Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984


Vol. CIV     January, 1984     No. 1

NEW CHURCH LIFE

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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

PRINTED BY THE GENERAL CHURCH PRESS
BRYN ATHYN, PA 19009
SUBSCRIPTION: $12.00 TO ANY ADDRESS, SINGLE COPY $1.25
Second-class postage paid at Bryn Athyn, PA      Emanuel Swedenborg was born 296 years ago this month. People are already talking of the tricentennial in 1988. While Swedenborg has earned the praise of many thinkers he has been characterized by some as a spirit medium. The article on page 7 by Rev. John Odhner shows more clearly than anything else I have read on the subject that Swedenborg was not a medium.
     Some devout Christians react to Swedenborg with suspicion. Rev. Kent Junge says, "They're supposed to" (p. 18), and he offers reflections which follow on nicely after those of Rev. Grant Odhner in last October's issue.
     The series on Swedenborg's lists (p. 26) is giving us new insights into Swedenborg's life and work.
     Put on your thinking cap when you read the sermon in this issue. No, it is not hard to understand. Every sentence is perfectly clear. But be ready to do some thinking. Rev. Carlson says that "underneath all our bravado about 'viva la difference' there is a part of each of us that cannot tolerate differences . . ." He suggests that others have a right, and maybe a mandate, to be different from us. He invites us to "leave ourselves behind for a time" as we seek to appreciate the whole. He suggests that the single most devastating cause of marital breakdown is the failure of couples to negotiate differences." Yes, be ready to think.
     We cannot hang the "For Men Only" sign on the outstanding talk by Rev. Peter Buss on page 11. After all, men are allowed to read Theta Alpha Journal, and they do.
     Pages 21 to 24 may be lifted out and folded into your volume of the Arcana. The editor wonders whether readers will write indignantly asking why the Daily Calendar Readings are not all put in one issue. If you do write about this, please include a few comments about the rest of the issue. Response is so interesting and helpful.
     Final suggestion: Try reading the last two paragraphs of Rev. Ragnar Boyesen's New Year address out loud, and with feeling. And have a good new year.
ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP 1984

ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP              1984

     The Academy Secondary Schools fifth annual summer camp will take place on the Academy campus July 1-7, 1984. Students presently in grades 8 and 9 are invited to enjoy the full schedule of religious, academic and recreational instruction offered.

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POTTER AND THE CLAY 1984

POTTER AND THE CLAY       Rev. MARK CARLSON       1984

     "But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand" (Isaiah 64:8).

     These words from Isaiah set before us a powerful image-that of a man working with clay to form pots or vessels for useful service to mankind, but here the image is enlarged upon: the Lord is the potter and we are the clay. The Lord is indeed our Creator; it is He who formed us and knew us, even in our mother's womb, as it is written in the 139th Psalm: "For you have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well" (Ps 139:13, 14).
     All men of religious faith believe and accept, at least in theory, that we are the work of a Divine Being of great power, wisdom, and love, a being which forms men as easily as a potter forms an earthen vessel. This stands over against the natural materialism of our day, which would have us believe that clay produced clay, and then formed it through a gradual process of evolution through eons of time from non-living to living matter, to the intricately complex miracle of human life. This highly intelligent, sophisticated thinking uses the mind-boggling notion of tremendous spans of time to cover the illogical step of making the clay its own potter. Perhaps we can appreciate just how prophetic Isaiah was when he wrote the following: "Surely you have turned things around. Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing formed say of him who made it, 'He did not make me? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding?" (Isaiah 29:16).
     But we need not labor longer over the truth of our creation, for while we may often go about our lives as though we had created ourselves, nevertheless, in our private moments of reflection we usually are brought back to the simple logic of reality-nothing creates itself. We do not question so much that we were created, but the how of it is another matter. It is not always easy to accept how the Lord has created us. For one thing, He has created us all so different. There is not one person like any other. At first this may seem fine with us, that there is such variety among us; it certainly reduces the possibility of boredom. It is great to have the pleasant difference between man and woman, and all the wonderful intrigue that this difference involves.

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But underneath all our bravado about "viva la difference" there is a part of each of us that cannot tolerate differences, whether it be the difference between men and women, or the difference between white and black, or the difference between Christian and Jew, or the difference between ourselves and our neighbor in the next pew. In our secret thought, often we may hear the faint words, "Surely God should have made others more like me."
     What is it within us that finds it difficult to accept differences, be it different kinds of people, different opinions, or different ways of doing things than our own? Is it not from an inner sense of insecurity? For the very fact that others think differently and do differently might mean that we are wrong. It is a fact of life for the natural man within us that it seeks agreement from others in everything that it thinks and does, and if others are not forthcoming with this agreement, by changing their opinions and the actions to suit our notions, then we feel defensive. At the center of this intolerance of the natural man for differences is a tremendous conceit and arrogance, a conceit which presumes self to be right and everyone else to be wrong.
     How different the ways of the natural man are from those of the angels. The angels of heaven, and the angel that may develop within us, takes the greatest delight in the variety that differences bring, for variety is that which makes the perfection of the heavens. As we read in our third lesson: "The diversity of the worship of the Lord arising from the diversity of the good in different societies does not do any damage, but rather works to advantage, since it is a source of heaven's perfection" (HH 56). And similarly, we are told that each new angel is warmly welcomed into heaven because of his differences, for it is his different points of view, different ideas, and different forms of good that will serve to make the heavens even more perfect through variety.
     There can be little doubt that the great Potter, the Lord our God, the Creator and Redeemer of the universe, intends that there be a great variety among us, so great that no two people He creates will ever be alike, for it is through this variety that the Potter brings about perfection. How does the Lord make for such great variety? First, we can observe that no two physical bodies are ever exactly alike, and thus the very external form of reception of life from the Lord is different. But the differences in our corporeal formation do not vary our reception of the Lord's love that much. What brings about such a great variety in the way human beings receive the Lord is the variety of truth that each of us makes dear to our hearts. Hear the following: "That which makes good so various is truth: for when truth is conjoined with good it qualifies it. The reason why truth is so manifold and various is that it can so greatly vary good, is that truths are countless, and interior truths are in a different form than exterior truths, and because fallacies from the sense often adjoin themselves to truths.

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Seeing then that truths are so countless, it can be seen that by means of the conjunctions so many varieties arise that one thing can never be the same as another" (AC 7236:3).
     When we begin to understand just how important differences of truth and therefore differences of good are for the perfection of the heavens, and likewise for the perfection of the Lord's heaven on earth, which is His church, we can begin to appreciate how absurd it is for us to argue with one another over such differences. When we are revolted or somehow put off by another's point of view we are really saying that the church would be more perfect if there were more similarities, if others were more like us. The reality is that the Lord rejoices in such differences, and so should we, for out of variety comes perfection.
     An angel would never consider trying to change the ideas of another angel, provided that no clear falsities had captured his or her thinking. And least of all, would angels argue over the way the Lord appears, for they know that the Lord appears to each community of heaven, and each angel within that community, in a somewhat different way, according to the quality of good in each. Thus it is written: "Since all people accept the heaven outside them in accordance with the quality of the heaven within them, they accept the Lord in the same way; for the Lord's Divine constitutes heaven. So He does not look the same in one community as in another. Not that this difference is in the Lord-it is in the people who see Him out of their own good and therefore according to it. They are moved by the sight of Him according to the quality of their love. People who love Him deeply are deeply moved; people who love Him less are less moved. Evil people, who are outside heaven, are tormented by His presence" (HH 55).
     It appears safe to say that one of our major tasks in preparing ourselves for heavenly life is the task of learning to accept others, appreciating their points of view, and respecting their right-even their mandate from God-that they be different from us. Where charity is present, doctrinal differences will not divide, but will be viewed as differences of opinion for the good of the whole. Accepting that others are different, and loving them not only despite their differences but even because of them, is the mark of an angel in the making. But when we can only find it in ourselves to love those who agree with us, and are like us, in reality we are simply loving ourselves in them. In their agreement we see an image of self, and confirm that self is in what is good, right, proper, correct, and true, and in no need of modification whatsoever.
     The Lord, our Creator, has formed many different vessels, many different kinds of people with different responses to Him, not only for the perfection of the church and the heavens, but also for our own individual perfection.

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The task of loving others who are different from us is no small task. It requires that we leave ourselves behind for a time and seek to appreciate others for their unique contribution to the whole, and to us. It requires that we be willing to lay down our lives for a time in order to see the unique life of another. It requires that we be able to appreciate and enjoy the delights of another unique person, while putting aside our own delights. It is in this process of coming to appreciate and enjoy the joy of other, different, uniquely human individuals that the life of true charity and love for the neighbor is to be found. Hear the penetrating and beautiful teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines: "Love consists in this, that its own should be another's; to feel the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving. But to feel one's own joy in another and not the other's joy in oneself is not loving; for this is loving self, while the former is loving the neighbor" (DLW 47). The Lord summed all of this up in these words: "If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" (Matt. 5:46)
     No doubt the greatest challenge the Lord provides us for learning to love others who are different from ourselves is in the marriage relationship. While at a distance opposites attract, and the love of the sex serves as a powerful force toward conjunction, the union of male and female on an interior level is no simple matter. It requires at the outset that we acknowledge that our way, and the way of our sex, is not the only way; and that, as a matter of fact, our way is incomplete and filled with foolishness if not united with and modified by someone different. The reason why the Writings condemn so soundly the love of dominion in marriage is that it is through dominion that the whole issue of conjunction with someone different is avoided. If our will is simply imposed on our partner, without discussion or negotiation of differences, neither party has the opportunity for conjunction of minds. Perhaps it is safe to say that the single most devastating cause of marital breakdown is the failure of couples to negotiate differences. Differences are seen as reason for divorce, rather than reason for growth as the Lord intended. When at last we can love our married partner, not only despite their differences from us but because of them, we will have earned the pearl of great price, and will be far on the road to loving others who are different from us.
     There can be no doubt that the Lord has fashioned each of us from the dust of the ground in a unique and different way. He is our Potter, and in His work He has shown great wisdom. He has given us the challenge and the opportunity to love and appreciate all the varied earthen vessels He has created.

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He invites us to see the mark of the Creator in the face and in the spirit of each of His sons and daughters. He invites us to take our place among the many good and true varieties of human response to His love, accepting that we are but one out of myriads of differing responses, and that our response is not the one correct and true way of responding to Him. So shall we come to appreciate the variety and perfection of heaven, while learning the meaning of true humility. For we acknowledge, O Lord, that You are our Father. "We are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand." Amen.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 64:8, Psalm 81, Heaven and Hell 56 SWEDENBORG-UNLIKE MEDIUMS 1984

SWEDENBORG-UNLIKE MEDIUMS       Rev. JOHN L. ODHNER       1984

     Each revelator and prophet has been unique. The symbolic visions of Ezekiel were not like the simple conversations Hagar had with angels. John's extended experiences were not like Peter's brief glimpses of the spiritual world. The Lord gave each of them the degree and kind of communication with angels and spirits that suited His purpose for that person. Likewise, Swedenborg's state was uniquely suited to the purpose to which God called him.
     Sometimes Swedenborg has been described as a medium or spiritualist. This is not surprising. Swedenborg was and is well-respected for his scientific, political, and philosophical works. He was known for his gentle, mannerly ways and his clear thinking. For those who would like to discredit the Writings, it is difficult to do so by directly attacking his personal life. It is much easier to undermine his reputation by associating him with people who have engaged in questionable practices, such as mediumship and spiritism. At the same time, Swedenborg is often claimed as a spiritualist by mediums themselves because his respectable standing lends credence to their own activities.
     Obviously, whether we consider Swedenborg to be a medium depends on how broad a definition of "medium" we choose. A very broad definition would include everyone who has contact with the spiritual world. Spiritualists often claim that such people as Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, John, Paul and Jesus were mediums. In a local spiritualist bookstore I found half a dozen books which claimed to prove that Jesus was a medium.

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What better way to gain respectability for spiritualism? On the other hand, those who wished to discredit Jesus accused him of working in league with evil spirits.
     Many of the prophets and revelators of the Old and New Testaments clearly did have open communication with spirits and angels. Just as clearly, the Word itself does not consider Jesus or any of the prophets to be mediums, since mediums were to be avoided. The Bible distinguishes between those who are given communication with the spiritual world for the purposes of revelation and those who seek such contact for purposes of spiritism. Not everyone who communicates with the spiritual world is a medium.
     The list below contains some of the evidence that Swedenborg belongs in the category of revelator, not medium.

     1.      Mediums seek spiritualistic experiences, through meditation, classes, seances, mind control. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg did not seek, or even expect or desire, communication with spirits. When spirits began to speak with him he "was greatly astonished" (Doc. II, p. 146).
     2.      Mediums encourage others to contact spirits. Often mediums will offer training courses, seminars, books, etc., to spread mediumship to others. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg strongly warned against trying to contact spirits.
     3.      Mediums offer their services as a source of counsel, teaching, guidance. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg claimed that one cannot learn any truth through contact with spirits (AE 1182:4).
     4.      Mediums often make a living through contact with spirits. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg made no attempt to advertise his powers or accept money for his services or gather a personal following. "I was thinking," he wrote in a personal diary, "Suppose someone should consider me a saint, and on that account think highly of me? Indeed, suppose . . . he should not only revere but also adore me as . . . a holy man or a saint? . . . I saw that I must entreat the Lord with the most earnest prayers, not to have any share in so damnable a sin, which would then be laid to my charge. For Christ, in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead, must alone be addressed in prayer" (Doc. II, p. 164). Note also that most of his books were published anonymously, and profits were donated to a Bible society.
     5.      Mediums depend on their own judgment and good character to distinguish good spirits from evil. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg followed the warning of John about testing spirits by their relationship to Jesus Christ: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. . . .

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Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" (1 John 4:1, 3; Doc. II, pp. 159, 208-9).
     6.      Mediums depend on spirit guides to lead them to their contacts. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg was guided by constant and thorough study of the Bible, and by unswerving devotion and obedience to Jesus Christ. For example, when the Lord appeared to him and opened his spiritual eyes, he was regularly praying and singing to Jesus, fasting, attending church, and receiving communion. His notes from his personal Bible study at that time filled half a dozen large volumes within three years.
     7.      Mediums do not agree with the teachings of the Writings. Most mediums compromise or deny the divinity of Christ and believe that the individual, rather than Christ, is the source of salvation. Reincarnation, meditation, and other eastern religious concepts are often accepted by mediums. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg taught that Jesus Christ is God-Man, and that we are totally dependent on Him for life and salvation. Superficially, there is some agreement about the appearance of the spiritual world, but the doctrines about the spiritual world (for example, about influx, correspondence, the nature of man and spirit, the connection between worlds, the way to heaven, the relationship between heaven and the Lord, etc.) are incompatible with spiritualistic beliefs. Consequently, most mediums have little interest in reading Swedenborg, although a few refer to his experiences (in much the same way they refer to the Bible) for evidence of their beliefs.
     8.      Mediums expose people directly to spirits and supernatural phenomena. For example, the medium of Endor allowed Saul to converse directly with "Samuel" (1 Sam. 28). Unlike mediums, Swedenborg never put other people in contact with spirits. Swedenborg did not lead or participate in seances or in any way associate himself with any such activities.
     9.      Mediums are sometimes wrong. Sometimes the messages of mediums are convincingly accurate. Often, however, they are vague, symbolically obscure, or just plain wrong. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg's few instances of prediction and referral of messages from the spiritual world were never wrong and never ambiguous.
     10.      The ability to give proof of communication with spirits is important to mediums. Clairvoyance, prediction, uncovering personal secrets, bringing messages from departed relatives, and similar activities are often used for "proof" of the validity of spiritualism. Generally the activities and beliefs of mediums revolved around giving such evidence.

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Unlike mediums, Swedenborg did not claim any importance for his evidences of having been in the spiritual world. "He did not think it worth while to waste many words" on such "trifles" as his report of the fire in Stockholm. Instead, through what he said and wrote he directed people to the Word and to the Lord Jesus Christ. (See TCR 849, DP 134, Trobridge, Swedenborg: Life and Teaching, p. 196, 1935 ed.)
     11.      Spiritualism is usually accompanied by physical phenomena, such as healings, levitation, materializations of objects or spirits, psychometry, knockings, noises, voices ("whisperings and mutterings"-Isa. 8:19), etc. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg made no attempts to prove the truth by sensual or sensational evidence.
     12.      Mediumship does not open one's spiritual mind, although it may open the spiritual eyes temporarily. Mediums receive spiritual messages in a worldly way, with worldly comprehension. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg communicated with spirits on a spiritual level, as spirit with spirit and not as man to spirit.
     13.      Mediums often contact spirits through trance-like states of mind. They allow themselves to become passive in the hands of spirits. And, in a similar but reversed situation, Saul went to a woman who was, literally, "master" of an evil spirit-she could control the familiar spirit at will. Unlike mediums, Swedenborg was neither controlled by nor in control of spirits.

     The warnings of the Old and New Testaments make it very clear that mediums and spiritism should be avoided:

Do not turn to mediums or spiritists. Do not seek them out to be defiled with them (Lev. 19:31).
As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against the person and will cut him off from among his people (Lev. 20:6).

     There shall not be found among you anyone who . . . casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord (Deut. 18:10, 11).
And when they say to you, 'Consult the mediums and the wizards who whisper and mutter,' should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa. 8:19, 20).
If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they hear though one rose from the dead (Luke 16: 19-31. See also Ex. 22:18, Lev. 19:26, 20:27, I Sam. 15:23, 28:6-20, I Kings 22:19-23, 19:3, 44:24-25, Ezek. 12:22-25, 13:17-23, 21:29, Mic. 5:12, Zech. 10:2).

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     Similar teachings are found in the Writings. To those who seek contact with spirits, Swedenborg says, "Woe to those who do so!" (Doc. II, p. 208). They may easily "be led astray" (Ibid., p. 210). People who contact spirits are "speedily in danger of their life . . . . I would dissuade all from cherishing such desires" (Ibid., p. 232). "It is most dangerous" (Ibid., p. 387). "It is dangerous, . . . for evil spirits desire nothing more than to destroy a man, both soul and body"(HH 249). "When spirits begin to speak with a person, he must beware lest he believe them in anything . . . . They lie, . . . deceive, and seduce . . . . let people beware! . . . . It is most perilous!" (SD 1622). "It is attended with danger to their souls!" (AE 1182:4).
     No medium ever spoke like this. We cannot explain away such statements simply by saying that Swedenborg was not following his own advice, or that he himself was deceived. A more consistent and logical explanation is that Swedenborg clearly saw the difference-indicated in the Word itself-between a medium and a revelator. The combined evidence of his published works, his private diaries, and the testimony of his contemporaries shows that he made every effort to obey the laws of the Old and New Testaments and to act solely as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SOME THOUGHTS ON MASCULINITY 1984

SOME THOUGHTS ON MASCULINITY       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1984

     A TALK TO THE SONS LUNCHEON, OCTOBER, 1983

     It has happened again. Once again male man has found a way to avoid appreciating the true talents that the Lord has given to women. This time they probably didn't do it consciously, as they have so often in ages gone past. The result is the same.
     In almost every culture womankind is regarded as inferior. Plato said that when a man misbehaved he returned to earth as a woman or some other inferior creature. Primitive tribes gave the husband the right to beat his wife or wives.
     Curiously the women's liberation movement, which set out to change this situation, has sometimes had an opposite effect. Men have allowed women to be treated as equals, but both sexes have tended to define "equals" as meaning "like men." Therefore the woman in business or competitive life is often encouraged to ape male qualities instead of bringing to her job the unique qualities of the feminine mind. Men have stopped treating a woman as the Writings say she should be treated-with "courteous morality," (CL 98)-stopped respecting her for those more gentle characteristics that draw the sexes together.

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There is an increased tendency to treat her like one of the boys. Inevitably it is the true feminine that suffers. Small wonder that wives in heaven were afraid when Swedenborg discovered how tenderly they loved their husbands. They didn't want him to reveal that on earth, because it seemed like a weakness which men would exploit. Swedenborg insisted that he must reveal it, for their tenderness must be known: it is the very truth of good, and the goodness of truth (see SD 6110:2).
     It is true that the so called women's liberation movement has had some good results. We have learned to recognize many things that women could have been offering to society for thousands of years. It is true that the sincere genesis of this movement with some was an attempt to have people focus on more interior things in a woman-to stop thinking only of her looks or her ability to cook and keep a house tidy.
     It is sadly true that there have been excesses by both sexes in this movement. Some women have gone far too far and have threatened the precious distinctions which the Lord Himself created. On the other hand some men have been so weak that they have been unable to bear the thought of a woman succeeding. A recent study showed that if a wife has a higher-paying job than her husband, he is 11 times more likely to die of heart disease in middle age. He is far more likely to attack his wife with a knife or gun. He thinks he loves her more than she loves him, and the report showed that a significant number reported no sexual activity with their spouses. However, the situation improved dramatically if the wife was in a traditionally "woman's job," such as nursing, even if she was earning more than he was.
     I don't want to comment on the study, but we should reflect on the attitude with some men which requires a sense of visible "masculine superiority" in order to function.
     What do the Writings say about the wish of the male sex to be the superior one? They show that it was a false understanding of doctrine that led people to think that way. Paul said that the husband should be the head of the wife as the Lord is the head of the church. The Lord is the head of the church, and "man-man and woman, and still more husband and wife together-are the church" (CL 125). It is a desire for domination over women that leads to polygamy (CL 78:4). "In heavenly marriages there is no predominance" (HH 358). Finally, they say that man's pride in his own intelligence leads him to want to be greater than woman. That love, which is a love of something in himself, "won't tolerate an equal." It constantly puts down woman, and leads therefore to scorn for marriage, and an adulterous love (see CL 331:2,3). As one young woman said when she broke her engagement, "He's in love with himself, and who am I to come between?"

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     These ideas point up a very simple and yet most profound truth. There is only one culture that can restore woman to the place that the Lord created for her, and that is the one in which conjugial love is acknowledged. It must be acknowledged in the heart as well as in words. All other cultures will place women at a disadvantage.
     So will New Church organizations unless they enter with the heart into the teachings about conjugial love.
     The reason too is simple. A woman is a form of love, and love is silent and less visible than the understanding. The accomplishments of love are also less visible than those of the understanding. Every culture since the Ancient Church has emphasized what is on the surface, what is visible and shallow. Therefore it makes much of man's intellectual abilities, and little of woman's loves.
     I don't mean to say that men are shallow, surface creatures. I do mean to say that when we are looking only on the surface it is man's accomplishments that most easily appear. On a deeper plane, the abilities of both are seen, and it is the woman who is loved for her internal beauty, for the wisdom that is her inmost form. "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife."
     What, then, is the challenge to men in today's world? It is to escape the shallowness of thought that continues to relegate women to a more lowly position. Women's lib isn't going to accomplish that. It replaces one kind of shallow thought with another kind. In such an exchange women once again suffer. So we have today more single-parent homes, and who in general are running those homes, with smaller finances and less support? Women. We have women competing in the market-place-not in a way that they could compete as women, but as if they were men. That puts them at a disadvantage. We have women staying at home to be homemakers and some people are vaguely contemptuous of this beautiful commitment to building a home in which the church can dwell. Instead of seeing the precious use of providing a home for growing minds and hearts; instead of honoring the talent which binds a home into a place in which the Lord can dwell, people talk about homemaking as washing dishes and doing the laundry.
     What is it that a woman loves in a man? A young woman's beauty, which attracts a man, is matched by his "morality" (see CL 44). It is the morality of a young man that a woman loves. If he is a moral man she is safe with him. Not only is she safe from bodily seduction, but her affections and thoughts are secure from harm. He will treat them with "courteous morality," even as he regards her beauty "with a fond eye" (CL 98).

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     Women also love knowledge, understanding and wisdom in a man (CL 91; cf. 90). Loving his knowledge comes first. Later she loves his judgment-his intelligence, or understanding. These are impressive things. We are proud of them, we men. Women are proud of them in the men they love. But by them we seem to be superior. It is because of this that heavenly wives somewhat sadly observed to Swedenborg, "You men glory over us on account of your wisdom, but we do not glory over you on account of ours" (CL 208).
     But it is the third in that trilogy that women love-true wisdom. Listen to this beautiful teaching: "Conjugial love is proper to man [male and female]. It can also be called native and germane to man, because man has within him the faculty of being wise, with which this love makes one" (CL 96).
     Now I don't have time in this talk to explore the obvious main point that the Writings are making-that a woman loves a man's use. Not his occupation, but his use, his total effect on others-the way he puts his understanding to work in human relationships. This she loves, with this she is conjoined, and it is the core of her marriage love. This is the church, which is said to be formed first with the man. It must be formed first with him if there is to be order; for when truth is put to use by the masculine mind, the wife delights in it, and secretly conjoins herself with it, and wraps it around with her love (see CL 125, 130, 142, 238, 239; cf. 156-"The church and conjugial love are constant companions.").
     I want to draw attention instead to the fact that wisdom with a man teaches two things, two things that contain the secret of our challenge to be masculine.
     First, it teaches that the wife alone is to be loved, and that adulteries are filthy, and to be shunned. Men receive love from their wives, "especially according to that wisdom from religion which teaches that the wife alone is to be loved." Such love is "concentrated; and it is ennobled, and remains in its strength and is steadfast and enduring" (CL 161e). "This is the wisdom with which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, the commonwealth and the body" (CL 130).
     It is also the secret of eternal youth. Young men and women, once old and infirm on earth, were seen in heaven, and the angels said, "They have all been restored by the Lord to this flower of age because they mutually loved each other and from religion shunned adulteries as enormous sins" (CL 137:7).
     Secondly, we show true masculinity as we use wisdom to understand our wives truly. In many places in the Writings the husband is said to be the understanding of his wife's love. I think we could express it a little differently: A true husband understands his wife's loves.

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     Reflect on that for a moment, and ask yourself how easy it is for a husband to go through life not understanding his wife's loves. He tells himself he loves her; he is thoughtful and considerate in many ways, but he is not very aware of what her secret hopes and dreams are in life.
     You see, a wife does not reveal her loves. From innate modesty and inborn wisdom she shields them from her husband when he is in cold. From wisdom too she knows that if he is to discover them he must do it for himself. He must want to do so; he must inquire into her feelings, spend many of his quiet moments wondering what beautiful feelings are moving her.
     I truly think one of the heartbreaks of a world which cares not for conjugial love is that women find their most valuable, their deepest offerings are not even known, let alone loved.
     Therefore the true love of marriage is to seek to understand the heart of this person you love. She wants this of her husband more than anything else-an understanding heart, which probes the depth of her being and senses the wondrous things the Lord has put there.
     It is a knowledge that is permitted to the husband only. And this is my point: It is only when men strive for this type of understanding that the true beauty of the feminine mind will be seen, and she will be loved for the things which the Lord Himself made her to be loved for.
     That is the challenge of the New Church man. Can he reach upward to that kind of masculinity? Can he avoid the pitfalls of shadow-manhood? Will he resist the temptation to judge a woman by standards that belong to the understanding or to this world alone, which will, as all cultures have done, relegate her to a lesser place in society?
     Or can he see that the Lord has made woman so beautiful that he must be inspired to seek after true wisdom-to understand the loves of the woman he has chosen, and when he sees them, to bring them forth into use.
     The New Church alone can meet that challenge, because the internal form of the feminine mind is now revealed. That is why the Lord can raise up conjugial love anew after His advent, for that love is from Him alone, and is with those who are made spiritual by Him through the Word (see CL 81e). Then, and then only, will men and women walk together on the path to heaven, and men will truly be men.

16


PASTOR'S ADDRESS FOR THE NEW YEAR 1984

PASTOR'S ADDRESS FOR THE NEW YEAR       Rev. RAGNAR BOYESEN       1984

     THE FOLLOWING IS EXCERPTED FROM A SERMON DELIVERED TO THE PITTSBURGH SOCIETY.

     We are greeting yet another year in our time frames in this natural world, and it behooves us to reflect on certain ideas which can be of guidance to us. There are few things in the Writings of the New Church that can give people more courage and give them more hope than the assurance of the Lord that every effort that man makes to compel himself will be an effort that comes from the world beyond this natural world, the world which men will inhabit after death.
     We know that all life needs a purpose. We also, all of us, need a goal, and the purpose of our life in this world is simply to prepare for a higher and better world where we will do eternal uses. And it is natural for us in the morning of a new year to reflect on what it will bring us. What can we do to prepare? How can we search the Lord's will to try to bring forward some of those things which will please Him this new year? We must, if we are to please the Lord and work according to His will, be prepared to worthily submit to the pain of change which inevitably will come to us. We are all of us dependent on these thorough-going changes which happen in our life.
     The one who loves the goal must also love the means (see DP 331). Translated into our daily terms, this says: if we would like to go to heaven, we'd better start working now. We have to do the work. When we contemplate the coming of a new year, we must be willing to take its changes as means to higher goods even if their true causes may be hidden from us. The condition for positive change is that our loves are engaged and tested, that we are facing reality with a willingness to serve, with a willingness to receive the higher good which can come through change. Life's reality is continually changing, both for the individual and for the group, and when our loves are put to the test, the love of spiritual means demands of us that we assemble our courage regardless of the degree of discomfort so that we may act according to conscience, according to reason.
     It is our hope in the new year that we will teach ourselves, with the Lord's help, to become useful members of the Lord's church on earth through an increasing power to force ourselves to do those things which seem to be right.

17


Remember that we are given an ability to compel ourselves, and the Writings speak in hundreds of places of the need, the most important need, to resist evil and to resist what is false, and that this is called an effort of will and an effort of understanding. The Lord's gift to us is that the heavenly proprium of man "is formed in the effort of his thought" (AC 1937).
     Let us remember that when we first compel ourselves, it may appear that we are losing our own power, that we are losing our own freedom. It appears to us that we lose our enlightenment and that the effort which we put into self-compulsion is an effort which darkens our life, which makes life miserable for us. It appears that taking the truths of the Writings right into our lives will make life miserable for us, but the Writings tell us this is an appearance.
     Self-compulsion, the Writings tell us, is that power from within that tells man that the Lord is with him. The Writings tell us that freedom in the New Church is taking spiritual risks; it is allowing the Lord to come close; it is allowing the Lord to contend with those weaknesses that each one of us will have to fight.
     It is a risk to fight evil, and it is a risk when we contemplate facing a new year that we will endeavor to fight evil in ourselves. But we are promised by the Lord that although there are dangers and pains in fighting for that which is of the Lord, we will have a perception of a willingness or of a freedom which is behind our feeling of darkness, our feeling of hopelessness, and our feeling of deprivation. Remember that even those who compel themselves to good will have that feeling. This is important. Even those who compel themselves to do what is good will have a feeling of darkness, will have a feeling that they are deprived of something which is their own; but it is a sure sign that the spiritual has come closer to the natural through the agency of the Lord.
     Let us pray in the new year that this New Church of ours-the church which we have been given charge over, this church which each one of us has been given by the Lord to take care of-that this church will get new contacts in the spiritual world; that we will contact angels in the new year who will inspire us to live even beyond what we have been able to give in the years in the past.
     Let us all have the development of our spiritual loves as our spiritual goal in the year to come. Let us concentrate on receiving the Lord in what is practical, both outside of our minds and inside of us. Let us take courage in our hands and bid the new year welcome because we will seek the Lord. Let us see how right it is for each one of us to compel himself to do what is good, to obey the things commanded by the Lord, and to speak truths. This is to humble oneself under the Lord's hands, or to submit oneself to the sovereign power of Divine good and truth.

18


CHARGE AGAINST SWEDENBORG AS A FALSE PROPHET 1984

CHARGE AGAINST SWEDENBORG AS A FALSE PROPHET       Rev. KENT JUNGE       1984

     It is said in Deuteronomy, chapter 13: "if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder, saying, 'Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them,' and if the sign of which he spoke to you happens, you shall not listen to the words of that false prophet or that dreamer of dreams."

     It's really not surprising that many devout Christians react to Swedenborg with suspicion. They're supposed to. Christ's warning to us is clear: "Take heed that no one deceives you . . . Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many" (Matt. 24:4, 11). He has explicitly told us of His Second Coming "in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27). At the end of the book of Revelation we are forbidden to add anything to what has been revealed as the Word of God: ". . . I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: 'If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book' "(Rev. 22:18-19).
     Swedenborg claims to be a prophet; He freely interprets the Lord's description of His Second Coming. Many Swedenborgians have included extensive parts of Swedenborg's writings in their religious canon. They see these new works as additional revelation-as the Word of God.
     This should make any Christian sit up and take notice. If we regard Christ's words as authoritative, then we also should look at what Swedenborg says with a very critical eye.
     It's worth noting, however, that many of the warnings against false prophets and additions to the Word are to be found in the Old Testament before the coming of the Lord. The law of the Old Testament was rigorously used to judge false prophets when the Lord was on earth. Frequently Jesus did not pass the test. The Jews saw clearly that Jesus was a blasphemer in claiming to fulfill the prophecy. Because of this He was driven from the synagogue, threatened with stoning and eventually crucified.
     The prophecies of the Old Testament led the Jews to expect the establishment of a physical kingdom here on earth. It had been predicted that David would return and throw off their captivity.

19



     Jesus did none of these things. Instead, in clear contradiction to Old Testament prophecy, He insisted that His kingdom was internal. "The kingdom of God does not come with observation. Nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21).
     The Jews loved the teachings of Moses and the law. This was their authority. Jesus claimed only to infill the law. Yet His new interpretations went directly contrary to the plain statements of the law. "You have heard that it was said to those of old . . . But I say to you . . ." (Matt. 5).
     A devout Jew who believed in his scriptures could come to but one conclusion. Jesus was of the devil.
     We have no intention, here, of calling Christianity into question. As New Churchmen we share with our fellow Christians a belief in Christ's authority. Nor do we mean to equate Swedenborg with Christ. We are not even trying to defend Swedenborg's claims. We merely wish to point out that all religious men are in the same boat when it comes to figuring out who God is and how we are to find out about Him. No book or set of religious beliefs is authoritative simply because it says it is. Ezekiel, Matthew, Joseph Smith and the carnival fortune teller all claim authority. The Bible which we revere was not handed down to us from heaven neatly bound with a Divine stamp of approval. As with the canons of all churches, the books of the Bible have been collected, translated, organized and interpreted over the years by many earnest but fallible human beings. We believe, of course, that God guided their efforts but there is no way to prove this. Nor is there any way to prove whether the latest prophet is influenced by God or the devil.
     Since the Muslim, Jew, and Christian all believe they have an authoritative basis for their faith we might ask ourselves what criteria should be used in judging the claims of a would-be revelator.
     It is not enough for us to say, "whatever makes sense" or "whatever works" (although the alternative of a senseless revelation which doesn't work is not very appealing). Human reason is tricky and we can fool ourselves into falsity by taking the "common sense" approach.
     It is also not enough for us to pray for signs from our God. Prayer is important in opening our minds and hearts to God. But can we count on signs from God to authenticate someone's religious writings? The signs themselves are open to interpretation. The Swedenborgian who reads of Swedenborg's visions and the Pentacostal speaking in tongues both are looking to spiritual "signs" (and may accuse each other of being deluded by dangerous spiritual influence).
     In the long run something is true because it is good. Whatever set of teachings we claim to believe, we actually use those teachings which help us get closer to our God and help us treat other people the way they ought to be treated.

20


Most revelations promise a place in some kind of heaven if we behave. Many have intricate doctrinal points to make. Religious books are full of teachings about which churches are right and which are wrong. But unless these teachings make us better people, they can't really qualify as revelation for us. Simplistically put, we use those teachings which help us to be good.
     Can the Writings of Swedenborg help a sincere Christian become a better person? If our fellow Christians are offended by such a question it is too bad. If God is offended by such a question we are all in trouble. For surely this question has been asked about one religious teaching or another for centuries. It is a question which sincere people in every faith should continue to ask. It is only by asking how to become better that we can be turned toward God through His Word.
     If the teachings of Swedenborg are worthy they will make us better people. They will help us grow in our faith and reassure us in our lives. Like the Old and New Testaments and all previous revelations they will become living' for us because truth from God is living: "The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life" (John 6:63).
MAPLE LEAF ACADEMY NEWS 1984

MAPLE LEAF ACADEMY NEWS              1984

     43 campers enjoyed a smashingly successful Maple Leaf Academy in 1983. Because of popular demand there will be one more Maple Leaf Academy at Wood Lake in 1984, due in part to the generous subsidy granted by the General Church in Canada which pays for approximately half the cost of camp operations. We are projecting enrollments exceeding the maximum capacity of Caribou Lodge, and will have to limit acceptance of applications to the first sixty we receive.
These are available from Rev. Terry Schnarr, who will be joined on staff next year by Rev. Louis Synnestvedt, Denis Kuhl, and Jeremy Rose. Camp will begin on Thursday, June 21, and end on Friday, June 29. Send now for your application.

21


DAILY CALENDAR READINGS 1984

DAILY CALENDAR READINGS              1984

     February, 1984

          GENESIS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Wed     18:      1-15          3700-3701:4
2     Thu          16-33          3701:5-3702
3     Fri     19:     1-14          3703:1-5
4     Sat          15-29          3703:6-12
5     Sun     20               3703:13-17
6     Mon     21:     1-21          3703:18-22
7     Tue          22-34          3704:1-4
8     Wed     22               3704:5-10
9     Thur     23               3704:11-15
10     Fri     24:     1-28          3704-3706
11     Sat          29-52          3707-3708:4
12     Sun     24:     53-67          3708:5-11
13     Mon     25:     1-18          3708:12-17
14     Tue          19-34          3708:18-23
15     Wed     26:     1-17          3709-3716
16     Thu          18-35          3717-3719
17     Fri     27:     1-17          3709-3716
18     Sat          15-29          3722-3726
19     Sun     27:     30-40          3727:1-5
20     Mon     27:      41-28:9     3727:6-3729
21     Tue     28:     10-22          3730-3734
22     Wed     29:     1-14          3735-3736
23     Thu          15-30          3737-3740
24     Fri     29:     31-30:13     3741-3744
25     Sat     30:     14-24          3745-3748
26     Sun     30:     25-43          3749-3750
27     Mon     31:     1-16          3751-3754
28     Tue          17-35          3755-3757
29     Wed                    Gen. xxxix, 3758-3761

     March 1984
          GENESIS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Thu     31:     36-53          3762
2     Fri     32:     1-20          3763-3767
3     Sat          21-32          3678-3699:2
4     Sun     33               3769:3-3773
5     Mon     34:     1-19          3774-3778:1
6     Tue          20-31          3778:2-3780:3
7     Wed     35:     1-15          3780:4-3786
8     Thu          16-29          3787-3793:2
9     Fri     36:     1-19          3793:3-3796

22



10     Sat          20-43          3797-3802
11     Sun     37:     1-17          3803-3804
12     Mon          18-36          3805-3812:2
13     Tue     38:     1-19          3812:3-6
14     Wed          20-30          3812:7-10
15     Thu     39               3813:1-5
16     Fri     40               3813:6-3814
17     Sat     41:     1-13          3815-3816
18     Sun     41:     14-36          3817-3821
19     Mon          37-57          3822-3827
20     Tue     42:     1-20          3828-3832
21     Wed          21-38          3833-3835
22     Thu     43:     1-17          3836-3839
23     Fri          18-34          3840-3845
24     Sat     44:     1-17          3846-3849
25     Sun     44:     18-34          3850-3855
26     Mon     45:     1-15          3856-3857:5
27     Tue          16-28          3857:6-3858:2
28     Wed     46:     1-15          3858:3-6
29     Thu          16-34          3858:7-11
30     Fri     47:     1-17          3858:12-16
31     Sat          18-31          3859-3862:1

     April 1984
          GENESIS          ARCANA COLESETIA
1     Sun     48               3862:2-4
2     Mon     49:     1-18          3862:5-7
3     Tue          19-34          3863:1-4
4     Wed     50:     1-14          3863:5-10
5     Thu          15-28          3863:11-15

               EXODUS
6     Fri     1               3864-3868
7     Sat     2:     1-12          3869:1-5
8     Sun     2:     13-25          3869:6-10
9     Mon     3:     10-10          3869:11-3870
10     Tue          11-22          3871-3875:3
11     Wed     4:     1-17          3875:4-3876
12     Thur          18-31          3877-3880:3
13     Fri     5               3880:4-8
14     Sat     6:     1-13          3880:9-3881:3
15     Sun     6:     14-30          3881:4-7
16     Mon     7:     1-13          3881:8-3882

               LUKE
17     Tue     *22:     24-46          3883-3885
18     Wed     *     47-71          3886-3888

23



19     Thu     *23:     1-26          3889-3892
20     Fri     *     27-38          3893-3896
21     Sat     *     39-56          3897-3899
22     Sun     *24:     1-24          3900:1-7
23     Mon     *     25-40          3900:8-10
24     Tue     *     41-53          3901:1-4

     *Indicates seasonal readings not in the regular sequence.

               EXODUS
25     Wed     7:     14-25          3901:5-8
26     Thu                    Gen. xxx, 3902-3907
27     Fri     8:     1-19          3908-3912
28     Sat          20-32          3913
29     Sun     9:     1-12          3914-3920
30     Mon     9:     13-35          3921:3923:1

     May 1984
          EXODUS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Tue     10:     1-11          3923:2-7
2     Wed          12-29          3923:8-3927
3     Thu     11               3928
4     Fri     12:     1-20          3929-3934:3
5     Sat          21-36          3934:4-8
6     Sun     12:     37-51          3935-3938:3
7     Mon     13:     1-10          3938:4-8
8     Tue          11-22          3939-3940
9     Wed     14:     1-18          3941:1-6
10     Thu          19:31          3941:7-3944
11     Fri     15:     1-21          3945-3951
12     Sat     15:     22-16:9     3952
13     Sun     16:     10-21          3953-3956
14     Mon          22-36          3957
15     Tue     17               3958-3961
16     Wed     18:     1-12          3962-3968
17     Thur          13-27          3969:1-5
18     Fri     19:     1-9          3969:6-11
19     Sat          10-25          3969:12-17
20     Sun     20               3970-3973
21     Mon     21:     1-17          3974-3977
22     Tue          18-36          3978-3982
23     Wed     22:     1-15          3983-3986
24     Thur          16-31          3987:3992
25     Fri     23:     1-19          3883:1-4
26     Sat          20-33          3993:5-8
27     Sun     24               3993:9-13
28     Mon     25:     1-16          3994:1-4
29     Tue          17-30          3994:5-7
30     Wed          31-40          3995-3999
31     Thu     26:     1-14          4000-4004

24




     June 1984
          EXODUS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Fri     26:     15-30          4005-4006
2     Sat     26:     31-27:8     4007
3     Sun     27:     9-21          4008-4012
4     Mon     28:     1-14          4013-4015
5     Tue          15-30          4016-4022
6     Wed          31-43          4023-4027
7     Thu     29:     1-14          4028-4030
8     Fri          15-28          4031-4033
9     Sat          29-46          4034-4038
10     Sun     30:     1-10          4039-4044
11     Mon          11-21          4045-4047
12     Tue          22-38          4048-4050
13     Wed     31               4051-4055

               MATTHEW
14     Thur     *24:     1-13          4056-4059
15     Fri     *               4060
16     Sat     *     29-41          Gen. xxxi, 4061-4063:3
17     Sun     *24:     42-51          4063:4-4066
18     Mon     *25:     31-46          4067

     *Indicates seasonal readings not in the regular sequence.

               JOHN
19     Tue     *14:     15-31          4068-4072
20     Wed     *16:     1-16          4073-4075

     *Indicates seasonal readings not in the regular sequence.

               EXODUS
21     Thu     32:     1-14          4076-4084
22     Fri          15-35          4085-4094
23     Sat     33:     1-11          4095-4096
24     Sun     34:     1-17          4104
25     Mon     34:     1-17          4104
26     Tue          18-35          4105-4109
27     Wed     35:     1-19          4110
28     Thu          20-35          4111
29     Fri     36:     1-19          4112-4114
30     Sat          20-38          4115-4117

     The readings for January appear in the December issue. The rest will appear in February. Anyone who wishes to have a separate copy of the readings for 1984 may write to the Secretary of the General Church, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

25


BISHOP BENADE ON EGYPT-III 1984

BISHOP BENADE ON EGYPT-III       R.R.G       1984

     [Based on Bishop Benade's lectures of 1879-80 as reported by Rev. E. J. E. Schreck in the Morning Light (London) of 1880.]

     In his third lecture on Egypt Bishop Benade expressed a fondness for the Egyptian donkey. This little beast is amiable and gentle. If he sometimes falls, he lets you down gently, and as the distance to the ground is not great, you are not hurt, and remount. The donkey's driver is the exact opposite of the donkey. He is a nuisance to everyone in general, and to his donkey in particular, whom he beats incessantly. The sole end of his life seems to be to beat his donkey and to get more "baksheesh" (tips) out of you.
     Bishop Benade suggested that the reason for the building of the pyramids was to provide in the flat desert a fittingly lofty edifice for the king's tomb. These man-made mountains were fashioned for the sake of correspondence. The Egyptians spoke of the tomb as the eternal habitation, their earthly dwellings being mere inns of sojourn. Yet in the early period of the Ancient Church, death was seen as the gate to life everlasting. Thus the Egyptians did not fear death, but, in a way, looked forward to it as the beginning of life. In ancient times peaceful pictures of domestic scenes adorned their walls; only later came scenes of warfare and conquest.
     Embalming represented the preservation of the soul from evils and falsities. Hence Joseph commanded the embalming of his father Jacob. In the embalming process the removal of the viscera and brain and the infilling with aromatic spices and gums represented the change of man's Life after regeneration and his being gifted with a new will and understanding. The priest who conducted the embalming represented the Lord in the work of salvation, taking out the natural affections and thoughts and thus cleansing the man. The man is judged and, if found worthy, enters heaven and comes to his own house.
     The doctrine of the world of spirits, where the departed experience examination and vastation according to need in preparation for their final abode, was known from a manuscript of the first dynasty, long before the building of the pyramids. A reflection of this belief is seen in the Academy's Lanzone papyrus, which Benade and John Pitcairn had published in facsimile. The science of correspondences, the "science of sciences" to the Ancient Church, is to become also the science of sciences for the New Church.
     R.R.G.

26


SWEDENBORG'S LISTS 1984

SWEDENBORG'S LISTS       FRANK S. ROSE       1984

      (Part II)

     BY FRANK S. ROSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE CURATOR OF SWEDENRORGIANA, JONATHAN S. ROSE

     Swedenborg was a very prolific writer, and it is clear that he made various plans about the books he was going to write. We still have some of the lists he made. But first, here is a list of my own:
     There are four phases in Swedenborg's life and it is remarkable how distinct they are.

     1.      Poetry: 1700-1716 (12 years old to 28)
     2.      Science: 1710-1734 (22 years old to 46)
     3.      Anatomy: 1735-1745 (47 years old to 57)
     4.      Theology: 1745-1772 (57 years old to his death at the age of 82)

     What about philosophy? He was interested in philosophy all his life, and wrote a great deal about it. When he wrote, it was usually in relation to something else. In his great work, Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, the philosophical part, The Principia, was related to his study of chemistry and metals. Eleven years later his philosophic work was on the nature of human psychology and the soul, and was written in relation to his study of anatomy. His final book on philosophy, The Worship and Love of God, combined all of his work and was written in a poetic style.

Poetry

     The very first piece we have that was written by Swedenborg (then Emanuel Swedberg) was a poem that he had printed on the occasion of his cousin Beata Hesselia's marriage to Rev. John Kolmodin. It is in Swedish but the title is in Latin: Post Nubila Phoebus, which means "Behind the clouds is the sun." We can see from the poem that even at the age of 12, Swedenborg was interested in the eternity of marriage, and the correspondence of marriage with the relation between the Lord and the church.
     Swedenborg loved writing poems and composed a dozen or more in the sixteen years between his first one at the age of 12 and the ones published in 1716 when he was 28. Some of his poems were printed in books by another author; for instance one of his poems is found in a collection of his father's poetry. In 1715 he came out with a book of poems called Camena Borea, the Northern Muse.

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That was 94 pages long. That year and the next he came out with two others, "Festivus Applausus," 28 pages, and "Ludus Heliconius," 32 pages. He wrote a few more poems later in life, and retained his interest in poetry and music throughout his scientific and philosophic works. As his last book before being called by the Lord to write the Writings indicates, he was, at heart, a poet. (The book, The Worship and Love of God, poetically expresses his ideas matured after thirty-five years of study and reflection.)

Science

     Swedenborg did not major in science at the university, but was very interested in it and pursued his scientific studies in his grand tour of Europe and England after graduation. He travelled for five years, learning everything he could about science and a wide variety of other subjects. Almost as soon as he arrived back in Sweden he began to edit and publish Sweden's first scientific journal: Daedalus Hyperboreus, the Daedalus of the North. Much of the material was his own. This little periodical continued for three years, with six issues being published. Among the articles was one entitled, "Finding the Longitude at Sea by Means of the Moon." Swedenborg had begun thinking about this challenge (a prize was offered for the best solution) when he was 24, and he republished the work four different times, the last time when he was 78 years old!
     He was also fascinated with mathematics and was nominated for a professorship in mathematics at the University of Upsala, but he turned it down. He did publish the first algebra textbook in the Swedish language, Regel Konsten, and a system of counting using the base 8 instead of 10. But his main interest (intellectual and financial) was in the mining industry and he wrote a great deal on different metals and the methods of mining and refining them.
     During his scientific period he published five books.

     1.      Chemistry, 1721
     2.      Iron and Fire, 1721
     3.      Finding the Longitude, and Docks, 1721
     4.      Miscellaneous Observations, 1722
     5.      Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, 1734.1

     Before the first of these came out he had gathered most of the material and asked his brother-in-law, Eric Benzelius, to put a notice in a learned Swedish journal to the effect that he was about to publish fifteen books. Here is a simplified version of that list.

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1.      The diversities of round particles
2.      Water
3.      The interstitial figures of water
4.      Common Salt
5.      Acid Salt
6.      Nitre
7.      Volatile Urinous Salt
8.     Transparency and the colors white, red and yellow
9.      Lead
10.      Fire, iron and its ore and ashes
11.      The elementary nature of fire
12.      Dry Docks
13.      A new construction of a water dam
14.      A method of testing ships
15.      "A New Method of finding the longitude of places on land and at sea, by means of the moon."

     When he got to Holland he revised the plan somewhat and published the material in three books. Items 1 to 9 constitute the chapters in the book known as Chemistry, the full title being: A Forerunner of the Principles of Natural Things, That is, of New Attempts to Explain Chemistry and Experimental Physics Geometrically.
     Numbers 10 and 11 were published together as the book called New Observations and Discoveries Respecting Iron and Fire. A third book was published on finding longitude and also includes numbers 12, 13, and 14 on the construction of dry docks, dams and means of testing ships.2
     The very next year (1722) Swedenborg printed a prospectus inviting people to subscribe to a book that he was going to publish in 1723. In it he explained that the book would be about 1200 pages long with 40 illustrations. Those who ordered it in advance could buy it for three Dutch florins. The post-publication price was to be ten florins. The book was going to deal with practical ways of finding, identifying and refining different metals. It would be the fruit of years of research and travel and promised to be of great benefit to the mining industry. Here, briefly, is what he said its 19 chapters would contain.

     On Minerals in General

1.      Copper
2.      Silver
3.      Lead
4.      Gold

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5.      Separating gold and silver from lead, copper and other metals. Similar processes with:
6.      Quicksilver
7.      Iron
8.      Tin
9.      Zinc and Calamine
10.      Bismuth, Cobalt, Antimony
11.      Methods of separating ores containing several metals, sulphur, arsenic, stones, etc.
12.      Crushing metals, separating them by water

Similar methods of obtaining:
13.      Vitriol
14.      Alum
15.      Saltpetre
16.      Common salt
17.      On furnaces
18.      The nature of fire and the atmosphere as far as relates to the treatment of metals and of salts.
19.      Various solvents for promoting the flux of metals.3

     It was an ambitious work and very useful, but evidently the subscriptions did not come through. Although Swedenborg wrote on most of those subjects over the next six or seven years, the only published material was in sections two and three of his great work, Opera Philosophica el Mineralia (1734). The philosophical part of that work was the Principia dealing with the origin of matter. Part two treated of iron and part three of copper. This was the book that established Swedenborg's reputation in the learned world. And it came at the end of the part of his life where his main interest turned to the mineral kingdom and the physical sciences. Soon after publishing it he took a foreign journey, spending a year in Paris studying human anatomy in his search for the soul. He decided to approach the soul by a thorough study of the kingdom it creates for itself, namely the human body. Next time we will look at some of the lists he made as he sketched out the plan of study that would occupy him for the following ten years.

     FOOTNOTES
1. During this period he also published seven works which should probably be classified as pamphlets due to their smaller size (3-40 pages):
     1. Tinwork (l717)
     2. Longitude (l718)
     3. Earth's Revolution (1719)
     4. Height of Water (1719)

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     5. Money and Measures (1719)
     6. Docks, Sluiceworks and Saltworks (1719)
     7. Swedish Currency (1722)
     Although some of these pamphlets are almost as long as the shorter books of this period (40 pages as compared with 55 pages), the distinction between them is nonetheless clear in that the books were all published abroad in Latin, whereas these pamphlets were all published in Sweden in Swedish.
2. Letters and Memorials, pp. 253, 254
3. Documents Concerning Swedenborg, (Doc. 198) Vol. II pp. 555-557. See also Letters and Memorials, p. 263, and New Philosophy, 1929 p. 113 on.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1984

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1984

     Last summer's issue of Missionary Memo packed six pages with interesting information about what is going on in missionary work in various localities. This included particularly interesting news from Japan. The autumn issue had to be expanded to eight pages. Editors Taylor and Cranch comment: "More is being done, so more can be reported."

     * * *

     The New Philosophy is a quarterly journal of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. It is edited by Dr. Erland J. Brock. The July-September issue contains a highly readable article about Swedenborg's work Rational Psychology. This addresses the question of why Swedenborg did not actually publish that work. At the outset Rev. Goodenough confesses that his article will probably have no immediate application to the reader's life. He then comments:

I have thought a great deal about whether ideas without direct application to life are useful for people to learn and think about. Certainly there is a great deal of totally unnecessary and useless information about. On the other hand, it is self-centered to want all doctrine, all ideas, to benefit and relate to oneself now. There are many important ideas, spiritual and natural, that we have to learn and live with for a time before we understand what they really mean, much less apply to life. If we attend only to those ideas that we understand and can apply immediately upon hearing them we are not going to change very quickly, but will remain pretty much where we are. Only ideas that stretch us can move us out of the comfortable or uncomfortable ruts we tend to run in. Only new ideas can renew the vision, or even keep it alive.
     My purpose tonight is to look at Swedenborg's search for the soul in the years after 1733. That year marks a watershed in his life.

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READING THE WORD IN ENGLISH IN 1984 1984

READING THE WORD IN ENGLISH IN 1984              1984

     A Year's Trial of a New Version

     Maybe it is a bigger undertaking than some of us thought when we first heard of the proposal to try for a year to make wide use of the New King James Version. It has certainly made us pay attention, and good things happen when people concentrate their attention in the right spirit.
     Wouldn't it be a sad commentary if we allowed this effort to bring divisiveness in the church? Ingredients for divisiveness can be found. Some feel strongly one way, and some another. With some, most precious affections and memories are associated with the wording of the King James Version of the Bible. It grates not only upon the ears but upon the hearts of some when familiar passages are read in unfamiliar phrasing. There are some of us who have made it a point to memorize many parts of the Word, and when you memorize you memorize words, and when those words are changed you notice!
     On the other hand there are those who have long complained of difficulty and obscurity in the King James Version. They welcomed the appearance of several new translations. They say their children can now read the Word with better comprehension.
     Inevitably we begin by saying to each other, "I feel this way." And, "Well, I happen to feel that way." And so we each express our views. Another step is really to listen to others and to be willing to appreciate their point of view. And then what?
     Why then we look beyond the preferences of different factions. Rather than proceed exclusively on our present persuasions, we seek to gain a better understanding than we have previously held. And if we are willing there is no doubt that we will find common ground even for those who seem to be furthest apart on this matter. There is so much agreement when you really begin to explore the matter in a responsible fashion. We have much to say to each other on this important matter. And things are as they should be when we get such letters as the ones in this issue, and when the letters are read and digested and when response is forthcoming.

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     This year of trial did not really come upon us very suddenly. We have been working up to it. The late Cairns Henderson did some gentle preparation as editor of this magazine. And we have had some thought-provoking items such as the one entitled, "Aren't Modern Translations Unholy?" which we published in 1981 (p. 317).
     The appearance of the New King James Version did give us an opportunity that we did not anticipate. As the Book Center advertisement in NEW CHURCH LIFE Said last August, "This is a translation of the Bible that has been done with the idea of preserving as far as possible the beauty and familiarity of the traditional King James Version while correcting errors of translation and incorporating changes in the language that have developed over the past 370 years. It is hoped that the meaning of the Word will be conveyed more easily and accurately by this version."
     In recent months we have found that this is not as simple a matter as it may at first have seemed. We are now in the situation of a trial. Let us make it our business to avoid the pitfalls and to seek the benefits that trial can bring.

     100TH ANNIVERSARIES

     The Girls School of the Academy of the New Church is one hundred years old. It began with a handful of students in February of 1884. In September of the same year it was recognized as a use of the Academy. We shall be mentioning the Girls School from time to time in the months ahead. We salute and congratulate the many past graduates, the present faculty and the more than one hundred girls who are enrolled this year.
     Speaking of 100th anniversaries, the 8th of this month marks a notable and unusual wedding which takes a little explaining. January 8th is anniversary day for four daughters of Mr. George Starkey. On the evening of January 8, 1884, in a double wedding ceremony Gertrude married John Pitcairn and Cam married Robert M. Glenn. Two more of the Starkey sisters were married in another double wedding exactly one year later. Pauline married John A. Wells and Dora married Charles S. Smith. Many of our readers are descended from those four weddings. This information comes from page 644 of NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1917. In that year this magazine published in several installments a fascinating biography of the remarkable John Pitcairn.

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SIMPLER LANGUAGE 1984

SIMPLER LANGUAGE       HELEN KRESZ       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor:

     Having come from the Catholic Church to the New Church four years ago, I have been saddened on many occasions when I have been made to realize that beautiful thoughts and ideas of the Writings are being constricted by out-dated terminology of the English language.
     Mr. Goerwitz (November issue) said that simplicity was high on Swedenborg's list of priorities. It seems to me the whole reason for Swedenborg's writing the books was to take extremely complex realities and explain them as simply as possible so they could be understood by everybody.
     When we consider Who it was that Swedenborg tells us directed him to take pen in hand, then hopefully we will realize that the Lord Jesus Christ wills and desires that every human being He creates may learn about Him in the simplest, easiest way possible. He wants to communicate with us, so therefore He planned and provided for the Writings to come into being. And they are, to my mind, an easy way of communicating the internal sense of the Word. If this were not so, why would the Lord not just have left the Old and New Testaments unexplained?
     Since He planned and provided the existence of the Writings, what reason would He have for wanting them to be obscure and with language that the general mass of His created beings would find difficult? They were written in Latin for good reason, it being a dead language and no longer used; therefore the meaning of the words could not be changed by daily usage. But our responsibility must be to translate them into living languages that are constantly changing.
     It seems to me that holding onto dated terminology and language is a hurdle in the Lord's way as He strives to reach us, right where we are today, with His many wonderful truths. Since He gives us the ability, why don't we just move the hurdle out of His way?
     Perhaps individually we have been able to overcome this problem in our lives, but maybe it is time to consider other people in any decisions that are made. Some of these are the young who cannot speak for themselves, the church universal-some of whose members hopefully we can reach-and adult members of the General Church itself who lose the struggle when they try to read the Writings. And unfortunately we never hear from this latter group.

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     With so many people to think of, the cost in time and money to make new translations seems almost insignificant in comparison with how long they have been planned for and the number of people who stand to benefit.
     HELEN KRESZ,
          Cincinnati, Ohio
WOMEN ON BOARDS 1984

WOMEN ON BOARDS       GRACE LINDSAY HODGES       1984

Dear Rev. Rose:

     Reading over the discussion of having women on the Board and Corporation of the General Church brings to my mind that the Miami Circle was formed by two Women, Miss Caroline Fritz (Mrs. Edward Collins) and myself in the 1940s.
     It was then because of our belief in the doctrines of the church and especially Divine Providence that we brought together groups of people for meetings in our homes. At first we periodically had a minister sent down to conduct services and classes, later we asked Bishop George de Charms for a resident pastor. We are continuing to have services with a church and permanent pastor. Now we have couples and families.
     GRACE LINDSAY HODGES,
          Pompano Beach, Florida
WHY WE MUST NEVER STOP REVISING OUR TRANSLATIONS 1984

WHY WE MUST NEVER STOP REVISING OUR TRANSLATIONS       KENT COOPER       1984

     A RESPONSE

     I must confess before starting that I heard from Richard Goerwitz, before reading his article ("Why We Should Not Revise Our Translations," NEW CHURCH LIFE, October 1983, p. 433), that it was intended more to stir thought on the subject than as a serious proposal. It has certainly stirred my thoughts. As he says, "clear and open discussion of this subject will enlighten everyone . . . ." I would be gratified to be able to contribute to that process, by demonstrating why we cannot take his suggestion seriously.
     Before discussing Mr. Goerwitz's title and thesis, I would like to comment on a few of his assertions.
     He writes, "Terminological questions are the main criteria by which we are accepting or rejecting new translations . . . ," implying that this is a bad thing.

35


But they should be the main criteria. The primary tool of a translator is a dictionary, and however important tone, inflection, and emphasis are, the translator's primary concern is with the transfer of meaning. Varying the other elements of translation (punctuation, word order, grammar, sentence length, discourse structure, etc.) is approximately equivalent to making the syntactic transformations Mr. Goerwitz demonstrates. These varying sentence structures are, after all, logically equivalent. Treating such variables differently can make tremendous differences between translations, but without English words that are capable of transferring the meaning of the ideas, everything else is pointless. We do not need to worry about overemphasizing the terminological questions unless and until they come too close to being the only criteria. But if this were the case, we should expect to be able to decide, for example, that "marriage" is a better word than "conjugial," and go through an old translation of Conjugial Love making the substitution. I don't think anyone would suggest that we would come out the other end with a better translation.
     Mr. Goerwitz also writes, "Almost all foreign language learning at this day involves extensive memorization of paradigms and phrases. Rarely, if ever, do students hear the language spoken at length . . . . The only reason why it has been done this way is that Latin and Greek have always been taught this way." Yes, I was taught Latin this way. But I know from personal experience with Italian that it is very common today to teach languages by conversational example, often not allowing English to be spoken at all in the classroom. Stock phrases may still be used in crash courses for tourists, but "real" instruction has been moving away from the old methods used for Latin and Greek. Even so, some memorization of conjugations and other forms is still necessary, not because Latin and Greek are taught that way, but because we cannot generally immerse American students in, for example, a French milieu while they are in school here. Even if we could, it would take far longer to assimilate all the possible variants by exposure to ordinary conversation than by more "traditional" learning.
     Even if, in a New Church translators' Utopia, we could set up an enclave where people spoke only neo-Latin for the purpose of educating translators, we still could never reach the ideal level of understanding, because just as Swedenborg's neo-Latin was influenced by his Swedish, our neo-Swedenborg's-neo-Latin would be influenced by our English and other modern languages. We can never expect to understand Swedenborg's Latin as he did.

36



     I must agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Goerwitz's opinion that it is "the healthiest thing a church can do to use different translations in all facets of worship." We should be using many translations all the time, for two reasons. First, it would lessen the affectional attachment that people have to overly familiar translations, and thereby the resistance to change. He writes, however, "as a new translation would mean altering so many things which have so much meaning for us [e.g., our traditional terminology], why do we dare alter these beloved externals?" To this I say, why do we dare leave them unaltered? If resistance to change is a problem, it will only get worse while we wait to decide whether we are fully capable of solving it. Secondly, and more important, using many translations would make everyone aware, from a very early age, that they ore only translations, that the Word was not written in English, and that its holiness lies not in the wording but in the meaning behind it. This cannot help but advance the awareness and support of translation work among the church population. It is unfortunate that when we print a liturgy or hymnal, quotes from the Word in it must unavoidably be tied down to a particular wording. Perhaps at least things which appear more than once could be translated differently. Might not this cause be important enough for us even to use a different version of the Lord's Prayer in each office in the Liturgy?
     Now let us focus on Mr. Goerwitz's main point, which is summed up in the following quote:

Until we are willing to re-examine our implicit assumptions about tradition, externals of worship, about language, and about what a translation really is, I don't believe we should attempt genuine revisions or retranslations of either the Writings or, for that matter, the Old and New Testaments.

     In short, he is saying we shouldn't do it until we know how to do it properly. This is effectively equivalent to saying, "Let's keep using our outdated translations until we really know how to do new ones right."
     First of all, it is remarkable how eloquently he presents some of the arguments against his own point. He asks, for example, whether some of our unusual terminology will "make our ideas inaccessible to those not possessing extensive and specialized knowledge." We would certainly keep them inaccessible if we took his advice and refrained from updating our translations. He also points out that the Writings are written in rather simple Latin, and that "failure to reflect this in our translations actually misrepresents [Swedenborg's] original intent."

37


And, "to transfer normal Latin constructions to English . . . 'literally' is to destroy their original clarity. Literal translation is thus a kind of failure." Shall we hold onto our old failures? Many of our currently-available translations are indeed much more complex as English than their originals are as Latin. Is he suggesting that we not try to correct this situation until we have attained some lofty peak of all-encompassing wisdom on the subject of translation? The longer we wait, the less likely people will be to read any translations.
     He also deplores "the position that learned, antiquated, or Latinate English is 'better' than the language of today," and compares those who think so to "mechanics trained only to work outmoded machines, who would rather strike than retrain." I seriously doubt that anyone working in translation for us today is guilty of this, but Mr. Goerwitz seems rather suspect, if he is advocating that we stick to our old translations that are in antiquated, Latinate English. Mechanic, retrain thyself.
     I could go on, but let me summarize. In the points cited, and in others, Mr. Goerwitz tells us very clearly that we can't go on having translations like many of those we now use. When he then tells us we shouldn't try to do anything about it, I wonder what his message really is.
     It seems to me that the ideal for which he would have us strive is unattainable, for several reasons. I have already suggested that we can never understand Swedenborg's Latin well enough; how much less can we expect to achieve a definitive understanding of a living, changing language like English? Surely to do our work "right" we must reach this impossible goal for both languages. Whatever we do will go out of date anyway, no matter how well we do it, which is all the more reason to do it as often as possible. How long shall we wait to start? I would even suggest that if we ever feel we have progressed far enough to begin doing this work "properly," we will be wrong. The more the angels advance in wisdom, the more they are aware of how little they know.
     The most important point I want to make is that we will not learn by not doing. Mr. Goerwitz's suggestion is something like asking a child not to try to walk until it knows how to run. No amount of watching other people walk, and studying skeletal structure and muscular action, would enable anyone to walk confidently at the first attempt, much less run, or dance, or skate. The same is true of learning to talk.

38


One hears occasional stories of children who never speak at all until, one day, they suddenly come out with a sentence of half a dozen words. While these may be the first words anyone else hears, 1 doubt that they are actually the first words spoken.
     How could a child have any idea what formations of the mouth would produce a given individual sound, let alone a whole word or series of words, without trying them out? Even if this miracle is possible, I suspect that such children would have reached the same level of linguistic development far sooner if they had been talking all along, however falteringly.
     And what if our translations are flawed by our lack of development? Is this so dangerous that we should stay with the old ones which have flaws we know how to correct? Still water may remain wholesome for a while, but when it becomes stagnant and you can see that it is not good, it is time to seek another source. Even if you are uncertain of its purity, if it looks cleaner you will be more willing to risk it.
     The kinds of flaws which arise from the shortcomings Mr. Goerwitz is concerned about do not prevent the essential message from getting across. If they did, there might not be any New Church organizations today. Though young children's R's and L's often sound like W's, we can still understand what they say. Helen Keller certainly knew that her deafness made it impossible for her to speak as clearly as other people, but she learned to speak, and with a little patience and effort, she could be understood. Would it have been better for her (or for us) if she had not tried?
     I do not wish to leave the impression that I think we should not strive for Mr. Goerwitz's goals. We should certainly work toward them unceasingly. But we should not expect ever to reach them, and most of all, we should not wait until then to revise and re-translate. They will always stay ahead of us, because of changes in modern language, revelation-language research, translation theory, and doctrinal interpretation. If we wait, we will never do anything. There may come a time in the growth of the church when we can produce a new translation of every part of Divine revelation, say, every twenty years or less. We would probably also have different types of translations for different audiences. Then we will certainly have narrowed the gap between what we know about what we're doing and what we should know. But for now, though we walk with faltering steps, we must keep walking, as much as we can. We will learn much more, and much more quickly, by doing the best we can with what we know now.

39


WORLD RELEASE SHARE SALE 1984

WORLD RELEASE SHARE SALE              1984

     New Church Collateral Publishing is getting ready to publish its second out-of-print New Church work by John Clowes. This work, originally titled On Mediums, has thrilled all who have been fortunate enough to read it. It's the type of book you like to lend to friends. It is like a light shining on the outside world, or a "link" book for those who are seeking.
     However, due to the lack of available funds to print this gem, New Church Collateral Publishing is prepared to sell valuable shares in this project to raise the necessary monies to get this work reprinted before it is lost to the world.

     SOLD OUT

WORKING SHARES

These shares have been taken by Rev. Bill Woofenden, who has taken on the work of totally reviewing and updating into modern English Clowes' work on mediums, first printed in 1814 and then reprinted in 1828. Total work shares sold out.

     SOLD OUT

ACTION SHARES

These shares are to get the funds raised, arrange the typesetting and printing and distribution of the finished work. These shares have been all taken up by Les Sheppard on behalf of the New Church Collateral Publishing.

     SHARES STILL AVAILABLE

ENTHUSIASUM SHARES

100 only at $200-L100
These shares are for those who love to own these great collateral works and want them reprinted at any price. Shares limited to 1 per person.

     INTEREST SHARES

105 only at $20-L10
These shares are for people interested in seeing these books available in this world for our future children. No limit on these shares.

     EFFORT SHARES

200 only at $100-L5
These shares are for people who appreciate the effort required to get these works reprinted and wish to do their little bit.

LOVE SHARES

1,000 only at $1-50p
These shares are for all who love the New Church and its teaching and who want to see it living on. As these are top selling shares, those first in will be given preference.

Attractive share certificates will be issued to all shareholders and will retain always their nil worldly value. However, their spiritual value, I am sure, will increase with every book that is read or made available to be read.

Don't delay, as this book will be ready to go to the printers in January 1984. Send for the shares of your choice to

     NEW CHURCH COLLATERAL PUBLISHING
     P. O. BOX 45
     WOOLLOONGABBA, 4102
     QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

40


Church News 1984

Church News       Mary Aye       1984

     THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CIRCLE

     From northern California we send greetings and best wishes to you all.
     On the first of this last July our circle entered its third year with Rev. Wendel Barnett as its first full-time pastor. The first two years were eventful, challenging and rewarding-which made them pass very quickly. We now have Wendel's assurance that "plans are being mad which will make the coming year the most spiritually fulfilling year to date." We look forward to that!
     We hold worship services in the Japanese Seventh Day Adventist church in Mountain View. It offers a spacious and beautiful sanctuary plus adequate accommodations for all our social events, as needed.
     The summer of 1982 was of particular importance to New Churchmen of the northern California and southern Oregon areas. For at that time the ordination of our pastor into the second degree of the priesthood took place on the closing day of the First California District Assembly, San Diego, Bishop Louis King officiating.
     A bit later in the season the Barnetts moved into the new manse. It affords more living space plus safe play-yard space for the "little people" of the family. The manse is used as a meeting place for many activities in the circle.
     We have had activity in the field of evangelization. Rev. Douglas Taylor had made a presentation on this subject to our circle last year, and this led to the placing of the Writings in local bookstores, and the developing of a new book room at the manse. This has led to the selling of more than $2,000 worth of books. Then followed a lecture presentation which Rev. Barnett gave locally at the San Jose Holistic Center on the subject of life after death. This was the same format as a talk at the East-West Bookshop earlier. Gwen Barnett and Christine Pendleton distributed 33 copies of Helen Keller's My Religion, which had been donated by the Swedenborg Foundation. This is just a touch of what these efforts have accomplished.
     Of great interest was our pastor's organizing of a church-wide group in reading the Arcana Coelestia, a program which can be completed in five years. A schedule is available to guide us in the reading, and to eventually reach the goal. It's a challenge-but rewarding.
     Another program in the field of evangelization and missionary effort is in the early stages of production by our pastor. It is a TV series entitled "Dying, Death and Beyond." It will be a 13- week half-hour taped presentation. Its first showing will be on our San Jose cable system (one of the largest ones in the country). The tapes will be available after the 13-week flight to be used on the public access channel of any cable system in the country. Volunteers from the circle are manning cameras, performing as floor managers, "boom" men and all sorts of duties. Scheduled guests who will take part include "university lecturers, nurses, chaplains, hospice workers, representatives of the Center for Living and Dying, chaplains, folks who have experiences an N.D.E. (Near Death Experience), etc., Dr. Charles T. Tart, a noted O. B. E. (Out of Body Experience), and one or two New Church ministers," This program is to introduce Swedenborg, through his work Heaven and Hell.
     In preparation, Wendel has taken two 3-hour courses at our De Anza College on TV production. We are proud of his efforts and accomplishments, and know it will be successful in helping to relieve viewers of their fears and anxieties associated with death-their own or that of loved ones.

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     We have lost some of our members due mainly to dictates of employments. But we have added four of a more permanent status: Daniel Owen Cooper, son of Paul and Nora Cooper, born April 16, 1982; Kiera Dandridge Crawford, adopted daughter of Tom and Terry Crawford, born May 17, 1982; Christopher Charles Evans, son of Bob and Merrily Evans, born Aug. 5, 1982, and Brittany Diane Barnett, daughter of Wendel and Gwen Barnett, born Feb. 2, 1983. (In noting new arrivals, we must add that our Red and Chris Pendleton became grandparents of twin girls, born April 15, 1982, to Michael and Lynn Pendleton, Sacramento. Dr. and Mrs. Pendleton have just moved back east.)
     Thirty-eight visitors worshiped with us during the past year alone, one family as far away as Durban, South Africa. Our invitation extends to all of our friends who come to the Bay Area. If we know of your coming we will be very happy to help you in getting accommodations and to show you our beautiful San Francisco area.
     Other visitors were Rev. Peter Buss, the Bishop's representative to the California District; Mr. Brian Schnarr, Dean of Men at the Academy College, Bryn Athyn; Rev. and Mrs. Harold Cranch from Glendale, and Mr. Ariel Gunther from Bryn Athyn. We are looking forward to a visit from Mr. Neil Buss and, later, a visit from Bishop King.
     We celebrated New Church Day on June 12 this year in order to let Rev. Barnett participate and still get off to his five-week stint at Chaplain School, at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama.
     During our pastor's absence, we were privileged to have Rev. Jan Weiss and Rev. Cedric King fill in for Rev. Barnett. The "tour of duty" at Maxwell AFB was a most interesting and informative experience, our pastor reported.
     All who know Mrs. Frank Muller (Lottie to most everyone) will be happy to know that she has fully recovered from her surgery this past summer. She is at home and is completely self-sufficient. A remarkable lady!
     This report cannot be concluded without noting that the San Francisco circle misses very few chances for social gatherings. We have picnics, suppers and receptions at every opportunity and excuse to do so. Please come to see us and we'll have another reception!
     Mary Aye,
          Secretary
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1984

MINISTERIAL CHANGES              1984

     Rev. Wendel Barnett will become Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society, and Assistant to the Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School, effective July 1, 1984.

     Rev. Mark Carlson will become Pastor of the San Francisco Circle, effective July 1, 1984.

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ORDINATION 1984

ORDINATION              1984




     ANNOUNCEMENTS
     Gladish-At Atlanta, Georgia, November 6, 1983, Rev. Nathan Donald Gladish into the second degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.
Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984

     [Photo of Emanuel Swedenborg, born January 1688, died March 1772]

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SPIRITUAL DIARY 1984

SPIRITUAL DIARY              1984


Records and Notes made by
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
between 1746 and 1765
from his experiences in the spiritual world

     Spiritual Diary, Volume I.          $7.50
     Volumes 2-5, sets only           25.00
     Set 1-5                    32.50
     Please include $1.00 postage with order.

     EXPERIENTIAE SPIRITUALES

     [VOLUMEN PRIMUM,
continens materias liminares
undecunque sumptas, ut et
paragraphos numeratas ex
Indice Biblico extractas]

     Academy of the New Church
Bryn Athyn, PA U.S.A.
1983

     Spiritual Diary, Volume I, Latin      $30.00
     Please include $1.00 postage with order.

     Phone: (215) 947-3920
General Church Book Center
Box 278

     Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
Hours: 9-12 Monday thru Friday

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Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984


Vol. CIV     February, 1984     No. 2

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Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984

The sermon in this issue is the first we have published by Rev. Clark Echols. He is pastor of the central western district of the United States, resident in Denver, Colorado.
     The study "Priest and Layman" in the November issue will be continued next month. We have had a particularly appreciative letter from London about it not for publication. In this issue it is mentioned in letters from Massachusetts, New Mexico and Florida.
     Rev. Clayton Priestnal is pastor of the Convention Church in New York. We are pleased to have articles from time to time with his special touch.
     Inside the cover of Swedenborg's first manuscript on anatomy he wrote a list under the words "Man Proposes, God Disposes." Here is a facsimile of that original list. Notice the way a new item is squeezed between the first two. Rev. Frank Rose explains this on page 59 where a translation of the list appears.

     [handwriting]

     In this issue Bishop Willard Pendleton reviews the "monumental effort" soon to be published. It is the biography of perhaps "the most controversial figure in the history of the New Church."
     We have been wondering how to picture the Girls School of the Academy of the New Church on its 100th anniversary. Should we show a building or some past leaders? We have chosen this month simply to show a few of the 107 students now enrolled.

     PUTTING THE WRITINGS INTO COMPUTER MEMORY

If this subject interests you, see the announcement on page 81.

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TO REPAY IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY 1984

TO REPAY IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY       Jr. Rev. J. CLARK ECHOLS       1984

"You have heard that is was said 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you resist not evil. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also" (Matt. 5:38, 39).

     How do you react when someone wrongs you? Do you demand justice? They should pay the fair price for their wrongdoing? Or perhaps you use non-violent resistance: like giving them the "silent treatment," or ignoring them or defying them? Or do you try to follow the literal command of Jesus and leave yourself open to further attack, perhaps even inviting attack?
     Real problems are involved here. Demanding justice may involve us in taking over for the true Judge, the Lord. Refusing to react to evil actions and evil people, or purposely ignoring them, can actually be morally wrong. Or, our desire for justice may clothe an inner desire for revenge. And finally, turning the other cheek when what is truly good is being harmed does not go along with other teachings of the Word. Even Jesus said He came with a sword (see Matt. 10:34).
     Jesus' main point is couched in a parable, as are all His teachings to the masses: the old law was for the Israelites, and was simply retaliation; the new law, part of His new covenant, was for a new type of person, a more spiritual person, whose mind had been opened by the Lord's redemption of mankind. In spiritualizing the law, Jesus changed it. He brought the external law actually closer to its source in the spiritual world.
     For the New Church, believing as it does in a new revelation that explains the spiritual laws within the Old and New Testaments, there has been yet another veil removed. We can understand the very laws of the spiritual world, without parable. And so the Heavenly Doctrine supplies us with the means whereby we can discover the workings of our spirit. We are led to ask what action of our spirit is described by the law "an eye for an eye" and what by the law "turn the other cheek."
     Everything natural, including the letter of the Word, has a spiritual cause. Nothing exists which is not a vessel of spiritual law and order. In nature we see this in an indefinite number of forms. From rocks and earth to flowers and trees, to animals and to man, we see displayed the creative force of the Lord. This representation of spiritual causes in effects takes place in the Word as well.

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     The Word displays, in various forms, the laws that rule the spiritual world and our spirit. In heaven and in hell the rule is the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do to you. So in heaven the angels do what is good from their hearts, and receive good back from others. In hell, the evil spirits do what is evil from their hearts, and receive what is evil back from others. The law is that "every good has its reward attached to it, and every evil its punishment" (AC 8214). This is the "constant and perpetual law in the spiritual world. And so much so that not only do the angels never seek punishment of evil spirits, they are in no fear of evil spirits at all! They know that "the laws of order defend and protect what is good and true" (AC 8223:2), and so they need not worry about defending themselves.
     If only the golden rule were such a constant and evident law for us in the natural world. There are two reasons why the golden rule does not operate so totally on earth. The first is the mixing of the presence of evil and good. The good have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families and their uses against the attacks of evil on a very external level. Civil law ought to be established in a nation, the Word tells us, for just this reason. The second reason is the mere fact of our physical nature. There is a part of each of us that is spiritually blind; it cannot see the golden rule, and never will; it has no use for it. Even when we are regenerated by the Lord, it is not our body, our corporeal life, that obeys the golden rule-our spirit obeys, and then directs the body. Our sensuous life demands protection and immediate justice. Before we are regenerate, we have to work to rise above this low level of consciousness. The Lord has given us the means: His Word, and especially its internal sense.
     The Children of Israel are the perfect example of merely natural, materialistic, external people. The law of heaven, the golden rule, could not be understood by these people. And so the law that goodness will bring its own reward, and evil its own punishment, had to be given to them in a form they could understand and live by. At the same time the law had to actually represent the spiritual law of the golden rule, even though heavily shrouded. Their law was that if they obeyed the Lord, they received the land that flowed with milk and honey. If they disobeyed, they were conquered and lost the promise. If an individual was obedient, he was one of the chosen people. If he broke the law, justice was meted out. Even the degree of the reward or punishment matched the degree of the goodness or sin. Such were many of the laws. What stands out most in all this, however, is the fact that the Israelites lived by the law of retaliation, not the golden rule. And by the time Jesus came to the world, they had so perverted the law that it could no longer serve justice; it was used solely for revenge.

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     All this was changed when the Lord redeemed mankind. Then all could see that the spirit of the law was what counted. The ford opened men's minds and then fed their new spirituality with heaven's laws. In the New Testament we see new representations of the same law, now more fully revealed, less shrouded. Men could see that evil was punished, even if only after death. The final justice would apply: the good inherited the kingdom of God; the evil did not. Life on earth was made secondary to eternal life; and so natural justice didn't matter as much. In fact, repaying another's evils toward you should be left up to God.
     This view of life was totally new to the Jews of the Lord's day. He had to change men's habitual thinking pattern. He had to lift their thought above revenge, and remove the desire for it. To establish this new law with the people, the Lord went to the opposite extreme of the old law in many ways. To signal your disregard for mere civil justice, instead of appealing to the law and seeking revenge, you turned the other cheek; you would give up your coat also; you would go two miles. The Lord is here commanding an action for them that was opposite to what they were used to. Yet it was simple to understand; it was easy to see; it was a powerful symbol; and it established a clear break between the Jewish dispensation and the Christian dispensation. And in all this, it still portrayed the heavenly laws, now in symbols appropriate for the people's new, little-exercised ability to understand spiritual things.
     If the law "an eye for an eye" represented the laws of heaven to the people of the Old Testament, and the golden rule represented the same laws for the people of the New Testament, what is the representation of the laws of heaven for the New Church? The fact is that, since the second coming, the Lord has so raised our consciousness that we can actually be in the light of heaven. It is hard to imagine what it would be like not to be able to do this, since we all have the ability. It would be like not ever caring one whit about a person's feelings; or having all our morality based solely on natural, physical situations; or not caring or knowing about our spirit and its health. We all can do these things pretty much automatically as we mature. Our natural life is still there-we have civil law and contracts that must be written down. We require that lawbreakers be punished. We even put people to death. But all that applies to the life of our body. It is concerned only with civil justice and order.
     We are here concerned with the spiritual laws themselves. We can understand them in the light of heaven, without any symbols-totally unveiled. It is our responsibility, our duty, to see justice on this higher level. It is our job to apply the laws of the Word to ourselves-to our spirit, not to apply them to others.

50



     The question for us is: do we seek revenge, retribution, repayment? Are we following the message of the hells, living by their laws? We know we should not desire revenge. But it is so natural, so easy just to say a few words, or just one word-the last word. It's easy to give someone the "silent treatment." It's easy not to do something we're supposed to, and then conveniently forget about it altogether. It's easy to frustrate someone who has frustrated you. After all, it's the person's just deserts. All these actions, or non-actions, come from a spirit of revenge. Once we notice this, it is easy to see.
     But how do we overcome these natural, habitual responses? Jesus said "turn the other cheek." That is, become conscious of our reactions to people who have wronged us. Use the ability the Lord has given us beyond that of the Israelites or the first Christians. Become more concerned for what is happening inside of you than what happens to you. What will you benefit if you "get back" and lose your spiritual happiness? Instead of needing immediate, physical justice, as the
Israelites did, or the somewhat vague reward in God's kingdom, as the first Christians did, we should desire the peace and security of heaven. For we can have it now.
     If in all that we love, think and do we are conscious of loving our neighbor instead of retaliating, the Lord will bless us with peace. We will have peace of mind, untroubled by thoughts of plans for revenge. We won't waste our spiritual energy worrying about how we can get back.
     And not only will we have peace, but we will have security and self-esteem. Instead of looking outside of ourselves for all the ways things can be "fair" in this world, instead of trying to build impenetrable walls around ourselves so that we won't be hurt by someone, we should be seeking the security of the truth. The truth is that the Lord protects those who are trying to be good people, spiritually good people. Self-esteem is not something we earn by comparing ourselves with others. We are not made better when others are put down. It comes from knowing, believing, living by the fact that the Lord is with us. Such will be our confidence that we won't care what other people say or do against us; we won't be slapped by others' wrongs to us. We will know that the Lord's peace and security are ours, for we are His and He is in us.
     Such feelings of peace, security and self-esteem require a lot of work on our part. First we have to practice not seeking revenge. We have to stop ourselves from paying people back, even in the smallest ways. Once we break that habit, we will then be ready to move on to working on our spirit. We prayerfully establish a trust in the Lord, knowing that only He can actually change our spirit. He alone has the power to remove the hells from our consciousness. To believe that we do this ourselves is to believe that we have life in ourselves, which is clearly not true.

51



     This, then, is what is meant by not resisting evil and turning the other cheek, seen in the light of the spiritual sense of the Word. It applies primarily to our own spiritual life, and from that spiritual cause it affects our natural life. Turn away from evil. It cannot harm you, for you are protected by the Lord He resists evil. This applies to our daily life here on earth in that insofar as people work on themselves in this way, so far will the golden rule reign. As people become more confident in their trust in the Lord, they will be able more readily to do unto others as they wish others would do to them.
     It is up to each one of us to spiritually turn the other cheek. Then there will come the day when we won't have to fear someone striking us again. We will not have to resist evil, for we will be confident that the Lord will protect His truth, and protect those who live by it. Do not think, therefore, that we can establish the kingdom of God on earth by civil laws. It will be established by those who look within themselves; those who obey the practical words of the Psalm: "keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears hear their cry" (Psalm 34:13-15). The apostle Peter gave this good advice: "All of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous: not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing" (I Peter 3:8, 9). And the Heavenly Doctrine tells us that "they who are in heavenly love ought not to have delight in retaliation or revenge, but in imparting benefits; the very law of order, which protects what is good, performs this protection by itself" (AC 8223e, emphasis added). Amen.

     LESSONS: Exodus 21:12-26; Luke 6:27-38; AE 556:7, 8 ON LINCOLN A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

ON LINCOLN A HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

A century ago NEW CHURCH LIFE often published sparkling little bits of information. In February of 1884 it published the following quotation "of great interest" from the Messenger:

Mr. Lincoln was not a member of any of the various sects of churches. A very few knew why. He was a religious man, a very conscientious man, and his conscience was formed by the Ten Commandments and the Word of God, which, in private, he read much. His 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.

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MYSTERY OF SLEEP 1984

MYSTERY OF SLEEP       Rev. CLAYTON PRIESTNAL       1984

Into the mouth of guilt-tortured Macbeth, Shakespeare put words which express in poetic language the essence of sleep.

     . .Innocent sleep,
     Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
     The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
     Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
     Chief nourisher in life's feast-

     At the close of each day man surrenders himself to slumber. In childhood it was the mysterious "sandman" who crept into the nursery and touched infant eyelids and closed them for the night. Maturity robs the mind of such a fanciful concept and it becomes known that fatigue draws the curtain of consciousness and allows the mind to rest from daylight labors. Not a single person is exempt from the necessity of sleep. Often for one reason or another this precious period of repose is interrupted or denied by pain or an over-wrought state, but even then nature eventually triumphs over the resistance of the mind. Sooner or later sleep comes to all men for it is an essential part in maintaining physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. How rarely is it realized that this nocturnal interlude is among the great gifts of God.
     To an age addicted to strong sedatives to quiet nerves and induce sleep, the words from the 127th Psalm should convey a message of warning. "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He giveth His beloved sleep." The Psalmist provides evidence that worldly striving and insomnia are not recent afflictions caused by the stresses of modern society; it was ever thus. The concern so many people have for personal success, which results in restlessness, worry and ulcers, is declared to be fruitless. A newer translation of the closing phrase of the quotation from the psalm makes its meaning clearer: ". . . So doth He give His beloved in sleep." This translation is in keeping with what the New Church teaches about the value of sleep.
     When eyelids close and conscious activities cease, all awareness of life is obliterated for the time being. One hardly needs to be well-versed in the science of correspondences to recognize that sleep signifies a state where there is a lack of perception in respect to spiritual truth. When the spirit is not awake to the presence of the Lord and the reality of His heavenly kingdom, the Scripture speaks of this as being "asleep." When one is so engrossed in the affairs of the world, its employments and pleasures, that eternal verities seem no more than the irrelevant vagaries of man's imagination, the person is spiritually asleep.

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Then it is that the Lord endeavors to reach him in some way, arouse him out of his ignorance and lethargy, to reveal something of the grandeur of the Christian life and the glories of heaven. It is for ample reason that so many of the significant events recorded in the Scripture, events of great moment and consequence, began while the individuals involved were asleep. The Lord came to them, usually in a dream, and unfolded in the vision a new and unexpected destiny.
     In the book of Genesis it is recorded that as the sun was touching the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and twilight shrouded the land, Abram fell into a deep sleep. Suddenly the horror of the darkness came upon him. Translating the nighttime and the terror into their spiritual equivalents, this episode describes vividly Abram's sudden awareness of his lack of spiritual enlightenment, his alienation from Jehovah. The time was opportune for the Lord to reveal to Abram that he was to be the founder of a nation, and commissioned to restore in the people a knowledge of God. Abram responded to the call. Thus the history of the Israelites began in the dark hours of night while an obscure man slept.
     There is another memorable incident well worth recalling which took place nearly ten centuries after the call of Abram when the Lord came to a young boy, Samuel, while he was asleep in the temple. Samuel's mother, in gratitude to the Lord for His having fulfilled her desire for a son, apprenticed the boy to Eli, the high priest. In the blackness and silence of the night, as Samuel slumbered, the Lord spoke to him. Three times His voice was heard before it was realized that it was not Eli calling, but the boy was the recipient of a Divine visitation. This nocturnal revelation initiated Samuel into a life of distinguished service to the Lord and to the people of Israel. Observe that it was necessary to call three times to Samuel before the youthful assistant to Eli learned it was the Lord who spoke. How many times the same God of Abram and Samuel has come to human beings in their states of spiritual slumber! A voice was heard but the source unrecognized.
     One could continue almost indefinitely with instances from the Word of God in which sleep with attendant dreams played an important part. Even the Savior's birth took place while the world slept. The wise men were warned in a dream not to; return to Herod. And what pathos is found in the closing chapter of the Lord's ministry when He observed His disciples asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. What utter tragedy is conveyed in the words spoken by the Lord to His drowsy attendants, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?"
     One of the primary uses of sleep is expressed very explicitly by Elihu in the book of Job. Elihu was comforting Job who had been suffering under a series of most grievous misfortunes.

