revealed in such language that they can be seen by all who will read in the light of heaven.

     But DE HEMELSCHE LEER, commenting on these very passages, says: "That there by the Doctrine of the New Church, and by the spiritual sense of the Word, and by the Doctrine which is In heaven, are not signified the Writings, appears clearly from this, that they [the Writings] are full of natural ideas taken from the world, from the kingdom of nature, from ecclesiastical history, which we know are not understood in heaven, but are at once changed into corresponding spiritual ideas" (p. 7).

418


Therefore, continues DE HEMELSCHE LEER, "by the Doctrine of the New Church, not the Latin Word, but the Doctrine of the Church, should be understood; and by the spiritual sense of the Word, not only the spiritual sense of the Old and New Testament, but, in the first place, also the spiritual sense of the Latin Testament. From this it follows that by the doctrine which is in heaven, that is, by the Heavenly Doctrine, not the literal sense of the Latin Word, but its spiritual sense, is meant. Every church must from the Word acquire for itself its doctrine. It is not its doctrine that is given to any church by immediate revelation; but the Word in a literal sense is given, from which its doctrine must be developed according to order; for in no other way can the holy, spiritual and celestial contents of the Word remain protected. The Christian Church might have acquired for itself from the Old and New Testaments a genuine doctrine. The New Church must acquire its doctrine for itself from the three Testaments. From this it follows that the Doctrine of the New Church likewise will be true or false. . . . An example of the true doctrine of the Church are the Principles of the Academy, so far as in the future they will prove to be imperishable. To those parts of the Principles of the Academy a purely Divine origin, a Divine Essence and Divine Authority, must be ascribed"* (pp. 8-9).
     * This would seem to explain the reason why the Dutch Journal is entitled "Doctrina Genuini Veri. DE HEMELSCHE LEER)) (The Doctrine of Genuine Truth. The Heavenly Doctrine), a title which has hitherto been confined to designating a specific work by Swedenborg, or language having the authority of Divine Revelation. Yet, even now, after knowing the position of De Hemelsche Leer as regards the "Doctrine of the Church," the reason for using this title to designate a journal is not dear; for I do not for a moment conceive that there is any intention of regarding the utterances of that journal as of Divine Authority, and certainly it cannot yet be said of them that they are "the true Doctrine of the Church," since it cannot yet be known whether "in the future they will prove to be imperishable.

     And DE HEMELSCHE LEER further states that the concept (1) that the Writings are the Heavenly Doctrine and the Doctrine of the Church, and (2) that what is said of the Letter of the Word applies only to the Old and New Testaments, "has up to the present kept the Church as a whole in a purely natural state," and in consequence "the Lord Himself has, as it were, remained unthroned in the Church" (p. 9)-a serious statement, made with a regrettable lack of reserve.

419




     As we have seen, the thought that the doctrines of the New Church must be drawn from the Writings and confirmed thereby is by no means new in the Church. What is new in the present view is, that in the Writing; the Heavenly Doctrine is covered with a veil (p. 7), and so "is not apparent" (p. 73); while in the doctrine of the Church drawn from those Writings, and formulated by men, it is openly revealed. In other words, the men of the Church will be able to supply a vehicle of words wherein the Heavenly Doctrine is clearly set forth to view, while Swedenborg was unable to do this, or unwilling. And the question will naturally arise, If Swedenborg was unable, by virtue of what superior advantages shall others be able? or if unwilling, on what grounds shall others be willing?

     If the Writings are not the Heavenly Doctrine, because their letter is expressed in a language incomprehensible to angels, does not the same objection apply to the Doctrine of the Church which also has its "literal sense" or "natural text" (p. 121)1 "The Doctrine of the Church," says DE HEMELSCHE LEER, "is the rational understanding of the Word laid down in the natural" (p. 43)-an understanding consisting of truths which "are never truths in themselves, but appearances of truth accommodated to the rational" (p. 56). And later it adds: "Every spiritual truth, and every genuine rational idea, the moment it is expressed in natural words or laid down in natural writing, becomes a purely natural scientific, a letter without soul, dead in itself; and whether it will arise anew to be a rational idea depends entirely on the state of the man" (p, 69).

     What, then, is that difference, assumed by DE HEMELSCHE LEER, which makes the Writings a "thick veil" hiding the Heavenly Doctrine, while the Doctrine of the Church is that Heavenly Doctrine itself? Are not both written in the language of rational human thought?-the one being the formulation of the Heavenly Doctrine by the Divinely prepared Revelator, and the other, the formulation of a human and fallible understanding of that Doctrine by the men of the Church? Indeed, the witness of this is DE HEMELSCHE LEER itself. For there the style of writing, the manner of presentation, the mode of appeal, is that which has become familiar to New Churchmen from the pattern furnished in the Writings.

420


Certainly there is no evidence that the one style clearly manifests the Heavenly Doctrine, while the other hides it under a veil of correspondences.

     More justly does DE HEMELSCHE LEER define "the infinite difference" between the Writings and the doctrine of the Church, when it says that the one is "an infinite unfolding of truth," while the other is "a finite unfolding" (p. 120). To which we would add that the one is a Divine formulation of the Heavenly Doctrine, adapted to men of all times and in all states; while the other is a human formulation adapted to the age and the state which produced it.

     AUTHORITY.

     As regards the authority to be attached to the Doctrine of the Church, when genuine, I find it difficult clearly to grasp the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER. Sometimes that Doctrine is spoken of as being "purely Divine," and "the Divine Human" (p. 62), the "Divine Rational" (p. 65), the "Son of Man" (p. 123), and so as possessing "Divine Authority" (pp. 9, 80). All this we can readily accept, if by the Heavenly Doctrine is meant the Doctrine as set forth in the rational language of the Writings. But what is meant by DE HEMELSCHE LEER is a doctrine formulated by men, a doctrine which "might have been expressed differently or perhaps better" (p. 122).

     But I cannot think that any New Churchman will ascribe Divine Authority to a human production; and I therefore feel no doubt that what is intended by DE HEMELSCHE LEER is that the Doctrine of the Church is Divine and authoritative only in its origin. To quote its own words: "The essence of the doctrine in itself is purely Divine, but the natural text is qualified by man's faculty of expressing himself"; and "it is always possible that it might have been expressed better" (p. 122). And again: "The truths of man" are "appearances of truth accommodated to the rational"; but "these appearances are of purely Divine origin; the Divine lives in them; consequently, the Doctrine of the Church is the Lord Himself" (p. 56).

     Yet there seems here to be some confusion of thought. Of course, as to its origin, all truth is Divine, by whomsoever uttered; but that does not give Divine Authority to the utterances.

421


A sermon, though it preaches the Divine Truth, is still a human production, and its excellence consists in nothing more than the pointing to the truth as it stands in the Writings, there to be seen by all who care to see. So, likewise, as far as man's work is concerned, a doctrine of the Church consists solely in the words which embody a human conception of what is taught in the Writings. It is not, nor ever can be, the Heavenly Doctrine, howsoever clearly it may call attention to that Doctrine. No authority, and still less Divine Authority, can attach to it; nor even any weight, except so far as confidence is felt in the man who declares it. Authority rests, not in the Church's Doctrine or the priest's teaching, but in the teachings of the Writings. Of course, men, and especially priests, are agents for the teaching of men and the opening of their eyes to the truths of Revelation. But they are faithful agents only so far as they ascribe authority to the Writings alone, and lead men to go to those Writings, there to see for themselves whether the Doctrine of the Church or the teaching of the priest is or is not the teaching of revelation-and this, even if such seeing should lead them to disagree with the Church or the priest. Thus, the "Academy Doctrines," as Academy Doctrines, have no authority whatsoever. They simply declare that the Writings teach so and so; and if men, whether by means of the Academy doctrines or independently, see that the Writings do actually so teach, the authority will be ascribed to those Writings alone. Otherwise, the utterances of men would usurp the Authority of God. And it is to guard against this very thing that we are unqualifiedly exhorted not to trust in councils. "My reader (says Swedenborg), believe not in councils, but in the Holy Word" (T. C. R. 634). "And go to the God of the Word, and thus to the Word, and you will be enlightened" (ibid., 177).

     I would not for a moment be understood as implying, even remotely, that the writers in DE HEMELSCHE LEER advocate that doctrinal authority shall attach to councils or bodies of men. Indeed, I could not entertain any such thought of fellow New Churchmen whom I respect as my brethren. But I do wish earnestly to call attention to what, in my view, is implied in a position which, while giving Divine Authority to the origin of the Doctrine of the Church, seems also at times to give the same authority to the formulation of that Doctrine by men, and even declares that, when it has been drawn from the Writings "in a state of illustration," it is the Lord Himself (p. 136; see also pp. 9 and 49).

422




     DE HEMELSCHE LEER itself speaks of the warning given in the Writings "against the arbitrary interpretation" of those Writings by councils; but it leaves us in uncertainty as to its meaning when it adds that "the only safeguard against this danger lies in the genuine doctrine of the Church (p. 120)-a doctrine which elsewhere it defines as "the vision of the Writings, and of the Word as a whole, which the Church gradually acquires for itself" (P. 56), and between which and the Word "there is the same difference as between an angel and the Divine Human" (p. 120). And here we cannot avoid the reflection that the Roman Catholic Church also appeals to "the vision of the Church" as the criterion of the interpretation of the Word.

     Divine Authority can attach only to an "immediate revelation," that is, to a revelation not made by means of spirits and angels, but coming immediately from God; and that the Writings are such an immediate revelation, they specifically declare (H. H. 1 fin.). It is true that there is also "Divine revelation by internal perception" (p. 65), that is to say, by enlightenment; and the Doctrine of the Church or its understanding of the Word is the fruit of this enlightenment. But this revelation is a mediate revelation, that is, it comes by means of admission into the society of angels and good spirits. This is shown by the fact, noted by DE HEMELSCHE LEER, that the Doctrine of the Church may be a perversion of the Word; and the law of perversion is essentially the law of enlightenment; if the former is effected by the love of self, operating by means of evil spirits, the latter is effected by the Lord, operating by means of good spirits.

     This mediate revelation, moreover, is individual, and carries with it no authority except to the individual. It is not a revelation to the Church. Its fruit may, of course, be of benefit to the Church, but only because by it the man is enabled to see and point out things in the Writings not hitherto observed. Whatever the means by which he himself has been able to see these truths, he can teach them only on the authority of statements plainly discernible in the Writings.

423




     DE HEMELSCHE LEER, however, contends that, since the Doctrine of the New Church is to be drawn from the Writings, it therefore follows as a logical consequence that in those Writings it is now veiled over, in the same way as were the doctrines which the Jewish and Christian Churches might have drawn from their Revelations. Such a conclusion, however, inevitably involves a new Divine and immediate Revelation, and so is not in accord with the statement that the Writings are the Crown of Revelations.

     It is true that the Jews and Christians, by faithful study of their Word, might have drawn forth true doctrines therefrom. But those doctrines would have been confined to the clearer understanding of such truths as are plainly set forth in their Word.

     Thus the Jews might have seen that the Lord wills not sacrifice, but obedience; that they should love their neighbors as themselves, etc., etc.; for in their Word this is openly stated; and had they seen and acknowledged these teachings, then in the light of them they might have searched their Word, and seen light in many of its dark sayings. But this progress could never have proceeded beyond the limits of what was plainly demonstrable in the letter of their revelation. For the written Word, and not any private illustration, whether genuine or not, was the only authority to which they could justly appeal. Certainly they could not have arrived at a true doctrine concerning the nature of the spiritual world, degrees, etc.

     The same reasoning applies to the Christian Church. Thus, from the statement that "what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," that Church might have discerned the truth concerning marriage, and by the application of this truth to other passages might have come into wider perception of it; and so likewise in other cases. From a study of the Lord's parables they might even have learned something concerning correspondences. But they could never have advanced beyond the limits defined by the clearly demonstrable teachings of their Word. To have done so would have been to venture upon an uncharted sea, with no other guide than a real or imagined enlightenment which at best could have merely individual authority. For further progress a new revelation was necessary,-a revelation that could be made only by one who had been prepared as a natural philosopher, and who was in both worlds at the same time. This revelation is distinguished from all preceding revelations as being their Crown.

424


But if, as is now claimed, it also comes to us in the form of an obscure letter, which must be unfolded in the same way as former revelations, will not our minds, desirous of the guidance of God, when men cry, "Lo here and lo there," be troubled with doubts? And thus doubting, will we not ask of the Writings, "Art Thou the Christ, or do we look for another?"
     ALFRED ACTON.
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1931.
SELAH 1931

SELAH       ENOCH S. PRICE       1931

     It may surprise the readers of the LIFE to learn that the word "Selah," which we have so long read and sung as something solemn, if not holy, is probably nothing of the sort, but only a musical notation introduced into the text of the Psalms for liturgical purposes. Yet, on careful examination, that seems to be the case.

     From the beginning, critics and lexicographers have been puzzled by that little two-syllable word, and they do not at all agree as to what it means. Some say that it means silence; others, that it is a form of blessing. Modern lexicographers, for the most part, agree that it is only an annotation of some kind. They even say that in some MSS. it is written in the margin instead of in the text.

     Swedenborg, our great wellspring of information in regard to obscure passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, does not once mention or quote the word. So we must depend on our own rationality, if any, to determine what to do about it.

     The word [Hebrew characters] (selah) occurs seventy-four times in the Psalms, (usually at the end of a verse, but a few times in the middle), and three times in Habakkuk, which book is written in the same kind of verse in general as are the Psalms.

     The verb [Hebrew characters] (salah), from which selah is supposed to be derived, is found three times in the Hebrew Scriptures,-once in Psalm 119:118, once in Lamentations 1:15, and once in Job 28:16. In each case it has a sinister meaning; so it might appear that the selah of the Psalms and Habakkuk was not derived from it; for certainly, whatever meaning selah may have, it is not a sinister one.

425




     The verb [Hebrew character] (salah) in Psalm 119:118 is translated by Schmidius "conculcasti " (Thou hast trodden down); by the Jewish English translators,* "Thou hast made light of"; by Jerome's Latin translation,** known as the Vulgate, "sprevisti" (Thou hast spurned) by the Authorized Version, "Thou hast trodden down"; by Swedenborg,*** "conculcasti" (Thou hast trodden down). This word, as found in Lamentations 1:15, is translated by Schmidius "prostravit" (has thrown down); by the Jewish translators, "hath set at nought"; by the A. V., "hath trodden underfoot"; by the Vulgate, "abstulit" (has taken away); by Swedenborg,**** "prostravit" (has thrown down).
     * Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1917.
     ** Made sometime in the fourth century.
     *** A. R. 624, 866.
     **** A. R. 652.

     This has been presented to show the improbability of the derivation of selah of the Psalms from the verb [character] (salah), although they are spelled the same, that is, contain the same Hebrew letters. I have omitted an analysis of the verb as found in Job, since that book does not belong to our canon; nevertheless, I will say that in the translations of that book it is rendered, in general, "to make light of."

     Let us now return to the consideration of the word "selah." Generis says of this word: "Rest, silence, to silence, silence! Such seems to be the import of this musical note,* so often found in the Psalms, . . . which has been so much discussed and tortured by the conjectures and blunders of interpreters." Other lexicographers say other things, but all agree in one respect, namely, that they do not know much about it. The Septuagint (Greek), which, according to tradition, was made by learned Jews of Alexandria while Hebrew was still a spoken language, always renders the word "selah" by [Greek character] (diapsalma), which means interlude. Jerome's Vulgate ignores the word entirely, as also does one Spanish translation which I have examined. All other translations, so far as I am aware, always transliterate it into the letters of their own alphabet.
     * Italics ours on "musical note."

     The following is what modern Jews say of this little vocable: "The word 'selah' (a corruption of the Greek imperative psalle [character] was inserted, as in many Psalms, as a command to the musicians in the Temple to strike up."*
     * Jewish Services in Synagogue and Home. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1898.

426




     If now the Septuagint translators were correct when they rendered the word "selah" by diapsalma (interlude), or if the Jewish commentator just mentioned was right when he said that selah was a corruption of the Greek imperative psalle, it would be just as proper for us to sing the words interlude or allegro ma non troppo, when we encounter them in the score, as to sing the word "selah."

     I have examined a number of places where this word "selah" occurs in our Psalmody, and, while I am not a musician, it struck me that an interlude, if only of a few bars, might be very effective wherever it occurs. I pass the idea on to the musicians in the Church for examination, consideration, and comment.
     ENOCH S. PRICE.
SECOND ADVENT IN THE WORD 1931

SECOND ADVENT IN THE WORD              1931

     And they shall see the sign of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matt. 24:30.) This chapter treats of the last time of the church; and the Lord's advent at that time is revelation of Himself, and of Divine Truth which is from Him, in the Word, through the internal sense. Elsewhere than in the Word the Lord does not reveal Himself, nor otherwise there than through the internal sense. 'Power and glory' also signify the Word in the internal sense." (A. E. 363.)

     "Unless the Lord come again into the world in Divine Truth, which is the Word, no flesh can be saved." (T. C. R. 3.)

     "This Second Advent of the Lord is not in Person, but it is in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. By the 'clouds of heaven' is meant the Word in the sense of the letter, and by the 'glory and power' in which He will then come is meant the spiritual sense of the Word." (T. C. R. 776.)

     "To the end that the Lord might be constantly present, He has disclosed to me the spiritual sense of the Word, in which Divine Truth is in its light, and in this He is continually present; for His presence in the Word is solely through the spiritual sense. Through the light of this He passes into the shade in which the sense of the letter is, comparatively as it happens with the light of the sun in the daytime by the interposition of a cloud. The sense of the letter of the Word is as a cloud, and the spiritual sense is the glory, and the Lord Himself is the Sun from which the light proceeds, and thus the Lord is the Word." (T. C. R. 780.)

427


NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The Divided Sacrifice.

     The Arcana exposition of the 15th chapter of Genesis describes the contents of the perceptive Divine revelations experienced by the Lord while on earth, after certain childhood temptations. In this vision the state of the church at its end was shown, and the final revival of a new church was promised. All this is involved in the Genesis story of Abram's visions and of the divided sacrifice.

     The ancient custom was to divide every offered animal into halves, each part representing one of the contracting parties to the covenant. One half signified the Church, and the other signified what is of the Lord in man, that is, what is above his conscience or perception. Abram's seeing a smoking torch of fire, which passed between the pieces, is a significant picture of the falsity of evil which divides the consummated church from the Lord, and fills the interiors of the minds of men. (A. C. 1831, 1862.)

     The Lord's Temptations Actual.

     In the New Testament, the temptations of the Lord are only lightly touched upon, lest Christians should fail to see His Divinity. But to the New Church it is made plain that the temptations suffered by the Lord while in the world were most actual-the most dire, cruel, and terrible of all, in which He, as to His Human, felt anguish from the very inmosts; and that they were attended by a state of despair and doubt as to the end and outcome. (A. C. 1787.) For without despair and doubt there would be no temptation; and the greater the love, the more do evil genii put in doubt its end or fulfilment. (A. C. 1820.) The perception that the church would come to an end, despite all that omnipotence could do, caused Him to be "horrified at so great a vastation" and darkness. (A. C. 1839.) The gravity of these temptations was derived from the fact that He never fought from a love of self or for Himself, or even that He might be saved, but from an ardent love that all others in the universe might find some place in heaven. (A. C. 1812.)

428




     But after His combats, and while as yet He was, as it were, separate from the "Father," came states of consolation and of Divine perception,-revelations in which He had a "perceptive sensation and knowledge" "of all things in the world of spirits and in the heavens, and also had immediate communication with Jehovah." (A. C. 1791, 1786.) Thence arose a state of union with the Divine.

     Sowing Seed in the Waters.

     One reason why the literal sense of the Word is accommodated to the states of mankind, and thus speaks to us in appearances, presenting God as angry, etc., is given in the July Arcana readings, in these words: "To speak otherwise than as man apprehends would have been to sow seeds in the waters, and to say that which would be rejected at once." (A. C. 1874.) The striking fact is that the Biblical Word, meeting the states of mankind directly, has survived for thousands of years, has been studied by untold millions, and has become the foundation of at least four world-religions.

     Too often teachers and parents, lacking a knowledge of the states of children, sow their seed "in the waters," forgetting to accommodate to the minds which they would like to reach. But the Lord, who inspired the Word, spoke from an omniscience of all human states; and, therefore, in the words of His revelations is found a common well, from which all may draw their inspiration.

     Jesting from the Word.

     Regard for the sanctity of the Word has so far perished in the world around us that, although probably more Bibles are distributed than ever before, this Book is increasingly regarded merely as the history and literary remains of a religious movement, rather than as the holy ultimate for eternal progress. The growing paganism of our times is shown in the cordial reception which meets even the coarsest jests about incidents in the Biblical stories.

     The time is near when the New Church will have to fight for its sanctities. And the first battle will be within ourselves; for if we laugh with the world, we will also perish with the world.

     How important it is not to jest about sacred things, is shown in the Arcana (n. 1878).

429


Those who thus debase spiritual things to unclean earthly things, and use matters of the Church "in vain talk" (T. C. R. 298), are described in A. C. 5390, 1008; A. E. 1064; and in S.D. 1304, where special warnings are given as to the after-death tribulations invited by such practices. In the Divine Providence (n. 231) it is shown that a habit of jesting about Divine things cannot be formed "without being joined with some degree of contempt for the Word, when yet the Word, in all and single things, is Divine and holy; for each and every word therein conceals in its bosom something Divine, and by it has communication with heaven."

     An Optical Cylinder.

     Four passages in the Writings refer to a curious object, called an "optical cylinder." (A. C. 1871; W. H. 114; H. D. 2604; and S. D. 2164.) This object is used to illustrate how order is seen by the angels in the confusion and chaos of natural things, and how the wonderful things of the spiritual sense arise before them when the Word is read by men, and especially by little children. It has been popularly thought that a kaleidoscope of some sort is here referred to. But the actual reference is to a cylindrical metal mirror, which can be placed in the center of a sheet of paper upon which distorted designs are so drawn, with dashes of ink and color, that their reflection in the mirror constitutes, as if by magic, the image of a person or some other picture.

     With the help of Professor R. W. Brown and some artistic friends, the writer has reconstructed such a toy, which he remembers having seen as a child in Sweden. (See photograph, page 430.) The pertinence of Swedenborg's illustration may be seen from the following quotation:

     "How the Word of the Lord appears before the angels cannot be described, but some idea can be formed by those who have seen in museums the optical cylinders in which beautiful images are represented from, things roughly projected. Although the things which are round about in the projection appear to have no form, series, or order, and to be merely confused projections, still, when they are concentrated toward the cylinder, they there present a lovely image. So it is with the Word of the Lord, especially with the prophetic Word of the Old Testament.

430


In the literal sense, there is scarcely anything that does not appear destitute of order; but when it is being read by a man, and especially by a little boy or girl, it becomes more beautiful and delightful by degrees as it ascends, and at last it is presented before the Lord as the image of a human being, in which and by which heaven is represented in its whole complex, not as it is, but as the Lord wills it to be, namely, a likeness of Himself." (A. C. 1871.)

     [Photo]

     In the photograph, the distorted sketch represents the appearances of the literal sense, which, when reflected in the doctrine of heaven, may be seen to reflect a spiritual sense, here signified by the white horse. It is to be observed that the distortions grow more hopeless the more the objects are remote from the center.

431


NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

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     DISTINCTIVE EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA.

     The April issue of THE NEW AGE, edited by the Rev. R. H. Teed, of Melbourne, features editorial remarks and several articles which plead the cause of New Church Day Schools, and which encourage the hope that this remedy for slow growth or declining numbers may be applied among the Conference societies on that continent. Once the need of such a distinctive schooling for the young is seen, it is only necessary to make a beginning, however small. The way to begin is to begin. Success will crown the effort, if teachers and parents are alike inspired by a vision, by courage, and by persistence in the face of difficulties.

     In an article entitled "The Distinctive New-Church Day School," Mr. L. A. S. Thornhill explains how he would teach arithmetic in the light of the New Church. "Despite all the arguments to the contrary," he says, "the conviction remains that the kind of school which forms the heading of this article should come into existence-this being one which, while giving its scholars all the worldly knowledge other schools do, yet has something about it which marks it off from them. I suppose, for instance, there is something-an atmosphere, if nothing else-about a Roman Catholic Convent School that renders it distinctive; and I feel we ought to have a school in the New Church which, while teaching its pupils everything the Education Department requires for the passing of their standards-and for doing so as well, too, as those of any other educational institution-has yet something about it which causes it to be THE DISTINCTIVE NEW CHURCH DAY SCHOOL." (P. 138.)

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     "A Living Experiment in New-Church Education" is the title of an article by Miss M. M. White, who, at the request of Mr. Teed, undertakes to answer the questions: "What do you hope to accomplish by such a school?" "Have such schools proved a success elsewhere?" and "What use are they to the New Church?" In answer to the first question, Miss White says: "To lay a foundation in the minds of the children placed in my care that will be a suitable basis for the rational reception by them in adult life of the truths of the New Church. If this is accomplished, the intermediate things will have been accomplished also,-preparation for the performance of uses in the world."

     After enlarging upon this answer, Miss White replies to the second question by making a brief statement in regard to the success attained by the day schools of the General Church. As to the "use of such schools to the Church," she says: "They have produced men and women intelligent in the life and doctrines of the Church, and have assured a steadily increasing membership from the children of New Church parents. Almost all ultimately become members of the Church body."

     The Rev. Richard Morse contributes a short history of "The Church at Hurstville," illustrated with photographs of the exterior and interior of the church building of that society.

     The tone of Mr. Teed's editorial comment upon the subject of Education may be inferred from the following paragraphs:

     "It cannot be denied that the tendency of our time is increasingly in the direction of limiting the purpose in education to the worldly career. Church schools in connection with any religious denomination-except the Roman Catholic-are fast disappearing We can recall when, in a time of much agitation in this matter of education, the cry was raised: 'Day-schools are for secular education; religious education should be confined to Sunday schools.' It was interesting to note the obvious contrast in relative importance which this cry indicated.

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About 30 hours a week were to be available exclusively for secular studies, under the most highly-trained men the country could produce, whereas for religious education one hour a week sufficed, and the teacher would likely be some youth or maid whose qualifications to teach were, to say the least, doubtful. Such were the values placed upon education in its varying aspects. Such, indeed, was the concept of an adequate and balanced education. . . . "Since that day the cause of religious education has been even weakened and worsened. The Sunday schools have been increasingly neglected, so that even the hour's teaching on the Sunday has, in the great majority of cases, been cut out, and there has arisen in the mind of the average cultured person the notion that, after all, there is nothing to teach in regard to religion. The Church is rapidly ceasing to be regarded as a teaching institution. Religion is now largely relegated to the plane of morals, and the exercises of religion are supposed to be mere rituals.

     "There is one bright spot in the universal secularizing of our modern education. In certain States and countries, voluntary teachers of religion are allowed access to our state schools for half-an-hour a week to teach the letter of Scripture....

     "But, to the religiously-minded man, how inadequate this is! The earnest New Churchman will likewise feel a sense of keen dissatisfaction. With the New Churchman there is the added cause of distress that what teaching is given is inevitably tinged with a point of view that is foreign to the heavenly doctrines. The New Churchman has not only the old doctrines to fear, but even more the instilling into the mind of the beliefs of materialistic naturalism, which today are largely taking the place of the now discredited dogmas of the Creeds. This new tendency is peculiarly dangerous, in that it is able to make itself so pleasing and satisfactory to the budding rational mind of youth. Natural rationalism in reality cuts religion right out of life, even though the name of God be upon the lips of its exponents. There is not the slightest doubt that today, in our universities especially, this natural rationalism is dominant, and the minds of our youth there are being robbed of the last remnant of religious faith that they held. By this we do not mean that youth is being taught to be infidel; no, the process is much less obvious add more subtle; and, withal, we believe that the outcome of the destruction of religious belief is not deliberately intended.

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It is just the inevitable result of allowing one's mind to run untamed and unchecked whither it will, which happens with all those who have ceased to look to Revelation for guidance.

     "Earnest New Churchmen, seeing this danger, have from time to time put forward eloquent appeals for distinctive New Church education. It is rightly pointed out that religious education, properly understood, is not something apart from ordinary education-learning the Bible and certain creeds and articles; but, as all religion belongs to life, so there is in reality no phase of education from which religion can rightly be excluded. If we are to get a proper understanding of history, geography, science or philosophy, there is really only the one starting-point, and that is God in His Divine Human, Who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Where that fundamental, and all that belongs to it, is cut out, there is, from a New Church point of view, no sound education. Instead, there is the danger of the grossest falsities taking possession of the mind and distorting the whole point of view."

     After outlining some of the difficulties to be overcome in making provision for distinctly New Church education, Mr. Teed continues:

     "Such are some of the difficulties, but difficulties can be overcome. At present a brave effort for the establishment of New Church education in this country is being made by Miss M. White at the Hurstville (Sydney) Society of the New Church. Elsewhere in this issue we print with pleasure a brief account of the work that is being done at present. Of course, as yet it is the day of small things, and no doubt Miss White will gradually feel her way, will learn by her experience, and so continually increase the usefulness of her school. We wish her all success in her good work, and we assure her we shall watch with keen interest the progress of its development."
SWEDENBORG AND THE HESSELIUS FAMILY. 1931

SWEDENBORG AND THE HESSELIUS FAMILY.              1931

     The Pennsylvania Museum of art has recently placed on exhibition at Memorial Hall, Philadelphia, a picture which holds the distinction of being the earliest religious painting in North America. It is the Last Supper, by Gustavus Hesselius, who was commissioned to paint it by the Vestry of St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne's Parish, Maryland, where it was placed on its completion in 1722.

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Describing the picture in the Museum Bulletin, Henri Marceau says: "One senses the deeply religious mind of the painter, who was a cousin of Swedenborg."

     Without attaching too much to the implied "religious" influence of Swedenborg upon the artist Hesselius, we take the opportunity to explain the family connection, and to speak of Swedenborg's association with the four Hesselius brothers, three of whom came to America. Dr. Acton has furnished the following information:

     Bishop Jesper Swedberg's second wife was Sarah Bergia. They were married in 1697, when Emanuel Swedenborg was nine years old, and he became a favorite of his stepmother, to whom he was devotedly attached until the day of her death in 1720. (He refers to his "mothers" in the Spiritual Diary 4181, 4182.)

     Sarah Bergia's sister married the pastor in Folkama, Anders Hesselius. With four of her children,_Anders, Johann, Gustaf, and Samuel,-Swedenborg must have been intimately acquainted during their earlier years. With one of them, Dr. Johann Hesselius, he developed a special friendship, coupled with a high admiration of his scientific attainments. The two were companions for several months on a scientific journey in Holland and Germany, and Dr. Johann Hesselius is referred to in more than one of Swedenborg's works. His botanical collection, which was enriched by American specimens received from his brother Anders, is now preserved in the Museum at Upsala University.

     Anders Hesselius and his brother Samuel became pastors of the Swedish colony in New Sweden (Wilmington), Delaware. Gustaf came to America with Anders in May, 1711, and settled in Philadelphia, where he advertized himself as a general painter, and did such "jobs" as billboards, coats-of-arms, and houses, although his talent as an artist was known. It was not until September 5, 1721, that he received the order to paint the altar piece for St. Barnabas Church, and when it was completed and placed in November, 1722, he was paid but ?17 for it. (For further particulars concerning Johann and Anders Hesselius, see Tafel's Documents, Vol. I, pp. 679, 685.)

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SWEDENBORG STUDENT. 1931

SWEDENBORG STUDENT.              1931

     The Rev. Arthur Wilde, of New York, has accepted an appointment to the editorship of THE SWEDENBORG STUDENT, succeeding the late Rev. John Whitehead, who founded the periodical in January, 1920, as the Monthly Bulletin of the Arcana Class, which also he conducted until his death last November. The STUDENT is now published by the Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., 18 East 41st Street, New York; which announces that Mr. Wilde will continue the policy of his predecessor, gladly answering questions on matters connected with the daily readings from the Arcana, welcoming correspondence, and inviting suitable contributions from New Church writers.

     The May issue contains editorials and a radio address by Mr. Wilde, short articles by the Revs. George Henry Dole and Frank A. Gustafson, and several pages of selected "Readings from Swedenborg,'' or passages from the Writings under topical headings.
PROPHECY AND POLLUTION. 1931

PROPHECY AND POLLUTION.              1931

     Mr. F. G. Lindh, of Stockholm, whom we have formerly regarded as a useful contributor to the field of Swedenborgiana, has used his paper, NYA KYRKANS TIDNING, during the last year for the ventilation of such fanciful interpretations of certain details of Swedenborg's life as are hardly compatible with serious research. So, for instance, Mr. Lindh solemnly suggests that Swedenborg, for thirty years, was subsidized by King Louis XV of France, having gained access to the royal patronage by a clever exposition of the metric prophecies of Nostradamus, which the French king was deliberately trying to fulfill. Nostradamus, or Michel de Notre Dame (1503-1566) was an astrologer, seer, and medicus, contemporary with Michael Servetus. Mr. Lindh hints that Swedenborg carried on a secret correspondence with the French monarch, and played the role of mediator between Madame du Barry's coterie and the popular party in France, and that his alleged intrigues in May, 1769, reacted on the politics of his own country. Such pollution of history needs no refutation.

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     The editor admits that an uncritical attitude is necessary to make Nostradamus' "Centuries" of predictions sound like prophecies of New Church doctrine, but insists that if you regard his verses as a mere "letter" (p. 106), you can find in it a supreme Divine sense, which treats of the Lord's Second Advent through the descent of the New Jerusalem (p. 63). The cited "prophecies," which to us sound like sheer nonsense, are supposed to treat of historical personages and events of the period 1433-1930, and have puzzled mystically inclined people for centuries. But it seems that this New Church editor surpasses them all, when he says: "The thought is absolutely forced upon one that we stand here before a divinely inspired work"! (P. 82.)
     H. L. O.
NEW BOOK IN SWEDISH. 1931

NEW BOOK IN SWEDISH.       ERIK SANDSTROM       1931

BIBELNS UNDERVERK (The Miracles of the Bible). By Gustaf Baeckstrom. Stockholm: Bokforlaget Nova Ecclesia, 1931. Paper; pp. 95; Kr. 1: 50.

     As stated by the author, the purpose of this book is "to engender and strengthen a belief in the actuality of the miracles described in the Sacred Scriptures, and at the same time to establish and corroborate a real belief in the Holy Book in general,-that it is indeed a holy Book, God's own Word."

     In its simple and indisputable logic, Mr. Baeckstrom's treatment of the subject is exceptionally well suited to missionary purposes, explaining in a rational way many of those passages in the Word which seem strange, curious and fantastic to the modern man of "little faith." But the work will also be useful to every seeker after truth. The whole book is a sermon, making application of the miracles of the Word to what takes place in the spiritual life of the regenerating man.

     Everything in creation is a miracle, says the author, and what we commonly call "miracles" are only peculiar in being unusual, and do not violate the order of the universe.
     ERIK SANDSTROM.

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BURMESE PERIODICAL AND PAMPHLETS. 1931

BURMESE PERIODICAL AND PAMPHLETS.              1931

     The Academy Library has recently received issues of THE NEW JERUSALEM MESSAGE, the English title of a new magazine whose contents are printed in the Burmese language, being published by Mr. A. Boo, 37, Colvin Road, Moulmein, Burma, who for some years has been promoting the cause of New Church in that country. Four numbers of the magazine have so far appeared, January to April, 1931, the size varying from four to eight pages. We have also seen two tracts, compiled and translated into Burmese by Mr. Boo, and bearing the titles: "Jesus Christ the True and Only God," and "The Difference between the Old Church Teaching and The New Jerusalem."
ADDITION TO "THE WORD EXPLAINED." 1931

ADDITION TO "THE WORD EXPLAINED."              1931

     It is suggested by Dr. Alfred Acton, translator of The Word Explained, that owners of Volume I of the English Version add to the last footnote on page 164 the words: "See no. 250."
SESUTO VERSION OF "THE SEVEN SEALS." 1931

SESUTO VERSION OF "THE SEVEN SEALS."              1931

     The latest product of the Print Shop of the General Church Native Mission at Alpha comes in the form of a cloth-bound volume of eighty-three pages, containing a Sesuto translation of the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn's work, The Book Sealed with Seven Seals. One of the best books introductory to a knowledge of the Doctrines of the New Church is thus made available to the native South African in his own language. It has already appeared in Dutch and Spanish, as well as in a second edition in English, attesting to its recognized value for missionary purposes.
NEW VOLUME FROM HOLLAND. 1931

NEW VOLUME FROM HOLLAND.              1931

     The Swedenborg Society at The Hague has just Published a Dutch translation of The Cartons of the New Church and of Nine Questions on The Trinity. The two works are included in a single volume of 72 pages, uniform in style of printing and binding with the Society's Dutch version of the Arcana Coelestia, four volumes of which have so far been published.

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VOLUME OF STORIES FOR CHILDREN 1931

VOLUME OF STORIES FOR CHILDREN       Rev. F. E. GYLLENHAAL       1931

JOHN IN THE ISLE OF PATMOS: Stories of Revelation. By George de Charms. Based on the Apocalypse Revealed, by Emanuel Swedenborg. Decorative Headings by Eudora Sellner. Bryn Athyn, Pa.: Theta Alpha, 1930. Cloth, 156 pages, oblong 12mo. $2.00.

     The New Church urgently needs stories for children which make understandable the prophetic books of the Word, and which show the operations of the Divine Providence in the spiritual world, and apply moral truths to child life. Bishop de Charms has made a substantial contribution to this need in the book before us. His simple, clear, and direct style, his admirable choice of words, and especially his grasp of the movements of the chapters of Revelation that are certain to awaken the keenest interest of a child's mind, are outstanding features of each story, and help to make the book easy to read many times to the same children.
                    
A Foreword tells why children like to hear and read stories, and recommends the reading of the chapter in Revelation from which the story has been taken, before the story itself is read. This is indeed good counsel, for it looks to the child's seeing, as it were, the gradual opening up of the internal truths in the Word as it might watch the unfolding of a bud. In this way the child's mind can be more truly developed in spiritual-natural truths, and its affections strongly rooted, to blossom and bear fruit again and again in the years to follow.

     And in "A Word to Parents," at the end of the book, the special value of the Book of Revelation to the New Church is explained. The origin of these stories from it is shown to have been in talks to children, and suggestions are made for their use in the home. The stories themselves show evidence of a maturity that can only come after repeated, actual use and direct appeal to, and contact with, an audience.

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     There are twenty-eight stories, the longest being five and a half pages in length, and the shortest three and a half pages. The first sixteen stories are about the Judgment before the Lord's Second Coming, and the last twelve are about the establishment of the New Church after the Last Judgment. For the visions seen by John were prophetic representations in the spiritual world of what was to take place seventeen centuries later; and a knowledge and understanding of these visions, especially when obtained in childhood and early youth, prepares the mind for the Divinely revealed account of their fulfilment given in the Writings.

     The stories are well connected, so that they follow in two continuous series, which are also well connected; and the interest sustained throughout one story whets the appetite for the next, even to the last one; so much so that the adult will not wish to lay the book down until he has finished reading it, and the child will beg for "just one more," until he can hardly keep his eyes open.

     The stories will lay an excellent foundation of general knowledge concerning these important subjects: The Lord; the Word; the Church; worship of the Lord in the spiritual world as on earth; the truly Christian life; the spiritual world, consisting of heaven, hell, and the world of spirits; the mutual services of angels, spirits, and men; and especially the Lord's Second Coming, the Last Judgment, and the New Church.

     The decorative headings by Miss Eudora Sellner are simple and pleasing. They accurately, yet imaginatively, depict the principal points of the stories. Children's books require such illustrations, and the Church is fortunate when it has among its members artists who are entirely sympathetic with its doctrine to supply them.

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

     My trip south this year was made two months later than usual, and, as it was late in the season, and there was not sufficient time at my disposal, it did not include Florida. The first visit was at KNOXVILLE, TENN., where two days, April 30th and May 1st, were spent with Mr. and Mrs. R. S. C. Hutchinson. In the family circle we had a service the first evening and a doctrinal class the second. At the class our subject was Faith Healing of Bodily Diseases. We greatly missed the presence of the daughter, Ethel Rae, who a few days earlier had become Mrs. Charles Lindrooth, the ceremony being performed at Knoxville by the Rev. W. L. Gladish. Mr. and Mrs. Lindrooth will make their home at Chicago. We know that their many friends throughout the church, especially among the young people, wish them all joy and happiness.

     At BIRMINGHAM, ALA., from May 2d to 5th, there were doctrinal classes on four evenings and one afternoon, instruction was given twice to three children, and a service was held on Sunday. All these meetings, excepting one class, were held at the joint home of Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Echols, Sr., and Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Echols, Jr. The latter will be better recognized by their Bryn Athyn friends as Dan and Betty. The classes were attended by friends, some of whom were with us last year and desired to hear more. The number of persons present ranged from six to eleven. At one of the classes we had with us Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Kendig, with whom I also spent one of the days of the visit. The Echols children receive instruction regularly, and at present enjoy the book John on the Isle of Patmos. At the service on Sunday, which included the Holy Supper, there was an attendance of twelve. A feature of the service was the baptism of the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Echols, Jr. It is a pleasure to note that, in tracing this boy's ancestry, we find that in following one line (Doering), he is the fourth generation in the church, in another line (Frost), the fifth, and in still another (Grant), the sixth! He surely should become an excellent New Churchman. Preparation for his becoming such in the Academy spirit is already under way; for I overheard his mother singing a Hebrew anthem for him as a lullaby.

     At ATLANTA, GA., May 6th to 11th, there were five evening doctrinal classes, four classes for four children, and a service on Sunday. All the meetings except one were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Crockett. Mrs. Crockett is a sister of Mrs. Echols, Sr., of Birmingham. The one meeting held elsewhere was a class at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chester Frost. As at Birmingham, friends attended, some of these having been with us at several former visits. Here also the children are instructed regularly, and likewise enjoy the reading of John in the Isle of Patmos. And I wish to add that here, and also at Birmingham, Miss Nelson's Stories for Children, published in New Church Sermons, give great pleasure.

     The service on Sunday included the Holy Supper. The attendance at the classes was from seven to nine; and at the service twelve. With Mrs. Crockett lives her aged mother, Mrs. Frost. For years she has been blind. Her great delight is to have the Writings and the literature of the church read to her. Years ago she was left a widow with a family of several children, and it was her earnest endeavor to bring them up in the church. For a long while her efforts seemed to go unrewarded.

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She said to me: "I learned to labor-and to wait. In one case I waited forty years. Now they have all come to it." Do we not here find another evidence of the power of implanted remains?

     The last two days of my stay I spent with Mr. J. A. Fraser, so well known to many members of the General Church. They were indeed two days of "a feast of reason and a how of soul."
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     CHICAGO, ILL.

     At the regular annual meeting of Sharon Church, held in April, the officers were re-elected for the ensuing year, and the thanks of the society were extended to them for their valuable services during the past year. Our pastor announced that there are now eighty-two members in the society. Nothing further was accomplished in regard to our hoped-for building, because we have not yet received the specifications.

     On April 25th, the Rev. and Mrs. W. L. Gladish motored to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Mr. Gladish officiated at the wedding of Mr. Charles M. Lindrooth and Miss Ethel Rae Hutchinson. In the absence of the pastor, the Rev. George G. Starkey, of Glenview, conducted our Sunday service. On their return journey, Mr. and Mrs. Gladish had a delightful visit with Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Merrell at Cincinnati, Ohio. They also paid a visit to Mr. Gladish's former parish at Indianapolis, where he was much gratified to find that the children of his Sunday School of former days are now working members of the society.

     At our last Ladies' Meeting, at the home of Mr. W. Espy Curtis, with Mrs. Doering and the Misses Vivian and Natalie Curtis as hostesses, we listened to an instructive and enjoy able lecture on "Colchester" by Mr. George A. McQueen, of Glenview.

     Following the Friday doctrinal class on May 2d. a "shower" was given for the bride, Mrs. Ethel Rae Lindrooth, and was a complete surprise to her. Mr. and Mrs. Lindrooth have settled in Chicago.

     On Friday, May 22d, we appeared in "glad rags" for a Hard Times Party. The costumes were astonishingly unbecoming, from the lady attired in a white dress and hat of the vintage of 1800, and leading a dog, to the Ole Oleson in farm jeans whose lock of yellow hair stuck up through his hat. Miss Esther Cronwall is to be congratulated upon her amazing imagination and industry, as evidenced in the many funny and unusual stunts she had prepared for this occasion. She well deserved the rousing hand claps of appreciation. At each of these socials quite a sum is contributed to our building fund.

     REV. S. C. BRONNICHE.

     The New Church Society at Copenhagen, Denmark, was left without a pastor when, on April 19th last, the Rev. Soren Christian Bronniche passed to the spiritual world. The Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom was called from Stockholm to conduct the funeral.

     In Die Neue Kirche for May, 1931, the Rev. Adolph L. Goerwitz, General Pastor of the German Societies in Europe, deplores the loss of Mr. Bronniche and speaks appreciatively of his career. In his youth he studied art, but learned of the New Church from a companion student, the son of Pastor Winslow, of Copenhagen, by whom he was encouraged to enter the New Church ministry. After a course in the Theological School at Cambridge, Mass., he was ordained by the Rev. Fedor Goerwitz, becoming assistant and finally successor to Pastor Winslow at Copenhagen, where his thorough knowledge of the Doctrines, as well as his tact and wisdom, made him a successful leader for many years. He was a man of refined tastes, an exceptionally gifted musician, and his abilities as an artist were evidenced in the beautiful mural paintings with which he adorned the new home of the Copenhagen Society when it was acquired a few years ago.

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He edited and published the magazine Nykirkeligt Tidsskrift, the last issue of which, for January-March, 1931, appeared just before his death.

     SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

     With an attendance of 47 members and 53 visitors, the 34th annual meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association was held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Friday, May 22, 1931.

     At the afternoon session, the Treasurer reported a balance on hand, and it was stated that the Association has a membership of 205. A copy of the latest publication had just come from the press, and was shown to those present, namely, a work by Emanuel Swedenborg entitled A Philosopher's Note Book, translated from the Latin and edited by Dr. Alfred Acton.

     At the same session a tribute was paid to the late John Whitehead, founder and first editor of The New Philosophy, and for many years a member of the Board of Directors of the Association. To fill the vacancy on the Board, the meeting elected Judge Foster W. Freeman, of Paterson, N. J.

     The annual address by the Rev. Lewis F. Hite, President, was entitled "A Study of Swedenborg's Science," and stimulated an active discussion which centered around the following points: The nature and quality of Swedenborg's first natural point; its twofold aspect, from the spiritual and the natural; the characteristics of the point of Zeno; the geometrical aspect of nature; the valuation placed upon Swedenborg's teachings by the scientific world of his time.

     At the evening session, Dr. Charles R. Pendleton read a paper on "The Soul and Space," and this also was followed by a lively and extended discussion, dealing mainly with the subject of the appearances of time and space in the spiritual world, the value and limitations of philosophy as an aid to spiritual perceptions, and the uses of philosophy in the development of Swedenborg's own mind.

     At the conclusion of the meeting, President Hite commented upon the stimulating and highly interesting nature of the discussions at both sessions, and he thanked the Bryn Athyn members for their cordial spirit of hospitality.
     WILFRED HOWARD.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The Friday Suppers and Doctrinal Classes were concluded for the season on May 15th, the Philosophy Club held its final meeting on May 21st, and the Woman's Guild on June 2d. It has been a season well spent from a number of viewpoints. The meetings now being held are in preparation for the gathering of the Sons of the Academy here, June 28th-30th. Judging from the rumors we hear, many items of interest and amusement are being planned.

     A card party held in the auditorium on May 23d was most ably managed by Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Goerwitz. The occasion was most successful, both socially and financially. The Day School gave a lawn fete on June 5th. Every pupil participated, as well as the pastor and teachers. There were two short representations from the Word, given in the original languages,-The Call of Samuel, in Hebrew, and the Parable of the Talents, in Greek. Each was introduced by a recitation in English of the part dramatized.

     The next event was the March of the King and Queen, accompanied by knights and attendants, who witnessed several dances, a puppet show, and a scene from Alice Through the Looking Glass. All took part in the dance of the unfolding and folding of a lily, and the knights in a dance picturing jousting. The puppet show had four scenes representing Little John and the Sheriff of Nottingham; the drinking bout and fight with the sheriff's cook were especially clever. The scene between Alice and Tweedledum and Tweedledee, enacted in pantomime by the youngest pupils, included the recitation of the Walrus and the Carpenter and the Oysters. The fete closed with an intricate Maypole Dance.

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The performers were in the sunken garden, or beside and upon the parapet which overlooks it, while the audience of about sixty, including twenty guests, sat on the opposite side. Miss Nadezhda Iungerich accompanied the dances on the piano. Ice cream and cake were served by the Pittsburgh Chapter of Theta Alpha in the auditorium, and so came to a conclusion a delightfully entertaining afternoon. Teachers and pupils are to be congratulated upon their splendid work.

     Mr. C. Edro Cranch, his daughter, Miss Wyneth Cranch, and Miss Frances Greenwood, of the Erie Circle, spent Sunday in Pittsburgh recently. They attended the service in the morning, and were shown the sights of the city by our pastor in the afternoon.
     E. R. D.

     LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

     July seems to be the latest date at which news of our Easter activities can be presented, and we can only hope that at this late date our readers will still find it readable.

     On Easter morning our Pastor preached on the importance of the Lord's appearing after the resurrection. He stressed the analogy there exists between that event and the reappearing of the Lord at His Second Coming; for unless the Lord manifests Himself in His visible, glorified Human, the Divine remains invisible, and no genuine church can be established. The service was a very impressive one, and our usual beautiful ritual was enhanced on this occasion by special violin selections. The altar and chancel were decorated by a profusion of Spring flowers, brought by all the members of the congregation, and these too added no little to the festivity of the day. The service was followed by administration of the Holy Supper of which thirteen members partook.

     We have to thank Mr. Carith Hansen, of Spokane, for his kindness in playing the violin on Easter and on several Sundays preceding. Mr. Hansen was very ably assisted by our pianist, Miss Viola net. We much appreciate their efforts on these occasions, as well as Miss Iler's faithful and devoted services at the piano each Sunday.

     The doctrinal classes have been held each week at the homes of the various members, with a good attendance. We are continuing the treatment on Faith in the "True Christian Religion," having completed a very interesting series of classes on the "Ten Commandments," which our Pastor took up in detail.     

     On April 30th, the Society held its monthly supper at the home of Mrs. Abram Klippenstein in Long Beach, and thoroughly enjoyed her generous hospitality and kindness in preparing the supper. The supper was followed by a doctrinal class. The following week we surprised Mr. and Mrs. Peter Klippenstein by holding class at their home, and followed the class with refreshments of the pretzel and cheese variety.

     During the month of May we had as visitors to the services: Mr. J. C. Perry, of Highland; Mr. Emil Stroh, of Ontario; and Mrs. Peter Ahlberg, from Bryn Athyn. Mr. C. Ray Brown, of Toronto, also visited the Rev. and Mrs. Boef during his short stay in Los Angeles. We were most sorry to see our good friend, Mrs. Wm. S. Howland, leave our midst this Spring to return to her home in Denver. We sincerely hope that she will again visit us in the near future, as she is very much missed by us all. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. O'Brien, of Bryn Athyn, with their son and his family, have recently arrived in Los Angeles, intending to establish their residence in this city. We have been glad to welcome them, and hope that they will feel themselves at home among us.

     We are happy to mention at this time of writing that our friend, Mr. Louis Matthias, who was very severely burned on Sunday, May 24th, while burning grass in his backyard, is now considered out of danger, and is making good progress toward recovery. Our sympathies are his, not only now, but during the many weeks he will have to spend in the hospital. Needless to say, we have greatly missed his smiling face and happy wit.

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     At the time this report goes to press, our first District Assembly will take place, coinciding with our celebration of the Nineteenth of June. This Assembly, being the first to be attempted by members of the General Church in California, will of necessity be a small affair, but we hope at this time to lay a firm foundation upon which future Assemblies may increase in size and strength.
     V. G. B.
     
     SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

     On Sunday, May 17th, services were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Bundsen in Palo Alto, which were attended by seven people, four of whom partook of the Holy Supper which was then administered. Due to the unavoidable absence of several other families, the attendance was small at this time.

     It was my hope to be able to establish a small circle which would meet once every month, but the distances which separate our members living in the vicinity of San Francisco impede the realization of such a plan at present.

     It was a singular pleasure to me to have met the Rev. L. G. Jordan, whom I visited at his home in Oakland. Though quite advanced in age, Mr. Jordan is actively interested in the affairs of the Church. It was indeed a privilege to hear his discussion of doctrinal subjects, in which the wisdom of old age expressed itself so profoundly and charmingly.

     It is my plan to visit our members in the Northern part of this State twice every year. These visits are made possible by the General Church, and we hope that her generous efforts to provide for our isolated members there will be repaid in the future by increased interest and growth.
     HENDRIK W. BOEF.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     The Sunday evening doctrinal class, conducted by our pastor for young people up to about thirty-five years of age, has suspended its meetings for the summer. The book studied was Divine Love and Wisdom. At the same time the class conducted by the Rev. Norman Reuter for young married people has wound up its work for the season. About ten married pairs attended these Sunday evening sessions, meeting at the homes of the members. The work on the Divine Providence has been studied. Faithful attendance and enthusiastic attention was evident at these classes.

     The regular Friday suppers and classes will be discontinued for the summer on June 19th, and with them Mr. Smith's interesting and informative series of lectures on the Christian Churches. His talks have covered most of the churches, even down to "the present time, and we now have a knowledge of the peculiarities and beliefs of these churches.

     Sunday services, however, are expected to continue uninterruptedly, as a very general desire for this opportunity of public worship is shown by the large regular attendance all summer long.

     The "Life" Class, which meets every Tuesday evening at the home of Mr. G. A. McQueen to read articles in New Church Life and other publications of the Church, will also suspend meetings for the summer after a season of usefulness.

     As these notes are written, the Day School is about to close its year with an eighth grade class of nine pupils eligible for graduation.

     The death of Mr. Herbert Fuller, one of our faithful members, marks the passing of another head of a New Church household here.
     J. B. S.

     SECOND SOUTH AFRICAN ASSEMBLY.

     We have received a copy of the program of the Second South African Assembly, to be held at Durban, June 19-21, 1931. The Rev. F. W. Elphick is to preside, representing the Bishop.

     The meetings open with a Banquet in the evening of June 19th, with R. Melville Ridgway, Esq., as toastmaster.

     On the following day, two sessions of the Assembly will be held, the Rev. E. C. Acton delivering an address on "Personality," and the Rev. F. W. Elphick one on "Unity in Variety."

     On Sunday there will be a service in the morning, including the administration of the Holy Supper.

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The Rev. E. C. Acton will deliver the sermon. In the evening there will be a Service of Praise, with a sermon by the Rev. F. W. Elphick.

     BRYN ATHYN.

     The advent of the summer season has witnessed the usual series of meetings to crowd the calendar. The last Friday supper was the occasion for the Spring Meeting of the Bryn Athyn Church on May 15th, with the hearing of reports from the various departments and a display of work done by the pupils of the Elementary School. During the year, Bishop de Charms conducted an inspiring series of doctrinal classes in which he dealt with the subject of Education.

     Among the social events, the giving of "Iolanthe" by the Civic and Social Club on May 30th ranks as one of the outstanding successes of the season. It was prepared under the direction of Mr. Frank Bostock, ably assisted by Mrs. Bostock, and the members of the cast were splendid in all their parts.

     The celebration of the Nineteenth of June took the form of a Service in the evening, with sermon by Bishop de Charms. This was followed by a gathering on the lawn by the Cathedral, when Dr. Acton delivered an inspiring address on themes appropriate to the day. The serving of refreshments brought the program on this warm but delightful evening to a close.

     The meetings connected with the close of the school-year in the Academy began with the Joint Meeting of the Faculties and Board on June 13th. The Reports were distributed in printed form, and a summary of topics selected from them was presented by the Secretary, Mr. Eldric Klein, this leading to a lively and interesting discussion of various phases of the uses of the Academy.

     Elementary School.

     A large audience gathered in the Assembly Hall for the closing exercises of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School on Tuesday, June 16th, when seventeen boys and girls graduated. Bishop Pendleton gave the Address, and expressed the wish of the Faculty that the class might do creditable work in the High School, and thus fulfill the promise of their training in the Elementary School. "Life," he said, "should be a never-ending enjoyment of good things. Happiness belongs to life, and is inherent in it. We invite our own happiness and unhappiness. There are some things we must have the strength not to do. A wrong thing may be undone in this, that it is not done again. This is good standard, according to which you may order your conduct in the new life now opening to you."

     Principal Heilman spoke of the need of concentrating upon studies, and of the true value of social life.

     Academy Commencement.

     Another large audience assembled for the Commencement Exercises of the higher schools on the morning of June 17th, the long procession of students singing "The Church Militant" as they entered, followed by the members of the Faculty and Board, who took their places upon the stage. Bishop de Charms conducted the service, Dean Doering read the Lessons, and the schools sang selections from the Hebrew anthems and the Psalmody in an inspiring manner.

     Mr. Raymond Pitcairn delivered the Commencement Address, beginning in a facetious and very humorous manner by detailing the social activities of the Boys' Academy graduating class during the last six weeks. Against this formidable array of events he contrasted the quiet, restful aspect of his own graduating days, when one might have sat on the pike for half a day, and seen only one hay wagon pass by! To offset the idea that the students of his day were angels, he admitted the authorship of several Latin descriptions of his teachers which he would not wish to see in print.

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Having created a great deal of merriment, Mr. Pitcairn then turned to a serious consideration of the motto of the secondary schools' graduating class: "To Strive for Higher Things." We cannot succeed without sacrifice. The present age is one of revolt. Now, more than ever before, the service of self-denying duty is needed. The zeal for change and revolt should not be accompanied with the desire for license. By means of the sciences, man is made spiritual, but only when there is an acknowledgment of the Divine. The effort to attain higher things by means of lower, without this acknowledgment, is as futile as trying to lift one's self by one's own bootstraps. Other colleges are larger than ours, but they lack that true humility which comes with the acknowledgment of the Divine. Expressing the thanks of the parents for the devoted labors of the members of the Faculty, and assuring the students that their elders had faith in them, he closed with the apt quotation: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

     At the conclusion of the Address, diplomas were presented by Bishop Pendleton to the graduates, these being received with an appropriate valedictory by each class. The graduations were as follows: Girls' Seminary 4; Boys' Academy 9. Junior College: Vera Bergstrom, Helena Kaiser, and Corinne Kendig. Degrees were awarded as follows: Alice Broadbridge and Doris Adeline Ridgway, B. S. E.; Emily Boatman, B. S.; Eldric Klein and Philip N. Odhner, B. A. Awards were announced as follows: Sons of the Academy Gold Medal, Andrew* Doering; Silver Medal, Norbert Rodgers. Alpha Kappa Mu Merit Bar, June Macauley. Theta Alpha Full Scholarship, Gwendolyn King; Tuition Scholarships, Elizabeth Walters and Lillian Heimgartner. Honorable Mention, Nathan Pitcairn.
     * Corrected. See NCL 1931 p. 512.

     Messrs. Wynne Acton and Philip N. Odhner, students in the Theological School, have been recognized as Candidates by the Bishop, and have recently taken part in services at the Cathedral. They will preach during the summer, Mr. Acton at Toronto and Kitchener, and Mr. Odhner at Glenview.

     BRITISH ASSEMBLY PROGRAM.

     At the opening session of the British Assembly, at Colchester, August 1, 7.30 p.m., Bishop George de Charms will deliver the Presidential Address.

     There will be Divine Worship at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday, August 2d, with Sermon by Bishop Tilson. In the afternoon at 4 o'clock the Holy Supper will be administered. At the second session, in the evening at 7, the Rev. Albert Bjorck will give an address on: "If there Had not Been a Fall." The third and fourth sessions will be held on Monday, August 3d, morning and afternoon, and the Assembly Social in the evening.

     Preceding the Assembly, on Friday evening, July 31, at 7.00 p.m., the New Church Club will meet at the Old Bell Restaurant, Holborn, London, and all the men attending the Assembly are invited to be present. The Rev. Raymond G. Cranch, of Bryn Athyn, will deliver an Address on "The Responsibility of the New Churchman Toward the Establishment of Social Justice."

     DEATH OF MR. SCHRECK.

     We are informed that the Rev. Eugene J. E. Schreck passed into the spiritual world at London, England, on June 6th last. Three years ago, owing to ill health, he resigned the pastorate at Birmingham, and since then has lived in retirement in the vicinity of London.

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24TH BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1931

24TH BRITISH ASSEMBLY       VICTOR J. GLADISH       1931




     Announcements.



     Members and friends of the General Church of the New Jerusalem are cordially invited to attend the Twenty-fourth British Assembly, which will be held at Colchester on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, August 1st, 2d and 3d, 1931. Those expecting to be present are requested to communicate as early as possible with Mr. Horace Howard, 30 Drury Road, Colchester, England.
     VICTOR J. GLADISH,
          Secretary.
OFFICE HELP WANTED 1931

OFFICE HELP WANTED       H. HYATT       1931

     The Treasurer of the General Church needs the services of an experienced young lady who is capable of being generally useful in his office. The work to be done includes stenography, typing, bookkeeping and office work of all kinds. It offers a useful, steady and remunerative occupation to one who can satisfy the requirements. The essentials of these are reliability, accuracy, skill and speed in typing, and at least a knack for figures and bookkeeping. For further particulars, address the undersigned in your own handwriting with a statement of your qualifications.
      H. HYATT,
          Treasurer, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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PURGING THE TEMPLE 1931

PURGING THE TEMPLE        N. D. PENDLETON       1931

     
NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          AUGUST, 1931           No. 8
     "And they came to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of player? but ye have made it a den of thieves." (Mark 11:15-17.)

     This record, given in Mark, follows immediately after the Lord's encounter with the fig tree, the destruction of which signified the passing of a dead church, and more intimately the elimination from His Human of that form of natural good which carried evil at its heart. The withering of the fig tree, in that it represented the spiritual judgment upon the church, fulfilled in general the import of the premonitory warning of the day before, when the eventide fell as the Lord stood in the temple. But a still further fulfillment of that premonition was now to follow as He reentered the temple. The events of this, His second entrance, represented certain inevitable sequences, significant of a more definite transaction which came to pass within the temple of His body, whereby His human was purified of the evils signified by "them that sold and bought in the temple," and by "the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves."

     The first warning of the presence and near activity of these evils was given the evening before, when He stood in the temple and "looked round about upon all things." His survey on that occasion, which signified not only His observation of the condition of the temple, but also His introspection into the state of His human, could not but reveal the evils signified by the traders, and also by the "tables" and "seats."

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And His sight of these disorders could not but warn of the combat to come.

     Yet on that evening nothing was done. The time for direct action had not arrived. It was to come, indeed, but not until the "morrow." Before the time of the actual call upon His power, it was necessary that He should withdraw, and enter into a state of retirement, that is, into close communion with His soul. This was signified by His withdrawal to the Mount of Olives, where He passed the night. It was necessary that He should withdraw into the state represented by that holy mountain, in order that He might derive sufficient power against the temptation to come.

     As through the night a man's strength is restored, so it was with Him as He rested in Bethany upon the mountain. Thence He gathered strength to meet the spiritual labors of the coming day. It was by virtue of this renewal that He, on the morning after, put forth the power that withered the tree of evil omen,-the deceiving fig of a barren church. And now, after this temptation of His disappointed hunger, He again entered the temple and engaged the forces of evil therein. As He looked upon the temple from within, on this second occasion, His obscure premonition of the evening before became a clear revealing light, calling for immediate action. The temple must be cleansed of its profanation. Then there was born within Him, from His Divine, a compelling impulse so great that it could not be denied or resisted.

     Here, as elsewhere in the story of the Lord's life when combat with evil was imminent, there was no sign of failing, and, indeed, no outward visible resistance. If ever in seeming He avoided an encounter with evil, it was because the time of engagement was not at hand, nor the state of victory prepared. The order of life calls for each event in its own time, for each state after mature preparation. It was especially so with the marked stages of His glorification; and so also it is with the successive states of man's regeneration. Nothing is of graver importance than holding back from premature action, lest the state intended should be still-born-a lifeless form, incapable of development.

     On this occasion, the direction of the Lord's action was unusual.

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His power went forth with apparent personal violence. He drove from the temple those "that Sold and bought." There was no withstanding Him. He "overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves." Besides, His control was marvelously demonstrated. "He would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple."

     Those who sold and bought profaned the house of God. The tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, were to Him vessels of corruption arising from an evil inheritance-a racial evil of material greed which had increased for an age. These tables and seats were doubtless established originally to serve the need of the sacrificial worship of the temple. But this service was now perverted. An evil spirit of selfish gain had entered into and profaned the representative sanctity of the temple worship. It was because of this abuse that the Lord's house, "called of all nations the house of prayer," had become "a den of thieves."

     This malusage, and all that it signified, increasingly stamped its impress upon the race of which our Lord was born, and from which He derived His human nature. It was against this racial inheritance in Himself that the Divine power which came upon Him was inwardly directed. The outer combat in the temple was but a symbol. Yet both within and without the drive of His power was irresistible. The loves of selfish gain, which so greatly profaned the holy things of worship, did also, by inheritance, profane the temple of His body. These, on this occasion, were exterminated. The evil traders were driven out of the temple, and their tables of exchange and the seats for the sale of doves were overthrown. No resistance is recorded. The tide of His power was utterly compelling, and, as well, constraining. For not only did He "cast out" and "overthrow," but He also would not "suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple."

     After the temple was cleared, and a fitting response of its orderliness to His presence therein was given-after His own body was inwardly purified in correspondence with the rejection of the temple abuses-there came upon Him from above, in larger measure and more ultimate fullness, the glorifying presence of the Divine. In this presence it was not fitting that an intrusion of anything that was alien should be allowed-anything that could interrupt the descent of the Divine in its new fullness.

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Such an interruption would have occurred if any man, at that time, had carried a strange vessel through the temple. Such a vessel would have represented an open way for an evil influx, in which case the heritage of His infirm human would have been stirred to activity. This could not be allowed in the moment of His triumph, in the newly achieved state of His glorification; for in this, as in His every conquest, there was a presentation of His glorification, in the presence of which no evil could abide.

     At other times, and in other states, it was allowed that strange vessels should be borne through the house of His mind, to the end that He should be tempted, even as are all men-strange vessels bearing a false invitation, and significant of an evil end,-vessels which would have opened the way for an evil influx, and would have stirred to activity the inherited tendencies of His maternal human, and so induce states which would have clouded His mind, in which case He would have entered forthwith into temptation, and the supremacy of evil would have manifested itself. But now His glorification presented the supremacy of His Divinity, and this alone. Not until a recession of His Divine power occurred could He again enter into temptation, which state could arise only with a reversal of form and a recession of His power.

     As the periods of His glorification were recurrent, so also the states of His temptation were intermittent. And as, in His glorification, the Divine was manifestly present, so in His temptations, which are described as a pouring out of His soul unto death, the Divine was quite as if absent, and His mind was possessed by that image of death which lies at the heart of every temptation. That He might undergo successive temptations from the beginning, many strange vessels,-vessels significant of death,-were carried through the house of His mind. Like vagrant thoughts, born as of evil emotions, they were so many invitations to the hells to enter with malign power. At such times the supremacy of evil could not but seem overwhelming. Unless it had so seemed, no real temptation could have arisen.

     Of all things, states of man's mind are most possessive. They take complete control for the time, and if evil, then that evil is felt as dominant. There is no temptation unless this is the case, that is, not in the deep sense which the Writings impart to that word.

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     The difference between our temptations and those of the Lord is indicated by the fact that these internal disturbances are, in every case, measured as to their strength by the love which resists them. His love included all men, and His contention was with the totality of human evil. Man's case presents but a faint semblance of His. It is strange to think, and yet it is true, that in His case the severity of His temptation was measured by His love, and that at such times He was possessed by the appearance that He could hardly prevail against the vast accumulation of evil which had fastened upon the race. Yet He prevailed over it by means of the never ceasing recurrence of His Divine power.

     The apparent supremacy of evil was never so strongly manifested as when, in the garden, He prayed that the "cup" might pass from Him. Yet all His temptations were essentially of this character, even in childhood. The crisis in them all was the same, in varying degrees. Temptation is a conflict between life and death; and in them all is the sign of the cross. This sign is the image of death which then stands at the door and threatens man's salvation. Man feels this. Therefore, there is no such thing as complacency in the face of them, but instead, the distress of gravest uncertainty. Fears are stirred that are as deep as human life. This issue is hidden within man; it is unknown to others, and is not always realized by the man himself. Only occasionally is the deeper issue involved revealed in clear light to the man's conscious thought. A vague hopelessness, a sense of utter helplessness, is usual. Healing comes slowly, with patient waiting. At length a change becomes manifest, arising from the secret sources of life within, accompanied by a revival of hope, a brightening of life's prospect.

     Man is for the time a creature of his state of mind. As he feels, so does he seem to be; so does he feel he will continue to be. But in this he is mistaken. His state will surely change. These states and their changes do not originate from external circumstances. That they do so is a deceiving fallacy. There is a guiding force within, and a control enabling a free determination which qualifies all that comes through the outer senses, and which directs the current both of thought and feeling. This power of inner determination is the essential human. Its exercise is sometimes conscious, but most often it is superconscious, and in this it comes under the guidance of God.

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This power is the human gift; it is the image of God in man, and is that alone by which guidance is given in all the shifting states through which the spirit of man passes on its way.

     The marvel to us, and the source of our religious inspiration, is the fact that the Lord, as a Man among men, passed through these human changes. This He did, in order that we might depend upon Him, and find victory in His example. To do this, we must keep in close touch with the Divine record of His life, and see therein, by an inward revealing, His leading and guiding.

     Thus His deeds in the temple must be our inspiration. They were given for our imitation, since we have within us the "seats" of much corruption. Many strange vessels pass through our minds, inviting an evil influx and stirring evil emotions. His expulsion of the thieves is our grant of power. For the sake of our salvation we may do likewise, but not from our own strength. If we pray willingly, He will give of His power; but not unless we draw near to Him with love and with obedience. Then indeed will He give, in our human measure, of the power which descended upon Him on the day of the temple's cleansing.

     This, in our terms, is but the power of Christian faith-a faith not only confiding, but also living. It is an essence, and not a formula, a good and not a truth, save as a truth is but an appearing of good, and as a formula is but the statement of an essence. If the Lord be approached from living good in our hearts, then will our faith in Him be an inspiration, and the grant of His power will be sufficient to overcome in the temptation which His Providence allows.

     Temptations to the man who can be regenerated are allowed to the end that man may call upon the Lord. Hence the teaching that man is never tempted beyond the measure of the good of his life and the truth of his faith. Through such temptations, when permitted, and if the man is victorious therein, the truth of his faith is more deeply confirmed, and the good of his life is increased. Amen.

LESSONS: Ezekiel 28:1-19. Mark 11:15-33. A. E. 840: 1, 4, 6.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pp. 595, 482, 610. Psalmody, p. 54.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 30, 134.

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THREE WORDS 1931

THREE WORDS       Rev. R. J. TILSON       1931

     THE THREE WORDS WHICH YET ARE ONE WORD, WITH ITS THREE SENSES.

     (A Paper read at the New Church Club, London, December 12, 1930.)

     The subject with which we are to deal is old, yet ever new. It is old, because the Lord gave the Word in the beginning, and the Word, being the Lord, is infinite, and therefore must necessarily be forever new. Never will the inspired petition be out of date: "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." (Ps. 119:18.)

     As we are dealing with the Word, we are treading on holy ground, and therefore should take off the shoes of merely natural thought, and think in spiritual light, that we may truly "see light." (Ps. 36:9.)

     That we are thus circumstanced, is seen from that which is revealed: "By means of the Word the Lord is present with man, and is conjoined with him, because the Lord is the Word, and in it He, as it were, speaks with man; because, too, the Lord is Divine Truth Itself, and the Word also is Divine Truth." (S. S. 78.) In the light of this Divine teaching, it is for us to commence our study with the recognition that the Word is not ours, but the Lord's, that we have no proprietary interest in it, and, therefore, that we must deal impersonally with it, and by no means assert our proprium in its consideration. Thus we shall be mindful of the Lord's admonition: "Let all, therefore, take heed lest they injure the Word in any manner, for they who injure the Word injure the Divine Itself." (A. C. 9430, end.)

     In justification of the title given to this paper, we quote from De Verbo: "The natural Word, such as it is in the world, in Christendom, contains within itself both the spiritual Word and the celestial Word; . . . but in the spiritual Word and the celestial Word is not contained the natural Word. For this reason the Word of our world is most full of Divine Wisdom, and therefore more holy than the Words in the heavens." (XIV: 35.)

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     Thus we have the three Words, and they are elsewhere called the "Word of the Old Testament," the "Word of the New Testament" (A. C. 1690), and "the spiritual Word " (De Verbo 32), the last named being also called "the Gospel of the New Advent of the Lord." (T. C. R. 669.) And these three Words are revealed in the clothing of three languages,-the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin,-the same three which were employed in the title of the Lord in His final temptation, which was that of the Cross.

     Then, as to the three senses of the Word, out of many passages teaching this fact we select the following: "In the Word there is an external sense, an internal sense, and an inmost sense. The Word in the external sense is such as appears in the letter. This sense is natural, because it is accommodated to the apprehension of men, for men think naturally. But the Word in the internal sense is spiritual, which sense is accommodated to the understanding of the angels in the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, for those angels think spiritually; but the Word in the inmost sense is celestial, this sense being accommodated to the perception of the angels in the celestial kingdom of the Lord, for angels in that kingdom think supraspiritually." (A. C. 10614.) Thus there are three senses in the Word,-the "sense of the letter," the "spiritual sense," and the "celestial sense."

     It is a precious study to see how these three Words are related to each other, and to realize how the second is in the first, and the third is in the two former Words. This is especially seen, for example, in the 5th chapter of Matthew, verses 21, 27, 33, 38, & 43; beginning with the words, "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time," etc. We find a similar example in the treatment of the Decalogue in the True Christian Religion, the Apocalypse Explained, and the Arcana Celestia.

     And here we would recall the teaching of Divine Revelation that the Word exists in the heavens. It must be so; for the Word is the Lord, and flows down out of heaven from Him, and again returns to Him. Of the latest Word,-that revealed as the spiritual sense,-it is declared that its contents are "truths continuous from the Lord." (T. C. R. 5086.)

     The teaching further is, that in the heavens they have the "entire Word, from the beginning to the end, so written that everyone can read it." (S. D. 5603.)

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And again: "A copy of the Word, written by the angels, inspired by the Lord, is kept in every larger society in heaven, in its sacred repository, lest elsewhere it should be altered as to any point." (S. S. 72.) Note especially the closing words, "Lest elsewhere it should be altered as to any point," for surely this statement should remove any and every anxiety from the student of the Word as to the integrity of the Word, despite the fact that none of the very earliest MSS. of the Word are now extant. The Word, in its entirety, is safe in the heavens. Swedenborg saw it there, and through him the very number and order of the Books of the Word have been given in the Writings of the Church, the latest "immediate revelation from heaven." (H. H. 1, end.)

     This much, in passing, as to the Word in the heavens. We now turn to the Word as it is with us upon earth. Here, as is to be expected, we find it in a threefold form, as in the heavens.

     Man was created in the image of God, and also in the image of the three heavens. As there are three heavens, so there are three Words, and as each heaven has its own sense in which the Word is revealed to its inhabitants, there are three senses in the Word as it is with man; for by creation he "communicates with the three heavens." (A. C. 4279.) These, however, are the general divisions of the heavens, and of the Word. There are other divisions than these three general divisions, both in the heavens and in the Word.

     There is the heaven of "human internals," which is nearest to the Lord Himself, and is above the inmost angelic heaven. (A. C. 1999.) So in the Word there is a Divine Sense, in which alone there is absolute Truth, and this is known to the Lord alone. Below this there are not only the celestial, spiritual, and natural senses of the Word, but also a sense intermediate between the purely spiritual sense and the sense of the letter, which is called the "internal historical sense," in which the spiritual sense is more especially determined to a particular nation. This sense is reckoned as the fourth sense in A. C. 4310 and A. E. 1066, 1083, but of this we shall speak later.

     And here let us say a few words as to the real meaning and the proper use of the term "sense," especially as applied to the Word. The term "sense" is not synonymous with either the term "form" or the term "letter," and should never be used as such.

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The best dictionaries speak of "sense" as implying the "meaning" or the "import" of a thing. (Webster.) It is not the form, the expression, or the format of that to which it is applied; but it refers to that which is within the form, expression, and format. The great and important difference between the sense and the words or forms of a thing is seen clearly in the statement: "It appears as if the words of speech were in the thought; but this is a fallacy; it is only the sense of the speech which is there." (A. C. 6987:2.)

     In the light of this teaching, therefore, whenever the term "sense" is applied to any of the three forms of the Word with man, it can never be rightly used as meaning the "verbal statements" of the particular Word of the three Words to which it may be applied. No mere "verbal statements," either of the Old Testament, the New Testament, or the Writings, can rightly be called the corporeal, or the natural, or the spiritual "sense" of the Word. In every case, the "sense" is that which is within the "verbal statements": for the words employed are but the forms, covering or expressing the sense within them. Let us, therefore, be careful of the terms we use, lest we misrepresent each other, and so injure the Word in each other,- that Word which we all sincerely love, and which we believe to be the Lord Himself.

     In considering the three senses of the Divine Word, it is essential to remember that they are separated from each other by discrete degrees, but that they are also conjoined by correspondences. Then, too, it should be remembered that each sense is representative of the one that is higher, or nearer to the Lord; that is to say, each sense represents the Lord's Truth on a lower plane, as suited to the apprehension of those to whom that sense is given, and for whom it is especially provided. Thus is the chain of Divine Truth in its six degrees (A. C. 8443) maintained in continuity, from the Lord to man.

     The greatest care, however, should be taken that the six degrees of Divine Truth do not become confused in the mind with the three or four senses of the Word. For example, as to the representative character of the senses of the Word, that which is called the spiritual sense is representative of the supreme or inmost sense; that is, it represents the same Divine Truth on a lower plane, and in a lower degree. For we read: "The Lord is Doctrine Itself, that is, the Word, not only as to the highest sense therein, but also as to the internal sense, and even as to the literal sense, for this sense is representative and significative of the internal sense, as the internal sense is representative and significative of the highest sense." (A. C. 3393.)

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     For those who desire to go even more deeply into the fascinating study of the senses of the Word, it should be noted that in A. C. 4310 all the senses are mentioned, and their relation, the one to the other, stated; and if that study be pursued, then it is interesting to read, together with that passage, S. D. 5606, where we read concerning the four different classes of men who read the Word, as to their several dispositions towards the Sacred Scripture, which will be found to correspond exactly to the four senses of the Word. It will also be intensely interesting to study what is revealed in Spiritual Diary 1190 and 1194, under the heading: "On the Exterior, Interior, and Inmost Senses of the Word." And it is there shown that the four senses were represented to Swedenborg's vision by little girls, an adolescent girl, a virgin, and a face only. A beautiful picture in words is there drawn, giving material for much inspiring thought and productive reflection.

     But let us proceed to take the generally denominated three senses of the Word, with a brief notice also of the fourth sense, as referred to above; and to seek to show what they are, and where they are to be found by man. This we propose to do by taking them in a descending series, as coming from the Lord, who is the Word, and who for the purpose of redemption and salvation became the "Word made flesh," and, by glorification, returned to the Divine, and is forever "our Father in the heavens," "One God over all, blessed forever."

     THE CELESTIAL SENSE.

     This is also called the supreme, the inmost, and the highest sense of the Word. Of this sense it is written: "The Word in the inmost sense is celestial, this sense being accommodated to the perception of the angels in the celestial kingdom of the Lord, for the angels in that kingdom think supraspiritually." (A. C. 10614.)

     The celestial angels see this sense in the letter of the Word, not from the words themselves, but from the "inflexions and curvatures," that is, from the little accents, jots and tittles. This, of course, in the original Hebrew.

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     This celestial sense of the Word is a universal sense, and, because it is celestial, it is therefore of Love. The Lord, Who is infinite Love, alone is in it. It is written again: "The subjects treated of in the highest sense of the Word are the Lord alone, His Love, His Providence, His kingdom in the heavens and on earth, and especially the glorification of His Human." (A. C. 9407:11. See also 6827, 8688, 5576.)

     It should be particularly noted that but little of this highest sense is revealed in human words. In and according to Divine order it could not be fully revealed in mere earthly forms. it is too internal, too near to the Lord Himself, for that; and yet it had to be revealed to some extent in lowest forms, so that it might reach down to very ultimates. In the Arcana Celestia it is given to some extent in connection with the births of the sons of Jacob. (A. C. 3869-3969.) It is also given in brief in the True Christian Religion and in the Apocalypse Revealed and in the Apocalypse Explained.