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He said reassuringly to the afflicted man, "In a dream, in a vision of night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the bed, then He [the Lord] openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that He may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man; He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword."
     Elihu stated with unmistakable clarity that during the hours when the mind is closed to the world and the struggles of life are in a brief recess, the Lord is acting upon the spirit in an unseen, unsuspected, yet vital way. In sleep the ambitions of a man become quiescent for a time; his assertive ego retires temporarily from seeking self-centered satisfactions; the urgings of greed, hate, envy and pride are stilled. When this takes place there is no resistance to heavenly influences. Far more reality than most men are ready to admit is in the idea that angels whisper into the inner ear of man. In the repose of slumber, influences which one is quite unaware of touch the heart and mind as a balm to heal the wounds received in the battles of the world, to incline the spirit toward the angelic life, and to restrain those rude passions which ruled through the daylight hours. This is done to help keep man from his unworthy purposes and to implant a purer motive from which to act.
     Those who are always waiting impatiently to get on with the activities associated with life's employments often view sleep as so much wasted time, enforced only by the body's need for rest. But physical restoration is the least important part of the need for nightly slumber. The Lord did not ordain sleep without having in view the regeneration of the spirit. Without alternating periods of activity and rest, man's sense of dependence upon the Lord would be dulled. So accustomed is one to this nightly surrender to unconsciousness that he sometimes forgets that it is in a very real sense placing himself in the hands of the Lord. A man repairs to his chamber without the slightest anxiety about awakening at daybreak. Only from the Lord comes the power to rise again from the bed. Knowledge of the Divine protection given through the hours of darkness increases our trust in our Heavenly Father. There is no fear as the head rests upon the pillow.
     Many of those who spend restless, wakeful nights are found in the waiting room of a doctor's office or entering a pharmacy to purchase a sedative. Medicine may be necessary in many cases, but there is much one can do to bring about nights of peaceful slumber. A day well spent in useful activity prepares the mind for rest. Endeavors done with diligence and enthusiasm open the mind to the influx of tranquility from heaven, idleness and unsatisfying efforts expose the spirit to the disquietude of hell, thus fettering the powers of slumber.

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Those who are disposed to lie awake and clearly hear the clock strike the hours between midnight and dawn could try picking up the Word of God and reading with reverence some familiar passage, perhaps one of the psalms, and all at once they will feel the soothing presence of some supernatural influence. If this does not happen, as well it might, the only reason is that the mind refuses to relinquish its focus on the problems of the day. Heaven does not force its presence and power on anyone, yet it is at hand and available as a real, potent power, even though invisible, to calm the fretful spirit.
     ". . . So doth He give unto His beloved in sleep." The stories children love to hear over and over again about the sandman, or elves who perform helpful deeds while a prince or princess is asleep, and all tales of enchantment, have in them a germ of truth. These fairy tales were inspired by a dim perception of spiritual truth long embedded in traditional folklore. So in an imperfect, indirect way, perhaps, they remind readers of the gifts God gives to people while they are asleep.

When the outer world recedes from consciousness, the inner world, the realm of the soul, draws near. Thus the freshness, the buoyancy, which comes in the morning after a deep sleep finds its prime cause in something more than a restoration of physical strength. The cheerfulness, the optimism, the serenity, is due mostly to what the Lord has given to His children while they slept.
REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Willard D. Pendleton       1984

Bishop William Henry Benade, Founder and Reformer, by Richard Gladish; Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Price: $15.00.

The publication in hand is a monumental effort on the part of Professor Richard Gladish. Not only has he succeeded in bringing before us the life and times of William Henry Benade, but he has brought together in a highly readable form the heretofore scattered history of the early Academy. I refer to it as scattered because it has come down to us in bits and pieces as a potpourri of meaningful but disconnected events. There are few living today who have any real grasp of what actually transpired in those turbulent years when the New Church in America was struggling to acquire a firm doctrinal and organizational base and, in so doing, became a house divided.

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The key figure in this internal strife was William Henry Benade, and whatever else may be said, I am sure that all would agree that he remains the most controversial figure in the history of the New Church.
     A convert to the New Church, Benade became in time the acknowledged leader of those who held that the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg constitute the Second Coming of the Lord and, as such, are the authoritative Word for the New Church. The primary source of this conviction is found in the testimony of the Writings concerning themselves as stated in the work True Christian Religion where it is said, "The Second Coming of the Lord is not in person, but in the Word which is from Him, and is Himself" (TCR 776). It is to be understood, however, that Benade was not the first champion of the authority of the Writings, nor the first to proclaim the distinctiveness of the New Church, but he came at a time when the seeds which his predecessors had planted were ready to bear fruit. What is more, Benade possessed abilities and qualifications that his predecessors lacked; not only was he a gifted organizer, but he was endowed with the capacity to inspire confidence in his leadership.
     It is here that the age-old question arises: Do the times make the man, or does the man make the times? The obvious answer to this is that each is dependent upon the other. Had it not been for the increasing state of restlessness within the church, Benade would not have emerged as an historical figure. On the other hand, had it not been for Benade, the joining of forces which took place in his day would have been delayed. It was this clash of views and opinions in regard to the nature of the Writings that makes the author's account of William Henry Benade such interesting reading. Faced with the difficult task of sorting out the evidence, Professor Gladish leads us through the maze of charges and countercharges that led to the formation of the Academy and eventually to the separation of the Academy from the established New Church.
     In reading the text, one is keenly aware of the author's sympathy and respect for the man who, more than any other, not only upheld the authority of the Writings, but also was faced with the difficult task of establishing a viable organization committed to the ideal. In his appreciation of the man, however, the author is well aware of the Bishop's highhanded treatment of those who incurred his displeasure. As not a few of his followers learned to their sorrow, one did not challenge William Henry Benade, not even in seemingly trivial matters. William Henry Benade was a strong man; had this not been so he never could have accomplished what he did. Yet one's strength is often one's weakness, at least insofar as human relations are concerned.

57


It was here, particularly as he aged, that Benade encountered increasing difficulties (see Chap. IX of the text). As he became more and more impatient with others he began to lose the support of lifetime associates and the tragic end of a great career became inevitable.
     As one who is convinced that the time has come when the future growth and development of the Academy is dependent upon a renewed understanding of what it was originally all about, I welcome this scholarly publication which takes us back to our beginnings. What we have here is not only a clear and consecutive account of what actually took place, but, far more importantly, an insight into the vision which motivated this handful of individuals who struck out from the mainstream in order to implement their faith. In this more sophisticated generation we are prone to be amused by much of what took place, and we are baffled by Benade's curious insistence upon an internal and external church. All this, however, is beside the point. What matters is the vision which is so brilliantly and powerfully expressed in Benade's Declaration of Principles delivered at the organization meeting of the Academy in the city of Philadelphia on June 19, 1876 (see Chap. V of the text). Those who are not acquainted with this document should remedy their deficiency at the earliest possible date.
     In looking back over the years we are increasingly impressed by the firm foundations that the early Academy laid. It is true that in their own time their expectations far exceeded their accomplishments, but what they proposed is a work of generations, not of a few years. After somewhat more than a century of slow but steady progress we still do not have the great university which was Benade's dream. We do, however, have our hopes, but the realization of our aspirations will at all times be dependent upon our capacity for commitment. The work now in progress cannot be brought to fruition unless it is a labor of love sustained by the perception of the use which the Academy was originally designed to perform. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18).
     In recommending this publication to the reading public of the General Church I am mindful of how little is known at this day about the formative years of the Academy. This applies not only to our public but to the clergy and the teachers in our schools. The reason for this is that up until now we have not had a readily available source of information which deals with the subject in sequence and in depth. Thanks to Professor Gladish this has now been provided. It is true that in 1967 Professor Gladish set forth his meticulous thesis on the history of New Church education in mimeograph form and devoted one section to the history of the early Academy, but what we have here is a far more extensive study of that particular period.

58



     In presenting the story of the central figure of the early Academy the author has not only succeeded in bringing together many loose ends, but has also provided us with a new perspective of William Henry Benade and his contemporaries. In these pages we are introduced to people of whom we have heard but never knew. Under the pen of Professor Gladish these men and women live again and we read with heightened interest of the roles which each of them played in the establishment of the Academy. Here we are introduced to John Pitcairn, Walter Childs, Bishop W. F. Pendleton, the Tafel brothers, J. R. Hibbard, Gertrude Starkey, Maria Hogan, and a host of others who, in one way or another, had an impact upon the events of those days. Whatever else may be said, we are mindful that Professor Gladish has made a significant contribution to our understanding of our past at a time when it is much needed. Who else in this generation would have had the interest, the patience, and the determination to assume this formidable task?
      Willard D. Pendleton
Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984

     A difference in the doctrinal things of faith does not prevent the church from being one, provided there is unanimity as to willing well and doing well (Arcana Coelestia 3451).
SWEDENBORG'S LISTS 1984

SWEDENBORG'S LISTS       FRANK S. ROSE       1984

(Part III): Economy of the Animal Kingdom

BY FRANK S. ROSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE CURATOR OF SWEDENBORGIANA. JONATHAN S. ROSE

In his early scientific work, Swedenborg was moved by the question: "What are the various steps between the Infinite substance of God and matter as we know it?" When he published his great book Philosophical and Mineralogical Works in 1734, he had gone about as far in that search as he could go. Another question took over: "What is the human soul, and how can it survive the death of the body?" This question took him through an exhaustive study of human anatomy, and kept him busy right up to the time when the Lord, as it were, tapped him on the shoulder and told him that He had other work for him to do.

59



     As we look at the lists written during the period from 1739 to 1744 we are let into some of the mental processes that made him hesitate and change course many times. Everything seemed very clear to him in Amsterdam when, at the stroke of midnight on December 27th, 1739, he finished writing his first manuscript on anatomy (Economy of the Animal Kingdom). It was only about a month until his 52nd birthday. He had been studying anatomy for six years. He had also begun to have unusual experiences that were the first indications that his senses would be opened to the spiritual world.1 He took out one of his large manuscript volumes, and made a note on the inside of the front cover with the heading: "Man proposes, God disposes." Little did he realize how much God was about to alter his proposals. He had finished writing on the blood and the heart (EAK), and foresaw seven more books in the series, planning to publish one a year until 1746. After writing them out, he thought of an eighth, and squeezed it into the space between the first two. Then he altered all of the remaining dates so that the series would be completed in 1747. He had no way of knowing, of course, that by the middle date he would be transformed from scientist/philosopher to servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, though he did anticipate that the final book in the series would be on religion: The City of God. He was fairly confident of meeting his deadlines, since much of the material had already been collected. This is the list:

     (See the original on page 46.)

     MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES

1740      The brain
1741      The muscles, glands and nerves (inserted into the list later)
1742      The eye, ear, tongue, windpipe and lungs
1743      The remaining members or viscera of the body
1744      The members devoted to generation
1745      The causes of diseases
1746      The passions and affections of the animus and the mind
1747 The city of God2

     The manuscript of EAK, the first book in the series, was ready for the printer, but he had not yet decided on a title for it. After six attempts, he finally arrived at the one used in the printed volume. As we look at the six draft titles we can see that they tell a story of how his ideas are evolving as to how he should proceed and what order he is going to take as he pursues his path to the soul. By doing a little editing, we can make a list out of these proposed titles:

60




PROPOSED TITLES          MATERIAL TO BE COVERED          HOW IT IS TO BE INVESTIGATED
1. The Animal Kingdom3     The soul and body               Philosophically,
                                             mechanically,
                                             physically, chemically and
                                             Anatomically
2. The Animal Kingdom     The body and soul               Physically, chemically,
                                             anatomically, mechanically
                                             and philosophically
3. "Under the auspices     Brains, medullas and          Anatomically, physically
of God,"               nerves                    and psychologically
The Animal Economy                                        
4. The Animal Economy     Brains, medullas and nerves     Anatomically, physically
                                             and philosophically
At the end he added:     "By one who desires to remain
                         unknown."          
5. The Economy of the     Heart, arteries, veins and     Anatomically, physically
Animal Kingdom          blood                         and philosophically     
6. The Economy of the     The blood, arteries, veins     Anatomically, physically
Animal Kingdom          and heart                    and philosophically
                                             
The Actual Title Used:
The Economy of the     The blood, arteries, veins     Anatomically, physically
Animal Kingdom          and heart to which is          and philosophically.4
                    added an introduction to                    
                    rational psychology

61




     Notice how his first title was about the soul and body. Then when he came to the second he reversed it and it became the body and soul. At the same time the means of investigation included the same list of five methods, but in a different order, with "philosophically" now coming last. Tafel comments about this:

There is more implied in the inversion of terms in these two titles than appears at first sight: for it means nothing less than that the synthetic treatment which descends from the soul to the body, and from philosophy to the concrete facts of science, is to be abandoned, and the analytic method, which ascends from the body to the soul, and from effects to causes, to be substituted in its place.5

     We see in the third and fourth titles that he has decided to start with a treatment of the brain, but then in the fifth he shifts to the heart, and finally decided to start with the blood. We notice in the third draft that he proposes to investigate the body "psychologically," but that word disappears from the lists, and we find it instead in the title of the additional matter at the end of volume one on the blood and heart, "An Introduction to Rational Psychology." When the first two volumes appeared in bookstores these were the contents:

     VOLUME FIRST

I.      The Composition and Genuine Essence of the Blood
II.      The Arteries and Veins, their Tunics, and the Circulation of the Blood
III.     On the Formation of the Chick in the Egg, and on the Arteries, Veins, and Rudiments of the Heart
IV.      On the Circulation of the Blood in the Foetus; and on the Forman Ovale and Ductus Arteriosus belonging to the Heart in Embryos and Infants
V.      The Heart of the Turtle
VI.      The peculiar Arteries and Veins of the Heart, and the Coronary Vessels
VII.      The Motion of the Adult Heart
VIII.     An Introduction to Rational Psychology

VOLUME SECOND

I.      On the Motion of the Brain, showing that its Animation is coincident with the Respiration of the Lungs
II.      The Cortical Substance of the Brain specifically
III.      The Human Soul

62




     The first edition sold out very quickly. In 1742 he published a second edition, identical to the first except for the fact that his name now appeared on the title page, and he included a list of his own works published and to be published. Since he now dropped his anonymity he felt the need to link this new work with his previous publications, especially in view of the fact that the subject matter and approach were so different. He listed the two that were published in 1734:

Outlines of a philosophical Argument on the Infinite, and the Final Cause of creation: and on the Mechanism of the Operation of Soul and Body

Philosophical and Mineralogical Works
Vol. I      The Principia
Vol. II     Iron
Vol. III     Copper

     He then listed four more works "shortly to be published":

1.      The Medullary fibre of the Brain and the Nervous fibre of the body
2.      The Animal Spirit
3.      Concordance of the three systems of the Human Soul and its Intercourse with the body
4.      Divine Prudence, Predestination, Fate, Fortune and Human Prudence6

     The subject of the relationship between the soul and body clearly fascinated him. He had already written a chapter on the subject at the end of his book The Infinite eight years before, and the topic "A Concordance of Systems" appears on every list he made for the next two or three years. Twenty-seven years later he published the next to last book of the Writings on the same subject: The Intercourse of the Soul and Body.7
     Even more intriguing is the proposed book on Divine Prudence, Predestination, etc.-a book on theology! It seems that by this time he had already written at least a draft of the book, and it came into one of his dreams just two years later.

My father came out, and told me that what I had written about providence was most beautiful. I remembered that it was only a little treatise.8

     It would seem that in 1742 he thought he had written enough on the body in general and could turn his attention to the brain and the soul.

63


He was getting close to a goal he had been working toward for almost ten years! But he was getting even closer to a goal set for him by the Lord, and was experiencing more and more of the influences of the spiritual world. He later found that he could not continue his work on the soul until he explored in much greater detail the organs of the body, as we see in his new series on the animal kingdom. But that subject will have to wait until our next list.

     FOOTNOTES

1 Tafel's Documents 2:II, p. 920
2 The inside of the front cover of Coder 88, Tafel's Documents 2:II, p. 919
3 The translation Animal Kingdom is very misleading. The Latin animale comes from the word anima, or the soul. Perhaps it should be translated the Soul's Kingdom. In these articles I use the title that has been used for these works for the last 150 years or so.
4 Tafel's Documents 2:II, pp. 916-918. There are actually about ten drafts for the title page in varying states of completion and deletion. Since some of these are hundreds of pages apart in Codex 88 they may have been drafted over quite a long period of time.
5 Tafel's Documents 2:II, p. 917
6 Tafel's Documents. Dec. 201, p. 585 of Vol.
7 Tafel's Documents 2:II, Doc. 313, nos. 41, 46, 61, 67, 71, 140 on pages 907, 912, 928, 931, 939, 1009
8 Journal of Dreams 206; see also Tafel 2:II, pp. 932, 934.
SINNER BY ANY OTHER NAME 1984

SINNER BY ANY OTHER NAME       B. RUSSEL HOLT       1984

The following is here printed with permission of the magazine Ministry, 6840 Eastern Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20012.

     Have you noticed how much more difficult it is becoming to sin in a really significant way? With words being used as they are today by some, righteousness by definition is just around the corner.

     "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," said Shakespeare, but is it true?
     The totalitarian state imagined in George Orwell's 1984 used language as one of its tools to control society. Words were invested with altered significance until they came to represent the precise opposite of their original meaning. By controlling words, the state controlled people's thoughts, and through their thoughts, it controlled their actions. In one area Orwell may not have been far wrong.

64


Wittingly or unwittingly, the wordmongers (by whom I mean those who produce the oral and written words consumed by society) are using language to change our attitudes and opinions and thus, ultimately, our actions.
     Euphemisms are nothing new, but the situation today goes beyond the banality of saying underprivileged when we mean poverty-stricken or referring to an axe murder as antisocial behavior. I'm not even talking about "legalese" or "bureaucratese"-the convoluted dialects spoken by attorneys and government employees. I'm talking about what seems to be an effort to replace those words that imply moral absolutes or the existence of sin with neutral, nonjudgmental substitutes. "Soft terms" is what Dr. Charles Wittschiebe, minister, author, and psychologist, calls them.
     We don't refer to fornication anymore, and so, in a sense, it no longer exists. "Premarital sex" has taken its place. "Fornication" sounds so ugly and sordid, but notice how free from such connotations is the replacement with its detached, clinical ring. No one commits adultery these days; they have "extramarital sex." And perhaps that's why there is so much of it. Adultery made a person an adulterer, and that didn't sound nice at all. But to have a little extramarital sex sounds hardly more sinful than indulging in a hot-fudge sundae and ruining your diet!
     In some cases we can trace a progression in terminology that seems to parallel society's modified stance to the thing itself. For example, homosexuality has gone from being a "perversion" (what an ugly word that is!) to a "deviation" to a "variation" and has at last become an "alternate life style"! Dr. William Brennan, in Medical Holocausts I: Exterminative Medicine in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America (1980), traces a similar evolution in the definition of abortion as set forth in official statements published by the American Medical Association. What is abortion? In 1859, according to the AMA, it was "wanton and murderous destruction." By 1967, more than a hundred years later, it had become "the interruption of an unwanted pregnancy." And in 1970 it was defined simply as "a medical procedure."
     The opponents of the "pro-lifers" in the abortion debate are not, as one might suspect, "pro-death." They are "pro-choice." Dirty movies are for "mature" audiences, not dirty-minded ones. The print versions are sold in "adult" bookstores, presumably an establishment that takes its place alongside such other adult privileges as driving an automobile and voting.
     The object of all this verbal alchemy is to reduce sin from a felony to a misdemeanor, and the final goal is to get it off the books completely. But, as with most things in life, these wordplays carry a price tag. They may help us reduce our anxiety and guilt about the way we live, but they do so at the expense of making sin, and life itself, trivial.

65


As long as we had sin that really mattered, we could still get God's attention. Now, if the wordmongers are right and we really can redefine sin more to our tastes, we are like the children of an indulgent, but distracted, parent who is too involved in important matters to notice our frivolous misbehavior. We can't do anything bad enough to be noticed, and anyone who has been a child knows that that is worse than having angry parents or being punished. As, one by one, we eliminate or minimize our sins by redefining them, we strip away the quality of human responsibility that gives us importance in the eyes of heaven and that provides significance for life.
     A second price we pay is that we lose touch with reality. Take homosexuality. To call it an alternate life style puts it on the same level as a choice between living in Vermont with a wood-burning stove or moving to Los Angeles! Such nonsense belies the anguish and tragedy and life-shattering trauma reported by many of those actually involved. When homosexuality was still a perversion, we may have exhibited un-Christlike hostility and prejudice toward the individual, but at least we took seriously the reality of his excruciating situation.
     We think by means of words. As the vehicles of our thoughts, they shape our perceptions, our understandings, and what we believe. But words by themselves cannot change reality itself. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, even though we might not think so. The wrong label on a medicine bottle doesn't alter at all the contents or the results on the human body. We can change the words describing sin and thus change our perception of it. But we have only distorted our view of reality, not reality itself.
     How does God view these efforts to redefine sin? Through the prophet He says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20).
     Can we have righteousness by definition? A sinner by any other name would be as lost.
THOSE WHO SEE THINGS PERVERTEDLY 1984

THOSE WHO SEE THINGS PERVERTEDLY              1984

Things that are evil they see as good, and things that are good as evil; things that are false they see as true, and things that are true as false; things that really exist they suppose to be nothing, and things that are nothing they suppose to be everything. They call hatred love, darkness light, death life, and the converse (Arcana Coelestia 210).

66


FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST 1984

FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST              1984

Applications for assistance from the above fund to enable Canadian students to attend The Academy of the New Church at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., for the school year 1984-85 should be received by one of the pastors listed below by June 30, 1984. The amount of the grant per student has been lowered, because at present there are more applicants than funds available. It has also been necessary to set an absolute deadline for applications, in order to apportion the grants evenly, and to meet the deadline for immigration forms regarding student financing.
     Before filing their applications, students should first obtain their acceptance by the Academy immediately, as dormitory space is limited.
     Any of the pastors listed below will be happy to give any further information or help that may be necessary.

Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs      Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith
2 Lorraine Gardens           16 Bannockburn Rd., R.R. 2
Islington, Ont. M9B 424      Kitchener, Ont. N2G 3W5

Rev. William H. Clifford          
Dawson Creek, B.C. V1G 1H1
1536 94th Avenue
TRANSVAAL SOCIETY 1984

TRANSVAAL SOCIETY              1984

Last year the Transvaal Circle of the Republic of South Africa was recognized as the Transvaal Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and Rev. Norman Riley was called to become its pastor. Friends visiting the Transvaal from overseas and requiring accommodation will find Mrs. Marlene Sharpe most willing to be of assistance. See the address under "Visitors to Church Societies" on page 74. On the opposite page is a recent photograph of this newest society of the General Church.

67




     [Photo of the Transvaal Society]


68


Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984

     [Several photos of some students at the Girls School in Its Centennial Year]


69


DAILY CALENDAR READINGS 1984

DAILY CALENDAR READINGS              1984

     July-December, 1984

     July 1984

               EXODUS     ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Sun     37:     1-16          4118-4112
2     Mon          17:29          4123-4129
3     Tue     38:     1-21          4130-4135
4     Wed          22-31          4136-4137:2
5     Thu     39:     1-21          4137:3-4143
6     Fri          22-43          4144-4146
7     Sat     40:     1-16          4147-4150
8     Sun     40:     17-38          4151
          LEVITICUS
9     Mon     1               4152-4154
10     Tue     2               4155-4157
11     Wed     3               4158-4162
12     Thu     4:     1-12          4163-4165
13     Fri          13-26          4166-4168
14     Sat          27-35          4169-4170
15     Sun     5:     1-13          4171-4172
16     Mon     5:     14-6:7     4173-4179
17     Tue     6:     8-18          4180:1-5
18     Wed          19-30          4180:6-4185
19     Thu     7:     1-21          4186-4189
20     Fri          22-36          4190-4193
21     Sat     8:     1-21          4194-4197:1
22     Sun     8:     22-36          4197:2-6
23     Mon     9:     1-14          4197:7-4198
24     Tue          15-24          4199-4205
25     Wed     10:     1-11          4206-4208
26     Thu          12-20          4209-4211:1
27     Fri     11:     1-19          4211:2-4231
28     Sat          20-28          4214
29     Sun     11:     29-47          4215-4220
30     Mon     12               4221-4223
31     Tue     13:     1-17          4224-4225

70




     August 1984
          LEVITICUS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Wed     13:     18-28          4226-4228
2     Thu     2     29-46          4229-4231

     3     Fri               Gen. xxii, 4232-4235
4     Sat     13:     47-59          4236-4237
5     Sun     14:     1-18          4238-4241
6     Mon           19-32          4242-4245
7     Tue          33-57          4246-4247
8     Wed     15:     1-18          4248-4249
9     Thu          19-33          4250-4254
10     Fri     16:     1-10          4255
11     Sat          11-22          4256-4261
12     Sun     16:     23-34          4262-4264
13     Mon     17:               4267-4271
15     Wed          17-30          4272-4275
16     Thu     19:     1-18          4267-4279
17     Fri          19-37          4280-4281
18     Sat     20:     1-13          4272-4275
19     Sun     20:     14-27          4286:1-5
20     Mon     21:     1-9          4286:6-8
21     Tue          10-24          4287
22     Wed     22:     1-16          4288
23     Thu          17-33          4289
24     Fri     23:     1-14          4290-4291
25     Sat          15-32          4292-4293
26     Sun     23:     33-44          4294-4295:1
27     Mon     24               4295:2-4298
28     Tue     25:     1-17          4299
29     Wed          18-38          4300-4301
30     Thu          39-55          4302:1-6
31     Fri     26:     1-17          4302:7-4306

     September 1984
          LEVITICUS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Sat     26:     18-33          4307-4310


2     Sun     26:     34-46          4311
3     Mon     27:     1-13          4312-4314:4
4     Tue          14-25          4314:5-4316
5     Wed          26-34          4317

          NUMBERS
6     Thu     1:     1-21          4318-4320
7     Fri          22-37          4321-4324

71



8     Sat          38-54          4325-4326
9     Sun     2:     1-16          4327-4329:2
10     Mon          17034          4329:3-4331
11     Tue     3:     1-13          4332-4334:6
12     Wed          14-37          4334:7-4355
13     Thu                    Gen. xxxiii, 4336-4340
14     Fri     3;     38-51          4341-4344
15     Sat     4:     1-16          4345-4346
16     Sun     4:     17-33          4347-4351
17     Mon          34-49          4352-4353:2
18     Tue     5:     1-10          4353:3-4359
19     Wed          11-31          4360-4363
20     Thu     6:     1-12          4364-4365
21     Fri          13-27          4366-4368:2
22     Sat     7:     1-23          4368:3-4372
23     Sun     7:     24-47          4373-4377
24     Mon          48-71          4378-4382
25     Tue          72-89          4383-4386
26     Wed     8:     1-18          4387-4390
27     Thu          19-26          4391-4392
28     Fri     9:     1-14          4393-4402:1
29     Sat          15-23          4402:2-6
30     Sun     10:     1-10          4402:7-11

     October 1984
          NUMBERS     ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Mon     10:     11-28          4403-4407
2     Tue          29-36          4408-4412
3     Wed     11:     1-15          4413-4416
4     Thu          16-35          4417-4421
5     Fri     12               4422-4424
6     Sat     13:     1-20          4425-4429
7     Sun     13:     21-33          4430-4432
8     Mon     14:     1-25          4433-4434:1
9     Tue          26-45          4434:2-6
10     Wed     15:     1-16          4434:7-4437
11     Thu          17-26          4438-4441
12     Fri          27-41          4442-4444:2
13     Sat     16:     1-11          4444:3-7
14     Sun     16:     12-22          4445-4447
15     Mon          36-35          4448-4450
16     Tue          36-50          4451-4453
17     Wed     17               4454-4457
18     Thu     18:     1-7          4458-4459:3
19     Fri          8-19          4459:4-8
20     Sat          20-32          4460-4462

72



21     Mon     19:11-10          4463-4465
22     Mon          11-22          4466-4471
23     Tue     20:     1-13          4472-4479
24     Wed          14-29          4480-4486
25     Thu     21:     1-20          4487-4489
26     Fri          21-35          4490-4493
27     Sat     22:     1-21          4494-4495:2
28     Sun     22:     22-41          4495:3-4498
29     Mon     23:     1-12          4499-4502
30     Tue          13-26          4503:1-9
31     Wed          27-24:9     4503:10-4512

     November 1984
          NUMBERS          ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Thu     24:     10-25          4513-4517
2     Fri     25               4518-4525
3     Sat     26:     1-22          4526-4527
4     Sun     26:     23-47          4528-4529
5     Mon          48-65          4530-4534
6     Tue     27:     1-11          4535
7     Wed          12-23          4536-4538:4
8     Thu     28:     1-15          4538:5-4541
9     Fri          16-31          4542-4545:5
10     Sat     29:     1-19          4545:6-4551
11     Sun     29:     20-40          4552
12     Mon     30               4553-4559
13     Tue     31:     1-20          4560-4563
14     Wed          221-41     4564-4566
15     Thu          45-54          4567-4571
16     Fri     32:     1-19          4572-4574
17     Sat          20-42          4575-4579
18     Sun     33:     1-28          4580-4581:1
19     Mon          29-56          4581:2-6
20     Tue     34:     1-15          4581:7-4583
21     Wed          16-29          4584-4585:3
22     Thu     35:     1-8          4585:4-4587
23     Fri          9-25          4588-4591
24     Sat          26-34          4592:1-6
25     Sun     36               4592:7-14

     DEUTERONOMY
26     Mon     1:     1-18          4593-4596
27     Tue          19-36          4597-4599:5
28     Wed          37-46          4599:6-4601
29     Thu     2:     1-15          4602-4605
30     Fri          16-25          4606-4610

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     December 1984
     DEUTERONOMY               ARCANA COELESTIA
1     Sat     2:     26-37          4611-4614
2     Sun     3:     1-17          4615-4618
3     Mon          18-29          4619-4621
4     Tue     4:     1-13          4622
5     Wed          14-31          4623-4625
6     Thu          32-49          4626-4627
7     Fri     5:     1-21          4628-4634
8     Sat          22-33          4635-4638:3
9     Sun     6               4638:4-10
10     Mon     7:     1-10          4639-4642
11     Tue          11-26          4643-4646
12     Wed     8               4647-4649
13     Thu     9               5450-4562
14     Fri     10               4653-4658:1
15     Sat     11:     1-17          4658:2-4660
16     Sun     11:     18-32          4661-4664
17     Mon     12:     1-16          4665-4668
18     Tue          17-32          4669-4673

               LUKE
19     Wed     *1:     1-25          4674-4675
20     Thur     *     26-38          4676-4677:3
21     Fri     *     39-56          4677:4-10
22     Sat     *     57-80          4678-4680
23     Sun     *2:     1-20          4681-4682
24     Mon     *     21-38          4683-4686

               MATTHEW
25     Tue     *2:     1-15          4687-4688
26     Wed     *     16-23          4689-4690

               LUKE
27     Thu     *2:     40-52          4691-4692
28     Fri     *3:     1-20          4693-4697:3

               DEUTERONOMY
29     Sat     13               4697:4-4699
30     Sun     14:     1-20          4700-4704
31     Mon          21-29          4705-4714

     * Indicates seasonal readings not in the regular sequence.

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VISITORS TO CHURCH SOCIETIES 1984

VISITORS TO CHURCH SOCIETIES              1984

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

Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania                Colchester, England
Mrs. Anne T. Synnestvedt                Mrs. Donald A. Bowyer
Box 334                                   26 Allanbrooke Road
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                     Colchester, Essex. C02 8EG
Phone: (215) 947-3725                     Phone: 0206-43712

Atlanta, Georgia                         London, England
Mr. and Mrs. John Robertson                Mrs. Geoffrey P. Dawson
5215 Sweet Air Lane                     28 Parklands Road
Stone Mountain, GA 30088                Streatham, London, SW 16
                                   Phone: 01-769-7922

Detroit, Michigan                     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Mrs. Garry Childs                         Mrs. Paul M. Schoenberger          
2140 East Square Lake Rd.               7433 Ben Hur Street
Troy, MI 48098                              Pittsburgh, PA 15208
Phone: (313) 879-9914                    Phone: (412) 371-3056

Glenview, Illinois                         Sacramento, California     
Mrs. Donald Edmonds                     Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Ripley
2740 Park Lane                              2310 North Cirby Way
Glenview, IL 60025                     Roseville, CA 95678
Phone: (312) 724-2834                    Phone: (916) 782-7837

Toronto, Ont., Canada
Mrs. Sydney Parker                     San Diego, California
30 Royaleigh Avenue                     Mrs. Helen L. Brown
Weston, Ont. M9P 255                     2810 Wilbee Court
Phone: (416) 241-3704                     San Diego, CA 92123

Cincinnati, Ohio                         San Francisco, California

Mrs. Stephen Gladish                               Mrs. T. L. Aye
9065 Foxhunter Lane                     P.O. Box 2391
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242                    Sunnyvale, CA 94087
                                   Phone: (408) 730-1522

Tucson, Arizona          
Greta Lyman                              Kitchener, Ont., Canada
1085 West Schafer Drive                Mrs. Maurice Schnarr
Tucson, AZ 85705                          98 Evenstone Ave., R.R. 2
Phone: (602) 887-8367                     Kitchener, Ont. N2G 3W5

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

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

     Kindly call at least two weeks in advance if possible.

75


PASTORAL LETTER 1984

PASTORAL LETTER       Rev. BRIAN KEITH       1984

     FROM REV. BRIAN KEITH OF THE GLENVIEW SOCIETY, OCTOBER, 1983

Translations of the Word

The Word of the Lord has been revealed to us in languages that most of us cannot read. The Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Greek of the New Testament, and the Latin of the Writings are not currently spoken languages. While this preserves them in a fixed form, unlike spoken languages that are constantly changing, it means they must be translated into a language that we can understand.
     Translation is the attempt to take an idea conveyed in one language and present it in another. It is not simply taking a word that has a meaning in one language and finding the word in another language to which it corresponds. The reason is that each idea is conveyed by a combination of words and structure. Quite often when a second language does not have an identical form, or an identical word, then a translator must make a judgment of how best to say the same thing. Often there is a "flavor" in one language that cannot be translated exactly into another one. These difficulties make translation more of an art form than an exact science.

Ideal Translations?

As a result of the difficulty in conveying meanings from one language to another, and because any currently spoken language is constantly changing, no one translation is ever perfect. Even an excellent one cannot present all the varied aspects of the original.
     We face special problems in translating the Word. For the literal sense to be the containant and basis for the internal sense, a translation must reflect what is in the original. "The style of the Word is such that there is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and in some places in even the very letters. This is why the Word conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven" (SS 3). If the Word is to provide a communication for us with the angels and the Lord, it must accurately convey the original meaning.
     Complicating the task of making accurate translations is the fact that scholars have recently been using different ancient manuscripts. Archeology has uncovered manuscripts that were not available to the translators of King James' era.

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Unfortunately, this does not mean greater accuracy, for the criteria used in determining which manuscript to use is frequently at odds with what the Writings indicate is the Word. Most all translations since the time of King James have used texts that are inappropriate for an accurate translation.
     In addition to accuracy, the Word is given so that children and the simple may understand it. If there is minimal comprehension there is little "sense" of the letter upon which the internal sense is based. Thus for a translation to meet the needs of the New Church, it must be accurate (both in texts selected and in its literal meaning), and it must be readable.

Use of the King James Version in the General Church

The King James Version, originally translated in 1611, was accepted as the fundamental version in the General Church. As children, we have been taught to have reverence for the Word, usually meaning that special book bound in red and placed on our altars. Our affections have become attached to the stories of the Word, and even for the style and wording in the King James Version. Our use of it in worship, ritual, and in memorized recitations has led us to have a deep love of its phrases and rhythms. Even though we know that the holiness is in the original, the form of the King James Version has become the Word for many of us.
     It is a healthy sign that the Word, as translated in the King James Version, can have such great meaning in the church. Yet, because it is a translation, our affections can sometimes be connected with something other than what the Lord was seeking to communicate. As all translations are limited, so the King James Version has its drawbacks.
     This was recognized by the General Church even as it was accepted as the basis for ritual and instruction. The first liturgy, produced in 1876, comments on this version:

The translators under King James give us a version remarkable for the beauty and the perfection of its style, but often unfair and unfaithful in its renderings of the original. They often tamper with the sacred text, removing into the margin the truer renderings, instead of literal translations; and often adding in italics words and phrases that mar the sense and pervert the truth. And indeed, had this version been faultless when published in 1613, from modifications of our language it would, by this time, need amendment and renewal.

     Over the years, efforts have been made to "correct" what is wrong in the King James Version. Our liturgy is a combination of the King James Version with many corrections. (Note the translation of the 23rd Psalm on page 582 for one example.)

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Problems with the King James Version

Most of the King James Version is readily understandable to someone who has an extensive English background. But English has changed so much that beginning and less-accomplished readers have difficulties. Many words and phrases have gone out of our language, and can only be found in Biblical dictionaries. Those who have learned the meanings of these words and phrases have no trouble understanding what is said, and often meanings can be guessed from the context. But this places a barrier in front of the average reader's understanding of the Word.
     A special problem occurs with words that are still in use, but whose meanings have changed. To appreciate how often this is the case, and what problems of misunderstanding there might be, cover the right-hand column of words below. The words in the left-hand column are from the King James Version. In the blank space put down a current definition of the word. Then compare what was originally meant by that word.

prevent               come before
let                    prevent
wealth               welfare
wealthy               happy
forward               ready, willing
carriage               that which is carried (never a vehicle)
fetching a compass     making a circuit
carefulness               worry
pitiful               full of pity
room                    place where one sits
chief estates          leading men (not land holdings)
liking               appearance
nephew               grandchildren
quick                    alive
coast                    district
charger               large dish
usury                    interest of any kind
by and by               at once
presently               at once
instantly               earnestly
anon                    immediately
suffer               permit
candle               lamp

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     A quiz of this nature is always difficult, for there is no context in which to see the words. Yet it can point out one of the problems that children usually have when they are trying to read the Word for themselves.
     There are additional problems, such as using "which" for "who"; ancient coinage is translated into British coinage; italics then meant that a word or phrase was not in the original whereas it now adds emphasis; archeology has made meanings of words clear that were obscure before; I and printing errors are retained ("strain at a gnat" is really "strain out a gnat").
     The spelling of many words also presents difficulties. Proper names are not uniformly translated. Spelling, in general, has become more consistent. Consider the following list of words and their proper spelling today:

King James          Current

astonied          astonished
discovered          uncovered
glistening          glittering
specially          especially
dureth          endureth
intreat          entreat
musick          music
observed          preserved
     
A New Church Translation?

In view of these specific difficulties with the King James Version, and the insight to the Old and New Testaments provided in the Writings, it seems appealing to consider a translation produced by those who have the Heavenly Doctrines. And, indeed, this is one of the goals of the General Church. A committee is collecting errors that have been found in the King James Version, and this is hoped to form a basis for future translation work. However, we have focused our limited translation efforts primarily on making the Writings available to current English readers. Considering how much time and energy keeping the Writings current involves, and how few people in the church are capable or have the time to contribute, it does not appear that a New Church translation of the Word will be seen for many years.
     There is also the question of whether a translation by someone who has the Heavenly Doctrines will be any better accepted in the church. The General Conference has produced the Pentateuch, a New Church translation of the first five books of the Word. How many own a copy of it, or have ever read from it? (By the way, it is a very fine translation.)

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     Even "New Church" translations will be limited because they will be but translations, conveying the message of the Lord's Word in an imperfect way. Also, our language will continue to change so there will be the need for periodic updating of any translation that we use as the basis for worship and instruction.

Why Change Now?

We have used the King James Version for many years. In spite of its shortcomings it has been a good translation for the New Church because of the original texts it used, its adherence to the literal sense, and its readability. So why is there any need to change at this time? Cannot the children be taught to read the King James Version and come to love it as has been done in the past?
     The convergence of four factors has led us to begin using a different translation. The first and most important factor is the growing dissatisfaction of the priesthood and many laymen with the King James Version. Those who hare been raised with it have come to understand the special language of it, but future generations are further and further from being able to comprehend it. Because the language is so antiquated, children and young people are having an ever more difficult time reading it. Religion classes can frequently take up to 30% or more of regular class time just helping the children understand the words that they never see anywhere else. If, as the Writings say, the literal sense of the Word is also for children and the simple, then the King James Version has not been as useful as it should be. Also, if the Sacred Scripture were easier to read, perhaps more people would read it.
     A second, and very mundane, factor is that our stocks of the Word bound in red are running very low; it is time to reprint them. We could print more of the King James Version, but that would then be the only translation available for many years to come. If a change is to be made in the near future, it should be made now, and not in twenty years. Third, a new liturgy is under study. Any translation that is generally being used in the church ought to be basis for our ritual. It will be several years before the new liturgy comes out, but when it does it will be used for many more years. Again, if a change is to be made in the near future it makes sense to make it before the next liturgy is finalized.
     All of these factors would not have forced a change to be made. When the Revised Standard Version was produced, it was not widely accepted in the General Church because although it was frequently a better translation. it used different texts that were not in harmony with what the Writings indicate should be used. Every other translation that has been produced has been so deficient in one or more areas that it could not be recommended.

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     However, the fourth factor that has led the clergy to recommend a change has been the production of the New King James Version. Unlike virtually every other translation, it is an attempt to modify the King James Version, bringing it into understandable English, without using current slang. It is extremely similar to the style and form of the original King James Version. And, because it is based on the King James Version, it uses original texts that are in harmony with the Writings. In addition, it has made about 90% of the corrections that the General Church Translation Committee had desired to make.
     There are noticeable differences, especially its dropping the thee's and thou's, and the -eths at the end of words. (It is doubtful that any New Church translation would retain these ancient forms because there seems to be no linguistic or doctrinal reason to do so.) These stand out because we have become accustomed to them as the style of the Word. Also, very well known passages, especially those used in recitations, will tend to attract our attention. These changes are hard to accept because our affections are so closely tied to the words of the King James Version.
     There are criticisms that can be made about it. There are still mistakes in it that we would wish to change, and several minor changes are not for the better. The style is not entirely consistent. At times it is not as literal as we would like. And italics, meaning a lack of certainty in the translation, are retained.
     But there are other aspects about it that strongly recommend it. There is a consistent treatment of God throughout the Old and New Testaments. This is seen in the capitalizing all proper nouns and pronouns referring to God. A closer link is established between Jehovah and Jesus because of this. The Holy Ghost is replaced with the Holy Spirit, and the "Saint" designation is dropped before the gospels. It is also much more readable to the person without extensive background.

General Church Translation Committee Recommendation

Here it would be best to quote the conclusions of the General Church Translation Committee, written by the chairman, Rev. N. Bruce Rogers:

     Yes, the NKJV has its defects. But on balance, it seems to present the best available version for our use today in printing copies of the Word, in terms of its degree of faithfulness to the meaning of the original text in its original languages, in terms of its accommodation of vocabulary and syntax to modern readers of English, and in terms of its preservation of much of the affectional appeal and familiarity of the traditional version we are so accustomed to. No other version can make these same claims simultaneously to the same extent including the traditional KJV which no longer speaks to today's reader with anything like the same clarity.

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This version or that may excel the NKJV in this or that respect-in accuracy, in accommodation, in familiarity but none excels it in all of these respects taken together and balanced one against the other.

In the NKJV we seem to have a useful compromise suitable to most of our needs. Those who wish to retain the sound and phrasing of the traditional text will find it largely and for the most part sufficiently preserved here. Those who look for a version readily intelligible to children and the modern reader will find it, too, essentially here, adequate to their needs. And just as importantly, besides these other virtues, it is a version that can be available to us now, not in some other generation off in the distant and indeterminate future.

A Trial Year

In view of this strong recommendation and its overwhelming support in the Council of the Clergy, the Bishop has requested that we use the New King James Version for this year in order to see if it does indeed meet our needs.
     We have been using the NKJV in our lessons in church and for our instruction in the school. We are also producing a temporary recitation book to be used in school chapel. For our regular church and festival services we will retain the King James Version this year. The initial response of the students and religion teachers has been most favorable (although it does make for some initial confusion when we try well known recitations).
     
I hope that everyone can accept the trial use of the NKJV this year. Our affections for the style we have learned are important, but new affections can be developed. Copies are available in our book room, and I would encourage everyone to read from it regularly. To be fair, read sections which are not well known in addition to favorite passages. Evaluations will be made at the end of this year so there is no need to form a quick opinion of it. Although change is often hard because it means giving up something we cherish, it also affords us the opportunity to grow.
PUTTING THE WRITINGS INTO COMPUTER MEMORY 1984

PUTTING THE WRITINGS INTO COMPUTER MEMORY              1984

People with the talent and interest in the goal of getting the Writings into computer memory are invited to send their names and addresses together with any related information, comments, ideas or suggestions to:

     Jim and Andrea Cahoon
     2432 Skyline Drive
     Janesville, WI 53545

     They will serve as a contact for those with such interest and will publish an occasional newsletter from the information received.
     Please send a stamped addressed envelope if you wish to receive the first number.

82


Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

CHURCH ADVERSITY-WHEN NUMBERS SEEM TO COUNT

We have deliberately chosen February for the subject of low ebbs in the life of the church. The Writings speak beautifully of the state of the Christian Church in its earliest days. They mention the sphere of love present at their social gatherings, and they tell us that those gatherings were occasions to express joy because of the increase of the church. But they were also "a consolation in the adversities of the church" (TCR 434).
     There are times when consolation or comfort is what we need. Let us not forget that even the angels of heaven have occasional states that are relatively not happy, when "they long for nothing more than that the morning may dawn for them afresh, and that they may return into their life of happiness" (AC 5576).
     When a church society or circle is having a relatively gloomy time, the causes for the state are not always obvious. A condition of adversity cannot by itself bring our spirits down. There are times when we face adversity with ease, like those of whom the Writings say, "If their circumstances are mean, they are not dejected" (AC 8478). Sometimes we even thrive on adversity. The sons of Israel were oppressed by their Egyptian captors. "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." The early Christians when severely persecuted grew in spirit and in numbers.
     Numbers on the increase gave heart to the Christian Church in those early days. One can sense the exhilaration in Luke's historical account. "And the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly." "So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily" (Acts, chapters 7 and 16). The church then had "seasons of rejoicing on account of its increase" (TCR 434), but even from its infancy the church knew the adversity of schisms and dissensions. People were disturbed and disaffected. (See a list of such disturbances in TCR 378). One is reminded that even in the time of the Lord when the pattern was one of increasing fame and following there was disaffection. "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (John 6:66).

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     Increase or decrease of numbers can affect us considerably. Martin Luther's zeal grew as the number of people who favored his dogmas grew (see TCR 796), and one of the things that daunted him in the spiritual world was the diminishing of his congregations (Ibid).
     The history of the New Church shows both increase and adversity. Just as angels rejoice at numerical increase and the arrival of a new angel guest (see HH 71), members of the New Church have been heartened by new receivers. In 1792 an Episcopalian clergyman discovered the New Church. He wrote that year to Robert Hindmarsh:

In a most wonderful manner the Doctrines of the Honorable E. Swedenborg falling into my hands, I very soon became a sincere and zealous convert to the heavenly doctrines.

     He lectured to "a very crowded and learned audience" in Baltimore. The newspapers gave him attention, and he spoke of possibilities for the growth of the New Church. "We trust ere long to see a glorious temple reared to the alone God, the Lord Jehovah . . . We have rented a building in this town for three months." These words are quoted from the book with the appealing title Rise and Progress. The pattern was not always one of progress and rising by any means. Imagine how the people in Baltimore felt when a few years later that zealous convert returned to the Episcopal Church because he was "discouraged by the slow reception of the Heavenly Doctrines." The group in Baltimore carried on, but they felt the adversity.
     

What about today? The General Church consists of some fifty circles and societies plus small groups and isolated members. The larger societies are not seriously affected by occasional ebbing of numbers, and perhaps members of those societies are unaware of how seriously other areas can be affected. When it comes to the considerations of a dozen schools in the General Church, numbers have not only a considerable psychological effect but important practical effects. Those of us who have sat down as school headmasters and looked at projected enrollments know all too well that numbers count. When one or two families move away it can mean that there will not be a second grade next year. It can mean a given student will have precious few classmates and might therefore attend another school. It can affect the size of the teaching staff.
     Geographical moves in our membership are the most common causes of ebbing local memberships. Sometimes a loss is just a slightly depressing influence on pastor and congregation. Sometimes it leaves a little group wondering if they have a future.

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When this is the case it is a time of adversity in the church, when it behooves us to get together as did the early Christians for "consolation" or comfort. And as we renew our hopes and find encouragement, let us learn to appreciate each other more and even take satisfaction in the realization that our own presence does count.

     We hope to pursue this subject further another time.
PRIEST AND LAYMAN 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN       Grant H. ODHNER       1984



     Communications
Dear Editor:
     I read Mr. Pendleton's article "Priest and Layman, Hand in Hand" (Nov. 1983) with interest. I am delighted that this important subject is being studied and discussed openly in the church. However, I wanted to respond to a few points which Mr. Pendleton makes in his paper which I felt would be usefully addressed and perhaps challenged. In particular, I would like to respond to the author's comments on canon in the New Church, and then to his interpretation of the teachings of Canons for the New Church on the passing of the Holy Spirit.

The Canon of the Writings

I hope, first of all, that the New Church never takes an official stand on what is and what is not Divinely inspired among the theological Writings of Swedenborg. It would be criminal for men-from whatever political, rational, or scientific considerations, however earnest-to bind the conscience of the church in this matter. I think we would all agree in this.
     In providence a large body of documents from Swedenborg's pen (loosely speaking) has been preserved-documents that treat of the doctrines and revelations which he received from heaven. Personally, I do not think it relevant to considerations of canon whether or not this material was published by Swedenborg the man. Nor do I feel that we can judge merely from the form of the manuscript, as it appears to us, as to whether or not the Lord has ordered it from within so that it can speak of Him to the human race.

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Certainly if we made such considerations our measure, much of the Old Testament Prophets must be discarded. How could even Swedenborg himself know what the Lord was going to use in revealing Himself to the man of the future? I think we have to be very humble on this holy ground.
     As to Canons in particular: it certainly appears to be an outline of some material that was published in True Christian Religion. Why the repetition of similar material? Even in the published books of the Writings we often find repetition of similar material. And there are frequently statements in these different treatments that need reconciling. We might also ask why there are four gospels. Certainly there are contradictory accounts in these. Why not discard Mark? Almost all of its material is in Matthew. It appears to be just a more terse summary of the Lord's ministry. It is roughly only half as long as Matthew! I think we need to beware of judging merely from form.
     I am not opposed to any individual's having his or her doubts about certain unpublished material of the Writings. I have them myself. We are allowed to reserve judgment regarding any truths which we do not see clearly, even those from published works. We are encouraged to view doubtful matters from general principles, and when necessary, to set them aside and wait for further enlightenment. But we are not permitted to throw them out as untruths. (See the series in the Arcana Coelestia, nos. 9023-9039.)
     As finite people (who are severely limited by our ignorance. prejudices, and state of Life) there will always be many things in the Word that we won't be able to use as firm guideposts. They just won't be clear to us. You cannot apply with conviction what you don't understand. This will always be true for the church also: it will never be able to form generally accepted doctrines from teachings that are doubtful to many people.
     Nevertheless, the Lord has provided that the Word contains many statements which all sincere people will see and assent to. Everything that is fundamental to salvation stands out clearly. As long as we hold these clear statements as essential, we have no reason to tear teachings that are doubtful to us (even if they are not from the Word!). We must simply view them in the light of the "basics" as best we can. Often in this light they will become clear (to ourselves if not to others). Please see the following passages on this subject: SS 54f; De Verbo 15e. 26; AE 356.

The Holy Spirit

Mr. Pendleton suggests in his article that the Canons' treatment of the Holy Spirit places the clergy on a "higher level" than the laity in reference to the Word; that it gives the clergy a higher "degree" of enlightenment; that it puts the clergy in a position of "intercessorship" between the Word and man.

86


These are indeed ideas to be feared and abhorred! But I don't believe that Canons teaches them.          
     Canons states in a section heading that the Holy Spirit "passes through men to men, and in the church chiefly through the clergy to the laity" (Holy Spirit IV). First I would like to point out that "through" (per) in the above sentence also means "by means of." Thus we may read: The Holy Spirit "passes by means of men to men, and in the church chiefly by means of the clergy to the laity." The difference between these two renderings is enormous to my mind.
     The Holy Spirit can be received and transferred only by means. The Lord's Spirit is everywhere. It passes through everything. We receive it as to our spiritual life only by certain means. A stone does not receive this spiritual life. It has no mind-no loves, no ideas, no knowledges-which is capable of "registering" the presence of spiritual life (even though that life is present all around the stone). Nor is the stone capable of acquiring the means by which spiritual life may be received.
     The general truth from Canons is that the Holy Spirit passes "by means of men to men." In general each of us is a means by which the Lord affects others. More particularly, we all convey sense impressions and information to others continually. Within these things are attitudes and values, and so forth, which are communicated. In this way we are one of the many means by which the spiritual states of others are educated and built, changed and moderated, reinforced or challenged.
     The Holy Spirit does not pass through us. It is already present. We are simply the external instrument, whose words and actions provide occasions for others to be differently disposed to the Lord's ever-present life. Thus Canons specifically makes the point: "The Holy Spirit is not transferred from man to man, but from the Lord by means of man to man" (Holy Spirit IV 6-"Through" changed to "by means of").
     Now when someone lives in the sphere of a church organization, naturally the clergy will be a chief means by which he or she is disposed to respond to the Lord's Spirit. When one goes to religion class, reads or listens to a sermon, the knowledges from the Word and ideas and sphere of affection to which one is exposed can change and stimulate one's own thought and affections. And this may affect the way the Lord can influence that person and the way he or she responds to Him. Hence the use of having an organized church and clergy. So, of course, "in the church [the Holy Spirit is passed] chiefly by means of the clergy to the laity."
     I don't believe that this teaching implies that ministers are enlightened in a discretely higher degree than others.

87


A child can provide occasions through word or action by which we are stimulated to let the Lord enter and move us with His spirit. A wicked person could serve in the same way. This does not mean that these people are more enlightened than we are.
     A clergyman by virtue of his use of presenting to others the teachings of the Word, and by virtue of his representing the Lord's presence among men in worship, has a special role to play in providing occasions for others to receive the Holy Spirit. But he is not necessarily enlightened in a higher degree. Nor is he on a "higher level" with respect to his interior understanding and reception of the Word. (Compare what is said in AC 3670:2, 4311:3, 10309e; DP 14e.) The minister is just a means, not a source.
     A minister's use is to serve in facilitating the transfer of the Holy Spirit; his ordination carries this promise (not guarantee). His personal reception of the Lord's Spirit is a different matter altogether. I believe Canons teaches this distinction.

The clergyman, because he is to teach doctrine from the Word . . . is to be inaugurated by the promise of the Holy Spirit, and by the representation of its transfer; but it is received by the clergyman according to the faith of his life (Holy Spirit IV:7).

     Nor do I think that the clergyman was meant to be excepted in these other statements from Canons IV:

No one can receive the Holy Spirit . . . unless he goes to the Lord immediately . . . . (Ibid. 2).

The Holy Spirit never becomes riian:s, but is constantly the Lord's with him. (Ibid. 3).

The Holy Spirit does not inhere, neither does it remain, except so long as the man who receives it believes in the Lord, and at the same time is in the doctrine of truth from the Word and a life according to it (Ibid. 4).

     Finally, in reference to the idea that Canons "place[s] the priesthood in a position of 'intercessorship' between the Word and the laity," I don't believe that Canons makes the clergy a sine qua non with respect to enlightenment from the Word. It simply teaches that in the church (which I take to mean church organization, since it is talking about a priesthood) the Holy Spirit passes "chiefly" (imprimus) by means of the clergy to the laity. Imprimus does not have to be taken to mean "first" or even "primarily" (possible renderings which Mr. Pendleton suggests). It can simply mean "chiefly" or "especially." It does not suggest an intermediary position which the Spirit must pass through first. Rather, I believe it suggests a helpful catalyst, for all who are fortunate enough to live in the sphere of a church, by means of which the Spirit is most likely to be transferred.

88


If the clergy are not doing their job, or if people choose not to avail themselves of them as means. this does not mean that they will be deprived of the Holy Spirit. But insofar as the clergy is doing its job as the Lord wills, then what Swedenborg adds as a footnote must be true: "[The Holy Spirit] flows into men who believe in the Lord, and if according to order, into the clergy, and thus by means of them into the laity." After all, in heaven, where the Lord's will is done, there is a clergy . . . . And incidentally, they are neither the best nor wisest angels (HH 221-227).
     Grant H. ODHNER,
          Natick, Massachusetts
PRIEST AND LAYMAN 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN       JOSEPH F. KENNEDY       1984

Dear Editor:
     It is with much appreciation and respect that this letter is addressed to NEW CHURCH LIFE and through it to New Church members in general. The sense of respect is for the continued work toward understanding and applying more true meaning of the Word, as it manifests as our collective life, and is communicated through NEW CHURCH LIFE to all who read the valuable information the publication contains. Appreciation is for assisting me, a lay person, who is not a confirmed member of the New Church, to better comprehend God's order in what is all too often seen as chaos.
     Rev. Dandridge Pendleton's doctrinal study, "Priest and Layman, Hand in Hand," published in the Nov. '83 issue, has ordered what, for me, has long been a perplexing question concerning appropriate and proper relationships between laymen and priests. Like many of the laity, I tended to confuse appropriate relationships by assuming priests were of a different degree, somewhere magically sandwiched between my God and me. Rev. Pendleton's systematic delineation of his own struggles to achieve understanding and the main conclusion he drew-that priests and laymen share a difference of kind, not degree-properly ordered for me what was a hodgepodge of seemingly conflicting information.
     
We are all priests in a way whether we realize it or not. The Lord has created us "to know, love and serve him." Each person does so with what he intends and does in this life, and each is in a differing kind of enlightenment as to the correspondence of his acts in regard to conformance with Divine order, and hence, the understanding which we apply to our life. Thus, doctors, lawyers, maids, mechanics, etc., serve the Lord through service to the needs of people, and do so intending good or evil, and the latter being service not to God but Satan, a false god.

89



     The Divine command "to know, love and serve God" is followed by priests when they earnestly study, apply and communicate the Word and its correct doctrine, performing this function with good intent. It is followed by the laity in performance of good uses out of love of the Lord, solely. The laity is "priestly" when, with full knowledge, it acts according to this love of the Lord. We lay people fail in our mission when we place a priest between us and God; is this not a form of violation of the first commandment? Priests have a trusted and valued function-that of assisting us to perceive and act upon sound doctrine, according to the Word of the Lord. It is clearly not proper or appropriate for a lay person to look upon priests as capable of giving us more, as "intercessors" for us, for then we abdicate our own duty to establish direct relationship with our Lord and place priests in a vulnerable position, that of becoming our own false image of God.
     Priests are men who, by study and act, wisely communicate doctrine. Those who believe themselves to be intercessors, whether consciously or not, err by being willing to be between a person and God. This error is neither light nor incidental, but a very serious matter which the New Church must closely examine; for its implication, and the ingrained human habits associated with it, must be consciously addressed and dealt with in the hearts and minds of all priests and laity everywhere.
     It is pleasing to see such truth as Rev. Pendleton's study displays come to light, and in-depth study and development of clear doctrine, such as this, will surely do much good for all. Is it not correct for priests and laity to properly order their relationships with God and the fundamental task of our life?
     I do hope the Lord continues to bless Rev. Pendleton's work and that it stimulates much attentive study and response.
     JOSEPH F. KENNEDY,
          Taos, New Mexico
PRIEST AND LAYMAN 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN       BRUCE M. KEMMELL       1984

Dear Editor,
     I would like to use this letter to comment upon three topics which have appeared in recent issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE. These topics are: (1) celebration of Swedenborg's birthday; (2) the harmony in the enlightenment of the priesthood and the laity; (3) the concept of "universal religion."
     In the September issue of NCL, an appeal was made to celebrate Swedenborg's birthday. The appeal was based upon veneration of the process of the Second Coming of the Lord, which was said to have taken place by means of Swedenborg's preparation. It was said that if we follow the Writings we will avoid undue veneration of the man. It appears to me that the celebration of Swedenborg's birthday is already undue veneration of the man.

90


This is because Swedenborg's enlightenment is not the pattern of our own regeneration-the Lord's glorification is. It is of the utmost importance to preserve this distinction.
     I believe the Second Coming of the Lord is the Divine Truth revealed to our rational minds. Each person understands that truth differently because our interiors are distinct from one another. Thus, the Coming of the Lord within our minds is not the same as the external proclamation of the doctrines of the New Church as received by Swedenborg and published in the physical world. Also, each person receives enlightenment directly from the Lord even when the Writings are used. Taken in this sense, Swedenborg is not even in the picture. Thus, I believe any celebration of Swedenborg's birthday should be moderate and limited.
     The doctrinal study presented by Rev. Dandridge Pendleton on the relationship between the priesthood and the laity, which appeared in the November NCL, was outstanding. I have been fortunate to have had many long and interesting discussions with my pastor, and I believe that these have been useful to him also, for reflection and comparison. He has never indicated to me a belief in his having an enlightenment a discrete degree above my own. Such a belief would be inconsistent with genuine humility, except with angels who are in such perception from the Lord. Such a belief in the New Church would also lead to the type of infallibility of interpretation which characterizes the Roman Catholic persuasion. I believe that Rev. Pendleton has done a great service to the New Church in clearly expounding the important complementary relationship between the priesthood and the laity.          
     In the same November issue, Rt. Rev. George de Charms takes exception to some statements made in the New Church Messenger concerning "universal religion." I agree with Rev. de Charms and take exception to the content of the statements, as well as to their implications. The content indicates that we but need to dust off the mirror in our minds and we will become one with God. That this is not New Church doctrine is clear. That it is not fundamentalist Christian doctrine nor even mainstream Protestantism can also be seen. Having studied Eastern religions for ten years before accepting the New Church. I know that it is also not the view of those among them who reflect deeply. One of the Zen "patriarchs," in fact, had to flee for his life for contradicting the "universalists" of his day. As the Word declares, "I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior."
     BRUCE M. KEMMELL,
          Gainesville, Florida

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PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1984

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES              1984




     Announcements







     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES
Public worship and doctrinal classes are provided either regularly or occasionally at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 9474660.

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

     BRAZIL

RIO DE JANEIRO
Re. Jose Lopes de Figueiredo, Rua Desembargador Izidro 155, Apt. 202, Tijuca.

     CANADA

British Columbia:


DAWSON CREEK
Rev. William Clifford. 1536 94th Ave., Dawson Creek, V1G 1H1. Phone: (604) 782-3997.

     VANCOUVER
Mr. Douglas Crompton, 21-7055 Blake St., V5S 3V5. Phone: (604) 437-9136.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Christopher Smith, 16 Bannockburn Rd., R.R. 2, N2G 3W5. Phone: (519) 893-7460.

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

     TORONTO
Rev. Geoffrey Childs, 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington, Ontario M9B 424 Phone: (416) 231-4958.

     Quebec:

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

     DENMARK

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

     ENGLAND

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

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 111 Howard Drive, Letchworth, Herts. Phone: Letchworth 4751.

     LONDON
Rev. Robert McMaster, 135 Mantilla Rd., London SW17 8DX. Phone: 672-6239.

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

     FRANCE

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

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Daan Lupker, Wabserveen Straat 25, The Hague.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. Marion Mills, 8 Duders Ave., Devonport, Auckland 9. Phone: 453-043.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. Eyvind Boyesen, Vetlandsveien 82A, Oslo 6. Phone: 26-1159.

     SCOTLAND

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

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

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

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

     Transvaal:

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

94




     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Louisa Allais, 129 Anderson Road, Mandini, Zululand 4490.

     Mission in South Africa:
Superintendent-The Rev. Norman E. Riley, 42 Pitlochry Rd., Westville, Natal, 3630.

     SWEDEN

     JONKOPING
Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, 5-56600, Habo. Phone: 0392-20395.

     STOCKHOLM
Rev. Roy Franson, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma. Phone: 48-99-22 and 26-79-85.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

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

     Arizona:

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

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501.

     California:

     LOS ANGELES

Rev. Michael Gladish, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone:(213) 249-5031.

     SACRAMENTO
Patricia Street Scott, 3448 Vougue Court, Sacramento, CA 95826.

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Cedric King, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (714) 268-0379.

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

     Colorado:

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

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

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Rev. Glenn Alden, 47 Jerusalem Hill Rd., Trumbull, CT 06611. Phone: (203) 877-1141.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 417 Delaware Ave., McDaniel Crest, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 478-4213.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     LAKE HELEN
Rev. John Odhner, 413 Summit Ave., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2337.

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

     Georgia:

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

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Dr., Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (404)457-4726

     Idaho:

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

     Indiana:

     Contact Rev. Stephen Cole in Cincinnati, Ohio, or Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051

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

95




     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. David Simons, 13213 E. Greenbank Rd., Oliver Beach, MD 21220. Phone: (301) 335-6763.

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

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 132 Kirk La., Troy, MI 48084. Phone: (313) 689-6118.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201.

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

     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Dr. Andrew Doering, 1298 Sagebrush Ct., Rio Rancho, NM 87124. Phone: (505) 897-3623.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. Gordon Smith, 38 Newriver Trace, Clover, SC 29710. Phone: (803) 831-2355.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Stephen Cole, 6431 Mayflower Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45237. Phone: (513) 631-1210.

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

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

     Oklahoma:

     TULSA
Mrs. Louise Tennis, 3546 S. Marion, Tulsa, OK 74135. Phone: (918) 742-8495.

     Oregon:

     PORTLAND
Mrs. M. D. Rich, 2655 S. W. Upper Drive Pl., Portland, OR 97201. Phone: (503) 227-4144.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.-See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

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

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529.

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

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 7420 Ben Hur St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731- 1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     ORAL-HOT SPRINGS
Rev. Erik Sandstrom, RR 1, Box 101M, Hot Springs, SD 57747. Phone: (605) 745-6714

     Texas:

     FORT WORTH
Mrs. Charles Hogan, 7513 Evelyn La., Ft. Worth, TX 76118. Phone: (817) 284-0502.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14323-123rd NE, #C, Kirkland. WA 98033. Phone: (206) 821-0157.

     Wisconsin:

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

96


COMMENTARY ON A HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS 1984

COMMENTARY ON A HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS              1984

BY GEORGE DE CHARMS
The Academy of the New Church Press
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
1978

     $10.00 plus postage               $11.35

     THE LIFE OF THE LORD
BY GEORGE DE CHARMS
REVISED EDITION
Published by
The General Church of the New Jerusalem
1983

     $8.00 plus postage               $9.35

     GENERAL CHURCH BOOK CENTER
Box 278
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

     Hours 9:00-12:00, Monday thru Friday
Phone: (215) 947-3920

97


Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984



Vol. CIV     March, 1984     No. 3

     NEW CHURCH LIFE

98


A few weeks ago a supply of hundreds of books was carefully stored at Cairncrest, the building from which this publication originates. The books are all in the Latvian language. Most of them are books of the Writings, but they include such things as a translation of The New Church and Modern Christianity by George de Charms. While the Communists are in power these books cannot be sent to Latvia. We have been asked to store them in hopes that brighter days will come. The man who requested this will be familiar in appearance, if not by name, to some who attend services in Bryn Athyn and to all who attend services in Ridgewood, New Jersey. See the photograph on page 133. When Mr. Kreicbergs submitted the article "Miracles" to this publication, we asked him to tell a little of his own personal story (see p. 130).
     The sermon by Rev. Louis Synnestvedt referred to in the "Layman's View" on page 119 appeared last June. Entitled "Seeing Our Visible God" it was a sermon for which we received requests for extra copies. The response by Rev. Geoffrey Howard appeared last July (p. 318). Mr. Howard spoke of the personal Human Form of the Lord as presented in Invitation to the New Church.
     Two book rooms get attention in this issue, one old and one new. The review on page 126 is about a book room that was started in Missouri. The photographs on page 143 are of the beautiful new bookstore in Toronto.
     The General Assembly is drawing near (June 6-10). See the note on page 147. The assembly will be followed immediately by the annual meetings of the Council of the Clergy (customarily held this month). And then there are the summer camps. Here are some dates that we have received.

Maple Leaf in Canada-June 21-29
Academy Secondary Schools camp in Bryn Athyn-July 1-7
Arizona Mountain Camp-July 16-21
British Academy Summer School-July 21-28
Family Laurel in Pittsburgh-July 21-28
Adult Laurel in Pittsburgh-July 29-August 4
Deer Park Camp near Bryn Athyn-August 18 for 4 or 5 days

99


GREAT COMMISSION 1984

GREAT COMMISSION       Rev. MICHAEL D. GLADISH       1984

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. . . " (Matt. 28:19).

     This church has a serious problem with missionary work. The problem was summarized in the third lesson (AC 2589-2590), where we read that the Lord's mercy is so universal that it reaches out and provides for the salvation of all people no matter what their religion, provided only that they live in good according to their conscience. Simply put, it means that God's power is not limited by our performance (or lack of performance) as missionaries. And, fortunately for the 3 out of 4 billion people on earth who are not Christians, it means that it is not necessary for a person to be baptized in order to be saved from hell.
     In the history of Christianity this is a profoundly new idea-not that other churches haven't grasped it to some extent, but ours is probably the only church that has explicit theological doctrines teaching the concept. Let's think about it: If we believe that anyone can be saved-in whatever religion-don't we have a much better feeling for the Lord's mercy and power than otherwise? Don't we feel, for ourselves and for others, a wonderful sense of liberation, freedom from the limitations of specific creeds and rituals, freedom in fact to get on with the business of our own regeneration rather than imposing our values on other people? And don't we truly sense the bigness, the greatness of God in a heaven that is all-inclusive rather than exclusive? Yes, it sounds fine, it sounds grand, but, of course, certain objections have to be overcome . . . .
     There is, for example, the teaching of John 14:6-"Jesus said . . . 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.'" There is, for example, the teaching of Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." And there is the teaching of our text, which is closely associated with those words from Mark: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. . . ."
     Throughout the history of this church, "the New Church," we have had a tendency to slight the importance of these evangelistic teachings, and there have been some understandable reasons. For instance, it was seen right away that wwe could not evangelize what we did not know thoroughly ourselves, nor could we approach those with whom we had nothing in common. So, in the spirit of Matthew, chapter 10, when the Lord first sent the disciples out, we were content to "go not into the way of the Gentiles . . . but, rather, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (v. 6).

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We were content to concentrate on the education of our own. Truly, this is the first use, and it is important. Even after His glorification, when the Lord told the disciples to preach in His name "to all nations," He also said to begin at Jerusalem, and to "tarry in the city" until they received power from on high. This signifies the need for us to "dwell" on the doctrine, to learn and know it well and to apply it to ourselves before we reach out with it to others.
     Furthermore, we are careful to note that it is "belief," not baptism, that saves. Nor can one man "save" another, for the Lord alone saves, and one thing that makes our teaching unique is the conviction that the Lord has power to save even in the life after death, provided only that there has been a willingness to be saved on earth. The will, or the good itself, is what receives truth; so as long as we are not confirmed in deliberate evil we can be saved, we can be led and taught the truth. Again, truly, we can nor come to the Father except through Jesus Christ, but we can be led and taught to accept Him in the other life if we are willing.
     In all these, then, and other ways, we have learned to keep the issue of evangelization in the background of church uses. And who is to say? perhaps in Providence it was necessary that we have had this attitude. But as the church continues to study and to develop and mature, eventually it is confronted with the blunt, decisive words of the text, "Go . . . and make disciples of all the nations" An even better translation would be, "Go . . . and disciple all the nations." Unfortunately, a much weaker translation and the one that appears in our traditional copies of the Word is, "Go . . . and teach all nations." Teaching is not all we are commanded to do!! We are commanded to make disciples of all the nations.
     Now let's look at this teaching very carefully, turn it around and around, think about it, and see what it really means. Obviously, it is not going to be inconsistent with the other teachings of the Word or of the doctrine that is from the Word. Also, obviously it is going to have a personal, spiritual meaning for ourselves, individually. What is that meaning, and what must we do?
     As we have often noted, all the individual words and phrases used in the Bible have special and significant meanings. The word "disciple," because it comes from a Greek word that means "to teach," signifies teachings; that is to say, whereas the literal sense refers to those (people) who are taught, the spiritual sense, which is abstracted from personalities as such, refers to the teachings themselves which exist in the minds of people. According to this spiritual interpretation of the Scripture every passage, no matter how "dated" or outwardly obscure, can be seen to apply immediately to the life of everyone who reads it-precisely because it will apply in an inward way, no matter how much the external circumstances of life may differ.

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Thus the disciples to whom the Lord appeals are the teachings themselves, the truths that exist in our minds and which ought to make us responsive agents of His love. Further, we are disciples also because of the truths that we have been taught.
     What about "the nations" that are mentioned? The Greek word is "ethnos," from which we get "ethnic." Ethnic peoples are peoples from various different lands or countries, people with various different traditions. And here again, spiritually, when the people of different lands are considered it is not their outward form that comes to mind but their inward quality, namely, the national reputation, attitude, disposition, will or tradition. When angels think of the nations that are mentioned in the Word, we read, they do not think of external things but of the kinds and degrees of internal good in those nations.
     Disciples-truths; nations-goods. "Go . . . and disciple all the nations." One could almost read, "Go, and discipline," meaning, "Go, and train . . ." But train what?? Why, of course, the goods, the affections, the loves, the will. In our personal spiritual lives the meaning is clear: all our various affections, all our various attitudes, all our various inclinations and traditions must be disciplined by truths of revelation from the Lord. Where there is a will there is a way, but the way must he learned, so the will must be disciplined. This is the personal meaning of "discipling the nations." But is there not also a literal, external meaning to be applied? Does all this symbolism and interpretation mean we don't have to be concerned with our fellow men? Does it mean that we have no obligation to evangelize the world around us, to tell other people the good news of the New Church and "make disciples" of them?
     To answer this, let's go back to basics and think about the whole purpose of the Word, namely, salvation. What is salvation?
     When you get badly burned or cut, part of the treatment is an ointment or salve you apply to kill the germs and aid in healing. Here you have the word "salve" associated with healing, and this illustrates that the true meaning of "salvation" is health. To be saved physically means to be rescued, healed or cured of some physical problem; to be saved spiritually is exactly the same but on a spiritual plane. Salvation is health, well-being. Now if somebody can be saved from great harm or injury, even though we know and assume that he could have recovered eventually had the tragedy occurred, is it not in the spirit of the Lord's work that he should be saved?
     To take the point further, doctors are instruments of salvation.

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They don't heal, they simply provide the conditions for healing to take place; and in most cases there is an element of choice involved for their patients, that is, once they hear a diagnosis and take a prescription they can decide whether they want to follow it or not, which in effect sometimes is the same as deciding whether they want to live or not. (But if they are not free to make that choice unless they first go and hear the doctors' words). Just the same, ministers don't save people, but they can be instruments to provide the right conditions. . . Finally, you don't have to be a doctor to help take a person to the doctor; you only have to be a friend.
     The Lord is the great Physician of all people, for all of His most ardent love and all the energy of His most perfect wisdom is directed to the spiritual salvation, the spiritual health and well-being, of every single individual in the world. What role do we have in working with the Lord for this goal?
     Well, do you enjoy seeing people suffer unnecessarily? What of your friends: would you withhold the cure for a crippling disease if you had it in your power- to offer a friend? What about a future friend, or someone who is a lot like your friend, or who is your friend's friend? What about a total stranger-if it were in your power? What about a person from another land, some other walk of life, some other disposition or will? Would you withhold a cure from anyone if you had it in your power to give?!
     My friends, we have the cure!
     Or what if someone saved you from certain harm even though you know and assume that you would have recovered eventually? Wouldn't you feel grateful and wish to repay that care in some meaningful way?
     My friends, the Lord has saved you-or at least He has given you the means of salvation, in the truths of this church. How can you show your gratitude to Him? Why, of course, you can share it with others! If we love the Lord and wish to do something for Him there is only one way, stressed again and again throughout the Word, and that is to share His love in active caring for others. Jesus said, "inasmuch as you have done [anything] unto one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40), "and inasmuch as you have not done it unto [them] you have not done it unto Me." Remember what He said to Peter in the end of the book of John: "Peter, do you love Me?" and when Peter said "Yes" He said then "Feed My sheep!" This was not a suggestion, this was a command. It was said three times, not for prose or interest but for emphasis and clarification. And, yes, it does have a symbolic, spiritual meaning-it means to feed, nourish and strengthen the tender affection for what is true, fill the desire to be led with the knowledges that lead-but who says this should only be directed to ourselves?!

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The Lord would have all that longing for genuine good and truth, wherever it exists, filled, and filled to overflowing. The sheep of the Lord's pasture are everywhere, everywhere!
     Again, the Lord said, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).
     Can we love another without sharing what we have from the Lord, without sharing what the Lord assures us can heal, can save, can bring spiritual well-being into an otherwise religiously risky and confused world? The Lord says that the delight of heaven is the delight of sharing everything that one has of value with others (see HH 399). He further tells us that the highest delight of angels is that of rendering service, teaching and leading people into heaven (see HH 450). Can we expect to gain heaven for ourselves if the delight of heaven is not within us? And even if we doubt our own salvation, can't we join the Lord in at least helping others to gain it?
     Going back, now, to the beginning, this church has had a problem with missionary work. But it is not the theological problem that it first appears to be. It is the same problem every church and every genuine disciple faces: are we willing to share with others what we earnestly believe to be-from the Lord-the best and surest means to attain spiritual health and well-being? No, not force, simply share, but share openly and with real concern to be of help. Are we willing to take the risks of rejection, the risks of persecution, the risks of loneliness and temptation, if necessary, to proclaim a few simple truths? The Lord has not asked us whether or not we think it might be a good idea; He has not asked us whether we think we're ready. He has simply said, and He has said with force and with determination,

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

     LESSONS Matt. 5:1-16, 28:9-20, AC 2589-2590

Prayer after.

O Lord, inspire us with a sense of real gratitude for the revelation You have given us, that we may be encouraged to go forward in our daily lives with real determination not to hide our lamp under a basket of doubts or personal concerns, but to let that tight shine for the growth and healing of many, for the perfection of Your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

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PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND       Rev. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1984

Part IIa

     (The second part of this paper will be printed in the April issue.)

A DOCTRINAL STUDY BY REV. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON. PRESENTED TO THE
GENERAL FACULTY OF THE ACADEMY ON NOVEMBER 10, 1983

It is difficult to keep a series intact when six months intervene between the presentations. Ideally, I would like to have offered one paper a month over a single school year, at a series of special meetings for those interested. However, such a procedure would have two significant drawbacks: first, the re-study and reflection needed after each paper has been presented, and before beginning to write the next one, is most important for me. and cannot be unduly compressed in time; second, the "feedback" I have been receiving, from both laymen and priests, is proving invaluable in gaining a balance of perspective, both in retrospect and in looking ahead to the next section. Frankly, I have been surprised by the sheer volume of level-headed and urgent interest expressed in response to the subject.
     I have been asked whether a great deal of weight should be placed on differences in adverbial construction in the Writings, as Swedenborg sometimes will use such constructions very strictly and "technically," while at other times he will use them much more generally and "loosely." This question has reference to the first paper in the series, in which I emphasized the difference between imprimis (chiefly, primarily) and in specie (in particular), as those two terms are used in the Canons and The True Christian Religion, respectively, concerning the priesthood. I have studied the Writings long enough to appreciate this point. We must exercise great care in our study as to whether such differences in wording or phrasing are, in effect if not in literal fact, simply a variant of the same thing, or whether they do, indeed, define a new element or aspect of the doctrine itself. If I had not felt that the TCR use of in specie (in particular) was accompanied by an observable difference in actual statement, surrounding context, and resulting concept, I would not have placed the emphasis on it that I did. I would add here that, not being a competent Latinist myself, I did not trust to my own translation in this regard. On a number of occasions over the past three years, and especially during one summer the year before last, I contacted the Rogers brothers (Bruce and Prescott) in reference to Latin usage and interpretation. It was Bruce, for example, who put me onto the essential difference between a species and a genus, which I expanded on in the first paper.

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     To illustrate further the difficulties we face in our efforts to interpret in this regard, I would draw your attention to a chart sent to me by one of our senior priests, in which he divides what we have called "the Writings" into separate columns under eight different headings: namely, collecta, indices, sketch or outline, early draft, draft, WORK (published), reprint, and index/appendix, plus theological extracts from his personal correspondence. At this point I would suggest another way we might regard the Canons in relation to the True Christian Religion: that is, to regard the Canons, which was a preparatory sketch or outline, as being completely Divine as far as it went. Let me give you an example of both the difficulty and a possible reconciliation, this time focusing on Swedenborg's use of prepositions; this can be crucial to a doctrinal point he is making, yet sometimes appears to be carried out rather inconsistently. Is a given statement from the Writings saying that one thing is from another, or by means of another, or through another? And whether from, by means of, or through, is it so on the same level/degree, or on two different levels/degrees? Ex, a, and per are not the same Latin prepositions, nor do they mean the same thing; yet Swedenborg sometimes uses them very specifically and "technically," while in other places he appears to use them much more generally, and even interchangeably. This becomes especially vexing in the Arcana series in relation to the glorification.
     In the Canons, Swedenborg consistently uses the preposition per-through-the priesthood into the laity when speaking of the communication of the Holy Spirit from the Lord into the church on earth. In the TCR, however, he takes great pains to point out, with specific examples, that this influx and communication is not through (per) the priesthood into the laity, but into and in the priesthood with the laity. The contextual emphasis in this series is the as-of-self with each individual man of the church, which emphasis includes the priesthood as one of the examples given. The Lord does not act through the priesthood, as a passive "pipeline," into the laity, as a passive receptacle; but the priest speaks and acts of himself from the Lord-that is, from the Word- with the laity as active respondents. This latter point is strongly, specifically, and directly stated in the TCR, yet is apparently absent in the Canons. In the TCR, it is noted not only in reference to the priesthood but also in reference to all men in relation to the Word, the apostles in their teaching of the Word, the angels, the interaction of the heart and lungs, hereditary and actual evil, and the internal and external man.

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And it is notable that this entire concept is introduced in reference to the interaction of the Divine and the Human in the Lord Himself: "God the Father operates in and into the Son, but not through the Son . . . the Lord operates of Himself from the Father . . . . The angels call this an arcanum, because it has not before been disclosed to the world" (TCR 153).
     I have said that this significant difference between through the priesthood and in the priesthood is apparently ignored in the Canons. But perhaps this is not actually the case, at least not in essential principle. For one thing, we do find this difference noted in the Canons in reference to the Divine and the Human of the Lord, though not in reference to the priesthood: "God the Father does not send the Holy Spirit, that is, His Divine, through (per) the Lord into man; but the Lord sends it from (ex) God the Father" (Canons: Holy Spirit IV:6). The essential difference between through and into, then, is noted in the Canons in reference to the Lord's operation with men, although it is not noted in reference to the relationship of priest and layman; this latter difference is brought out later, and then very strongly in the TCR. Is there a reconciliation possible here? There may be. Swedenborg's use of the preposition per in reference to the priesthood in the Canons as compared with the TCR may simply be one of those instances where he uses a term or word generally in one place, and more specifically in another; it's not the first time he has done this kind of thing, nor is it the last time. Remember that the Canons as a preparatory sketch or outline, is largely a statement of generals, which he was to infill with particulars in the final published work. Yet another possible variant on this same theme: perhaps Swedenborg's enlightenment at the time he was writing the Canons outline simply did not at that point include many of the particulars in which he would be enlightened when he began writing the TCR.
     I have put the time into this aspect of the subject in order to illustrate the many-sidedness of the study that I believe still lies before us all of us-in reference to the priesthood and the laity, and the extreme care with which we must approach and undertake this study. It isn't going to be easy, folks; and there are no shortcuts, not if we're going to do it right.
     Arising out of this is a general observation that I will ask you to hold onto until the second part of this paper. The difference drawn between through the priesthood into the laity (Canons) and in the priesthood with the laity (TCR) brings forward an aspect of the whole doctrine of the priesthood which I feel has received far too little attention in our study and concept of the priestly office and function.

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I believe it is this lack of attention that has been one of the main causes of confusion in the minds of both priests and laymen, when it comes to defining precise and proper lines of distinction between their respective functions. This has extended, in turn, into questions as to proper delineations of activity in the areas of education and church government, as well as in the study of doctrine itself. The concept focused on in these TCR numbers (l53-4) as far as the priesthood is concerned is the as-of-self response of the priest to the Word both in his personal life and in his work with the laity. This as-of-self exercises itself in relation to the laity by means of, and according to, each individual priest's capacities and abilities (both innate and acquired), his interests, even his personality. In short, we find here significant, even essential, importance attached to the personal abilities, qualities, and characteristics of each priest as an individual in his office and function, in regard to his enlightenment from the Lord, his perception from that enlightenment, his study, teaching, leading, and his governing in relation to the laity of the church. The term which I am using to define this aspect of the subject is occupational discipline. According to this discipline a priest either develops or fails to develop a sense of orderly procedure in reference to the various functions of his office: orderly procedure in his study, his teaching, his leading, and his governing. In this respect, the functions and activities of the office of the priesthood are exactly like the functions and activities of any other office, employment, or occupation; and the adequacy or success of his work as a priest of the church with the laity will depend on the degree to which he develops on a continuing basis in his office the ability to study and to effectively teach, lead, and govern. In this regard there is no escaping for the New Church priest into the representative aspect of his office, nor into that once stated, yet often quoted, phrase in AE 229:4-"The priesthood is the first of the church."
     Speaking of occupational discipline, I would like to correct here a statement made in the first paper. Early on in that paper I expressed my conviction that the Heavenly Doctrines present an entire doctrine of the priesthood. I stand by that statement. However, at the end of the paper I said that this doctrine "is treated far more widely, and in far greater detail, in the Writings than I had realized prior to making this study." More widely, yes; in detail, no. In fact, the lack of detail is the very thing that has made for one of our chief problems, because we have had to fill in the details for ourselves in reference to every area of the priestly office and function: the area of enlightenment, the area of perception, the area of instruction (education), the area of government.

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The Writings do present an entire doctrine of the priesthood, in my estimation; but this entire doctrine is presented in a very general,-even sketchy, outline. What we find, in virtually every direct statement about the priesthood, is a statement of some general, with few-and in most cases no-follow-up particulars. What particulars do the Writings give about priestly enlightenment, priestly perception, priestly instruction, priestly leading, priestly government? Virtually none. However, we do find in the Writings many particulars given concerning the subjects of enlightenment, perception, instruction, and even some about government. Our tendency, in the absence of stated particulars in direct reference to the priesthood, has been to apply many of the particulars stated in reference to those subjects to the office and function of the priesthood, as particulars of that office and function. The priesthood is said to have enlightenment (general); such-and-such particulars are taught in such-and-such numbers about enlightenment; therefore, those particulars (it is assumed) are also true of priestly enlightenment. At best, this constitutes derived doctrine in reference to the priesthood; at worst, it may simply not be true.

     * * *

     In the second part of this paper I will examine the teachings concerning the representation of the priestly office, and will then draw some comparisons between the representative and the occupational aspects of that office. I have come to believe that this is necessary to a right understanding of the essential similarities, differences, and relationships between priest and layman in the work and life of the church.
EQUAL AND CONJOINED 1984

EQUAL AND CONJOINED       HELEN KRESZ       1984

Rev. Sandstrom's article presenting the doctrinal aspect of whether women should be admitted to church boards and panels was excellent (NCL Nov. '83). However, I feel that there are living realities that develop from the application of the doctrine he presented that need to be examined.
     Intrinsic in the makeup of a woman is a love of truth and a constant effort to conjoin it to her good. In order to procure this end, or rather "to think from the will" (HH 368), a woman does not have to wait for her husband or someone else to bring something true to her attention, for she has the capabilities to actively seek the truth.

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     Throughout the pages of Theta Alpha Journal, the ladies of the church are writing about love that they have learned to use in their daily lives. And this they do by means of something true that has been learned by experience.
     This is so, you may agree, but of what value is this in making decisions for the church? Well, let's zoom in a little closer and see. We are talking here of spiritually active women whose minds are willing to search out and seek the truth in their everyday life, because it can help them achieve the goal which they want, that goal being love. And they want this love to be in everything they do; consequently they have learned to love the means to this goal, which is the truth. In other words, the truth must be sought out in each situation in order for love to be united with it.
     Conjugial Love 122 states that the female (love) was created by means of the truth of the male (wisdom) and after marriage (conjunction) is formed more and more into the love thereof. It follows that she also receives her husband's truth into herself and conjoins it with her good.
     We are taught that truth is not anything without good, nor is good anything without truth (see AC 10555). The truths of faith in the spiritual kingdom . . . all look to good, and that through good they look to the Lord from whom they are; for truths that do not look to good, and thus to the Lord, are not truths of faith, consequently are not truths of the church or of heaven (see AC 9603). In the same number we are also taught that truths without good are not truths because they have no life. Therefore they must be conjoined. And once a true thing is learned and used (or conjoined with good) it is good to all eternity.
     So for a woman to achieve her end it is important for her to explore the various avenues open to her. The following are a few of her options:

(a)      Going to the Writings and the Lord teaching through them
(b)      Drawing upon lessons and sermons in the church
(c)      Talking things over with her husband, or learning indirectly in passing from things that are said
(d)      Drawing things from discussions and talks with priests, male friends, acquaintances, etc.
(e)      Reading books, newspapers, watching TV shows, movies, etc.
(f)      Learning true situations from other women who can teach truth they have learned by experience, i.e., Theta Alpha Journal. This seems to be the only spiritual truth that women can actively teach.

     Just with these few general examples it is easy to see that a woman interested in achieving her end cannot be content with just sitting like a stock (to borrow a term from Swedenborg). She must actively seek out the truth in order to achieve her valued end, which is to promote the cause of love.

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     A woman's forte is the love or good she can contribute. CL 123 states that when a man sees a truth in his thought, he rarely reflects upon the good which flows into it from the love of the will, giving it life. Nor does the wife reflect upon the good with herself but upon the inclination of her husband toward her, which is according to the ascent of his understanding to wisdom.
     From this we can infer that a woman can recognize the truth when she sees it. But yet men can only rarely see the good that their truth is from, personified by women. So to look in the light and decide from it something that can only rarely be seen is quite a task. No wonder this problem hasn't been decided yet!
     Apparently men have to make an effort in order to be able to recognize the good which is woman's. This would require coming in for a close-up in order to get a glimpse of that rara avis, that is to say, the good which is with women.
     And women have to look closely to reflect on the heat (love and good) that is within them too. No wonder it has been so difficult for them to adequately explain their position on this subject. What love and good have for ends, truth wants explained in the light. But when a thing is only rarely seen, little of its quality (truth) is known.
     It follows then that the heat or love and good that is women's contribution can be seen only by people who are willing to slow down in order to look for it. So the General Church's taking time out at the assembly in order to examine the question probably means that it is following the right course of action to resolve this issue. We can proceed together with reasonable assurance of success.
     Let's change our course for a moment and project ourselves into the future. Imagine that a woman is accepted as a board member. What would be her major contribution? As stated previously, if a woman is worth her salt she learns early that to proceed toward the end she desires, she must uncover the correct means toward it. She learns to value those who can point it out to her.
     By the same token the men who are on these same boards with her probably have had to learn that their true objective is not just to determine what course of action is to be followed, but to work toward a good end. And for that end to be good it must be an activity in which there is love, and this is woman's contribution.
     
For the truth to be real there must be love conjoined to it and by the same token love must be conjoined to truth in order for it to be real. But the Writings teach that a man cannot receive conjugial love except through his wife (see CL 223) and that women are in a higher degree of heat (or love) than men (see CL 188).

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So it remains to be seen in what ways the men on church boards aspire to a good love for an end without the presence of women.
     It is necessary for a man's mind to be conjoined to a woman's in order to achieve the highest of all loves; therefore lesser loves are received through women in general, just as lesser truths than the truth conjoined to conjugial love can be received through men other than husbands.
     For the true objective to be reached by any panel or board of the church, the presence of the good that is with women is required. Let's take a look at how this has been accomplished so far. Up to now this has been done primarily by:

(a)      The reading of the Word and Writings in which truth and good are conjoined
(b)      Learning about love and good from women in the men's lives, i.e., mothers, sisters, friends
(c)      Reading books, watching TV shows, movies, etc, and drawing lessons about love from them
(d)      Through the experiences of male friends and other men in general. Take, for example, Leo Buscaglia, who gives lectures on how to share love. He invariably comes back to his mother as the person who taught him about love but hardly ever mentions his father in that context.
(e)      The conjunction of the male minds of present board members to the female minds of their wives by virtue of conjugial love
(f)      Men discussing a topic with women prior to the meeting and then bringing ideas garnered from those discussions with them to the meetings.

     Here we come to the present dilemma. Up to now women have been present at church decision-making meetings only by reason of their minds or ideas being united with the minds of the men on the boards. Perhaps a better term for it would be to say they have been present "in spirit." And now should they be admitted to these very same boards where previously their attendance has depended upon the willingness of the men to draw lessons of love and good from them?
     Perhaps there is a way to better illustrate this situation. In His infinite wisdom God decided to create us all. But is it good enough only to think in our minds that we must treat everyone alike whether they be Negroes, Jews, Asians or whatever? Or are we not obliged by this same intelligent God to actually see His good in these people and treat it as the neighbor?
     Is it enough just to work toward recognizing the truth that the Lord wants for our lives, or should we go on to realize that He adjoins good to that truth according to the man's application of the truth to use or life (see CL 122)?

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     Since women in the past have been able to be present in spirit, why not in actual reality? If a man's professed end is the truth that is conjoined to love, how can this be attained without the presence and input of women? Are they to be present only spiritually or can they attend in their physical bodies and actively participate?
     For the moment let's go back to the assumption that women have been accepted. What type of women would we want?
     We would want women on the committees and boards whose ends would be those loves which are conjoined with truths, just as we presently do want men on these boards whose ends are the discovery of truths with which love can be conjoined.
     Since the Lord is giving men and women the ability to have the same ends, then He is giving them the ability to achieve these ends, and we must constantly strive to discover new and better ways to achieve them. In the question of whether women should be on church boards, striving to uncover the Lord's way could possibly include the expansion of the church administration so that women are present physically. By the same token it might possibly be the continuation of the present structure that is correct. Or it could be a case of women being included in some situations but not in others.
     This last situation could come into play at times when the goal of a board or panel is just to achieve the truth which later will be used in living situations (or conjoined with good).
     But when it is to determine something to be used in a living situation (or conjoined with good), then can the General Church any longer leave out women from policy-making decisions?
     In order for the spiritual to be present it must be able to flow into the correct natural situation. And is the natural situation correct when women are present spiritually but not physically: The eventual end of every church board should be to determine what is true for the sake of its end or use in everyday life. And the truth that is used in everyday life is called love, and this is the special contribution of women.

     What is a wise man or wisdom without woman, that is, without love? (Conjugial Love 56)

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SWEDENBORG'S LISTS 1984

SWEDENBORG'S LISTS       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1984

(Part IV: Animal Kingdom)

BY REV. FRANK S. ROSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
     THE CURATOR OF SWEDENBORGIANA, JONATHAN S. ROSE

When Swedenborg began publishing his second great work on anatomy, The Animal Kingdom, he began with the internal organs of the abdomen. This reflected a major change in his plans. From earlier comments, it seems that at one time he thought he would not have to go into a study of the whole body, but instead could proceed straight to the brain and the soul. In just two years we see him re-thinking his whole approach. In spite of the fact that he had already published some preliminary material on the brain and on psychology (EAK, vols. I and 2), it looks as if he had to go back to square one. We see this as we compare the four works that he said in 1742 would "shortly be published" with lists he made soon afterward. In one he foresees a series of transactions. Then he changes his mind, and proposes a series of volumes (tomes). Setting these side by side, we get a glimpse into the way his thoughts are unfolding. (We have simplified the titles for the sake of clarity.)

     Works "shortly to be published"

1.      Medullary and Nervous fibre
2.      Animal Spirit
3.      Concordance of systems
4.      Divine Prudence, Predestination, Fate, Fortune and Human Prudence

     ANIMAL KINGDOM

I Blood and Heart
(published)

II Brains and Soul
(published)

     (Other) TRANSACTIONS               VOLUMES
III      The Brain                         I      The Body

IV      The Lesser Brain                    II      The Brains
     Medullas                               Medullas
     Diseases of the Head                    Diseases of the Head

V      Introduction to                    III      Introduction to
     Rational Psychology                    Rational Psychology

VI      Rational Psychology                    IV      Rational Psychology1

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     By the time he came to print the first volume of the Animal Kingdom, he had taken the material in the four proposed volumes and divided it instead into 17 parts. He even printed this list of 17 parts with the preface of that volume, and referred to it in no. 14 of the prologue. Here is a table comparing the original proposal of four volumes, with the 17 parts. We see how closely they fit together.

     The Four Volumes (Tomes)                The Seventeen Parts


Tome I      The Body                    1.      The Viscera of the Abdomen
     Anatomy of the body of all its      2.      The Viscera of the Thorax
     Viscera, the Generative Organs      3.      The Heart, Arteries, Veins and
     and those of the Five Senses               Blood
                                        4.      The Genital Members of Males
                                   5.     The Genital Members of Females: and the formation of the Foetus in utero
                                        6.      The Organs of the External Senses

Tome II      The Brain                    7.      The Cerebrum and the Internal
                                             Sensoria
     Anatomy of all the parts of the      8.     The Cerebellum, Medulla
     Larger and Lesser Brain.                of the Oblongata and Medulla
     Prolonged and the Spinal                Spinalis
          Medullas together with the           9.      The Cortical and the Medullary
          Diseases of the Head                         Substances of the Cerebrum; the Nervous Fibre; and the Motive Fibre of the Body; the Animal Spirit
                                   10.     The Organism of Animal Motion
                                        11.      The Affections of the Body, that is to say, Diseases, particularly those of the Head or Cerebrum

Tome III      Introduction to                12.      An introduction to Rational
          Rational Psychology                     Psychology, namely, the
     Introduction to Rational                Doctrine of Forms; of Order
     Psychology or Three Doctrines,           and Degrees; of Series and
     by the aid of which we are led           Society; of Influx; of
     from the material organism of           Correspondences and Represen-
     the body to the knowledge of the           tation; also the Doctrine of
     soul which is immaterial. These           Modification
     doctrines are the doctrine of
     Forms, of Order and Degrees, and
     of Correspondences and Representations,
     to which is added the doctrine of
     Modifications. Further the Medullary
     Fibre of the Brain, the Nervous Fibre
     of the Body, and the Muscular Fibres.

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Tome IV      Rational Psychology           13.      Action; External Sense; Internal
     or the external and internal                Sense; Imagination; Memory
     sense, imagination, memory and      14.      The Affections and Disorders of
     the affections of the natural                the Animus
     mind; the understanding or           15.     The Intellect, comprising
     thought and will, and the                Thought and Will, Instinct; the
     affections of the interior mind.           Affections of the Rational Mind
     Finally, the soul, its state in the 16.      The Soul, and its state in the
     body, its immortality, and its           body; Intercourse, Affection,
     state after the life of the body; to      Immortality; its state after the
     which is added a concordance of           life of the body
     the various systems.                17.     Concordance of systems respecting the Soul, its Nature and Intercourse

     The main difference between the Transactions list and the Volumes list is the introduction of the volume on the body, beginning with the lower organs, then proceeding to the organs of the thorax, then the heart, genital organs and so on to the brain. This gave him a longer journey to the soul, but the goal was very clear in his mind, and important enough to make the extra effort well worthwhile. This is how he describes his purpose in writing the Animal Kingdom:

     From this summary or plan, the reader may see that the end I propose to myself in the work is a knowledge of the soul, since this knowledge will constitute the crown of my studies. This then my labors intend and thither they aim.2

     To accomplish this grand end I enter the circus, designing to consider and examine thoroughly the whole world or microcosm which the soul inhabits; for I think it is in vain to seek her anywhere but in her own kingdom.3

     He also explained why he needed an Introduction to Rational Psychology.

Since it is impossible to climb or leap from the organic, physical and material world-I mean, the body-immediately to the soul, of which neither matter nor any of the adjuncts of matter are predicable . . . hence it was necessary to lay down new ways by which I might be led to her, and thus gain access to her palace.4

     These "new ways" are the doctrines of order, degrees, series and society, influx, correspondence and representation and modification. In one place he expands on the points he expects to cover when he comes to the subject of correspondence. In this we see how his search for the soul has brought him to consider some very important religious themes. Here is the list.

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1.      Correspondence by harmony
2.      Correspondence by parables
3.      Correspondence by types
4.      Correspondence by fables and dreams
5.      Correspondence between human and Divine actions
6.      Representation in oracles
7.      Exposition of the Sacred Scriptures5

     He published two volumes of the Animal Kingdom, keeping to the plan in his list of 17 projected parts. The third should have been on the heart, and the fourth and fifth on the generative organs. But he skipped over those and went to the subject of the proposed sixth volume instead. In the prologue to volume three he explains his change of plans:

     In the Index of Contents of the whole work, I promised that at this stage I should proceed to treat of the Heart, the Arteries, the Veins and the Blood; of the Genital members of Males (and Females), and of the formation of the Foetus in Utero. But the heart, the vessels and the blood have already been fully treated of in my Economy of the Animal Kingdom. And with respect to the members subservient to generation, they must come before us in the sequel, after we have discovered the nature of the animal spirit, and the nature of the soul; for by these organs the soul comes off from itself into the offspring, for the purpose of founding a new kingdom.6

He had already completed his manuscript of Generation, but decided to delay publishing it until later in the series. He had also completed some of the books later in the series, especially the important work The Rational Psychology.7
     Swedenborg was very serious in approaching the subject of the soul and the kingdom it creates for itself. It was the most important project in his life and the culmination of years of work. But he abandoned it before he had even finished the subject of volume three. Why? For several years he had been having psychic experiences, and he interpreted these as encouraging him to go on with his work. We have a small diary that he kept in 1744, recording dreams which he knew had a special message for him. As we read this diary, the Journal of Dreams, we find him referring a great deal to his work on the animal kingdom in general, and on the senses in particular. Then when he was in Delft, Holland, just after Easter, he had a dream in which the Lord appeared to him. He continued his work on the Animal Kingdom for another six months, and then on Oct. 27th recorded in the diary that he had finally turned aside from his life work on anatomy and resumed work on a little book called The Worship and Love of God. He moved from Holland to England, and in 1745 published parts I and II of that work, and even had a few sheets of part III printed, but then the manuscript stopped in mid-sentence!

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Evidently the Lord's call was so clear that he had to drop all worldly studies and begin the study of the Word which would prepare him for his work as "servant of the Lord Jesus Christ."
     It would seem that it was not an easy matter to give up his life-long search, especially when he was so near accomplishing his goals. But the Lord had other work in mind, and to that end opened up his consciousness of the spiritual world, and led him to a thorough study of the Bible. This study would occupy him for about four years until he began writing the first book of the Writings, the Arcana Coelestia. He continued to write and publish for the remaining 23 years of his life, and during that time wrote lists that are of special interest to the New Church. We will look at these in our next article.

     FOOTNOTES

1 Tafel II. pp. 920. 92 1, 926, 93 1, 938
2 Animal Kingdom no. 15
3 AK no. 16
4 AK no. 17
5 Tafel II. p. 928
6 AK no. 469, = no. 3 of A K III
7 See New Philosophy July-September 1983, pp. 113-129, for a fascinating article on why Swedenborg did not publish this work.
NEWS FROM BENADE 1984

NEWS FROM BENADE       R.R.G       1984

     Bishop Benade on Egypt-III

(Based on E. J. E. Schreck's report of Benade lectures of 1879-80 in the Morning Light, London, of 1880)

In his fourth lecture, Bishop Benade explained that the small images (Schabti) found in the corridors of the Egyptian tombs represented the inhabitants of the various societies into which the departed would come in the other world. The many images of the Academy's Lanzone Collection are presumably Schabti. The beautiful images represent angels, the ugly ones devils.
     Osiris, whose soul is the sun (Ra), represents the Lord in His Human. Osiris passed through combats, was slain, and judges the souls of the departed. Bishop Benade showed a picture of Osiris seated in judgment in the world of spirits.

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After judgment the souls wander through the world of spirits in the intermediate state of vastation, the spirit entering and leaving various societies freely till he finds one where he feels perfectly at home.
     The doctrine of reincarnation is a perversion of the doctrine of the Ancient Church. This doctrine, said Benade, came from Egypt via Pythagoras. The idea of reincarnation came from what was known of the wanderings of the human spirit during vastation; it is also linked with the deja vu experience. (As Rev. Donald L. Rose points out in New Philosophy, Oct. 1971, p. 140f, it is the world's most widespread "belief.")
     The ancient Egyptians (who were of the Ancient Church) always spoke of the Divine Being as Love and Goodness, and as One. Only in later times did they speak of an avenging God.
     Benade pointed out that Egyptian ideas of spiritual life are similar to those of the New Church, as indeed the Writings state. We have these truths as doctrines; they had them as correspondences, The New Church may be said to be a restoration of the Ancient Church.
     The Egyptians saw man as a spiritual being in a natural body. The spirit (Khou or Ka) is clothed in pure light until it enters into Ba (the soul or-preferred by Benade-the will). As Ka enters into matter, it unites with Nivou (breathing) and thus permeates the whole body, or Khat.
     The battle of man's life occurs when Intelligence or Ka enters Ba, and from Divine influx tries to free man from evil and elevate him by subjecting his natural to the spiritual. Sometimes the internal triumphs; sometimes the natural. By death the spirit is united with Ba. The internal reassumes its original garment of light and becomes a Living spiritual being. Ba (i.e., the life or ruling love) thus appears before Osiris to be judged, and is weighed in the balance against an ostrich feather, representing truth.
     The Book of the Dead is evidently a theological work, extracted from an original Egyptian "Heaven and Hell," but written in correspondences. In reading from The Litany of Ra, Benade said that references to various names of the Deity as "Terms of Ra" show that the ancient Egyptians had the idea of one God under the various names of His attributes.

     (Here we see Benade, from the Writings, trying to make an intelligible pattern out of Egyptian religion, which still baffles the learned world. Witness a recent statement: "It is impossible to discern an orderly and consistent picture of Egyptian religion, and much scholarship remains hypothesis and conjecture" [The New Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975 edition, p. 842].)
     R.R.G.

119


CHRIST IS ALIVE 1984

CHRIST IS ALIVE              1984

A Layman's View of Dissipation

It was with great pleasure that I read Thomas Cole's reemphasis on worshiping a personal, visible Jesus Christ in last February's NEW CHURCH LIFE! I also gladly noticed Louis D. Synnestvedt's and Geoffrey H. Howard's priestly responses to that legitimate need of the laity to worship a visible Human-Divine. After decades of abstractions, it is about time we got back to some very concrete basis: worshiping a visible Jesus Christ!
     However, must we not also find the Christian courage to clearly examine and criticize ourselves and our own mistakes in conceptions about the Divine Human? Shouldn't we be honest enough with ourselves to admit that there are problems of orthodox General Church interpretation concerning the exinanition and glorification of our Lord which can be as clearly inimical to a lay person's approaching and worshiping a visible God-Man in the present tense as much as the idea of three persons in one are to worshiping God as one in the prior Christian Church?
     As the New Word itself demonstrates, one cannot come to a worship of Christ as the one Lord as long as one entertains the idea of three separate persons in the godhead as defined by the Nicean Creed. Hence, the New Word devotes a lot of very "negative criticism" to the Nicean Creed's orthodox trinity of persons to establish a positive worship of Jesus Christ as the one visible God-Man!
     Speaking for myself only, it seems that the "doctrine of dissipation" is not only contradictory to a lay worship of a visible God-Man, but can actually block free repentance on the part of man and thus the remission of sin in the affections, understanding, and behavior by our Lord. Thus, a critical re-examination of "dissipation," "negative criticism," and ultimately a rejection of it, have been absolutely necessary on my part to come to a worship of a visible Lord Jesus Christ in the present tense and to a fearlessly honest and free repentance of my sins to Him.
     There may be other readers of this magazine who desire to approach and worship God as Man but cannot because "dissipation" may be blocking and/or confusing their conceptions. Maybe they are afraid of being "transactionally disqualified" as being "simple-minded" as the dissipationist school usually dismisses those adhering to a full bodily resurrection?

120


There also may be those who feel the need to spill their sins in confession, freely and fearlessly, but cannot, much as dissipation made confession impossible with me. Thus, I share these "negative criticisms" with the hope that it may make worship of a visible God-Man possible with those who wish it, and that it may make confession of sins to a visible God-Man easier for those who need it. "His yoke is easy and His burden is light." However, there are elements of dissipation and secondarily derived dogmas about authority and punishment which can make it seem impossibly heavy. Thus the negative criticism.
     Although dissipation as a doctrine has been around since the earliest days of the organized New Church, I shall restrict direct criticisms of statements on it to two comments made in the correspondence Messrs. Erik Sandstrom, Sr., and Bruce Rogers carried on in the 1982-83 NCL about the Lord's resurrection body. Neither man is to be faulted as they themselves have been rigorously trained in that dualistic school of thought. However, their own rigorous pursuit of logic used in explaining the orthodox, dualistic dissipationist position finally and firmly reveals weaknesses and basic contradictions in it to a point where they can no longer be denied nor safely overlooked out of "charity."

     I

     First, the basic logic and patterns of thought behind "dissipation" must be closely examined. There is an a priori dualism here. It is rigidly two-parted in form. These underlying assumptions and ideas are no different than prevailing forms in orthodox Islam and Christianity. Mr. Sandstrom clearly stated the underlying assumptions and basic form of this dualistic thinking behind "dissipation" in the closing remarks of his February, 1983 letter: ". . . my primary concern in this discussion has been lest anything whatever of the human from the mother-anything material-should cling to our vision of the Lord we all worship. The Divine can indeed make matter, but matter can never be made Divine" (Italics mine).
     The above is a statement about a fundamental opposition of the Divine (and the spiritual) to the natural (and the material) which is also common to orthodox western Christianity. However, it is not substantiated by the New Word without overlooking a few passages, numerous enough to indicate otherwise. I note that the same assumptions about a fundamental opposition of the Infinite Divine to finite natural matter also characterized and still characterizes most orthodox "old church" thinking; thinking which made and makes the Lord two, and attempts to approach an invisible God-Father directly, (See TCR 111:9 and compare with the basic thought of the above: ". . . so deeply impressed upon them was the idea that what is Divine cannot be human, and what is human cannot be Divine.")

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     The assumptions and logic seem to me to be precisely the same. The obvious danger here is that this dualistic logic used in the doctrine of dissipation, one inherited from "old church" dualism, is likely to lead to the idea that Jesus Christ no longer exists in His visible Divine Humanity and that we are to pray to, approach, and repent to a once visible Divine Human which is now no longer visible. (A neat trick if one can think, pray, and confess in the past tense. I certainly cannot!)

     II

Perhaps at this juncture it is necessary to briefly explore the history of western dualism to realize just how deeply ingrained it is in our culture, and thus how it shapes our thought and our ways of perceiving the world and God-Man. Seeing this, we are then free to choose other forms of logic.
     Dualism itself clearly predates our Lord's First Advent. Rigidly linear dualism as such first appears in the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster, and all subsequent dualism can be historically traced back to the assumptions first established in Persian mysticism. It exercised a powerful influence in shaping ancient thought. For example, the scientific and holistic school of Greek philosophy found in the works of Thales and Heraclitus gave way to the dualism of Plato and Aristotle who used dualism to give philosophical justification to the demise of Greek democracy and a new social order of "overseers and slaves." Judaism picked it up during the Babylonian captivity. The apostle Paul was influenced by both Platonic and Judaic dualism and attempted to explain Christianity with basically Persian ideas (the ridiculous dogma of vicarious atonement, for example, where an angry god-father-Arihman-punishes his own good son-Ormuzd-to appease his own wrath at humanity). This same dualism is also evident in many of the early Christian heretic sects such as the Manichees, which ended up either denying the Lord's Divinity, proto-Arianism, or denying His Humanity and even being born to a woman. However, despite Paul's inherent dualism, despite the dualism of manicheism, the basic belief of primitive, underground Christianity, lower class as it was, which opposed Roman emperor worship, was paradoxical: God became Man and Man became God in the person of Jesus Christ!

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     However, the basic crisis of Christianity and the triumph of dualism came with the conversion of Constantine in 325 A.D. Suddenly a state religion, order had to be brought to it while at the same time legitimizing a state which it had been previously opposing (as if Polish Marxist-Leninists suddenly converted to Catholicism and it had to legitimize the party as "God's vanguard of the proletariat"). Bishops had to insert emperor worship into the church while reconciling warring intellectual factions, both dualistic, one denying the Lord's Divinity, the other His visible Humanity. An impossible task. By this time, the only philosophical tool available was the dualism of classical Greek philosophy deriving from Plato. The result of the Nicean council achieved the impossible!
     The dualistic purists who insisted that "what is Divine cannot be human, and what is human cannot be Divine," and who thus denied either the Lord's Divinity or His visible Humanity, were reconciled by the creed's neat separation of the Lord's Divinity from His Humanity. At the same time, this separation enabled a transfer of the authority of the Lord's Human to an ecclesiastic "divine right" oligarchy, which in turn could confer inherited "divine right" onto the civil and economic hierarchies of Rome. However, in all this, the simple and paradoxical idea of primitive Christianity was lost: that God became Man and Man became God. (See TCR 111:11.)
     With the adaptation of the Nicean creed, a rigid dualism which proposed a fundamental and irreconcilable opposition between the natural and the spiritual became the predominating logic of the Christian west. Baroque philosophy before Swedenborg only served to reinforce it. This "either-or" mode of thinking is still pretty prevalent in the west, and still colors our thought.
     The thesis advanced here is that although the New Word is given, we cannot try to explain or understand the beautiful paradox of the Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ with the same old logic of western scholastic reasoning which postulates a fundamental opposition between the spiritual and the material. We can very easily end up with a New Church variation of the same old Nicean creed. In using this logic to understand the Divine Humanity, aren't we pouring new wine into old bottles of ideas and assumptions? Or to be tritely fresh about it: Dualism brings just more of the same old things, i.e., de-structural and dysfunctional equivalents of the Nicean creed!
     This all is not to say that binary logic does not have its legitimate uses. It does have certain limited validity. However, as a total basis for theology and philosophy, it does not work.

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The assumption and basic corollary here: A can make B but B is separate and dependent on A, and can never be conjoined with A. A third possibility, the conjunction of opposites, is excluded in western logical argument through Descartes. Swedenborg was the first to try to cope with the dilemmas posed by dualism. (See Rev. Hugo Odhner's The Human Mind.) Hegel, and later Marx, also broke partially out of the dualistic dilemma by admitting the possibility of a third thing arising out of the opposition between A and B-C as the synthesis. However, the weakness of the Hegelian-Marxist position is that it only admits of one possible synthesis and only one possible antithesis to that; it becomes more rigidly dualistic and linear than even Descartes. Other possibilities are not admitted of, and the sine qua non of western thought, A opposes B and there are no alternatives, still holds to the fore.

     III

The application of dualism to understanding the Divine-Human. As demonstrated before, orthodox, dualistic Christianity works from an a priori assumption that what is Divine cannot be human, and what is human can never be made Divine - A makes B but cannot become B, nor can B ever become A. That is, A does not equal B or A and B do not flow into each other, excluding the possibility of A + B=AB. The same logic is used in part or wholly in the dissipationist school. Thus, the dissipationist variation carried out to its logical extreme must look like this: A does not equal B. As that is the case, A cannot simply be added to B or B to A. A + B=AB - B=A. That is, assuming a mutual opposition, the Divine can put on a visible Human material form, but must put the visible Human material off again. That is, God became visibly Man and then put off the visible Man again. This is the only logical conclusion the dissipationist school can reach when carried through.
     I note here that the New Word mentions several different processes and states that our Lord went through after His birth: They are "putting off the Human from Mary," exinanition, glorification, and dissipation. The given dualistic a priori assumption of the dissipationist school: ". . . lest anything: whatever of the human from the mother-anything material-should cling to our vision of the Lord. . ." tends not to keep these processes adequately apart, and even confuses them. I note that dualism also involves a time concept which cannot conceive of eternal-unchanging time being conjoined with temporal, passing time, thus the Nicean Creed's formulations of three persons from eternity to eternity. The time concepts of dualistic dissipationism are also uni-linear. And, it is with the time concepts of this school that my "negative criticism" of its exegesis proper shall start.

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     IV

Time Concepts. The New Word itself clearly delineates some exceptionally important differing time frames for the processes of "putting off the human from Mary," exinanition, glorification, and dissipation. I note that dissipationism not only often confuses these processes, but has totally and utterly overlooked these given time frames. I stress them because they have been overlooked, but are essentially important if we are not to arrive at other false time concepts with regard to the visible Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ.
     Exinanition and glorification: TCR numbers 126-128 clearly delineate the time frame for these mutually complementary processes, exinanition being seen as an emptying out, or Christ's states of being alienated from the Divine within His Humanity, and glorification which is a conjunction of His Divine with-in and His visible Human, or uniting the Divine with the Human in a synthesis which resolves the dualistic God not man and man not God division. Those numbers indicate that the processes began the very moment our Lord Jesus Christ first drew breath as an infant, and definitely state that they ended with His last breath on the cross. Also see John 19:30-"It is finished," or "He hath done this." (The last chapter in Fromm's "The Art of Loving" speculates that our Lord's last words on the cross were really a recitation of the 22nd Psalm, which begins in exinanition (see TCR 105) and ends in glorification, that is, total unition of His natural, visible Human to His Divine.)
     "Putting off the Human from Mary;" TCR 104 also definitely states the time frame for this process as well as giving indications as to exactly how and what this process is: "When the Lord was in the world, by the acts of redemption He put off the whole of the Human which He had from the mother, and put on a Human from the Father, the Divine Human; therefore in Him Man is God, and God Man" (Italics added).
     Furthermore, TCR 102 cites passages quoted from the Lord to support "putting off the Human from Mary." I carefully note that all of the passages cited are pre- and not post-resurrection passages. The Lord spoke them before succumbing on the cross and while fully in the material flesh!
     This is an important differentiation. In understanding "putting off the human from Mary" as something accomplished by the acts of redemption through exinanition and temptation during His life on earth, as something before and during the final exinanition on the cross, then we can see that the human from Mary which was "put off" was not the material body of our Lord which the disciples took down off the cross.

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(The scope of this paper does not allow for an exploration of what "the human from Mary which was put off" was, once this is established. But it does deserve exploration.)
     Dissipation: This phenomenon is a minor and tertiary occurrence. It is mentioned in neither the True Christian Religion nor the Doctrine of the Lord. In the few numbers where it appears in the Arcana Coelestia, it is in conjunction with, and trying to explain, other phenomena during the post-resurrection period such as our Lord's appearing and suddenly disappearing to the sight of the disciples, walking through walls, et cetera. On the other hand, there are other phenomena such as His eating material food, and the disciple Thomas's putting his material finger into the physical wounds left by the crucifixion. I merely note here that dissipation is a post-resurrection phenomenon and the "putting off the human from Mary" is a pre-crucifixion process which ended with the crucifixion. They are not the same thing. Until now, there has been no effort to understand dissipation as something other than "putting off the human from Mary." An exploration of that phenomenon in relationship to the other phenomena mentioned is in order, in strict context of the few numbers where it is mentioned. Again, this is not the place to explore "dissipation" fully.
     Recapitulating: exinanition, glorification, the acts of redemption, and "putting off the human from Mary" are all distinctly different but complementary processes which simultaneously occurred during the Lord's life span, beginning at birth and ending with the crucifixion. They are limited in time, and are precrucifixion processes. "Dissipation" proper is a post-resurrection process. Thus, the basic and most obvious error of the dualistic dissipationist position is that it confuses "putting off the Human from Mary" with dissipation by extending the time frame for the former into the post-resurrection period. This time frame having been extended, there is also a noticeable extension of the time frames for the other processes as well. This conceptual extension also results in confusion of these processes for one another. For example, I have seen papers and sermons where glorification is interpreted as "putting off the human from Mary" during the post-resurrection period. (A review of NCL over the last two decades reveals several of these.) It is precisely this false extension of the time frames and the resultant confusion of processes which is the core of the problems involved in the dissipationist theory. The problem basically is that we approached the Divine Human with the a priori dualism inherited from our "old church" intellectual environment: "What is Divine cannot be human, and what is human cannot be Divine," now adapted to the New Church with "The Divine can indeed make matter, but matter can never be Divine."

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In order to confirm this assumption deeply and culturally imbedded in our thinking, there had to be an extension of the given time frames for the various processes our Lord undertook during His life on earth, and a confusion of these processes with each other as well as with the post-resurrection process of dissipation. In its most crude forms, such as I myself previously thought, glorification is seen as "putting off the Human from Mary" which is seen as "dissipation." At this point the impossible contradictions of "dissipationist" theory become very clear.

     (To be continued.)
REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Leon S. Rhodes       1984

     Here a Little, There a Little

(A Review of "The Swedenborg Book Room - How It All Started," by Nadine Coleman; available from the General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.)

     All those interested in the work of spreading the doctrines, and especially those who sometimes feel discouragement, will have a most delightful visit with an eighty-six-year-old woman whose single-handed efforts over half a century have set an inspiring pattern.
     Mrs. Nadine Coleman has taken about half an hour from her retirement to put on tape a most fascinating personal story, relating it in such a charming and friendly way that each listener will feel that he has found a New Church friend.
     Nadine sounds so relaxed and informal that one feels she is casually conversing about herself, but the content of this 46-minute tape suggests that she has given it much thought and planning over a long period of time. It tells of her first unplanned contact with a book by Emanuel Swedenborg, price 5 cents at the 1933 Chicago Exposition, and traces the providential steps which resulted in her opening a Swedenborg book room in Columbia, Misouri, and incidents through the sixteen years as she worked single-handedly to make available the works of the Writings which are so dear to her.
     With a background as a Methodist and Baptist, she had no real interest in religion in 1933, but she did have tired feet, and an exhibit in the Hall of Religion seemed to offer a restful haven. A little paperback with "the outlandish title" of Heaven and Hell cost just a nickel-which seemed a reasonable price-and she flipped through a few pages in a rather indifferent way when-while she and her husband had lunch-a thief stole their belongings.

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She was sufficiently piqued to order another copy of HH which she then began to read in a manner she says resulted in "mental indigestion," poring through it while operating her washing machine in the first of what she estimates was at least forty-five readings. In each reading, she says, finding "something new."
     Although she fully expected others to share her interest and excitement, she found herself alone in this exploration for half a dozen years before she wrote an article published by the Kansas City Star. Through this publicity and her programs for women's clubs, she made contacts which encouraged her to try more, but it was an unexplainable urge to restore an old Victorian house close to the University of Missouri that led to her setting aside one room and furnishing it to become the Swedenborg Book Room.
     Her tape includes accounts of visitors-men from the university and women from nearby Stevens College-many who dropped in out of curiosity or perhaps to ridicule or challenge her work, and it is easy to imagine how her calm and affectionate manner so often resulted in a visitor remaining for two hours or more.
     With the help of the Swedenborg Foundation, she was able to "sow seeds"-to distribute works of the Writings and to explain the doctrines to a long parade of visitors. Many will be able to recognize some of the people who play a part in her story and to share her feelings as a seeking mind was opened to these new truths.
     Her account-as has so often been the case-tells that though she was reading the Writings with devotion, she was unaware of any organized church, but finally was led to the Convention group in St. Louis, and later to the General Church, into which she was baptized in 1962 by Rev. Kurt Nemitz.
     This very personal account can be played for the mere enjoyment of an interesting story, but there is much more here that has direct application in the lives of each of us hoping for the spread of the Teachings. Nadine closes with her expression of thanks for the privilege of having been able to share in this "most important work on earth," and as a miraculously tiny tape cassette available through the General Church Recording Committee, her message will continue to bear fruit and bring delight to future New Church men and women to whom the Lord's Providence will direct her message.
     Leon S. Rhodes

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MIRACLES, MIRACLES, MIRACLES! 1984

MIRACLES, MIRACLES, MIRACLES!       JOHN KREICBERGS       1984

In and around us! But where are they? I do not see any. Such will be the response of an ordinary person, because everything in and around us is so common, there is nothing extraordinary. Nature is nature. Where, then, are the miracles? We regard as miracles something which happens against the order we are used to. But where are the miracles in and around us?
     Well, when I wake up in the morning and look out of the window, I see the trees in the sunshine and wonder how it comes to pass that generation after generation of them, and other plants too, grow exactly the same kind-spruce after spruce, oak after oak, etc. And how wonderfully they are formed, and what is the factor which makes them grow so wonderfully? What forms their organs (roots, branches, leaves) which absorb carbon from carbon dioxide in the air, making free the oxygen which we need for breathing although in the air there is just about one percent of it? How can the plants do that? And then this material--carbon-of which about ninety percent of the plant's body consists, has to be transported down to branches, trunk, roots. So there are two flows of sap-one up from the roots, mostly consisting of the water and minerals; another down, with carbon! What is the factor which has it all so wonderfully organized? And that applies to all of the plants as well, large and small. Are these not miracles?
     And how about animals and humans-ourselves too? How wonderfully and purposefully are the organs of the body organized! Could that just happen accidentally as the materialists and atheists assert? Impossible! And how generation after generation can they grow exactly alike, nevertheless permitting personal differences, as for instance, color of hair of animals, faces of men, etc., the form and organs of the species remaining the same. And the smallest building stone, the cell, of which all the organs of animals, humans and plants are made, now appears to be quite complicated itself, having its organs necessary for its functions. If that is not a miracle, then what else is?

     Whether we want to make even the simplest thing or complicated machinery, we need three things, or factors:

1.      The idea of what we need
2.      The material from which it can be made
3.      A maker.

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     If one of these things is missing, nothing can be made. If it is so with man-made things, can it be different in nature? It is the same there: first, the design, even a very complicated one, then, material, finally, a maker. Who is that factor which makes it all? If we think that it all happens by itself, then we are really stupid. As I see, Charles Darwin, writing his evolution theory, did not think of that third factor. If he had, the theory might have been different.
     And miracles are not confined just to living nature; they are in inorganic nature too. How is it that just a difference of one electron in an element's atom makes it different from another? And how various are the nearly 100 different elements? How many combinations of them can be made, as modern chemistry shows us? We now have such materials in everyday use of which just a few decades ago we had no idea. And how is it that two gases-oxygen and hydrogen-combined, make a liquid-water-which itself is very stable and for centuries was regarded as a basic element itself? Is not that a miracle too? And with our highly developed chemistry, complicated laboratories, and factories, we have not been able to make some chemical combinations that a little smidge, a microscopic bacterium in its microscopic body, can make. Is not that a miracle too?
     And one more. You are looking out of the window through the glass. How is it that this hard material, consisting of materials just partly transparent and completely non-transparent, as lead, is so transparent? Now it is being used as hair-thin fibers to transmit light for great distances, used instead of electricity for telephone communications. And that infinitesimally small amount of light travels great distances, being reflected countless times from inside this hair-thin fiber! If that is not a miracle, then what else is? And the factor which designs and executes all these miracles, is that just accident? If we accept that, then we can think that writing a long novel requires nothing more than just throwing all the necessary letters into a drum, shaking it well, pouring all its contents on the floor and presto!-a novel is ready! But can we accept that? That simply is not possible. And so we come to the Source and Maker of everything, the Infinite, the Eternal. God, Universal Mind, no matter what we call Him, Who is the Source of everything. And here let me say that I regard HIM as the true and all encompassing Reality, from Whom everything that we regard as real has its existence. We, as finite beings created by Him, cannot even grasp what possibilities infinity and eternity might include. Have you tried to imagine infinity? Let me try to illustrate it.
     The latest discoveries in astronomy tell us that photographically recorded galaxies are about ten billion light years away!

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Can you imagine that? Well, let us try. Take, for instance, a scale in which a light year is just one millimeter (about 1/26 of an inch). Then our solar system would be submicroscopic, the nearest star about 4 mm away, and our Milky Way galaxy about 100 meters in diameter. The nearest galaxy (Andromeda Nebula) would be about 1 1/2 kilometers (about 1 mile) away. And the farthest galaxies, reachable photographically with the most powerful telescopes, would be about 10,000 km away. Can you imagine? And the Infinite and Eternal created it all! How can we come to Him? Are we not miniaturizing Him? Well, He manifested Himself on our earth as the man Jesus Christ. Can we be so vain and imagine that He manifested Himself only on our submicroscopic planet (taken on a scale of infinity), but not on others in the infinity? If we accept that in every galaxy there is just one populated planet, even then in the universe there are myriads of planets with human life. And if that Infinite and Eternal manifested Himself on our earth as the Lord Jesus Christ, then He could as well manifest Himself on other planets too, even right now on thousands and millions of them, nevertheless remaining One and the Same. Of course, that is just speculating and that is all we can do.
     It is true, what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, that nobody can come to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). So I think that on the other side of the invisible curtain the Infinite and Eternal appears for the inhabitants of a certain planet as that Person in whom He was living on that planet: for us earth people, as the Lord Jesus Christ in the Spiritual Sun.
     And lastly, the three factors or things necessary for everything to be made by man or in nature does not apply to the Infinite and Eternal, from Whom everything is, as He is the Author, Source of material and Maker Himself. So let us kneel before Him and wonder and thank Him for His miracles.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JANIS KREICBERGS 1984

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JANIS KREICBERGS       JANIS KREICBERGS       1984

Dear Rev. Rose:
     I am glad and willing to give you a short story of my life. I was born in Latvia, which was then in the Czar's Russia, near the town of Jelgava. My father was a handworker. His health was not very good-something with the lungs and his work making wooden buckets and other vessels. This made a lot of dust which was detrimental to his health.

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All the work, living and kitchen were in the same room, and so I got some of that dust too in my lungs, and during the first twelve years of my life was often sick. During the first three years of schooling (1912-1915) I lost about a third of the time due to sickness.
     My father died in 1915 at the age of sixty-one. The same summer, fleeing the advancing German army, my mother and I left Jelgava and went to Riga where we had some relatives. But in 1917 the Germans took Riga too. After that I had no schooling. We returned to Jelgava, and as we were very poor I had to start working at whatever I could between 1918 and 1919 until the Germans were driven out by the new Latvian army. In 1920 I started working as a telephone lineman and continued that work until 1928, except for fifteen months in the army (1924-1925).
     We survived the "terrible year" under Communist rule and had to flee before the advancing Red army in October of 1944. We went to Barta, and that is where I got acquainted with the New Church. How did this happen? I was active in the Latvian Anti-alcoholic Society. During a discussion at one of our gatherings there was present as a guest a young and sincere minister. One of our members asked him whether a sin against the Holy Spirit could be forgiven. (Now, we know what is said in the gospels in Matthew 12:31.) A long discussion developed. We wondered who of us can be sure that he has not said something which could be interpreted as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Not even the minister could answer, and the only conclusion was that we must rely on God's mercy. But this is a very important and vital question which continued to occupy my mind. Now, one Sunday in 1938 at the church in Barta the pastor (named Ustups) mentioned in his sermon Swedenborg and his writings. As I knew a little about Swedenborg I undertook a trip to Liepaja to buy the book from which pastor Ustups had gained information used in his sermon. It was the Latvian translation of Mitnacht's biography of Swedenborg. This was a translation by Mr. Grava which has recently been published. Reading it I found that Swedenborg was quite different from what I had previously supposed. He was a seer and revelator who had written many books. Now I was interested to get some of his books, of which a few were published in Latvian.
     On my next trip to Liepaja I went to Mr. Grava's home hoping to get some from him. But he was not there. As it turned out, however, I spotted in the window of a bookstore a book named Jauna Jeruzalemen un tas Debeskiga Maciha (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine). It was published in 1938. The title seemed very suspicious-sectarian. I walked around this window as a fox walks around a trap. But, nothing doing, nothing else can I get. I went in and bought that book.

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And-the fox got trapped! For in this book there were plain, clear and logical answers to most of the vital spiritual questions. As to the question of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, I later got a book in German from Mr. Grava where that was explained-again clear and logical. For it is not true that God will not forgive this sin, but that man does not want to receive it. He rejects God and His mercy, and such are the atheists, materialists and others who deny God's existence. So it is man that locks the door through which God can come in to him.
     Now having this newfound truth, at once I tried to share with my young friends and soon we were about half a dozen young people who eagerly received this new spiritual treasure. Being already middle-aged, I acted as a leader. Then came the "terrible year"-the Communist takeover-and we had to be very cautious. Before that I had joined the New Church congregation in Liepaja, of which Mr. Grava was the leader, and was elected to its board of directors. We held our services in a rented building. This was nationalized, and so our rent was raised to six (!) times the amount paid for just a dwelling. So we were not able to pay that confiscatory rent and were forced to close. After the Germans came, we could recommence our activities, and in 1942 we got another room for our services, Mr. Grava serving as lay leader. Services were held about every other Sunday, and whenever it was possible for me, I attended them. So it was until the fall of 1944, when before the advancing Red army we were forced to leave our native country and flee to Germany, where we were scattered, and after the war were in different displaced persons camps. Gradually we each discovered where the others were. Mr. Grava got access to a mimeograph machine, and so once in a while he printed and sent us the sermons. Then migration to U.S.A. Again, we started doing something, and so in 1952 we started publishing our quarterly Jaunais Laikmets (The New Age) with Mr. Grava as editor and me as the printer and distributor. And thus we worked for 30 years until Mr. Grava, because of his age, was forced to discontinue the work. During that time I have printed 120 issues of Jaunais Laikmets-about 4,000 pages, and also 15 books. All the printing was on the old multilith machine. Now that work has stopped.

     BOOKS OF THE WRITINGS IN LATVIAN

     On the opposite page is a photo of Mr. Janis Kreicbergs with an example of how the title pages of the Writings look in Latvian.

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[Title pages and photograph of Mr. Janis Kreichbergs.]

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

WHILE THE CHURCH IS AMONG A FEW

A matter of continual interest is the teaching of the Writings about the New Church while it is "among a few." We have the image of a woman in the wilderness and the saying that it is of Providence that the church shall first be among a few until provision is made for it to be among more (see AE 732, AR 547). Some have wondered whether the transition from the few to the many will be sudden. Will it be like a single step out of the wilderness into a land of plenty? Before speaking to this grand question, let us note something about a specific church organization.
     The General Church of the New Jerusalem is among a "few" in its total membership, but it is especially in its particular parts that fewness is such a marked characteristic. Last month's editorial on adversity when numbers count spoke of our particular circles and societies and the effect when families move away. In this issue the news from our second largest society (Glenview) includes the statement: "We would like to see more New Church families settle here and help our schools to grow." You can be sure that smaller societies are hoping the same. There are good reasons for wanting more people.
     The exception seems to be the Bryn Athyn society. The cathedral is not adequate to contain the full congregation. When a family moves to a New Church society or other center it is usually a most encouraging event with valuable consequences. Unless, of course, the move is to Bryn Athyn. In saying this I do not wish to insult those who have moved to Bryn Athyn (and they are many). I only feel free to say it because after years of living in smaller centers and knowing the problem of losing a family to Bryn Athyn, I became part of the problem. My family also moved to Bryn Athyn. In 1982 to make us thoughtful the following observation was made. "If current trends continue, 70% of the General Church membership could be residing in Bryn Athyn by 1990" (NCL, 1982, p. 509). The intention was not that we should sit back and watch this happen. Here is a real challenge to thoughtful people whether of the laity or of the priesthood. Can plans or ideas be brought forward to promote a better demographic balance within the centers of this organization?

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     What of the question of how the New Church will move from the era of few to the era of many:, Will it be a sudden and dramatic change? No, the Writings put it in a word which may best be translated "gradually." (Sometimes it is translated "successively.")
     Yes, it is of the Lord's Divine Providence that the church may at first be among a few. And it is also of Divine Providence that it may "increase successively among many" (AR 547). The New Church will "first begin with a few, afterwards to be with more, and finally reach fulness" (AE 732).
     A "big bang" theory on the growth of the New Church is not really tenable in view of what the Writings teach on this subject. What is gradual is done step by step. We do not wait around for one sudden step, but we rather set ourselves at each stage to the promotion of the cause of the church according to the means we have and according to the understanding we are given.

     THE SPIRITUAL DIARY (SO CALLED)

In the year 1902 James Frederick Buss completed the translation of the fifth and final volume of what has long been known as the Spiritual Diary, This magazine welcomed it with these words: "The members of the New Church, sensible of the precious knowledges of the other life with which, owing to his labors, they can now enrich and delight their mind, will feel nothing but gratitude to Mr. Buss for opening up to them, even though in an imperfect way, the rich mines of wealth in the Spiritual Diary of Emanuel Swedenborg."
     Why the word "imperfect'? Actually a lot of important work should have been done before an English translation was undertaken. One has to be clear what the original language says before one can translate it into another. At that time Rev. Alfred Acton was pointing out that we needed to take the necessary steps to get a satisfactory translation. He said, "There are many obscure passages, some of which are doubtless due to misreadings of the manuscript; and in addition to this there are those cases, already noticed, where the Latin editor was unable to decipher the original."
     Mr. Acton wished that work could soon begin on this important project, but he realized that he must look to "the more or less distant future, for it will necessarily be several years before we have a complete phototyped copy of the Diary including the index, and probably many more years will elapse before the work of revision of the Latin and retranslation of the English is undertaken."

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     It is of historic importance that Dr. John Durban Odhner has made tremendous strides in this important work. The first volume of the new Latin edition is now available.
     The General Church Translation Committee is to be congratulated on this achievement and for the scholarly way in which it is proceeding.

     Fifty years after making those comments Dr. Alfred Acton became convinced that the title Spiritual Diary was unsuitable. Dr. Odhner's excellent preface (in English) to the Latin edition proposes a title that does seem suitable. And of this we will speak another time.

     NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

In March of 1884 this magazine was offering a six-month trial subscription for twenty-five cents. The announcement added:
     Those who may wish to use the paper for missionary purposes, or to interest their friends in its principles, will thus be enabled to do so at trifling expense.

     NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO

     The obituary of Rev. James Frederick Buss appears in the March issue, 1934. He is there shown to have been a most talented man who "labored for the New Church ministry for fifty-five years." He translated two volumes of the Spiritual Diary. It is noted that he met in South Africa David William Mooki who was struggling to found the African New Church. Mr. Buss is reported to have expressed the hope a month before his death that he would be known as "the man who found Mooki."
     Now Rev. Obed Mooki is achieving fine things for the New Church in South Africa, and one of Rev. Buss's great grandsons is President of the Academy of the New Church, and another is (among other things) Business Manager of this magazine.

     THE GIRLS SCHOOL FIFTY YEARS AGO

     In 1934 the Girls School, then called the Girls' Seminary, had thirteen graduating seniors. In this, its centennial year, it will have about three dozen.

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HELP PEOPLE TO FIND THE NEW CHURCH 1984

HELP PEOPLE TO FIND THE NEW CHURCH       Rev. DOUGLAS TAYLOR       1984




     Communications

Dear Sir:
     The Evangelization Committee continues to hear of cases where people who have found the Writings are extremely frustrated in their attempts to contact readers of Swedenborg, and to discover whether or not there is a church based on these Writings. Probably the most pathetic is that of a couple in Washington State who spent 40 years of wondering. The husband died without knowing of the existence of the church, and his widow discovered it only in the last few years of her life. This she did because the Seattle circle proclaimed its existence by means of an entry in the phone directory.
     A recent letter describes the situation most vividly, as follows:

     I am trying to contact someone who is a student of Swedenborg, and perhaps a member of 'the New Church' . . . If you happen to have the name of such a person or persons, and are free to pass it to me, I wish you would do so. If not, perhaps you could tell me how in the name of goodness a person goes about finding Swedenborgians from scratch! There is no church listed in our telephone directory, and certainly no person as far as I know has been publicly acclaimed as a Swedenborgian. I have become interested enough to want to contact someone else who is interested.

     We wonder just how many people have 120t succeeded in contacting us. Surely we should see to it that, even if we are the only New Churchmen in a town or city, the name of Swedenborg appears in the local phone book or books. The most efficient name so far used is "Swedenborg Information."
     Let every society, circle, or group please check the phone books in its own city. A listing in the white pages is not expensive.
     REV. DOUGLAS TAYLOR,
          Chairman, G. C. Evangelization Committee

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ACCURATE TRANSLATION 1984

ACCURATE TRANSLATION       RICHARD L. GOERWITZ       1984

Dear Mr. Rose,
     I was both pleased and surprised to read the recent reply by Kent Cooper to my article on translation (my article, Oct. '83; his, January '84). Kent's conclusions are difficult to dispute, and I have found myself in full agreement with him on most counts.
     My only reservation about Kent's reply is that at several critical points he argues against positions I never claimed to hold. The natural inference would be that Kent has misunderstood me. However, because I know Kent to be an intelligent and sympathetic reader, I cannot lay responsibility for this on him alone. Some of the blame must rest on my shoulders.
     With acceptance of this blame, I must also accept responsibility for clarification. I believe that what I had to say was both important and true, and it would distress me to think my message was not getting across.
     I therefore would like to take this opportunity to re-present some of the key ideas that were expressed (or so I thought) in my article.
     The first of these key ideas to be addressed is the title, Why We Should Not Revise Our Translations. Actually, this was added to the paper as an afterthought. I had spent several days writing in dead earnest, trying to explain why our old translations are inadequate, and why many are finding it difficult to accept newer ones. My feeling was that our view of language, and of what a translation really is, constrains us from development in this field; unless we are willing to examine our implicit assumptions and beliefs about translation we cannot possibly come up with anything truly new or different. I added the title in hopes of underscoring this pressing need.
     What my title means, then, is not so much "don't do it until you can do it right" as "unless you change your methodology, you can't possibly change your product."
     In addition to making this general statement, I also made some specific suggestions for improvement, citing several cases where our implicit assumptions about translation seem to have led to unsatisfactory results.
     One of these assumptions is our tendency to equate literal translation with accuracy. To translate literally is to try to preserve the meaning of each word, or part of a word, in the transfer from one language to another. Such a method of translation ignores the fact that what is expressed in one language with many words is often best expressed in another with few, or vice versa.

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Literalism thus imposes a constraint upon the translator which can actually destroy the accuracy he seeks to maintain.
     Literalism can also lead to a feeling that terms which sound more like the original Latin are more accurate. For instance, some have claimed that "I asseverate" is a good translation of assevero. Although the dictionary gives similar meanings for these two words, the English version is obscure, erudite, and somewhat archaic. However, the Latin is fairly common and straightforward. Literal translation tends to ignore these more stylistic aspects of meaning in an effort to maintain correspondence between the wording of the original and the wording of the translation. This again can destroy the very accuracy such methods of translation seek to preserve.
     Another more deeply-rooted assumption that has prevented the church from accepting newer translations is the love we have for our traditional terminology. Ever since the late 1700s, our translations haven't changed a whole lot. For instance, the latest translation of the Arcana by John Elliott is really the first attempt to do it from scratch since the beginning. Such incredible continuity in our tradition of translation has brought us into an emotional bond with the sound of certain terms.
     This is the kind of emphasis on terminology I am frightened of. I am not advocating that we toss away our lexicons. I just want people to realize that the seeming inaccuracy and "looseness" of many newer translations is often not real. Our judgment on these translations is actually a result of our discomfort at the absence of familiar terms. In this sense, we are focusing too much on terminology.
     One of the great forces that has brought us into both literalism and emphasis on terminology is classical scholarship. Classical theories of grammar and translation overemphasize the importance of individual words in a sentence. Moreover, the tremendous esteem Latin has held in the west has often caused translators to want to bend English to fit a Latin mold. This has led to the use of terms like "conjugial," "love of the sex," "conjunction," etc.
     As was said above, once these Latinate terms became an established part of our tradition, the church developed a deep attachment to them. Nowadays, it's hard for us to think about our religion without them.
     I find this distressing because it betrays an overemphasis on the letter of revelation. Our love for the Word should be for its message, and not its letter in translation. Different renditions of this message by different translators are just so many windows to an eternal and many-sided truth.

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     We can give this observation practical application in our worship through the free use of many translations. Variety will keep our minds on the message, and prevent us from becoming too attached to the form of this message in translation. Variety will also allow us many paths of insight. Most of all, though, it will constantly remind us of the depth of meaning inherent in the Word and of the many ways its truth can come into our lilies.
     I can see from several of Kent's statements that we are in agreement on this last point. We New Church men and women have got to get away from the feeling that we should cater to our fancy for traditional terms. Doing this will, of course, require use of many translations. To get these translations, we will certainly have to translate. And, as Kent has told us, it is important that we give it our best shot here and now. How else can we expect to learn from our errors and thus grow?
     RICHARD L. GOERWITZ III,
          New Haven, Connecticut
TO THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1984

TO THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       Rev. MARK E. ALDEN       1984

Dear Friends,
     Some of you may already know that I have accepted an offer to enter medical school, to begin classes in the fall of 1984. I know this comes as quite a surprise, but those of you who know me well may see it as the culmination of a life-long dream for me. It is wonderfully happy, yet not without many elements of sadness. In order to take up this new expression of use, I am resigning as assistant to the pastor of the Washington Society and as an active minister of the General Church, effective August 1984.
     This has not been an easy thing for me to do. Nor has it been, nor will it be, easy for my family. Please allow me to explain some of what lies behind my decision.
     Ever since I was little I have been absolutely fascinated with medicine. It was my dream in high school. Pre-medicine was my major in college. But I wavered on the final step into medical school. At the same time, my love for the church was very strong. I was inspired by church uses, and felt a call to serve those uses as a priest. I have now labored to serve those uses for eight years, giving them the full extent of my love and dedication. The rewards have been deep and rich, and I am grateful.

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     However, the desire to be a physician continually haunted me. In theological school, not a term went by when the thought of medicine did not emerge. And as an ordained priest, the desire to go to medical school returned insistently, every two months or so. Believe me, I have tried to put these thoughts aside, but it has been to no avail. I have been struggling now for almost a decade to fight back the urge to be a physician, so that I could go forward in the function of the priesthood in which I believe so strongly. But it is now clear that the Lord has in mind for me another expression of use. This is something I must do.
     To me, it is not so much that I am turning away from the ministry, as it is that I am taking up a new way to serve the Lord and minister to others. I will always feel the responsibilities of ordination. In my life and work, I will never cease to be a pastor. It is a love for the eternal welfare of others that drew me into the priesthood, and which still underlies my desire to serve. To have a background in both theology and medicine will be a special privilege indeed. And I pray that this may be of real use to the church and society.
     In December of 1982, when Bishop King invited me to come to Washington, my wife and I were absolutely thrilled. We knew we would be very happy serving the church here. I was then one hundred percent committed to the ministry. Then, on April 23, 1983, the shocking/jarring realization hit me: I had to make a try at getting into medical school. After consulting with the Bishop. I asked him that I be allowed to go ahead as planned, and take up my duties in the Washington Society this past fall, even though it might be only for a year.
     Needless to say, we felt quite awkward coming to Washington while harboring a hope for a career change. But my decision was so new, and the future held so many uncertainties, that I really didn't know if I could successfully achieve an acceptance into medical school. I was reluctant to leave a successful and inspiring career with finality.
     As it turned out, everything went very well for me. My test scores were high. My interviewers at Penn State University (from which I received my primary letter of recommendation) gave me "highest recommendation." And I am happy to report that I received my first letter of acceptance to a medical school on December 10, 1983. I am now waiting to hear from some other schools before I decide where I will go.
     Please know that I am very happy to continue serving the General Church as a full-time priest until the fall of 1984. Thereafter, I will welcome opportunities for occasional priestly duties as may seem fitting under the leadership and guidance of the Bishop, and in keeping with the order and organization of the General Church.

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I hope to retain full membership in the Council of the Clergy, and to participate in its affairs as time and opportunity may allow.
     I am sure that this is what I must do. I believe it is how I can best serve the Lord and my neighbor, and where I will be deeply satisfied. Undoubtedly the Lord in His Providence finds many ways to further the growth and strength of His Church.
     REV. MARK E. ALDEN
ACADEMY SCHOOLS NEED BOOKS 1984

ACADEMY SCHOOLS NEED BOOKS       Rev. Peter Buss       1984

     When we teach religion in the secondary schools we would like to be able to give the students first-hand contact with the Writings and the Old and New Testaments in the classrooms. For this reason we are trying to compile a large collection of the Writings, the Concordance, the Old and New Testaments, and collateral works for the religion classrooms. We would like to have several sets of these books so that the students can have direct access to them during the class.
     Do you have spare sets of any of these books? They must be in good condition: damaged books don't last long in a boys school. It would be useful, for example, to have many copies of Divine Providence, Conjugial Love, Heaven and Hell, and the True Christian Religion. Students could be assigned readings, and get used to looking in the Writings for answers in a controlled situation. We would like to teach them how to use the Concordance; direct them to the meaningful and practical passages which abound in the Arcana Coelestia; let them find those sections of each book which are easier to read than some others.
     If you are able to get copies that you wish to donate transported to the Academy, that would be ideal. On the other hand, perhaps some copies would need to be mailed. In other cases we may be able to arrange for somebody who is passing through your town to pick them up. Please contact Mrs. Victor Lindemann at the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, if you need to mail them or to make arrangements to have them transported. I believe these books would be put to real use in our schools.
     Rev. Peter Buss

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Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984

     [Three photos of the New Church Books Information Swedenborg store and Terry Schnarr]

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Church News 1984

Church News       Various       1984

     A WORD OF APPRECIATION FROM LAKE WALLENPAUPACK AND SUSQUEHANNA

     We are very grateful for the service the General Church has given to its members in this area. Eight times we have had a minister come up and give us a service. Aggregate attendance at these services adds up to 307 men, women and children. The figure includes services at the Cronlunds at their home in Susquehanna. Other services were held at the summer homes of the Cranches and the Nashes. Quite a few services were held at the Settlers Inn in Hawley. Some services were also held at my home. One couple from upper New York State traveled 150 miles, and a few others 75 miles to attend some of these services.
     Before 1920 my future father-in-law resigned as pastor of the Kitchener. Ontario, Society to move to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became the sole visiting minister to the whole United States. In the winter he visited Atlanta and several groups in Florida. In the summer he visited various groups in Denver, New Mexico and California. The rest of the year he conducted service in Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Middleport. I mention this as there are now eleven ministers serving in the areas once covered alone by Rev. F. E. Waelchli.
     In this area we have two Bryn Athyn families who have second homes at Wallenpaupack. We who live here appreciate what these two couples have done for us.
     One last word. We all appreciate what the General Church is doing for us in this area.
     J. Richard Kintner

     GLENVIEW

     1983 has been a good year for the Glenview society but it is tinged with some sadness as we have had to say goodbye to some valued friends. Our society was taken by surprise during the summer when it was announced that our pastor, Rev. Peter Buss, would be taking a new position as president of the Academy. Peter, Lisa, Mrs. Doreen Buss and their family were very much liked by our society and we were somewhat shaken by their planned departure.
     After a society meeting to choose a selection committee, the committee met with Bishop King and the society to recommend their ministerial choices. Both were unanimously accepted. Brian Keith, our assistant pastor, was chosen to be our pastor, and Eric Carswell, formerly assistant pastor of the Pittsburgh society, was selected to be our assistant pastor. Grant Schnarr, a recent graduate of the theological school, was chosen previously as the pastor's assistant. His principal use will be working with the missionary program.
     Eric Carswell has had considerable experience and education in the academic field and is well qualified to be our principal of the high school, the Midwestern Academy. It has been a pleasure for the Glenview society to gel to know the wives and families of Eric and Grant. Robin Childs, a theological candidate, was with us for a few months gaining theological experience and it was our gain to have him with us.
     During the past four months the Glenview society has been very pleased with our ministerial leadership. Brian is very capably handling his pastoral role with skill and enthusiasm. We feel fortunate to have him as pastor.

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Peter left a difficult role to fill as we had been very pleased with his leadership during his seven-year term as pastor.
     The Glenview society has lost other friends during the year. Gabrielle and Tom Gladish and daughter Helen moved to Cincinnati. Sally and Dick Brickman, Lee and Don Synnestvedt and Khary Allen and their families moved to Bryn Athyn. They each contributed so many uses to the society, and their loss leaves a void as active church members and as friends.
     This year sees the school enrollment slightly lower within the two-year high school and in the elementary school. The school committee has been putting in many long hours to renovate the classrooms, which were old and dilapidated.
     In a society as large as Glenview there are many society jobs that need to be done. In reviewing the year, Brian reported that 65-90% of the congregation had definite society jobs, some having many.
     Our radio station, WMWA, came back on the air after a summer absence. A cooperative working relationship with the local public high school has provided major funding for the station's operating budget. Glenview suffered through the hottest summer in history. Despite the heat, a week-long family retreat camp, Oak Leaf, was held about 10 miles from Glenview in a forest preserve.
     The Women's Guild alternated monthly meetings with Theta Alpha. The Guild continues to put on weekly Friday suppers and periodic banquets as well as carrying out many other uses for the society. A spring rummage sale, which was open to the public, was very successful. It takes a lot of time and effort to put on the sale, but it remains the best way to make a large amount of money annually to meet some special society needs.
     The Boys Club, besides having their usual summer camp, had a lot of dedicated help in restoring the camp facilities to more modern livable conditions. The Girls Club, Girl Scout troop 388, also had a busy and successful year of fun events and money-raising projects.
     One of the best things that happened in the Park was the completion of the repaving of Park Drive and beautification of our new Glenview Road entrance. The landscaping and planted flowers at this entrance were much commented upon for their beauty. We also have new classy signs at the entrance and around the church buildings.
     The usual Christmas festivities added beauty and spirituality to our lives, this year the annual Christmas sing was enhanced by individual talents of vocalists and instrumentalists. Grant Schnarr's trumpet rendition of "Calm on the listening ear of night" was especially stirring.
     The Glenview society welcomed seven new members but lost nine due to moving. Two members passed into the spiritual world. Several babies were born. We would like to see more New Church families settle here and help our schools to grow. There are currently some church lots near the Park for sale, plus a condominium unit.
     In this year of recession and unemployment we have been fortunate with very few jobs lost. In general, our society is prospering, working hard and seeing gradual positive growth from the results of our missionary outreach program. It has been a year of change and adjustment for the Glenview society, but also a year of dedicated hard work and Divinely led growth.
     Doris Millam

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TWENTY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1984

TWENTY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY              1984




     Announcements






In January, there was a mailing of General Assembly information with preliminary registration forms to all Church members outside of the Bryn Athyn area. We would like to correct three errors in that material:
     1.      The cover letter stated that there would be a vote on female participation on the Board. The question to be discussed is the inclusion of women in the membership of the Corporation. Final determination of this matter must be made by the Corporation.
     2.      The subject of the Mini-Session presented by the Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith will be "Let Us Pray."
     3.      The subject of the Mini-Session presented by the Rev. Glenn G. Alden will be "The Greater Neighbor.
     We apologize for these mistakes. Garry Hyatt, Assembly Committee Chairman
EDUCATION JOURNAL IS HERE 1984

EDUCATION JOURNAL IS HERE              1984

     The Journal of the 1983 Education Council is now complete and available. Many of the articles and commentaries are of special interest because they concern studies being done on the Religion curriculum in our General Church schools. You will find this exciting reading, and in a well-published and easy-to-follow format.
     Non-members of the Education Council may purchase copies for $3.00 at the Bryn Athyn Society Office complex. Each member of the Education Council receives a free copy.
     Frederick L. Schnarr,
          Chairman, Education Council

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OUR NEW CHURCH VOCABULARY 1984

OUR NEW CHURCH VOCABULARY              1984

By Rev. W. Cairns Henderson

Definitions of 126 commonly used terms reprinted from a series in NEW CHURCH LIFE, January 1961-July 1966. This booklet is useful to newcomers as well as established members of the church. $1.50 postpaid

     Also available

SELECTED EDITORIALS
By Rev. W. Cairns Henderson
Editor, NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1950-1974

     A collection of 170 editorials selected from the wide variety of subjects that Mr. Henderson examined in the light of the Writings during his years as editor. These selected editorials have been gathered into a single hardcover volume that will be treasured by students of the Writings at all levels. $3.40 postpaid

     GENERAL CHURCH BOOK CENTER     
BRYN ATHYN, PA 19009
                    
HOURS: 9:00-12:00
Monday thru Friday
Phone: (215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984

     

     
Vol. CIV     April, 1984     No. 4
NEW CHURCH

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     For thirty years Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal produced financial reports to be published in this magazine. On February 4th Mr. Gyllenhaal was taken to the spiritual world. On February 6th the Bryn Athyn cathedral was crowded when Bishop King expressed "affection and respect" for this pillar of the church in a memorial address (p. 178).
     Rev. Dandridge Pendleton emphasizes the representative aspect of the office of the priesthood in the continuation of the series, "Priest and Layman."
     The first four articles by Rev. Frank Rose on Swedenborg's lists dealt with Swedenborg's preparatory work. In this issue he takes up the books of the Writings themselves. The graphic on page 171 shows the relative size and sequence of the books of the Writings published up to the year 1764.
     "As their last evening drew to its close, the Lord lifted up His eyes to heaven . . . ." Rev. Glenn Alden's sermon is on intercession as was the sermon in the April issue fifty years ago (see p. 192).
     In the ninth chapter of Luke it is said that as the time came that Jesus would be received up, He "steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." In March of 1983 NEW CHURCH LIFE focused on the subject of the Lord's temptations and His triumph against forces great beyond our imagining. The Lord's steadfastness against the forces of hell some have compared to the hardest granite. In this issue Mr. John Powerly of Florida chooses the simile of a diamond. And Tom Cole also waxes imaginative in a letter in which he reflects on colors. "The passion of the cross could be symbolized by red . . ."(p. 197).
     The Toronto book store mentioned on page 198 (and pictured in the March issue) has been doing far more business than was anticipated. It is turning out to be "a huge commitment, but a wonderful one. In its first sixteen weeks the book store had 1084 visitors and sold 436 books, which was quite beyond expectations.
          
PSALM AT ASSEMBLY: The congregation at the Assembly in June will sing the 19th Psalm, which is on page 82 of the Psalmody.

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INTERCESSORY PRAYER 1984

INTERCESSORY PRAYER       Rev. GLENN G. ALDEN       1984

     "I do not pray that You should take them our of the world, but that You should keep then from the evil one. They are nor of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the Truth" (John 17:15-19).

     The Lord prayed for us. From His love, which is the love of the salvation of mankind, the Lord prayed to the Father. He asked the Father to preserve and keep His disciples, to withhold them from evil, to sanctify them by the truth. He prayed for all those who should hear the gospel, that they might be one in the Father and in the Son, as They are one; that they may be made perfect, and that the Father's love and the Son might be in them. When we understand the purpose of the Lord's prayers, and indeed the purpose of all praying, we may see the usefulness of praying for others from love. We may also be encouraged to pray for others as an act that benefits ourselves as well as those we love.
     The Lord's work in the world was reaching its end. He had done all He could do to reveal Himself to the multitudes. He had prepared His disciples as well as they could be prepared. He warned them of things to come, and introduced them to the sacrament of the Holy Supper "in remembrance of" Him, and as a sign of His continued presence. As their last evening drew to its close, the Lord lifted up His eyes to heaven, and prayed to the Father.
     He prayed in a state of "humiliation," that is, a state in which He, Jesus, felt Himself to be separate from the Father. In states of "humiliation" the Lord could doubt, despair, be tempted by the hells. And in states of "humiliation" He could pray, opening Himself to receive the Divine love of the Father as if from Himself. Thus He could glorify, or make Divine, His own Human. His prayer, as an expression of His desire to be fully one with the Father, helped to bring about that union.
     The prayer begins by expressing a desire to be glorified: "Father, the hour is come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You." However, the focus of the prayer is on others, on His disciples, and on those who would receive their teachings. The prayer expresses the Lord's love for mankind, from the Father, felt as His own love for His disciples.

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This love, which the Lord felt and expressed in prayer, helped to bring about the glorification of the Lord's Human, and oneness with the Father.
     Through the Writings the Lord has given us a new idea of prayer, what it is, and what it accomplishes. We know that the Lord is pure love. There is nothing good that He does not wish to give to His children every moment. He would never arbitrarily withhold His love or blessings from us. We know that the Lord is all-knowing. He knows what we need before we ask it. We can never tell the Lord something He does not already know. We know that the Lord has all power. He is not dependent upon our prayers in administering blessings to those who would receive them.
     Because we have such a clear concept of what prayer does not do, or rather, what things we should not pray for, we are sometimes reluctant to pray at all, except to repeat the words of the Lord's prayer. We think within ourselves, "How can I presume to tell the Lord something He already knows?" "Do I think that He will have more insight or a better understanding of my state if I tell Him?" "Do I think that I can persuade the Lord, by my prayers, to do that which He would not otherwise have done?" We know that the Lord loves us and knows what we need before we ask.
     What then should we pray for? In one sense we should pray as the Lord prayed in the garden: "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done" (Luke 22:42). This prayer should be inwardly in all our prayers. We know that we don't want to impose our will on the Lord. We certainly don't want to receive what He from love would not wish to give us. However, if "Thy will be done" is our only prayer, we are missing the real purpose and benefit of praying.
     The Lord did not create us as machines or puppets. He gives us life and causes us to feel it as our own. He gives us freedom and rationality so that we may exercise that freedom. He wants us to be able to act as if from ourselves, so that we can share in the delights of His life. We must always acknowledge that our life is the Lord's and that we act from Him. His is the life, the power, in our every thought, word, or deed. So long as we acknowledge this we are turned toward Him as the source, and opened to receive power. But when we believe that our lives are our own, and that we act from ourselves, then we turn ourselves away from the Source of spiritual power.
     Man should act "as if from himself, from the Lord" (TCR 371:6). When we pray "Thy will be done," we are acknowledging the "from the Lord" part of the equation. But we should not stand still idly waiting for influx to move our bodies or our lips. We need to put our desires into words.

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Of course we temper what we ask for by our understanding of the Word. We don't ask for evil things or worldly things for their own sake. We ask for those things which we believe, from our study of the Word, to be real blessings. In this way our prayers may be from the Lord Himself. For we are taught that these are the prayers that are heard by the Lord and answered (see AC 10299). Thus prayer becomes a most complete expression of "as of self, from the Lord." The fact that we are praying expresses the "from the Lord" part, while we, "as from ourselves" ask for the Lord's blessings. So we read in the Apocalypse Revealed 376: "It is common in all Divine worship that man should first will, desire, and pray, and the Lord then answer, inform, and do; otherwise man does not receive anything Divine."
     The reason we pray for ourselves, therefore, is that by seeing what we need from the Lord in the Word, and by imploring the Lord's aid, we adapt or shape our minds to receive the Lord's blessings as our own. But what is the use of praying for others? Certainly we should not think that by our prayers for others we will awaken the Lord to see things He is not aware of, or influence Him in His actions toward another. The greatest benefit in praying for others will be to ourselves. By such prayers we open our minds to receive love toward the neighbor. Surely this is why the Lord told us to love our enemies and to "pray for those who spitefully use and persecute" us. Our prayers may benefit others indirectly, when by our prayers, our hearts and minds are opened so we may see new ways to bless or help our neighbor.
     But we may also believe that our prayers can have a direct effect upon others. Certainly, if those we love know that we are praying for them, they can find strength and comfort from that knowledge, and in our love. Also, when we pray, we are surrounded with the sphere of our love. In the other world, spheres are a means of communicating. The spheres or states of life going forth from an angel or spirit are at once communicated to those around him, and by means of these spheres all know his state. This also takes place in the world, though we are less perceptive of spheres. Who is not moved by the sphere of an infant? And the reason we are affected with love and tenderness for an infant is that the angelic spirits with the child affect or move our own spirit, as well as those spirits with whom we associate. When we love marriage, we are affected with delight by the sphere of a newly wed couple. Why else do people, especially women who are in loves of marriage, cry with happiness at a wedding?
     When we pray for others, from our love for them or from grief or pity over their suffering, we are present with them in spirit, because thought brings presence in the other world.

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If our loved ones are receptive, and perhaps especially if they know of our prayers for them, we can affect them with our spheres of love.
     The Lord does not really need our help in any area. He is capable of doing all the uses of the grand man by Himself. But the Lord has made His creation such that we all may have parts in the order of things that are meaningful and rewarding. In the performance of uses to others we are able to find the joy and blessedness of living. We are taught that only the Lord teaches, only the Lord leads and bends, only the Lord saves. But He does it by means of the sincere efforts of others, by means of spirits and angels who find their life's work and happiness in association with men in the world; by means of parents and teachers who find their life's work in the rearing and education of children; by means of husbands and wives who find their greatest joy in helping their partners to receive the Lord's gifts through them. Just as the Lord uses our sincere words and actions as means to teach, lead and so save others, so too He may use the spheres of our love which we feel when we are praying for others. And when we pray for others, the Lord may be present with us In the yearning of our hearts to give comfort and help to others. For that love and yearning is a mirror and receptacle of His love for the salvation of all men.
     From His love of the salvation of all, and His desire to make us happy, the Lord wishes that all of us would open our hearts to receive His love in ourselves as "our own" love of the neighbor. So He concluded His prayer with the wish that He might be in us by means of the same love which was in Him from the Father:

O righteous Father. The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them and I in them (John 17:25, 26).     Amen.

     LESSONS: John 17, AC 8573:2-3

     INTERCESSION

     There is intercession in all love, consequently in all mercy; for mercy is of love. That he who loves, or who feels compassion, continually intercedes can be seen from examples. A husband who loves his wife wishes her to be kindly received by others, and to be well treated; he does not say this in express terms, but continually thinks it, consequently is in silence continually entreating it, and interceding for her. Parents act in like manner in favor of their children whom they love. In like manner do those also who are in charity for their neighbor; and they who are in friendship for their friends. From all this it can be seen that there is constant intercession in all love. It is the same in respect to the Lord's intercession for the human race . . . (AC 8573:2).

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GLAD SURPRISE 1984

GLAD SURPRISE       Rev. ROBERT H. P. COLE       1984

     AN EASTER TALK

     The Lord is guiding us toward our eternal use as we follow Him on the daily journeys of our inner lives. Let us, with this in mind, consider events of the Palm Sunday and Easter stories.
     After the great multitude had gone up to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, it is said that the Lord entered the temple and looked round about upon all things, returning then to Bethany with the twelve.
     On Monday morning He went again to Jerusalem. We are told that the Lord was hungry, and seeing a fig tree covered with leaves, He came to it but found no fruit on it. It was early for the tree to be covered with leaves, for generally the fruit begins to form before the leaves. But the Lord said to the fig tree which promised so much and had nothing to give, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever."
     Then they came into the city, and going into the temple the Lord found men selling oxen and doves for sacrifices, and lambs for the Passover. Where everything should have been-quiet for worship, there was quarreling and cheating and confusion. There were money-changers there also, since the pilgrims came from many different countries, with all kinds of money, and their religious laws said that they had to have a half shekel, which was a certain silver coin, to pay to the temple. There seems to have been much cheating in the money-changing.
     The Lord cast out all them that bought and sold, and He overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves. He did not want the temple to be made an ordinary market place, or still worse to be like a cave where robbers quarreled over stolen goods. But He wanted it to be quiet and holy for those who came to worship. All of these things made the scribes and Pharisees very angry, but the simple people came to love the Lord more and more.
     Two days later, it was discovered that the fig tree had withered away even to the roots. Then they came again to the temple and the Lord spent the day in teaching. But now the elders of the people were trying to catch the Lord in His words.
     Toward the end of the week after the Lord and His disciples had celebrated the Passover together, Judas went out and betrayed Him to the chief priests, so that He was crucified. The Lord's body was put into a tomb with a very large stone in front of the door. It must have seemed to everyone that this was the sad end of the Lord's life. But when Easter day came it was a day of glad surprises.

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     On that day a glad surprise came to two followers of the Lord as they walked away from Jerusalem toward the town of Emmaus. The Lord appeared to them as a stranger and asked them why they were sad. They told what they knew as a sad story. As we reflect on these things the reality of Easter comes to our minds. First there are all the unhappy things that happened that weekend. But the Lord had prepared the disciples for those things. On Palm Sunday He had said to them, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). The incident at which He said this had to do with a fig tree. Because it bore no fruit the Lord had caused it to wither away. The disciples were amazed.
     That fig tree which no longer bore fruit means the church on earth where the Lord should have been served. There should have been the fruits of kindness and charity. But with that goodness gone, even the leaves of belief also withered away. It was because of the absence of goodness and belief that finally that church crucified the Lord. But all this was leading up to the day of glad surprise.
     On that Easter morning there were glad and amazing reports from some who visited the sepulcher. Angels told them that the Lord had risen. Mary Magdalene met the Lord and spoke with Him. The disciples were slow to believe this at first. And the Lord Himself appeared to them and called them foolish men for their slowness of heart because they did not see that the sad things were preparing the way for something great and glorious. Then He opened their understanding to the meaning of the Scriptures.
     So, on Easter Day the Lord was again teaching the disciples, and they were slowly realizing that He was not dead, but that He had risen and was still with them.
     Let us realize more and more that the Lord is with us as we walk along the lakeshore of our lives, or as we walk into the country into the broader aspects of spiritual life. He is with us in our homes, and when we are at the table. He is with us in difficult or sad times, and He is with us in peaceful or happy times. He moves our conscience when we do wrong, and He gives us hope as we see the better way. He gives us guidance and leadership and help through His Word.
     The story of human life may be a sad one in view of our shortcomings or the selfish sides to our character. But a Man did live on earth long ago who had no shortcomings. He still lives. He is the only life, and we live from Him. This Man is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one God of heaven and earth.
     He tells us that because He lives, we shall live also. As He rose from the tomb, we can be lifted above earthly things into spiritual qualities. We can be reborn, or regenerated.

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And when we have completed this earthly life we shall on the third day rise to the other world. The Lord will show us how we are to have a wonderful part in the uses of heaven and enjoy the representative appearances there. We will be surrounded perhaps by fig trees with golden fruits, by olive or palm trees and grape vines, as well as by many other wonderful things that we have never dreamed of. The Lord Himself will be there with us. He will appear to us, and this will be in the midst of a bright warm sun as well as in His Person by aspect in the heavens. That will be the most glad surprise of all.
PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND       Rev. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1984

     Part IIb

     (The first part of this paper was printed in the March issue.)

     A DOCTRINAL STUDY BY REV. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON, PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL FACULTY OF THE ACADEMY ON NOVEMBER 10, 1983

     Within a week after presenting the first paper of the series last April, I wrote to the Research Committee to let them know that I was scheduled to give two more papers in the following school year, and that the subject of both papers would be that of government in the church. I realized upon further reflection, however, that in so stating I had gotten ahead of myself, because as far as this series is concerned, government is properly the last be considered. Prior to the governmental function, the teaching, the teaching and leading functions must be explored and clearly defined. And before the teaching and leading functions are considered, that which is first in order or priority when it comes to consideration of the priesthood must be taken up: namely, the representative aspect of the priestly office in itself. For it is this aspect of the priesthood, as an office, a function, and an occupation, that sets it apart from every other human office, function, and occupation. The rest of this paper, therefore, will concentrate on this unique aspect of the priesthood as a Divinely ordained institution among men. This consideration will serve, in turn, as a base for the third paper of the series next April, whose subject will be "The Nature of Enlightenment with Priest and Layman."
     All differences and similarities, whether between different degrees or within the same degree, must be seen in reference to those elements which render one thing essentially different from all others in function and relationship. In the case of our present study, I have already stated my conviction that we are not here dealing with a distinction, and therefore a difference, in degree, but a distinction, and therefore a difference, in kind: a side-by-side relationship, as it were, rather than a higher-to-lower relationship.

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At the same time I would note very firmly that I believe the distinction, and the resulting difference, is a very real one, and that the healthy life of the church depends on a clear awareness of and response to this fact. What is the essential distinction and difference in reference to the study of doctrine? In brief (and I will be going into this in much more detail when we get into the papers on enlightenment, teaching, and leading), it is the distinction and difference between what is general and what is particular. Observe that particulars are not on a higher degree than their generals; they are within the generals, and their seeing causes those generals to be drawn together in a connection and coherence-a pattern-in both theory and application that otherwise is not apparent. I have come to believe that this is the primary distinction, from which stem a number of differences, drawn in the Heavenly Doctrines between priestly and lay enlightenment when it comes to the essential functions of the office: namely, the doctrinal study function, the teaching function, the leading function, and the governing function in the church. However, there is also a distinction drawn between the priestly office, as a Divinely ordained and existing institution, and all other human offices and occupations. This latter distinction does mark a higher degree in relation to a lower degree: namely, the representation of the priestly office. It is in reference to this-the representation of the priestly office, and therefore of the priesthood as an ordained body of men-that the priesthood is said to be "the first of the church" (AE 229:4), which "first" is the salvation of souls by the Lord. Let us be clear on this, and not make anything more, or further, of that particular statement than this.
     It is interesting to me that while there has been a number of studies made in the New Church from its organized beginning on the representation of the priestly office, there has been very little reference, either in theory or in practical application, when it comes to our thought and discussion of that representation in relation to the priesthood as an occupation. Yet it is this very meeting-point between the representative and occupational aspects of the priestly office that marks the essential point of distinction between priests and laymen in their respective studying, teaching, leading and governing in the church.
     What do the Heavenly Doctrines have to say about the priesthood in terms of its representation? I have researched studies by a number of men, as well as the teachings themselves, beginning with Richard de Charms, Sr., and ending with Rev. Stephen Cole. Mr. Cole's study, which he presented two years ago to the Council of the Clergy, was useful as a final point of reference because of its condensed form and nature. The office of the priesthood is said to represent every office which the Lord discharges as Savior.

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We find several variant terms used in reference to the priestly office (see AC 9809:7, 9; 10793; Life 39), which, when brought together, would indicate that the priestly office refers both to the organic form through which the Lord's work of salvation is carried out and to the activity, or function, of that form (which is more often referred to as minisfevium-see AE 155).
     The priesthood in itself, then, is an office of the Lord Himself (see CL 308, TCR 114), the office of governing the universe by goods (AC 2015:10), and the office of effecting man's salvation (AC 9809, 10152). Because the Lord provides that the offices He performs are done through angels and men, in order that they may have uses, He provides that the priestly office shall be administered by angels in heaven (CL 266) and by men on earth (AC 3670:2), who are therefore called priests. The priesthood, then, considered as an office, or use, is consequently not in the person of the priest, as a continuous part of that person, but is only adjoined to his person, as it were contiguously (see AR 854e).
     There are, then, two aspects of the office, or use, with the priest: (1) It is an office like other offices, having knowledges and functions special to it (see CL 163); (2) it is representative (AC 9809) of the Lord's work of salvation. It is this latter aspect that renders the priesthood as an occupation distinct from, and therefore unique in relation to, all other human offices and occupations. Because of the above two aspects-what we may term the occupational and the representative-entrance into the priestly office involves two things: (1) study in preparation for performing the functions of the office, or use (see TCR 106); (2) inauguration to represent in the office (see AC 9474). The first of these requires a process of ordered and ordering study over a period of time, as is the case with preparation for any occupation; the second commences at the moment of ordination (see AE 375:7).
     Now, what do we think of when it comes to the use, place, and power of spiritual representation and representatives as an ultimate, functional, and living activity with men on earth? We tend to think of the Ancient Church and, later, the Israelitish Church, both prior to the Lord's first advent. But what about the Most Ancient Church? We tend to think not of spiritual representatives with them but rather of something called "celestial perception." Yet we are told that the correspondences and representatives of the Ancient Church came from the Most Ancient Church, and that these correspondences and representatives were the very vessels with the Most Ancients, both in their minds and in ultimate nature around them, which received, contained, and gave fixed form to the influx of their perceptions from the Lord through the angelic heavens. In a word, correspondences and representatives were just as powerful and important-indeed, essential-in the life of the Most Ancients as they were in the life of the Ancients.

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     But what of the Christian Church, which was established by the Lord at His first advent, and which supplanted the Israelitish Church as the sustaining link of influx and communication between angels and men on earth? Here, our tendency has been to take a perfectly "good", teaching and turn it into a "bad" teaching. The "good" teaching is that when the Lord came on earth. He abrogated the representatives of the Jewish Church-the multitude of rites, rituals, statutes, sacrifices, etc., in and through which spiritual and celestial things had been represented with the men of the church, and through them a correspondence established between heaven and earth. Note well that it was not correspondence in itself, nor representatives in themselves, that were abrogated, but those external forms with the Jewish Church in which the power of representation had been exercised, and through which the power of correspondence had existed between the two worlds for almost 2000 years. The Lord, at His first advent, gathered into two fundamental representative forms for the Christian Church all the functioning power of correspondence that had existed from the very beginning of the Most Ancient Church, down through the Ancient Church, to the very end of the Israelitish Church: namely, the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. At the same time, we read, He revealed "interior Divine truths" (AE 948:3, AR 641:4) to the Christian Church in order that men might commence their return to a genuine understanding of spiritual things. And it is right here that we may lose our perspective as to the continuing importance-indeed, the continuing and essential necessity,-of correspondence, in and through Divinely ordained representatives, first in the Christian Church, and now in the New Church. For the very fact that the Lord revealed interior truths in the New Testament, and now "truths still more interior" in the Heavenly Doctrines (Ibid.), tends to concentrate our thought and emphasis almost exclusively on learning, understanding, and applying these interior truths to the life of spiritual reformation. Yet in so doing, we miss something, and thereby we lose something, that is vital to the full reception of life from the Lord, both with the church as a whole and with the individual men of that church. For the place and power of correspondence, into and through Divinely ordained representatives with the church on earth, is just as essential now, and will continue to be so, as it has been with every church from the very beginning. This provision of a representative "link" in ultimates in order that spiritual life may descend by correspondence from the Lord through heaven to earth has never altered in its basic necessity; however, the ultimate forms in which those representatives have consisted, and the manner in which those forms have functioned, have been altered by the Lord to meet the successive states and stages of each new church on earth.

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     In the New Church we may well have the least appreciation of all for this fact and necessity of functioning representatives in the life of the church today; for the truths given to this crowning church are the most interior of all. We are all familiar with the statement from TCR 508: "Now it is permitted to enter with understanding into the secrets of faith." A most important part of our entering with understanding into the secrets of faith is an awareness from the Writings themselves of the signal and central place, in the life of the New Church, of the two representative sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper-especially the Holy Supper! Go to the Potts Concordance some time and run your eye through the list of excerpts there from the Writings in reference to the Holy Supper. I doubt whether anyone who does this in an affirmative: spirit can fail to be struck-even awed-by the sheer impact of the teachings there having to do with the release of Divine and angelic power into the heart and mind of the repentant worshipper, through his participation in this "holiest thing of the church."
     Now, what does all of this have to do with the priesthood, and with the relationship between the priesthood and the laity in the church? First, I wanted to establish solidly the present-day necessity and power of spiritual representatives in the life of the church. Second, and following on from the first, the fact is that there is, along with the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, another Divinely instituted and ordained representative in the church: the representative office and function of the priesthood. There is holiness-indeed, there is Divinity Itself-represented in that office, in the ordered functions of that office, and in the person of the priest when he is administering those functions in that office. How often have you heard the comment "We must separate the office from the person" in reference to the priesthood? Yet the Writings never use these words, for the simple reason, in my estimation, that they do not teach it, either as a principle or as a concept. We do read that "the Holy Spirit, that is, the Divine Proceeding, never becomes man's, but is constantly the Lord's with him. Therefore, the Holy, which is meant by the Holy Spirit, does not inhere" (Canons: Holy Spirit IV:3, 4). And again: "No honor of any office is in the person, but is adjoined to him according to the dignity of the thing which he administers; and that which is adjoined is separate from the person, and also is separated from him together with the office" (AC 10797). We also have the repeated statement that in representatives nothing is reflected upon the person representing, but upon the thing that he represents. (See AC 665, 1097, 1361, 1409, 2010, 4281, 4868; DP 132; AE 443:e.)

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The Holy Spirit is separate from the person of the priest, as also is the honor and dignity adjoined to the priest in his performance of the office. In what, with the priest, does this honor and dignity essentially consist?-the Divine things which he is enjoined to teach and administer from the Lord in His Word, which Divine things both the office and the man in the active ministrations of that office represent with, in, and before the church. Thus we read that in the time of the Israelitish Church "every king . . . could represent the Lord," yet it was "their royalty itself" that was representative. "In like manner, all priests . . . represented the Lord, the priestly function itself being what is representative" (AC 1361:1, 2). Lest we think that this has application only to the representatives of the Israelitish Church, we read in AC 3670:2-"The same may be seen from the representatives which exist even to this day; for all kings, whoever they may be, and of whatever quality, represent the Lord by the royalty itself that appertains to them. In like manner all priests, whoever and of whatever quality they may be, by the priestly office itself. The royal and the priestly office itself is holy, whatever be the quality of him who ministers therein." On the other hand, lest we draw the error of assuming that no honor is to be rendered to the person, or man, himself, we should note in passing the last sentence of AC 10797: "The honor that is in the person is the honor of [his] wisdom and fear of the Lord."
     As far as I have been able to discern, the Heavenly Doctrines never separate either the office or the functions of that office from the person or man administering the office, for the simple reason that they cannot be separated, and therefore should not be separated. Both the office and the man, when he is actively ministering in the functions of that office, represent the Lord's work of the salvation of souls. It is that which is represented-in this case, the Lord's work as Savior, along with the honor and dignity due to Him-which is separate and distinct from both the office and the man who administers that office. That which is represented is in the office, but not of the office; it is also in the man administering that office, though never of the man. To be correct, then, we should draw our essential distinction not between the man on the one hand and the office on the other, but between the man and the office together on the one hand, and what is represented in and through both the man and the office on the other.
     While this point may seem highly theoretical, even "ivory tower," I have emphasized it because it has a very practical impact and result in the life of the church. When it comes to our general-and, I think, misconstrued-concept of "separating the office from the man," what we are doing, whether we realize it or not, is to treat the office and its functions as a continuous part of that which the office and its functions represent; when, in fact, the office and its functions are not a continuous part, but a contiguous receptacle, of that which it represents.

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And the receptacle itself, which is constituted of both the office and the man in the office, is inescapably conditioned, in its extension and communication with others, by the personal abilities, qualities, even the personal characteristics, of those who administer that office.
     With this in mind, I would bring forward the point made in the first part of the paper about the office of the priesthood being composed of two parts-as it were an internal and an external. The internal is composed of its representative nature, the external being composed of what I have called its occupational nature; which occupation is influenced by-indeed, is essentially made up of-the priest's abilities, interests, characteristics, even his plain old personality. It is here, between the occupational and the representative within the office, that a distinction needs to be constantly made and striven for, both by the laity in reference to their priests and by the priests in reference to themselves. This is not a separation of the man from the office, but a separation and distinction between the occupational and representative aspects of the office and in the man. Both make up the office, and therefore both are necessary to an adequate and successful fulfillment of that office in its essential functions with the laity and in the response of the laity to those functions, and therefore to the office. Therefore, while the representative aspect of the office may be preserved intact, the work of priesthood and laity-in both education and government-is primarily, if not exclusively, occupational in nature and ultimation. If the occupational discipline and development of the priest is lacking, no amount of representation of his office is going to prevent his work as a priest from suffering proportionately in relation to the church. That this is so I believe becomes evident on reflection; it certainly is spelled out in reference to extreme cases concerning a priest's personal life in AC 4311:3-"it matters not from whom the voice of good and truth flows forth, provided their life is not manifestly wicked" (emphasis added).
     I believe our concept, if not our instruction, in this regard has erred on two counts: first, in setting our essential distinction and separation between the person of the priest and the office in which the priest serves; and second, in failing to consider and balance out, as a matter of what we might call secondary distinction, the representative and the occupational aspects within the priestly office. I have come to feel that this latter distinction is crucial if we are to understand the distinctions between priestly and lay enlightenment, not only in reference to the study of doctrine, but also in the teaching, the leading, and the governing functions in the church.

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The representative aspect of the priestly office causes it to be a unique-a discretely different kind of occupation. This representative aspect of the office is the only thing that causes it to stand essentially, or "discretely," apart from all other occupations with men: But there is more to it, as I have tried to emphasize, than the representative aspect of the office; there is, as noted, the occupational aspect and part of the priestly office, in which that office, in its work, communication, and relationship with the laity of the church, shares fundamentally similar-indeed, fundamentally identical-necessities, obligations, and rules of development and adequacy. In this, I am convinced, priests and laymen share equally in substance, though differently in form or kind, in reference to doctrinal study, teaching, leading and governing in the church. It is these shared fundamentals of occupational discipline and development-
fundamentals which I believe we have hardly begun to recognize and tap in the work of the church so far-which I believe lie waiting as a tremendous reservoir of potential mutual enlightenment in the life of the church. But I will be moving into a consideration of this area in the next paper on the subject of priestly and lay enlightenment.
     One final comment here: I have mentioned a number of times in this paper the functions of doctrinal study, teaching, leading, and governing in reference to both priests and laymen. There is one other function spoken of in the Heavenly Doctrines that I have not mentioned: the preaching function. Preaching is, I believe, a function reserved for the priestly office, because it partakes of both the representative and the occupational aspects of the office. Preaching is different from teaching-though, again, in kind rather than in degree. This, too, will enter into next April's presentation, as it brings up some very interesting and difficult questions concerning the proper limits or boundaries of lay study, interpretation, and presentation of the doctrines, as well as their participation in the educational and governmental structure of the church.
BISHOP BENADE IN EGYPT-IV 1984

BISHOP BENADE IN EGYPT-IV       R.R.G       1984

     The Temples

     Egyptian temples were generally built on a straight line from the propylon, or outer court, through a vestibule, then a hall of assembly, on to the sanctuary or adytum. The distinguishing feature of Egyptian architecture is its great solidity, as if intended for eternity. It features great columns, and while not remarkable for grace and beauty, impresses the viewer with its grandeur.