     The celestial sense is far more a matter of perception than of external revelation. It is the Word written on the heart, given gratis by the Lord, in proportion as the lower truths of the Word are loved and lived. As it is the highest, it also descends to the lowest inwardly, finding its ultimate in the moral virtue of obedience. It is revealed of the celestial sense that it "can scarcely be unfolded, for it does not fall so much into the thought of the understanding as into the affection of the will." (S. S. 19. See also S. D. 4671.) Again: "The spiritual sense is the 'spirit' of the Word, and the celestial sense is its 'life.' This is what the Lord said in John 6:63." That is, "The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life." (S. S. 39.)

     Before quitting this brief account of the supreme sense of the Word, we would refer to the teaching of Chapter XIV of De Verbo, which seems to unite the internal with the external of the celestial sense of the Word. In that Chapter it is taught that the celestial angels, when reading their Word, do not read, for the Name of the Lord, the term "Yehowah," but "Lord"-of course, in their equivalent language, and this for the reason that the name "Yehowah" signifies the very Divine Itself. And the Jews were forbidden to use the name "Yehowah," as being too holy for their use; and even the Lord Himself, in the New Testament, when quoting from the Old Testament always substituted the Greek equivalent of "Lord," and never used the Hebrew "Yehowah."

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     THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

     This is also called the "internal sense." This sense is the one, in the revealing of which the Lord has made His Second Advent. It is contained in the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and was written in the Latin language. It is that Word of the Lord which is fully known in the second or spiritual heaven. It is the Word revealed in a discrete degree lower than the celestial sense, and in a discrete degree higher than the literal sense.

     This sense, being spiritual, is chiefly for the use of the angels. (A. C. 5648.) But it is expressly declared that it is also for the use of those on earth who are angelic minded. (A. C. 3016; A. E. 697.) Its first revealing in consecutive order is in the Book entitled Arcana Coelestia, wherein the very words, "The Internal Sense," occur some ninety times as heading to various chapters, beginning with no. 14. At the end of the first chapter of that Book, explaining the internal sense of Genesis 1, it is written: "This, then, is the internal sense of the Word, its very essential life, which does not at all appear from the sense of the letter." (A. C. 34. See also A. C. 1540, 3432.)

     Further we read: "It has pleased the Lord now to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, that it may be known where the holiness lies in the Word." (T. C. R. 200; S. S. 18.) Again: "The spiritual sense has been disclosed at this day for the New Church, for the sake of its use in the worship of the Lord." (T. C. R. 669. See also Inv. 44; A. E. 948.) Again: "The Apocalypse is now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine Truths are revealed in abundance by the Lord for those who will be of His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem." (A. R. 932; see also A. E., Title.) Again: "This sense does not appear in the literal sense, for it is in it as the soul in the body." (A. R. 1) Finally: "The New Church is conjoined with heaven through the Divine Truths of the Word, which are its spiritual sense." (A. E. 950:2. See also S. S. 5.)

     As before said, the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg contain this spiritual sense, so far as it has been revealed for the use of men on earth.

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These "Writings," as they are generally called, are therefore "The Spiritual Sense" of the Word on earth; and they are this according to the revealed law that "everything external is in itself inanimate, and lives solely from its internal." (A. C. 1094.) Surely from this teaching it follows that everything should be called from that which is within it.

     Of course, in saying this, no one would be so foolish as to contend that the mere "verbal statements" of the Writings are the spiritual sense. The "verbal statements" are forms in which and by which the spiritual sense has been made known to man. It is the sense Within those forms which is the spiritual sense; but: because those forms contain that sense, they too are included in the term "spiritual sense," not as to themselves, but from what they embody.

     An unmistakable example and confirmation of this is found in the fact that, under the Lord's guidance, and by His command, there were written upon all the Writings in the spiritual world, and also upon two copies in this world (one of which is now in the British Museum), the words, "Hic Liber est Adventus Domini," which is "This Book is the Advent of the Lord." No book, as a book, could possibly be the "Advent of the Lord," but any and every book which contains solely Divine Truths on the spiritual plane, in which and by which the Lord has come again to the world, may, nay should, be called the "Lord's Advent," as were the Books of the Writings, both in this and in the other world.

     According to the same Divine law, the "cup," mentioned in Matthew xxvi in connection with the Last Supper, is said to signify the same as the wine which it contained, because it contained it.

     The only sense given in the Writings is the spiritual sense, with the exception of the small portions of the celestial sense therein found. Their whole reason of existence is to give that sense,-the spiritual sense,-from the Lord to man;-that, and no other. They neither have, nor can have, any "literal sense." They have, for they must have, literal forms, wherewith to express and reveal their internal content; but the form is not in itself a sense, and cannot be. To speak of the "literal sense of the Writings" then, is a misnomer, and to my mind a very misleading statement, for that sense can only be found in the Old and New Testaments, as will soon appear.

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     Were it true that the Writings, as we read them, have a literal sense, who is to say just where the spiritual sense they contain is? And who is, or can be, capable of interpreting it? Well was it written by one of the Fathers of the Academy of the New Church: "The Writings are themselves given to us as the Internal Sense of the Word and the Coming of the Lord" ... (Men) "should not think that they are reading about the Internal Sense, but that they are reading the Internal Sense Itself." (Rev. J. P. Stuart in Words for the New Church. Vol. I, p. 335.)

     And another leader of great standing in the Academy, and subsequently in the General Church, wrote: "In every instance (in reading the Writings) we read the Internal Sense." (Rev. C. Th. Odhner, in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1902, p. 289.) And further he wrote: "This according to the universal law that the containant corresponds to that which it contains."

     True indeed it is that the Writings have within them an internal sense, for without that they could not be "truths continuous from the Lord." For the Writings are written according to correspondence,-correspondence of a very different kind from that of the Old and New Testaments,-but still correspondence; and the sense within the Writings is the celestial sense, which is one degree nearer to the Lord than the spiritual sense itself.

     THE INTERNAL HISTORICAL SENSE.

     This sense is not one of the three senses which are generally spoken of as being in the Word, and therefore our notice of it at this time will be very brief. This sense is also called "the lower sense" (A. C. 4279); and again, "the proximate sense" (A. C. 4690); and yet again, "the natural from the celestial and spiritual." (A. E. 1066.)

     The internal historical sense is indeed little known in the church generally, and where known is often taken as being included in the literal sense of the Word. It may be said to be an intermediate between the spiritual and natural senses of the Word. As has been before indicated, this sense refers and is applied to a specific nation mentioned in the Word. (See A. C. 4307-4310.) It is contained in A. C. 4279, 4310, 4281, and in A. E. 1066, but chiefly in The Word Explained, formerly called the Adversaria. In the Arcana Celestia it is referred to and applied in an intensely interesting manner to the wrestling of Jacob with an angel at Peniel, as recorded in Genesis xxxii. (A. C. 4307-4317.)

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     THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD.

     This sense is also called "the sense of the letter" (A. C. 1735; A. E. 1066) and "the natural sense" (T. C. R. 704). It is the lowest of all the senses of the Word,-the basis and foundation of all Divine Truth; and because it contains within it all the higher senses, it is said to be the holiest of them all.

     This sense, however, is twofold, as given in the Word of the Old Testament and in the Word of the New Testament. In this it is circumstanced as are the heavens; for although they are three, yet the lowest heaven is divided into two,-the celestial-natural and the spiritual-natural. The Old Testament may be said to be the sensual and corporeal sense of the Word, and the New Testament the natural sense of the same.

     And here, let it be remembered that all the senses of the Word are clouds, veiling the Divine Truth in its descent from the Lord to man; and the only difference is in the density or obscurity of the cloud. The Writings give Divine Truth in luminous clouds; the New Testament gives it in less luminous clouds; while the Old Testament gives it in the density of the cloud; even as it is written in Exodus 19:9, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, I come to thee in the density of a cloud." Think for a moment of the imagery and language of the Old Testament, the pictures it draws of God, and also of the awful character of the Jewish rites and ceremonies as commanded.

     And yet, how truly marvelous is the literal sense of the Word, as made known by Divine Revelation! "Every word in the Word is from the Lord." (A. C. 771.) "Every verse" in the letter communicates with some distinct society in the heavens. (T. C. R. 272; S. S. 113; A. R. 200.) "No other historicals are recorded in the Word, and in no other order, and no other words are used to express them, than such as may express these arcana in the internal sense." (A. C. 1468, 4136.) "The very words were spoken into the ears of Moses and the Prophets." (A. C. 7055, 1925.)

     And such care has the Lord, in His infinite mercy, taken of the letter of His Word, that it is written:

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"Hence it is that it has been effected, of the Lord's Divine Providence, that the Word, as to the literal sense, from its first revelation, has not been mutilated, not even as to a word, or even a letter, in the original text, for every word is a support, and, in some degree, even each letter." (A. E. 1085. See also L. J. 41; S. S. 13; De Verbo 4. Also for the "Origin of the Sense of the Letter," see Bishop W. F. Pendleton's Topics from the Writings, p. 127.)

     The very Books of the Word in the letter are enumerated in the Writings, in A. C. 10325; H. D. 266; W. H. 16. Again, as was noticed in reference to the spiritual sense of the Word, so let it be seen in relation to the literal sense, it is not the mere form, especially in the New Testament, which is considered, but it is the sense, which is within the form, that is the Word. Hence it is that in A. E. 1066, as in many other passages, stress is put upon the "sense of the letter," and not upon the letter itself, in itself.

     The Old and New Testaments contain and reveal the literal sense of the Word, and therefore they are the literal sense of the Word. The Writings contain and reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, and therefore they are the spiritual sense of the Word. In support of this, we would again refer to what has already been said in regard to the inscription upon the Books of the Writings in the spiritual world, and on two copies in this world, "Hic Liber est Adventus Domini."

     This essential and vital difference is also beautifully shown in several instances in the explication of portions of the Word and incidents there recorded. Recall to mind what is said as to the garments of the Lord which He wore at His crucifixion-the "raiment" and the "vesture,"-the outer and inner garments. (John 19:24; Matthew 27:35.) The outer garment signified the letter, or literal sense of the Word, and the inner represented the spiritual sense. (De Verbo 20; A. E. 64, 195; A. C. 9093, 9942, and 3812.)

     Again, recall the angels seen at the head and at the feet in the sepulcher in which the body of the Lord had been laid. Of this the Writings speak as follows: "The angel at the head signified Divine Truth in primaries, and the angel at the feet, Divine Truth in ultimates." (A. E. 687.) Is not a discrete difference indicated here?

     Still again, recall that Bethlehem, the birth-place of the Lord's assumed human, was originally called "Ephratah," and this for a spiritual reason, which is revealed in A. E. 700, wherein we are taught that "Ephratah" signifies the natural sense of the Word, and "Bethlehem" the spiritual sense. (See also n. E. 931, 948, 1083.)

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What can this teaching suggest, in the light of the spiritual law that there is "no ratio between the natural and the spiritual," but that the same name cannot be applied to the two separate things!

     Finally, recall the fact that the literal sense of the Word is signified in the Word by a "well," whilst the spiritual sense is signified by a "fountain." Shall we not follow the example of the Word itself in the letter, by making and preserving the clearly cut distinction between that which is spiritual and that which is natural, even in the terms we use, as indicating, on the one hand, the spiritual sense of the Word, and, on the other, its natural or literal sense?

     In conclusion, as arising out of the consideration thus far presented, reference should be made to what is meant by the phrase in S. S. 50, and in many other passages of the Writings, that "The Doctrine of the Church ought to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, and to be confirmed thereby." (See also T. C. R. 255; De Verbo 15.) In the light of what has already been advanced it surely cannot be seriously contended that by the "letter of the Word" in that passage the Writings are referred to. Who can draw out the internal content of the Word but the Lord, and the Lord alone? The Lord has drawn out the spiritual sense of His Word from the letter, and has given it to mankind in the Writings of the Church. (See De Verbo xviii: 47.)

     It is written of the Word: "Not even one iota can be opened except by the Lord alone." (Inv. 44.) Again we read: "It is most important, therefore, that a man should study the Word in the sense of the letter; from that sense only is doctrine drawn." (S. S. 56. See also T. C. R. 229, 230.) Again: "From the doctrine of Divine Truth, when confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, the spiritual sense can be seen, but never cart the doctrine be seen in the first place from the spiritual sense." (De Verbo xxi: 58. See also T. C. R. 229; S. S. 55.) It is also revealed that "all things of the doctrine of the church must be confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word, that there may be in them sanctity or power; and, moreover, from those books of the Word only in which there is a spiritual sense." (A. E. 816:3, 356:6.) And it is declared that "it is the sense of the letter of the Word by which everything of doctrine on earth must be established.

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In the sense of the letter is Divine Truth in its fulness and in its holiness." (A. E. 1066.)

     Now it is evident that it is only of the letter of the Old Testament and the New Testament that it can possibly be said that "Divine Truth is in its fulness and holiness," and only to the same could the words apply: "From those books of the Word only in which there is a spiritual sense." (See De Verbo 26; V: 15.)

     With this brief summary this paper closes: "All the Words of the Lord manifest the conjunction of Divine Good and Divine Truth." (De Verbo viii.) They are each discretely distinct, yet one. They are distinct according to discrete degrees, but united by ever-prevailing correspondence. (A. E. 1080, Continuation.)

     Therefore they are One Word, even as the Lord is One.
CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES 1931

CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES       FRANCIS L. FROST       1931

     This subject is not a new one to the New Churchman. Our literature is filled with it, deriving its inspiration particularly from interesting passages in the True Christian Religion and the Coronis, where several reasons are given for the designation.

     Too often, however, the fact that it is said that this fifth Church, the Church of the New Jerusalem, is to be the "Crown of all the Churches" has somehow resolved and twisted itself into a matter for boasting,-a mental boasting, perhaps,-a sort of tendency toward a mental aristocracy of thought for its own sake. This is a natural, human trait, possibly not strictly on the path of regeneration, and somewhat on the defensive side in a modern world whose so-called aristocracy is today one of material, rather than spiritual, attainment. For this reason, the New Churchman has a peculiar responsibility for guarding well this truth,-a responsibility that involves the cultivating of a true aristocracy of understanding, and a pruning away of dead, material twigs which only retard growth. For the aristocracy of the New Church is, in its simplest form, an aristocracy of humility, and of thankfulness that in some measure the light from the Crown of all the Churches can reach, even dimly, its eyes.

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     A crown, it says in the Arcana, "represents Divine Good from which is Divine Truth, because a king in the Word represents the Lord as to Divine Truth, and his crown signifies government from Divine Good. The crown also denotes wisdom, because all wisdom is from good. And as the good of wisdom is acquired by victory in temptations, crowns are the rewards of victory over evils." (A. C. 9930.) John saw "a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering and to conquer." (Rev. 6:2.)

     In the True Christian Religion, it is shown that there were four churches on this earth from the beginning, none of which was in the truth, because each worshipped an invisible God, with whom there could be no conjunction. "The reason why this New Church is the crown of all the churches which have been to this time on the earth is because it will worship one visible God in whom is the invisible as the soul is in the body; for thus, and not otherwise, can conjunction be effected between God and man." (T. C. R. 787.)

     Thus it becomes apparent that the establishment of the New Church as the crown of all the churches has, as its deepest reason, the clearing of a pathway for man's conjunction with God, without which there can be no salvation; and it is interesting to read further that "conjunction is represented by breaking bread and distributing it, and by drinking out of the same cup, and handing it to one another." (T. C. R. 433.)

     It is therefore impossible to escape the conclusion that man's regeneration, as concerned with his spiritual membership in the crown of all the churches, and his progression toward salvation by means of conjunction with God, is so closely bound up with everyday human relations that he must become conscious, other than in a purely doctrinal way, of this truth regarding the character of the New Church. Surely, in some manner, it must have a constant place in his mind; it must be continually renewed from above; it must be strengthened within; and finally, it must come forth to give the individual a character among his fellow men. And it is in this last requirement that we find what may possibly be a real weakness in the organization which, for a time at least, comprises the form or mold that holds the truths of the crown of all the churches.

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     Although an individual commonly considers himself a member of a church, as his soul regenerates it may be considered as a receptacle which is being constantly refined in all its qualities. This receptacle may be said to have three functions: It receives, it retains, and it gives forth.

     It receives influx from many sources. It retains the fine, or gross, effects of those influxes, and these may or may not contribute to regeneration. And inevitably it gives them forth as the reflection of its own character.

     Viewed in this light, regeneration has the effect of forming this symbolical receptacle in something which more and more closely approximates a replica of the crown of all the churches. Man, as a member of a church, can contain in himself all the elements of that church in more or less perfect form. The macrocosm is made of the microcosm. This may seem like packing an entire philosophy into the barest of outlines. The purpose, however, is to show that this truth,-that the New Church is the Crown of all the Churches-is not solely a thought that is contemplated on the Sabbath, or studied in a doctrinal class, but a vital Part of the very being of every New Churchman who knows it to be truth. He cannot relinquish it without relinquishing his belief in regeneration and salvation.

     To each of us come moments when all that is known and loved of New Church doctrine reaches its highest plane. The fine, keen delights that come with a purely intellectual study of the doctrines, though most of us may not experience them to a great degree, are one individual's means of growth; while the uplifting emotional experiences that may be a part of worship, in either cathedral or plain room, are the means by which another progresses. Both are, after all, but forms of the receiving and retaining functions of that receptacle of which we have spoken. They are the peaks of human spiritual existence, the peculiarly intimate times when the crown of all the churches seems a real and living thing within. These have their opposites, as well,-the temptations, the depressed hours, the deep valleys, when these finer intellectual delights and uplifting emotions are scarcely dim memories. It is consoling to remember, then, that whatever a man has made his very own has taken its place to eternity in his progress toward regeneration, and though not in his conscious thought, perhaps for days or months, has been received, and is still retained, in that receptacle within.

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     These, then, are the peaks and valleys of the tiny, individual crown that is in all of us, and which, remember, is the reward of victory over evil. On these peaks the New Churchman stands in his admitted triumphs, just as in the deep valleys he meets admitted temptations. We know these things, and in many ways we have communion with one another as New Churchmen concerning them. But between the peaks and valleys are the level plains of everyday life. What about them? Isn't it in our journeyings thereon that we are weak as New Churchmen! Isn't it here, of all places, that that receptacle must honestly "give forth" its little sphere,-the sphere of its own crown, its own reward for whatever little victories over evil it has won? And isn't it true that we are far more likely, either in defending what we can't quite explain, or through fear of material disadvantage, to hold too jealously within us our heritage in the crown of all the churches?

     Doctrinal class is over. We run to books in the enthusiasm of the moment. Church, worship, come. We are uplifted. And Monday morning we drop it all, at least consciously, to plunge into the cold shower of whatever our weekday life may be. If you say to yourself, "This is an ultra-practical conception that has little to do with the crown of all the churches," consider this: Think of a New Church acquaintance-not a close friend, for you may know too much about him. An acquaintance, let us say Think where you have met him,-perhaps at the head of the stairs before church, perhaps at the cathedral door in Bryn Athyn, or at a church banquet. There you have discoursed amiably with him on church matters, and you know, and he knows, that you are both average New Churchmen. But prepare yourself for a shock. Some day you'll meet him on Monday, and discover a strange being who is a live business man; and before you know it he will have sold you some insurance, or some shoes, or a tank car of oil, or what not, into which church matters seem to enter not at all.

     This is right and proper; but nevertheless within that man is still that receptacle, forming his deeds and character. And in this material world that sells and buys and consumes insurance, shoes or oil, where is the place for this crown which is a reward for victories over evil, and in what manner is this receptacle to give forth to such a material world the sphere of this crown?

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Whether or not that man knows it himself, from Monday to Saturday life is a constant compromise between that little church within him and evils, for victory over which a crown is the reward. And this is a paradox; for there can be no compromise between the crown of all the churches and evil. And as justification for this Paradox we must all at some time plead guilty to weakness.

     There are those who say, "Hew to the line. There is no sacrifice too great to avoid such a compromise. We are living in the present, to the end that in the hereafter we may more truly live." And there are those who answer: "The material body must live. The responsibility to society, family and possessions makes some sort of compromise necessary."

     Yesterday, a young man looked at a paper upon which such and such things were written, and he went to his superior and said, "That is not true, and I cannot be a party to it." So he was replaced, and lost all he had; and those who depended upon him suffered. Was this a mental aristocracy entirely above reproach?

     Today, a young man looked at a paper upon which such and such things were written, and went to his superior and said: "Can this be true? For if it is not, I cannot be a party to it." His superior said: "No, strictly it is not true. But if you have qualms, remember this, that it leads to a true service which can be performed for him who reads it and believes it, and is therefore a higher truth than the words on that paper." Was this merely a quibble or a compromise!

     The New Churchman need not be an extremist. He can well remember that sometimes, through the permission of external evils, the Lord in His Providence leads man into truths. This leading can be freer if the New Churchman, in his daily life, will but allow the crown of churches growing within him to go forth constructively. Perhaps it must do so in terms of the world about him; but this is a means rather than a compromise. Perhaps it will meet with rebuffs; but that is its penalty,-that it must be victorious over evils. Perhaps it will become discouraged, and not go forth. That is its weakness, and its worst defeat; for the crown of all the churches is, after all, an evangelical church,-a church militant.

     We cannot truly say that in the world today there is no reception for such an attitude. It may seem so at times; but a man of principle, of character, of integrity, commands admiration in the world today; and if our crown is outwardly the reflection of these qualities, it is "giving forth" in terms of the world.

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It is breaking bread and distributing it. It is drinking out of the same cup, and handing it to another.

     Finally, if this all seems but one great compromise dressed up in fine clothes, we have lost sight of the fact that this receptacle within still has a function of retaining, of guarding from contamination, those things which are from the Lord, and which are received from Him. The outward expressions of principle, character, or integrity, need not, sometimes cannot, disclose their source. Just as man's regeneration is a matter of a lifetime, so the rise of a church is a matter for the ages; and impatience and discouragement, caused by the slow creepings of an infant church in the hearts of men, are in themselves weaknesses. For without fail the time must come when men in daily life must see deeper to the source of outward character, if we but keep those outward characters true to the hidden crown.

     There is a prophecy about the future state of this crown of all the churches which we can well ponder in our daily life, as moments come when compromise seems inevitable. That prophecy, already coming true, is this: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and there shall be no night there."
READERS OF THE WORD IN HEAVEN 1931

READERS OF THE WORD IN HEAVEN              1931

     "There are four kinds of men there, as in the world. The first attend to the uses in the Word, seeing indeed the other things, but paying no attention to them, although they serve as a plane. So is it read by the celestial. The second are those who take out the doctrinal things of the Word from it; so do the spiritual apprehend it. The third are those who are delighted merely with its holy external, without intelligence; these are they who are in the ultimate heaven. And the fourth are they who attend only to the literal sense, and they who attend solely to the words; as the critics, and those who write various things about it; the former of these are at the threshold of heaven, and the latter are in the very extremes." (S. D. 5606.)

473


NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The eighteenth chapter of Genesis is opened into spiritual light in the August Arcana readings. The internal sense of the peculiar Hebrew custom of a barren wife's giving her handmaid to her husband is here shown to correspond to an actual condition in the mental life of all men whose hereditary nature is evil, and thus of the Lord's assumed human, so far as this was derived from Mary.

     In the exposition of this chapter, the Arcana lays bare the meditations of the Lord in His early age concerning the "first rational," which was as yet, as it were, in the womb; concerning the quality which it will tend to exhibit, its rebellious tendencies, and the mode of its subjection and conversion into something spiritual and celestial. (A. C. 1891.)

     Man's rational mind, although quickened into being by the soul's life, is at first (as Ishmael) not a genuine offspring of his soul (Abram and Sarai), but is born from the impure natural affection of Knowing, represented in the sacred text by Hagar, "the stranger." Through the "first rational," so born, salvation can come even to the "spiritual " man, or to the man who is infested from birth with hereditary defects.

     Intellectual Truth Barren.

     Sarai represents intellectual truth adjoined to the celestial good of the inmost of man (1895, 1468). This "truth" is far above man's conscious or rational life. It is the inmost order of life, which originates in the flow of the soul's own forces, and manifests itself only as an ability on man's part to perceive universal truths; such as, that there is a God, and that He is one (T. C. R. 8); or as the instinctive acceptance of axiomatic truths, such as those of pure mathematics or geometry; or as innate logic, which we are told an infant possesses in just as great a measure as the wisest man. Intellectual truth is thus the order and organizing power of the spiritual forces of heaven, or of the Divine which makes heaven. Yet not anything of such "truth" is actually and sensibly man's unless the mind is furnished by knowledges for its conscious acceptance (1901).

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     Not even the inmost angel can think from this Intellectual Truth, but only from the inmost of the rational (1914). If, as in most ancient times, our race were born without hereditary evils, then indeed "Sarai" would not be barren, for man's rational would spring from within, from the soul directly. Man would then reason intuitively, and be led instinctively to learn all he needed to know (1902). But with man's present pervert natural, his whole hope of progress and of salvation lies in the acquisition of knowledge, which can become a new ultimate of organic order (1900), and a means for the upbuilding of the rational to a point where it can respond to the guidance of the "intellectual" truth of the soul, or, what is the same, where it can be actuated from the genuine affection of truth (1907. See also 2053.)

     With the Lord, the Intellectual of His Internal Man was His own, although above the consciousness of His human, so far as this was not yet united with the Divine. He, therefore, thought from the affection of Intellectual Truth, which is far above the angelic heaven. With man, this plane of the inmost soul is not his own, but only a perpetual and inviolate gift from the Lord (1904, 1914, 1935).

     Self-compulsion.

     The natural man, and thus the "first rational," tends to despise all constraints and all order, be it ever so wise and spiritual, which go contrary to its impatient natural affections. The "first rational" would, if uncurbed, cause man to develop (as happens with many) into a "wild-ass" man such as Ishmael, "whose hand is against every man, and every man's hand against him." "The man whose rational is of such a character that he is solely in truth-even though it be the truth of faith-and who is not at the same time in the good of charity, is altogether of such a character. He is a morose man, will bear nothing, is against all, regards everybody as being in falsity, is ready to rebuke, to chastize, and to punish; has no pity, and does not apply or adapt himself to others, and study to bend their minds; for he looks at everything from truth, and at nothing from good" (1949). He is characterized by a parched and dry life, from a kind of love of truth which is defiled with the love of self, and thus has not use or good as an end; and he cares not what injury his criticisms cause. There must be constant searching of heart, lest our rational become such,-unconstructive and self-reliant.

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     To the natural man-boastful of its recognition of falsities or disorders, and sure of the infallibility of its reasonings-the call of his conscience to exercise self-compulsion is often despised as cowardly, or dismissed as due to soft sentimentality, or else it is regarded as an encroachment on one's freedom to compel one's self.

     The Arcana shows, on the contrary, that to compel one's self is not to be compelled; that the new "heavenly proprium," which is the angelic mind, takes its start "in the effort of man's thought" at such times; that a man who is not willing to compel himself becomes "among the more useless "; and that the Lord can counterbalance the force of the evils which assail him, and give him the greatest possible freedom, only when he turns his critical reason away from others and towards his own impatient self (1937).

     "Memory-knowledges."

     The reader of certain English versions of the Arcana is often troubled by such peculiar expressions as "memory-knowledge" and even "mere memory-knowledge of knowledges"! These phrases usually stand for the Latin words, scientificum (i.e., an item of "knowledge") and scientia cognitionum (the science of cognitions). Science generally means knowledges organized in natural light. In the Writings, cognitions are defined as "interior scientifics" (A. 9945), or as "the scientifics of the church" (A. 9755), and are said to be "chiefly doctrinals " (H. D. 51; E. 545). Both scientifics and cognitions are of the memory of the external man (D. 4037; A. 27, 4266, 1460; H. D. 52); both are merely vessels, not truths (A. 1460); both are "outside of the man himself" (A. 9230); and this makes the translation "knowledges and memory-knowledges" utterly meaningless.

     Cognitions, or knowledges about the Word and about the things of heaven, are indeed distinguished, both by affections and by associations of ideas from other scientifics in the memory, and may form there a Science of Cognitions which is quite apart from the science of natural things, like the waters above the expanse from the waters beneath it (A. 1198, 24). Still, cognitions are in and of the external or corporeal memory, and not in the internal memory, where truths and rational things only are stored.

476


GLEANINGS FROM NEW CHURCH HISTORY 1931

GLEANINGS FROM NEW CHURCH HISTORY       STANLEY E. PARKER       1931

      [Photo of where Hartley was rector.]

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     THE REV. THOMAS HARTLEY, A.M.

     A Visit to East Malling.

     In the summer of last year (1930), while I was on a visit to the Rev. W. T. Lardge, the minister of the New Church Society at Snodland in Kent, mine host suggested a pilgrimage to the grave of Hartley, the friend of Swedenborg. The suggestion was fascinating, for among the many contemporaries of Swedenborg who were honored by personal acquaintance and intercourse with him, the Rev. Thomas Hartley holds a unique position. And yet, while his intimate contacts with the Seer are described in the history of the New Church, and evidences of them enshrined in those volumes by means of which Heavenly Doctrines are given for the use and salvation of men, the published information concerning him is but scanty and unsatisfying. Consequently, the prospect of improving acquaintance therewith, and the possibility of adding thereto by visiting the scene of his last days and place of burial, combined to make such a visit an occasion of exceptional interest. No time, therefore, was lost in setting out for the neighboring village of East Malling, at which Hartley resided when he was on intimate terms with Swedenborg, from which he wrote to him, and in which he died.

     Winwick.

     But as Hartley was "Rector of Winwick in Northamptonshire" long before he was at East Malling in Kent, it will perhaps be well to give some account of investigations made at the place of his cure. Records of the Church of England show that the Rev. Thomas Hartley, B.A., was instituted to the benefice of Winwick on March 22, 1744, and that in 1785 his successor was instituted to the vacancy caused by his death, which occurred on December 11, 1784.

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There is no record of his having either resided in the parish or officiated at the church, and it seems somewhat strange, and possibly of some significance, that the decadent Church in which he was ordained should have no such record of the worthy man who was assuredly (all unknown to her) one of her most celebrated priests. In so small a parish, of course, there would have been very few ceremonies to perform, even during a pastorate of forty-four years. It is also a little tantalizing, but perhaps not surprising (as the New Church had no external organization until after his death) that the latter has so few precise records concerning one who was probably the first English clergyman to perceive some of the truths which it was his most distinguished friend's office to reveal.

     Esteemed New Churchmen resident in Northampton were able to furnish only negative results of inquiries made by them at Winwick, and so recourse was had to the Northamptonshire Record Society, as custodians of their county's history, for information concerning Hartley, who on more than one occasion had specially preached before the magnates of their principal city (NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE, 1931, p. 9), but similar results followed, for they had "no information about the Rev. T. Hartley."

     However, from Mr. A. Adcock, of Northampton, we have since obtained the following particulars:

     "Mr. Hartley interested himself in philanthropy and the religious life of Northamptonshire. He was one of the founders of Northampton Hospital, one of the first in Great Britain, and it was because of his personal interest that he was twice chosen to preach the anniversary sermon.

     "In my short History of Castle Hill Church, Northampton, written in 1896, I mention that, when, in 1750, Whitefield came to Northampton, he preached in the open air, 'attended by as strange a bodyguard as could be imagined: the pious Doddridge, Presbyterian and now Congregationalist; Dr. Stonhouse, the reformed Atheist, thinking of entering the Church of England ministry; the Rev. James Hervey, then a Church of England curate of his father at Weston Fanell, and one of the chief ministers of the Oxford Methodist movement; and the Rev. Thomas Hartley, vicar of Winwick, Northamptonshire, a preacher and writer of Swedenborgianism.'

     "My picture of Hartley is a kindly, hardworking, conscientious and intelligent clergyman, with a curate relieving him of the duties of ministering to a very small parish, and allowing him freedom to associate with the leading Evangelicals of the day, and time to engage in philanthropic work of the county.

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     In the year 1754, Hartley published at London a volume of his own sermons, with this title: "Sermons on Various Subjects, with a Prefatory Discourse on Mistakes concerning Religion, Enthusiasm, Experiences, &c." A recent reading of these sermons brought vividly to view the preacher's attitude toward the state of the Christian world, and gave evidence of that quality of mind which was soon to receive the Heavenly Doctrines and their disclosures concerning the Last Judgment and the New Church. We may here cite a few extracts from the volume:

     "The Lord, whenever left Himself without witnesses, even in times of greatest degeneracy, has in all ages of the church called forth holy men to bear their public testimony to the truth, and to rescue religion from ignorance, error and corruption. . . . We cannot sufficiently admire and adore the Divine goodness in raising up such lights and leaders as are best suited to the needs of the church in every age." (Preface. See his Preface to the work on Heaven and Hell.)

     From Sermon III: "Let me persuade you, O ye children of sloth-and would to God I could persuade you!-to consider in this, your day, the things which belong to your peace, to consider wherefore you were sent into the world, what you are, and whither you are going! Open your eyes, if but for a moment, and behold your danger, for you are as one walking blindfold on the brink of a precipice, where one false Step will tumble you headlong into destruction, or like unto him that sleepeth on the top of a mast, whom the next irregular motion of the staggering ship will toss into the great deep from which there is no emerging. O for the voice of an angel to call out to you in more than loudness of thunder! Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light!"

     From Sermon VI: "If there be any such careless ones here, as I fear there are in so great a congregation, how shall I address you? Shall I speak smooth things, and daub with untempered mortar! Shall I sew pillows to your arms, that so you may sleep on securely? God forbid that I should be thus unfaithful to my trust, and such an enemy of your souls! Bear, then, with my plainness, whilst I tell you what I think of you; for though my heart is full of tenderness and pity for you, yet my voice must be a voice of terror to you. . . . I would not be in your condition for ten thousand worlds; but if you die in your unconverted state, there is not a single text of Scripture that gives you hope to escape the damnation of hell. How can you close your eyes in sleep, when you know not but that you may open them in everlasting burnings? How can you walk the streets without fear, when even a the falling from a house may forever separate you from all possibility of working out your own salvation?"

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     [Photo of East Malling Church]

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     If the interesting articles by the Rev. A. E. Beilby, which appeared in the October and March issues of the NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE, had been written earlier, further inquiry at Winwick might have been prevented, but lacking the then unpublished information there given, the writer requested a friend residing in the vicinity of Winwick to call upon the rector, with the object of ascertaining whether his distinguished predecessor was known there, and if so, what interest, if any, was taken in him and his work. I was hospitably received, shown the rectory and the church, and was loaned the following documents, on giving a faithful promise for their safe return:

     (1) A letter to the rector dated 28th April, 1910, which had apparently enclosed,

     (2) A cutting from T. P.'s Weekly of April 24, 1910, containing paragraphs (written by the rector's correspondent) relative to Swedenborg, the Swedenborg Society's Centenary Celebrations in London, and the Rev. T. Hartley's translation work.

     (3) An advertisement page torn from the New-Church Magazine, announcing the London Congress of 1910.

     (4) A copy of Rev. Joseph Deans' Lecture on Swedenborg.

     (5) Another letter (from the same correspondent) thanking the rector for his "exceedingly kind letter," stating that he would be "proud for pamphlets, etc., to be put in the 'little museum,'" and inquiring: Are there any relies of Hartley at the church?

     When returning this curious little collection, the writer repeated the inquiry, but regrets to say that the "little museum" was limited to the documents just enumerated, which are preserved in a covering envelope endorsed: "Memo of Swendenborg's (sic) Works having been translated by a former rector of Winwick." There is, therefore, some little evidence of Hartley's association with Winwick preserved there!

     East Malling.

     But to return to East Malling, where Hartley faithfully and diligently labored to produce the first English translations of some of those wonderful Writings which, as he wrote in 1769, had fallen into his hands. The village which, all unknown to the inhabitants, has become celebrated in the history of the new era, is a country parish some five miles from Snodland and about thirty miles from London, retaining much of the rural simplicity it enjoyed when Hartley was there.

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[Photo of Hartley Gravestone, in the churchyard at East Malling.]

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If the march of time has rendered the folk more sophisticated, and the machinery used in the paper mills is more modern, the mills themselves are there, as in Hartley's day. The mural paintings inside the fine old church have become more faded, and its internal fittings changed, but the main features are much the same as when Hartley saw them; and though there has been some restoration, the fabric and the churchyard in which it stands, with the footpath running through it, are no doubt much the same as when Hartley walked there. The grave is near the footpath, and a literary friend of the pilgrims, who has written a fine poem commemorating their visit, aptly describes it as:

     No derelict grave! 'Tis nigh indeed
     The path whence he who runs may read,
     Yet which of all that path who tread
     Of Hartley's worth have ever read?
     Or but a passing thought would lend
     To his sublime and honored friend,
     That messenger by Heaven sent
     With tidings for the world's content?

     The inscription upon the tombstone, as may be seen from the photograph, informs the reader that the spot is "Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. Thomas Hartley, late Rector of Winwick in Northamptonshire," and the casual observer, without going so far as to reflect upon what is involved in the poet's words, may well wonder how it came to pass that the rector of a hamlet a hundred miles away should have burial place there. And even New Churchmen, who know that Winwick in Northamptonshire and East Malling in Kent are inevitably and perpetually associated with the name of Hartley, may well be forgiven if they are unable to explain why such should be the case; for history is silent upon the point.

     It may also be noticed from the photograph that the tombstone has what Mr. Beilby calls "a fresh de novo appearance which rather robs it of antiquarian interest," and he pleads that a little moss may be allowed to grow over it.* But it may be remarked that, if this had been suffered to the extent to which it has covered its contiguous neighbors, its inscription, like theirs, would be undecipherable, and the only record of Hartley's burial place would then be that contained in the parish register.
     * It may be assumed that the tombstone has been renovated by the late Miss Hook, the last surviving member of the family of that name, by whose munificence the church of the New Jerusalem at Snodland was built, and a number of public buildings presented to the parish.

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     The register was courteously produced by the vicar for the pilgrims' inspection, and it was found to record that the burial of "Thomas Hartley Clerk, Rector of Winwick in Northamptonshire," took place on 17th December, 1784, and that he was seventy-seven years of age, but it neither gave his place of abode, nor stated by whom the ceremony was performed. In a certificate, obtained as a memento of the visit, the vicar wrote "East Malling" as the place of abode, and upon our pointing this out to him, he explained that Hartley must have been a parishioner or he would not have been buried there. He even hazarded the opinion that he must have occasionally officiated or preached in the church, but it may well be doubted whether such was the case. The absence of the names of the officiating ministers has caused the writer of Memories of Malling and its Valleys (Rev. H. Fielding, 1897) to remark that the burial register here is "woefully deficient, especially as now persons not belonging to the Church of England have to be registered as buried by some particular person!"* Mr. Fielding's work contains lists of residents and extracts from the parish registers, but the name of Hartley is nowhere to be found, either among the living or the dead.
     * It does not, however, appear that Hartley was ever regarded as a non-conformist.

     The meager chronicles of Hartley's life naturally cease with the records of his death and burial. He left no will, but administration of his estate was granted to a nephew, Thomas E. Hartley, at Canterbury on December 29, 1784.

     [EDITORIAL NOTE: For further particulars of the life of the Rev. Thomas Hartley, and an account of his service to the New Church, the reader is referred to a biography by the Rev. C. Th. Odhner which appeared in New Church Life, 1895, pp. 135, 151. Citations from his writings are there given, and his letters to Swedenborg and others quoted in full. See also comments by Dr. Alfred Acton in New Church Life, March, 1930, p. 178; and a Letter from Hartley to Dr. Messiter, published in our issue for June, 1931.]

485


SPHERES OF FAITH 1931

SPHERES OF FAITH       Rev. W. B. CALDWELL       1931

     (Delivered at a meeting of the Sons of the Academy, Pittsburgh, Pa., June 28, 1931, and published here by request.)

     This phrase-"spheres of faith"-occurs in a passage of the Spiritual Diary which treats of the Presence of the Lord with angels and men, and explains how we are to understand the saying that men are to think continually of the Lord. It does not mean that we are always to hold our thoughts consciously and fixedly in reflection upon the Lord and Divine things, although this is a desirable thing to practice in the beginning, or early in life, until the habit of so doing forms in the mind an inmost plane in which the Lord is constantly present, even when we are thinking of other things. It is the same, we are told, with other virtues acquired in the regenerate life,-conscience piety, obedience, charity, conjugial love; these are present within; even though the mind be determined to other things. So it is with the presence of the Lord, once a plane is provided for that presence by sustained thought upon the Divine things of the Word. The number closes with this significant sentence: "Hence now the spheres of faith." (S. D. 4226. See also S. D. 3342, 3343.)

     In choosing a theme to present for your consideration, that passage came to mind, and seemed to embody an important idea in regard to our work of education in the New Church. Indeed, I believe that it embodies an essential and most powerful instrumentality in the part we are given to play in co-operation with the Lord,-the power of faith, of faith in the Lord and His revealed truth, and the spheres of such a faith in their effect upon the young. The living acknowledgment of the presence of the Lord as Creator and Regenerator, as the Divine Educator; a confidence in His salvation, and a trust in His Providence;-these, with parent and teacher, carry with them a sphere of faith which, because the Lord is present in it, is the most potent influence in the work of education, in home and school, and wherever the adult comes into association with the children and the youth of the church.

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     We have become rather sparing in our use of the term "faith," because of its abuse in the former church, and we may lose sight of the fact that faith is a very real thing, a virtue of both the natural and spiritual life, and one that generates a sphere of efficacy and power,-the sphere of the faith of love, of truth from good, which with the Lord is a sphere of omnipotence. This is what we now understand by the powers which the Lord in the world ascribed to faith, as where He said: "If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall the sea; and it shall be done." (Matt. 21:21.) In the spiritual say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into world, the power of faith is seen to do such things actually,-to overthrow the high places where the evil have erected false heavens. And one who, in this world, has overcome the mountains of pride and evil in himself, by trust in the Lord in the combats of temptation, in the other world will prevail over multitudes of evil spirits, even as Saul over his thousands and David his ten thousands.

     While faith separate from love has no such power, the faith of love has. This faith is love confirmed in light, in a perception and conviction of truth; it is the will established in the understanding, good conjoined to truth; and this is the source of all spiritual power in man, because the Lord is present in it.

     It is important to our present treatment to remember that a true faith is only from the Lord, and cannot be built up by the man himself by reasonings from knowledge or any effort of his own, although a true faith can be confirmed by such means. Bearing upon this, we read in the Doctrine:

     "There are many who think they have learned, acknowledged and taught the true doctrine of faith, and many who have persuaded themselves that they have faith, when yet they have it not, but only knowledge, which is a thing of the memory. . . . It is not faith unless there be a persuasion in the knowledge, and in the persuasion a desire for confirmations, and thus a love. Then faith is saving, because the Lord is in the faith. And the Lord is Faith, and gives faith." (S. D. 2383, 2385.)

     "Knowing is not believing, but there ought to be a persuasion of the truth; otherwise there is no faith of truth. If one is not persuaded, or in true faith, he is in darkness, because in falsity." (S. D. 2467.)

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     "They who are in the persuasion of true faith have it from the Lord. For it is of true faith (to believe) that there is no faith except from the Lord; wherefore they cannot come into the persuasion of faith except from the Lord. It is of true faith not only to know this, but also to be persuaded concerning it." (S. D. 3695.)

     Contrast this gift from the Lord with the faith of one who never believes anything until he is convinced by sense, knowledge, and reasoning from without, and who therefore never comes to a belief in any revealed truth. He has endeavored to build up and establish a standard of truth from below, without an inspiration from above. But true faith has its genesis in an affirmation of what the Lord has revealed, which affirmation is first implanted in infancy and childhood, and remains with those who do not reject it in adult age, but who choose good, and who long for the light of truth, who want to believe the truth of heaven, and who accept it in simplicity of heart when it is presented to them. Such an acceptance, we are told, opens the mind to an inner light from the Lord,-a light which cannot come in any other way,-the gift of true faith. (A. C. 19116.) Afterwards it is confirmed by the Word, by natural truth, science, reasoning, and experience.

     Now it is this genuine faith with the adult New Churchman,-an enlightened, rational, spiritual faith, firmly established and confirmed in understanding and life,-which forms a plane in his mind and produces a sphere in which the Lord can be actually present, and through which He operates in the minds of infants and children to implant the beginnings of faith as the beginnings of the church with them,-to implant those remains which become their saving grace in the regenerate life, and thus the means of perpetuating the church with the rising generation.

     We do not conceive of these adult spheres of faith as projected consciously or received consciously. It is a law well known to us that every slate of the mind or spirit of man produces its own sphere, which extends round about and affects others, entering into their minds and moving them responsively in the degree that they are in a receptive state. The very atmosphere of the home, the class room the place of worship, is thus effective.

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Such spheres, though in visible and intangible, are veriest substantial realities, and actual forces on interior planes. And so the faith of love, as the dominant state of regenerating men and women, projects its own sphere, making the sphere of the church, unconsciously but powerfully moving the plastic affections of young minds, and constituting the inmost and most essential of all forces which lead them in their education, preparing them constantly for the reception of the knowledges which they receive consciously by instruction, and which they appropriate the more completely, the more fully they are prepared to receive in a state of affectionate interest. For it is also a law that only that is actually appropriated and remains which is implanted in the affections. To teach without first arousing the desire to learn is like putting on fuel before the fire is kindled.

     The education of the child begins, we know, with the formation of the will in infancy, when, under tender influences, the remains of good affection are stored up, and when the evil propensities of the old will are suppressed or checked. Thus both positive and negative modes must operate, preparing for the adult shunning of evil and doing of good,-the life of repentance and the life of charity. In childhood, after infancy, the positive mode continues in the drawing forth of the remains of celestial affection and their feeding with knowledges. And the spheres of which we are speaking are then a most powerful means of stirring the affections and making them receptive.

     We should hasten to add, however, that the spheres of faith derive their power, not from any merely human virtue, but solely from the Lord's presence therein. From Him alone are the spheres of faith, as stated in the passage of the Diary which we quoted in the beginning. (S. D. 4226.)

     In the other world, the faith of life with spirits may also become visible in representative forms, which are important means of educating the young there. And it is similar in this world when faith is ultimated in act. When a New Churchman devotes his life to the church; when he sincerely loves to worship the Lord, to read the books of Divine Revelation, to talk about the things of the church; when he is in charity, and speaks charitably and justly of the neighbor; when he loves his use, and faithfully performs the works of his calling;-all these things, done for their own sake, testify to his faith, and are good works which shine before men, and glorify the Father in heaven.

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Actions speak louder than words, and the child at the imitative age is impressed, and is moved by a desire to go and do likewise. As saith the old proverb: "Long is the way by precept, short and effective by example."

     Such is the power of sincere acts which are the ultimations of true faith. Acts are not only seen, but they also generate and transmit the spheres of faith, which affect others, let us say, persuasively, being sweet to imitate. Without something of persuasion, insinuated into the affection of the will, the young will not take hold of the faith of the New Church and make it their own, in freedom. The persuasion of affection does not take away freedom; for what moves the affection of the will, that is free, and nothing else is free. Faith in the Lord and the Word, and more especially the rational faith of the New Church, cannot be imposed upon any mind from without by compelling means. At least, it will not be interiorly received, and remain, if it is forcibly impressed. The interior human will does not suffer itself to be driven or compelled; but it does suffer itself to be led by that which delights it, by that which it finds sweet to know and to do, by that to which it is persuaded. And the most effective means to this is simply the sphere of sincere faith and act with adults. If, from a sense of duty, and with conscious effort, we are trying to get our children to do something that we are not much interested in doing ourselves, we need not be surprised if they rise no higher than our own state. A half-hearted New Churchman will find his children less than half- hearted, and his grandchildren still less. Is not this the real reason why so many generations of New Church children have departed from the faith, and why it is so often true that the first generation is enthusiastic, the second loyal, and the third indifferent?

     II.

     The subconscious influence of good spheres in the work of education is little realized outside of the New Church. But from our faith in what has been revealed to us on the subject of spheres, and from our knowledge of the presence of the Lord and the angels in good spheres, we know that we have here a force and an instrumentality which must bring success where it actually operates. We must learn how to place ourselves in the path of its operation. And the first thing is to realize and acknowledge that our part is but to co-operate with the Lord. He alone forms the human mind; He alone builds the church and heaven; and without Him we labor in vain.

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We can only furnish the materials, as it were, that will prepare the minds of the young for the Divine operation, thus keeping them in the stream of Providence, with a confidence that the Lord does His part unfailingly, according to the excellence and abundance of remains, in the storing of which men and angels are privileged to have a part.

     We know that the major part of our life is the subconscious operation of the soul in the mind and body, as in the involuntary functions of digestion and blood circulation, of sensation and memory. So it is that the largest part of education is the Lord's work in the child. It is but given us to co-operate, and not to hinder. And in our desire to fulfill this responsibility we seek for all the means, the chief of which are the revealed truths of faith. These the Lord has provided for the salvation of the individual by regeneration; and the same truths, applied with intelligence and diligence, and with proper accommodation to states of children, may he the means of preparing the young for their regeneration. We use, also, the truths of experience recorded by men and women in the world, so far as these are in agreement with revealed truth.

     By trusting primarily in the Lord, the New Churchman avoids undue prudence and anxiety. By earnest seeking for the means, and by effort in application, he avoids laxity and indifference in this most important duty which the Lord has given him to perform Indeed, the measure of our effort is also the measure of our trust in the Lord. Otherwise it is faith without works.

     When an infant is baptized, as we are told in the ceremony, angels are assigned to take care of it, and by them the child is "kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord." And the parents are told that they are given to co-operate with the Lord in preparing the child for the adult faith and life of the church. Let us note that the leading idea here is that of protection,-protection of the spiritual state of the child until it is able to protect itself. And in these early days of the New Church we may be certain that the sphere of faith with the adult of the church is especially needed in cooperation with the protective angelic sphere which keeps the child in a state to receive faith in the Lord.

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For the spheres of the old false faiths, of naturalism, materialism, and atheism, and of dire evils, continually invade the church from the world. The spheres of our own unregenerate natural man are often injurious. In the spiritual world, such spheres are continually rising up from the hells, and assaulting the societies of the New Church there, with an effort to destroy all innocence and infantile faith with the young.

     It is against these spheres in both worlds that baptism is a protection, the better so when the adult spheres of the church cooperate. And never was there greater need to protect the young than today, when such a multitude of perversities have been let loose in the Christian world, both in the spoken and printed word, and in the example of human life. We need to stand valiantly by the principles of revealed truth, strengthening and defending our own faith in them, and thus casting a protecting sphere about the young, if we would save them for the church and its true order of thought and life.

     We are tempted at times to think that many things taught in the Writings were applicable enough in Swedenborg's time, but not today; in short, that they are out of date. But if we believe that the Heavenly Doctrines are revealed truths, eternal verities, given for the establishment of a new and eternal church, and for its defense against the evil and error of a spiritually decadent age, we will hold firmly to these principles in the face of every attack, and even when it is not clear to us how they apply in the confused tangle of modern conditions. This we should study, without yielding our faith, and their truth will become clearly established in understanding and experience. This is part of our duty in protecting the minds of the young from undue infestation, keeping them in an affirmative attitude towards the truths of our faith.

     To inject doubts before they normally arise in the minds of the young is to introduce them prematurely into temptation, before they have been furnished with a means of resistance in themselves. Infants brought up in heaven are kept for a time from the hour of temptation, and the Lord Himself as an infant was carried away into Egypt, away from Herod and those who sought to destroy Him; and He was first prepared by instruction, before He entered into combat with the powers of the world and the forces of evil.

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In our anxiety to introduce the young into the rational truths of the New Church, we may thrust interior concepts upon them far beyond their grasp, breaking the appearances of truth before they are capable of receiving realities, bringing about an unhealthy fermentation in their immature minds which is a form of premature temptation, injurious to a normal growth. Perhaps we need to learn wisdom in this matter,-the wisdom of a careful guidance and accommodation in our teaching of the young, whereby they are kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord until they grow up, and "come into their own right, and their own reason," when, and not before, "the guardian angels leave them, and they associate to themselves such spirits as make one with their life and faith."

     As examples of the kinds of infestation which enter the church from the world, and against which the young need protection, we may mention the spheres of the learned world, both in the form of the Higher Criticism of the Bible and the doctrine of Evolution. On the plane of life, there is the sphere arising from false standards in regard to marriage and the uses of men and women.

     While we may rightly believe that the new freedom of women looks to that equality without sameness between the sexes which forms a basis for the conjugial, yet in its first flush it has gone to an extreme and is widely abused, violating both the masculine and feminine natures, undermining in an insidious way our effort to bring into the church the marvels of revealed truth concerning marriage. The revealed order in regard to this was new to the European world of Swedenborg's day, when there was little freedom in contracting marriages; but under the revised notions current in the world today the revealed teachings may seem old-fashioned. To us, such practical teachings of the Writings embody the revealed laws of God, which must be brought down into the lives of men and women if the conjugial is to be restored and the New Church really established.

     The Word is not to be taught the young, or the old, in the sphere of textual criticism, but in the sphere of faith, and of reverence. The Word is the Book of Life, of Divine and spiritual life, thus a holy Book. It is bread of heaven for the soul. Its literal forms are but vessels for this spiritual life, not for the teaching of mere knowledge, mere history.

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The Word, therefore, is so taught in the New Church as to minister to that for which it was given,-to bring the life of God, of heaven, the life of the spirit, to children and men. All else is to be subordinate to this end. Otherwise our children ask bread, and are given a stone.

     Between the scientific evolutionist and the Christian fundamentalist there is an unbridged gap, one holding to faith in the Word, the other to a faith in science and sense; though some so-called Christian philosophers pretend to keep their religion and their science in separate compartments of the mind, without a door between. The missing link is provided for the New Church in Swedenborg's philosophical works, especially as carried over into the Writings in the form of natural truth confirmatory of the spiritual truth revealed. Properly, that philosophy unfolds the interiors of nature, of the atmospheres, organic forms, human bloods,-a realm which no other philosopher has ever fully entered, or could enter without guidance from on high.

     The truth of this inner realm of nature, in its general principles, has become established as an integral part of our educational system, to which the young are affirmatively introduced in our schools. Not that we have accepted that truth in blind faith, but in a faith of reason confirmed by science and sense. No one has ever seen a particle of the ether, a cortical gland, or the spirituous fluid traversing the finest fibres of our being. But, as demonstrated by Swedenborg, we are able to picture these things before the eye of imagination, and this as vividly as the chemist diagrams his hidden elements and their combinations. And in rational thought we see more and more clearly that these interior things, in their marvelous order and operation, fall in line with universal truths, and confirm them. (S. D. 1145.) And so they have become wonderfully satisfying to our rational faith, as a God-given basis of theological and spiritual truth. And in our efforts to prepare the young to see this for themselves, the sphere of our faith in this philosophical truth will operate to protect them meanwhile against the prevailing spheres of scientific naturalism, materialism and atheism.

     III.

     I have now endeavored briefly to attach a significant meaning to the phrase "spheres of faith," in its bearing upon our work of education, as a more or less subconscious factor which nevertheless may be potent in its effects for good. In closing, let me speak of another and kindred phase of the subject.

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     We must look forward to the time when the art of educating the young will be more instinctive, and less a matter of conscious effort and struggle, with parents and teachers; when, in short, it will be less a science and more an art-or an instinctive science and art. In another passage in the Spiritual Diary, animal knowledge in rearing its young is contrasted with human ignorance in this matter, and it is said that animals know better than man with all his sciences. But we are assured that man, too, "would have no need to build up sciences artificially, and learn them, or to write so many books on the education of infants and children, if he were in the love of true faith; but since he is only in cupidities, and in faith separate from love, he knows nothing unless it be handed down orally or by books." (S. D. 4059.)

     It may seem odd to say that our progress in this matter is to come by a reversion to the animal state, but that is because the animal is in the order of creation, and has not been able to pervert it. Within its loves are contained all the knowledges of its life, as was also the case with the earliest men in their state of integrity, when they were in the love of true faith,-in an instinctive knowledge and perception of all things proper to the truly human life. In the violation of this perfection of state, men became worse than the brutes, and we all partake of this violated human order, so that our return must be by the long, laborious way whereby properly human truth, as revealed in the Books of Divine Revelation, becomes incorporated, ingrained, inwoven in our mental organism, and finally comes forth as the "love of true faith," and is transmitted by inheritance to the generations to come.

     There are not a few in the world who, from inheritance and tradition, have ability in educating the young. They know how to "impart good gifts unto their children." It is largely, however, an external culture, lacking the religious and spiritual element. Yet an education to the graces of life is one we may rightly emulate; for it is the proper garment of the religious life. And we need every aid and guidance in our study and practice of the educational art,-aids within the church from those who adapt the light of Revelation in this field, and from without the church in any form that will support and confirm revealed principles of truth.

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But the use we make of this knowledge is the essential thing, that the science of education may become the art of education, and both in time become second nature, instinctive, as the light of true love.

     Our whole educational effort is founded upon the rock of a faith in the Divine Revelation which the Lord has provided for the New Church in the Books of the Writings and the Books of the Scriptures. Without a continuing affirmation of this fundamental faith, both in word and act, there can be no perpetuity of our labors, but each generation will want to begin anew, and possibly on some other basis than that of Revelation. It is a fact, of course, that each generation in the church does begin anew, and this by seeking to understand the truths of Revelation and the principles derived and formulated by their fathers. And in the way of progress every new generation should understand better than the former generation, and acquire greater facility in application. But in the operation of this process we may also expect a questioning of the validity of every truth which we have held established and sacred. It is part of the process whereby traditional faith is adopted as a living thing and with renewed enlightenment. Those who carry this to the point of a denial of fundamental verities will depart from among us. And they alone will remain to carry forward the work who come through to a rational affirmation of sound fundamentals of truth, and to a zealous endeavor to apply that truth in their own day and generation. They have not been willing to cast away the faith instilled from their infancy, but have adopted that faith as of their heart's love, established it in the light and conviction of their understandings, and confirmed it in all things of their life. It is these who will transmit and perpetuate the church, providing an ever more excellent plane wherein the Lord can be present to rebuild the race into a form of heaven upon earth.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931

     
NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single Copy, 30 cents.
     A NEW VENTURE IN JOURNALISM.

THE PLOUGH. A Magazine for the Young Men and Women of the New Church. Issued quarterly by the British New Church Federation. Editor: Edgar C. Howe. Business Manager: Herbert Mongredien, 20, Queen's Avenue, Muswell Hill, London, N. 10. Pp. 32; 6d a copy, or 2sh2d per annum.

     In keeping with a name that is symbolic of mental and spiritual cultivation, the first issue of THE PLOUGH (April-June, 1931) places before its readers a stimulating variety of matter, instructive and entertaining to young and old. The editor, in his opening announcement, voices the hope that the magazine "will be one of the means of expressing the varied qualities which the younger members of the Church can add to those already contributed by every preceding generation." We extend a welcome to the new journal, and wish it a useful career. The contents of the first number-fiction, doctrine, and the discussion of belief and practice in the church-lead us to regard the undertaking as a promising venture.

     "Where Angels Fear to Tread" is the title of a pointed short-story by Gertrude Nelson, who contrasts the benefits of a devout reading of the Word with the evil of joking about it.

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In a description of how "The Newburn Society's Church burnt down," and what steps were taken to replace it, our appetite is whetted for the second part of the account, which is to decide between two points of view,-"the dislike of anything new because it is not old, and the dislike of anything old because it is not new." The outstanding doctrinal utterance, characterized by interior thought, is an article by Frank F. Coulson on "Spiritual Idolatry,-A Meditation on the Inner Meaning of the First Commandment of the Decalogue." The nature of his treatment may be inferred from the following paragraphs:

     "We are to acknowledge as true only that which is from the Lord's Divine Human, and this we know to be the Lord Himself as the Word in the supreme sense; and in another sense all revelation from and of the Lord in heavens and earths. For us, all these words which God spake are all the Divine Truth which we have in the Old and New Testaments and in the Writings of the New Church. Do they not all testify to the. Divinity of the Lord's Human? And do they not all reveal it to us? Do they not all three bear witness to the great essential truth, 'I am Jehovah God. Thou shalt not have other gods before me'?".

     "Custom has familiarized us with the acknowledgment of the Old and New Testaments as truth because of their Divine Origin, and we call them the Word because the Lord is present in them in His Truth, which is Himself, and is the Word. Ought we not to do the same with the Writings, recognizing. of course, their wide difference of form and style) If we cannot so regard them, as the Lord's Word to the New Church, as His revelations of interior truth-the same truth as is in the Old and New Testaments, but 'more interiorly revealed' (see A. E. 948)-then surely we have no alternative but to regard them as something apart from the Lord, and not Divine Revelation, as something human, or partly human, in origin. Yet this would be contrary to their own testimony, as being from the Lord alone. 'What is from the Lord has been written, and what is from the angels has not been written.' (A. E. 1183.)"

     The editor of THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD finds Mr. Coulson's article "strong meat which, in one or two respects, we do not find easy to digest," and continues: "It seems unfortunate that he should raise the ancient question of the status of the Writings, and insist that they are the Word. Perhaps, when he gains more experience, he will realize the danger of shibboleths and slogans." (HERALD, June 20, p. 383.)

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A recent lively discussion of the subject in letters to the HERALD leaves the impression that it is hardly an "ancient" question.

     In an "Answers to Questions" department, the Rev. Eric A. Sutton negatives the idea of holding raffles for church funds, and also the suggestion that we might have lady preachers in the New Church; but we should like to have doctrinal support for his "personal preference for no offertory at any service," and for his belief that "the ideal maintenance of a church is through private offerings made by members direct to the treasurer." Under the caption, "Interviews with Our Elders," Mr. A. E. Friend obligingly becomes the first "victim" of Connie Wickham. As the first of a series of "New Church Unworthies," the imaginary Willoughby King is doubtless not an extinct species.

     We have read THE PLOUGH with a sense of refreshment. While it has not wholly laid aside the "sword," this is wielded with a spirit of fair-play and good humor which is worthy of emulation.
REV. E. J. E. SCHRECK. 1931

REV. E. J. E. SCHRECK.              1931

     An active and useful career of nearly fifty years in the ministry of the New Church came to a close with the passing of the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck into the spiritual world at London on June 6th last, at the age of seventy-two years. As one of the earliest students and graduates of the Academy of the New Church, he was active in the uses of the Academy and the General Church for nearly twenty years (1877-1896), after which he was associated with the General Convention in America, and later with the General Conference in Great Britain. An appreciative account of his life and work appears in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD Of June 20, 1931, to which we are indebted in large part for the following outline:

     Eugene Joseph Emanuel Schreck was born in Matamoros, Mexico, on June 30, 1859. When he was four years old, the family removed to New York City, where he attended private and public schools until he could enter the Hoboken Academy. From his earliest childhood, it had been his mother's wish that he should enter the ministry, but his father desired him to take up Law. On the completion of his training at the Hoboken Academy, he was placed in the office of a firm of New York attorneys; but, under his mother's influence, he began at the same time to study Hebrew and Greek under Dr. Leonard Tafel, through whose instrumentality he entered upon his preparations for the ministry at the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church in Philadelphia.

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Here he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1881, Bachelor of Theology in 1883, and Master of Arts in 1892.

     Toward the end of his theological course, he paid weekend visits to Allentown, Pa., for two years, conducting services and Sunday School. His work there resulted in the building and furnishing of a commodious house of worship. After his ordination in 1883, he removed to Allentown, ministering to the society there, and to the circle at. Bethlehem. He preached both in English and German.

     In the year 1884, he married Miss Frances M. Aitken, of Philadelphia, who survives him. In the autumn of that year he was appointed on the teaching staff of the Boys' School of the Academy in Philadelphia, but continued to serve the society at Allentown by paying week-end visits, and he also helped a small society in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He was ordained into the second degree of the priesthood in 1886, and was made headmaster of the Boys' School. He resigned association with the General Convention in 1891, and in 1893 was appointed Dean of the Faculty of the Schools of the Academy. In 1896, he resigned from the Academy and removed to Detroit, Michigan.

     While living in Detroit, he devoted himself for a while to the revival of the Society at Toledo, Ohio, where his work resulted in the erection of a small chapel. Soon he was invited to preach for the Detroit Society of the General Convention, to which he was readmitted in 1897, and in that year he became President of the Michigan Association. He took an active interest in the isolated receivers and societies throughout that State, and, in 1900, organized the Almont Summer School, which is still maintained.

     In 1901, Mr. Schreck accepted a call to the Chicago Society, and ministered to three of the four parishes of that Society until 1912, when he was called by the Scottish Association to Glasgow. In 1914, he entered the pastorate of the Society at Wretham Road, Birmingham, where he remained until June 30, 1929, his seventieth birthday, when ill health compelled him to take a prolonged rest. Ultimately he was appointed Chaplain and Librarian of the New Church College, and took up residence on the College premises at Woodford Green, Essex, where he undertook as much work as increasing indisposition would allow.

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     During his pastorate at Birmingham, Mr. Schreck instituted the Summer School for Sunday School workers which is held annually at Purley Chase, Atherstone. He was enrolled as a minister of the General Conference in 1914, and raised to the rank of Ordaining Minister in 1928. He was elected President of Conference in 1925, and acted as President of the New Church College in 1928. He served on the Conference Council, and was a member of the Council of the Swedenborg Society.

     To his literary labors Mr. Schreck brought a notable scholarship, especially in the languages of Divine Revelation,-Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He was associated with the publication of NEW CHURCH LIFE for fifteen years (1881-1896), first as a member of the Editorial Board, and afterwards as Editor. During this period he contributed extensively to its pages, as he did later to other New Church periodicals. In 1890, he visited Holland, and made an exhaustive search in private and public libraries, and in second-hand bookstores, for missing manuscripts of Swedenborg. (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1890, pp., 212-213.) He was editor of the Latin-English edition of the Summaries of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms, published at New York in 1900, and assisted in the preparation of a work entitled Psalms,-Latin text of the Psalms according to the usage of the Writings, published the same year. In recent years he has been Conference Editor of the Old Testament Section of the Committee engaged in preparing a New Church version of the Word, under the provisions of the Marchant Fund.

     We thus sketch in brief outline a career of varied activity and sustained devotion to the cause of the New Church. It will be recalled with special pleasure by Mr. Schreck's many pupils and parishioners on both sides of the Atlantic, who hold him in affectionate remembrance.

     A memorial service was held at Camden Road Church, London, on June 9th, attended by a congregation which was thoroughly representative of the interests with which Mr. Schreck was associated. Bishop R. J. Tilson represented the General Church. The Rev. W. H. Acton, as a member of the family, supported Mrs. Schreck and Miss Gertrude Nelson. The service was conducted by the Rev. W. A. Presland, assisted by other Conference ministers, and the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack preached the memorial sermon.

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DOCTRINES IN WORSHIP 1931

DOCTRINES IN WORSHIP       L. C. KNUDSEN       1931

     THE AUTHORITY OF THE DOCTRINES, THEIR RELATION TO THE SCRIPTURES, AND THEIR PLACE IN THE WORSHIP AND INSTRUCTION OF THE NEW CHURCH.

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     The controversy presented in the June issue of the LIFE (p. 361) by the letters therein reproduced, pro and con, upon the various questions composing it, is, upon analysis, remarkable in several ways to me, whose only claim to affiliation with the New Church is my conviction that what the Doctrines teach is final authority, because Divine Truth, neither less nor more, which no sane man can possibly care or dare to dispute, and remain in his senses.

     Despite the nominal profession by all the contending parties to a belief in what Swedenborg expressly points out repeatedly as the Lord's own immediate teaching or Doctrines, and relinquishes all merit or credit for them as his own, they nevertheless, upon the test in detail and case, refuse to accept of them as the final say of authority, against which it is folly and rebellious to reason.

     The dispute, reduced to its fundamental elements, amounts seemingly to a non-understanding of what truly constitutes the Word of the Lord, or the Sacred Scriptures in their full integrity. And this, despite the fact that no explanation is more definitely set forth or explicitly made clearer, on any other subject or point in any of the rest of all the doctrines, than upon the one-what the Word is. The necessity for this should be obvious, seeing that, without understanding here,-the center and beginning of all conceptions,-no intelligent progress in any direction can sensibly be supposed. It is because of the lack of understanding right at this completely vital point that the world, and in particular the old Christian Church, has so fearfully come to grief and disaster, as we witness it to-day and in the centuries history records.

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For without the true idea of the Word, none can be had of the Lord, by Whom alone salvation is possible. Without Him, who is "the truth, the way, and the life," how can any one live?

     But in the New Church, among its confessed believers, how does it happen that the Lord's reproof, "Are ye as yet without understanding?" still seems to apply?

     In some of the letters in point the advice is given the opponents to "read the Bible" more thoroughly for their own benefit. But the Doctrines upon which the New Church is predicated to be founded, and only by them, teach that, without true Doctrine, which they are if Divine, the Word, or Bible cannot be understood or even known as to what constitutes it properly. Not one in the Old Church can even point out or name the Books that are sacred, and why! Clearly and copiously it is taught in the Doctrines that without them no understanding of the Word, except of self-intelligence, is possible; whence it follows that to read it in that manner is fatal. Only by the means and power of the Doctrines is illumination of the understanding of the Scriptures possible. And why? Simply because they are the Spirit of the Holy Word of the Lord, or the Spiritual Sense contained in the Letter, which combination is what constitutes the complete Word in "its fullness, its power, and its sanctity," as doctrinally declared to every sincere and earnest reader seeking the Truth.

     Without the true idea of the relationship of the Doctrines to the Word in its ultimate form or letter, how can any one lay claim to the intelligence required for New Churchmanship?

     The present controversy, it would appear, has its rise or cause in the separation of the intimate and inseparable union existing between the spiritual and the natural, or the internal and the external, form of the one and the only Word of God, in the ideas of men. If or when this is done, the truth about it perishes. For neither a soul nor a body can exist independently of the other. So, for the same reason, neither the Doctrines alone nor the Letter alone separately are the Word, regardless of any kind or source of human teaching to the contrary. The Doctrines are the true and only explanation of the Literal Word; wherefore, to exclude them in private or public instruction about the Word is to substitute human intelligence, which is mere folly, for what is Divine. That this would be iniquity if done, who will dispute?

503




     Who can or will not see the red dragon's attempt upon the life of the New Church in this?-the shutting out of what is Divine from it?

     Swedenborg teaches that true doctrines and the spiritual sense are identical, and that by the latter the Divinity of the Word exists, making it rational, without which it is not. Consequently, if we exclude the doctrinal explanation of the letter from it, we destroy its credibility, as has been and is being done in the Old Church so fatally. Does any genuine, sincere, and honest New Church confessor desire such a reversal at that cost?

     On the other hand, if we should assume, as some actually teach and presumably believe themselves, that the "Writings are the Word" by themselves, we shall encounter absurdities without end or number. For in every sentence or word the Doctrines are the unfolding of the Letter by explanation, separate from which they are unthinkable. To eliminate them from the Letter is impossible, this being their subject and base from and on which they instruct. Hence, apart from the Letter, no one can even suppose their existence, let alone independent being from it. In the face of this axiomatic position, the question is pertinent, why, nevertheless, the Doctrine that the "Writings are the Word" per se is being taught as orthodox in the Church, instead of being pointed out as absurd as here.

     Everyone who has read or reads Swedenborg with the purpose of being informed rightly, and not to dispute what he declares to be Divine or infallible Truth, knows what he teaches in regard to the Sacred Scriptures, or the Word of the Lord, as to their or its composite nature, comparable with that of a human being, who, as all know, is made up of a soul in a body which is expressive of it, or an internal and an external organic intelligent form of life in correspondence with that Supreme Being, infinite Life Itself, from which it has origin. Knowing this, and professing to a belief in it, how does anyone arrive at the point of teaching it to others in what is contradictory to it? It is this that puzzles the analytical or really rational thinker to explain except on the ground of perverse reaction to the truth.

     Always, Swedenborg teaches the unity of the Word or Divine Truth, in its descending scale of the three senses, and never that any single one of them is anything separately.

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The Word explained truly is the Word revealed, and both are effected by the internal sense, now first being laid open by the Lord Himself through His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. To assume that the explanation of the Word, which is what the Doctrines of the New Church amount to, is or can be something concrete abstractedly from it, is the commonly accepted fallacy that sense can exist apart from its organ. The body is the complete organ of the soul, or should be, outside which it cannot and does not sensate at all. Hence, apart from the Word, no Doctrine that is true can be predicated about life, or has any practical meaning to it.

     Why, then, should anyone be engaged in the promotion of confusing teaching in the New Church, since we know that to be destructive of harmony in the world anywhere! Clearly it is no New Churchman's duty to teach anything but what is in essential agreement and accord with the Doctrines, which are the Supreme Law of the Church,-the New Church,-the only Christian Church there is. Permissibly the "heathen may rave" in their madness of self-made gods and the doctrines about them, not being capable of the reception and perception of what is real; but with New Church people there is no excuse for such delinquency of faith or futility of reasoning about the Truth, in the face of its Possession in the Doctrines. Adherence to the Doctrines, and not dissension from them, is the object sought in the New Church. Who will dispute it?

     The exclusion of the Doctrines from public worship and instruction,-the Doctrines upon which the New Church is founded,-is seemingly the height to which human reasoning can go in fatuity. He or they who can tolerate it, even in theory, should be compelled to demonstrate its usefulness in furtherance of the universal Divine end,-the spiritual generation of a sane and rational race of men out of the fallen breed that now is so grievously shaming the fair face of this earth. If such can successfully demonstrate to others the advantage of excluding our God-given New Church Doctrines from public worship and instruction, without which we shall be as the heathen, groping in the dark among the pitfalls, by all means let us see and hear it. Unquestionably the feat would be interesting to witness. But if they fail, and cannot satisfy genuine reason in this, they stand branded as spiritual fakers who, if they could, would deceive the very elect,-that is, the Truth Itself.

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     The Doctrines, being the Divine Truth interiorly contained in the Scriptures, as the blood is contained in its arteries, constitute the very fountain of life and knowledge truly such, by which the New Church is radically different and unique, when compared with any other, not only on this globe, but throughout the endless universe. So great, in truth, is its distinction, and this solely on account of its marvelous Doctrines, given to no other. From this very inadequate appraisement of them, it can in a measure be perceived of what stuff the mind would be made that could conceive of dispensing with so precious and essential a knowledge in the work of either private or public instruction, as suggested in some of the letters here under review.

     The Lord's own answer, when tempted by the devil, is the only befitting reply to such a proposal,-"Get thee behind me, Satan!" For evidently the Doctrines were given with a view to their universal use in the enlightenment of a benighted world by the Lord.
     Sincerely yours,
          L. C. KNUDSEN.
2415 Bunker Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, June 5, 1931.
WRITINGS AS THE WORD 1931

WRITINGS AS THE WORD       R. B. CALDWELL       1931

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     The June issue of the LIFE is one that we all should read, because of the interesting letters quoted from THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, on the subject of a Lesson from the Writings in worship, if for nothing else. Many years ago, in Canada, we were repeatedly told to read and reflect upon the Writings, not as works telling us about the Word, but as the Word. If our friends in England who wrote those letters would take this advice from a distant Province, and practice it, I am sure their troubles in this connection would disappear, and they could then take up some other important subject. Of course, they would find some trouble at first in regarding the Writings as the Word, and not something written about the Word-for instance, numbers 8695 and 10028 in the Arcana Celestia; but if they will persevere, they will succeed, as Englishmen always have.
     R. B. CALDWELL.
Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 15, 1931.

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

     On Friday, May 29th, the day of my arrival at MIDDLEPORT, OHIO, a doctrinal class was held in the evening, with an attendance of eleven. The subject was the teaching that if there were not a Word, no one would have any knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, of the life after death, and still less of the Lord. (S. S. 114.) The following day instruction was given to five children. Part of the time we spoke of the approaching Nineteenth of June. It was a pleasure to find that the older children knew that this day is the anniversary of the establishment of the New Church. (T. C. R. 791.) At the service on Sunday there were sixteen present, of whom eleven partook of the Holy Supper. Among these was Miss Emme McQuigg of Columbus. In the evening we again had class, at which there was presented the doctrine that when man goes to the Word to learn from the Lord, he is there taught directly by the Lord alone. (D. P. 171.) Still another class was held on Monday evening, at which we spoke on representatives and appearances in heaven. (H. H. 170.) As ever al Middleport, there was manifested an earnest and affectionate interest in the Heavenly Doctrines.

     During a few days' visit to CINCINNATI, two evening classes were held, the attendance being five and seven respectively. At one of these our principal consideration was the doctrine that teaching from the Word comes none the less directly from the Lord because it is effected by means of instruction from others. (D. P. 172, iv.) It was brought out that the truth there stated, if not balanced by other teachings of the Writings, might lead to erroneous conclusions. Teaching given must be received in freedom, and must appeal to reason as being the truth of the Word. Even in the heavens it happens at times that someone dissents from what the preacher says and turns away his face (H. H. 223); and in the church on earth also there must be freedom to differ from the priest (H. D. 318). Nevertheless, the church can prosper only if there be confidence in its teachers.

     At DETROIT, a service was held on Sunday, June 7th, with an attendance of nineteen. In the evening, at doctrinal class, there were fifteen present. The subject considered was, that only by revelation from the Lord can Divine Truth be among men. It was shown that the modernistic idea that man can discover truth for himself, and that the Bible is nothing else than the record of man's progressive discovery of God, is utterly erroneous. What man evolves arises in his proprium, and can be only falsity. On Monday afternoon, at WINDSOR, ONT., instruction was given to five children. Here, as at Middleport, the older ones knew how great a day the Nineteenth of June is for the New Church. It is indeed gratifying to find children of the isolated so well instructed by their parents. In the evening a class was held, attendance five, at which the doctrine concerning space in heaven (H. H. 191) was read and considered. On Tuesday evening there was again class at Detroit, when the truth that man must be led and taught by the Lord alone was demonstrated to reason, and confirmed by Swedenborg's experiences in the spiritual world, and by passages from the Word.

     On Wednesday evening, June 11th, a class was held at CLEVELAND, attendance fire. Our topic was the doctrine that Divine Truth in the sense of the letter of the Word is in its fulness, in its holiness, and in its power. (S. S. 37.)

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It is such because the spiritual and celestial senses are simultaneously in it. With a New Churchman these two prior senses, as given in the Writings, cannot be separated from the sense of the letter; nor can the sense of the letter be separated from them. Together they are the Word of the Lord for the New Church. After the class, until a late hour, there was an interesting discussion of many doctrinal subjects.-The next morning I called on Mrs. Rouette Cranch and her daughter, Miss Edith.

     Thursday, the 12th, began the visit at ERIE. That evening and the following the subject of the classes was the Word as it is with the angels of heaven. The similarity of the written Word in the celestial heaven to the Hebrew led to a consideration of the wonders of that language, into the
very letters of which and their sequence the internal sense enters. Knowing this, we can more fully understand what is meant by the Lord's fulfilling every jot and tittle of the Word. On Saturday evening we had another class, at which I presented the doctrine concerning the surroundings of the angels as corresponding to and representing their internals. At these classes the attendance was progressively eleven, twelve and thirteen. At the service on Sunday the Rite of Confirmation was performed for Mr. Frederick Cranch. The attendance was sixteen, of whom nine partook of the Holy Supper. We were pleased to have with us at all our meetings Miss Alma Johnson of Bryn Athyn, who was visiting her parents. The state of the church at Erie is most encouraging and promising.-Two days were then spent with Dr. and Mrs. Weibel, members of the Cleveland Convention Society, at their summer home near Erie.

     Wednesday and Thursday, June 17th and 18th, I was at NILES, OHIO, with Mr. and Mrs. Williamson. The second evening we had a class, attendance two, at which we considered the disorder and danger of faith healing of bodily diseases.

     Friday, the 19th of June, at PITTSBURGH, it was my privilege to address the school at its closing exercises, and afterwards to attend a picnic of the Society. Dr. Iungerich and I then spent the evening together until midnight, when I left for home.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The closing exercises of our Day School were held on June 19th, when the Rev. F. E. Waelchli gave the children an inspiring address on the subject of the Sending Out of the Twelve Apostles in the Spiritual World. The pupils of the school then received the usual awards and honors. Following the exercises a picnic was held in Frick Park for the congregation, children and friends.

     At the Sunday service on June 21st, the Rev. F. E. Waelchli delivered a sermon appropriate to the celebration of the Second Advent of the Lord. On the following Sunday, June 28th, the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal preached on the subject of Love Towards the Neighbor, his text being taken from the story of the Good Samaritan.

     The Annual Meeting of the Sons of the Academy opened on Sunday evening, June 28th, with a supper attended by the members of the congregation and about ninety guests. Rev. W. B. Caldwell, the Academy's representative, delivered the address of the evening on "Spheres of Faith," which was much appreciated by all, and aroused interest and discussion. On Monday morning, at a session of the Sons, Mr. Frank Wilson, of Toronto, read a paper on "The New Church Doctrine of Use as the Basis of an Equitable Economic Structure," which was followed by an extended discussion. Mr. Sydney E. Lee then read a paper in which he drew a picture of an ideal, self-supporting New Church Community, and this also was discussed. In the evening, Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn addressed the Sons on the subject of "Industrialism," his paper being discussed by a number of speakers.