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     The temple at Abydos shows pictures of Pharaoh at worship. He first approaches the shrine (adytum), opens the door, enters and closes the door, then exits, again closing the door behind him. This shows how the king, who also fulfilled priestly functions, did what the Lord commands us in Matt. vi:6.
     The sanctuary was usually small and entirely closed up-dark, except when the door was opened. It contained a large stone for the shrine of the deity. On the stone was the emblem-not a statue-of the deity, e.g., a hawk for Horus, ibis for Thoth, etc. Behind the stone was a niche containing one or more statues. As the ark with the Jews was the holy of holies, so with the Egyptians the shrine was the adytum. The adytum was entirely dark because the Divine Being Himself was, in the Ancient Church before the incarnation, invisible.
     The adytum represented the inmost heaven, the chambers around it, the intermediate heaven, and the vestibule, corresponding to the inner court of the Hebrew tabernacle, the ultimate heaven. In another view, the temple represented the Word in its natural sense as derived from the spiritual sense. The altar represented Divine Good, the two sides, right and left, representing good and truth or will and understanding.
     When possible, the temple was built to look to the east, where the sun, representing the Lord, rose daily. The Ancient Church had the prophecy of the Lord's Advent, and built their temples accordingly.
     The great temple at Karnak has an enormous propylon facing the Nile. Approaching the great temple from the Nile, one comes first to a raised place, formerly a landing place. Thence stretches an avenue of sphinxes, some 200 feet long, leading to the propylon. Over the entrance is the sacred symbol of the Divine Providence: a sphere with a double-headed serpent around it, and overshadowing wings. The sphere represents the universe; the wings, the Divine Rational; and the serpents the Divine Prudence or Providence.
     The entire length of the buildings is 1800 feet, the average breadth, 370 feet. Bishop Benade and John Pitcairn spent eight days examining the ruins of this temple, whose great hall of columns was then regarded as the largest hall in the world. They had the privilege of seeing the temple area by the light of a full moon, which created an effect "perfectly marvelous.
     R.R.G.

     (Based on Rev. E. J. E. Schreck's report of Benade lectures in Morning Light, London, 1880)

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WOMAN IN THE NEW CHURCH 1984

WOMAN IN THE NEW CHURCH       Mrs. J. R. Hibbard       1984

     The True Relation of Woman's Work to Man's

     You may wish to read this address before learning of the time and circumstance of its presentation We have put that information at the end.- Editor

     We are assembled here as an integral part of this Congress of Religions. From all parts of the world, representatives of creeds, both ancient and modern, have come together to exchange thoughts on the various ideas concerning God, and the relation of His creatures to Him. The papers which will be presented will draw their inspiration from the source of Divine Truth as it may appear to each writer, whether he be Hindoo or Chinese, Mahometan or Christian. Our thoughts as expressed must likewise be drawn from the source of our religious inspiration. We are women, professing to be members of the New Church, and it is therefore new thought that we are to present to those who come to hear. What does it involve to be members of the New Church? What is this New Church that we profess? As I understand it, it consists of a revelation from the Lord of principles and laws of life by which those who acknowledge a belief in it may form thoughts, may mold their lives, so that from a new standpoint of spiritual truth ignored by, or perhaps unknown to, the world at large, they may investigate, weigh and form conclusions on all subjects occupying the attention of those who think.
     We live in an age of experiment, an age of investigation, analysis, a breaking up of tradition, an age of stern realism. Because of the emancipation of all sorts and conditions of men from the shackles of a superstitious obedience to custom and tradition, women are trying their newly-fledged wings to bear them into the atmosphere of so called "progress." They, too, are experimenting, are investigating new paths, making for themselves new uses, and as the Lord always leaves man in freedom to work out his regeneration, and allows him to enjoy or suffer the result of his good or evil doing, so will woman in this day, when everyone must learn through doing, try to accomplish results wherein she must fail; she will venture into ways that have no opening for her, and she must retrace her steps, sadder and wiser; she will soar into realms where she will feel oppressed for free breath and will gladly exchange the new life for a truer atmosphere.
     The women of the New Church should, with sympathizing heart, lend a helping hand to all humanitarian work, but we must do more.

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We can read by the flicker of the new light pouring in upon us, yet so faint that it is unnoticed by others, the truths that teach what true use is, and by going forth with our little lamps bunting, we can perform our use, because, the Lord says, this is woman's work, and not only because the pressure of the world around us urges us to action.
     And now we come to the keynote of this paper-Uses; and ere we can unfurl our standard as New Church women we must, like the Marys and Marthas of old, sit at the feet of the Lord and learn of Him in the Writings of His New Dispensation that we may be guided to the true sense of our relation to man as a helpmate and co-laborer. Let us, therefore, quote the passage from Arcana Coelestia 997 which suggested this paper.
     "Those who are in charity, that is, in love toward the neighbor, look for the fruition of no pleasure unless it be manifest in the works of charity, since it consists in use. Such is the life of the universal heaven, for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses. The angels receive happiness from the Lord according to the essence and quality of the use which they perform. So it is with every pleasure, for the more distinguished its use, so much the greater its delight. Thus for instance: conjugial love, which is the seminary of human society, and from which is formed the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, is the most important of all uses. All pleasures are according to the excellence of their uses, which indeed are so numerous that it is scarcely possible to divide them into their several genera and species, although all of them regard the Lord and His kingdom."
     We are taught that conjugial love, or the state of true marriage, is the foundation of the life of the highest use, because its end is the perfecting of the heavens by angels who to become such must first be born upon some earth in the great universe. From this we may plainly see that the state of wife and mother is the noblest condition of human life attainable by woman and when society shall be regenerated by the living truths of the new age, the aim of all education will be to fit her for this highest prerogative of her being. From this central use flow all other uses, and we are told in the passages quoted that these are "innumerable." But you will say we have not reached this millennium, and what shall become of us while the times are out of joint? We cannot all be wives and mothers. Granted. But we can all be spiritual wives and mothers, that is, forms of affection in some one of the innumerable uses, as members of the Lord's great family. We are to be helpmates to the other sex. Just here I would like to present to your notice some conclusions drawn from many passages which you have no doubt read in your studies of late, so that I need only recall them to your minds.

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     1st. The very essence of the masculine mind is the love of acquiring wisdom. The essence of the feminine mind is the love of wisdom when acquired (see CL 32, 88, 90).
     2nd. The male sees, concludes and acts from intellect, or more properly from reason, the female from affection, which gives her perception. The feminine mind receives the internal form and brings it forth into effect-out into the external, clothing and decorating it (see CL 115, 122).
     3rd. The duties of the sexes are different, owing to the different essence of their mental conformation, but they are a conjunctive (see CL 100).
     4th. The duties of men are those in which the understanding and judgment predominate and relate to public uses performed away from the home. Women's duties tend to the forming, developing, making practical in all ways, by the activity of her perceptive affections of use, the rational wisdom of the man-a work he cannot do (LC 9, 174, 175, 176). Women are more wise in some things than men. They sometimes discourse wisely and with eloquence (see CL 168, 208, 293, 330).
     An intelligent study of the Writings will teach us that in every use to be performed there must be found the conjunction of two essential principles. May not these be represented by the two sexes-one part to be more fitly performed by the man, and the other suited to the genius of the woman-and will not the use be more perfectly accomplished when men and women work together side by side in the fear of the Lord and for His sake?-the man using his rational faculty to judge, analyze, and put into a general form a thought of use; while the woman with her perception of what is fitting, her love of orderly detail, her tender sympathy and encouragement, will carry to completion this thought which has taken form in his understanding. When this relation is accepted between man and woman, there can be no question of inferiority on the one hand or superiority on the other. Each, in freedom to act according to the quality of the reason which God the Creator has bestowed, shall work for the perfection of that use which can only become perfected by their conjunctive effort. Man cannot exist in fulness without woman; and when they are conjoined in the performance of any use, then there is in it that trine which exists in every perfect creation of the Lord. In the ancient religions of the east, this trine in the Divine Being was symbolized to the sense of the worshipers by a triad of beings-a man, a woman, and a child; and no matter what the attributes of the invisible Creator to be expressed, it was always pictured in the walls of the temples in this trinal form. By making a practical application of this principle of creation to all the general uses of life in this world, it seems to me there will be no lack of avenues for legitimate work for women.

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Medicine, the law, fine arts, mechanics as applied to industries, all offer opportunities for the exercise of the especial form of woman's mind, and if she be true to the God-given instinct of her being, she will not walk in the path of the man; but side by side they will be true helpmeets, the one to the other. To enable her to fulfill this exalted mission, her intellect must be developed and educated. Let her have colleges, her higher education, not that she may study as men do, or become more like them; but developed according to her own especial mental conformation, that she may be more fully the perfect woman. In the broad field of the education of the young, her duty is plainly taught in the doctrines of the New Church, and by obeying the precepts therein unfolded, she may do much toward setting the inverted body of society on its feet again. This use is especially that of the wife and mother, and her education should prepare her for it. Old methods of instruction must pass away; and already the true keynote has been struck in the kindergarten, by whose principles, properly understood, the senses are brought into service, to lay the foundation stones of that storehouse, the memory, where the remains of innocence must be preserved until the quickening touch of the great Husbandman calls them forth to life. And more important still to the youth of both sexes are the industrial schools springing up in every large city where the affection of use is formulated by a thought expressed in the works of the hands. Truly the Lord is making all things new, and the most solemn exhortation I can make to my sisters in the New Church and out of it is to learn how to "live truly, " and by that I mean how to bring into active use to the neighbor, the capabilities with which each one is endowed by her Creator. Everyone, whether man or woman, comes into this world to fill an allotted part in the ever-widening sphere of God's universe, and the ability, the faculty, to perform this service as a co-worker with the Lord, is innate, God-given. Cultivate it when you feel its awakening, for the sake of use; the will be found true happiness. To some the great King commits five Lord will unfold the conditions which will make it active. In its exercise talents, to some two, to some one. Let every woman look to it that she lay not away what is given to her "in a napkin." When He cometh from the far journey, may He say not only to the faithful wives but to every woman, whether she wear the crown of motherhood or not: "Ye have been faithful over a few things. Enter ye into the joy of your Lord."

     (This address was delivered by Mrs. J. R. Hibbard in 1893. For details see the editorial on page 194.)

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SWEDENBORG'S LISTS 1984

SWEDENBORG'S LISTS       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1984

     (Part V)

     BY REV. FRANK S. ROSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE CURATOR OF SWEDENBORGIANA, JONATHAN S. ROSE

     The Writings

     When Swedenborg began the Writings, he dropped all of his previous plans about the books he intended to write. The first work of the Writings was published anonymously in London over a period of eight years (1749-1756). Soon after the last volume appeared, a dramatic event took place in the spiritual world. Swedenborg was able to witness the Last Judgment as it unfolded during the year 1757. During the next year, he published five books in London. The longest of these was Heaven and Hell, which brought together material on the life after death that had appeared in the Arcana Coelestia, together with much that was new. Another of the books was the Last Judgment. The other three, Earths in the Universe, The White Horse and New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, were extracted, with minor changes, from the Arcana Coelestia.
     For the next five years, nothing was published. During this time Swedenborg was working on a number of different manuscripts, the largest being the Apocalypse Explained, which, for some reason, he never printed. Among the drafts in this period we find a unique work, the Summaries of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms. The manuscript is of special interest to us because the first page contains a list under the heading Quae Edenda, or "Things which are to be published." On the list there are eight titles, with the first four being separated from the rest by a line. This seems to indicate that he was very nearly ready to publish the ones known as the Four Doctrines, though the titles are somewhat different from the ones we know.

     Here is the list:

1.      Concerning the Lord
2.      Concerning the Word [Word has a line through it] Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord
3.      All Things of Religion and of the Worship of God in One Complex in the Decalogue
4.      Concerning Faith
5.      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence
6.      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Omnipotence and Omniscience, and, concerning Infinity and Eternity
7.     Angelic Wisdom concerning Life
8.      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom1

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1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8
Arcana Coelestia
1749-56

HH               Lord
HD               SS
LJ                Life
WH               Faith
EU                CLJ
1758               DLW
               DP
          1763-64

The volumes of the Writings up to 1764.
The Arcana Coelestia was originally in eight volumes, five on Genesis and three on Exodus.
Five works were published in London in 1758.
In 1763 The Four Doctrines were published in Amsterdam, followed by the Continuation on the Last Judgment, Divine Love and Wisdom, and Divine Providence.

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     We do not know exactly how long before the publication of the Four Doctrines this was written. Some suggest that it was a few years. In any case, when they were published in 1763, the preface to the first one began with these words:

     Some years ago there were published the following five little works:

1.      On Heaven and Hell
2.      The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
3.      On the Last Judgment
4.      On the White Horse
5.      On the Planets and other Earths in the Universe

     In these works many things were set forth that have hitherto been unknown. Now, by command of the Lord, who has been revealed to me, the following are to be published:

(1)      The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord
(2)      The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Holy Scripture
(3)      The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Ten Commandments
(4)      The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith
(5)      A Continuation concerning the Last Judgment
(6)      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence
(7)      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Infinity and Eternity
(8)      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
(9)      Angelic Wisdom concerning Life.2

     I have added the numbering in the parentheses. When we compare this list with the one in Prophets and Psalms, we notice that the titles of the Four Doctrines have been expanded. For example, Concerning the Lord became The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord. We also notice how he revised the title for the Doctrine of Life.
     A book has been added to the list: A Continuation concerning the Last Judgment. Seven of these nine books were published in 1763 and 1764. Two of them (numbers 7 and 9) were never published. About nine years later Swedenborg was corresponding with Dr. Beyer, and the doctor passed on a question as to when the promised work on "Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Omnipotence, . . ." might be expected. Swedenborg wrote back:

     Treatment of these subjects is involved in Angelic: Wisdom concerning Divine Providence nos. 46-54, 1-57; in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom nos. 4, 17, 19, 21, 44, 69, 72, 106, 156, 318; and in Apocalypse Revealed no. 961; and they will be still further treated of in the Arcana of Angelic Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love; for to write something specifically on these Divine Attributes would be to elevate the thoughts too high without the assistance of anything to support them.

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For this reason the subject has been brought in in series with other matters which fall within the understanding.3

     What about the proposed Angelic Wisdom concerning Life? At about the time Swedenborg drew up the list, he drafted a work on charity but never published it. The subject of the life of religion is well covered in the True Christian Religion.
     But why should Swedenborg introduce the Doctrine of the Lord with a list of books already published and about to be published? The answer is that the Writings were published anonymously, in Latin, the international language. Without some kind of explanation, the reader would have difficulty linking these books to each other, and would not know how many books had been written by the unknown author.
     Next time, in our final article, we will see more of Swedenborg's lists of the Writings.

     FOOTNOTES

1 Summaries of the internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms. The Manuscript (Codex 1) shows that Swedenborg first wrote "Concerning the Word . . ." then crossed "Word" off, and wrote "Sacred Scripture or Word . . . .
2 Doctrine of the Lord, Preface. Note that The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine is referred to as The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. Internal evidence suggests that the five books may have been published in a different order (see Hyde's Bibliography), but Swedenborg always refers to the five in this order.
3 Letters and Memorials, p. 631=Tafel's Documents no. 234, Vol. II, pp. 260-261, from a letter to Dr. Beyer, February 1767.
NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

     We notice that the sermon in the April issue of the LIFE in 1884 was by Rev. J. R. Hibbard. An address by Mrs. Hibbard appears in this issue. A hundred years ago this magazine was characterized by short catchy items, sometimes spiced with wit. The editor comments in April, 1884, "When one considers the vast quantity of advice on every conceivable topic that is given every year it is a matter of surprise how little of it is of any value, until we reflect that advice-giving is flattery of one's self. Flattery is pleasant and hence advice is plentiful."

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DIAMOND 1984

DIAMOND       JOHN POWERLY       1984

     The walls of the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven are "garnished with all manner of precious stones"(Rev. 21:19).
     Precious stones have relation to the literal sense of the Word, and the diamond, because it refracts, reflects and disperses heat and light, corresponds to deeper spiritual good and truth of the Word. A diamond radiates its beauty in the darkness of ignorance.
     Emanuel Swedenborg tells us that there is nothing in the natural world which does not represent or correspond to something in the spiritual world.
     It takes eons of time, under tremendous heat and pressure, to produce a diamond. I believe that the evolution and successive stages of development of the diamond contain in parable a significant spiritual message.
     It takes a series of uninterrupted stages of the most violent kind of transmutations and purifications to develop and produce this precious crystal. We may compare this process of development with the temptations and combats of our Lord for the sake of the salvation of the human race. In the delicate lapidary operation of cleaving, faceting and polishing of the diamond, when its dazzling brilliance and beauty is revealed, we can perceive in metaphor the glorification of the Lord's Humanity.
     The two key words are heat and pressure. Heat in a bad sense corresponds and signifies any inordinate desires of evils which are contained in self-love and its delights. Pressure, on the other hand, corresponds to our Lord's spiritual influx from the hells, and takes exactly the definition found in our dictionaries, that is, to compel by forceful persuasion or influence; also, it is a force which acts against an opposing force-evil against good. This is the kind of incredible heat and pressure with which our Lord was assaulted.
     The Writings tell us that the Word corresponds to a diamond by virtue of its spiritual light (see SS 42). As the Word became flesh it was fulfilled just as surely as the diamond continues to disperse that spiritual light of truth to which it corresponds. By definition the diamond is invincible, unconquerable and unyielding. Perhaps within its interior, like the internal sense of the Word, is hidden a most profound and mystical record of the temptations and combats of our Lord, Who so gloriously demonstrated His invincible, unconquerable and unyielding power.

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As the diamond continues to disperse its heat and light, it may be radiating a glorious message to the world of the Lord's great victories over the hells.
     Let us first examine the process of the purification and crystallization of the diamond. It all began with the metamorphosis of an amorphous carbon-a black, formless, odorless and tasteless substance containing concentrated amounts of impurities, such as sulfur and phosphorus, which correspond to evils and falses. Of such were the corresponding states of the understanding and will of the inhabitants of this world at the time of the incarnation of our Lord.
     Now the inheritance of our Lord through the virgin Mary was likewise in character black, formless, odorless and tasteless. In a word, they were the very disorderly states of life which challenged our Lord, Who, by the Divine fire of His love, painfully and by degrees consumed and conquered them.
     The word "adamant" describes the diamond as impenetrable, immovable and unyielding. It is further defined as something which cannot be broken, subdued, dissolved or penetrated. Outside of the Word of God, it is doubtful that one can find words which so meaningfully correspond to qualities of such infinite and eternal character. The Lord was impenetrable, immovable, unyielding to the hells; neither was He subdued, broken, dissolved or penetrated. He was and indeed continues to be indestructible, invincible and unconquerable. Did not the devils and satans find it so?
     Far below the surface of the earth, chunks of carbon are subjected to tremendous heat and pressure. Under these conditions the carbon atoms are pushed as close together as possible. The Lord triumphed by the fire of His love and the Divine light of His wisdom. And by degrees of transmutation there materialized an orderly form of crystal of great brilliance and beauty, signifying the Lord triumphant.
     The small amounts of impurities within the diamond of the literal sense of the Word is what gives the diamond its red, blue and green colors, representing the three heavens respectively. We are told that even the angels, who are in a continuous state of regeneration, are by no means without impurities, which are to be found in all finite things of creation.
     From the earliest childhood to the last hour of His life in the world, the Lord was continually assaulted by the hells, even from the time of Herod the king. We have learned from the Writings, "as the intensity of love is, so will be the gravity of the temptations and combats." It therefore does not lie within the realm of human perception to comprehend how grievous were the Lord's combats and how great was the ferocity of the hells' assaults.

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"That these things were so I know of a certainty," said our servant of the Lord, Emanuel Swedenborg (AC 1690).
     In accordance with scientific observation carbon is called the element of life, since this element alone can form molecules large enough and complicated enough to make life possible. No other element can do this. As we know, coal is almost all carbon, which at one time was a part of living things.
     Significantly enough there are three allotropic forms of carbon, namely, amorphous, graphite and diamond. Allotropic simply means the same element loosely packed, as soft coal, or with atoms tightly packed as in the diamond. The amorphous form of carbon is non-crystalline in structure, black in color and has neither taste nor odor. It is soluble in molten iron. Graphite, on the other hand, is a soft crystalline form of carbon and has the highest melting point of all the elements. The last allotropic form of carbon is the diamond, which is pure carbon. It is crystalline, colorless and is the hardest substance known. The natural origin of the diamond is still a mystery. It is universally recognized as chief amongst precious stones and is the most brilliant of minerals.
     Unlike graphite, the diamond is unaffected by mixtures of sulfuric or nitric acids. Perhaps it is because evils and falses (to which they correspond) are powerless in their attempt to attack spiritual truth. The diamond's uncut and unpolished state corresponds to the literal sense of the Word, because the radiant spiritual truths remain hidden. An unfashioned diamond needs to be cut and polished by an artificer. An artificer signifies "one who is wise, intelligent and knowing" (AC 424). One thinks of Emanuel Swedenborg, prepared by the Lord to become an artificer in His work.
     The Dictionary of Correspondences describes a burning coal, which is almost all carbon, as follows: "a burning coal signifies the celestial principle of the Lord, and the brightness of fire round about is the celestial spiritual principle." By the brightness of the fire of that lowly piece of burning coal corresponding to "the celestial spiritual principle of the Lord," I see a more magnificent representation in the evolution of the diamond, which is crystallized carbon of great beauty, reflecting, refracting and dispersing in metaphorical language the victories of the Lord over the hells.

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ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR 1984

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR              1984

     ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH SCHOOL YEAR 1984-1985

     1984
Sept.     4      Tue.      Faculty Meetings
                Registration of Secondary Schools local students, 9:45 a.m.
                Dormitory students arrive (Secondary School students by 8:00 p.m.)
     5      Wed.      Registration of Secondary Schools dormitory students. 8:30 a.m.
               8:00 a.m.-12:00 noon: Registration of all Theological School and College students
                2:00 p.m. College Orientation for all new students
                8:00 p.m. Opening Convocation for all Theological and College students
     6      Thu.      Fall Term begins in Secondary Schools following Opening Exercises at 8:00 a.m.
                8:05 a.m. College classes begin
                1:00 p.m. All student workers report to supervisors or Benade Hall Auditorium (see notice in dormitories and schools)
     8      Sat.      Evening: College and Secondary Schools Programs
Oct.     12      Fri.      Charter Day:
                    8:30 a.m. Annual Meeting of ANC Corp. (Pitcairn Hall)
                    11:00 a.m. Charter Day Service (Cathedral)
                    9:00 p.m. President's Reception (Field House)
     13      Sat.      7:00 p.m. Charter Day Banquet (Society Building)
Nov. 14-16 Wed.-Fri.     College Registration for Winter Term
     21      Wed.      Fall Term ends and Thanksgiving Recess begins after exams and scheduled student work*
     26      Mon.      Secondary Schools dormitory students return by 8:00 p.m.
     27      Tue.      Winter Term begins in Secondary Schools
Dec.     2      Sun.      College dormitory students return
     3      Mon.      Winter term begins in College and Theological School
     20      Thu.      Christmas recess begins at noon for Secondary Schools Christmas recess begins for College after regularly scheduled classes and student work*

     *See Catalog or Handbook for holiday regulations.

     1985
Jan.     6      Sun.      Dormitory students return (Secondary Schools by 8:00 p.m.)
     7      Mon.      Classes resume in all schools
Feb.     18      Mon.      Presidents' Birthday observance
Feb.-Mar. 27-1 Wed.-Fri. College Registration for Spring Term
Mar.     7      Thu.      College Winter Term ends*
     8      Fri.      Secondary Schools Winter Term ends. Spring Recess begins for Secondary Schools after scheduled exams and student work*
     11      Mon.      1985-1986 Preliminary Secondary Schools Applications due
     17      Sun.      Dormitory students return (Secondary Schools by 8:00 p.m.)
     18      Mon.      Spring Term begins in all schools
Apr.     5      Fri.      Good Friday Holiday, all schools
     8      Mon.      Easter Monday Holiday for Secondary Schools
     15      Mon.      Deadline for College applications
May     10      Fri.      7:45 p.m. Joint Meeting of Faculty and Corp. (Assembly Hall)
     11      Sat.      Semi-Annual Meeting of Academy Corporation (Pitcairn Hall)
     27      Mon.      Memorial Day Holiday
June     6      Thu.      Spring Term ends
     7      Fri.      8:30 p.m. Graduation Dance (Field House)
     8      Sat.      9:30 a.m. Commencement (Field House)

     *See Catalog or Handbook for regulations.

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Resurrection Address for LEONARD EPHRAIM GYLLENHAAL, JR. 1984

Resurrection Address for LEONARD EPHRAIM GYLLENHAAL, JR.       Rev. LOUIS B. KING       1984

     We are gathered here this afternoon, family and friends of Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, to express our affection and respect for him as he awakens into the conscious life of the spiritual world.
     Saturday morning Leonard left this world as abruptly as he entered it sixty-six years ago. He was born and raised in Bryn Athyn, attending the Academy high school and then the University of Pennsylvania where he received a degree in civil engineering. After graduation he was employed by Bethlehem Steel Company.
     During the Second World War he served in the Pacific Theater as lieutenant in the Navy, building airstrips for the allied air forces. After the war he returned to Bryn Athyn and joined the Academy staff, working in the treasurer's office until in 1952 he was appointed Treasurer of the Academy and the General Church. In 1978 he was elected Vice President of the Academy, and in 1982 became the Development Officer for the Academy and the General Church. Now, in his thirty-eighth year of service to the Academy and the General Church, he has entered the spiritual world where he will take up interior uses in the Lord's kingdom for which his life on earth was but a preparation.
     Considering the fact that each one of us will one day join Leonard in the spiritual world, we devote little time in our daily routine to reflection upon eternal life. If it were not for the fact that our loved ones are taken from us, sometimes without warning, we would probably give very little thought to the life after death. On occasions such as this, when our hearts are deeply touched and our values reassessed, we are given to see the profound truth that life in this world is but a fleeting moment when compared to eternity, and yet it is here on earth that we are prepared for a life of eternal use in the Lord's heavenly kingdom.
     Scripture tells the story: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). In these profound but simple words we have a summary of the contents of the whole of the Word: God the Creator; the creation of heaven-the very end and purpose of all Divine works; the creation of the earth, where men may be fashioned in God's image and likeness.

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     [Photo of Leonard E. Gyllenhaal 1917-1984]

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     Going on through Scripture we come to the Psalms where it is said, "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made." Note: The means of forming the kingdom of God within a man while he lives on earth is the written Word! "In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was God . . . without it was not anything made that was made." It is from the Word of God, read and meditated upon, that the Lord can fashion His kingdom in the thoughts and affections of each being. Unless the kingdom of God is fashioned first within, man cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven after the body has been laid aside. Indeed, Jesus said, "Say not, Lo here! nor lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
     And so in the beginning, after God had created all things having to do with heaven and earth, it is written, "He formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul." Note that the body of man was formed of the dust of the ground-the chemical elements of the created universe. The man himself, however, is a living being formed by the breath or Spirit of Truth, that is, by the Lord through His Word. The body is laid aside and decomposes after earth life has served its purpose, but the spirit of man-the man himself or true person-lives on. Respectfully we inter the body, but the real man, who is drawn forth from the confinement of physical substance, awakens on the third day into the conscious life of the spiritual world. We think of Leonard today as he awakens into that substantial, beautiful world, beyond the ken of our natural senses.
     Returning to the Lord's teachings concerning the purposes of life, we learn that when mankind turned away from the Lord and brought evil and suffering and disease into existence, the God of heaven and earth came down to save man. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Our Heavenly Father descended into the world as Jesus Christ, born of a virgin in Bethlehem of Judea. He grew and walked with men. He used His Word to fight against evil forces, overcoming the power of the hells, that He might teach men the truth and draw all to Himself. He suffered the cross and was buried. He resurrected on Easter day and showed Himself to His disciples saying, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, into all the world teaching men those things which I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even until the consummation of the age."
     So are we created into vessels of life, to walk with our fellow men, to learn the truth of the Lord's Word, to fight the forces of evil-of selfishness and worldly ambition-and through that gateway which men call death enter into eternal life and eternal usefulness. How little thought we give to eternal life. How deeply we sorrow when those we love suddenly leave us.

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Yet it is appropriate for love to sorrow when it is deprived, but reason must counter with the reality that the purpose of birth and life in this world is to prepare for eternal life. All of the striving of Divine love and wisdom, from the moment of birth to the moment of death, is to lead and guide toward that time of transition when the angels will joyfully receive the one prepared into that unbelievable place of happiness and use which the Lord had in mind every moment that man lived on earth.
     While the Lord was on earth He taught men the truth concerning the reality of the spiritual world. He said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." Not only did Jesus Christ teach men the way of life, for He said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," but He illustrated His teachings by miracles. He healed the lame and the eyes of the blind. A sick man rose and carried his bed from the premises. He spoke to the raging sea and it was calm. Perhaps the greatest miracle of all was His raising of Lazarus to life after he had been dead and buried four days. Mary and Martha in desperation said, "If only You had been here, Lord, our brother had not died," and do not we say, through our tears, Why now, oh Lord?
     The Lord comforted the sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, saying to them, "Lazarus sleeps!" In declaring this astounding fact, He taught men for all time that death is not, as some suppose, a cessation of life. On the contrary, it is the continuation of life, at first in a state of peaceful sleep. To further illustrate this great truth, the Lord called to Lazarus and said, "Lazarus, come forth!" A miracle happened. Lazarus rose from the dead and came forth from the sepulcher to reenter consciously, for a time, the life and human relationships of that day.
     More dramatic even than this miracle was the profound teaching which the Lord gave to onlookers following the miracle. He said to the multitude, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whosoever believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever believeth and liveth in Me shall never die."
     If the Lord should suddenly appear, standing on the chancel here, and ask you the question, "Believest thou this?" what would be your answer? Like that of the individual who responded to the Lord, our answer would be mixed. Yes, we do believe in the Lord as our savior and redeemer. We do believe that He rose from the dead and is with us always. We do believe that there is a life after death for which He intends each one of us. Yet we doubt that these things are truly so-at least at times. It is human both to believe and to doubt. The Lord Himself on earth experienced these alternate states. Only human beings created in God's image and likeness can be so affected with truth that they are able to believe the truth and, at other times, doubt its possibility.

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Doubts are permitted by the Lord so that we may pick up the challenge and struggle to sustain belief in what the Lord says, thereby truly implanting that belief in our lives. We must fight through doubts in order to come to the belief that will produce true confidence in our Heavenly Father.
     But what does the Lord say about eternal life? "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, that where I am there ye may be also."
     The disciples were confused. Who was the Father? Where was the Lord's kingdom? Jesus said, "There are many things which ye cannot bear [that is, understand], but wait until He, the Spirit of Truth, cometh. He will lead you into all truth. The time cometh when I will show you plainly of the Father."
     The Lord has fulfilled His promise. He has come again as "the Spirit of Truth." Through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, the Lord has made His second coming in the theological Writings which we in the New Church accept as a third testament. In the Writings given by the Lord to the New Church, the Old and New Testaments are corroborated and opened up as to their internal sense. The Ward becomes one Divine Revelation consisting of three testaments, and the inner and open message within the whole of Scriptures is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one God of heaven and earth; that He created man for heaven, and that He draws all men to Himself-into that conscious and beautiful spiritual world-immediately after the death of the physical body. In that world there is a spiritual sun. There are atmospheres, waters and lands, teeming cities and country hamlets, various occupations and cultural recreations; in fact, everything that we have experienced in this world that is good and true is there, but with greater perfection and variety.
     The angels rejoice with each new arrival into that world, for thereby something special is added, increasing the perfection of heaven itself. This is because everyone is created to perform a special kind of service to his fellow men. No two individuals are alike-ever have been, ever will be.
     Human life is conceived in the womb. A soul given through the father is received by the mother and clothed in her with a physical body. The soul of each person from conception is unique in its form and has a very special potential for usefulness that sets it apart forever. It is the soul that weaves the body so that when a man is born he will lack not the slightest physical or mental capacity to serve his fellow men in that very special way. When the first breath of life is taken, individuality and eternal life are established.

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From that point the individual learns through experience and instruction, developing, through human relationships, a unique capacity to give happiness to others through uses performed. So does character development take place in the one whom the Lord is preparing for his eternal home.
     "Everyone there [in heaven] performs some use, for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses" (HH 387). This is the testimony of the Writings. They further state, "The angels find all their happiness in use, from use and according to use"(HH 403). And what is use? Is it not the effect for good which one man has upon another? In this vein we reflect with gratitude upon the useful life which the Lord accomplished through the person of Leonard Gyllenhaal. A trusted counselor and friend to three executive bishops, Leonard shepherded the financial affairs of the General Church and the Academy for thirty-eight years, so that the essential uses of worship and evangelization, that is, formal worship, education in all its branches, and distinctive New Church social life, might grow and flourish in the Academy and the General Church.
     For several decades those supportive uses of the church in which the laity must take initiative and which involve all business, financial and legal affairs of the institutions culminated in his office as treasurer. He held the respect of contributors and co-workers, those who gave much and those who gave little, rallying their affection and conscience to the support of church uses.
     His position, and particularly the way he discharged his responsibilities, gave him immense power and frequent opportunity to make decisions affecting the uses of the church, especially as related to the physical welfare of its personnel. Even when hard decisions had to be made he evidenced a deep compassion for the family and personal needs of teachers and ministers, for he had known times of tragedy, of want and the human need for support. He understood. In all his professional relationships he combined a sensitivity to human states with meticulous attention to details, never losing sight of that philosophic overview of the importance of the distinctive nature of the uses of the Academy and the General Church. The unity of the church and the Academy was precious in his sight. He served both with sincere enlightenment, faithful integrity and consistent equity.
     During his tenure, Leonard oversaw the expansion of the Academy's secondary school campus, the evolution of a college campus, the proliferation of buildings, personnel and educational programs. Concurrent with the latter period of this Academy expansion, he gave lay leadership in the expanding uses of the General Church-the centralization of the payroll system, computerizing the business office and establishing a development fund to stimulate local initiative in our New Church societies and circles.

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And as these new centers of the church developed. Leonard gave inspirational leadership to General Church treasurers as a new and needed trend toward local self-support developed.
     In recent years he traveled extensively, visiting the more remote centers of the General Church, an ambassador of integrity. With his wife and best friend Ruth at his side, they entered New Church homes and church buildings and were joyously received by many faithful New Church people who somehow felt cut off from the center of the General Church. Whether in chandeliered banquet hall or Zulu rondavel, they were lovingly received, exciting in all whom they met a warm sense of security, as well as a sense of General Church-mindedness-a new sense of belonging. Such visits did much to inspire in our General Church membership a renewed zeal for the support of its uses.
     Throughout these years of change, as the church passed from a patriarchal system to times of greater lay and local involvement, it is a remarkable fact that Leonard sustained a visible image and reality of financial stability so that the institutions of the church today have emerged financially stronger and no less dedicated to first loves than when his term of office commenced thirty eight years ago.
     When Leonard gave up the office of treasurer and became development officer for the General Church and the Academy, he continued as a symbol of security and stability. He was able to clutch supportively in one hand the principles and practices of traditional New Church education as held by early Academicians, while simultaneously reaching out his other hand to endorse and support the General Church's new and necessary commitment to outward evangelization. He saw no conflict. He saw one end-promulgation of the Heavenly Doctrines in order that the New Jerusalem (the Lord's New Church) might grow on earth-one Divine end served by a twofold means: formal education of the children of New Church parents, and evangelization of future New Church parents whose children and grandchildren will populate the church's schools of the future.
     Today, perhaps this very hour, as our thoughts and affections reach out to transcend the barriers of time and space, Leonard awakens into the conscious beauty and reality of spiritual life.
     Divine Revelation declares that when a person awakens in that world beyond our physical touch, he knows no otherwise than that he lives still on earth. Yet he joyfully meets friends gone before. This does not surprise or disturb him, for they are vivid in the memory which he takes with him.

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Thought brings presence there, and love conjoins. Nor does he forget loved ones left behind, but thinks of them without any anxiety, for he knows, as if from innate perception, that all are in the Lord's hands, and that the Lord will lead and guide them even as he himself was guided by the Lord in a thousand secret ways. There is no anxiety for the welfare of those left behind, simply a wonderful feeling of nearness to them and confidence in the Lord.
     Just think! If life in that world, upon awakening there, is identical in appearance to life here, Leonard will have family to enjoy there, duties at the office to challenge his skills and ambitions, roses to cultivate, the many needs of others to be concerned with, and even little children to tuck in at evening time.
     The Lord is indispensable; man is not. Yet what a blessing that the Lord inspires men to love uses so that through their performance we may draw near and love each other.
     Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you . . . that where I am there ye may be also." With gratitude to the Lord let us rejoice that Leonard has entered his place which the Lord has prepared for him. With joy and gratitude let us receive and respond to that enlarged use which all our loved ones in the spiritual world may increasingly render to us as we approach the Lord and allow Him to establish His kingdom in our hearts and minds-that where He is we may be also, and in time with those we love most who have gone on before. Amen.
CHRIST IS ALIVE 1984

CHRIST IS ALIVE       KENT O. DOERING       1984

     A Layman's View of Dissipation

     (Continued from the March issue)

     Glorification is defined by the New Word as conjoining the Human to the Divine. However, if "the human from Mary which was put off" is defined to include the material body, and not merely inherited evils and tendencies to disorder, one seriously begins to wonder as to what, if anything, of the Lord's Human was conjoined. The logical objection here was first posed by the late George A. de C. de Moubray in the April, 1976 NCL, page 133: "How could He make Divine what He had expelled?" Or, to put it another way, if nothing whatsoever of the human form from the mother-the bodily form-remained, what was the human which was synthesized and united to the Divine?"

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     Or let us state this obvious contradiction in another way: If there is any confusion between what "the human from Mary was which was put off" and what is to be properly conceived of as the Lord's natural, visible Humanity which is conjoined to His Divinity, then is this not a separation of the Lord's Divinity from His Humanity-a structural and functional equivalent of the Nicean Creed which separates the Lord's Divinity from His Humanity? If we confuse the processes of "putting off the human from Mary" with the human form which should properly be thought of as being conjoined to the Divine, then this is a mental separation in our own minds of the Lord's Divinity from His Humanity, which derives from not adequately keeping the processes separated in our understanding of them. Inadequate separation of "putting off the human from Mary," and confusing it with, glorification must result in an ipso facto mental separation of the Lord's visible Humanity from His Divinity. Does it seem simple-minded to pose this question or to call attention to the dangers involved here? I suggest that this is worthy of serious attention.
     The second objection and questioning of current "dissipation" exegesis is the danger involved in its successive time concepts. What happens to our concept of the Divine Human if we extend the time frame for "putting off the Human from Mary" beyond its proper limit? It is possible that failure to limit the time of putting off the human from Mary can result in our idea of the Lord's visible Divine Humanity becoming something which existed, but no longer does, in a limited time frame of a little over 33 years, and is now no longer visible except for the record-the Lord's visible Divine Humanity as a temporary phenomenon in history. The dualists who wrote the Nicean Creed could not conceive of a tie between time and eternity and thus came up with the idea of three gods from eternity to eternity. Dualism could also arrive at the structural opposite, namely Christ as a temporary phenomenon. I suggest that this can and does happen. Oversimplified, "dissipation" can lead to the idea that the Creator put on a visible human form in the person of Jesus Christ and then put off all the visible human form again to become invisible as before, thus effectively emptying the concepts of a personal God, a visible Divine Human, and God as Man of all conceptual content, leaving them as pious phrases that one recites with the lips and writes about, just as the concepts put .forth in the Nicean Creed empty out the idea of God as one and leave that part a pious phrase.

     IV

     To illustrate the consequences of this kind of thought, I will talk about my own experience according to our Lord's commandment: "If thou would cast the mote out of thy brother's eye, first cast the mote out of thine own."

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     When I left the Academy nigh onto two decades ago, my head was full of "dissipation" and dualistic logical processes. Needless to say, I carried out the dualistic operations to their logical extremes mentioned above in part.
     Despite the lip service to the Divine Human in church, I didn't worship or approach the Divine Human in thought. I was totally unable to worship God as visible Man in thought. I thought of the Lord as God who became Man and put off the Man again, putting off all the visible human form again. Opposite to three gods from and to eternity, Christ for me was a temporary historical phenomenon which happened 2,000 years ago. And, when I closed my eyes to worship and pray, I did not pray to a God in Human form, but rather to a mental conception of a "spiritual sun," bright, and very far off in the distance. I was totally incapable of praying to, worshiping, and even more importantly, of enumerating and confessing my sins and weakness to the Lord as a Divine Human Being with a face, arms, legs, etc., etc. I conceived of the person of Christ as something which did exist, but no longer does, and thus as being totally irrelevant to my life. Instead, I worshiped and prayed to that "invisible spiritual sun" in thought; prayed to abstracted Good and Truth, Love and Wisdom. I thought that this was the "person" of Christ I was supposed to approach: the influx of waves of abstract good and truth, love and wisdom emanating from within the spiritual sun. There were times I even prayed to Swedenborg. But, I never prayed to Christ because I thought of Him as being non-existent. After all, I had learned that all of the visible human form from Mary had been put off: Carrying out the dissipationist logic to its full conclusion, I mentally put of fall the human form of Jesus Christ, and became, let's say advisedly here, a Swedenborgian "spiritual sun worshiper" as I thought of Jesus Christ in His visible Humanity as no longer existent or relevant to the present moment. Thus, I was not a "Christian," but a "spiritual sun" worshiping pagan, worshiping some sort of a Divine-Divine in thought, and most definitely not a Divine-Human. In my head at least, dissipationism led to a sort of Swedenborgian neo-Socinianism: a denial of the Lord's visible Divine Humanity. Mentally reversing the Nicean dogma about three separate gods from eternity to eternity, I totally "put off" the visible Divine Human form of Christ, and honestly believed it no longer existed. I live now. He lived then.
     The above is honestly what I believed when coming out of the Academy. My lay mind simply put off the entire human form to come up with a confused denial of the visible Divine-Humanity of Jesus Christ.
     I also note that at that particular period of my life I was totally incapable of admitting any single sin or human weakness in myself to a visible Divine Human.

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How could I? Unable to confess to a God in Human Form, I was totally incapable of admitting any error to another visible human being, and ultimately to myself. Instead, I denied these things to myself, repressed them, and projected them onto other people, treating them with the usual "merciless mercy" and "discriminating charity" for the sins I projected onto them. My behavior, cognitions, and affections adequately corresponded. Poet William Blake best summed up what I was when I left the Academy:

     "God appears, and God is light, [the spiritual sun]
     To those poor souls who dwell in Night;
     but does a HUMAN FORM display
     To those who dwell in forms of Day."

     One wonders if Blake wasn't refuting the early dissipationists when he wrote that or "I Saw a Temple All of Gold."
     I note that the given structure of dualistic logical operations are independent of any one person's states of affections or cognitions. Thus, when the logic is fully carried through on its dualistic assumptions and concerns "lest anything of the human from Mary cling to our vision of the Lord . . ." similar conclusions must be reached-and this not only by the laity, but by the priesthood. In his August 1982 letter to the Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE. Rev. Bruce Rogers carried out the logic of dissipation to its conclusion. As with myself, what he wrote is the only logical conclusion that dissipation can reach. In that sense, he has unwittingly served to expose the nature of that position to a point where it can no longer be denied or overlooked. I quote:

. . . . And finally, in the ascension forty days later, after the resurrection, the Lord removed even the celestial and spiritual limitations from this Divine-substantial body by which he had remained visible to the spiritual eyes of His disciples, and resolved this substance back into the Divine being itself, so that in every respect He became one with the Divine, invisible in Himself to all finite eyes, as He had been from eternity, and yet still visible in the record of the Word, in the Divine Humanity He had put on as Jesus Christ, prophesied in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the New Testament, and explained in the Heavenly Doctrines (NCL, August, 1982, page 373-emphasis added).

     A Structural Analysis of the Language. This is precisely what dissipation must lead to. It is not much different from what I believed as stated above. Of course, it all looks very "true" and "orthodox" and uses the right New Church terms. Let us objectively look at the implications of the language.

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At least there is no danger that anything of the human form, period, cling to our vision of the Lard in the above formulation. It has all been "put off" and resolved "back into."
     Look at the time concept suggested for the visible Divine Humanity. While it sounds nice in theory, what does it leave us with in actual practice in the present tense? Simple questions have to be asked of the formulation: When we close our eyes and pray to the Lord in the present, to what are we to pray? A visible Divine Human which is now invisible again in Himself as He was before? A personal God-Man which is now resolved back into the Divine itself? If the visible Humanity of Christ which remains is solely the "record" of something which was, but not is, are we to pray to the Word?
     The second practical question is like unto it: To what visible Humanity of Christ are we supposed to confess our sins and: weakness? Again, the only logical conclusion of dissipation, as stated above, would be that we are to confess our sins to "the record of the Word." I tried that myself, and it simply didn't work!
     In short, I see no basis at all in the Writings for what Mr. Rogers wrote. An independent study of the Word reveals that the above position is not only unsupportable but runs contrary to quite a few numbers. The most obvious contradiction is to True Christian Religion 538. Please keep the formulation "invisible in Himself to all finite eyes, as He had been from eternity," in mind. The emphasis has been added.

     CONFESSION OUGHT TO BE MADE BEFORE THE
     LORD GOD THE SAVIOR, AND ALSO SUPPLICATION
     FOR HELP AND POWER TO RESIST EVILS.

     538. The Lord God the Savior ought to heapproached because He is God of heaven and earth, the Redeemer and Savior, to whom belong omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, mercy itself, and at the same time righteousness; and because man is His creature, and the church is His fold, and He has many times in the New Testament commanded that men should approach, worship and adore Him. That He ought to be approached. He enjoined in these words of John:

     Verily, verily I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up [transcends, perhaps?] some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. . . .I am the door: by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved . . . and find pasture.

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The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd (John x 1, 29, 9, 10, 11).

     Man is forbidden to climb up (transcend) some other way lest he should seek immediate approach to the Father, who is invisible and consequently inaccessible, with whom there cannot be conjunction. It was on this account that He Himself came into the world and made Himself visible, accessible and capable of entering into conjunction with man, solely for this end, that man might be saved. For unless God is approached in thought as Man, all idea of God is lost, being like sight directed into the universe, that is, into empty space, or it is directed upon nature or upon something (maybe someone else) visible in nature.
     Note: "He Himself came into the world and made Himself visible"! And "unless God is approached in thought as Man, all idea of God is lost, being like sight directed into the universe . . . ." There is not one single passage in the whole Word which would indicate that He again became invisible in Himself to all finite eyes, as He had been from eternity. The Word never says He became visible and then simply invisible again forever!
     However, as I have tried to demonstrate here, the assumptions behind the dogma of dissipation, and the subsequent theories evolved from it, can only lead to the conclusion arrived at by me two decades ago.
     At this juncture, is it not wise to ask all people, priests and laity alike, to seriously examine how they approach and worship the Lord, and to see if they do not entertain similar ideas about "invisible in Himself as He was before" which derive from "dissipation'?

     A Structural Comparison with the Nicean Creed

     Recapitulating: Use of dualistic assumptions and reasoning led to the Nicean Creed in the First Christian Church which first made the Lord two, Separating His Divine from His Human, and then made God three, and this from eternity to eternity. Dualistic assumptions and subsequent reasoning applied to the New Word bring us very similar structural and functional equivalents to the Nicean Creed which can be clearly seen in Mr. Rogers' formulations: Making the Lord two "removed even the celestial and spiritual limitations from this Divine substantial body by which He remained visible, and resolved this substance back into the Divine being itself." That is, "dissipation," when rigorously carried through, simply puts off or separates the whole human form, the visible Human, from the Lord's Divinity. It also makes God three: Dissipation when it effectively separates human form from the Divine then tends to worship the Word itself as God, apart from the visible Divine Human.

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(One astute critic of New Church theory, John H. Hotson, wrote, in 1970, in a privately published paper, "The Future of the New Church" on page 20: "it is a tendency of the General Church to worship the Word apart from the Lord and the doctrine from the Word." And, this God-Word, apart from the visible Divine Human Form of Jesus Christ, this "record" is neatly divided into three: . . . in the Divine Humanity He had put on (and "put off" again and re-absorbed) as Jesus Christ (the Son), prophesied in the Old Testament [The Father], and explained in the Heavenly Doctrines [the Holy Ghost]. The time concepts in this formulation are also very similar to those of the Nicean Creed. In that, we see the time concepts are dualistic in that they totally disjoin any connection or conjunction between passing time and eternity by coming up with the idea of three gods from eternity to eternity. A careful look at the time formulations put forth by dissipationism shows exactly the same kind of structural disjunction between passing time and eternity in the very selection of tense. It is merely the structural reversal of three gods from eternity to eternity. The language used makes it quite clear that the idea of a visible Divine Human Form in the Person of Jesus Christ is a mere temporary phenomenon: "invisible in Himself to all finite eyes, as He had been from eternity." Reformulating a little, it implies that the invisible God, the Creator from eternity, became temporarily visible in Divine Human Form to finite eyes, and then invisible as He had been from eternity to eternity again. There it is: Two, three, and from eternity to eternity! Thus, while the language is different, the conceptual content and structure are precisely the same!
     No one particular person is to be faulted as being "evil" or "foolish and irrational" for the errors of dissipationism. The error as I see it is one made in "good faith" in selecting dualistic logic in this most vital area of thought about God-Man and His relationship to man. As also stated in this paper, I myself held to the most radical conclusions which can be drawn from "dissipation," so it is not in any sense of "superiority" or "blamelessness" that I criticize others holding to dissipationism. However, when errors are not admitted and accepted, we will keep on committing and compounding them. Thus, there are obvious errors in the logical conclusions of the dissipationist school, but the basic error was the selection of assumptions and logic chosen long ago to understand and explain a phenomenon which it cannot understand or explain: the Divine-Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ; the paradox of the formless, invisible, infinite and eternal Creator taking on a Human form of finite matter in time and fusing that to Himself in an indissoluble union and ultimate synthesis: The visible Divine human form of our Lord and Creator-Jesus Christ! Christ is born. Christ is risen with the whole visible Human form. CHRIST IS ALIVE!

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NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1984

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO              1984

     In April of 1934 the LIFE published a sermon by Bishop N. D. Pendleton on the subject of intercession and the 17th chapter of the gospel of John. (By coincidence we have a sermon in the present issue on this.)
     The 32 pages of the LIFE fifty years ago this month contained interesting reports and statistics. Fewer than two dozen ministers attended the annual council meetings. As we look at the list we note that only three of them are still living. There were eight local schools then, reporting fewer than 350 students enrolled. (Now eleven schools report more than 500 students.) Plans were then being made for the 15th General Assembly. That assembly, held the following year, had 666 persons registered, but more than 1,000 people attended the pageant. Two people attended from Mexico. The following states in the USA are mentioned as having one person attend the assembly: Alabama, Missouri, Oregon, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
     Now we look forward to the 29th General Assembly in Bryn Athyn with a large attendance from far and near.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1984

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1984

     "I've always felt that you were made of the kind of granite that our pioneer ancestors must have had. The trials that have carved your character would have crushed me." So wrote a Bryn Athyn woman to a friend who came from a log cabin in Oregon to attend the Girls Seminary. You will know just what she meant if you read the feature, "Gorandmother" in the March-April issue of New Church Home.
     Another popular feature in that family magazine is the "Interview. In this issue the focus of the interview is the Girls School. Following this interesting item is a copy of the message on a scroll given to students of the Girls School at their Centennial luncheon.
     The spring issue of Theta Alpha Journal is highly interesting. (We have come to expect that.) Various items focus in different ways on the subject of education.
     We would call attention to a major study in the October-December issue of The New Philosophy. We refer to "Towards a Universal Chronology" by Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom.

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

     SPIRITUAL DIARY OR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES

     A hundred and one years ago when the first volume of the Spiritual Diary appeared in English no effort was made to justify its title. The preface stated, "The Diary, it is presumed, should be considered as a storehouse of spiritual facts, phenomena, and principles, which the author wrote down at the time he heard and saw the things he states and describes.
     Twenty years later when the final volume appeared, the translator noted that the title had been invented. "It must be remembered, at the outset, that the name of 'Diary'-although admirably describing the nature of the present work-was not given to it by Swedenborg himself, but by Dr. Immanuel Tafel." Tafel had, in the 1840s, used the Latin title Diarium Spirituale. But now the new Latin volumes have begun to appear (as mentioned in last month's editorial), and the title to these is Experientiae Spirituales. It is likely that when a new translation is done the title will be Spiritual Experiences, and it behooves us to begin to get used to the idea.
     Here is how it came about. In 1953 NEW CHURCH LIFE published a thorough study by Bishop Alfred Acton about the Spiritual Diary (March issue pp. 1 12-130). One section of this study was devoted to the question: Is "The Spiritual Diary" an appropriate title? Dr. Acton showed clearly that the title is not appropriate. It is not in fact a "diary" though it might at first resemble one. Dr. Acton anticipated the objection that changing the title would cause "bewilderment and confusion" because of the old term being used in the Concordance and in collateral literature.
     He wrote, "I think that no weight should be attached to this objection. Attention should be focused on the question, What is the most appropriate and descriptive title? If the title Spiritual Diary is not a suitable title and we still retain it in a new edition, a future generation may justly complain that we have still further hampered its freedom of choice. For the immediate future, however, a concession might be made by adding in parentheses the words 'Spiritual Diary.'"
     Dr. Acton suggested that the term Memorabilia could be used, but many have felt that this would too often be taken to mean certain parts of the published Writings.

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     In his preface to the first volume of the new Latin edition Dr. J. Durban Odhner states that there is no evidence that Swedenborg ever used "Spiritual Diary" or "Memorabilia" to refer to this work. He says, "There is evidence, however, of which Dr. Tafel was unaware, that Swedenborg did conceive of a name for that work-evidence which, because of inaccurate interpretation, has hitherto lain in obscurity." Twenty years ago Mr. Lennart O. Alfelt suggested that when Swedenborg wrote the abbreviation "exp. sp" he meant "Spiritual Experiences." In Dr. Odhner's preface the case for this is carefully explained.

     We like to use names and titles that quickly convey to others what we mean. At the present time "Spiritual Diary" serves this purpose, but it seems best at this point to put the church on notice that we anticipate the effort of a title change.

     THE SUBJECT OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH

     Under this same heading in September of 1982 we reviewed the surprising number of items we have printed on this subject in the past decade. In the present issue we are printing an address given by Mrs. J. R. Hibbard. Mrs. Hibbard, the daughter of Richard De Charms, was the first principal of the Girls School, and our printing the address is in part a way of saluting that school's centennial.
     Notice that Mrs. Hibbard says that the woman's intellect must be developed and educated. "Let her have colleges, her higher education, not that she may study as men do, or become more like them." This was written almost a century ago. Notice the several passages of the Writings she lists in four categories. We will speak in a moment about listing passages.
     Until very recently we knew nothing about Mrs. Hibbard's address nor of the occasion on which it was given. There is a 454-page book entitled The New Jerusalem in the World's Religious Congress of 1893. It is a treasure which very few in the church have seen or even heard of. The New Church played a prominent part in that congress held in Chicago in October of 1893. Some eighteen nations sent delegations, and, if I read it rightly, Ghandi (but which Ghandi?) was among those who came from India! The opening meeting, presided over by a New Churchman, was attended by four thousand people. After that, for more than two weeks, a number of events took place including, in separate buildings, denominational congresses. It was at one of those that Mrs. Hibbard gave her address. Other speeches took up other aspects of women in the church. For example, Mrs. S. S. Seward spoke on "Woman as Wife and Mother."

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     We are aware that doctrinal classes are being given on the subject of masculine and feminine responsibilities in some of our church societies. There is evidence that some may be growing a little weary of papers on this subject, and it has been suggested that a listing of readings for individuals to do on their own would be more welcome than yet more papers.
     In listing readings we are concerned that certain passages are mentioned so often that they may be given undue prominence. Excessive attention to some one particular is a danger to doctrinal integrity (see AC 362). Among the many passages gathered here are some for interested readers (in addition to those listed in the address mentioned above).

CL 33      Nothing whatever in male and female is alike, and yet they conjoin.
CL 56      Angels discuss causes of feminine beauty. Woman is called "the life of wisdom."
CL 91      Observation on the female, her application, her ways, her form. See also CL 159, 187, 193.
HH 369      With man the understanding predominates, but with woman the will.
CL 291      Danger of striving for supremacy (HH 380).
AC 4227      Domineering tactics among the sexes. Spiritual Diary passages on women who preach or who lead in devotions include 436, 4940, 5936.
SD 1573      Those inordinately devoted to domestic cares, neglecting, like Martha, the better things, such as pertain to faith.
CL 168      The wife's wisdom not possible with the man nor the man's with the wife.
AC 10331      Wisdom is related to what one does.
CL 130      The wisdom of life defined.
CL 188      Men elevated to higher light, women to superior warmth.
CL 218      The intelligence of women, modest, elegant, pacific.
AC 2731      Mutuality and reciprocity in all things of life.
AC 3887      The working together of heart and lungs. See also AC 3889, DLW 401-409.
AE 998:4      Men in intelligence but not in wisdom unless with their consorts.
CL 137      Husband and wife each with mutual aid performing uses in society.

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COLORING THE DAYS OF THE WEEK 1984

COLORING THE DAYS OF THE WEEK       Thomas M. ColeA       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor,
     "And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. . ." (Genesis 9:14).
     It occurred to me not long ago that each color of the rainbow might represent one of the last six days of creation, leaving the color white to represent the first. Adding one to six reminds me of something Carl Sagan said about the existence of infinity; he said that no matter what number you come up with you can always add one to it. (He could have proven infinity in many other similar ways but I wonder if he was influenced by the principle described in TCR 8).
     Blue. This is the color of water which is seen on the second day. It is also the color of faith, which is represented by the moon and traditionally the second day of the week is moon-day. Moreover, I believe that blue in general represents the Old Church, which is divided in Prophets and Psalms as "the successive vastation of the church," "the church totally devastated, and its rejection," "the rejection of the Lord by the church," and "a last judgment by the Lord."
     Green. This is, of course, the color of the plant kingdom. Therefore it is the color of living truth. It could be used to represent the Lord's state of humiliation, and worship and salvation of the Lord. It is interesting to mention that Emanuel Swedenborg not only knew Tuesday could be represented by the symbol for Mars but actually used it in Spiritual Diary. I highly recommend reading about these spirits, and I believe that there is a correlation between them and the doctrine of the Lord; however, I will leave that to your reader, for now.
     Yellow. The fourth day is Mercury day and it is the day that the yellow sun, the moon, and the stars were created. Yellow would be a good color to represent the glorification of the Lord.
     Orange. The fifth day is Jupiter-day and it is also the day of the fish and the birds. The sky and the sea are blue. Could blue's opposite symbolize birds and fish? The subjects of the Lord's temptations, subjection of the hells and combats against them seem to fall into one category.
     Red. Now we come to Venus-day. Like the spirits of Mercury the spirits of Venus are concerned with truth; but they are interested only in material truth, perhaps similar to being interested in the sense of the letter. It is the sense of the letter that speaks more of charity and love.

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     Faith is defined as an internal acknowledgment of truth; perhaps charity is somewhat of an external acknowledgment of faith. Red symbolizes love and on Venus there are clearly two kinds of love, love of truth and evil love. On the sixth day a very similar duality is created. The warm-blooded animals are red-blooded. Reptiles also are created. The most notorious reptile is the dragon who is red on the outside. The passion of the cross could be symbolized by red for obvious reasons.
     Purple. Here we have purple following red and yet they are seen as two opposite extremes. Actually the opposite of purple is yellow. I would like to refer you to the end of the eighth section of TCR's chapter on repentance where the colors red, purple, and yellow are mentioned together. I believe this would be a good color to represent the New Church and New Heaven. Is there any similarity between Saturn's ring and the rainbow?
     I would like to see some reaction to the idea of publishing any of the books of the prophets and/or the Psalms with colors to represent the subject matter. I have seen Bibles with four colors used, but many of the words are left unhighlighted.
     Thomas M. Cole SRA,
          Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan
Church News 1984

Church News       Penny Orr       1984

     OLIVET SOCIETY, TORONTO

     Since our last report in July 1982, I would like briefly to bring you up-to-date with the activities of the Olivet society. In the spring of 1982, a second manse was bought within walking distance of the church. It is occupied by our assistant pastor. Rev. Louis Synnestvedt, and his charming wife Aileen and their five children. We had one summer wedding and two fall ones; one couple celebrated a 40th anniversary. Also in September 1982, Candidate Paul Schorran was here for three months to experience the uses of an active society. Paul soon became a dear friend to us all, and left us very enriched. The baptism of Miss Donna Ruch into our church was a happy event.
     1983 has brought some changes to our society. First, I should mention that our past correspondent, Gwen Craigie, passed into the spiritual world on June 4. 1983. It is with considerable trepidation that I follow her. Gwen's affectionate support to all our uses is missed. The passing of Marion Hicks Opperman leaves us without her generous advice in matters pertaining to interior decorating. With the passing of Miss Edina Carswell December 30th, 1983, ends an era with the Carswell name in our society. We are deeply indebted to Miss Edina for all her loving help to our society. These three dear ladies are now enjoying a full useful life in the other world, and have left us unforgettable memories.
     In 1983 we had the joy of welcoming seven baby girls and six baby boys into our society. We also helped celebrate five weddings.
     On April 2, 1983, the society held a tea to honor our friend and member Mr. John White on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

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     The Olivet Society hosted the Canadian Assembly held June 17th to June 19th. We had representatives from British Columbia. Alberta, Quebec, U.S.A., and many from our sister society in Caryndale. Bishop King presided. On Sunday, the 19th of June, a special children's service was given. At the adult service, Rev. Arthur Schnarr was ordained into the second degree. After church we picnicked outside, the weather cooperating beautifully. Then came one of the highlights of the assembly, a 19th of June pageant given by the Carmel Church School children and the Olivet Church Day School children. Some 65 children participated. Never before have so many Kitchener famines attended a service in our church. It was very moving and meaningful-a wonderful closing event for a stimulating assembly.
     During the summer, our pastor. Rev. Geoffrey Childs, as the Bishop's Representative, and his wife Helga took a six-week tour. See December NEW CHURCH LIFE for this report.
     In September 1983, Candidate Andrew Dibb with his sweet wife Cara came to learn about society uses. They were with us for six weeks, becoming friends to us all.
     One of the most thrilling events was our banquet celebration on November 19th for the 25th anniversary of our church building at 279 Burnhamthorpe Road. Rev. Martin Pryke, with his wife Zara, came as our guest speaker. Martin was our pastor when the church was built. Such happy memories and proud ones for us all.
     This was followed by the official opening of our new Christian Book Store. Rev. Douglas Taylor came to cut the ribbon. Many, many volunteer hours of labor went into preparing the store for our needs. We have been open since November 22nd and enjoy serving the public. The store is staffed by many volunteer men and women and young people of our society, with Rev. Terry Schnarr as our leader. A huge commitment, but a wonderful one.
     Our two ladies' organizations have amalgamated into one called "Theta Alpha Guild." This was instituted to get many more ladies involved in our uses. In closing I would like to extend our best wishes for 1984 to all our friends in the church.
     Penny Orr
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1984

MINISTERIAL CHANGES              1984

     Rev. Kenneth Alden has accepted appointment by the Bishop to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Washington Society, effective July 1, 1984.
     (Note: Rev. Mark Alden has resigned as Assistant to the Pastor of the Washington Society to enter medical school in the fall of 1984. See his letter in the March issue, p. 140.)
     Rev. Patrick Rose (presently teaching in the College and Theological School of the Academy) has accepted an appointment by the Bishop to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Detroit Society and Visiting Pastor to the North Ohio Circle, effective July 1, 1984.

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SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1984

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION              1984




     Announcements






     The 87th annual meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association will be held on Monday, April 30, 1984, at 8:00 p.m. in Pendleton Hall auditorium, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. A short business meeting for the purpose of electing officers and a board of directors for the coming year and for receiving customary reports will precede the address.
     This year's speaker is Prescott A. Rogers, Assistant Professor of History, Latin and Greek at the College of the Academy of the New Church, and Vice President of the Swedenborg Scientific Association.
     Mr. Rogers' address is entitled, "Philosophical and Ethical Movements in the Centuries Just Preceding the Lord's First Advent."
     Many students of cultural history have noted the remarkable intellectual achievements circa 600 B.C. Both in western and eastern civilizations great advances were made in the areas of philosophical inquiry and ethical living. The students have wondered why and how these advances were made, without a satisfactory explanation.
     Although the Heavenly Doctrines do not specifically refer to these philosophical and ethical movements, they certainly offer clues so that we may better understand the reason of and the method of these movements.
     The address will describe in very general terms these movements (Israelite prophecy, Greek philosophy, Zoroastrianism, popular Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism). It will also strive to explain them in light of the Lord's teachings concerning His church on earth. Specifically, the movements will be linked with the prior Ancient Church, the subsequent Christian Church, and the New Church.
     Members and friends of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, and interested parties are cordially invited to attend.

201


PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1984

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES              1984

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
     RIGHT REV LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP
     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U.S.A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

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

     AUSTRALIA

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

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Re. Jose Lopes de Figueiredo, Rua Desembargador Izidro 155, Apt. 202, Tijuca.

     CANADA

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. William Clifford. 1536 94th Ave., Dawson Creek, V1G 1H1. Phone: (604) 782-3997.

     VANCOUVER                                   
Mr. Douglas Crompton, 21-7055 Blake St., V5S 3V5. Phone: (604) 437-9136.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Christopher Smith, 16 Bannockburn Rd., R.R. 2, N2G 3W5. Phone: (519) 893-7460.

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

     TORONTO
Rev. Geoffrey Childs, 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington, Ontario M9B 424 Phone: (416) 231-4958.

     Quebec:

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

     DENMARK

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

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Mrs. Donald A. Bowyer, 26 Allanbrooke Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8EG.

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

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 111 Howard Drive, Letchworth, Herts. Phone: Letchworth 4751.

     LONDON
Rev. Robert McMaster, 135 Mantilla Rd., London SW17 8DX. Phone: 672-6239.

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

     FRANCE

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

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Daan Lupker, Wabserveen Straat 25, The Hague.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. Marion Mills, 8 Duders Ave., Devonport, Auckland 9. Phone: 453-043.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. Eyvind Boyesen, Vetlandsveien 82A, Oslo 6. Phone: 26-1159.

     SCOTLAND

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

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

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

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

     Transvaal:

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

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     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Louisa Allais, 129 Anderson Road, Mandini, Zululand 4490.

     Mission in South Africa:
Superintendent-The Rev. Norman E. Riley, 42 Pitlochry Rd., Westville. Natal, 3630.

     SWEDEN

     JONKOPING
Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, 5-56600, Habo. Phone: 0392-20395.

     STOCKHOLM
Rev. Roy Franson, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma. Phone: 48-99-22 and 26-79-85.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

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

     Arizona:

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

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501.

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Michael Gladish, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone:(213) 249-5031.

     SACRAMENTO
Patricia Street Scott, 3448 Vougue Court, Sacramento, CA 95826.

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Cedric King, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (714) 268-0379.

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

     Colorado:

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

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

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Rev. Glenn Alden, 47 Jerusalem Hill Rd., Trumbull, CT 06611. Phone: (203) 877-1141.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 417 Delaware Ave., McDaniel Crest, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 478-4213.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     LAKE HELEN
Rev. John Odhner, 413 Summit Ave., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2337.

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

     Georgia:

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

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Dr., Chamblee. GA 30341. Phone:(404)457-4726

     Idaho:

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

     Indiana:
Contact Rev. Stephen Cole in Cincinnati, Ohio, or Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051

     Louisiana:

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

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     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. David Simons, 13213 E. Greenbank Rd., Oliver Beach, MD 21220. Phone: (301) 335-6763.

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

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 132 Kirk La., Troy, MI 48084. Phone: (313) 689-6118.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201.

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

     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Dr. Andrew Doering, 1298 Sagebrush Ct., Rio Rancho, NM 87124. Phone: (505) 897-3623.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. Gordon Smith, 38 Newriver Trace, Clover, SC 29710. Phone: (803) 831-2355.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Stephen Cole, 6431 Mayflower Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45237. Phone: (513) 631-1210.

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

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

     Oklahoma:

     TULSA
Mrs. Louise Tennis, 3546 S. Marion, Tulsa, OK 74135. Phone: (918) 742-8495.

     Oregon:

     PORTLAND
Mrs. M. D. Rich, 2655 S. W. Upper Drive Pl., Portland, OR 97201. Phone: (503) 227-4144.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.-See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

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

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529.

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

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 7420 Ben Hur St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     ORAL-HOT SPRINGS
Rev. Erik Sandstrom, RR 1, Box 101M, Hot Springs, SD 57747. Phone: (605) 745-6714

     Texas:

     FORT WORTH
Mrs. Charles Hogan, 7513 Evelyn La., Ft. Worth, TX 76118. Phone: (817) 284-0502.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14323-123rd NE, #C, Kirkland. WA 98033. Phone: (206) 821-0157.

     Wisconsin:

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

204


COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 1984

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK              1984


BY THE LATE REV. J. CLOWES, M. A.
The Gospel according to Mark, translated from the original Greek, and illustrated by extracts from the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, with notes and observations of the transfer annexed to each chapter.

     Reprinted in hardcover
by
NEW CHURCH COLLATERAL PUBLISHING
WOOLLOONGABBA, QUEENSLAND 4102
AUSTRALIA
1983

     Available now               Postpaid $7.50

     GENERAL CHURCH BOOK CENTER
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

     Hours 9:00-12:00, Monday thru Friday
or by appointment
Phone: (215) 947-3920

205


Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984



Vol. CIV     May, 1984     No. 5
NEW CHURCH LIFE

206


The letter from Richard Linguist on page 241 is perfectly timed for the approaching assembly. The beginning of this year saw the largest gathering of New Church people ever held in New Zealand (see Miss Tuckey's report on p. 218). The assembly we look forward to in June promises to be the largest in our history.
     Dr. Wilson Van Dusen has written a number of things that have fascinated New Church readers, and his works have inspired many people to read the Writings. His booklet Uses is a real gem, and we are delighted to have in this issue a review that does it justice. A far more difficult reviewing assignment would be the book by Dr. Meyers, but Dr. Kurt Simons has been more than equal to the task. Among the things he praises particularly is the way in which doctrinal concepts such as the glorification and correspondences have been so clearly explained.
     Bishop de Charms has favored us with a study entitled "The Divine of Use." On page 212 he quotes a passage from Divine Love and Wisdom and asks, "How can we understand this?" See if the reading of this article does not help you to answer that question.
     On page 240 we mention a letter in a newspaper. We have learned that another letter has been published deploring the assertion that "the Church of the New Jerusalem should not be called Christian." Furthermore, the newspaper has now published a letter by Mrs. A. H. Lindsay, Jr. She maintains a charitable spirit while clearly refuting the allegations in the original letter. One senses that good things are going to result from what at first seemed unfortunate.
     "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world . . . ." On the opposite page Rev. Kenneth Alden addresses the concern so keenly felt by parents about their children.
     In the March issue we published the dates of half a dozen summer camps. The date of one of them has been changed. The Deer Park Camp near Bryn Athyn will be held on August 24th, 25th and 26th.
     We have recently received material about women and uses, some of which will appear in the June issue. Readers who wish to read more on this subject are invited to write to the editor.

207


KEEPING CHILDREN FROM EVIL 1984

KEEPING CHILDREN FROM EVIL       Rev. KENNETH J. ALDEN       1984

     "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil" (John 17: 15).

     How many parents have an uneasy sense of loss, sorrow, or dread as their infants grow out of their babyhood and begin to be exposed to the conditions of our world! "Out there" they meet with evil and selfish behavior, foul language, perverse and adulterous views of sexuality, violence, and allurements to virtually every kind of evil. At times, despairing parents wish they could build walls around their homes, cut off all communication, and seal off every source of infiltration from the mass media. At other times, parents shrug and say that somehow they made it through childhood, and so why worry about the world. They figure that you can't keep children out of the world or stop them from doing what they want to do, so you might as well let them have what they please. The standard, however, which the Lord has set for our greatest hopes for our children is more balanced than mere isolation or free indulgence. It is expressed in a prayer that the Lord made for His disciples and for all of us: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil."
     Part of the reason that the Lord prayed that people not be taken out of the world is seen from the fact that His creation was called "good" when first created. It had a use to serve that harmonized with the Lord's good purposes. In one place the Writings describe the use of the world as a training place for initiating men into the things of heaven (see AC 5006:4). Whatever a person acquires in the world in the way of intelligence, wisdom, affection and love is also described as a foundation for heaven (see Lord 34), and so much so that without ideas from worldly things, people could not think at all (see AC 2520:2). In fact, the Writings also say that the design of creation was that heaven and the world be conjoined in man. They are conjoined when life from the Lord flows through the heaven in man into the world in him, producing an image of heaven in the world (see AC 10156:4). Especially in the doing of good uses are the two conjoined. Accordingly, there is no need to reject worldly things like riches and honors and to withdraw from the world, for the Lord is loved when He is obeyed and when uses are performed for the neighbor by a life in the world. The Lord must have had these good and heaven-bound uses in mind when He prayed that people not be taken out of the world.

208


Perverted things of the world, however, must also have been in His awareness, for He prayed as well that people be kept from evil.
     As with all people, the world provides for children a training ground for heaven, and a foundation for life there. It provides an opportunity to form ideas from tangible things which can serve as a basis for all thought, and especially for thought of God. The world and life in it provide an opportunity to be useful as well. A child's development in this world to adulthood provides things for his eternal life in heaven which cannot be provided to the same degree in any other way. Undue isolation and withdrawal from the world would limit the ability of children to benefit from all that the world can offer as a foundation and training ground for heavenly life. So our prayer is misguided if it asks to have our children taken out of the world.
     At the same time that we recognize the value of life in the world for the welfare of our children, we should also beware of the evil which comes from the world. Providing only for their life in this world does not automatically help keep them from evil. Looking to the uses of life in this world, however, can be a source of guidance in helping us to do this.
     For example, if we take the teaching that "Man is in the world in order to be initiated by his training there into the things of heaven . . . (AC 5006:4), we can see the implications it has for keeping children from evil. If the experiences we provide for our children train and introduce them to the things of heaven, then they are good. Such experiences would include those which foster obedience to parents, reverence for the Word, peaceable sharing and cooperation with other children, appreciation for the things of marriage, innocence, and so forth. Experiences, however, which initiate children into things that are opposed to heaven are the ones we should help our children to avoid or to set bounds on. Such might include those which encourage disobedience, irreverence, hatred, angry fighting, the separation of sexual things from their context in marriage, and so forth. The purpose of life in this world is not to make people wise in the ways of the world, but to be initiated into the things of heaven. The more experiences we provide for children which can-train heavenly habits into them and delight them in heavenly things, the more we let little children come to the Lord.
     This is not to say that children must never learn about evil, or that they must never learn about it from exposure to it. Simply by reading the literal sense of the Word a person may learn about every kind of wickedness there is. It is not uncontrolled exposure to evil, however, for in the whole context of the Word, evil is condemned for what it is, and people are urged to put such evils away from their own lives.

209


In this way, the Word helps train us for life in heaven even by exposing us to evil. Parents, too, can hope and provide that when their children are exposed to evil, the total context of that exposure, including discussions about it, and punishments for doing it, will be such that evil will be condemned for what it is. They can hope and take measures to ensure that that exposure will serve to turn the child's desire away from evil and toward heavenly things. Special care is required, though, so that allowing exposure to evil and knowledge of it does not turn into incitement and allurement to evil beyond bounds which the child is capable of resisting. One of the key questions to keep in mind in governing the kinds of experiences we allow for our children is, "What is the use? Is this experience training them for heaven?"
     The Writings teach that the exteriors of man have been formed for the reception of all things of the world, but that those who receive the world and not heaven at the same time receive hell (see HH 313e). From this teaching we can see the value of giving children heavenly things at the same time that they are given worldly things. Or, to put it differently, we can see that keeping children from evil is the same as keeping them from separating their reception of the things of the world from their reception of the things of heaven. For example, if we want to help our children become accepted by their peers, we should not on that account allow them to swear, gossip, and pick on another group of children, for that is giving them the world apart from heaven. Again, if we want them to succeed in the academic world or in sports we would act wisely if we led them far away from cheating, trampling over others, flattery, and the like. If they succeed in the world only, they gain only hell.
     Another important teaching of the Writings which underscores some of the teachings we have been considering Is the one which says, "Renunciation of the world without life in the world does not make spiritual life . . . but renunciation of the world with life in the world does . . . . The renunciation of the world is of avail and is accepted by the Lord in proportion as it is made in the world; for those renounce the world who remove the love of self and the world, and deal justly and sincerely in every function, business, and work, from . . . a heavenly origin . . . because it is according to the Divine laws" (NJHD 123, 128-emphasis added). Here again we see the two elements of the Lord's prayer that we not be taken out of the world but be kept from evil. We too are to lead our children away from the dominion of the love of the world and the love of self in their lives-lead them away from the loves of domineering, materialism, sensual indulgence apart from use, avarice, anger, hatred, deceit, and so forth; but we are not to do so by sheltering them from the world to the point where they lose a full opportunity to be of use in the world.

210


The life of heaven is a life of use, and all of the wealth, power and pleasures of the world have been provided to serve uses as a foundation for heavenly life. They do this when the things of heaven flow in and order those of the world. The very effort to have use govern in our selection of the kinds of activities we encourage for our children will bring with it a sphere of protection against evil-especially if our children appreciate the spirit of that guidance. That sphere would be present because uses that look to heaven have the Lord in them. They conjoin heaven with the world, and train for heavenly life.
     We can get additional insight into the Lord's prayer that His disciples not be taken out of the world but be kept from evil by examining elements of the larger prayer in which this particular one is found. First the Lord prayed that He be glorified by the Divine that He might glorify the Divine, and so that He might give eternal life through a knowledge of the Divine Human (John 17:1-3). This might remind us that first in our desire for; our children should be that they come to know the Lord-to see and understand what is Divinely Human so that they may receive eternal life from Him. To know only what is merely human, or to have an idea of the Divine that is remote from people and distant from everyday life is not enough. Giving our children as clear and accurate an idea of the Lord as they are capable of can help them to use life in the world as a means for becoming images of Him.
     In His prayer, the Lord also declared that He has given His followers the Divine Word (see verses 8, 14). Teaching children the truth of the Word is essential for providing them with spiritual weapons which can keep them from evil. The more we can do this on a regular basis, and not just with our mouths but with our lives, the better it will be. As the Lord said through Moses, ". . .These words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on, your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deut. 6:6-9). Think of the difference it would make if the Lord's guiding truths were involved in our lives and in the things passed on to our children to this degree!
     The purpose behind the reaching of Divine Truth is expressed in the Lord's prayer: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (v. 16). "To sanctify" means to set apart. To be set apart by the truth, then, would be to love our life in the world differently from those who have no heavenward purpose in life.

211


To set our children apart by the truth of the Word, and to keep them in the Lord's name, or quality (v. 12), would include keeping them from those evils the Word condemns. By so doing we let the little children come to the Lord-come into some image of His innocent qualities.
     When we share in the Lord's prayer for our children that they not be taken out of the world but be kept from evil, we should also share in the part where the Lord says, "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth" (v. 19). By allowing the Lord to set us apart by a life according to the truth, we are better able to help the Lord in setting our children apart by a life according to the truth. We cannot be as effective in keeping our children from evil if we do not allow the Lord to keep us from evil as well.
     In His life on earth-in His thoughts, hopes, loves and prayers-our God has set an example for which we can reach. There will be many times in which we will be distressed with all that our children will rub up against as they take their places in the world. There will be times when we may wish that we could isolate them from the world so that all of its evil and ugly influences will not interfere with their pathway to heaven. But if we love the Lord, we will love His ends and purposes. We will want our hopes and prayers to image those which He has for each one of us. The Lord did not pray for isolation from the world. He prayed that people be kept from evil itself-that they not seek the world apart from heaven; that they not be ruled by sensual, earthly and selfish loves. Life in the world is actually a training ground and support for the life of heaven. It is not that which keeps a child from coming into heaven as an adult. The place for us to direct our zeal, then, is not against the world, but against the evils of the heart which respond to the evils of the world, and against the evils of the world which arouse that response. Our zeal can be directed to teaching children about the Lord and heaven from the truth of His Word; to keeping them in His name by helping them to develop in themselves qualities from the Lord; to sanctifying them by His truth through using it to organize their lives so that they are set apart even while in the world. What higher hopes can we have for our children than those which are based on a reflective study of the Word, and formed in an image of the Lord's? From His love of our eternal welfare, He said, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil." Amen.

     LESSONS: Deuteronomy 6, John 17, AC 10156:3-5

212


DIVINE OF USE 1984

DIVINE OF USE       Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS       1984

     A STUDY

As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10, 11).

     This is a prophecy concerning the Divine of use, which is the subject of our present investigation. What does it really mean?
     Jehovah God is an infinitely perfect Man, in Whom there is a trinity of love, wisdom, and use. The Divine of love is that which God intends; the Divine of wisdom is what He thinks, and the Divine of use is what He does. Love and wisdom are faculties of the mind, but use is possible only by means of a body. The body of God is the created universe by means of which alone He can perform the uses which His love foresees, and which His wisdom provides.
     The Writings appear to teach that from the beginning God had the two superior degrees in actuality, and the third degree only in potency. Swedenborg writes:

It had been told me from heaven that in the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, before His assumption of a Human in the world, the two prior degrees existed actually, and the third degree potentially, as they do also with angels; but that after the assumption of a Human in the world, He put on over these the third degree which is called the natural, thereby becoming Man like a man in the world, but with this difference, that in the Lord this degree, like the prior degrees, is infinite and uncreate, while in angel and man they are all finite and created. For the Divine, which apart from space had filled all spaces, penetrated even to the outermost of nature; yet before the assumption of the Human, the Divine influx into the natural degree was mediate through the angelic heaven, but after the assumption it was immediate from Himself (DLW 233).

     How can we understand this? From the beginning of time God was immediately present in the whole of His creation. It could not be otherwise, for nothing can exist apart from God. But before Jesus Christ was born, Divine influx into the natural minds of men was effected only through the angelic heavens. Note well: the influx here referred to was not into the world of nature, but into the natural minds of men.

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This is important because it renders the whole teaching understandable. God was always present in the natural world. That this was true all men took for granted; but no one actually saw Him there; nor could anyone understand how He could be there. God spoke to men only by means of the prophets who saw the angel of Jehovah in dreams and visions. From time to time an angel appeared to men as is recorded in Genesis 18, in Judges 13, to David in II Samuel 24, and elsewhere. But such appearances were always in spiritual vision. He was never seen with the eyes of the body. That is why it is said that the Lord always had the two interior degrees in actuality but the natural degree only in potency.
     Jesus Christ was born in order that men might see God as present in the natural world. By conception and birth Jesus Christ took on a material body, to all appearance just like the body of all men. While He was living on earth, all who came to believe in Him did perceive something of His Divine nature. They saw His Divine love in His miracles of healing diseases and His raising the dead to life. They saw His Divine power in His command over the winds and the waves. They perceived something of His Divine wisdom in His marvelous teaching. But even the twelve apostles who forsook all to follow Him did not even begin to see His true Divinity until after He had risen from the dead. Even then they could not understand how He could be one with the infinite Jehovah. This is the reason why Jesus Christ was born into the world. It was of paramount importance that God should become consciously present with men on earth-present, that is, in their natural minds. As this takes place, God is said to put on the Divine Natural which before He had only in potency.
     Before men could even begin to see God as actually present in nature, they had to develop a natural rational, that is, a scientific understanding of the laws of nature, and how these laws operate for the benefit of mankind. Such a natural rational must precede any spiritually rational understanding of the Divine Word. For the first time in the history of mankind, this "internal sense of the Word" has been set forth plainly by the Lord at His second coming, by means of "the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem."
     By a natural rational is meant an understanding based on sense experience, and developed progressively by man's own effort. Everyone is endowed by the Lord with a spontaneous delight in so doing, which is called "curiosity." What one discovers in this way during infancy and childhood is known, but it is not really understood. That is, it is not understood by one's own reason. Children are dependent upon parents and teachers to explain the meaning of what they learn from nature.

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They accept the rational understanding of all things from others, because they have confidence in those who teach them. No one can begin to develop his rational faculty until he begins to think for himself as he approaches adult age.
     What is true of the individual is true also of the race. The entire race, in the sight of the Lord, is a "greater man." It must progress by stages from its infancy, through its childhood, even to youth and adult age. Those who lived at the time of the Most Ancient Church felt no need for a natural rational. They enjoyed an inner perception of truth directly from God, and accepted it without question because they had confidence in the Angel of Jehovah who appeared to them in heaven and taught them. Those who lived in the Ancient Church era learned from heaven the "science of correspondences," that is, the spiritual meaning that underlies all the visible objects of nature. They accepted these correspondences in a childlike manner but felt no need to explore any natural understanding of them. They were interested in nature only as a means of worshiping the Lord. They thought of mountains and groves as places of worship. They built altars of earth and stone on which to offer in thankfulness to God the produce of the earth. They consecrated to God animals and birds, because these represented to them human loves, affections and thoughts. They looked upon the stars as the habitations of angels and sought to learn from them the wisdom of life. They looked upon the sun as the abode of God and designed places of worship to bring the light of the sun visibly present at the time of worship. Later they built marvelous structures for the burial of the dead and to provide for the needs of the spirit in the afterlife. But they had no concept of scientific investigation to acquire a natural understanding of the laws of nature. For them these laws were the mysterious operations of God, completely unintelligible to human beings.
     At the time when the Lord was born the race was in its youth. Men were just beginning to think for themselves, and as is the case with all youths their first attempts to do this were largely unsuccessful. In the early days of the Christian Church men were fascinated with the teaching of the gospels. Above all; they wanted to understand how Jesus Christ was God. This many of them believed with all their hearts, but how it could be true they could not understand. Controversy arose which threatened to destroy the church, and the famous Christological councils were convened to determine the official doctrine of the church. This led to the conclusion that there are three persons in the Godhead, each of whom is Divine and Infinite. This was contrary to all reason, but it preserved some idea that Jesus Christ is God.

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So eager were men to understand the Word that the early church fathers vied with one another in their attempts to present their own interpretations. Many of these were purely fantastic, and beyond belief. To preserve a simple faith in the Bible, the Catholic clergy forbade any interpretation except that of the clergy, and later, for the same reason, the Protestant Church decreed that the literal sense alone was to be regarded as having authority.
     It was imperative that men should learn to think rationally, and we believe that the First Christian Church was in Providence used as a means whereby this might be brought about. That this is true seems to be confirmed by history, for only among Christian nations was there found the irresistible urge to think on the basis of sensation as the final criterion of truth. Because the established pronouncements of the church, when critically examined, were found to be inconsistent with the facts of sensual observation, a violent conflict arose. Science appeared to be contrary to religion. Indeed the faith of Christian scientists was sorely tried. But a fundamental truth had been discovered, namely, that sound thinking must be based on something independent
of the human mind. It must be based on creation itself. Here we are confronted with a seeming paradox. Although God created nothing that did not promote the establishment of an angelic heaven, the material universe was formed of objects and of forces which could never become part of heaven. Fixed time and space, which are characteristic of all things in nature, must be left behind, together with the material body, when man dies. Nevertheless, the Writings appear to teach that the material universe is the very body of God. So we read:

     If God were not One, the universe could not have been created and preserved. The unity of God may be inferred from the creation of the universe because the universe is a work coherent from things first to things last, and dependent upon one God as a body upon its soul. The universe was so created that God might be omnipresent, and hold each and all its parts under His direction, and keep its parts together as one body perpetually, which is to preserve it (TCR 13).

     It becomes clear from other teachings, however, that God does not dwell in objects of space and time. "He is in space without space, and in time without time." Objects of space and time are not His body; they are only tools by means of which He can perform the uses for the sake of which they were created. God is present in the material universe as the Divine of use. It is a matter of supreme importance for men to know this, and to understand it. Only as they learn to think of things not from their physical characteristics but from their use can they advance from a purely natural rational to the spiritual understanding of all things.

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Use in itself is Divine. It is the will of God made manifest in what He does. To perceive the use of any created thing is to see in it the love and the wisdom of the Creator. To regard material objects as uses is to perceive their inner quality, which is the very form of heaven. So regarded, material objects are stripped of their material qualities of fixed space and time, and appear as spiritual forms, representing what is heavenly and Divine.
     How this can be true may be grasped in some degree if we reflect upon the way we regard a gift from a friend who is deeply loved. It is dear to us, not because of its size or its shape, or its monetary value, but solely because it represents to us the love and thought of the friend who gave it to us, and inspires in us a similar love in return. If we regard the objects of nature as gifts from God, and if by means of them as uses we see God present in them, their physical properties become irrelevant, and they are transformed into spiritual objects. This is the way the objects of nature are transformed into the beautiful objects that surround the angels in heaven. That is the reason why no objects can appear in heaven which have not been seen, in whole or in part, by men in the world. It is why material things were created by the Lord, namely that there might be a heaven of spiritual objects in the midst of which men might live after the death of the body.
     It must be well understood, however, that the objects of nature have no power in themselves whereby they might perform the uses for which they are Divinely intended. These uses must be done by the Lord Himself, and to do them He must be immediately present in nature. That this is the case becomes evident when we realize how innumerable, how complex, and how inclusive of all the objects and forces of nature these Divine uses are. Concerning this we read:

All things created by the Lord are uses; they are uses in the order, degree, and respect in which they have relation to man, and through man to the Lord, from Whom they are (DLW 327).

By man to whom uses have relation is meant not only an individual but an assembly of men, also a society smaller or larger, as a commonwealth, kingdom, or empire, or that largest society, the whole world, for each of these is a man (DLW 328).

Uses for sustaining the body relate to its nourishment, its clothing, its habitation, its recreation and enjoyment, its protection and the preservation of its state (DLW 331).

Uses for perfecting the rational are all things that give instruction about the subjects above mentioned, that is, all sciences and branches of study pertaining to natural, economical, civil and moral affairs, which are learned either from parents and teachers, or from books, or from intercourse with others, or by reflection on these subjects by oneself.

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These things perfect the rational so far as they are uses in a higher degree, and they are permanent as far as they are applied to life (DLW 332).

Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord are all things that belong to religion and to worship therefrom, thus all things that teach the acknowledgment and knowledge of God and the knowledge and acknowledgment of good and truth and thus eternal life. These may be learned by the same means as stated above concerning the sciences. And in the Christian world from the Word (DLW 333).

     We have quoted these numbers to show how all-inclusive is that which is called THE DIVINE OF USE.
     The difference between the natural rational and the spiritual rational is that the first is developed by regarding all things from their material properties of space and time; the latter is developed by regarding all things according to their use. But the development of the sciences must come first, and only on the basis of such a rational can spiritual understanding be achieved. This being the case, it may be seen that the Lord in His Providence is guiding and directing the scientific explorations of our day as a means of leading men at last to receive and understand the Heavenly Doctrine through which Jesus Christ speaks to men at His second advent in order to establish, both in heaven and on the earth, the New Christian Church whereby He brings to fulfillment the promise of all the ages, the worship of a visible God whose immediate presence in nature is seen through THE DIVINE OF USE. Therefore the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah: "As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10, 11)
FIFTY YEARS AGO 1984

FIFTY YEARS AGO              1984

     The May issue in 1934 was an unusually large one devoting most of its pages to papers and discussions of the Council of the Clergy. One also notices that news reporting was brisk. Among the localities from which news appeared in that issue were Colchester, Sydney, Kitchener, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Glenview, London. And that's not all!

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NEW CHURCH CONVOCATION, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND 1984

NEW CHURCH CONVOCATION, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND       RAY TUCKEY       1984

     Held January 4-14, 1984, at Willow Park Camp

     "Haeremai, haeremai." The welcoming greeting in Maori, from the Auckland New Christian Church Society of the Conference Church to all attending the convocation set the gentle and pleasurable sphere which ensued for the whole ten days at Willow Park and was attended by members of the New Church from England, Mauritius, Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, and America: folks from the Conference, the Convention and the General Church, with ministers from each section-seven in number.
     All mingled together and enjoyed the company, living, working and listening and learning together.
     It was a wonderful feeling to be in so large a company of New Church people-particularly for the New Zealanders, and especially for the small General Church circle with eight members and two children attending full or part-time, and Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, also augmented by a couple from Hurstville and their three small girls.
     A different grace was sung or recited at each meal and even the camp cook joined in, which was nice. (The camp was run by the Open Brethren Church.) The first evening there was a welcoming social and Sasa by the Samoans, then worship.
     Each day after breakfast worship was taken by one of the ministers present or a lay reader from the youth section. This was followed by a lecture with questions from the congregation. It was interesting to see how each minister handled his chosen subject and the reaction of the people to the very different approaches; to see the noticeably increased interest when it came directly from the Writings, and a hint of despair if the authority of its truth was apparently undermined.
     Needless to say I thought our Rev. E. E. Sandstrom came out "Top of the Pops" in this respect with murmurs of "That was really powerful," to be heard as the people rose to leave after his presentations from the Old Testament and the Writings. Of course each minister in his own way had something to offer to make us think more deeply.
     The first volume of the new translation of the Arcana Coelestia to reach this country was brought here by Gordon Kuphal, Secretary of the Conference in England, and presented to Rev. John Sutton (Auckland Society) by Rev. Chris Hasler, President of Conference, and was the theme throughout the convocation-our ultimate dependence on the Lord's truths in the Writings.

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     Titles of Lectures:
Feb.      5      Divine Desire and Purpose-Rev. Bruce Williams
     6      The Divine Comes to Man-Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
     7      Keeping Contact: Providence-Rev. Chris Hasler
Sun.      8      Worship conducted by Rev. R. Keyworth
               Indulging Falsities-Rev. W. Woofenden preaching
               Offertory of $450 toward the Mooki Mem. College, S.A.
               Evening Sacramental Service-Rev. Bruce Williams
                    Sermon: The Wise Laughter of Old Age
                    Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
     9      Day off! Visit to Kawau Island
     10      The Divine Speaks to Man-Rev. W. Woofenden
     11      Ultimates-Rev. Richard Keyworth
     12      Washing the Disciples' Feet-Rev. John Sutton. We were requested to bring our towels to worship! Little bowls of water were provided and we took our neighbour's foot and washed it and in our turn had a foot washed also. Rev. Sutton explained that feet represent the natural ultimate, the washing-the cleansing of the natural mind-putting off of evils. "He that is not washed has no part of Me."
     13      Symposium on the future of the church, in place of a lecture, old and young being divided into groups according to birthdates, which came out surprisingly evenly. A number of interesting goals for the future growth of the church were listed-a personal list, a society list and a national list. Rev. Sandstrom startled all by suggesting a federation of New Church assemblies, recognising the differences and strengths of each organisation. Remaining separate, they could have assemblies for meeting and working together.

     Going back to the 10th February, a public lecture was held in the local school assembly hall. This had been advertised by the young folks posting 2,000 leaflets into 2,000 letterboxes of surrounding homes. Subject: After Death What Happens?
     The gentle sphere of the film "Images of Knowing" introduced about twenty strangers and set their attention. Rev. Hasler introduced himself and explained his subject, with Judith Booth reading appropriate passages of confirmation as required.
     The meeting ended with the film "The Man Who Had to Know" being shown. Supper and discussion followed.

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Seven of the strangers expressed interest and wished either to attend church or accept further follow-up, which was considered good.
     Afternoons were free and many took advantage of the outings organized for our pleasure, or played some form of sport at the camp. Saturday 14th there were fond farewells as 90 New Church people dispersed to their homes or to tour our lovely land.
     Sunday 15th we had a bonus-an extra service of worship with Rev. Sandstrom, and Holy Supper, held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. H. Keal. Between Rev. Sandstrom's visits-two or three times a year-we have services read by Mr. H. K. Keal in the above home or that of Mr. and Mrs. Bartle in West Auckland, every fortnight.
     Rev. Sutton's gentle, amenable approach has been much appreciated by General Church members who also attend his services on the occasions when our own are not held.
     We appreciated being invited to attend the convocation.
          RAY TUCKEY
SWEDENBORG'S LISTS 1984

SWEDENBORG'S LISTS       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1984

      (Part VI)

     BY REV. FRANK S. ROSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
     THE CURATOR OF SWEDENBORGIANA, JONATHAN S. ROSE

     The Writings (Continued)

     In 1765 a German pastor and professor, Friederich Christoph Oetinger of Wurttemberg, was given a copy of Arcana Coelestia. While having many doubts about the internal sense of the Word, he was convinced that Swedenborg's revelations of the spiritual world were true, and at once began to translate the interchapter material on the life after death from Arcana Coelestia to be incorporated into a book he was writing. This brought him a lot of trouble from the authorities, and it also brought him into correspondence with Swedenborg. On October 13, 1765, he wrote to Swedenborg asking for the titles of any other works he had written concerning things seen and heard in the spiritual world. He did not receive a reply. Not realizing that Swedenborg was on one of his many foreign journeys, he wrote again. Swedenborg finally returned to Sweden, almost a year after Oetinger had written to him, with freshly printed copies of Apocalypse Revealed.
     He replied to Oetinger, and provided him with a list, not just of the books on the spiritual world, but of all the Writings to that date.

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     Arcana Coelestia

     1     2     3     4     5          6     7     8
          1749-1756

Heaven and Hell               }     
Heavenly Doctrine          }     
Last Judgment               }     1758
White Horse               }     
Earths in the Universe          }

Lord                     }     
Sacred Scripture          }
Life                    }     1763
Faith                    }
Last Judgment Ctd.          }
Divine Love and Wisdom     }
Divine Providence          }     1764

Apocalypse Revealed     }     1766
Conjugial Love          }     1768

Brief Exposition          }     1769
Influx               }     1769

True Christian Religion     }     1771

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     I recently returned home from foreign parts-Holland and England-and received your two letters, one of October 13, 1765, together with another, for which I thank you.

     There are 5 works in which I have written from things heard and seen:

1.      Concerning Heaven and Hell
2.      Concerning the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine
3.      Concerning the Last Judgment
4.      Concerning the White Horse
5.      Concerning the Inhabitants of the Planets.

     Other works were published later:

1.      Concerning the Lord
2.      Concerning the Sacred Scripture
3.      The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem
4.      Concerning Faith
5.      Concerning the Spiritual World [= CLJ]
6.      Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Providence
7.      Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom;

     but these 7 works together do not make 72 whole sheets [each sheet was 8 pages]. This year was published Apocallipsis Revelata, promised in the work on the Last Judgment, from which it can be clearly seen that I speak with angels. . . . [He concludes the letter:] All the works mentioned above are on sale in London, England, at Mr. Lewis' in Paternoster Row near Cheapside. These my writings concerning the New Jerusalem cannot be called Prophecies but Revelations. Fare you well and prosper.1

     Apart from Arcana Coelestia, which Oetinger already possessed, this list contains all of the 14 works he had published up to that date. There were four more yet to come.
     In 1768 Conjugial Love was published, and the name and nationality of the author were given. Since this was the first time he officially broke his anonymity, at the end of the book Swedenborg gave the list of works "hitherto published by me."

     THE THEOLOGICAL WORKS HITHERTO PUBLISHED BY ME:

     ARCANA COELESTIA,
which contain the Explanation of the books of Genesis and Exodus,
8 vol. Published in London, 1747 to 1758

     HEAVEN AND HELL
The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine
The Last Judgment
The White Horse
The Earths in the Universe, Published in London, 1758

     DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
Concerning the Lord
Concerning the Sacred Scripture
Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem

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Continuation concerning the Last Judgment and concerning the Spiritual World, Published in Amsterdam, 1763

     ANGELIC WISDOM
Concerning the Divine Providence
And concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, Published in Amsterdam, 1763

     APOCALYPSE REVEALED. Published in Amsterdam, 1764.

     These books are sold in London by Mr. Hart, Printer, in Poppings Court, Fleet Street, and by Mr. Lewis, in Paternoster Row, near Cheapside. Within two years you will see the Doctrine of the New Church, Predicted by the Lord in the Apocalypse, Chapters 21, 22 in fullness."

     The story with Oetinger did not stop there. Swedenborg sent Oetinger three copies of Conjugial Love, one for himself and the other two that he might bring to the attention of "any illustrious duke" he might know.3 As it turned out, Oetinger did dome to know about a duke who was very much interested in the spiritual world. His name was Duke Ludwig IX, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.4 Oetinger duly sent him a copy of Conjugial Love. The Duke was very interested, and sent a message to Swedenborg asking for an exact list of the Writings.5 It is interesting that such a request was made, and reminds us of the phrase in the posthumous fragment Ecclesiastical History, "Make a list of the books that have been written by the Lord through me from the beginning up to the present time."6
     In any case, a correspondence began between the Landgrave and Swedenborg. In one letter Swedenborg promises to see if he can buy back a set of Arcana Coelestia for the Landgrave, since the original edition was sold out and no longer in print.7 At about the same time Swedenborg received a request through Dr. Beyer for "four sets of Swedenborg's theological works," but because of various difficulties with censorship, etc., he could only provide one."
     Then, in the summer of 1771, Swedenborg, now a man of 83 years, met the Landgrave's minister, de Treuer, in an Amsterdam inn. The coach was about to leave for Germany, and Swedenborg passed to de Treuer the promised list, so that he could forward it to the Landgrave. As far as we know, this is the only example we have of a list of the Writings drawn up by Swedenborg himself after he had published them all.

     Theological Writings:
After my sight into the spiritual world was opened.
(1)      Arcana Coelestia, containing an explanation of Genesis and Exodus, 8 vols.

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(2)      Heaven and Hell
(3)      The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine
(4)      The Last Judgment
(5)      The White Horse
(6)      The Earths in the Universe
(7)      The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord
(8)      Concerning the Sacred Scripture, etc.
[The "etc." included (9) The Doctrine of Life, and (10) The Doctrine of Faith, plus (11) The Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, all of which were published in the volume on the Four Doctrines.]
(12)      Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence,
(13)      and concerning the Divine Wisdom
(14)      Apocalypse Revealed.
[(15) Here he would have included Conjugial Love, but the Landgrave had already received a copy, and so it did not need to be included.]
(16)      Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church
(17)      The Intercourse of the Soul and Body.
     The last two have been translated into English. They are to be found in London, at Mister Lewis' in Paternoster Row near Cheapside.
(18)      [The True Christian Religion-this was not included in the list since Swedenborg had just recently sent him two copies.]9

     About six weeks later, Swedenborg wrote to the Landgrave again, explaining that he was leaving for England, and giving him a list of the books he planned to complete there.

     I am now preparing to depart for England, where, the Lord willing, I intend to bring to light, that is, publish, four small works, namely:

1.      The Consummation of the Age and the Abomination of Desolation at that time, foretold by the Lord in Daniel and in Matthew
2.      An Invitation to the whole Christian world to come to the New Church; and in it many things concerning the Lord's advent, and an exhortation that they receive Him worthily
3.      The Human Mind
4.      Egyptian Hieroglyphics disclosed by Correspondences.10

     He ended the letter with a promise that he would send the books on to the Landgrave as soon as they were published. It is remarkable to find Swedenborg, so close to the end of his life, making yet one more list of books he was going to publish. Evidently the Lord was not "willing." When he died on the 29th of March, 1772, his desk was covered with manuscript pages.11 He had completed 18 books on theology, written by the Lord through him, and though his work on earth was finished, no doubt there was much for him to do in the world he had visited for so long, and which he was now to enter, never more to return.

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     FOOTNOTES
1 Letters and Memorials, p. 620, letter dated September 23, 1766 = Tafel's Documents no. 229, Vol. II, pp. 248, 249; see also Letters and Memorials pp. 606, 607. Concerning Oetinger, see Letters and Memorials footnote #2, p. 606, and Tafel's Documents 315(Vol. II. pp. 1027-1061) and Vol. II. p. 1135.
2 Conjugial Love, supplemental page. Note--Some of the dates are incorrect. Swedenborg was generally known to be the anonymous writer as early as 1760, but this is the first book on which he inscribed his name: Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swede.
3 Letters and Memorials, p. 644 (see also NEW CHURCH LIFE. 1948, P. 356, and NEW
CHURCH LIFE. 1948, pp. 353-368, 393-405, and 736).
4 A Landgrave was a count having jurisdiction over a large territory in medieval Germany. Concerning Ludwig IX, see Tafel II, p. 1154.
5 Letters and Memorials, pp. 736, 737
6 The Ecclesiastical History of the New Church, no. 3, from Codex 47 no. 2, is itself a list, evidently written late in 1770 as Swedenborg was traveling by coach or ship, "Small Theological Works and Letters," Swedenborg Society, 1975, pp. 191, 192; see also Tafel's Documents, no. 310.
7 Letters and Memorials, pp. 73-8, 740. "Concerning Oetinger in Wurttemberg, from his letter."
8 Letters and Memorials, p. 742
9 Letters and Memorials, July 3, 1771, pp. 743-745. The list begins with references to "Opera Mineralia et Philosophica" and EAK in response to de Treuer's question about his work on the heart (see NEW CHURCH LIFE. 1948, p. 368, footnote #4). The list has been simplified omitting the places and dates of publication, and adding the numbers in brackets.
10 "Small Theological Works," p. 307 = Letters and Memorials, p. 756
11 We have some of the material from nos. 1 and 2 in Swedenborg's final list quoted just above, but unfortunately much of this material has been lost (see Posthumous Theological Works. Vol. I, p. 15, and "The History of the Coronis" by Alfred Acton, NEW CHURCH LIFE. 1957, pp. 372-378).

     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Acton, Alfred, Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg, Vol. II, Swedenborg Scientific Association, Bryn Athyn, 1955
Tafel, R. L., Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Emanuel Swedenborg, Vol. II,      part 2, 1877, Swedenborg Society, London
Small Theological Works and Letters of Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedenborg Society, London, 1975.

     This concludes the series begun in the December issue.

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REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       KURT SIMONS       1984

Mary Ann Meyers, A New World Jerusalem. The Swedenborgian Experience in Community Construction (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983); price: $30.00

     When the Lord sends a new revelation to man, how does it affect the life patterns of the people whose hearts and minds are touched by its message? In 1932, a scholar from outside the New Church produced an analytic report of these effects on the men and women who had taken up the standard of the New Word-Marguerite Block's The New Church in the New World.1 A half century later, we have a new report. Once again it is by a woman and, like the earlier work, originally in the form of a Ph.D. thesis, adapted for publication.2 The nominal focus this time is the town of Bryn Athyn, but the full social, cultural and ecclesiastical history of the Academy/General Church movement is covered. Is that movement where we meant it or want it to be in bringing the New Church to earth? Dr. Meyers' book provides a fascinating opportunity for reflection.
     Like Dr. Block before her, Dr. Meyers' grasp of her material is encyclopedic. To begin with, she has not simply mastered basic teachings but compiled one of the finest contemporary summaries of doctrine your reviewer has had the pleasure of reading. It even explains such arcane subjects as the glorification, correspondences and the three heavens but two kingdoms of heaven with deceptive ease and clarity. One wishes this section were a pamphlet! Furthermore, she has done a remarkable job of integrating apt quotations from doctrine with explanations of church structure and function, and has even been able to refine upon such points as whether the teachings of the Writings preclude evolution (they don't, p. 22), whether the form of service should be different in remarriage than that of the standard marriage service (p. 154) and the sociological significance of that daily visit to the post office (p. 124)! In the process, she has ferreted out facts few living General Church members may recall, if they ever knew them, such as that Bryn Athyn was nearly named "Hillbrook" (p. 57), that Bishop Benade saw a parallel between the "natural womb" of Mary at the first advent and "rational womb" of Swedenborg at the second (p. 40), and that the Cathedral was originally planned to be expanded in several aspects, including the addition of a banquet hall (p. 87). Furthermore, the work is shot through with penetratingly pithy observations and characterizations.

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There are "no languid harpists" in heaven (p. 29), Swedenborg describes the last judgment "in the vigorous prose of a war correspondent" (p. 32), in the publication-oriented missionary efforts of the organized church, "The Linotype was the New Church plow. . . ." (p. 162), and ordination, once conferred, can't be "retrieved" (p. 128).
     Inevitably, of course, there are mistakes. The only surprise is that there are so few in view of the avalanche of information covered and the fact that the author knew little of the church when she began her research. The only important errors this reviewer spotted were statements that Swedenborgians view Bryn Athyn as the "geographical locus" of the New Jerusalem, the actual "new earth" (p. 4)-repeating a mistake made in Dr. Block's book;3 that ordination confers the right to teach General, as opposed to New, Church doctrine (p. 129), and that church members have a duty to shun members marrying outside the church as having done something outright "evil in the sight of God"(!) (p. 151). While not technically an error, perhaps, question can certainly be raised in addition to titling the chapter on marriage and the relation of the sexes "Threats to Structure"(!) yet placing the discussion on the young people's "anti-Cathedralism" in the chapter on "Contemporary Bryn Athyn."
     What makes the mistakes unfortunate, however, is that they occurred in the thesis as well, and could have been rectified prior to publication of the book if the author had had the manuscript reviewed by a General Church reader. This omission is surprising, in view of the wide range of acquaintances in the church she developed in the course of preparing the thesis. Such consultation would perhaps have helped the author avoid a more serious omission as well: with a few minor exceptions (e.g. some statistics from the Bryn Athyn Pastor's 1979-80 report), there is no updating of the book's coverage in the six years between the 1976 completion date of the thesis and what was probably a 1982 copy deadline for publication of the book in 1983.4 Significant new discussion of many of the issues she reviews, from evangelization or the role of women to birth control and economics, appeared in the pages of church periodicals in that period. The lack of update detracts from some of her comments.
     A third unfortunate aspect of the book that commentary on the thesis or manuscript would perhaps have helped avoid is the excessive use of jargon. In the opening three pages, for instance, appear "parousia," "chiliastic," "votaries," "vicinal" and "salvific. In a Ph.D. thesis this is par for the course, but such language sits in rather uneasy alliance with prose otherwise directed at the educated but general readership that the book as a whole seems intended for.
     A final critique, or regret, before considering the book's great strengths, concerns the major editorial deletions made from the thesis for the book.

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An elegant brief biography of Swedenborg that led nicely into the basic doctrinal review, much of the survey of the church's early history in England and the United States, an excellent biography of the three Pitcairn brothers, a riveting retelling of the Miss Beekman (actually Mrs. Steiglitz) saga and other human interest "meat" on the dry "bones" of history (as Dr. Sig Synnestvedt used to say), has all been deleted. Yet most of the colder structural detail, notably on organizational forms, and sometimes in excruciating detail, is left in (e.g. chapter 6). The end result is injustice to the painstaking work done on the deleted sections of the thesis, and loss to the book of such important insights as Miss Beekman/Mrs. Steiglitz's effect on early General Church leaders. There is also a loss of some of the tale-spinning quality of the work that keeps the reader turning pages. One hopes, in view of these deletions, and the omissions noted above, that there may be a revised and enlarged edition produced some day.
     Now for the central question: in a history we feel is so familiar, is there anything new here to learn? Emphatically yes. One of the great challenges in life is to see ourselves through the eyes of others. This is no less true for an organization, and certainly for a church entering an era of evangelization unprecedented in its history. To receive such a sophisticated, knowledgeable and fair analysis of the "state of the church" from an outside viewpoint right at the outset of that era seems, like Life after Life, another Providential bootstrap to help lift ourselves up in this new use.
     Of the many themes brought out in the book, several seemed of particular note to this reviewer:
     As in any good history, one interesting aspect is the background of current hot topics. Do you feel our ritual is too formal and "high church'? Under Bishop Benade's early leadership it was positively exotic, to the extent of "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem" being sung-in Hebrew-as a "secret" hymn (p. 43). W. F. Pendleton's Anglican-inspired forms, high church and all, seem to have constituted a relative liberalization. On the other hand, Bishop Pendleton intended his efforts only to constitute an experiment, to be modified in the light of experience (p. 75), and he would probably have been surprised at the extent to which his work has become cast in bronze. Do you feel the church leadership is too tyrannical, or too laissez-faire? Read once again of the traumatic final years of Bishop Benade's positively Old Testament rule and the remarkable (miraculous?) recovery made by Bishop Pendleton under the banner of freedom, yet without the opposite-end-of-the-pendulum-swing excesses that might have been expected. Where we stand today along that pendulum swing in the light of Bishop Pendleton's observations deserves further study.

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     A second useful aspect of a history such as this is simply the aid to your reflection of reading an objective recounting of your state. The familiar takes on a new light. There is a comparison of the General Church's adaptability to the times with that of two other millenial churches, the Mormons and the Shakers (p. 172ff). To see clearly outlined through the author's eyes how fundamental New Church education has been to the success-and maybe outright survival-of the
General Church is sobering when we are tempted to look at those buildings and campus and take it all for granted. Furthermore, in reading of W. F. Pendleton's establishment of an orphanage fund, to serve not simply the New Church but ultimately the world at large (p. 66), one wonders if there is not a related idea here worth dusting off and reconsidering. In an age that abuses both the innocence and bodies of children, for the Academy/General Church movement to expand its concept of education a step, from serving simply its own children truth in a classroom to serving charity to children in many forms and on a wider scale, could provide focus for a whole new era of church use, ranging from Big Brother/Big Sister or formal social work with children to producing a bestseller-style book on conjugial love and sexual relations aimed at teenagers. These uses would be in keeping with our child-oriented Academy tradition, unarguably "distinctive" in either our or an outsider's sense of that term, and carry with them that sweet delight felt by anyone who has ever stooped to help a child.
     And speaking of "distinctive," this subject forms what is perhaps the book's (and thesis') most recurrent theme except that Dr. Meyers uses the term "elitism." Far from viewing this quality as some kind of side effect, she makes a strong case that it has been a fundamental keynote in the cultural development of the New Church in general and the General Church in particular.
     Dr. Meyers suggests that the early Academicians felt a sense of elitism based on possession of a unique truth rather than a sense of personal worth (p. 59). Compounding this feeling was the triphammer series of events beginning with the separation as a minority from Convention, the trauma over Benade leading to a still more isolated turning inward of the group (p. 52), the "chosen people" moving to their "Zion" (ibid.) out in what was then isolated country, followed by avoidance of social life with a "contaminated" world so strongly felt that an editorial in the LIFE in 1895 suggested that to leave the community was to withdraw from association with angels of the new heaven (p. 58). Then there was the Kramph Will case, with its accompanying publicity further fueling a feeling of differentness, followed by the ultimate of incorporating the borough of Bryn Athyn as a legal entity separate from Lower Moreland, and, to top it all off, a school system to fire these elitism ideas and feelings into the mental clay of the next generation.

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     In the blend, or the gestalt, arising from all these factors, it would be surprising if products of General Church history and culture didn't feel elite in some sense, however much we might shrink from the term. And given the fallibility of human character, the use of mediate good and the need in the church's early days to hold to a feeling of identity and worth under often trying circumstances, it seems clear that such a feeling has had its use. Indeed, there are some aspects leading up to it that need continuation yet-from the feeling of the doctrine's uniqueness to the need to rekindle the intellectual and scholarly traditions of an earlier day so the doctrines can be effectively presented in a contemporary context of application (e.g. in science or biomedical ethics) to the educated "elite" of our day.5 But clearly the time has passed for the isolationist connotations of any "elitism." As Dr. Meyers perceptively notes, the very disorderly characteristics that drove our grandparents to withdraw from the world are now compelling some General Church men of this generation to try to save it (p. 169)! Is there not in fact what she terms a moral imperative (p. 149) for more than just "some" to do this? If you knew of a vaccine that cured all worldly disease, would you be satisfied to recline in an "enclave of leisure and comfort and privilege" (p. 124) while millions of people suffered? What if it were a spiritual "vaccine" Dr. Meyers raises an implicit question about our answer by noting that there has never yet been a test of commitment for General Church men requiring alteration of their comfortable lifestyles (p. 170).
     The suburban format of Bryn Athyn and other General Church communities that have copied it did not evolve in the clearly planned way of most intentional communities, particularly of our own day. The early Academicians, like the Puritans and the Pilgrims, simply wanted to get away to somewhere where they could practice their unusual religion in peace. But in our later, more developed stage of the church organization's growth, and more tolerant day and age, that need is clearly past. Furthermore, there are sophisticated observers to compare our ideals with our reality, and not all as relatively sympathetic as Drs. Block and Meyers. (For instance, a major Philadelphia newspaper's one-sentence review of Dr. Meyers' book opened with, "If you've ever been curious about that upper-middle-class cult in the lush suburbs of Bryn Athyn . . ."6). Perhaps the time has come to consider, for our own "consciousness raising" as well as the use to our "image" for evangelization purposes, a new concept of New Church community. The pages of doctrine have principles and examples stretching from heaven to Jupiter that are pertinent, there is a history of reflection and experiment in this area by New Church men7 and society around us provides a rainbow-wide spectrum of "alternative community" experience to learn from.8

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Consider, for instance, the following cold-blooded but pertinent summary of some organizing principles of the Hutterites (one of the longest-lived set of intentional religious communities in history):

     When a [Hutterite] colony reaches 130-150 people, it splits in two. Branching creates a network offering vacation spots and marriage partners outside of one's own village but within the same closed society. It solves recurrent communal problems of size (too many people reduce participation and increase management problems) . . . . Branching also prevents factional disputes from tearing a colony apart, since it will divide anyway. And it provides a new series of elite positions and managerial roles for the ambitious.9

     It is interesting to note, in this regard, that in the human organic, growth proceeds not by indefinite expansion of a single cell but by repeated cell division. People can conceptually relate to, and be emotionally involved in, a smaller unit in a way impossible in a large unit. This may be why, correspondentially to the body's cellular basis, heaven is not a monolith but composed of a diversity of societies.10 Furthermore:

     . . . in heaven the case is this. If a society is not complete, as it should be, there are then taken from elsewhere, from some neighboring society, as many as will fill up the form of that good, according to the necessity in each state, and its changes. . .(AC 7836:4).

     Or, we might ponder Providence's reason for setting up Bryn Gweled almost on Bryn Athyn's doorstep, in Southampton. An interracial community, it was founded in 1939 on principles11that may bear reflection in view of Dr. Meyers' question of whether the General Church would welcome blacks or blue collar workers as members (p. 175). She notes that a city-as in the New Church symbol of the Holy City-is by its nature inclusive of diversity rather than exclusive.
Doctrine, of course, concurs, especially with regard to all the "twelves" in that city, such as the diversity of the gates leading into it (e.g. AR 899ff).
     In conclusion, this reviewer's feeling is that in the era reviewed by Dr. Meyers and Dr. Block, the orientation of the organized New Church has been centered on the negative concept of the "Old Church." Yet, today, that church has so vastly changed, and been decimated, that it cannot be easily compared with the Old Church of Swedenborg's day. However wary we may be of "permeation" as an organizing principle, it seems clear that such a process has profoundly changed that church. Emerging from that process in its individual members (and sometimes even official church dogma), and from the many non-Christian and nonchurch ideational movements, is a whole new sphere, sometimes characterized as the "New Age."12

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The key to success for the organized New Church in this age appears to be an orientation toward the positive concept of the church universal. Perhaps if we can focus on that concept, the next half century's Ph.D. thesis on the New Church-and General Church-history will record that long-awaited spread from the few to the many. In the meantime, this book (or thesis) should be recommended reading for all new adult members of the church, jargon notwithstanding, since it is a compact guidebook to the social and cultural complex that is the General Church. It will save them much of the traditional learning the hard way about such in-group phenomena as the oblique family references in our conversation, while answering those questions they always wanted to know but were afraid to ask! More than this, though, the book is recommended for all General Church men and women concerned with where their church has come from in order to better plan where it's bound.
     KURT SIMONS

     FOOTNOTES

1 New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1932(reprinted, Octagon, 1968)
2 Mary Anna Meyers. "Jerusalem on the Pennypack," Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1976(University Microfilms #77-868)
3 See H. L. Odhner, "The New Church in America" (Review), NEW CHURCH LIFE. October 1932, p. 448
4 There are two references to 1982, pp. 87 and 1 15, so information that recent could have been incorporated.
5 At the same time, both the Writings and simple demographic statistics on education or other "elite" indicators make clear that the majority of the church's growth will come from other sources. (See K. Simons, "Making Wise the Simple," NEW CHURCH LIFE, July 1976, p. 276.)
6 Book Review section, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 29, 1983
7 E.g. W. Whitehead, "Forgotten pages of New Church history. IV. Two attempted 'New Church' utopias," NEW CHURCH LIFE. April 1951, p. 151; R. W. Gladish, Swedenborg, Fourier and the America of the 1840's. (Bryn Athyn. PA, Swedenborg Scientific Assoc., 1983); K. Simons, "Cluster Communities: Why and How." NEW CHURCH LIFE, Jan. 1975, p. 24; E. B. Glenn, Letter to the Editor, NEW CHURCH LIFE, March 1975, p. 128; P. Zuber, "Cloistered Communities," NEW CHURCH LIFE, April 1975, p. 158; P. M. Schoenberger, Letter to the Editor, NEW CHURCH LIFE, May 1975, p. 230; K. Simons, Letter to the Editor, NEW CHURCH LIFE, May 1975, p. 231
8 E.g. R. J. Sider (ed.), Living More Simply, Biblical Principles and Practical Models (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1980); P. Freundlich. C. Collins, M. Wenki, A Guide to Cooperative Alternatives (New Haven: Community Publishing Cooperative, 1979)

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9 R. M. Kanter. Review of J. A. Hostetler, Hutterite Socierv (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1975), New York Times Book Review, March 23, 1975, p. 14
10 It is interesting to speculate in this regard as to whether there may be more than meets the eye in the contemporary trend in the Gorand Man of this world to a proliferation of smaller countries, with a better fit to their inhabitants than the larger units originally imposed by colonial or other political history. (See also E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful. Economics as if People Mattered, New York: Harper and Row, 1973)
11 Community within a Community," The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11, 1983
12 A Scandinavian Seeker, "The New Age Religion," New Church Magazine. April-June 1981, reprinted in Sons Bulletin, Spring 1982, p. 4.
REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Rev. Grant H. Odhner       1984

Uses-A Way of personal and Spiritual Growth, by Wilson Van Dusen, Ph.D.; Swedenborg Foundation, 1981, 35 pp.

     This little work, like Dr. Van Dusen's other contributions to Swedenborgian thought, represents a refreshing and personal view of a subject that is dear to the heart of all New Church people. As Dr. Van Dusen observes, the idea of use is the "hinge pin" of Swedenborg's whole theology.
     When you read Uses by Dr. Van Dusen (and I hope you do), I recommend the following:

     Get the whole sweep of the pamphlet. Don't get "hung up" on any one statement or emphasis or assertion or illustration. The thinking reader may wonder about something the author has said or implied or omitted in a given context. But hang in there! He will probably qualify himself later. For example, in the first few pages I was disturbed by what seemed to be a lack of emphasis on the neighbor, on others outside of ourselves, as being the end of all our uses (including those for self). It seemed that uses were just a method for our own personal betterment and our own spiritual journey, our own "thrills." Yet I found in the remainder of the pamphlet a strong emphasis on "reaching beyond self." He also points out clearly (on page 34): "Doing uses . . . is not simply a way of focusing outwardly while tripping out inwardly."
     I was surprised and delighted at how many aspects of the doctrine were actually presented in this short work. And I was left with the feeling that the author tried hard to cover the Writings' essential teachings on the subject.

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     Enjoy his writing. Dr. Van Dusen writes in a terse, interesting style that I find very readable. This pamphlet is full of simple, clear, thought-provoking statements. He has a way of repeating basic themes often and in slightly different ways. This is refreshing and helps to tie the whole work together. He also quotes from the Writings frequently and effectively. And his illustrations are plentiful and most delightful! He focuses on some very mundane jobs, on some more profound jobs, and on some things that aren't really jobs at all, to show the breadth of the idea of use and its application.
     I particularly enjoyed Dr. Van Dusen's emphasis on the "Divine response" that is within use. When we do something useful or have use as our focus, the Lord talks to us. He is present-removing our proprium, ordering our thoughts, giving us attention, ability, and a sense of delight. He also gives us insights-not only into the task at hand (how to do it better, what needs correction, etc.) but also into broader issues that lend a new depth to our striving.
     Let me share one of Dr. Van Dusen's insights. While writing he is led to reflect on the utility of his eraser (a kind of eraser that is particularly effective). He muses that the eraser should survive because it works well. (I am abbreviating.) Eventually he is led to realize a more universal principle: "What is useful lasts." And he's granted this beautiful thought:

If I keep trying for uses, I will be working toward what lasts the longest, for uses are the design of eternity.

     Dr. Van Dusen points out (using different terms) that conscience speaks to us most effectively in relation to our uses. Evil becomes a reality that we can deal with when we see it as something that stands in the way of the use at hand. When we sincerely and honestly apply ourselves to use, our faults and less-than-heavenly motivations become apparent-not in some vague, incapacitating way, but in a tangible, direct way, a way that invites a clear and constructive response on our part.
     Many thanks to Dr. Van Dusen for sharing with us one man's very personal, living, and practical view of the doctrine of use! The present writer, for one, found it inspiring.
     Rev. Grant H. Odhner

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GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CORPORATION SECRETARY'S REPORT 1984

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CORPORATION SECRETARY'S REPORT       Stephen Pitcairn       1984

     for the year ending December 31, 1983

     MEMBERSHIP

     During the year 1983 the number of persons comprising the membership of the Corporation increased to 548. The changes in membership consisted of:

     7 New Members:
Cranch, Jonathan P.                    Schnarr, Philip B.
McMaster, Robert D.                Smith, Robert P.
Pendleton, Stuart C.                    Tennis, Garold E.
Ripley, W. Paul

     4 Deaths of Members:
McDonough, Joseph T.                Taylor, James D.
Smith, Dallam V.                    van Zyverden, G. Dirk

     DIRECTORS

     The by-laws of the Corporation provide for election of thirty directors, ten of whom are elected each year for terms of three years. The board presently consists of thirty directors. At the 1983 annual meeting, ten directors were elected for terms expiring in 1986. The present directors, with the dates that their terms expire, are as follows:

1985 Asplundh, Robert H.           1986 Horigan, W. Lee
1984 Blair, Brian G.               1985 Hyatt, Garry
1985 Blair, Kenneth B.                1984 Johns, Hyland R., Jr.
1985 Bradin, Robert W.                1986 King, Louis B.
1986 Brickman, Theodore W., Jr.      1986 Klippenstein, Glen
1986 Buick, William W.                1984 Leeper, Thomas N.
1984 Buss, Neil M.                    1984 Lynch, Christopher W.
1985 Coffin, Philip D.                1984 Mayer, Paul C. P.
1984 Cole, Michael S.                1986 Orchard, Basil C. L.
1984 Cooper, Geoffrey                1986 Pitcairn, Lachlan
1984 Cooper, George M.                1986 Pitcairn, Stephen
1985 Cooper, Thomas R.                1986 Schnarr, Maurice G.
1984 Fuller, Kent B.                    1985 Synnestvedt, Ralph, Jr.
1985 Gladish, Donald P.           1986 Waters, Philip A.
1985 Gyllenhaal, Leonard E.           1985 Wyncoll, John H.

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

     OFFICERS

     The Corporation has six officers, each of whom is elected yearly for a term of one year. Those elected at the board meeting of March 11, 1983 were:

President               Louis B. King
Vice President           Willard D. Pendleton
Secretary               Stephen Pitcairn
Treasurer               Neil M. Buss
Assistant Treasurer      Bruce A. Fuller
Controller               Ian Henderson

     CORPORATION MEETINGS

     The 1983 annual Corporation meeting was held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, on March 11, this being the only Corporation meeting held during the year. The president, Bishop King, presided, and there were 82 members in attendance. Reports were received from the nominating committee, treasurer, and secretary, and the election for directors was held.
     Bishop King reported that a committee composed of clergy and laity had considered the question of admission of women to the Corporation membership and has recommended that this be done and that the matter be brought to the 1984 General Assembly for consideration. It is hoped that the assembly members will make a recommendation back to the Corporation, which will then take action. The committee further recommended that the nominating committee refrain from nominating women to serve as directors until the clergy has had time to further study the question in light of the teachings of the doctrines.

BOARD MEETINGS

     During the year there were five regular meetings of the Board of Directors. The new Personnel Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Hyland Johns made regular reports on its counseling work in the areas of screening ministerial candidates, ministerial placement, alternate careers for theolog graduates when no ministerial position is open, and working with the Bishop's Representatives in reviewing pastoral performance and evaluation reviews. The committee is also working on a program to encourage teaching as a career.
     Bishop King expressed his gratitude to and for the Bishop's Representatives who have helped him so much in extending the effectiveness of the episcopal office.

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He said that with the growing number of societies and circles around the world and the many men who have been ordained into the work of the priesthood, the call for support from the episcopal office had been tremendous.
     Bishop King reported that the five-year budgeted program for adding three ministers annually would end in June, 1984. He said that this year there is a possibility that three or four ministers will not be placed: immediately unless there are retirements. A study is now being made for placing ministers over the next five-year period and assessing the funds that will be available for support of these ministers.
     The Finance and Development Fund Committee had an active year reviewing development plans for the Twin Cities, Miami, Kempton and Tucson. Work continued on projects in Glenview, Detroit, Durban, Acton Park, and the Transvaal Society. John Wyncoll, the new chairman of the Salary Committee, gave an indepth report on the Salary Committee's meeting with the treasurers of the societies and circles, held in Atlanta in April. He outlined recommended changes in the minimum salary scale for ministers and teachers, and a salary adjustment due to changes in the Social Security laws, which were approved by the board. Mr. Wyncoll reported again later in the year on recommendations of his committee on procedures for hiring teachers, for opening or expanding schools, and those for setting salaries for school administrators. These recommendations were also approved.
     The new treasurer, Neil M. Buss, was very active, making visits to the Stockholm Society, Minneapolis-St. Paul Circle, Florida Assembly, the Detroit and Atlanta Societies. Regular financial reports were presented to the board by the treasurer, and he discussed efforts being made to cut costs and increase revenues.
     Regular update reports were made by Leonard Gyllenhaal on the work and programs of the Development Office. Programs planned for 1984 are the Lay Fund-raising Program, headed by Donald Gladish. The thrust of this program is to have lay salesmen visit societies and circles to help them understand the need and encourage them to be financially independent, thus eliminating financial support from the church.
     An information program headed by Robert Walter will disseminate information about the uses performed by the church, and the cost of such uses. This program will not solicit contributions.
     The third program of the Development Office is the New Horizons Planned Giving Program, prepared by Leonard Gyllenhaal. This plan permits large or modest donors to use planned giving to their advantage and to the advantage of the institution.

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     Mr. Geoffrey Cooper, past chairman of the nominating committee, said that his committee had been concerned about the procedure of having the executive bishop stand for election as director and as president. He asked that a committee be appointed to study whether it might be a better procedure to make the executive bishop a director and the president ex officio. Bishop King said he would appoint such a committee.
     Reports were heard from the Pension Committee, Budget Committee, Investment Committee, Benefits Committee, Printing and Publishing Committee, and the Board Evangelization Committee, with action being taken where required.
     Stephen Pitcairn,
          Secretary
NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

     In May of 1884 the following item appeared.

     The Princess Cleopatra Schakoffskoy, a prominent New Church lady in Russia, departed to the spiritual world at the close of last year. As early as 1783 there had been formed a little circle of readers of the Writings in Moscow, but they soon afterward were scattered by persecution from the authorities. Since then the New Church in Russia has been represented only by individual New Churchmen, generally belonging to the noble classes. The late Princess was sister-in-law to the renowned New Churchman, General Muravieff, the friend and counselor of Czar Alexander II, and was, together with him, one of the most prominent promoters of the emancipation of the serfs in Russia in 1861. The Princess is described as a zealous, intelligent, and well-read New Churchwoman.
Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984

     Be sure to Visit the
GENERAL CHURCH BOOK CENTER DISPLAY AREA at the ASSEMBLY

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

     LIKE SWEET DRUGS THAT KILL

     The Doctrine of Charity commences with a chapter stating that the first of charity is to shun evils. At the outset evils are said to be like "sweet drugs that kill" or like attractive plants that have poison within them.
     We live in an age when addiction and psychological or physical dependency on different chemicals is well known. Even when causes may be debatable or mysterious, the phenomenon of addiction is common knowledge. This knowledge can give us a way of regarding evils; indeed the Writings speak of evils "which when committed of set purpose two or three times cannot be desisted from; for they continually cling to the man's thought" (AC 6203).
     An evil with a strangely addictive character is the evil of theft. It is a troubling phenomenon with the young who have not reached the age of rationality. School administrators are familiar with this kind of addiction to which some students fall prey. Store managers and police have learned not to be surprised when a compulsive shoplifter turns out to be a person with plenty of money. Kleptomania is defined as "an abnormal, persistent impulse or tendency to steal, not prompted by need."
     The Writings refer to the strange mentality of the thief as a known fact.

     Who does not feel the exaltation of delight in these things in the measure of his success and unrestrained indulgence? It is known that a thief feels such delight in thefts that he is unable to refrain, and what is amazing, that he has more love for one coin that is stolen than for ten received as a gift (Divine Providence 296).

     Moving from the known to the unknown, the passage goes on to speak of the spiritual associations that occur. When an evil is only in the thought, man's spirit is not taken in by hellish influences. But if it becomes of the will and is done from set purpose, the man "sinks himself to a depth from which he can be led forth only by actual repentance."
     In Doctrine of Life the evil of theft is said to enter more deeply into a man than do other evils because of its being conjoined with cunning and deceit. These, we are told, insinuate themselves not only into the natural mind but also into the spiritual mind.

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We may conclude that the factor of calculated deceit introduces a poisonous element when it accompanies other evils. We will continue this theme another time, for the Writings provide us with salutary insights into things which seem temporarily advantageous or superficially pleasant but which are serious dangers to the individual and to human society.

     NOT CHRISTIAN?

     On March 13, 1984, a newspaper in western Pennsylvania published a letter stating that the Church of the New Jerusalem is not Christian. This provided surprising reading for our friends in the Pittsburgh area.
     To back up this claim the writer asserted that Swedenborg discarded certain books of the Bible. For the time being we would observe that Christian churches generally regard the books of the Bible as good books for the church, of value to man's spiritual life. The New Church would not say anything less than this about any book of the Bible. But it says more about certain books, noting that they have an internal sense.
     Over and over again the charge has been made that Swedenborg rejected certain books of the Bible. How surprised people have been who believed that charge and then have actually looked at the Writing. The book of Job, which is supposedly discarded, is actually used in the Writings dozens of times (see, for example, TCR 308). A striking example of the use of the Epistles of Paul, James and Peter may be seen in TCR 327. The saying in the Epistle to the Colossians that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily appears twenty times in the Writings.
     Perhaps we will have more information on this allegation at a later date.
KUDOS FROM DENMARK 1984

KUDOS FROM DENMARK       Rev. GUDMUND BOOLSEN       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor,
     I wish to express my appreciation for the article by Rev. John Odhner: "Swedenborg-Unlike Mediums. It brings together so many useful arguments not usually thought of.
     As I am sure this view will be shared by my readers, I have used it in our periodical here!
     REV. GUDMUND BOOLSEN,
          Valby, Denmark

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CORNERSTONES 1984

CORNERSTONES       RICHARD LINQUIST       1984

Dear Editor,
     During the teenage years of the twentieth century, at a time about equally distant from its beginning as we are now from its end, an inspiring phenomenon occurred in Bryn Athyn.
     Seventy years ago from June 19, 1984, the seven-ton cornerstone of our cathedral was set in the ground. A special service was held for the congregation at the site. "During these ceremonies, a curious natural phenomenon took place. When the service began, the sky was overcast and some rain fell, but when the stone was swung into place, the sun came from behind a cloud and shone directly on the stone as if in blessing" (Biography of Raymond Pitcairn by Jennie Gaskill, p. 61). Since the visible universe is a theater representative of the Lord, this unexpected act on the natural stage must indeed have seemed like a sign of approval.
     Soon there will be another human congregation before a cornerstone. This rock, however, is not natural but spiritual. It is each man's acknowledgment of the Lord, the cornerstone of the church within him. It occurred to me that as thoughts and affections are openly shared during the assembly of human minds, we might be able to see where each of us worships. Then with our minds filled with heaven's truths, as our feet roam Bryn Athyn's halls, homes and gentle hills, will a similar celestial enlightenment touch the spiritual landscape of our inner man? What a happy and inspiring event that would be! For, "Those who are affected by and delighted with the truth itself are affected by and delighted with the light of heaven . . ." (HH 347).
     With such sunlight and the warmth of love for the spiritual truths which we know, there can be growth. Clouds of uncertainty about how the New Church will grow may part, permitting heaven's light to descend. Thus enlightened we might ask, "What good is truth, that is, what good is in truth?"
     Sharing what we know with those in spiritual darkness is one good use which many New Church ministers are pointing to. Dutiful laymen are, at least, looking in that direction. But who knows how the church will grow? I don't, but I know that it will grow. All that I feel for certain is that a cathedral was not meant to be hidden, whether in the natural world or the spiritual world of the mind.
     A cathedral has been compared to being either a museum for saints or a hospital for sinners. Surely the numerical growth of the General Church will depend on how people see it. Will they see smiling saints who are quite enchanting and really good with people, but not good to people? Yes, we know what is right and true but ". . . the love of self communicates nothing to others . . ." (AC 2057).

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Being right and self-righteous is different from being right and humble. For what good is, truth if man stands in the way of the Lord's flowing through it to help the spiritually diseased within or outside of the General Church?
     Well, I thought I would be brave and ask that question before we assemble to consider our relationship to the New Church. I really feel very confident about the internal and external growth of the church. If our minds are founded on the cornerstone of truth, set in the firm ground of humility, heavenly light will descend this spring. Then surely we can stand tall and look calmly into the world's inquiring eyes.
     RICHARD LINQUIST,
          Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
ANGELIC BEHAVIOR 1984

ANGELIC BEHAVIOR       PATRICIA K. ROSE       1984

Dear Editor,
     In recent sermons and articles in NEW CHURCH LIFE we have been reminded about how variety among people is essential, and that we need to accept differences between ourselves and others, and even rejoice over them. But in order to see the inherent dangers in carrying this too far, it is good to think about the extremes of it. If we conclude that all differences and variety are equally acceptable, we may accept evil and falsity as deserving their rightful place alongside good and truth. Variety is not an end in itself but a means to a complete and unified one. Expressing our differing ideas to each other results in interaction that makes use of various viewpoints for the good of the whole, looking toward a composite understanding of truth. The memorable relations describe many such useful exchanges of ideas in the other world.
     We know that in our relationships with others our goal should be to think and act the way angels do. But the wonderful variety in heaven is obviously not the kind of variety we deal with on earth. Angels' contact with others in heaven is essentially with those in their own societies, whose affections are very similar to theirs. They have all gone through states of vastation to make their evils dormant, and have received instruction from other angels to help correct their false ideas.
     Hell is also made up of unique individuals, but our delight in variety need not extend to those in evil and falsity. For example, the opinion that homosexuality is a viable alternative life style is not the kind of variety that we can rejoice about. Falsity and evil, whether great or small, certainly do not contribute to the completeness of heaven-which is why angels have theirs "removed" before entering heaven.

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     In order to emulate angelic behavior, we have to have a clear understanding of what an angel is like. Some of the teachings about angels are surprising.
     Does an angel ever tell another angel that he is departing from what is just? ". . . among the angels there are the wise and the simple; and it is the part of the wise to judge when the simple, from simplicity and ignorance, are doubtful as to what is just, or depart from it" (CL 207). This statement was made in response to the astonishment of some newcomers in heaven on hearing that there are higher and lower courts of justice there. In heaven as on earth, the angel said, people learn what is just and equitable through others, not immediately from God.
     Do angels always excuse evils in others? CL 527 tells us that "those whom the end excuses or condemns [the angels] excuse or condemn," and AC 7122 speaks of "the angels excusing if the end has been good" (emphasis added on both).
     Do angels discriminate in their relationships with other people? As Swedenborg was about to visit a certain house, some angels accompanying him said, "We cannot stay with you in this house because the married partners there are in discordant religion" (CL 242). Why did the Lord tell us this?
     Do angels fight for what they believe to be right? ". . . in order that [truth Divine] may become fighting truth, it flows into such angels as are in ardent zeal for truth and good, and who being excited by this zeal fight" (AC 8595). The Lord apparently purposely causes this by Divine influx. Numbers such as CL 357-366 teach us that zeal and anger appear alike although they are as different as heaven and hell. The fact that they appear so similar may cause us to mistake zeal for anger, or vice versa. So, no matter how strongly a person expresses his views, let's not assume that he believes himself infallible, that he hates those who have a different opinion, or that he wishes that the Lord had made everyone like him. Although we certainly need to examine our own motives in such matters, the Writings tell us not to make spiritual judgments of others' loves. Let us honestly evaluate what another has said, measuring it by the Lord's Word. If we find it lacking, we are free to reject it-and even to discuss it in the church's journals.
     As mentioned by one writer, a very important thing to keep in mind is that our goal should be a balanced outlook on doctrine. This very thing has made me concerned about attitudes in the church that emphasize unconditional acceptance of the neighbor, as if that were angelic. To try to balance that view, I wrote an article on mercy to show that the Writings teach us that we should discriminate in our charity. Although I received many reactions affirmative to my article, to some people it indicated that I am uncharitable, critical and unmerciful.

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Are the teachings about discrimination also unmerciful? If we can't fit some of the Lord's teachings into our understanding of truth, don't we need to adjust our picture of truth rather than discard the teachings?
     These are not either/or situations-e.g., either you discriminate or you love everyone. The Writings specifically instruct us to love those who appear to be evil differently from those who appear to be good, but it's still love. Thus, angels love everyone, always look for the good in others and in some cases do excuse evils in others, but they also discriminate and they don't condone evil. Lest we believe that it is always good to excuse evils, the Lord has told us in AE 797:5 that excusing evils can come from falsity. One of the ways that those in faith alone (even in the New Church) excuse evil works is by believing that "evils are not seen, and if they are seen that they are immediately forgiven" (AE 802:6). By giving the message to those in disorder that no matter how they live they will be forgiven, such people spread their own faith alone to others, as described in AE 802:3 and 6. In contrast with this, AE 803:2(7) notes that one of the good affections that can be granted to a person by the Lord is "the affection of combating with zeal against falsities and evils, and dispersing them, both with himself and with others."
     Unless we weave into our picture of angels their unwillingness to excuse some actions, we attach to them characteristics they do not have, and then we try to pattern our lives after that misconception. By fitting all the pieces of doctrine into a whole and complete picture of what a good life is, we can learn to live like angels. The Writings teach that only if we become celestial on earth will we go to the celestial heaven; only if we attain the spiritual degree on earth will we go to that heaven. If we keep this in mind, the teachings about angels can be much more meaningful to us right here and now. Angels ". . . perceive nothing more delightful and happy than to remove evils from a man, and lead him to heaven" (AC 5992). They don't help a person remove evils by condoning them but by inspiring him to face and shun the evils. If we are going to use angels for our pattern, let's be sure we understand what they are really like.
     PATRICIA K. ROSE,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
ANGELS SEE BOTH 1984

ANGELS SEE BOTH              1984

     If is not angelic to seek for the evils with a man unless we at the same time seek for the goods (Arcana Coelestia 10381).

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MINISTERS MEET IN THE WEST 1984

MINISTERS MEET IN THE WEST       Rev. J. CLARK ECHOLS       1984

     The 1984 western ministers' meetings were held January 24-26 at the Gabriel Church in La Crescenta, California. Present were eight ministers of the General Church: The Revs. Kent Junge (Seattle); Wendel Barnett (San Francisco); Michael Gladish, Harold Cranch and Jan Weiss (Los Angeles); Cedric King (San Diego); Frank Rose (Tucson); and Clark Echols (Denver). Bishop Louis B. King presided, but could only stay for the first of the three days. Guests present were the Revs. Brian Keith and Grant Schnarr from Glenview, and Rev. Mark Carlson from Caryndale, making a preliminary visit to his new pastorate in San Francisco.

     [Photo of the ministers.]

     The purpose of the meetings is to provide extended contact among the ministers serving the western states. There are issues and interests particular to the circles and societies of those states, especially to the ever more active California district. Importantly, it is a chance to get to know our colleagues and hear their thoughts, dreams, problems and solutions in a deep way not possible at the annual Council of the Clergy meetings. The brotherhood that is established, the communication possible with the Bishop, and the development of special projects, all make these meetings a highlight for these relatively isolated pastors.

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     Our discussion with the Bishop lasted a whole day, and was deep and forthright. We gave him our counsel, and he explained his views from his position as Bishop. There is too much to report here, but among the topics we covered were: the Bishop's Representative; tangible growth in societies; salaries of preachers and ministers; the Denney report on evangelization; and the next Liturgy. We all felt our too short visit with the Bishop was invaluable and itself warranted our gathering.

     Presentations

     Rev. Echols gave a presentation on the concept of "ministries." The idea is to give church members a chance to participate more fully in the life of the church. Many uses could be performed by men and women trained in special areas (such as: Sunday school teachers, Bible discussion leaders, music directors, small group discussion leaders, youth group leaders, retreat and workshop organizers and leaders and counselors), who are also given a full indoctrination in the teachings of the church. Once they have fulfilled certain requirements, they would be recognized as having done so, and given an appropriate title. It was noted in the discussion that many church members, especially the women, have no full participation in the spiritual uses of the church. The boards of local churches do not provide enough opportunities for church members to become involved. Also, there seems to be a perception of an unbalanced division among the church members between the priests and laity. The priesthood holds most of the offices in the church which are involved in the spiritual uses of the church. This leaves little room for other church members to participate in a deep way. On the one hand it may be perceived that the "lay people" are simply the leg of the piano, while the priests make all the music. Further, the situation as it is developing at present does not truly reflect priestly leadership, and could open the priesthood to the hellish love of dominion.
     Rev. Wendel Barnett made an exciting presentation on his cable television project, "Dying, Death and Beyond." He has made fourteen half-hour shows, in which he interviews scientists, writers and other people who have had near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences of the kind reported by Raymond Moody. Rev. Barnett showed us how we could learn to do such a project, and just what we are taking on if we do. He has already provided us with a professional program which we can now offer to our local cable companies for use on their free public access channels. Several of the ministers are already looking into the possibilities. We were all delighted by the subject of the material and its high quality of production.

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     Rev, Cedric King gave a report of his participation in a seminar on church growth. It centered on "Disciple-making." This kind of activity, which focuses on motivating church members, is most effective: 1. when there is an intentional (willing) response to the Great Commission; 2. when there is focus on the Oikos (Greek "household"-the smaller units within a congregation); 3. when everyone is permeated with love; 4. when each person is involved (in some way or other); 5. when there is a whole team effort (no one works alone and no one is left out); 6. when the local church is the center and focus of all activities; 7. when the variety and differences in personality, temperament and talent among people is recognized and celebrated; 8. when the Bible (and, for us, the internal sense, the first foundation of truth) is integrated with growth techniques (the second foundation of truth); and 9. when church growth becomes a natural (habitual) and continuing process (like breathing!).
     An examination of these principles shows their worth. They are certainly in line with the principles we subscribe to. A viewpoint like this can help us actually implement those principles-something many of us have yet to do to any great degree.
     Rev. Gladish continued on this theme with a report on some other seminars he had attended. He spoke of ways a minister can mobilize the church members to be involved. One technique was a card file system that includes a personal profile and an assessment of the natural and spiritual talents and gifts of each individual in the congregation. This file can be used to match tasks with the right people. Rev. Gladish also described a model for building a vision, a team and a plan for growth. This model describes how-once clear purposes have been established-dreams can become realities through goal-setting and specific planning. Again, it was good, practical advice. Finally, Rev. Gladish described a youth group ministry workshop he attended. It was extremely well done, and, like the other seminars, was held in a "non-neutral learning environment"-the participants were not allowed to merely sit and listen to a lecture. The technique is very effective and quite usable in our youth groups. The great importance of the church establishing youth groups, and even a ministry to our youth where church schools don't exist, was also emphasized.
     Rev. Kent Junge gave a fine doctrinal presentation on "The Lord's Subjugation of the Hells as Illustrated in the New Testament." Rev. Junge found that the confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes offer very clear teachings about how the Lord is subjugating and ordering the hells even today for each individual. We miss much of the point if "we look at judgments on evil as being simply spiritual events." We then "miss the immediacy of the Lord's coming with us."

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We might merely "view the second coming and the last judgment as a matter of history, even as [people] viewed His first coming . . . We may confine the 'kingdom' to a different realm (the spiritual world), and to a different time (1770), but our thinking will be much the same" as that of many Christian preachers who look for the "kingdom" in some city or country of earth. So, looking at how Jesus handled the Jewish leaders (by directly confronting them; by showing, not telling; by active debate; and by allowing the crucifixion), we see how we are to handle the hells, and how the Lord fights the hells in each of us today. Such a consciousness of the Lord's presence in ordering the hells in us is vital.
     Rev. Cedric King's presentation was entitled "The Uses of a Sermon Series." He examined some of the positive and negative aspects of a series of sermons given on two or three consecutive Sundays. He also went over some of the techniques and methods which make such a series useful and efficient. As at last year's meetings, the sermon became a continuing topic of conversation. Such an annual examination and assessment is vital, and cannot be done all by oneself. These meetings are a "shot in the arm" so that we can all do a better job of sermon preparation, writing and delivery.
     Rev. Gladish presented his study, "Personality and the Priest." Beginning by noting that David did not kill Saul because Saul was the Lord's anointed, Rev. Gladish examined the issue of respect for the priesthood. It is clearly seen that the priesthood represents the Lord, but this is manifested differently in different men. What does this mean? Is the church member wrong if he has only a little respect for his pastor? Or, is it rather that we don't really understand what the church member is supposed to respect? Rev. Gladish noted that perhaps we have confounded the individual with his office. We are taught that the office of the priesthood is adjoined to the person in accordance with some qualifications he has to meet. The "office," then, is not the person.
Neither is it his title or position. Rather, his office is the work that he does. The job, the duty, the external manifestation of the priesthood in the individual is his office. It is the activity in which the man engages himself. If this definition is correct, then the degree to which the priest represents the Lord is determined, in part, by the quality of the services he renders. He does not represent the Lord simply by having the title. Thus, a priest can be assessed as to his effectiveness. In fact, it is vital that some determination be made as to how well the priest is fulfilling his office. Perhaps, then, we need to reexamine what the Writings mean by "office," and determine the grounds upon which an individual can be judged. It was noted that a study being done at present by Rev. Dandridge Pendleton should go a lone way to clearing up these questions.

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     Rev. Jan Weiss spoke on the service the church can give to unemployed church members. The doctrines give clear, strong teachings about use. New Church men and women who know them, and who have been laid off or lose jobs before retirement age, are, therefore, struck very hard. It is not that an unemployed fifty-five-year-old professional needs any kind of work; he or she needs to be of service; needs to feel fulfilled and useful. Also, he or she needs to feel wanted. Not having a particular career as a daily occupation leads to a loss of self esteem, ?lan and even the desire to live on earth. When, at the top of one's development, wisdom, experience, etc., one's creative outlet is taken away, a terrible emptiness is left-it is an awful blow. Rev. Weiss pointed out a few things that can be done for a person in this situation. For instance, be the person's friend; spend time with him/her; appreciate him for what he is and what he has done. Counsel the family and the spouse-they need to cope and to become conscious of the psychological difficulty the person is having. The family has to support the unemployed person or the family and the marriage could fall apart. The problems for the professional single person are equally as difficult.
On the other hand, we are not job counselors--we are not trained for it. And don't assume that mere "donkey work," no matter how valuable, will make the person feel better; it can make the person feel the loss of his or her career even more. Rev. Weiss noted that a very useful study could be done of the psychology of the unemployed from a viewpoint of the doctrines concerning use. Such a study would help the priesthood counsel the men and women of the church deprived of their lifelong careers before they were ready to retire.
     Rev. Wendel Barnett gave a presentation of the Air Force chaplaincy program. Rev. Barnett is a chaplain, and serves one day a month and two weeks in the summer at a base near his home. As a chaplain, he counsels people; is a friend to them; and helps them with personal and service-oriented problems. The armed forces chaplain is the only person the service men and women can talk to who can keep absolutely everything in confidence. He therefore plays a role to service people and their families. At the same time, a New Church chaplain serves his church. It is a means of expressing his call to the ministry of the New Church; it provides a venue for giving Christian service; it can be a tool for evangelization; and it provides federal recognition of the General Church as a bona fide religious organization. It behooves us, then, always to have a General Church minister who can also be a chaplain in the armed forces reserves. At present there are two, Rev. Barnett and Rev. George McCurdy.

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     Our final session was devoted to a presentation by Rev. Frank Rose on how to organize and run a successful Bible study class. He framed the process in terms of end, cause and effect. The end is learning, encouraging thereby a direct, individual contact with the Lord through personal study of the Word and a growing understanding of how it applies to life. This is accomplished by the means of sharing a deepening understanding of the Word in a meaningful, interpersonal setting. Methods to accomplish this include having a small group; sitting in a circle; having assigned readings which are read ahead of time; and allotting some class time for prayer. The chapters under study are divided into sections, and dealt with individually, with an eye to seeing how the teachings apply to the individual. The study session closes with each person offering a final thought, often reflecting what was learned that session. Rev. Rose noted some techniques the leader of the group should be aware of, such as: asking questions instead of telling answers; the fact that there is more wisdom in the group than in any one member (including the minister!); and that questions can be passed along so that several views are offered.
     Planning is already underway for next year's meetings, to be held again in La Crescenta in January. It is obvious to all those who participated how useful these meetings are-to us as individuals, to our congregations, and so to the church as a whole. They make it possible for the ministers to become better servants of the church, and they renew their commitment to their call.
     REV. J. CLARK ECHOLS
MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 1984

MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS              1984

     Rev. James P. Cooper has accepted a call to serve as the Assistant Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, effective April 1, 1984.

     Rev. Robert McMaster has resigned as Pastor of the Michael Church, London Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, effective June 30, 1984. Mr. McMaster will return to Canada to pursue studies in business.

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General Church Book Center 1984

General Church Book Center              1984




     ANNOUNCEMENTS





"Cairncrest"
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

     SEEING'S BELIEVING
Translated by Dr. David Gladish
Selections from the works:     Doctrine of Faith
                    Arcana Coelestia
                    New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrines
                    True Christian Religion

     A SWEDENBORG READER ON FAITH

     Postpaid $2.15

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Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984



Vol. CIV     June, 1984     No. 6
NEW CHURCH LIFE

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     In his letter on page 287 Rev. Kenneth Alden comes in from a different angle on the question of women in the Corporation and asks whether there are really only two sides to this question. He speaks of a study recently done. Also available is a paper by Rev. Alfred Acton. Let the interested reader see in particular the way Mr. Acton speaks of women entering into decision-making responsibilities (NCL, May 1981 p. 227).
     We are pleased to have a letter in this issue from Mr. Tatsuya Nagashima. He is remembered in Bryn Athyn with admiration and affection. Since his visit here last spring he has done significant work in translation and publication.
     "It is a fallacy to think that our private mental life doesn't affect anyone else" (p. 258). Rev. Grant Odhner's sermon is twice alluded to in Rev. Glenn Alden's article. "Popular thought holds that fantasy is an innocuous pastime" (p. 273).
     "How to View Yourself" is the first thing we have published by Rev. Grant Schnarr. He is assistant to the pastor in Glenview where he is in charge of missionary work. Speaking of missionary work your attention is called to a two-page report by Rev. Geoffrey Childs (p. 280). "Evangelization is a challenge whose time has come, if we only have the courage from the Lord to meet it."
     Assembly sessions this month are being held in the Asplundh Field House. The man who oversaw the construction of that building died last month (see pages 284, 285).
     Two and a half years ago Mr. Richard R. Gladish began a series under the heading "News from Benade." It consisted of items turned up in his research in the writing of a biography of William Benade. The last of this series appears on page 270, and on the facing page a facsimile of the cover of the book that is now available for $15.00. You are reminded of the review by Bishop Willard Pendleton in the February issue.
     Notice that Rev. Brian Keith's pastoral letter on divorce is divided into 15 subheadings. Eight of these are taken up in this issue, the remaining seven to appear in July.
     A focus of the July issue will be "Christ Is Alive," a subject raised in the March issue.

     Information on places of worship: We will be including in our next list Edmonton and Calgary in Canada.

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OUR USES SPHERE 1984

OUR USES SPHERE       Rev. Grant H. ODHNER       1984

     "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).

     Our life is not our own. The Lord alone has life. And what we are given to receive from the vast ocean of human qualities and loves that are the Lord is really only a small drop-a drop that would dry up in a moment if separated from its companions. The whole human race together provide a kind of body that receives the Lord's life. Every individual is a part of this body, which depends on the whole for its continuance. Only together can we really be said to have life. In other words, we receive the Lord's life not only directly from Him, but mediately through others. We are more dependent upon others than we often realize. Our dependence on others goes further than just the sharing of information and attitudes and the mutual stimulation of our ideas. The
Word teaches that we depend on others for our mental life itself! "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven," John testified. Our very feelings and thoughts and sensations are not our own, but are shared. Each little passing state and mood comes from sources outside of us, sources in the spiritual world, the world of the human spirit. It belongs to us no more than the live music and commentary received by our radio belong to the tubes, components and speakers. If we believe that there can be but one life, we must acknowledge this general truth.
     Now in a sense, our mental life does belong to us, and is ours alone. (The radio analogy has its limits.) Our point is not to deny human individuality and freedom. Our total life is made up of countless affections and thoughts. No other being has the same blend, in the same proportions, as we do. So there is no one person or source outside of us that controls us by giving us our every thought and feeling. Nor is anyone conscious of sharing with, let alone governing, anyone else-not as a general rule. What is more, our life is not forced upon us. We don't receive anything but what is in harmony with our choices. We do have the freedom to change, expand, develop our capacities of receiving. In short, each of us, considered as a whole person, is utterly unique, and has a genuine (though not absolute) freedom.

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Common sense and our everyday reality testify to this.
     Yet our individuality and freedom are not inconsistent with the truth that our life is shared-or, to put it another way, that together we all share the Lord's life. This is the truth I wish to consider: the fact that we share the Lord's life, and that this sharing is, broadly termed, our "use."
     We tend to think of our "sharing" or "use" in a fairly limited way. We tend to limit it to acts. We tend to judge our usefulness in terms of the tangible things that we do or don't do. Certainly actions are important. If we aren't willing to act when our love or conviction dictates, and opportunity offers, we really have no love and conviction. Love acts when full opportunity presents itself, or else it's not love. It is all well and good to feel zeal for another's welfare; it is noble to care about the common good; but what can we say of such lofty sentiments if they never work to bring about what they profess to strive for?
     In this life we must try to bring our mind's preferred life into bodily A effect or action. In doing this we confirm and establish our ruling loves. What is more, the Lord wills that we express our love and its use-in tangible ways, in ways that involve some active involvement on our part. This is for our sake. Our joy becomes fullest in the act of giving and receiving.
     This is why the Lord stresses the importance of doing in the Word. We see this emphasis in Jesus' eloquent appeal to His disciples:

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:14-16-emphasis added).

     Doubtless, for the first disciples this teaching was the inspiration for many a good work. Not to act was to hide one's God-given light under a basket to smolder and die. The Lord had said, "Let your light shine!" Let it go forth and affect others with our heavenly Father's love. Being simple men, they understood the Lord's words simply. The Father was "glorified" when they "bore much fruit" (John 15-my emphasis), when they acted.
     But action is not use; it is just a means of expressing use. We don't understand this at first. Like the disciples we equate the two. This is probably a good thing; for if we didn't initially think of our use in terms of actual good deeds for others, we would probably "hang down our hands," slacken our inner effort, and rely on a false sense of "faith" to save us. Nevertheless, eventually we must deepen our understanding of use.

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     Use in itself is not an isolated action, but a continual product of our life. Use pours forth from our being every instant like the shining of the sun. For better and worse, what we are is constantly affecting others, and this affecting is our real use.
     Earlier we spoke of the fact that our total life is made up of all the different mental loves and thoughts that we receive out of the ocean of loves and thoughts that are from the Lord with other human beings. But we can view the human situation in two ways. We can view it not only from the standpoint of the individual's receiving from a host of others, (which leads us to think of ourselves as passive participators), but, just as accurately, we can think of each individual as a giver, as a dynamic transmitter of loves and thoughts to that great host. For to receive life is really to share; and to share is also to give.
     Our receiving affection from another is really not a passive thing. When we receive, we give assent, we condone, we affirm; we strengthen the resolve of the giver and confirm him in his delight of giving; we also become one more link in a chain, or better, one more transmitting synapse that can multiply the extent of that affection a thousandfold by giving to others. So simply by receiving the mental life that makes our particular character, we are affecting others. We are affecting many others, in a profound way.
     The Writings have a word to describe this dynamic aspect of our life; the word is "sphere." Our sphere and our use are one and the same. Our sphere is defined by our unique extensions to other human minds.1 In other words, it reaches to all people with whom we share some particular quality of the Lord's life.
     Our sphere grows and changes as we do. The more we strive to receive heavenly loves and thoughts, the more our sphere is extended into the larger spheres of heavenly minds. Our growth in spiritual insight, sensitivity, and enjoyment of what is good is from no other source than this deeper extension into heaven. On the other hand, our sphere partakes of hell the more we encourage selfish thoughts and moods.2 Habitual, harmful thought patterns and fantasies deepen and broaden the web of our associations among evil minds. (Repentance and regeneration are a matter of a painful withdrawal from our hellish associations and the establishing of new and deeper ties with those in heavenly affections and thoughts-see AC 6611, 8367; AE 897e.)
     Our sphere is often described in the Writings as something that "flows forth" from us and "surrounds" us.3 It is something that is not often perceived in this world (as such), but in the other world it is vividly sensed. There a person's sphere cannot be hidden. It plainly testifies to his or her true quality.4 The Lord was describing this in Luke when He said:

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No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light (8:16f).

     Such is the sphere of our life after death; it shines forth from us for all to see, and by it our character and effect upon others is known.
     It is a fallacy to think that our private mental life doesn't affect anyone else. In our short stay in this world, our mental life seems private, because it is clothed with bodily life, which obscures and hides it. (This hiding is vital, since our task in this world is to choose a life for ourselves and establish our character. It would greatly harm our ability to try alternatives, make mistakes, and change if our thoughts and feelings were newsed abroad among our worldly peers.) But the spiritual reality is different. Once we enter the other life and put aside our body, our mental life will be our whole life. Our mind's effect on others will be our whole effect on others. It is clear from this that our mental sphere is indeed our eternal use in the making.
     Our use is our spirit's effect on others. We cannot judge of this sphere either in ourselves or others at all times. (Our states vary and we can misread.) But who can deny its reality? How often do we witness acts that are in themselves clumsy, but are full of love and good intention! What affects us with delight or gratitude is the spirit that was expressed and which touched us. On the other hand, how often do we see shows of generosity and sincerity that are lifeless, that seem to affect us with no sphere of generosity and sincerity. Again, when no genuine sphere is working, so much activity can accomplish so little use. Yet when a genuine sphere is present, the most simple and meager gesture can be charged with effect on us. A true sphere of charity accomplishes what earthly uses themselves cannot.5
     It is important to reflect on what our use really is. Sometimes in this life we can feel that we are not very useful. We can feel that we are powerless to bring about what we cherish as so important. We can feel impotent to bring comfort, peace, happiness to those we love. We can feel limited by our seeming lack of ability or energy, or by our state of life. As a New Church person, we may feel discouraged at the seeming lack of receptivity in our world to the teachings of the Writings (that are so beautiful and satisfying and workable!). We can despair of our accomplishing much as a church, and also feel guilt-ridden for our own feeble efforts or lack of them.
     But let us remember: as important as our commitment to action is, the essence of use lies in the outpouring of our spirit, our living extension to other human minds throughout the spiritual universe!

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There is much we can do in this realm, day to day, moment to moment. For one, we can oversee the integrity of our own sphere. We can see ourselves as having a real effect on countless other people through the thoughts and states of mind that we habitually entertain and encourage and nurture in ourselves. This perspective will give unselfish purpose to our pursuit of spiritual health and progress. Secondly, we can commit ourselves to reading the Lord's Word. This is a use which the Writings stress again and again. When we read the Word with affection and growing understanding, we develop our mind's extension to new societies of heaven, we "exercise," as it were, our sphere.6 Most importantly, when we read the Word we reinforce and stimulate the thoughts, rekindle the ideals, and nourish the wholesome delights of myriads of other people!7 Such is the scope of genuine use!
     I would like to close with a picture from the Word. The Word depicts the good person-the angel-person-as a little sun, a star, a shining point of light.8 The Lord alone is the sun of life. But He wills to give His warmth and brightness to us-not to possess, but to shine forth; for in this lies His joy and the highest joy which He can give to us. This radiating "light" is a human sphere, charged with the healing and giving power of heaven. When we make such a sphere our sphere, then the Lord will be present in our life and its efforts with genuine use. This is His promise:

Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him.
And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as light,
And your judgment as the noon day. (Psalm 37:5f)

Then your light shall break forth like the morning.
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you; . . .
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer,
You shall cry, and He will say, "Here I am."     (Isaiah 58:8f)

     LESSONS: II Kings 6:8-18; Matt. 5:13-16; AC 2057:2 (or HH 17:1)

All who are in heaven are forms of love and charity, and appear in ineffable beauty, with love shining forth from their faces, and from their speech, and from every particular of their life. Moreover, there are spiritual spheres of life emanating from and surrounding every angel and every spirit, by which their quality in respect to the affections of their love is known, sometimes at a great distance.

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For with everyone these spheres flow forth from the life of his affection and consequent thought, or from the life of his love and consequent faith. The spheres that go forth from angels are so full of love as to affect the inmosts of life of those who are with them. They have repeatedly been perceived by me and have thus affected me (HH 17-emphasis added).

     Footnotes

1 AC 8794; AE 889:3
2 AC 8794, 6599ff, 4067:3, 6610f, AE 1092e, 1093:5, 1094:2, 1174:2
3 CL 386; TCR 331
4 AC 1504, 7454:3, 4126
5 See NCL 78:116f (phrase borrowed from PMB)
6 Cp AC 6004:3, 6599f, 6610; TCR 272, 235.
7 Cp TCR 267ff; AC 9357, 2176, 2249, 9152; SD 5607-5613.
8 Dan 12:3; cp AC 6872:3, HH 17.
NCL FIFTY AND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

NCL FIFTY AND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

     NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO

     The June issue of the LIFE mentions an upcoming meeting that month of the Faculty and Corporation. The speaker was to be Professor William Whitehead on "The College: Its History and Outlook." It is interesting to note that the total enrollment of the college then was 27. In recent years the enrollment has been about a hundred more than that.

     NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

     We would reaffirm this year a statement made on the front page of this magazine in June of 1884.

     Our friends will confer a favor by furnishing us with the address of all persons likely to be interested in the LIFE, to whom sample copies may be sent with advantage.

     In the same issue is an article entitled "Order and Subordination in the Priesthood." The article appeals to readers to look at what the Writings say on the subject. It is interesting that a hundred years later we still acknowledge that our understanding of the subject is imperfect, but our hope for further enlightenment is in seeking to understand what the Writings say.
     On the last page of the June issue 100 years ago it is reported that the General Church of Pennsylvania spent $975 during the year "the greater part of which was for missionary work."

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DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE 1984

DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE       Rev. BRIAN KEITH       1984

     A PASTORAL LETTER

          There are probably very few who have not thought about this subject or been personally touched by it. It is perhaps one of the most painful subjects to deal with because problems in the marriage relationship shake the foundation of many of our hopes and dreams. When couples divorce, it is a devastating experience to them, their family, and to the society as a whole.
     Many questions have been raised, such as how marital problems should be handled, what the grounds for divorce are, when a priest will perform a remarriage, and what our attitude should be toward those who divorce without just cause and remarry. To some of these and other questions the Writings speak very directly; on others it is a matter of individual choice and judgment. My hope is that by presenting my current understanding of the Heavenly Doctrines (for remember: there is a variety of opinion in the clergy), people will be able to use it as a starting point as they look to the Lord in His Word to see what He is saying to them.

Overview

     The Lord has given us a concept of eternal love. This love is to be brought to life in the setting of a marital covenant that is to last at the very least to the end of natural life. Yes, there are colds when love is not felt-but there are better and worse ways to deal with them. Adultery is the valid cause for divorce, freeing the innocent party to remarry. However, the spouse who committed adultery is not free to remarry. If a couple divorces without the cause of adultery, neither person is free to remarry.
     There are those who cannot accept this teaching and do remarry. A New Church priest will find it difficult, if not impossible, to perform such ceremonies. When a couple has a civil ceremony in place of a marriage ceremony in the church, the Lord always offers His holy supper to those who look to Him and are striving to bring order into their lives.
     I feel that after such a remarriage, the new couple should shun adultery as the way of repentance. While individuals will use their own judgment on how to promote the good of the remarried couple, the emphasis should be on looking forward to order, rather than on looking back to condemn.

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Subheadings

1.      Attitude Toward Marriage
2.      Cold in Marriage
3.      How to Deal with Cold in Marriage
4.      What If My Spouse Does Not Agree?
5.      Divorce: a Valid Option?
6.      Effect of Adultery
7.      Causes for Divorce
8.      Remarriage
9.      Those Who Do Remarry
10.      Will a New Church Priest Perform the Ceremony?
11.      Blessing on a Marriage
12.      Holy Supper
13.      Who Judges?
14.      Attitude Toward Those Who Remarry
15.      Conclusion

1. Attitude Toward Marriage

     As an individual receives the warmth of the Lord's love and the light of His wisdom, regeneration occurs, creating a heaven within. The joining together of love and wisdom is then reflected in the marriage of one man with one woman. As the marriage of love and wisdom is the basis of regeneration, so the marital relationship is the basis for earthly and heavenly happiness. (For those who are unable to be married on earth, the joining of love and wisdom can and should occur within them, and then they will find someone in the other world with whom to share the delights of marriage.)
     When a couple marries, it is with the full intention that the relationship will continue forever. As the Lord said, "He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'" (Matt. 19:4, 5). It is an awesome commitment, yet one that is rightfully desired by a couple in love. Where there is love, there is the sense of eternity in it, a desire to become one flesh. This feeling is so strong because were there to be a time limit on the relationship, it would become shallow. A love that yearns to give so much to the other can only grow and freely express itself where there is the confidence that it will not be cut short.
     Genuine conjugial love is a love that descends from the Lord. It is not automatically conferred by the marriage ceremony, or by being married a certain number of years. It descends gradually as the couple grows closer to the Lord.

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2. Cold in Marriage

     Because conjugial love is a living, growing love, it is not perfect at first. Few people get married after they have been regenerated. (If all waited until they were "good enough" to get married, the human race could be wiped out in one generation.) So the Lord expects people to get married and then, within that setting, to deal with the problems of growth and change. His intent is that as a couple experiences life, they grow together by means of it.
     In addition to normal growing pains, within all our minds there is a kind of selfishness that produces feelings of cold toward our spouse. The work Conjugial Love goes into great detail on the causes of those feelings (numbers 234-250). There are many situations in which this inner cold is allowed to surface, some which are extremely serious, relating to fundamental differences in our lives; and some are much more superficial, such as differences in friends, manners, and education.
     Whatever their apparent source, couples can expect there to be times when no love is felt for the partner, and one might wonder why the marriage occurred in the first place. Genuine love for each other may still be hidden within, but it is not felt at that time.

3. How to Deal with Cold in Marriage

     When cold occurs, as it will, in any relationship, there is then a question of how to deal with it. There are many self-help books available which have practical suggestions on how to deal with a spouse who is "all wrong." (Include high on your list Thoughts on Marriage, a compilation of ideas from New Church couples.) These can be helpful, as can talking with one of the pastors, or professional counseling. Also, when alcohol is a problem, AA and Al-Anon are excellent support groups to help the alcoholic and family deal with alcoholism. Getting an outside viewpoint or support can often help one clarify the situation and increase the number of possible solutions. So often when we are in a crisis or just plain feeling bad, we mistakenly think that there are very few alternatives.

     These resources can assist one in facing the situation. But ultimately, the individual and the couple have to deal with the difficulties. The Lord is present and striving to help each resolve the problem, but the work of the couple is often painful and long. As the regeneration of an individual is not sudden or easy at times, so the regeneration of a couple's relationship does not have quick solutions.
     Some colds in marriage, especially the ones that arise from rather superficial causes, can be handled in the course of normal human relations. (Agreements can be negotiated about how to set up a budget and which end of the toothpaste to squeeze.)

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But other problems cannot be so easily solved. Sometimes a separation is necessary. Conjugial Love, numbers 251-254, goes into great detail on the causes for separation. Some seem trivial, such as loss of memory and uncleanliness, but others are quite serious, such as insanity, striking blows, neglect of children, and drunkenness. A constructive separation is one in which the couple takes a break from each other so that they can return to the marriage in a better frame of mind. (Two excellent pamphlets on this were written by Rev. Bruce Rogers, entitled Marriage Covenant, and Marital Separation. I strongly recommend these for more details.)
     Two direct teachings from the Writings also should be kept in mind: that regardless of how unhappy the situation is, marriage ought to be continued throughout natural life; and acts that simulate friendship are vital if reconciliation is to occur.
     If during a state of cold the couple begins to think that the relationship is so unhappy that it cannot continue, and accepts this as a real possibility, then efforts to remedy the situation have another hurdle to overcome. It is questionable how much anyone can invest in reaching a solution if he or she thinks that divorce is a viable alternative. When the promise of eternity leaves a marriage, uncertainty is introduced and love withdraws in fear of being harmed. Conditional love is introduced which says, "I will love you if you do such and such." This attitude constrains the love and makes it even more difficult to continue accommodating to one's spouse. However, if a couple recognizes that their legal union ought to continue, even if painful, then the stage is set for renewed efforts on the problems.
     And to make the relationship improve, it is sometimes vital to be willing to act in a friendly way toward one's spouse. This sounds rather silly to have to say, but it is amazing how many people experiencing marital difficulties treat their spouse worse than they would ever dream of treating anyone else. It is almost as if from a positive extreme of tender love for each other a couple will go to the opposite extreme of violent hatred. Perhaps it is just that in the marriage relationship that has so much potential for growth, there is equal potential for hellish behaviors to arise. In any case, maintaining a covering of friendship is a necessary framework in which to work, for without it the problems just seem to get worse. (For more details, see CL 277-289.)

     4. What if My Spouse Does Not Agree?

     Working out difficulties in marriage is not easy. The relationship is so intimate, and touches us so deeply, that change is painful. This is even more the case when married partners have divergent views on how to resolve problems. One partner may wish to follow the guidelines set out in the Writings, and the other may not.

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What then can be done?
     Each person is different, and one cannot force his or her ideas on the other. When there is a difference in views, or in willingness to work on problems, one can do only what he or she believes to be right. Try as one might, a spouse cannot change his or her mate; it is the mate's own decision and own action. If someone is in a position of feeling that the spouse is unwilling to engage in reconciliation efforts, then the individual can shun adulteries as sins, pray for the strength to forgive the spouse, and resist those thoughts, words, and deeds which do further damage to the relationship.

5. Divorce: A Valid Option?

     Sometimes, in spite of many efforts, including constructive separations, nothing seems to work. Is this the time for divorce? Although the bells will inject this idea, the Writings teach otherwise. Even when the internal marriage is dissolved between the two, "nevertheless, in the world, matrimonies are to continue to the end of life" (CL 276). The importance of preserving the marriage covenant, for society and the couple, outweighs the temporary happiness of the individuals. They can live separated from each other, but the Lord does not want them to divorce. ("What God has joined together, let not man separate.") Even when a couple has apparently tried everything, they are not to divorce.
     This seems like a very harsh concept, and it is, to those whose lives are not in harmony with heavenly states. (Whenever there is disorder, the lord's teachings appear to be harsh or intended for a select few.)
     Why are the New Testament and the Writings so strong here, and apparently in opposition to what many perceive to be common sense? One reason could be because this is an area that is so important, and one in which our perception of what is "sensible" is so distorted by selfishness that we would certainly go astray without clear cut teachings.
     Another is the concept of the greater importance of the whole than of any individual part. A divorce does not occur in a vacuum. Like a pebble dropped in a pond, it has far-reaching effects. Friends and family of a divorcing couple suffer by seeing those they love hurt each other. And all too often family and friends are forced into taking sides. It also harms other marriages by introducing uncertainty into their relationships. ("If it can happen to them, what is to keep it from happening to us?") And, although neither the New Testament nor the Writings stresses this as a reason, the impact of divorce on children can be anything from confusing to devastating. (I recommend Surviving the Breakup by Wallerstein and Kelly as the first systematic study of the effects of divorce on children. Many myths, such as "The children will be better off," are brought into doubt by their evidence.)

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     6. Effect of Adultery

     Divorce can rightfully occur in the eyes of the Lord when one spouse commits adultery. It frees the other spouse to end the relationship and remarry. The reason that adultery is valid cause for divorce is because of the incredible damage it does to the marriage relationship. The Writings say it "violates the covenant," "defiles it," and "shuts off the union." Adultery is the fundamental love of all hellish loves and opens up a communication with the lowest hell. And if one commits it in the natural world, he or she is inclined to do it spiritually with the teachings of the Word.
     But if one's spouse commits adultery, does it mean one must get a divorce? No, it does not. There are degrees of seriousness of adultery, and this should influence the spouse's decision.
     Adultery committed from ignorance, such as in a state of drunkenness, is said to be mild, provided one abstains from it later. Adultery done from lust, as when one is seduced, is more serious, and the person is responsible to the extent that he or she later defends the action. (This seems to be more serious because the person has a greater ability to choose to remove himself or herself from a possible seduction than if one were out of control in a state of drunkenness.) Adultery from premeditation, thinking that there is nothing wrong with it, is quite serious. And adultery which is done from a love of it and at the same time thinking that there is nothing wrong with it is the worst. (For a fuller explanation, see CL 485-499.)
     The point is that although adultery is the most destructive form of assault on the marriage covenant, even that does not mandate divorce. Even when a spouse has been so cruel to do this, the damage can be repaired.

     7. Causes for Divorce

     The Pharisees asked the Lord why Moses allowed men to divorce their wives. He responded: "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery" (Matt. 19:8, 9; other similar New Testament references are Matt. 5:31, 32; Mark 10:1-12; and Luke 16:18).
     The Writings entirely support this teaching. Sexual immorality, that is, physical intercourse done without thought of it being wrong, and then defended, is a legitimate cause for the person who did not commit adultery to divorce.

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The Writings define such a divorce as the "abolition of the marriage covenant and thus full separation and entire liberty thereafter to take another wife" (CL 468). (I infer from this that the person who commits the adultery is not free to seek another spouse, for that would simply be rewarding a destructive act.) This number emphasizes that the "one only cause of this total separation or divorce is whoredom" (emphasis added).
     Yet CL 468 continues and expands the concept of adultery:

     Referable to the same cause are also manifest obscenities which banish modesty and fill and infest the home with shameful panderings, from which arises a scortatory shamelessness into which the whole mind is dissolved. To these causes is added malicious desertion which involves whoredom and causes the wife to commit adultery and thus to be put away . . . .

     What are "manifest obscenities"? I don't exactly know. From the description it is certainly something extremely serious. It is probably not the fact that one's spouse uses foul language, subscribes to Playboy, or is abusive. (Physical abuse is a cause for separation, not divorce.) One suggestion is that it is a person doing everything to destroy the marriage with obscenities, but refusing to commit adultery so the physical cause of adultery is not present. In this case, intention is the same as the act. Does this cause include "mental cruelty"? If it involves open obscenities which fill and infest the home and dissolve the entire mind, yes, it is just cause. Remember: it must involve an adulterous sphere that is so opposed to marriage that it destroys the marriage covenant. Whatever is meant, this cause is not publicly known, and can be judged only by the person involved.
     The third cause, "malicious desertion," strictly means a wife leaving her husband and living with someone else. (I assume this applies equally to husbands and wives.) Desertion by itself is not valid cause for divorce, but desertion in which the spouse commits adultery is. Apparently Swedish law allowed divorce for desertion alone, and the Writings are stressing that it must also include adultery for divorce to be just. (This cause has sometimes been misunderstood to say that if the husband leaves, the wife is forced to commit adultery to survive. This would have been the case no more at that time than it is now. If a husband leaves, (here are difficulties, but a wife will usually have a family support system to fall back on.)
     These three causes, involving actual or intended adultery, are the only ones the Lord has revealed. Any other cause, no matter how appealing to us, is not valid cause for divorce.
     The New Testament and the Writings are here at odds with many prevailing attitudes to the breakup of marriages, for they stress a "guilty" party being responsible for the divorce.

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It may be difficult for us to accept the idea of one person being "guilty" and the other "innocent." Undoubtedly, where there are problems in a marriage, the fault can be distributed on a 50-50 basis. To say that one who has committed adultery cannot justly remarry, is not to say that the previous marital problems rested fully on his or her shoulders. All it means is that he or she took the final step of actual adultery, so breaking the marriage covenant that the non-adulterous spouse may legally leave it.

8. Remarriage

     When a person comes to the very painful conclusion that because a spouse is committing adultery the relationship cannot continue, there is the freedom for that person to seek another relationship. If he or she establishes a new relationship, a New Church priest is free to marry the couple.
     But what of the person who committed the adultery and is now divorced, or the people who divorce on grounds other than those given in the Writings? Where do they stand?
     The Lord gave the basic principle of "what God has joined together, let not man separate . . . whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery" (Matt. 19:6,9). The Writings never, to my knowledge, contradict or modify this teaching (see CL 255). It would seem, then, that if a person divorces without cause, remarriage is, at least initially, defined as adultery. Likewise, the person who has been divorced without committing adultery would not be free to remarry. (I would think that this standard would be used with discretion for those who did not know about it prior to the divorce, especially those who divorced prior to becoming associated with the New Church. The Lord holds a person responsible for what he or she accepts with the understanding, but not for what cannot be known. While any action which is disorderly, such as divorce, has negative repercussions, one's responsibility is determined by one's grasp of the Lord's truth.)
     These are hard sayings, as was recognized by the disciples, for their response when the Lord gave them was: "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry" (Matt. 19:10). It is interesting how the Lord responded to them. He did not condemn them, or try to dissuade them; instead He said, "all cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given . . . . He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." What does this mean? Certainly the Lord wants everyone to accept His teachings. Yet He recognizes that not everyone will. It is His will that no one commit adultery.

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It is His will that no one divorce. And when a divorce occurs without just cause, it seems to be His will that the partners not remarry others on this earth. Yet when one does divorce without just cause, the Lord does not turn His back on that person. The Lord always works with what He is given by us, operating to bring the greatest good about. There are people who cannot accept this teaching, perhaps because they cannot understand it, or from selfish motivation, or from the difficulties of being single (see chapter on "Repeated Marriages" CL 317-325). It is best if one can accept these teachings, but if one cannot, it does not mean all regeneration ceases, or that the Lord gives up on them.
     When an adulterous woman was brought to Him, rather than follow the letter of the law and support the men who wanted to stone her to death, the Lord asked that person without sin to cast the first stone. When no one then condemned her, He said, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (John 8:11). This is the Lord's attitude toward those who make mistakes, who do what is wrong; it is not to condemn and personally administer punishments, but to forgive and then encourage them to sin no more.
     How, then, should a person "go and sin no more"? If he or she caused the divorce, assuming that the innocent spouse remarries so there can be no reconciliation, it would seem that the person has no right to remarry in this natural world. This is not directly said, but I infer it from the Lord saying that it is adultery to form another sexual relationship. (Yes, the Lord wants everyone to be married, but for one who has so destroyed the foundation of all loves, it seems that repentance prepares one to marry in heaven.)
     If the divorce occurred without either spouse committing adultery, neither is free to remarry. If, however, one person does remarry, it would free the other to remarry also, because it has extinguished the possibility of reconciliation. (Although this is technically correct, I am uncomfortable with it, for a person could divorce without just cause and then simply wait for the ex-spouse to remarry. Such a situation seems to violate the spirit of the teaching.)

     (To be concluded next month)
LETTING THE LORD COME INTO YOUR LIFE 1984

LETTING THE LORD COME INTO YOUR LIFE              1984

     Those who "admit the Lord into their life" are "those who acknowledge Him and love to live according to His precepts."
     Arcana Coelestia 10659

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BISHOP BENADE IN EGYPT 1984

BISHOP BENADE IN EGYPT       R.R.G       1984

     (Based on Rev. E. J. E. Schreck's report of Benade's Philadelphia lectures of 1879-80 in Morning Light, London, 1880)

     The divinities of ancient Egypt are generally considered fabulous, but the Writings tell us that the Egyptians derived their ideas of God from the Ancient Word. They formulated their doctrines more externally than others of the Ancient Church.
     The Egyptians used correspondences to embody their religious ideas in external forms. When the Ancient Church became corrupt, the Egyptians perverted their doctrines and modes of worship into magic and similar arts. Hence knowledge of the Lord Jehovah was taken from them (see Exod. v:2).
     A great change seems to have taken place in the civil and religious state of Egypt about the sixth dynasty (about 3133 B.C.), and it is possible that this reflects the period of transition from true to false worship, when the Egyptians began to worship sacred symbols, and, becoming more and more external, turned to magic and forgot the name of Jehovah. The Egyptian divinities represented Divine attributes and operations derived from the Ancient Word, a part of which is contained in the first chapters of Genesis.
     From the hieroglyphics we see a noble view of God held by the ancient Egyptians: "God is the Creator of all things; all that lives was made by Him, and He formed all things, but He Himself was not formed. He created heaven and earth . . . . God is eternal, indiscernible, infinite, omnipresent, invisible, merciful . . . . His Word is substance."
     The signification of Ptach as one aspect of Egyptian deity seems similar to the Hebrew Ptach-entrance, door, i.e., revelation. If we understand Ptah as meaning revelation, we see the perfect applicability of what the Lord teaches us in the Writings concerning the revealed Divine Word, namely, that its face and hands are bare; that is, the genuine truth and good necessary for life are bare, or apparent in the letter of the Word, while the rest must be revealed, or opened. Thus Ptah is seen represented as an erect, delicate figure, the face and hands bare, while the body was enveloped in a tightly-fitting garment.
     After Ptah comes Ra, the sun, representing the Divine Love and Life, daily renewed to keep men alive. "Ra" comes from a term meaning to make to exist or create.

     It is probable that the story of Osiris represents the opposition of falsity from evil (Seth) to the government of truth from good (Osiris). This opposition required a combat, which accordingly was waged by God in a human form until Osiris was slain, reappearing as Horus, who was called "the avenger of his father," and in this form overcoming Seth.