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     Tuesday morning and afternoon were devoted to business sessions of the Sons of the Academy, and the meetings came to a close with banquet in the evening, with a program of speeches and entertainment furnished by the local chapter. A full account of the occasion will appear in the Bulletin of the Sons of the Academy. The Pittsburgh Society welcomed about eighty men and ten women guests, and we hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we enjoyed having them. The Women's Guild sponsored the serving of luncheons and dinners for the men, and the committee is to be congratulated upon the excellence of the meals, and commended for their able work under the trying conditions of very hot weather.

     A number of the visitors remained for the wedding in the evening of July 1st, when the marriage of Miss Ruth Schoenberger to Mr. Eugene C. Glebe, of Bryn Athyn, was solemnized in the church, the Rev. E. E. Iungerich officiating. In the wedding party were: Miss Freda Schoenberger, maid of honor; the Misses Joan Schoenberger and Elizabeth Fuller, bridesmaids; and Mr. Fred E. Merrell, best man. Mr. Ulrich Schoenberger Rave the bride away. The gowns and bouquets were most attractive, and the church was simply and tastefully decorated with green vines and candles. The ceremony was followed by a reception in the auditorium. Mr. and Mrs. Fred E. Merrell, with their two sons, came from Cincinnati for the wedding.
     E. R. D.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     On the afternoon of June 12th, the parents, former pupils, and other friends of the Immanuel Church School met to mark the day when another group of boys and girls came to the end of the eight years' work in our elementary grades. Our regret at seeing them depart was softened by the expectation that they will all return to form a ninth-grade class next September. In the course of the exercises, the teachers and pupils gave thanks for the opportunities of the past year, and the pastor addressed words of farewell to the graduates. The school sang several part songs, led by the instructor in music, Mr. Jean Rydstrom, and it was a noteworthy event to find grammar-school children trained to the degree of singing four-part songs. We then listened to papers on variety of subjects chosen from the secular and religious instruction of the graduating class: Virginia Cole, Barbara Gyllenhaal, Jean Foster, Aileen King, Raymond Lee, James Melter, Robert Riefstahl, Jean Rydstrom, and Arnold Smith.

     At the close of this program the guests adjourned to the schoolrooms to study examples of the year's work displayed there. A very heavy rain had made it difficult for many to reach the building, but the sun obligingly came out in time for numbers of photographers to record the day in pictures, and to allow us to enjoy the tea and ice cream served by the older children on the lawn in the court of the parish hall. Many members of the society remained until dinnertime to discuss our achievements in New Church education from many angles.

     Our celebration of New Church Day was especially notable, as it involved three days, and the members of Sharon Church celebrated with us. On Friday, June 18th, a religious service for the children was held in the forenoon, their elders being invited also, and attending in large numbers. This service was followed by a picnic lunch supplied by the committee in charge. At the banquet on the evening of June 19th, our jovial friend, Mr. Harold McQueen, was toastmaster. A novel feature was a symposium on the question of what is the greatest blessing our Church enjoys. The written answers submitted covered a variety of subjects, such as: "Greatest blessing, the Writings; second, more people to read them." Many of our folk made a holiday of the three days, although no formal event was scheduled on Saturday until the Pageant at 5.30 p.m.

509


This was a representation of events from the Word, outlined and made up by our pastor, Rev. Gilbert Smith, his assistant, Rev. Norman Reuter, and the Rev. W. L. Gladish, pastor of Sharon Church. A large, trained band of wind instruments was engaged to furnish the incidental music, with Professor Rydstrom leading.

     The school children in their robes, followed by the people, marched into the church to the music of a processional march played by the band seated in the court. The brief service included the singing of the Anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb," and the 24th Psalm. To the music of a recessional march all then retired to seats arranged on the grass, before which the representations were given.

     The general theme was the Expounding of the Doctrines by the Twelve Apostles. These were first seen converging to the church as their meeting place, whence they issued, two by two, with attendant angels. And each group, in turn, halted and enunciated one of the several Doctrines: The Lord, The Word, Life, Faith, Redemption, and Conjugial Love. The groups were robed in different colors according to the significance of each, and bore emblems or offerings appropriate to the representation. The trumpet called between the appearances of the several groups, and a voice from within enunciated the doctrine. As the groups passed in review they lined up facing the congregation. With the green carpet of grass and background of trees, and with their distinctly colored robes and attendant angels, they made a beautiful and impressive sight.

     The Sunday service, with its special choir, marked the third day of the celebration, and was attended by a capacity congregation. The three participating ministers developed the three-part theme of the service: The Ordering of the Heavens; The Establishment of the Church; and The Preservation of the Church through the Glorified Human of the Lord. The service closed with the administration of the Holy Supper.

     Independence Day, July 4th, was observed in the usual patriotic manner. A general display of flags furnished background for a colorful parade around The Park to the music of bugle and drum, with a formal flag raising on the new steel mast erected for the purpose. Novelty and other races for the children followed; then lunch for everyone, and in the afternoon a ball game-married men against single-and another ball game between ladies' teams, with the children manifesting partisan enthusiasm for their mothers in this game. There was dancing in the evening, and aquatic sports next afternoon.

     The Rev. and Mrs. Gilbert H. Smith and family have gone by auto to Vermont, where they will spend a vacation at the Potts' farm. During the absence of the pastor, his assistant, Rev. Norman Reuter, and Candidate Philip N. Odhner will officiate at services.

     Recent visitors in The Park have been: Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Salinas, of Mexico; Mr. and Mrs. Foster Krake; Mrs. Winfred Smith and infant son; Miss Volita Wells; Miss Jacqueline Fountain; Miss Dorothy Burnham; Miss Vida Gyllenhaal; Miss Alice Jane Ahlstrom; and the Messrs. Ralph Hicks, Theodore Doering, and Robert Blackman.
     J. B. S.

     FIRST CALIFORNIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY.

     Los Angeles, June 19-21, 1931.

     Friday, June the Nineteenth of this year, will not easily be forgotten by the members and friends of the General Church in California, who came together in Los Angeles to celebrate New Church Day. This occasion was marked by the holding of the First California District Assembly of the General Church, which, aside from affording the pleasure of again seeing our friends from other parts of the State, and of making the acquaintance of new ones, will long be remembered by those present as the first and happy beginning of similar assemblies which we hope may succeed this one in the years to come.

     The formal opening of the meetings took place at a banquet on Friday evening.

510


A delicious meal was arranged by Mrs. F. G. Davis, at whose home this festive gathering was held. Arriving from far and near, 40 persons were soon seated at the four supper tables, which were nicely decorated. When the meal was over, the Rev. Hendrik W. Boef welcomed all present in the name of the Bishop of the General Church, and communicated to them the greetings and good wishes which he sent to this Assembly. Mr. Beef then expressed his regrets that Bishop Pendleton was unable to be present, and informed the Assembly that he had been appointed by the Bishop to preside over the meetings as his representative.

     After the singing of a song to "The Church," Mr. Boef presented a paper on the subject, "What Should Be Our Attitude Towards The Old Church)" [See September issue of New Church Life.] The teaching of the Writings concerning the consummation of the Old Church was first given, and the General Church's unconditional acceptance of that teaching was emphasized, together with the absolute necessity of separating from the Old Church for the sake of the establishment of the new and distinct Church of the New Jerusalem. It was then pointed out that the General Church does not pursue policy of hatred, which scathingly passes judgment upon the internal state of Old Churchmen, and that though this may be the attitude of fanatical New Churchmen, who minimize others in comparison with themselves, the General Church, while insisting upon separation for the sake of distinctive New Church life, still maintains a charitable attitude toward those who are not of the Church.

     Discussion.

     Mr. R. S. Davis spoke upon the importance of making a distinction between individual members of the Old Church and its doctrines, and stated that we should consider each Old Churchman upon his merits, without passing judgment upon the state of his soul, which the Lord alone knows.

     Mr. F. G. Davis pointed out our need of being prepared to present our Doctrines to Old Churchmen, as a means of introducing them to the Writings, and of meeting their arguments. He considered it would be a good thing to be furnished with a clear-cut set of propositions and answers with which to meet them.     

     Mr. Boef said that it is impossible for us to have such a set of ready-made answers to meet the arguments of Old Churchmen, because each individual instance has a problem of its own. Arguments of Old Churchmen, however, can be met at any time by him who has a clear understanding of the Doctrines of the Writings. He then stated that it is useless to argue about spiritual things unless the opponent shows that he is interested in learning spiritual truths; and that when we are questioned by a man who is intent upon defeating us in an argument, we should plainly state what we believe, leaving it to him to accept it or not.

     Mr. Bundsen gave an instance of recent experience when he needed to know what to say in order to satisfy the questions of a business acquaintance who had never heard of Swedenborg.

     Mr. Boef directed our thought to the teaching that the Lord's Divine Providence is over every man, and that there are innumerable ways by which the Lord seeks to save all men. We should, therefore, try to approach Old Churchmen in the hope of helping them to regenerate. While the Writings are given directly for the benefit of those who have them, still, from a general knowledge of them, we can impart to Old Churchmen much that can be of value to them.

     Mr. W. N. Dibb said that the question of arguing religion with a stranger was hardly the point. The stranger asks questions, and is looking for information, not for an argument. All that is necessary is a plain statement of the facts regarding Swedenborg and the Church, as a means of introducing him to the Writings.

     Mr. Boef was of the opinion that the most effective way of presenting the teachings of our Faith to Old Churchmen is by contrast.

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This is difficult unless we know what the Old Church teaches, and are also acquainted with the Doctrines of the New Church. If we commence by stating our own beliefs, they will sound so rational that Old Churchmen will agree with us, and it will appear as if nothing new is taught in the New Church. But if we are able to show Old Churchmen first what their Church teaches, and get them to admit it, then we can contrast our faith with theirs, so that they will be able to see the difference. This is also a very effective way of putting Old Churchmen on the defensive side of the argument, and of interesting them in the new teachings of the Writings.

     Saturday Evening, June 20th.

     A session of the Assembly was held at the Church Rooms, attended by fifteen adults, most of whom were visitors. Mr. Boef read a letter he had received from the Bishop, who pointed out the established order followed by the General Church with regard to the calling and holding of District Assemblies. Mr. Boef then said that he had appointed Miss Evangeline Iler to act as Secretary of these meetings to record the Minutes. Greetings were conveyed to the Assembly from the Revs. F. E. Waelchli and L. G. Jordan, who both expressed their good wishes, and their regrets at not being able to attend the Assembly. Mr. Jordan, however, very kindly sent a paper, which was now read to the meeting by Mr. Boef.

     Mr. Jordan's paper was entitled, "Who is a New Churchman?" and contained a wealth of interesting ideas, the fruits of long experience in the ministry of the New Church, and of reflection upon his contact with New Churchmen during that time. The paper also conveyed the writer's perception of the reality and nearness of the spiritual world, and his deep affection for the Writings which bring that world so intimately close to us. In it he drew a clear distinction between what constitutes a good Old Churchman, a pseudo-New Churchman, and a genuine New Churchman.

     After the discussion of this paper, in which appreciation of it was unanimously voiced, most of those present went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Davis, where a delightful and lively party was held until late in the evening.

     Sunday, June 21st.

     Divine Worship on Sunday morning was attended by thirty-six persons, thirteen of whom partook of the Holy Supper. The Pastor, choosing Daniel 7:27 for his text, taught in his sermon that the Church of the New Jerusalem, foretold in that passage, is a new and visible manifestation of the everlasting Kingdom of the Lord. He gave instruction about the fact that the Lord's government is both visible and invisible. Although it may at times appear that His Kingdom ceases to exist upon earth, still He rules invisibly and imperceptibly over the destinies of all men.

     Picnic Luncheon.

     Pleasant weather contributed greatly toward making the picnic, which was held after the service, a very delightful occasion. At this last gathering of the Assembly lunch was served in the garden of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Klippenstein. Sitting in small groups at tables under the trees, all those present, thirty-nine in number, enjoyed a delightful repast. The rest of the afternoon was spent in conversation and visiting together, while the children and young people played ball games. This affair ended the social activities of the Assembly, which also included several informal gatherings at the homes of the Los Angeles friends.

     The Roll of Attendance from the various places in California, including adults, young people and children; was as follows:

     Trona: Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Davis; Edward and Charles Davis. Palo Alto: Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Bundsen; Jerry Bundsen. San Diego: Mr. and Mrs. W. N. Dibb, and two children.

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Long Beach: Mrs. Abram Klippenstein; Mrs. G. Grisham, and three children; Mr. Edgar Klippenstein; Miss Margaret Klippenstein; Emery Klippenstein. San Dimas: Mr. and Mrs. Lawson P. Cooper and daughter. Glendale: Mrs, C. J. Orff. Los Angeles: Rev. and Mrs. Hendrik W. Boef; Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Davis; Jean, Richard and Ruth Davis; Mrs. M. K. Douglas; Miss Margaret Hansen; Miss Evangeline Iler; Miss Viola Iler; Mrs. E. Jackson; Mr. and Mrs. Peter Klippenstein, and three children; Miss Laura Matthias; Mr. Edward Matthias; Prof. Kurt Mueller; Mr. and Mrs. Wm. O'Brien; Miss Adamae-Smith; Mrs. E. Stoll; Miss Mildred Stoll.-Total, 48.
     HENDRIK W. BOEF.
CORRECTION 1931

CORRECTION              1931




     Announcements.


     In the June, 1931, issue, page 447, column 1, the Award of the Sons of the Academy Gold Medal should read to Andrew Doering, instead of Roger Doering, as there stated. [Corrected.]

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OLD CHURCH 1931

OLD CHURCH       Rev. HENDRIK W. BOEF       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          SEPTEMBER, 1931          No. 9
     THE OLD CHURCH: WHAT SHOULD BE OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS IT?

     (Delivered at the First California District Assembly, June 19, 1931.)

     The General Church of the New Jerusalem is a distinct and independent church organization of men and women who implicitly believe in the Word of God as contained in the Old and New Testaments and in the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and who, having faith in the Lord's Word, try to the best of their ability to understand its Divine Teachings, and to live according to its Doctrines in all the planes of life.

     The belief in the Writings of the New Church as the Third and Last Testament, whereby the Lord Jesus Christ has made His Second Coming, involves a humility of heart and mind without which no man has the right to call himself a New Churchman. It involves a humility of mind from which there is a willingness to submit one's self in all things to the Divine Authority of the Word, and a humility of heart from which there is a willingness to be governed in all things of life by the dictates of Law and Order from the same Word

     How much is dependent upon this genuine, internal humility, which is a true humility when it springs forth from love to the Lord, is seen when we consider that where this state is lacking in men the Second Coming of the Lord cannot be effected with them, and the genuine Church of the New Jerusalem cannot be established in their inmosts. Unless men accept the Sacred Scripture in its Three Testaments, acknowledging it with no reservations of any kind as the Word of God in its fulness and power, the New Church exists in name only.

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The growth of the visible Church of the New Jerusalem depends upon this straight-forward acknowledgment, even as the disintegration of bodies, and the spiritual death of men who bear the name of that Church, is due to the denial thereof. This is so, because in that case it is the proprium of man that reigns in the Church, and not the Lord.

     The General Church of the New Jerusalem is founded upon the open, fearless, uncompromising, and whole-hearted acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Writings, which are the Divinely appointed means whereby the Lord not only manifests Himself in order to effect His Second Advent, but through which He also speaks to those whom He calls to His New Church that He may lead them. It is this faith of the General Church that has made possible the unity, order, and freedom, as well as the internal and external growth, which are marked characteristics of our Church. At the same time, it is due to this open-hearted and uncompromising acknowledgment of the Writings, as an integral part of the Lord's Word, that slander and persecution have been the portion of those who, receiving the Writings as the greatest gift of God to the human race and to themselves, staunchly proclaimed and defended the New Doctrines, even where poverty and the breaking up of family ties and the loss of friendships were the bitter consequences of their faith.

     The Writings proclaim the oneness of God in the sole and individual Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the Divine Itself becomes visible. In unmistakable language they at the same time refute the false idea of a tripersonal godhead which, together with all its derivative false doctrines, worship, and evils of life with those who proclaim that idea as their picture of God, has caused the downfall and consummation of the Christian Church. In the Writings the history of all the churches which have existed on earth, even from earliest times, stands Divinely revealed. In a most singular manner they expose to view the internal loves, motives, and reasonings of the men of those churches, showing their frail, weak, and imperfect natures, as well as the infinite mercy, love and patience of God in dealing with them.

     The Lord, in His Divine mercy, pardons and excuses all men. No one is ever condemned by Him. No one is ever punished mercilessly for the evils of his nature.

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And, in a wider sense, no church is doomed to consummation and death by the Lord, who never withdraws His Divine love and protection from any man or body of men. Yet it is most certainly true, and according to the teaching of the whole Word, that all the churches outside of the New Church of the Lord, which is a universal church, have been consummated, have died a spiritual death, and still exist only as to their skeletons, which are dead rituals, inane worship, false doctrines and principles of life, and having for leaders clergymen whose minds are closed to the spiritual world, and who, like their laymen, live in the most profound ignorance of the nature of the true God, the Word, and eternal life.

     "The state of the Church, in general, is this: In process of time it departs from the true faith, until at length it ends in no faith. When there is no faith, it is said to be vastated. This was the case with the Most Ancient Church, among those who were called Cainites; so likewise it was with the Ancient Church, which was after the Flood; so likewise it was with the Jewish Church, which was so vastated at the time of the coming of the Lord that they knew nothing of the Lord, and that He was about to come to save them; much less did they know anything of faith in Him. So likewise it was with the primitive Church, which was after the coming of the Lord, and which is so vastated at this day that there is not any faith in it. Nevertheless, there always remains some nucleus of the church, which those who are vastated as to faith do not acknowledge; even as a residuum remained from the Most Ancient Church until the Flood, and was continued after the Flood, which residuum was called Noah." (A. C. 407.)

     From this and other passages in the Writings, as well as from many statements in the Scriptures, it will be clear to a reader of the Word that the teaching of the Academy of the New Church, and of the General Church,-that all churches in the world, outside of the genuine Church of the New Jerusalem, are the consummated and dead remnants of the Most Ancient, the Ancient, and Christian Churches,-is by no means an invention of those bodies, but solely an acceptance in faith of the teaching to that effect found in the Word. In truth, if it were not for the Writings, which shed abroad the light of heaven upon the internal states of men, thus exposing their very ends, men at this day would not know the real state of the fallen churches, but would be deceived by outward appearances.

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No one would know that "in the Church which is called Christian there is scarcely anything of charity and thence of faith remaining; thus the consummation of its age is now at hand." (A. C. 4535.) In another passage we read:

     "It does not appear to those in the church that the church is such, namely, that they contemn all things which are of good and truth, and that they are averse to them, and bear enmities against them, and especially against the Lord Himself. For they frequent temples, hear preachings, and are in something of holiness while there; they go to the Holy Supper; and they occasionally converse becomingly among themselves about these things. The evil do this as well as the good. They also live among themselves in civil charity and friendship. Hence it is that, in the sight of men no contempt is visible, much less aversion, and least of all enmity against the goods and truths of faith, nor thus against the Lord. But these things are only external forms by which one seduces another; whereas the internal forms of the men of the church are altogether unlike their external forms, and even altogether contrary to them. The internal forms are here described, and such they are.

     "Their quality appears to the life in heaven; for the angels attend only to things internal, that is, to ends or intentions, and to the will and thoughts thence. How far these differ from what is external, may be manifest from those who dome from the Christian world into the other life. For in the other life are the internals alone, according to which those there think and speak; for the externals are left behind with the body. There it is manifest that, although they appeared so peaceable in the world, they nevertheless held one another in hatred, and held in hatred all things which are of faith, and especially the Lord. For when the Lord is merely named before them in the other life, a sphere, not only of contempt, but also of aversion and enmity, manifestly exhales from them, and is diffused. even from those who in appearance spoke piously of Him, as also from those who had preached. So likewise when charity and faith are named.

     "They are of such a character in the internal form, as is manifested there, that if external restraints had been removed while they lived in the world, that is, if they had not then feared for their life, and feared the law, and especially if they had not feared for reputation with a view to the honors which they thought of and affected, and to the wealth which they coveted and desired, they would have rushed, one upon another, from intestine hatred according to efforts and thoughts, and, without any conscience, would have seized the goods of others, and also, without conscience, would have murdered others, and especially the innocent.

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Such are Christians at this day as to their interiors, except a few whom they do not know. Hence it may be evident what is the quality of the Church." (A. C. 3489.)

     This quotation from the Arcana Coelestia is a typical example of how the Writings give an interior view of all things, penetrating beyond external disguises and appearances, and revealing in the light of heaven the real nature of individual men, as well as of organizations of men constituting a church. The Writings are absolutely unique in their power of penetration into the hidden and secret recesses of the minds and hearts of men, and this because they were written by Him, who "seeth in secret." And so it is that a genuine reader will find in them, not an abusive and scathing condemnation and denunciation of the Old Church, which depicts her in an unfair light, throwing scandal upon her, so that men may despise her; but in the Writings, as in the rest of the Word, is found a statement of facts,-facts in respect to the nature of men and of churches as seen by the Lord Himself. The picture of the churches in both worlds, as now given in the Word, in its fulness, is the picture which they present to the Lord. And this is now revealed to men, particularly to those who are to belong to the Lord's New Church, for the sake of their salvation from such evil states.

     The members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, in their acceptance of the Writings as the Word of God, cannot exclude one single passage of those Writings from the Divine Authority of the whole. They accept the doctrines in regard to the fall and death of all churches and religiosities, as well as those concerning the spiritual inanity and lethal state of pagans and all the irreligious beyond the pale of organized churches. They accept all such statements of the Word as infallible truths, because it is the Lord Himself who makes those statements.

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     To be more explicit, no priest of the General Church, and no one of its members, can help it that the state of the Old Church is such as the Writings declare it to be. He cannot help it, any more than he is responsible for his own inherited evil nature, which is nothing more than the consummated Old Church in himself. Yet, in all uprightness, and in justice to himself, would he not be a coward,-a spiritual and moral weakling,-if he willfully set out to condone the corrupt nature of his unregenerate loves and thoughts by simply ignoring them, or by enveloping himself in a veil of external goodness and charm that would deceive others as well as himself! And may we not say the same of any New Churchman who willfully, and from sentimental reasons, ignores or denies the truth that the Old Churches are dead, with no hope of spiritual resuscitation? Is not such a man blind? And is he not utterly stupid to allow himself to be deceived by the outward appearances of external friendliness and courtesy which are displayed by both the good and the evil in the world?

     Is it not a spiritual law that a man cannot be regenerated unless he faces his evils and falsities squarely, and shuns them in will and thought? And is it not likewise a law of order that, unless the state of the Old Church be known and seen, a man cannot separate himself from it? And would it not then be utterly impossible for the New Church to be established as a new Church,-new and distinct in its conception of the Divine Person of the Lord, new in its worship, organization, religious and social life, according to the Lord's words, "Behold, I make all things new"? Yea, to ignore or deny the absolute consummation of the Old Church would not be unlike the folly committed by a doctor of medicine who fails to make a thorough diagnosis of the case before prescribing a cure, with the result that the patient is not healed, but continues to suffer, and finally dies.

     This fatal mistake is committed by those who know of the New Church, but who believe in the so-called "doctrine of permeation," whose erroneous belief is, that now, after the Last Judgment, the whole of the Old Church is gradually becoming impregnated with the Divine Truths of the Lord's Second Coming, and is thus becoming a part of the Lord's New Church upon earth. How insane this notion is, may be perceived by comparison if we consider what would happen to a sick man if he were given a wholesome meal that is designed for a healthy person.

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Aside from this consideration, that "permeation" view is branded as false in the Word: in the Old Testament, in the historical parts, as may be seen from the story of the Exodus; in the New Testament, in the Lord's saying, "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles; else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." (Matt. 9:16-17.) And we are taught in the Writings that "the interiors of the Word are now opened because the Church at this day is so vastated, that is, so devoid of faith and love, that, although men know and understand, still they do not acknowledge, still less believe, except the few 'who are in a life of good, and are called the elect, who may now be instructed, and among whom the New Church is to be instituted. But where these are, the Lord alone knows; there will be few within the Church; it has been among the gentiles that previous new churches have been set up" (A. C. 2986.)

     Many are deceived by the signs and movements they observe in the Old Church, thinking that the abandonment of the old creeds, movements toward reunion, broad-mindedness with respect to the sciences, and the external works of charity, as well as the insistence upon patriotism and morality, are evidences of the improvement of the heart, or of the descent of the New Jerusalem. But that this is certainly not the case is very evident when, in the confession of the faith of such men, we seek for the essentials that constitute the genuine, internal Church of the New Jerusalem.

     Let us ask the following quest-ions: "Is there anywhere in the world, outside of the Church of the New Jerusalem, the straight-forward acknowledgment that there is one God, who alone is the Creator, Redeemer, and Savior? that He is one, and one Person only? that He, the one Divine Man, is the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the Infinite dwells bodily? that He, the One and only God, has made His Second Advent? Do we not find, instead, the grossest ignorance and blackest darkness in regard to Him! And where, outside of the New Church, do we find a knowledge of the Internal Sense of the Word, which is the living Voice of God! Do we not see rather that men find the Word a book sealed, incoherent, and incomprehensible, full of unsolvable mysteries!

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Do we not observe that some believe in it blindly, being unable to tell wherein its Divine origin and form lies! Where, or in what church outside of the Church of the New Jerusalem, are men in clear light with respect to the spiritual world? Is there not the most profound ignorance about this? Are not the most foolish and superstitious tales told about man's lot after death? What do spiritists know, except that they see fantastic appearances, and hear voices that tell nothing? Where are men taught to shun in will and thought the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, because they are sins against God! If there is no evidence that these vital things exist in the Old Church, how can we then say that it is a part of the Heavenly Jerusalem?

     It is with heavy hearts indeed that genuine New Churchmen note the state of spiritual death which reigns universally in the world. Those who enter the New Jerusalem in adult age through the gate of Baptism, as well as those who are born within the pale of the organized church,-all of them, when they are given to see the wonders of the Lord's Second Coming, wish nothing more than to spread that knowledge to others. But what a disappointment awaits them, when, in their pity of the utter state of spiritual desolation they find in the world, they try to break bread with the men of the world-the bread of life given them by the Lord in His now opened Word! The utter indifference to spiritual things which they find,-yea, the denial of the true God and aversion to His Word,-do these not testify to the truth, thus confirming the fact that the Old Church is consummated and dead!-a truth which every good-hearted man is loath to accept! Then the utter materialism, and the superficial interests which men pursue in their dead externalism,-are not these a baffling and incomprehensible thing to the spiritual man, who shudders at the thought of the meaningless, empty life of most people? Unbiased observation most certainly confirms the dicta of the Writings in regard to the state of the Old Church, which is a state of spiritual death, on account of which we read in the Book of Revelation, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached up unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Rev. 18:4-5.)

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     It is in obeisance to the will of the Lord that those belonging to the General Church have separated themselves as far as possible from the Old Church. Nevertheless, it must be clearly understood that this separation is made for the sake of the establishment of the Lord's New Church, and not from any sense of individual superiority over Old Churchmen. This separation is absolutely necessary, because the Faith of the New Church is so diametrically opposed to that of the Old Church that, if they are brought together, neither can continue to exist. Yea, what is more, should New Churchmen remain in the Old Church, neither Old nor New Churchmen would be in freedom to worship their God as their doctrines teach they should. The descent of the New Jerusalem from God out of heaven would be utterly impossible, for the Divine influx which effects this through the open acclamation and proclamation of the Heavenly Doctrines would be suppressed by the deadening sphere of denial and indifference.

     The organized, independent New Church is absolutely necessary. There only can men be openly disposed and prepared to receive the Holy Spirit of the Lord in His Second Coming. There alone is it possible for men to see the Lord in His Second Advent, and enter intellectually into the wonders of His Word, that they may be reformed and regenerated as to their very spirits, and that thus the New Jerusalem may become an actual Church on earth,-the Kingdom of the Lord. It is for those reasons that the General Church insists upon distinctiveness and separation from the Old Church in all things. Certainly, none but noble motives could justify such a separation in the sight of God. He who leaves the Old Church with a heart full of hatred toward her members, thinking himself to be too good to associate with them, is most certainly not freed from the sphere of hell, in which conceit, revenge, and other evil loves, lie concealed.

     We must separate from the Old Church, but with no other motives than for the sake of acquiring freedom of worship, freedom to lead a distinctive New Church life, freedom and protection to educate the young whom the Lord entrusts to us, that they may be led to heaven; above all, that our Revelation in the form of the Lord's Word may be guarded untainted, and may be preserved for oncoming generations, and taught in ever-increasing light.

     It is in the Divine Providence that we have been born upon this earth, and it is according to the Lord's will that we should live upon it.

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Some of us were born of Old Church parents, who most solicitously loved us and dared for us. Most of us make our living as employees of Old Churchmen. All of us live in countries under Old Church governments, which give us protection and religious freedom. It would be vain to attempt the enumeration of the benefits we enjoy through the efforts of Old Churchmen, atheists, and pagans. Shall we then, as New Churchmen, look down upon any of them? Shall we look upon Old Church acquaintances, friends, yea, parents and brothers, as upon enemies? Shall we be haughty, and despise them? Is it not right to say that any man who is guilty of such thought or action is utterly unworthy of the name New Churchman!

     That the Old Church is spiritually dead, we cannot help; but what we most certainly can help is our attitude toward those who are not members of the New Church. Let us remember that we are forbidden to pass judgment upon the internal of anyone, for this the Lord alone sees and knows. No man has the right to pass judgment upon the internal character of another. Nevertheless, for the sake of the public welfare, men must judge their fellow citizens by their outward conduct and speech. It is according to the way in which a man acts, and according to the things which he speaks, that we either can or cannot associate with him. If a man observes honesty in business, why should we not deal with him? If a man conducts himself like a gentleman, why should we not associate with him! If a magistrate governs faithfully, and a judge administers the law with justice, why should we not honor them? At the same time, who in the world, who strives for internal goodness and uprightness, does not shun the company of a thief, a liar, a murderer, or one who is manifestly wicked? It is for the same reason that every upright New Churchman shuns the company of him who is a confirmed atheist, or who, in his life and speech, practices and believes such things as are not only opposed to the faith and life of the New Church, but are manifestly destructive of the Lord's Kingdom.

     In order, therefore, that our separation from the Old Church may be of eventual benefit to the members of that Church, and of lasting spiritual value to ourselves, it must be based upon other grounds than hatred, despisal, ridicule, haughtiness, and, the most unjustified thought of all,-that we are better in any way than those who are not New Church.

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Of this also, the Lord alone, who sees the heart, is the Judge.

     If we see the necessity of a truly distinct Church of the New Jerusalem; if we see the necessity of separation from the Old Church, because the New cannot be established therein; then, in order that our Church may become a genuine part of the New Jerusalem,-of the New Kingdom of the Lord upon earth,-let us practice our truly distinctive Doctrines in every step of our lives. Let us worship the Lord in the manner in which our Doctrines teach us to worship Him. Let us educate our children in a New Church way. Let us strive under all circumstances to protect and preserve the dignity, the innocence, and the beauty of marriage, that love truly conjugial may grow in our hearts; let us shun, condemn, and oppose everything that is destructive of this love, in which heaven itself finds a resting place. And, in our daily contact with Old Churchmen, let us practice honesty and chivalry. Let us, when necessary, fearlessly express the things we hold sacred, and in which we believe, resolutely refusing to go one step in doing or something we account as a sin against God.

     If a New Churchman practices his faith, wherever he may be, he will find that the Doctrines which make his faith, and the works of genuine charity proceeding therefrom, which involve the shunning of evil and falsity, are a wall of great strength, which not only protects him, but also separates him from those who are evil at heart, while, at the same time, his New Church speech and conduct will invite the admiration and friendship of those who are good at heart.

     It is the good that we should seek,-the good that is expressed in the life and speech of both Old and New Churchmen, yea, in all the things whereby they make themselves useful; and only with this good should we conjoin ourselves; just as much as we should shun the company and the works of those who, by manifest evil actions, false and profane speech, make it impossible for us to associate with them. Wherefore, if we, as New Churchmen, seek the establishment of a new and distinctive religious, civil, and social life; if we seek the establishment of distinct New Church communities; we pursue these ends, not because we hold in contempt and disdain any man who does not profess our faith, but because among those who are of our Church we find it possible to worship our Lord whole-heartedly in a sphere of freedom that strengthens us in our faith and life; because among them we can practice our principles of religion, to their benefit and our own, inasmuch as they are receptive of the fruits of such a life; and because among them we find a genuine appreciation of the goods and truths of the Lord's Word to His New Church, through which He now manifests Himself at His Second Coming to reestablish His Divine Kingdom among men.

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CHARACTER OF OUR THOUGHTS 1931

CHARACTER OF OUR THOUGHTS       Rev. F. E. GYLLENHAAL       1931

     "And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand! Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." (Matthew 15:10, 11.)

     The Lord was near the Sea of Galilee. Multitudes had gathered to Him. He had taught them, and had healed many people. Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem had gained the chief positions near Him. They had come seeking cause for accusing Him to the rulers. As was their custom, they questioned Him: "Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders! for they wash not their hands when they eat bread." The Lord replied, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" and cited a notorious instance of such transgression. Then He took advantage of the incident to teach the people." And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand! Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."

     Thus did He answer scribes and Pharisees. But His reply was incomprehensible, even to the disciples; for later Peter said, "Declare unto us this parable." The Lord replied, "Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?

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But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." (Matt. 15:15-20.)

     The Gospels of Luke and John do not mention this incident, but that of Mark contains a fuller account of it. The verses there parallel to the text read, "And when He had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand! There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." Then, together with His disciples, He entered a house, where the disciples asked Him to explain the parable, which He did, saying, "Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him, because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats! That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemies, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man." (Mark 7:14-23.)

     Truly this was doctrine new to scribes, Pharisees, multitudes, and disciples! Yet the Lord had previously given similar doctrine, when He said, "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things! for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But 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." (Matthew 12:33-37.) And later He uttered the terrible denunciation: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

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Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matthew 23:25-28.)

     The scribes and Pharisees in particular, but also the people and the disciples, should have known this doctrine, for it had been repeatedly given by Moses and the prophets. We find it in such statements as these: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5.) "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living as I have done." (Gen. 8:21.) "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9.) It is also apparent in the exhortations, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:2, 10.) "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" (Jeremiah 4:14.)

     The Lord, when in the world, explained spiritual things by natural ones. We need not speculate as to the degree of comprehension enjoyed by the multitudes and disciples when they heard His parable concerning that which goeth into the mouth and that which cometh out, and His explanation of its meaning. We are concerned with its lesson for us. What can we learn from it? How may we apply its doctrine to our lives! Does it come to us as a rebuke for any obstinate adherence to, and defense of, a tradition of the elders of our church? To eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. Not that which goeth into the mouth, but the evil thoughts which proceed from the heart, these defile a man.

     The spiritual explanation of the parable evidently relates to a man's thoughts. It shows the character of the thoughts of every man, and reveals the nature of the Divine judgment of them.

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It teaches the double origin of thoughts, and points to specific subjects of thought which are condemned by the Lord, and are consequently to be shunned by man.

     The point of the parable and its explanation lies in the double meaning of the mouth, or in its double use,-its use in the consumption of food, and its use in giving utterance and thus effect to the will and thought of the mind. There is no danger of any spiritual defilement of the real man in the works of the function of eating but there is danger of such defilement in the functioning of the mind by the mouth.

     All the things that enter the thought from the world by the five senses, and from the memory by recollection, correspond to food entering the mouth. Whatever may be the character of these impressions and ideas, they do no injury, provided they are not taken into the will. Consider the ugly disgusting, abhorrent, filthy things which meet the eye, or come to the ear, or enter the thought by another of the five senses. When they are recognized as of that character, it is because the man is opposed to them, because he does not love them, and because he desires to shun them. But they enter his thought, first directly from the world, later from his memory. He cannot keep them out of his thought, because they are in the world and he is in the world. Nor is it desirable that they should be shut out from his thought, as it is essential that he should know about them, and to a degree should experience them, in order that he may shun the inclination to them which is part of his nature. But such things, after entering the thought, when they do not enter further into the will, are cast out again, or are separated entirely from the spiritual man, just as food is cast out of the body. Not only has no harm been done, but good has been done; for the Lord has extracted good for the soul from the evil things which entered man's thought, just as the brains extract good from that food which enters the body and is cast out again.

     It is altogether otherwise when the thought comes from the will. In such case, if the thought is of a certain character; if it is about things which are evil and false; if it is about that which Divine Revelation declares abominable and to be shunned; then it defiles the man; it pollutes and destroys his mind; and it kills all the spiritual in him.

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     The fact is, that the love is the real man. The seat of love, or its inmost dwelling place, is the will. But love is always going forth always striving to exercise and satisfy itself. Love conjoins itself and clothes itself with the things of the understanding,-with thoughts,-and, thus arrayed, sets forth for its enjoyment. And as love is not only a simple unit, but also a complex of innumerable affections, one or another of which temporarily predominates over the others, and stamps its character upon the man, so he has many desires within the ruling, constant one. Therefore the multitudinous things which enter the thought are regarded by innumerable lively affections; and that which predominates at the moment seizes upon the idea or thought that is in agreement with it, and clothes itself therewith. When this is the case, that thought enters into the will, or is said to enter the will. Love and thought are then said to be "conjoined." And if they are both opposed to the Lord and the neighbor; if they are contrary to the Ten Commandments; the product of the conjunction is called "sin," and this defiles a man.

     The Lord condemned the lust which is hereditarily in man's old proprium, and also that which is acquired during life in the world. The text and its context show the relative influence of heredity and environment,-that an evil environment does not necessarily injure the soul, but that hereditary evil brought forth into act does injure the soul. "Not that which goeth into the mouth, but that which cometh out, this defileth a man." The story also shows the difference between evil and sin, and teaches that evil condemns a man only when he does it with delight, which is when he acts from the will and understanding conjoined.

     And because the Lord's condemnation was of the lusts of men, we may see how the story is related to the ninth and tenth Commandments of the Decalogue. Its internal sense is like that of the last two Commandments, which read, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." The general internal sense of these Commandments is, that heed is to be taken of the loves of self and the world, lest the evils which are taught in the preceding Commandments become of the will, and then go forth from it into speech and act. (A. C. 8909.)

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     We are to watch our thoughts, and to note what enters them. The danger lies not so much in the nature of that which enters, but in the character of that which constantly occupies the thought, and which goes forth, or endeavors to go forth, in speech or action, or in both together. External surroundings are not a matter of greatest concern, nor are the things which come from outside man, but rather the things from within, or the affections and lusts. We should ever be on guard against our lusts, in order to shun them. And evil things are brought to our notice by entering the thought, either immediately or from the memory, for the purpose of enabling us to know just what lusts we have, in order that we may shun them, and thus get rid of them. We could not know them, except for such experiences. Therefore the experiences are not to be deprecated, although they are unpleasant to anyone who is trying to regenerate. Evil thoughts are unpleasant to a man who is striving to live well and to think purely. But they do not defile him; on the contrary, they are essential to his ultimate regeneration. The Lord enumerated the lusts which do defile man, and it is for us to shun them, not only in act, but also in thought, and in the will to think and do. "Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." Amen.

LESSONS: Ezekiel 33. Matthew 15:1-20. D. Life 42-45.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 534, 624, 762.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 58, 90, 87.

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UNITY IN VARIETY 1931

UNITY IN VARIETY       Rev. F. W. ELPHICK       1931

     (Presidential Address to the Second South African Assembly, Durban, June 20th, 1931.)

     The great use and ideal of "Assembly" is that there may be opportunity for the gathering together of those who possess a common love for and faith in the New Church. It is an occasion for the revival of the affections and a revivifying of the understanding, in order that the life and the faith of the New Church may progress in the warmth and light of Revelation from heaven. An Assembly is a spiritual feast, a church festival, and "a diversion of charity." (T. C. R. 434.) It is an assembling of many minds, who, receiving the influx of good and truth variously, bring variety, and yet in this variety a unity,-unity in the whole-hearted acceptance of the two great universal doctrines of the New Church: "The acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue." (A. R. 491.) "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments." (Psalm 133:1-2.)

     Unity in variety-or the converse, variety in unity-is a spiritual law and a natural law. It pertains to the Divine. It can be seen in God's Creation and in His Redemption. It enters into the construction of all Divine Revelation; it abides in the spiritual and natural composition of Life; it modifies and qualifies Faith. With the aid of Divine Revelation, this law can be seen by faith, which is spiritual sight. With the aid of natural sight, augmented by microscope and telescope, it can be seen in the theater of natural creation. It is a law which cannot be avoided. If it is studied, and at the same time perceived, its application guards the affections and guides the intellect.

     On this occasion, therefore, we propose to review briefly the four principal doctrines of the New Church according to this law. These four principal doctrines are: (1) The Doctrine of the Lord. (2) The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture. (3) The Doctrine of Life.

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(4) The Doctrine of Faith. These are the four spiritual cardinal points of the whole of the New Church Theology. Taking each doctrine in turn, the endeavor will be made to show how the law of unity in variety affects each one.

     1. The Doctrine of the Lord.

     It is known to everyone embracing the Faith of the New Jerusalem that the first doctrine is that there is one God. This doctrine is the very corner stone of faith; for the initial acknowledgment of one God enters into and qualifies every conceivable doctrine and derivative thought therefrom. That this is true is confirmed by the following: First: "The entire Holy Scripture and the doctrine therefrom of the churches in the Christian World teach that God is one" (T. C. R. 5-6); and second: "That there is a universal influx from God into the souls of men that there is a God, and that He is one." (T. C. R. 8.)

     It is also a truth that in God there is a Divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These make a one, as the soul, body and operation make one in man. (T. C. R. 166-9.) This, then, is the first and initial example of the law of unity in variety. There is indeed a unity, and yet, from doctrine and from reason, each of these essentials can be viewed doctrinally as three separate essentials-each essential possessing a different use, a varied use, from the other; and yet in the Divine they are One Thing-a Divine Unity.

     It is further known that in thinking of three separate Divine Persons,-an idea formulated and set into a definite creed at the Council of Nice in the year A. D. 325,-many discordant and heterogeneous ideas respecting God have arisen, which are called in the Writings " fantasies and abortions." (T. C. R. 183-4.) Indeed, this creed is a doctrinal source of that "abomination of desolation" which the Lord foretold in Daniel, in the Gospels, and in the Apocalypse. (T. C. R. 179-81.)

     Now the doctrines of the New Church teach men how they are to think of the Trinity. Men are called upon to think in a new way. They have to discern variety and see unity-trinity in unity. This trinity and unity is seen from the varied names of the Lord. Thus in the Doctrine of the Lord is the following:

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     This Trine is also referred to in the Word under distinct names; just as we refer by distinct names to soul, to body, and to that which proceeds from them, which, however, taken together, form a one. In the sense of the letter the Word is of such a nature that things which form a one it distinguishes from each other as if they did not form a one. This is why Jehovah (who is the Lord from eternity) is sometimes called "Jehovah," sometimes "Jehovah of Armies," sometimes "God," sometimes "the Lord"; and at the same time He is called "Creator," "Savior," "Redeemer," and "Former," and even "Shaddal"; and His Human which He assumed in the world, "Jesus," "Christ,'' "Messiah," "Son of God," "Son of Man"; and, in the Word of the Old Testament, "God," "Holy One of Israel," "Jehovah's Anointed," "King," "Prince," "Counselor," "Angel," "David." (L. 55.)

     The "Holy Spirit" is identified as the "Spirit of Truth," "The Comforter," and the "Holy Spirit." (L. 51.)

     Thus, in the consideration of the supreme doctrine of the New Church, it is possible to perceive the varieties of qualities residing in and making the Divine Oneness-the Unity of God.

     The law of unity in variety operates in God's creation. To enlarge upon this theme would lead away from the main purpose of this discourse, but the following quotation from the God-fearing philosopher, Swedenborg, may well represent the law under consideration. In the Principia he writes:

     "No world can exist, rich in the variety of its phenomena, without first passing through a succession of states and of intervals of time; through a succession of changes and contingencies; through modes or modifications; through series of successive and coexisting phenomena; also through connections of series, and repeated separations and connections; whence arises the perfection of its compositions. . . . Variety is the perfection of the world. If there had been only one or two kinds of elements, other things, such as ether, air, fire and many others would not have come into existence. Without ether, there would be no light; no rays-distinguished by degrees of shade; no beautiful variety of colors, no visual organs adapted to receive them, and share their pleasurable impressions with the soul. If there were no air, there would be no undulation to set the tympanum of the ear in harmonic motion; neither voice nor articulate sound; neither melody nor harmony to soothe the senses and the soul; no breath for the lungs; there would consequently be no animal or animal kingdom; no human being, except one devoid of every sense, and lower than the brute."

     After reviewing, in like manner, the three kingdoms of nature,-the mineral, vegetable, and animal,-Swedenborg says elsewhere:

     "In these kingdoms the varieties are so great that chemistry and the physical sciences labor, as it were, under the accumulation of the phenomena.

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Were, however, any part wanting, the world would cease to be so perfect; for some part would be deficient in the order of connection; some link deficient in the chain. Hence the perfection of the world consists in its variety." (Animal Kingdom, Part III, Vol. 2.)

     Such is the principle of variety as discerned by Swedenborg, and such the evidence of the preparation of a mind into which the varieties of a rational Divine Revelation were ultimately to be revealed to men, enabling them, if they wish, to realize the workings of an infinite God, and His mercy to men as their Creator, Redeemer and Savior. And when he later returns to this theme of variety in the pages of Divine Revelation, we read the following in the True Christian Religion:

     "In the created universe no two things can be found that are identical. That no such identity can be found in things simultaneous has been rationally seen and proved by human learning, although the substantial and material objects of the universe, viewed singly, are infinite in number. And that no two effects can be found that are identical among things successive in the world may be inferred from the earth's revolution, in that the mutation of its poles forever prevents a return to any former position. This is also dearly evident in human faces, in that throughout the entire world there can be found no one face that is precisely like or the same as another, nor ever can be to eternity. This infinite variety would be impossible except from an infinity in God the Creator. No one person's disposition is precisely like that of another; from which comes the saying, 'Many men, many minds'; and so no one's mind, that is, his will and understanding, is exactly like or the same as another's; and in consequence the tone of any man's speech, or thought in which it originates, or any act in regard either to movement or affection, is never exactly like another's; from which infinite variety again can be seen as in a mirror the infinity of God the Creator." (T. C. R.32. See also D. P. 56.)

     In these quotations the theme of variety is uppermost. Where the unity? In the first case the Christian philosopher Swedenborg refers to God's world as the unit. He shows that the perfection of this unit-the world-consists in its variety. In the second quotation-a passage from Divine Revelation-the theme of variety is used to illustrate the infinity of God, of God the Creator,-the One Creator. Hence can be seen the law of Unity in Variety, and of Variety in Unity. Moreover, is not all the philosophy here referred to expressed in the words of Holy Writ? Yes. Among others, the 8th Psalm comes to mind: "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, . . . O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!"

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     We have now briefly examined this law of unity ill variety as applied to the doctrine of the Lord, and the aspect of the Lord as God the Creator has been considered. Let us now turn for a moment to the doctrine concerning the Lord the Redeemer.

     In passages of the True Christian Religion and the Doctrine of the Loud, we find that the mind has again to train itself to retain several doctrines regarding the Passion of the Cross-the final act of Redemption. In brief summary these doctrines are:

     1. "The Lord came into the world, in order that He might glorify His Human, that is, unite it to the Divine which was in Him from conception."

     2. "The Lord came into the world, in order that He might set up a new church which should acknowledge Him as the Redeemer and Savior, and be redeemed and saved through love to Him and faith in Him."

     3. "He at the same time reduced heaven into order, so that it made a one with the church."

     4. "The passion of the cross was the last combat or temptation, by means of which He completely conquered the hells and fully glorified His Human." (L. 3.)

     The Lord was willing to be tempted even to the passion:

     1. "Because He was the essential Prophet; and the prophets formerly signified the doctrine of the church from the Word; and therefore the state of the church was represented by them in various ways."

     2. "Because the Lord was the Word itself, He, as the essential Prophet, represented in the passion of the cross the Jewish Church in its ways of profaning the Word."

     3. "That thereby He might be acknowledged in the heavens as the Savior of both worlds; for all things pertaining to His passion signified things pertaining to the profanation of the Word; and while men of the church understand these naturally, the angels understand them spiritually." (T. C. R. 129.)

     In the New Church, then, it is clear that several ideas, a variety of reasons, are given as to why the Passion took place. This is not so in the Christian Church of today. Owing to the confusion, of three Divine Persons in the Godhead, Revelation tells: "The belief that the passion of the cross was redemption itself is the fundamental error of the church; and this error, together with the error respecting three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church, to such an extent that there is nothing spiritual left in it." (T. C. R. 132.) It should be noted that the whole doctrine of the Passion is treated of in the Prophets of the Old Testament, from Isaiah to Malachi. (L. 3, 4.)

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     Now it may be asked: Why recapitulate such well-known doctrines? But here it may be pointed out that the theme before us is not so much these doctrines as doctrines, but if the principle of unity in variety be seen, and if there be a perception to see variety in unity, then, perchance, further light will be thrown in the elucidation of the problem of "doctrine" which, from time to time, will naturally come to pass in the "instauration" of the New Church and her " spiritual science." (See Preface to Four Doctrines, Standard Edition, Translated by the Rev. J. F. Potts.)

     2. The Sacred Scripture.

     We now pass to the second spiritual cardinal point of the New Church-the doctrine of the Sacred Scripture.

     It is well known that the Scriptures are composed of Divinely inspired writings. The Lord has always revealed His truth to men by means of men. In such revealing there is unity, and there is variety. The unity is the end or purpose. The variety is the mode of accommodation of that end or purpose. The purpose is the salvation of the human race and the formation of a heaven from the human race. The mode, method and form of that purpose has been various according to the states of the church with men. In summary, therefore, this mode or method has been in this wise: First, the perception and internal dictate granted to the men of the Most. Ancient Church; then the written Ancient Word; then the Old Testament; then the WORD INCARNATE; then the New Testament; and finally, the crowning revelation of the New Church,-the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine.

     In passing, however, it is useful to note the gradual formation of the Old and New Testament. This may be summarized as follows:-"The Lord said to Abraham"; "And God said unto Moses"; "The Lord spoke to Joshua"; "The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh"; "The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord." After the prophets, ending with Malachi, the Lord Himself assumed the Human, and abode among men; for He was "the Word made flesh." The record of the Lord's works and sayings was made by men,-by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; while the foretelling of the New Church was given by the Lord especially through John in the isle of Patmos.

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     Now the knowledge of such a sequence-such a variety of revelations-is known by means of the final and crowning revelation,-the revelation of the Second Coming. Without that revelation, men would not definitely know what has been revealed, how revelation has been given, the order in which revelation has been given, the dependence of one revelation upon the other; nor would men know wherein lies the fulness, holiness, and power of the Sacred Scriptures. Thus, when revelation is examined in its larger sense, it is found that it also follows the law of unity in variety. In the sight of the Lord, His revelations are one revelation; in the sight of men, revelation is seen in a variety of forms.

     It is the variety of these forms which is of special interest to the New Church. Here, however, attention will be directed to the Scriptures and the Scripture fulfilment of the Lord's Second Advent. In these, three great revelations can be discerned:

     1. The Old Testament.
     2. The New Testament.
     3. The Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

     It is these three great revelations which concern the New Church. They present a variety of form. When intrinsically considered, they have a variety of "plane" and a variety of use; and they are, truly, varieties of accommodations of Divine Truth, wonderfully and marvelously adapted to the infinite varieties of states and changes of states among men. Yet the whole conspires to a unity-unity in the two fundamental loves of heaven,-love to the Lord, and charity toward the neighbor; and, finally, unity in the Divine Source,-the Lord Himself, in Whom Love and Wisdom are a One.

     At this juncture it will be of use to bring into memory another series of doctrines which bear on the subject. This series pertains to the questions:

     1. What is the Sacred Scripture!
     2. What is the use of the Sacred Scripture?

     In answer to the first question, the Heavenly Doctrines inform, in summary:

     1. The Holy Scripture or Word is Divine Truth Itself.
     2. In the Word there is a Spiritual Sense, hitherto unknown.
     3. The spiritual sense is in all things of the Word, and in every single particular of it.

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     4. From the spiritual sense it is that the Word is Divinely inspired, and is holy in every word.
     5. The Sense of the Letter of the Word is the Basis, the Containant, and the Support of its Spiritual and Celestial Senses.
     6. Divine Truth in the Sense of the Letter of the Word is in its fulness, in its holiness, and in its power.

     In answer to the second question-the Uses of the Sacred Scripture-these are:

     1. The means of conjunction with the Lord and consociation with the Angels.
     2. The source of angelic wisdom.
     3. The Doctrine of the Church is to be drawn from the sense of the Letter of the Word, and confirmed thereby.
     4. The Church is from the Word, and is such as its understanding of the Word.

     To both these series, other truths, other doctrines, of the same series could be added, but sufficient has been given to indicate the variety of conditions pertaining to the Scriptures. Indeed, quotation has been made from a part of the "Contents" of the little work entitled The Sacred Scripture, as given in The Four Doctrines. A similar series occurs, as is well known, in The True Christian Religion (189-276). It is necessary that these series be kept in view, for there is yet another Series of truths which give another angle of vision. This series comes into mind by the question: "What is the Word?"

     The answer to this question is not a single definition-one settled phrase, limiting the thought to one idea-but the Doctrines of the New Church give a variety of definitions. Some of these definitions, in the terminology of the Writings themselves, are as follows:

     1. "The Lord is the Word." (T. C. R. 263; D. P. 172; A. R. 820.)
     2. "The Sacred Scripture is the Word." (S. S. 1-7; T. C. R. 189.)
     3. "The Word is the Divine Truth Itself." (T. C. R. 140, 190, 224.)
     4. "The Word is the Divine Proceeding." (L. 2.)
     5. "The Word is the doctrine of good." (A. C. 9780.)
     6. "The Word is the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love."
     7. "The Word is the doctrine of Divine Truth." (A. E. 612.)

     In addition to these definitions, it is also to be remembered that the Word "specifically meant is the same Word that was manifested by means of Moses, the prophets, and the evangelists." (L. 2.) The Writings also refer to this Word as "The Word of the Old Testament," "The Word of the New Testament" (A. R. 1935; A. C. 2005, 2900), and "Our Word" (S. S. 102).

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     Here we note the variety of ways in which the WORD can be described. Each way presents a different shade of meaning, a different mode of presentation; and this, in order that men may have freedom to search for and see the truth, as of themselves, without the influence of a credal statement which is to be believed and forced as a settled dogma for all time Indeed, the New Church is essentially a spiritual church, and its growth can only take place in a sphere of freedom, whereby man may have "spiritual freedom,"-a condition restored to him as a result of the Last Judgment. (L. J. 73.) Hence it is that the Revelation given to the New Church after the Last Judgment is of such a character as to present its doctrine in a form which encourages men to think from a variety of truths; yet, at the same time, it requires them to seek for a true and wise balance.

     And so, even in this matter of defining THE WORD, we find that this term is used in different senses, and is qualified by the context in which it is used, whether this context be in the Sacred Scripture or in the rational and philosophical statements of the Revelation of the Second Coming. Sometimes the term "Word" refers to the Lord's Divine Truth as a creative force-a cosmic force-actually creating the heavens and the earth. "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." (Psalm 33: 6.) Sometimes the Word is the voice of the Lord: "The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying." (Gen. 15. 1.) Sometimes it is the Written Word: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself." (Luke 24:27.)

     But what of the Revelation to the New Church, called "The Writings"? For this Revelation is based upon, and intimately associated with, the Sacred Scripture in every respect. What is this Revelation? What name shall be given it, to establish and confirm its Divine Authority?

     Again the mind is brought in contact with another series of truths,-a series of various declarations made by Emanuel Swedenborg, who actually and boldly declares himself to be the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Of these declarations there are many scattered throughout the Writings, but the following quotations must suffice for the present, considering that the theme before us is an attempt to compare groups of doctrines with each other, in order to vision their variety and unity:

     1. "In the New Church it is permitted to enter with the understanding and to penetrate all its secrets, and also to confirm them by means of the Word. This is because its doctrines are continuous truths laid open by the Lord by means of the Word." (T. C. R. 508.)

     2. "Anyone may see that the Apocalypse could never be explained except by the Lord alone, for the single words there contain arcana which could never be known without singular illustration, and thus revelation. Wherefore, it has pleased the Lord to open to me the sight of my spirit and to teach. Do not believe, therefore, that I have taken anything there from myself, nor from any angel, but from the Lord alone." (A. R. Preface.)

     3. "For several years I have talked with spirits and with angels; nor has any spirit dared or any angel wished to tell me anything, still less to instruct me, about any matter in the Word, or about any matter of doctrine from the Word; but I have been taught by the Lord alone, who was revealed to me. . . ." (D. P. 135.)

     4. "It has been granted me to perceive what came from the Lord and what came from angels. That which came from the Lord has been written, but that which came from the angels has not been written." (A. E. 1183.)

     5. "The Church which is called Christian has at this day come to its end. Therefore the arcana of heaven and the church have now been revealed by the Lord, to serve as the doctrine of life and faith for the New Church, which is meant by 'the New Jerusalem' in the Apocalypse." (A. E. 670.)

     These, and similar statements, have been read by diligent students of the New Church, with the result that a conviction has been established which may be summarized as follows:

     Since Divine Truth can only be given to men by Divine Revelation, and since the Revelation given to Emanuel Swedenborg was from the Lord alone, and not from a man, therefore the Writings given through Swedenborg are a Divine Revelation which contains Divine Truth and Divine Doctrine, or the Lord's Word to men. Since what proceeds from the Lord is Divine Truth, or His Word, therefore "the Writings are the Word" by means of which the Lord's Second Coming is made known and the New Church established.

     (In parenthesis, it may be added that here an attempt has been made to summarize a derivative doctrine which has existed in the Church for over 150 years; and yet, to day, men are not in agreement concerning it.)

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     Clearly, the phrase "The Writings are the Word" is the result of deductive reasoning-derived doctrine. The existence, moreover. of such a phrase, and the use of such a phrase, is due to the interpretation placed upon the one term "Word."

     We have now summarized the groups of doctrines respecting the Sacred Scripture. Definitions of the term "Word" have been given, and the declarations of the one who was the Divinely appointed means by which the Second Coming and the New Church are made known. Each group presents a series of truths from different angles. It may be asked: "Is there not a key-passage which suggests a happy, harmonious blending of the truths contained in those groups?" The reply is: "Yes, there is such a passage." It is found in the little work entitled The White Horse. In the last number thereof we read:

     "The term 'word' in the Hebrew language signifies various things, as speech, thought of the mind, everything that really exists, and also something. (A. C. 9987.) The Word signifies the Divine Truth and the Lord. (A. C. 4692, 2533, 5075, 9987). Words signify truths. (A. C. 4692, 5075). They signify doctrinals. (A. C. 1288.) The 'ten words' signify all Divine Truths. (A. C. 10688.)"

     If, then, the term "Word" can embody such a variety of meanings, it can be used-if one pleases-to designate the Writings given through Swedenborg as "The Word." For the thoughts of the mind expressed in those Writings are not of man, but of God.

     But the Revelation of the Second Coming can be described by other phrases, and is often so described. For examples, it is called

     "The Heavenly Doctrine," "The Revelation of the Second Coming," "The Writings," "The Sacred Writings," "The Third Testament," "The Latin Word," "The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem."

     Again, if the thoughts expressed in the Writings are from the Lord, showing men in rational and logical language more clearly the nature of His Love, the nature of His Wisdom, the nature of His Providence, the nature of His permissions, the nature of His Word-verily a fulfilment of the prophecy, "But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in parables, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father" (John 16:25),-then a further derived doctrine comes into being, namely, that the Writings have relation to the Divine Human.

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     Surely, in all these varieties of expression, unity can be discerned!-the unity of conviction that there is now among men a Revelation of Divine Authority! Indeed, in the Invitation to the New Church it is said: " This (disclosing of the spiritual sense) excels all the revelations which have been made since the creation. . . . Through this revelation there has been opened a communication of men with the angels of heaven, and there has been effected a conjunction of both worlds." (Inv. 44.)

     Since, then, the term "Word" possesses a variety of meanings, it behooves all to realize how this term is used, and to ascertain how and wherein it relates to what precedes and what follows, whether this be in the Divine ultimate of truth in the Sacred Scripture, or in the rational form of Divine Truth in the Heavenly Doctrine. A careful diction is called for. All truths have relation to each other, for there is always the law of "two or three witnesses." Hence, any theory, any doctrine, which uses the law of substitution of terms-substituting the term "Word" for the term "Writings"-needs extreme care and thoughtful study. Such a law of substitution, if applied, may do one or other of two things: it may lead to new perceptions of truth; on the other hand, it may lead to new fallacies. The law of opposites can never be avoided.

     Moreover, if "thought of the mind" (W. H. 17 above) is a condition which, under certain circumstances, has relation to the Scripture or to the Heavenly Doctrine, then the realization must come that derived doctrine from these sources can never be the Word per se. Everyone receives revealed truth, or revealed doctrine, differently. It is reception which causes variety. (A. C. 3890.)

     Hence, when that revealed doctrine is received by an individual, and when that doctrine is loved and applied to life, that doctrine becomes the Word of God to that individual. But this reception and consequent perception, if expressed to another individual, may not be the Word of God to that other. And so there must necessarily be the common recognition of a first source,-that absolute foundation, which is "most universal of all." (T. C. R. 679.)

     From this brief survey, then, it would seem that it is the unity, the oneness of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, which is that "universal," and which causes "the conservation of the whole." (T. C. R. 679.)

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     The concluding appeal of this section, in which we have been considering "The Sacred Scripture," is that the three great revelations,-the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem,-in essence constitute one revelation. They are three great revealings of one God; revealings which are various in structure (T. C. R. 279; A. C. 9349:2; T. C. R. 154; A. R. 948); various in "plane" (A. E. 1079, 1066, 1024; T. C. R. 508); and various in use. This is so, in order that men at this day may, in freedom according to reason, enter the life and faith of the New Church, and thence the life and faith of the New Heaven. In this world the New Church will be variously received by men, even as it is variously received in heaven by the angels. Indeed, spiritually considered, the Seven Churches "which are in Asia" exist among men today, but before the Lord these Seven Churches are One Church; and in the widest sense the Lord's Revealing is ONE Revealing. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4.)

     3. The Doctrine of Life.

     Passing now to a brief consideration of the third spiritual cardinal point of the New Church-The Doctrine of Life-it is necessary to have in mind a clear distinction between what is meant by the "doctrine" of life and "life." It is possible to discourse upon the "doctrine" of life, for this is of truth, faith, doctrine, ethics; but "life," in itself, is love, and "love is the life of man." 1.) This life, or love, is the very will and affection of man, and it is not possible to write about it. That this is so is shown in the Apocalypse Explained where the spiritual meaning of the phrase, "and palms in their hands " (Rev. 7:9), is considered: "It is believed that there is good of thought also, although not of the will, since man can have in thought that this or that is good; yet it is not good, but truth. The thought that there is such a thing as good is a truth; and knowing and thus thinking that a thing is good is regarded as a truth; but when that truth in the thought is so loved as to be willed, and from being willed is done, then, since it belongs to the love, it becomes good." (A. E. 458.)

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     From this it is clear that the quality of the life is a matter of individual regeneration. Yet the Heavenly Doctrines indicate the truths-the variety of truths-respecting life, and which lead to the good of life. "All religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good." (Life 1.)

     The doctrine of life, however, is one with the doctrine of charity. What is charity? The Writings inform:

     1. "Charity is a spiritual affection which, for the most part, cannot be expressed in words, except in most general things." (A. C. 7131.)

     2. "Charity means love toward the neighbor and mercy." (A. C. 351.)

     3. "Charity is the affection of being of service to others without any end of recompense." (A. C. 3419.)

     4. "The life of charity is to will well and to do well to the neighbor; in every work to act from what is just and fair, and from what is good and true; in like manner in every employment; in a word, the life of charity consists in the performance of uses." (A. C. 8253.)

     5. "The life of charity consists in thinking well concerning others, and in willing well to them, and in perceiving joy in ourselves from the fact that others are saved." (A. C. 2284.)

     6. "The first of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils because they are sins against Him, which is effected through repentance." (Charity 1.)

     These are a few definitions of charity, as declared by revelation. There are many other definitions so given, and each describes one of the many forms of charity. And those who are in the life of charity will perceive that each definition is a truth-a spiritual axiom. How different from the ordinary ideas of charity in the world! For the most part, such ideas are limited to giving to the poor, supporting hospitals, and aiding all kinds of beneficent institutions. All such givings are good uses which should be done, but they are only a part of charity,-"the benefactions of charity." Essentially, such benefactions derive their interior quality from the kinds of charity that are described in the various definitions quoted above.

     Moreover, since charity is of life, it enters into all the obligations of life-all the uses of life; into the relationship of husband to wife, wife to husband; parents to family, and family to parents; for the family is the very origin of societary life. Charity also relates to the uses of society, to the country, to the church; and, finally, within all these uses, to the Lord's kingdom, and thus to the Lord Himself.

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     The operation of the law of unity in variety is also seen if the forms of government which exist in heaven be reviewed; for in the heavenly kingdom there is a variety of government, yet a unity of government. Thus it can be said that the government of heaven is monarchial; that it is a hierarchy, that it is aristocratic, democratic, individualistic, patriarchal. It will be asked: How can this be? It is a monarchy, because there is one King, the Lord, who is "King of kings"-the "King of Glory"! It is a hierarchy, because the Lord is the High Priest, and because He appoints all preachers in the heavenly kingdom. (H. H. 226; A. C. 1728.) It is aristocratic, since it is declared by revelation that the wise in a society are princes. (C. L. 11, 20, 266.) It is an aristocracy of love, wisdom and use-not of mere natural heredity.

     The government in heaven is democratic, because there are governors, few or many, according to the need of the society. 215.)* The government in heaven is individualistic; for each one of the infinite number of the angels has a character and personality of his own,-a character, moreover, so conjoined with that of his conjugial partner that the two, in spiritual distance, are seen as one. Indeed, the more closely anyone is conjoined to the Lord, the more distinctly he appears to himself to be his own, and the more clearly he recognizes that he is the Lord's. (D. P. 158.)
     * Note, here, that the method of selection is not mentioned in the Writings, as far as the writer is aware, and hence it would seem that our word "democratic" should be here used with reservation.

     The government in heaven is patriarchal; for in every house there is a master and there are servants. The master loves the servants, and the servants love the master. The master teaches how they ought to live, and tells them what is to be done. The servants obey, and perform their duties. To perform use is the delight of everyone's life. (H. H. 219.)

     Herein the variety of heavenly government, and its unity, reside in mutual love and love to the Lord. In a word, the government of heaven is the government of good, and this is the essential of the celestial kingdom; it is called "justice." It is a government of truth, and this is the essential of the spiritual kingdom; it is called "judgment." Throughout heaven it is a government of peace. "Of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it in judgment and in righteousness, from henceforth even to eternity." (Is. 9:11. H. H. 216.)

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"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you." (John 14:2.)

     Such is the unity in variety of heavenly government. And it is because the spiritual world is the world of causes, and the natural world the world of effects, that these various kinds of government exist in this world, though in very imperfect form. Indeed, it is the Lord's Divine Providence, and His permissions, that govern the unity, variety, diversity, and even estrangement, which are found in this lower sphere-the realm of human affairs. It is owing to the state of man, the existence of evil, the conditions of falsity, and the prevalence of the love of self, and the love of dominion from the love of self, that such forms of government in this world meet with overthrow, change, balance and compromise.

     History tells the tale. Given a knowledge of history-even the vivid picturings of the historical novel-and the mere mention of a few names will revive a memory of the changes affecting such forms. Note:-Monarchy: King John and the Magna Charta. Hierarchy: Roman Catholicism and the Reformation. Aristocracy: the French Revolution. Democracy: The break up or modified forms of kingship, and the demand for "a government of the people, for the people, by the people." Individualism: The great industrial wars. Patriarchal: The modern decay of Christian family-life, its survival in gentile tribe life, its upbuilding in the New Church. Indeed, the hope of restoration, the search for a true balance, rests with the New Church, and with the individual and collective effort to apply the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem to life.

     These conditions of life are here and now. It is in the distinctive, but not seclusive, sphere of the New Church that all the forms of government mentioned above have place and opportunity. It is from a study and application of true doctrine that the New Church Specific will provide the means whereby the true worship and love of God may abide in the hearts and minds of men,-the recognition of the "King of Glory." It is His Divine Truth, His government, which gives warning of the errors into which the Christian Church has fallen, and into which man, if left to himself, will ever fall.

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     It is the revealed truth of the New Church that will restore a true balance, since it is of Divine order that there will ever be apparently opposing forces-opposing, yet essentially mutual, and waiting for an orderly recognition on the part of man. There will always be heaven and earth, the spiritual and the natural, soul and body, intention and action, God and Caesar, reason and belief, science and religion, things ecclesiastical and things civil,-the Church and the State.

     For all these involve USES-uses which the Lord wishes shall establish His kingdom in the hearts and minds of angels and men. They are uses which are not opposites, but varieties. It is men who divorce those uses. It is for those who see the Divine Truth-the Son of Man-in the Revelation of the Second Coming so to shape their thoughts and conduct that there may be preparation for true adjustment, true growth from within, that there may be true growth from without.

     Again, it is within these uses that there is always the individual phase. It is in varieties of temperament, differences of personality and character, the infinite conditions of the natural memory, and the ever-varying abilities in recollecting, visualizing and recounting facts and events, that difficulties come. It is verily on this plane of ultimates that the test for charity comes into play,-the test for unity in a common cause. Indeed, just as it is said in the Writings that "friendship" is not charity, and that still less is politeness charity-these being a degree below charity (A. C. 1158); so bearance and forbearance, giving and taking, the faculty of placing ourselves in the position of our neighbor, are not charity in themselves, but are a degree below charity. Yet the more these are infilled with charity, the more sincere they are, and the more does mutual love really exist, and the more is the way opened for true unity among men.

     There will always be variety. It is a law of heaven. There will always be increasing variety; and the whole aim of New Church education, from kindergarten to university, is to develop well- balanced individuality. This is so because the principles of such education are based upon revealed spiritual facts. Yet, in this variety, men should seek and pray for unity; for this is the very "oil which flows down to the hem of the garment," to the very ultimates of life,-the daily task, the common round.

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     4. The Doctrine of Faith.

     In regard to the fourth and last spiritual cardinal point of New Church Doctrine-the Doctrine of Faith-it is known that this can be viewed, intellectually, as a separate entity, while essentially it is bound up with the Doctrine of Life. Truth is not truth unless it is conjoined with good; faith is not faith unless it is conjoined with charity; the truth of faith is not the truth of faith unless it is conjoined with the good of life. We have ever before us Cain and Abel, Peter and John; and there is ever the war with the Philistines and their giant Goliath. Moreover, faith and charity are not possible without acknowledging the Lord and His Word,-the Divine Truth which He reveals to men. "To believe in the Lord is to have confidence that He saves; and as only those who live rightly can have this confidence, this too is meant by believing in Him." "This is the Father's will, that everyone that believeth in the Son may have eternal life." (T. C. R. 2; John 6:40.)

     But faith can be analyzed. What is Faith? The Writings inform:

     1. "Faith is to see spiritually that God is." (T. C. R. 22.)

     2. "Faith is spiritual sight." (T. C. R. 346.)

     3. "Faith is the life of the understanding." (A. C. 10751.)

     4. "True Faith is action." (S.D. 2491.)

     5. "Faith is the affection of truth from willing the truth because it is the truth; and to will truth because it is the truth is the spiritual itself in man."

     6. "Faith is loving truth from heavenly love, and willing and doing it from interior affection." (H. H. 482.)

     7. "Faith itself, in the internal sense, is nothing else than charity." (A. C. 2261.)

     Such are a few definitions of faith, as declared by revelation. Many other definitions are so given; but sufficient has been quoted to present the idea that each definition describes one of the many ways of seeing what faith is.

     Since faith is an internal acknowledgment of truth, and since there is danger in the "faith of creeds" (A. C. 4690), it is clear why in the New Church there is no insistence upon set formulas of faith. The reason is, that such formulas bind the minds of men, and tend to destroy spiritual freedom.

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It is only in a sphere of freedom that the New Church can grow, and hence it is the practice, among those who are endeavoring to apply the principles of the New Church to life, to refrain from the formulation of stereotyped forms of faith. For example, in the rite of Confession of Faith, opportunity is given the candidate to express his or her own faith in his or her own words. A minister of the New Church is not restricted to the formal acceptance of "Thirty-nine Articles," but he is given the opportunity to express his faith and purpose in his own words. Granting that there is a perception of what the New Church is and teaches, such declarations will naturally conform to the universal and particular faith of the New Church as given in her Divine Revelation. (T. C. R. 2.) Indeed, the effort of the church should ever be mindful of not binding the future by human definitions of what is to be believed or done. This is to preserve freedom, spiritual growth, and allowance for the conditions of unity in variety. The New Church is essentially a spiritual church, and, in itself, is above all nationality and human organization.

     It therefore comes about that, when there is need for a united confession of faith, that confession is reduced to the simplest form of expression. For whatever may be the variety of ideas, perceptions and thoughts concerning the fundamental doctrines of the church, such as the Doctrine of the Lord, The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, the Doctrine of Life, and the Doctrine of Faith, the members of the New Church can say with unity of spirit, unity of thought, and unity of speech:

     "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and everlasting God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Redeemer and Saviour of the world.

     I believe in the Sacred Scripture, the Word of God, the Fountain of Wisdom, the Source of life and the way to heaven.

     I believe in the Second Coming of the Lord, in the Spiritual Sense of the Word, and in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

     I believe in the New Angelic Heaven, in the New Christian Church, in the communion of angels and men, in repentance from sin, in the life of charity, in the resurrection of man, in the judgment after death, and in the life everlasting."

     Such a confession, for the present age, seems to meet all needs. The distant future may bring another form, but the ideal is expressed in the Scripture itself in the words:

     "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

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And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:33, 34.)

     5. Conclusion.

     Now to conclude and sum up the whole. An endeavor has been made to trace the law of unity in variety, as applied to the four leading Doctrines of the New Church. An attempt has been made to balance groups of doctrines with each other, and this in order that we may see the beauty and harmony of the truths given to the New Church-truths for the amendment of life. It has been indicated that a variety of definitions is given in the Doctrines of the New Church,-a variety which lifts the rational mind of man into a new light. For in each principal doctrine there are various angles of vision, and these angles are Divinely revealed. In such vision we have briefly considered the doctrines concerning the Lord the Creator, the Lord the Redeemer, the Sacred Scripture, the Word, the Writings, Swedenborg's commission, Charity, Government and Faith.

     It will also have been seen that there has been entire reliance upon the Doctrines as given in the Writings of the New Church. But, no matter how philosophical, how didactic, or how rational those doctrines may be, it is: found that, in the end, such doctrines are confirmed by the Word of the Lord in the Sacred Scripture. For this Word contains all wisdom, all philosophy, all life. It is the very Ultimate of Divine Truth. Indeed, a Divine Revelation has now been given whereby the correct texts from the Sacred Scripture may be used for the confirmation of true doctrine. Without this Divine aid, men would still be in darkness, and would form wrong conclusions.

     Moreover, there must ever be the lamp of doctrine-a lamp which is now made from three great revelations,-the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. If the claim of the New Church is true, there must ever be doctrine in correspondential form, doctrine in representative form, doctrine in significative form, and doctrine in rational form.

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But if a lamp is to give light, there must be oil within the lamp-charity. It is charity which illustrates. (A. C. 6269.) Charity is the essential doctrine. (A. C. 4680, 6628, 1799.) When oil is present light is present,-light to guide our erring footsteps, and light to show the path of life. This light is the Lord's light; this oil is the Lord's oil,-His charity and love. "In Thy light shall we see light." Surely, with these three great revelations sending forth their resplendent light, and ever encouraging us to buy oil for ourselves, the New Church today can say, in unity and variety, the same words as the psalmist of old: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105.)
HEINE ON SWEDENBORG 1931

HEINE ON SWEDENBORG       ARTHUR CARTER       1931

     Few names are more eminent in the annals of German literature than that of Heinrich Heine, who was born of Jewish parents at Dusseldorf on the Rhine in 1797. He did not long retain the faith in which he had been reared, turning to agnostic habits of thought in the course of his desultory education. At the age of twenty-eight, believing nothing, he submitted to the rite of baptism into the Lutheran Church, in order that he might enjoy the privileges which German law denied to unconverted Jews. "I assure you," he wrote to a friend, "if the law had allowed stealing silver spoons instead, I should not have been baptized."

     Heine successively abandoned commerce and law to embark upon a career of literature and journalism. His success was pronounced and almost immediate. But whilst his productions never ceased to entertain, the reading public was as frequently shocked as it was delighted. His revolutionary tendencies and adoration of Napoleon having impaired his popularity in Germany, he forsook the Fatherland in 1831 for the more congenial atmosphere of Paris, where he resided until his death.

     In his adopted country, Heine found consolation for the abortive romances it had been his lot to experience in his native Germany.

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Several years after settling in Paris he met Eugenie Mirat, a saleswoman in a shoe store, whom he married in 1841, according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the fact that "Mathilde," as the poet called her, is described as ill-educated, vain and extravagant, she appears to have been an excellent wife. She stuck to Heine in evil as well as good fortune, and faithfully tended him throughout the long and trying period of his valetudinarianism. She survived her husband twenty-seven years.

     In 1848, Heine was stricken with a terrible spinal disease. For nearly eight years he lay helpless upon a couch, his "mattress grave," as he termed it, the use of his limbs gone, and wasted to a skeleton. His mind, however, remained unimpaired, and even to the end, under these distressing handicaps, he continued to pour out volume after volume of wonderful poetry and prose.

     Heine's religious views profoundly altered under the chastening influence of prolonged suffering. He renounced his agnostic philosophy, regretted much that he had written, and avowed his belief in a personal God, in the Bible, and immortality. At the same time it may be well to note that he acknowledged no church, and subscribed to no creed. Probably the best summary of his faith at the close of his life is to be found in his will, drawn up two years previous to his death, which occurred in 1856. It reads:

     "Although I belong to the Lutheran confession by the act of baptism, I do not desire that the ministers of that church should be invited to my burial; and I object to any other sort of priest officiating at my funeral. This objection does not spring from any sort of free-thinking prejudice. For the last four years I have renounced all pride of philosophy, and returned to religious ideas and feelings. I die in faith in one God, the eternal Creator of the world, whose pity I beseech for my immortal soul. I regret having sometimes spoken of sacred things without due reverence in my writings, but I was led astray more by the spirit of the time than by my own inclination. If I have unwittingly offended against good morals and the morality which is the true essence of all monotheistic doctrines of faith, I ask pardon of God and man."

     When Heine had been confined to his "mattress-grave" for approximately four years, he issued a volume of poems entitled Romanzero. And to the poems was added a postscript, autobiographical in character, which contained his impressions of Swedenborg, whom he evidently had read, or, more probably, heard read, as was his custom.

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The commencing and concluding portions of his remarks on the Swedish seer are fair enough, and possess an air of sincerity, but, in the midst of it all, his well-known vein of mockery asserts itself. He must have his little joke; in the present instance, that of dethroning saints and elevating sinners. The New Churchman will have no difficulty in discerning where the serious begins and ends, and where the comedy regurgitates.

     It is singular that the Romanzero postscript is virtually inaccessible to the English reader. An extended search discovers the fact that where it is not entirely omitted it is considerably excised. The version given below was taken down by the writer as it was translated offhand from the original by Prof. Needler of the University of Toronto:

     "Can it be that I actually exist? My body is so shrunken that there is hardly anything of me left but my voice, and my bed makes me think of the melodious grave of the enchanter Merlin, which is in the forest of Broceliande in Brittany, under tall oaks whose tops shine like green flames to heaven. Ah! I envy you those trees, brother Merlin, with their brave rustling; for over my mattress-grave here in Paris no green leaves murmur; and early and late I hear nothing but the rattle of carriages, hammering, scolding, and the jingle of the piano. A grave without rest, death without the privileges of the departed, who have no longer any need to spend money, or to write letters, or to compose books. What a melancholy situation!

     "But, calm yourself, we shall see each other in a better world, where I hope to write better books for you. I take it for granted that my health will improve there, and that Swedenborg has not been deceiving me. For he relates with great confidence that in the other world we quietly continue our old conduct just as we have carried on in this world, that we there retain our individuality unchanged, and that death produces no particular disturbance in our organic development.

     "Swedenborg is a perfectly honest fellow, and his reports concerning the other world are quite credible. He there saw with his own eyes the persons who have played a role upon our earth.

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Most of them, he says, remained unchanged, and busied themselves with the same things which had occupied them before; they remained stationary, became old, antiquated, or rococo, which occasionally took on a very ridiculous aspect.