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This indicates an idea of the assumption of the human by the Lord, of the combat with hell and final victory over it, of His appearance in a human form, and of His reigning in heaven and on earth. All the good offices He does for His Father He does for everyone, as the Divine Human does for the man who follows the Lord in regeneration. He is the Redeemer and Savior.
     (This is a partial summary of a summary, and does not do anything like full justice to the original twelve discourses of Bishop Benade. In one of them it is noted that the Bishop had with him some Egyptian bread said to be over 3,000 years old, but that no one in his audience cared to taste it.)
     R.R.G.

     [Drawing of Bishop William Henry Benade]

     Bishop
William Henry Benade
Founder and Reformer
By Richard R. Gladish
(This 600-page book is now available.)

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FANTASY, PORNOGRAPHY AND OTHER ABUSES OF THE SPIRIT 1984

FANTASY, PORNOGRAPHY AND OTHER ABUSES OF THE SPIRIT       Rev. GLENN G. ALDEN       1984

     The Writings are frank in their description and discussion of evils opposed to the love of marriage. They are practical in their discussion of the evils that dwell in all men. They are also timely or up-to-date. It is important that as parents and teachers, and as individual combatants against the hells, we have the armor and ammunition of the truth to defend our children and ourselves. The Writings provide that armor and ammunition. We are faced with a continuous attack of insidious false ideas from the hells present in our own minds, as well as from the world around us. A clear understanding of the workings of our minds, and of the presence of spirits with us at all times, will form the core of a strong defense against the subtle influences of evil.
     The Lord raised the subject of fantasy in the Sermon on the Mount:

     You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:27-28).

     Many a youth has regarded his own state with despair after reflecting on this teaching. Some people point to it as evidence that it is impossible for man to live a good life, and that we can therefore only be saved by faith. It is important that we understand this teaching clearly. Let's look at a few questions that might be raised by it.

     Question: "Does this mean that once I discover lust in my heart I might as well indulge it in act because I am already guilty?"

     Answer: The man who refrains from an evil because of fear of punishment, or loss of reputation, or other potential harm to himself, and would commit the evil if he thought he could get away with it, is as guilty as the man who does not fear punishment, and does commit the act. But the man who resists an evil that he desires to commit, from the belief that it is a sin against God, is on the road to regeneration. In his self-compulsion, in his endeavor to resist evil, genuine love of good can be born.

     Question: "There are many times when thoughts of lust or desire come into my mind, especially when I read or see something provocative. Am I committing adultery already in my heart?"

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     Answer: We are not guilty of things that enter our minds from the outside. And this includes those things that enter our minds from the spiritual world. We are guilty of those things that we do, the things that proceed from our hearts, and these include the things that we intend to do, would like to do, but don't do for a variety of selfish reasons.

     FANTASY

     Space does not allow us to draw the distinction between imagination and fantasy. They are a world apart. The fantasies we are speaking of are clearly defined in TCR 80:1-"Fantasy arises from sensual thought when the ideas springing from any interior thought have been excluded."
     To put it another way, when we try to exclude the angels, or conscience, or moral law as we know it, from our thought while we imagine ourselves in a variety of situations, we are fantasizing.
     Popular thought holds that fantasy is an innocuous pastime. It is even suggested that the fantasizing about some imagined partner may restore heat or passion or interest to a cold relationship. We don't need popular studies to prove that fantasy can restore passion or heat. A number of descriptions can be found in the Writings of the way devils, who are in lusts opposite to marriage love, are aroused to passion by fantasy, and by sirens or harlots in hell, who put on the appearance of innocence, or of chastity, and feign resistance. (CL 505 and 512 provide good examples.) Without fantasy of evil, these devils are utterly devoid of any love of the sex, and are entirely impotent. So we can see that fantasy may indeed bring heat to a marriage, but it will not bring love. Indeed, it may well be that the evils we indulge in during fantasy are the cause of our lack of passion or potency in our marriages. If we indulge in the "quick fix" of fantasy, to cure "boredom," we only make that much more difficult the "permanent fix" of renewed love. The Lord can give us a renewal of the love we felt during courtship, and more, if we shun adulteries.
     I am concerned about how respectable sadism has become. It is not at all unusual for a comedian during prime time to include jokes with a sadistic theme in his routine. Even those who couldn't imagine themselves engaging in such practices are likely to shrug off the subject with the thought that perhaps it is allowable, if not taken to extremes, between "consenting adults." The chapter "On the Lust of Violation" in Conjugial Love speaks of this lust as being with few (CL 511-512, a very short, 3-page chapter, well worth reading).

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Given the proliferation of violent sex-related crimes, and the explosion of so-called "kiddy porn," with its associated crimes of exploitation, kidnapping, and murder, it would appear that the "few" have become many. We should endeavor to see, and to communicate to others, the relationship of seemingly respectable sadism to these most horrible crimes. Fantasy is not harmless. It strengthens evils that lie dormant in all of us. It draws upon the thoughts and lusts of the most horrible of devils, brings them into our company, and makes us prey to their subtle arguments and persuasions. When we indulge in fantasizing of adultery or of sadism we become a tool through which the hells can operate in the world, because we do influence others by our spheres. (See the sermon by Grant Odhner at the beginning of this issue.)               

     PORNOGRAPHY

     The reading of Playboy magazine by teenage boys has become as American as Huck Finn. This type of magazine is available in so many otherwise respectable stores that they have come to have a degree of respectability themselves. We are led to believe that reading them is a normal healthy part of growing up. The fact is, most of us fathers, and probably a good share of the mothers as well, can admit to themselves that they did sneak a "glance or two" when they were growing up. There is a good deal of curiosity among teenagers. There are also a good deal of "juices flowing," as one father I know is fond of saying. The argument might well be made that there is a big difference between Playboy in the sixties and Playboy today. But this is not the real issue. Our children need us to talk to them about the potential effect of pornography of any sort. There is a lot of confusion about this subject. In society and in the law there is a breakdown of the distinction between "art" and "pornography." To a teen the distinction between what he sees in the museum, National Geographic magazine, or through the keyhole into his sister's room, and what he sees in a pornographic magazine, may not be very clear. He may not see the subtle differences between his own desires and feelings (which are normal and natural, and yet very real and perhaps frightening) and those desires and feelings expressed by the men and women in the magazines. I am reminded of how the devils are unable to distinguish, or see any difference between, marital and adulterous relationships. Pornographic magazines, almost by definition, exist in order to blur or remove these distinctions. We must try to help our young people see the distinction between marriage relations and fornication or adultery. We must try to show them the distinction between love and lust. (See the story of the rape of Tamar, 2 Samuel 13.)

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We ought to let them know that their feelings of need and urgency are normal, and are provided by the Lord, and inflow from the marriage of good and truth. The love of the sex is not, and does not become, conjugial love, but conjugial love is implanted in love of the sex. The love of the sex becomes chaste or pure with those who look to conjunction with one, and shun various evils such as adulteries (see CL 92-99). To see naked women (or men) in magazines is not in and of itself evil. The loves that are aroused by pornography, the loves of adultery, loves of violation or rape, love of deflowering virgins, loves of indiscriminate sex with many, and others, are evil. Anything that seeks to arouse lust, or that seeks to make evils attractive or allowable, is pornography. We should try to help our young people see the kinds of spiritual associations and "friendships" they are making when they fantasize, or seek enjoyment or release through pornography. We can at least try to help them see as falsities the frequently expressed ideas: that license is freedom, and that "recreational sex" and adultery are fun and satisfying. We can certainly let them know that the reason we do not have, read, or allow pornography in the house is not because we think sex is dirty, or because we are old-fashioned, but because we think marriage is beautiful, that women are wonderful, honorable and to be cherished rather than lusted after. Pornography repudiates those values.
     In his sermon in this issue Rev. Grant Odhner speaks of our use as the sphere of our love going forth and affecting others. Let us pray daily that the sphere of the love of marriage, and the love of what is clean and pure, may grow in the church, and in each one in the church, and from thence spread throughout the world to overcome the powerful influence of lust and fantasy we see widespread around us. There is no greater desire in the hells than the desire to destroy conjugial love, and no greater challenge than the one we face, to defend and build it up.
HOW TO VIEW YOURSELF 1984

HOW TO VIEW YOURSELF       Rev. Grant R. SCHNARR       1984

     If you look at philosophy and psychology today, one thing you will hear the experts tell people over and over again is that you've got to love yourself before you can love someone else.
     When we first hear this we are skeptical. We know from the Writings that each one of us has too much love of self. Our whole philosophy in the New Church is to put down our self-concerns and learn to love our neighbor above self. In fact, that is the universal Christian philosophy. But when you think about it, something does seem to ring of the truth when someone says, "You've got to love yourself first."

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     The Writings addressed this very issue two hundred years ago. In fact, the whole beginning chapter on charity and good works in True Christian Religion addresses the subject of the love of self in relationship to love of the world and the neighbor. We are told in True Christian Religion that, "It is a common saying that every man is a neighbor to himself; but the doctrine of charity teaches how this is to be understood, namely, that everyone should provide for himself the necessaries of life, as food, clothing, and shelter, and other things which are necessarily required . . . . For unless a man acquires for himself the necessaries of life, he is not in a condition to exercise charity, since he is in want of everything" (TCR 406).
     This is why God created us with the love of self, so that we would care for ourselves from instinct. Without the love of self, we would not last long in this world. We wouldn't avoid dangers. We would cross the street without looking both ways. We would fix the muffler on our car with the engine running. We wouldn't care if we were burned or run over by a truck. If we didn't have the love of self, we wouldn't eat or drink or protect ourselves in any way. And so we see that the love of self is a good thing. We need to love, care and protect ourselves before we can love others.
     Of course, the Writings go on to point out, there is one problem which we should consider. And that is that nowadays our love of self is too great. It far exceeds our love of our neighbor and our love for heaven. Surely, self-love is important, but now it has taken over our lives.
     In the beginning, man was created with the inclination to love the things of heaven and the neighbor first. He naturally had a concern for what was right and for learning the Lord's ways. He naturally had concern for his neighbor's welfare. He wouldn't think twice about helping his neighbor at his own expense, giving him shelter from the cold even if it wasn't convenient for the family, sharing food even if there was only a little. But he did still have the love of self. He wouldn't give away all his food every day so that he would die. He wouldn't kick his wife and kids out of the house so his neighbor could come in to spend a night away from the cold. He always had in mind the use of the things he did. What would be the most useful thing for him to do to help both his neighbor and himself! The Writings tell us that during the time of the Most Ancient Church, "innocence then reigned, and together with it wisdom. Everyone then did good from goodness, and justice from justice . . . . Far removed then were the love of self and the love of the world" (AC 8118).
     Today it is very different. We almost automatically look at our own welfare and convenience first, and this usually at the expense of our neighbor.

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Naturally, we live for ourselves and ourselves alone. The Writings tell us, "Man is born into evils of every kind. His will, which is his proprium, is nothing but evil. Unless, therefore, a man is reformed and regenerated, he not only remains just as he was born, but becomes even worse . . . ." (Charity 2). Every salesman or politician knows that the way to get someone to like you is to talk to them about the most important thing in their lives-themselves. If you want to sell people something, you appeal to their natural instincts. You show them what it can do for them, not only how it can help them, but even how it can make them better than the man next door. I took a course in salesmanship two years ago. And halfway through the course our instructor pulled out this huge diagram which outlined for us just exactly what we should be trying to appeal to in another individual. At the top of the diagram was, of course, the need for security, food, clothing, shelter; but then that was followed by such things as the love for sex, ruling, possessing worldly goods, self-gratification, status, dominion and power. No wonder we have such a hard time regenerating. We are bombarded with advertising which is designed to appeal to the worst in us. And this will probably always be the case because it works so well.
     Because our love of self is so great, the Writings say that the only way to truly love the neighbor and do good to him which is genuine good is to shun evils as sins. This is the only way the love of self can be put in its proper place. Through the lifetime process of regeneration, the love of self is subordinated and no longer rules our lives but begins to serve our more noble loves for heaven and for our neighbor.
     And so we have seen that in a sense the love of self does come first. That is, you must care for your own welfare in order that you may be of service to others. We need to be healthy and strong and of a good disposition before we can benefit our neighbor to the best of our ability.
     Beyond that, though, there is another kind of love which we must have which is often mistakenly called the love of self. It is a love which appears to be for self but it really isn't. This love may be called self-respect.
     Many people throughout the Christian world who try to lead good lives end up totally denying themselves and losing their self-respect. And once they have lost that respect, they come into a state of hopelessness and despair. This can easily happen. Once a man begins to lead the Christian life, he naturally looks inward at himself and discovers that he has a multitude of evils. This looking in is not a bad thing. It's self-examination, a fundamental step in regeneration. Self-examination cannot and should not be avoided. But with many who try to lead the Christian life there is the tendency to impute to themselves that evil they see.

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They identify with it. When they see inclinations in themselves to hate the neighbor or to do others harm, they say "That's me! I never knew I was a murderer!" Soon, if they continue to examine themselves and impute evil to themselves they find that they're not only murderers but adulterers and thieves and liars. They begin to think that they are totally evil and helpless. God seems far away from them. Thinking religiously becomes a negative experience. It fills them with overwhelming guilt.
     The key to preventing this dilemma from occurring can be found in the doctrine of influx. There we are told that evil thoughts are continuously insinuated into our minds by evil spirits. This happens all the time. We are not at all responsible for these thoughts, as long as they are just passing thoughts. But only when we dwell on them, begin to feel delight in them and make them our own are we responsible. Therefore the Writings say, "If a man would believe as the case really is, namely, that all that is good and true is from the Lord, and that all that is evil and false is from hell, then he could not be guilty of any fault, nor could evil be imputed to him; but because he believes that it is from himself, he appropriates evil to himself" (AC 6324).
     When we begin to believe that we are our own evil inclinations and thoughts therefrom, then our efforts toward regeneration are brought to a standstill. The hells want nothing more than for us to be discouraged and give up in our endeavor to lead a heavenly life. What better time to discourage us than when we begin to examine ourselves in an effort to change? Of course, the evil spirits don't want us even to discover the evil in ourselves. But once we do discover it they do everything possible to make us believe that those evil thoughts belong to us and are not induced by them. And then once we believe that, they overwhelm us with guilt so that we can no longer spiritually function.
     Therefore, in our efforts to be regenerated we should avoid the trap of thinking, "I am a horrible person." Sure, we have evil in ourselves and much of that evil we have made our own. But as soon as we identify with that evil, we don't have a chance. The Lord says to look inside yourself. See the evil inclinations. Acknowledge that you are guilty; not that you're hopeless, but that you are responsible for that evil, for removing it from your life. Then shun it as a sin against the Lord. Only when we recognize that it is evil from hell within us will we be able to shun it. When we think it is part of us, we will never be able to shun it, because we can't shun ourselves.
     Almost everyone will acknowledge that self-respect is a good thing as long as you view it properly. To accept the evil in yourself or to ignore that evil is not self-respect.

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Neither is thinking you are a wonderful person self-respect. To accept the evil in yourself and do nothing about it is to accept that you are going to hell. To ignore the evil in yourself is to ignore that you are going to hell. And to think that you are a wonderful person is conceit and self-merit. None of these is true self-respect.
     To respect yourself in a good way means to realize that you have a use in this world. No matter how bad you may feel or no matter how evil you think you may be, the Lord has put you here for a purpose. The Lord created each one of us for a purpose. Whether you believe you were created for a specific use on earth or whether you believe you have a variety of uses you may choose to perform really doesn't matter. Each one of us has a purpose. Each one of us has been created to benefit this world and our neighbor in some way. It is good for us to think about that. It helps us to feel some self worth. To believe that we have a use in this world makes it impossible for us to be overwhelmed with guilt. It gives us hope and confidence in the Lord.
     To believe we have a use does not necessarily mean to believe in ourselves. It means to believe in the Lord's providence, that He is guiding us and will care for us. There is a fine line between self-belief and believing that the Lord created us for a use. When a person believes in himself, his authority is himself. Someone who believes only himself rarely grows spiritually because he believes he is the source of his wisdom.
     But on the other hand the person who believes he has a use in the world and looks to the Lord for guidance in fulfilling that use does grow spiritually. His self-respect is actually a respect for the Lord and His purposes. His source of wisdom is not himself. He is willing to listen to others. He is willing to change his opinion and his life. Thus, he is willing to grow spiritually because his source of wisdom is the Lord.
     Now, one might ask, "How do we know whether our self-respect is good? How can we tell if we have a healthy attitude toward ourselves or whether we are just fooling ourselves into believing we have a healthy attitude?"
     Swedenborg asked a similar question of an angel priest and an angel prince in the other world. He had been talking with them about their offices. They were telling him how they were given great dignity for the uses they performed. They said, "We are surrounded with honor, and this we receive, not on our own account, but for the good of the society. Our brothers and fellow men who are of the common people know scarcely other than that the honors pertaining to our dignities are in us, and thus that the uses we perform are from ourselves, but we feel otherwise" (CL 266).
     Upon hearing this, Swedenborg asked, "How can one know whether he performs uses from the love of self or from the love of uses? . . . Who . . . can know from what love and from what origin the uses are?" (Ibid.)

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     The two angels replied with a very simple and basic answer. They said, "Everyone who believes in the Lord and shuns evils as sins performs uses from the Lord; but everyone who does not believe in the Lord and does not shun evils as sins performs uses from himself and for the sake of himself? (Ibid.).
     Repentance is the key to insuring that we have good motives for what we think and do. The way to insure that our self-respect is good is to shun evils as sins. Most of the time it is impossible to see our motives. It is impossible to know exactly why we do what we do. But if we are sincerely trying to do the Lord's will by shunning the evil within us, then we can be assured that our motives are continually improving in their quality. Although some of the respect or love for self that we have may he improper, if we are trying to lead the religious life we need not worry ourselves. The Lord is working within us, slowly bending all our motives toward good.
     It is interesting that all the teachings in the Writings about leading a good life or loving the neighbor, or how to find happiness and contentment, start with the same premise. They all begin by telling us that repentance is the key to attaining our spiritual goals. Think about all the techniques men have devised that are supposed to make us better persons and make us happy. Some of them work for a while. Other techniques are a complete failure. I seriously believe that what the Writings are saying is that to shun evils as sins is the only technique that truly leads to a happy life. Repentance is the only door to true spiritual life and also salvation.
     This is where the Writings have so much to offer the world. There are so many people who are struggling to know themselves, to know why they do what they do, to know why they think what they think. There are so many people who are desperately trying to lead the true religious life, but they don't have the right tools, or they have been taught to use the tools in the wrong way. The Writings put us back to basics. They point us to the many passages in the Word which say repentance is that key. Repentance will help you to know yourself. Repentance will make you a better person. Repentance will lead you into a heartfelt presence of your God.
     We read in the Writings, "Cease therefore from asking yourself, 'What are the good works that I must do, or what good must I do to receive eternal life?' Only cease from evils as sins and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead you" (AE 979:2). If we wish to understand ourselves and to be happy with what we see then we only need to turn to the Lord and follow His ways.

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SOME PASSAGES ABOUT FAITH 1984

SOME PASSAGES ABOUT FAITH              1984

     Here is a sampling of passages about faith translated by Dr. David Gladish and put together in a booklet entitled Seeing's Believing. This booklet, advertised in the May issue, will be reviewed in a later issue.

     Selections from the work teaching about Faith

     Faith Is an Inner Acknowledgment of Truth

     1.      Faith today means just thinking that something is so because the church teaches it, and because it is incomprehensible. For the church says, "Believe, and do not doubt."
     If you answer, "I don't understand this," they say that is why you have to believe.
     So today's faith is a faith in the unknown and can be called blind faith. It is one person's dictum in another person's mind, so it is a faith of hearsay.
     The following articles will show that this is not spiritual faith.
     2.      Faith itself is nothing but knowing that something is so because it is true. In fact, here is the way a person with real faith thinks and speaks: "This is true, so I believe it." For faith has to do with truth and truth with faith. And if this person does not understand that it is true, he says, "I don't know if that is the truth, so I don't believe it. How can I believe what I don't understand? It could possibly be false."
     3.      "But," says common opinion, "no one can understand spiritual or theological matters, because they are supernatural." But spiritual truths are just as understandable as natural truths. If they are not clearly understandable, at least you can tell if they are true or not when you hear them. This is especially the case with people who love truths.
     I have been able to find this out from many experiences. I have had chances to talk with ignorant, dull and stupid people, people full of falsity and others full of evil, who were born within the church and had heard something about the Lord, faith and charity. And I could talk with them about points of wisdom that are not generally known. They understood everything and agreed. At the time, however, they were using that intellectual light that every human is gifted with and were enjoying the glory of being intelligent.
     This happened in conversation with spirits. These things convinced many others with me that spiritual matters are as easy to understand as natural when you hear or read them, though the same person could hardly think them out for himself.

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     The reason why spiritual things can be understood is that as far as understanding goes, a person can be raised into the light of heaven, where only spiritual things appear, and spiritual things are truths that have to do with faith. For heaven's light is spiritual light.
     4.      This, then, is the reason why people with a spiritual bias for the truth have an inner grasp of the truth. Angels have such a bias as that, so they totally reject the dogma that the intellect is under obedience to faith. In fact, they say, "What? Believe and not see whether it is truer?" And if someone says it is to be believed anyway, they answer, "Do you think you are a God whom I should believe? Or that I'm crazy enough to believe a statement I don't see the truth of! Therefore, make me see it." So the dogmatizer goes away. The wisdom of angels consists in one thing-they see and understand what they think.

     42      The angel said that with the one in faith separate from charity the conversation went as follows.
          "Who are you, my friend?"
     "I am a Reformed Christian," he answered.
     "That is your doctrine, and your religion from it?"
     He said, "It is faith."
     "What is your faith?" said the angel.
     He said, "My faith is 'God the Father sent the Son to atone for mankind, and those who believe this are saved.'"
     The angel asked, "What else do you know about salvation?"
     He answered, "Salvation is only from that faith."
     Next the angel asked, "What do you know about redemption?"     
     He answered, "The suffering of the cross did it, and this faith gives you credit for the Son's merit."
     Next, "What do know about regeneration?"
     "That faith does it," he answered.
     "What do you know about repentance and remission of sins?"
          He answered, "Through that faith."
     "Say what you know about love and charity."
     "They are that faith," he answered.
     "Say what you know about good works."
     "They are that faith," he answered.
     "Say what you think about all that the Lord commands."
     "It is all in that faith," he answered.
     "Then the angel said "So you do nothing."
     "What am I to do?' he replied. "On my own I cannot do good that is good."

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     "Can you have faith on your own?" said the angel.
     He said, "I cannot."
     "Then how can you have faith?" said the angel.
     "I don't ask," he replied. "I must have faith."
     The angel finally said, "Surely you know something more than this about salvation."
     "What more," he answered, "since salvation is only from that faith?"
     But the angel said, "You answer like someone playing one note on a pipe. All I hear is 'faith.' If you know that and nothing else, you know nothing. Go see your comrades."
     He went, and blundered into them in a desert without grass.
     When he asked why they were there, they said it was because they have nothing of the church.
     43.      The angel's conversation with the one who had faith not separate from charity went as follows:
     "Who are you, friend?"
     He answered, "I am a Reformed Christian."
     "What is your doctrine and the religion from it?"
     He answered, "Faith and charity."
     The angel said, "These are two things."
     "They can't be separated," he answered.
     "What is faith?" said the angel.
     "To believe what the Word teaches," he replied.
     The angel said, "What is charity?"
     He answered, "To do what the Word teaches."
     "Have you just believed these things," said the angel, "or have you done them, too?"
     "I have done them too," he answered.
     Then the angel of heaven looked at him and said, "Come with me, my friend, and live with us.
HEARTS SPEAK 1984

HEARTS SPEAK              1984

     In the other life hearts speak.
          Arcana Coelestia 1886, 2122, 8944

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GENERAL CHURCH IN CANADA 1984

GENERAL CHURCH IN CANADA       Rev. GEOFFREY CHILDS       1984

     Report of the Bishop's Representative-March 1984

     There are times that we forget our mission-it is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day demands and work of the church. That mission is to serve the Lord. He has opened our vision to the greatest of all gifts-the vision and use of the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven. The Heavenly Doctrines, the New Word, are the secret key to peace on earth, the secret key to peace in our own hearts. The mission the Lord offers us is to share this gift-with our children, and with the world. This is going to take courage: the courage to turn outward to share, rather than only inward to treasure.
     The General Church in Canada has over an eighty-year history as a church in this country. The Berlin (Kitchener) Society and the Olivet (Parkdale) Society were strong, active centres 50 years ago, and continue strongly today in new venues. Father Waelchli and Karl Alden and Otho Heilman and others pioneered in western Canada with enthusiasm, stamina and deep vision, and the church there in different centers had deep life and strength. Church uses of worship, instruction and inner strength have been carried on faithfully for many decades. This is the foundation. The challenge now is to build upon this: to try what is new in an effort to evangelize the wonderful news of the New Church.
     The first challenge is to look within our own hearts to see if our New Church faith is of the mouth and lips, or really changes the way we live. Do we serve the Lord or ourselves? We pray that it may be the Lord and His uses and purposes. Then the call of spiritual love of children is to share the New Word with children-our own and the children of affirmative Christian parents. The vision of the New Church path of life, revealed by the Lord in the Writings, is one that will deepen with us as we share it with children, keeping our education as distinctive and charitable as the trinal Word so clearly indicates; and this means also keeping the goal of New Church secondary education deeply alive. High school states especially need the Heavenly Doctrines, for therein is the idealism and reality of a truly spiritual life. Therein are the rules of the Lord that lead to genuine conjugial love and spiritual use. Also, New Church secondary education can be a center in which the vision of evangelization and its best methods are taught and received with delight by these students. New Church education is ideally not insular, but rather instills a vision, a vision from the Lord that stirs the heart to go out and share.

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     To grow spiritually from the Lord is our first prayer and challenge; to share the Word with children is the second. The third, and now rising as a strong new mission, is to share the New Word as widely as possible with the world around us. Evangelization is a challenge whose time has come, if we only have the courage from the Lord to meet it. Beginnings have been made across Canada, from efforts in Caryndale to efforts in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and elsewhere in western Canada, including, for instance, the public services in Debolt of the Crooked Creek circle. Now the Long Range Planning Committee of the General Church in Canada, and the President's Council and Board of Directors are thinking seriously about a pastoral and evangelization effort across Canada. In the last two years, two major bequests from western New Church Canadians and major gifts to our endowment have added substantially to our capital assets. Why is this in Providence? I'd like to think of it as a challenge to dare to grow, looking to the Lord as our only real source of growth.
     We are considering a plan to increase the visits to central and western Canadian cities by our ministers, led by Rev. Terry Schnarr and his evangelization program. These increased visits would serve a dual purpose. Pastoral services (worship and classes) would be increased, but, in addition, evangelization programs would be initiated in each center. Experimental lectures such as those given quite successfully in Winnipeg and Ottawa would be continued and increased, along with local advertising of the Writings and other outreach programs. This will need consultation with church members and friends in Winnipeg, Roblin, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, etc. Without support and working help nothing will happen. So far you can say that we are dreaming, but it is a dream that can have some reality with co-operative effort. We would love to be able to double the visits to centres in western Canada in 1985; and a dream and hope is to place another minister in western Canada by 1986 or earlier, if centres of growth occur because of effort, response and local decisions.
     The church in Canada, the New Church, hasn't grown numerically very much in the last 50 years. We believe it has grown in its vision and service. Now, through New Church education and dedicated evangelization, is the time to grow! It may not be in visible numbers in the General Church but in many new receivers who learn of the Writings and love their Divine beauty. If a number of new people discover the New Church through an increased evangelization effort, it is worth all the work and support involved. When the time is ready, the Lord will lead to true growth-but not with our hands down at our sides.
     REV. GEOFFREY CHILDS

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

     CLOTHED WITH THE SUN

     The things which some regard with boredom and indifference are greatly valued by angels.

     These things which are so precious to the angels are to man as of no importance (AC 2551).

     Why the difference? It is because the angels are encompassed with a bright sphere, and "nothing is more blessed and happy to them than to think in accordance with the things that belong to that sphere" (AC 2551). "To think such things is to them most delightful, for they are in the Lord's Divine sphere" (AC 5249).
     Matters of angelic wisdom might be brushed aside by men on earth, who might say, "What does it matter whether we know these things or not?" (TCR 848) But a prophecy is given that there will be those who care. Behold, "a woman clothed with the sun." "This means the New Church to be established by the Lord . . . . The life of the love of everyone, both of man and of spirit and angel, forms a sphere about them . . ." (AE 707).
     This month an assembly brings together people who care about the things of the New Church, regarding them as precious for their own lives and precious for the human race. May this assembly serve to deepen this care.
     As we hope to share in the Lord's sphere, we note the saying in the sermon in this issue: "The Lord alone is the sun of life. But He wills to give His warmth and brightness to us-not to possess, but to shine forth."
     The sermon points out that "the essence of use lies in the outpouring of our spirit, our living extension to other human minds throughout the spiritual universe." May we be partakers of that church that is clothed with the sun.

     LIKE SWEET DRUGS THAT KILL (II)

     There are three things, we are told, which those who will be of the New Jerusalem will shun. They are adulteries, the love of ruling, and deceit. In our first editorial under this heading we spoke of the addictive nature of the evil of stealing and its deadly connection with deceit.

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Elsewhere in this issue the subject of the sphere of adultery is alluded to. Here we will give the teaching of the Writings about the love of dominating. Its poisonous effect on marriage and on human harmony are well known. Not so well known is its intoxicating delight.

What and how great the delight of the love of ruling from the love of self is it has been granted me to feel. I was let into it that I might know what it is. It was such as to surpass all the delights that there are in the world; it was a delight of the whole mind from its inmosts to its outmosts; but it was felt in the body only as an agreeable and pleasurable sensation in the swelling breast. It was also granted me to perceive that from that delight, as from their fountain, gushed forth the delights of all evils, as adultery, revenge, fraud, defamation, and evildoing in general (Divine Providence 215:9).

     The Writings show that our struggle against evils is a struggle against something we delight in. A striking thing is said about the ease with which we can combat the other delights, if we can overcome the delight of dominating.

The hardest struggle of all is with the love of rule from the love of self. He who subdues this easily subdues all other evil loves, for this is their head (Divine Providence 146).

     The passage from which this remarkable statement comes speaks of two opposite enjoyments. The evil enjoyment "only gives way when it is compelled; and it can be compelled only by combat."

     A NOTABLE 200TH ANNIVERSARY

     Here is the way the entry for the year 1784 begins in Annals of the New Church.

     America. June-James Glen, on his return from London to Demerara, visits the United States to proclaim the Gospel of the Second Advent. He lands first in Philadelphia, where, on June 5th, he delivers a lecture on the Science of Correspondences, etc., at Bell's book store, on Third street. Among his hearers, the following become interested and subsequently embrace the Heavenly Doctrines: Francis Bailey, John Young, Myers Fisher and Mr. James Vickroy, of Johnstown, Pa.
     Mr. Glen, on June 11th and 12th, delivers two more lectures on the Doctrines of the New Church, at the same place, and then travels to Boston, Mass., where he lectures in the "Green Dragon Tavern."
     These lectures constitute the first public proclamation of the Heavenly Doctrines, by the living voice, in America or anywhere else in the world.

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     [Photo of Carl Hj. Asplundh]

     Sessions of the 29th General Assembly will be held this month in at building named "The Asplundh Field House." The story behind the choice of this name begins with the emigration from Sweden in 1882 of a young man by the name of Carl Hjalmar Asplundh. He had learned of the Writings when he was in his teens, and he devoted his extraordinary energies and abilities to serving the cause of the New Church. In 1890 he was business manager of NEW CHURCH LIFE. In 1 897 he was treasurer of the General Church. His descendants have served the church in many ways. People who recall early assemblies talk of the organizing abilities of Carl's son Lester (and of his grandson, Bob). It was at a session of the General Assembly in 1954 that Lester said.

     For a brief moment in time we are called upon, or rather given the privilege, of assisting others to learn the truths of the church. We as individuals are permitted to assist in a work which, in point of importance, far surpasses any other that is given to men.

     At a ceremony of dedication in 1957 Lester Asplundh handed to de Charms the key of the Field House.

     Mr. Asplundh died on May 3, 1984, at the age of 83.

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     [Photo of Lester Asplundh 1901-1984]

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VISITORS TO CHURCH SOCIETIES 1984

VISITORS TO CHURCH SOCIETIES              1984

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

Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania                Colchester, England
Mrs. Anne T. Synnestvedt                Mrs. Donald A. Bowyer
Box 334                                   26 Allanbrooke Road
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                     Colchester, Essex. C02 8EG
Phone: (215) 947-3725                     Phone: 0206-43712

Atlanta, Georgia                         London, England
Mr. and Mrs. John Robertson                Mrs. Geoffrey P. Dawson
5215 Sweet Air Lane                     28 Parklands Road
Stone Mountain, GA 30088                Streatham, London, SW 16
                                   Phone: 01-769-7922

Detroit, Michigan                     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Mrs. Harvey Caldwell                    Mrs. Paul M. Schoenberger          
410 Crane Avenue                         7433 Ben Hur Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067                         Pittsburgh, PA 15208
Phone: (313) 399-9243                    Phone: (412) 371-3056

Glenview, Illinois                         Sacramento, California     
Mrs. Donald Edmonds                     Mr. and Mrs. Courtney D. Scott
2740 Park Lane                              3448 Vougue Court
Glenview, IL 60025                     Sacramento, CA 95826
Phone: (312) 724-2834                    Phone: (916) 364-1044

Toronto, Ont., Canada
Mr. and Mrs. John Parker                San Diego, California
17 Archerhill Drive                    Mrs. Helen L. Brown
Islington, Ont. M9P 5P2                2810 Wilbee Court
Phone: (416) 622-5967                     San Diego, CA 92123

Cincinnati, Ohio                         San Francisco, California
Mrs. Stephen Gladish                     Mrs. T. L. Aye
9065 Foxhunter Lane                     P.O. Box 2391
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242                    Sunnyvale, CA 94087
                                   Phone: (408) 730-1522

     
Tucson, Arizona          
Greta Lyman                              Kitchener, Ont., Canada
1085 West Schafer Drive                Mrs. Maurice Schnarr
Tucson, AZ 85705                          98 Evenstone Ave., R.R. 2
Phone: (602) 887-8367                     Kitchener, Ont. N2G 3W5

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

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

     Kindly call at least two weeks in advance if possible.

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WOMEN AND USES 1984

WOMEN AND USES       KENNETH J. ALDEN       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor,
     Much has been said on the question of whether or not to admit women to the Corporation of the General Church. I wonder if a great deal of this controversy is simply due to the fact that we are trying to fit our ideals into an imperfect, humanly constructed organization. I wonder if our discussion is not made even more complicated by our tendency to think that there are always two, and only two, sides to any issue, and that they are necessarily opposing. In this case, simplistically put, we tend to think we must either be "for" the conjunction of the masculine and feminine in the functions of the church, or we must be "for" the functioning of each sex in its own distinct sphere. I wonder if there is a viable alternative to the currently proposed change in the structure of the General Church Corporation which would more perfectly embody our ideals and which would harmonize both "sides.
     In CL 270 we read of a beautiful palace which represented the dwelling place of conjugial love in the mind. On each of its three floors was a room for the understanding (husband), a room for the will (wife), and a room for their conjunction. Perhaps we can use this palace as the model for the functioning of our General Church Corporation as well.
     Would it be possible to have the whole church, men and women, hold the property and be legally responsible for the General Church, just as husband and wife do in a home? (i.e. have the Corporation consist of both men and women). Would it be possible to have men and women together take responsibility for counseling about which uses should receive support and priority in the church, as husband and wife do in the home? (i.e., take the present Bishop's Council, make it a council of the corporation, and charge it with counselling the Bishop in all major areas of application, not only of ritual but of our resources). Would it be possible to have men and women, in their own spheres, be responsible for duties which seem most suitable to their nature, as husband and wife do in the home? (see CL 174-6). (I.e., have financial committees akin to our board of directors work out the details of the financial and legal matters of the church [as opposed to setting general policy], and have home-making committees akin to our women's guilds become officially as essential contributors to the material corporation of the church.)

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If such possibilities are practical, we might envision the corporation as a single "house," with "chambers" or domains for men, for women, and for both together.
     To my way of thinking, this structuring of the corporation has advantages over both the status quo, and over the present proposal before the church. It seems to be an improvement over the present system in that it officially includes women in the corporate life of the church, and it officially recognizes the Bishop's council as a most vital one for advising the Bishop with regard to uses and policies within the church.
     It seems to be an improvement over the present proposal before the church in that it strongly states our conviction that men and women were created distinct for the sake of conjunction. It gives each sex charge of some important and meaningful use that only it can take responsibility for, ensuring the continued distinctive participation of that sex. If we have an organization which does not state and honor men's and women's distinct contributions (beyond merely advising that we do not at this time nominate women to the board of directors, as the present proposal does), we are that much closer to losing the unique contribution of each sex. Without men and women bringing their unique spheres with them, how can there be the conjunction of the masculine and feminine in our church? Without both functioning together, and each distinctly taking its turn, the uses of the church are endangered (see AC 3889). In the palace mentioned above, there were three chambers on each level, from celestial to natural-from the plane of loves to those of uses.
     In any marriage, there are times for embrace, and times for physical separateness. There are times for holding hands, and times for applying masculine hands to the tasks for which they are suited and feminine hands to the tasks they do best. We should not fear the fact that as angels we will be two in body, as long as we look to being one in soul (see CL 75). In looking to a more ideal structure for our church, let us say by the very structure of our church that we value the contribution of women as women; that we value the contribution of men as men*; and that we especially value the contribution they can make together from their unique qualities conjoined.
     * Note how men tend to drop out of participation in the churches around us. Is this because they have no meaningful role to perform that only they can perform? Is it because, being forms of the understanding, they do not have the will church needs at the end of a long day if someone with more constant will can fill their spot? What kind of a church can we have if we do not keep our men involved? (see CL 122-5).

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     There is much that can be said about this topic-more than can be said in these pages at this time. I invite any interested readers to read my paper entitled, "Masculine and Feminine Offices in the Church." It was circulated to all of the ministers, and I imagine they would not mind if you make a photocopy.
     KENNETH J. ALDEN,
          Berkley, Michigan
PRIEST AND LAYMAN 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN       Tatsuya Nagashima       1984

Dear Editor:
     Your article "Priest and Layman, Hand in Hand" by Rev. Dandridge Pendleton (Nov. 1983) must have aroused a wide interest. As a new lay member of the General Church, being geographically isolated from all practical cooperations with priests and other laymen in the same church (because I am a sole member among 110 million people in my country), I still have found the article worthwhile and important, because, as Mr. Pendleton wrote, concerning the doctrines of priesthood and laity, a cooperative study of the priest with the layman is absolutely necessary. So I will make my contribution here, although I haven't read yet another article on the same topic appearing in the March issue, which is now on its way over the Pacific by sea mail.
     The letter by Rev. Grant H. Odhner in the February issue was also informative. I was able to find out that there is a large variety of understanding among the General Church priests to what extent each Writing can be canonized as the Word of the Second Coming of the Lord.
     I must agree with Mr. Pendleton's good-will proposal that we have to proceed, in New Church education (as well as evangelization), as priests and laymen hand in hand. This is commanded by the Lord as a new commandment to love one another as His disciples (see John 13:34).
     We know that the New Church on earth reflects the heavenly church. Each angel plays a role there for the betterment of the organic whole of the Gorand Man. The church in heaven communicates the Divine influx to the New Church on earth from the Lord. We now here, as the church as well as the church general, cooperate with one another, just as part of the human body works together for the common good of whole body.
     In such an organic cooperation, we clearly notice the difference and of cooperative roles played by each part of the body. Whereas member, organ, viscus with its fibers, nerves and blood vessels is indispensable in working together for the growth and perfection of the whole, their roles in each must be different not only in "kind" but also in its "degree."

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The brain, heart and lungs are much more important than the fingers, toes and hair, because the former sustain the existence and growth of the whole life.
     In the above context, it seems that Mr. Pendleton's "horizontal series shown on page 475, which was primarily founded upon his interpretation of TCR 146, is not so much appealing to my eyes as being considerate to layman's ears. His theory seems to suggest that human cooperation can only be done between the people in the same degree-level so that the priest-layman equality may presumably be needed. It seems to exclude all possible variety and variegation of the work by the Holy Spirit in the church.
     So let me here propose a short thesis on the same topic as follows:

     1. Laymen are able to cooperate with priests, hand in hand, although (or rather because) the latter are more highly enlightened by the Holy Spirit than the former in the degree-level. Each member of the church has his or her vocation for playing an important and indispensable role for the common spiritual good, and their roles are actually performed in their uses which are different in kind and degree. The differences and variety in uses should be left to the mysterious disposition of the Lord who works for His Kingdom as the Divine Human. According to His dispensation, which is unknown to human intelligence, the Lord freely distributes His True and Good with those who are freely chosen by Him. In this regard, although we are equally loved by the Lord, we are not equally disposed by Him.

     2. However, in terms of a mere vessel of life from the Lord, we are entirely equal to one another as human beings. We are all equally inclined to be tempted by the infernal powers. We are equally inflicted with hereditary evils and possibly fall into the hellish traps by committing actual sins. But they still happen to each at different times, levels, degrees, and situations. We can never of course ascribe anything good to ourselves, but even this awareness in the individual mind is given by the Lord at different times, levels and extents. We can say therefore that we are equal as human beings, but we are not equal under the miraculous disposition of the Lord's economics.

     3. In the light of the above, we have to make a clear distinction between "a person" as a human being and "his use" coming from the Lord's disposition. The use done by each member of the church and community is originated in the Lord's Infinite Wisdom. Power or authority comes from this use, and all powers and authority are His, not men's.

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     Laymen listen to the priest's sermon because they simply believe that he is called to his office by the Lord, and his mind must be more highly enlightened and inspired by the Lord than themselves. Laymen are now inspired and encouraged by the Word flowing from the priest's mouth in the church, but they should know that this inspiration comes from the Lord, but only through or by means of their priest's officiating his use as a preacher in the church. No one must ascribe this inspiration to the priest's personal possession, but to the Lord who works through the ministerial office in the church. This is why instead of reading the Word by themselves at home they come to church to listen to the priest's sermon.
     Some laymen might be sometimes more inspired by the Holy Spirit than the priest. This can happen in any New Church group or society in the world. But this takes place only on a private level by the Lord's disposition which is unknown to other people. But the priest's official functioning in the church is openly promised by the Lord, and his enlightenment is somehow guaranteed by Him, as far as he leads his life according to the heavenly doctrines (see Canons, Holy Spirit IV:7). This is because the priest is primarily and chiefly (imprimis) and especially (in specie) installed by the Lord to his office for the spiritual growth of the church specific.

     4. Nevertheless, the above is not always defacto true with any priest or any church on earth, as far as anybody retains his own freedom not to abide by the Lord's invitation and vocation. If he does not apply the Divine truth into his own life, he cannot perform his use in his office to the highest possible degree-level in leading his church. In the worst case, he would become a salary earner supported by the church as a professional church leader or a preacher, just as a businessman is supported by his clients by means of his talent on business transactions.

     5. An intercessory idea in the priesthood mainly comes from a false and mundane cooperation between priest and laymen. The priest intrudes himself between God and layman as a privileged medium for securing his own position in the church organization. And the laymen then look to a human idol through whom they vainly expect salvation. However, an intercessory attitude to the Lord for other people through one's prayers and enthusiasm can be sought by anybody (as with angels in heaven) in the church, much more by the priest who works for the church and for its members' eternal happiness.

     6. In conclusion, let me quote some parts from Heaven and Hell, for believe that the New Church on earth should follow the image of the church in heaven.

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HH 226:      All preachers are appointed by the Lord, and have therefore a gift for preaching. No one else is allowed to teach in the temples.
HH 389:      All things in the heavens are organized in accordance with Divine order, which is everywhere guarded by the services performed by angels, those things that pertain to the general good or use by the wiser angels, those that pertain to particular uses by the less wise, and so on. They are subordinated just as uses are subordinated in     the Divine order; and for this reason a dignity is connected with every function according to the dignity of the use. Nevertheless, an angel does not claim dignity to himself, but ascribes all dignity to the use; and as the use is the good that he accomplishes, and all good is from the Lord, so he ascribes all to the Lord . . . . When use is spoken of, the Lord also is meant.
HH 392:      Any one use is composed of innumerable uses which are called mediate, ministering, and subservient uses, all and each co-ordinated and subordinated in accordance with Divine order . . . . These minister in the preaching office; and in accordance with Divine order there, those who from enlightenment excel others in wisdom are in a higher position/or place (in superior loco sunt). (Emphasis added)
     Tatsuya Nagashima,
          Tokyo, Japan
NAME FOR THE CHURCH 1984

NAME FOR THE CHURCH       John Sabol       1984

Dear Editor,
     In regard to the recommendation of the Denney Report to decide on one name for the church, I submit: 1. THE NEW CHURCH (Of the DIVINE HUMAN Of JESUS CHRIST) and 2. THE NEW JERUSALEM (from the last book of the Gospels). My baptism certificate has on it the name "The General Church of the New Jerusalem."
     There is nothing like setting out well and proceeding on a solid foundation. We should be obliged to show our church name from the Writings, a clear authority for our church. I only desire a good foundation for what we are doing. I can see abundant authority for the title "New Church" or perhaps also "The New Christian Church." The Writings speak of "The New Church signified by the New Jerusalem," in several of the title pages.
With all humility I beg to observe that as "Jerusalem" means the church, to say "The New Jerusalem Church" sounds to my ears something like the New Church Church. If Jerusalem means the church, I presume I may insert the word "church" in the place of "Jerusalem," and then the result is the New Church Church.
     Since we are not "Swedenborgians," and another branch tends to use that term, we would do well to use The New Church or The New Jerusalem.
     John Sabol,
          Iselin, New Jersey

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Church News 1984

Church News       Zoe Gyllenhaal Simons       1984

     BALTIMORE SOCIETY 1981-1984

     The Baltimore society, which is the oldest organized body of the New Church in America, put itself under the leadership of the General Church in June of 1980. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, December 1980 for a description of the rededication.) For the season of 1980-81, Rev. Lawson Smith, then assistant pastor in Washington, served the society with the help of candidates and ministers from Bryn Athyn.
     In September of 1981 Rev. David R. Simons was appointed by the Bishop to become resident pastor, and he has been serving for three years. During these three years it has been his particular effort to develop a greater knowledge and understanding of the Writings, and to acquaint the people with the customs and spirit of the General Church, and bring them into closer association with the neighboring societies in Mitchellville and Bryn Athyn. We might call this an effort at internal evangelization in preparation for the external evangelization and earnestly desired expansion of membership. The Baltimore society has a small but very faithful nucleus, a beautiful chapel on the upper level of a fairly large and functional building. But more people are needed to fulfill its uses and potential.
     One of the first innovations that Pastor Simons instituted was a monthly social supper and class or address. Whenever possible, a speaker was brought in from Bryn Athyn or Mitchellville. In January of 1982, Richard R. Gladish, longtime teacher in the Academy of the New Church, gave a talk on the history of the General Church. In May, Jeremy Simons gave us a talk, with slides, about his experiences in West Africa as a member of the Peace Corps. While there he also visited with many people in Ghana who are readers of the Writings. In September of 1982 Leonard Gyllenhaal, former treasurer of the General Church, talked about his work as treasurer and his many trips to every society all over the world. In October, Stanley F. Ebert, another Academy teacher, now retired, told us about the Academy spirit and his years as Director of Athletics and teacher of languages. In November Rev. Lorentz Soneson, Secretary of the General Church, gave Friday and Sunday classes on conjugial love, and also preached that Sunday. In December, Rev. Donald Rose, Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE and Director of Religion Lessons, came. We had a good class, but unfortunately a snowstorm on Sunday prevented the congregation from coming to hear him at church.
     In June of 1983, Rev. Douglas Taylor came to our 19th of June celebration with his inspiring talk about evangelization. The next October we had the pleasure of Mr. Leon Rhodes, editor of the Bryn Athyn Post and layman extraordinaire (!) giving us a program of slides and commentary of the early days in Bryn Athyn. In November Rev. Martin Pryke, Curator of the Glencairn Museum, gave us a program of slides and information about Glencairn, and also preached for us on Sunday. In December Rev. Mark Alden came up from Mitchellville and told us about his work as a traveling minister in the midwest. Rev. Alfred Acton visited us for Swedenborg's birthday, giving us many interesting facts about Swedenborg's unique preparation to be the revelator, and also preaching a fine sermon. In February we had visits from two candidates for the priesthood, Donald Rogers and Daniel Fitzpatrick, who gave us classes and sermons. In March, David Glenn, archivist from Bryn Athyn, came to study the many valuable documents which are in the files of the Baltimore society.

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He took most of them back to be sorted and catalogued and placed in the General Church archives for safekeeping.
     During these years we have had several festive affairs. The Simonses had an open house luncheon every year in September at their home on the Gunpowder River. Every Christmas we had a great festival service and luncheon. the service being highlighted with special music sung by our choirmaster. Warren Bowerman, and his wife Tommie, and selections by our small choir. Our 1983 Christmas festival was also the occasion of a special luncheon in honor of our faithful organist of many years, Mrs. Evelyn Flanigan, who was forced to retire due to ill health. The society honored her with a silver tray and many tributes to her years of service. I would take this opportunity to especially mention the singing and leadership of Mr. Warren Bowerman who helps our morale as much as his singing fills our chapel in spite of the small congregation, and his solos are most uplifting.
     Another great day featured a day trip to Bryn Athyn by a group of Baltimoreans. They visited the cathedral and Glencairn and Cairncrest, going on a guided bus tour of the Bryn Athyn community and the Academy campus, and lunching at the homes of Roy and Shirley Rose, Stan and Jane Ebert and Leonard and Ruth Gyllenhaal, and before leaving, taking a reviving tea at the home of Bishop and Mrs. Louis King. It was all too much, but it was great!
     In November of 1983, friends from Bryn Athyn and Mitchellville were invited to join with us in a service of worship followed by lunch and a sale of baked goods and "white elephants." This was a brave venture for our little group but went off very well and considerably boosted the finances of our Women's Guild, which faithfully supports our social affairs. In March 1984 we gave ourselves a kitchen shower, bringing gifts of needed equipment for our kitchen which is actually very well equipped and most orderly! But it was a morale booster for the loyal Guild members who cheerfully serve coffee and cake after every service, as well as the lunches and suppers. These social affairs are part of the cement which binds together the human beings who join in worship and instruction. Mrs. J. F. Floyd as Guild president is one who particularly deserves recognition for her leadership. Also Miss Frances Spamer, treasurer of the society and chatelaine of the building, deserves special mention for her continuous and tender loving care of the physical resources of the society.
     During these three years, Rev. Simons has carried on weekly classes with Shelley Garnett who in 1983 went to Bryn Athyn to attend the Girls School, and also with a group of young adults who came to call themselves the Second Quarter (ages 25-50). Three new members of the church resulted from these classes, and two weddings took place from this group!
     Bishop Louis B. King visited three times. In January 1982 he came to give a holy supper service, as Pastor Simons had slipped and broken his knee, which incapacitated him for several weeks! The Bishop next came on a planned episcopal visit in May of 1983 at which time he met with the board and the society discussing matters pertaining to the order and organization of the General Church. In January of 1984 he visited to counsel with the society over the selection of a new pastor to replace Rev. Simons who wished to take full retirement at the end of this season. At each of these times he was accompanied by his charming wife Freya, and gave most inspirational classes and sermons.
     In all, it has been a very happy three years for David and Zoe, who now go into their retirement years. We wish the Baltimore society continual growth and much happiness in their worship of the Lord and performance of uses to Him.
     Zoe Gyllenhaal Simons

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ORDINATION 1984

ORDINATION              1984




     Announcements
     Cooper-At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1984, Rev. James Pendleton Cooper into the 2nd degree of the priesthood.
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1984

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES              1984

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES
Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 9474660.

     AUSTRALIA                    

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

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Jose Lopes de Figueiredo, Rua Desembargador Izidro 155, Apt. 202, Tijuca.

     CANADA

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. William Clifford. 1536 94th Ave., Dawson Creek, V1G 1H1. Phone: (604) 782-3997.

     VANCOUVER
Mr. Douglas Crompton, 21-7055 Blake St., V5S 3V5. Phone: (604) 437-9136.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Christopher Smith, 16 Bannockburn Rd., R.R. 2, N2G 3W5. Phone: (519) 893-7460.

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

     TORONTO
Rev. Geoffrey Childs, 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington, Ontario M9B 424 Phone: (416) 231-4958.

     Quebec:

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

     DENMARK

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

     ENGLAND

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

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 111 Howard Drive, Letchworth, Herts. Phone: Letchworth 4751.

     LONDON
Rev. Robert McMaster, 135 Mantilla Rd., London SW17 8DX. Phone: 672-6239.

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

     FRANCE

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

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Daan Lupker, Wabserveen Straat 25, The Hague.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. Lloyd Bartle, Secretary, 13B Seymour Rd., Henderson, Auckland 8. Phone: 836 6336.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. Eyvind Boyesen, Vetlandsveien 82A, Oslo 6. Phone: 26-1159.

     SCOTLAND

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

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

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

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

     Transvaal:

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

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     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Louisa Allais, 129 Anderson Road, Mandini, Zululand 4490.

     Mission in South Africa:
Superintendent-The Rev. Norman E. Riley, 42 Pitlochry Rd., Westville, Natal, 3630.

     SWEDEN

     JONKOPING
Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, 5-56600, Habo. Phone: 0392-20395.

     STOCKHOLM
Rev. Roy Franson, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma. Phone: 48-99-22 and 26-79-85.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

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

     Arizona:

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

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501.

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Michael Gladish, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone:(213) 249-5031.

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

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Cedric King, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (714) 268-0379.

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

     Colorado:

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

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

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Rev. Glenn Alden, 47 Jerusalem Hill Rd., Trumbull, CT 06611. Phone: (203) 877-1141.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 417 Delaware Ave., McDaniel Crest, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 478-4213.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     LAKE HELEN
Rev. John Odhner, 413 Summit Ave., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2337.

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

     Georgia:

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

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Dr., Chamblee. GA 30341. Phone: (404)457-4726

     Idaho:

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

     Indiana:
Contact Rev. Stephen Cole in Cincinnati, Ohio, or Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051

     Louisiana:

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

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     Maryland:

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

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 132 Kirk La., Troy, MI 48084. Phone: (313) 689-6118.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201.

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

     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Dr. Andrew Doering, 1298 Sagebrush Ct., Rio Rancho, NM 87124. Phone: (505) 897-3623.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. Gordon Smith, 38 Newriver Trace, Clover, SC 29710. Phone: (803) 831-2355.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Stephen Cole, 6431 Mayflower Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45237. Phone: (513) 631-1210.

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

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

     Oklahoma:

     TULSA
Mrs. Louise Tennis, 3546 S. Marion, Tulsa, OK 74135. Phone: (918) 742-8495.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.-Se Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

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

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529.

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

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 7420 Ben Hur St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     ORAL-HOT SPRINGS
Rev. Erik Sandstrom, RR 1, Box 101M, Hot Springs, SD 57747. Phone: (605) 745-6714

     Texas:

     FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 13410 Castleton, Dallas, TX 75234-5117. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14323-123rd NE, #C, Kirkland. WA 98033. Phone: (206) 821-0157.

     Wisconsin:

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

304


Title Unspecified 1984

Title Unspecified              1984

     THE BOOK OF REVELATION
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     THE BOOK OF REVELATION
The Letter and the Internal Sense
of Forty-Nine Selections     postpaid .90

     GENERAL CHURCH BOOK CENTER
Hours 9-12, Monday thru Friday

305


Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984



Vol. CIV     July, 1984     No. 7
NEW CHURCH LIFE

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     In February the Missionary Memo disclosed findings of the Denney, Report on Market Research for evangelization. At the recent Assembly many people had the opportunity to hear an explanation of this report and discussion of its implications for our missionary outlook. This generated interest and enthusiasm. We are glad to have comments in this issue from Mr. Donald Barber of Toronto.
     When a careful and competent review happens also to be a literary gem we feel doubly served. We thank Rev. Kurt Nemitz for this double service, and we also welcome facts sent about the translator, David Gladish. Dr. Gladish received his PhD. in Literature and Philology rhetoric for nineteen years and has professional experience in several from the University of Illinois in 1963. He has taught English and fields of writing.
     This magazine goes to readers in many locations outside the United States. We hope they will bear with us when we publish sermons which were obviously written for American Independence Day. The teachings brought out by Rev. Heinrichs have application to all nations.
     We are also aware that issues of this magazine take a very long time to reach readers in some nations. Those who wish to pay extra to have their copies sent airmail should write to us. We wish we knew of other solutions to this problem of time and space.
     A group of people was asked recently, "What do you read first when you receive NEW CHURCH LIFE?" The majority in this case said that they first read the "Communications." This popular portion of our magazine is this month especially substantial. The address entitled "The Lord Our Father" fits nicely with those letters.
     The Benade biography is advertised in this issue. In commending the author Bishop Pendleton wrote: "Not only has he succeeded in bringing before us the life and times of William Henry Benade, but he has brought together in a highly readable form the heretofore scattered history of the early Academy."
     Next month we hope to feature an article on the New Church and medicine by Dr. J. Daniel Heilman.

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LOVE OF COUNTRY 1984

LOVE OF COUNTRY       Rev. DANIEL W. HEINRICHS       1984

     Independence Day is a day we set aside each year to celebrate the achievement of nationhood by the early settlers of our country. In celebrating this momentous event we should reflect on the qualities of courage and self-sacrifice that were required of those who labored for this outcome. We should also dedicate ourselves to the preservation of that freedom for which they labored and sacrificed. The observance of this occasion also provides a time to reflect upon our country-its state and its needs, and our responsibilities as citizens to our country. In reflecting upon our country and its needs we should endeavor to see in what way we, as individuals, can benefit it.
     That such reflection is necessary admits of no doubt. We live in a very troubled and confused world at a time marked by lawlessness, civil disobedience, terrorism and a sharp decline in moral standards. These disorders are growing and increasing in almost every country in the world. Tried and tested values, such as patriotism, are being called into question, rejected, or re-defined in unrecognizable terms. Affected by this climate of thought and lacking an authoritative source of truth, many well-disposed and sincere people are groping in the dark for answers to the questions that beset mankind in this day and age.     
     But we are under no such handicap. We have been blessed with a revelation of Divine truth which can enlighten our minds to see the problems and their solutions clearly. It is important, therefore, that we avail ourselves of this opportunity-that we search the Word for answers to these problems. In this way we can have a clearer idea of what the uses of our country are; we may gain a clearer insight into its real needs. And, having gained this clearer insight into the needs of our country, we should determine what contribution we, as individuals, can make to promote the real welfare of our country and its inhabitants. In other words, we must translate into action the principles of truth which we have learned from the Word. What does the Word teach concerning country and the love of country?
     As we read in our third lesson, our country is our neighbor, and is, therefore, to be loved. And since it consists of many it is to be loved not as oneself, but more than oneself. It is the neighbor in the highest natural degree. This teaching-that our country is our neighbor-has wide implications. For one thing it means that all the teachings in the Word relating to love to the neighbor and charity apply to our relationship with our country. Our attitude toward our country, the form and quality of our lives as citizens, should be determined from religious principles.

308



     We are further told that the love of one's country is a love inscribed on the human heart (see TCR 414). Since this love is inborn it is the common heritage of all men. But all innate loves with man are natural, and they remain so until they are modified and expressed in accordance with principles of Divinely revealed truths. It is the nature of man from birth to love himself first and foremost. His love for others outside of himself is determined by the extent and degree to which they make one with him and serve his own interests. A merely natural man loves his country because it is his country. Furthermore, the ardency of his love is determined by the benefits he derives from his country. The natural man has self at the center and regards all things round about in relation to self. This is not a true love of country; it is the love of self expressed in a different form and in a larger sphere.
     A true love of country must begin with and be based upon the acknowledgment of the Lord-the acknowledgment that the Lord is the Creator; that everything good and true is from Him, that all true order is from Him, that He is the source of all uses, and that all things have a Divine purpose. When these things are acknowledged in heart, then there is genuine desire to serve one's country and promote the happiness and well-being of its inhabitants. For, the Writings say, "Loving the country is loving the public welfare" (TCR 414).
     When we consider the love of one's country in terms of loving the public welfare, we immediately introduce the concepts of judgment and use into the love of country. In promoting the public welfare we must exercise judgment. Since we are born natural we would do well to bear in mind the following teachings concerning love to the neighbor and how it should and should not be exercised. "The love of the neighbor of one who is in the love of self begins with oneself, for he claims that everyone is neighbor to himself; and it goes forth from him as its center to all who make one with him, diminishing in accordance with the degree of their conjunction with him by love. All outside of this circle are regarded as of no account; and those who are opposed to those in the circle and to their evils are accounted as enemies, whatever their character may be, however wise, upright, honest, or just. But spiritual love of the neighbor begins with the Lord, and goes forth from Him as its center to all who are conjoined to Him by love and faith, going forth in accordance with the quality of their love and faith" (HH 558b).
     Again we read: "Whoever does not distinguish the neighbor according to the quality of good and truth in him may be deceived a thousand times, and his charity become confused and at length no charity . . . . He who from genuine charity loves the neighbor inquires what the quality of a man is, and does good to him discreetly, and according to the quality of his good" (Char. 51, 52).

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"Genuine charity is prudent and wise. Other charity is spurious, because it is of the will or of good alone, and not at the same time of the understanding of truth" (Char. 54).
     These teachings make it clear that our love for our country should not be merely a sentimental feeling derived from our birth in the land, nor founded upon our attachment to the land and climate of our country, nor should it be based upon the common heritage of history and culture which we share with others by virtue of living in the country. It should be the result of a conscious effort to analyze the state of our country and its needs. And it should express itself in an active desire and effort to promote and improve the spiritual, moral and civil life of the country.
     We are taught in the Word that the general good of the country consists in 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 necessities 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 necessities [that is, the necessities of life, the requisites for occupations, and the means of protection]. From these arises the general 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 (thence morality exists by means of the Divine and of justice); and necessities [of life] by means of industrial occupations and commerce" (Char. 130, 131).
     It is clear from this teaching that it is our duty as citizens, and a part of a Life of genuine charity, to promote, support, encourage and develop these uses in our country. It is a spiritual as well as a natural duty to do all that lies within our power to ensure that uses of the church are supported, developed and extended in order that the Divine may be with the men of our country. We have a duty to promote, support and uphold the laws of justice. We have a responsibility to promote morality by word and deed. Education should be promoted in order to increase both the knowledge and the uprightness of all within the country and at the same time equip them to enter more fully into the work and industry of the country. It is our duty to encourage and support efforts to provide for variety and opportunity of employment, for in this way we provide that there may be a sufficiency of wealth in the country to support all the above-mentioned uses. And finally, we should support those forces established to maintain order in the country and protect it against attacks from without, for internal and external security are vital to the existence and continuance of all the other uses of the country.

310



     Not only are we to promote and support all these uses in our country, but, because they are performed by individuals, we are to honor the individuals and respect them on account of those uses. If we are to live a life of genuine charity, if we are to have a genuine love of country, our attitude toward people and groups of people should be determined by the uses which they perform and the zeal with which they perform them, and not according to our personal likes and dislikes. This attitude toward people is essential to the encouragement and support of the uses themselves.
     We have presented here a few of the teachings of the Word which bear on the subject of love of country, and have indicated their application. There are many more. As we have said, all the teachings of the Word concerning charity and love of the neighbor have relation to this subject because our country is our neighbor and, as such, is to be wisely loved and benefitted.
     As we celebrate the establishment of our free and sovereign nationhood, and remember those who diligently labored and sacrificed in order to secure that freedom we now enjoy, let us, as citizens, resolve to seek enlightenment from the Lord's Word so that we may truly and wisely serve our country by promoting and developing its uses; and by encouraging and supporting those who perform them. In this way we will promote the true happiness and well-being of all the inhabitants of our country. Amen.

     LESSONS: I Samuel 17 (portions); John 15:10-17; AC 6818-6822 ELEPHANT 1984

ELEPHANT       DONALD BARBER       1984

     The highlights of the Denney Report on Market Research for evangelization, as presented in the February 1984 Missionary Memo, reminds me of the story of the blind men and the elephant. [Readers who don't know this story, see the note at the end of the article. Ed.] If the elephant represents an ideal program of worship, instruction, social life, evangelization and a charitable reaching out by ministers and laymen to share the Lord's Word with church members and non-
members, then it seems to me that we have developed a variety of views of the elephant, the views being incomplete in most cases.

311



     One survey result is that the appeal of the church to new members is more intellectual than emotional. This is probably the result of many years of emphasis on New Church education and the training of ministers who are students with a thorough knowledge of doctrine. The emphasis seems to be on instruction directed to the understanding. But should we not realize from well-known principles of education that different students learn in different ways? For example, some students do well in a technical school, but do poorly in a liberal arts school, and vice versa. The emphasis on intellectual instruction does not meet the needs and learning strengths of many potential new members-including many teenagers and young adults from families of church members. We should not be surprised at the large percentage of young people from church families who do not become church members. There is part of the elephant which we have not previously seen or properly recognized.
     Although not mentioned in the survey results, it seems to me that church members are generally warm and caring toward those members who regularly participate in church activities. Members enjoy each other's company and enjoy the frequent opportunities to develop friendships with those who share church interests. But how do we show our interest and caring for a church member who ceases to attend church activities for whatever reason, or who attends infrequently? Does our emphasis on leaving people in freedom develop into neglect? Has the church emphasis on intellectual instruction resulted in a church membership which has difficulty reaching out to inactive members, especially to see if we might help a current need? Do we emphasize maintaining the system of church activities to the sometime neglect of church members? Is there more of the elephant which we need to see and understand?
     Certainly the church needs to maintain its intellectual instruction in order to meet the needs of its members. But surely the church needs to develop a greater variety in its instruction in order to reach the large percentage of church young people and the potential new members from outside the church whom present methods of instruction do not reach.
     Several years ago I applied for a job transfer within the company for which I work. Among the battery of tests which I completed was one which indicated that I had poor interpersonal communication skills-that I usually waited for someone else to make a social contact, rather than initiating the contact myself. Are the potential intellectual skills and interpersonal skills of student ministers tested? From my experience, the General Church ministers have strong intellectual skills.

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Does more emphasis need to be placed on interpersonal skills? It would seem so if church instruction should have more emotional appeal.

     Conclusions

     The development of instruction which has an emphasis on intellectual appeal and a lack of emphasis on emotional appeal

     1)      results in a large percentage of church young people not joining the church in adult life because their instructional needs have not been met;

     2)      does not reach a segment of potential new members among non-church adults;

     3)      results in many church members and some ministers who intellectually see the need for evangelization, but who emotionally have difficulty in reaching out to nonchurch members;

     4)      results in a church membership which tends to place emphasis on maintaining the system of church activities to the sometime neglect of the needs of inactive or partially active members;

     5) emphasizes the development of ministers with strong intellectual skills, but where interpersonal skills are not sufficiently emphasized.

     The church organization is like a large moving ship. Time and effort will be needed to change its direction.
     These are some conclusions I have reached after considering part of the Denney Report results. Undoubtedly, I have only a partial view of the elephant. Whether my perceptions are faulty or obscure, for the moment they lead to the reality (for me) of my conclusions. Perhaps other church members will view the elephant differently? If so, the church will benefit from their reactions, observations and perceptions. The church must clearly understand its present condition and situation and how these were reached in order to intelligently plan any changes for the future.
BLIND MAN AND THE ELEPHANT 1984

BLIND MAN AND THE ELEPHANT              1984

     Most readers will be familiar with the story of the blind men who gave very different reports on the nature of the object they felt. One said it was like a tree (having felt only the elephant's leg). Another said it was like a snake (having felt only its tail), and so forth.

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LORD OUR FATHER 1984

LORD OUR FATHER       Rev. GEOFFREY CHILDS       1984

     "The New Church is the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the earth, because it is to worship the one visible God . . . ." ". . . Conjunction with a visible God . . . is like beholding a man. . .on the sea spreading forth His hands and inviting to His arms" (TCR 787). As prophesied in Daniel, this church "shall stand for ages" (Dan. 2:44). This shall be done "by a stone becoming a great rock and filling all the earth" (v. 35), "'rock' in the Word meaning the Lord in respect to Divine truth (TCR 788), especially that His Human is Divine: He is visible, the Person, Human in form and even shape.
     The former churches up to the Christian Church knew the Lord Jehovah as He appeared through an angel, and in this they lacked an essential. The Christian Church saw the Lord incarnate fleetingly, but Soon lost the essential truth about His nature.
     It is to the New Church that He has revealed the essential of all truths: that He is Divine Man, that is, that He is Divinely Human. We know this phrase: the Divine Human, but do we know its importance, its meaning? It is the concept, the central concept, of the Lord in His Divine Human that can make the New Church the crown of all churches. It is the vision of the Lord God Jesus Christ, in His Divine Human, that gives this planet a use which is powerful and unique in our galaxy and perhaps in the whole universe. The Lord has given our planet an essential truth for the universal Gorand Man: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2: 10).
     The Divine Human means the Lord of creation is a "Man," in form, and when truly thought of, even a Man in shape and appearance (see AC 7211). He comes in a "personal human form" (Cor. 48). The Lord is the Human Being. This is the utterly key concept that He has revealed now to the New Church, and thus to all the universe. The forces working against this truth, and against this perception, are many and fierce, from every level of hell and from every level of finite appearances. Yet the truth has been revealed, and it will eventually triumph because it is from Him!
     Rev. J. Clowes, that early pioneer of the New Church, saw the truth when in a dream-vision the words Divinum Humanum were blazed in the sky of his mind-an inner vision of love which changed his whole life. So, prayerfully, should it be for us.
     The Lord is our Father-"our Father in heaven" to whom we pray daily. Yet to see and feel Him closely, as He comes right to us and touches us, is at times so difficult.

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To knock that the Lord is Divinely Human is one thing; to see this, and more important, to feel this, is entirely another. I spoke to a friend in the New Church once about prayer, and he was telling, me about how important it was for him to pray, and how vital a doctrine this is; how we in the General Church don't really use prayer. I was very much interested, and asked him how this prayer affected him personally, what it did for him. I was genuinely astonished to have him say that it didn't really work for him, that it didn't really help-that he could not find the Lord while he prayed, and in fact he hardly felt any contact with the Lord Himself.
     This problem has perhaps its counterpart in many of us. It is as the Lord Jehovah said to Moses: "Thou canst not see My face, for there shall no man see Me, and live . . . I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by: and I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back . . . but My face shall not be seen" (Ex. 33:18-23).
     It is sometimes disturbing to us that we are told to love a Lord we cannot see. It seems difficult at times to love God when we cannot visualize His appearance. We have not seen Him as a physical Person; we do not know Him directly with our own eyes. This lack of sight of the Lord may even make religion seem ephemeral, somewhat meaningless in this material world. Sometimes even when our minds are in a state of perception, study of the Word does not lead us to a direct seeing of the Lord. Rather, we are as Moses, in one small clift of the rock of truth; and when we would see the glory and warmth of the Lord, instead He covers our eyes with His hand, and we see Him only from the back. It is as spoken of by a very early Christian writer, Paul: "We know in part, and we prophesy in part. For . . . we see in a mirror dimly" (I Cor. 13:9, 12)
     There are other difficulties in seeing the Lord. We are told that the Lord is the Word. Yet the Word we see with our eyes is a book. In our high chancel, on the altar, is the Word as a book. We know this is not the Human Lord.
     We are sometimes told that the Writings are the Lord in His Divine Human. Yet the Writings are a series of books, and how can we picture the Lord as a series of books?
     Although we know the Lord is the Divine Man, we have been warned about thinking too sensually about this, cautioned against thinking about Him in terms of one drawing or painting or picture; that this is too limiting, too ultimately defined, and can lead to an over-personalizing and over-sentimentalizing the Lord.
     All this can have the effect of leaving us without a Lord-at least a Lord we can feel close to, and responsible to, and can love deeply.

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     This is not just an intellectual problem, something of the thought or head. A sense of loneliness and isolation hurts many human hearts. Many have very few close friends. This being the case, don't we above all need to feel close to the Lord-seek His warmth and help, and then turn outward in warmth and help to others?
     One reason the Lord came to earth was so that we can know Him and picture Him. Yet while He was on earth, probably no one, except the wise men, knew He was Jehovah Incarnate. Not even Mary, His physical mother, knew, though "she pondered these things in her heart" (Luke 2:19). His own apostles did not know, except perhaps in fleeting perception when He was transfigured.
     It was not until Easter, when the Lord had risen from the tomb, that the amazing truth began to dawn. He appeared before His disciples in His risen Human, the glorified Divine Human. And the greatest of all perceptions came-the realization that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all creation! This truth came even to Thomas, the doubter, who had said: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).
     Knowing Thomas' doubts, the Lord in time appeared before him, and said: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God" (John 20:27, 28).
     When the Lord came on earth and put on a human, and then glorified this, He did this so that He could be seen and loved-seen and known even by the natural mind and eyes. The disciples saw Him, and this utterly convincingly, so that even Thomas the doubter believed. Twice He revealed His glorified Human in ways that touch the thought and the heart: on the mount of transfiguration, as He prayed with Peter, James and John, "His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as light" (Matt. 17:1, 2); and then to John on the Isle of Patmos, "I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt . . . with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire . . ." (Rev. 1:12-14). "And His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" (Rev. 1:16).
     Here is our Lord, clearly revealed to us. He was so seen by His disciples. This sight sustained the faith of Christians for hundreds of years. Yet now many generations have risen who have not seen the risen Lord with their own eyes.

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The first of all truths began to be obscured, until finally the vision of the Lord as our Father and as Divinely Human has been well nigh lost to the first Christian Church.
     Yet in the New Church, with the beauty of the new Word, this should not be the case. We should see the Lord as fully and as convincingly as did Thomas. If our vision is dim, it is because it is obscured by a false approach, and false ideas. And this dimness may come from some of the same falsities that obscured the perception of the former Christian Church. And yet what is the truth? What can lead us to the true sight of the Lord, our Father and Maker?
     The Writings reveal: "Loving the Lord does not mean loving Him in respect to His Person, but it means loving the good that is from Him" (HH 15). That is, we are to love the good of the Lord, His qualities, and not the person of the Lord alone. This is a familiar truth, well known in the church. Yet to know a truth is not the same as seeing it. In the case of this most vital principle, the truth is there, but we tend to think in terms of persons, and of what our physical senses see.
     The teaching that we should think of the Lord from His qualities first, and not from His person, may therefore seem abstract-too theological and remote; and yet this teaching is the most real teaching in creation! It is the foundation truth of spiritual perception.
     In the case of friendship on earth, if we really love someone, we think of his or her character first, and then of person and looks. His appearance is secondary, and follows along from love. Sometimes we cannot even picture the face of someone we love most tenderly! In the conjugial, love is the first, appearance is secondary.
     To love is to love what the person really is-his heart and mind. So also in loving the Lord this principle would help us to understand these teachings in the Word:

Everyone who thinks of God only from Person, and not from Essence, thinks materially; also he who thinks of the neighbor only from form, and not from quality . . . (AR 611).

All who think from themselves or from the flesh about God think of Him indeterminately, that is, without any determinate idea; whereas they who think of God. . .from the spirit think about Him determinately, that is, they present to themselves an idea of the Divine under human form (AC 8705:5; cf. AE 696a:5).

. . . That God is man can scarcely be comprehended by those who judge all things from the sense conceptions of the external man, for the sensual man . . . think[s]. . . if God were a man, He would be as large as the universe . . . (HH 85).

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[A master speaking to his boy pupils in the other world said:] Therefore. my pupils, think of God from His essence, and from that of His person . . . (AR 611).

The Lord's Human, after it was glorified . . . [can] be thought of . . . as the Divine love in human form (AC 4735:2).

     With the Lord, it is His most powerful, tender and gentle love that reveals Him: this love and its wisdom. "This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you"(John 15:12). As to quality and essence, He is love itself, and thence wisdom itself. Behold the Lamb of God-innocence itself!
     But this does not mean that He is not a Man, or not a Person! That He is a Person is seen from His birth on this earth, and His life's ministry. As the Divine Person, He rose from the sepulcher. He is a person in form and shape (see AC 7211, AR 839, AC 8760:2).
     And now He is revealed to us fully in His Divine Human. Those two words, Divine and Human, summarize the whole new doctrine of the Lord: He is Divine as to quality, and this Divine comes to us now in a glorified Human form and shape. All that is truly human-all the qualities and characteristics in our closest friends that are genuine and we deeply love-these human qualities come from His Human. And that Human, right with us, is Divine, full of compassionate love and
understanding.
     What is the Lord in His Divine Human in the New Church? Not a book, not even Divine Truth by itself. John saw Him as He is: "His eyes were as a flame of fire . . . His countenance as the Sun shining in its strength" (Rev. 1). He is a PERSON. He is Divine Love-it shines in His eyes. He is Man, Divine Man: the most loving Person in all creation. But, He is more than Jesus Christ as revealed only in the New Testament. He is Jesus Christ now fully revealed, in His glory. He is the "spirit of truth" disclosed in the new Word, that guides to "all truth" (John 16:13). It is because the Lord is now fully revealed that the New Church is to be "the crown of all churches." There is a new vision not disclosed to the first Christian church.
     The new quality now revealed in our one Lord is so beautifully called the "Comforter" by John the apostle. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance . . . Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:26, 27; cf. AE 1232).
     We so desperately need the Lord's comfort and compassion, His mercy and wisdom in the deepest issues of human life.

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How do we find inner happiness in marriage? Why does the Lord permit sickness and terrible tragedies? How are we raised out of our evils? How has He ordered creation? What is He truly like in His inmost loves and thoughts? What are His promises to us, in life on earth, state by state? It is these things the Comforter reveals to us in His new Word: in such works as Conjugial Love, The Divine Providence, Divine Love and Wisdom, Arcana Coelestia, and other books of the Writings. Here in tender and gentle terms, albeit rationally unfolded, the Lord reveals all truth, speaking right to our hearts if we will only listen.
     These truths of the new Word are the "spirit of truth"; and of this Spirit the Lord said: "He shall glorify Me" (John 16:14). This is what the Writings are-the glory of spiritual truth. They glorify the Jesus Christ disclosed in the New Testament! This is why it is said that the "Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30). The Lord is now fully revealed-His outer and inner nature in the New Testament, and His deeper inner nature in the Writings. In fact, the Old and New Testaments and the Writings are what reveal fully the Divine and Human nature of our one Lord (see TCR 109:2 and AC 4211:3).
     We should not then think of the Writings as abstract rational doctrine, far removed from the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. Rather, the inmost remains within us can perceive a great secret: the Writings are Jesus Christ talking directly to our minds and hearts; and thus the Writings glorify Him! (See Inv. 44.)

     A Possible Major Mistake in the New Church?

     How do we picture our Father in heaven, Jesus Christ? If we think of Him from His qualities of love, innocence and compassion, of wisdom and justice, then a picture will be given to us by Him, a picture of Him from the reasoning of love, the self-evidencing reason of love. We will know Him, and have a picture of Him in our hearts, and this picture will have a finite form and shape (see AC 7211, AR 839, AC 8760:2). It must have this in order to have any picture of Him at all in our minds. He will come to us in "a personal human form" (Cor. 48). When He glorified His Body, He became Divinely present in ultimates: able to appear to each of us visibly, adapting our finite idea of Him to show us His glorified, loving person (AC 8760:2). "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
     Nor should we in the New Church do away with such an ultimate picture of Him. We need it. It makes Him human for us. We may well prefer an inner picture drawn for us by Him in His Divine Love. Or we may wish an outward picture too-and this is not wrong. It is needed by our children, and it is needed in some form by us too.

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Carvings and paintings of the Lord, if not too explicit, may even adorn our homes and chancels. We are not to think from these portrayals, but down into them from His qualities and love. There is power in ultimates, if the inner love and sight is there. We may prefer more than one painting or drawing lest our idea becomes too fixed and does not grow (see HH 55), or a carving that is not too explicit. But to remove all human form in picturing the Lord in our churches and homes may be a serious, a major, mistake, tending to remove the Divine truth that He is a Person in form and shape, and should be so worshiped. While carefully protecting what is genuine, we also need to be on guard against self-intelligence which "prefer[s] an invisible God" (HH 82). There is an absolute need for a "determinate" idea of the Lord (AE 696:5).
     "All who acknowledge and worship any other God than the Lord the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah God Himseif in human form, sin against the first commandment"-if they do this knowingly (TCR 296). "If a wise man were to see a picture of one Divine person with rays of heavenly light about His head and with the inscription over it, 'This is our God, at once Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, and therefore the Saviour,' would not that wise man kiss this picture, carry it home in his bosom, and by the sight of it gladden his own mind, and the minds of his wife and his children . . . ?" (Ibid.)
     Note that the inscription first gives His qualities, and then He is pictured as perhaps He appeared at His transfiguration, when "His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as light" (Matt. 17:2). Would not such a picture, if rightly understood, "gladden" our hearts and minds, as it does the wise man and his family spoken of in TCR 296?

     "Inviting to His Arms" (TCR 787)

     To have a doctrinally correct idea of the Lord is first something of the head or intellect. But to be conjoined with Him is then something of the heart. Alienation, loneliness, inability to find and love the Lord-these things are of the heart. What blocks us off from Him?
     "To think of God as in a human form is implanted in every man who receives influx from heaven . . . . Those that have rejected [this] influx by self-intelligence prefer an invisible God, while those that have extinguished it by a life of evil prefer no God" (HH 82).
     If we really need the Lord, from what is innocent, He will be there. He appeared to Mary Magdalene first when He rose on Easter morning, because she needed His presence. He then appeared to Peter, for Peter felt unworthy and devastated because he had thrice denied the Lord whom he loved.
     Swedenborg in his Journal of Dreams went through the most vastating states, seeing from the heart feeling-how unworthy and conceited he was.

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It was to this man who knew he was unworthy that the Lord appeared. Swedenborg cried out: "'And oh! Almighty Jesus Christ, that Thou of Thy so great mercy deign to come to so great a sinner. Make me worthy of Thy grace.' I held together my hands and prayed, and then came forth a hand, which squeezed my hands hard. Straightway . . . I continued my prayer, and said, 'Thou hast promised to take to grace all sinners; Thou can do nothing else than keep Thy word.' At that same instant I sat in His bosom, and saw Him face to face: it was a face of holy expression, and in all it was indescribable, and He smiled so that I believe that His face had indeed been like this when He lived on earth" (Journal of Dreams 54).
     Is this sentimental? It seems that way if prior preparation has not gone before. Essential prior preparation is despair-despair over one's conceit and pride; for the Lord comes to our hearts only if we are in genuine humiliation. "Humiliation is the essential of all adoration and of all worship . . . the Divine of the Lord cannot flow into a proud heart . . . Those who a re in humiliation remove themselves from the Lord, for the reason that they regard themselves as unworthy to approach the most holy Divine" (AC 9377). He comes then, and lifts them up.
     Basically, it is our own lack of regeneration that blocks us off from full conjunction with the Lord. We come near to Him through the steps of rebirth. As little children, we know and love Him as our Lord and heavenly Father, feeling His love and protection through the love and care of our parents. Then, in adult life, if we shun evil and pray for His enlightenment, He comes to us in the beauty of truth: we are aware of Him primarily as the most beautiful light. Later in mid-adult life He may come to us more closely, in our love of the neighbor. He is felt then essentially as warmth in our love for others. And finally He may come right to us, welcoming us at last to His arms, in our discovery of love of the Lord. He would always welcome us sooner, but we are not ready, except in states of despair in temptation, or when we pray to Him out of real need, basically spiritual need. His personal presence breaks through when needed!
     Angels said to Swedenborg: "We in heaven recite the Lord's prayer daily . . . and we do not then think of God the Father, because He is invisible; but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in this He is visible, and in this He is called by you Christ, but by us the Lord; and thus to us the Lord is our Father in heaven" (AR 839; cf. TCR 113:6). And there is this number in the Spiritual Diary: "The mercy of the Lord is universal toward all and each, but yet is greater toward angels because they are orphans and widows they have no other father nor husband than the Lord, for they do not trust in themselves" (SD 2226).

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     When we were infants, our mother and father took the place of the Lord, in terms of inmost love. Gradually, as we grow up, there is a transfer of this tender love away from parents and to the Lord. But this is a lifetime process, since earliest remains are in the inmost of the mind, where infantile sensations are allied with the celestial angels, and identified with mother and father. But eventually (later in life than realized since inmost planes are being dealt with) there should be a complete transfer from parent to the Lord as our only Father.
     There is the powerful teaching in AC 1068 1, which treats of the literal phrase, "thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk" (Ex. 34:26)-"the good of innocence of a later state is not to be commingled with the truth of innocence of a former state" (cf. AC 9301, AC 3519:7).
     In infancy, a truth of innocence is that a parent stands for the Lord. This necessary association, especially with the mother, is to be replaced in the heart in adult life. The good of innocence in a later state is that the Lord is our Father. Like the angels, we may come to be "orphans and widows"-not in a devastating sense, since parents are still deeply loved. But in a beautiful, liberating sense. For all the tender and gentle loves we felt for our parents are then transferred to their true origin. The Lord becomes a person then, most close, and loneliness and alienation leave our hearts. Truly, He holds us in His arms, as He held Swedenborg, and as He invites all in TCR 787.
     That this being conjoined with the Lord happens gradually is a truth that can give us patience and enable us to wait while being faithful. "Little by little" we draw near Him. How is this done? In closing, we would suggest a series of principles for your thought.

     a)      Read the Word! It is by means of the Word that there is "conjunction of heaven with the world and thus of the Lord with man"(HH 258). The Lord is not a book; but He is the Divine Truth, that is, it is from Him and thus is Him (see John 1:1). The Word elevates man above sensuous spheres, and into the light of heaven (see AC 6201). "The Word conjoins man with the Lord . . . Man has life by means of the Word" (SS 3; cf. AE 1111, AC 4687, SD 6025; see also re "White Horse" Rev. 19:11. AR 820-828).
     b)      "If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love" (John 15:10). Once in adult life, the perception comes that the Word is the Lord's, then love is shown by the willingness to compel oneself to obey the Word. It is realized that there is still much in the heart and thought that is unregenerate, that cuts one off from the Lord (see AC 1937).
     c)      We must do our occupation faithfully and honestly. Through occupation the Lord leads us into regeneration, and the discovery of spiritual use. Such use expresses above all else our love of the Lord (see Div. Love XIII, and AC 7038).

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John the apostle represents such love of use, and that is why "the Lord loved him more than the rest . . . because he represented . . . uses" (AC 7038).
     d)      And He comes to us, and conjoins Himself with us, when we come to the Holy Supper with genuine preparation, when we are able to give up merit, and ascribe all that is good and true to the Lord, "The whole of the Lord and the whole of His redemption are present in the Holy Supper. He is present as to the glorified Human, and as to the Divine from which the Human is" (TCR 716).
     e)      The Writings give a use and function to prayer not often appreciated. "Prayer . . . is speech with God . . . If man prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, there then comes forth in the prayer something like a revelation (which is manifested in the affection of him that prays) as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy" (AC 2535; cf. AC 10299, AE 248:4, AR 278, AC 8179, AC 6619, AR 376).
     f)      Take time to enjoy the flowers! We are allowed to step back from the hurry of life and to reflect upon the beauty of the Word and its astounding promise of eternal life in heaven. The deep contentment in this can come down and make all nature alive as the work of the fingers of God, the Divine Artist. Simply put, it is right to lake time to be happy: happy in the beauty of the Lord in creation, and in His promise of life forever in heaven. This quality of life is represented by Asher in the Word, and its meaning is touchingly unfolded in the Arcana.

     Conclusion

     Our idea of the Lord qualifies everything in our life. How lucky we are to see and know that He is Jesus Christ, now speaking to us in the Writings. He has been transfigured in the trinal Word! Through regeneration, through living prayer to Him, we can gradually come to see that He is our Father, our only Father, who would take us by the hand and lead us to heaven.
     How vital it is to know that He is visible. From His Essence, revealed in the Writings, He can now come to our thoughts and hearts in His Person. From His glorified Divine Human, He can look into our minds and see what within our finite thinking can make Him truly visible to us (see AC 8760:2). Here is a key doctrinal point: because He glorified His Body, He can appear livingly and visibly to our finite minds. The Lord conjoins Himself with us by "putting on something finite, and thus by accommodation to reception" (Ibid). We don't worship a God who is nowhere visible-we worship the Lord Jesus Christ who stands gloriously upon the sea and invites us into His arms (see TCR 787)!

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Because the Lord's nature or essence is now fully disclosed in the Writings, this visible finite picture of the Lord is one that can make the New Church the crown of all the churches.
     The Lord so loves the human race, and each of us, that it is beyond our comprehension. He reveals much of this love in tenderest passages in the Writings, especially in the Arcana Coelestia 2034. Here it speaks of how He knew that His glorified Divine Human would be the means of saving the human race, and in this He found His "inmost joy." He cautions too that to approach Him worthily, we must come with worship and humility. That is, we are to approach Him from the affirmative principle and not the negative principle wherein hides the serpent, that devil desiring to kill the Man Child (see AC 2568).
     To see the Lord is a matter of love, of the will. Correct principles of approach by the understanding are essential: these are the truths that need to be married to goods. But in the end, we find the Lord in the will, in the heart. Then He truly becomes visible to us, so that what may cut us off from Him is also of the will-our conceit, and that "old serpent . . . which deceives the whole world" (Rev. 9). There must be a judgment of our own imaginary heaven and false earth before He comes with power and great glory. But He is waiting, and "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). We pray: "O come Thou blessed Lord, O come Incarnate Word. Hallelujah! We follow 'til the halls we see, where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee" (1966 Liturgy, p. 455)
REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz       1984

Seeing's Believing-A Swedenborg Reader on Faith by David Gladish (translator); General Church Press, $1.50

     A number of the Christmas cards I always get each year are charming personal photographs, bright clusters of color to let me see for myself how well things are with distant friends and family members I have little, and sometimes never, seen. And every year as I open these endearing snapshot biographies I say to my wife, "We should send out a picture card like this next Christmas ourselves." Human nature obviously finds a special pleasure in acquainting friends with its loved ones.
     Such a picture of the New Truth from the Lord that means so much to us has just become available: Seeing's Believing-A Swedenborg Reader on Faith, published by the General Church Press. This appealing twenty-seven page booklet is composed of a new translation, by David Gladish, of selected passages from the Doctrine of Faith, together with related material from the Arcana, the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, and the True Christian Religion.

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     Dr. Gladish's translation filled me with such a familial glow of satisfaction when I first looked through and then read it that I said to myself, I am going to buy a box of these and send them out to my list of friends and acquaintances to whom I have mentioned the Writings and the New Church.
     But of course this "picture" I send out will be more in the nature of an artist's portrait than a photograph. It would be the same, however, if I sent out a whole book of the Writings. It too would be a translation, and any translation will always be a portrait, the work of a human hand, not of a dispassionate machine.
     The art of portraiture will doubtless persist no matter how clever the computerized future becomes. The secret of portraiture seems to be its ability to do something a mere machine alone never can capture the smile, the living something that radiates from a person. There is a similar vital essence flashing from the pages of each of those sacred books which constitute the Word of God with us. The inner meaning of Divine Revelation, its spiritual sense, is this living soul; and, we are told, it is formed of the heavenly affections themselves that lie within the words (see AC 1492). Actually conveying these warm heavenly affections in another language is the art of translation (which doubtlessly depends, above every other art, upon a certain Divine inspiration, however unconscious of it the translator may be).          
     The question of inspiration aside, some translations succeed in this art better than others. Translations cannot but differ: each translator can view the original through no other eyes than his own. If I may attempt a simile, I would say that the school of translation that has been dominant in the field of English language translation of the Writings up to a few years ago has been like the Flemish painters of the early Renaissance who placed great emphasis on reproducing the style and detail of the clothing draping their subjects, even down to the spider-fine lines of the lace. It is not surprising that the heads of their royal figures often stare with a look of unnatural, stiff indifference. As a result I, in 1984, find these portraits of more interest as an historical comment on the mentality of a time long past than I appreciate them for any personal relationship stirred in me for the living human beings they are intended to represent. In a similar way translators of the Writings up till recently have tended, from a doubtlessly sincere reverence, to give great attention to reproducing the details of the original Latin with painstaking exactitude.

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     Now, however, positioned by the hand of Providence at a different angle, translators are seeing the new revelation in a new light. Dr. David Gladish, the translator of the little work before us, views Swedenborg's theological writing as "reportage"-Swedenborg's scientifically but poetically sensitive mind's account of what the "Lord Himself taught him." In his brief, casually lucid introduction-as neat and palatable an invitation to Swedenborg's theological writing as I can remember having tasted-Dr. Gladish remarks, "He may be the least didactic writer you have ever read. He writes in the spirit of spreading the facts before you-take them or leave them, but take them or leave them on your own conviction, never his say-so." This characterization is unquestionably a valid one. Swedenborg's theological Latin style is unmistakably different from that which he flourished in his prior personal works presenting his own scientific and philosophical theories. The language of the Writings, which deals with facts not theories, is far simpler and more straightforward.
     In Seeing's Believing: the translator captures this clear, direct quality. To appreciate how he has succeeded let us look at a paragraph from Seeing's Believing side-by-side with the same Doctrine of Faith passage, no. 32, from the familiar, turn-of-the-century version.