     "Thus, for example, our good Dr. Martin Luther had remained stuck to his doctrine of grace, concerning which for 300 years he had been day after day writing down the same old moldy arguments, just as the late Baron Eckstein had one and the same article printed for twenty years in the Universal Gazette, and continually chewed over again the same old Jesuitical dough. But, as I have said, Swedenborg did not find all the persons who played a role here below in the same fossil state; they had, in the good and in the bad, thoroughly developed their character in the other world, which resulted in some very wonderful phenomena. Heroes and saints of this world had there sunk down to rogues and good-for-nothings, while also the opposite took place.

     "Thus, for example, good St. Anthony became inordinately proud when he learned what tremendous respect and veneration the whole of Christendom paid him, and he who here below had withstood the most terrible temptations became now a quite impertinent rascal and low fellow who wallowed in the mire like any swine. The Chaste Susannah was brought down disgracefully by pride in her chastity, which she thought impregnable, and she who had once so gloriously withstood the elders fell a prey to the enticements of young Absalom, the son of David.

     "However foolish they sound, still these reports are just as significant as they are keen. The great Scandinavian seer understood the unity and indivisibility of our existence, just as he also quite correctly perceived and recognized the inalienable rights of the human individual. Living on after death, is, with him, no imaginary masquerade, in which we put on new coats and a new man; man and costume remain with him unchanged. In the other world of Swedenborg, even the poor Esquimaux will feel comfortable, who once, when the Danish missionaries tried to convert them, put to them the question, 'Are there seals in the Christian heaven?' and, when they received an answer in the negative, replied that the Christian heaven then would not do for the Esquimaux, who could not exist without seals.

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     "How our soul rebels against the idea of a cessation of our personality and the idea of everlasting annihilation! The abhorrence of a vacuum, which we ascribe to nature, is native to the human mind. Be consoled, dear reader, there is a living on after death, and in the other world we, too, shall find our seals again. And now farewell, and if I owe you anything, send me your account."
NEW CHURCH DAY 1931

NEW CHURCH DAY       G. A. MCQUEEN       1931

     INCREASING OBSERVANCE IN THE CHURCH.

     Many memorable events are recorded as having taken place on the 19th day of June, but to the New Churchman none can transcend the institution of the Church on that day in the year 1770, when the Lord sent forth His Apostles in the spiritual world to preach the gospel of the Second Advent.

     An important stage in the development of the organized Church occurred when, on the 19th of June, 1876, a few men of the Church met at Philadelphia, and decided to publish to the world at large the belief that the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg contain a Divine Revelation, and are of Divine Authority. From this period it became customary in various centers of the Church to commemorate the institution of the Church in the spiritual world, knowing that the Church will be established on earth according to its increase in that world. The custom has been of slow growth, but there are signs year by year that the several organizations of the New Church are coming more and more to appreciate the use of making June Nineteenth a day of thanksgiving and praise, and that, in the future, New Church Day will take its place as a Church Festival, along with Christmas and Easter.

     The records show that the early celebrations took on various forms, such as banquets, brief religious services, picnics, etc., and that the underlying thought was that New Church Day was being celebrated because it was the Birthday of the New Church. It is interesting to note the many and distantly situated places where the celebrations have been held.

555


We find in the records that, in 1885, "New Jerusalem Day" was commemorated "in various but suitable modes" in Pittsburgh and Allentown, Pa., Brooklyn, N. Y., Urbana, Ohio, and Concordia, Kansas. In succeeding years we have reports of celebrations held in many parts of the world, including Argyle Square Church and Camberwell, London; Preston, Lancachire; Colchester and Southend in Essex; Stockholm, Sweden; Durban, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; Denver, Colorado; Middleport, Ohio; Arbutus, Maryland, and at other centers in the United States.

     As the observance of New Church Day increased, the idea that it should become a festival of the Church was emphasized. We learn that at Glenview, in 1901, "the celebration of the Nineteenth commenced with the Communion Service. At the Banquet in the evening, Pastor Pendleton (our present Bishop) said: 'Today we celebrate the institution of the Church in the spiritual world, not its foundation in the natural world. But beside this spiritual significance, there is a special sphere with us. A thousand memories throw a halo over the past, and make an inspiration for the future. The very essence of the New Church is felt on this occasion, as if the Lord drew nearer. The day should be sacred and holy, but also glad and festive.'"

     At the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy, held at Pittsburgh, June 19th, 1900, the Rev. W. L. Gladish said: "The 19th of June is the Birthday of the New Church. It would therefore be proper that the three feasts of the New Church should be Christmas Day, Easter Day, and New Church Day. The latter should be celebrated as a religious festival similar to the two others, and the Holy Supper should be administered on that day, or on the nearest Sunday."

     At the same meeting, Bishop W. F. Pendleton said: "In order that the festival might be complete, there should be two days, or even three. It should revive the spirit of the Church. The New Church needs revivals. In the Old Church they are seen to be useful, and in their true form they will perform a great use in the New Church. In the festivals of the Church, three elements should enter,-worship, instruction, and social life. It may be of interest to know that, when the Academy was founded on June 19th, 1876, the Holy Supper was administered."

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Several years prior to this meeting, Bishop Pendleton had already prepared a special form of worship for use on New Church Day. This was used in some societies in the year 1889; and his suggestion of a three-day festival has been carried out in some societies with great success.

     In the early days, New Church Day cards were made by many of our members, and sent to their friends with wishes for a Happy New Year. Some of the children made such cards, and exchanged them with one another. It is difficult to conceive what a deep impression was made upon the minds of the children by this ultimate form of remembering New Church Day. There could be no doubts in their young minds as to the reality of the New Church.

     And so the observance of New Church Day has increased, and will no doubt go on increasing, until the ideal of our late beloved Bishop is realized, and New Church Day will become a Holy Day of the Church.

     Probably the most effective influence toward bringing about a general recognition of New Church Day is that which emanates from those societies which never neglect the celebration. There are still people in the organizations of the Church, including some of the leaders, who ask, "Why observe New Church Day?" Such people might well ask, "Why observe Christmas Day?" or any other day. The Lord's first Coming; to redeem mankind is surely a day when the Church should rejoice. The fulfillment of His promise to come again to complete His work of salvation must appeal to all who realize that, without His Second Coming, "no flesh could have been saved."

     By precept and example, beginning with the children, may the Church continue to impress upon the minds of men the fact of the existence of the New Church, by seeing in ultimate form a commemoration of its beginning in the spiritual world!

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     Ezekiel and his Visions.

     The Book of Ezekiel, the third of the Major Prophets, is the subject of our Calendar from July into October. Ezekiel-who, like Jeremiah, was of priestly rank-prophesied in Babylonia, being one of many distinguished captives brought from Jerusalem as the second punitive measure of Nebuchadnezzar against rebellious Jewry, B.C. 598. Thus, in point of time, he forms a link between Jeremiah and Daniel. Ezekiel appears with scroll and inkhorn, the first literary prophet. Apparently he was not of so tender and compassionate a nature as Jeremiah, but was abrupt and heroic, of self-controlled emotion, uncompromising zeal, and "iron consistency"; and he was revered and consulted by the elders of his colony as a man of learning and wisdom.

     Ezekiel's first vision-of the four living beings (or cherubim) on their mystic wheels with all-seeing eyes (ch. 1)-suggests how awake the prophet was to the fact that the Lord, from His sapphire throne, ruled by His Providence the complicated movements of history (wheels within wheels!), and advanced the destinies of His chosen people, even through the victories of their enemies, and through the storm of woes sweeping down from the North. Spiritually, the vision presents the Lord as the Word.

     The name Ezekiel means "God will prevail," and signifies "the doctrine of truth." Hence Ezekiel is called by the title "Son of Man," and is given the task of exploring the state of the church. He foretells the fate of Jerusalem by laying himself in siege about an iron kettle, and symbolically enacting the famine and destruction of Jerusalem (chs. 4 to 7). He tells the vision of a visit to Jerusalem, describes the idolatries-Ishtar-worship and sun-worship-carried on in its temple (ch. 8), and depicts Zedekiah's flight and punishment (ch. 12). His wife (signifying the church) dies on the day the city is invested, but he is not allowed to mourn (ch. 24).

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     In a multitude of pictures and parables he seeks to arouse the Jewish remnant to repentance.

     In his vivid premonitions of the judgment of God against the nations is involved the story of the last judgment upon the various states of the pervert church: Tyre, left as a barren rock and a wrecked ship (chs. 26, 27:26-36); Egypt, like a crocodile dragged out of the river to die (ch. 29); Assyria, a felled cedar (ch. 31). But he also speaks of the restoral. He preaches the justice of God, and shows-for the first time clearly in the Jewish age-the individual's responsibility for his own salvation. As Dean Stanley points out, we find no trace of any doctrine of "substitution" in
Ezekiel, who is sent to show that the son will not die because of the sins of the father, but each soul lives by his own repentance, and dies by his own guilt (ch. 33):

     In 588 B.C. Jerusalem was destroyed. The prophet now symbolizes the house of Israel as a plain strewn with dry bones-the picture of the trail of death across the desert over which the captive Jews had been driven; and he sees the Spirit of God clothing the bones with flesh, and revivifying the nation, bringing about a regeneration of the church (ch. 37). And, in a final vision, the prophet is translated in spirit to a very high mountain, where an angel measures out the walls and courts of the New Temple, representative of the New Church (ch. 40). Ezekiel's new temple, filled with the glory of Jehovah, was basic to John's vision of the descending New Jerusalem, and, in its elaborate description, detailed laws, tribal boundaries, and sacrificial provisions, involves the same heavenly pattern of the spiritual church. A marvelous river of curative water, bordered by trees for meat and for medicine, flows out from the Sanctuary,-a representation of the influx of the Divine Good and the Divine Truth from the Lord, giving spiritual life, and thence intelligence and charity, to the angels of the three heavens, and to man. Yet, in the mind of the prophet, no doubt, this vision only betokened a promise of the ultimate rebuilding of the broken Jewish hierarchy.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
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     GEORGE FOX.

     FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, OR QUAKERS.

     Mr. Arthur Carter has called our attention to a passage in a work by Dean Inge in which he compares the trance like experiences of George Fox to those of the Apostle Paul. (The Church and the World. Collected Essays by William Ralph Inge. London, 1927, p. 62.) And it serves to recall the fact that Swedenborg met Fox in the other life, and also William Penn, and found them both in better states than many of the Quakers, whose beliefs and practices, kept secret in the world, were there disclosed to him. From the beginning, many of them had been led into abominations by enthusiastic spirits, who "obsessed them, and infused the persuasion that they were being acted upon by the Holy Spirit." (Cont. L. J. 83. See S. D. 3732, 3751, 3762, 3784, 3797, etc.)

     Speaking of Fox and Penn, however, Swedenborg says: "I have spoken with the Founder of their religiosity, and with Penn, who said that they have no part in such things." (C. L. J. 84.) In the Diary, he quotes Fox as saying that "he had never done such things, or thought that they could have come to pass." (S. D. 3771.) Again we read: "A certain spirit spoke with me from a high place in front.

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It was said that it was Penn, from whom Pennsylvania [was named]. He spoke well; and, as he perceived that [the Quakers] are such, he averred that he has not been such, and that it is abominable." (S. D. 3814.) "I spoke with Penn, who asserted that he was not such, and that he took no part in such things." (L. J. Post. 58.)

     In this case, as in many others, the founders and leaders were wiser than many of their followers. "Aristotle," we read, "is among sane spirits, but his followers among the foolish." (S. D. 3955.) Of Ignatius, "father of the Jesuits," Swedenborg says: "He was in front above, and was subtle, but I could not apperceive otherwise than that he was good; it was not his will or intention that they should become such "as they afterwards became. (S. D. M. 4571; L. J. Post. 67.) What one biographer says of George Fox is confirmatory of the statement concerning him in the Writings. We read: "His followers increased in large numbers. They were naturally visionaries, mystics, and fanatics, and their extravagances did much to bring the body and its founder into discredit. It is no small item in Fox's favor that he, though himself subject to visions, succeeded in moderating their excesses and introducing discipline and organization among them." (New International Encyclopedia.) The passage in Dean Inge's book reads as follows:

     GEORGE FOX AND THE APOSTLE PAUL.

     "George Fox was the son of a Puritan weaver. He was born at Fenny-Drayton in Leicestershire in July, 1624. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker and grazier, and like many shepherds found ample time for meditation on high things while tending his sheep alone. At the age of 19 came what in some sects would be called his conversion; but there is no evidence that he was ever a careless liver, nor did he at any time show that deep consciousness of sin which many saints have experienced. It was the deep unreality of conventional Christianity that afflicted him, and he found no help from the accredited teachers, whether of the Established Church or the sects.

     "The revealing message came to him as 'a voice which said, There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition; and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy.' In 1648 'the Lord opened to me by His invisible power that every man was enlightened by the Divine Light of Christ, and I saw it shine through all.'

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This was the keynote of all his subsequent preaching, which was offensive to the Calvinists because it denied that any are predestined to reprobation, and to other Protestants because it appealed directly to the inner light and not to the Scriptures. It was dissatisfaction with Calvinism that caused him his first searchings of heart, when at the age of 19 he left his home, in obedience to an inward call to 'forsake all and keep out of all and be as a stranger to all.'

     "So he became a wandering preacher, at a time when there were but few popular interests to compete with religion. There were no novels, no newspapers, no theatres, no football or racing. A great a missionary, of the type of St. Paul, had a grand opportunity. The parallel between Fox and St. Paul has often been drawn. Not only had the English prophet to endure similar persecutions and imprisonments; not only were the priests and 'professors' whom Fox encountered very like the Jews and Judaizers who plagued St. Paul; but the mystical experiences of the two men were strikingly similar.

     "On one occasion Fox was actually struck blind, like St. Paul after his vision on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9: 8, 9, 18.) In both cases the blindness was probably due to auto-suggestion; this condition, though rare, is not unknown among persons subject to trances. On another occasion he records that, at the age of 23, 'a priest in high account' wished to have him bled, and that 'they could not get one drop of blood from me, my body being as it were dried up with sorrows, grief and troubles.' This, I believe, is hardly possible; but many mystics have recorded equally strange phenomena in good faith. A little later, he tells us, he lay in a cataleptic trance for about 14 days-a much severer visitation than is recorded of St. Paul. Whether the great apostle went through such experiences during his retirement in Arabia, we cannot tell; but it is not improbable.

     "Fox, during his period of searching for the light, 'fasted much and walked about in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible and went and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on, and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by myself.' 'I had some intermissions, and was brought into such heavenly joy that I thought I had been in Abraham's bosom. These alternations between 'the dark night of the soul' and unspeakable rapture are very typical of the mystical temperament.

562




     "Illumination is generally described by him as sight, not hearing. 'I saw, through the opening of the invisible Spirit, the blood of Christ.' 'I saw that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of life and love that flowed over the ocean of darkness.' 'From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places He had a great people to be gathered.' 'He let me see a great people in white raiment by a river side coming to the Lord. And the place that I saw them in was about Wensleydale and Sedbergh!' He was once caught up through the Spirit 'into the paradise of God,' so that the whole creation gave a new smell-another familiar symptom of mystical visions.

     "The violent experiences belong to Fox's youth; in mature life he became a 'bulky person, with strong health and a commanding presence. Force seemed to radiate from him; the Cambridge undergraduates, who tried to `rag' him by pulling him off his horse, saw him 'ride through them in the Lord's power, and they cried, He shines! he glistens!' In this majestic presence he had the advantage of St. Paul, but his literary compositions, impressive as they are, can hardly be described as 'weighty and powerful.'

     "There were a few returns of extreme instability in later life. At Stratford he again temporarily lost his sight, and also his hearing, while he lay for some time at death's door, and 'was under great sufferings, beyond what I have words to declare. For I was brought into the deep, and saw all the religions of the world, and the people that lived in them, and the priests that held them up.' This deep conviction of the discordance between profession and practice in the world around him had been the beginning of his inward life, and it tended to overpower him again when he was physically exhausted. But he died (1691) in jubilant confidence that 'the Seed of God reigns over all, and over death itself.'"

     Fox's two singular attacks of temporary blindness, to which Dean Inge refers, are described by the Quaker apostle himself in his somewhat celebrated Journal. (See Everyman Edition, p. 16; Journal of George Fox, London, 1852, Vol. 2, p. 85.) "He began preaching in 1646, always under the feeling of a direct command of God, but first attracted general attention in 1649, by rising in the principal church at Nottingham during the sermon and rebuking the preacher for declaring the authority of the Scriptures to be the source of divine truth. 'No,' cried Fox, 'it is not the Scriptures; it is the Spirit of God!'

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This audacious act led to his immediate imprisonment. His followers first received the name 'Quakers' in 1650. According to Fox's Journal, it was given by Justice Bennet, of Derby, because Fox had bidden the magistrates 'tremble at the word of the Lord.'" (New Int. Encycl.)
BOOKLETS. 1931

BOOKLETS.              1931

REV. THOMAS HARTLEY, A.M. By Rev. A. E. Beilby. London: New-Church Press, Ltd., 1931. Cloth, pp. 51, 2sh 2d.

     The articles published in THE NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE for October, 1930, and January, 1931, are here printed in book form. Written, for the most part, with a kind of literary flourish, the contents of the volume make no pretense to a biography of Hartley, but bring together available scraps of information concerning his a personal history, and comment upon that which is of chief interest to the New Church,-his correspondence with Swedenborg, and his translation of Heaven and Hell. Concerning the latter, Mr. Beilby remarks: "In 1778, he published the first translation of Heaven and Hell, a rather free version, but rendering a service not easily overrated. It was the immediate cause of the conversion of Robert Hindmarsh. . . . It is not, however, the translation which so greatly interests a New Churchman of today, but the splendid Preface that proclaims it, extending to fifty-three quarto pages. It is its author's premier piece of work."

     PITTSBURGH SOCIETY BOOKLET. "The Church of the New Jerusalem extends to all a most cordial invitation to attend its services and class instructions."

     This 12-page pamphlet was prepared by the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society, and its contents comprise brief statements concerning: 1) The Lord as "The Founder of the New Jerusalem"; 2) "The History of This New Church"; and (3) "The Heavenly Doctrines." The information is given in a way calculated to interest strangers, and the custom of providing such a booklet is worthy of emulation by our societies generally.

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TWO MEMORIES. 1931

TWO MEMORIES.              1931

MAN'S TWO MEMORIES. A Study of Emanuel Swedenborg's Teachings concerning them. By Adolph Roeder. New York: The New-Church Press, 1931. Cloth, pp. 135, $1.50.

     Advertised in the author's Preface as a "scholium on Swedenborg," the title of this posthumous work of Adolph Roeder brings promise of a much needed scholarly study of the doctrine concerning the External and Internal Memories,-a promise which the book itself unfortunately does not bear out. A second glance shows the author's end to have been to stimulate thought rather than to pretend to any ordered exposition of the subject. It is a vague, discursive and spasmodic commentary on the contents of A. C. 2469-2494, which are quoted in the book. The treatment is based upon an admiring but somewhat fanciful study of the Writings and preparatory works of Swedenborg. The volume is full of interesting ideas and theories, is teeming with practical illustrations of how the memory works, and is withal, in many places, pleasantly readable. But it falls short, both in its aim for popular appeal and in its failure to contribute a philosophy of interpretation, and should serve as a warning to other writers who seek too wide or too mixed an audience.

     It is evidently the author's purpose to show a harmony between Swedenborg's teachings about the sub-conscious and super-conscious realms of the mind and the recent teachings of what is known in the world as the New Psychology, which has been utilized by psychoanalysts the world over for various ends and with varying degrees of imagination. But this might have been done, critically, with better result. We regret, for instance, such an undiscriminating conclusion as that "the subconscious is no doubt the outer memory; while the unconscious is the inner" (p. 135),-a statement which fails to convey the important fact that what the world calls the "subconscious" is often made to include such widely different elements of man as we would classify as his native will, his involuntary, his soul, his natural memory when at rest, his rational mind, and even the whole spiritual world; while the term "unconscious" has varying meanings. The author has presented a lot of material without digesting it, and foregoes the opportunity of convincing his reader that only in the light of the actual categorized doctrines of the Church can the arcane elements involved in the "unconscious'' be revealed. His detailed treatments are often interesting, but the effect of the book is that of an appetizer rather than that of a square meal.

565




     One of Mr. Roeder's theories (based upon a view held by John Bigelow) is that the superfluous impressions of the day's sense-experience are removed in sleep, "when, by way of incoherent dreams, the scenes of the day sweep outward past eye and ear again, and are thrown out of the character areas altogether" (p. 133). He even has it figured out that "the proportion of things absorbed and used for the individual life to those thrown out is as one to about 1400."

     This may be a very fine poetical picture of the well-known fadings of memory and the refreshment of the sensories; although the Writings-as far as we know-never hint that dreams have any purgatorial function. It is indeed true that we use, consciously, only a small part of our sense-experience. The marvels of forgetting are great. The appearance is that forgotten things are cast out of doors, even of the external memory. It is also true that what the mind is not interested in, the eye is apt to pass over, and the memory does not consciously absorb. (A. C. 4301.) But the teaching that the mind is an eternal organism, and that what has actually been implanted therein can never be exterminated or erased, is not sufficiently weighed by Mr. Roeder, when, on the contrary, he supposes that Swedenborg taught "the utter elimination of things to which the mind pays no attention, on the one hand, and of things it repudiates, on the other" (p. 50), and that such "useless" materials "flow out again, backward, through the same avenues of sense through which they came in" (p. 53).

     Nothing can be infixed in the external and conscious memory without reflection or attention. (S. D. 2593.) But-as modern research into the phenomena of cryptpmnesia in part confirms-"there is an interior memory, wherein everything is inseated, whether he has reflected or not, so that there is not even the least thing which has ever reached the sight of the body, or the internal sense, which is not most accurately inseated, thus those things upon which the man does not reflect." (S. D. 2594. See also A. C. 2474.) Unknown to man, all the things which he has heard, seen, or thought are insinuated into the interiors of his memory, and remain eternally, albeit they are quiescent. (H. D. 52; A. C. 7398.)

566


And if the Lord so wills, they can be recalled in the other life; for nothing but flesh and bones perishes by death. All the singulars of the corporeal memory are still with him there. When recalled, they are apparently the same, but also with most minute particulars which had at the time escaped his observation. Yet the thing presented in the spiritual world is not the material ideas, but their spiritual contents. (H. H. 464.) To us, this testifies that whatever is actually a mental experience is in the mind forever, and none of it can be erased.
     H. L. O.
CICERO ON SEEMING RECOLLECTIONS. 1931

CICERO ON SEEMING RECOLLECTIONS.              1931

     In three places in the Writings, Swedenborg mentions what may be called "seeming recollections" or "apparent memories," which still are not of one's own experience, although at the time they seem to be so. In two of the three passages he says that Cicero wrote of such things.

     The passages in the Writings are as follows: S. D. 3285, 3917, and H. H. 256. The references to Cicero are in the Diary numbers. It will not be necessary to quote them in full, but only enough to show the context.

     In the Diary, n. 3285, Swedenborg, writing about the spirits of another universe, says: "These things happened to me today just as if I had positively seen similar things before, and had thought about them in a similar way, . . . so that they appeared altogether as though they had been shown me before; just as I also formerly thought, namely, that such recollections exist, when yet those things had not been done before. Cicero also writes about these things."

     In the Diary, n. 3917, writing on Memory, Swedenborg says: "It was shown when spirits act upon man from their memory of particulars, [and] it was found that then a man does not know otherwise than that he had before known the thing; furthermore this was shown [me] today. Thence is that kind of recollection of which Cicero [writes], as though he had before known [the matter]. . . . Once before also a spirit acted upon me from his own memory of particulars, and then I did not know but that I had [before] known this thing, when nevertheless I had not known of it in the least."

     The passage from Heaven and Hell, n. 256, is in part as follows:

567




     "If a spirit should speak with man from his own memory, the man would not then know but that the spirit's thoughts were his own, when yet they are, not. It would be like the seeming recollection of a thing which the man never heard or saw. That such is the case, has been given me to know from experience. Hence the opinion held by some of the ancients, that after some thousands of years they should return into their former life, and into all its acts, and that indeed they had actually so returned. They believed so, because occasionally there occurred to them as it were a recollection of things which yet they never saw or heard."

     This brief article is written in answer to the question: Where did Cicero write of these apparent recollections? In passing, and before taking up that question, permit me to say that in my youth, and before I knew of the Doctrines of the New Church, I had several of those peculiar experiences which always left me with a feeling that can he described only by the word queer. Curiously enough, I have never had a "half memory" since becoming acquainted with the Writings. In respect to that expression, "half memory"-that was what apparent or seeming recollections were called in conversation at the time I came to Philadelphia to study in the Academy. I do not know the origin of the expression, and have never seen it in writing. If anyone who reads this paper knows anything about that phrase or its origin, I would be very thankful if he would let me know of it.

     And now in respect to the question proper: Where did Cicero write of those apparent recollections of past events, which yet had not, and could not, have happened to the subject. This is to be found in the Tusculan Disputations, Book I, Chapter 24, where Cicero is discussing the immortality of the soul, or rather, in this place, the soul's pre-existence. He is, however, not original in his opinions, but is paraphrasing Plato. The passage is as follows: (I am using the translation of the Loeb Classical Library.)

     "In the first place the soul has memory, a memory too without limit of things without number; and this Plato wishes to make the recollections of a previous life. Too, in the book entitled Meno, Socrates asks a little lad certain geometrical questions about the measurement of the square. To these questions the boy makes answer as a boy would; yet the questions are so easy that by giving his answers step by step he gets to the same conclusion as he would if he had learned geometry; this Socrates regards as proof that learning is nothing but recollecting.

568


This subject he develops too with much greater care on the very day he departed this life; for he there teaches that anyone, though to all appearance totally ignorant, shows in answer to skillful questioning that he is not at the time learning a lesson, but taking knowledge of things afresh by remembrance; indeed, in no other way was it possible for us to possess from childhood such a number of important ideas, innate and as it were impressed on our souls, and called [Greek characters],* unless the soul, before it had entered the body, had been active in acquiring knowledge. And since there is no true existence in any sensible object, as Plato everywhere argues-for he thinks that nothing that has a beginning and an ending exists, and that that only exists which is always constant to its nature; this he calls tsh, and we 'idea'**-the soul in the prison house of the body could not have apprehended ideas; it brought the knowledge with it: consequently our feeling of wonder at the extent of our knowledge is removed. Yet the soul, when suddenly shifted into such an unaccustomed and disordered dwelling-place, does not clearly see ideas; but when it has composed and recovered itself, it apprehends them by remembrance. Thus, according to Plato, learning is nothing but recollecting."
     * A thought; an intent, design. (Liddell & Scott.)
     ** The word in the original is not idea but "speciem."

     A word in conclusion: To Cicero these are not seeming recollections, but actual ones. So far as I have been able to discover, he never uses the word metemphsychois-transmigration of the soul-though he fully accepts that doctrine, and was fond of using Greek words. Also; permit me to say that the Tusculan Disputatiolzs constitute a fine epitome of the whole field of Greek philosophy.
     ENOCH S. PRICE.

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SELAH 1931

SELAH       E. E. IUNGERICH       1931

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In his study of the word "Selah," published in your July issue, p. 424, Prof. Price concurs with the idea of modern Jews that it was a corruption of the Greek psalle, and that it was only inserted in the Psalms as a command to the musicians to strike up. To disconnect it from the Hebrew, he reasons that it could not be derived from the verb salah, which has the same three consonants as selah, because the verb salah means "to tread down" or "to prostrate," which indeed does not seem to be in keeping with a command to express one's joy in singing.

     By way of comment upon this latter consideration, I would note that Brown, Driver and Briggs, in their Lexicon of 1906, which is based upon Gesenius, connect selah with the verb salal, which they translate "to lift up" and "to cast up." They presume it to be an unusual form of the imperative, and commend what Jerome and Jacob of Edessa say about it, in making it equivalent to amen or shalom, as an interpretation agreeing with usage.

     Swedenborg renders salal twelve times as sterno-to strew (Isaiah 62:10 in A. C. 1298); nine times as extollo-to extol (Psalm 68:5 [4] in A. C. 6534); and once as exalta-to exalt (Psalm 68:5 [4] in A. C. 2761). Although he nowhere translates selah or comments upon it, and always leaves it out when quoting passages where it occurs in the Psalms, there are three places where he includes it, all of them in his rendering of Habakluk 3:3, namely, in Dicta Probantia, p. 57, and in A. C. 1675 and 2714.

     In A. C. 1675, after explaining that Mount Seir and Mount Paran signify celestial things of the Lord's Human Essence, he quotes, among other texts, this one from Habakkuk: "God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His honor covered the heavens, and the earth, was filled with His praise."

570


("Deus a Themane veniet, et Sanctus de monte Paran, selah, texil coelos honor Ipsius, et laude Ipsius impleta est terra."

     In A. C. 2714, to show that Paran means illumination from the Lord's Divine Human, Habakkuk 3:3 is quoted, including "selah," and also the verse preceding and the verse following, and the passage is said to treat manifestly of the Lord's advent, and to describe His Divine Human as to celestial love and spiritual love, from which come illumination and power.

     While it seems to be correct to hold that Selah was used as a musical notation in the rendering of the Psalms by the Jews, it does not follow that this was the only reason for its inclusion in the sacred text. The Jews were upbraided by the Lord for making many vital points of the Divine Law of none effect by their traditions. May we not regard their use of the word "Selah" as an example of this! May not the traditional use of the word in singing have masked its original purpose in the text?

     Moreover, the Writings teach that, quite apart from the natural meanings of words in the Hebrew Word, there is a deeper sense involved in the actual series of the Hebrew letters. So, in T. C. R. 278, Swedenborg says: "They explained before me the sense of the Word in Psalm 32:2 from the letters or syllables alone. The sense of these, in a summary, was: That the Lord is merciful also to those who do evil." (See S. S. 90; De Verbo 4; S. D. 5620-5622.) Thus the word "Selah," in the celestial meanings assignable to its three consonants in the original, may have an integral and important part to play in the celestial sense of the Sacred text, quite apart from any connection this word may have with the verbs saldh or salal.
     Respectfully yours,
          E. E. IUNGERICH.
Pittsburgh, Pa., July 18, 1931.

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

     Since our report of April last, the work of the Mission has continued, and nothing of very special importance has happened, except that, for the first time in the history of the headquarters at Alpha, the Elementary School had to be dispersed owing to cases of suspected measles. In consequence, the routine educational work has received a setback on the year's curriculum. Fortunately this hindrance did not affect the Theological School, which continued from February 3d to June 3d.

     In April, Mr. and Mrs. Elphick visited the Transvaal Mission group, which included a pleasant day's visit to the Rev. and Mrs. P. H. Johnson at the Conference Mission Headquarters, "Blackwood Farm," near Johannesburg.

     During May, the Mission had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. F. E. Gyllenhaal, who motored up to Alpha from Durban in company with Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Ridgway. Mrs. Gyllenhaal visited our schools, and, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Elphick and Mr. Leo Hubscher-also a visitor at Alpha-made a trip into Basutoland. A call was made at the Luka's Society, which is near the original site of Qhuqhu, associated with the hard and good pioneer missionary days of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal. On returning to Durban, Mrs. Gyllenhaal also visited our Mission Station at Impapala, Zuzuland, being the guest of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Frazee.

     New Church Day was duly honored by the various Mission groups, namely, at Impapala, Zuzuland; Lusitania and Durban, Natal; Greylingstad, Transvaal; and at Khopane, Basutoland, this year's appointed meeting place of the four groups,-Mafika-Lisiu, Luka's, Khopane, and Alpha.

     The Sunday services and Thursday evening readings of The True Christian Religion (varied at times by an article from New Church Life) have been continued by the Alpha Circle as often as Mission duties permit. The latest exodus from Alpha has been the response to the call of The Second South African Assembly, held in Durban from June 19th to 21st. Mr. and Mrs. Norman A. Ridgway, Mr. S. F. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Waters, and Miss McDowall visited Durban for that purpose, as well as combining periods of vacation. Owing to illness in the family, the undersigned was prevented from attending the Assembly.
     F. W. ELPHICK.
Alpha, June 23, 1931.

     SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

     Our Nineteenth of June celebration was held in cold but bright weather. A happy gathering of over forty children on that day sat down to a very appetizing repast, adorned with flowers and little red and white flags. The fine variety of fruit also added much to the general adornment, until it finally disappeared. And over all hung the silk banner that has become quite familiar to us.

     Interspersed between suitable items of music, singing and explanation, were two tableaux. All the mute and motionless figures were children. The first showed John on the Isle of Patmos, turned from the assemblage, looking towards the East. The second showed Emanuel Swedenborg writing at the table, and then, immediately afterwards in the background, partially obscured by the Twelve Apostles whom the Lord sent forth "into the whole spiritual world to preach the gospel that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, reigns." The beautiful faces of the children, with their quaint and colorful attire, suggested the advance of the Apostles into the springtime of life during a period of nearly eighteen centuries.

572




     The members of the church, with their children, celebrated the Nineteenth on Sunday, the shortest day of the year in this part of the world. Twenty-three partook of a sumptuous banquet,-eleven adults and twelve young people, the latter ranging down in irregular order from twenty years to six. It was the first occasion on which baptism into the Church was made a qualification for admission. An exception was made in the case of Mrs. Morgan, Senior, of the Thomas Street Society, who always enjoys these annual festivals, and who would frequently attend our services, were it not for the wearying effect upon one who has had such an exceptionally long earth-residence.

     The toasts were two: "The Church," and "Friends Across the Sea." In his opening remarks on the first, the Pastor stressed the importance of the Church, and the necessity for keeping in mind its prime objective, which is worship of the Lord according to the revelation that He has given in rich fulness. Indoor and outdoor games are liberally provided for the young, but they are not detached from the Church, any more than are the daily uses of life, but are the Church's auxiliaries. The tendency with the young is to remain in these, and to neglect the services of worship, forgetting that the worship of the Lord vivifies all the pleasures and relaxations of life; or, as the late Dr. John le Gay Brereton so well states it in "The Goal of Time":

All acts of daily life, all shows of joy,
of waving banners or of tinkling bells
On necks of prancing horses; every use
And instrument of use, aye, every pot
And meanest vessel of the common weal,
Are holiness to God: for love uplifts
The lowest to the highest, brings down heaven
To earth, and sheds her glory over all." (See Zech. 14:20, 21.)

     There were the usual songs; also five papers, as follows: "Why the New Church must be Internal," by the Pastor; "Social Life of a Church," by Mr. T. R. Taylor, giving evidence of considerable thought on the subject of the social side of church life, which must be an aid to the spiritual, but not in any way displace it; a paper by Mr. A. H. A. Kirschstein, discussing the origin of the joy and gladness with which the toast to the Church is received and responded to; another on "New Church Secular Education," by Miss M. M. White; and lastly one on "The New Church and Youth," by Master Ossian Heldon, who recently celebrated his twentieth birthday anniversary. This paper, written in pencil, gives evidence of rapid ultimation of thought under pressure of other duties; but, being brief, it is submitted for publication, not only on its merits, but also as an illustration of the effect of the Church upon the mind of youth; for "Ossie," as we call him, has been with us since his childhood:

     The New Church and Youth.

     "Anyone who has made a study of the Writings of the New Church, with a mind unfettered by false principles, will readily acknowledge that they are a veritable treasure-house of wisdom, and contain sublime truths which can never be exhausted to eternity. They will acknowledge, too, that only those whose rational faculty has been enlightened by a close study of the sciences, and whose minds are open to influx from heaven, can comprehend the truths in their fulness. But it is a source of comfort to know that one does not have to be an intellectual genius in order to become a New Churchman. The truths of the Church can be understood by both the simple and the wise; the simple understanding them in simplicity, and the wise in wisdom.

     "But it must always be remembered that the acquisition of truths by man is only a means to an end, and that end is goodness of life; of what use is there in a man storing up truths in his memory, and enlightening his reason, unless he does it for the sake of regeneration?

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The Writings clearly teach that there is no saving power in faith unless it is conjoined with charity.

     "To one who stands, as I do, on the threshold of maturity, the New Church holds a special appeal; for at the age when youth is giving place to manhood, one's ideals are formed, and a course is set for good or evil. I have read enough of the teachings of the New Church to be convinced that a life in accordance with its doctrines is in keeping with the highest ideals and aspirations of human life.

     "In considering the youths of the present day, it is quite evident that there is very little desire among them for a knowledge of the matters pertaining to religion; and this remark is applicable to the youth of the New Church, just as much as to those outside. And it is not an easy matter to overcome this spirit of indifference; for in the time of youth the world and its delights are very appealing, and the thoughts are immersed in sensual pleasures which seem so desirable. But still there are times when the mind is elevated into a higher sphere of thought, and one is able, in the light of the truths which have been learnt, to see in which direction he is heading; and if he desire, by the Lord's help, he can compel himself to enter into a life of usefulness in service to his neighbor."

     Miss White's paper on New Church Education dealt with its secular phase. Its opening paragraph affords a fair idea of the general trend of the paper, which contains upwards of 1400 words: "Man is an inhabitant of two worlds, the natural and the spiritual. The natural world is the world of his body and the spiritual world the world of his soul. Between the soul and the body is man's mind, which also is twofold, natural and spiritual, or external and internal. The external part has communication directly with the body, and the internal part communicates directly with the soul."

     The responsibility of a Day School is only fully realized when it becomes an actuality. Children are men and women in the making. But "the little beggars" often afford mealtime reflections audibly expressed. But the periods of despair, when "I've a good mind to give the whole thing up," are fortunately infrequent, and the teacher's love for her work rises superior. Miss Taylor's art lessons afford pleasure to both teacher and pupils, and also relieve Miss White very considerably. There are now eleven children, whose ages range from six to thirteen, a disturbing fact in the case of one teacher.
     RICHARD MORSE.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     Our report this time will cover the period in the Spring and early Summer during which most of the seasonal activities in the Olivet Church were rounded out and concluded, prior to the warm out-of-door's season, that general period of recuperation which provides rest and change and the restoring of energy for the new season's work.

     The 99th meeting of the Forward Club on April 16th was practically only a business session, and adjourned until Saturday, April 18th. when we entertained the Kitchener Men's Club, and when over fifty men sat down to an excellent repast provided by a committee under the direction of Mr. P. J. Barber. The subject of the evening, presented by Mr. Frank Wilson, was, "The Doctrine of Use Applied to Industry." (An extended treatment of this subject, under the title, "The New Church Doctrine of Use as the Basis of an Equitable Economic Structure," was read by Mr. Wilson at the recent meetings of the Sons of the Academy in Pittsburgh.) Messrs. Ed. Hill and Harold Kuhl also presented shorter treatises on the same subject, that of the latter being in the nature of a clever soliloquy dialogue carried on between himself and an imaginary customer who had dropped into his store during a quiet period of the day. Unfortunately, Harold was unable to be present, and his paper was ably presented by Mr. Rudolph Schnarr. A prolonged discussion followed, with an expression of widely divergent opinions, particularly when they departed from universals which was not infrequent-and speakers sought for some solution of the industrial troubles through which we are passing.

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     The 100th meeting of the Forward Club, on May 21st, marked approximately ten years of purposeful endeavor towards the achievement of our ideal: "To promote the uses of our Society in particular, and, generally, the welfare of the General Church in our midst; to foster a spirit of comradeship among its members, and to develop thought and speaking on all subjects discussed, in the light of New Church Doctrine." Mr. Rudolf Potts, first President of the Club, gave a resume of its activities from its inception to date, and the subsequent discussion brought out the possibilities of the Club, such as: "Good-fellowship"; "Reason based on Charity"; "New Church Education, as an Active Use of Charity"; "Development of the Masculine": "Stability"; and "A Trade Mart for the Exchange of Ideas and Ideals."

     On June 13th we journeyed, some twenty strong, to Kitchener for a return joint meeting, when the general subject for consideration was "Support of the Church,"-in "Uses," by Mr. Rudolph Roschman; "Finances," Mr. F. R. Longstaff; "Social Life," Mr. Ivan Northgraves; "Upholding of Teachings or Doctrines," Mr. A. Sargeant all these addresses being pithy, cogent presentations of a subject always important and perennially interesting.

     The 101st meeting of the Forward Club, held June 25th, was the annual meeting, at which reports were presented, and the following officers elected: President, Mr. A. van Paasen; Vice President, Mr. D. McMaster; Secretary, Mr. J. Parker; and Treasurer, Mr. A. Thompson. At this meeting, Candidate Wynne Action, who is spending the summer in Toronto, preaching and assisting our Pastor, gave an interesting thirty-five minute address from notes on "Man's Place in the Spiritual World."

     On Tuesday, May 19th, a party of friends gathered with Mr. and Mrs. Tom Smith in their home, to celebrate with them their Silver Wedding Anniversary, and a very enjoyable occasion it proved to be. Our host and hostess were the recipients of the hearty felicitations of all present, and also were honored by toasts and songs which only such occasions can bring forth, Mr. Gyllenhaal including in his remarks a graceful tribute to their two daughters, Mary and Ruby, who are so actively engaged in the uses of the Society. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Smith!

     The closing exercises of our Day School were held on the evening of June 16th, when the work of the pupils was on exhibition for the benefit of admiring parents and friends. An excellent program of recitations, songs, dances, piano solos, and the play "Peter Pan," all by the pupils of the school, was well rendered,-quite up to the standard of former years,-and, together with an address by the Pastor, the awarding of prizes, and ribbons to the children of the Sunday School, provided an interesting evening's entertainment, evidence of good work being done in the Day School, reflecting great credit upon the Pastor and Teacher, who have labored so faithfully and patiently through another year in the lives of our children, training them in "The Way of Life."

     June 19th was celebrated this year by a banquet, quite in the old-time style, at which the ladies provided a delicious meal. Mr. R. S. Anderson made an excellent toastmaster, and a fine program of speeches on topics of appropriate interest was provided:

     "Three Events in the Spiritual World-(1) Swedenborg's Introduction into the Spiritual World, 1745; (2) The Last Judgment, 1757; (3) Sending Forth of the Apostles, 1770;" by Candidate Wynne Acton.

     "Five Fundamental Doctrines-The Lord, Sacred Scripture, Eternal life, Conjugial Love, and Education;" by Mr. A. Sargeant.

     "Rational Conviction of the Truths of the New Church, or Why I am a New Churchman;" by Mr. Alec Craigie.

     "Enlightenment-a Sign for the New Church;" by the Pastor.

     These addresses, interspersed with songs, telegrams, and the honoring of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Izzard, on their 17th wedding anniversary, combined with the sphere of the occasion, induced a spirit, the quality and enjoyment of which carried us through and over what might, under other circumstances, have been a disturbing factor, to wit, a heavy thunder and rain storm.

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     Our celebration carried over to the 20th,-the date of the sending forth of the Apostles,-when we joined with the Kitchener Society in a united picnic at Blue Springs, at which well over a hundred were present. Apart from a heavy rainstorm of about an hour's duration, which somewhat marred supper arrangements, we all had a good time, and incidentally, for the first time in many moons, Toronto defeated Kitchener's "redoubtable" ball team. The local chapter of the Sons of the Academy was responsible for the picnic arrangements from the Toronto end.

     On Sunday, the 21st, the New Church Day service was appropriate to the occasion, and the Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered.

     The Annual Business Meeting of the Society was held on June 10th, when reports showed well-sustained effort and progress in all lines of activity. Elections stood over until the September meeting.

     Professor and Mrs. C. R. Pendleton, with their family, are vacationing in Canada, and for a time were sojourning just outside of Toronto. On Monday evening, July 10th, Prof. Pendleton attended a men's meeting at the home of Mr. T. P. Bellinger, when we had an informal talk from and with Dr. Pendleton, on what we might term ways and means of facilitating the attendance of our young people at the high school and college courses in Bryn Athyn, and considering generally the problems presented by the lack of recognition of "credits" between Bryn Athyn and other educational institutions. Dr. Pendleton also addressed a well-attended meeting of the Society on Wednesday evening, July 15th, speaking on "Non-space in the Spiritual World,"-a subject teeming with fine gradations of thought, and conveying the need for clarity of understanding and terminological exactitude in the expression of ideas consonant with the meaning of terms in vogue in the scientific and philosophical world of Swedenborg's time. The subject was set forth with a lucidity, clarity of style and sincerity that claimed the close and interested attention of his hearers all the way, and evoked a discussion that lasted until dose to 11 o'clock of a hot summer night. The speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his kindness in coming to us on these two occasions, which coming had been made possible through the good offices of the local chapter of the Sons of the Academy, whose President, Mr. Frank R. Longstaff, presided on both occasions.
     F. W.

     KITCHENER, ONT.

     Our Men's Club entertained the Forward Club, of Toronto, on Saturday evening, June 13th, when a series of papers on "The Support of the Church" proved interesting and instructive. The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal was present, and remained to preach for us on the following day, our Pastor officiating in Toronto.

     The Olivet and Carmel Churches held a joint picnic on June 20th at Blue Springs, which is midway between Toronto and Kitchener, and an attendance of about sixty persons from each society ensured a fine time for all. There were contests and races, with prizes for the children, and a baseball game in which the men from Toronto were victorious.

     Bishop Pendleton visited our society for a few days in July, coming here from Pittsburgh after attending the meetings of the Sons of the Academy, and preaching at our service on July 5th. His visits are always appreciated and very much enjoyed.

     Our Pastor, the Rev. Alan Gill, has found it necessary to take a prolonged vacation owing to the state of his health, but we are glad to say that he is already beginning to feel the beneficial effects of the rest.

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Two Sunday services have been omitted, but Candidate Wynne Acton has come from Toronto to preach for us twice, and we are looking forward to his coming for two more Sundays in August.

     Professor Charles R. Pendleton was a guest one evening at the home of Mr. Nathaniel Stroh, where he addressed a gathering of the men on the subject of "The Realities of the Spiritual World," comparing the different theories held in the Church. Questions and discussion followed his interesting presentation of the subject.

     Visitors during the summer were: Mrs. John Rothermel, of Toronto; Mrs. Day, of Detroit, and her two daughters, Mrs. O. W. Birchman and Mrs. V. Elder; Mr. and Mrs. H. French and two children, of Detroit; Mrs. Maud Heath and Mr. and Mrs. Aldwin Smith and family, of Bryn Athyn.
     C. R.
LEAVEN OF HYPOCRISY 1931

LEAVEN OF HYPOCRISY       Rev. T. S. HARRIS       1931




     Announcements




NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          OCTOBER, 1931          No. 10
     "And when His disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread." (Matthew 16:5-7.)

     If the disciples had been mindful of the miracles which they had recently witnessed in the Lord's feeding of the multitude, they would not have felt concerned about having no bread. And if they had remembered what He had taught them about the "things which defileth a man," they would not have fallen into the fallacy of supposing that, in the words of the text, He was warning them against the leaven of material bread. The words of our Lord concerning leaven involve something far more important than the substance which is used in the making of bread. When He reproved them for their lack of comprehension, they then understood that the leaven against which they were warned was the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

     The Pharisees and Sadducees taught that men should conduct themselves in such a manner as to appear well in the sight of others, and this for the sake of worldly honor and gain. In other words, hypocrisy was their ruling principle of life. The ambition to be considered righteous permeated their every action and inspired their every effort. Thus they were puffed up by the leaven of hypocrisy, just as a loaf of bread expands by means of yeast. This is why the Lord warned His disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." (Luke 12:1.)

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     It is said that the disciples had forgotten to take bread. In the spiritual sense, "bread" signifies the good of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor. If one be destitute of the good of love, the leaven of the Pharisees is sure to operate in him. He who does good merely to be seen of men, and to win their approval, cannot avoid being a hypocrite. If we act from any other motive than love to God and the neighbor, we have "forgotten to take bread." Take heed and beware of acting from a purely selfish motive! Do not forget to keep a supply of bread ready for use when it is needed. It is a sad thing to be without the good of love to God and the neighbor, when we are in the effort to perform the necessary duties of life. It is true that, if I perform my duty faithfully, people will approve, and that if I neglect it, they will disapprove; but if my conduct is being ruled by this principle, it is merely Pharisaical leaven fermenting in me.

     As bread is said to be the staff of life to the physical body of man, so the good of love to God and the neighbor is that which nourishes the spirit of one who is being prepared for a place in heaven. The disciples' forgetting to take bread signifies neglect on our part to have a heavenly motive as the ruling principle of life. Love is the life of man, and the quality of his life depends upon the quality of his love. If the love be good, the life will be good; but if the love be evil, then the life will be evil, no matter how excellent it may appear outwardly to others. They who give attention to their outward conduct merely for the sake of appearance are eating bread produced by means of Pharisaical leaven, which is hypocrisy. This is what is signified by "making clean the outside of the cup and of the platter," regardless of what may be their condition inside.

     Hypocrisy is an ugly term, and everyone resents being called a hypocrite. Yet there is no vice to which human nature is more inclined, because it is the most secret fault which one can possess. Perhaps this is why people resent being called hypocrites; for it wounds one's pride to be exposed as a pretender. It is very humiliating when others discover that everything one says and does is for the sake of making a favorable impression upon the minds of those with whom one is associated. Even if one feels that most of his conduct is governed by the love of appearing well in the eyes of the world, yet he takes every precaution to prevent others from perceiving this fact; for he likes to be considered as acting from ultra mundane and unselfish motives.

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Because hypocrisy is thus a most subtle propensity of depraved human nature, therefore the Lord warns us to "take heed and beware" of it in ourselves, if we desire to be worthy of His heavenly kingdom.

     The leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees is the secret motive which prompts to well-doing for the sake of worldly honor and gain. A man may be a respectable citizen, against whom no one has anything to say but that which is good; and yet he may be defiled with the leaven of the Pharisees. From self-love springs the very natural desire to be esteemed by others for what we really are. This, in itself, is not evil, unless an effort be made to create a favorable opinion by feigning to be what one is not. Everyone is affected with this leaven of deceit. It is an evil from which we must be purged, by seeing it in its true light, and shunning it as a sin against God. We are taught in the Doctrines "that the worst of all among the infernals are they who have been in evils from the love of self, and who at the same time, inwardly in themselves, have acted from deceit, inasmuch as deceit enters more deeply into the thoughts and intentions, and infects them with poison, and thus destroys all the spiritual life of man." (H. H. 578.) Deceitfulness poisons the thoughts and intentions of one who exercises it. Deceit does more harm to the one in whom it operates than to those who are deceived. It is not the "leaven of hypocrisy" in others of which I am to take heed and beware, but my concern should be that it is not fermenting in me.

     There are times when one who is regenerating has thoughts and feelings which are of such an evil quality that, if ultimated in words or deeds, they would be most detrimental to spiritual development. To speak in a kindly manner when one feels angry; to act in an unselfish manner when one feels selfish and mean; to do good to one who has done you an injury, in spite of the resentment which you naturally feel towards him; to "Pray for them that curse you," instead of impulsively paying them back with their own coin; to speak and act as one knows one ought, instead of as one is inclined to think and feel;-all these are not hypocrisy if done for the sake of curbing, subduing and expelling evil tendencies and inclinations, and not merely for the sake of appearances.

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     It is true that one who is thus controlling his external conduct for the sake of subduing his internal evils is fully aware that he appears to others as being a better man than he really is internally; and herein lies the danger of his being contaminated by the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. It is fearfully possible, for one who has thus acquired a good reputation, to become more concerned about retaining the esteem of those with whom he associates than he is about subduing his internal evils by means of an orderly external deportment. If this external, worldly motive begins to operate, and becomes the inspiration to proper conduct, then "take heed and beware," or it will enter more and more deeply into the thoughts and intentions, injecting them with its deadly poison, and thus destroying all the spiritual life that has been acquired by shunning evil as sin and doing good for God's sake.

     Human beings are so constituted that they can speak and act the opposite of what they think and feel. If this were not possible,-if it were not for the faculty of double thought and reflection,-no one could regenerate and attain a heavenly state. The thoughts, imaginations and intentions of a mere natural man are evil. This internal disorderly condition can be corrected by one method only,-namely, that of seeing and acknowledging it, and refusing to ultimate it in words and deeds. But if external order be assumed for the sake of concealing internal disorder; if our outward conduct be orderly to the end that we may appear unto men as righteous, then our internal evils are not subdued, but grow worse. This is what is meant by the Lord's words, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20.) For He said to the Pharisees, "Ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matt. 23:28.)

     Thus we see how the misuse and abuse of our ability to be outwardly orderly leads to a greater degree of internal disorder. Such a state is compared in the Doctrines to an ulcer that is first dressed with a plaster, and afterwards covered with a thin skin, but which has nothing but foul matter within. (T. C. R. 595.)

     We are given the ability to form orderly externals, to the end that there may be ultimates through which good can inflow from the Lord to internals, and thus heal our spiritual diseases.

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This Divine healing of the spirit cannot take place in man unless his external life be in a state of order. But a man must make an effort to live a life of external order for the sake of being healed internally, and not that he may appear righteous before men. Otherwise the healing virtue cannot pass from the Lord to him. Virtue went out from the Lord to the woman who touched the hem of His garment for the sake of being healed, but nothing proceeded from Him to those who came into contact with His garments through being pressed against Him by the jostling of the crowd.

     There are many unregenerate people who counterfeit the moral citizen and the Christian. But of such the Lord says, "They are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." (Matt. 23:27.) Counterfeit money bears the correct stamp, but as to quality there is always something lacking which an expert is able to detect. Pharisaical good which is merely external is compared in the Doctrines to worthless and filthy substance gilded with gold. (Life 10.) But that which a man does is good, if he be prompted by a heavenly motive to perform the act. If love to God and the neighbor be the inspiration of his life, then he acts from a heavenly motive, and he is pure gold to the very core of his being. But if his chief ambition be to make a good impression upon others, and thereby to create in their minds a favorable opinion regarding himself, his motive is of a worldly quality, and the good which others see in him is but a thin layer of gold which conceals from view his real quality, which renders him vile and of little value in the realm of things eternal, regardless of the use he may perform in this world.

     We may possess skill in discerning whether an object be solid gold or merely gilded, but we have not the ability to discern whether the good which we do is in itself good. We know only this,-that good from God is genuine, and that the good we perform from self, and for self, with the object or purpose of appearing righteous, is not good. The tendency in us to do this very thing is called "the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." Against it we are warned; concerning it we are requested to "take heed"; of it we are earnestly entreated to "beware."

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     The very fact that the Lord asks us to take heed and beware of a thing implies our ability to recognize it when it is present with us. Although man has not the skill to discern whether the good which he does is in itself good, he does know when he violates a Divine precept which he has learned from the Ten Commandments. We do not know whether the good which we do is in itself good, but we do know that the evil which we do is in itself evil; for this is why God has commanded it not to be done. Cast out of your mind the idea that a thing is evil because God has said, "Thou shalt not do it!" It is evil in itself, and this is the reason why God says, "Do it not!"

     Our loving Father in heaven has revealed that certain kinds of conduct are "poisonous," because the practice of them produces effects which are injurious to our eternal welfare. Man is so constituted that he is enabled to shun these evils as of himself by power derived from the Lord, if he implores it. Then, while he is making an effort to refrain from evil, all that he does is good from the Lord. The good performed under such conditions is from the Lord, and does not belong to the person through whom it is accomplished. A sincere acknowledgment and clear perception of this truth dispels all ambition to appear righteous before men. An inward consciousness that in myself, and of myself, I am nothing but evil is the only remedy by which the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, can be cast out of my heart. Amen.

LESSONS: Psalm 19. Matthew 16:1-12. Doctrine of Life 9-11, or A. C. 1906.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pp. 525, 560, 612.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 166, 167.

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SOCIAL JUSTICE 1931

SOCIAL JUSTICE       Rev. RAYMOND G. CRANCH       1931

     THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE NEW CHURCHMAN TOWARD ITS ESTABLISHMENT.

     (An Address delivered at a meeting of the New Church Club, London, England, July 31, 1931.)

     This generation has seen the world ravaged by war; and it has seen the war followed by economic and political upheavals that seem to threaten civilization itself. In the resulting turmoil, both the evil and the good have suffered, and it appears inevitable that they must continue to suffer.

     Many turn instinctively to the Church for leadership in the hour of need. The former Christian Church seems impotent in the face of the problems which confront it. The New Church seems small and weak, but we know that behind it stands Divine power, controlled by the infinite wisdom of God. How can we bring ourselves into closer contact with that power and wisdom of infinite God?

     Day by day we pray to the Lord that His will may be done, on earth as it is in heaven. If we can learn how evil is controlled in the spiritual world, we shall know better how it may be controlled upon earth. And if we study the Lord's life on earth, and His doctrines, both external and internal, we will secure the light of heaven upon the problems of earth.

     One of the Lord's teachings, most difficult of reception by those whom He taught, was the doctrine that His kingdom was not of this world; that the blessings He came to bring to men were spiritual and heavenly rather than temporal. But the teaching of the Lord did not stop with that which was spiritual and heavenly; it descended to the lowest planes of man's natural life. No standard of social relations between man and man is more searching or more ultimate than the command of the Lord, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." (Matt. 7:12.)

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If mankind, as a whole, had succeeded in acting on that spiritual principle, what a different place the world would be today!

     The growth of truly spiritual life is dependent upon the strict maintenance of man's freedom, even in the face of the most terrible abuses of that freedom. Freedom should exist on all planes,-civil, moral and spiritual. This freedom, given by the Lord to man, is a most important element in the image and likeness of God into which we are created. Only human beings are given freedom above the natural plane; for only the human soul has the capacity to develop moral and spiritual freedom.

     Each plane of life carries with it certain obligations. On the natural plane, we must respect the property of others, and their right to its enjoyment, which is protected by civil laws. Without the fear of punishment, evil men could not be held in external order. To a good man, there is no limitation of freedom in suitable laws, for he realizes the justice of the civil regulations.

     Spiritual freedom is on a plane above the civil law, and does not need its protection, for it is safeguarded by the Lord in more internal ways. The Lord, while on earth, several times made a careful distinction between civil and spiritual authority. You remember the familiar text: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. 22:21.) And in another place the Lord said, "Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Luke 12:14, 15.)

     Our minds should be lifted above material considerations. True spiritual life can be given even in the face of the greatest disorder in the administration of material things. In fact, natural wars, calamities and misfortunes are overruled by the Lord in such a way as to contribute to the common good, and to make it easier for men to turn to spiritual things. But the human race should constantly struggle toward a condition of greater order on all planes; and our ideal is the condition under which the Lord's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. To bring this about, individual men must be constantly progressing in the work of regeneration. Men who are regenerating regard the common good as of greater importance than the good of the individual.

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So our first step is to determine what the common good is, after which we can strive toward it on the spiritual plane, on the moral plane, and also on the natural plane.

     THE COMMON GOOD.

     In the Doctrine of Charily, the Writings give us a remarkably clear summary of what the common good is:

     The common good consists of these things: That in the society or kingdom there shall be:

     1. What is Divine with them.

     2. That there shall be justice with them.

     3. That there shall be morality with them.

     4. That there shall be industry, knowledge, and uprightness with them.

     5. That there shall be the necessaries of life.

     6. That there shall be the things necessary to their occupations.

     7. That there shall be the things necessary for protection.

     8. That there shall be a sufficiency of wealth, because from this come the three former necessaries.

     From these arises the common good; and yet it does not come of these themselves, but from the individuals there, and through the goods of use which individuals perform. As that what is Divine is there through ministers; and justice through magistrates and judges; so morality exists by means of the Divine and of justice; and necessaries by means of industrial occupations and commerce; and so on. . . .

     That the goods of use which individuals perform subsist from the common good, is known; for each one derives his particular good of use from the general. All things necessary to life, and also for occupations, and the wealth by which these necessaries are procured, are from this source. For by the general is meant not only the city and its society, but the country, and also the government.

     Everyone in heaven enjoys his own pursuit. It is the source of his delight. They shun idleness as one would a pestilence. The reason is this, that everyone there does his work as from a love of use, and so has delight of heart. The general delight flows into him. Thus, from heavenly society, chiefly, it has been given to know, not only that individuals organized according to the varieties of affections form the common good, but that every one derives his good from the common good. (C. 130-138.)

     We can see from the above quotation that the first and foremost thing which promotes the common good is the conjunction of each individual with the Lord, through a life of charity toward the neighbor.

     In order that the Lord's life may be received with men, the Divine Love and Wisdom must be received; and these cannot be received by men except in use. Use exists on all planes, from the highest to the lowest; and in order that it may exist permanently on high planes, it must have a foundation in Divine Good and Truth existing in natural uses. And natural uses, and material blessings, should be shared equitably by all people.

     To the New Church, by means of the revelation through Swedenborg, has been given a picture of ideal conditions as they exist in the heavens.

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We are told that each man receives the blessings of heaven in the other world according to the form of heaven that he has built within himself during life in the world. The only limit that exists is the man's own capacity to receive, which is the measure of his eternal happiness. This is filled to overflowing in heaven; and eternal development is provided within the limits of reception fixed by the man himself.

     Heaven is a kingdom of uses, and from the faithful performance of uses comes the great delight of heaven. The excellence of the food and the magnificence of the dwellings given to each individual are in accordance with the quality and value of the uses which he performs

     We are told that in heaven "everyone has eminence, wealth and happiness, according to his fidelity, sincerity and justice in the performance of his occupation." (Div. Wis. 1:4.) Furthermore, his fidelity, sincerity and justice in heaven is in accordance with his practice of those virtues while in the world. In fact, judgment takes place in the other world by man's being brought into a state similar to that in which he was in the world, and he then progresses, by his own choice, either toward heaven or hell, according to the uses which he performs from love, or according to his hatred of use.

     GOVERNMENT.

     The rulers in heaven receive high honor from the members of their society, but all of this honor is ascribed by them to the Lord, and is accepted for the sake of the use. The princes and priests serve by reason of their special ability and love of the use, but they are in great humility, because they recognize that all their ability is a gift from the Lord for the sake of the common good.

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     We are instructed that there are higher and lower courts of justice in the heavens, and that the wiser angels instruct the less wise, and that in difficult matters they are enlightened by the Lord.

     All rule in the heavens is from mutual love, and from a desire to serve the Lord and the neighbor. It must be remembered that on earth we are always dealing with a very mixed group, containing many who are primarily evil, as well as many others who act almost entirely from good motives. In addition, we have very many individuals who, while acting in general from good motives, still have much evil to overcome. Consequently, in striving for a heavenly order on earth, we cannot ignore the painful and drastic methods used in the other world to hold in order those who dwell in hell, for on earth we have both a little heaven and a little hell.

     In heaven mutual love rules, and all government is by means of internal bonds, such as the effort on the part of all not to arrogate to self that which belongs to the Lord. The chief joy of the angels is to share their happiness with all their associates.

     In hell, mutual hatred rules, and the only government possible is by external bonds, such as the fear of punishment and the fear of deprivation. Those in hell who refuse to work are deprived of both food and clothing, and are locked in workhouses until they are reduced to a state of external order in which they perform menial uses.

     It is clear that social justice in the world can only be attained by a combination of the internal bonds which control the good with the external bonds which control the evil. Of course, when external bonds are too far relaxed in the world, we have disorder creeping in through excesses committed by those in mixed states, as well as by those who are predominantly in evil.

     LAWS.

     As New Churchmen, we can realize the spiritual principles which show us the impossibility of making people good by legislation. That is not the purpose of laws. Laws, or external bonds, are or should be passed and enforced for the purpose of preserving an external freedom of action that will enable the good to perform uses from love without interference from the evil.

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Good uses are also performed by the evil, but they do them for the sake of reward, or to secure honor and fame. Natural society on earth, in its present state, could not long endure if only the good performed uses. The common good requires that all do uses of some kind; and, under Divine mercy, men are led to do good uses from avarice, from pride, from hunger and from fear, when it is seen that they cannot be led to the performance of good uses from the internal bonds of conscience, mutual love, and love to the Lord.

     So, in considering the New Churchman's responsibility toward the establishment of Social justice, we must immediately recognize these two kinds of control: (1) That which a regenerating man willingly observes, namely, the internal bond of conscience; and (2) the other form of control, by enforced civil statutes, which are primarily necessary because of the ill-will of evil men.

     On the natural plane we have always two kinds of laws,-civil and criminal. With the criminal laws this paper has but little to do; for the right of the individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is generally conceded. To attain these ends, it is necessary that society be safeguarded from the malevolent and openly dangerous man, who must be confined, in order that the external freedom of the common citizen may be preserved. This protection is given to the community under what might be termed "legal justice."

     But the securing of social justice is another matter. This kind of justice is concerned with the right of the ordinary man to enjoy the full fruits of his labor, to work under conditions of ordinary safety, and to receive the benefits of equal opportunity in the ordinary affairs of men.

     To secure social justice, it is necessary that the internal bonds of conscience be supplemented in human society by external bonds, enforced by legislative authority, which will curb the power of evil, cunning and self-seeking men to exploit and rob the common people, over whom they have secured the whip-hand by fraud and greed, by dishonest monopoly, or by the power to extort forced labor.

     The attention of the world has been so fixed upon the effort to preserve order and prevent crimes of violence that but scant attention has been paid to questions of social justice, with perhaps the notable exception of the abolishment of human slavery. This was such a great and terrible social injustice, and so manifestly contrary to the doctrines of Christianity, that it has at last been practically abolished, after hundreds of years of patient effort on the part of all civilized countries.

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     Some may say, "By what right did the Church meddle with the institution of human slavery?" Many people hotly contended that, in doing so, the Church was going outside of its proper sphere, and they pointed out that slavery was recognized in the Bible; but we of the New Church can see that the Church was well within its rights in attacking human slavery, because it was maintained in defiance of that great doctrine of human freedom which is emphasized constantly throughout the New Church Doctrines.

     Today, in many parts of the world, we have another kind of slavery, which might, for want of a better term, be designated as "industrial slavery." To the New Churchman it is just as clearly in violation of a spiritual law as the human slavery which existed in the United States before its Civil War.

     Let us be careful not to be blinded by the prejudice of any particular class in seeking to show the responsibility of the New Churchman toward such a situation. Let us concede that the great use of the New Church is the teaching and living of spiritual truth; but at the same time we should realize that such spiritual truth must be used by the man of the church in purifying all planes of his life. The importance of bringing truth into the life is emphasized by the teaching in the Writings that all the preaching in the heavens has for its object the good of life, and never doctrine separate from life. Therefore, while the New Churchman will start from the high ground of the Ten Commandments, spiritually interpreted, he will not rest until he sees these Commandments recognized as spiritual, moral and natural laws, to be observed on the spiritual and moral planes through the application of the interior bonds of conscience, and to be enforced on the natural plane by both interior and exterior bonds.

     REMEDIES.

     Armed with spiritual weapons, in the form of the great New Church doctrines of freedom, use, charity and spiritual life, each man is now able to analyze for himself the aims of politicians and economists, and to determine the spiritual justice of the plans which they put forward.

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     Here we must immediately make use of our New Church doctrine of freedom to show that, on planes below the spiritual, there may be many plans for world-betterment, each of which may be fully in accord with spiritual justice. Therefore, we must carefully avoid the conclusion that it is the duty of the New Church to go into politics, to attempt to influence specific political or economic action by the collective effort of our membership as an organization. A program of that kind would be fatal to the spiritual progress of any branch of our Church which might undertake such a plan. But much can be done to teach how spiritual laws should enter into and qualify natural actions; and when this is understood, the individual will be greatly helped in forming his judgments.

     The world is full of man-made panaceas for all kinds of disorders existing in human society; but before they can be accepted, or even willingly tried by the conscientious New Churchman, he is under duty bound to examine them to see if they are in accordance, or at variance, with Divine order.

     We know that order is the first law of heaven. And we have been given for our guidance both the spiritual principles contained in the Writings and a wealth of example in the shape of instruction as to how government is conducted in the heavens-by what principles, and for what purposes. We also have similar instruction with reference to the government of hell.

     In general, we are instructed that all government in the heavens has for its object the common good. And this principle is acknowledged, even in the world around us, which has light from the Word, and can see in rational light that, ultimately, whatever is contrary to the common good cannot succeed. But there is a lamentable lack of keen vision in determining what is in accordance with the common good and what is contrary to it.

     To illustrate the practical application of New Church truths to the problems of the day by our individual members, let us try to analyze a few world-questions.

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     UNEMPLOYMENT.

     Let us take, for example, the problem of unemployment. There is no unemployment in heaven; for we know that heaven is a kingdom of uses, in which each angel has his Divinely appointed part. And there is no unemployment in hell; for each devil, no matter how evil, is compelled to perform some use. In hell, deprivation of food and clothing is the penalty borne by those who attempt to lead a life of idleness.

     On earth, we find the good and evil dwelling together, and this complicates our attempts to establish social justice. There is ample productive capacity in the world to produce food in abundance for all its people; and, for the great majority of men, the problem of a sufficiency of food is solved by the normal exchange of labor and commodities. At times, however, abnormal conditions arise, which must be dealt with intelligently on the natural plane; but within there must be an acknowledgment of spiritual principles, if justice is to be done, and if national character and self-respect are to be preserved.

     Nearly all governments recognize a responsibility to alleviate conditions of famine, disease and extreme poverty among their citizens. Sometimes this assistance must take the form of philanthropic giving; and in this connection it is well to remember the following quotation from the True Christian Religion: "Man ought to purify himself from evils, and not wait for the Lord to do this immediately; otherwise he may be compared to a servant, with face and clothing befouled with soot and dung, who comes up to his master and says, 'Wash me, my lord.' Would not the master say to him, 'Foolish servant, what are you saying? See, there are water, soap, and a towel. Have you not hands, and power to use them? Wash yourself!' And the Lord God will say, The means of purification are from me, and your ability to will and to do are from me; wherefore, use these my gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified." (T. C. R. 331.)

     From this illustration we see that the principle of use should include reciprocation. If it becomes necessary for a government to aid the unemployed, it should be made possible for the recipient of the help to do something in return. Otherwise we shall have two very unfortunate results.

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One consequence would be the breaking down of the character and the self-respect of the deserving recipients of help, who would much prefer to give some sort of labor, no matter how humble, for the benefits which they receive. The other consequence would be to increase the malicious desire to profit unjustly at the expense of others, on the part of those evil members of society who wish to use governmental aid as a means of continuing a life of idleness and even of crime. The craving to secure material goods without performing a use is the internal cause of the gambling which is so widespread in the world today.

     WAR.

     Another world-problem upon which we need light from the New Church Doctrines is that of the limitation or prevention of war. Some organizations of the former Christian Church propose to eliminate war simply by refusing to prepare for it or enter into it. They quote passages from the Letter of the Word to confirm that view. What position would the Writings of our Church lead the New Churchman to hold? The Doctrines give much important instruction on this subject, which may be summarized as follows:

     "It is not of the Divine Providence that wars take place, because they are united with homicide, depredation, violence, cruelty, and other enormous evils which are diametrically contrary to Christian charity; but still they cannot but be permitted, because, since the time of the Most Ancients, . . . the life's love of men has become of such a nature that it wants to exercise dominion over others, and at last over all; it also wants to possess the wealth of the world, and at last all of it. These two loves cannot be kept in bonds, for it is according to the Divine Providence that everyone be allowed to act from freedom according to reason; and without permissions man cannot be led by the Lord from evil; . . . for unless evils were permitted to break forth, man would not see them, and therefore could not be led to resist them. Hence it is that evils cannot be prevented by any Providence; for they would remain shut in, and would spread and consume all that is vital in man. It is for this reason that there are lesser and greater wars; lesser, between the possessors of farms or estates and their neighbors, and greater between monarchs of kingdoms and their neighbors. Whether a war be lesser or greater makes no difference, except that a lesser one is kept within limits by the laws of the nation, and a greater one by the laws of nations. Both the lesser one and the greater one want to transgress, but the lesser one cannot, and the greater one can, but still not beyond what is possible.

     "That the greater wars are not prevented by the Lord, at the beginning, or in the course of them, but only at the end, when the power of the one or the other party has been so weakened that it is in danger of destruction, there are many reasons for, which are stored up in the treasury of the Divine wisdom.

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Some of these have been revealed to me, among which is this that all wars are representative of states of the Church in heaven, and are correspondences. Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day. . . . When the Sons of Israel, who represented the Church, fell away from the precepts and statutes into the evils represented by these nations, they were punished by the nation which represented the particular evil into which they had fallen. . . .

     "That the wars which take place in the world are ruled by the Divine Providence, is acknowledged by a spiritual man, but not by a natural man." (D. P. 251.)

     And in the True Christian Religion (no. 407) we find the direct statement that "wars which have as an end the protection of our country and church are not contrary to charity," and that the end from which they are waged declares whether there is charity in them or not.

     From the above plain statements of doctrine it is clear how greatly those err who would adopt a policy of unqualified non-resistance in the face of threatened war.

     CITIZENSHIP.

     The doctrines of our church give great light on the duties of subjects and citizens in civil affairs. In these days, when internationalism is so much emphasized, it is most useful to turn back to the Writings, in order that we may see what they teach regarding man's duty to his country. The following passage from the Doctrine of Charity gives strong light on this subject:

     "When one views a kingdom as one man, its quality can be seen, and according to this it is the neighbor. Birth does not make one more the neighbor than another, not even mother and father; neither does education. These are from natural good. Nor does nearness of abode, nor relationship, make one man more the neighbor than another; nor, therefore, one's native country. This is to be loved according to the quality of its good. But it is a duty to benefit one's country, which is done by promoting its use; because one thus promotes the good of all. It is not so much a duty to other kingdoms, outside of one's country, because one kingdom does not will another's good, but wills to destroy it as to its wealth and its power, and thus, also, as td its means of defense. To love another kingdom more, therefore, by doing more to promote its use, makes against the good of the kingdom in which one dwells. For this reason one's own country is to be loved in a higher degree.

     "For example: if I had been born in Venice or in Rome, and were a Reformed Christian, am I to love my country, or the country where I was born, because of its spiritual good?

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I cannot. Nor with respect to its moral and civil good, so far as this depends for existence upon its spiritual good. But so far as it does not depend upon this I can, even if that country hates me. Thus I must not in hatred regard it as an enemy, nor as an adversary, but must still love it; doing it no injury, but consulting its good, so far as it is good for it, not consulting it in such a way that I confirm it in its falsity and evil." (C. 84-86.)

     From the above it is quite clear that the old slogan, "My country, right or wrong," does not represent the New Church attitude.

     The principles just quoted from the Doctrine of Charity show us how the New Churchman should regard trade and immigration restrictions and tariffs. If they constitute a needed protection for the business or welfare of one's country, they would be in accordance with charity, but if they were adopted from a spirit of selfishness, avarice and greed, without regard to use, they would not be in accordance with charity; and restrictions so adopted often prove detrimental to the country making the unjust regulations. In this connection, it would be well for the citizens and subjects of each nation to ask themselves whether the spirit of their trade relations can be changed to bring it more in accordance with the principles of true charity, first to their own people, and second to the people of the world at large.

     PROGRESS.

     But the establishment of social justice requires much more than the adjustment of international problems. It requires a certain equality of opportunity for all people. This is partially secured through providing liberal opportunities for higher education, through legislation preventing extortion on the part of landowners and the holders of monopolies, and through the adoption of equitable forms of taxation.

     England has taken a high place among those nations which attempt to deal with these things equitably, and to improve by all fair means the condition of their inhabitants. We, as New Churchmen, need to ask ourselves what we should advocate, from spiritual principle, in order to secure the greatest possible civil, moral and spiritual progress. Furthermore, we must realize that, while material progress is desirable, it is not worth having, if it interferes with moral or spiritual development.

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     In determining what is just and right, we must not be blinded by tradition; for mere age is no reason for accepting a law or a custom as just. For instance, if the natural resources of a country were once given to the finder, that is no reason why they should not now be conserved for the common good, by the setting up of reasonable government restrictions upon the use of the public domain by private parties.

     Little by little, throughout history, the rights of the ordinary individual have been established and safeguarded. Under the old patriarchal system, justice was administered by the head of the tribe or clan. Later followed the feudal system, with justice administered by the lord of the district. As time went on, it became necessary, to secure mutual protection, for several districts to unite under one king, and several countries under one empire.

     Parallel with this development, there has also been a great increase in individual freedom, and more responsive constitutional governments. In fact, so great has become the new freedom, that it is being abused, and individuals in some parts of the world are suffering as much from the irresponsible experiments of a majority of well-meaning but irrational constituents, as they are in other parts of the world from the autocratic rule of military dictatorships and communistic associations. Let us remember that the world today needs more than freedom. It also needs true order, and a proper relationship between civil, moral and spiritual values.

     A vast, and extremely productive, economic machine has been built up by the business men of all countries, until, instead of suffering from deprivation and starvation, as was prophesied by Malthus, we have such an enormous surplus of food and commodities that our bankers are asking for a greater population to consume them. Nevertheless, with this great abundance, we have serious social abuses and bitter privation stalking by its side. They seem to be unavoidable results of our present system.

     But, as we turn back the pages of history, we find other periods that were characterized by greater disorder and more serious want. We also know that, under Providence, there are ever-changing cycles, each one bringing with it new problems for the human race to solve. A fixed and static condition of civilization would be much less hopeful, from the standpoint of possible spiritual progress, than a highly dynamic civilization, changing rapidly on every side, and therefore capable of being moulded along better lines.

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So let us step forward with courage, in full confidence that the Lord has provided all things necessary for the redemption of His people.

     If each problem is met from Christian principle, and if we of the New Church form that principle from the greater light given by the Lord in His Second Coming, we shall fulfill our responsibility toward the establishment of social justice. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."



LETTER OF THE WORD-A VESSEL 1931

LETTER OF THE WORD-A VESSEL       Rev. ARTHUR CLAPHAM       1931

     THE LETTER OF THE WORD-A VESSEL.

     BY THE REV. ARTHUR CLAPHAM.

     (Reprinted, with due acknowledgments, from The New-Church Magazine (London) for July-September, 1931.)

     To the New Churchman, the letter of the Word has more significance than to any other professing believer. It is of more vital significance to him than it is even to those who believe in what is known as "verbal inspiration"; who believe, that is, in the exact literal truth of every single thing written in the Scriptures.

     The letter of the Word is of more significance to the New Churchman because he knows that the letter is the basis, containant, and support of the spiritual senses, and that all spiritual truth finds its ultimate expression therein, in correspondential form.

     My particular purpose here is to speak of the letter as the containant or vessel of the spirit, but it is at least of equal importance that it is also the basis and support of the spiritual sense.

     That fact also is not without its bearing upon our attitude to the letter of the Word as a vessel, for it involves that the heavens themselves rest and depend upon the letter of the Word.

     Our treatment of and regard for the sense of the letter has results in the heavens, and the maintenance of the sense of the letter is essential to the maintenance of the heavens.

     We shall not, of course, imagine that the heavens will not be maintained. The Lord will most certainly provide for their maintenance, by providing for the maintenance of the Word in its letter on earth.

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But the Lord provides for this through and by means of the Church, and it is as a Church that we must endeavor to arrive at a right attitude towards the Word.

     It will probably be familiar to many that Swedenborg, in the work De Verbo, says that he read the prophetic Word through, and it was given him to perceive that every chapter and every verse was perceived in its spiritual sense in some heavenly society. He goes on to speak of the Abyssinian spirits who were permitted to hear singing from the Psalms in a temple on earth, and they had great delight in it. But when they no longer heard the singing, because their ears were closed to the things of this world, they had still greater delight; for they then perceived the spiritual things, and were filled with intelligence from the Psalm.

     In the following number (De Verbo 47), Swedenborg says:

     I pass over a thousand other experiences by which I have been convinced that the sense of the letter of our Word produces that effect, yea, that the spiritual sense without its companion, the natural sense, does not communicate with heaven. The reason of this is, that the Word flows in from firsts through ultimates, therefore from Himself into the natural sense of the Word, and from that calls forth or evolves its spiritual and celestial senses, and thus enlightening, teaches and leads the angels; wherefore the Lord is called in the Word "The First and the Last."

     This is an extremely important aspect in which to regard the Word. We are accustomed to think of the letter of the Word as existing solely for the sake of men, and for the understanding of men. But it has also a function for the angels. "All power is in ultimates." Without this ultimate re-active plane provided by the letter of the Word, the Lord could not enlighten, teach and lead the angels.

     This we may understand still more clearly perhaps if we consider the case of the individual in regeneration.

     In A. C. 1495 we read:

     Order is that the Celestial should flow into the Spiritual, and adapt it to itself; that the Spiritual should thus flow into the Rational and adapt it to itself; and that the Rational should thus flow into the Scientific, and adapt it to itself. When man is instructed in his first boyhood, there is still a similar order, but it appears otherwise, namely, that he progresses from scientifics to rational things, from these to spiritual things, and so at length to celestial things. That it so appears is because the way to celestial things which are inmost must be opened.

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All instruction is only the opening of the way, and as the way is opened, or, what is the same thing, as the vessels are opened, there flow in, in order, rational things from celestial-spiritual things, celestial-spiritual things into the rational things, and celestial things into the celestial-spiritual things. Celestial things continually present themselves, and also prepare for themselves and form vessels which are opened.

     In the regenerating man, therefore, the opening and operation of a higher degree is dependent upon the existence of vessels in the degree below it. Although influx is, of course, from the Lord through all the degrees in order from highest to lowest, yet this influx has no power save as there are vessels into which it may flow and be formed. And the first vessels to be formed are the lowest or scientific, the vessels of knowledge externally acquired. After these the rational, then the spiritual, and at length the celestial.

     The influx with man, therefore, is from the Lord into ultimates, and then there is power to form the higher degrees, and bring them into actual, as distinguished from potential, existence.

     It will be agreed that the regeneration of man is impossible without an ultimate Word of the Lord. The scientifics of religion are from the Word in its letter, and the knowledges of the letter form the vessels of the lowest degree.

     They must be supplied and opened before there can be any actuality for the rational plane. Spiritual rationality is only possible as man opens these vessels of the letter to the influx of the Lord. Spiritual understanding and celestial perception are likewise only possible as the vessels of the lower degree in each case have been formed and likewise opened.

     Now, if this is so in the individual man, it must be so likewise in the Gorand Man in its most comprehensive idea which includes both Heaven and the Church. The vivifying of each plane in the Gorand Man is dependent upon its finding vessels in the plane below it. Influx which is not into vessels accomplishes nothing.

     So the life of the Gorand Man of Heaven is dependent upon its flowing into a final ultimate here on earth, and the maintenance of that ultimate is essential to the vivifying of all the planes of Heaven.

     This, as I understand it, is the meaning of the familiar teaching concerning the letter of the Word as being the basis, containant and support of its higher senses, and also of the statement in De Verbo 47, already quoted, that "the Lord flows in from firsts through ultimates, therefore from Himself into the natural sense of the Word, and from that calls forth or evolves its spiritual and celestial senses, and thus enlightening, teaches and leads the angels." (See also De Verbo 27.)

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     As the individual man must live in the natural plane, so the Gorand Man must have an active natural life, and finds it in the Church on earth. And as the individual man has genuine rational and spiritual intelligence and celestial perception only in so far as the influx of these is into the natural plane (only in so far, that is, as his natural life is open to receive them), so the Gorand Man has intelligence and perception only in so far as the Church on earth in its own plane receives their influx.

     Thus it is that the Abyssinian spirits not only had joy and delight from the singing of a Psalm in a temple on earth, but perceived the spiritual things and were filled with intelligence from the Psalm.

     Similarly, of course, when we read the Divine Word in the letter with sincerity, even though in simplicity, there must be a corresponding enlightenment and activity of the angels. It is not simply that they read with us and have pleasure in their reading, because they perceive the spiritual and celestial things within the letter; it is rather that they can have enlightenment and perception only when the Word in its letter is Divinely regarded, read, and understood on earth. The fact that the Word on earth may be understood only in its simplest sense or only in the letter makes no difference, of course, so long as it is Divinely regarded and received with simplicity of heart.

     I have dwelt upon this aspect of the subject because it has, I conceive, an important bearing upon our conception of the Word in the letter.

     The letter of the Word is not only for men. It is for angels also. That is to say, that when we consider the letter of the Word and its form, we should recognize that it is not written solely for our comprehension, but that there are things therein which are written in certain form simply and solely that they may be vessels for angelic wisdom and enlightenment, and they may possibly convey no adequate literal meaning for us. They may even seem to us to be wrong or faulty in some way, and yet be the Divinely fashioned vessel through which the angels may have enlightenment.

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A well-known case in point is that of Uzzah touching the Ark of the Covenant, concerning which we read in A. C. 878: "That Uzzah put forth to the ark represented his own power, or man's proprium; and because this is profane, the word 'hand' is not mentioned, but nevertheless it is understood; and for this reason, lest it should be perceived by the angels that so profane a thing had touched what was holy." The actual words in the Scripture are: "And Uzzah put forth to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled."

     It is obvious that to complete the sense we need to add the words "his hand"-"And Uzzah put forth (his hand) to the Ark "-yet in face of what is said in the Arcana, who of us would venture to amend the text and supply what is needed?

     I am not satisfied that we have any right to add the words in a translation.

     Here, at any rate, is a "fault" in the letter of the Word; yet we have the direct statement of the Writings that this "fault" is Divinely provided. The letter is not less perfect as a vessel because of it. It is more perfect.

     I am indebted to the Rev. W. H. Acton for notice of another case which presents some interesting features, and is of great importance when we consider our attitude towards the text of the Scriptures.

     It occurs in Psalm cxxxii. 6, where the Authorized Version reads, "Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood."

     Now the pronoun "it" is represented in each instance by the Hebrew letter "He" or H added to the verb. Strictly, this H is the accusative pronoun of the third person feminine, and would be strictly rendered "her" or "it," having reference to something of the feminine gender. Commentators have noticed that there is nothing mentioned to which it can properly refer, and the verse is regarded as very obscure.

     In A. C. 4594, Swedenborg expresses no such difficulty. He is writing concerning Bethlehem, Ephratah, and quotes, from this Psalm, David's vow: "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I shall find a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob; lo, we heard of him in Ephratah, we found him in the fields of the forest; we will enter into his habitations, we will bow down ourselves at his footstool."

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He continues: "That this was spoken of the Lord, is very manifest; we heard of him, and we found him, is there expressed in the end [that is to say, at the end of each verb as a suffix] in the original tongue by the letter H taken out of the name of Jehovah."

     To any one who believes that the Psalms can have reference to the coming of the Lord it is indeed, as Swedenborg says, "very manifest that this was spoken of the Lord."

     The difficulty arises from the fact that the pronoun is apparently feminine where we should expect the masculine. So far as the literal sense is concerned, and so far as our own intelligence could guide us, we should be justified in thinking that the feminine pronoun is a mistake, or that another letter required to make it masculine had dropped out. Yet, in view of this passage from the Arcana, I think that we shall not venture to suggest any amendment of the text. The apparent "fault" in the letter does not render the Word less perfect as a vessel of the spiritual sense. It makes it a more perfect vehicle.

     These two cases are not in themselves of great importance. Their significance, it seems to me, lies in the lead they give to our thought in relation to the "faults" or "inaccuracies and omissions" which are to be found in the Word.

     The one is a case of "omission," the other a "fault of grammar." The omission causes no difficulty, because the mind of man, being more or less held down to words, spontaneously supplies the missing word. In the other case some obscurity is caused by the fault. Yet in each case we have an explanation given in the Writings. In the first, the omission is definitely said to be for the sake of the angels; in the second, since the masculine would be as suitable for our ideas as the H which actually stands in the text, it is not perhaps too much to suppose that there is a similar reason, and that the enlightenment of the angels requires this form and no other.

     But their significance is in the fact that, without the guidance of the Writings and the knowledge of the interior sense that they give us, we should unhesitatingly say that both of these cases are faults. In the light of the Writings we see that they are not faults, but providential adaptations of the letter to the spirit, of the vessel to that which it is to contain.

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     I do not at present know of any other case where the Writings specifically explain a "fault" in this manner, although there may be such. But as illustrating leading principles the two cases cover a wide field, in the Hebrew Word at least.

     There is the well-known and much-discussed case in Genesis iv. 8:: "And Cain said unto Abel his brother; and it came to pass while they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him." What Cain said unto his brother has been closely discussed, and the majority of critics appear to be in favor of inserting the words, "Let us go into the field," as is done by the Septuagint, the Samaritan, and other versions. Noble, in his admirable and painstaking Inquiry into the integrity of the Word, makes a plea for the insertion of these words, and argues that the spiritual sense is strengthened by them. To my mind, however, the plea is not convincing, being based primarily on the literal meaning and its requirements, and only secondarily on any considerations of the spiritual sense.

     It must be remembered that Cain and Abel are significative of qualities of the Adamic and Celestial Church, and "saying" signifies perception which belongs to that state. (It is noteworthy that the verb DBR, "to speak," the substitution of which for AMR, "to say," if it were possible, would avoid all the difficulty, nowhere occurs before Noah, who, of course, signifies the spiritual or Ancient Church.) The Arcana explains, "And Cain said unto his brother" very briefly as signifying an interval of time, and leaves it at that.

     It seems to me that to add the words, "Let us go out into the field," would take away that idea, substituting a definite and immediate perception for what is possibly intended to indicate the gradual and almost imperceptible influence of perverted faith upon charity, until both have become matters of doctrine, which is the significance of being "in the field." Together with the after-fact that they are next said to be "in the field," it would also seem to imply that charity definitely consented to this externalization. I submit this, of course, with no idea of finality, but simply as a suggestion that we must be very careful in our acceptance of plausible amendments of the text. Their plausibility is not to be regarded as a point in their favor. Even though the text cries out for amendment, and although every literal and literary canon demands it, I urge that these are no grounds at all for emendation.

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     The Structure of the Word is not literal or literary. It is not a requisite of the letter of the Word that it should always be intelligible to men in every detail, or that it should be grammatically perfect, historically unimpeachable, or even syntactically possible.

     The primary function of the letter of the Word is that it should be the vessel of the Spirit, the containant, the basis, and the support of all the spiritual senses. And even where there is apparently no meaning in the letter for men, yet it still may be the perfect vessel for the Lord to use for the enlightenment of the angels.

     As a Church we are concerned with the Word of the Lord as a vessel. I mean that the letter of the Word alone has no significance. It is true that since all the interior senses are within it in simultaneous order, all the holiness of the Word is in the letter. And since all power is in ultimates; it is also true that there is no effective holiness in the interior senses without the letter.

     It is equally true, however, that without the interior senses, or regarded apart from the interior senses, the letter of the Word is dead.

     It is to be noted, also, that the letter of the Word is formed from and by the interior senses. This, I presume, is so generally recognized among us that it scarcely needs confirmation. Yet I would draw attention to the passage from A. C. 1495 already quoted. "Celestial things continually present themselves and also prepare for themselves and form vessels which are opened." This is referring to the regeneration of man, but it also applies to the formation of the Word.

     Divine Truth from the Lord in its descent prepares for Itself and forms vessels, into which it may flow.

     Keeping the order of A. C. 1495 we may say that the Divine Truth forms for Itself the vessels of the natural sense, so that there may flow in, in order, the rational sense from the celestial-spiritual sense, the celestial-spiritual sense into the rational sense, and the celestial sense into the celestial-spiritual sense.

     It is therefore the interior sense of the Word that has fashioned the letter, adapted it to itself, and formed it.

     Our recognition of that fact must qualify our entire conception of the letter, and dominate it.

     I am somewhat stressing this point, because I feel that it is not always recognized as fully as I think it should be.

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     There is discernible in the Church a method of textual criticism which is not, so far as I can see, different from the textual criticism of the Old Church, and which in some instances is far too ready to accept the findings and the theories of ordinary textual criticism. It accepts them, indeed, in a very uncritical way. It is claimed on behalf of this kind of criticism that the Church must face the facts. Well, one can only hope that the Church will face the facts and understand also what the facts are.

     The first fact to be recognized is that all the vast superstructure of criticism, even of textual criticism as distinguished from the higher criticism, rests upon comparatively small foundations. The methods of textual criticism also are open to very grave doubt. One point that I think should be very seriously considered is that the age of a document is in itself no evidence whatever of its reliability. Age is not a criterion of authenticity.

     Even if we assumed that the absolute original of any part of the Word must necessarily be the perfect letter, the oldest existing document would not necessarily, of course, be the most perfect copy. We should need to know, to judge of its authenticity, the history of all the copies through which it was descended, and perhaps something of the history, civic, political, and moral, of the peoples for whom they were made. This fact is to some extent recognized by the textual critics, and more dependence is placed upon unanimity of various copies. We shall recognize, however, that the validity of this method is also doubtful, since, when copies were few, an error or addition in one of them would tend to multiply itself as more copies were made. We should be extremely careful when using ancient versions and copies, and certainly not regard their evidence as valid beyond dispute.

     A more serious aspect of criticism is seen in the freedom with which the text is "amended" by the critics. Amendments of the text are made upon the most frivolous grounds, and even when they are not frivolous they are frequently grounded solely upon the critic's own idea of improving the literal sense. Where something seems strange to him, he concludes that there must therefore be something wrong and proceeds to amend the text in accordance with his idea of what it should have said.

     To the critic who has no idea of anything but the letter of the Word this may be legitimate, though it should scarcely be called criticism.

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But it is surely not to be regarded by us as a proper method of dealing with the Divinely fashioned vessel of spiritual truth.

     I might have hesitated to bring this particular point forward, but that an eminent New Churchman in America recently published an interesting article on the subject of Swedenborg's treatment of the text of Scripture, and I was surprised to find that he accepts a number of such changes or amendments, made on altogether literary grounds, as changes for which evidence calls. He seems to suggest that the Writings are somewhat at fault in such cases, because Swedenborg has not made the changes in question.

     The changes, however, rest on no foundation whatever.

     One example will suffice. It occurs in the well-known passage in Isaiah ix. 3: "Thou hast multiplied the nation and not increased the joy." I suppose everyone who has ever considered the text of the Word knows that there is an error here. The Hebrew Word "lo," when differently spelt may mean "not" or "to it." The Massoretic text has the spelling meaning "not." The Massoretic note indicates that the reading should be "to it." And so it is read by the Revised Version, by Swedenborg, and by practically all purely textual commentators. "Thou hast multiplied the nation and to it Thou hast increased the joy."

     Most modern critics, starting from Selwyn, have modified this, however, into: "Thou hast multiplied the exultation, Thou hast increased the joy." Thus you will find it in the majority of modern critical translations with probably a brief footnote saying, "so most moderns," or something similar.

     This is what has happened: In the common version the word for "the nation," which is HAGGOI, is followed by the word Lo already mentioned. "Thou hast multiplied the nation (HAGGOI), to it (LO)? Thou hast increased the joy." We thus have HAGGOI LO Standing together, and it suggested itself to Selwyn that possibly these were one word originally and had become separated by accident. By joining them up we get HAGGOILO, which means nothing, and by dropping two letters and substituting one we get HAGGILAH, which means "exultation."

     The only reason for this change is that the word HAGGILAH suits the rhythm of the lines (which, of course, are poetic) rather better than HAGGOI LO does.

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On such a flimsy pretext has this change, "correction" it is called, been accepted by "most moderns," and is now offered for our acceptance in the New Church, as a change "for which evidence calls." Cheyne, not the most moderate among the older critics, while accepting the change, admits that the unchanged form is good Hebrew and that an increase of population is a recognized feature of Messianic prophecy. Yet the change is made, on purely literary grounds, rhythmic grounds, and to secure a faultless "parallelism" with "gladness" and "joy." Concerning this "parallelism," I venture to think that the New Church is not dependent upon the critics to teach it anything.

     It is true that "exultation and joy" are thus associated together as they are so frequently in the Word, and especially in Isaiah. The eminent American New Churchman to whom I have referred has argued this as a ground for making the correction.

     But it should be noted that Swedenborg, in A. C. 1259 and in 9256, quotes this passage as referring to "nations" (HAGGOYIM), and in the former reference draws the parallelism between "nations" and the "peoples" referred to in the previous verse. We are therefore asked to substitute, for the parallelism mentioned in the Writings, a parallelism which is the product of a critic's imagination.

     This is a typical case. It is by no means the worst example of these purely imaginary corrections.

     I could bring forward case after case of the same sort, all elaborately argued in learned terms, which, when sifted, leave only the fact that the critic is of the opinion that the text would read better so.

     I will refer only to one other matter. Considerable critical play is made with the fact that quotations from the Old Testament found in the New are frequently different in certain particulars from the original.

     From this it is argued that the Lord and other users of these quotations must have had a different text before them, a text not the same as our Old Testament Massoretic text. The argument may be right or wrong. I suggest that for us that is not the question. The only question that concerns us is whether or no each form of the quotation is the appropriate vessel for the spiritual sense. It may well be that in the New Testament quotation the spiritual sense has adapted to itself and formed the vessel in accordance with the law of influx, which is more important and significant than critical apparatus; and that while one form is right in the Old Testament, the other is right in the New.

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     If, in adapting the letter to itself, spiritual truth and necessity requires the omission of certain words, or can substitute a feminine for a masculine form of pronominal suffix; if it can surprise us, as it can and does, with curious forms and unexpected but very striking groupings of words, is it too much to suppose that it may require in the New Testament some modification of the forms which are found in the Old?

     I trust that I shall not be misunderstood. I am not arguing that all textual criticism is unnecessary. I am not contending that the text is perfect.

     But what I do most earnestly urge is that the New Church, rejoicing as she does in the glory of spiritual truth, must take up her textual criticism from an entirely new point of view. The purely textual critic, of the Old Church, takes up his criticism of the Word with no idea or belief that there is anything in the Word beyond the letter. Usually he would deny it definitely, and declare as a canon of criticism that there is no meaning in the Scriptures other than the grammatical and literary. Such is, in fact, laid down as a canon, and it is declared that grammar and lexicon will extract all the meaning that there is in the Scriptures. The purely literary critic has no canon at all save the comparison of passages and his views as to style. For both textual and literary critic, the letter is all, the spiritual sense does not exist. For them an ancient MS. is undeniably an authority, a grammatical imperfection is a "fault," an omission of words is a "copyist's error," and a break in rhythm is a "corruption" to be set right with such fertility of imagination as the critic may possess. But the New Church knows that the letter is a vessel, and that it is a vessel fashioned and molded by the Spirit for itself, and for itself alone.

     The letter is not an earthen pitcher prepared for any purpose and only by chance used for the reception of the Spirit. It is, although a vessel, organically one with the Spirit which fashioned it, even as the body is a vessel for the Spirit that dwells within it and molds it.

     We cannot regard nor consider the letter of the Word as a thing in itself.

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Our only critical approach to it must be from the spiritual sense.

     The vessel (and the term means not only a hollow receptacle, but any and every kind of instrument into which power flows-sword and axe and hammer. and many other such things), the vessel is fashioned for its use and from its use; and though it may seem strangely constructed when we do not know its use, yet a knowledge of the interior things of use may reveal its Perfect adaptation thereto. The eighteen-foot pike of the medieval foot-soldier seems a strangely cumbrous and unwieldly weapon until we know how it was used.

     I do not plead for an unscholarly attitude towards the letter of the Word. Quite the contrary. I plead for a yet more scholarly attitude, and for a greater regard for the original tongues, a greater knowledge of them and of all things that can help us to understand the letter. I think the Church is weak in this respect; weaker than it ought to be.

     But I plead above all else that the natural knowledge should be not merely supplemented, but governed and illumined, by a truly New-Church scholarship in things spiritual and Divine, and that it should be from our knowledge and understanding of the spiritual sense of the Word that we should approach the study of the letter of the Word.

     Any other course must stultify our work of evangelization, and can only lead us into a hopeless morass of speculation and uncertainty. There is no desperate hurry. We need be in no desperate anxiety to have the perfect letter before us. Either way we shall certainly not get it in a hurry.

     But we can, I believe, begin to build up a school of New-Church textual criticism, if we will carve upon its foundation stone the words of our Lord: "It is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The Lord's mental states during His sojourn on earth form the internal content of the 17th chapter of Genesis (September and October readings). Under the symbol of the covenant of Jehovah with Abraham, sealed by the rite of circumcision, is signified the progressing union of the Divine Essence and the Human Essence in the Lord.

     Two Essences.

     This union is reciprocal or mutual, and is to be thought of, not in finite terms, but as a unition of Divine Good with Divine Truth. (A. C. 2011.) Yet this process of unition went forward within the Lord's human by steps and degrees; so far as He was in the inherited human (from the mother), He appeared distinct from Jehovah (A. C. 1999); from which we infer the existence of a double consciousness in the alternating states of humiliation and glorification; the Divine "consciousness" or infinite awareness of His Soul (or Jehovah) gradually (A. C. 2033) displacing His human consciousness. The "union" of the two essences implies a final single consciousness and identity.

     The mention of two "essences," one Divine, the other Human, seems to conflict with the general teaching that the Lord "is one in Essence and in Person." But the appearance of His possessing two essences while on earth was as inevitable as His being called "the Son of God" while clothed in the finite body of man. In the old theology-which knows nothing of the glorification process-the creeds insist on three equal essences, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and Swedenborg, who (in T. C. R. 23) calls the identifying of three Divine essences "an offence to reason," in an isolated instance himself uses the term "three successive essences" to describe the Divine Trine of esse, existere, and proceeding within the Person of God:

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     "When I spoke with angels, . . . I perceived . . . that the Divine Itself, which is the first essence, was Man in endeavor or in becoming (in fieri); whence it was as it were Man, thus Man reflexively; and that the second essence is Man born, and essentially from the first; and the third essence in succession is Man proceeding, which is the whole heaven, and if it be named, it may be called the Holy Spirit. . . ." (S. D. 4847.)

     This passage-which recites how Swedenborg was led away from the false terms of the old "orthodoxy" to the truth-actually uses the expression "three essences" in the sense of the later term "three essentials,"-the essential qualities of a single essence. The clear teaching is that "soul, body, and proceeding, together make one essence; with man, a merely human one; but with the Lord, a Divine and at the same time a Human one; which, after glorification, were united as the prior with the posterior, and as essence with its form. Thus the three essentials, which are called Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the Lord are one." (T. C. R. 139.)

     Effects of the Lord's Glorification.

     The incalculable import to mankind of the Lord's making His Human Divine is told in the Arcana: a) There resulted an influx of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with man which could not otherwise have existed; b) A judgment was then effected which purified the world of spirits from direful persuasions and cupidities. (A. C. 2034.) "Otherwise men would have perished to eternity with the death of the damned." (A. C. 1990.)

     The Divine Human is the new approach of man to God and the only medium by which influx from the Supreme Divine can take place into man's rational mind. Only through the idea of the Divine Human as revealed in Jesus Christ can man rationally perceive the essence of God, and worship and be conjoined with Him. (A. C. 2016.). "The Lord, before His coming into the world, was indeed present with the men of the church, but mediately through angels who represented Him; but since His coming, He is present with the men of the church immediately; for in the world He put on also the NATURAL DIVINE, in which He is present with men. . . . From this He illustrates not only the internal spiritual man, but also the external natural." (T. C. R. 109.) "Prior to this, He could not be conjoined to man as to the interiors of his spirit, and thus manifest there to man's perception His Divine things, which are celestial and spiritual, and thus far above the discernment of the senses of the body."

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But when He "conjoined into one in Himself the Divine Celestial, the Divine Spiritual and the Divine Natural," He "was then able, by means of this, to conjoin Himself to man in his natural, yea, in his sensual, and at the same time to his spirit or mind in his rational, and thus to enlighten man's natural lumen with heavenly light." (Coro. 51.)

     Impending Judgment.

     That it was given Swedenborg to see the coming of the Last Judgment some seven years before it actually commenced, is clear from A. C. 2121 and 2123, where he notes from the disturbed state of the world of spirits that "the last time is at hand." This was written towards the close of A.D. 1749.

     The Heaven of Human Internals.

     That souls or "human internals" comprise as it were a heaven nearest to the Lord and above the inmost angelic heaven, or, what is the same, above the inmost of the rational mind, is noted in A. C. 1999. In this supreme and unpervertible human degree-the substance or homoplasm which is the abode of the Lord with men-we must surmise that even the souls of devils dwell, equally pure and potent as at their first creation. There are no spatial distances in the spiritual world; but each denizen of hell is spiritually estranged from his soul-his evil and fantastic conceits having spread a dark and obstructive veil between his conscious mind and the potential, God-given, ideal self which he might have approximated.

     It would be useless to speculate whether the souls of all future men dwelt from the beginning in this heaven of human internals-as some of the old philosophers loved to suppose. For time is not present in spiritual creations. All things are, from eternity, present potentially in the Infinite, and thus from the Infinite in the spiritual Sun, and In its creative outpourings. But a soul is not a soul until the indefinite and varied powers of this "heaven of human internals" are providentially called forth by some need or finite use according to the requirements of the heavens (S. D. 5003), and are determined into a human form on earth.

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     The Importance of Names.

     The Jews, living in an age when the efficacy of magic power was universally accepted, "placed their worship in a name" (A. C. 2009f). In olden days, new names were given to persons when they entered into new states, as may be seen from the stories of Abram, Sarai, Esau, Jacob, Joseph, etc. The new name was regarded as a powerful protective, and often contained the name of a god. Today names are not so regarded. Still names, with the associated ideas they suggest, are undoubtedly ultimates inviting influxes from the other world. In baptism we assume a new name-a Christian name, significant of hoped-for qualities and of new associations in both worlds. It may not be mere superstition to believe that children often fulfill the prophecies involved in the meaning of their names, or that their names become more appropriate to their character than was foreseen at their baptism as infants.

     The names of Abram and Sarai were altered by the adding of a syllable (     ) from the name of Jehovah, to signify the new quality of Divinity which these two would thenceforth "represent." (A. C. 2009f, 2063; De Verbo IV: 1.) With this representation came also a sphere of protection-the protection of the use-which is here called a "blessing."

     The New Rational.

     The yearning of the Lord to save also those of a "spiritual" genius-those who from nativity have evil wills, and who can become rational only from truth (A. C. 2076) or from an affection of truth which appears with them as charity (A. C. 2088)-is represented by Abraham's plea that Ishmael might not perish Ishmael was saved; those who commence the first states of reformation on earth are regenerated in the other life.

     But with the Lord, a new and Divine Rational was formed-from the union of the Divine Good and the Divine Truth of His internal man; which is signified by the conception of Isaac, with Sarah as mother. With man also a similar thing takes place in the process of regeneration.

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A second rational is received from the Lord, from the influx of good and truth through the soul (A. C. 2093), as a new state which gradually begins to dominate his rational. The goods of the second rational are implanted in the truths of the first rational, which is thus purified and vivified. (A. C. 2657:3.) Still, all the states of the first rational remain with the regenerating man, and are only separated from the new rational; while, with the Lord, every trace of the preparatory rational was completely exterminated, since it was colored by maternal inheritance, and what is merely human cannot be together with the Divine. (A. C. 2657:7.)

     Man and the Spiritual Sense.

     "When man is in the truth, that is, in the internal sense, he can make one as to thought with those in heaven, even though he may be in a relatively very general and obscure idea." (A. C. 2094.) The knowledge of the internal sense is given to New Churchmen. Men, in reading the Writings on earth, may be in relatively very obscure states; they may know only the generals of doctrine. Yet, whoever is in this general truth, or in the "genuine" truth, can think together with the angels, who are in the particulars of that truth; and these particulars then affect the man's spirit, and are implanted in his interior memory. If man is evil, the particulars are not implanted, although they may confront his spirit and be brought to his apperception, if he is in a state in which his understanding is abstracted from his will.

     "Man, while he is in the world, is at the same time in the internal sense of the Word when he is in the genuine doctrine of the church as to faith and as to life; for by that doctrine the internal sense of the Word is then inscribed on both his understanding and on his will-on his understanding by faith, and on his will by life." (A. C. 9430.) "When the external man apprehends the Word according to the letter, the internal man apprehends it according to the internal sense, although the man is unaware of it while he lives in the body." (A. C. 4280; H. D. 259; A. c. 10400:3, 10402e; S. S. 41.) When he becomes an angel, he knows it as it were from himself, without instruction. (Ibid., and A. C. 5614.)

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
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     DE HEMELSCHE LEER.

     REPLIES TO DR. ACTON'S CRITICAL EXAMINATION.

     DE HEMELSCHE LEER. Extracts from Nos. 2 to 7, February to July, 1931. English Translation. The Hague: Swedenborg Society, August, 1931. 197 pages. Price, including postage, 2.25 florins ($1.00 or 3s. 9d.)

     This is the second fascicle of English translations of articles and editorials which have appeared in the Dutch magazine DE HEMELSCHE LEER ("The Heavenly Doctrine"), edited by the Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer, Pastor of the General Church Society at The Hague. The first fascicle, containing similar translations, appeared some months ago.

     The contents of the present volume comprise: (1) A Letter to the Editor by Rev. Prof. Dr. Alfred Acton, which also appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE, July, 1931; (2) A Commentary on Dr. Acton's Letter, by the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn (pp. 29-58), with Confirmatory Passages in the Arcana Coelestia (pp. 58-108); (3) A Reply to Dr. Acton in the form of An Editorial by the Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer (pp. 109-197).

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     This second fascicle of the English Edition may be obtained from The Academy Book Room, the price being $1.00, postpaid. The third fascicle is in preparation, and may be ordered from the Academy Book Room at the same price.
PROSPECTIVE TRANSLATIONS. 1931

PROSPECTIVE TRANSLATIONS.              1931

     ANNOTATED EDITION OF "CONJUGIAL LOVE."

     At a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the General Convention, held May 14, 1931, the "Rev. Charles W. Harvey called attention to the fact that the Committee on an Annotated Edition of Conjugial Love had been combined with the Committee on a New Translation of that work, and presented the report of the joint committee. The report summarized the history of the efforts to guard the book in these ways from misunderstanding, and asked, now that the translation by the Rev. W. F. Wunsch was practically completed, that the Council request its Publication by the Convention. The Committee felt that the new translation would remove all difficulties." In the course of the ensuing discussion, Mr. Wunsch said "that there was no need for hurry. There was work still to be done, and he could not do anything for a year at least. Moreover, no translation could possibly remove all difficulties connected with the interpretation of the work. He did not want the Council to expect too much." The question was finally decided by the passing of the following Resolution:

     "RESOLVED: That the Council of Ministers requests the General Council to provide, either from Convention funds or from private contributions, for the speedy publication, through the New-Church Press, of the new translation of Conjugial Love, with its annotations, as made by the sub-committee of the Council of Ministers on the 'Annotated Edition and Translation of Conjugial Love.'"

     [THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER, June 17, 1931, pp. 474, 475.]

     NEW CHURCH VERSION OF THE WORD.

     Under the provisions of the Marchant Fund, Committees of the General Conference and the General Convention have for some years been engaged upon new translations of the Old and New Testaments.

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Last May, the American Committee reported to the Council of Ministers that, "despite the serious loss suffered in the death of its Chairman, the Rev. John Whitehead, the work of translation was being carried on, having now reached the beginning of the Book of Psalms." (MESSENGER, June 10, 1931, p. 459.) The Conference Committee has suffered a similar loss through the death of the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, who was Editor of the Old Testament Section of the Committee. At the last meeting of the General Conference, the Rev. E. A. Sutton, M.A., was appointed Editor of the Old Testament work, and the Rev. J. G. Dufty, Editor of the New Testament work. (THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, July 25, 1931, p. 464.)

     STUDY OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD.

     Elsewhere in our present issue we publish an article by the Rev. Arthur Clapham, of London, entitled "The Letter of the Word-A Vessel," which appeared in THE NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE for July-Sept., 1931. For the benefit of those of our readers who have not access to the Conference quarterly, we have taken the liberty of reprinting this timely and significant treatment of a subject which is of importance to all New Churchmen. In an enlightening and satisfying manner, Mr. Clapham presents what we regard as the proper attitude and mode of approach in our study of the letter of Scripture, as contrasted with the method of those Biblical scholars in the Christian world who belong to the modernistic school of the Higher Criticism, who have done so much to destroy faith in the Divinity of the Word among Christians, and whose opinions have invaded and infested the New Church itself, which has infinitely more to give than to receive in the field of a genuine interpretation of the Scriptures.

     Among Christian commentators we indeed find those who have been animated in their studies by a faith in the Divinity of the Scriptures, who have approached their critical examination of the literal text with a measure of devout love and holy awe, and who have been unwilling to interpret the Word in the light of scientific investigation alone. For the most part, however, their understanding of the Word has been clouded by the fallacies of Christian theology, which have been dispelled for the New Churchman in a revelation of the true Christian theology.

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In consulting their works for possible light upon the meaning of Scripture, the New Church student must exercise caution; for he now possesses the Key to the Scriptures in a revelation of Divine Truth of Doctrine and the Science of Correspondences, as well as a guide in the Revelator's own mode of dealing with the letter throughout the Writings.

     THE LAW OF INTERPRETATION.

     As Mr. Clapham has so well shown, the law of interpretation for the New Churchman is that the letter should be subordinated to the spiritual sense. This law is simply and clearly stated in the Heavenly Doctrine, where it is treating of the fact that "the Word, without doctrine, is not understood." We read: (italics ours.)

     "By means of doctrine the Word is not only understood, but also shines in light; . . . a man then sees more things than he had seen before, and also understands those things which he had not before understood; things obscure and discordant he either does not see, and passes over, or he sees and explains them so that they agree with the doctrine." (T. C. R. 227.)

     As the Word is but a vessel or containant of Divine Truth, and this Truth is now revealed in the spiritual truths of doctrine, the New Churchman whose mind has been rationally opened by these spiritual truths of doctrine is enlightened when he reads the letter in the light of doctrine. Like the angels of heaven, he loves only confirmations of this truth of doctrine in the letter, and rejects objections. (S. D. 3602.) "Obscure and discordant things he either does not see, and passes over, or he sees and explains them so that they agree with the doctrine."

     It is in this reconciling of the letter to the spiritual sense-explaining "obscure and discordant things so that they agree with the doctrine"-that the New Churchman is justified in entering the field of "textual criticism." It affords the most fascinating field of all studies,-the languages, nations, personalities, customs, geography of the Scriptures; but it fulfills its proper function only when it contributes, by illustration and confirmation, to a genuine understanding of the Word as a Book of Divine Wisdom.

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The knowledges of the literal sense prepare the minds of the young for this high function when they are taught by those who are inspired by a love for the Divine and spiritual truth of the Word, who study the letter in the light of the spiritual sense, and in the light of all those confirmatory aids which the Writings themselves furnish in connection with the exposition of the Scriptures,-aids from the realm of natural and scientific truth, from the objective realities of the spiritual world. If we would go further afield, into the realms of human learning and discovery, let it be with the same supreme purpose of effecting a service to the true interpretation of the Word in the light of its spiritual meaning and import. For the Word is not to be taught the young, or the old, in the sphere of textual criticism, but in the sphere of faith and reverence. Its literal forms are but vessels for Divine and spiritual life, not for the teaching of mere knowledge, mere history.

     We would echo, therefore, the closing expressions of Mr. Clapham's article: "I do not plead for an unscholarly attitude towards the letter of the Word. Quite the contrary. I plead for a yet more scholarly attitude, and for a greater regard for the original tongues, a greater knowledge of them and of all things that can help us to understand the letter. . . . But I plead above all else that the natural knowledge should be not merely supplemented, but governed and illumined, by a truly New Church scholarship in things spiritual and Divine, and that it should be from our knowledge and understanding of the spiritual sense of the Word that we should approach the study of the letter of the Word."

     "THE WORD EXPLAINED."

      In the development of a distinctive Biblical scholarship, the New Church student should become well acquainted with the style and contents of The Word Explained ("Adversaria"), which was written by Swedenborg during the period in which he was being led by the Lord into this very field of a study of the literal sense of the Word, as a preparation for the exposition of the Scriptures in the light of the revealed doctrine of the spiritual sense.

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Surely the method of approach shown in that work sets an example for the New Church student. It was no merely textual study, still less an interpretation in the light of the linguistic, historical, racial or geographical phases of the letter. Although Swedenborg consulted the existing literature dealing with these phases, the translations and interpretations he there found were never dominant in his explanations of the Scripture meaning, but were made to yield, when possible, a service to the primary consideration,-the unfolding of the interior sense of the Word. This was the essential goal, even as the quest for the soul in the body, the Creator in creation, was the object of his earlier philosophical inquiries. Throughout The Word Explained we find that he is looking inwardly in the Word to God Messiah and His heavenly kingdom, according to the opening inscription: "Seek ye first the kingdom of the heavens and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matth. VI:33.)

     This work is the chief record of Swedenborg's diligent study of the Scriptures following immediately after his call by the Lord: "When heaven was opened to me," he writes, "I had first to learn the Hebrew language, as well as the correspondences according to which the whole Bible is composed; which led me to read the Word of God over many times." (Docu., Vol. II, p. 261.) The Word Explained affords abundant evidence of the fact that, during this period, he was being gradually introduced into a knowledge of correspondences, of spiritual truths of doctrine, of the states and representations of the Jewish Church, and also an actual meeting with the spirits and angels associated with the text he was treating. All else was subordinate to this constant aim,-an entrance into the interiors of the Word. And so he declares: "At last I arrived at this end, that, of the Divine mercy of God Messiah, I could serve as an instrument for opening the things which lie inmostly concealed in the Word of God Messiah." (The Word Explained, II:839.)

     DUDAIM.

     Let us cite one example of his mode of dealing with the "interpreters," showing also how the studies of The Word Explained prepared for the expositions of the Arcana Celestia.

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     In the former work, Vol. I:731-745, an explanation is given of the words in Genesis 30:14:-"Reuben went in the days of wheat-harvest, and found dudaim in the field." From this we quote as follows:

     "In addition to the trees in the paradise, there were also flowers which in like manner carried some image of the church. These flowers are here called dudaim, which Reuben found in the field and took home. . . . Like the trees of paradise, so also its flowers represent something spiritual or something celestial. These representations are correspondences of things which are in the heavens and those upon the earth." (W. E. I: 731, 732.) "What is signified by the dudaim may be gathered from the text, and indeed from all the things that follow in a continuous series. . . . From all these circumstances it may be evident that the dudaim signified the love of marriage, or that the flowers called dudaim represented that love. Therefore some call these flowers 'mandrakes,' and also 'love-flowers.'" (W. E. I: 733.) " The dudaim were flowers with their fruits, by which is signified conjugial love, and thus, in the inmost sense, the love between the Messiah and the church, which is likened to conjugial love, or which is like the love between bride-groom and bride, and afterwards, in the kingdom of God, like the love between husband and wife. It is this love that is now meant; for there is nothing on earth that does not represent some heavenly thing." (W. E. I: 736.)

     Turning now to the Arcana explanation of the same text, we read:

     "And Reuben found dudaim in the field, signifies those things which are of conjugial love in the truth and good of charity and love. This appears from the signification of dudaim, as being the things which are of conjugial love. . . . What dudaim are, the interpreters do not know. It is supposed that they were fruits or flowers, which also are named according to each one's opinion. But what kind they were, it is not important to know (non interest scire); only that among the Ancients who were of the Church all fruits and flowers were significative. . . . That dudaim signify the conjugial of good and truth, may be evident from the series of things in the internal sense: as also from the derivation of that word in the original language: for it is derived from the word dudaim, which signifies loves, and conjunction through loves." (A. C. 3942.)

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     It is interesting to note here that while the root meaning of the word "dudaim" furnishes striking confirmation of its spiritual meaning in Genesis, we are told that "it is not important to know" what kind of flowers or fruits the dudaim were, since the spiritual thing signified is the important matter, so far as the Word of God is concerned.

     The word "dudaim" is rendered "mandrakes" in the Authorized Version of the Bible, and this translation has been adopted in the Potts' Concordance, and in some editions of the Writings. In the London Edition of the Arcana, however, "dudaim" is retained, and we would favor retaining it in a New Church version of the Word, as justified by what is said in A. C. 3942, quoted above. As another example of a like character, we would favor retaining the word "teraphim" in Genesis 31:19-34, etc., instead of translating it "images." (See A. C. 4111, 4162.) For so have we adopted "cherubim" and "seraphim."
WORD PROFANED FOR CHILDREN. 1931

WORD PROFANED FOR CHILDREN.              1931

     Hendrik van Loon is regarded by many historians with envy because of his literary powers and his ability to inject life into facts. But his usual impudent attitude towards history is nothing short of poisonous when he begins to tell children the " Story of the Bible" (New York, 1923). He prefers plausibility to facts, and puts the feeble human reed of the Higher Criticism into the hands of the young.

     This note is only a warning to New Church parents against this ever more popular book, which, attractively displayed in the bookstores in innocent guise, spreads its gangrene in the ranks of childhood, and even undermines the faith of adults. It dismisses the whole past literature on the Bible with a pleasant smile. Of the Gospels the author writes, "Thousands of such pamphlets were copied and recopied, until people lost all track of the truth of their contents" (p. 10). Of the Old Testament, "I am going to try to show you how a certain people, called the Jews, thought that certain things had happened" (p. 7). Wherever anything of miracle occurs, it is his stated or implied belief that the Bible-writer "introduced the wholly imaginary episode" for his own reasons (cf. p. 261).

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He claims that the Gospels were pieced together from odd memories of old women (p. 327). "Like the book of Daniel, the Psalms of David, and many other chapters of the Old Testament, the Gospels bear fictitious names." Of the Lord's first miracle, he says: "As the ages went by, similar bits of magic were continually added to the original stories. That was quite natural" (p. 365). He pictures the Lord Jesus Christ as a Jew whom circumstances, talents and character led into the position of being mistaken for an object of worship!

     Such poison bread-worse than the leaven of the Pharisees-is eaten by the children of this age. What is to become of Christendom, while this profane literature-patronizing or sneering-is pouring like a flood from the Dragon of "faith alone," now cast down into the plain of "science"? Would that the friendly Earth-true Fact, archeological research-might open its mouth, annihilate the flood, and save the seed of the Woman (Apoc. xii)! May the people of the New Church be endowed with patience to abide and be nourished by God in the "place prepared for her" in the present wilderness! The only refuge and oasis is the sphere, the thought, the education, the literature (narrow though it be) of the Church. Beware the poison! Look, before you give a modern book to your children!
     H. L. O.
DIVINE ATTRACTION 1931

DIVINE ATTRACTION              1931

     "The Lord inflows with every man by means of the truth which is from Himself, and thereby gives man life; for the light which is from the Lord is Divine Truth, and is Life (John 1:4). This Divine Truth from the Lord inflows into good with a man, and thereby draws man to Himself; for the life which is from the Lord is attractive, because it is from love; for all love has in itself a force of attraction, as it wills to be conjoined with another, that they may become one. When, therefore, a man is in good, and from good in truth, then he is attracted by the Lord, and is conjoined to Him. This is what is meant in the Word by looking upward to the Lord. But when a man is not in good, thus not in truth from good, he is then also attracted by the Lord, but cannot be elevated, because evils and the falsities thence turn themselves away. This is what is meant by looking downwards, or to self and the world. That the Lord draws man to Himself, He Himself teaches in John: 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself.'" (A. C. 8604.)

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SWEDENBORG AMONG THE PHILOSOPHERS 1931

SWEDENBORG AMONG THE PHILOSOPHERS       Rev. W. L. GLADISH       1931

     A PHILOSOPHER'S NOTE BOOK. Excerpts from Philosophical Writers and from the Sacred Scriptures on a variety of Philosophical Subjects; together with some Reflections, and Sundry Notes and Memoranda. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated from the Latin and Edited by Alfred Acton, M.A., D.Th. Philadelphia, Pa.: Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1931. Cloth, pp. 547, with Indexes. Price $5.00.

     The early New Churchman was content to take Swedenborg's Theology and Philosophy as he found it in the Writings. Even when we began to read his Scientific and Philosophical Works, we at first had little curiosity about the authorities he consulted in reaching his conclusions. We knew that his views were his own, and were for the most part new. We did not care to wade through multiplied pages of false philosophy to pick out the few grains of truth. Swedenborg had done that for us, and it was enough for us to read his works.

     This, however, was the attitude of a beginner, rather than that of a rational man. A more mature and philosophical student finds it intensely interesting to follow Swedenborg in his studies and investigations, to wander with him through the whole world of learning, to see what attracted his attention, what he thought worth writing down, where he got certain views, what he rejected as erroneous, what he accepted from others, what conclusions were his own and were new to the world. Thus we are able to see his mind in the making, trace its development, year by year, as the Lord was leading and forming him, in freedom according to reason, to become the human instrument through whom He was to make His Second Coming to the world.

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And it can hardly be doubted that both our theology and philosophy will thus become more rational, our faith more firmly established on broader and deeper foundations.

     The work under review-A Philosopher's Note Book-affords a wonderful opportunity for such a study. The book published under this title is contained in Codex 36 of the Swedenborg MSS, preserved in the library of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Codex 36 was among the MSS which were turned over to the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences by Swedenborg's heirs in 1772. In his excellent Preface, Dr. Acton gives a full account of this Codex, showing that the most of it was written at the end of 1740 and the beginning of 1741. It consists of extracts from Plate, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Leibnitz, Malebranche, Spinoza, Wolff, and many others; and, wonderful to say, Swedenborg never compiles the opinions of the philosophers on any subject without at the same time writing out what the Sacred Scriptures say concerning that subject.

     Where will you find a present-day scientist and philosopher who subordinates all his views to the testimony of the Scriptures! Yet this is what Swedenborg did. And it is for this reason that his philosophy will stand the test of time, and will ever provide a sure foundation for a truly rational theology. And the instructed New Churchman, who knows that all wisdom comes from God through heaven, and never from the dust of the earth, would do well to follow his example.

     I cannot sufficiently express my admiration of Dr. Acton's work as Editor. In the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of places where Swedenborg has quoted from various authors, Dr. Acton has gone to the original source, and, wherever possible, to the same edition from which Swedenborg copied his citation. He has supplied, where necessary, sufficient from the text to make Swedenborg's elliptical notes intelligible; he has corrected typographical errors, slips of the pen; has sometimes traced the quotation through two or more authors to the original source; and, in footnotes, has supplied much valuable information otherwise inaccessible to the ordinary reader. I venture to say that, in the work he is so well and so thoroughly doing for this and others of Swedenborg's early writings, Dr. Acton merits and will receive the hearty thanks of New Churchmen for ages to come.

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     A feature which every student will appreciate is a double pagination, giving at the top the page of Swedenborg's MS, and at the bottom the page of the printed work. Thus we have here just what Swedenborg wrote, without rearrangement, and page for page; while notes, and references, and the Indexes indicate the connection and continuation of subjects written down at different times.

     Inside the front cover of his MS Swedenborg wrote (marking it N.B. N.B. N.B.):

     1. A calculation may be made as to how great is the number of the human race for a period of 7,700 years; also as to how large is the space of our world, that it may be filled with souls; and that still more planets are required, in order that they may procreate such number. So likewise in all other worlds.

     That a new earth is for the sake of innumerable inhabitants; and that the kingdom of God ought to be perfected; without such planet it cannot be perfected.

     2. That the earth was nearer the sun, and that it will return nearer to the sun, in order that a new race may be born; and that the sun will burn up its surface. This, however, is a conjecture.

     3. That an earth cannot be destroyed until the men have become utterly perverse; and that then all nature is disturbed by reason of this perversity.

     4. That the more the world is perfected in the sciences and in learning, the more it is estranged from God. God demands an ignorance of things that is full of faith and of His praise; so that we may know naught else than to praise God and to attribute all to Him; and not to inquire into the arcana of His nature, for the purpose of thereby acquiring an intellectual faith. But it has come to pass that such sentiments are believed to be absurd, and, therefore, if I may so express it, I ought to prove all things intellectually, though I myself would choose rather bare faith and the bare celebration of God's glory,-like David, and others in the New Testament. Wherefore God devoted himself to fishermen and shepherds, since others could have no taste for anything of that kind.

     That philosophy, with all its departments-and also the physical sciences-seduces us, is clear. For it can extend only to things visible and intellectual, and cannot penetrate to things superior; which, indeed, it reputes as paradoxical, and thus believes to be nothing at all. For they must be expressed by such things; and all that we believe to be anything must be put aside.

     All this is most interesting and suggestive, and may well be considered as giving the keynote of the whole work. It is rather a relief to the New Churchman, having the light of the later doctrine of the Theological Writings, that, after devising a way in which the surface of the planet may be burnt up, that a new and better race may be created upon it, Swedenborg adds: "This, however, is a conjecture."

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His note, (3) "That an earth cannot be destroyed until the men have become utterly perverse," presents a truth which we have never before seen considered in connection with the end of the world. That he himself needed not the testimony of science and philosophy to confirm his faith, but that all the vast labor of his whole life, in teaching the nature of the soul and of God by rational considerations, was for the sake of convincing those who would not otherwise believe, is also clearly stated in the little work On the Infinite.

     On the 3d page of his MS, Swedenborg quotes as follows from Plato: "Often, when my soul, leaving the body, has been in contemplation, I seemed to enjoy the highest good, and this with incredible pleasure. Wherefore I was in a manner struck with astonishment, perceiving in dearest light that I was a part of a superior world, and feeling myself to be endowed with immortality; which perception can neither be expressed in speech nor perceived by ears, nor comprehended by thought. At last, wearied with this contemplation, the intellect fell back into phantasy; and then, with the ceasing of that light, I became sad. Once again, leaving the body and returning to that world, I perceived the soul abounding in light, and this light then flowing into the body, and afterward raised up above the latter. . . .The soul, released from the body, ascends and is enlightened; descending, it comes into obscurity; but, being afterwards purged, it again ascends." This is quoted in Animal Kingdom 12, and is referred to in A. C. 6201.

     Early in the Note Book (pp. 3, 4) Swedenborg gives a list of the Literary Arts, Studies, Doctrines and Sciences which are to be considered in these Notes, usually defining the term used; for example, "Physiology: By this I understand the things of the animus, imagination, affections, etc." "The Science of Sciences: Mathesis of universals. The doctrine of order, of series, and of degrees." He also gives a list of the authors to be quoted (p. 4). Immediately following this list, the first subject considered is "The Soul,"-the search for which dominated all his studies.

     It was a great surprise to me, and may be to others, to find how large a place this search for the soul held in the writings of Swedenborg's contemporaries.

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To know the nature of the soul, its place of residence in the body, the mutual relations of soul and body, the nature of influx,-whether spiritual or physical, or by preestablished harmony,-were questions occupying a large share of their studies. What a change two centuries have brought! Where will you find scientist or philosopher today seeking to know the soul? Even our psychology is purely physical, and our highest philosophy is devoted to establishing a material evolution in which the spiritual has no part. Our first thought, especially in youth, is that the past is outgrown. Wisdom is to be found only in the present. But I would suggest, on the other hand, that possibly the New Churchman may find more of wisdom among the writers of old time than of the present. One may certainly find not a little food for thought and guidance in the paths of knowledge among the materials gathered together by Swedenborg in, A Philosopher's Note Book.

     The following quotations are given as samples of what the book contains:

     "It behooves us to know that the soul is really joined to the whole of the body. It cannot properly be said that it is in any part of it, to the exclusion of the other parts; for the body is a unit, and an indivisible something, by reason of the disposition of its organs, which are so mutually related, the one to the other, that if one be taken away the whole body is rendered lame and defective. And since the soul is of a nature which has no relation to extension or dimensions, or to any other properties of matter, of which latter the body consists, but solely to the structure of its organs, hence it is clear that in no way can we conceive of a half or a third of the soul, or of its occupying any extense; and also that it is no smaller if any part of the body is cut off, but is separated from it entire when the structure of its organs is dissolved."-DESCARTES (P. 418).

     "Who has faith? Christians have persuaded themselves that they can be devout without loving their neighbor, and pious without the love of God. In other words, they have certainly believed that the neighbor can be loved without giving any consideration to the serving of his needs; and that God can be loved without a knowledge of Him."-LEIBNITZ (P. 151).

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     The following are from Swedenborg's own observations, looking toward a spiritual understanding of the Word:

     "The spirit speaks of natural things spiritually, and the natural man of spiritual things naturally; for in order that the natural man may understand spiritual subjects, the spirit is wont to speak naturally of things Divine " (p. 420).

     "The Sabbath is a type of perfect creation; it came therefore every seventh day. The good came in the 601st year; Christ, without doubt, in the 6001st year. For the flood was a conflict with the human race; Christ a conflict with the Jewish nation; then was the true Sabbath. . . . The very land was said to have its true Sabbath, when the Jews are cast out therefrom " (p. 423).

     "That the servant was to be set free in the seventh year; and that if he does not wish this, his ear was to be pierced, and he was to serve forever; a type looking to the present Christian Church; also to the Jews who were perpetual servants " (p. 456).

     "This prayer (the Lord's Prayer), like a chain, is so connected, as it were, with links, that one link presses upon the other; nor call a single one be missing, or a single one be added. The several parts are universal, and all aim unto the heavenly kingdom, and conspire thereto in successive order; for all these parts are like intermediate ends which regard the principal end, that is, the kingdom of God and the glory of God therefrom " (p. 468).

     "All these (the temple, its parts, and worship) were representative of the future church, and of the Divinity. In the course of time we take up these representations as being religion itself, and contend that its essence consists in these things. . . . Inasmuch as these representations are received naturally as the essential things of religion, therefore we are idolaters; and we fall prone into idolatry. And yet in themselves representations are nothing, and are dead things, unless in them, and by their guidance, we represent to ourselves those mysteries " (p. 487).

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TWENTY-FOURTH BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1931

TWENTY-FOURTH BRITISH ASSEMBLY       J. S. PRYKE       1931

     AN IMPRESSION.

     So fine a spiritual "essential oil'' seemed to pervade the Twenty-fourth British Assembly, in its individual sessions, and in its entirety, that one feels impelled to try, not a description, but to capture some of the essence for the benefit of those who were not fortunate enough to enjoy it at first hand. From the opening remarks of Saturday evening, down to the last roundelay of the Assembly Social, very near to Monday midnight, the gatherings were characterized by a sphere of charitable goodwill, of eager teachability, of spiritual alacrity, of willingness to receive from all, and to contribute something in exchange.

     In an admirably conceived little speech, Bishop Tilson welcomed the Right Reverend George de Charms as an active member of the episcopacy, and as President of the Assembly. Bishop de Charms immediately responded, and though unaided by the more formal letter associated with such occasions, succeeded in conveying a sense of the earnest interest and wide benevolence of feeling which never cease to radiate from our American brethren towards the Church in England.

     The Presidential Address on "The Interior Understanding of the Writings," though taking in the main a theme which might easily become contentious, treated it in so entirely an unexceptional manner as to create a sphere of light and affirmation. Surely the Crown of all Churches is founded upon a revelation which itself must of necessity be the most glorious and final of all revelations,- a revelation which, in its inmost, is the Divine Human glorified, a living fount of inexhaustible revealment, from which spiritually-minded men can, and ought to, draw all their inspiration, knowledge, and instruction these being conditioned, it is true, in their re-presentation, by the limitations of the human instrumentalities, yet able to perform the office of assisting others to the more direct and immediate teaching and influx.

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     Two truly wonderful services next day,-services throughout which the Spirit of the Lord seemed to brood almost perceptibly over the worshipers,-were followed in the evening by a paper prepared-the word is apt-by the Rev. Albert Bjorck. It will be conceded that, for some years now, our friend has led the members of the Church to expect the fruits of his reflection to be presented in an arresting manner; nor did this occasion disappoint our expectations. The mere title of the paper-"If there had not been a Fall"-first made us halt, and then sent our thoughts bounding along the highway of possibilities. It was essentially doctrine teaching-teaching us to look forward for once in application, and speculative only in that sense. The paper succeeded in evoking-one purposely does not say provoking, as there was nothing provocative about it-a variety of opinions, some of which took the high road, and others the low. It will naturally be published for all readers of the LIFE to see. One hopes it may be possible as well to preserve the finely reasoned explanatory summing up of the evening's discussion.

     The concluding paper was the product of the Rev. Victor J. Gladish's painstaking pen, at the Monday morning session. Mr. Gladish had the Assembly in class upon what somebody called the almost technical subject of Other-World Geography, but which, of course, was a great deal more than that. He dealt, by way of contrast, with the spiritual world pre- and post- Last Judgment, and had little difficulty in convincing his pupils that, whatever the subject might be, it was neither remote nor abstract. He went far in clarifying and co-ordinating our ideas upon some of the conditions of future existence, and undoubtedly provided a plane upon which future personal reading can react intelligently. Mr. Gladish's paper likewise called forth much interesting comment.

     As hinted above, however, one's purpose is not to try to report, or even to recapitulate the Assembly happenings. That will come through the official channels. One does wish, nevertheless, to bear witness to the especial worth of the Twenty-fourth British Assembly. All the proceedings were marked by an earnestness of co-operation, a teachability, a tolerance, a desire for cordial reciprocality, which were genuinely noteworthy. Much of this was no doubt attributable to our thrice-welcome American visitors.

     The Assembly, while perhaps not great in numbers, is one to be remembered by reason of its own peculiar sphere.

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It was an eminently successful Assembly. Let one add, that a by no means negligible part of its success was due to those who so faithfully, and through many long weeks, served what, by relativity alone, may properly be called the more mundane uses.
     J. S. PRYKE.

     [EDITORIAL NOTE: The official Report of the Twenty-fourth British Assembly, together with the Addresses delivered on that occasion, will appear in the November issue.]
NOW LAID-OPEN WORD 1931

NOW LAID-OPEN WORD       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1931

     All Divine Revelations given on this earth had the same origin and purpose. They all originated from the Lord alone, without interruption from angels or spirits. (See D. P. 135; De Verbo XIII.) They were recorded by some seer who was singled out from others and sent to give God's Word to men. "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." (John 3:34.) Their primary purpose was to teach Divine Truths and lead to an angelic good of life; and, secondarily, to effect then a conjunction between the two worlds, so that angels might continue to receive spiritual sustenance when men on earth read their pages.

     The first recorded Word is said to have been "doctrinals of faith, with some revelations of the Most Ancient Church," first collected by those called "Cain." (A. C. 609.) There was nothing mysterious, enigmatic, or cryptical about its letter. It was evidently a series of direct statements about the truths of doctrine and how they should be lived. The secondary purpose was then fulfilled when men lived according to it; for the two worlds were then conjoined from the ground of consonance of hearts.

     Subsequently, however, when few willed to live according to Divine order, it became necessary to Protect Divine Truth from violation by the unworthy, lest it be profaned, and to hide the treasures of Divine Revelation under a virtually impenetrable envelope.

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This is the nature of the Revelations intermediate between the doctrinals of Cain and the Writings of the New Church. The primary purpose to lead men unerringly to become angels of heaven failed with all but a few, as witness the long stay in the world of spirits of men whose sole pabulum those Revelations had been, in order that they might be freed from misconceptions arising from their cryptic letter.

     But though failing in their primary purpose, these Revelations were made to perform a signal use in that secondary purpose of conjoining the two worlds. Their ultimate letter was so couched that, when read by men in holy awe, even by evil and unregenerate men, there would yet be a broadcasting of internal senses in the several heavens, or on the various planes of the angelic mind. Angels, deliciated by this food, would then cluster about the men from whom these messages had been transmitted. Their affections and spheres, thus brought about men, preserved these from evil influence, and so maintained a basis on earth upon which the heavens could rest. In this way a miraculous connection between the two worlds was maintained. A superficial or artificial bond was established between them. It was of a purely intellectual character, and so not real and basically substantial; for only what is from the heart is permanent. Yet, so imperative was the need of preserving such an artificial bond that the Jews,-a race devoid of spiritual life,-were preserved for the sake of the conjunction between the two worlds, which was effected by their reading the Word in the Hebrew. (See L. J. Post. 261, 262; D. P. 260; A. C. 3479.)

     But when the Writings were given, it was foreseen that by them the primary purpose of the Word would again be fulfilled. They are called "Heavenly Doctrines." They are like the doctrinals of Cain, in being direct, plain statements to men about what is the truth and how to live it. For Swedenborg declares: "I was afterwards brought to the most ancients, who are in the acknowledgment of the Divine and of Divine things just as they have been revealed to me. They examined them, and they coincided." (S. D. 5810.)

     A man who keeps on reading the Writings will be purged of the fallacies that are a cloak to false doctrines and a mask to evil loves. His duty to regenerate, and how to do this, is impressed upon him. By this means his will is made consonant with the wills in heaven; and the only permanent, substantial conjunction of the two worlds is thus reestablished, never to be lost or jeopardized as it had been before.

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In regard to this Swedenborg wrote the following statement in the Prologue to the Canons of the New Church: "Today nothing else than a reason resonant from love will establish [the Church], because men are fallen. . . . This Church is that towards which all the Churches in order from the first have been aiming; concerning it Daniel prophesied."

     As to the plain directness of the Writings, we read in the Preface to De Domino: ". . . The way to salvation has been revealed, and the state of man after death; and this fully and manifestly, so that anyone who understands the Latin language can know." This plain speech of the heart of God to the heart of man does not make the Writings inferior to the intermediate Revelations. It does not make them a tottering ark which some anxious Uzzah has to support by trying to give them some cryptic ultimate like that venerated in the other Words. But it constitutes their supreme triumph over other Revelations. Having this characteristic, they are a joy to the Lord's disciples, who can say in gladness of heart, "Now speakest Thou plainly, and speakest no parable." (John 16:29.) They are, in fact, the "Now Laid-Open Word,"-an expression taken from Swedenborg's description of the Nunc Licet temple: "That the veil before the cherub was removed, signified that the Word was now laid open (patefactum)." (T. C. R. 508.)

     Other extant Revelations will continue to operate upon the spiritual world by the wizardry of their cryptic letter, in order that they may benefit the unregenerated and all who are in impure states. But the Writings are the crown of Revelations because they come directly to man without mystification. He must either accept or reject them. They perform an inevitable last judgment upon him. The directness of their investing language is a pure glory. In them the Lord lays bare His love for men, and those who see it should not invent garments to cover it over.

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Title Unspecified 1931

Title Unspecified              1931


     [PHOTO OF BRITISH ASSEMBLY GROUP]

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     An interesting item with which to open our news report is the addition to the society of two new members,-Mr. Kesel Motum and Miss Kathleen Wright. On April 12th, Miss Wright made her Confession of Faith, and, with Mr. Motum, applied for membership in the General Church and in the Colchester Society. Their wedding took place on June 6th, our Pastor officiating. The bride wore an ivory satin dress, with veil, and was attended by two charming little flower girls, Rachel Howard and Edith Gwennell. After the ceremony, a reception was held at the Masonic Hall, attended by a large gathering of friends, and a toast list was honored under the capable toastmastership of Mr. Philip Motum. The wedding was the first to be solemnized in our church since we have been licensed to conduct civil marriages.

     During April, alterations to our Chancel were made, so that it has now assumed permanent shape. Until then it had been of a temporary character. Plaster walls have been erected, and in place of the background of gold curtains there is now a light oak Tudor paneled background, with an altar rail to match.

     Colchester has indeed been fortunate this year in its many visitors from other societies of the General Church. Mr. and Mrs. Harold F. Pitcairn, Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey S. Childs, of Bryn Athyn, and Major Lima, of Brazil, paid brief, one-day visits. Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Frazee, with their two children, spent a day here on their way from Durban to Canada. Those spending these-called "Summer" here include: Mrs. F. E. Gyllenhaal and daughter Zoe, on their journey from Durban to Toronto; Miss Louise Gladish, of Bryn Athyn, and Miss Phillis Cooper, of Kitchener, Ont.; Rev. and Mrs. Raymond C. Cranch and daughter, of Bryn Athyn; and, of course, Miss Gertrude Nelson comes every few days to see that we are still progressing. Mr. Cranch has preached for us on one occasion, delivered an Address to the New Church Club in London, and preached twice in August at Michael Church, Burton Road, London.

     Bishop and Mrs. de Charms visited in Colchester for a few days prior to the British Assembly. At an informal reception given to welcome them, Bishop de Charms gave an interesting account of his trip on the Continent. He visited our school, conducting the opening worship twice, and was also present at the closing exercises, addressing the children on the functions of the Tabernacle.
     J. F. C.

     Nineteenth of June.

     Our celebration of New Church Day this year will be remembered with a lively affection. It was held at the church on Saturday evening, June 20th, and was attended by forty-five persons, our guests including Bishop and Mrs. Tilson and a number of the members of Michael Church, as also some of the isolated members of our own society.

     Our toastmaster, Mr. J. F. Cooper, arranged and carried through an excellent program, calling upon three of the younger members of the society, who responded with bright and thoughtful addresses. Mr. Owen Pryke read. a paper on "June the Nineteenth as a New Church Festival"; Mr. Norman Williams' paper was entitled "A New Churchman's Preparation for the World"; and Mr. Stanley Wainscott's treated of "A New Churchman Going Into the World."

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These papers were interspersed with toasts and songs, and, after the formal toast list was finished, many impromptu toasts were honored, among them being one to our latest married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Kesel Motum, our Pastor extending the hand of welcome to them as our newly accepted members. This was a celebration in which the young men were in the ascendant, and right well they acquitted themselves.

     On the following day, June 21st, the open meeting of the Colchester group of the British Chapter of the Sons of the Academy was held at 202 Maldon Road, by invitation of Mrs. Rey Gill. Together with the ladies, there was a muster of 39. After installing Bishop R. J. Tilson as Chairman for the evening, and the necessary business had been concluded, the meeting was addressed by Mr. Colley Pryke on "The Quarters and Regions of the Spiritual World, with Some Notes on the Various Nations." It was an interesting and comprehensive paper, and brought to view a large number of references from the Writings on the subject. A good discussion followed, and many interesting questions were answered by the essayist.
     F. R. C.

     Children's Celebration.

     Our celebration of the Nineteenth for the children has frequently taken the form of picnics, etc., but this year we tried a somewhat different method. The pupils of the school, together with all the other children of the society not old enough to attend the adult celebration on Saturday evening, were provided with a Tea on the afternoon of Thursday, June 18th,-the school half-holiday. After games and tea, Miss Gertrude Nelson's story of New Church Day (New Church Sermons, June, 1929) was read to them. This account, which is beautifully imaginative, but very true to the spirit of all that is said on the subject in the Writings, was enjoyed by even the smallest children.

     After the reading, they were asked if they would like to act out the story, and when they gladly assented, those to act the part of Swedenborg and the Twelve Apostles were chosen from among them, to represent the finishing of the True Christian Religion and the sending forth of the Apostles in the spiritual world. A table, with pen and ink, and a photolithograph copy of one of the books of the Writings, had been prepared; and Swedenborg, finishing his writing, and looking out into the spiritual world, saw the Apostles gather together (in a far corner of the room), and then go forth in various directions, after certain readings from the Old and New Testaments and no. 791 of the True Christian Religion from behind a screen.

     This simple dramatization was an experiment, and we hope to essay something more ambitious on a future occasion.
     V. J. G.

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

     As care of the isolated members and friends of the General Church in California has passed into the hands of the Rev. Hendrik Boef, Pastor of the Los Angeles Society, my visits in the Far West this year were confined. First I went to SPOKANE, WASH. Circumstances, including absence from the city of quite a number of the members of the circle, made it advisable that the stay be short.

     The first meeting was a doctrinal class on Friday evening, July 17th, at which eleven persons were present. Our subject was Divine Providence in Relation to Earthly Suffering, and especially in relation to such suffering as now prevails so largely in this country and in all the world. The question arises in the minds of many, "Why does the Lord permit such a condition to exist?" At our class the endeavor was to answer this question. It was shown that the Lord must needs permit evil: first, in order that the freedom of choosing between good and evil may be preserved with men; second, because the Lord does not interpose between an evil cause and its effect, except in so far as, consistent with man's freedom, there can be a withholding from deeper evil; third, because in the permitting of a lesser evil, a greater may be averted.

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Then teaching was presented concerning the need of trust in the Lord's Providence in the midst of such conditions, with confidence that in His permission of them there is the end of the promotion of eternal good. Also, attention was called to the importance of being mindful, in times of adversity, of how great and many are the blessings we nevertheless enjoy, especially such as are spiritual. This subject was presented also at the places visited later.

     A service was held on Sunday, with an attendance of nine, all of whom partook of the Holy Supper. This concluded the work at Spokane. It was a disappointment to all that there should be so little; and the determination was expressed that "it must not happen again."

     On Monday, the 20th, I arrived at WALLA WALLA, WASH. Since the visit of a year ago, the leading member of the circle, Mr. E. R. Pribilsky, had passed to the other world. Greatly we missed his zeal and earnest endeavors in the cause of the church and its doctrines. Yet it was evident that the other members had taken unto themselves in increased measure that spirit which was his. During the two week's stay, two Sunday services, eight evening doctrinal classes, and a class for three children, were held. The first Sunday there was an attendance of eleven adults and eight children, some of these coming from quite a distance. A delightful part of the service was the baptism of three children. On the second Sunday nine adults and five children were present, and seven persons partook of the Holy Supper.-At our classes the attendance ranged from five to eight, not always the same persons being present. Quite a variety of subjects was presented, some of them at the request of members. To enumerate them, they were as follows: The Divine Providence in its relation to earthly suffering; time and eternity; the future life (missionary); the Word (missionary); conjunction with the Lord as the source of eternal life and its happiness; the need of baptism on entrance into the church; the dangers of faith-healing of bodily diseases; the external surroundings of the angels. The missionary talks were given when persons not of the church were present.-The two weeks were a continuous enjoyable time, not only because of the delight in the Heavenly Doctrines that was so strongly manifested, but also because of pleasant times spent in the homes of members.-The circle meets regularly for a service on the first Sunday of each month, using New Church Sermons. Frequently these meetings are held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Fine at Freewater, Oregon.
                                        
     At LA GORANDE, ORE., the next place visited, there is a circle consisting entirely of ladies, some of them members of the church, and others interested. During the three days' stay, classes were held both afternoon and evening, with an attendance of from five to eight, not always the same persons. Here again there was a variety of subjects, some of them the same as at Walla Walla, as follows: The teaching that man is led and taught by the Lord, though the appearance is that he leads and teaches himself; the Divine Providence in relation to earthly suffering; the Lord teaches man from within and from without; the history of the science of correspondences; the meaning of "Lead us not into temptation"; the surroundings of the angels. But we really considered more subjects than these; for there were many questions asked, so that the classes seldom lasted less than two hours.-Two reading circles meet regularly; one, a larger group, where the course is of a missionary character; the other, a small group of about five, who read from the Writings, and have just completed the work on Divine Providence.
                                                            
     At BAKER, ORE., where I spent three days with Mr. and Mrs. George Blake, we were not able to hold any meetings because of Mr. Blake's illness. They had written me, however, that they desired me to come to visit them. We were able to have considerable doctrinal conversation; and there was also opportunity for the same in another home.

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On the third day, Sunday, August 9th, Mr. Blake had so far recovered that we were able to hold a short service and a class, the subject being Time and Eternity.-The same day I began the homeward journey.

     On this trip, the ministrations of the church were brought to forty-seven persons, including children. In the four places visited, there are thirty-four adults and nine children of the church, and some interested persons besides.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     GLENVIEW, ILL.

     Early in September, graduates of the Immanuel Church School to the number of 14-8 boys and 6 girls left Glenview for Bryn Athyn to attend the Academy Schools, seven of these for the first time. Candidate Philip Odhner also returned to Bryn Athyn after a successful summer at Glenview, assisting in the ministerial uses of the society.

     Miss Dorothy Burnham, President of Theta Alpha, spent her vacation in The Park, and on July 26th presided at a meeting of the local chapter, held on the spacious porch of the home of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Junge. The meeting was social and informal, but maters of general interest to the members were brought forward and discussed.

     At the regular July meeting of the local chapter of the Sons of the Academy, Mr. William H. Junge read the paper which Mr. Frank Wilson, of Toronto, had presented at the Sons' meeting in Pittsburgh, the subject being, "The New Church Doctrine of Use as the Basis of an Equitable Economic Structure." It offered a line of thought somewhat parallel to that of Mr. Sidney E. Lee's paper on "The Newest Atlantis," which was also read at the Pittsburgh meeting, and has caused considerable comment in this community of late.

     The Rev. and Mrs. Gilbert H. Smith and family returned much refreshed from a month's vacation spent at the Potts' farm in Vermont. Mr. Smith brought back several brush sketches he had made of scenes around the farm.

     The unusually hot summer slightly affected the attendance at public worship, but appears not to have affected the general activities of the young people, nearly all of whom were at home. Many, young and old, made use of the swimming pool, now supplied with fresh water from the village mains. The men engaged in weekly baseball games, the residents of the original Park being matched against the young men of the more recently settled regions outside the Park, and some close games were played.

     Many New Church people have summer cottages at Palisades Park and Linden Hills, the two adjoining settlements on the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan. During the month of August, the Rev. W. L. Gladish, of Sharon Church, Chicago, conducted weekly services in their little church building on the sandy slope overlooking the waters of the lake. For the first time in many years no services were held there during July, owing to the delay in repairing the stairs leading up to the entrance of the church building.

     These resorts are located among densely wooded dunes. In front of them a wide sandy beach slopes gradually down to the water's edge, making a safe and pleasant bathing-place. The distance from Chicago by auto is about 120 miles, the road passing around the lower end of Lake Michigan.

     At Palisades Park, on Tuesday, August 25th, the members of the Ladies' Aid met at the home of Mrs. Seymour G. Nelson to discuss church affairs and hold the annual election. A good representation from both resorts attended. The present officers were re-elected: Miss Adah Nelson, President, and Mrs. Z. Gurney, Treasurer, Mrs. Besse Smith, of Bryn Athyn, was present as a visitor and read from the Theta Alpha Journal the article on "Spiritual Storge," by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner, which was greatly appreciated by all present.
     J. B. S.

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     BRYN ATHYN.

     Missionary Services.

     The afternoon services held in the Cathedral during the Summer were very successful, and this was primarily due to the fact that the Bryn Athyn Society shared in the responsibility by lending their generous support in the form of attendance, as many as 99 members being present on one occasion. The average attendance at the services was about 140, ranging from 108 to 175.

     The fire sermons delivered by the Rev. K. R. Alden were on the following subjects: "The Life and Work of Emanuel Swedenborg"; "Where is God?"; "Three Days After Death"; "The Purpose of Life"; "Marriage."

     A new feature this year was the Doctrinal Class held on the Friday evening preceding the Sunday service. The general subject of the sermon was presented and discussed, and the entire time of the class was devoted to questions and answers. These classes proved very enjoyable, and were attended by about forty persons. Preceding the class there was a half-hour practice of the music for the Sunday service, in which the Bryn Athyn members of the Whittington Chorus took part.

     The Academy Schools.

     The Opening Exercises of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School were held in the Assembly Hall on Wednesday, September 9th, at 9.30 a.m. There was a large attendance of the parents and friends, and during the service the pupils were addressed by Bishop de Charms and Principal Heilman.

     On the same day, at 10.30 a.m., another large audience came to the opening service of the higher schools of the Academy, the students entering in procession, while members of the Faculty and Board of the Academy took their places upon the platform. The service was conducted by Bishop Pendleton, and Dean Doering read the Lessons. The address was delivered by Mr. Wilfred Howard, who dwelt in a very interesting manner upon the need of understanding the traditions of our schools, the reason why we differ from other schools, but are like them in some respects. "In this way we may refresh our spirit by a renewed contemplation of the principles and practices for which the Academy stands, and be reinspired to something of victorious attainment."

     On Friday evening, September 11th, the Assembly Hall was the scene of a happy social reunion at the President's Reception, with formal greetings and a delightful dance.

     Episcopal Visit to Europe.

     Bishop and Mrs. George d Charms returned from their European journey in time for the opening of the schools, and on Saturday evening, September 12th, a large audience in the Assembly Hall listened to a delightfully entertaining and informative account by Bishop de Charms, who described his visits to societies of the General Church in Holland, France, England, Norway and Sweden, and a brief stay at Copenhagen, Denmark.

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CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1931

CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY              1931




     Announcements.



     Members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend the Twenty-sixth Chicago District Assembly, which will be held at Glenview, Ill., October 9th to 11. Bishop Pendleton presiding. An interesting program has been arranged by a committee of the Immanuel and Sharon Churches. Those expecting to be present are requested to write to the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, Glenview, Ill.
ONTARIO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1931

ONTARIO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       ALAN GILL       1931

     The Nineteenth Ontario District Assembly will be held at the Olivet Church, 35 Elm Grove Ave., Toronto, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, November 7th to 9th, 1931. All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend.
     ALAN GILL,
          Secretary.

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INTERIOR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WRITINGS 1931

INTERIOR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WRITINGS        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          NOVEMBER, 1931          No. 11
     (Delivered at the Twenty-fourth British Assembly, 1931.)

     The Writings are the Word of the Lord to the New Church. They contain an inexhaustible store of Divine and heavenly wisdom; for in them the Lord Himself in His Glorified Human appears openly, to teach and to lead. The teaching, although infinite in content, is couched in language which is, of necessity, finite in form. All the words of human language, even the most abstract and philosophical, trace their origin to the sensual experience of the race. Their roots lie deeply imbedded in external appearances. These appearances indeed constitute a veil or covering which, on the one hand, may hide the truth, and, on the other, may cause it to become manifest. They serve to hide the truth from all whose minds are prejudiced by false doctrines which have been confirmed, or by the loves of self and the world which blind the spirit to the light of heaven. But they have power to make it manifest to all who draw near in humility of heart, acknowledging the Divinity of the Writings, perceiving the Lord's presence therein, and in all sincerity seeking Divine teaching thence from a love of truth for its own sake. To such as these, the language of the Writings has been miraculously ordered by the Lord, that it may elevate their minds above the appearances, and impart to them a perception of inner realities.

     Because of this power to reveal truth,-spiritual, celestial, and inmostly Divine,-the Writings are a Divine Revelation. By means of them, the Lord seeks to impart heavenly truth to all who are willing to receive; and He invites all men to draw near to the Heavenly Doctrine and partake of that which is freely offered there for their salvation.

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Wherefore He said: "Let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." This is a promise that those who are athirst for spiritual truth will be blessed with illustration by the Lord, that they may be led by progressive steps to understand ever more interiorly the Divine and heavenly things contained in the Writings. If they come asking for Truth from a genuine love of truth, and if they persist in their inquiry, endeavoring to apply the truth as it is revealed to them, and thus to shun evils as sins against God, this progression toward a more interior understanding will continue throughout life on earth, and after death to all eternity in heaven.

     This is true of every individual. And it is by means of such a progressive enlightenment that the Lord can be present to perform the Divine work of individual redemption and regeneration. Yet, because the church consists of individuals; because its spiritual development is one with that of the members who compose it; therefore the church will be established, and will grow among men, in the degree in which this enlightenment,-this interior understanding of the Writings,-is received, as it were, collectively. Nothing is more vital to the development of the church than a clear realization of the mode by which the understanding of the Writings may be deepened progressively, that all may become partakers of that advancement to a truer wisdom. The general means by which this is to be effected are given in the Heavenly Doctrines as: Illustration from the Lord, the Doctrine of Genuine Truth, and the Science of Correspondences. (See S. S. 25, 26; De Verbo XXI.)

     II.

     The Lord alone has power to open the eyes of the spirit. He alone can reveal the things which lie contained in the ultimate expressions of His Word. For this reason, the first all-important requisite to the true understanding of the Word is illustration from the Lord. Such illustration is nothing but the light of love. It is the light of love to the Lord, which becomes in man the light of a love for that in which and through which the Lord is seen,-a love of truth for its own sake.

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This love opens the eyes, and imparts illustration to the spirit. This it does by a direct reading of the text, and this both with the Writings and with the former Scriptures.

     While man is reading the Word,-if he reads in a state of simple faith, of reverence, of an inner acknowledgment of the Divine presence,-the Lord gives him to see genuine spiritual truth therein. This is done by no conscious process of interpretation. The reader may have no knowledge of the science of exposition, or of the science of correspondences. He may have no breadth of learning or erudition. For this reason, much that meets his eye from the sacred page may appear dark and incomprehensible. Yet in certain passages he will see spiritual truth,-truth that is one with the internal sense of the Word,-truth such as is seen in heaven. That this is the case with the Old and the New Testaments, is plainly taught. For we read:

     "Many things in the sense of the letter of the Word are naked, as it were without garments, and these things correspond to the face of man, and also to his hands, which parts are naked. These things of the Word serve for the doctrine of the church, because they are in themselves spiritual-natural truths." (De Verbo X:7.) And again: "Most things in the natural sense of the Word, or in the sense of the letter, are goods and truths clothed, and some only are naked, as they are in the spiritual sense. . . . Where the Word is thus naked, its goods and truths appear naked, as they do in heaven, thus such as they are in the spiritual sense. There is, therefore, nothing to hinder those who are enlightened by the Lord from seeing. . . the doctrine of genuine truth and genuine good from the sense of the letter of the Word." (A. E. 778.) Again: "These are they who are in enlightenment from the Word when they read it, and who see truth, and from it make doctrine for themselves. The reason of this is that such communicate with heaven, thus with the Lord; and, being enlightened by the Lord in this way, they are led to see the truths of the Word such as they are in heaven; for the Lord inflows through heaven into their understanding, because it is the man's interior understanding that is enlightened." (A. C. 9424.) And finally: "The doctrine which is for a lamp is what the internal sense teaches; thus it is the internal sense itself which in some measure lies open to everyone (even if he does not know what the internal sense is) who is in what is external from what is internal, that is, whose internal man is open.

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For heaven (which is in the internal sense of the Word) flows in with such a man when he reads the Word, enlightens him, and gives him perception, and thus teaches him." (A. C. 10400.)

     All this is spoken specifically of the Old and New Testaments. Even in these representative Scriptures, full of parables and dark sayings, there are, scattered throughout the text, passages in which the inner truth is as it were naked, in which the internal sense in some measure lies open to everyone whose mind is enlightened by the Lord. Here spiritual truth can be seen by a direct reading of the text, without employing any conscious mode of interpretation, and without any translation of the words into another form of ultimate expression. And, of course, this is far more true of the Writings, which are for the most part expressed in rational terms, and couched in the highest possible form of human language. The light of heaven inflows, imparting a perceptive light to the mind, and this as it were spontaneously while a man is reading the Heavenly Doctrine or reflecting upon its teachings. All that is required is that he read with reverence, with his mind open to the teaching given, and with a sincere desire to learn the truth. Such truth as he derives in this way from the Writings, while genuine, and spiritual, will not as yet be his own. There will be much in his mind and in his heart that is opposed to it, and this must be fought and overcome before he can enter into the heaven of which he has thus been given a preliminary vision. None the less, the vision is real, and by means of it the Lord can be present with vital power to inspire a longing for further understanding, to lead the man into a more interior realization of the truth, and to give him strength sufficient for the battle against his own evils and falsities that must ensue.