     Seeing's Believing

     "To some it seems that the knowledges of good and truth which precede faith are faith, but they are not. To think you believe and say you believe does not mean you believe. The knowledges that precede faith are not faith, because they have to do with just thinking things are true without inwardly recognizing that they are. Faith that things are true without knowing that they are is a kind of persuasion far removed from inward recognition."

Potts' Translation, Sw. Foundation

     "Knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth that precede faith appear to some to be things of faith (or real belief), but still they are not so. Their thinking and saying that they believe is no proof that they do so, and neither are such knowledges things of faith, for they are matters of mere thought that the case is so; and the faith or belief that they are truths, while it is not known that they are so, is a kind of persuasion quite removed from inward recognition."

     Dr. Gladish's work is a definite step forward, wouldn't you say? But is it all perfect then? Scarcely. What portrait, even by as supreme a master as Rembrandt, is without a few discoverable flaws? There are a handful of words whose hue or proportion doesn't always strike me as matching the original precisely. To speak of the necessity of "avoiding" what is "bad," for example, doesn't seem intense enough.

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The Latin malum is as strong as ever and should still be rendered by that coal-black epithet-evil; and although "avoid" is a more current and usable word than "shun," it doesn't quite convey that sense of a frightened leap away inherent in the original fiugio. There are besides these a few other expressions, such as "a lot of people" and "nobody" that my eye finds perhaps too everyday gray; and one or two that are a shade too bright, such as "bias" instead of "affection," and where a plain Latin phrase meaning "would immediately die" is recolored to "what else would keep it alive?"
     How difficult the art of portraiture must be-to capture the mobile face of the original without creating a mere caricature.
     Viewed as a whole, there is nonetheless, as I have intimated, a harmonious consistency of good, contemporary style in Seeing's Believing that rather closely matches my impression of Swedenborg's own direct, inspired formulation. Therefore it was a little jarring to find the text's quotations from the Old and New Testaments reproduced in the antiquated, seventeenth century language of the Authorized King James Version. This is as anachronistic as would be a painting of a 1980s corporate executive sitting at his desk with a feather quill pen in his hand and an inkstand before him.
     And one final, serious critical regret, which in no way reflects on the translator's conscientious work. This marvelous introduction to the new formulation of religious truth the Lord God has mercifully given mankind in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg has been printed without the customary identification telling the year and place of publication! Suppose someone, somewhere, chances to find an orphaned copy of Seeing's Believing, is deeply affected by its contents and wants to contact the author or publisher! (Providential little miracles like this happen several times in every decade.) How would this grateful, hungering soul find out where to turn for more of this Divine Truth he now longs for?
     In every copy of this Reader on Faith that I give away I make sure to put an address-here in Maine, that of the Bath Society's Book Center. Please be sure you do something similar-until a second edition is published that includes the address of the General Church Press or Book Center. Certainly demand will be such that a republication will be soon necessary. for what New Church man or woman whose life has been stirred and sustained by the rationally soul-satisfying, spiritual essence of Divine truth given in the Writings will not find frequent occasion to put a copy of Seeing's Believing into the hands of his valued friends and acquaintances?
     Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz

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EDUCATION THAT STICKS 1984

EDUCATION THAT STICKS       REY W. COOPER       1984

     This essay will address two General Church concerns: 1. Why, from our very considerable effort, have we not produced more active and dedicated New Church men and women? 2. Why have we not accomplished more in spreading the church to the rest of the world? The basic assumption is that we would like to have done so in both cases. These were high priorities in the minds of the Academy's founders, and New Churchmen everywhere would like to be able to help in increasing the percentage of Academy graduates who will become active and dedicated New Church men and women, thus more likely missionaries. Let no one view this effort as any kind of criticism. I am acutely aware that I am not a professional educator, and was, in fact, not even a good student. For that very reason I would like to suggest some points from the perspective of one who went through the Academy, failed to get part of the message (through no fault of the Academy), and thinks he can see some ways by which he might have fared better. If such is true in my case, could it not be equally true for some others who did not become active and dedicated New Churchmen? It is by raising to a higher level underachievers that we might find one path toward wider success.
     Two elements of the educational process are the message and the methods by which it is taught. 'Methods' will get most of the attention here.
     For many students large portions of that message are not absorbed when presented, or if learned at first are pretty well forgotten with the passage of time. The solution to this dilemma is to make students out of non-students and to implant permanently in their minds what they need to know.
     Is this changeover to good students not vastly more important than the subject matter of a course, and, in fact, a prerequisite to any learning?
     While not universally so, the competent ones are more likely to get the message. Furthermore, it is a sad fact that a student who cannot perform adequately when entering high school is quite likely to go through his four years (and far beyond) with the very same disability. Therein lies the terrible tragedy. For inability to perform as a student is only the beginning of a long series of inadequacies. High school lasts only four years, but the fallout from the experience is lifelong.
     On the other side of the coin, competence at school breeds that confidence which alone can lead to achievement in every facet of life-even the social one.

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Therefore a very high priority must be given to helping the student find that confidence.
     It seems to me that there is a first basic requirement to set the young person on the path to confidence. It is the knowledge and the conviction from experience that achievement, success, happiness and in fact real living cannot be present until he does things from himself, thus without the continuous guidance and persuasion of others. That is the spark that ignites his blaze of performance. Many have mastered this concept well before arriving at the door to high school, and that is all to the good, but those who have not simply must be brought aboard.
     We can help him see, through repeated suggestion and encouragement, that for everything he does now in his day-to-day life, he could assume personal responsibility. He could get himself up on time, prepare himself properly for the day, keep his room clean and orderly, get his clothes into the laundry as required, be prompt for breakfast, get to school on time, keep always up-to- date on homework, perform his chores-all without prompting from Mom or Dad. With this as a base, he can just naturally be helped into planning and accomplishing other activities. As he learns the importance of sticking to a schedule he can be shown that the establishment of order far outweighs the significance of all the little chores, and further, that self control is the means by which he can keep his life in order.
     Education could be defined in general terms as the implantation of knowledges and affections which can be called upon in later life to help in the solution of problems. Therefore, firstly, the knowledges must be presented to the individual. Secondly, they must be fixed in the memory. The first is a futile exercise without the second. And yet many students experience throughout high school only the first. Could it not be otherwise?
     In this regard we might "reflect" upon a Spiritual Diary passage which says, "When reflection is absent not anything comes into the memory, as is sufficiently evident; although the human sight is diffused into thousands and thousands of objects, yet nevertheless, the memory retains none of them upon which he has had no external reflection. In like manner, when he thinks, that upon which he has had reflection the memory retains. In a word, without reflection nothing is infixed in man" (SD 2593).
     Obviously, the assignment of homework and the stimulation of classroom discussion are designed to promote such reflection. Is it possible that deeper and more prolonged discussion, after more careful reflection, might result from a different classroom format? Suppose the period were split into two parts.

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The last portion of each class would be devoted to the teacher's presentation of new material, answering some questions and assigning homework. It would be clearly understood that a full discussion of this new material, in which all students were expected to participate, would occupy the first segment of the next class. Besides a modest amount of compulsion, this would provide opportunity at home, away from any stressful situation, for the student to practice this essential reflection. It still allows also for the next day's clarification of any misunderstandings. A teacher told me that this sounds O.K. but that experience shows that the student will likely not spend time at home in reflection. Therefore, he must not expect merely the opportunity to respond in class, but the obligation to do so, his grade depending upon it. It will of course take time to establish the practice, because accomplishment is ever the child of persistence. But this matters so much to the student, compared with the maintenance of a time schedule in presenting the subject matter.
     No one questions the value of discussion, whose value is fortified in CL 183:2e thus, ". . . the angels said, let us have an exchange of speech by questions and answers; for when a subject is taken in solely from hearing, the perception of it does indeed flow in, but unless the hearer thinks of it from himself, and asks questions, it does not remain."
     Of course, reflection and exchange of speech are not the whole story. We learn from AC 4018:2-"As to the things which enter the memory, the case is this. The things which enter without affection enter into the shade of it; whereas those which enter with affection come into the light there; and these are seen and appear clearly and livingly at every excitation of a like thing; but not so those which lie hidden around in the shade. The affection which is of love is attended with this. Hence it may be evident that all the implantation of truth and its conjunction with good is effected through affection; and that the greater the affection is, the stronger is the conjunction."
     In a later issue we will commence with some thoughts about affection in education
NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

     The July issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE in 1884 began with a short editorial comment about the 19th of June. The conclusion: "We believe that, like Christmas-the anniversary of the Lord's First Coming-this day will in time come to be celebrated by the men of the church everywhere."

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DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE 1984

DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE       Rev. BRIAN KEITH       1984

     (Part II)

     A PASTORAL LETTER

9. Those Who Do Remarry

     What about those who do not accept the teachings and remarry? What is best for them? He or she must then do everything to make that new relationship endure. It may not have been of the Lord's will that the person remarry, but I feel it is even less of His will if another marriage is broken. I believe that to the extent that a person has not examined the previous marriage, and followed the steps of repentance, the new relationship will have serious problems. But where there has been honest self-examination and a productive sense of guilt, then the Lord can work to eventually bring about genuine conjugial love.
     (This is not explicitly stated in the Writings. It would, however, seem to be the case since people who have committed adultery can go to heaven and be married there. This is not what would be best. Far better for the Lord to lead someone to a conjugial partner in the other world after the memories of this world are laid to sleep, rather than remarry here and have to deal with the memories of the previous relationship, not to mention the issue of children. In this it is perhaps like premarital sex: it should not be done, and if it is done it will have a negative influence on the relationship. But people can repent of it, and the Lord can gradually remove it to the remotest sections of their lives. Repentance cannot change the past, but it can make the present more orderly, and the future heavenly.)

10. Will a New Church Priest Perform the Ceremony?

     When a couple is in love and wants to get married, there is a strong desire to have a church ceremony. There also can be the desire to put aside everything of the past and concentrate on the present. This is as it should be. But if there has been a divorce that was not justified by adultery, by what right can a priest perform the ceremony?
     The role of the priest is to act as a representative of the Lord. In worship and instruction, the priest is a presence of the Lord on earth. Our function is to teach the truth and lead by means of it to the good of life. We try to help people deal with their God and avoid placing ourselves in the middle. We do not judge people, but rather serve in the office to assist people in seeing what the Lord is saying to them.
     In regard to weddings, the Writings teach that "marriage is to be consecrated by a priest," and "because . . . these ministers are chief witnesses, it is likewise necessary that the consent to the covenant be heard, accepted, confirmed, and thus established by them" (CL 308; see also CL 21:4).

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Thus with a wedding, the priest is placed in the middle because he represents the Lord's wishes. Usually this is an unobtrusive function, but when there has been a previous marriage, he cannot avoid discussing it. When it seems that there had not been just cause for divorce, the priest has to question if he has any right to perform an act that the Lord does not will, even though He may permit it. Because the Lord does not seem to give approval for remarriage, I do not feel that I as a priest can go beyond His teachings.

11. Blessing on a Marriage

     But what of a blessing on a marriage? Has this not been used when a priest is uncomfortable remarrying? Yes, it has, and there are priests satisfied with giving a blessing immediately after a civil ceremony. But recently this practice has been questioned as perhaps an inappropriate use of the rite.
     This rite seems to have been designed as a blessing on a marriage which had occurred before the couple, or one of the spouses, had become associated with the New Church. (It is perhaps also appropriate for those seeking to renew their marriage vows.) The rite is to enable the couple to come before the Lord again and declare their eternal love for each other. (Eternal love frequently is not declared in other marriage services.)

     12. Holy Supper

     It can be argued that some rite should be used so that people who admit to failings, yet want to approach the Lord, are not turned away from the church. For a priest to decline to perform a wedding certainly can appear to be insensitivity to human needs (although I feel this appearance is due to focusing upon the individual and not on the Lord's order or the health of the greater neighbor).
     But consider what can be done. If a person who was not justifiably divorced seeks remarriage and sincerely has been repenting of what occurred before, the Lord has given a sacrament ideally suited: the holy supper. This sacrament is open to all and can be especially meaningful if a couple recently married by civil ceremony seeks to look to the Lord and enlist His aid in establishing an eternal marriage covenant. The Lord's injunction to "go and sin no more" can begin to be fulfilled by partaking of the holy supper and then living in the order of marriage.
     (It has also been suggested that it would be appropriate to have a blessing on the marriage well after it has been established. Others have opposed this idea, thinking that if it could not be done before, it should not be done later. I do not know what to think about this.)

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13. Who Judges?

     One of the most unfortunate aspects of divorce and remarriage is that it may appear as if a priest is a judge of a relationship. After all, he can say yes or no to performing a remarriage. In fact, it is the individual who may be making a public judgment on the ex-spouse by remarriage. If a divorced person can in good conscience say, "My previous spouse committed adultery so I am free to remarry," then he or she has made a judgment on the ex-spouse, indicating that the ex-spouse is not free to remarry. Because of the serious nature of this, in certain circumstances it may be appropriate to communicate with the ex-spouse so that reputations are not harmed unnecessarily. (One priest with extensive counseling training has suggested that because the emotional bonds formed in marriage are so difficult to end, it might be useful for him to meet with the ex-spouses and review their relationship.)

14. Attitude Toward Those Who Remarry

     What should the attitude of others be to those who remarry? There is no easy answer, and each person will have to find what he is comfortable with, depending upon how he understands the Word and his relationship with the individuals involved. However, there are some principles that can be suggested.
     One of the more important is the concept of the danger of making spiritual judgments. No one can know what occurs between husband and wife. No one can know the pain that each has suffered. To paraphrase Tolstoy: Happy couples are all alike; every unhappy couple is unhappy in its own way. Remember: the conflicts and problems in marriage are hell itself. In marital discord, individuals will say and do things to each other that they would never dream of doing to anyone else. It is as if they are possessed, trying to destroy the happiness that they want the most. Because of this, an outsider, even a close family member, can never fully appreciate the hurt that is felt. All the circumstances will forever remain unknown to others, and even the memories of those directly involved will be unreliable due to natural bias.
     It is also important to have perspective. Everyone has sinned. The Lord could not find anyone to cast the first stone at the woman taken in adultery. When we look at others, our hellish inclinations are to condemn and, in attempting to identify evil, go to extremes and damage another's reputation so seriously that he or she feels it is impossible to be accepted again. This type of condemning criticism is not productive of any good, for it seems to say that one serious error makes the entire person hellish.

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     Also, adultery is a sin, but there are many other sins that we commit, and that seem to be forgiven more readily. Consider the Ten Commandments. How often is the Lord's Name taken in vain? While I would not equate breaking this commandment with adultery, it gives pause for thought to consider how we do rate their relative evil. Indeed, it seems that stealing and murder- are sometimes forgiven more easily than adultery.
     Yes, we do have to make judgments about civil and moral life. We cannot hide when we see something destructive occurring. We cannot avoid discussing issues with our children. But how we approach the subject can be productive or destructive. When we see a divorce, we need not condemn the individuals for being imperfect; we all are. Rather, we can take a more angelic attitude of expressing sadness that any evil occurs, not dwelling upon what is wrong, and putting a good interpretation on it whenever possible.
     Also it is important for us not to cut off those who have made bad choices. It has been said that the Christian army is the only one that shoots its wounded. Sadly, this is all too often true. When people are hurt and in need of support is often when it is not given. With the woman taken in adultery, the Lord did not remind her of the evil of adultery; instead He told her to go and sin no more. Certainly this is a model for us. When those whom we have known do things which we cannot approve, our disappointment will be communicated. But we need not go to extremes in condemning them, and expect them to openly admit evils (although it is certainly more difficult to deal with someone who seems to say that no harm has been done). When there has been non-adulterous divorce and then remarriage, what is important for the new couple is to flee from the lure of adultery. And it is important for those who would see order restored to support them in this effort. Exactly how this is done is left to the individual, but the emphasis should be on looking forward to the good that can occur rather than looking back at the harm that has been done.

15. Conclusion

     Following the Lord is not always as easy as we might like it to be. When the Heavenly Doctrines are in agreement with our western culture, it is relatively simple for us to accept the norms around us. But when what the Lord is teaching is different from the accepted rules in our culture (and what the "experts" say), we sense a conflict. We must live in our culture, with our friends who do not necessarily accept the teachings of the New Church, and yet we are also called to listen to the lord and obey His Word.

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     His Word is given so that we might have life, heavenly life. Although some teachings appear to be harsh, they exist for our lasting happiness. When one has a disease, the cure is often unpleasant, yet necessary for health. The Lord's teachings on marriage can seem to be difficult for us finite human beings to accept. But they would not have been given if we could not follow them.
     Those who at times transgress the teachings are not to be condemned. The Lord came to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance. As we join together in worship and instruction, let us listen to the Lord, and then apply His teachings in a gentle and supportive way.
Resurrection Address for LESTER ASPLUNDH 1984

Resurrection Address for LESTER ASPLUNDH       Rev. LOUIS B. KING       1984

     May 6, 1984

     After eighty-three years of life on this planet, on his birthday two days ago, Lester Asplundh slipped peacefully into the spiritual world. Today he awakens into the joy and gladness of that beautiful land, where friends and family reunite and the beauty of spiritual character manifests itself in the countenance of each spiritual being there.
     The spiritual world is an incredibly real world. The spiritual body in which a newcomer to that world appears, physically, expresses the beauty and strength of inner character which the person developed during earth-life.
     The kingdom of heaven, let us never forget, must first be built up or established within the mind of a person if, after the death of the body, he is to enter consciously into the spiritual world.
     There, the spiritual sun shines with unbelievable brilliance and warmth. The atmospheres, lands and waters astound the spiritual senses in ways that we cannot begin to comprehend. There are villages, bustling cities, seashore cottages, occupations, golf courses, board meetings, places of worship, and a home which re-presents in every detail the states of love and wisdom of those who dwell there.
     Life in this natural world exists for the purpose of preparing each person born here for an eternal life in the Lord's kingdom of heaven. Death is not the end of life, but a new beginning-a vibrant and useful continuation of those conscious loves which were and are the person himself.

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     Lester was born in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, on May 3, 1901. He received continuous New Church education in Bryn Athyn until he entered Swarthmore College, where he graduated in 1923, having distinguished himself as a serious student and exceptional athlete. Co-founder of the Asplundh Tree Expert Company, formerly located in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, but now centered in Willow Grove, he served as president and chairman of the Board, turning his creative genius and business acumen to the continuous and substantial growth of that company. Development of the "chipper" and "trim-lift" equipment were among his notable achievements for the tree company.
     Recognizing the track record and ability of one of its alumni, Swarthmore College elected Lester to serve on its board of trustees. In the community of Bryn Athyn and in the church organizations which he supported, Lester served on a number of boards, until the time of his death. In fact, no issue came before the church, the Academy or the Bryn Athyn community during his lifetime in which he did not take an active part. His broad shoulders and good judgment were utilized by family and friends on countless occasions. Friends and business associates alike learned to count on his ability and willingness to listen, and then respond with clear, logical judgment.
     As we approach a General Church Assembly in June, many will recall that he served as chairman of General Assembly committees in 1946 and in 1950.
     All of the building projects connected with the expansion of the Academy were in one way or another profoundly influenced by the energy and imagination of this remarkable man. Now he enters a new and fuller life, where his effect for good upon others will be the greater because of his faithful, sincere and conscientious performance of uses here on earth.
     Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you; 1 go to prepare a place for you, and if I go away I shall come again that where I am there ye may be also."
     When the Lord spoke of the many mansions in His Father's house He referred to His Divine love which perpetually longs to give of itself to man and be in him as if man's own free life. The Word in the Old Testament, the New Testament and now in the Writings is the means whereby we may learn of the Lord and how we may be eternally conjoined with Him, first by shunning evils as sins, and then by engaging in positive and useful service to others. When the Lord's love enters and becomes in us charity toward the neighbor, an outward community of human uses results. The kingdom bf God is then within and outside of us, seen and recognized in the shared delights of human relationships.

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So are angels and men woven into homogeneous societies of mutual uses that the Lord's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.
     Because on earth we prepare for the life of heaven, our uses to each other are interwoven into the fabric of society life. Each person has something special to contribute to this tapestry, to strengthen its woof and warp or add beauty and utility to its design. Lester's contribution to this fabric, as one loving friend described it, was his fine needlework. Indeed, Lester was a kidder, but always with kindness. He could prick up a person's interest in a subject, stimulate a response from even the comparatively complacent, but always with the purpose of directing their attention to principles of honesty, morality and distinctive values drawn forth from the Word.
     A discussion on any worthwhile topic would surely evoke his honest input. If principles he believed in were challenged, you could expect a fight, a direct and uncompromised response, letting you and everyone else know exactly the conviction he held. But when the discussion was at an end and action was to be taken, his support for the use would be there, regardless of the opinion he had previously expressed. Perhaps his college football experiences taught him not only to be a star, but a team player. With unquestioned loyalty he supported every team he played on: the business, the family and the church. Who will soon forget his faithful presence at services of worship and doctrinal classes? So long as Scripture is valued, the widow's mite will be remembered and appreciated. So, also, the phrase, "It is not the size of the gift that counts, but the spirit in which it is given." With Lester, the spirit and the gift with which he supported church uses were commensurate, both profoundly generous.
     Those who worked with Lester and knew him just a little soon realized that he had no pious or lazy bones in his body. He was not a hypocrite nor could he be pushed around, even slightly. Those, however, who knew him better discovered behind a formidable, sometimes scary, countenance a gentle and affectionate heart.
     Lester loved his family, his work, his recreation, his church and his Academy. He was impatient with innovation, pampering the discontented and all that which he termed "nonsense." Rather should our energy be turned to an acknowledgment that the Lord has made His second coming in the Writings Divinely given through Emanuel Swedenborg. A new and crowning church has been established on earth from these doctrines. A distinctive worship of the Lord in His Divine
Human is our goal, while distinctive New Church education is a fruitful means and our responsibility in establishing the Lord's kingdom on earth. Our mission to develop and support our church is clear. Let us get on with it without innovative distractions.

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     Today a grateful church reflects upon the useful life of a much-respected and loved fellow New Churchman. His proud frame humbled by age and infirmity notwithstanding, his spirit stood tall as he walked with humility and dignity among his fellow New Churchmen, performing and supporting and loving the uses of his profession, his community, his family and his church. Now the frailty of flesh has given way to the vitality of spirit. "To grow old in heaven," the Word of the Lord declares, "is to grow young." The Psalmist confirms this by referring to the Lord as one "who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." But the youth into which angels of heaven are continually advancing is not the old youth of inexperience, self-confidence and folly, but a new eternal youth conceived in humility and born of angelic wisdom. It is a proper commingling of the love and wisdom of God, even as the heat and light of the natural sun commingle in springtime to warm the earth, converting dormancy to life. The first youth of earth-life is freely given and quickly passes. The second youth-the youth of heaven-is earned, labored for by way of character development. Yes, "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their youth." In heaven all men and women advance day by day, more and more surely toward the springtime-the vigor and potency of youth. Yet the wisdom of age does not diminish, but increases state by state, to continually enrich the present out of the past. This knowledge, what a blessing!
     "Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name." "Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all His benefits." Amen.
NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1984

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO              1984

     The sermon in the July issue, 1934, was by George de Charms. Assistant Bishop at that time, he became Bishop of the General Church in 1937. Articles by him began appearing in this magazine early in the 1920s. We had a recently written article by him in the May issue and are looking forward to the publication of yet another later this year.
     One notes that only one wedding was reported in that issue. It was a young man with just one year's experience in the ministry. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton married Miss Gabriele Pitcairn on June 8, 1934.
     Two young men whose ordinations were reported in July of 1934 were Cairns Henderson and Erik Sandstrom.

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

     LIKE SWEET DRUGS THAT KILL, (III)

     The one who dominates is also a victim.

     Society is rightly becoming more aware of the victims of drunken drivers. These drivers are themselves also victims of the dominion alcohol has in their lives. Last month we spoke of the intoxicating delight of the love of dominating as described in Divine Providence 215. The love of dominating is felt by the one in it as something "surpassing other delights of every kind" (DLW 271). "This love is known from its delight, for it exceeds every other delight of the Life of man" (AE 1180). Because it is not known in the world how such evils "lead astray," the Writings say that "it is important that their quality should be set forth" (Ibid).
     It is as if the Writings put a warning label in big letters on the love of dominating. "Let all who are in the world and read these lines know that the love of ruling for the sake of self and not for the sake of uses is diabolical love itself and in it are all evils. Let them know this and be on their guard" (J. Post. 237).
     It is in connection with marriage that the Writings show that the one who dominates is also a victim. "When one wills or loves what the other wills or loves, each has freedom, since all freedom is from love; but where there is dominion no one has freedom; one is a servant, and the other who rules is also a servant, for he is led as a servant by the lust of ruling" (HH 380).
PASSAGE ON LOVE OF COUNTRY (Two Translations) 1984

PASSAGE ON LOVE OF COUNTRY (Two Translations)              1984

     Take a person who loves his country and is so partial to his country that his pleasure is in doing it good on account of his good wishes. If he were not allowed to do it good he would grieve, and he would beg a chance to help it, because this is his disposition and therefore his pleasure and happiness.
     He who loves his country, and has such an affection toward it as to find a pleasure in promoting its good from good will, would lament if this should be denied him, and would entreat that there might be granted the opportunity to do good to it; for this is the object of his affection, consequently the source of his pleasure and bliss.
     Arcana Coelestia 3816

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PRIEST AND LAYMAN 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN       Rex D. Ridgway       1984




     Communications

Dear Sir,
     Rev. Dandridge Pendleton's article in the November issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, dealing with the nature of the priesthood and its relationship to the laity in the General Church, was read by me with a sense of delight and relief. Relief, for the reason that for most of my life priests have been seen to hold the special position of intercessors between the Lord and the laity of the church, and have, as far back as I can remember (and that is some seventy years), been looked upon as being divinely enlightened persons way above the mere ordinary church members. It was usually considered sacrilegious to question or doubt priestly doctrinal interpretations. In Europe, a short time ago, I suggested to a member of the clergy the desirability of co-opting senior advanced laymen of the church to doctrinal study gatherings such as ministers' meetings. My suggestion was treated as dire heresy which would kill the church, as doctrine from the Word for the church was considered a function of special enlightenment which, according to him, belonged to those ordained by the Lord, i.e. the clergy.
     How is it possible to read the Word, the Word for the New Church, and not see that all its teaching applies in full to each one of us? For it is the Lord speaking personally to all who approach Him for His Divine leading. There is the ever-present appeal to go to the Lord in His Word for the sake of doing what He teaches so that we can be led out of our unregenerate and natural state into a regenerate and spiritual state, here in this world, and so allow Him to lead us to heaven after we leave this world.
     The Word is clear in pointing the only way to regeneration, so if we go directly to the Lord in His Word in that state, the teaching is that our understanding will be enlightened with His light; our understanding will see spiritually and be able to look on our natural state from a new and enlightened mind. There is only this one path to an enlightened understanding. There are no shortcuts and no other means, not even for those ordained into the priesthood. How is it possible for an "enlightened" priesthood to miss so much teaching in the Word regarding the means to spiritual enlightenment: the necessity for every man of the church to go to the Word and draw doctrine in order "to light a lamp for his further advancement"? (see Sacred Scripture 59). How could it ever be possible to read so much to do with man's spiritual progress and regeneration and not see plainly that the presence of the Holy Spirit and the Lord's enlightenment is with every man, priests included, only when the Word is approached in order to see Divine truth for the sake of life?

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     Enlightenment may be present with a priest from his studies so that he may teach and lead in his occupation. But spiritual light for his regeneration is given by the Lord only in the same order that He enlightens every man. So all stand on the same level-priests and laymen.
     
The reason why enlightenment exists with those who love truths because they are truths and make them of use for life is that such are in the Lord and the Lord in them. For the Lord is His own Divine truth, and when this is loved because it is Divine truth, (and it is loved when it is made of use) the Lord is in it with the man (SS 57, my italics).

     True doctrine is manifest only to those who are enlightened by the Lord and only granted to those who apply truths to life.
     And yet we still hear that priests, after three years of study and ordination, without necessarily having changed their own lives by applying truths to their everyday living and seeing their own evils and combating them, have come into spiritual light far transcending the enlightenment of the regenerating man of the church who, we are plainly taught, "speaks from the Lord because the Lord is in him and he is in the Lord" (see SS 57, TCR 1, 5). And often enough when differences occur between priest and layman, the old reminder of heaven being closed to those who believe in a universal priesthood is invoked, and if read in part brings about the required silence. However, if one reads the whole of the relevant number (Spiritual Diary 4904) one can see to which category of evil spirits it applies:     

There were also some who have rejected the priestly office, saying that the priesthood is universal, thus with all. Certain of these have read the Word quite diligently, but, inasmuch as they have lived ill, they have taken up thence abominable dogmas. Of this class there are many. These likewise are cast down from heaven, but at the back because they have preached clandestinely and have wished to thus subvert the doctrine of the church by stealth.

     Priests who use such arguments seem to be claiming that those who question their "special" enlightenment on any subject are, like the evil spirits referred to rejecting the office of the priesthood in the church and have tried to subvert the doctrine of the church by stealth!
     The priesthood, according to Rev. Pendleton, will be required to do some adjusting of its "self image" from what the Writings themselves teach about the priesthood and to move over, as it were, in order to make room for the laity to do its doctrinal work.

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And, as he continues, to do some kicking of the laity into doing that work. May I add: "Yes, and to kick out those old traditions from the old Christian world of the infallibility of the priesthood in matters of reception of Divine Truth and enlightenment"?
     For too long have complaints been made concerning this growing passiveness, a state of affairs most obvious in many places. I believe that Rev. Pendleton's research is of vital interest to the New Church if it is to live and progress into a new and vibrant church and to become truly the
Lord's New Church on earth.
     I am concerned greatly for the young people of the church. The older members have, to a great extent, reached a degree of independence in their approach to the Word. But for the young people, the application to their Lives of personal attitudes and interpretations (which cannot be confirmed in the letter of the Word) are presented to them as the Divine teaching of the church and these, understandably, are not necessarily acceptable, and in my opinion are directly responsible for the marked fall-off in young love and enthusiasm for the New Church. Only by the inclusion of everyone in the church-young and old; men and women; priests and laymen together-on a firm basis of absolute equality can the church make real progress and restore life and enthusiasm to what is now becoming a passive laity which looks to its priests as the only receivers of truth and drawers of doctrine from the Word for the church.
     I hope that Mr. Pendleton's research will make us all think again and cause us to change our direction before it gets too late. I look forward keenly to Rev. Dandridge Pendleton's further installments.

N.B. Whenever the word "man" has been used above, I refer to both male and female man (home). Also, whenever I have used the term "the Word," it always includes the Writings.
     Rex D. Ridgway, Canberra, Australia
CHRIST IS ALIVE 1984

CHRIST IS ALIVE       Rev. Grant H. Odhner       1984

Dear Editor,
     There is scarcely anything more important to faith than coming to see our Lord as the Word reveals Him. Our relationship with Him and accountability to Him depend on that vision. It was heartening to read Mr. Doering's article "Christ Is Alive" (March and April issues), in which he affirms the Lord's visibility and real presence among us. One cannot help but rejoice with him in his efforts to see and in his finding a solution that is satisfying to him.

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     With the same end in mind-i.e., coming to see the visible Lord as the Word reveals Him-I have a few observations to make on Mr. Doering's article. My remarks are critical, but are offered in a spirit of appreciation for his very refreshing approach to the subject.
     Mr. Doering stresses that the glorified Lord is visible (pp. 119, 121,123, et al). With this we would all agree. But what do we mean by "visible"? My impression is that Mr. Doering equates visible and material. Criticizing the logic of the "dissipationist school" he sums up its position thus:

The Divine can put on a visible Human material form, but must put the visible Human material off again. That is, God became visibly Man and then put off the visible Man again (p. 123).

     I cannot agree that the Lord retained a material body-a visible body, yes, material, no. Doctrine of the Lord 35:2 states quite clearly:

The Lord put off the human from the mother, which in itself was like that of another man, and thus material, and put on a Human from the Father, which in itself was like His Divine, and thus substantial, so that the human too became Divine.

     Regarding the distinction between "material" and "substantial" see: CL 31, 328; TCR 798: 1; D. Wis. VII 2[4]4. Is this distinction "dualistic"?
     The Writings say that the disciples saw the Lord after His resurrection with their spiritual eyes (see HH 76:2; AR 36:5; CL 31; AE 53:2). So the question must be asked: What were the disciples seeing when they watched the Lord eat material food? What was Thomas feeling when he touched the Lord's hands and side? Clearly, they were not sensing with their physical senses but with their spiritual senses. (Compare Mr. Doering's p. 125 at top.)
     The Lord indeed rose with His "whole body unlike other men." He appeared and ate, and let them touch "that men may know and no one doubt" this (Lord 35:9). This teaching is strong; but what does it mean? What is it trying to impress upon us? I believe the point of this teaching is mainly to help us think of the visible Lord as Divine, to elevate our concept of the visible Lord, not to cement it to the material world.
     
Hence the Doctrine of the Lord passage (just referred to) continues without any apology to speak of the Lord's appearing and disappearing before the disciples after the resurrection, "since His body was no longer material" (Lord 35:10). The passage ends (in part) with these words:

[The Lord's] Human substance or essence is just as is His Divine substance or essence. To think otherwise would be like thinking that His Divine was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God, but not His Human together with it (Lord 35:11 -emphasis added).

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In other words: unless we think of His Human substance as we do of His Divine substance (namely, as being substantial and not material) then we run the risk of losing our idea of the Lord's Divinity.
     The crucial issue, I believe, is the Lord's visibility before the eyes of our mind. The Divine Human (which includes but is not limited to the Lord's bodily shape) makes the infinite Divine visible before our rational mind (see AC 2531:2). It enables us to have ideas about God (see AC 4211:2; 5321:2; 8705:3f), so that we can be conjoined with Him as with someone we know and love and have faith in (see AC 5663; 6804:4; 8864:2; 10067:3; 10267).
     Certainly we must be able to see the Lord in a human shape. Thanks to His coming we will always be able to do this. But we must go beyond this. We must come to see His deeper human qualities- His love with its goals, His wisdom in making these goals realities in the best possible
way. These qualities are what make Him a real God in our eyes, a God whom we can understand and respond to with a reciprocal love. All of the previous churches on our earth have seen God as Man in a bodily way, but only to the New Church, which can see something of the Lord's Divinely Human spirit, is God truly visible (see TCR 786f).
     Rev. Grant H. Odhner, Natick, Massachusetts
OUR LORD IN HIS GLORY 1984

OUR LORD IN HIS GLORY       Rev. ERIK SANDSTROM.       1984

Dear Editor,
     Referring to the article "Christ Is Alive" in your March and April issues I can sympathize with the writer in his earlier struggle to come to a concept of God as visible. For as long as I can remember I have been aware that many have been troubled by that problem. Two examples may illustrate. Having just arrived in Bryn Athyn about 21 years ago to teach at the Academy, I heard of a senior high school girl who was found sobbing over a religion paper assignment. She had been asked to write on the subject of how to visualize the Lord, and being unable to visualize Him she did not know how she could write the paper. At another time I overheard an elderly, life-long member of the church say, "Of course, we have been taught not to think of the Lord as a Person." (No doubt she had utterly misremembered and misunderstood the teaching that we are not to think from the Person, but are indeed to think of the Person; see AR 611.)
     In my own teaching I have loved no doctrine more than the doctrine of the visible God.

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The first sermon I ever preached in Sweden, having returned there as newly ordained fifty years ago, was on that subject, with the text, "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1). It has been the underlying theme throughout my ministry, first for 21 years in Sweden, then 8 years in England, and then 15 years as teacher at the Academy, and now also as semi-retired. In England in 1961, I gave out a booklet entitled The Visible God, later reprinted by the General Church Publication Committee in Bryn Athyn; and for the Educational Council 19 or 20 years ago I headed a panel of teachers whose assignment it was to demonstrate the presence of the visible God in their respective disciplines. Moreover, wanting to call the special attention of my colleagues to the apparently widespread problem in the church, I presented a paper in the Council of the Clergy under the title of "The Person of Our God" (not published).
     In view of the above it came as a surprise to me that Mr. Kent Doering, because of what he calls the "dissipation theory," attributes to me the concept that God is but an abstraction and is not visible as Divine Man.
     Making a shortcut, past detailed analyses, I would here like to make some summary points in reply to the above article. A somewhat close analysis was attempted in my correspondence with Rev. Bruce Rogers, to which the writer refers.
     1. In his search for a concept of God, the man of the church has basically three choices: He can think of God only as an abstraction too superior for a human form, and too superior to present Himself in the human shape; or he can think of God still enclosed in His maternal human; or he can think of Him in His own Divine Human. Only the last alternative is correct, and is taught everywhere in the three-fold Word, and openly and in great glory in the Writings, the last form of the Word.
     2. While the Lord's Divine Human in itself; being infinite and being Life itself, is above all heavens, He has ordained that we are to pray to Him as He reveals Himself in the heavens ("Our Father, who art in the heavens"). This is possible only because He comes through finite means. Through such means His Divine Human stands forth to view, so that it is possible in this way to see both His Essence and His Body. His Essence is Divine Love and Wisdom, and these qualities are revealed in terms adapted to our understanding in Divine Love and Wisdom and in varying contexts in all the other Writings (for the Divine Human is the pervading subject throughout the revelation of the Lord's second coming). His Body, again adapted to angelic-human vision, is "often" seen among angels (HH 121), and He then looks like an angel but is distinguished from angels "by the Divine which shines through" (HH 55).

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     As for the Lord revealing Himself through finite means we have the following important teachings: "Without an idea derived from finite things, and especially an idea from the things of space and time, man can comprehend nothing of Divine things, and still less of the Infinite" (AC 3938). "[They are not in love to God] unless by some idea they make that Infinite finite, or present the hidden God as visible within themselves by finite intellectual ideas" (AC 4075:3). "The reason why the Divine Human is the all in heaven is that no one there, not even an angel of the inmost or third heaven, can have any idea about the Divine Itself [John 1:18 and 5:37 quoted here] . . . For the angels are finite, and what is finite cannot have an idea of the Infinite; and therefore unless in heaven they had in respect to God the idea of a human shape, they could have no idea, or an unbecoming one" (AC 7211). "When the Lord shows Himself as present in any society [in heaven], He appears there in accordance with the quality of good in which the society is, thus not the same in one society as in another. This diversity is not in the Lord, but in the angels who behold Him from their own good, thus in accordance with that good" (HH 55).
     3. As for the "dissipation doctrine," or "dissipation theory," this is not a theory or man-made doctrine, but revealed doctrine. AC 6849:5 states: "Unless the Lord's Human were Divine. it could never be so united to the Divine Itself which is called the 'Father,' that they may be one. . .For what so receives the Divine must needs be altogether Divine; what is not Divine would be utterly dissipated by such a union." The posthumous work Athanasian Creed teaches the same: "The Lord put off all the maternal in the sepulcher . . . for in the sepulchre all such was dissipated" (Ath. 161, 162). Further, please look for the words "completely destroyed and extirpated," "destroyed" (solveretur), "perish(ed)," "banished," and "utterly expelled" in AC 6872e, AE 706:11, AC 6849:5, 2658:2, and 2265 respectively.
     4. The process was gradual. The Writings distinguish between the putting off of the human from the mother "by temptations" and "by death." The "by death" was final. "Everything human that the Lord took from the mother He cast off from Himself by temptations, and finally by death; and by putting on a Human from the Divine itself that was in Him He glorified Himself, that is, made His Human Divine" (AE 899:14, italics mine). The removal of the qualities from the mother was by temptations; the dissipation of the body from her was by death ("in the sepulcher," Ath. 161).
     5. We must never for a moment associate the Human that the Lord put on from His Divine with the dissipation doctrine. Nothing whatever but the maternal human is here involved. "Everything human that the Lord took from the mother He cast off . . . and by putting on a Human from the Divine itself that was in Him He glorified Himself."

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The "putting off" and the "putting on" were simultaneous actions or, one might say, two aspects of one act; for as the maternal was put off, so the Divine was put on in His Human. This was not a matter of change or transmutation, but exchange or replacement. "[The human which the Lord derived from the mother] He utterly expelled, and put on in its stead the Divine Human" (AC 2265e-emphasis added). Please note carefully the following (presented as one of three arcana in the exposition of Abraham's naming his son Isaac): "The Lord's Divine Human was not only conceived but also born of Jehovah" (AC 2628-italics added; also 2093:3, 2649:2, 2798:1, 2).
     6. My reading of "Christ Is Alive" leaves me with the distinct impression that the author wants us to return to the maternal human, and that he thinks of the human from the mother as the human that was united to the Divine; in other words, that the Lord is still in His maternal human and that it is in this He is visible. It is apparently in that frame of thought that he misrepresents and misquotes me-not, I hasten to add, by words but by emphasis. This is as he quotes me: ". . . my primary concern in this discussion has been lest anything whatever of the human from the mother-anything material-should cling to our vision of the Lord we all worship." (See p. 120, and also the last paragraph on p. 123.) The italics here, as Mr. Doering correctly notes, are his. My quarrel is with the emphasis in the phrase "the human from the mother." This suggests contrasting the "human" from the mother with "something else" from the mother. That was not my concern. I was contrasting the human from the mother with the Human from the Divine. If the reader will reread my statement with my own emphasis in mind, he will see the difference.
     7. Has it occurred to Mr. Doering that most people at the time of the Lord, who looked at Him, never saw the Lord? They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" (John 6:42).
     8. Our author gives an interesting review of dualism in philosophic thought through the ages. However, I did not feel it was generous of him to place me in this regard with "orthodox western Christianity"! Instead let me suggest that when, as we should, we reject the old dualism, we nevertheless find ourselves thoroughly believing in a dualism of an entirely different kind. If I may coin phrases I would call the former a "dualism by opposition," but the latter a "dualism by correspondence." In this connection please read DLW 283 in toto (too long to quote here), and reflect on each individual phrase in that number.

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As for the Lord Himself, however, the "correspondence" between His Human and His Divine rises into a total union.
     9. As for certain post-resurrection phenomena, to which the author refers on p. 125, see TCR 777, second half.
     10. A return to the maternal human is not the answer in our quest to understand and see our God. The tomb of that human was empty. How should we visualize our Father in the heavens? Through the centuries Christian art has offered pictures of Christ as the artists imagined Him. None of these artists had seen Him. Note moreover that the Lord's appearance in His maternal human is nowhere described in the Word (and isn't there a Divine reason for this?). Nevertheless, such pictures may be of temporary use for children and others who remain in the letter of the Word.
     The New Church, however, is invited to see her Lord with the understanding both as to His Essence and His Body. His Essence (or His Mind) is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. These His qualities are revealed in the work Divine Love and Wisdom and in varying ways in all the rest of the thirty volumes, notably in a short paragraph in True Christian Religion (no. 43). His Body is presented to the view of our inner eye on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17), in the Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1), and in angelic societies (HH 55 and 121, AR 938, and elsewhere). We do have descriptions of the Lord as He appears in the glory of His Divine Human. That is how we should visualize Him; and we should know that what we see is Divine Love and Wisdom in their own Embodiment. "They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads" (Rev. 22:4).
     REV. ERIK SANDSTROM. SR.,
          Hot Springs, South Dakota

     P.S. "Dissipation" should be understood to refer to the dissipation of matter, not dissipation into nothing. Matter, like energy, is indestructible in the sense that neither can become nothing; but as energy can be composed into matter, so matter can become dissolved into energy.

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CONFESSIONS OF A DUALISTIC DISSIPATIONIST 1984

CONFESSIONS OF A DUALISTIC DISSIPATIONIST       Rev. Michael D. Gladish       1984

Dear Editor,
     No doubt the most important things published in NEW CHURCH LIFE over the last few years are the practical studies concerning the Lord's glorification and the resurrection of His body. It is good to see this "internal" series continuing in 1984 with the fascinating article by K. O. Doering. As has been said, we may not agree with the thoughts expressed but they make us think. So Kent encourages us to review the whole doctrine, and specifically the articles by Sandstrom, de Charms and Rogers, and from our own conclusions. To quote Bishop de Charms. "Nothing is more important in the long run than to understand the glorification of the Lord, for only to this extent can we really perceive the Divine Human" (NCL Dec. '81, p. 615).
     My contribution here is simply to bear witness in my own way that the vexing question of the disappearance of the Lord's material body is (probably) here to stay, and that we ought to continue the dialogue as I believe Bruce Rogers did in mutual respect without either side disparaging the view of the other. Mr. Doering makes some excellent points and neatly puts the whole issue in a historical, philosophical and personal spiritual context. But what is clear to one person is not clear to another and his specific point about the Lord being visible in the form of a paradox is certainly not clear to me.
     Of course Christ is alive! Of course He rose "with the whole visible Human form!" Nobody doubts that. Inquisitive New Church minds have simply asked, and continue to ask, What is that visible human form? Mr. Doering does not answer. In fact he avoids the issue by calling it a paradox and implying that it cannot be understood. In Swedenborgian terms that is tantamount to saying it cannot be seen, in which case we have a real credibility problem: someone claiming to be able to see the unseeable!
     One thing, I think, is certain: the physical body that the Lord took on is not a physical body in the ordinary sense any longer. It may be "glorified." or it may have been "put off," but can we at least agree that it is now no longer a physical entity as such? And if it is no longer physical then we do not "see" it with our physical eyes, right? This being so, any talk about "seeing" the "visible" Lord refers to spiritual sight or perception, and to a Divine, not a finite Human. The ultimate question is, "What are we seeing when we 'see' the risen Lord?" All other questions about the disappearance of the physical body are subordinate at best and ought not to detract from the real issue.
     One of my concerns about the "non-dissipationist" view is that in clinging to the physical body, no matter how glorified, we may cling to a vision of the imagination rather than of the rational (or spiritual-rational) mind.

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Maybe this is O. K. (see de Charms, ibid. p. 614), but if we do this don't we run the risk at least of missing the main point? I believe that is why the Lord warned Mary not to "cling" to Him after the resurrection (John 20:17 NKJV). Real humanity is not physical. It rests in the physical for a period of time; it grows and develops there, and must do so, but as we know especially from the Lord's example it is put on from above, or, if you like, from within. Certainly a man is no less a man for having some physical handicap or deformity. Humanity is in the faculties of will and understanding and consists only of love and wisdom working together. (On the Divine Humanity see especially Sandstrom, NCL, Oct. '82. p. 479 and DLW 233, quoted there.)
     So how do we "see" love and wisdom? Again, only in use! Not in the physical body or any specific mental picture of it (the Scribes and Pharisees didn't see it . . .); not in the imagination of a somehow glorified physical body; we see love and wisdom especially in the uses performed in, of and through the body, whether that body is natural or spiritual. So the best pictures of the Lord are not pictures showing His supposed physical features, however "meek" or "manly" (all artists' impressions anyway), but those showing His Love in action. His Wisdom leading and protecting.
     What, then, of the teaching that the Lord rose with all that which with men rots in the grave (LJ Post 87, etc.)? Well, like Mr. Doering and the other scholars before him (see also Sandstrom, ibid., p. 40) I don't really know. There may in fact be a paradox here which, like the "trinity" of the old church, is beyond the comprehension of the ordinary man, but I for one am fearful and suspicious of such "blessed mysteries"; in short the subject seems too important to be left forever in the realm of obscurity and speculation. Like the "dissipation" passage (Ath. 162) the "rots in the grave" passage (LJ Post 87) is but one statement upon which, if we focus too narrowly, we may fall prey to a heresy (see AC 362). Sure, the Lord rose with His whole Humanity, including His body, which at that point was wholly Divine and without finite limits of any kind. How, therefore, can we think of this body except as a form of use, the infinite and omnipresent Human use of Divine Love and Wisdom working incessantly for the salvation of the whole human race? We begin to see it, as de Charms says. in the conscious reflection on the lord's life as described in the Gospels; we begin to see it as we think of Him in physical flesh doing what He had to do in a certain very limited place and time. But I think we only fully see it when we begin to appreciate (from the Writings) how the Divine operates above and beyond any finite concept of a body in laws of order and mercy and forgiveness: not the human Divine, but the Divine Human (see AC 2814).

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     For myself, K. O. Doering's article notwithstanding, it is still easier and far more fulfilling to think of the natural chemicals of the Lord's
physical body being "dissipated" and "resolved back into the Divine"-or at least into the universal atomic or sub-atomic substances that constitute the first proceeding from the Divine, and the sensuous, corporeal state of His life that formed His body within the chemical shell as being glorified, than it is to try to imagine finite particles of matter in any way being spiritualized, still less made Divine as a "body." (The only way I feel I can comprehend the physical body glorified is as an entity losing all definition in the limitless infinity of the Divine, which of course does nothing for the image of a Divine Human. However, when I think of the Lord Himself glorified I think of conscious and determined love along with the most patient, unassuming wisdom, and I feel confident, the physical body aside, that HE is alive and personally present, personally concerned.)
     So I do not pray to "The Force" or to some Universal Principle, but to the Lord. Nor do I feel that my prayers and confessions are any less meaningful as offered to the Almighty whose love and wisdom I feel in human terms than they would be as offered to the Lord imagined in some physiological, mental construct necessarily limited by time and space. Christ is much more alive to me, in other words, in the purposeful, human expressions of immediate creation and merciful providence than He is in a chemical form I never saw and have no hope of seeing.
     In the end, it may truly be that the Lord's physical body was "infinitized" at the resurrection and/or the ascension, maybe by a process the exact reverse of creation itself, but even if so, where does that idea get us spiritually? I feel we lose rather than gain as we focus on form, not the essence itself, and then the form is "expanded" out of all comprehension!
     Anyway, these are my own very limited and admittedly oversimplified perceptions. I'm not at all sure I really understood Mr. Doering's point, other than the longing and the need to feel responsible to and provided for by a living personal and Human God. To the extent I have misconstrued his meaning or jumped to unwarranted conclusions I apologize, but at least he should know that this "dissipationist" agrees fully with that longing and that need, feeling it is fully satisfied without resorting to the paradox of finite material becoming Divine.
     Rev. Michael D. Gladish,
          Los Angeles, California

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MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 1984

MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS              1984

     The Rev. Robin W. Childs has been appointed Assistant to the Pastor of the Kempton Society, effective July 1, 1984.
     The Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb has been appointed Assistant to the Pastor of the Carmel Church Society in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, effective July 1, 1984.
     The Rev. Frederick C. Elphick has been called to be Resident Minister of the Michael Church Society in London, England.
     The Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick has been appointed Assistant to the Pastor of the Hurstville Society in Australia, effective July 1, 1984.
     The Rev. Cristovao R. Nobre will serve the Rio Society in Brazil as Resident Minister by appointment of the Bishop.
     The Rev. Donald K. Rogers has been appointed Resident Minister of the Baltimore Society, Visiting Minister to the Wilmington Group in Delaware and Visiting Minister to Virginia.
     Candidate Jonathan Rose has received his Bachelor of Theology degree from the Academy of the New Church. Retaining his candidacy he will pursue graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania before receiving inauguration into the office of the priesthood.
     The Rev. Ray J. Silverman will take up the work of Curator of Swedenborgiana and teacher of religion in the Academy of the New Church.
     The Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen has received appointment to serve as Visiting Pastor to the Wallenpaupack Circle and Visiting Pastor to Penn State College, Pennsylvania.
     The Rev. Frank S. Rose has received appointment to serve as Bishop's Representative in the west. He will take up the important responsibility of liaison work between the episcopal office and the Rev. Cedric King (San Diego), the Rev. Michael D. Gladish (Los Angeles), the Rev. Mark R. Carlson (San Francisco Bay Area), the Rev. Kent Junge (Seattle), the Rev. J. Clark Echols (Denver), the Rev. Harold C. Cranch (retired) and the Rev. Jan Weiss (unassigned).

     BATH, MAINE

     The Bath Society of the New Jerusalem, one of the earliest established New Church societies in America, has been received by the Bishop as a society of the General Church. The Rev. Allison Nicholson is the Pastor of the Bath Society. [More about this in a later issue. Ed.]

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Church News 1984

Church News       Norman Heldon       1984

     THE HURSTVILLE SOCIETY

     Quite suddenly, it seems, the church at Hurstville looks more beautiful, as within a few days some planned changes were effected. The new design of the chancel achieves the effect of directing more attention to the Word. Also the result is aesthetically very satisfying.
     About a year ago a member said we needed a new project to work on. At the same time he pointed out that part of the ceiling above the chancel was damaged. The suggestion was welcomed, the seed sowed. Now there is a redesigned chancel, which is also repainted, and two lovely stained glass windows are fitted on the eastern wall above the altar. Generous gifts of time, materials and money made this possible, and fund-raising functions are helping.
     John Hicks, who is an architect, produced the new plan. Seeking to place stronger emphasis on the Word, he achieved this by concealed lighting, by vertical stained boards framing the recessed altar and keeping the walls plain on either side. The framing boards rise to meet the stained glass windows which are the same width as the altar, Don Macfarlane, a professional painter with a generous heart, bore the cost of the interior painting. The walls and ceiling are now a soft light cream, harmoniously blending with the other furnishings and with the colors in the stained glass windows. The carpet, of a rich blue color was provided by our own carpet merchant, Theo Kirsten, and laid by our resident carpet layer.
     The stained glass windows, designed and produced by John and Lenore Sandow, are artistic and meaningful. They are seen at their best during the service when the morning sun illumines them. Both feature scenes from the Word, the first window having as its subject part of the Garden of Eden story. The Tree of Life is there and the river that watered the garden and became four rivers. There are mountains and rocks, and the sun is in the top left-hand corner. In the top right-hand corner is the letter A (Alpha). There is a small division between the windows, the second one showing the scene described in Revelation 22:2. The letter Omega is directly opposite A and below is the river, apparently re-emerging from the Garden of Eden river. The Tree of Life is there, its spreading branches crossing the river and bearing its twelve fruits. The colors chosen are just right.
     Mr. Ariel Gunther may feel a glow of pleasure, for it was during his visit to Sydney that John Sandow became interested in stained glass. At a beach while on holidays John and Lenore drew designs on the sand as they sought and found inspiration.
     Divine Truth is infinite, a single verse of the Word holding meaning that we will never understand fully. So, if we wish to go into the church to meditate we can find ample inspiration from these two windows, as we consider the teachings that are illustrated.
     Everyone has helped to make the church more beautiful. In labor like this there is surely a taste of heaven.
     Following soon after the completion of the beautiful alterations to the chancel of the church came the first camp of the newly formed Australian Academy. It was held over the weekend March 30th to April 1st, 1984.
     The camp itself, which was hired, has an aboriginal name, Wanawong, meaning "hillside." A hill represents love towards the neighbour (see AC 795:2). It is set in eighteen hectares of unspoiled bushland, where many wildflowers grow, and there are native birds and animals. Sydney autumn weather at its best helped a lot.

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     In almost every way the camp was a resounding success, amply rewarding all who took part and worked hard for it. On the organizing side alone Margaret and Owen Heldon ought to be nominated for Academy Awards, not forgetting Margaret's brother David Horner. It was a family camp, with 25 adults and the same number of children and young people.
     A prominent theme was resurrection. Classes and a rehearsal culminated in a delightful pantomime on Sunday morning, in which children acted out the beginning of a person's life in the spiritual world. They wore simple slip on costumes of different colors to distinguish celestial and spiritual angels and good spirits. A couple of evil spirits put in an appearance holding reversible "faces." They were at first seemingly friendly. It was a moving experience to see the new arrival finally welcomed into her heavenly society. At another session children under Owen Heldon's supervision produced a representation of the lord's resurrection, and John Hicks used the current "Mr. Men" idea to show in cartoon form the progress of Mr. Happy, Mr. Shy and Mr. Mischief as they made their way towards and into the spiritual world. Mrs. Dot Heldon conducted a class with the older children, the topic being the Lord's resurrection. The emphasis was on the teaching that, unlike man, the Lord rose with His whole body. Margaret and Ruth Heldon did their part entertaining little ones with songs and games. The pastor conducted a session with young people on the Lord's resurrection.
     Adults, joined by young people, took up a discussion on the Gorand Man, considering various parts of the body and their correspondence.
     The outdoor "chapel" was a circular area surrounded by bushland. There were rough-hewn logs for pews and the pulpit was made of native unplaned timber. In this quiet, peaceful and sunny setting we enjoyed Sunday morning worship. A small electric organ helped the singers. At the conclusion of the service an octet sang a choral postlude entitled "God of the Living." This was sung to Cluck's "From the Realms of Souls Departed" and the words and harmony were arranged by David Horner and Margaret Heldon. The pastor's talk was on the Lord's Providence and he reviewed some of the things the children had been learning and which showed them how the Lord helped everyone.
     Later on Sunday morning the pastor spoke about the Academy of the New Church, and Mike Lockhart and Lis Keal talked of the work and the ideals of the Sons and Theta Alpha.
     The campfire with songs was great fun and so was the talent show. The Horner family group sang a fine hymn called "Redemption and Salvation" which might well be used by the General Church. Also a trio sang "Lift Thine Eyes" in lovely style.
     At such a camp everyone helps and everyone gains. As with the chancel alterations the end result exceeded expectations. It was an encouraging first attempt and it is certain that there will be many more such camps. Some day the church may own its own campsite.
     Norman Heldon

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MEAL TOTALS AT THE ASSEMBLY 1984

MEAL TOTALS AT THE ASSEMBLY              1984




     Announcements







     During the Assembly last month a total of 8,179 meals were served at the Bryn Athyn Society Center. That figures includes 1,305 who sat down to eat at the memorable banquet. It also includes 2,028 breakfasts (which means breakfasts averaged 500). The spiritual servings will be mentioned later.

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BISHOP WILLIAM HENRY BENADE 1984

BISHOP WILLIAM HENRY BENADE              1984

Founder and Reformer
by
Richard R. Gladish
1984
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     In reading the text, one is keenly aware of the author's sympathy and respect for the man who, more than any other, not only upheld the authority of the Writings, but also was faced with the difficult task of establishing a viable organization committed to the ideal.     Postpaid $16.10

     General Church Book Center

Hours: 91-12 Monday-Friday
(215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984


Vol. CIV     August, 1984          No. 8
NEW CHURCH LIFE

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     "What the Lord does and what He says makes His Human quality visible to us" (p. 375). "To see the Lord as our Savior is to feel His Divinely Human presence each day of our life and to as it were take His hand on the path of life itself" (p. 376). Rev. R. S. Junge was the first to respond when more than a thousand people enjoyed the opening address at the first session of the Assembly in June.
     Mr. Schnarr's address concluded with a prayer shared by all who came together "to renew and rededicate their spiritual faith and love." Those who were unable to attend are reminded of the excellent services of the Sound Recording Committee which distributes "tapes of a great variety of activities and occasions: worship services, doctrinal classes, special addresses . . ." (p. 380). As it turns out we are publishing material from and about the Assembly piecemeal. We hope this helps to sustain a delightful memory.
     Next year we do not expect to have any new ordained ministers, but in this issue an unusual number of ordinations is announced (p. 407), and we are publishing the declarations that were made during the ordination service at the Assembly.
     We have published this year a letter from a minister who is turning now to the field of medicine. "It is not so much that I am turning away from the ministry, as it is that I am taking up a new way to serve the Lord and minister to others" (March issue, p. 141). We have heard of an effort of some New Church people in the field of medicine to establish more communication among themselves. In this issue Dr. Dan Heilman (who practices medicine near Pittsburgh, PA) speaks of life "coming from God, flowing through the circuitry of heaven's reflection . . . . [It] cannot be captured, bottled or manufactured, but it strikes the awareness of any practicing physician daily, unless he wears the blinders of doom and despair."
     Your attention is called to something new in the church. A correspondence school is being developed. See the announcement on page 399. Your attention is also called to the advertisement on p. 412 of a 123-page book by Dr. Robert W. Gladish, Dean of the Academy College.
     OLYMPIC GAMES-Differing national characteristics illustrate the diversity of societies in heaven (HH 47). In the widest sense our neighbor is the human race, divided into its various countries (C. 87). The coming together in peace of many nations provides a time to reflect on the vastness and diversity of the Lord's kingdom.

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GENUINE LOVE IN MARRIAGE 1984

GENUINE LOVE IN MARRIAGE       Rev. RAGNAR BOYESEN       1984

     "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and He rook one this ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place" (Genesis 2:21).

     In early marriage a heavenly sweetness of first states is given directly through heaven from the Lord. This is a foretaste of eternal states, and a promise from Him that we will be rewarded if we continue to work on our reception of the state of marriage while we live in the world. Such work is made easy by the conjunction of minds through a genuine application of religion. The work of marriage is based on religion, because only religion can give us the Lord's aid in struggling against our weaknesses. The deepest causes of cold in marriage stem from differences, and also indifferences, in religious outlook and practice. Where there is no religion in marriage, on the other hand, there is no genuine love in that marriage. Instead there is a love of sex which has been limited through rational considerations. But the love of sex sees only its own needs in the natural man. The marriage love of natural men see their partners as the cause of their own selfish enjoyment. This enjoyment consists of natural heat, but spiritually it is cold (see CL 240).
     When there is spiritual cold in marriage there usually arises a rivalry between the partners because they think from proprium. As most people know, the proprium in all of us is hypersensitive and brooks no critique. Between natural partners there is a demand for equal rights, because they dare not openly demonstrate a striving for dominance. The man believes he determines the love in the relationship, while the woman feels justified in claiming her right to sexual fulfillment, and thereby tries to subject the man to herself by challenging his sexual ability. What could have been heavenly has been reduced to what is earthly.
     When a partner works at the marriage relationship from religion, there is never an attempt to set him or herself above the other in marriage. The man or woman of spiritual marriage has the goal to individually fight against inherited tendencies to evil. The true result of this fight cannot be seen in full as long as the spirit is clothed with a body in this world, but it will always express itself positively.
     We may be sure on this one point. All spiritual progress is a result of self-compulsion-not compulsion of the marriage partner, but of self. Self-compulsion is symbolized in the rib of Adam (see CL 193).

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In the spiritual meaning, the rib which was removed represents the male desire to lead himself from his own experience alone. This feeling of superiority is spiritually like the hardness of a bone, because he is not influenced by charity or love to the Lord from within. He is gripped by the world through his external pride. The male ego forms its "own" natural truth, a distillation of experience. This bony spirituality cannot become a receptacle of Divine revelation as long as it reflects arrogance. It is hard because it lacks humility. It recognizes no law which is higher than his own reason. When man tries to change this from a new insight of spiritual truth, he is confronted with its hardness from without, and might well give up if he had not his wife as a spiritual helper.
     We know that the natural man loves his own intelligence. A wife wants to be the love of her husband's intelligence, but when he turns it toward himself and his own advantages, he no longer can be loved by his wife from within. She is forced to reach him from without. She strives to help him away from his tendency to love himself. This is described in the Word by the Lord building a woman out of the rib and leading her to Adam.
     Every woman becomes a wife and her husband's spiritual partner. She is not a wife at once. She is formed, spiritually speaking, according to the picture of the rib taken from man which was given life. Every wife who loves the spiritual qualities of her husband which come from his self-compulsion becomes his spiritual helper, because she sees and understands him from "within," which is superior to his own understanding of himself.
     When a man really works on himself to resist or oppose his own proprial will and at the same time his proprial understanding, then for the first time he lives up to the meaning of his life. In the degree that he will work with himself, in the same degree is it possible for his wife to follow him, lifting her will into greater spiritual heat. She becomes more and more a wife, purer and more expressive of conjugial love (see CL 188). He becomes the custodian of marriage from without, while she is the custodian of marriage from within.
     To remind man that he is the protector of marriage from without, the Lord has charged him that he is to leave "father and mother" and cleave unto his wife. By a "father" in the spiritual sense is understood man's proprium or his egotism. By "mother" in the spiritual sense is understood his intellectual proprium or conceit-simply: his tendency for self-admiration. A man has what a woman has not. He has two negative wills. The will to love self is common to both sexes. We call this will selfishness. But in addition to this selfishness a man has what a woman has not-a tendency to love his own wisdom.

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These two tendencies are deadly evils in a man if he remains in them. No one is better equipped than a wife who understands her husband from within. She can see his conceit, and instead of condemning him, help him away from his tendency. She can, if she wants to, feel how the Lord puts flesh on that dry rib of her husband's intellectualism when she strives to avert his attention from himself, as she manages to have it directed to herself.
     To cleave to his wife means for the man to consciously strive to escape from his intellectual proprium, because he feels drawn to receive his wife's love. No man can truly achieve such freedom to pull away from his own intellectual conceit unless he subjects himself to the discipline of doctrine. This effort to discipline his thought and affections will change not only his own life but also qualify the love cherished by his wife. While he is striving to oppose his own negative will and thought in the external man, his wife is unconsciously drawn to him by the spiritual changes in her own internals, which is that gift from the Lord called conjugial love. She is not conscious of how the love of his wisdom becomes her conjugial love, or how his love of genuine wisdom becomes his love of her. The change in the husband is not a direct result of the wife's prudence, or caused by her vision of love, even if she may have a detailed understanding of him from within. Least of all is this love a result of her imaginings or jealousy of his occupation. The growing love is a result of the Divine love and wisdom coming down from the Lord out of heaven. It is a living gift, that New Jerusalem coming down, borne forth and defended by thinking and acting from love and wisdom, while looking to love and wisdom (see CL 193, 194, DLW 130).
     From having been a natural marriage, the relationship can grow until it is spiritual in both partners. But this is possible only when the man shuns the pride of his own intelligence as sin against God. It is equally possible to develop conjugial love only when the woman shuns her inherited tendency to dominate over her husband. It remains an eternal law that when a woman does not perceive and love that which belongs to wisdom, because of her lack of will to be led by the doctrine of truth, she wills to subject both the doctrine and the man to herself. Genuine love in marriage will not develop under these circumstances.
     Both good and evil come to us through humans, principally through the opposite sex. The woman who seeks out and explores her motives and patterns of action, who at the same time shuns her own tendency to love herself and the world, will be led by the Lord to love what is of genuine masculine wisdom, and especially what she sees of it in her own husband. When he in turn shuns wandering lust and that selfish vanity called fear for his own reputation, his love is uplifted, so that he may feel true joy and respect for all women, and especially for his wife.

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His striving to love not self but his wife, and through her the Lord, will make him capable of receiving love truly conjugial through her. In such a husband his proprial wisdom is transferred to his wife, so that that which earlier was self-love becomes love of his wife, and for this reason conjugial love (see CL 193). When he is appreciated for what he is, and for his attempts to be a man of spiritual principle, his wife cannot but show her joy, which affects him with deeper gratefulness and a larger blessing. This is the "flesh" which the Lord closed up while man slept.
     "And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:23, 24). Amen.

     LESSONS: Genesis 2:15-25; Matthew 5:27-32; Conjugial Love 194, 195 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS 1984

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS       IAN K. HENDERSON       1984

     June 6, 1984

     With two sons graduating, I thought my only concern would be how we could attend both commencement luncheons, college and high school. Little did I know that I would be standing here today.
     Graduation is truly a time for celebration, but it is also a time to reflect: to consider where we are, and the where and purpose of our future course.
     I sometimes visualize our lives as a progressive pathway winding and twisting from horizon to horizon as we pass through the seasons of our lives. Through this pathway is a river sustaining and leading us as we forge our way. The murky surface waters contain the natural knowledges and intelligence of the world. Into this external water also flow the discharges of falsity and the pollutions of profaned truth. Deeper, interiorly, and unseen for most of our lives, the water is pure, clear as crystal. Herein is the hidden current that ever pulls us on our journey. These waters never mix, but we are free to draw from either until we choose only one. That water then will carry us over that "last" horizon into eternal life. The sun is always overhead, warming us even through clouds of ignorance or perversion.

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     Where each new brook once started in beautiful sunlit gardens, man has so fallen that each is now born in darkness. Our inclinations in that surface water are no longer pure.
     Your course has been guided through New Church education, which may not be fully appreciated for some time. You are now prepared to start out on your own journey.
     Those of you going on to other colleges, or universities, are well readied. For with all the vast knowledge they impart, and which we need and must use, they do not draw deeply from the waters. Religion is no longer the keystone that supports the academic arch. There is no acknowledgment of absolute truth. There is indifference to the relevance of religion, and there prevails a feeling that a really good life can be lived along the banks of natural rivers. These, by the way, are some important reasons for developing higher education within the church.
     As you depart from the Academy, some may be leaving with a bruise from an experience that was found painful. It will do no good to keep going to the river to look at it in the reflection, for that water is not yet clear and it distorts what we think we see. If we keep touching that bruise, it will leave a lasting scar. It hurts some now, but with patience that blemish will fade, and with understanding, it can be washed away.
     As you consider your career, some might worry as to what is that special use for which we have been created. Perhaps we confuse the terms of "occupation" and "use." Use has a deeper meaning. It is the impact of our character that we bring to the job, the interior quality of our work, the influence of that quality upon other people and upon society.
     Many can hold the same job, but each is performing use in a unique way. We can change jobs but our use only changes with regeneration.
     As you start the journey, remember that we should give some thought to the direction, the purpose, of our lives. Because of our inclinations, we start off with self love as our navigator and we bend down with our focus on the world. Where the love of heaven, or uses, should be leading, it is now only a potential. We see the worn pathways from untold journeys where the going looks easy. That land is barren, but we think that we see enough in that surface water to irrigate and restore the land. We feel that we can live the good life there.
     The demands of the world are ever increasing. More and more specialized skills are needed in our occupations. Competition is intense, and we will need to keep up with the developments in the field. For the security of our family, we need to attain a measure of success. We find little time and energy for anything else.
     Here is real danger. For unless we find inspiration in the spiritual values of use, our real desires are for the rewards of the world.

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Our focus is there, and we feel that after we are established in our careers, and after we have made a place for ourselves in society, then we will enter into the life and uses of the church and start to read and study the doctrines of the Word. We are choosing to use only that surface water. The ambition of our self love grows with each success and we will only desire more and more.
     Sometimes we are just concerned with where we are, and what we can get, and we are not concerned with where our pathway is leading.
     We may spot a lagoon which entices us. With ingenuity and guile, we can take enough from those shallow waters to build our own Shangri-La. But, the pure water does not flow in and what is there becomes stagnant. Eventually, that hidden current will sweep in and carry us over that "last" horizon. What then? Everything we had, and that gave us pleasure, is gone forever and we are left in utter spiritual poverty. The winner is suddenly a loser to eternity!
     We can ask the Lord to show us a new path, a direction with a purpose. The longer we wait, the harder it will be for us to see that opening in the overgrowth of the world.
     We need to keep a proper perspective on just what it is that is our ultimate goal in life.
     I would like to quote some brief extracts from an article concerning heaven.

     There is no more beautiful picture in the Writings than that which portrays the life in heaven . . . . We must be careful that the affections it arouses are not directed to it alone; be careful that we do not rest content with the picture itself, and use it merely as the basis of a dream in which we seek escape from an often unhappy and frustrating and unsatisfying world . . . . The love of heaven . . . is not merely its external features, beautiful as these are, but a love of its life. . . . And what is the life of heaven? . . . Nothing less than a life of spiritual uses . . . forgetfulness of self, unselfish performance of uses to the neighbor . . . . The life that is free from greed of gain and the lust of power . . . . If we do not strive to love the life of heaven now . . . it is futile to imagine that we shall suddenly find ourselves able and willing to do so when we pass through the gates of death into the other life" (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1951: Rev. W. Cairns Henderson).

     This is why the Lord said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you" (Luke 17:21), and further, ". . . He is received who receives heaven in himself in the world" (HH 420).
     We look up and see a new light. There is a way. We want to carve out a new life, but the land is too rugged and unexplored. In all humility, we have to admit that we cannot make our way alone. We have to ask for help.

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     He only asks that we work to clear one small plot at a time. If we will but draw up strength from deep in the river, we can start pulling up the type of weed or bramble that we find most offensive, be it jealousy, revenge, deceit, negative attitudes, impatience, selfishness, greed, or some other evil. We pull and clear; relax, and they start to grow again. We have to keep working to get all the roots. We are taught that the Lord will forgive us where we fall short between our intention and getting out those final roots. We clear a section and try to move on, but there are rocks and boulders of falsity blocking the way. He only asks us to remove the stones that we can handle and He will do the rest: "Is not My Word . . . like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah
24:29)
     We see some progress, but that success is not ours, but "as of self." That term that is sometimes confusing is not so difficult to understand. If we clear a piece of land, prepare the soil, plant the seed, cultivate to clear the weeds, and the crops grow into a bountiful harvest, we are proud of what we have done. But we did not create the life in seed, make the nutrients in the soil, produce the water, or make the sunshine. We removed obstacles in order that good could replace them, and then we worked to cultivate it so that it could grow. The rewards are ours, and such is our promise in life.
     We do not yet deserve that peace of mind so many seek. For it is only through times of struggle that we grow, and who really enjoys the fruits of victory who had no part in the winning? What we do need is a staying power, and inner confidence of knowing that what we are trying to do is right. No man can deter us from this quest.
     We will have many good times, periods of real happiness, but there will be the hard times to endure. In times of inner strife there may be, for some, periods of uncertainty concerning the Writings. We are told that where knowledge of the Writings is lacking, doubts may arise, but this can force us beyond our first ideas, and then knowledges will come.
     Our pathway, at times, will be ravaged by storms. Those surface waters will overrun their banks and flood our lives. Are we building on solid rock, or will these forces erode our foundations set on crumpled stones of sand? We may sometimes find ourselves caught in the crossfire of the perversions of man, mistaking these to be acts of Providence, testing us. We need to study long the laws of Providence and permissions.
     During our struggles in temptations, we may feel the bottom drop out of our lives as those rushing waters of self-intelligence send us crashing down a ravine. Or we could find ourselves in a frenzy of that surface water, our lives out of control as we are hurtled among those hidden, jagged rocks of our reasonings from falsity that bruise and tear at us as we tumble through. We are in clouds of gloom and cold, alone: feeling that even He is not with us. But after each such waterfall or rapids, the waters still. We find peace, warmth, and then new strength. We go on.

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     It is comforting that we are taught that the way to heaven is not nearly so difficult as many suppose. We have a choice of servitude to the hells, or service freely given to the Lord. We live in this world and we can enjoy all the symbols of success. What we do need is to change our thoughts and to act from charity, and not let the loves of self and the world dominate. Life will not be without difficulty, but no more than we can endure.
     We are taught that several times a year we need to climb up the mountain and look down on our pathway. We need to look back. Sometimes those evils just need to surface and we can reject them now. Little by little we see the difference. In that waterfall, there is a rainbow now. The waters of those rapids are clear and gentle, moving easily over those rocks worn smooth. Where those rapids once raged, the sound now gives us peace. We look down to where we are, and upon reflection, we adjust our course: a new land to work and conquer as we continue to forge the path.
     This deep reflection should not be done too often. If we continually scramble up and down the mountain, we will have little time or energy to accomplish anything. We are assured that our conscience will keep things in check on a daily basis. And that conscience is not a magic, better, inner self trying to get out, but it is the beginning of a new will that the Lord is giving us as our thoughts and attitudes change. Your affirmative attitudes and leadership abilities have proven to be exceptional. Together, your pathways can make highways for so many searching people in this sad world to follow.

     "If thou but ask the Lord to guide thee . . ." (Hymn no. 59).

     "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land . . . open, Lord, the crystal fountain whence the living waters flow . . ." (Hymn no. 23).

     'Thou wilt show me' the path of life . . ." (Anthem no. 2).

     "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path . . ." (Psalm 119:105).

     "And He showed me a pure river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God . . ." (Revelation 22:1).

     "And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17).

     Graduates, you are on your way. Good luck!
NEW CHURCH HOME TAKES UP THE SUBJECT OF DIVORCE 1984

NEW CHURCH HOME TAKES UP THE SUBJECT OF DIVORCE              1984

     The July-August issue of New Church Home contains an anonymous interview with a divorce and a relevant article entitled "Lifting Burdens."

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LOVE OF THE LORD AND THE STATES OF THE CHURCH 1984

LOVE OF THE LORD AND THE STATES OF THE CHURCH       Rev. FREDERICK L. SCHNARR       1984

     AN ASSEMBLY ADDRESS

     Of all the loves that form and inspire the essential quality of our lives, no love is of greater importance than our love for the Lord. That this is so stems from the very nature of the Lord Himself, who so created us that we should live from Him and respond to Him. He created us to receive His love because the Lord's happiness is to give of Himself that others outside of Himself may also be happy. In returning the Lord's love, we are molded into the very image and likeness of our Creator, and enjoy freely all the qualities and attributes of His love.
     This universal cycle of giving and receiving love seems so simple, and yet it is so profound that it rules and determines the form and quality of every least thing in creation, but supremely man himself. So the doctrines state that "love is the life of man, and such as is his love, such is his life" (TCR 399).
     We know from the Word that all religion begins with the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord (see DP 91, 326; TCR 457). In countless passages and in many different teachings in the Word this truth is made to stand forth before the man of the church. Recognizing how important it is for the church to have a correct idea of God, to know and really understand His nature and quality, many scholars in the last decade have focused attention on the doctrine of how God is visible to His church.
     Today we would focus attention not so much on this primary doctrine, but on the nature of man's reception of the Lord in love for the Lord, This is what we hope and pray follows our knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord, and, insofar as it does, makes the church with us both individually and collectively. Let us review how this love is formed with us, both as to means and as to progressive states of growth. Let us look at its quality and form, and at the states of life that come forth from it to nourish and sweeten our lives. Finally, let us view this love in the age and culture in which we live, that we may reflect on how we can provide a sanctuary in which it might grow with us in a holy and protected sphere.
     In looking through the many hundreds of references describing love of or for the Lord from the heavenly doctrines, a number of teachings stand out as being of such great importance that we cannot think of this love without having them before our thought.

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These include the following:

1.      That love of the Lord is from the Lord and not from man.
2.      That love of the Lord must be considered together with love of the neighbor.
3.      That love of the Lord can be formed only by means of the Word.
4.      That love of the Lord requires the essential ingredient from man of action in shunning evils as sins.

     Because we are focusing on the formation of the love of the Lord, and because we have such time limitations in considering our subject, there are three major aspects of this love we cannot consider. These are:

1.      The nature of love of the Lord in the Most Ancient Church, when that love was the ruling love of that church.
2.      The nature of love of the Lord with the celestial angels, where this love forms the whole nature and quality of the celestial heaven.
3.      The relationship of love of the Lord and the life of conjugial love.

I. Love of the Lord Is From the Lord and Not From Man

     While we must exert a very strong and definite "as of self" in preparing ourselves to love the Lord, still man cannot love the Lord from himself. The unpleasant fact is that man from himself is nothing but evil (see AC 8880). We cannot invent or create good in ourselves by any means whatsoever. We can only prepare for reception. So the Writings unequivocally declare that all good is from the Lord (Ibid.).
     The love of the Lord with us, therefore, begins with the acknowledgment that all good is to be attributed to the Lord (see DP 199).
     In seeking to give His love to us, the Lord draws near and conjoins us with Himself (see D. Love XIII). The Lord wills to be loved, and therefore He gives us to will it also (see D. Wisdom IV). He reciprocates His own love in us, and even causes it to appear to us as if we love the Lord from ourselves (see D. Wisdom XI:7).
     Given how fruitless and even evil it is to believe that we can form good loves from ourselves, it seems incredible at first thought that the Lord should actually cause it to appear to us that this love is from ourselves. Yet in the external and selfish states in which we begin the reformative and regenerative life, how would we ever do anything unless we believed we felt all things with us to be absolutely our own?
     The one love which is the origin of all the goods of heaven with us is love of the Lord from the Lord (see HH 72:2). In a moment we will see that when the doctrines make this statement, they include the love of the neighbor.

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So in many places we are taught that all human good is from the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor (see AC 3175:2). These two loves are, therefore, called the two essentials of the church with us, and actually make the church with us (see 8928:3, 9032).
     The love of the Lord is the universal of all loves, and forms the inmost of every other good love we may have, whether spiritual or natural. Residing in the most interior things with us, it flows down into lower things whenever the lower things are ordered and prepared to receive (see TCR 416).
     This is so from our very birth when the Lord implants in us the very deepest remains. These inmost delights are given to us that we may have the means to know and believe, when the Word is brought to our conscious idea and perception, that the Lord alone is God.
     The Lord's love for us, and our reciprocal love for Him, is powerfully and beautifully represented in the holy supper. The Lord provided this sacrament that we may recall this circle of love, and may confirm the all-important truth that we only receive the good of the Lord's love, we do not create good from ourselves. And it is eminently fitting that a church that acknowledges this truth as a cardinal truth of its faith should humbly seek in unity the fulfillment of this truth in our lives as the last act of this assembly (see AC 5120:5).

II. That Love of the Lord Must Be Considered Together With Love of the Neighbor

     The relationship of the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor is established in all three revelations from the Lord. In the Old Testament what could be more clear than the Ten Commandments written on two tables of stone; one about the laws relating to God, and the other about the laws relating to the neighbor. These tables of stone were to be placed face to face in the Ark, and cared for and protected as the very center of all the worship of the Israelitish Church (refer TCR 287).
     In the New Testament what could be more plain than the two Great Commandments telling the man of the church to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the neighbor as himself! (See Mark 12:37-38; Matt. 22:3740.) What could be clearer as to the relationship of the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor than the lord telling His disciples that inasmuch as they had done their acts of charity to one of the least of these His brethren they had done it unto Him (see Matt. 25:40; also HH 19).
     In the Writings we are told that while love of the neighbor is external to love of the Lord, it is the very means whereby love of the Lord is born (see CL 134; AC 6295:2).

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Indeed, there is no other means of loving the Lord except by our expression of charitable use to the neighbor (see AC 4776).

III. That Love of the Lord Can Be Formed Only by Means of the Word

     "To live according to Divine truths which are from the Word is to love the Lord" (AC 10551:2). What a profoundly simple yet all-inclusive statement! It is repeated in the heavenly doctrine in hundreds and hundreds of different ways.

     How can we seek to love the Lord if we do not love that which is from the Lord, that which makes it possible for the Lord's love and wisdom to be present with us? And there is no other way except the Word. Let's never allow ourselves to wander off into the wilderness of vain imaginations that suggest that the Lord is somehow here and somehow there. Sure He is everywhere. But not everywhere within the human mind; not everywhere within the bounds of human freedom. As another passage states, "the Lord cannot be loved except by learning truths from the Word, willing them, and doing them" (AC 10645:4). What is said of the Ten Commandments is true of the entire Word: "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). And the Writings declare further in this regard that he who believes he loves the Lord but does not live according to His commandments "is very much mistaken; for to live according to them is to love the Lord" (AC 10578:3; AR 556). "These are the Lord with man" (AE 981).

IV. That Love of the Lord Requires the Essential Ingredient From Man of Action in Shunning Evils As Sins

     This follows from what has been said, but still a few passages should be noted that speak of this openly.
     In the work the Divine Love, it is written, "They who shun evils as sins, and no others, are they to whom the Lord can give love of the Lord and love of the neighbor" (D. Love XVII). Other passages add that goods are also to be done because they are heavenly and Divine, But they are only such if evils have first been shunned as infernal and diabolical (see DLW 237:2; AE 1020:2). Indeed, we are told that even the very uses done by a man who does not fight against evils are really uses against the Lord and the neighbor, whatever the appearance. This is in keeping with the Lord's words, "he who is not with Me is against Me," and "he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad" (Matt. 12:3).

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Loving the Lord As to Person

     When we review the teachings about love of the Lord, we may be surprised at how many times the heavenly doctrines warn us to beware of how we think of the Lord as to person.
     We have thought much about this because it seems strange at first that a church that is to love and cherish the vision of God as Man, as Divine Human, should yet be careful of how that Human is personalized.
     The Christian Church came into the personalization of the Lord, and in doing so fell away from those very essentials from which alone the Lord's nature and quality could be understood (refer AR 611:7; TCR 296).
     The Word of the Second Coming sometimes uses the expression "Divine Person" when referring to God who is Man (see TCR 296:4; AR 1109, Coro. 4X; Inv. 43). But we note that when this is done the emphasis is always away from personality to Essence, and to use.
     The general instruction is that to love the Lord is not to love Him as to person, but to love that which is from Him, namely the goods and truths of His Word, which are His precepts, and are in fact Himself (see HH 15, 481; AE 433:2. 973:2, 1099:2).
     There are a number of things that might help us bring this teaching into a better perspective.
     First we would note how the angels tend to avoid thinking of person and personality. "in heaven, not persons but things come into view, for persons limit the idea and concentrate it upon something finite, whereas things do not limit and concentrate it, but extend it to the infinite, thus to the Lord. For this reason also, no person named in the Word is perceived in heaven, but in his stead the thing that is represented by that person; so also no people or nation is perceived, but only its quality. Nay, not even is any historic statement of the Word about a person, nation, or people known in heaven; and consequently it is not known who Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israelitish people, and the Jewish nation were, but it is there perceived what Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israelitish people, and the Jewish nation denote; and the same in all other cases" (AC 5225; see also AE 405:2).
     Perhaps it is this very limiting of the thought when persons are mentioned instead of uses that causes angels also to be guarded about thinking of the Lord as a Person. Indeed, the angels pointed out to Swedenborg that even an evil man can love the Lord as a Person, and in like manner the neighbor (see D. Love XIII; D. Wisdom XI; AE 973:2).
     What stands out as essential in loving the Lord as to Person is that we are to love that which is from Him; namely the Word, and the uses that are performed by means of the Word.

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A beautiful passage in this respect says, "As man loves uses, so he loves the Lord and the neighbor. No one can love the Lord in any other way, for the uses which are goods are from the Lord Himself, and are the Lord Himself with man. To love the Lord as a Person and not love use is to love Him from self, which is not to love Him" (D. Love XIII).
     Sometimes, especially when we are in states of personal confusion, misfortune, or a host of serious problems, and perhaps temptations, we may incline to slip backwards into the ideas from the former Christian churches, in spite of the fact that their doctrines were impregnated with falsities, especially about the Lord. At times we are undoubtedly like the Children of Israel, dissatisfied with what we have, and looking back to Egypt, while at the same time proceeding toward the promised land.

How We See the Lord in the Word

     In reference to how we should think of the Lord when we strive to love Him, let us reflect on the fact that in the Word those things which represent the Lord are not necessarily in an obvious human or personal form. Certainly there are angels and men who at times represent the Lord in the spiritual sense of the Word, and also represent our love of the Lord; such especially are Joseph and Solomon, to name but a few. But reflecting back to the teaching that the idea of persons is turned into things in the internal sense so that the angels are not so limited in the extension of their ideas, do we find it surprising that the Lord's qualities, and our love for them, are represented in the Word mainly by a variety of representative forms-forms in which what is of person is scarcely visible? Some of the forms most frequently or strikingly used in the Word include: the sun, a lamb, a mountain, an olive tree, the holy city New Jerusalem, the bread of the holy supper, and most fully, the object we have on the platform in front of us-the golden Ark, in which were kept the commandments on tables of stone.
     Each of these objects is not only a representative picture of the Lord Himself but a representation of our love of the Lord. Each sets forth different qualities and uses of the Lord that we are to love.
     In the heat and light of the sun, we see reflected the Lord's love and wisdom, and we understand why the angels love to look at the spiritual sun and be turned toward it.
     In the lamb we see depicted the Lord's innocence and gentleness. In the mountain we see the stability of the Lord's love, its permanence, and His power to elevate our minds on high to see and love spiritual things.
     In the olive tree we think of the oil of love that causes all things to work in harmony.

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     In the holy city with its streets and buildings of gold shining like crystal glass, we see mirrored the splendor and magnificence of the lord's love.
     In the bread of the holy supper we see the good of the Lord's love which is given to nourish and sustain our lives.
     And in the Ark we see represented a detailed picture of how love of the Lord surrounds and protects the Lord's presence with us in His Word, as the very most sacred and precious thing of all things in our life. All of these representations present different aspects of the Lord's love, and our reciprocal love for Him. All of them describe qualities of the Lord's Divine Human that we cannot know and love in any other way.
     In the detailed description of the Ark in the Writings, and its signification, we find nothing, for example, to suggest that this work formed from Divine instruction is somehow only for the delight of children.
     Surely, all of us can stand beside the Ark in our imagination, and as we study the detail of this representation be stirred with a holy and reverent awe and wonder that the great God of the universe, He who came to earth to walk and talk with man, speaks to each of us who would be of His New Church, as from between the wings of the cherubim.

What Do We Receive From Our Love of the Lord?

     When we are very little this love, with us as remains, gives us to desire to be led by others, especially our parents. For a time parents take the place of the Lord with children (see AC 3183).
     In our youth and early adult life it gives an ability to the understanding of being affected by the truths of the Word in perceiving that the happiest life is from love of the Lord and the neighbor (see AC 3539:4).
     As we come into states of reformation and regeneration, and the loves of the Lord and the neighbor grow within us, they begin to influence everything we think, will, speak, and do (see AC 9705, 1021:3; HH 396).
     Love of the Lord brings us a desire to communicate with each other. "This is because the Lord's love is the love of communicating all things of His own to others, for He wills the happiness of all. There is a like love in each of those who love Him, because the Lord is in them" (HH 399).
     Most of the states we come into from love of the Lord are interior states that normally do not come to our conscious perception. Such are states of peace, innocence, blessedness, and trust in the Lord. They form within us as love of the Lord forms, and they bring a sphere and protection from evil, though we be "even in the midst of the hells" (AC 6370). They bring confidence:

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     -that the Lord rules all things
     -that the Lord provides all things
     -and that the Lord will bring a good end out of everything that happens (AC 8455).

     If the love becomes strong enough, as it is with the celestial angels, we would rather die than allow such things as worldly honor, reputation, and wealth to draw us away from our love of the Lord (see AE 409:7, 863).
     In looking for the signs and fruits of this love, we should, however, remember well the instruction in the work Heaven and Hell which tells us that as long as we live in the body we do not manifestly feel delight from this love, or the love of the neighbor, but only a blessing almost imperceptible, because it is stored away in our interiors, and is covered over by the exteriors which are of the body, and is dulled by the cares of the world (see HH 401).

The States of the Church

     No one knows who really has a love of the Lord forming within him, and therefore, who is part of the New Church being born on the earth.
     We do know that wherever the love of the Lord grows and flourishes, there will not only be the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Human, but there will be a love for the Lord in His Human as the essential interior life of the church. It is the life of this greatest of all loves, conjoined together with love of the neighbor, that will cause heaven to descend once again to the peoples of this earth.
     That the New Church now is little in size, and struggles in a worldly wilderness filled with falsities and externalisms, in no way makes its purpose or its power any less true, or any less real.
     But of all the many things from the world that would take away from internal things, that would rend and destroy a unity of vision, a unity of purpose, and a unity of charity within the growing body of the New Church, what alone is to be feared is that which would remove from us a growing love of the Lord. This is our very spirit and life, and in time, our exceeding great reward.
     As the individuals of this Assembly have come together to renew and rededicate their spiritual faith and love, so let it be that from all of us there is a quiet, sincere prayer that the Lord alone may rule in His church, and that we will love the Lord with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strength.

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Response to the Address by Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr entitled "Love of the Lord and the States of the Church" 1984

Response to the Address by Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr entitled "Love of the Lord and the States of the Church"       Rev. ROBERT S. JUNGE       1984

     Mr. Schnarr's beautiful emphasis on the Lord and our love to Him is essential. The church simply cannot grow in us without such a living focus. Man is indeed governed by the principles he assumes. The true order is for man to be wise from the Lord, that is from His Word, and then all things follow (see AC 129). And remember, to be wise from the Lord is of life and of love.
     I think that sometimes we unconsciously try to think of the Lord from Esse to person, rather than from essence to person as the Writings teach. But thought from Esse is impossible, and so we seem to be caught between an indistinguishable abstraction and a mere human. But the Human Essence from which we are to think spiritually of the Lord involves all those wonderful human qualities that we can distinguish in our thought and yet acknowledge to be one in the Lord-His love, His justice, His mercy, His tenderness, His innocence, His peace. Thus the faith which gives form to love in its essence is spiritual, but in its form is natural. Therefore, faith in a visible God, who is at once Man and God, enters into a man. The Lord God the Savior, being God and Man, can be approached and be seen in thought. Faith in Him is not indeterminate, but has an object from which and to which it proceeds and when once received is permanent. Thus does the Lord appear to those who have faith in Him. He draws near to every man so far as man recognizes and acknowledges Him, and at length the Lord comes into man's house and together with the Father who is in Him makes His abode with man (see TCR 339).
     Drawing near, coming into, proceeding, abiding with-all these urgent activities of the Lord point to the operation of His Holy Spirit. The Lord put on a Divine Natural in order to enlighten the internal spiritual man together with the external natural; and unless these two are simultaneously enlightened, man is, as it were, in shadow; but when both are enlightened, he is as it were in the light of day (see TCR 109:2). This enlightenment, making the Lord Himself visible, is the operation of the Holy Spirit. What the Lord does and what He says makes His Human qualities visible to us. Enlightenment is seeing the Lord in action from the Word. Understanding the Holy Spirit then, as uniquely promised and revealed to the New Church, is tremendously important to our learning to love the Lord.