     Such spiritual vision is the very first thing,-the very beginning of the church with man; and it exists from the very first moment that the church is established in the world. Yet this first sight of truth is immature. It is infantile. It has no ground of permanence in the man, and it may be quickly lost, as is taught in the second chapter of Revelation, where the Lord said to the Church in Ephesus: "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works: or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." (Verses 4-5.)

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That it may remain, and grow, and be appropriated to man as his own, further means are necessary, and these have been provided by the Lord.

     We are told that those passages in which spiritual truth is clearly seen in a state of illustration must be collected, and arranged in order, that they may be seen together. When this is done, they constitute the doctrine of genuine truth, by which further light may be given,-light capable of penetrating the darker shadows, and of illuminating passages which before could not be understood. Thus we read: "Be it known that all the doctrine of the church must be from the Word, and that the doctrine from any other source than the Word is not doctrine in which there is anything of the church, still less anything of heaven. But the doctrine must be collected from the Word; and while it is being collected, the man must be in enlightenment from the Lord; and he is in enlightenment who is in the love of truth for the sake of truth." (A. C. 9424.) And elsewhere: "Truths from the Word are to be fitted together into doctrine so as to serve for use, which is done by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord." (A. C. 10105.) In this way "the doctrine of genuine truth can be drawn in full from the sense of the letter of the Word." (S. S. 55.) Certainly, while said of the former Scriptures, this teaching is equally applicable to the Writings, where this doctrine of genuine truth, as to many of its particulars, is expounded at length, and with the greatest possible clarity of expression.

     III.

     So far, the mode of deriving interior truth from the Writings is one with that which is prescribed for the Old and New Testaments. There remains, however, the science of correspondences. And in the application of this to the Writings a notable difference is to be observed,-a difference arising out of the characteristic form in which the Heavenly Doctrine has been written. The Writings are indeed the Word; but the analogy between them and the former Scriptures is not complete. The difference arises from the fact that they are the last and crowning Revelation.

     There are, in the natural mind, three distinct planes, or degrees, and each of these can be addressed directly by a characteristic form of speech or writing. This is done in each of the three great Testaments.

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The Old Testament, with its sensual imagery, appeals to the lowest degree. The New Testament, with its moral teaching, as found in the Lord's parables, in the Ten Blessings, and in the Lord's direct instruction of His Disciples and the multitude, appeals to the intermediate plane. And the Writings, with their rational statements of Doctrine, appeal to the highest plane.

     The truths contained in the Old Testament, under types and images, could be elevated by the Lord to a more exalted medium of expression, their "internal sense" laid open to a higher degree of human comprehension, as He did when He "opened to them, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself." The same truth could again be translated to a still higher plane of human speech, as is done, with both the Old and the New Testaments, when in the Writings their "spiritual sense" is given. All this is done by means of correspondences; and for this reason we are told that the science of correspondence also is necessary to the interpretation of the Word.


     But this, by which there was produced another Scripture, another Revelation, cannot be done again. It cannot be done with the Writings. These, being addressed to the rational plane of the mind, are given the highest form of speech and writing with which it is possible to invest things Divine and heavenly as with an ultimate clothing. This is the reason why the Writings are said to be the Crown of all Revelations, and why, by means of them, the Lord has made His Final Advent.

     The Science of Correspondences is primarily the means by which, from the Old and New Testaments, an internal sense may be drawn forth, far removed from the sense of the letter, yet expressed in the natural to become a new basis for the thought of the church. As such, it cannot be used in connection with the Writings. It is true that many sensual images, and descriptions of ultimate persons and objects, are found in the Writings, where they are used by way of illustration and confirmation of the Doctrine. To these, the science of correspondences can indeed be applied, and to do so may at times be of use. But when it is done, the language falls into the same plane of expression as is found elsewhere in the Writings. It does not produce a new "internal sense" which should take the place of the doctrinal statements as a basis for thought. It does not lead to the discovery of new, doctrine, though it may supplement and illustrate what is already found.

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The immersion of the mind in the task of interpreting these sensual correspondences will not produce a more interior understanding of Divine Truth.

     We are well aware that correspondences have a broader application than is here implied. We are fully cognizant of the fact that truth seen in the spiritual heaven is discretely removed from that seen in the natural heaven; that truth seen in the celestial heaven is likewise discretely removed from that which is seen in the spiritual heaven; and that between these there is no communication save by correspondences. But to man on earth these differences are purely perceptive. In heaven they can be expressed in the language of the angels. But as soon as they are put in words, even if couched in the highest possible form of human speech, they fall into that same plane of rational language in which the Writings themselves have been given.

     For this reason we would prefer not to speak of the "letter" of the Writings, because this term implies another "internal sense" which does not exist,-a sense discretely above them, yet expressed in ultimate terms. We would speak rather of the "interior understanding" of the Writings, by which we mean a penetrative insight, an elevation of the mind into the light of heaven, and a perceptive realization of the heavenly things contained within them. As a means of attaining this interior understanding, we would indeed apply to the Writings the "Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture," but not without a discriminating sense of the differences involved in the rational ultimates through which this Final Revelation has been made.

     In the Writings, correspondences rest primarily, not upon the words, with their background of sensual imagery, but rather upon the rational ideas, which are expressed by the words in that Divine order and sequence which has been miraculously impressed upon them by the Lord's immediate leading. These rational ideas may carry with them many natural and worldly connotations; and, so far as the mind rests in these, they are not spiritually understood. But when the mind is elevated into spiritual light, these rational ideas may be perceived apart from their natural implications. Then spiritual truth is perceived in them, truth "such as it is in heaven."

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     Even when thus spiritually understood, it is impossible for truth purely spiritual to be consciously imparted to any man so long as he lives on earth. In this state of illustration and withdrawal from the world, as we are told, we can see truth "almost as the angels see it," yet with a difference, a veiling, which cannot be removed until after we have passed by death into the Spiritual world.

     IV.

     In the True Christian Religion, no. 245, we read: "It is not doctrine, but the soundness and purity of doctrine, consequently the understanding of the Word, that establishes the church." In this passage, it is clearly not the Divine Doctrine Itself which is meant; for this is none other than the Word, which, being given by the Lord, is infinitely sound, and infinitely pure. The reference is to what has been called "interpretive doctrine," and which is simply the individual or the collective understanding of the Word as it exists in the church at any given time. This interpretive doctrine must be drawn from the Word, and it must be confirmed thereby; and this must be done in a state of illustration from the Lord. To this extent it is of Divine Origin, and of Divine Essence, and by means of it the Lord is present to lead the church by His Holy Spirit.

     Any truth that man is able to see in the Word is inmostly from the Lord. It contains an element of Divinity by which the Lord may dwell in that whish is His own with us. It is in no sense our own, but is the Lord in us. This must be our never-ceasing acknowledgment. Yet it contains, at the same time, a human element, derived from the proprium of man; or, if not this, at least from the finite limitations of his mind. This is always the case, whether the man is regenerated or not. It is true even of the celestial angels, and will be true of them to all eternity, although they are being perfected in wisdom continually. Their understanding of the Word can never be infinite. It can never be infallible. This is indicated where it is said that the Lord, in the process of glorifying His Human, came into conflict even with the angels themselves, and had to induce a new order upon the heavens, whereby their understanding of the Word was purified, and in consequence of which the sun of heaven shone for them with sevenfold splendor.

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     If even the celestial angels cannot attain to a doctrine from the Word that is wholly Divine, and completely authoritative, how much more must this be true of men on earth, who, although they may be regenerating, although they may enjoy illustration from the Lord in the reading and study of the Word, yet are beset on every hand by evils and falsities, both in their own minds and in the world around them. Their interpretive doctrines, although Divine in origin and in essence, will always be subject to human limitations, and this, both as to the ultimate form of their expression, and as to the inner understanding of that form. They will be subject to continual purification and correction. Elements will be found in them that are ephemeral, that arise out of conditions and circumstances that will change with the advance of time. Lack of sufficient knowledge, considerations of human prudence, the pressure of conflict, and a thousand various natural conditions will mold the formulation of them, and qualify the understanding of their deeper truth. Who at this day, when celestial perception has been replaced by a conscience, often spurious, is able to distinguish, even in himself, that which is from the Lord and that which enters from other sources?

     It is true, indeed, that these two elements are Divinely distinguished by the Lord. It is by means of that alone which is Divine in Doctrine that the Lord can inflow to direct the destiny of His Church. It is even true that, looking back over the past, we may catch a glimpse of this Divine leading, and may recognize, in some small measure, the Providence that guided the church through troublous times, and preserved its inner life, often in spite of the blind gropings of men, rather than because of their keen insight. But Providence appears, if at all, only in the back. In our own day, its workings are too deeply hidden to be discerned. In our present understanding of doctrine, we have no means of separating assuredly that which is from the Lord and that which is not. The great problem of the church is to provide a way in which that which is Divine and eternal in its doctrine may abide, to lead into ever greater light and understanding, while that which is human and ephemeral may successively be put off. This can be assured only if our interpretive doctrine is clearly recognized as fallible; only if it is repeatedly referred back, by each individual and by each generation, to the Word as the Only Criterion, for judgment and for correction, in the light that the Lord may give in each new day.

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     It is of the highest importance that this interpretive doctrine should not be exalted to such a place of authority that it begins to bind the thought and the conscience of the church apart from the Word. If this should come to pass, then will the New Church face that grave danger to which both the Jewish Church and the Christian Church succumbed, namely, of "making the Word of God of none effect by its tradition." Against this we should take every possible precaution. And the most effective precaution of all is this, that we will reserve all Divine Authority for the Heavenly Doctrine itself, withholding from any human formulation of doctrine the right to exert a binding influence.

     So far as any individual sees the doctrine of the church for himself, with conviction that is born of illustration from the Lord,-sees it as the true teaching of the Writings,-just so far the authority of the doctrine is one and indivisible with the authority of the Writings themselves. The Writings are the very Doctrine of the Church, Divinely given. There is no true doctrine apart from them. To acknowledge their authority is to acknowledge the authority of the Divine Doctrine of the Church in its entirety. This will always be true. To exclude the recognition of authority from interpretive doctrines, and at the same time to acknowledge that of the Writings, will not exclude the recognition of anything in the interpretive doctrine that is Divine, now or in the future. But it will leave the way continually open for the purification of our doctrines, that they may approximate more and more closely to the Lord's own teaching. It is not the purpose of interpretive doctrine to produce an infallible or authoritative body of faith which shall supplant the Writings as the basis of thought for the church. It is to point the way to what the Writings teach, to disclose what has not previously been seen in their written text. It is to adapt them to the special needs and conditions of a particular day. It is to bring together and demonstrate the relation that exists between statements scattered here and there,-statements which, taken by themselves, seem unintelligible, or statements which, to be more truly understood, need the qualification and the influence of other teachings. These needs are continually changing, from generation to generation. They are dependent upon external conditions that pass away. That which alone endures, and which lends itself to the requirement of every age, is the Heavenly Doctrine Itself, which is the Rock on which the Lord must build His Church, that the gates of hell may not prevail against it.

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     That this distinction between the interpretive doctrine of the church and the Divine Doctrine which is the Word is to be carefully observed, is clearly taught. For we read:

     "'To take heed' signifies attention, as it is with those who are in the spiritual affection of truth. For when these read the Word, they do not look at it from the doctrine of the church in which they are born, but they look at it as if they were separated from that doctrine; for their wish is to be illustrated, and to see truths inwardly in themselves, and not from others. Those who are in such a state are illustrated by the Lord, and it is granted them to make doctrine for themselves out of the truths that they see; and this doctrine is implanted in them, and abides in their spirit to eternity. But those who read the Word from the doctrines received from others are not able to see truths in the light of their own spirit, thus not inwardly in themselves, but only outside themselves. For they think that a thing is true because others have seen it, and therefore they attend only to what corroborates it. Other things they pass by as if not seen, or they bring them over to the support of what their doctrine declares. Such as these cannot be illustrated, as any one can see; for they only store up confirmations in the memory which belongs to their natural man, and from this memory they henceforth speak. Consequently they stay natural as before, and do not become spiritual. For to become spiritual is to imbue one's spirit with truths from the Word, and the spirit is not imbued with truths except as it desires to know truth wherever it is in the Word, and delights in it when it sees it, and perceives it. This affection is the spiritual affection of truth that has been so often spoken of before." (A. E. 190.)

     Here are indicated the spiritual dangers that accompany any setting up of an authoritative doctrine for the church which may lead people away from a direct approach to the Word as the only source of Divine Light and Teaching. Again we read: "The doctrine of the church, unless collected and confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, does not have authority (non valeat), because it does not communicate with heaven; but doctrine from the sense of the letter of the Word, and together with it, does have authority." (De Verbo XVIIIe.)

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In order that the doctrine of the individual members of the church may always be received together with the literal statements of the Writings, we must lead them to the Heavenly Doctrine as the only authority.

     And finally, we read in another place: "There are two ways of procuring the truths which are of faith,-by means of doctrinal things, and by means of the Word. When man procures them only by doctrinal things, he then has faith in those who have drawn them from the Word, and he confirms them in himself to be true because others have said so; thus he does not believe them from faith given from the Divine. Everyone who is in the church first procures the truths which are of faith from doctrinal things, and also must so procure them, because he has not yet sufficient strength of judgment to enable him to see them himself from the Word. But in this case, these truths are to him nothing but scientifics. But when he is able to view them from his own judgment, if he then does not consult the Word in order to see from it whether they are true, they remain in him as scientifics; while if he does consult the Word from the affection and end of knowing truths, he then, when he has found them, procures for himself the things of faith from the genuine fountain, and they are appropriated to him from the Divine." (A. C. 5402.)

     There is here given a plain warning against the danger of establishing a faith in "doctrinal things" as authoritative, lest the members of the church should cease to "search the Scriptures," relying rather upon the truth which has been traditionally received in the church. This is a danger which we must meet with every rising generation, because doctrinal things must first be given, and they must be received from parents and teachers with confidence and affirmation. But the time must come when every individual will go immediately to the Lord in the Writings, to learn of Him the way of life. And the church, by every means in its power, must lead and encourage them to do so, with minds free, and open to such light as the Lord may give them. When they do so, sincerely, earnestly, from a genuine love of truth for its own sake, all that is Divine in the received doctrine of the church will be amply confirmed and established in their minds. But there is at the same time an opportunity for the Lord to remove some of the limitations, to purify the doctrine, to lift it up to a more interior plane of understanding.

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Thus will the church grow in spiritual stature and in wisdom under the immediate auspices of the Lord.

     This is a simple statement of our faith as to the mode by which the church is to progress into a more and more spiritual and angelic realization of the Divine treasures which lie enshrined in the ultimate language of the Heavenly Doctrine. That advance will necessarily be slow. We cannot see beyond the possibilities of our time and our age. In this matter we are subject to the limitations which surround all human development. There is much in the Writings for the reception of which we are not yet prepared. Our present understanding is primitive indeed, when compared with that which will obtain in the church when that Kingdom of Heaven for the sake of which the Lord has made His Second Coming has indeed been established in the world.

     Yet we should not be impatient. We should not attempt to reach by our own power a goal of understanding which the Lord does not freely vouchsafe to us, in the faithful performance of those uses which He has set for us to do in this our day. The Lord will bring about the fulfillment of all His Divine promises in His own good time. If we remain true to Him, in affection, in thought, and in life, as He now reveals Himself to us in the Heavenly Doctrine, praying from the heart for guidance and help to meet the problems that now confront us, striving with earnest endeavor to establish His Church in our own hearts, and to strengthen its foothold in the world, then, out of the great storehouse of His Word, the Lord will give us each day our daily bread. He will open our eyes continually to see new truth, and just that truth which, in His Wisdom, is needful for our spiritual life, and for the present requirements of His Church among us.

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IF THERE HAD NOT BEEN A FALL 1931

IF THERE HAD NOT BEEN A FALL       Rev. ALBERT BJORCK       1931

     (Delivered at the 24th British Assembly, August 2, 1931.)

Some of you may think that the subject I have chosen for my address at this Assembly is one about which we can know very little, and that it is futile to try to inquire into it, as the result would hardly be anything but more or less plausible conjectures. This thought may even be strengthened when I tell you that what I have been aiming at is to see whether we can form any idea of what the external conditions in the world would have been like if there had not been a Fall. But I think such an inquiry is quite legitimate, and warranted by what is said in the Writings; for, of course, it is only in them that we can get any real light in our inquiry.

     We all feel that the conditions in the world in which we live are not what they should or could be; in fact, that they are pretty bad. There are many things to complain of, nor is there any lack of complainants. There is unrest and hurry; there are social evils of diverse kinds; there is discontent, breeding strife between classes within the nations, economic strife, if not open war, between nations, and universal depression in trade and industry. All these things are engaging the thought of men in the world about us, though they look at them from differing viewpoints, in trying to find their causes and remedy.

     Some find in one special thing the root and origin of all they regard as wrong; others find it in something else. Some trace the origin of almost all that is wrong to the inventions that have produced the machines which have made possible the industrialism of this age, and they speak sneeringly of "our machine age." Others go further back, and trace the cause to the trend of intellectual activity during the last two hundred years, which has steadily become more and more turned to scientific investigations of natural laws, and which is back of all inventions and machinery.

     "They call this progress," some would say, "but it is in the direction of the bottomless pit.

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We are entirely on the wrong road, and ought to go back-preferably on foot, without any noisome machine." Others, though they agree in condemning the machine, will say that, "given the world as it is, you can't go back; you can't scrap the machine unless you are prepared to kill off about half the human race. The population of the earth has doubled in the last 200 years, and the increase has come faster as industrialism has progressed. Industrialism has, in fact, made that increase possible. If you want to get rid of industrialism, you must start where that began; that is, you must slaughter about half the population."

     "Well," somebody may say, "the next war or the next revolution may accomplish that." The likely reply to this would be, that it is conceivable that a revolution aiming at the overthrow of the existing order of things may arise, and that it may spread and involve all the nations that suffer most from these conditions; or that another world-war may come about, and that one or the other, or both combined, would reduce the population of the earth to one-half or less. Still, this would not destroy industrialism. In such a revolution or war, the intellectual achievements of men, their scientific knowledge, inventions, instruments and machines, would be employed and perfected for the destruction of human life. It would provide and perfect poison gases, bombs, and bomb-throwing airplanes, tanks, cannon, and such things as we now have, and would invent more formidable ones.

      The same human intellect would also be at work in providing the instruments and machinery needed for supplying the combatants with food, clothing and other necessities. When peace finally came, the population of the earth might be reduced to half or less, but all the knowledge of natural laws, inventions and machinery would still remain. Industrialism would at once be set at work to repair the damage caused by the strife, and to provide for the needs of the survivors, and humanity would increase at a faster rate than ever before.

     What some regard as signs of human progress, and others look upon as the fruit of evil, would be with us as before. After a period of reconstruction, there would probably be a period of material prosperity, but unless human nature meanwhile had changed very much, conditions similar to those now existing would arise.

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Some would have enough and too much, and some too little, and discontent and strife would begin again, bringing about new revolutions or wars.

     II.

     The New Church is very small numerically, and its power to influence the thought in the world around us is seemingly negligible. Nevertheless, the Church that unhesitatingly and intelligently acknowledges that the Writings given us through Emanuel Swedenborg are the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming, in which He tells us plainly of the spiritual truths that proceed from His infinite love, in order that we may have eternal life and blessings, and also happiness on earth, if we are guided by them,-that Church must consider itself the custodian of these truths, and the principal means on earth by which the Lord's truth can be made known to a steadily increasing number of men, who finally, by the power of truth from the Lord, will be able to influence the thought of the world.

     This has been commonly recognized in the General Church, but there is nevertheless a divergence of opinion among us as to the attitude we should take toward the world about us. It is no doubt seen by most of us that no real change for the better in world-conditions is possible without a change of heart in men. But some doubt that such a change is possible, or they think that, even if possible, it will be an exceedingly slow process, taking centuries of time. They therefore advocate that New Churchmen should withdraw from the world as far as possible, congregate in colonies, and live mainly by the work of their hands, independent of the conditions in the world.

     When such projects have been mooted, it has become evident that the views I have been trying to present, as common among men in the world who are discontented with present conditions, have their adherents among us also. Some regard the achievements of the human intellect that has created the machine-age as signs of progress, while others see in it the root of most of what is wrong in the world.

     In the Writings alone are the truths to be found which can guide in the right direction our thinking on matters pertaining to life here and hereafter. It is, therefore, our plain duty to examine whether they say anything bearing directly or indirectly upon the subject before us.

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     There are no direct statements telling us how the external order of things in the world would have turned out, if there had been no Fall, but there is the teaching plainly set forth in every work,-the teaching that we all recognize and understand,-that the external corresponds to, or, what is the same, is caused by, the state of the internal.

     In A. C. 2661 we find a statement which is of great importance to our thinking on this subject. The statement is, that if the Most Ancient Church had not lost its integrity, there would have been no need for the Lord to be born a man. This, of course, is the same as saying that if there had been no Fall, there would have been no need for the Lord to be born a man. The statement can be understood and has been understood by some, to mean that the men composing the Church would have remained in the same spiritual state, and would have continued to live externally as they did before the Fall. They would have remained celestial men, and, therefore, there would have been no need of the Lord's work of redemption and salvation through His Human on earth.

     We are told something about the spiritual state of the Adamites, and also something about their mode of living as external men. By influx from the Lord through the human internal, they had, as natural men, an intuitive perception of good and truth. Before they became celestial men, in God's image and likeness, thus during their preparatory state, the Lord Creator had implanted in their internal a love like His love, that is, a love that goes out to others to give of itself. This love flowed into their natural affections and qualified them, and the wisdom of that love united with their natural knowledge and understanding as it grew. So they were given to feel and perceive interiorly that blessedness and peace come to men on earth with the love that goes out to others to give. That love was to them the highest of all,-the Lord of life,-and its commandments they should obey. The wisdom of that love, influencing their affections, gave them love to the neighbor.

     Their external life was very simple. They had an inborn knowledge of natural things, somewhat akin to the instincts of the animals They knew, and were born with that knowledge, how to use the things of nature,-the fruits of trees and shrubs, and the grasses of the field,-and to cultivate them. These, together with milk from the herds, served them as food.

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Each family worshiped the love that gives to others, which they perceived was not from themselves, but given them, and therefore was to them the Lord. Their worship was mostly internal, that is, spontaneous in life, but later each family also worshiped in its tent by some simple ceremony, the father of the family leading; or later still, when the family had become a tribe, this took place in a larger tent or an unpretentious wooden building.

     Such is the picture of the life of the men who constituted the first Church on earth, as we can form it from the Writings. And it makes a strong appeal to many, and especially to men of a certain type who regard a life close to nature as the ideal life,-one in which men have to procure the first necessities of life-food, shelter and clothing-by the work of their hands, aided by the simplest of tools. Such a life, they are apt to think, sustains and nourishes all the good qualities in human nature, while the life and pursuits in cities is destructive of good qualities, and fosters the evils in human nature. If it were possible, they would have all men lead such a life, even thinking it a means by which the good qualities may be restored.

     But if we reflect upon the teaching given us in the Writings, it will be clear that we cannot accept the idea that the men of the Church would have remained in the same spiritual state in which they were before the Fall, and, therefore, that their external life would also have remained the same.

     The general teaching of the Writings presents to us the true Church of the Lord as one spiritual man, growing from the innocence of infancy, through childhood and youth, to the mature wisdom of rational manhood. The Most Ancient Church corresponds to the infancy and early childhood of the Church as a whole.

     The Writings speak, it is true, of several churches on earth that have died spiritually, and thus have come to an end. This is the true external aspect when the men who compose what is held to be the Church, from the selfishness in their will, blind their understanding of revealed truth and falsify it. Such churches, though internally dead, continue to exist among men; but the Lord's Church is then transferred to others, within or outside of the dead church, who have remains of good in their will,-remains of love from the Lord to Him and the neighbor,-that will enable them to receive truth revealed by that Love Itself.

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So the one true Church is kept alive with men, vivified by the Lord, though to all appearance a New Church is raised up.

     These external breaks in the growth of the Church are the results of the Fall. So also are the new revelations of truth from the Lord which vivify the Church and serve as ground for renewed growth.

     If there had been no Fall, the Church would have grown into the wisdom of rational manhood from the Lord. The revelation of truth from the Lord through the love from Him in their will would have been continuous, as they were continuous with the Lord Himself as man on earth, as He grew from infancy to manhood.

     If the Most Ancient Church had kept its integrity, it would have outgrown its infant state, and successively entered childhood, youth and manhood, in a way that we can see pictured in the Lord's glorification. In other words, the Church, as it advanced toward manhood, would have been victorious in the different temptations that come in and with different ages. The interior perception from the internal would have flowed into and joined to itself the growing external understanding and reason proper to the external man.

     As a human being, the Lord, by continuous revelations to His external from His Divine within, and in its power, met and overcame in all temptations as He grew to manhood. So His Human gradually and continuously became Divine, or His Human affections and His Human reason was filled with the glory of Life Itself. So the infinite man and His infinite Love and Wisdom,-the Life that is Love and the internal Source of all creation,-was revealed in and through the affections, teachings, and acts of His external man.

     III.

     The fact that the Adamites desired and were given a proprium was not the cause of the Fall. What caused it was that they-or rather their posterity-disobeyed the perception and intelligence from the Lord in their internal, and chose to be led by their proprium, or by the affections and the understanding engendered in their external through their bodily senses.

     Most of you have doubtless read and reflected upon what is revealed to us about the Most Ancient Church, and especially in the explanations of the spiritual sense of the first chapter in Genesis, and can see that what I have just said is from and in accord with what is there said.

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But it may be well to refer to some of the teaching upon which I have based my thought.

     In the explanation of the internal sense of the verses of the second chapter in Genesis which tell of the garden planted in Eden, it is shown that this garden and the rivers watering it represent the state of the celestial man in general, and in particular the state of the Most Ancient Church. Their intelligence from the Lord's love in their internal man is represented by the "garden in Eden from the East." The "trees pleasant to sight" are perceptions of truth, and the "trees good for food" are perceptions of good. Love is meant by the "tree of life," faith by the "tree of knowledge." Wisdom is meant by the "river in the garden." "From thence were four rivers," the first of which is good and truth; the second is knowledge of all things of good and truth, or of love and faith. These are of the internal man. The third is reason, and the fourth is science, which are of the external man. All are from wisdom, and this is from love and faith in the Lord. (A. C. 77, 78.)

     The signification of the third and fourth rivers is further described in no. 118, where it is said that the river Hiddekel is reason, or the clear seeing of reason. Asshur is the rational mind. That "the river goeth eastward toward Asshur," signifies that clearness of reason comes from the Lord through the internal man into the rational mind, which belongs to the external man. Phrath or Euphrates is science, which is the ultimate or boundary.

     Further we read: "From these rivers it may be evident what celestial order is, or how things of life proceed, namely, from the Lord, who is the East. From Him is wisdom; through wisdom intelligence; through intelligence reason; and so through reason the knowledges which are of the memory are vivified. This is the order of life. Such are celestial men." (A. C. 121.)

     And now I want to remind you of another teaching, with which you all are doubtless familiar, namely, that the regeneration of man proceeds from the internal to the external. In our Liturgy the doctrine is summed up thus: "The internal man is first reformed, and by it the external, and thus is man regenerated. The regenerate man receives a new will and a new understanding, and is consociated with the angels of heaven, and conjoined with the Lord."

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Our internal must be re-formed; that is, the lusts in the natural man's will, and the falsities in his understanding, must be subdued, subjugated, and inverted, before he can take a single step toward becoming a spiritual or celestial man.

     The Most Ancient Church was an internal Church. Men of that Church were formed according to the Divine order in creation. The love and wisdom from the Lord in their internal flowed directly into their external, and actuated it, but they had to begin with no proprium, no life that they could feel as their own. The sense of having a life as if it were their own came to them in time, as it comes to the growing infant, gradually as affections and knowledges and understanding on the natural, external plane of life were developed in them through the senses in contact with the external world.

     The Church in man, that is, love and wisdom from the Lord, must come from the internal into the external life that man feels as if it were his own. "'The tree of lives' signifies love, and faith from love. 'The tree of the knowledge of good and evil' signifies faith from the sensual, or from outward knowledge." (A. C. 102.) The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was planted by the Lord in the garden. In the Divine order of creation man is meant to have a natural will and understanding, or a mind that he feels as his own.

     The Most Ancient Church had from creation the rudiments of such a mind, as the child born today has it. As the Church grew, that mind was developed in the degree that men gathered knowledge about the external world through the senses. The Lord had given them an inner perception of what was good and true, and had forbidden them to judge concerning that from their senses or outward knowledge. For it is according to Divine order that man should acquire knowledge of what is true and good from every perception from the Lord, but not from self and the world, or to search into the mysteries of faith by things of sense or outward knowledge, whereby the celestial of faith is destroyed. (A. C. 126.)

     Therefore we read, in the summary of the contents of the latter part of the second chapter in Genesis: "The posterity of the Most Ancient Church is now treated-of, which desired (affectabit) proprium (or the sense of being their own). Because man is such as not to be content to be led by the Lord, but desires also to be led by himself and the world, or from his proprium, this proprium is here treated of as being granted to him, verse 18.

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And first it is given him to become acquainted with affections of good and knowledges of truth, which are given him by the Lord; but still he craves a proprium, v. 19, 20. He is therefore let into the state of the proprium, and the proprium is given him. This is described by the rib built into a woman, v. 21, 23. Celestial and spiritual life also were adjoined to the proprium, so as to appear as if one, v. 24. And innocence was insinuated into the proprium by the Lord, so that it might still be not unacceptable, v. 25." (A. C. 131-136.)

     The proprium is a gift to man from a loving Creator. It is the means for his individual life to eternity. Feeling life as his own, he can yet be conjoined to the Lord, so that he wills from His love and thinks from His wisdom. This is made beautifully clear in A. C. 155, where we read: "The heavenly marriage is of such sort that it is in the proprium, and that the proprium vivified by the Lord is called the Bride and also the Wife of the Lord. The proprium thus vivified by the Lord has a perception of all good of love and truth of faith. It has thus all wisdom and intelligence, joined with ineffable felicity. The nature of this vivified proprium which is called the Bride and the Wife of the Lord cannot be told in a few words; only this, that the angels perceive that they live from the Lord, and yet, when not reflecting, know not but that they live of themselves." (A. C. 155.)

     More is said in nos. 160 and 252, where we read: "That by the woman is meant the Church, may appear from the heavenly marriage. . . . The heavenly marriage is of such a nature that heaven and thus the Church are united to the Lord by means of their proprium, even so that the union is in the proprium; for without proprium there is no union; and when the Lord, of His mercy, insinuates innocence, peace and good into this proprium, it appears still as proprium, but heavenly and most happy. But the quality of the heavenly or angelic proprium, which is from the Lord, and that of the infernal or devilish proprium, which is from self, is like the difference between heaven and hell."

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     IV.

     This has been a disproportionately long introduction to the announced subject, but I have considered it necessary to present the foundation for my thoughts.

     We know and understand that, by the Fall, the man of the Church lost the inner perception of the good and true from the Lord which was given to his external man to feel as if it were his own, when his proprium was vivified by the Lord. He also lost the instinctive knowledge of nature which he possessed when, as a natural being, he remained in the order of creation. In consequence of this loss, we are born without knowledge of any kind, but must acquire both by means of instruction. If there had been no Fall, the Church would have retained these two perceptions as it grew from childhood into youth and manhood and rationality. This fact can give us some guidance when we attempt to picture to ourselves how the external conditions in the world would have been ordered if there had been no Fall.

     From the teaching of the Writings it seems to be clear that the perception of good and truth from within from the Lord would have joined to itself the knowledge and understanding which the external man gets through his senses. (A. C. 6125.) The rational, which belongs to the external man (A. C. 118, 268) would thereby have developed more rapidly; and, being open to and embracing spiritual as well as natural things, it would have been more excellent than that of any man now living. The instinctive perception of how to use the things of nature would also join with the knowledge gained by the senses. And is it not reasonable to suppose that men would then have gained a more interior and excellent knowledge and understanding of nature and the laws governing it than the most prominent scientists of today?

     All this knowledge, and all the abilities that can be developed by man, would then have been used in the service of that love which goes out to give of itself to others without seeking anything for self. Further, there is no reason given us to think that the Church would not have spread rapidly to most parts of the earth. That would rather seem most probable. All being united by love in working for the good of each, there would have been no wars.

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And with the knowledge of natural and spiritual laws possessed by men, it is not likely that there would have been any epidemic diseases to decimate mankind. At a comparatively early age, the population of the earth would have surpassed the present; and the knowledge, understanding, ingenuity and inventiveness of men would be called upon to provide the means whereby the needs of that great multitude might be procured and distributed.

     If such suppositions are justified by what we do know from the Writings, as I think they are, we may conclude, or at least see the possibility, that implements and machines, somewhat similar to those we now have, would have been invented and in use for such purposes at an earlier age than they have come into use in the world after the Fail. Trade between different parts of the earth would also be carried on, though not for the profit of individuals or classes, but for the good of all. Agricultural implements, and machinery similar to what we have now, or better, would be needed; and so would almost all the means of communication and the distribution of commodities that we have now, like steam and internal-combustion engines, automobiles and airplanes, telegraph and telephone; or other and better inventions might have taken their place. But there would be no guns, bombs, tanks, poison gases, or other tools of destruction.

     In some ways the conditions would be very different indeed. Wheat would not be burned in one place of the world, because it cannot be sold at a profit, while thousands suffer for lack of it in other parts. Education, social order and justice, and the culture of the arts,-these would be ordered and organized from love for the spiritual and natural welfare and happiness of all; and their external aspects would likely be quite different, because more intelligent; for love gives intelligence.

     In some ways, things might not have been so very different. There would always have been human beings of different ages,-infants, children and grown-ups. Among them there would probably be some with greater abilities than the majority, and some with outstanding qualities, fitting them to be leaders and captains in special trades or industries, or for the performance of special functions in the social order; and some might even command greater material wealth, in order to perform certain uses in the best way. There would be no equality in the sense that all should be alike, but all would equally share the love of all others.

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All would be instructed, grow up, live and perform uses for the glory of the Lord and for use in the heavens.

     We live under conditions developed under the rule of men whose proprium has been but slightly vivified by the Lord, or not at all. Even so, the Divine Providence rules, though working through men with freedom to think and act according to the state of their proprium.

     As New Churchmen, we all desire to live for heaven,-to live here in such a way that we may become fit to perform heavenly uses in the world which we must all enter. By the force of circumstances we have thus far had no choice but to do our share in the work of the world in very much the same way as other men, entering the same trades or professions as other men, and working With and among them. And what can we do! What is right for us to do, if we would perform uses from the Lord, but to work in the world in which we are living, with the human beings that people it, doing such uses as are open to us, led by the truth revealed to us by the Lord; to make known these truths to those with whom we come in contact, as far as they are open to receive them, and especially to our children, also giving them, as far as we are able, the external knowledge that makes it possible for them to take part in the work required by the state of mankind; never forgetting that individual men within the Church may fall by disobedience to the commands of Love, but that the Lord's New Church will not come to an end, but will grow and become a celestial church, joining the innocence of childhood with the wisdom of the grown man.

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RENEWAL OF SPIRIT 1931

RENEWAL OF SPIRIT       WILFRED HOWARD       1931

     (Address at the Opening Exercises of the Academy Schools, September 9, 1931.)

     In casting about for a theme or subject for this address, I was impressed by a passage in the work on Heaven and Hell wherein it speaks of the necessity of understanding the laws and government of the heavens. (H. H. 406.) It first states how necessary it is for citizens of this world to understand the laws and government of their own country or kingdom, and then stresses the added importance of understanding the nature of the government of the heavens, under whose jurisdiction we may possibly remain, not for a period of time, but to eternity.

     In a similar manner it is quite necessary for all students who attend these schools to know the nature and quality of this institution; and, in order that the work of the coming year may be successful, it is necessary to understand something of the spirit of its traditions,-the things for which it stands, and the reason why it stands for them; the ways in which it is like other schools, and in what respects it differs from them.

     Even those of us who have worked for many years in this institution, and know its traditions well, find it necessary to refresh our spirit from time to time by a renewed contemplation of the things for which the Academy stands, in order that we may be reinspired to something of victorious attainment.

     We find ourselves in the same relation to the institution as the football team to the coach. For, as you well know, it is not sufficient for the coach to give one inspiring talk to the team at the beginning of the football season, and let it go at that. Football teams, like all of us, must be constantly reinspired to fresh effort, if victory is to be won; and I am given to understand that forceful, if not always flattering, comments on the work of the team are given, not only before each game, but also between halves, in order that flagging spirits may be inspired to renewed energy.

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     The spirit of both teacher and student must be renewed, and renewed often, that we may be brought to a fresh realization of what we may call the ideals or ends of the Academy in its work of education. Perhaps the greatest factor in the success of our school-work is the spirit of cooperation between the teachers and the students. I believe that, from the experience that you have gained from your sports, you all know the value of cooperation, and I am sure that every freshman knows what the word means. If you are doubtful about it, I think I can easily make its meaning clear. In my experience as a teacher, students sometimes, usually at the beginning of the school year, have attempted by various methods, both subtle and otherwise, to "get" the teacher, or to "put one over" on the teacher, as the saying goes. Well, this is a very good illustration of what cooperation is not; and as you now understand what cooperation is not, I will not insult your powers of imagination, even those of the freshmen, by a lengthy statement of what cooperation is.

     But if there is to be complete cooperation between us, there must be a knowledge or understanding of the purposes or ends in view; and the more perfectly you understand the ends and purposes of the school, the more completely you will be able to cooperate with its work. It therefore becomes something in the nature of a responsibility on your part to try to understand, each in his or her own way, the nature of the school, and the spiritual quality of the thing for which it stands. For it is in this that it differs primarily from other schools.

     If you were to study the history of education, and the various objects or ends for which schools have been established, particularly in the educational developments of the last fifty years, you would find that those ends or purposes have been very contradictory. McMurry, for instance, tells us that even a superficial survey of prevailing practices and principles in education shows that they are often at cross purposes. With some the avowed object is "mental discipline"; with others it is "useful and practical information"; with still others it is "breadth of social interest," "adjustment to life conditions," and so on. A more caustic critic on the subject of popular education states that much of modern education is weltering in a state of confused amiability, and does not really know and understand what it is aiming at, or what it proposes to achieve.

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     In refreshing contrast to this state of affairs, you will find that the aims or ends of New Church education have never been uncertain or confused. Briefly stated, they have been expressed as "preparation for a life of usefulness in both worlds." This, then, is what you are here for,-to prepare for a life of usefulness, both in this world and in the next; and it is fairly certain that if you are successfully prepared for a useful life in this world, you will continue the habit in the other.

     Our immediate objective is to prepare you for a life of usefulness in this world, though we do not guarantee you a training or education that will ensure your success in life, as do some of the schools that advertise in the pages of the ATLANTIC MONTHLY. Your worldly success, like your final abode in the spiritual world, is not for us to guarantee. We must leave that to Providence. Our duty, or our responsibility, is to prepare you for a life of usefulness, or to develop the love of a busy and useful life in this world.

     Now the essence of use is the love of serving others, or the development of our faculties to their highest ability in the service of others. True happiness consists in using to the best of our ability whatever faculties the Lord has given us, and not in working for success under the influence of a false ambition, or in attempting to develop faculties which we do not possess. The man who is working hard at the thing that he loves to do, especially if he is a New Churchman, and knows and understands the fundamental doctrines of the Church, does not worry overmuch about his success as viewed from worldly standards. For he knows that the state of contentment and happiness that always accompanies a busy and useful life is a priceless treasure which the pursuit of wealth alone can never bring.

     What do we mean when we speak of your faculties? We mean your ability to do one thing better than another. Occasionally we have had students who seemed to have no faculties or abilities at all. That was because we were unable to find them, and not because they had none. For the Writings tell us that every man is born to do one thing, and to do that one thing well, and that his happiness-his success, if you please-lies in the doing of it, in the performance of this use, whatever it may be, whether humble or exalted; for it was to this end that he was created, and gifted with special powers for its performance.

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     It is, therefore, the special province or genius of New Church education to discover these faculties, and to develop them, or at least to start our students on the right road to a rich and full development. This is not an easy task, and much depends upon you; for development depends upon the will to do, or the will to action. For the most part, you must discover your own faculties, and we must help develop or educate them. This, indeed, is what true education is,-a drawing out and developing of those faculties that are within you.

     We might well ask why it is not an easy task for you to find and develop your faculties. It is hard to believe that we have all been endowed with special gifts or abilities, and yet find it difficult, and at some times almost impossible, to discover what they are. The answer, I believe, lies in the fact that the will or power of development is very weak. We are all more or less cursed with an inherent laziness. Very few men have developed to their highest ability the faculties or gifts which the Lord has given them. Those who have accomplished this are usually called geniuses; and yet the genius of such men rests, not so much in their native ability, as in the fact that they had the genius to develop what gifts they had. This, then, is what we must all do,-try to develop what gifts or abilities we have; for only by so doing can we properly perform the uses for which we were created.

     To say that most of us are lazy is to say that most of us are selfish; for selfishness and laziness are closely associated. We do not want to develop our faculties, because interiorly we do not want to serve others. We would rather have others serve us. The love of serving others, like the love of truth for its own sake, is something that does not come easily to any of us; and yet its development must be one of the primary ends of New Church education; for a genuine life of usefulness without the love of serving others is impossible.

     During the few years of your sojourn here, it will hardly be possible to develop any of your faculties to such an extent that you will be keenly aware of them. For most of you, your life's work will probably be just as visionary at the end of your stay here as when you started out as ambitious freshmen. However, as I have already stated, we can do one thing;-we can start you on the right road to a rich and full development.

     But even this is not easy; and if we are to do it, we must have your full and complete cooperation.

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It can only be done if you attentively study the various courses you take during your schooling here. If you will form the habit, not only of memorizing the materials of any given course, but also of thinking about them and digesting them; if you will remember that the social life of the schools, although important, is not the prime reason for your being here; if you will have the courage always to rely on your own work, however imperfect it may be, and not depend upon the work of others, sometimes equally imperfect; if you will also remember that the development of the mind and character is more important in the work of education than the accumulation of credits; and, above all, if you will try to develop a love for the religious instruction and philosophy that is given you here, which means to think about it, and absorb it, and thus make it possible for you to make it your own in later years;-if you do all these things-and they can be done by all of you-you will then possess something that no other school can give you. You will possess a true philosophy of life; or perhaps I should say that you will then be on the highroad to the development of a philosophy of life, the quality of which cannot be given by other institutions.

     To some of you this may sound like a rather dogmatic statement, and yet we should all be clear on this point. It reminds me of a discussion I had recently with one of our college students. He had met some very charming Old Church girls, and was quite certain that Old Church girls were just as good as New Church girls, and argued the point at great length. I grudgingly and unchivalrously admitted that in some cases this might be possible. But I emphasized the fact that neither Old Church girls nor Old Church boys have the same spiritual potentialities, or powers of spiritual development, as New Church boys and girls,-unless, of course, such Old Church boys and girls are led to receive the Doctrines of the New Church.

     It is here that the distinction lies; and it is useless for us to discuss the relative goodness of Old Church and New Church boys and girls, or of men and women, or of schools, for that matter. A fact that we must grasp, and a fact that you must learn to understand with absolute clearness, is that no other school has been gifted with quite the same power of spiritual development as the Academy of the New Church.

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And by this we mean that, in the Writings of the Church, tools have been given for the complete remoulding of human life, and that these tools have been accepted by the Academy of the New Church, but not by other institutions. This is the reason why this school possesses potentialities for spiritual development which are not possessed by other schools, and which they never can possess unless they accept these Writings. Our responsibility is to translate these potentialities into realities.

     It is not quite correct to say that this school is a school of spiritual potentialities or possibilities only. Men and women have toiled for more than fifty years to establish our present system of New Church education; and the chief tools they used in establishing it were the Writings of the Church. It was from this source they gained power and inspiration to develop what we already have; and the task was just as difficult as it will be for you to make your own the philosophy of life that these schools alone can give.

     It is because these men and women of the past worked hard, and in so doing were gifted with the power of making our present system of education possible, that the factual material of our schools differs considerably from that of other schools. Factual material, as most of you know, consists of those things or facts of which we have positive knowledge, such as the facts of science. But you will find that the factual material of New Church education includes not only the facts of this world, but also those of the other world. To us, these spiritual facts are equally real, and therefore equally factual; and not only are they as important to know as are the facts and knowledges dealing with this world, but in many ways they are more important. They are not merely something added to the curriculum to give you breadth of viewpoint or cultural understanding; but they are the fundamental facts and laws pertaining to the life of your spirit; and the life of your spirit is the only important part of you; and you will find, as you grow up, that it is almost the only thing worth worrying about.

     You can easily understand this, if, for instance, you consider the importance of the things of the spirit to the football team. The team, as a unit, can be considered as a composition of two elements,-its spirit, and its body. Its body, of course, is quite important, and the various members or parts that compose it must have sufficient mass, strength, and skill to act as an efficient instrument for the spirit.

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But if the spirit is weak, or inefficient, or for some reason ceases to function, all the mass in the world is of no avail. But if, on the other hand, its spirit is unusually active, and the will to victory is dominant in every member, the body may even be weak or injured, and it will often emerge victorious, in spite of tremendous odds.

     The spirit of mankind is suffering in somewhat the same manner as a dejected football team. It received a tremendous blow at the Fall, and has failed to function effectively ever since; and, being stubborn, it has for centuries refused to accept that spiritual discipline which alone can restore its efficiency. But the case is by no means hopeless. For at least a small portion of mankind has chosen to place itself under the needed spiritual discipline; and you, as students of the Academy Schools, are a portion of that portion of mankind.

     You will find, however, that we cannot apply this discipline without knowing something about it. And this is the reason why it is so necessary for us to understand and to love the Writings of the New Church and their philosophy; for your spirit, or the real man in you, cannot properly develop the faculties of which we have spoken, and thus perform the uses for which you were created, unless you understand the Writings. And it is because they are so important that New Church education is so intimately concerned with them.
ANGELIC MEMORY 1931

ANGELIC MEMORY              1931

     "I have spoken with the angels about the memory of past things and the derivative anxiety about future ones, and I have been instructed that the more interior and perfect the angels are, the less care they have about what is past, or think about the future, and that hence also is their happiness. They say that the Lord gives them every moment what to think, and this with blessedness and happiness, and that thus they are without cares and solicitudes; also, that this is meant in the internal sense by the Israelites receiving manna daily from heaven, and by the daily bread in the Lord's Prayer, and, likewise, by the injunction not to be solicitous about what they eat and drink, or with what they shall be clothed. But although the angels do not care for past things, and are not solicitous about things to come, they still have the most perfect remembrance of past things, and intuition of what is to tome, because both the past and the future are within all their present. Thus they have a more perfect memory than can ever be thought of or expressed." (A. C. 2493.)

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TWENTY-FOURTH BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1931

TWENTY-FOURTH BRITISH ASSEMBLY       VICTOR J. GLADISH       1931

     HELD AT COLCHESTER, AUGUST 13, 1931.

     First Session-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

     In accordance with our custom, a brief opening service was conducted by the Pastor of the entertaining society.

     The Right Rev. George de Charms, Assistant Bishop of the General Church, presiding as the Bishop's representative, then declared the Assembly in session, and said:

     "I bring you a message of greeting from Bishop Pendleton. He told me that it would have been a very great delight to come to this Assembly, but that, for various reasons, it was impossible this year. I cannot express to you what he would say if he were here, but I believe that the essence of it would be this,-the wish that, as the Lord in His Divine Providence has guided the Church in the past, through many difficulties, trials and tribulations, and has preserved a slowly growing body of men and women whose lives are dedicated to the faith and service of the Lord in His Second Coming, that He may continue to be with you, that a blessing from Him may be upon you, that this may be an occasion of drawing closer to Him, of receiving new inspiration from that New Heaven out of which the New Church is now descending, and that, on the part of every member of His Church here assembled, it may be an occasion of rededication to the high purposes for which we have been gathered together: For I know that Bishop Pendleton looks ever to the leading of the Lord in the building of His Church, and that he rests with confident faith and hope for the future. He has that firm belief with reference to the future of the New Church in England; and it is with a full assurance that your Church here will grow and prosper that he looks forward to returning to you in the future."

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     Bishop Tilson: "We recall, Sir, with great delight and gratitude that this is not the first time that you have appeared in our midst as a Bishop in the Lord's New Church; but you now come as the Assistant Bishop of the General Church, and it has been my great privilege to be asked, on behalf of the Pastor of this Society and every member of this Church, as also of Michael Church, London, to offer you our greetings upon this, your coming to us as the Assistant Bishop of our Church, representing the beloved head of the Church, whose gracious message you have just given us. We greet you with loving affection, and we promise you loyal co-operation in all that you may do in continuance of your work in the past in furthering the establishment of the Lord's Church in our midst."

     Bishop de Charms: "I thank you very kindly for your words of greeting, and assure you that your affection is fully and heartily reciprocated. I cannot express to you what I feel on this occasion. My central feeling is that the thing which I represent, and the work that is necessary to be done as a result of that representation, is far beyond my powers to fulfill. Of that, however, I can say nothing. I can only go forward, and, as the Lord may give me light, do the things that I am called upon to do, leaving the Lord's Providence to determine the result."

     The Secretary then read Messages of Greeting from the following centers and individuals:

     The Alpha Circle in South Africa; the General Church in Sweden, through the Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom; Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal; Rev. W. H. Claxton; Mr. and Mrs. Fred J. Cooper; Revs. F. F. Coulson and C. D. Brock; Rev. W. T. Lardge; Scottish Association of the New Church; Mr. G. A. McQueen; Mr. W. Cairns Henderson; the General Church Circle at Bath, through Mr. S. Lewin; Mr. Percy Dawson, for himself and other friends at Failsworth; the Imlah Dawson family at Bristol; the Circle at High Kilburn, York; Mrs. Theodore Bellinger and Miss Celia Bellinger; Mr. F. R: Cooper.

     Bishop de Charms then delivered the Presidential Address, the subject being, "The Interior Understanding of the Writings." (See p. 641.)

     DISCUSSION.

     Rev. Albert Bjorck: I have seldom heard an Address that I have enjoyed more than the one to which we have listened this evening.

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It was timely, and cleared up a subject on which our minds have been busy for some time. One thing that impressed me was the thought that the errors of the human mind, when they crop up, if they are of importance to the Church, cause others to think, and bring out the light by which the errors are removed and the truth established, as far as it can be at any given time. It was clearly shown that in this world truths will never be, at any given time, of that degree of excellence that they cannot be more interiorly received. There will always be more light as our natural mind progresses; and as we confirm truths in our lives, we shall always see them more and more interiorly. In that sense there is always a difference between the expression of the Divine Truth, as given in the human language of the Writings, and the interior perception of that Truth which man in the world can attain. No matter how interior he may become, he will never see exactly that which the angels see and perceive. As the paper so clearly gave us to see, the natural mind is in three planes, and the highest of those planes is the rational; the spiritual must come down to the rational, and take expression from that plane; and as soon as that is done, there is a difference between the perception of truth with man and the perception of truth with the angels. The Doctrines show that very clearly and plainly throughout, from one Work to another; and if we want to form a more interior understanding of what is taught in the Writings, we must collect the passages, and see how one throws light upon another, how they are all coherent, and, so to speak, form one whole. The Writings are a Revelation of the Divine Human, and the Divine Human has all the different parts which the human body has, and the Writings are in a sense the body of the Divine Human. If they are not seen by our minds as coherent, so that they form one whole in which the Lord reveals Himself, then our understanding of them is only natural, and more or less defective, from a spiritual point of view.

     Rev. Victor J. Gladish expressed his deep appreciation of the Address. "I feel as Wesley is reported to have said when he first came across the Writings. Having read some of the Doctrines, he was so struck with the remarkable vision of truth that he said: 'Now we can burn all our books of Theology!' He did not, however, carry it out!

     "As to the nature of the interior sense of the Writings-the interior understanding of them-it seemed to me that Bishop de Charms took up all the difficulties that come before us and handled them so well, demonstrating from the Writings themselves, and in such a clear manner, the common-sense view of the whole matter, that I found myself in full agreement."

     Mr. R. A. Anderson: It is with the greatest pleasure that I have listened to your Address this evening. It is one of the dearest and most delightful expositions of a subject which has been exercising us for some time, and I find myself fully in accord with it. I would like particularly to congratulate you upon the admirable array of citations from the Writings with which you have supported the doctrines laid down, and I hope that the numbers quoted will be available for our reading at the earliest opportunity. I was especially pleased to hear you emphasize the relation of the three Divine Revelations to the three degrees of the mind.

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In pointing out that the Writings are given on the rational plane, in natural language adapted to the natural rational, you have shown distinctly and clearly the difference in the nature of the correspondence. As the Writings are given in the natural world, in that sense they are natural,-the only possible manner in which the spiritual could be given in ultimate language. There is no spiritual sense that any individual man can formulate without putting it into natural language, and there can be no language so pure or true as that in which the Writings themselves are given. Any other form or paraphrasing, any doctrine drawn by a private individual and expressed by him, must of necessity have its limitations. There can be no spiritual sense laid down that is not in the Writings themselves. It cannot possibly be given truly and accurately in any other form than that in which we have it. So there can be no authoritative expression of the spiritual sense outside of the Writings themselves. Yet they are in natural language, and may be understood in a natural rational manner, or in a spiritual rational manner. But in any case they, in themselves, are the authority; and in any expression of doctrine, it is only to that Divine Revelation that we can appeal. After all, the end is man's regeneration. The Lord cannot regenerate a man without the man's co-operation; and in the Writings themselves we have the means whereby we can rationally understand how we are to co-operate with the Lord. The further a man is regenerated, the more he is illustrated, and the more he will see within the letter of those Writings. But it must be emphasized that what he sees and announces to others is not authoritative. Only the Writings themselves-the spiritual given in natural language from the Lord to us-is the authoritative form in which the spiritual can be expressed.

     Bishop Tilson: I rise with a heart full of gratitude for the magnificent Address which you have given to us this evening. It was my good fortune to hear every word of it. One thing impressed itself very much upon my mind, and it may be expressed in the simple words of the Lord, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The effect of the paper to which we have listened is to elevate the Lord, to take us up higher, and to rebuke any endeavor to confuse that which is higher with that which is lower.

     The leading thought took me back to the early days of the Academy, and while you quite rightly reminded us of the charge against the Jewish Church, that they made the Word of God of none effect by their traditions," I think that the teaching concerning "tradition" is often misunderstood. I do not take it that the Lord put any less value upon tradition than the truth which may be within that tradition; and the paper brought to mind the traditions of such men as Stuart, Benade, and others who were before them. I am proud of the traditions of the Academy of the New Church, and never more fully than tonight. The paper placed before us the fact that our hope and work as a Church depends upon our recognition of its opening statement, that the Writings are the Word of the Lord. Taken as anything less than that, it would be a reverting to human proprium, rather than to Divine guidance. We have been encouraged tonight to "lift up our eyes unto the mountains from whence cometh our help," and I think it was most powerfully put that, apart from any declaration of man, however sincere, our great hope lies in going to the Word of the Lord in its three forms, in a prayerful and devout spirit, not to discuss what they are, but to be affirmatively disposed to receive that Divine guidance and direction which the Lord will give if we seek Him with all our heart.

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     Mr. Felix Elphick: It is not often that we can sincerely say that our appreciation of a paper is heartfelt, but tonight I am in that happy position. It is a most comprehensive survey of many of the difficulties with which the young New Churchman of today has lately been faced. I was interested particularly in the reference to collective and individual enlightenment, in connection with the Doctrine of the Church. I felt that the writer of the paper has himself gone through many of the phases in which the individual New Churchman, in reading the Writings for himself and in attending public worship, finds himself placed. The individual member sometimes finds himself in the position of wondering whether his thinking is the result of self-intelligence or of enlightenment. We have heard many statements this evening about a more interior understanding of the Writings. To say that is to make a rational statement. But the more interior view itself, when it comes, is a different thing.

     Bishop de Charms quoted De Verbo 18e, where it says that no doctrine carries authority unless drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word; yet he evidently had in mind the inclusion of the Heavenly Doctrines as a basis. Are we to understand that in that way the Writings have a sense of the letter) What is "the sense of the letter of the Writings"? He pointed out very dearly the division of the natural into three degrees, in its application to the Word,-namely, the external, middle, and interior. So, presumably, the form of the Writings is interior-natural or spiritual-natural.

     As to correspondences, just how are they to be applied as a means of interpreting the Writings, In the Old and New Testaments, and in the Writings, we have the words "tree," "garden," "horse," "and," and "is." What makes the difference between those words in each form of Divine Revelation? Presumably the series in which they are used.

     We are told that in every word in the Sacred Scripture there are myriads of ideas in which the angels are, and that whilst man when reading the Word is in generals of doctrine only, in the heavens they are in particulars. Yet, when we come to the New Testament, we find these same words, and we interpret them according to our understanding at the time. It seems to me that the understanding of the Word spoken of in the Writings is something in this way: that a man reading the Old Testament, if he is in the doctrine of genuine truth, and knows correspondences, is in the internal sense, which varies with his understanding. But although he can use correspondences in the interpretation of the Old and New Testaments, he finds it impossible to interpret the Writings in that way. You cannot get any higher language than is given in them. So it is difficult to see how the teaching quoted from De Verbo 18 applies to the Writings.

     Mrs. Louisa Elphick: I wish to thank you, Bishop, most heartily for your paper. You have put the subject, as it seems to me, in a oneness.

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Sometimes, it seems, we have separated the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin forms of the Word, and brought time and space into it too much; and now it seems you have put them together.

     With regard to the Word, I have felt concerning the Doctrines of the Church, as we have them in the Writings, that when we have gathered them together, the best expression for them is in the Greek form. The words of the Hebrew and Greek seem to convey and hold the Doctrine in a new way. They seem to shine more,-those same old words. But that is only a thought. I thank you most heartily.

     Mr. James Pryke: I think it is no exaggeration to say that this Assembly will be characterized by the Address that we have heard this evening; not chiefly for its eloquence, but for the quality of the teaching that has been given. The first piece we sang this evening was most appropriate in leading up to the quality of the Address,-"Ask, and it shall be given unto you." The whole teaching really is borne out in that. If a man wants to learn of the Lord, he has to make that wish known to the Lord, and the quality of what he learns depends upon that of his own teachableness. Whether a man be illiterate or learned, if he is teachable, the Lord is there to give him just the kind of mental food that he needs. I was reading in the Arcana Celestia recently as to why the Lord was born on this earth, and why the Word was committed to parchment and writing, and it said that it was in order that God might be known in His Divine Human by the whole of His creation, and not only by a pare of it; that He came on this earth because it is the most ultimate, and makes Himself known to us by means of Revelation, which, on this earth, is the Word. I do not think you can have a more comprehensive statement than that.

     There are many things involved in our approach to the Writings. If we go simply and teachably to the Lord there, we shall find Him; that is what I understand by the more interior understanding of truth. Nothing which a man brings of himself can receive Truth. Let him bring his mind as an empty vessel into which the Lord can flow with a fuller knowledge of His Truth. But a man must not stop there. His knowledge is to be progressive, and that brings up the question of what is the quality of this Revelation about which we talk so much. We are told that the Lord always comes to man for the purpose of establishing the Church. We are told that the New Church is the Crown of all the Churches, that there is nothing beyond what is involved in it. It follows that the Revelation which is made to the "Crown of all the Churches" must in itself be the crowning and final Revelation. Well, then, it devolves upon man, in his measure, to seek to find out what the quality of it is, and that is where man is able to make his own intensive research. He will not come with any preconceived opinions of his own. The Truth will of necessity flow into those vessels which the Lord has formed for Himself, but it will flow with a continually clarifying influence; and if our state is one of humility, we shall be able as we advance to say: "Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him."

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     Rev. R. G. Cranch: I am sure we are all very thankful for the light which Bishop de Charms has thrown upon the problems that have been before the Church in the last few years. One point was particularly interesting to me, as to the interpretation of the teaching that "doctrine is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, and confirmed thereby." The Address has thrown much light upon it which I had not seen before, namely, that while Swedenborg refers to the literal sense in a way which shows that he had the Old and New Testaments in mind, nevertheless we may apply his remarks to include the Writings as to their literal form. It has always been a little difficult to realize how to interpret that teaching, in view of the fact that the reference is obviously to the Old and New Testaments.

     Another enlightening point was, that the Lord provides that we may draw new truths from the Doctrine as the Church progresses. The understanding and perception of the Church in future ages will go far beyond the understanding of today, but will still be within that ultimate vessel provided by the Latin language in which the Word to the New Church was given.

     With reference to the interpretation of the Memorable Relations in the Writings, it seems to me that we there have a style of writing which is by metaphor, and for that reason special treatment is needed for its interpretation.

     Mr. Horace Howard: I have gained very much clarity of thought on the subject of the difference between interpretive doctrine and definitely revealed Doctrine, and I thank you very much. I feel as though we have had a message inspired from heaven.

     The question of the "letter" of the Writings and the "natural sense" of them is not clear to me. I think you said that the Writings should not be considered as being a "letter of the Word." Is there not a similarity between the Letter of the Word and the natural sense of the Writings? It seems to me that they are the same. I expect I have some confusion of thought on the matter, but hope to have it cleared up.

     Another thing is, that we surely have the last Divine Revelation that is to be made, seeing that it is the "Crowning" Revelation. But the Church is going to progress. As our ministers grow more enlightened, and bring out new interpretations of doctrine, it seems to me almost that those interpretations must be Divine, because ah truth comes from the Lord through human instrumentality; and if the man is sincere he is surely an instrument through which the truth comes. Now what is the difference between that interpretive doctrine, as revealed through a human being from the Lord to His Church, and Divinely given Revelation?

     Mr. Potter: The British Assembly is to be congratulated upon having your presence on this occasion. We feel that you have not only expressed your own views, but those of Bishop Pendleton and the leaders of the Church. It should stimulate us, and give us more incentive in reading and studying the Writings than ever before. I was particularly struck by the point you made when treating of those three essentials of entering into the spiritual sense of the Word,-the "doctrine of genuine truth," "illustration from the Lord," and "a knowledge of correspondences."

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Well now, if one remembers the ideas that passed through his mind in the early days of his study of the Writings, and compares them with the ideas he has after thirty, forty or fifty years of continuous study, he cannot help noting the fact that truths which at the outset seem dark and obscure become clear and lucid to the mind after the further study. Had we a knowledge of genuine truth when we first began to read? The knowledge of genuine truth can only come by a persistent study. The Lord is then able to flow in and illustrate our minds to a greater degree. I do not agree that our minds are empty vessels into which the Lord can flow, because I think we ought to prepare and clarify our minds by education in all the various branches of knowledge. The more we furnish the mind with scientifics, the better we are prepared to understand the Writings, and to receive the influx which they are designed to give us. The Philosophical Writings of Swedenborg, for instance, should be read and studied by every one of us, because they are a great preparation for the higher study of the Writings themselves.

     Rev. Albert Bjorck: I rise to make a further brief comment upon the three things necessary for an interior understanding of the Word. I believe that these are given in another order elsewhere in the Writings, commencing with a knowledge of correspondences, then the knowledge of true doctrine, and finally illustration from the Lord. If I am right in that, it seems to me that a knowledge of at least some correspondences is necessary before we can form what I would call a natural-spiritual idea of what the Writings teach. And as our knowledge of correspondences deepens, and gets more perfect, the more we shall see the interior teaching in the Writings. For surely if we do not know anything about the correspondence between natural and spiritual things, and how the spiritual things cause the natural ones, we shall not get very far in our study. There are many things in the Writings that are given to us as illustrative of doctrines that we would not understand. But when we do know a few correspondences, significatives, and representatives, then the mind is prepared to see more and more clearly, and to bring together what is said on different subjects in the Writings, so that they appear as one Word.

     Bishop de Charms: The subject is one of extreme importance, and it is of use to the Church to study it with increasing diligence. I believe that it is of the Divine Providence that the consideration of this subject has been brought to our attention in the last few years more than ever before. Divine Providence leads in that way, and we should take full advantage of the opportunities that are thus given.

     The Writings are infinite, and it is impossible for us, as individuals or as a Church, to concentrate our thought and our affection upon a particular development of doctrine without receiving new enlightenment and progressive development for the Church. And that concentration is brought about, in the Divine Providence, through the development on the part of individual men in one direction or another, which focuses the thought and study of the Church in a single direction. It is a psychological law that we do not come to understand things except as we concentrate upon them. It is the concentration,-the focusing of the mind upon a point,-that brings it into relation with other things in our mind, and into relief, so that we see it clearly.

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That has happened with reference to the exact character of the Writings, their relation to the other Testaments, and the way in which they should be understood. The discussions among us during the last few years have produced a concentration of thought in that direction which I believe to be of the utmost value. Out of it will come a deeper understanding of the matter than has been present in the Church before. I realize that our present understanding of it is altogether inadequate. From the questions asked this evening, and my own present ability to answer them; I see how inadequate our present understanding is, and how much there is to be gained by the efforts of both priests and laymen in seeking from the Lord Himself in the Writings the answer to these questions. With reference to them I can only say what is in my own mind, from a certain light born of my own study during the last few months.

     The questions have all centered around this point: What is the nature of the Writings, as they appear before us in ultimate form, with reference especially to the application of correspondences,-and to the interior understanding of them?

     I believe that there is a sense in which the Writings, as they appear before us, are indeed a letter, because they are an ultimate containant of infinite Divine things that go up from that ultimate through all the heavens to the Lord; and I believe that, in that sense, the reference in De Verbo to the "literal sense" applies equally to the Writings. When it says there that we are to draw doctrine from the sense of the letter of the Word, I believe that it is equally true of the Writings as they appear in ultimate form before our eyes. We have been doing that from the beginning. There has been no other source from which the Church has drawn doctrine, and no other means by which it has confirmed that doctrine than by the Writings. So that it has from the beginning taken that teaching of the Writings in application to the Writings themselves.

     But there is a difference, which has become clearer to my own mind, with reference to the application of correspondences to these literal Writings that we see before us. It is absolutely true that some words that are used in the Old and New Testaments, such as "trees," "horses," etc., which are correspondential, are also used in the Writings, and the correspondences are equally true in the Writings as in the other Testaments. But the difference arises in the purpose for which they are given in the latter or the former. The Writings cannot be interpreted by going back to the single correspondence of individual words. All correspondence is according to the series, and this must be observed in the Writings. Let us seek for a spiritual understanding, but let us not hold ourselves down to a literal application of correspondences to each word, without considering the purpose for which the words are used.

     The difference is this: The Writings are given to impart to the human mind a rational vision of the Lord, which means a rational understanding of the Divine Human in its operation in the created universe. They are given to impart to man a rational understanding of the laws of creation, the laws of the Divine Providence in the spiritual world, and their operation in our individual lives.

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They are the laws of religion for the reformation and preparation of man for life on earth and in heaven. That is their purpose,-to impart a rational understanding of the Lord's presence. The Old Testament gave a knowledge of the Lord's presence there as He was to come; the New Testament gave such a knowledge of that presence with reference to the Lord on earth as could not be done before. The Writings are for the purpose of giving us a rational understanding.

     Now, while we should apply correspondences to each word that is in the Writings, even as in the Old and New Testaments, yet, if we do it in just the same way, it will not lead us to that higher understanding; but if we study them for the sake of obtaining that rational understanding of the Divine Truth, that Truth will be seen by us in a different way than it was possible to see it from the former Testaments. The expressions in the Writings will be seen to be mirrors picturing forth the spiritual world. But the vision must be free. If we think purely in terms of doctrine, we are apt to get abstract ideas. It was necessary that they should be given an ultimate quality by a pictorial representation, as in the Memorable Relations; and certainly a knowledge of correspondences will help us very greatly to see the relation of internal and external, and should be used for that purpose. But let us not forget the main purpose of the Writings as the rational expression of Divine Truth for the salvation of man. Then, because of that purpose and end, we shall find ourselves seeing correspondences in a way that is different from that which is obtained when we attempt simply to unfold the literal statements of the Old and New Testaments.

     One of the speakers referred to the fact that it is wise and necessary for us to fill our minds with vessels of knowledge, that they may produce an ultimate into which the Divine may flow. I entirely agree with him, but would make this perfectly plain. We may fill our minds with all these vessels, and they may or may not have that result. It is not the mere filling of our minds that is going to make a sure basis for spiritual truth and life. The modern tendency is to fill the minds of men with scientifics, but in what order? In the first place, any mode that is contrary to the truth of the Writings obscures the thought instead of helping to enlighten it. So let us fill our minds with those things in such a way that they will become a means of aiding our interior understanding of the spiritual truths of the Writings.

     Let us apply this to the matter of studying the Writings for the development of the doctrine of the Church. In the study of the Writings we can do exactly the same as in the study of science. We can fill our minds in a way that will not lead to true enlightenment. It is quite possible for us to read the Writings, to study them, and fill our minds with them, and all the time be doing so in a way that will obscure the real light rather than reveal it. That makes it extremely important that we go there recognizing that the Lord alone can teach us, that our minds must be elevated to Him, without predisposition, without prejudice, without seeking to advance of ourselves, or by some process that we consider to be the only one that can help.

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We must go in humility and simplicity, and sit at the feet of the Lord, asking Him to teach us; and then let us fill our minds as full as possible with what He has to give. In that spirit must the Church grow in our midst. And while we may do that, even then we shall be doing very, very little, compared with what the Lord must be doing in our inmosts to give us light. No spiritual truth can be obtained as the result of a self-intelligent process. I tell you, friends, that it is a Divine miracle that man can be given to see spiritual truth at all. Let us not conceive the idea that we may formulate the mode by which we will regenerate. That will not lead to that end. Let us go to the Lord, ready to be taught, with our minds free, eager to see and learn what He has to teach; and by a miracle, if you please, in ways we know not, He will give us to see what is the way of progress in the Church. Then let us give the thanks to Him, and realize that that gift is a Divine gift, fully the Lord's, and not our own. But let no claim of Divinity or Authority be made for our personal conception of truth. Return it, and offer it as a burnt sacrifice upon the altar of the Writings themselves.

     Divine Worship-Sunday, August 2nd.

     The morning service, attended by a congregation of 122 persons, was conducted by Bishop de Charms. The Rev. Victor J. Gladish read the Lessons, and Bishop Tilson preached the Sermon, his subject being "Spiritual Watching," a treatment of the words: "Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is. . . . And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." (Mark 13:33, 37.)

     At the Communion Service in the afternoon there was an attendance of 93. Bishop de Charms, assisted by the Rev. Victor J. Gladish, administered the Holy Supper to 84 communicants.

     Second Session-Sunday, 7 p.m.

     After a brief service, conducted by the Rev. Raymond G. Cranch, Bishop Tilson, presiding, said: We are now to have the privilege and pleasure of listening to an Address by the Rev. Albert Bjorck, whose subject is, "If there had not been a Fall." It might be thought that the subject is speculative, because it is introduced by the word "If"; but that need not trouble our minds for one moment, as there is nothing speculative about the Doctrines of the New Church. There is complete certainty, and I doubt not that we shall receive instruction of a very positive and certain kind, because it will be given in the light of Divine Revelation.

     Mr. Bjorck then delivered his Address. (See p. 654.)

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     DISCUSSION.

     Bishop Tilson: You have listened to a paper which is very speculative in thought, but which has ended with very practical suggestions. As was to be expected, you have been instructed in a very faithful application of the Doctrines of the Church. The paper dealt with a matter that comes home to everyone. It reaches out into every domain of life. It satisfies those who are intensely practical. It appeals to those who quite rightly desire the cultivation of the intellect. I cannot but feel, therefore, that it will make a very strong appeal to every one present, and even cause an animated discussion, which would be very useful.

     Mr. Godfrey: I suppose we have all had the question come into our minds: Why was it that the Lord started the Christian Church at all, when He knew that in 300 years it would tumble to pieces? That first meeting of the Nicene Council, 325 years after the beginning of the Christian Church, was opened on the 19th of June, which was a very significant thing.

     I thank Mr. Bjorck for bringing this subject before us. I wondered what he was going to make out of it. I have tried many times to arrive at some conclusion on the subject, but have never gotten very far. I think that we must take the people in general. We must not get into class-hatred or class-feeling at all, because the internal of one is just as bad as the internal of another. What we want is spiritual light. The sensual man always wants something to see, and the scientist something to understand, but we say, "Give us Divine Revelation!"

     Rev. Victor J. Gladish: I am much indebted to Mr. Bjorck for his paper. He has made just the sort of study that I should like to have been able to make. Some of his conclusions, however, make me wonder if I should find them justifiable after a thorough study of the subject. Some of our members seem to think that the promised return of the church to a celestial state depends upon a return to what is termed the "simple life," or "getting back to nature." That has never seemed to me to be the express teaching of the Writings, but has, I think, come from a non-realization of how little external matters,-what we do with our hands,-really reflect the state of mind,-the internal state, the reception of the Lord,-which is the only thing that determines whether a man is celestial or not.

     I have not been unmoved, however, by several points which others have brought forward. There is a lot in this subject, and I hope we shall have a really good discussion. Those who disagree will aid the cause of truth by attempting to set forth what they believe, even if they feel that they cannot do justice to their conceptions. Some of Mr. Bjorck's conclusions may seem harsh to those of another view, but perhaps, at the end of the discussion, he will give us further light from the study he has made, possibly with a modification or different expression of some points.

     Mr. Horace Howard: I have enjoyed Mr. Bjorck's paper, and agree with nearly all of it. I do not see why reference to the simple life should always carry with it the idea of "grubbing against the earth." I think it is almost impossible to live the truly simple life in modern conditions.

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Mr. Bjorck has put before us a beautiful picture of the future of the New Church, and it includes the use of scientific improvements and a development of art hardly consistent with non-civilized existence. I may differ from Mr. Bjorck as to the length of time that must elapse before the ideal life is reached, but I believe that, when a number of New Churchmen get together, they will have influx from the societies of the spiritual world into their natural mind, and will ultimate this influx on the natural plane, as is done in heaven. The conditions there are in correspondence with the progress of the inhabitants. Their surroundings are formed by the improvement in their minds from the knowledge and wisdom with which they are gifted. Well, if the church on earth grows as it grows in heaven, that will come about at some time. But are we to wait for something to push us along? Cannot we have from the Writings an ideal that we may try to bring about in the world? We cannot permeate the old world. Can we put new wine into old bottles? We naturally have withdrawn our children from the schools of the world; we separate ourselves for worship and social life; but it is in the business world that some of our children get corrupted; the old conditions corrupt them. Suppose we had a thousand men living together, with our own church and schools; they could form a heaven on earth. That does not mean that all would be regenerated, or out of the world in that sense. They would have to fight amongst themselves, and submit to the leading of the Lord.

     Recently, I had a splendid view of what men can do on the natural plane. It was in the form of a Garden City, carried out by men with artistic ideas. There were many beautiful and varied houses, and playing fields for the children, keeping them away from the danger of the motorcars. And there were factories where they supplied their own needs, while many lived in the city or elsewhere. In the middle of this was a church. What a sublime picture of the New Church future! Let us not suppress the ideal of the truly simple life. If we do not cherish the ideal, the church will never be ready to ultimate it when the influx comes from heaven to earth.

     Mr. George F. Poole: I should like to make a few observations on Mr. Bjorck's paper. If there had not been a Fall, we do not know what would have happened. Although we have lost a tremendous lot by the Fall, have we not all so gained some points? I think that if there had been no Fall, there would have been a different race of men altogether on the earth. They would have been simpler, more childlike, and so on; but, as I understand it, although we have lost a lot, we must have gained as well, because the Divine Providence must have foreseen and provided for it.

     Mr. Appleton: If there had been no Fall, would man have been in a free state? Heaven would have been forced upon us. But in order that we might have full choice of the heavenly state, we have been created by the Lord with reason, reflection, and liberty to accept it, and that seems to be the essential thing for us all. If man is forced into a state of life, and his heart is not in it, he will strive at once to get out of it. Many of the conditions existing in this world would not be, if men would apply the teachings of Divine Truth to their lives, and live sincerely and justly with their neighbors.

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On the other hand, it seems that there must be that freedom of choice for a rational existence. Through the Revelation which has been given by the Lord at His Second Coming we are shown that there are interior states that we would have known nothing about, had it not been that they were brought to our rational minds, chiefly for the sake of the spiritual world. And there are delights that we can enjoy in the natural world by compelling ourselves to do what is right, one to another, even if it involve suffering. We find that a joy comes afterwards, which can only come from that principle of freedom, that we have acted "as of ourselves." It is essential for us to have that freedom to choose to do what is just to our neighbor, and to turn our hearts to cherish that ideal because it is wrong to act selfishly and unjustly. If this were the attitude of men generally, many of our national and social difficulties would be overcome. I do not see how that can be brought about, except by freedom of will to act from the Lord, but as of ourselves.

     Rev. R. G. Cranch: I am grateful to Mr. Bjorck for his paper. It clears up many things in which we are all much interested. We know that the simple life is desirable; we know that to get away from the temptations of modern social conditions would tend to promote spiritual life; but we must face the fact that they are here. There was a Fall, and things are changed. Let us make the best of the circumstance.

     One speaker raised the question as to why the Lord founded the First Christian Church when He knew it would only remain in its integrity for so short a time. We must realize that, in order that the New Church might come later, there was need for the work of the martyrs; there was need for those who sacrificed all to teach the Gospel of the First Advent; there was need that those who had received the Old and New Testaments should pass into the spiritual world, and that heavens should be formed in preparation for the time when the New Church should come.

     As regards New Church communities, those at Bryn Athyn and Glenview have been good examples of what can be done. But we must never forget that the proprium of New Churchmen is the same as that of other men. Consider what has been the experience of other churches in colonizing. The first generation could carry on, and keep themselves in communal life, in some cases having their meals in common, and sharing their property. Some religious communities have gained wealth, and lived abundantly useful lives. But those of the next generation wanted their freedom, wanted to live their own lives in their own way, to have their own moral code, and freedom to live according to it. Of the graduates of the schools at Bryn Athyn, over half are in good positions, not doing menial work in trades or living very close to nature in agricultural districts. They have fitted themselves to be leaders of men, and in order to promote the best use to their fellow men, they have gone into other lands, and have been very successful. By their education they were fitted to fill responsible positions, and to bring the ideals of the New Church into operation. The greatest use that can be promoted by New Churchmen is to go out into the world and put the ideals of the New Church into their work. They will thus have more influence in bringing the world to the New Church than they would by being small units in a self-contained industrial community.

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For some people there will always be an attraction in the idea of going back to the land, to live simply and fulfill their own wants. Such was the pioneer life in America in the early days,-farming, living in log-cabins and rearing families, as some New Churchmen have done recently in British Columbia. That kind of life is beset with difficulties, and it is all right for those who like it, but it is not the only kind of work open for New Church people, and would only appeal to those of a very special genius.

     I was interested in Mr. Bjorck's conception of what the state of men would have been if there had not been a Fall, and what he said about the use of modern machinery as a means of increasing production to fulfill the requirements of today. The state of those planets on which a more simple order has endured might throw some light on this. From the information given in the Writings we know that their inhabitants lead a very simple life, without the accompaniments of our modern civilization. Because of our love of material things, this Earth corresponds to the skin of the Gorand Man; but there is more than one skin, and so, representatively, the skin is on different planes, either external or internal. It was because of our ultimate state that the Lord was born on this Earth, and not on any other. But, by the Second Coming of the Lord, we have been given the possibility of rising very high. This Earth has nothing to complain of; and if we apply the principles of the New Church within our uses, we shall not need to regret the Fall.

     Mr. Norman. Williams: When I first joined the Church, there was one phrase that I heard very frequently,-that "the New Church had no objection to spoiling the Egyptians." We have had the same repetition this evening. It struck me that if the Children of Israel had stayed spoiling the Egyptians, they might never have reached the Promised Land.

     I was much interested in Mr. Bjorck's paper, but on one point I sincerely hope I misunderstood the speaker. I understood him to say that there was a certain section in the New Church which thought that the root of all evil in the world today was the Mechanical Age. Our idea is that the Mechanical Age is the result of the state of the world, which is rather a different thing. We have tried to work out how it came from evil principles in mankind, and have convinced ourselves that that theory is wrong. I was brought up in an ideal, simple village-life. But we lived on a main road, and now buildings have sprung up all around us, so that we have very little scenery, and a factory pre vents our seeing the sunset. I was happier when able to smell the sea breezes and see the sunset.

     I once read in the Writings Chat when anyone indulges too much in mechanical practice, he is apt to deny that there is anything except what is mechanical, and that if such confirm themselves in that state, they become among the most stupid in the spiritual world. The danger seems to lie in thinking from mechanics all the time.

     As regards a return to the land, I have heard that in Germany they have tried the experiment of sending imbeciles back to the land. By working with a spade and fork their reason gradually returns.

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I also have worked in a mechanical factory, and have seen signs of insanity coming on people. There is a lot of mental weakness in the world today. It seems to me to be another result of the Mechanical Age.

     Bishop de Charms: I also enjoyed Mr. Bjorck's paper. What the last speaker said has brought out a very sharp difference in our Church with reference to this subject, and I think we ought to consider the ground for that difference, and try to see why there should be such a divergence of view.

     I agree in the main with the fundamental outlook of the writer of the paper. It seems to me to be a question as to whether or not it is true that the Mechanical Age is the product of the Fall, and of evil in man. It is open to question, I think. It has been my belief, from what I have read in the Writings, that the Mechanical Age arises from an inherent genius peculiar to our Earth, and that that genius has been abused by the evil that has come from the Fall, but that it would not have been changed to another genius, had there been no Fall.

     In the Gorand Man of heaven, every planet is like an individual, and has its own use to perform in the Gorand Man, and to other earths. Each was created with a particular bias and form of mind, or a special way of receiving the Divine Love and Wisdom and ultimating them in use. Because all the planets have their own peculiar qualities, each can make an addition that will produce something, and go to make up all the societies of the Gorand Man in the heavens. We are told that printing was invented upon this earth for the sake of the Word, and because the Lord was to be born on this earth, that the record of his birth might be written, preserved, and finally printed and spread to all nations. That involved mechanical invention, and is an indication to New Churchmen that it is a form of use which was foreseen by the Lord from the beginning; that this earth was in fact made by the Lord with a full knowledge that it was to perform that use throughout the ages, just as every individual is created to perform a certain use in heaven to eternity, and the cast of mind and character given to that individual is Divinely directed to the fulfilment of that use.

     Since that is true of our earth, it would seem that what we condemn in the Mechanical Age, as something from which the New Church wants to get away, is not the Mechanical Age itself, but the abuse of that Age that has arisen from a material mind, from a race of men who have come as a result of the Fall, men so wrapt up in this world, and in the acquisition of wealth, power and dominance over others, that they seek to use these things for selfish and worldly purposes. It is this evil that appears to be a result of the Mechanical Age. The same things that are thus abused might well be used for spiritual ends and purposes, in which case I believe that we should have a truly simple life in the sense in which our friend, Mr. Howard, spoke of it,-an ideal life, if you please, but not one that would change the genius of our people.

     As a boy, I lived in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains for three months every Summer,-lived in a log cabin, went fishing, and so on. Anyone who has had such an experience likes to get away occasionally from civilization to camp in the wilds. From time to time I have enjoyed going camping with friends. We take with us a little food, set up a tent in the woods, build a fire, and commence to live in the primitive fashion.

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After a few days we start to exercise our intellect as to how we could improve the conditions. We make lanterns to see us to bed at night, put up hooks for our utensils, and get nearer and nearer to civilized life, until we get back to the uses peculiar to our race. If we were able to wipe away all present civilization, and start afresh, gradually we should begin to build up the same kinds of things we have today, because it is our nature so to do. So if we will just use our talents and opportunities in the right way, is gifts from the Lord, we shall fulfill the purpose for which we were created.

     Mr. James Pryke: Our friend, Mr. Bjorck, is a man of many parts. He is not only a teacher, but also no mean artist, and he has been engaged this evening in spreading a somewhat spacious canvas before our eyes, recording what his imagination has conceived as to what might have been. The title of the paper is rather an intriguing one-"If there had not been a Fall." The first obvious answer is, that man would have continued to live in charity with his fellow men. It always seems to me a little illogical for a New Churchman to say that man was created in the image and likeness of God, and at the same time to say that the Fall was inevitable. The Fall was foreseen, was provided for, but was surely not inevitable; for the Lord intended man to retain his pristine innocence. But there was to be development and progress, so that he could become a living,-responsive image of his Maker.

     Now we are told that the first men fell as the men of all succeeding Dispensations have fallen. They grew tired of the way of Revelation, and turned to the senses, to purely rational and scientific things, for enlightenment and teaching. They turned their backs on the Lord, and turned to the world. It is very interesting indeed to try to picture what might have been if that Fall had not taken place; and it is a useful thing to do, because it is a study that suggests the way in which we may get back to the state in which we were intended to be. It is easy to see a number of evils that have been plaguing us now, which would have been avoided if there had been no Fall. There would have been no combative forces, no policemen; we should not have required lawyers, and possibly not even accountants; and, of course, doctors would have been unknown. Also, I think life would have been simple.

     There is another way of looking at that word "simple." We are told that in the Lord all things are simple, and infinitely one; and what is meant there is single-minded. Men should live in simplicity, fulfilling the uses of their lives. But here I come up against a difficulty. I am not altogether convinced by what. Bishop de Charms said about the Mechanical Age, and about the necessity for printing, which, of course, we all admit is a mechanical art. If there had been no Fall, the Law of God would have been written in the hearts of men, and the written and printed Word would presumably have been unnecessary. With regard to this much-abused Machine Age, I really do not love it; but, after all, (and bearing in mind that, although these things have been perverted as to their essential use, it does not destroy the use), are we not, on all planes of life, the product of centuries of horrible things which have gone before us? One of the great things of life is that all men should be engaged in a proper, legitimate and useful occupation.

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Well, as far as I can see, mechanism is going dead against that ideal. You see twelve, twenty or fifty men engaged in certain work, and then a machine is installed, and immediately forty-five of these men are dispensed with.

     We cannot doubt that, if there had been no Fall, there still would have been arts and crafts, and also a knowledge of sciences, but they would have been spiritual, and not sensuous, sciences. I find it very difficult, therefore, to picture a return to the Golden Age which shall be accompanied by mechanical art. Rather do I think that men would slowly get back to a simple-minded life. It would not be necessary for them to live in houses, nor have the same kind of clothing; nor would men and women work for such long hours. But I do not think this would be accomplished by the use of machinery.

     Mr. Norman Williams: John Stuart Mill went very carefully into the question as to whether any labor was saved by installing machinery and putting men out of work, and he found that there was not, because the making of that machinery occupied so many men.

     Mr. Colley Pryke: I have listened with the greatest pleasure to Mr. Bjorck's paper. It was pleasingly presented, and dealt with a subject of greatest interest. What I liked best about it was his frank acknowledgment of the fact that we cannot put the clock back. If there is one thing that life teaches us more than another, it is that we can never return to a state precisely similar to a former one.

     Without wishing to go into the problems, I think it is not the Mechanical Age with which we are quarreling. We accept these mechanical things, and are thankful for the use of them; but the trouble is surely in the abuse of them. May we not look for good to come out of evil, and hope that the development of invention will give us that greater liberty which we feel ourselves to need, and enable us to turn our minds more readily, and in a less tired state, to spiritual things? I think there may be some hope for us in that direction. We are taught that working hours in the other world are not so long, and there is time for other matters. However, I for one am not yearning for a log cabin, with earwigs dropping on one, but prefer the ordinary life in the world.

     Rev. Potter: Mr. Bjorck's papers always contain some element of wisdom, and I think the essay this evening may be described as concentrated wisdom. I agreed with some of the things he said, and disagreed with others. On the whole, my opinion is that, rather than live secluded from the world, we should live in the world and among the people. By setting an example in the methods by which he conducts his business, the New Churchman should show that his conduct is based upon certain principles, and that those principles are contained in the Writings which we consider to be a Divine Revelation. By such means we shall be doing infinitely more good to ourselves, and to the world, than by leading a secluded life. We must go out into the world, mix with the people, and talk to them about our Doctrines. We do not know what result that may have, but we can sow the seeds.

     With regard to the Mechanical Age, do not let us despise it.

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We should not have had Bishop de Charms here for this Assembly without the ocean liner to bring him, or so many friends from London and elsewhere without the trains. Even Emanuel Swedenborg was a great mechanic, with many inventions to his name, which have been copied in various ways. I think we are doing wrong if we despise the Mechanical Age. I am dead against the idea of bottling ourselves up in some little field or wood.

     Rev. Victor I. Gladish: It is easy to like and to defend the things to which we are accustomed, whether they need changing or not. It is also easy to transfer personal distaste into a philosophical and religious condemnation. It is easy to confirm one's own point of view. But we must remember that there are people of all types, and that they all have their uses in the Gorand Man of the universe. There is a place for those who feel strongly against the external side of the Mechanical Age, and there is a place for those who feel otherwise. Undoubtedly many New Church people are fitted to be captains of industry, and it would not be right to keep them in a small community, with limited opportunities for the development of their talents. But they are generally of the more intellectual type. On the other hand, there are many who will not be of that type, and the Church will increasingly take in those of more common abilities. There are those who have an artistic appreciation of the simple life, but others may find their greatest happiness in the mechanical type of simple life,-the operation of simple machines; others might find their sphere of life in the more advanced uses of the Mechanical Age. In the Lord's Providence, there is a place for every type of person.

     With regard to the celestial state of the dwellers in tents, we must not go beyond the picture drawn in the Writings. In their tents they had many products of simple mechanism. And as to our being able to live without houses, as was suggested, it would certainly not be in this climate!

     Bishop Tilson: I should like to call attention to a passage in The Word Explained (I:957) where it is distinctly stated that man was permitted to know evil to the end that his mind might be made more spacious; and that, being able to know what evil was, and resisting it, made him a happier man. I believe that the world would have been worse off if the Fall had not taken place.

     Regarding this question of the simple life, I find, in studying the conditions of the heavenly societies, that they are grouped in the human form according to the distinctive uses which they perform. The reason why, among many failures, the community life of Bryn Athyn has been successful, is because it has always had before it the distinctive use of New Church education, the training of priests for the Lord's New Church. It is quite in harmony with the Lord's own teaching for man's development that the men whose hearts are set on New Church education should go out into New York, Chicago, or elsewhere, and take with them the sphere of the Church into whatever use they may follow, and that it is far better than congregating together.

     What are we taught about the education of children in the other world? They are made acquainted with evil, not that they may fall, but that, seeing the contrast, they may be more fully imbued with that which is good and true. Such teaching must be taken into account in considering the subject before us this evening.

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     Rev. Albert Bjorck: In the old times, in Boston, I met New Churchmen who regarded the Fall as a necessity,-that men were created so that they should fall. I never could see the matter that way. It seems that some of you are in favor of that theory, implying that the world would have been worse off if there had not been a Fall. Mr. Appleton seemed indirectly to support that view, because he seemed to think that unless we had had the Fall we should not have had freedom of choice in spiritual things. I do not see that at all.

     Mr. Gladish, in his remarks, brought to mind the necessity of getting away from our personal likings. Some are born with inherited tendencies in certain ways, or the tendency may be the outcome of environment in early childhood; but all New Church people should avoid being cranks in any direction whatever. We have to take care that our own personal likings and inclinations do not color our intellectual conceptions of what is right and wrong in the world, and especially our understanding of what the Writings teach us. There is a great tendency, when we study the Writings, to see our own pre-conceived ideas confirmed in what we read. We should always go to the Writings to seek the Truth which the Lord would teach us, and nothing else.

     In my paper I indicated a passage in which we are taught that, if the Most Ancient Church had kept its integrity, there would have been no need for the Lord to be born a Man; and I commented that, in that case, if the Most Ancient Church had kept its integrity, the teaching makes it quite clear that the Church would still have met temptations, perhaps of a little different kind, but just as powerful, and would have grown stronger, especially as it developed from the state of childhood to manhood. We gather that from the description of the Lord's glorification. The human in the Lord had to learn as we learn, and the Divine within Him, flowing immediately into the natural degree of His mind, caused rapid development. There were continual revelations from the Divine within Him which enabled Him to meet and overcome in continuous temptations.

     If the Most Ancient Church had kept its integrity, the internal through which the Lord's influx came into the natural degree with man would not have been destroyed. Before the Fall, influx from the Lord through the human internal came and gave to man an internal perception of what is good and true. When the proprium of the Adamites had been developed, so that they felt that what they thought was their own, they were tempted to disobey the influx from the Lord. So they fell. To those who ask, "Was this Fall inevitable?" my answer would be, "Certainly not!"

     In the Most Ancient Church, each generation had to be regenerated, just as we have to instruct our children before they come to the age of rationality. In the Most Ancient Church, the father of the family was the instrument of the Lord, and there was obedience to the laws of God. But there were individuals who fell, and from them the hells would grow. There would constantly be an influx from the spiritual world with men, as well from the evil as from the good, and an equilibrium between the two existed with men. So, as always, there would have been freedom of choice, whether there had been a Fall or not.

     Mr. Godfrey seemed to think that the internal of all of us is as bad in one as in another.

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If he means our inherited inclinations, that is true; but the real internal is something else. The Lord rules the external through the internal, and if the internal did not have good in it, there could be no possibility of regeneration. The Lord stores up good in the soul of man before birth, and that shows itself in the natural disposition of the child. There are no children born who have not good remains from the Lord in their natural disposition; because of that it is possible for everyone to be regenerated. The Lord dwells in the internal of the child; and we, by our knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines, and our understanding of children, should help to keep their minds open to the Lord until they reach the age of rationality and personal responsibility. We are taught that children of parents who are in conjugial love inherit less inclinations to evil. The restoration of conjugial love in the church is, therefore, the only hope of its finally reaching the celestial state.

     We know that the Lord is infinite and eternal Substance; that from that Substance everything was created; and that Life Itself, back of everything, is, in its essence, the Divine Love; that that was the reason for creation,-that that Love might go forth to others outside of itself. We know also the First Commandment. Do we, as individuals, really reciprocate that love, so that we let our love go forth to others? Or do we think more often about ourselves and the obtaining of that which we like?

     I confess that this question, as to what the world would have been like if there had not been a Fall, must involve a certain amount of speculation. Yet, unless we use our imagination in trying to understand such things, we cannot grow in the knowledge of Truth. My personal conclusion, as I have told you, is that the Fall was not a necessity; that the human race would have continued to receive influx from the Lord, as before described. Taking into consideration the population of the earth, there is no reason to think that the church would have grown more slowly if it had remained in its integrity. The Most Ancient Church and the Ancient Church continued as long as there were any remains of good; it is the same in all spiritual development.

     We cannot compare the conditions of this earth with those of any other. Bishop de Charms made that clear, by pointing out that our earth has its specific use to perform in the Gorand Man.

     We must come together for worship and instruction, and keep our children instructed in the truths of Divine Revelation, in such a way that they will have them both in mind and heart. Then the Church will grow from the internal to the external, which is the way of all true growth.

     Third Session-Monday, 11 a.m.

     Bishop de Charms, presiding, called upon Mr. F. A. Gardiner, until recently the Treasurer of the Swedenborg Society, to make an announcement.

     Mr. Gardiner drew the attention of the Assembly to a leaflet he had placed on the chairs. It was entitled, "How Can We Obtain the Religion of the New Jerusalem?" written by the Rev. J. F. Potts, and published some years ago by the New Church Educational Institute.

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He hoped that each of those present would take one of the leaflets, read it, and pass it on to friends. He also spoke of the important work being done by the Swedenborg Society for the education of young people in the Doctrines of the New Church, and hoped we would encourage our young people to sit for the Society's examinations, held on the second Sunday in May each year.

     The Rev. Victor J. Gladish delivered an Address on "A Phase of the Last Judgment," illustrated with blackboard diagrams. (See December issue.)

     Fourth Session-Monday, 3.30 p.m.

     As announced in the program, this session was devoted to matters of business, as follows:

     1. It was moved, seconded, and carried that the Minutes of the Twenty-third British Assembly, as published in NEW CHURCH LIFE (December, 1930, pp. 779-802) be adopted.

     2. Mr. A. J. Appleton, Treasurer of this year's Assembly, was called upon for a general statement of Assembly finances and financing, and made a verbal report from the material of the account book kept by the various Treasurers since the year 1921.

     3. The Secretary of the Assembly then reported verbally for the Committee appointed last year to investigate matters connected with the business side of the Assemblies, and stated that the members had suggested the appointment of a permanent Treasurer and Board of Finance.

     4. After discussion, it was agreed to send the following message to the Bishop of the General Church: "That this meeting is in favor of an appointment of a definite Board for the Assemblies, consisting of a Treasurer, a Secretary, and one or two others, and asks the Bishop's direction in the matter."

     5. This final session closed with the singing of the 19th Psalm, after which the Benediction was pronounced.

     Assembly Social.

     The social gathering on Monday evening was a happy climax to the meetings.

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With the audience seated at small tables, the program commenced with the singing of the spirited "Assembly Rally" by Mr. Owen Pryke, all joining in the chorus, "England will shine tonight." Then followed other songs, violin and quartet numbers, and two playlets. Especially well received was "The Tin Gee Gee," a dramatized song, with the Misses Muriel Gill and Joan Stebbing, Messrs. Sanfred Appleton and Noel Appleton, in the cast. Others who took part in the evening's entertainment were: Miss Winnie Everett, Mrs. R. A. Stebbing, Miss Olive Cooper, and Messrs. Norman Williams, R. A. Anderson, Norman Motum, and Stanley Wainscot. To Mrs. John Cooper as head of the entertainment committee, and to her husband as chief assistant, we are indebted for the success of the program.
          
     After the serving of refreshments, Mr. Colley Pryke, as toastmaster, introduced the following toasts, which were duly honored: (1) "The British Assembly," with response by the Rev. Raymond G. Cranch, who spoke on "The Interior Establishment of the Church." (2) "NEW CHURCH LIFE," to which Mr. R. A. Stebbing responded with a splendid "selling talk." (3) "The Church," with Bishop de Charms speaking in response on "The Exterior Establishment of the Church," reaching one of the high points of the Assembly, and leaving a feeling of deep appreciation and renewed enthusiasm for the Church. Informal toasts followed, including a message of thanks and affectionate greeting to Bishop Pendleton. With this festive occasion the meetings came to a close.

     It seems to be the united opinion of all present that it was a singularly harmonious, delightful, instructive, and inspiring Assembly.

     Attendance: Four sessions, 93, 82, 78, and 32 (the last being the business session). Saturday, tea 69; Sunday, lunch 104; tea, 110; Monday, lunch 72; tea, 65; Social, about 100. Ninety members of the General Church, and 17 non-members, signed the Roll.

     We are indebted to the able and whole-hearted work of Miss Greenwood for the very full record of the discussions and proceedings.
     VICTOR J. GLADISH,
          Secretary.

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     CANADIAN NORTHWEST.

     The annual visit to the isolated members of the General Church in the Canadian Northwest was made again this year during June, July and August. As a variant from the usual I motored from Denver to MORDEN, MANITOBA, taking my family with me to spend the Summer with my parents. As this was the first time that my parents and my family had met each other, the occasion was truly a memorable one for us all.

     Morden was made the base from which I visited WINNIPEG and LAKE FRANCIS. On my initial stay in Morden I conducted three classes and one service. At Winnipeg I spent two days, June 20-22, with Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Peppler and family, and conducted one service; and during the three days, June 22-25, that I was at Lake Francis with Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Hamm there were three classes and one service and many delightful hours of conversation on church matters.

     On returning to Morden for two days, I learned with regret that business would take Mr. and Mrs. Fred Roschman out of town at the time I had expected to be with them. Last year I visited Mr. Roschman at Regina, Sask. They now reside in Moose Jaw.

     During four days at DAVIDSON, SASK.,-June 30-July 4-instruction was given on three mornings to the children of Mr. and Mrs. George Pagon. Two classes were held every morning, one properly for young people, the other for children. In addition, there was one adult doctrinal class and one service. On Dominion Day, July 1st, we all attended the festivities arranged in celebration of that day.

     At ROSTHERN, five full days, July 4-9, were spent with the John Hamm and John Bech families. There were four afternoon and three evening classes and two services, all attended by old and young. The attendance ranged from 12 to 18, the largest being when Mr. and Mrs. John Nichol of Waldheim were present. There is here a very promising group of young people, nine in number, and it was a delight to be with them in class and in play. The classes, based upon selected chapters from the work on Heaven and Hell, provoked a gratifying amount of discussion and showed a genuine interest and penetration. While in Rosthern I also called upon several friends belonging to the General Convention.

     As I received word in Rosthern that Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evens would be away from Oyen, I proceeded directly to POUCE COUPE, in the Peace River Country, B. C. Much to my regret, the change in plans caused me to miss meeting Miss Dora Brown, of Toronto, who was to spend a portion of the Summer visiting her sister, Mrs. Healdon Starkey. She arrived on the evening that I left. As there had not been time to inform the members at Pouce Coupe of the change in my plans, they did not expect me, and it was a very fortunate coincidence that my brother, happening to be walking along the railroad, saw me in the train as it passed, and I him. So he immediately came into town to meet me.

     From July 11th to 21st the time was divided between Mr. and Mrs. Erdman Heinrichs, Mr. and Mrs. Healdon Starkey, and Mr. George C. Starkey, at Pouce Coupe, and Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Miller and their family at Dawson Creek. There were two services, three doctrinal classes, and two children's classes.

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And there were many informal discussions of questions relating to doctrine and the application of doctrine with one or other of the members.

     On Sunday, July 19th, the three families above mentioned and Mr. George C. Starkey, seventeen persons in all, gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Healdon Starkey. During the course of a chicken dinner, which opened with a toast to the Church, it developed that the day, while not the exact date of the wedding of any of the three married pairs, was very close to the anniversary day of each of them. The occasion, therefore, became a wedding feast, and toasts to the happiness of all of them were honored.

     After the dinner a service was held, during which the infant children of Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Mr. and Mrs. Starkey were baptized, and the Holy Supper was administered.

     While I was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Miller I had the pleasure of seeing some more of this new and interesting country, Mr. Miller taking me with him on a trip some 15 to 17 miles west of Dawson Creek into a region that has been homesteaded during the past year.

     From July 22d to 28th, with the exception of one day, I was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. John Lemky at GORANDE PRAIRIE, ALBERTA. Three classes and one service were held in their home with the members of the family. The one day excepted above (a Saturday) I was with Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lemky at their home 3 1/2 miles distant from his father's. It was a day of delight. The three of us talked about the things of the Church from morning until late at night. The next day, Sunday, during the service at the home of his parents, there were again two Baptisms. Mrs. Edward Lemky presented herself for that sacrament, and she and her husband had it performed for their infant son. The sacrament of the Holy Supper was also administered, making the service a very full and complete one.

     The following day, starting early, Mr. and Mrs. John Lemky and two sons motored with me to the homes of their two married daughters, twenty or more miles distant, in the vicinity of Sexsmith. We first called at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Mackey (nee Anna Lemky) where we had dinner and a class, and then at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Gabouri (nee Mary Lemky) where we had supper and another class. Mrs. Gabouri, in order to receive as much as possible, joined us at her sister's home and was present at both classes. The day was one of mutual delight.

     After several days' journey I arrived at OYEN, ALBERTA, to be with our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evens, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Evens, and their families. Here I spent five days, August 1-4, during which time I gave instruction to the children three times, and conducted three doctrinal classes and one service, with the administration of the Holy Supper. On one of the days, by way of a holiday, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evens took me on an excursion to show me the estate of a wealthy farmer where the future possibilities of the prairie provinces were demonstrated. I there saw fruits, trees, and flowers growing which are not commonly associated with Northwestern Canada.

     On August 6th I returned to Morden. In the meantime, Miss Anna Heinrichs had come from Kitchener, and Miss Clara Heinrichs arrived the following day from Philadelphia, thus increasing the number present at the service which concluded my Summer's ministrations.

     Summary.

Services Held                     11
Adult Classes                     22
Classes for Children and Young People      15
Baptisms                          4
Holy Supper                          5
Communicants                     30

     The total number of persons ministered to was 84, of whom 44 were adults and 40 were children and young people.

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     The subjects presented in classes were: A series on the Literal Sense of the Word; a series on the World of Spirits State; a series on the Necessity of Religion; one class on Redemption; a series on selected chapters from Heaven and Hell; and, to the children, stories from the Letter of the Word.

     While no new developments have taken place in the Peace River Country which might be interpreted as increasing the possibility of establishing a church center there, the prospects have not decreased. There is still opportunity for newcomers, though not on the same terms as before in regard to the securing of land from the Government. Those who are there, especially at Pouce Coupe, declare themselves willing and eager to render whatever assistance lies in their power to those who are in the slightest degree interested. In discussing the "Newest Atlantis," which we understand has been to the fore in Glenview, and which found its way into the Sons' meetings at Pittsburgh, it was agreed that the North would be a more logical site for such an experiment than the South, as being more compatible with the genius of the New Church, which first took root among Northern peoples.

     In concluding this report, I should also like to record that gratitude and appreciation was very generally expressed because the General Church, in this time of depression, had been able and willing to continue her ministrations to her members in the Canadian West.
     HENRY HEINRICHS.

     SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

     The attendance at our day school is slowly increasing. There are now twelve pupils, all but one baptized. He is the bright child of a solicitor living nearby. The parents like him to come, because of his fondness for the school, and because of the progress he has made. We shall wait and see what the end of the year reveals.

     In Bishop W. F. Pendleton's Topics from the Writings, we find this question: "Where are we to look for the increase of the church?" (P. 6.) And the answer is given: "In the Arcana Celestia (1610) the teaching is, that the multiplication of the Lord's kingdom will be, 'not only from those who are within the church, and their children, but also from these who are without the church, and their children.' And their children!" exclaims the Bishop.

     The daily morning worship, and the sound teaching received in a harmonious environment, cannot fail of wonderful results when life's responsibilities are taken on some years hence. The true knowledge concerning the Lord and the way to heaven can never be forgotten.

     On Wednesday, August 26th, a very creditable Dress-up took the place of the weekly games of the Young People's Club. The attendance was not as large as at the last one, but this was an advantage, as more room for movement and judging was available. Many of the costumes showed evidence of skill; color also was general, and quality was not deficient. Many prizes were awarded after the arduous task of judging was completed. During the evening the children of the day school gave a much appreciated entertainment.     
     RICHARD MORSE.

     SUMMER VISITS IN THE PITTSBURGH DISTRICT.

     BY THE REV. E. E. IUNGERICH.

     As the Sunday services in the Pittsburgh Society were suspended during August, I made a number of motor trips during the month to visit isolated members in the Pittsburgh District, and also spent a week in Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario.

     On Sunday, August 2, I motored to Tarentum, Pa., accompanied by my daughter Nadezhda, my son Stevan, and my niece, Miss Winifred Simons. We dined with Dr. and Mrs. Marlin Heilman, and in the afternoon went to a farm north of Leechburg where twenty-two of us sat down to a picnic supper. Dr. and Mrs. Glenn Heilman and their two children were also present, as also their aunt, Mrs. Kate Aye, and her two sons and their families.

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     On Saturday, August 8th, the same three young people accompanied me westward, and we made brief calls on Mr. and Mrs. Tirzals Renkenberger, Columbiana, Ohio, and at the Sponseller farm. At Greenford we called upon Miss Barbara Rhodes, and then went to Salem, Ohio, where we dined with Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Sharp. Miss Simons remained at Salem to visit with friends. In the afternoon we motored to Niles, Ohio, where we were entertained at dinner by the Williamson family. Here I gave talk on Cosmology and the Human Organic, illustrated with charts.

     At Youngstown, Ohio, the same evening, we were hospitably received at the home of Mrs. McElroy, where her two sisters, Mrs. Harrold and Mrs. Woods, also live. Here we remained until the following Monday morning. On Sunday, a service was held with an attendance of thirteen, the sermon being on Exodus 22:20-23. After the service a picnic lunch was held in the park, sixteen being present. In addition to the ladies mentioned, there were Dr. and Mrs. Renkenberger, their daughter, Miss Doris, and a friend, Miss Jones; Mr. and Mrs. Sponseller; Mrs. Williamson, with her son and daughter; and Mr. Holland. The last named is becoming deeply interested in the New Church, as indicated in several conversations I had with him, and by his interest in the sermon and doctrinal talk I gave on Sunday evening.

     On Sunday, August 15th, we motored eastward to Blairsville, Pa., accompanied by Miss Florence Kintner and her nephew, Johnny Walker, and here we spent a pleasant four hours at the home of Miss Janet Ritchey, where also we met Mr. and Mrs. Clark Ritchey and Miss Mary P. Ritchey. In the afternoon we went to Johnstown, and in the evening a doctrinal class was held at which I spoke on the subject of Obsessions to the five assembled members of the Kintner family. On Sunday a service was held, the same group being increased on this occasion by little Fern Fisher, whom I baptized two years ago.

     On Saturday evening, August 22d, my son and I arrived in Erie, Pa., where I gave a lecture on Cosmology and the Human Organic at the home of Mr. Edro Cranch, fifteen persons being present. A service was held on Sunday, with an attendance of twenty, eleven of whom partook of the Holy Supper.

     We arrived in Toronto the same evening, and remained in Ontario until the following Friday. During my stay in Toronto I addressed the Forward Club on the subject of Obsessions, and spoke to a meeting of the society on "The Now Laid-Open Word." (New Church Life, October, p. 631.) At Kitchener four addresses were given. On Wednesday, I spoke to a meeting of the ladies on the subject of "The Widowed." In the evening, the paper on "The Now Laid-open Word" was given to the society at a banquet. In the absence of the pastor, Candidate Wynne Acton presided, and both he and Mr. Jacob Stroh made speeches. On Thursday afternoon the subject of Obsessions was presented to a young people's class at Conestoga, in the presence of the Rev. and Mrs. Alan Gill, who were summering in this rural spot ten miles north of Kitchener. The same evening I spoke to the society on the subject of the immortality of the soul from conception, advancing the view that if this were not the case, many uses that had been initiated would be lost forever to the Gorand Man.

     We began our return journey on Friday, and, at Niagara Falls, N. Y., had a pleasant visit with Mrs. W. D. Uptegraff and her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Sheers. The same evening we arrived at East Aurora, N. Y., where we stayed with the Loomis family.

     On Saturday we motored to the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Kendig in Renovo, Pa., where a service was held on Sunday with an attendance of eight persons, five of whom partook of the Holy Supper.

700


On Saturday afternoon we called upon Mr. and Mrs. George Stuart, and the latter's sister, Miss Edna Batdorff, who live at North Bend, three miles from Renovo. Their brother, Eugene V. Batdorff, lives in Pittsburgh, and has become deeply interested in the New Church during the past year.

     DENVER, COLORADO.

     In June, a number of our young people returned from the schools at Bryn Athyn and other points to enliven the vacation season in Denver, which commenced with the departure of our pastor on his visit to the Canadian Northwest. From the schools came the Misses Berith and Thyra Schrader, and Vera Bergstrom, and Mr. Donald Allen; from Pittsburgh, Miss Angella Bergstrom; and from South Carolina, Miss Martha Schrader. Accompanying Mr. Donald Allen, Mr. Wilfred Klippenstein made a brief stopover on the way to his home in Los Angeles. While the writer was absent he heard rumors of many luncheons and informal parties. The Summer also brought the announcement of the engagement of Miss Martha Schroder to Mr. Bengt Carlson, of Chicago. After their marriage, which will be celebrated in Chicago in October, they will make their home in that city; and thus another one of our young people will augment the society there. A sumptuous luncheon was given in her honor, followed by a "shower" at the home of Mrs. Lindrooth.

     Early in August, shortly after the return of the pastor, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Reuter, and their son, the Rev. Norman Reuter, of Glenview, arrived to spend several weeks in Denver and vicinity. At the same time Mr. Jack Lindrooth came to Denver for a visit. The presence of these visitors stimulated a social activity such as we have not had in years.

     First, there was a reception at the church, attended by thirty-five persons, which to us is so large a number as to be inspiring. After a period of general conversation, the pastor made a speech of welcome to the visitors, including also the young people of our society who had returned for the vacation. He went on to give a brief outline of his Summer's work, and bespoke his hopes for the coming year's work in the Denver Society. The Rev. Norman Reuter made a graceful response, and then delivered an address which began as a commentary upon certain features of the organization and work of the Glenview Society, and developed into a strong argument for New Church day schools as essential to the growth and strengthening of New Church societies. The evening concluded with lively entertainment in the form of games.

     There was another large gathering in honor of our guests at the mountain home of Mr. and Mrs. Schroder, at which between twenty-five and thirty were present. Mrs. Schroder served an elaborate and tasty luncheon which was followed by speeches by the pastor, Mr. Adolph Reuter, the Rev. Norman Reuter, Dr. Vos, and Mr. Lindrooth.

     A final social occasion for meeting with our guests was provided at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Allen, where again there were nearly thirty present. The "older" people gathered in one room and conversed, while the "young" people played games in another room, with much hilarity and noise. We didn't know, or had forgotten, that they could be so noisy, having been so long without a sizable group of young people. The visitors were also entertained in the various homes. Altogether they caused quite a flurry among us, and when they left we had the feeling that they had given us a very good time. We hope they carried the same feeling away with them.

     In the lull that followed their departure we did not relapse into a state of inactivity rather we took advantage of it, and made some substantial improvements at our church property. With a generous donation from Miss Hilda Hager, as the impulse toward it, a new hardwood floor was laid, the whole downstairs papered and painted, and a new sky-light installed upstairs, all of which has transformed the interior to the great satisfaction of all.

701


However, it caused a delay of one week in the resumption of our regular activities, our Sunday services being resumed on the second Sunday of September.

     We are resuming the only form of missionary endeavor that our lack of means permits us to undertake, namely, calling on those who have been readers of the Writings, but are not in association with the Church. Last year we visited fourteen persons of this type, and kept in touch with. ten of them throughout the year.
     HENRY HEINRICHS.

     KITCHENER, ONT.

     Carmel Church day-school opened on September 8th with an attendance of thirty pupils. As our pastor, Rev. Alan Gill, was still away from home, Candidate Wynne Acton conducted the opening exercises. In addressing the children, using as a text Matthew 7:24-27, concerning "the wise man who built his house upon a rock," he explained how New Church education made it possible for them to build a sure and lasting foundation for their spiritual homes.

     During the second week in September, Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Acton spent a few days in Kitchener, and Dr. Acton addressed the members of the society on several occasions. The first evening, the ladies gathered at the home of Mrs. A. K. Hasen, and enjoyed very much his informal talk on several current topics of general interest in the church. The following evening, there was a meeting of the Men's Club at which the subject of his address was "The Reality of the Spiritual World." At a banquet on Friday evening, he favored us with his intensely interesting lecture on "Jesper Swedberg." On Sunday morning, Rev. Alan Gill conducted the service, and Dr. Acton preached on the text of Matthew 7:24-27. A visit from Dr. Acton is always enjoyed, and this one was especially appreciated because unexpected.

     We have begun our regular winter program. Children's service is held each Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. Suppers are held every Friday, followed by doctrinal class, this year's subject being "The Growth of the Mind," from the book by Bishop de Charms. The pastor conducts two Young People's doctrinal classes, a junior and a senior, on alternate weeks. He also gives a lecture at the Ladies' Guild Meeting, which is held monthly. The Theta Alpha Chapter has resumed its regular monthly meetings, and plans to have a supper in October, when papers on Hebrew Music, Customs, etc., will be presented.
     C. R.

     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

     Since our last report, changes have taken place at Rent Manor, Impapala, the Mission center in Zululand. Owing in part to the business depression, the farming operations there have been abandoned, at least for the present. It is to be regretted that this turn of events resulted in the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Frazee and family, who sailed from Durban in June, and visited England on their way to America, where they have now settled near Vancouver, B. C.

     At the end of July and beginning of August, the Mission Council met at Durban for the Half-yearly Council Meeting. The members of the Council are: Revs. Acton and Elphick, and Messrs. J. H. and N. A. Ridgway. The problems before the Council were decidedly in keeping with the times, and had to do with expanding uses but reduced finances.

     While in Durban, the writer, in company with Messrs. Melville and Charles Ridgway, made a trip to Zululand. En route, we visited the Elementary Day School of the Mission at Tongaat, where the Rev. Julius Jiyana is in charge. Here we heard the pupils reciting from memory, in Zulu, the Ten Blessings and the passage in Conjugial Love which describes the angel flying beneath the eastern heaven (n. 2).

702


After a further run by motor of nearly a hundred miles, the evening was spent with Mr. Leo Hubscher at Kent Manor. Until plans mature, Mr. Hubscher is keeping watch over the property, and is in daily contact with the native Mission Staff. On the following morning the Day School here was visited. The school and church uses are progressing under the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana and the Mission staff of teachers. The good accommodations, pleasant surroundings, tidy schoolrooms and spacious playground, gave the impression that even the environment should encourage the work and influence of the Mission. The Rev. Elmo C. Acton is in close touch with the staff, and makes frequent visits from Durban.

     After returning to Durban, a weekend visit was made to Bulwer, near Maritzburg, Natal, where a new Mission center is slowly developing. I was accompanied by the Rev. B. Ngiba and Leader E. Kuzwayo, who is a student in the Mission Theological School. Services were held morning and evening on Sunday, August 9th, and a doctrinal class in the afternoon. The Zulu group at this place are already keen on having a school for the children, not wishing to send them to the Roman Catholic Mission in the neighborhood.

     Following a few days spent at home in Alpha, a visit was made to Cape Province, this time by train. Ten days, including Sundays, August 23d and 30th, were spent at the hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. S. F. Rogers at "De Hoek," Saron. During the period, two Sunday morning services, one Communion Service, and an evening service for the Xosa people living on the farm, were held. The intervening days were live with New Church topics in our conversations. Visits were made to neighboring friends, including Mr. and Mrs. Thuddicum, who live on the De Hoek Estate. A call was also made at the School for Colored at Saron, in the interests of South African educational problems. On Sunday evening, August 30th, a party was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, in celebration of the twenty-first birthday of their daughter Yveline. Our only regrets were that the proceedings of the evening could not be sent by radio to Yveline and her brother Norbert, who are attending the Academy Schools at Bryn Athyn.

     The Spring Term of the Theological School at Alpha opened with six students and one ex-student who is taking special courses.

     The normal activities of the Alpha Circle have been resumed. Sunday services and Thursday evening readings have begun again after a long interruption caused by the Second South African Assembly, holidays, quarantine, and mission travels.
     F. W. ELPHICK.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     Bishop Pendleton was with us for the Pittsburgh District Assembly, September 25-27. On Saturday evening he delivered an Address on "The Avoidance of Temptation," which was followed by a general discussion. At the service on Sunday, the Bishop preached from the text of Isaiah 44:2, 3, and was assisted by the Pastor in the administration of the Holy Supper. Among those present for the Assembly were visitors from Blairsville and Johnstown, Pa., and Youngstown, Ohio.

     Our Day School opened on September 14th with an enrollment of 16 pupils in seven grades. The Pastor gave an address on Spiritual Apathy, illustrated by the battles with the Amalekites. Sunday School opened on October 5th with an unusually large attendance, and with the following teachers: Miss Joan Schoenberger, Mrs. S. E. Walker, Mrs. A. P. Lindsay, Mr. Alexander Iungerich and the Pastor.
     E. R. D.

703


EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT 1931

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT       W. B. CALDWELL       1931




     Announcements.




     The major part of our present issue is devoted to the publication of the Report of the Twenty-fourth British Assembly, including two of the Addresses delivered on that occasion and the discussions that followed them,-all of which will be of exceptional interest to our readers. We regret that limitations of space prevent the publication of the Address by the Rev. Victor J. Gladish on "A Phase of the Last Judgment," which was also delivered at the British Assembly. This Address, together with a report of the discussion following it, will appear in our December number.
     W. B. CALDWELL.

705


PHASE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT 1931

PHASE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT       Rev. VICTOR J. GLADISH       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LI          DECEMBER, 1931          No. 12
     THE HEAVEN OF GOOD SPIRITS, THE HEAVEN OF ANGELIC SPIRITS, AND THE HEAVEN OF ANGELS.

     (Delivered at the 24th British Assembly, August 3, 1931.)

     In the days of the Most Ancient Church the heavens were open to man while living upon earth, so that he spoke with angels and thought with them; that is, he thought angelically. Since that time, long ages have intervened in which the spiritual world became unknown and all but unknowable. In reality, the Lord has never left Himself without a witness of His heavenly kingdom and its rich promise, but during many dark generations of men little was openly revealed; minds groveled, for the most part, in material, natural-world thought, though seemingly they longed to "pluck out the heart of the mystery of death," as one of their spokesmen has put it.

     Now again, in the days of the Crowning Church, the heavens are opened to man; but whereas he once passed freely and unknowingly into such a state of his interiors that he conversed with angels and spirits, and marked not when he passed the border of the worlds, now that opening of the other world is only by knowledge and influx communicated by means of the written Word. (S. S. 62-69.) Moreover, the border-line stands strongly forth, and man may distinguish most clearly the things that are of the spiritual world and those that are of the natural, and weigh them in the balance of the rational mind.

     "Now it is allowed to enter intellectually (or with the understanding) into the arcana of faith."

706


Not even with the ancient celestial men-who entered perceptively into these arcana-were the mysteries of spiritual life, here and hereafter, unfolded in such fulness and order as they are placed within the reach of the man of today. For well over a century and a half the nature and phenomena of the spiritual world have stood revealed in all abundance; yet the masses of men have little noted it, or have soon forgotten what caught their attention. Many are openly content with the gross dust of this natural world; others demand some crude proof from the realm of physical science; others, again, confidently declare that we know nothing of a life beyond the grave, nor ever can know.

     These states of rejection or scanty reception were predicted in the Revelation itself, and are a familiar story to the Church; but it may be well to reflect that we ourselves-that those few who have accepted the Heavenly Doctrine, and set it as their guide-have not done overmuch in drawing forth those abundant knowledges concerning the other life which have now been revealed. It is true, of course, that the progressive and interior entrance into any phase of the revealed truth which has so far taken place leaves much to be desired; but it is rather remarkable that, in the matter of the phenomena and laws of the spiritual world-a realm concerning which the Church has talked very much, and which has so frequently been made the opening wedge for evangelization-many fields of knowledge have been left comparatively unexplored, so far as the Church at large has been made aware.

     To judge by that portion of the collateral New Church literature which is readily accessible, we might say that the following significant subjects are among those which have been comparatively unexplored by weighty article, thesis, or book: (1) The nature of light and heat in heaven; (2) Speech in the spiritual world; (3) The subject of gyres and choirs among spirits and angels; (4) Aspect-presence in the spiritual world; (5) The operation of societies through subject spirits; (6) The general subject of spirits,-their term in the world of spirits, the significance of their groups or designations, etc. To the best of my knowledge and belief, these six phases of the revealed knowledges concerning the spiritual world are among those which might be listed as having had no extended treatment by New Church writers, notwithstanding the fact that they are interesting and important subjects, upon which there is much to be found in the Writings.

707




     There are many obvious reasons, having to do with the struggling state of the Church, why so little soil has been turned in the immense field of spiritual-world knowledges. The above suggestions are concrete illustrations of the nature and variety of the fascinating truths concerning the spiritual world which await the study of the men of the Church. But we wish also to draw attention to the exalted importance to all of us, in our daily battles toward regeneration, of reflecting upon the life to come, and learning, not only the types of appearances and experiences which await us there, but also something of the states there, or the underlying laws. In confirmation of this point, note the remarkable words in the True Christian Religion, where, following a graphic and terrible picture of the native lusts of the human proprium, it is said: "All these (evils) can be removed in no other way than by the true use of free choice in spiritual things, which is to direct the mind to think concerning the state of the life after death." (T. C. R. 498.) Note that it is not merely thought concerning the life after death, but thought concerning the state of the life after death, which is here mentioned.

     II.

     All that we have said so far, however, is but introductory to the specific subject of this paper. We do not intend to spend the whole time in emphasizing the importance of reading, digesting, and assimilating what is revealed concerning the other life. Nor have we any intention of plunging into a discussion of the six comparatively untrodden fields which we have mentioned. We shall confine ourselves to a consideration of a certain phase of one of those subjects.

     The last subject listed was the general one of the inhabitants of the world of spirits, who are usually distinguished from the angels of heaven and the devils of hell by the name "spirits." The question upon which we hope to throw a little light is a very small part of this general subject, but in its ramifications it interweaves with a great deal of the doctrine concerning heaven and the world of spirits. The principal subject before us may be briefly stated as the problem of explaining why the Writings frequently use such terms as the "heaven of spirits," when yet spirits are those who have not yet entered either heaven or hell.

708


In the earlier numbers of the Arcana Celestia, there are many passages which speak of the "heaven of good spirits " and the " heaven of angelic spirits." (A number of these are to be found in the General Church "Calendar Readings" for recent months.) Usually, these two terms are found as part of a series of three: "the heaven of good spirits," "the heaven of angelic spirits," and "the heaven of angels"; and these are said to be the ultimate, the middle, and the inmost heavens, respectively.

     Now the statement of the Doctrine concerning the three heavens which is more familiar to the thought of the New Churchman is, that the ultimate heaven is the heaven of natural angels (that is, celestial-natural and spiritual-natural angels), the middle heaven is that of spiritual angels, and the inmost heaven is that of celestial angels. Moreover, it is right that this latter terminology should be more familiar to the New Churchman, for it is the series given in that section of Heaven and Hell which treats specifically of the divisions of heaven, and which deserves to be considered as the key-passage on that subject. But the question arises: "How can the heaven of good spirits be equivalent to the natural heaven, and the heaven of angelic spirits be equivalent to the spiritual heaven!"

     One may not be surprised to read in the Writings concerning various heavens of spirits, for before the Last Judgment there were many likenesses of heavenly societies existing in the world of spirits, and these were termed temporary heavens, imaginary heavens, false heavens, etc.; but what shall we say when groups in the other world, described by such terms as "heaven of spirits," "heaven of good spirits," and "heaven of angelic spirits," are seemingly made equivalent to the inherent and eternal divisions of the heavens?

     The answer toward which the affirmatively disposed mind naturally turns is, that from certain aspects there is an equivalence here, and that from others there is not. Also, it may occur to many that the question of conditions before and after the Last Judgment enters into this problem. I believe that it is along these lines, readily occurring to the reader of the Heavenly Doctrine, that the true solution lies; but I submit that a satisfactory harmonization of the whole matter is not to be found by a cursory reading of applicable passages. For myself, I found that, when I seemed to have found a harmonization of two apparently conflicting passages, frequently the next number raised a whole new set of problems.

709


To resolve these various problems, and to find an interior unity in seemingly divergent teachings, I believe it is necessary to go fairly deeply into the doctrine concerning the three heavens, and the doctrine concerning the states of the world of spirits before and after the Judgment.

     III.

     But let us now turn to the Heavenly Doctrine, and see exactly what is said concerning the heaven of good spirits, the heaven of angelic spirits, and the heaven of angels. We read:

     "There are three heavens: the first is the abode of good spirits; the second, of angelic spirits; and the third, of angels. Spirits, angelic spirits, and angels, are distinguished into the celestial and into the spiritual. The celestial are those who, through love, have received faith from the Lord, like the men of the Most Ancient Church. The spiritual are those who, through knowledges of faith, have received charity from the Lord, and who act from what they have received." (A. C. 459.)

     A. C. 457 speaks of the "joys of spirits, that is, of the first heaven"; but A. C. 538 introduces another aspect by speaking of the first entrance-court to heaven as being the "lower sphere of angelic spirits." This would seem to place all those lower than angelic spirits as beneath heaven, or no higher, at least, than the "first entrance-court."

     On the other hand, where the heavens are further described, in the second volume of the Arcana, we find a strengthening of that aspect of permanence in these three groups which was conveyed by the first-quoted number (459); as, for instance, the following: "In the Lord's kingdom are those who are external, those who are interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits, who are in the first heaven, are external; angelic spirits, who are in the second heaven, are interior; and angels, who are in the third heaven, are internal." (A. C. 1799.) Also this: "Good spirits indeed are also angels, but lower ones; for they are in the first heaven, while angelic spirits are in the second, but angels, properly so called, in the third." (A. C. 1752.)

     But again, a little farther on in the Arcana there seems to be an implication of impermanence in these groupings.

710


It is said: "From the first or external heaven no one can possibly be taken up into the second or interior heaven until he has been instructed in the goods of love and the truths of faith. So far as he has been instructed, so far can he be taken up and can come among angelic spirits. It is the same with angelic spirits before they can be taken up or come into the third heaven, or among angels." (A. C. 1802.)

     Many more passages along these lines might be brought forward, both from the Arcana Celestia and the Spiritual Diary, a number of them introducing further apparent difficulties in the formation of a comprehensive scheme of interpretation; but let this suffice for the initial collection of evidence upon the problem in hand. In passing, however, just a word in regard to the apparent difficulties and conflicts which arise in pursuing a given subject through the pages and volumes of the Heavenly Doctrine. Ordinarily these difficulties do not arise in connection with their own context, each teaching shedding a clear light over its own field; but, when compared with a passage from a quite different context, often the essential harmony is not seen. As a crude illustration of the matter, consider the case of a great highway continuously lighted by powerful lamps. Each lamp clearly lights its own field, or stretch of road, but midway between two of them there will be difficulty in certain types of vision. Nevertheless, if the observer can view the lights from a distance, the light of one will be seen to blend into that of another; and if he can but obtain an observation point of high elevation, he will see the roadway much like a ribbon of light stretching onward as far as the eye can reach.

     IV.

     So much for the real nature of apparent conflicts in passages of the Doctrine. Let us now attempt a statement of the inter-relationships in the world of spirits and heaven which can account for the various teachings we have adduced. It has been indicated that other passages, not quoted, furnish other problems in addition to those mentioned; let us simply say that we believe that the interpretation we are about to present harmonizes these other difficulties also. We do not mean that we have no further question on any point, but merely that we have arrived at a conception which seems to combine the essential elements of all the pertinent passages into a reasonably clear pattern.

711




     The solution, as was indicated at the outset, turns upon the relative states of the spiritual world before and after the Last Judgment in 1757. Before the Judgment, there existed the heavens and the hells of the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches, fully formed and ordinated, but the world of spirits and the lower regions of heaven were in a sad state of disorder. For, from the time when the Lord instituted the Christian Church, up to the Final Judgment, many myriads of men, in woefully mixed states, had been going into the spiritual world, and had formed societies in which good and evil men were mingled, and were dependent one upon the other, so that there could be no complete separation, without harm to all, until the Lord had provided a new Revelation, had performed a universal Last Judgment, and instituted a New Church in heaven and upon earth. All this had to await the Lord's preparation of the human means, and thus the "fulness of time," just as had been the case when the Lord came upon earth in the flesh.

     Thus the boundaries between the world of spirits and the heavens above and the hells beneath were ill defined. In the whole region between the ancient heavens and the ancient hells, the classes of spirits may be designated as of five general kinds. I should like to make it plain that the naming of five classes is a deduction; I do not claim that the five can be found listed in any one passage of the Writings; for these groups range from societies of angels who were later to fill the higher regions of the New Christian Heaven, to those of devils about to be ordinated into the societies of the New Hell; and there is no one treatment (to the best of my knowledge) which takes all of these spirits, and considers their separate classes (or types of groups). Sometimes as many as three of these groups are named in one number of the Writings (A. R. 876; L. J. 70), and I believe that, from time to time, all five are implied; but, on the other hand, there must be well over a dozen names that are applied to these different classes, and the selection of five results from a process of reducing to common denominators, or, for instance, the retaining of one name, "the imaginary heavens," to stand for what is also called "the former heaven," "false heavens," "pseudo heavens," etc.

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     ILLUSTRATIVE DIAGRAM.

     THE SPIRITUAL WORLD BEFORE AND AFTER THE LAST JUDGMENT IN THE YEAR 1757.

     Before                              After

Most Ancient Heaven               Most Ancient Heaven      Celestial
Ancient Heaven                    Ancient Heaven          Spiritual
                              Christian Heaven          Natural

     The World of Spirits

Temporary Heavens of Christians:

     Heaven of Angels
     Heaven of Angelic Spirits
     Heaven of Good Spirits


Imaginary Heavens

Those Passing Through               Those Passing Through

The Lower Earth                    
The Temporary Hells

     
                              Christian Hell
Ancient Hell                         Ancient Hell
Most Ancient Hell                    Most Ancient Hell

713




     The five groupings, then, of the spirits beneath the ancient heavens and above the ancient hells are as follows:

     Highest, or most interior, were the temporary heavens, composed of those who, since the Lord's First Coming, had lived a good life from a genuine faith. These, after death, had passed through the lower parts of the world of spirits, and had been elevated into close consociation with the ancient heavens. (See A. R. 876-8; Preface to A. R.; and perhaps A. C. 6372.) In A. R. 878, these are called "The heaven collected from Christians from the first establishment of the Church."

     The second class of societies is what is familiar to the members of the Church as the "imaginary heavens" (A. R. 865), and was composed of an intermingling of good and evil, all of whom preserved, until the time of the Judgment, a civil, moral, and externally pious life. The good were, in general, simple men who had been misled by falsities of doctrine, and the evil were such as kept their evil lusts well cloaked by an apparently religious zeal.

     The third class was an ever-changing group, namely, the newly arrived in the world of spirits, who were passing through to some more permanent state in the world of spirits. These occupied the midpoint, and consisted of a stream dividing itself into two branches, one of which ascended, and the other descended, described in H. H. 534 as a crowd of spirits passing along a highway, and dividing at a large stone.

     The fourth class of societies were those of the "lower earth," also known as the "hound," and those "in the pit." They were on the confines of hell, thus the reverse of the imaginary heavens, which were on the borders of heaven. Those in the lower earth were for the most part good at heart, but required a process of vastation, or had to be hidden away from the artifices of the hypocritical in the imaginary heavens, which heavens, for the most part, contained those who were interiorly evil.

     The fifth and lowest group were the converse of the temporary heavens. They were the temporary hells, composed of those who had been evil, both in doctrine and life, and who were speedily sent down into consociation with the ancient hells, but could not be permanently ordered into the new hell of Christians until the evil in the imaginary heavens and in the lower earth had been judged and sent down to join them.

714




     These were the general classes of spirits who had been collecting since the time of the Judgment which the Lord performed upon those from the Ancient Church when He was in the world.

     V.

     Let us now consider where, in this classification, we may account for those societies which are termed, respectively, "the heaven of good spirits," "the heaven of angelic spirits," and "the heaven of angels." We believe that these names denote the three degrees of those who composed the temporary heavens, that is, those of the Christian era who had lived in genuine charity and faith, and who were to form the permanent heaven of the Christian Church, called also the New Heaven, the Ultimate Heaven, and the Natural Heaven. There are statements of the Doctrine which seem to make difficulties for this theory, but we hope to show that in reality they build up rather than oppose it.

     In the first place, note carefully what has been indicated from time to time in this paper,-that the statements about "the heavens where are good spirits, angelic spirits, and angels" all occur in the Arcana Celestia and the Spiritual Diary. Now the Arcana and most of the Diary were written before the Last Judgment. Or, to put the matter more accurately, we have discovered a large number of passages in which these terms are used, and they were all written before the Judgment, and none after it. This fact alone demonstrates that there was a change in these societies about the time of the Judgment, or at least in the names by which they were known. We may note, also, that these terms were used less frequently as the time for the Judgment drew near, but we find them in passages seemingly written after the Judgment had begun. (S. D. 5108.)

     The matter of dates, we say, establishes that the series of terms under consideration was appropriate before the Judgment, but not after it; and the same thing is confirmed by many things that are said of these societies. But it might be asked: "Could not the 'heaven where are good spirits' include all the societies of the temporary heaven of the Christian Church, the heaven of angelic spirits designating the heaven of the Ancient Church, and the heaven of angels designating that of the Most Ancient Church?" There is, indeed, a great deal in the Writings that suggests the correctness of this latter grouping; but why should the heaven of the Ancient Church, established and completed when the Lord was on earth, be called the "heaven where are angelic spirits"?

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And also, how can the following passage from the Arcana be accounted for?-" So far as he (one in the first heaven) has been instructed, so far can he be taken up, and can come among angelic spirits. It is the same with angelic spirits before they can be taken up or come into the third heaven, or among angels." (A. C. 1802.) It is possible to conceive of certain isolated instances of good Christian spirits being taken up (temporarily) into the Ancient Heaven, and those of the Ancient Heaven being taken up into the Most Ancient; but is it not evident that the quoted number refers to something entirely different from this?

     From these and other considerations I am convinced that it is unsatisfactory to hold that the terms "heaven of angelic spirits" and "heaven of angels" refer specifically to the Ancient and Most Ancient heavens, respectively. But I believe that the "heaven of angelic spirits" refers to those Christians of the temporary heavens who were of the spiritual or middle degree, and that this assumption removes the difficulties noted above, and at the same time accounts for the fact that many things said concerning them aptly fit the angels of the Ancient Heaven; for the Ancient Heaven is the outstanding heaven of the Spiritual, and is very frequently called the Spiritual Heaven. Thus this "heaven of angelic spirits" is the potential Second, Middle, or Spiritual Heaven of the Christian series, while the Ancient Church is the Second, Middle, or Spiritual Heaven of the historical, or universal, series of the heavens. Note this comparison in A. C. 6065; "The Ancients who were of the Spiritual Church were in the good that originates in the understanding, . . . and in this good are they who are in the middle or second heaven." An analogous statement can be made concerning the relation between the "heaven of angels" and the Most Ancient Heaven.

     It is desirable here to emphasize a teaching concerning the heavens that is plainly stated in the Doctrine, but that may not be familiar to everyone; namely, that each of the great historic divisions of heaven is composed of those who are internal, those who are interior, and those who are external; or, of those who are inmost, those who are intermediate in quality, and those who form the ultimate; or, we can say, by a legitimate transference of terms, that each of these heavens has a celestial, a spiritual and a natural heaven.

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Thus the Most Ancients were characteristically celestial men, when compared with those who have thus far existed upon earth, but their heaven is composed of three degrees, according as they allowed the Lord to open their minds to the highest, middle, or lowest degree. In confirmation, we shall note but this one passage out of several that might be adduced: "Every heaven is distinguished into three heavens,-third, second, and first; in like manner this New Heaven" -that is, the heaven of the Christian Church, into which good Christians and Gentiles alike are gathered since the Last Judgment. (A. R. 876.)

     But it may now be asked why the highest or celestial group in the temporary heavens of the Christians were called "angels properly so called," while the others were not. In answer, we suggest that those who had been regenerated to the celestial or inmost degree of their minds were fully in the angelic faith and life, and thus, as far as their own state was concerned, were an ordinated heaven; but their lack, which rendered them part of a temporary heaven, was in the basis and foundation which the lower heavens did not properly provide; for the heaven next beneath them was not a fully constituted heaven, but was composed of angelic spirits. Now "angelic spirit" is the general term for those who are being prepared for heaven, but have not yet entered it. After the Judgment, the term is used in this sense alone. (See D. L. W. 140; A. R. 875.) But these of the "heaven of angelic spirits" were filling the place of an angelic heaven through a period of centuries (in many cases), though not yet brought into the final order of the New Heaven. Moreover, the final or ultimate basis of the "heaven of angels," or celestial, was still less perfect; for the "heaven of good spirits" was further from its final state than the "heaven of angelic spirits," as is quite evident from many of the things said about it.

     And here we wish to introduce as a suggestion,-a point which we shall not labor to prove,-that, in actuality, the heaven of good spirits was composed of the good in the lower earth, and in the imaginary heavens, thus not dwelling side by side in the world of spirits, (to speak in terms of appearances), but forming a common heaven (or potential heaven) by their common internal state.

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We are inclined to believe that on this point much might be developed, but time does not now permit.

     Much might be said in confirmation of the points brought forward, in the development of related points, and in explanation of some of the statements quoted, but we shall merely add a word in explanation of one quotation, and then conclude.

     In A. C. 1802, which has twice been quoted, it is stated that those from the heaven of good spirits can be raised into the second heaven among angelic spirits after they have been instructed in the goods of love and the truths of faith, and that angelic spirits can be raised into the heaven of angels after similar instruction. This may leave a question in the mind as to the natural becoming spiritual, and the spiritual becoming celestial. Perhaps the answer is, that a temporary elevation is referred to; but we incline to think that there is involved the permanent admission into a higher heaven, and that this was possible before the Judgment because none of the heavens from Christians was brought into complete order, thus none was static, and certain spirits were being prepared for their final home by association and instruction in a lower state.

     In conclusion, let us voice a warning that the terms of time and space in which we have spoken throughout, and the still more spatial characteristics of the diagrams which we have presented to illustrate the state of the spiritual world, be not allowed to bind the mind in conceptions too rigid and unresponsive to spiritual thought. The Heavenly Doctrine portrays the spiritual world in terms of its real appearance, and therefore in spatial arrangement, but it also conveys spiritual conceptions far superior to any mere geographical ideas. This is evident, for example, in the fact that each one of the societies which we have been considering was in the human form, and that its ordination consisted in its being brought into a more perfect human form. Moreover, each of the heavens is in the form of a greater man, and all together form the Gorand Man of heaven.

     Thus no one solution of seemingly divergent teachings is necessarily the only one; for the form of heaven is essentially a celestial form, above the full comprehension of any angel,-a form such that each unit is a center of the influx of all, and at the same time a portion of the circumference in relation to other units. It is a living human form, of which the activity of the body gives us a picture; for in the body each cell is the center as to its own activity or particular use, but is in the circumference as regards every other part.

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     It is written in the Heavenly Doctrine: "When it comes to the particulars of the form of heaven, and what its movements and flowings are, this not even the angels can comprehend. Some conception of it can be gained from the form of all things in the human body, when this is examined and explored by a sagacious and wise observer. . . . And yet the things seen with the eye are very few, and those not seen are still more wonderful, because they belong to an inner realm of nature. . . . Such is the form that corresponds to the form of heaven, . . . and this form of heaven is from the Divine Human of the Lord. . . ." (H. H. 212.)

     DISCUSSION.

     Bishop de Charms: We have listened to a very thoughtful Address, which gave evidence of careful preparation, presenting to our minds a concept of the spiritual world that will tend to clarify our thought with reference to conditions that obtained at the time of the Last Judgment and immediately prior thereto. It is useful for us to try to perfect our ideas concerning the spiritual world. This is one of the chief purposes in the giving of the Writings, and one of the things that could now be provided by means of Revelation, that could not be given to men before. Here are Divine Truths which now, by virtue of the Lord's Second Coming, could be revealed, which before were hidden from the eyes of men in this world and of angels in the other world, because the state of man was not ready to receive them. But now it is permitted to enter intellectually into the things of faith, in order that men may come to understand these operations of the Divine Providence, and may gain a more interior vision of the Lord,-His Love and Wisdom-and co-operate with Him more intelligently, so that He may give to us a fuller measure of freedom and rationality. I know that I am speaking for you all in expressing to Mr. Gladish our gratitude for the paper he has given us this morning.

     Mr. George F. Poole: I am very much obliged to the "Head Master," Mr. Gladish, for the important lesson we have had this morning. One idea ran through my mind in connection with the progressive illumination of Emanuel Swedenborg,-whether this does not militate somewhat against the idea that the Writings are the Word. Of course, I believe that the Writings are the Word, but would it not be more correct to say that the Writings contain the Word? Not that they are per se the Word, any more than the Bible is, but that they contain the Word. It has been defined for us which books of the Old and New Testaments are the Word, but the books of the Writings which are the Word have not been defined exactly for us, and I shall not attempt to define them. I just put the question to the Head Master.

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     Bishop de Charms: When the Writings define the books of the Old and New Testaments, they do not say that those books "contain the Word," but that they "are the Word."

     Mr. Felix Elphick: I very much appreciate Mr. Gladish's effort to illustrate the Word of the Second Advent by means of history. Swedenborg, towards the end of his life, wrote that in the Church at the present day there is no knowledge of the Divine Human except what is historical. We know that a statement like that is eternal. If you think of the present day as referring to the end of the 18th century, you have a certain idea of what that passage means; but if you keep away from the idea of the present day as relating to time, you see that the application of the words is something of this nature, that one can study the Word as a history. There is a state which may last a number of years, if not throughout life, in which one begins at Genesis and reads the Word, including the Writings, and gains only a historical knowledge of facts.

     The divisions of the heavens, as shown on the blackboard, are undoubtedly historical. They cannot be anything less. Swedenborg states what he saw at a certain time; he writes of certain hells being closed, and these were historic facts. But it is possible to have a more interior understanding of these divisions of the heavens, and also to recognize that everything Swedenborg wrote in matters relating to the church had a historical sense. I should like to suggest that what is termed "internal historical" can be applied to the Writings in this way: We are told that the internal historical sense limits itself to a particular nation, and certainly that applies to the Writings also where Swedenborg mentions Roman Catholics, Israelites, the English, the Dutch, etc. We cannot imagine that there is anything about a Dutchman or an Englishman that is eternal. This Earth, if it is going to last for ever, may be so changed in ten thousand years time that there will not be any English nation; and such names, when mentioned in the Writings, the world will then be bound to regard from their quality, or from a more interior understanding of what is said.

     That is how I arrive at my understanding of the subject which Mr. Gladish has presented. I cannot think that there is any finality in the divisions which are given in the Writings, except historically. There was a Last Judgment, and I believe that all the things occurred just as Swedenborg relates; but I think that, for an interior understanding of those historic events,-as, for instance, where he speaks of imaginary heavens and temporary hells,-it is necessary to read it all as if it were in the present tense.

     Mr. R. A. Anderson: We are very much indebted to Mr. Gladish for the study with which he has favored us this morning. At first sight it might appear that a study of the state of the spiritual world before and after the Last Judgment is not of particular personal concern to us. But it has a most important and personal application, and I think perhaps a little consideration of it in that way may help to clear up some of the difficulties which our lecturer has indicated from time to time in putting forward his points. I need not remind you that there is a last judgment for all of us. Now it is the Divine of the Lord which makes heaven, and not anything of man. The internal is, if we may so put it, entirely of the Divine Proprium, and that which we have, and make as it were our own, is only what we have received from Him.

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The region which we speak of as being "as of our own" I am trying to liken to the world of spirits, which we are passing through in this sense, that while we are regenerating and being conjoined to the Lord, as it were of ourselves, we are establishing in ourselves a state corresponding to one of the three heavens. When, after death, we pass into the world of spirits, we have changes of state. At first we live very much as we did in this world; but those states are gradually put off which do not harmonize with our ruling love, which may be, according to regeneration, in accord with one of the three heavens. Now, if we have to put off those natural states, it follows that other states are put on, until the permanent one is reached. It seems to me that a regenerating spirit has to pass through each of those states until he comes to that which corresponds with his ruling internal state, which is that in which he has been conjoined with the Lord.

     So I think there should be no difficulty in our understanding how, in the world of spirits, a spirit passes from the "heaven of good spirits" to the "heaven of angelic spirits," corresponding to the spiritual heaven, and then advancing to the "heaven of angels," which corresponds to the celestial heaven. He makes that progress in accordance with the state and condition which, by cooperation with the Lord, he has prepared within himself by his life in the world. Looking at the matter from that point of view, I do not see any difficulty in this progression in the world of spirits. Granted our acceptance of the correspondence of societies in the world of spirits with the three heavens, the spirit obviously will pass through those societies of the temporary heavens, until he reaches his permanent state. As a matter of fact, a person, if regenerated to the celestial degree, actually does pass from the lower degrees to the higher, and he can and does advance in accordance with his reception of the Divine Love and Truth of the Lord. As the Lecturer pointed out, we must not be too geographical in making these degrees. If we do, we may easily be confused.

     Rev. R. G. Cranch: Our thanks are due Mr. Gladish for the light he has thrown upon the ordering of the heavens before and after the Last Judgment. It is a subject which has not been very much to the fore in the Church, but I hope that it will be in the future. I think that the New Heaven is much larger and more comprehensive than some members of the church realize. Many have an idea that it is confined largely to those who have accepted the Doctrines of the New Church in this world; but there are numerous passages in the Writings which indicate that it consists of many thousands of those who have died since the time of the Lord's First Advent. Is it not true that the Twelve Disciples taught the truths of the Second Coming in the spiritual world in such a way as to bring in all those of the First Christian Church who, after instruction, were willing to receive them? Then there are all the children who have died since the First Advent, in addition to those of the organized New Church.

     A study of the human form of the heavens will always bring clearer light on this subject.

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Dr. Iungerich has dealt with it very ably in his study of the cortical glands of the brain and the societies which correspond to them; and he shows the great extent and development of the New Heaven in relation to the Gorand Man of heaven, giving us a little glimpse of the New Church heaven of the future, depicting a state of life higher than that of any church which has before existed.

     Mr. James Pryke: We owe our thanks to Mr. Gladish for the instruction he has given us this morning. It is very difficult for me to get a clear idea of the teaching. Most of us have read it, but are not able to focus it in our minds. There are certain points which stand out and would bear repetition. As I understand it, there are not only three great heavens, but three great divisions of those heavens. The Most Ancient Heaven is finally and definitely closed, and the same applies to the Ancient or Spiritual Heaven. There was a vast change made in the character of the spiritual world as a result of the Last Judgment. Prior thereto, it was possible for spirits to be hypocritical, to congregate there to the detriment of other spirits, who were kept back in their regeneration. That state, I believe, has been swept away by the Lord's Coming and the Last Judgment. It follows that the Succeeding state must have been essentially different from that which existed prior thereto.

     Mr. Gladish called attention to a certain number of great basic truths which have not yet been explored, but which should be Studied in real earnest by the Church, in order that it may progress in the knowledge of truth. When I said that I could not quite focus Mr. Gladish's diagram, I meant this, that I felt I should not take much away with me. But there is this, that when we are reading upon these subjects in the Writings, I think our minds will, by concentration and reflection, come back to this little piece of other-world geography, and will be able to react as the result of the lessons we have had this morning.

     Bishop Tilson: I would not like to remain entirely silent this morning, although I am overwhelmed with this thought, that he is somewhat of a courageous man who would undertake such a task as that of our lecturer this morning. I would like to congratulate my colleague, not only upon the excellence of his paper, but also upon the courage which he has shown in presenting it. He will readily admit that the subject is vast, and can only be lightly touched upon in one paper; but we have had sufficient this morning to stimulate all who really desire to know something of that world beyond, and who realize that we are now permitted to do all that comes within the words "Nunc Licet." We, therefore, feel very grateful to Mr. Gladish for the pioneer work he has done in bringing this subject before us.

     Rev. Albert Bjorck: My first impression is that of appreciation for the amount of study that Mr. Gladish has gone through. By our reading we all gain a certain knowledge of the spiritual world, but we must fill out that general knowledge by studying the particulars as given in the different books, correlating them so that the knowledges cohere and make a one. Mr. Gladish has done that in his own mind, and has presented the result of his study in a very good way. Of course, every teacher uses diagrams. They are almost necessary, if he is to make his thoughts clear to other minds.

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Yet the diagrams must be only a means by which the minds of the pupils are directed to the more spiritual things that underlie them.

     I was considerably interested in what Mr. Elphick said about the things of the Word having a present tense, as well as a past tense; it is a self-evident truth. If we remember, and take into consideration, the fact that the heavens are formed from men on earth whose minds have been organized by the reception of love and wisdom from the Lord, we can see that the states of men, as they grow up, are the agencies that make the heavens. All the heavens are of the Lord. Still, it is in the mind of man that the heavens must be. And, therefore, it is a question of how far the state of the proprium makes the state of the heavens at different periods in the development of mankind. It is very much the same as the development of the individual. We can look back to our childhood, and how we felt in one way, and later lost some states and gained others, until we reached the state of rationality. We then find that the truths accepted formed themselves in our minds, and finally that we must discard some things, that we may form a judgment for ourselves. And if we are regenerating, we discard the false, and open our minds to the influx from the Lord more and more. If not regenerating, we discard the truths from the Lord, and adopt the principles of the external world, and our own natural, false judgment. In that sense, the things that were spoken of and shown to us in the diagram are true at any time. Always we are passing through states, and these rise and tend to form the states of the heavens at a given time; and that time is always present with the Lord.

     Bishop de Charms: One point that has come out in the discussion is of great importance for us to consider the question as to that which appears as historical in the Writings and in the Word. I am profoundly convinced that the Word, as to everything that is contained within it, is eternal. We do not go to the Writings to study the historicals, or things which have to do with a specific time. We go to the Word to receive illustration and enlightenment with reference to the truth which is eternal. That truth, however, can come to our minds by means of things that are historical. Swedenborg was given the experience of seeing, and of relating under Divine guidance, the Last Judgment as it took place in the spiritual world. That it did take place in time is a fact that we should not disregard. Swedenborg was given to see that process and to describe it, to the end that the eternal laws of the Lord's operation in the spiritual and natural worlds, and for individual men, might be conveyed to mankind.

     It is true that a great change took place in the spiritual world at the time of the Last Judgment; but the laws were not changed; their operation was no changed. What, then, is the difference? Up to the time of the Lord's Second Coming, the Churches were temporary Churches, and it was necessary that in the world of spirits there should be a gradual accumulation of men from the earth, and that they should not be brought into order until a time of judgment.

     From the time of the Ancient Churches, until the Lord's Coming (which period corresponds in general to those periods of human growth which are formed during infancy, childhood and youth, and which then became a permanent state), during that growth of the Gorand Man there had to be an accumulation in the world of spirits until the Last Judgment.

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This was not the case after the Second Coming. Order is now maintained by lesser judgments, to which the same laws apply. Men can now enter the other world without forming imaginary and temporary heavens.

     When Swedenborg wrote the Writings in this world, they were also written in the heavens. It was that writing,-that revelation by means of the Writings,-that caused the Judgment and the ordering of the hells. It was the Lord's revealing Himself in that highest and most internal form that brought about a state in the spiritual world which made it unnecessary thereafter to wait for a general judgment, but only to have lesser judgments, which make for a continual purification of the world of spirits.

     It is the same in our own life. When we are little children, and are dependent upon what we receive from our parents and teachers, we cannot make judgments. We grow from what we are taught; our minds are molded by it; and there can be no judgment with reference to that until we have reached adult age. Then we begin to question what we have received, to order it in our minds, and to have our individual thoughts about it. When we become adults, we learn by reading, studying, and continually reflecting, and then the Lord can continually perform judgments in our minds, so that we can progress in regeneration. That is the difference in the world of spirits today, because of the giving of a rational revelation by the Lord.

     Mr. Cranch spoke of the New Heaven that is now being formed from the New Church. I do not believe that anybody is received into the New Heaven who is not in the Faith of the New Church. From the beginning, the Revelation of the Writings formed that Heaven, and Swedenborg said that everyone in the New Heaven worships the Lord in His Human Glorified, and that no one can now enter that Heaven who does not come into a belief and realization of the Lord Jesus Christ in that Divine Human. That faith, formed with us in this world, gives us another basis for our development in the spiritual world. So I believe that societies of New Church Heavens will be continually formed, made up of those who have grown up in the faith and life of the New Church.

     Rev. Victor J. Gladish: I shall speak briefly of certain questions not already answered in the course of the discussion.

     All in the New Heaven have been brought into the faith of the New Church, as Bishop de Charms has said. Some hold that societies of the New Church act as focal centers in relation to societies in the Christian Heaven consisting of those who have come from other Churches.

     In the historic series of heavens, the present New Heaven is in the natural degree, and is the ultimate heaven. We have had the descent by the Fall and the series of Churches which followed; and now the New Church will ascend from the natural to the spiritual, and finally to the celestial degree; so we shall have the descent and the ascent completed. It is a subject to which I hope to give adequate study some day.

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STAR IN THE EAST 1931

STAR IN THE EAST       Rev. F. E. GYLLENHAAL       1931

     "I shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel." (Numbers 24:17.)

     "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is bent King of the Jews for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. . . . When they had heard the King, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." (Matthew 2:1, 2, 9, 10.)

     Prophecies of God's coming into the world began immediately after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, and as a result of that fall. God then gave to a few men a perception of His advent. We do not know the exact nature of the first perceptions or earliest prophecies, but the general doctrine of the Writings indicates that they revealed the fact that God would be born of a woman and would suffer death. (A. C. 2818.) The perceptions and prophecies also disclosed the purpose of His coming,-that He would come to redeem and save mankind. Such were the perceptions and prophecies given to a few men in the decline of the Most Ancient Church; and they were gathered together and preserved for the new church, to be its lodestar. Thereafter the knowledge of the Lord's coming was scattered more widely, and today evidences of it as the central strand of the traditions of all primitive races and religions are found in every part of the world.

     Doubtless it appeared to the most ancients as if the Lord must come at once, just as the Twelve Disciples and other early Christians expected the Second Coming in their day. Swedenborg "conversed with the third generation of the Most Ancient Church, who said that, in their time, while they lived in the world, they expected the Lord, who was to save the whole human race; and that it was then a common saying among them that the Seed of the woman should tread down the serpent's head." (A. C. 1123.)

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But we know that the Lord long delayed His advent, and we know several reasons for the delay. The chief reason was for the sake of the adequate preparation of mankind. Another reason was that the Word might first be given in written form. Still another reason was the necessity of the utter consummation of the extant specific church before the establishment of a new church.

     The principal reason for the delay of God's advent,-the adequate preparation of mankind for it,-may be perceived clearly in the light of all human experience; for it is well known that a man requires preparation before entering a new state, and that the entire span of life on earth is preparatory to eternal life. Observe, however, that God Himself required no preparation. He never requires preparation for any work or state. All that He does is ever for man's sake. But men constantly need preparation. With them every state prepares for following ones. Thus the course of human development proceeds steadily to higher levels, in spite of temporary lapses.

     And the lively hope for the fulfilment of prophecy prepares a man for its fruits. Hope is fed by new truths, such as are given when the prophecies are renewed and added to by God, and by a life according to them. Truly "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10. See A. R. 819.) The hope of the coming of God incarnate as the Redeemer and Saviour, wrapped in cryptic prediction and representative vision, sustained the men of the pre-advent churches, and gave life to their religions and worship. Thus was the remnant of the consummated church prepared for the Lord's coming.

     Another reason for God's delay in coming was the necessity of providing mankind with a written Word. The character of such a Word shows the immense labor required for its production, and the ages that must have elapsed before it was sufficiently complete to serve the Divine-Human purpose. The labor referred to was not that ordinarily meant by that term, but by it we mean the fruits of experience. The Arcana states that a man, from the things in the visible world and in human society, may come into the teachings of experience, and may in this way acquire intelligence and wisdom. (A. C. 5081.)

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The written Word is the Divine Book of "the teachings of experience," and countless experiences of innumerable generations were necessary to provide that human containant of Divine Truth which alone can make a man genuinely intelligent and wise.

     Divine Truth, thus accommodated, prepared men for the Lord's coming. It was adequate to the preparation of all men; but all men did not desire to be prepared by it to receive and acknowledge the Lord in His coming. In the wilderness, and out of it, this John the Baptist gathered together the remnant, and prepared it to receive God incarnate. And it proclaimed Jesus to be "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), to be Emmanuel, the Word made flesh and dwelling among men. It supplied the first witness to the Divinity of Jesus Christ, even in fulfilment of the words, "It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that hath sent me beareth witness of me." (John 8:17, 18.) The Father testified of Him in the Word which He had given, and therefore the Lord said: "Search the Scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of me. . . . Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5:39, 46, 47.) Without the written Word, known and acknowledged by the remnant as the Word of God, as authentic and authoritative, no identification of God incarnate would have been possible; and without that Word it would be impossible now for any man to be convinced rationally of the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

     The written Word was also a means by which the angels were prepared for the Lord's coming. In its internal sense they were able to behold, as in an image, the full process of the assumption and glorification of the Human. This was essential to the integrity of heaven, to the life and faith of the angels. The internal sense serves the same purpose now, both for them and for men who are angels in the making. It will serve this use to all eternity. And by such service men will learn better the manner of their own regeneration. With the wisdom thus gained, they will perceive more truly and clearly the infinite significance of God's supreme act of redemption.

     And, supremely, the written Word served the Lord in His glorification. It did not serve the Divine Itself, but the Human which interiorly was His natural mind.

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This mind required infilling with Divine Truth accommodated to the natural degree; and such truth could come to His mind, as to the minds of all men, only by the external way; and it was essential that such truth should be received before the descent of Divine Truth, or the Divine Human, by the internal way, and its glorification. For the Lord did not glorify the external human put on by birth of the virgin Mary, but the internal Human which He put on afterwards. (A. C. 5005, 5417.) The written Word, therefore, was not required for God's sake, but for man's sake,-for his redemption and salvation and regeneration.

     The supreme act of accommodation on the part of God was that He became Man. (T. C. R. 370.) This was His supreme manifestation to men. That other accommodation in a written Word was the supreme natural means by Which God-Man, or the Lord Jesus Christ, effected redemption; for the law is that "one thing must be accommodated to another, before there can be effected any communication and operation against it or with it." (T. C. R. 125.) By this twofold accommodation, each apparently distinct and different in its natural ultimates, the Lord was enabled to communicate with living men, and to work with some and against others. And He was also able to communicate with all souls who had departed this world, with both the good and the evil, and to work against the evil, reducing them to submission and order, and both against and with the good, or the angels, purifying them, enlightening them, and raising them up to higher levels of intelligence and wisdom. Great was the service of the written Word, therefore, in the clean hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the universal means of His communication with all in the universe, of His work against them and with them, and of His conjunction with those who worshiped Him in spirit and in truth. Truly it prepared the way before Him!

     The third reason for God's delay in coming was the necessity of the utter consummation of the extant specific church before the establishment of a new church. In a sense, all the pre-advent churches may be classed together as one, which may be called a "representative church." This church was utterly consummated when the Lord came. It died, as does the body of every man, as did the Lord's body derived from Mary. But the church's soul was resurrected, for it was immortal; and its resurrection-body took form as the Christian Church, and now as the true Christian Church, no longer a representative church, but a genuine, living, spiritual church,-the church of the Lord's glorified Divine Human.

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As life in the body prepares the soul for eternal life, so the representative pre-advent church prepared the human race for an eternal and therefore universal church, such as is the Church of the New Jerusalem.

     The prophecy contained in Balaam's vision of the Star of Jacob, forming the first part of our text, and the Divine record of the fulfilment of that prophecy in the star which led the wise men to the place of the Lord's birth, as the second part of our text,-these two passages of Scripture are striking examples of what we have so far advanced. For a star represents and signifies the knowledge of good and truth which gives understanding and wisdom; thus it denotes the Word.

     Balaam, by whose mouth the prophecy of the Star and Scepter was originally uttered, derived his knowledge of Jehovah from the Ancient Church, probably from the Ancient Word, and therefore he knew the earlier prophecies of the Lord's coming. The prevalence of that knowledge and of those prophecies, even down to the time of the Lord's birth, is confirmed by what is related about the wise men from the east who followed the star to Bethlehem. They would never have seen the star, had they not possessed the ancient prophecies of the birth of the Son of God, together with many details of that birth. By the Ancient Word they were prepared for the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord, and through them the knowledge of His birth was communicated to the ancient heavens. But the wise men lacked the Old Testament Scriptures. In their search for the Lord, therefore they first went to Jerusalem, where, from the Jewish Word, they learned the place of His birth, to which the star then guided them.

     The wise men were a remnant of the Ancient Church. They were in the good of faith and in charity toward the neighbor. The angelic society which appeared as a star announced to them that the Lord had been born, and they went with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to worship Him. Their gifts represented and signify all things which are of the good of love and faith. The star went to Jerusalem, because Jerusalem represented the church as to the Word and doctrine from the Word. This also represented that general truths must be obtained before the internal sense can be approached.

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The wise men then went to Bethlehem, where the infant Lord was. Bethlehem signifies the spiritual sense, and the infant Lord was and is the Word itself, and supremely the Divine sense of it.

     One lesson we may learn from our text is, that only those who are in charity toward the neighbor by a life according to God's commandments can approach the Lord, receive Him into their hearts, and be received by Him into His church and heaven. For this the Word prepares them. And they must approach Him in His Word, first through the literal sense to the spiritual sense, where they will find Him as the infant Lord, helpless and ignorant, like every infant. They must be well-grounded in the fundamental truth that the infant Jesus was truly the accommodation and manifestation of God. Later they will increase in intelligence and wisdom, even as the Lord increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:51.) Then they will receive gifts of celestial, spiritual and natural truths, or things which are of the good of love and faith. Although it is related that the wise men brought gifts to the Lord, yet this signifies that those who approach the Lord in the spiritual sense of His Word will receive these gifts from Him, and are therefore called "wise men." The gifts which a man, on his part, should offer to the Lord are all the goods of his life; for the good of life, which is truth lived, is the return to God, or the human reciprocal of conjunction with the Divine proceeding from God.

     Love and wisdom, good and truth, charity and faith,-these are His perpetual gifts to us, and are the means by which we may enjoy spiritual life. Because they proceed from the Lord perpetually, we may Imagine that His advent was not really necessary; but in this we will be mistaken. Unless the Lord had come into the world, the human race would have perished by total self-destruction. This destruction was averted solely by the labors of the Lord Jesus Christ,-by His combats with the hells and victories over them, as also by His instruction of men in the spiritual things of life. Thereby He checked the influence of evil, and abated its flood, which threatened to inundate the whole world. At the same time He enlightened men, enabling them to perceive the higher and eternal purposes of life, and inspiring them with the hope of achieving the kingdom of heaven. He was in all things victorious, and in every way successful; and many men since have entered into His labors, and enjoyed the fruits of His work.

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     How great, then, should be the gratitude of mankind for the Lord's mercies! How fervently should we praise His name, and glorify Him for the inestimable benefits which we have received, and do daily receive, from Him! But our praise and gratitude can only come from the heart when there is both a sense of utter unworthiness and a realization of the spiritual and eternal purposes for which the Lord was born into the world. And preparation for His coming to us individually can be made only by His written Word. For we can only go to Him now, as went the wise men of old, by following the star through the trackless deserts to Jerusalem, and then to Bethlehem, where we, too, may worship Him, and rejoice with exceeding great joy. Amen.

LESSONS: Isaiah 60:1-11, 20-22. Matthew 2:1-15. A. E. 422 20, 21.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 534, 514, 650. Hymnal, pages 112, 113, 114.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 23, 58, 177, 179.
LETTER OF GREETING 1931

LETTER OF GREETING        N. D. PENDLETON       1931

     (To the Second South African Assembly, Durban, June 19-21, 1931.)

Dear Mr. Elphick:
     Your request to send a word of greeting to the Second South African Assembly calls to mind memories of the First Assembly. The meetings in Durban on that occasion, and those of the following Native Assembly at Alpha, confirmed in my mind a larger hope for the General Church. I pray that this hope may be still further strengthened by the Assembly now in session, and that the minds of all who are present may be opened to receive that spiritual enlightenment which, with New Churchmen, is the accepted sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. This enlightenment, in itself considered, is a gift of the Lord to those who are prepared to receive it; but only those are truly prepared who approach the Lord with no other desire than to learn of Him, and who, in so doing, seek Him where alone He may be found, namely, in His Word, and now especially in the revelation of His Second Advent, which is given by "inspiration" through the former Scriptures, whereby He has opened the way for men to enter into the final secrets of His wisdom, and this to the end that the world might again be redeemed.

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     The ultimate effect of this last redemption was the founding of the New Church, signified by the Holy City descending from God out of heaven. This Church, as it now stands, because of its primitive state, and therefore of its spiritual inexperience, may be likened to an infant whose unformed mind is shrouded in obscurity. Yet, even so, it has given early evidence of the fact that it was born of the seed of a new faith, by virtue of which it holds the power of renewed salvation, and as well the promise of ever higher blessings to come as its life advances. Of these blessings we know only that they will be given in fitting measure to each generation of New Churchmen. Our concern is that we may be faithful to the light that is now given. This light, as now received, whatever may be its quality or degree when compared with that which has been or is yet to be, is nevertheless distinguished by the fact that it is derived from the Lord in His Second Coming, and for that reason partakes of the revealed glories of the internal sense of the Word. The light is from the Lord, in the minds of men of the church. It varies, indeed, with each one, in accord with his state. It varies with the learned and the unlearned, and it undergoes alternations with every change of state, as man's spiritual associations are changed under the invisible guidance of God. The Writings designate these alternations as the chief means of effecting man's regeneration. It is clear that, by means of them, fixed modes of thought, and their confirming affections, are released, enabling man to enter into a higher ordination, and so to advance to more interior states.

     We speak of states and their changes, and it should be realized that they are not merely the imaginary moods they sometimes seem to be, but are the deepest realities of human life. Yet we most often see and speak of them as moods, and this because we see and feel them as they are veiled by our bodily condition, that is, under physical disguises. We are depressed, and we have but little thought of a spiritual cause. We enjoy moments of elevation with no reflection thereon. It is doubtless better so, for reflection of this kind brings self-consciousness, which results in an interference with the secret operation of Providence within us.

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We see more clearly, and indeed feel more truly, when the thought is directed beyond and out of self. Self-examination is indeed commanded, in order that evils may be discovered and motives purified; but self-examination with a view to the discovery of the deeper realities of our life or our states of regeneration is very largely, if not entirely, futile. The Writings tell us that certain indications may be given as signs of our well-being or otherwise; but a consideration of these indications will show that they may be readily misconstrued. The grounds of misconstruction may be many. Among them, note the fact that the Lord, by means of the angels, keeps the regenerating man in sight of his evils; and, on the other hand, through the instrumentality of evil spirits, He allows the evil man amiably to regard himself as good. Thus the Lord permits the regenerating man to enter into temptations, while He withholds the evil man therefrom. In both cases the deeper realities of life are veiled, lest, by undue or premature knowledge, man should interfere with the Lord's work.

     The New Church, now beginning, is doubtless in its infancy, and, like an infant, must needs be led by the Lord in a large degree unconsciously. But, in so doing, He leads it with a view to its high celestial promise,-the promise involved in the seed of its faith. This high promise, however, is not fulfilled at this day; yet, from the celestial involved, the Lord leads the church with certainty, even while, like a child, it walks erratically. When, however, states of self-consciousness develop, the Lord's leading will be more threatened.

     In the beginning, when the race first became self-conscious, it suffered as from the wound of a serpent. A likeness to this is discovered in the life of every man, and in the successive fall of the churches. Yet it is the glorious anticipation of the New Church that, in passing through self-conscious states, it will be so empowered from within by the Lord that its temptations will but serve its higher advancement. We cannot but believe that the New Church has even now, by periodic steps, registered a show of advance; but our faith in this is not based upon any certain knowledge of its inner states of life. As with an individual, general indications may be given of its well-being or otherwise; yet the inner significance of these may be mistaken, for the reasons given above. When on earth, the Lord revealed the inner state of the Jewish Church, and through the Writings He has given a like revelation concerning the first Christian Church.

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But we have no such aid in interpreting the states of the New Church.

     It may here be noted that the General Church has believed that the movement which gave birth to the Academy and the General Church represented an intellectual advance, and that as such it gave hope of a spiritual revival. It appeared that the mental attitude towards the Writings, engendered by that movement, would open the way to a more direct approach to the Lord as He is revealed in the Writings, and so to a clearer view of His Second Coming. It was, of course, understood that the Lord's advent with an individual must of need be delayed until his mind is opened by an affirmative approach to the Writings, and that this opening will, from its first beginning, be thereafter successive. It was also understood, or rather hoped, that the like would be the case with the church as a whole. For it appeared that the vision of the Lord in His Second Coming, when confirmed by a full acknowledgment of the Divinity and the Authority of the Writings, would bring with it, not only increased spiritual light, but also a greater reverence for and love of the Writings, the result of which would be a more interior understanding of the Divine Truths revealed, whereby a more intimate leading of the church by the Lord would become possible.

     By the more interior understanding which was hoped for was not meant an increase in clever intellection, nor a more thoroughgoing learning, nor yet the mere acceptance of an advanced dogmatic formula, however true. An interior understanding is ever a gift of the Lord. The heart, as well as the intellect, must be engaged. Such an understanding is the result of the light-giving presence of the Holy Spirit.

     Are we, then, to say that this light is a gift to the regenerate only? If it abides, yes; but one will hardly claim it for himself, nor yet may we discriminate between men by ascribing it to one and not to another. We are beneficially held back from such a judgment by the knowledge that even an evil spirit, under sufficient guarding, may be temporarily raised into the light of heaven; and the light of heaven is the light of the Holy Spirit. Yet, because of the Lord's promise to the church, we have faith in His presence and leading, that is, in His gift of the Holy Spirit to all those who suffer themselves to be guided by an undefiled love of the truth.

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     For ourselves, we are advised to Pray for spiritual enlightenment, since that is the object of prayer; and, indeed, for all others we may say with Moses, "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets!" (Numbers 11:29.) We would that they might be even as are the angels of heaven, daily enlightened by the Sun thereof. Yet angelic enlightenment varies, and while it greatly exceeds that which is possible with men on earth, because of the limiting conditions imposed by the nature of the world, still, even the angels are subject to the limits peculiar to their states. We know, however, that no angel can pass quite beyond the bounds set by the interior states acquired by regeneration while he was a man in the world. All states of love and wisdom, in whatsoever heaven, are humanly variable and indeed inconstant. This is evidenced by the fact that the Spiritual Sun is daily veiled and unveiled before their eyes, which means that their perceptions are not at all times equally clear. Appearances intervene with a certain periodicity.

     When we read the Writings, if our thought is addressed to their literal vestment, we note the characteristic expressions of the man, Swedenborg, and at times we observe that he records the thoughts of spirits and angels; yet we know that these and all like appearances do not contravene the fact that the doctrines delivered in the Writings are from the Lord alone. For Swedenborg tells us that it was granted him to perceive distinctly what came from the Lord, and what from the angels, and that what came from the Lord was written, and that what came from the angels was not written. (A. E. 1123.) Moreover, he says that from the first day of his call he received nothing that pertained to the doctrines of the church from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while he was reading the Word. (T. C. R. 779.) This we accept; and so by those doctrines we would try all things. While our understanding of them is imperfect, and at all times partakes of that which is fallible, yet we confess their infallibility, because we believe they were given by authentic inspiration. For this reason the mind of the church should ever be held in close contact with those Writings as the source of all truth for the church, and in order that the teachings therefrom may be checked and proven. This derived teaching is qualified in general by the state of the church at the time of its derivation, and at all times it is more and less enlightened.

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Yet it is, or may be, not only helpful, but it is in the highest degree needful, since it is of Divine order, that, by it as a means, the Spirit of enlightenment may pass not only as in the heavens, through angel to angel, but also on earth, through man to man. In this transit the Holy Spirit employs many appearances of truth, both in heaven and on earth. The church, however, confesses to a strict distinction between this derived teaching and that instruction from the Lord, given by Divine inspiration.

     This difference may be variously defined. In the beginning of the Academy, the accent was laid upon the word "Authority." It was held that Divine Authority was imparted to the Writings by their inspiration; and that such Authority is imparted only and when, in the inscrutable wisdom of God, His Word is being delivered to angels and men through human instrumentalities chosen and commissioned. Derived teaching should, therefore, be examined and compared with the Word of God. Derived teaching may be enlightened and of great service, but only when its agreement with the Writings is perceived. A commission from the Lord carries with it an overruling certainty and a perfect completion in the result, and this despite any superficial appearances to the contrary. Such appearances exist. They are found in every form in which the Word has been given; for the Word must, of need, be accommodated, and this on every human plane, from highest to lowest. Yet it differs from all derived teaching, in that the form of its giving is Divinely ordered, in its every series, from the Lord to its ultimates, and also Divinely inspired.
      As ever yours cordially,
          N. D. PENDLETON.

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WHAT WAS NEWTON'S IDEA OF A VACUUM? 1931

WHAT WAS NEWTON'S IDEA OF A VACUUM?       Rev. REGINALD W. BROWN       1931

     In writing the Divine Love and Wisdom in 1763, Swedenborg relates that he once heard the angels talking with Newton about the idea of a vacuum as nothing, and that Newton agreed with the angels that it was utterly impossible to conceive of spiritual phenomena taking place in a vacuum conceived of as nothing. Newton even "exhorted those (the angels) who talked with him about vacuum to beware of the idea of nothing, calling it a swoon, because in nothing no real existence of mind is possible." (D. L. W. 82.)

     Swedenborg does not indicate when he heard the conversation just referred to. Apparently it was subsequent to another conversation on the same subject, which Newton told Swedenborg that he had with the angels, as recorded by the latter in 1762 in the posthumous treatise On the Last Judgment (n. 266). Here again Swedenborg gives no indication of the actual time when Newton spoke to him, nor of the time when Newton talked with the angels. It is significant, however, that at the time referred to Newton stated "that in the world he had believed in the existence of a vacuum" also that when he talked with the angels, "they perceived that he had an idea of a vacuum, as an idea of nothing," and had turned themselves away, "saying that they cannot bear the idea of nothing, since where there is an idea of nothing, the idea of the essence of things perishes." Newton told Swedenborg that he had been disturbed when the angels asked him whether he believed that any Divine operation could inflow through a vacuum, or be received by a vacuum, and present itself to perception. Furthermore, that "the angels entreated that he, and also all those who cherished the idea of a vacuum as of nothing, would desist from it." However, Newton indicated to Swedenborg that, before the angels had concluded, if not at some time prior to the conversation with the angels," he had already (antehac) desisted from that idea, and that he would desist from it hereafter."

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     It is very evident from what Newton related to Swedenborg that he had believed in some kind of a vacuum while living in the world, and that, whether or not he had thought of that vacuum as nothing, the angels perceived in his thought the idea of a vacuum as nothing, and were sufficiently disturbed to turn themselves away. That they also perceived something more fundamental in Newton's mind is indicated by the fact that they found him very sympathetic, and ready to look more deeply into the subject. In fact, the readiness with which he acquiesced in their point of view suggests that he was fundamentally in agreement with them.

     It was this suggestion, together with Newton's very decisive written and published statements in regard to the absurdity of action at a distance in an absolute vacuum without any medium, that led the writer to make a further study of Newton's views, and to seek a reconciliation between what he wrote while in the world and what Swedenborg quoted him as saying in the spiritual world.

     I do not pretend to be able to offer a complete reconciliation, yet the more essential factors seem fairly clear. Since Newton says that while he was in the world he believed in the existence of a vacuum, the crux of the matter resolves itself into a determining of what his idea of a vacuum was like. Was it a material or natural vacuum? Was it a spiritual vacuum? Or, was it both?

     Impossibility of Action at a Distance without a Medium.

     Newton was accused by many of his opponents-even by Huygens and Leibnitz-of teaching that gravity acted at a distance without any medium, thus through a vacuum. Even disciples of Newton believed it was his idea that gravity acted through a vacuum. So great a protagonist as Samuel Clarke was endeavoring to interpret Newton when he said: "It also follows that there is really a Vacuum in Nature."*
     * Rohault's System of Natural Philosophy, illustrated with Dr. Samuel Clarke's Notes, London, 1723, p. 96.

     Compare these criticisms and interpretations with what Newton wrote to Richard Bentley in 1692. Commenting favorably on Bentley's lectures on the Principia, Newton said, "It is inconceivable that inanimate brute matter should, without the mediation of something else, which is not material, operate upon and affect other matter without mutual contact, as it must be, if gravitation, in the sense of Epicurus, be essential and inherent in it.

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And this is one reason why I desired you would not ascribe innate gravity to me, for I do not speak of gravity as essential and inherent to matter. That gravity should be innate, inherent, and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance, through a vacuum without the mediation of anything else by and through which their action may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity that I believe no man who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking can ever fall into it."

     So decisive is this statement that it makes Newton appear to contradict himself when he said in the spiritual world "that in the world he had believed in the existence of a vacuum." The first clue to this apparent contradiction may be found in the opening statement of the citation from the letter to Bentley, where Newton speaks of "the mediation of something else which is not material."

     Newton's Non-material Medium.

     By the introduction of a medium which is not material to explain universal gravitation, and by his criticism of Descartes' mechanical theory of solar and planetary vortices, Newton laid himself open to the criticism that his non-material medium was also non-substantial, purely metaphysical, and that it involved occult properties, "so that it follows," as interpreted by Clarke, "that there is really a Vacuum in Nature." There may have been some basis of truth in this conclusion; yet I do not feel that it was a vacuum in nature that either the angels or Newton were particularly concerned about in the spiritual world. Moreover, Newton's argument was, that although the medium of gravitation was not corporeal or material, it was nevertheless substantial, as we shall see later.

     Newton, after examining Descartes' vortical theory, concluded that the type of material which Descartes postulated was not adequate to explain the motion of the planets, satellites and comets. He insisted, therefore, that the medium must be more subtle and perfect than matter as we know it. In order to avoid too grossly mechanistic conceptions, as also because he was thoroughly aware that the real nature of the medium was unknown and as yet incapable of experimental demonstration, he described it as not material.

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On the other hand, he says that there must be a medium; not a medium with inherent powers of its own, but a medium for the dispensations of Divine omniscience, omnipresence and power, not only in the matter of universal gravitation, but in all other workings of the Divine Providence as well.

     Newton did not hesitate to state the superior and essential properties which such a universal medium would have to possess, if it was adequately to explain existing phenomena, on the one hand, and preserve basic conceptions of Divine Providence, on the other. He said that the medium was "not material," and this at the time he wrote to Leibnitz in 1693: "If anyone should explain gravity and all its laws by the action of some subtle medium, and should show that the motion of the planets and comets was not disturbed by this matter, I should by no means oppose it."

     One important attribute which this universal medium would have to possess, Newton pointed out, is the ability to compensate for any loss by friction, implying that it must of necessity be adapted as a medium for Divine activity, and for the continual sustentation of that activity.

     The Spiritual as "Immaterial" or "Incorporeal."

     When Newton ventured beyond the world of matter as he did when he spoke of the universal medium of gravitation as non-material or incorporeal,* and that God acts through that medium, causing gravitation,** he implied that it was impossible to explain gravitation purely mechanically, and he virtually attempted to explain it by spiritual forces. It was the medium of these spiritual forces that he called "non-material" and "incorporeal."     
     * Principia, Bk. I, sect. xi, prop. 69, scholium; Bk. II, sect. vii, concluding paragraphs.
     ** Optics, 3d edition, Ques. 31.

     This sums up Newton's published views, up to the year 1713, when the second edition of his Principia appeared. To this edition, at the end, he added the famous "General Scholium," in which he says that, up to this time, he had not attempted to assign the cause of the phenomena of gravitation, because "hitherto I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses."

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He explains that " God is omnipresent, not by power only, but also by means of substance; for power cannot subsist without substance. . . . In Him are all things contained and moved." "And now we might add something concerning a most subtle Spirit which pervades and lies hid in all gross bodies; by the force and action of which Spirit the particles of bodies mutually attract one another at near distances, and cohere if contiguous."*
     * Principia, at the end of Book III, General Scholium.

     Later, in successive editions of the Optics, Newton amplifies the suggestion of a subtle "elastic spirit" into a tentative doctrine of the ether as the medium of gravitational, electric, and light phenomena.

     Newton's utterances in the world, including the General Scholium, seem to justify the following conclusions and suggestions:

     1. That his common sense was repugnant to the idea of an absolute vacuum, and that he carefully avoided statements which would imply an absolute vacuum.

     2. The nearest approach to postulating a vacuum is expressed in his Principia, Bk. III, Prop. VI, cor. 3, 4, where he says that "all spaces are not equally full-And if the quantity of matter in a given space can, by any rarification, be diminished, what would hinder a diminution to infinity?" "If all the solid particles of all bodies be of the same density [which, of course, they are not], nor can be rarified without pores, [then] a void, space, or vacuum must be granted."*
     * The interpolations in brackets are made by the writer.

     3. If all nature, matter or substance did ultimately consist of particles more densely or rarely compacted, he saw clearly that there was at least a relative vacuum between these particles, which he attempted to infill with a non-material, non-corporeal, subtle, elastic Spirit, the properties of which were very obscure in his mind.

     4. The guiding principle which seems to have been clear to him is that God governs, that His omnipresent power of acting must be by means of a suitable substance or medium, and that all things are in Him, that is to say, are in some way in that substance.

     5. The question naturally arises: Was it at this period that Newton desisted from the idea of a vacuum as nothing? It is true that, from this time on, he seems to have turned more and more to the idea of a universal ether permeating space,-an ether of a subtle yet substantial nature, by means of which gravitation and other subtle forces may be explained naturally.

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     6. What happened meanwhile in regard to Newton's conception of spiritual things? As his more purely metaphysical point of view in regard to this universal medium became replaced by a natural ether may not a greater obscurity have arisen in regard to the organic reality of the spiritual world? Might this not be what he meant when he said that he came to realize in the spiritual world that that world, "according to his former' idea, would have been his vacuum." His obscurity and perplexity would have been sufficient grounds for the temporary mental disturbance in the spiritual world, whereas his more essential views were the means of easily dispelling the perplexities.

     7. In other words, the views which Newton expressed in the world seem quite consistent with his experiences in the spiritual world, if we are right in concluding that, while in the world, he had an unsubstantial idea of spiritual things, which he had been led to think of as "immaterial," in the same sense that Swedenborg speaks of his own pre-illuminated views in A. C. 1533, where he says:

     "Before my interior sight was opened, I could scarcely cherish a different idea from that of other people concerning the innumerable things which appear in the other life, namely, that light, and such things as exist by virtue of light, together with objects of sense, could by no means have existence there. This idea was formed in consequence of the prevailing phantasy of the learned respecting the immaterial, upon which they so much insist in regard to spirits, and to all things relating to the life of spirits; from which no other conception can be formed than that, being immaterial, their state must be either so obscure as to fall under no idea, or else that it is a mere non-entity; for this is implied in the notion of such immateriality. Nevertheless, the very reverse of this is the truth: for unless spirits and angels were organized substances, it would be impossible for them either to speak, or see, or think."

     The point of this criticism as applied to Newton will appear very plainly to anyone who reads carefully the General Scholium at the end of his Principia. He was undoubtedly in obscurity in regard to those things which are beyond the geometry and mechanics of the natural or "material" world. At the same time, he says in the same Scholium: "God is one and the same always and everywhere. He is omnipresent, not by power only, but also by means of substance: for power without substance cannot subsist."

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This is in agreement with the letter to Bentley, already cited. It is also in agreement with what Newton said in the spiritual world, "that he knew that the Divine which is fills all things, and that he himself shuddered at the idea of nothing respecting vacuum." (D. L. W. 82.)

     The question then arises as to whether the particular idea of a vacuum as nothing which Newton carried into the spiritual world was embodied in an obscure notion of the spiritual world itself as "immaterial" and "incorporeal." This seems to be borne out by the statements in question which deal primarily with the organic reality of the spiritual world. It is born out particularly by Newton's statement in Last Judgment (posth.), n. 266, that he knew "that he is note, in the spiritual world, in which, nevertheless, according to his former idea, Mould have been his vacuum." Nothing is either said or implied which would directly involve a natural vacuum, as will appear from a careful examination of the numbers:

     In Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 82, Swedenborg relates: "I once heard angels talking with Newton about a vacuum, and saying that they could not bear the idea of a vacuum as nothing; because in their world, which is spiritual, and within and above the spaces and times of the natural world, they equally feel, think, are affected, love, will, breathe, yea, speak and act; which things are utterly impossible in a vacuum as nothing; because nothing is nothing, and of nothing nothing can be predicated. Newton said that he knew that the Divine which is fills all things, and that he himself shuddered at the idea of nothing respecting vacuum, because that idea is destructive of all things; and he exhorted those who talked with him about vacuum to beware of the idea of nothing, calling it a swoon, because in nothing no real existence of mind is possible."

     This incident is cited in connection with the teaching that the identity or sameness of the Divine in greatests and leasts may be realized by abstracting Divine essence from space, and at the same time utterly denying a vacuum; the point stressed being that the Divine, though without space, is not to be conceived of as a vacuum. What Newton shuddered at was the idea of the Divine as a vacuum conceived of as nothing. The angels with him spoke particularly of the fact that they could not bear to think of the spiritual world as a vacuum conceived of as nothing.

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Again, Newton "exhorted those who spoke with him about vacuum, to beware of the idea of nothing, because in nothing no real existence of mind is possible."

     There is here no indication whatever that Newton believed in a natural vacuum, nor even that at the time of this particular incident he thought of the spiritual world as a vacuum,-an idea from which he had previously desisted.

     In Last Judgment, Post., n. 266, Swedenborg says:

     "I spoke with Newton concerning a vacuum, and concerning colors. Concerning a vacuum he said that in the world he had believed in the existence of a vacuum; but when the angels perceived that he had an idea of a vacuum, as an idea of nothing, they turned themselves away, saying that they cannot bear the idea of nothing, since when there is an idea of nothing, the idea of the essence of things perishes; the idea of thought, understanding, affection, love and of will with men and angels perishes; which things are not given in nothing. They asked him whether he believed that the Divine, whence is all angelic wisdom, and all intelligence to men in both worlds, is a vacuum, and thus that any Divine operation inflows through a vacuum into their vacuum, and can present itself to perception. At that question he was disturbed. He replied that it cannot through an absolute vacuum, which is nothing, but through an apparent vacuum, because the Divine is the esse itself of wisdom and love with the angels in heaven and with men in the world, and it fills all things. Also, esse itself and nothing are so contrary to each other that if one be admitted the other cannot. Therefore the angels entreated that he, and all those who cherished the idea of a vacuum as of nothing, would desist from it, that they might be together, knowing that nothing of their life can ever be given in nothing, but in those things which are, and which are or exist from the esse. They added that, of a vacuum which is nothing, not anything can be said that has relation to acting, reacting, receiving or attracting, thus to the life of their wisdom and love, in which there are so many infinite affections with their variations, perceptions and sensations; for nothing is nothing, and of nothing we cannot predicate something. After he had heard these things, Newton said that prior to this (antehac) he had desisted from that idea, and that he would desist from it hereafter, knowing that he is now in the spiritual world, in which, nevertheless, according to his former idea, would have been his vacuum; and that even now he is a man, and therein he thinks, feels, acts, yea, breathes, and this could not take place in a vacuum which is nothing, but in something which is, and from esse exists and subsists, and that an interstitial nothing is impossible, because that would be destructive of something, that is, of essences and substances which are something.

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For something and nothing are altogether opposites, even so that he was horrified at the idea of nothing, and would beware of it, lest his mind fall into a swoon."

     When the angels asked Newton whether he believed that the Divine is a vacuum, did they do so implying that he so believed! Is it not possible,-indeed, in view of Newton's expressed views? is it not more likely,-that they appealed to a truth which he already acknowledged, in order that they might lead him into a clearer idea of the spiritual world? Is it not probable that Newton was disturbed by the question, because he realized that his opinion of the spiritual world, as "immaterial" or unsubstantial, was inconsistent with the idea expressed in the General Scholium that "God is omnipresent, not by power only, but by means of substance," there being no power without substance!

     [BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Sir Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, on December 25, 1642, and died on March 20, 1727. Swedenborg, in 1722, spoke of him as "that physical searcher, and star of the learned world, to whose researches all other investigations cannot but be inferior." In 1665, at the age of twenty-three, while pursuing a course for Bachelor of Arts degree at Cambridge, Newton discovered what is now known as the "binomial theorem." The following year he developed the elements of differential Calculus, and speculated upon the extension of gravity to the orb of the moon. In 1669 he was appointed to a chair of Mathematics at Cambridge. His first course of lectures was on Optics, during which he conducted his epoch-making experiments in Light and Colors. His most profound and far-reaching discovery was that of the mathematical laws of Gravitation, set forth in his Principia in 1687, the year before Swedenborg's birth. The first edition of his Optics was not published until 1704, the year following his appointment as President of the Royal Philosophical Society, an office which he held for twenty-four years, or until his death in 1727.]

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1931

     The Divine Trine.

     Although involved from the beginning, the first actual statement of the New Church doctrine concerning the Divine Trinity is not given until no. 2149 of the Arcana Coelestia. The occasion for giving this teaching is the explanation why three men (or angels) appeared to Arbaham (Genesis xviii, 1, 2). In his Adversaria, Swedenborg used the accustomed language of the churches of his time, and-commenting on this passage-he therefore wrote that "Jehovah God here appeared to Abraham as One, represented in three Persons," the middle one of the three being the Messiah. (W. E. 197; cf. n. 122 and S. D. 2938.) Yet interiorly in his mind, Swedenborg had from childhood been protected from the idea of three Persons in the Godhead. (T. C. R. 26, 16.)

     In the Arcana the unity of the Person of God is succinctly set forth. The angels were three, to represent the universal Divine in its trinal power of Love, Wisdom and Use, or Celestial, Spiritual and Natural; a trine which was reflected in the angelic heavens, which then served as a representative medium for the revelation of God to Abraham; a trine which essentially consisted in the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Divine Proceeding.

     Consciousness of One's Degree of Perception.

     The Lord, when in His human, enjoyed a Divine perception. This is described as being an internal perception, more interior than the rational perception which angels and men may have. With the Lord alone is perception which is Divine,-and "in which no angels ever are." (A. C. 2171; described in 1791.) Man's perceptions are given him according as he suffers the Lord to implant his knowledges in the celestial groundwork of the remains which he has from the Lord, and which are the Lord's in him. (A. C. 1616.) Nevertheless, man's perceptions are not Divine. The passage, however, proceeds to say: "They who are in perception, as are the angels, know very well in which perception they are; whether in natural, or in rational, or in a still more interior perception, which to them is Divine." (A. C. 2171.)

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     Thus angels are perfectly aware, on reflection, whether they are in a rational or in a "natural" perception. Also, in cases where an angel served as the medium of revelation, or acted as the mouthpiece of the Lord, that is, as "the Angel of Jehovah," his proprium would be put to sleep, and he would at the time know no otherwise than that he was Jehovah; but afterwards he would realize that he had not been in his own perception, but that the Divine perception "in which angels never are" had used him as a tool for a direct revelation. (A. C. 1745:3, 1925; D. P. 96:6.)

     It is not well for us mortals to rely upon any ability faultlessly to tell what kind of perception we enjoy. For while we are given to know certain characteristics of a merely natural perception, and are able to recognize relatively rational states within our minds, yet we are warned that our thoughts are so clogged with ideas of personality, space, and time, and that enthusiastic and persuasive spirits so attempt to envelop us in the light of illusion and phantasy, and so continually urge us to overestimate our states, that care should be exercised to remain in no fixed persuasion respecting the correctness of our perceptions. (See, e.g., T. C. R. 146, 155.)

     The Cry of Sodom.

     The "cry" of Sodom which was heard in heaven, signifies the falsities of evil which rise up in a consummated church. The characterizing falsities which rose up in the Christian world were so perceived in the spiritual world of Swedenborg's day (A. C. 2243), because they originated, not from ignorance, but from evils.

     The Conditions for Salvation.

     The Lord, while on earth, appeared as an "intercessor," who sought to ward off the damnation threatening the fallen race. (A. C. 2250, 2256.) This intercession is signified by Abraham's pleading with the Angel of Jehovah against the destruction of Sodom, and by his narrowing down the conditions of its salvation to the presence of a remnant of at least fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, or (finally) at least ten just men. The Lord, by His Coming, made possible the salvation even of "the spiritual"-of all with whom there were some few truths that were filled with goods ("fifty"), or some truth conjoined with good ("forty-five"); or who had been confirmed in truths by combats against falsities ("forty"), even if they had battled only a little ("thirty"); or who had been in the good of ignorance ("twenty") as are the simple, gentiles and children; or who, by a good life, had received remains of good and apparent truth ("ten").

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     The Book of Daniel.

     The prophecies of Daniel, in their natural application to a series of four kingdoms that were to come, and an everlasting kingdom of God that was finally to triumph, were so strikingly borne out by history that for years modern critics-unwilling to admit of true prophecy-have placed the date of the book at about 170 B.C., or nearly four hundred years after the Babylonian Captivity during which Daniel lived. Their argument should have little effect upon our minds, since the Writings ascribe a spiritual meaning to the predicted "kingdoms" of Daniel, and deny their political application. (Coro. 2.) Later archeological researches have had the effect of increasingly confirming the historicity of Bible events and of the political reality of Belshazzar (Dan. v.) whose existence was long doubted. The book of Daniel is historically true. (A. C. 1709.)

     The internal sense of the book depicts the various successive stages of spiritual development and judgment, under the image of a fourfold image (ch. n), the four beasts (ch. vii), etc. Certain states of judgment, the last state of the church, and the propheticals concerning the Lord's advent, are especially stressed in the book. (A. C. 3652.)

     A view of the spiritual meaning of several incidents from the book of Daniel may be gained from the Apocalypse Explained, No. 1029. The significance of the struggle between the ram and the he-goat, described in ch. viii., is given in A. C. 4769, 96428, and in A. E. 316, 418. The internal sense of the prophecy about the Messiah and the seventy weeks (ch. ix. 24-27) is found in A. E. 684:34-42 The wars between the king of the south and the king of the north (ch. xi.) is treated in A. R. 720:6 and at length in A. E. 717:11. In Prophets and Psalms, summaries of the spiritual sense of the entire book are to be found.

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ANCIENT HEAVENS 1931

ANCIENT HEAVENS       Editor       1931


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office a Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                    Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

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$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single Copy, 30 cents.
     ARE THEY INCREASING IN NUMBERS AT THE PRESENT DAY?

     "Every society of heaven increases in number daily, and as it increases it becomes more perfect. And not only is the society perfected in this way, but also heaven in general, because the societies constitute heaven. Since heaven is perfected from the increasing multitude, it is evident how much deceived they are who believe that heaven is closed by reason of being filled, when yet the contrary is the case, that it is never closed, and that a greater and greater fulness perfects it. Wherefore the angels desire nothing more than to have new angel guests come to them." (H.H. 71. See S. D. 705.)

     A question may arise as to whether this statement concerning the daily reception of newcomers by the societies of heaven applies to the ancient heavens, originally formed from those who dwelt upon the earth before the Advent of the Lord into the world. The statement may readily be understood in its application to the Christian Heaven, formed and organized after the Last Judgment in the year 1757. The societies of this New Heaven are undoubtedly receiving daily accessions from among the regenerate in the Christian world, and from among converted gentiles, in each case after the usual period of preparation in the world of spirits. But if the same is true of the societies of the ancient heavens, from what races and peoples now living on earth, or ancients still tarrying in the world of spirits, are those who are now admitted to their eternal homes in the ancient heavens?

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     By the ancient heavens we mean: (1) The celestial heaven formed and organized at the time of the last judgment upon the Most Ancient Church, which judgment is represented in the Word by the Flood; and (2) The spiritual heaven formed and organized at the time of the last judgment upon the Ancient Church, which judgment was performed by the Lord when He was in the world. It may be well to recall the teaching in regard to the relation of these ancient heavens to the Christian Heaven. We read:

     "Further, as regards this New Heaven, it is to be known that it is distinct from the ancient heavens, which were before the Advent of the Lord; but still they are so ordinated that together they constitute one heaven. That this New Heaven is distinct from the ancient heavens, is because in the ancient churches there was no other doctrine than the doctrine of love and charity, and they did not then know of any doctrine of faith separate. Hence also it is that the ancient heavens constitute superior expanses, but the New Heaven an expanse beneath them; for the heavens are expanses, one above another. In the highest expanses are those who are called celestial angels, most of whom are from the Most Ancient Church; . . . in the expanses under them are those who are called spiritual angels, most of whom are from the Ancient Church." (N. J. H. D. 4.) It is interesting to note that the angels in the ancient heavens are not all from the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches.

     "The heavens before the Advent of the Lord are above the New Heaven, and are called 'the ancient heavens.' All who are there acknowledge the Lord Alone as God of heaven and earth. These (ancient) heavens communicate with the New Heaven by influx." (A. R. 612.)

     "It is called the Christian Heaven, because it is distinct from the ancient heavens, which existed from the men of the church before the Advent of the Lord. These ancient heavens are above the Christian Heaven; for the heavens are like expanses, one above another, and in like manner each heaven; for every heaven by itself is distinguished into three heavens,-the inmost or third, the middle or second, and the lowest or first; similarly this New Heaven; I have seen them, and have spoken with them.

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

     From these teachings concerning the distinctness of the ancient heavens from the Christian Heaven, we might be led to the conclusion that the ancient heavens were closed to the reception of newcomers from the earth after the Advent of the Lord into the world and the institution of the Christian Church. But in the light of the statement that "every society in heaven increases in number daily," we are led to seek in the Writings for possible evidence that there are still some in the world who are in the state of the Ancient Churches, and who, if they are saved, are admitted to the heavens of those Churches after death. Bearing upon this, we offer the following suggestions.

     The Heaven of the Most Ancient Church.

     The heaven of the Most Ancient Church was peopled by those who were of a celestial genius, who, while on earth, lived together under the patriarchal form of government in an arrangement of houses, families, and nations, descended from a common father. (A. C. 470.) Those who so dwelt together on earth now live together in heaven, and "scarcely anyone from a house is wanting." (C. L. 205.) We should hardly suppose that additions are still made to these family groups as societies of the most ancient heaven. Conceivably, however, new societies of this kind might be formed at this day, if there are on earth families of the celestial type beyond the Christian world. In the interior of Africa, we are told, there are certain groups who are of the celestial genius, but these are receiving instruction from the Heavenly Doctrine by means of angelic spirits who speak with them, and it would seem that they are to be numbered among the gentile regions associated with the New Heaven. (Cont. L. J. 76. See L. J. 51, 73; S. S. 105; H. H. 514e.)

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     But even if the celestial heaven should not be receiving accessions from our earth at this day, there would still be daily arrivals from other earths. For the celestial heaven from the whole universe is one. "The spirits from the different earths are not consociated in the heavens, except in the inmost or third heaven; they who come thither are together, from every earth, and most conjoined by (conjunctissime) constitute that heaven." (A. C. 6701.) "In the inmost heaven those from different earths do not appear separated from each other." (A. C. 7078.) The celestial societies of the Christian Heaven are thus in consociation with their kindred from all times and all earths; and these societies may be deriving some increase from the earth, even though "scarcely anyone" is regenerated to the celestial degree at this day. (A. C. 13. See S. D. 4670:2.)

     That the heaven of the Most Ancient Church was not closed to further accessions when it was formed and organized at the time of the Flood, is evident from the fact that there were remnants of that Church who were not judged until the Lord came into the world. "The Ancient Church then came to its end, and a last judgment was made by Him upon all, from the first establishment of that Church, and at the same time then upon residues from the first church." (L. J. 46.) The existence of such "residues" from most ancient time need not surprise us, for there were remnants of the Most Ancient Church in the Land of Canaan even to the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Such were the Hittites in Hebron and the Hivites at Shechem, who retained the celestial genius, and were upright peoples. (A. C. 4447.) And the giant Anakims which Caleb slew at Hebron when the Israelites conquered the Land were evil descendants of the Antediluvian Nephilim. (A. C. 567.)

     The fact of the survival of remnants of the distinctly celestial type, even down to the time of the Israelites, is clearly revealed in the Writings: "Remains of the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, were still in the Land of Canaan, and especially there among those who were called Hittites and Hivites." "Hamor the Hivite, with his nation and family, was among the remains of the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial." "The goods and truths of the Most Ancient Church remained to some degree with Hamor and Shechem and their families."

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"They were of a genius and disposition altogether different from that of the men of the Ancient Church." (A. C. 4447, 4454, 4489, 4493.)

     Whether, apart from the Africans, there are still "residues" of the most ancient type in the world today, we do not know. We may note, however, that there are still many in the world who are like the Preadamites. (S. D. 3390e.)

     The Heaven of the Ancient Church.

     The Ancient Church was judged at the Advent of the Lord into the world, and from those who had belonged to that Church, even from the time of the Flood until the Advent, a spiritual heaven was formed and organized, because they were of a genius distinct from that of the angels of the celestial heaven of the Most Ancient Church. There were three epochs in the Ancient Church: (1) The Noahtic Church; (2) The Hebrew Church; and (3) The Israelitish and Jewish Church. (A. C. 1327.) Good Jews of that period, and all their infants, would thus find a place in the heaven of the Ancient Church. To what extent may this still be the case, since they have never become identified with Christianity?

     But the question may be asked: Was that spiritual heaven of the Ancient Church closed to further accessions after the Advent, or was there a "residue" in this world, and in the world of spirits, even until the Second Coming and the judgment then performed upon the Christian Church? Such a "residue" is not mentioned in the Writings, so far as we know. We are told, in fact, that the Judgment in 1757 was "upon those who lived from the time of the Lord to this day, and not upon those who lived before" the Advent. (L. J. 46.) But while this judgment was concerned only with those of the Christian era, are we to conclude that there were no remnants of the Ancient Church in both worlds at that time, upon whom no judgment was performed!

     While pondering this question, we ran across this statement in the Spiritual Diary: "Concerning those at this day who are as it were of the Ancient Church. There are still some who retain and preserve much from the Ancient Church, etc." (S. D. 1987-1988.) It is evident from this account that there are such in the natural world, as well as in the world of spirits, and that while "they are of an inferior sort, thinking in simplicity, and not admitting the learned among them, still they are happy in the other life, and not far from heaven."

753




     It would appear, also, that in certain regions of Asia, perhaps inaccessible to Christians, there are still those who possess the Ancient Word, and worship according to it, who properly belong to the state and period of the Ancient Church, and who would therefore go to the heaven of that Church after death. In the spiritual world, we are told, they are kept distinct from Christians, because they possess another Word. (A. R. 112; T. C. R. 266, 279e; Coronis 39e.)

     Light upon the problem will be gained by a study of the Divine Providence with respect to the gentile races, the salvation of the good among them, and their preparation for heaven in the world of spirits.

     "Hereafter no one comes into heaven from Christians, except he who believes in the Lord God the Savior, and approaches Him alone. . . . But they who do not know anything concerning the Lord, as most of those in the two parts of the world, Asia and Africa, and also in the Indies,-these, if they believe in one God, and live according to the precepts of their religion, are saved by their faith and life; for imputation is to those who know, and not to those who are ignorant." (T. C. R. 107.)

     There has always been a "gentile fringe," even from most ancient times; and as there are still Preadamites and those "as it were of the Ancient Church " in both worlds, is it not likely that the gentile multitude in the world of spirits includes remnants of the pre-Advent peoples, still undergoing preparation for a full entrance into the ancient heavens? Meanwhile they may be held on the borders of those heavens, in like manner as the Mohammedans are kept in their "lower heaven" until they acknowledge the Lord and renounce polygamy, when they are elevated into their "higher heaven." (T. C. R. 832.)

     And so, when we are told that "every society of heaven increases in number daily," it seems quite possible that this applies in a measure to the societies of the ancient heavens also. We have cited some teachings in the Writings which point in this direction, and doubtless there are other statements bearing upon the question. We shall be glad to hear from any who have given thought and study to the subject.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS. 1931

NOTES AND REVIEWS.              1931

     POCKET EDITIONS OF THE WRITINGS.

     The New-Church Press, Ltd., 20 Hart Street, London, W. C. 1, has kindly sent us copies of several volumes of the Theological Works published recently in a convenient form for gift or missionary purposes. The books are of the Swedenborg Society Edition, printed on Bible paper, 18vo or pocket-size, attractively bound. The titles are as follows:

     New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine. Pp. 111; price 1 sh.

     Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture. Pp. 133; price 1 sh. God, Providence, Creation. Extracts from the Apocalypse Explained. Pp. 214; price 1 sh.

     Divine Love and Wisdom. Pp. 344; price 2 sh

     Golden Thoughts from Swedenborg. A Collection of 275 Short Quotations from the Writings on Various Subjects. Compiled by J. Howard Spalding. Vest-pocket size, 92 pages; paper, 6d.; leather, 1 sh. 6d.
NEW WORK ON EDUCATION. 1931

NEW WORK ON EDUCATION.              1931

     The serial publication by the Academy Book Room of the condensed popular lectures by the Right Rev. George de Charms on "The Growth of the Mind" is proceeding under the editorship of Professor Hugo Lj. Odhner. Two monthly fascicles of 32 pages each, handsomely printed in large octave, have already appeared. In these the author treats of the nature and endowments of the mind. He first discusses the position and structure of the brain as the physiological basis of the mind, describes the process of sensation and the mechanism of the nervous system, and gives the doctrine concerning the human soul. The second chapter is devoted to the mind itself, its degrees and faculties. Others take up the child's native endowments from the Lord, his heredities from the father and mother, his connate instincts and capacities, and the effects of the Fall upon present-day man. The scientific theories about heredity are described and analyzed.

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     The next fascicle is due in November, and will treat of the relation of environment to heredity, and the offsetting influences of social, natural, and spiritual heritages, and of family customs and traditions.

     Nearly two hundred subscribers are now receiving the course; and at its conclusion these subscribers are privileged to have their copies indexed and bound free of charge. An extra set of fifty copies has been arranged for, and the subscription list has been re-opened for new applicants, who should address the Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa. The price of the course is Five Dollars.
JUVENILE TALES FROM THE FRENCH. 1931

JUVENILE TALES FROM THE FRENCH.              1931

AT THE INN OF THE GUARDIAN ANGEL. By Madame la Comtesse Segur. Retold from the French by Amena Pendleton. Illustrations by Margaret Freeman. New York and Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931, $2.00.

     The author of The Golden Heart has here brought to the English reader another of the tales dear to French boys and girls for generations, this one being especially suited to children from eight to twelve years of age. Other fruits of her research in the field of French juvenile literature were the stories by Eugenie Foa published several years ago: Mystery of Castle Pierrefitte (Longmans, Green, 1927), and The Strange Search (Lippincott, 1929).
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS. 1931

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS.              1931

     The Calendar of Daily Readings for 1932 has been sent to the members of the General Church, and may be obtained by others free of charge on application to Mr. Hubert Hyatt, Treasurer, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     During the past three years it has been our privilege to publish monthly installments of "Notes on the Calendar Readings" from the pen of the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner, and these have been of signal value to those who have followed the Daily Readings, as also to our readers generally.

756


Much to our regret, Mr. Odhner finds that other duties will prevent his continuing this contribution to our pages during the ensuing year. It is our hope, however, that we shall be able to publish articles dealing with subjects involved in the Readings for 1932, which will cover the Four Gospels and the Apocalypse, and nos. 2310 to 3296 in the Arcana Celestia, containing the exposition of the internal sense of Genesis xix to xxv.
AUSTRALIAN APPRECIATION. 1931

AUSTRALIAN APPRECIATION.              1931

     In THE NEW AGE for August, 1931, "Anglicanus" reviews Bishop de Charms' John in the Isle of Patmos, and expresses enthusiastic approval of the book. We quote in full:

     "The great branches of the so-called Orthodox Christian Church, and most, if not all, of the smaller sects of Christendom, appear to possess a theological system of one idea, or at least to throw emphasis on one aspect of Biblical lore or church doctrine only.

     "There is no grand solution of Scripture problems such as abounds in Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia. No solid, broad, noble doctrine on which a glorious church may be built, as in the True Christian Religion. No unhesitating disclosure of the life beyond,-a work needed so much, and faithfully performed in Heaven and Hell. No sweet key to the mysteries of life or light on its dark perplexities, as we have in the Divine Providence. No unveiling of the Apocalypse in its prophetic grandeur as the Book of books of the Church. No elevation to heavenly and Divine rank and joy, and beauty of the marriage union, as in Conjugial Love. Swedenborg is the messenger in providing just what is now wanted,-a permanent and catholic theology for now and for futurity.

     "Here, in the work before us, we have the stories of the Apocalypse carefully prepared and made acceptable for the minds of the children. Simply and elegantly written, based on the writing of Emanuel Swedenborg as found in The Apocalypse Revealed and The Apocalypse Explained, these stories are most entrancingly interesting, alike to senior as to juniors. Each story has a picture as its heading illustrative of its main subject-matter. These decorative headings are the work of Miss Eudora Sellner, and their chaste, simple, yet powerful illustrative effects add much to the general usefulness of the book.

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     "This book should be in the hands of all heads of families, and can be very useful to any New Churchman who would like to study these stories of the Book of Revelation. As a presentation volume, or a Christmas or birthday gift, it would be splendid.

     "George de Charms is to be congratulated on its production. The paper, the printing, the binding and general get-up is excellent; but best of all is the way the stories have been prepared and are presented, so that the simplest minds can grasp in varying degree the truths embodied in or underlying this, the great final Book of God's Word.

     "It is indeed a revelation, an opening of a Book that has been sealed,-a Book full of glorious truths and truly catholic enlightenment, providing, as it does, for 'all sorts and conditions of men' for all time."
IDEA OF GOD AS MAN 1931

IDEA OF GOD AS MAN              1931

     "Every man, in the idea of his spirit, sees God as Man, even he who, in the idea of his body, sees him like a cloud, a mist, air or ether, and even he who has denied that God is Man. A man is in the idea of his spirit when he thinks abstractly, and in the idea of his body when he does not think abstractly. That every man, in the idea of his spirit, sees God as Man, was made evident to me by men after death, who are then in the ideas of their spirit; for after death a man becomes a spirit, and then it is impossible for men to think of God otherwise than as a Man. An experiment was made to ascertain whether they could think otherwise, and for this purpose they were let down into the state in which they had been in the world, and then they thought about God, some as of the universe, some as of nature in her inmosts, some as of a cloud in the midst of the ether, some as of a ray of light, and others in other way; but the moment they came out of that state into the state of their spirit they thought of God as Man. They themselves marveled at this, and said that it is something implanted in every spirit. But evil spirits who have denied God in the world deny Him after death also; and yet, in place of God, they worship some spirit who gains ascendancy over the rest by means of diabolical arts." (A. E 1115:4.)

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Church News 1931

Church News       Various       1931

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     Another Assembly has come and gone, and as usual we are left with a rather "flat" feeling. Yet the period since our last report has not been devoid of bright spots. Mr. and Mrs. Donald F. Rose, of Bryn Athyn, have visited us, though their stay lasted only a few hours, and it was not possible to arrange a formal reception, as we would have liked. The Rev. Albert Bjorck came for the service on the last Sunday in August, and preached a very interesting sermon. We should be glad to have him come oftener.

     On Thursday, September 10th, Mr. and Mrs. Colley Pryke, of Chelmsford, gave a social to celebrate the recent anniversary of their marriage,-their Silver Wedding. The formal part of the programme was short, with two toasts, the first "To the Church," and the second "To Conjugial love." Earlier in the evening the gentlemen present had been handed slips of paper containing passages from the Writings in red and black type. After each toast the one holding the appropriate colored paper read the quotation thereon, thus making a fitting response. The health of the "Bride and Groom" was then toasted, and Mr. Pryke made a suitable response. The tables were then cleared, and we indulged in several games for the remainder of the evening. This was in all respects a most enjoyable occasion, long to be remembered by all who were present.

     Our customary Harvest Thanksgiving Service was held on September 27th, and many of the parents of the pupils of our school were present. Our pastor gave a fine address to the children, after which they all advanced to the chancel and offered their gifts of fruit or flowers.
      O. P.

     DURBAN, NATAL.

     Second South African Assembly.

     The Durban Society entertained the Second South African Assembly on June 19, 20 and 21, 1931, and the meetings were a great success. Bishop Pendleton sent a much appreciated Letter of Greeting (p. 730), and had appointed the Rev. F. W. Elphick to preside. Owing to illness in his family, however, Mr. Elphick was unable to attend, but sent his Address on "Unity in Variety." (See New Church Life, September, 1931, p. 530.)

     The Assembly opened with a Banquet in celebration of the Nineteenth of June, at which ninety people were present. We were struck by the smallness of our Hall, and some apprehension is being felt for the next Assembly. If more than ninety attend, some will have to sit outside! The food was delicious, and the serving seemed to run smoothly. Mr. R. M. Ridgway made a successful toastmaster, and the speeches were most interesting, giving evidence of much thought and preparation. After an address by the toastmaster, Mr. J. J. Forfar responded to the toast "To Our Country." Then came Mr. Scott Forfar's paper on "The Prophecy" and Mr. Water's paper on the "Historical View." Musical items were given by Mr. and Mrs. Garth Pemberton and Miss Beatrice Forfar. Mr. McFarlane then read a paper on "The Permanence of the New Church," Mr. Norman Ridgway one on "The Church Conjoined with the Lord," and Mr. J. H. Ridgway one on "The Crowning Church, Internal and External." Mr. Wm. Buss responded to the toast "To Our Friends Across the Sea." The evening closed with an address by the Rev. Elmo C. Acton on "New Church Education."

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     On the afternoon of the next day (Saturday), the Rev. E. C. Acton gave his paper on "Personality,"-a powerful and stirring address which gave us much food for thought. In the evening, the Rev. F. W. Elphick's Address on "Unity in Variety" was read by Mr. Henry Ridgway. This paper was also of a high standard and in the writer's usual clear and able style. The meetings throughout were pervaded by a sphere of good-fellowship, and the papers and speeches were a real feast for the mind.

     At the service on Sunday morning, the Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered. In the afternoon, the Assembly Tea was held at "Rockhaven," the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Braby. It proved to be a garden party, and was a real delight to all who attended. Tiny tea tables loaded with dainties nestled under gay umbrellas. The guests strolled about, some examining the many beauty spots, some playing tennis, others enjoying a game of tennie-quoit. The aviary, the pool lined with blue tile, the lawns, the profusion of flowers of all kinds, the tiny paths that peeped out at one, paved with flagstones that led to some charming beauty spot or a cool retreat where one could be alone with nature,-all helped to make a garden of one's dreams. Singing from a window of the house, as the shadows were creeping in and enveloping this dream-garden in the mists of evening, was a really thrilling experience, and one that will be remembered for many a long day. In the evening, the Service of Praise in the church was a fitting close to an Assembly that leaves with us all very happy memories.

     We were glad to have Mr. and Mrs. Frazee among the guests at the Assembly, but regretted that they were leaving us for America. We have enjoyed their visits to Durban. Although we saw them only now and then, we shall miss them, for we felt that they belonged to us.

     In place of the usual Nineteenth of June Banquet for the children, papers were read by the pupils of the school, including representatives from all the grades, from highest to lowest. This was preceded by a very pleasant tea served by Theta Alpha in the school garden. Parents and interested friends were invited, and the whole affair was most successful. Miss Gaskill supervised the writing of the papers, all of which were excellent.

     The last event to be recorded in this report is the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Mansfield (nee Doris Ridgway) from Bryn Athyn, where they were married on June 18th. A reception was given by the bride's parents at the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Forfar. The guests, numbering between eighty and ninety, were received in the attractive drawing room, which was a veritable bower of flowers. Floreth and Michael Ridgway played their parts of flower girl and page boy so well that we almost forgot that it was not the actual wedding reception. From there the guests were ushered into a choice little ballroom, where they were served with punch, reminiscent of the gone-but-not-forgotten good old Bryn Athyn days. The usual toasts followed, and after an evening spent in "song and dance" the guests were refreshed by a supper of delicious novelties in various shapes and forms.
     B.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     The Summer vacation was marked by a suspension of the regular society activities, except for the Sunday services, which were maintained unbroken this year, owing to our having with us Candidate Wynne Acton, who conducted services on several Sundays when our pastor was away on extra-pastoral work amongst the isolated receivers in various sections of Ontario and with the circle in Montreal. We very much enjoyed having Mr. Acton, and his preaching and contributions to the general activities of the society were highly appreciated by us all. And here is a good opportunity to say a word in commendation of the policy of the General Church in making these visits possible, providing, as it does, valuable experience for the theological students, and making possible the much-to-be-desired unbroken continuity of Sunday worship in our societies.

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     We were again favored with a visit from the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. He was with us August 18th and 19th, and through the kindness of our pastor and Mrs. Gyllenhaal, who placed their home at our disposal, the men of the society had an informal meeting with Dr. Iungerich, who read us a very interesting thesis on "Obsessions," which evoked a sustained discussion and brought into play that subtle and naive humor for which he is justly famous. On the following evening he read a paper to the society at the church. Unfortunately we were unable to be present on this occasion, and cannot say more about it than that it was much enjoyed by those present. We thank the Doctor for his visit, and hope that it may become a "hardy annual."

     During September we had as visitors the Rev. and Mrs. Alfred Acton, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith, of Bryn Athyn. Dr. Acton preached for us on September 12th and 26th, and on the 24th gave us his illuminating and instructive lecture on Bishop Swedberg, bringing into bold relief the influence of his teaching and views as factors in the preparation of his illustrious son, Emanuel Swedenborg, for his great mission as revelator. Dr. Acton shows no signs of diminishing endurance or vigor, and his genially humorous apologetics carry him lightly and safely through his oratorical marathons. "May he never grow weary in well-speaking!"

     On September 17th, the Forward Club opened its 1931-1932 season when a paper on "Adult Education" was read by Mr. E. Craigie, in which he compared man's life on earth to a school course of three periods: (1) Kindergarten to Adolescence. (2) Adolescence to Manhood. (3) Mature Manhood. From the first period of learning most general truths, when the child mind learns and unquestioningly accepts what his teacher imparts, he led us through the "why" state into adolescent youth with its beginnings of rationality, stressing the importance of thoroughness and care during this first period of training the mind to think in series from ends, and from the acknowledgment that all knowledge is from the Lord. With this groundwork well and truly laid, the second stage produces the Reader and Thinker, asking many things, "Why this?" "Why that?" -the period of the development of the rational, comparing, analyzing, the truth of the church and business ethics, early contacts with the thought-products of non-New Church scientifics, philosophies, etc. The general doctrinals he has before accepted in simple faith now begin to infill and extend. He begins to study and acquire truths for and as of himself, which leads naturally to the third and final period of matriculation into the fourth and eternal period of existence, with its matured desire to understand the things of life, its Business, Science, Economics, and Politics, in the light of Divine Revelation, to the end that they may become the vessels into which may flow the love of wisdom, thus becoming the medium of the expression of uses to the neighbor, rather than of mere political partisanship or a means of acquiring wealth, all of which will require continuous study, both of the doctrines of the church and the scientifics of the world, to the supreme end that he may perform uses for the sake of uses, and thus develop in himself the character, the quality, of man in the likeness and image of God. It was an excellent presentation of the subject, and was followed by the usual period of discussion.

     The quarterly business meeting of the society was held on Wednesday, September 23d, at which the pastor gave a brief, timely address on the purpose of business meetings, as caring for the temporal needs of the society, and urged the desirability of a willingness to accept office and serve its uses. Election of officers and routine business was disposed of, and first steps taken in organization for the General Assembly in 1933.

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     On Saturday, October 3d, we had a most enjoyable social function on the occasion of the marriage of Mr. Alec Craigie and Miss Gwen Knight, the chapel being well filled with guests. The bride and groom made a very handsome couple, but we must plead the helplessness of the average male in the matter of any detailed description of dresses, etc., suffice it to say that, coupled with the simple decorative scheme of green and gold, the ensemble effect was pleasingly beautiful, but not more so than the picture limned by the imagination of the future possibilities of the conjugial centering in and around the happy couple just establishing another New Church home. Misses Edith and Vera Craigie were the bridesmaids, Mr. R. M. Brown was best man, assisted by Messrs. B. B. Carter and S. Parker, whilst a niece of the bride made a very dainty flower-girl. The reception immediately after the ceremony was held in the church assembly hall, when the bride and groom were the recipients of the felicitations of a host of friends.

     It is the duty of the chronicler to record not alone the happier and brighter phases of life's complex, but also those which, by the severance of human relationships and friendships, have within them an element of sadness. So it is that we have to chronicle the passing into the spiritual world of two more of our older members,-Mrs. R. W. Hynds, who died on August 16th, and Mrs. Peter Bellinger, who passed away on September 23d.

     Mrs. Hynds, formerly Isabel Laird, was eighty-seven years of age, surviving her husband, the late R. Wesley Hynds, by a little less than three years. They were both very regular in their attendance at church services during their lifetime, until Mrs. Hynds, shortly after the death of her husband, went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ahrens, near Gait, Ont., where she died. We have just been perusing a recent letter from her in which she spoke feelingly of "My Dear Church" and her church associates, also how grateful she was for the literature of the Church and her correspondence with friends, by which she maintained contact with the church she loved. The funeral was held in Toronto, Candidate Wynne Acton officiating in the absence of the pastor.

     Mrs. Peter Bellinger (Christina Germann) was born in Waterloo, Ont., on March 3d, 1867, and was thus sixty-five years of age when she passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Bellinger had been married forty-three years. She was brought to a knowledge of the Church through her husband, being baptized shortly after their marriage in 1889. How sincere was her interest in, and affection for, the Church of her adoption, was amply testified by her intense activity and help in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the Olivet Society, with which she had been connected from its inception. Her interest and affection were maintained until the last. The funeral service at the home was conducted by our pastor, being largely attended by members of the church and other friends of the family. Mrs. Bellinger is survived by her husband, one daughter, three sons, and eight grandchildren.
     F. W.

     REPORT OF THE VISITING PASTOR.

     At MIDDLEPORT, OHIO, a doctrinal class was held on Friday evening, September 16th, with an attendance of thirteen. Our subject was the perhaps most frequently quoted, and also the most frequently misinterpreted, passage of the Writings, "All religion is of life, and the life of religion is to do good." (Doc. Life 1, heading of a chapter.) The misinterpretation is the discounting of the need of doctrine; life, the life of doing good, is every thing of religion; so why the need of giving so much importance to doctrine? They who so think and speak would do well to turn to the place where the statement is given, and glance at the title of the work of which this is the opening teaching.

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It reads, "The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem." In order that there may be the life of religion-that life which pertains to the New Jerusalem-there must be the doctrine concerning it. Also, that another misinterpretation may be removed, it is well to read the table of contents, which comes between the title and the statement, from which it is clearly evident that all doing of good is spurious unless it come because evils are shunned as sins against God.-The same subject was also presented at several places visited later.-On Saturday afternoon, instruction was given to nine children, three of whom were not of New Church families. At the service on Sunday morning there were nineteen present, including children, and twelve partook of the Holy Supper.-After the service all went to the farm of Mrs. Helen Skinner for a picnic, including a splendid chicken dinner. Some who could not attend the service were with us, so that we numbered sixteen adults and nine children, a total of twenty-five. This indicates that the Middleport Society is far from extinct, but instead has its promise for the future.-Monday evening we again had class, with an attendance of ten.

     Tuesday to Thursday, September 22d to 24th, were spent with Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Wiley, at COLUMBUS, OHIO. Two evening doctrinal classes were held in the family circle. At the first, by request, we went over the Creed given in the Liturgy, dwelling principally, in response to questions, upon the statement that the Word is "the fountain of wisdom." At the second, the history of the perception and science of correspondences was given.-A call was made upon Mr. and Mrs. Scott McQuigg and Miss Emme McQuigg, who were unable to attend the meetings.

     More than a week, September 24th to October 2d, was given to CINCINNATI, or rather to nearby Wyoming. On Sunday morning there was Sunday School for six children. This was followed by a service, at which eleven were present, six of whom partook of the Holy Supper.-Three doctrinal classes were held. At the first the subject was the law of the Divine Providence that man should not perceive and feel anything of the operation of the Divine Providence, but nevertheless should know and acknowledge it (D. P. 175); at the second, the subject was continued, with special reference to the reason why a knowledge of the future is granted to no one (178, 179); and at the third we considered the doctrine concerning all religion being of life. Preceding the last class, the circle enjoyed a social supper as guests of Mr. and Mrs. and Mrs. Charles Merrell, eleven persons being present.-On one afternoon instruction was given the children.

     On Sunday afternoon, October 4th, a service was held at DETROIT, With fifteen present, of whom thirteen partook of the Holy Supper. Many expressed themselves as to the very delightful sphere prevailing. In the evening, at doctrinal class with thirteen present, our subject was the life of religion.-On Monday afternoon, at WINDSOR, ONT., instruction was given to five children; and in the evening there was doctrinal class, with an attendance of seven, including Mrs. George Deppisch, of Kitchener, the subject being the history of the perception and science of correspondences.-On Tuesday there was again a class at Detroit, attendance ten, and the subject was the teaching that the Lord leads and teaches man apparently through heaven, but in reality from heaven. (D. P. 162.)

     A doctrinal class was held at CLEVELAND, OHIO, on Wednesday evening, October 7th, with eight present, including Mr. Eugene Cranch, of New Rochelle, N. Y. Here again we considered the opening teaching of the Doctrine of Life, and more than elsewhere there was discussion, though all affirmative to what was presented, this continuing until a late hour.-The next morning I called on Mrs. Rouette Cranch and her daughter, Miss Edith.

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     At ERIE, PA., we had three classes on three successive evenings, attendance 13, 13 and 14 respectively. At the first there was presented the teaching that the quality of the church is such as is its understanding of the Word; at the second, the doctrine concerning the life of religion; and at the third, the chapter in Heaven and Hell concerning the garments of the angels. Great interest was shown in all three subjects. On Sunday afternoon, October 11th, there was an attendance of sixteen at the service, and at the Holy Supper there were nine communicants. The Erie Circle is enjoying an active church life, and meets every Sunday for young people's instruction, followed
by a service.

     Two days were spent at NILES, OHIO, With Mr. and Mrs. Williamson. One evening we had a class, again presenting the doctrine concerning the life of religion, with three persons present.

     Wednesday, October 14th, I arrived at PITTSBURGH, and it was my privilege to address the Society that evening and the school the next morning.

     The total number of persons, adult and children, to receive the ministrations of the church at the eight places visited, not including Pittsburgh, was ninety-one.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY.

     The Twenty-sixth Chicago District Assembly was held at Glenview, Ill., October 9th to 11th, 1931. Bishop Pendleton presided, and there was a large attendance of the members of the Sharon and Immanuel Churches. The meetings opened with a supper in the parish hall on Friday evening, October 9th, at the conclusion of which the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, on behalf of both societies, extended a welcome to the Bishop, and spoke in an interesting way about the growth of the Chicago District Assembly, since its inception in the year 1891. He then read from the book containing the Minutes of that first Assembly, which had been written by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, then pastor of the Immanuel Church and Secretary of the Assembly, while Bishop W. F. Pendleton presided as Bishop of the General Church. The reading of the Minutes brought to mind the early work of the church in Chicago, and showed that the Assembly had continued along the lines originally laid down, and with gratifying success.

     Rising to deliver his Address, Bishop Pendleton said that he was pleased that Mr. Smith had read from the old Minutes, written so long ago. They had brought to mind many happy and cherished memories. The increased attendance at the present Assembly was a sign that the Lord had prospered our work, and he prayed that this prosperity might continue, not only externally, but also in the internal things of the church. His Address was based upon the words of the Lord's Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation." It was an interior treatment of the subject, and was followed by a brief discussion, led by the Rev. W. L. Gladish.

     On Saturday afternoon the Bishop attended a meeting of the ladies, and presented a paper on the meaning of the Flood and the sending forth of the dove by Noah, continuing the subject of Temptation in a way that stirred the affections of all present.

     At the service of Divine Worship on Sunday morning the Bishop delivered the sermon, and was assisted by the Revs. W. L. Gladish and Gilbert H. Smith in administering the Holy Supper to 120 communicants. The sermon dealt with the Lord's temptation signified by His driving the money changers and them that sold doves from the temple, and His reply to the chief priests and scribes who asked Him whether He heard the children crying "Hosanna to the Son of David,"-"Yea, have ye not read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise'? "The discourse dealt with the subject of Innocence, and was a most fitting preparation for the Sacrament.

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     At a session of the Assembly on Sunday evening, the Rev. W. L. Gladish spoke on the views expressed in the Dutch magazine, De Hemelsche Leer, and the subject was further discussed by other speakers.

     During the Assembly a meeting of the local chapter of the Sons of the Academy was held on Saturday evening, October 10th, with a large attendance of the men of the district. After the usual formalities, the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith read a paper treating of a variety of topics, and this led to an extended discussion.

     While there is a similarity in the form of our Assemblies, year by year, yet there is considerable variation in the prevailing state of mind and the subjects presented, imparting a distinct individuality to each Assembly. And the delight and benefit in meeting with our Bishop is always greatly appreciated by our members in the Chicago District.
     G. A. MCQUEEN.

     CHICAGO, ILL.

     As the concluding session of the Chicago District Assembly, Bishop Pendleton presided at a meeting of the members and friends of Sharon Church on Monday evening, October 12th. Forty persons were present, and a delightful sphere prevailed. We met at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Harvey Farrington, as our church rooms were undergoing repairs at the time. After cake and coffee had been served, the Bishop expressed his pleasure in being with us again, and his delight in the continued prosperity of Sharon Church. For it so happens that, when we lose a few members by removal to Glenview, we have accessions from other sources, and in this way our membership has steadily increased.

     The Bishop then addressed us on the subject of Comparative Religions, contrasting the true idea as to the origin of all religions with the Modernist explanation,-that religions arose from the superstitious fears of primitive and savage men in the face of storm and danger. Their fancies pictured demons who must be placated. But, through the advance of civilization, this was refined into the idea of one God. A very interesting subject was thus opened up for questions and discussion.

     We have decided to postpone our proposed building operations until the dark cloud of financial depression has been lifted. Meanwhile, however, finding our church room too small, we have made some alterations, tearing down partitions and throwing two rooms and a hallway into one large, well-lighted audience room. Now that this has been decorated and curtained, we have an attractive place, satisfactory for the holding of worship and other church meetings.

     The Ladies' Auxiliary met in October at the home of Mrs. John Pollock. There we discussed the decorating of the new audience room. Our pastor read and commented upon the first number of Bishop de Charms' new work, The Growth of the Mind, which is being published in serial form.
     E. V. W.

     MEMORIAL TO MR. SCHRECK.

     We learn from The New-Church Herald, October 3, 1931, that "an impressive service was held at Wretham Road Church, Birmingham, on Sunday morning, September 13th, at which a very beautiful alabaster tablet in memory of Mr. Schreck's life was unveiled." The service was conducted by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack, who took as his text the words, "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance" (Psalm 112:6), and spoke in feeling terms of the former pastor, who had endeared himself to the congregation by his unfailing zeal and his devotion to their spiritual interests. The address appears in full in the Herald. The tablet reads:

     In Loving Memory of
     Rev. Eugene J. E. Schreck,
     June 30th, 1859,
     June 6th, 1931.
     Minister of this Church
     for 15 years, 1914-29.

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     DEATH OF MR. O. M. BROOKS.

     With the passing of Mr. Oscar MacDonald Brooks at Cashmere, Washington, on September 16th, 1931, at the age of sixty-four years, one who had been a firm believer in the Doctrines of the New Church for many years entered the spiritual world.

     Mr. O. M. Brooks was born at Allerton, Missouri, on August 4; 1867, and became a member of the New Church in Pennsylvania at the age of twenty-three. He was a subscriber to New Church Life for about forty years, and his library contained nearly all of the Writings.

     In his earlier life he was a journalist, but for some twenty-seven years he lived in Cashmere, Wash., where he developed his orchards, and took an active part in the civic affairs and educational activities of the community. He was recognized as one of the most intelligent men of that section, and at the same time won the hearts of all. In 1898, he married Miss Birdie Shotwell, who survives him, as also do a daughter and two grandchildren.
     L. W. T. D.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA.

     The Fall and Winter season of activity in the Bryn Athyn Church began with the first Friday Supper on October 2d, this being followed by the Annual Meeting of the Society, with a presentation of reports and the election of officers. After the supper on October 9th the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner conducted the first doctrinal class of the season, introducing a series of instructive lessons on the subject of "Spiritual Thought" which have been continued at subsequent classes.

     A special service in celebration of the Dedication of the Cathedral was held on Sunday, October 4th, Bishop Pendleton preaching the sermon from the text of Matthew 21:15-16, treating of the subject of the Divine Innocence, as involved in the singing of the children in the temple. A Service of Praise was held in the evening, with special choral and instrumental music, and a sermon by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner.

     The large congregations that worship in the cathedral Sundays always include a number of visitors from other centers of the General Church, as well as strangers to the faith of the New Church. In addition to the discourses delivered at the morning service by the pastors of the church, we have recently had sermons by the Revs. F. E. Waelchli and L. W. T. David, and by Candidates Wynne Acton and Philip N. Odhner. At the evening service on November 1st, the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner gave an address on "Prophetic Predictions."

     Children's Services have been held every Sunday morning at 9.30, beginning October 11th, Bishop de Charms conducting the service and giving the address. On two of these occasions the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt and the Rev. F. E. Waelchli have addressed the children.

     A weekly Young People's Class is conducted by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner, who has taken up for the year's instruction a consideration of the meaning of Distinctive New Church Terms, such as "Divine Human," "Spheres," etc.,-a plan that is bringing forward a great variety of subjects and producing valuable discussions. The class meets on Tuesday evenings at different homes, and is followed by refreshments and a social time.

     In the field of the society's social activities, an ambitious program of entertainments for the season has been planned by the Civic and Social Club. As the first offering, a "Magic Show" with a "real magician" was staged in the Assembly Hall for the mystification of old and young on Hallowe'en.

     The second event given under the auspices of the Club was a dance in the Assembly Hall on November 14th. Besides dancing there were cards and other forms of entertainment, and the large number who attended had a delightful time.

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     ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The fifty-fifth school year of the Academy of the New Church opened with exercises in the Assembly Hall on September 9th. The total enrollment for 1931-1932 in the different departments is as follows:

Theological School     4
College-Men               14
College-Women          17
Girls' Seminary          51
Boys' Academy          37
Elementary School     182
Total                    305

     Charter Day.

     Following the custom adopted last year, the celebration of Charter Day was held in the middle of October and was again favored with better weather than is usual in November. Beginning with the procession of students, ex-students, and members of the Faculty and Board, marching in a long line from the Academy to the Cathedral, the opening service was held on Friday morning, October 16, at 11 o'clock, and the congregation included a number of visitors from societies of the General Church in the United States and Canada. The Address was delivered by the Rev. Karl R. Alden, who spoke in affectionate terms of the personalities and labors of those who had obtained the Charter. He had recently examined the Court Records and the Charter itself, which he found musty with age. Yet the document itself remains a precious instrument, and a symbol of those Charter Members instituted in their day,-uses which the Academy maintains and expands year by year, that it may fulfill its original purpose to prepare the youth of each generation for the life of the church and their works in the world.

     At the close of the service, the Faculty and Board led the procession to the Academy, taking their places at the entrance of Benade Hall, while the students and ex-students, with their class banners, formed on the lawn in front and sang the familiar school songs. In the afternoon the Academy football team lost a close and well-played game to Malvern Prep School by the score of 7-0.

     At the Charter Day Banquet, on Friday evening in the Assembly Hall, Mr. Fred J. Cooper was toastmaster and presided in a happy manner. He had chosen the subject of "Ambition" as the theme for the speeches, and in his introductory remarks read from the Spiritual Diary, n. 2796,-the one outstanding statement in the Writings on the subject. The speakers dealt with different phases of Ambition, as follows: Mr. Willard Pendleton spoke on "Ambition with the Adolescent Boy"; Mr. Francis L. Frost on "Ambition as Viewed from the Standpoint of the Ex-student"; and Mr. Kesniel C. Acton on "Ambition and Love Towards the Neighbor." There was also a speech by Bishop de Charms on "The Future of the Academy," and closing remarks by Bishop Pendleton.

     The banquet was enlivened with songs throughout, and especially beautiful was the male quartet number sung by the Revs. K. R. Alden and Hugo Lj. Odhner and the Messrs. Randolph and Geoffrey Childs. The words were by Mr. Odhner, set to Swedish music. It was a well-planned banquet, and one of the most interesting we have had.

     The celebration of Charter Day ended with the Tea in Benade Hall and the Reception at Stuart Hall on Saturday afternoon, and the dance at the Assembly hall in the evening. There was a large attendance at all these functions.

     A COURSE ON SWEDENBORG.

     As an extension course offered by the Academy this year, Dr. Alfred Acton is giving a series of lectures on the Life of Emanuel Swedenborg, bringing to his hearers the fruits of his extensive and intensive research in the realm of Swedenborgiana and contemporary history and literature.

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     In this connection we may mention that a new volume of phototype material is in course of preparation in the Academy Library, to contain reproductions of many items of exceptional interest and value among Swedenborg's books, documents, etc.

     This volume (or rather these volumes, for there will be three of them) will contain every photostat of everything by Swedenborg which does not properly come under the head of a specific work by him. The first time is the earliest known autograph of Swedenborg, between 1695 and 1699. After this come his signatures as a student at Upsala University,-photographs of the title-pages of books upon which he inscribed his autograph. There will also be photostats of every letter by Swedenborg; if possible, of the autographed copy, otherwise of copies made therefrom. The collection will also include all stray notes which are found here and there in Swedenborg's manuscripts:-Thus, a note pasted in the manuscript of the Spiritual Diary as to the date when Swedenborg took lodgings in London; a note found in the Index Biblicus giving the date of Swedenborg's entry "into the celestial kingdom in an image"; various notes concerning the publication of the Arcana Coelestia; drafts of letters, notes of expenses, facienda, etc. All these will be included in these reproductions. The various items will be arranged in chronological order. When the work is finished, it will mean the gathering together of an immense amount of material which hitherto has been little available, because scattered about in so many difference places.

     Dr. Acton is thus rendering an invaluable service to the Church, both in assembling the materials and in superintending the process whereby it will be preserved in volumes readily accessible to the student.

     SWEDEN.

     During the month of July I made my first missionary trip to the island of Aland, which lies between Sweden and Finland. Although the island belongs to Finland, the population is wholly Swedish. At Manehamn, the only city there, I delivered two public lectures, with an attendance of 53 and 44 respectively, and the sale of books to the value of $5.00.

     In October I visited Southern Sweden, lecturing at Halmstad and Halsingborg before audiences of 64 and 145 persons, and selling books to the value of about $9.00. In Halmstad, the governor in that part of the country, a count and prominent man, bought several books, and his wife expressed satisfaction. I also went to Malmo, where the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Per Weise was baptized.

     From Malmo I crossed by ferry to Copenhagen to officiate at a wedding on October 14th, and on the following Sunday conducted service for a congregation of 50 persons, and administered the Holy Supper to 24 communicants. I also delivered two lectures, one in a public hall to 112 persons, and the other to a small group at the church. Books to the value of about $11.00 were sold.
     GUSTAF BAECKSTROM.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1931

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS              1931




     Announcements.



     The Annual Council Meetings of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., from February 1st to 6th, 1932.
Philadelphia District Assembly (Banquet) 1931

Philadelphia District Assembly (Banquet)       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1931


     The Philadelphia District Assembly (Banquet) will be held in the Assembly Hall on Friday evening, February 5th, 1932.

     All who expect to attend the above meetings are requested to notify Miss Florence Roehner, Bryn Athyn, Pa., in order that provision may be made for their entertainment.
      WILLIAM WHITEHEAD,
          Secretary, Council of the Clergy.