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In fact, seeing the Lord from the Divine of use is one of the keys to approaching the Lord, without binding our thought in mere person. The work of the Lord with each one of us is human, and very real, but always carries Divine and eternal consequences.
     "The Holy Spirit, which proceeds solely from the Lord, operates on man perceptibly." we read (Nine Questions V-VI-emphasis added). "It never becomes man's, but is constantly the Lord's with him . . . . [It remains perceptibly with man] so long as the man who receives it believes in the Lord, and at the same time in the doctrine of truth from the Word, and a life according to it" (Canons HS:IV:3-4). It is an ongoing reciprocal relationship. The importance of the Word and life are applied here to the Holy Spirit, in much the same way as Mr. Schnarr has shown them to be means of learning to really love the Lord.
     The functions of the Holy Spirit where we learn to see and love the Lord are: "instruction, reformation, regeneration; and according to these; vivification, sanctification, and justification; and according to these, purification from evils, remission of sins, and salvation" (Canons HS VI; Redemption IV:1). These functions with the enlightened can become perceptible so far as they are seen as coming from the Divinely Human God or as Divine works with man.
     Now it cannot be said that God proceeds except apparently. We say proceeding but it is really presence (see Can. HS II:5). All these functions, including Providence itself, involve the immediate and active presence of the Lord in our life. That is what we all need to feel. To see the Lord as our Savior is to feel His Divinely Human presence each day of our life and to as it were take His hand on the path of life itself. This is what the Word describes as the Comforter. "Redemption could not be effected, nor salvation given, except by God incarnate, thus by no other than God, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, for salvation is perpetual redemption" (Can. Trin X:7). Notice that term "perpetual." Redemption is a steady ongoing process (see Can. Red. VIII 10-13). The Divine presence is perpetual and causes us to live, to understand, and so to love (see Inv. 50). The Lord Himself constantly acts, urges and strives to be received. Thus the presence of the Holy Spirit is perpetual and acts from an urgent cause (see Inv. 23; Can. God VII 1-6, 14). It wills to go forth and embrace others with love (see Can. God VII 1-6, 14).
     The faith of the New Church attributes to the visible God, in whom is the invisible, the omnipotence to impute and also to work out the effects of salvation (see TCR 647:2-5). This working out of salvation is the Lord's gradually becoming visible, present and conjoined to man. God is not a mere word of three letters, but is the All of reality from Alpha to Omega, consequently the life and salvation of all who believe in Him as visible, for believing, seeing, and knowing make one (see TCR 159).

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Thus and not otherwise is a conjunction of God with man possible because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in his love's affection, and this is the case when he thinks of God as a Man. All conjunction of God with man must be also reciprocal conjunction of man with God; and no such reciprocation is possible except with a visible God, a God who is perceptibly and perpetually present (see TCR 787).
     "That it is actually the Lord Himself who is with the angels in the heavens and with men on earth and in those with whom He is conjoined by love . . . cannot be comprehended by the natural man until by enlightenment from the Lord he can be withdrawn from the natural idea respecting space. and be brought thereby into light respecting spiritual essence, which viewed in itself is the proceeding Divine itself adapted to every angel, as truly to the angel of the highest heaven as to the angel in the lowest, and to every man, both the wise and the simple. For the Divine that proceeds from the Lord is Divine from first things even to ultimates. This life applies itself not to man, but only to uses in man. Uses themselves, viewed in themselves, are spiritual; while the forms of use are natural. The Divine life applies itself to the uses themselves in every series, and thereby gives life to every form; from this, man has the life that is called his soul" (D. Love IV). "The proceeding Divine is the Lord in the heavens, and is called the Son of Man, and likewise the Paraclete, and the Holy Spirit. From this it is evident what His omnipresence is. Since affection and love put on that human form in every heaven or in every degree, it follows that the human which is put on is Divine truth, and that they are in the proceeding Divine and are truly men who are in low and truth therefrom." (Ath Cr. 177-8-emphasis added).
     "The Holy Spirit is not any other than the Lord. 'To go forth' and 'to proceed' is nothing else than to enlighten and teach by presence, which is according to the reception of the Lord" (Lord 46). In all our efforts then to think from essence to person and so learn to truly love our Savior, we must remember to think from active use, even as we think from use concerning our neighbors. The Lord is Redeemer to eternity. He redeems us every moment or we would perish. When we see the Lord in what He does every day, we will see that Providence is indeed Presence. His care is perpetual. His voice is ever present in His Word to lead and guide us. The Lord Himself spreads His hands and invites us to His arms, perpetually in every operation of His Spirit. Because He is
Human, we can learn to love Him; because He is Divine, our love can be eternal. "if ye love me, keep my commandments.

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And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:15-18).
     Thank you again, Mr. Schnarr, for a very beautiful and inspiring paper.
NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1984

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO              1984

     In August of 1934 we find an address by Charles E. Doering which he had been invited to give to the Theta Alpha: "The Place of Woman in the Changing Conditions of the World." Rev. Doering used a quotation that some of us can remember him reciting at wedding receptions. "As woman is beautiful, so she is tender; and as she is tender, so she has the ability to perceive the delights of conjugial love; and as she is able to perceive those delights, so she is a faithful custodian of the common good; and as she is a custodian of the common good, and the man is wise, so she provides for the prosperity and happiness of the home" (page 534, Vol. II, Post. Theol. Works). He commented on the place of woman, "All the sympathetic considerations for the well-being of others come through her . . . The common good of society, of which she is the faithful custodian, comes through her."
     In the same issue Rev. W. B. Caldwell has an unusual piece about ancient correspondential books in which he emphasizes the book of Job and a particular passage in the Epistle of Jude.
     One notices how much emphasis this magazine gave to church news fifty years ago. The twelve pages of news notes begins with an item about India and the distribution work of Mr. Gopaul Chetty.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS 1984

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS       Rev. Donald L. Rose       1984

     Our use is the disseminating of material for religious instruction. Those we serve are children, particularly in families which do not live near New Church schools or Sunday Schools. But we are glad to give help to anyone involved in religious instruction.
     The mailings, which we will mention in a moment, go out to three dozen ministers who may use them in their own way. The materials we deal with in helping teachers, theological students and parents are described in a 31-page Sunday School Catalogue.

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     Some 200 children who are not old enough for graded lessons receive pre-school mailings. Parents of two-year-olds, three-year-olds and four-year-olds receive mailings from Mrs. Boyd Asplundh.
     We continue to send out (last year to 221 individuals) the General Church Religion Lessons. What those lessons cover is described on pages 19 and 20 of the catalogue mentioned above. It should be noted that these lessons are sent only to those who request them. We also send to a hundred families the special task force lessons that are being produced. These lessons have been fully described elsewhere. (See the Theta Alpha Journal and last December's issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, p. 538.)
     We would explain the revision of one of the lessons, which in 1983 were mailed out in the following quantities:

     Kindergarten 37
     Grade One 30
     Grade Two 25
     Grade Three 20
     Grade Four 23
     Grade Five 18
     Grade Six 18
     Grade Seven 16
     Grade Eight 11
     Grade Nine 10
     Grade Ten 10
     Grade Eleven 2
     Grade Twelve 1

     The sixth-grade lesson has now been revised for the following reason. At least ten years ago, a change was made in New Church elementary instruction. Whereas the 7th grade had been studying the end of the first book of Kings and the second book of Kings (which includes the stories of Elijah and Elisha), a change was made to have the 7th grade take up the Life of The Lord as part of a two-year program. This meant that the study of the Old Testament in our Religion Lessons ended abruptly at the 16th chapter of I Kings, just before the story of Elijah. For at least ten years what we called "Lesson H" was retired from use. Previous directors of Religion Lessons rightly noted that the thing to do in the future was to replace "Lesson G" for the 6th grade with a lesson book that would not only combine selections from both "G" and "H" but would give some attention to the Psalms and the prophets.
     The timing was right in 1983, and we have tried to follow this recommendation and have produced such a volume.

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     We hope to turn our attention to other needs recognized in the past. In his 1977 report, Rev. David Helm noted that our lessons are "not in all cases ideal," some being "perhaps too difficult." Although the book City of God is excellent, it was not specifically written for students in their teens. This is an example of the need for alternative lessons. I would like to thank those who serve and promote this use.
     Rev. Donald L. Rose
SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE 1984

SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE       Rev. Douglas Taylor       1984

     The year 1983 was another year of quiet and steadfast devotion on the part of a small number of volunteers to a very important use of the church-recording, cataloging, and distributing tapes of a great variety of activities and occasions: worship services, doctrinal classes, special addresses, banquet programs, evangelization programs, Academy classes, children's services, and special events. The only paid employee is our office secretary, Mrs. Joseph McDonough. All others involved in this activity are volunteers.
     These include our office bearers: Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh, secretary; Miss Elizabeth Hayes, treasurer, both of whom are continuing in office. But we now have a new vice chairman, Mr. John Keal, formerly of the Hurstville Society in Sydney, Australia. He replaces Mr. Norwin Synnestvedt, who rendered us sterling service in this capacity for a number of years, and still makes himself available. Mr. Synnestvedt wished to concentrate his efforts on the new sound system in the cathedral-a most demanding enterprise.
     We are pleased to report that we have moved into a new control booth in the cathedral, which is a great improvement. The same may be said of the new wireless microphones, which have improved the quality of our tapes and the public address system in the cathedral.
     Our treasurer's report at the annual meeting in September revealed that the committee's net worth now stands at $49,408.95, down $1,516.02. Our income for the period ($20,008.51) was also down-by $13,653.87. This was largely due to an expected drop in special contributions, following some rather large final gifts in the previous year. User contributions ($2,201.87) were down only $787.86. However, our total expenses ($21,524.53) were also down-by $10,679.67, which meant that our loss for the period was not as bad as it might have been-$1,516.02.
     Since we make no charge for these services to the church, we depend on contributions from users and others to maintain this valuable operation.

     Rev. Douglas Taylor,
          Chairman

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MEDICINE, THE NEW CHURCH, AND HOMEOPATHY 1984

MEDICINE, THE NEW CHURCH, AND HOMEOPATHY       J. DANIEL HEILMAN       1984

     Medicine is the application of science and technology for the containment, less often, cure, of human malady. The artful application of this text, this armamentarium, by one human for the improvement of another, goes beyond science and technology. I have developed over the last 20 years certain notions which stem from the unusual background of the practice of medicine-trying to help people who either perceive an illness or actually may harbor one, in the murky water of the complex body and the vivid imagination-and an educational experience both within and without the New Church.
     One of the perennial problems is the definition of illness. Some have felt that if a person feels he is ill, then this satisfies the criteria. This may be so, but if so, one might be treated inexpensively, judiciously and humanely by reassurance. There may be as many people who have cancer as who suspect they might. There may be fewer who, having been "studied" with tests and examination, still feel they have it. There is a point in the process which calls for faith. Modern medicine would locate that faith in some concert composed of explanation, confidence, and what you and I might term a "soul's rest." Most people acknowledge that we live in an age of uncertainty. Those who lived during the plague lived in an age of ignorance. We are getting better. There is a place for faith in medicine, as in life. Once we have submitted ourselves for the process of examination and of responsible care, then we must let up. We cannot make things right with anxiety. Once we do what we know to be correct, having taken consultation from reliable, and often paid, sources we must relax. If we have confidence in Providence, then we should be able to develop confidence in the physician of our choice, given communication and dialogue. This is not an idle faith, but a faith joined with responsibility.
     I feel the value of the New Church rests upon its capacity to stand upon the bedrock of the world. We almost boast of the collection of teachings which invest our lives. The thrust of those teachings, precious as they may be, must not reside in a museum. We are to fit them to the days of our activities and the nights of our dreams. The practice of medicine contains certain elements which tend to illuminate our teachings. It contains, for instance, the full verse of human emotion-those which surround illness, which invest treatment, which deal with adversity, with the sidetracking impact of impaired health, with dying and death itself.

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Chekhov allegedly said that if life is a circus, then the practice of medicine is a ringside seat. It is a perch on a point which allows a circumferential view of the range of human behavior with its examples of courage and whimsy, nobility and carelessness.
     Medicine as a discipline is not exactly sacrosanct. The ministry, motherhood and the producers of stage productions all must know that they are dealing with a pure truth right up until the time that truth is applied to as mercurial a creature as a member of a congregation, a child or a player. These are the moments which call for mercy, love and interpretation.
     Not everyone assimilates the notion of death with the equanimity of a Swedenborgian, it seems. Not everyone has been granted the eloquent disclosure of life, of the spirit, of the worlds, both natural and spiritual, as has a Swedenborgian. In a way, we are experts on the meaning and the extension of death. In a way, we don't even believe in death. Most people I see do.
     Medicine, though, is necessarily an exertion in the matter of living, up to a reasonable point. As cohabitants of the earth, we are all in the same kettle of life, brewing and simmering with individual recipes, each with a body, a mind, a spirit, and a connection with forces which exceed ourselves (and the earth). The art of medicine is something beyond, if not above, its science. We might enlist the aid of a computer to analyze our diagnoses. With all due respect for the "computer-friendly," they tend to be cold or at least aloof. Most of us would rather take advice from a face which either smiles or fluctuates. We seek humans as sources of empathy, acknowledging the capacity of some to have a special understanding. Physicians were once venerated but they were never divine. They certainly are not superior as a result of their training. They work in a sphere of uncertainty. They also are approached often with great expectations. During flight, we do not rush to the cabin to interrogate the pilot. We have the capacity to remove ourselves from him and his responsibility. Our faith, or denial, protects us until the warning light comes on. For many people who arrive in a doctor's office, the warning light is on.
     One of the lovely applications of our church to the natural is the law of correspondences. The law, reiterated: Each and all things in nature correspond to spiritual things; and in like manner each and all things in the human body. Combine this with the notion of influx, that the Lord's life comes to man through influx into man's will, thence into his intellect and his reason. One might deduce, without apology, the notion that natural life beats in every man with continuous vigor, coming from God, flowing through the circuitry of heaven's reflection-the mind, and the will.

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This force, known as life, cannot be captured, bottled or manufactured, but it strikes the awareness of any practicing physician daily, unless he wears the blinders of doom and despair. In fact, most physicians learn to harness it, as an ally, in the name of "time." They enjoy the time for the medicine to work, to let the problem "run its course," to follow up later with the doctor, pending "tests" and the ameliorative influence of the innate capacity of the body to heal. The mechanisms which underwrite such healing are the genetic direction for the synthesis of proteins (the structure of the body), the formation of scars, the generation of antibodies-those fighters which attack foreign invaders, whether they be infectious or cancerous. The defendants of our health are legion, and are still unfolding, slightly less rapidly than the list of disease (invaders). The emergency, the harshly paced transgression of disease, does not permit the luxury of timely planning. Patient and doctor alike must join forces and play the game from a slightly precarious position.
     A physician deals with the natural "stuff" of life, as a starting point. He lays his hands on the subject, and sifts the body for clues, for the signs of illness, for the "abnormality." For such a variegated form as the human body, the division between "normal" and "abnormal" is not always clear. But our world requires decisiveness. At the same time, he tests the mind of the patient with a series of selectively directed questions, known as a history. He collects data which are rationally required to fit the physical findings, and he makes some assessment of the "reliability" of the respondent. There is no better buy for the money in medicine today than a well-performed physical exam and a careful history. He does these things with a concern for the fears, the apprehensions, and the anxieties of the patient. Such an attitude derives from the simple concern of one human being for another. It is no more special than a parent wishing to envelop a child with both love and authority, or a husband who might smile and wordlessly embrace his wife. If it is "humanistic," then so is a lot of human intercourse. It is not so much magic as it is man at his best.
     One of the most inspiring features of the New Church for me is the explanation of the natural in its relation to the extra-natural. I realize that scientists (as do philosophers, teachers, and Amway salesmen) split on the matter of the extra-natural, the afterlife, the acknowledgment of God. The Writings so vividly explain the congruity of both worlds (instead of their mutual exclusivity) that their readers might have an extra insight. Of course it must be realized that science, as the study of nature, and applied science, as the application of natural methods, is flawed and not perfect. This is intrinsic to all of nature.

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Before we spurn the natural we must figure out a way to cast off` a major portion of ourselves. This, of course, is not synonymous with saying that we must give up on our purification. As the kidneys, for instance, cast off impurities, we (our minds) must learn to identify and expunge the detriments of character.
     I believe Swedenborg himself a scientific luminary, leapt to the field of revelation not so much as a refutation of his former scientific achievement as from a refinement from its preparation. It would be shocking were Swedenborg suddenly to come alive today and not be enraptured by the wonders of science. He would undoubtedly see its limitation, as he would see the incompleteness and errors of his own scientific thought nearly three centuries ago. He would probably be the first to say that it would have been unfair, a transgression on freedom, were he to have been equipped with a prescience equal to his spiritual insight. Had he spread before his colleagues the secret of the genetic code-a discovery which won a Nobel Prize in the early 1960s-then he might have converted half the human race with his theological Writings. With all due respect for the human will, atrophied as it is today, this would have captured a large but unready population of followers.
     Medicine, as a practiced art, is the epitome of the bridge between science and the spirit. This, more than any other aspect, distinguishes it from other occupations. Anybody who thinks that kindness will cure bacterial endocarditis with more efficacy than a properly selected antibiotic is not close to the subject. Conversely, anybody who thinks that kindness is not an integral part of managing the person with cancer is mistaken. Each medical encounter is a little different, as are sunsets.
     The kinetics of life have been partially discovered. It is an unfolding text which derives from the dedication, indeed, love, of those set upon its course. The chemical reflection of a nerve impulse has been pretty well worked out, with the aid of a squid axon, and other laboratory preps. The simultaneous field of electrochemical events which define thought and imagination, let alone hope and will, are far from definition-as far away as explaining why a human embryo (or any embryo) "falls" together so predictably, so exactly and repetitively, as though some invisible hand were at work. I think the explanatory power of science will always be limited. I concede that as an art-form made for man's inspiration in a world of both beauty and natural expediency, science is wonderful. Where would we be, in freedom of our thought, without it? It is an undeniable part of us, as the study of ourselves and the nature around us.
     When the community of literally thousands, if not millions, of biochemical and physiologic reactions in each of us grinds to a halt, then death is announced.

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In the parlance of those who feel it somehow irreverent to use the term "death." it is curiously said, instead, that the patient has "ceased to breathe." Breathing, along with body warmth, the pulse and something we measure with an inflatable armcuff are known as the "vital signs." They are the signs of life.
     The lung does not "purify" the blood as much as it reconstitutes it in accordance with the gaseous ocean in which we are submerged. The lung simply is a gas-exchanger, roughly trading one part of oxygen (from the air to the blood) with one part of carbon dioxide (from the blood to the air). This has a sweet correspondence. Similarly pithy statements could be made about the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the gut, the immune system, the bone marrow, the skeleton, the muscles, the nervous system. The facile chemical reactions, and the clever molecules involved in this continuous process which escapes 99.999% of our conscious thought, are in themselves worthy of celebration, let alone their Origin. Each link in this chain of discovery occupied the life of an investigator. Each investigator caught some form of inspiration, somewhere, somehow. Before we marshal our doubt, we should read the work. The grandeur of human trial and error has been recorded. We have been left on our own when it comes to the understanding of science-an imperfect but worthy pursuit, an imperfect but toastable understanding. That we, in our church, have an inkling where both the substance and its understanding originate does not detract one iota from the glory of the scientific effort.
     When the silently humming and myriad processes known as life become upset, by a bump, a fall, or a disease, then we are shaken, if not for a lifetime then for a moment. We are put off course, and we imagine the worst. Something like a monkey wrench is thrust into an otherwise smoothly operating machine and the noise is so disturbing that it wakes us from our complacency. The noise is known as mortality, or its recognition. New Church men and women should be equipped to grapple with mortality. There is nothing wrong with yearning for eternity I suppose. There is nothing wrong with wishing to live on the earth, we have been told. Perhaps dying is so personal that it transcends the computer coded "religion" placed on the hospital front-sheet. Perhaps it is one of those experiences which drives right to the core of the individual, have watched several hundred people die in my term of practice, and I have been involved in the resuscitation of perhaps as many. So has any physician who has practiced the full range of medicine. My questioning indicates that only a few patients relate the beautiful afterlife experience we have been led to believe is common. I suspect Swedenborgians take the process of dying with a greater than average grace, have attended but a few Swedenborgians at the end of their lives, and I still felt myself an outsider.

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I suspect the process of dying is invested with the Lord's mercy, and many patients seem to be in a removed sphere even if they are conscious. Although it would be difficult to deny the presence of suffering in some instances, I suspect that is misinterpreted by many in attendance, including family and professional staff. Possibly, some of the undignified dying that occurs in America occurs in the eyes of the beholder. This is not synonymous with the indefensible prolongation of vital signs. Though every hospital has its reigning thanatologist, physicians justifiably should be more concerned with life, and living. Doctors, as well as the rest of us, have limited predictive powers. They are better at recognizing when a concerted force of life is ebbing at the hands of illness. Only the timing is in question. As we are all living and dying at certain rates, this is not an entirely philosophical question. It has very practical implications. Yet, I am amazed at the reports by patients of the doctor who gave Uncle Harry three months to live! 1 would like to meet the sage, or even hire him. Could a guess have been misconstrued as a sentence?
     When a person becomes ill certain things can happen. The illness can "run its course," be "self-limited," be generally "benign." This means that the illness can run up against the forces of life, set ready in the human body, and lose, draw or fade by attrition. The best example is the common cold. As great a nuisance as it seems, it almost always is but a pesky distraction, something which foils our plans and something which is incurable. "Time" comes to the rescue and marshals the invisible aid of interferon and antibody development. These substances kill the virus and gradually wash away the nuisance. Medicine, either by prescription or "over the counter," we may perceive as a cure. We are, however, mistaken. In addition to the common cold, many infections, many injuries, many states of mind, and sometimes even a small stroke, a bleeding episode from the gastrointestinal tract, or an asthma attack, may be similarly self-limited. A doctor may hasten the resolution of the symptoms with a "symptomatic" prescription, but the patient would have likely gotten better without it. The force of reconstitution is so powerful and so pervasive that it escapes our appreciation. It is like gravity.
     This means that for many human illnesses (obviously not all), people will get better. They may improve in the midst of intervention. They may get better in spite of intervention. They may get better because of intervention, and, unfortunately, medical intervention itself may inflict injury. The art of medicine is the choice of intervention which prefers benefits over injury, and which stands on merit. It is a consummate hedging of bets, which comes from some combination of skill and "good fortune" (Divine mercy).

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     The expressed goal of medicine is to improve or to advance health through the cure or the containment of diseases. Many a "doctor" has made a living through intervention, then claiming benefit, when his Presence was inconsequential. There was a doctor years ago, at a hospital in Pittsburgh, who exposed the blood of his patients to ultraviolet irradiation, thus preventing polio. Such a therapy prevented polio in much the same way as our family dog keeps elephants off the property. This type of "therapy" has become scarce in hospitals today because hospitals share in liability, employing "risk managers" on their behalf, and because hospitals have to stay afloat if they are to be reimbursed on methods of proven efficacy. This says nothing of the "private setting," of the doctor's office, where the range of services encompass the professional ethic or the charlatan. The consumer of medical service has traditionally had a wide range of "providers" to pick from. Individual liberty is a strange amalgam of indulgence, expectation and freedom.
     There is a phenomenon in medicine known as the "placebo" effect. It is an effect which any aware doctor knows. It says the following: -Take a hundred people with pneumococcal pneumonia. Treat them with penicillin, in adequate doses. Take a second group, exactly the same, except treat them with a pill which you say will cure them. Make the pill pharmacologically inert, but invest it with a good dose of expectation. Take a third group, and simply follow them; tell them nothing, give them nothing, and record their subsequent "natural history," beset by disease. That such a mental experiment would be unethical in fact is immaterial for this argument. The results would be the following: The first group would do the best, have the greatest survival rate. The second would be second best, and the third would have some survivors (due to the force of life), but would do the worst. The explanation for the second group's results, as an increment over the third's, has been termed the "placebo effect."
     The placebo literally means "an inert medicament or preparation given for its psychological effect, especially to satisfy the patient or to act as a control in an experimental series; something intended to soothe or gratify." Given the high level of expectation of the consuming public, and given the restitutive force of life, a placebo is not without place in American medicine today. But the placebo has obvious limitations. It has the advantage of being immune to "informed consent." In other words, having no pharmacological potency, a placebo need not be presented as a potentially injurious drug. A placebo has no pharmacologic principle, and no potential for hazard. It is chemically bland.

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It will not produce side effects, idiosyncratic reactions, toxicity or allergy. It can be invested with a full sense of optimism. It will commandeer hope. Yet, there is a question of authenticity hovering on the fringe of the issue. Were it to be presented as inert, in a sense of full disclosure, the very information would detract from its avowed purpose. Such a token of candor would deprive it of its status as placebo. It must be mentioned that the placebo effect is an integral part of medicine. Hopefully, however, it is recognized for what it is. Part of the intellectual thrill of medicine lies in the decisional process. Medicine can be likened to the game of coin tossing. It is possible to explain both sides of any issue or any decision and still preserve hope. This is one of the arts of medicine.
     I believe that the New Church teaches us that we live in a two-sided world. Do we not teach the juxtaposition of joy and responsibility? Do we not adhere to the idea of work (use) and the derivative reward (peace and fulfillment)? Is not marriage on one hand an ideal, and on the other a continuous workpiece, forged out of sweat and spark?
     For me, medicine embodies these ideals. Medicine in America today is the evolving set of disciplines and therapies with a substantial legacy of success. The era of rational pharmacology was ushered in about four or five decades ago with the advent of sulpha drugs, insulin, digitalis. Then came penicillin, the TB drugs; later the "beta" blockers, the calcium channel blockers, drugs designed with very specific purposes in mind, which land on specific molecular configurations known as "receptors," and which either trigger or block an action. We have come a substantial distance from Fleming's "accidental" discovery of what the contaminant mold Penicillium did to a bacterial culture. The synthetic pharmaceutical business of today offers a potential explosion in molecular design. The choice of prescription for the physician is a mixed blessing. He must stay current, not only in the matter of efficacy, but in the matters of cost and adverse effects. Costs have become paramount and "generics" have become popular (the same drug, minus the brand name). In short, the modern physician must exercise judgment and caution, as must any prudent caretaker of life.
     With all its imperfections, rational pharmacology has revolutionized medicine. There are drugs which can turn off the acid-secreting cells of the stomach and take the management of ulcers out of the operating room. There are drugs which can control blood pressure, thus saving thousands of years of viable and productive human life, considering the magnitude of the problem-hypertension. There is an ever-growing list of antibiotics which can kill any or all pathogens imaginable. There are more sophisticated drugs for the management of heart disease-angina, and heart failure, as the mechanisms of their pathophysiology unfold.

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The drugs require skill for their employment. A "drug" (a term which I use synonymously with "medication" must be given in a dosage which is effective. It must be used with due respect for the "route" of administration (intravenous, intramuscular, or oral), the amount, the rapidity of injection or presentation, its absorption, its metabolism and its excretion. These links in the chain of its ultimate effect are as important to understand as is the purpose for giving it, since the drug must act at a cellular site and in amounts which will affect the whole organ or system of organs and thence the individual patient. The answers to these questions reside with judgment and experience. They do not reside in the PDR! (the Physician's Desk Reference-a 1000-or-so-page volume, which can be found in the neighborhood bookstore). They properly do not belong with the pharmacist, because he has not assumed the responsibility for care, for on-call availability, nor for the license to practice medicine.
     That there are defects in the modern-day practice of medicine is undeniable. There are doctors who are too quick, too concerned with moving on to the golf course or the next patient. There are doctors who are not as versed in the use of the powerful drugs at their disposal as they might or should be. But there are skillful doctors too, who have incorporated the scientific growth of medicine, and who have learned to serve and protect patients. It seems to me not prudent to abandon a system of thought simply because of flaws in its application. Consider the difference between our teachings and application. Do we toss away the revelation because of the human shortcomings in the congregation? Do we strive instead to crystallize?
     There is, and traditionally has been, an interest in homeopathy in our church. During the formative years of our church's development, this branch of the healing arts, based upon herbal essences, was popular. There is even crossover from homeopathy to pharmacology in such things as belladonna and digitalis leaf (foxglove), if not in dosage then in name. The Pharmacopeia (of Homeopathy) is aimed at the notion of "hypopotency." Instead of risking harm, however slight, and to what degree in order to achieve its benefit, it moved in a different direction-the direction of offering a tiny amount of a substance, which, in theory, would stimulate in the unafflicted normal person a resistance to the disease for which its practitioners prescribed it. There was and is no way to test this type of prescription in terms of mechanism of action. It remains a claim.
     Such a system sidestepped the rational pharmacology. For instance, digitalis was originally derived from the plant Foxglove. The fact remains that it must be given in a dose which will increase the contractility of the heart, or stabilize the excitable membrane from developing what are known as atrial arrythmias.

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Periwinkle supplies the vinca alkaloid agents so useful in the management of most cases of Hodgkin disease. Should just a tiny amount of the alkaloid be used for a wee bit of cancer? That the dose is important is why blood assay tests have been developed, to insure adequate treatment dosages, to exclude toxicity, and, rarely, to verify that a patient is taking the drug as he alleges. Compliance in taking medications according to prescription is said to be only 60-70%. There has been a tendency for the media to cover the sensational, instead of the balanced view, even in the matter of medical reporting. For instance, it is unfair to report the habituative effects of the tranquilizer Valium without also reporting in the same article some estimate of the beneficiaries. This requires a sense of fairness which generally escapes the most widely consumed and local press.
     There is a bit of the experimental in modern medical drug prescribing in that the patient-disease-drug trio may interact in an unpredictable fashion. Despite oft-heard statements to the contrary, there are no guinea pigs directly involved in the practice of medicine. Guinea pigs, we are told, cannot grant informed consent, nor can they lend either hope or expectation for the cause. Explanation and dialogue, the substance of modern medicine, simply escape them.
     Homeopathy stemmed from the ideas of Samuel Hahnemann. It was introduced in 1796 at an even less certain time in medicine than today. At that time, for instance, a yellow fever epidemic engulfed the port of Philadelphia and the "father" of American medicine, Benjamin Rush, championed the "therapy" of purging and letting blood from the victims of this disease, who were dying from gastrointestinal hemorrhage. These simply were days which preceded scientific medicine.
     The American practitioners of homeopathy in its early days took their training at Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia. Today, this ranking institution trains students in the traditional fields of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetric-gynecology, and its hospital thrives on its expertise in managing complicated or special problems, as does many a university hospital. In short, it is a full-fledged and modern hospital, and it has not come into the modern age without growth and adaptation. The role of homeopathy in that growth, from the perspective of today, is historical.
     The Pharmacopeia of Homeopathic Medicine is a compendium of its principles. In addition to the multitude of formulations are a succession of prefaces, one for each edition. The scope of these prefaces shrink as they address successive editions. There has been little movement in the field of homeopathy in the last twenty or thirty years. Indeed, the Britannica Encyclopedia (which devotes 1/4 page to Homeopathy and follows with 15 pages on Homer, a figure of even greater antiquity) states that the modern homeopath has not lost sight of the general legacy of medicine:

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"A homeopathic physician is one who adds to his knowledge of medicine a special knowledge of homeopathic therapeutics. All that pertains to the great field of medical learning is his by tradition, by inheritance, by right." This is a prudent statement, and one most easily understood by the homeopath himself.
     I have an uneasy feeling that we in our church cling to tradition sometimes out of nostalgia, in a time which begs for a touch of rationality. Even the much maligned institution of marriage has had a better track record with the general public than has homeopathy. If, of course, we distrust the general public then this statement has no meaning. If the value of homeopathy is seen as something in lieu of modern medicine, then that is a misconception. If medicine is seen as perfect, then that idealism is headed for disappointment. But the whole scientific world cannot be wrong, can it? The question of homeopathy is not whether it is right or whether it is wrong, but just what exactly is it? It is largely an historical branch of early medicine, which thrived on the placebo effect. It does not hold to the principles of pharmacology as taught and practiced by the mainstream of medical men and women in this country. In principle it contains nothing more "humanistic" than the careful practice of medicine. If it "works," it may work for one of several reasons discussed above, except for that of pharmacologic efficacy.
     If we have anything at all in our church, and most of us believe firmly that we do, we have a basis for understanding. That understanding, I should hope, would carry us into whatever century confronts us, unless we forsake ourselves to quaintness in a nostalgic effort to make ourselves comfortable in what seems to be the modern age of reason. We should not be affronted or insulted by those who cannot believe what their senses may not verify. To be offended is to admit our personal limitations. If the teachings as passed through the eyes and hands of Emanuel Swedenborg are anti-scientific, then I am not understanding them. I am concerned not only for our self-delusion in our quest for the pseudoscientific, but also as the effect this might have on attracting those to our church who may offer it the most. If we are to grow and be attractive, my preference would be to attract those who have a fondness for the symbiotic relationship between the spirit and the body. If we believe, of course, that only Swedenborgians have this capacity, then we have grown to our maximal limit. If we, however, believe that the world is populated with people with this outlook, then we do nothing to further our purpose by cultivating quaintness. This is not what is meant by the distinctive teachings of the New Church.

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IN-SERVICE PROGRAMS AND NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1984

IN-SERVICE PROGRAMS AND NEW CHURCH EDUCATION       STEPHEN MORLEY       1984

     In recent years, starting in Canada, in-service programs for New Church schools have been developing as practical partners to the more theoretical Education Council meetings. The latter are held in the summer, while the former take place during the school year. The in service programs have become a beneficial and exciting part of an elementary teacher's professional development. What follows is a description of the two most recent programs.

     November, 1982, Pittsburgh

     Almost two years ago a group of fifty teachers and ministers from eight of our eleven New Church elementary schools gathered in Pittsburgh for a two-day in-service program. Most, or all, of the faculties of the following schools traveled to Pittsburgh to attend the program: Bryn Athyn, Caryndale, Detroit, Glenview, Kempton, Toronto, and Washington.
     On Thursday morning, November 4th, after greetings, handshakes and hugs, the meetings started. The program had a wide variety of offerings since each school was responsible for at least one presentation or workshop. At any given time, two or three choices were open to the participants. For example, I left Pittsburgh reflecting about the following topics: the role of morning worship in our schools; the concept of oneness (an inspirational New Church approach to science and math teaching); Kodaly music; and an elementary level great books program. Another teacher may have learned how to make bound books with students, about journal writing, school plays, report card formats, new science programs, cursive writing, computer literacy, school handbooks or P.E. games. All of us brought home a copy of Ideas in New Church Education, a newsletter containing good educational ideas from other teachers.
     On Thursday evening, the Pittsburgh society treated us to a banquet. This was just one of the excellent meals and numerous snacks which appeared at appropriate times throughout the program. Not only was there food and drink aplenty, the Pittsburghers stretched their walls to make beds for all of us. We were cared for well.
     At the banquet itself, we were inspired and entertained by a few of our teachers talking about the uses performed at the different grade levels in our schools.

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One of the speakers, Sylvia Parker, talked about moments of joy she has experienced in her teaching of Primary children. One such moment was during a lesson about plants and seeds. The children were discussing how the Lord provides thousands of seeds for each plant He creates. Different things happen to the seeds; many die but some always live and grow. At this point in the discussion, one child commented, "The Lord takes care of everything, even our badness." These in-service meetings are valuable to New Church education. They offer instruction, inspiration, and an opportunity to share ideas and applications. Sharing as we did is an efficient use of our time and energies. Each school and each teacher should not have to re-invent the wheel. And, it is heartwarming to know that we have colleagues and friends in other schools trying to apply the same ideals that we believe in. Could you instruct and inspire fifteen children at three grade levels in eight different subjects for very long without the support of others trying a similar task?
     Pittsburgh looks like the ideal place for another church-wide in service program in the future. Not only were our hosts warm, hospitable and very well organized, they are probably the most centrally located of our schools. None of the visitors had to travel for more than ten hours to reach Pittsburgh. Had the program been held in any other of our societies, travel time would have been longer for some, which would have lessened attendance.

     February, 1984, Bryn Athyn

     Once again teachers and ministers from almost all our New Church elementary schools came together for two days of professional development.
     The first day, Thursday, February 9, was devoted to a writing workshop run by Dr. Robert Weiss and a team of classroom teachers. The Pennsylvania Writing Project helps teachers improve the teaching of writing. During the morning and afternoon sessions we listened, wrote, read, reflected, and responded, then we listened and wrote more. Our instructors emphasized to us that teachers of writing must be writers, and they should use what they have written as a model for their students. Students' writing improves when good models are imitated and when children both invest in and take responsibility for their writing. Some other examples of the things we learned were as follows: developing fluency first, form second and correctness third; commenting on specific points done well, writing for a responsive audience (usually fellow students); and using pre-writing, conferencing, revision and publishing stages.

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     For example, one teacher now does the pre-writing stage by asking her students each to discuss with a partner what they are going to write before they put pencil to paper. She no longer hears the familiar whine, "I don't know what to write about."
     The next event of the in-service was an evening banquet. Under the direction of Barbara Synnestvedt and Lil Risley, society members cooked and served us this and other delicious meals. They also provided us with sustenance during the morning and afternoon programs. I hope those of you reading this who support the educational uses of the church in this way feel appreciated. Much fellowship and many good ideas have been generated at these social times. Experience has also shown us that attendance at educational functions is much better when food is provided. Almost 200 people attended the banquet.
     After we had eaten, Rev. Peter Buss addressed us on the topic of images. His talk laid a good foundation for further work on the seventh, eighth and ninth grade religion curriculums. Children of this age are deeply impressed by images, by the language of symbolism. The middle natural degree of their mind is active. This part of their mind is rooted in the lower sensual degree and yet it can be raised up by the reasoning power of the higher rational degree. If we are to provide successful religious instruction and inspiration for students in this state we must use the strong images provided in the Word. Using slides of pictures from the Memorable Relations-a beautiful woman, a monster, a temple and a shack-Mr. Buss showed how these kinds of images can be powerful instructional tools. A growing rational readily grasps the spiritual messages hidden within such symbols.*
     * Mr. Buss's ideas will be most useful as we continue to revise the religion curriculum (August 1984 in Bryn Athyn). See his report of the first meeting of the religion curriculum committee. NCL, October, 1982.
     On Friday, Miss Sylvia Parker and Rev. Walter Orthwein presented a program called "Establishing Spheres of Charity." Mr. Orthwein began the morning with a talk on the ten blessings. He discussed the blessings looking at the literal and internal senses of each of them and then suggested applications in a classroom setting. For example, the second blessing states, "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." Children may feel sad when they're not the first or the best; they may mourn when they fail. If they can be led to acknowledge their mistakes, to accept comfort and to grow from these experiences, they will be blessed. Can teachers create in their classroom a climate in which it is safe to make a mistake, a climate where there is comfort?
     Following this talk we divided up into groups and discussed some of the principles mentioned by Mr. Orthwein.

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Miss Sylvia gave us questions to be used as guidelines for our discussions, such as, how directly should we use Jesus' teachings in the New Testament when dealing with negative situations' Or, how important is it to help a child feel how the person he has wronged feels? Or, what is a child's use'! After a short break we had a further discussion, this time using questions directed toward application. Some of the topics discussed were bullies, tomboys, the picked-on child, team choosing, and cliques. Although we did not find final answers for these problems we started to answer larger questions which we must continue to consider. How can New Church teachers encourage charitable behavior in their classrooms? To what degree can children be taught to apply religion to life? After the discussions ended we gathered together and recited the ten blessings. This was a powerful reminder of our shared beliefs and strivings.
     Most teachers stayed in Bryn Athyn for lunch and then started on their journeys home. About twenty administrators gathered in the afternoon under the leadership of Rev. Fred Schnarr to discuss a number of topics, including the new General Church curriculum committee and this summer's religion curriculum meetings.

     [Photo of Fred Schnarr] This month Rev. F. L. Schnarr is organizing a set of meetings that will focus on the religion curriculum of the 7th and 8th grades.

     With these meetings behind us now, the future of New Church in service programs looks encouraging. In November we are once more meeting in Pittsburgh. Our visit will coincide with the one hundredth anniversary of their church.

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DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE 1984

DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE       Various       1984

     These were read during the service of inauguration on June 6, 1984.

     The priest who teaches truths from the Word, and thereby leads to the good of life and so to heaven, is outstandingly in the exercise of charity, because he is looking to the welfare of the souls of those who belong to his church (TCR 422).

     A minister is, above all else, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. In all that he does for the people of the church, the Lord's wisdom and love must be free to flow in. The love of self and the things of the world are the main impediments to the proper performance of any use. Whenever a love for our own honor, reputation, and gain come to be more dear to us than the people we serve and the use we perform, then we fail to be a true servant of the Lord. Whenever anger, contempt, pride, lust, or covetousness are allowed to be nurtured in our relationships with others, then we are serving the hells, not the Lord. A minister, then like any other person, is responsible for his spiritual failings. He must examine himself, make himself guilty of his sins, pray to the Lord for help to see and shun evil delights which arise in the future, and then live anew. If a minister, in his own regeneration, faces these hard teachings with fruitful results, he will accommodate but not compromise them for others. As he works with the Lord daily, moment by moment, to expunge one or two of these inclinations to serve self, he is given in their place the inclination to serve what is the Lord's in others. When the Lord is sought in such a practical way, He is within the minister and his work."
     Lord, help me to be a faithful servant that Your kingdom may be established in the hearts of men.
     "So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me your Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet'" (John 13:12-15).
     "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with " your God?" (Micah 6:8).
     ROBIN W. CHILDS

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     The Lord is our Father in heaven. We are made new when His heavenly life is received in our earthly life, as we shun evils as sins against Him.
     I believe that this rebirth was made possible when the Lord was born as a man on earth and from being life as to the internal man, became life as to the external man also (see AC 1603:2); thus that the Lord is the Divine love itself, and that good and truth proceed from Him alone (see AE 146:6).
     As we who aspire to be of His New Church bring the teachings of the threefold Word into our lives, the Lord creates a new spirit within us, from which He forms His kingdom on earth.
     The priesthood exists to promote this end, and it is my prayer, in presenting myself for ordination, that I may be led to see the truth and so present it that the Lord may lead thereby to the good of life.
     FREDERICK C. ELPHICK

     I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one God of heaven and earth, our Redeemer, Savior, Lord, and King.
     I believe that the Lord has made His second coming in the spiritual sense of His Word. By means of this new revelation of Himself, all may know, acknowledge, and be conjoined with Him as a Divine Man by keeping His commandments.
     I believe that the Lord teaches, enlightens, and leads man by means of His threefold Word. He teaches and enlightens man in the truths of faith, leads and inspires him to live by those truths, and to enter into a life of genuine charity.
     I believe that the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is the Lord's church on earth, and that His church teaches the truths which lead men to Him. I also firmly believe that the Lord has called me to serve as a minister in His New Church. In coming before the Lord to present myself for Inauguration into the priesthood of the New Church, I pray that I may be a good and faithful servant of the Lord, teaching the truths which may lead others to see, acknowledge, and love Him. The lord is my Shepherd, and I pray that He will enlighten and teach me so that I may feed, tend, and protect His flock with justice and judgment all the days of my life. O Lord, so teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).
     DANIEL FITZPATRICK

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     [Photo of Keith Rydstrom, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Fred Elphick, Jonathan Rose, Donald Rogers, Andy Dibb, Ray Silverman and Robin Childs]

399




     I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the one only God of heaven and earth, as He openly declares in the Gospels saying, "All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18). Because He is God, He is also wholly present to everyone in the Word, and is there pressing to be received. "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me" (Rev. 3:20).
     The voice of the Lord is the Word of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Heavenly Doctrines, by which He not only makes His presence known, but by which man can learn to love Him and to be conjoined with Him. For man loves the Lord and is conjoined with the Lord when he lives a life according to the Word, that is obeys His voice. "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23).
     It is my purpose in entering into the priesthood to teach the truths of the Lord's Word to the best of my ability. I pray that I may receive the enlightenment, strength, and courage from the Lord that will enable me to teach the truths of His Word in such a way that will best help people to feel His presence, learn to love Him, and to dwell with Him forever in a life of use and eternal blessedness.
     DONALD K. ROGERS

[Further statements are to appear in the September issue.]
GENERAL CHURCH CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL 1984

GENERAL CHURCH CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL              1984

     The General Church Correspondence School has been organized to provide adult education. Individuals who wish to enroll can enroll in any or all of the courses offered, either for credit or for audit.
     Courses now available include a course in Conjugial Love by the Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton, and a course on the New Church and Contemporary Issues by the Rev. Alfred Acton. You may enroll in a course at any time and complete it at your own pace.
     Planned for September is a course on the Doctrine of Life by the Rt. Rev. George de Charms; for October, a course on Basic Doctrines by the Rev. Alfred Acton; and in January, a course on Personal Growth by the Rev. Alfred Acton.
     Enrollment for credit costs $40.00, and for audit, $35.00. A catalog with course descriptions is available on request. Please contact The General Church Correspondence School, The Rev. Alfred Acton, Director, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

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RESTORATION OF CHEERFULNESS 1984

RESTORATION OF CHEERFULNESS       Editor       1984

     There is a word that in days gone by was a cheerful word, completely devoid of any connotations of gloom. It is the word "solemn." The word can simply mean regular or annual, but over the years gloom has so crept into it that it is frequently now used to mean virtually the opposite of what it originally meant.
     So much has the meaning of this word changed that some verses in the Bible have seemed to be self-contradictory. In the 92nd Psalm we are told to take musical instruments and make a certain kind of sound because of the gladness the Lord has given. What kind of sound? "Harmonious" says the New King James Version. Translators of old who used the phrase "solemn sound" could not have foreseen what connotations would creep into that word.
     We frequently read of "solemn feasts," and nowadays people imagine this to mean occasions for people to sit around with long faces. We read in the book of Numbers of "the day of your gladness, and your solemn days . . ." (10:10). Modern readers suppose that this is contrasting glad days with gloomy days. But solemn days are glad days!
     When the Lord commands a "solemn feast" is He urging us to sadness? "Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord . . . because the Lord thy God shall bless thee . . . therefore thou shalt surely rejoice" (Deuteronomy 16:15).
     We will say more on this subject another time, for the Writings show that some have identified religious life with gloominess and that their notion is "not at all true." The "sorrowful life" to which they aspire "is not receptive of heavenly joy" (HH 528). The message of the Writings is that people "do not need to go about like a devotee with a sad and sorrowful countenance and drooping head but may be joyful and cheerful" (HH 358).

     LIKE SWEET DRUGS THAT KILL (IV)

     Generally speaking the Writings emphasize motives rather than acts. It is not so much what you do, but why you do it. "A thousand people may act alike, that is, may do like deeds, so alike in outward form as to be almost indistinguishable, and yet each one regarded in itself be different, because from an unlike will." Swedenborg was surprised when he found that people who acted very similarly were regarded after death very differently.

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"In some the angels did not account them as evils; and in some they did account them as evils." Swedenborg asked why this was so when the people had done the same things. The angels answered that "they view all men from their purpose, intention, or end, and make distinctions accordingly" (CL 527).
     On the other hand we are warned of a great danger in simply doing certain things. We know that by simply introducing certain hard drugs into our bodies a few times we could bring tragedy into our lives and into the lives of those around us. This is common physical knowledge. On another plane we are warned against "actual" evils. "Be on guard against doing it; for as soon as it becomes actual it becomes customary and habitual and eventually natural" (SD 4080).
     What is now made known in the Writings is that there are powerful forces from hell which can gain a plane of influx when from consent and purpose we do what is wrong.

     When a man comes into evil in this way, it clings to him, for the hell in the sphere of which he then is in its very delight when in its evil; and therefore it does not desist, but obstinately presses in, and causes the man to think about that evil, at first occasionally, and afterward as often as anything presents itself which is related to it, and at last it becomes with him that which reigns universally. And when this takes place, he then seeks for such things as confirm that it is not an evil, and this until he wholly persuades himself; and then, insofar as he can, he studies to remove external bonds, and makes evils allowable and clever, and at last even becoming and honorable-such as adulteries, thefts effected by art and deceit, various kinds of arrogance and boasting, contempt for others, vituperations, persecutions under an appearance of justice; and the like (AC 6203).

     Note: To "vituperate" is to speak abusively to or about another person.
NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

     A century ago this magazine often published stories, noting that storytelling can be an effective way of conveying truth. A good part of the August issue in 1884 was devoted to a chapter in a story called "The Waif." (We are considering the publication of a short story later this year.) The same issue reports the first New Church service ever held in Holland. It was conducted in 1884 by William Henry Benade. A report from the Swedenborg Society is condensed into a form resembling a telegram. "Seventy-five vols. of the Writings have been sent to Transvaal, Africa. A Dutch translation of H. H. will probably be made. The work of the Society in India is carried forward by Mr. J. H. Wilson."

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REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       D.L.R       1984

TWO EXCELLENT BOOKLETS:

The Word of God-Selected Quotations: The Swedenborg Society, 1984, 45 pages

Death and After-Selected Quotations: The Swedenborg Society, revised 1984, 48 pages

     Two different but highly commendable decisions were made by the Swedenborg Society on two booklets of quotations. In 1938 the Society published a collection of quotations from the Writings entitled The Word of God. The booklet proved popular and valuable for more than forty years, but it looks its age. Should it simply be reprinted with a modern cover? The decision was to produce an entirely new booklet and every passage to be freshly translated by the man who selected them, Rev. Norman Ryder. Mr. Ryder provides a two-page introduction which is appealing to readers who may never have heard of Swedenborg, and he acknowledges that in selecting the quotations he was "greatly helped" by the earlier booklet published in 1938. There are fourteen headings, for example: "We need a revelation from God," "The ladder between heaven and earth," and "There are different kinds of books in the Bible." We will not pretend here to give an analysis of the new translating, but we commend attention to it, and we predict that this newly conceived booklet in its modern attractive form will see a great deal of use.
     When it came to another booklet of quotations, the Society decided to leave the content essentially as it is. It still consists of the quotations selected by R. W. Kenyon in 1936. In March of 1937 NEW CHURCH LIFE reviewed the original booklet and said, "Mr. Kenyon has been a reader of the Writings for over sixty years, and seeks in this way to communicate to others the delight he experienced during his own reading. He feels that the quotations will strike a responsive chord in the heart of any reader." The new glossy, yellow pocket-sized version retains Kenyon's statement that he completed the pamphlet "in the hope that it will bring comfort to many who now live in uncertainty . . . ." An introduction by D. Duckworth is added. Newer translations are used, and the headings are phrased in a direct and appealing manner. There are thirty-two of these headings, and their appearance in the table of contents is very effective. Here are some of them:

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Heaven is neither an act of mercy nor a reward
Getting rich, and still hoping for heaven
Are we saved just because the Lord forgives us?
Harmonious relationships in the spiritual world
Are spirits aware of what is happening on earth'
Our special talents and capabilities
If God condemns no one what is hell?

     This is really a fine piece of literature for evangelization. Not only were the two decisions of the Swedenborg Society good decisions, they were carried out most effectively.
     D.L.R.
INSTEAD OF A BLESSING ON A MARRIAGE 1984

INSTEAD OF A BLESSING ON A MARRIAGE       Rev. Lawson M. Smith       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor,
     Rev. Brian Keith's excellent pastoral letter on divorce and remarriage (NCL, June and July, 1984) reminded me of the sixth session of the Council of the Clergy meetings in March, 1983, when this subject was discussed. A report of it appeared in last August's NCL (p. 347), but the strength and harmony of the views expressed at that session was so striking to me that I thought a further account might be useful to help clarify our understanding of this difficult subject.
     Mr. Junge offered the suggestion that instead of a blessing on a marriage, the holy supper is what the Lord has provided to support the states of repentance with those who have broken their first marriage without just cause and remarried, yet are trying to return to order. Almost half the men present responded, which is somewhat unusual today, given the size of the clergy. There was a recognition of the multiplicity of situations, and sympathy for those who are trying to repent. At the same time, the speakers repeatedly emphasized that it is inappropriate for the church to give ritualistic approval to a situation that is externally not in order.
     One of the points made several times is that a priest cannot bless anyone. Only the Lord can bless someone, according to his or her internal state of reception. At weddings, the priest's benediction is really a promise that their lives will be blessed if they continue in the orderly state in which they are beginning their lives together. If a marriage is not outwardly according to the order prescribed by the Lord in the Word, then it is inappropriate for the church to make a spiritual judgment that a couple's states are in order even though their external situation is not.

404



     The point was brought out that the Writings distinguish three kinds of judgment: the judgment of the civil law, the judgment of the rational man, and the judgment of the Lord (See CL 485). Which kind of judgment is involved in the church's rituals?
     The kind of judgment expressed by the church's rituals must never be taken as a spiritual judgment, that someone has now repented and is internally in order, nor that someone has not yet repented. Only the Lord knows the spiritual states of anyone's life, and the sincerity of his repentance. Moreover, repentance does not take a certain amount of time to complete, as in the Catholic Church's penance. Repentance for an illegitimately broken marriage should continue the rest of one's life.
     A priest may find himself in the position described by the Writings in relation to a judge. As a rational man, he may feel that a person got into a disorderly situation largely through no fault of his own, or that he shows signs of a sincere desire and effort to return to order. Yet as a priest, he cannot officiate at the man's remarriage.
     
According to circumstances and contingencies, a man from rational conviction may absolve one whom a judge, sitting in judgment according to the law, cannot absolve; and a judge may absolve one who, after death, is condemned. The reason is that the judge pronounces sentence according to the deeds; but after death, everyone is judged according to the intentions of his will and thence of his understanding . . . Neither of these is seen by the judge. Still, both judgments are just, the one being for the good of civil society, and the other for the good of heavenly society (CL 485).

     The judgment as to whether or not a marriage or blessing is appropriate can only be like the judgment of the civil law: a person or couple either is, or is not, in compliance with the rules of external order described in the Word.
The Writings even state that there must be persons in authority to keep the assemblages of men in order, by taking notice of all things done according to order, and all things done contrary to order, and by rewarding those who are in order, and punishing those not in order. This teaching is directly applied to the priesthood (see NJHD 311-313). The rituals of the church are not intended as means of reward and punishment. Nevertheless, the church must reserve them for those who are in an orderly state in externals, or else it conveys the message that order does not matter.
     On the other hand, the holy supper is for everyone. Here is a sacrament provided by the Lord specifically for the purpose of strengthening states of repentance and a return to order.

405


It is the dearest external symbol of the Lord's mercy and love. Everyone is invited to come to church, and to take the holy supper with the rest of the congregation (though perhaps some consideration should be given to the feelings of other worshipers if the disorder is recent). Also, a private administration of the holy supper is always available.
     The point was made that we need to learn how to support the process of marriage much better, and provide better counsel and support both for good, happy states and for sad states.
     Mr. Junge concluded the session by emphasizing the need for each priest to act from his own conscience, in freedom. We need a spirit of mutual inquiry into the truth in the Word, since we are not clear as to what should be done. Everyone in the church cares deeply for the preservation of the conjugial, but we may not always make this care manifest, because of our doubts about what to do in hard cases. We can support each other in upholding marriage in the church, and have confidence that the truth will lead and bend our minds when it is presented from caring hearts, and when it is seen to be from the Word.
     I hope this informal report will contribute to our common sight of the truth and to the strength of our marriages.
     Rev. Lawson M. Smith,
          Mitchellville, Maryland
UNMENTIONABLE EVIL 1984

UNMENTIONABLE EVIL       Rev. Daniel Goodenough       1984

Dear Editor,
     The work Conjugial Love contains some oblique, obscure terminology that many have wondered about: "secret evils which are not to be named" (450). There is a similar reference to "criminal practices which are not to be named" (459:5). What is the modern reader to make of this?
     Recently I have come across a couple of historical indications that homosexuality was considered, in Swedenborg's day, an evil not to be named directly.
     Sir Edward Coke, famous English jurist (died 1634) called homosexuality "a detestable and abominable sin among Christians not to be named" (quoted in Joseph Fletcher's Moral Responsibility, Philadelphia, 1967, p. 96). One result is that English laws against homosexuality do not name it specifically, but are worded broadly and vaguely.

406



     In his well-known Spirit of the Laws, first published in 1748, the Frenchman Montesquieu considers homosexuality at some length (Book 12.5; excerpted in Peter Gay. ed., The Enlightenment: A Comprehensive Anthology, New York, 1973, pp. 704-5). Montesquieu goes out of his way to avoid naming this evil, other than to call it a crime "against Nature." (Compare Romans 1:26-27.)
     Swedenborg probably read neither Coke nor Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, but it seems evident that his avoidance of openly naming homosexuality in CL was simply an accommodation to a well-established tradition in 18th Century Christian Europe. (Even as it was, CL had difficulty from Swedish censors.) Note also the circumlocutions in AC 2220, 2322, where homosexuality is discussed, but not named, in connection with Sodom.
     Rev. Daniel Goodenough,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
BIT OF TRIVIA-A Review of a Review 1984

BIT OF TRIVIA-A Review of a Review       "THE OLD"       1984

     I have read Dr. Kurt Simons' review of A New World Jerusalem which was published by NEW CHURCH LIFE for May, 1984. I believe before reading the book it would be a good idea to read this review first!
     This is a masterly review of what must be a masterly book. In Kurt's first paragraph he mentions that the overall thought of this book is "that Dr. Meyers has not simply mastered basic teachings but has compiled summaries of doctrine" and he goes on to mention her views on the three heavens and says, "One wishes this section were a pamphlet!" Why not have it as a pamphlet? The tendency today to publish big, clumsy books puts people off reading them. I'm doing one now on the life of Miss Beekman, that erudite enigma, and I am wondering if this review by Dr. Simons of this monumental book couldn't be in pamphlet form also. It would certainly help in tackling such a sizable tome!
     I wonder how many Bryn Athynites know that our town might have been named many other names besides Hillbrook. When the committee finally decided on Bryn Athyn they did not have the correct Welsh information. "Bryn" is fine but not "Athyn." This is according to Rev. Donald Rose, the editor of this periodical.
     Viola Ridgway,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania

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ORDINATIONS 1984

ORDINATIONS              1984




     Announcements
     Childs-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Robin Waelchli Childs into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis R. King officiating.

     Cowley-At Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, May 13, 1984, Rev. Michael Keith Cowley into the 2nd degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Dibb-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Andrew Malcolm Dibb into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Elphick-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Frederick Charles Elphick into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Fitzpatrick-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Daniel Fitzpatrick into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Nobre-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Cristovao R. Nobre into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Rogers-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Donald Kenneth Rogers into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Silverman-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1984, Candidate Ray Silverman into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1984

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES              1984

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

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

     AUSTRALIA

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

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Cristovao Rabelo Nobre, Rua Xavier does Passaros 151, Apt. 101 Piedale, Rio de Janeiro, RK 20740. Phone: 021-289-4292.

     CANADA

     Alberta:

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

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

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. William Clifford. 1536 94th Ave., Dawson Creek, V1G 1H1. Phone: (604) 782-3997.

     VANCOUVER
Mr. Douglas Crompton, 21-7055 Blake St., V5S 3V5. Phone: (604) 437-9136.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Christopher Smith, 16 Bannockburn Rd., R.R. 2, N2G 3W5. Phone: (519) 893-7460.

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

     TORONTO
Rev. Geoffrey Childs, 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington, Ontario M9B 424 Phone: (416) 231-4958.

     Quebec:

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

     DENMARK

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

     ENGLAND

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

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 111 Howard Drive, Letchworth, Herts. Phone: Letchworth 4751.

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

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

     FRANCE

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

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Daan Lupker, Wabserveen Straat 25, The Hague.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. Lloyd Bartle, Secretary, 13B Seymour Rd., Henderson, Auckland 8. Phone: 836 6336.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. Eyvind Boyesen, Vetlandsveien 82A, Oslo 6. Phone: 26-1159.

     SCOTLAND

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

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

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     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

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

     Transvaal:

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

     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Louisa Allais, 129 Anderson Road, Mandini, Zululand 4490.

     Mission in South Africa:
Superintendent-The Rev. Norman E. Riley, 8 Iris Lane, Irene, 1675 R. S. A., Phone: 012- 632679.

     SWEDEN
JONKOPING
Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, 5-56600, Habo. Phone: 0392-20395.

     STOCKHOLM
Rev. Roy Franson, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma. Phone: 48-99-22 and 26-79-85.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

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

     Arizona:

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

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501.

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Michael Gladish, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone:(213) 249-5031.

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

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Cedric King, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (714) 268-0379.

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

     Colorado:

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

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

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Rev. Glenn Alden, 47 Jerusalem Hill Rd., Trumbull, CT 06611. Phone: (203) 877-1141.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 417 Delaware Ave., McDaniel Crest, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 478-4213.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     LAKE HELEN
Rev. John Odhner, 413 Summit Ave., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2337.

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

     Georgia:

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

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Dr., Chamblee. GA 30341. Phone:(404)457-4726

     Idaho:

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

411




     Indiana:
Contact Rev. Stephen Cole in Cincinnati, Ohio, or Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051

     Louisiana:

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

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Donald Rogers, #12 Pawleys Ct., S. Belmont, Baltimore, MD 21236. Phone: (301) 882- 2640.

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

     Massachusetts:

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

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 132 Kirk La., Troy, MI 48084. Phone: (313) 689-6118.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110.

     Missouri:

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

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

     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Dr. Andrew Doering, 1298 Sagebrush Ct., Rio Rancho, NM 87124. Phone: (505) 897-3623.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. Gordon Smith, 38 Newriver Trace, Clover, SC 29710. Phone: (803) 831-2355.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Stephen Cole, 6431 Mayflower Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45237. Phone: (513) 631-1210.

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

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

     Oklahoma:

     TULSA
Mrs. Louise Tennis, 3546 S. Marion, Tulsa, OK 74135. Phone: (918) 742-8495.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.-Se Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

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

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

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

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 7420 Ben Hur St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731- 1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     ORAL-HOT SPRINGS
Rev. Erik Sandstrom, RR 1, Box 101M, Hot Springs, SD 57747. Phone: (605) 745-6714

     Texas:

     FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 13410 Castleton, Dallas, TX 75234-5117. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     Washington:

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

     Wisconsin:

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

412


Swedenborg, Fourier and the America of the 1840's 1984

Swedenborg, Fourier and the America of the 1840's              1984

     Amid the ferment of novel ideas, "isms," fads, and movements that characterized American society of the 1840's, one sees the powerful effects of the works of two notable figures of an earlier day-Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian, and Charles Fourier, the French social critic and reformer. The determined attempt by many followers of these men to realize all ideal society that would blend the theological teachings revealed in Swedenborg's writings with Fourier's vision of the perfect social framework met with predictable failure, for the similarities between the ideas of these men strike us today as minimal.

     This study outlines the background to and results of this attempt to establish a fruitful connection between Fourier and Swedenborg, and suggests reasons why the attempt to discover a connection seemed so attractive a prospect to men and women of this vital decade in U.S. history.

     Robert W. Gladish

     Swedenborg Scientific Association
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
1983

     Postpaid $8.65

     General Church Book Center
Box 278
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

413


Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984


     
Vol. CIV     September, 1984          No. 9
NEW CHURCH LIFE

414


     Rev. Ormond Odhner died in the month of February, 1980. He was at that time editor of this magazine, and the February, 1980, issue has a page of his "notes on this issue." Among the many fine things he wrote was a sermon that people found particularly helpful. The sermon brought home that powerful truth that we are not the source of our evil thoughts and desires. The sermon appears on the opposite page.
     Last autumn we were giving attention in these pages to the new translation of the Arcana Coelestia, but not until now have we published a formal review of the first volume. Mr. Prescott Rogers finds this a definite improvement over previous translations and does recommend that it be used. He wishes that general message to be clear, because when he goes into particulars he brings out matters of disagreement and difficulty. In apologizing for the length of his particular criticisms he asks the render to compare this with previous translations to see if "it makes more sense to him than the others do."
     A year ago the report of the editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE noted the great increase of material to be printed. It was noted that in the past any major address, such as an address at a general assembly would appear in this magazine, but that this was becoming "less and less feasible"(1983, p. 258). We are glad to assure you that we will publish Bishop King's address next month. In this issue we are pleased to have a journal of the assembly and "impressions." Who will enjoy these the most, those who were unable to attend or those who were there but want to rekindle that glow? Marjorie Soneson reminds us of the "total efficiency and superb problem-solving skills" for which carry Hyatt has now become famous (p. 424). We have noticed in society newsletters that pastors have given presentations about the assembly, and the newsletter of Rev. Michael Gladish in Los Angeles has already carried an excellent summary of that memorable event. In her article about the involvement of women in organized uses Mrs. Simons reminds us of the affirmative attitude evident at the assembly (p. 430).
     This issue would qualify as especially thought-provoking by virtue of the five letters in the communications section. It also qualifies as an especially full issue. Sixty pages is unusual. (There were good things for which we simply did not have the space.) Finally, note that we report eleven weddings (p. 469), which about doubles the average number.

415


EVIL, AN OUTSIDE INFLUENCE 1984

EVIL, AN OUTSIDE INFLUENCE       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1984

     "There is nothing outside a man that, entering into him, can defile him; but the things which come out of him, these are they that defile him" (Mark 7:15; see also Matt. 15:18).

     Evil is a thing outside of man. Merely entering into him, it cannot defile him. Only when it comes forth from the heart can evil defile man and condemn him to hell. Hence we read, "If a man would believe, as the case really is, namely, that all that is good and true is from the Lord, and all that is evil and false is from hell, he then could not become guilty of any fault, nor could evil be imputed to him; but because he believes that [evil] is from himself, he appropriates evil to himself, for this is the effect of his faith; and in this way evil adheres and cannot be separated from him" (AC 6324). Our evil thoughts and desires do not originate in ourselves; they originate in hell, and flow into us from outside. As outside influences, they do not condemn us; they condemn us only when we welcome them and make them our own. This is true even of our hereditary evils, our hereditary tendencies to enjoy evil; and above all other evils, perhaps, our hereditary evils seem to be our own, so long have we been accustomed to them.
     But of our hereditary evils we read: "The evil derived from parents, which is called hereditary evil . . . acts in man and into man; in like manner good from the Lord acts . . . If the evil acted through man, he would neither be capable of reformation, nor blameable; or if good from the Lord acted through man, he would be incapable of reformation; but as both good and evil depend upon man's free choice, he becomes guilty when he acts of himself from evil, and is blameless when he acts of himself from good" (TCR 154:4).
     Note several things here. Evil, even your hereditary evil, does not act through you, by means of you, with you a dead instrument in its hands. Evil acts in you and into you; and that shows at once that it is not you. You are a human being, above and apart from that outside influence that is evil. It acts in you and into you; but even when you freely assent to its urgent promptings, it is still you who are acting from it. Even then it is not the evil that acts (through and by means of you). And not until you freely, rationally act from it can it in the least condemn you.
     In our text, that which enters into man from without (in this case, evil) is, by implication, compared with food, for it is said that what enters through the mouth into the stomach but not into the heart does not make man unclean.

416


This is explained as meaning that the evil that enters into man from without (through the mouth) enters first, or first consciously enters, into the thought (the stomach). But thought as long as it is merely thought, not yet intention nor conjoined with affection, is not really part of man, but is a thing outside him, even as the food which is still within the alimentary canal is not yet a part of the man himself. Hence it is that when evil first enters into man's thought, it is not yet a real part of him at all. How, then, could it condemn him?
     Of this we read, "Evil which enters into the thought does no harm to man, because evil is continually infused by spirits from hell, and is continually repelled by angels. But when evil enters into the will, then it does harm, for then it also goes forth into act whenever external bonds do not restrain. Evil enters into the will by being kept in the thought, by consent, especially by act and the consequent delight" (AC 6204).
     But let us go back a bit. As we already read, "If a man would believe, as the case really is, . . . that all that is evil and false is from hell, he then could not become guilty of any fault, nor could evil be imputed to him" (AC 6324). Why, then, is it so hard for us to believe this particular truth when it is rather obviously to our advantage to believe it?-believe it with the will, that is, as well as with the intellect. Is it, perhaps, because we fear that such a belief would wipe us out of existence? That is a terrible fear, indeed (even if in this case it is ungrounded); for it is not a part even of our God-given nature to wish ourselves out of existence.
     It is comparatively easy for all Christians to believe that all that is good and true is from God, not from themselves. That is part of the doctrine of their churches that they have heard from childhood onward. It is comparatively easy to believe that, provided no one goes into its implications. Good does not come from ourselves, is not part of ourselves. But if that is also true of evil-and it is-what then is left of us? We are not the source of anything good; we are not the source of anything evil. What, then, are we? Nothing?
     So it might seem. And that is the way that hell wants it to seem, for hell is the source of that ridiculous answer. Nothing? It is the Lord's inmost will that man shall always feel life to be his own. Without that feeling we would not be human. It is on that feeling that both our freedom and our own individual thought are founded. Whatever kind of life we lead, we will feel it to be our own; and that will be true to eternity. If we choose to spend eternal life in hell, we will feel infernal life to be our own. If we choose to spend eternity in heaven, we will feel heavenly life to be our own. That is what the Writings mean when they speak of the heavenly proprium: regenerate, heavenly life, sensed as our own. It is the Lord's will that this be so.

417



     Does not everyone's experience show him that he feels his life to be his own? When he does something good, he is doing it; he cannot sense otherwise. (Really, though, he is acting from the good that flows into him from the Lord through heaven.) When he does something evil, he is doing it. (Actually, he is acting from the evil that flows into him from hell.) In both cases he feels life as his own, though in both cases his life is really flowing into him, in the one case from the Lord through heaven, in the other case (as to his conscious life) from the Lord through the distortions of hell.
     All life, all love, inflows into man from without; and were it ever to cease inflowing, man would be like the light that comes from an incandescent lamp cut off from the source of its inflowing power. He would not die; he would cease to exist.
     But if, as the case really is, man is not the source either of evil or of good, he still is not nothing. He is a vessel receptive of life, a vessel endowed with the faculties of freedom and reason, and therefore capable of deciding what kind of life he shall lead. What is more, his decisions in this regard actually change the form of the receptive vessel that he is. Thus does he build up his own distinctive individual personality.
     Evil thoughts and desires do not originate in us; and occasionally we can even see this truth in our own experience. Occasionally a horribly evil thought may spring into our minds, apparently out of nowhere and certainly not from our own conscious bidding. At such a time we know that this thought did not come from ourselves; it is totally foreign to our very nature. And that is the truth. It came to us from hell. Usually we can drive such a thought away from ourselves; but there is always a moment of decision when we could, instead, welcome that thought and make it our own, make it a part of ourselves, thus changing forever the form of that vessel receptive of life that we are.
     We are not the source of our evil thoughts and desires. Hell is. And yet the Writings clearly teach that the origin of evil (or. in theological terms, original sin) was in man, and nowhere else. That also is true. Evil originated in man when, in free will and according to his own reason, he first chose to believe in the God-given appearance that life is his own rather than in the God-revealed truth that life flows into him from the lord. Both things were pleasant to man; and in freedom and according to his own reason, he chose to believe in the appearance rather than in the truth.
     This was the sin of Adam. Thus did original sin come into the world. And this also is the origin of evil in every man today. He makes the origin of evil in himself when he insists on believing in the apparent truth that life is his own, and is unwilling to hold himself responsible for the conduct of his life to anyone or anything higher than himself.

418


Thus it is that every man makes the origin of evil in himself. Acting as of himself, he chooses to follow the promptings of hell to believe that life is his own, rather than to follow the counterbalancing influences of heaven which seek to have him believe that all life flows into him from the Lord. And so it goes throughout the rest of his life. He never need it; but he is always free to act from the evil that acts in him and into him from hell. Thus, and thus only, does he make evil his own, become guilty of it, and make himself to blame for it.
     Yet man never need do this, nor will he ever do it, if only he will acknowledge that evil is an outside influence acting upon him from hell, and is not really a part of him at all until he chooses to make it that. And this, we are told, he really can believe, if he acknowledges that the Lord's
Human is Divine, and that evils are sins against Him.
     To believe that evils are sins against the Lord is to believe that evils separate you from the will of the Lord. To shun evils as sins against the Lord is to turn away from evils, both in body and in mind, because they will separate you from Him. And to believe that the Lord's Human is Divine is to believe that even as to His Human He is God, your God, that which you love above all else in life. Surely, if He really is your God, you will care, you will be deeply concerned, about doing anything that will separate you from His will. Who could wish purposely to separate himself from that which he loves above all else in life?
     Nor is it as hard to acknowledge the Lord's Human as Divine, and to believe that evils are sins against Him, as hell would have us think. It is not hard, we are told, if only we will think about eternal life (see AC 6201e), acknowledging that blessings which endure to eternity, in comparison with blessings that last only for the few years of life on earth, are as everything compared with nothing.
     When man is thinking in this way, he is thinking from the Lord; and then the Lord can grant him the acknowledgment that all life flows into him from without-evil and falsity from hell, good and truth from the Lord through heaven, both merely acting in him and into him, and thus giving him the freedom to choose to act from one or from the other, and to feel his chosen life to be his own. And then also will the Lord grant him the wisdom and the will to refuse the evil and to choose the good, and thus to gain from the Lord a truly heavenly proprium, angelic and regenerate life felt evermore as his own. Amen.

LESSONS: Joshua 24:1-8, 13-24; Matt. 24:3-28, Divine Providence 320 heading, 321

419


JOURNAL of the TWENTY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1984

JOURNAL of the TWENTY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Various       1984

     Held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
     June 7-10, 1984

Fist Session, Thursday, June 7, 9:30 a.m.

     1. After an opening worship conducted by Bishop Louis B. King which included lessons from Revelation 22 and Apocalypse Explained 983, there were words of greeting and welcome to all attending. The Bishop cited the Scriptural words about two or three gathered together. The internal sense has to do with vessels receiving the Lord's love and wisdom. That reception is the purpose of a general assembly. He expressed confidence that we would feel the Lord's presence and be able to share this with each other.
     2. Bishop King then introduced the speaker for that session, Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr, who spoke on the subject, "The Love of the Lord and States of the Church" (see NCL, August 1984, p. 367).
     3. Bishop King then called on Rev. Robert S. Junge for a prepared response. Mr. Junge expressed his appreciation for the paper's beautiful emphasis on love to the Lord, showing how enlightenment is seeing the lord in action from the Word. He reiterated the teaching that redemption is perpetual, that uses in themselves are spiritual. The Holy Spirit operates on us without being a part of us, thus instructing, reforming and regenerating us (Ibid. p. 375).
     4. The session adjourned at 10:30 and was followed by group discussions in fifteen different classrooms at the Bryn Athyn Elementary School.

Second Session, Thursday, June 7, 2:00 p.m.

     5.      This session consisted of ten mini-sessions as follows:
     a.      "Tactics of the Hells: The Devil Made Me Do It"
               Speaker: Rev. Stephen D. Cole
     b.      "Separation of the Will from the Understanding: Mental Health for the New Church"
               Speaker: Rev. Mark R. Carlson
     c.      "The state of the Christian World"
               Speaker: Rev. Lawson M. Smith
     d.      "How to Identify, Approach and Follow Up Contacts for the Church"
               Speaker: Rev. Michael D. Gladish

420



     e.      "The New Liturgy"
               Speaker: Rev. Alfred Acton
          f.      "Lay Participation in Uses of the Church"
               Speaker: Mr. Gary Tennis
          g.      "Alcohol and Drug Abuses-What Can We Do?"
               Speaker: Rev. Thomas L. Kline
          h.      "The Greater Neighbor"
               Speaker: Rev. Glenn G. Alden
          i.      "Let Us Pray"
               Speaker: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith
          j.      "States Leading up to the Selection of a Marriage Partner"
               Speaker: Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard

Third Session, Thursday, June 7, 8:00 p.m.

     6. After a short service conducted by Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr., with lessons from Daniel and from True Christian Religion 624, Rev. Lorentz Soneson took the chair as moderator of this session. Mr. Soneson introduced a panel of eight young speakers, who discussed "The Church of Tomorrow" under the following headings:

     a.      "Scientific Discoveries Inspired by Spiritual Truths"
               Speaker: Jefferson Odhner
          b.      "Keeping Score"
               Speaker: Angela Rose
          c.      "Computerphilia, Computerphobia"
               Speaker: Glenn Hyatt
          d.      "Change"
               Speaker: Barbara Pendleton Horigan
          e.      "Another Look at Our Evangelization Program and Its Goals"
               Speaker: Matthew Smith
          f.      "The Future of the New Church"
               Speaker: Roberta Stein
          g.      "A Questionnaire"
               Speaker: Carl Engelke
          h.      "Moral Ethics in the Field of Medicine"
               Speaker: Carl Heilman

     7. After sustained applause the session adjourned and participants were invited to small group discussions in the elementary school classrooms.

Fourth Session, Friday, June 8, 9:30 a.m.

     8. Following an opening worship conducted by Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, using lessons from Exodus 2 and Arcana Coelestia 6737, the speaker for this session, Rev. Donald L. Rose was introduced. Mr. Rose's address was entitled "The Thoughts of Many Hearts," a study based on the collection of passages in the Writings which put into words the things we think in our hearts.

421


The natural man says inwardly, "What is Divine Providence? Is it anything but a mere phrase?" (DP 182, 175). When the natural man is left to itself it thinks in ways prone to anxiety (see AC 5647). How much better it is when we do not leave our natural man to think by itself. We can "speak the truth in our hearts." Instead of being troubled we can say inwardly, "What is that which is not eternal?"
This is thinking from the Lord (see DP 59). Thinking from the Lord we can say in heart that "ignorance cannot condemn any who live in innocence and mutual love" (AC 4468). We can look at the wonders of animal behavior and say in heart, "Such knowledge cannot flow into them from the sun" (DLW 353).
     We differ from animals in that the animal cannot say inwardly, "This I understand. This I love" (DP 74).
     The Lord said, "Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" (Luke 24:38). "Why reason ye in your hearts?" (Luke 5:22). He who knows the hearts of all the children of men has given to us the ability to look down at ourselves and "see what the will is doing in the understanding"(DP 278).
We can say, "Although I am thinking this . . . I will not do it" (TCR 535). "A habit of so thinking" can gradually join us to heaven (HH 533).
     Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen then gave a prepared response, thanking the speaker for bringing up the subject of the doctrine of reflection. For without reflection there could be no perception. Mr. Bau-Madsen reminded us that the Heavenly Doctrines are not just a manual of what to do, or a description of the spiritual world, or even a catalogue of representations. They are the Lord revealing His face, His Divine Mind for us to view, so we can learn a new way of thinking and seeing ourselves.

     9. The session ended at 10:30 a.m. when small discussion groups were organized in elementary school classrooms.

Fifth Session, Friday, June 8, 2:00 p.m.

     10. The mini-sessions were repeated.

Sixth Session, Friday, June 8, 8:00 p.m.

     11. Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs conducted a short opening worship service using lessons from Genesis 21:1-7 and Arcana Coelestia 2106. After this he introduced Bishop King who addressed the assembly on the subject, "Isaac, the Beginning of Humanity." This treatment of the inmost of the rational may appear in a future NEW CHURCH LIFE. Following this important talk there was discussion from the floor.
     12. The session adjourned to the cathedral lawn, where the host pastor, Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh, narrated a pageant depicting the life of Isaac.

422


This was climaxed by a delightful treat of sight and sound, music from loud speakers for those viewing the beautifully illuminated cathedral.

Seventh Session, Saturday, June 9, 9:30 a.m.

     13. An opening worship service was conducted by Rev. Harold C. Cranch. Bishop King then opened the business session of the twenty-ninth General Assembly. He asked for approval of the previous "Journal of Proceedings," and the Secretary of the General Church moved that they be accepted as printed in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1980, page 416ff. They were approved.

     14. Bishop King then expressed his thanks to our host pastor, Rev. Kurt Asplundh, and to the whole Bryn Athyn Society for its warm hospitality, and the well-organized assembly. Because he was not ordained along with his classmates, the Bishop then introduced Jonathan Rose, a member of the graduating class of the Theological School, who will be continuing his studies at the University of Pennsylvania to enhance his remarkable gifts as a linguist.

     15. The Bishop then called on the Director of Evangelization, Rev. Douglas M. Taylor, for his report. Mr. Taylor gave a lively presentation invoking some crowd participation. Further information on evangelization will be published later.

     16. The next item of business was to discuss whether the Assembly should recommend to the General Church Corporation that the word "male" be stricken from its membership requirements. The Bishop explained that ballots were available if so desired. At this point, Garry Hyatt, Chairman of the Assembly, explained how all those assembled would have an opportunity to present their feelings on this subject to a small group of eight people sitting near them. All responses were then collated, and reporters summarized these comments to the audience later on in the session (a remarkable feat in organization that went very smoothly!). The Bishop also invited remarks from the floor. Fifteen members spoke to the Assembly. These responses included: "The Lord leads by love; don't make rules to stop His guidance," and "Women have special wisdom to be shared with the church as a whole." Some read passages from the Writings to the gathering. The twelve reporters that Garry Hyatt had appointed recorded a large majority in favor of allowing women to participate in the Corporation. Those who were against it were quoted as to their reasons. "Men might back down on their responsibilities." "Still not clear about the difference between forensic and domestic uses." "The apostles were men." "Women can speak through the men."

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     17. The Bishop then raised the question of using the New King James Version in our worship services and for our bound English copy of the Word. A discussion ensued on the floor. A number of opinions were expressed such as "Doubtful about it at first, but now like the new version, especially for Sunday School"; "For the sake of our children, let's use a version they can understand"; "Make an appeal to the clergy to correct their lessons when read from the chancel, regardless of the English translation being used"; "Let's emphasize what's really being said if we do not have a command of the Greek and Hebrew ourselves." The Bishop reminded the group that nothing was to be decided at this session. This was simply an opportunity to share opinions and reactions. He thanked the Assembly for its counsel and said that discussion would be continued at the Council of the Clergy meetings following the Assembly.

     18. This session was adjourned at 11:45 a.m. An Assembly picture was then taken outside the Asplundh Field House.
          Lorentz R. Soneson, Secretary

     ASSEMBLY IMPRESSIONS

     It began Wednesday evening with the Bishop's welcoming reception in Glencairn's Great Hall. It ended with worship in the Asplundh Field House, followed by a farewell luncheon in Bryn Athyn's Society Building. In less than one hundred hours the General Church of the New Jerusalem's membership united in an unforgettable shared experience. The event was pronounced an outstanding success by virtually every one of the 1,613 registered guests-almost half of whom were Bryn Athyn residents. Only two widespread criticisms were heard: It was too hot, and it was too short.
     Some lucky people expanded their pleasure by attending the Academy of the New Church's commencement exercises on Wednesday, which included a dance the night before. Meals were provided for "early birds" by parents of Academy students, Theta Alpha, the Sons, and the Civic and Social Club.
     Another sizable group lingered after the assembly for Council of the Clergy meetings, delayed from March to coincide with this rare event. Other guests used vacation time to tarry in the area with family and friends to enjoy local New Church Day festivities.
     The influx of visitors came from ten foreign countries and represented almost every one of the United States. Two hundred Academy students cheerfully earned room and board by serving various natural needs of this international crowd.

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Countless hours of additional volunteer help made this one of the best bargains in our organization's history. And young and old from near and far were soon melded into one, looking to the Lord in joy-a joy that reflected His presence.
     Every detail involved in feeding, housing, entertaining and instructing the many souls so far from home seemed to have been anticipated." I looked forward to this assembly for months," said one, "and I was not disappointed." Another noted "the awe-inspiring experience of saying the Lord's prayer with such a large and diversified group." As for warm weather, a French guest called it evidence of God's love in our midst, (though some suggested we repack and start over again in Dawson Creek, Canada).
     Director Garry Hyatt developed such a reputation for total efficiency and superb problem-solving skills, it was inevitable that he receive requests to "please fix the weather." Lack of air conditioning cut attendance at some sessions, but it increased appreciation of the community swimming pool, opened to all.
     The most striking characteristic of this, the 29th General Church Assembly, was unity amid diversity. Opportunities for worship, instruction and socializing were offered in astonishing variety. Religious programs ranged from a sunrise service on Cairncrest hill under a flawless sky to vespers late at night. There were deeply moving Holy Supper and family services, as well as devotions to open all of the formal sessions. Most dramatic was a religious pageant, staged in moonlight, illustrating the Bishop's address.
     Instruction extended beyond the formal addresses by the clergy to include topical mini-sessions and discussions monitored by ministers. These latter programs were offered twice and were so popular they could have been held again had time permitted. There were unprecedented opportunities for lay involvement in major events: an evangelization program on the Denney Report; the Academy Girls School Centennial commemoration; the Theta Alpha's introduction of a new outreach program; the Sons' slide show; video demonstrations at the Sunday School meeting; an art exhibit for all ages; a cable TV presentation; an organizational meeting about home schooling; and a banquet enhanced by a variety of artistic talents. These and other happenings amply displayed the great potential of our membership. There were many golden moments for sharing ideas, interests, insights and inspiration. A classic example was the session of eight young people collaborating in a panel about the church's future.
     But the optional social activities were the most varied of all. Anyone adept enough to find some extra time could: enter bridge and/or tennis tournaments, join in local and Academy open houses, party with the young and "unattached," crash class reunions, view movies, join the joggers, add voice to "sing-a-longs," and take tea and tours all over town.

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     Music was especially important to this four-day affair. It was the first church-wide gathering to have access to the remarkably beautiful Glencairn. The "castle" was put to full use, by the Bryn Athyn orchestra, the Bryn Athyn choir (and their thrilled audiences), the museum committee who arranged a wonderful display of clerical vestments, and those taking advantage of a delicious continental breakfast before exploring the museum itself. The lovely grounds were enjoyed by all who stopped to visit historic Cairnwood next door (for the interim serving as home for the French "delegation").
     However, such details do not accurately convey the true experience of an assembly. A vital reason for these meetings is church government. Two particular items were brought to the attention of this body: women's place in relation to the Corporation, and the New King James Version of the Bible. Through a remarkable logistical triumph, every attendee at the Saturday business meeting had a chance to express an opinion. This will certainly become a shining example for future deliberations.
     An assortment of bonuses added to general satisfaction. The free bus service used only helpful and friendly drivers. The daily newspaper rescued many people from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, calling people by the wrong name. The kindergarten became a haven for children who despaired of ever seeing their parents again. Every hide-a-bed, cot, and spare room possible was made up for those more comfortable in a home setting. The latest computer technology expedited registration and generally sped things along a smooth path. (One suggestion: next time have the computer print out a list of guests and where they may be staying.) A flurry of posters, brochures and handouts kept everyone on track. An elaborate display of literature and religious supplies was made available to ensure that we keep our reputation as a "reading" church. A stunning panorama of booths encircled the meeting hall-arranged by various groups to enrich our concept of the General Church.
     The best fun was people meeting people. Meals were served in style, with a smile. Long lines and loud noises come with a crowd, but participants passed this test of charity with ease. A spirit of benevolence filled the air. Everybody seemed determined to make sure that everyone else had a good time. The five senses were inundated with pleasant impressions:

     - The sound of applause for Bishop and Mrs. Willard Pendleton on their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

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     - The sight of a thousand people clustered peacefully together waiting to have their picture taken.
     - The smell of a June night as we watched in hushed awe while the story of Isaac unfolded on the church lawn.
     - The taste of freshly cut vegetables from the salad bar after a full morning of spiritual "dining."
     - The feel of a lump in the throat during a benediction.

     Such things helped to renew a firm spirit within us all.
     A random example of the personal touch so typical of this assembly was the volunteer crew who drove to airports and escorted people to their waiting hosts. A touching vignette which demonstrated the assembly's success was the exchange of addresses between new-found friends. As things broke up, people seemed rich with new connections, happily reassured about the state of the church. It was obvious how welcome everyone was, how hard a multitude of committees had worked to make it happen. Most participants seemed to leave with a better understanding of how to cope with day-to-day events in a complicated world. And they seemed to experience a new appreciation of the three-fold Word.
     The occasion vividly showed that the members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem are trying to live their religion by serving others in useful ways.
     Marjorie Rose Soneson

     THE INVOLVEMENT OF WOMEN IN THE USES OF THE ORGANIZED CHURCH

     BY ZOE GYLLENHAAL SIMONS

     Men and women are different in physical form and in mental and spiritual inclination. In one series of numbers (CL 174-6) the Writings are very specific in saying that there are duties or offices "proper to" the husband and the wife. While these duties or offices may be performed by the other sex, they cannot be rightly performed (see CL 175). The Writings are also specific in stating that man's sphere is forensic-literally "in the market place, the law court or public debate" (Webster's Dictionary). Woman's sphere is domestic, defined in the dictionary as having to do with the home, the household and domestic affairs as opposed to foreign affairs. The number in Conjugial Love also states that women have to consult men in matters of judgment and are not able to elevate their understanding into the sphere of light in which men are, and "to view things in the same altitude" (ibid.), which we understand to mean the same degree of objectivity. Numbers concerning the perception of women which is from their love (see CL 168) are supposed to balance these rather hard statements!

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     It is principally on the above numbers that all the arguments rest which are against women being made equal partners in the legal affairs of the church, equal partners in the uses of the organized church. Equal partners in any organization do not necessarily have the same duties, but they do share in the responsibilities and decisions of the organization. Decision-making in the legal and financial affairs is what women are excluded from when they are excluded from membership in the Corporation of the General Church, and eligibility to serve on its Board of Directors.
     At the present time men and women share many of the same privileges as members of the General Church. They may respond equally and individually when a new bishop is to be accepted. They vote to accept reports, and if a matter is brought before the General Assembly for a vote, men and women have equal votes. In many individual societies and groups men and women have equal votes in the selection of their board members, and some societies even now allow women to serve on their boards and hold executive positions. Women hold positions outside of their homes, in such organizations as Theta Alpha, Women's Guild, and positions both paid and volunteer in education, publication, translation, secretarial and a host of other jobs. Contributions either from earnings or inheritance have never been refused on account of color, age or sex!
     What then are the reasons for caution? What are the objections to women becoming members of the corporation, the legal body of the church, and of being eligible to be on the board of directors, if qualified, nominated and elected?
     Let us try to separate "fears" from "principles" involved. One fear seems to be that we will follow in the ways of Convention and allow women to become priests. I think this is a specious fear because of the different concept of the use and function of a priest as held by the Convention compared to the concept held by the General Church. Convention societies are not organized under priestly leadership; the minister is to serve the society by teaching doctrine and leading worship under the policies laid down by the board of directors (both men and women) of the individual society. Under this type of organization it is not hard to see that a woman could be acceptable as a teacher and leader of doctrine for the church as might any layman. Under the episcopal organization of the General Church, priests are ordained into a higher degree and by virtue of their office are given the promise of the Holy Spirit and special enlightenment (see TCR 146). Rev. Dandridge Pendleton defines this distinction in his article in NEW CHURCH LIFE, November 1983, p. 470-we presume by "laity" he means both men and women.

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"The priesthood . . . has a leading responsibility to lead, indeed to train the laity . . . to participate actively in the study of doctrine for the church. For there is a difference . . . between studying doctrine for the church and preaching doctrine to the church: the latter is reserved, as a use and function, for an ordained priesthood, and a male priesthood to boot, and rightly so." Under our present understanding of this use, inauguration into the priesthood is unquestionably for the masculine.
     There are many uses and offices which may, for better or worse, be performed by either sex. But there is one function which can only be performed by the male, and that is the production of seed which can produce offspring. And only the female can receive that seed and bring it to fruition. I would place the orderly indoctrination, leading and governing of the church, in spiritual matters, by a priest to be on a corresponding plane. The church receives and applies that teaching and leading. This function of the priesthood is distinctly different from participation in the natural, organizational affairs of the church, just as the care and education of children is distinctly different from their procreation. The Writings say that the uses and offices of the husband and wife come together in the mutual care and education of children (see CL 176).
     Another fear is that men will withdraw from the uses of the church if women are allowed to storm this bastion of male privilege! I feel sure that men are much too strong and rational to do this. Have women driven men out of the fields of education, law, medicine, finance, etc.? While there may be abuses and imbalances at times, the use of each individual, both masculine and feminine, working to the best of their abilities and qualifications, in the family, the community and the church, is the goal which we should keep before us.
     What about the principles involved in domestic and forensic uses as described in the Writings? It may be generally agreed that the primary responsibility of a mother of young children is to see to their nurture. It may also be postulated that the primary responsibility of a father is to see to the support and protection of his family. But these primary obligations are not exclusive of other uses both inside and outside the home. Domestic uses extend far beyond the confines of the home. The school, the church, the community environment and the country all affect the home very directly, and thus the nurturing of children. Forensic affairs may be predominantly a masculine sphere of use, as domestic is predominantly feminine, but where children and the public welfare are involved, it would seem to me that these spheres or offices come together.
     The history of the New Church includes the active participation of women as well as men. Seven women signed the declaration which formed the new Association which was to be the New Church society of Philadelphia, October 27, 1854-(see Bishop William Henry Benade, by R. R. Gladish, p. 95).

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There was continual controversy over the role that woman was to be allowed to play in church affairs, influenced undoubtedly by the expanding role of women in national and world affairs. There was a desire to send women delegates to a general convention, but Bishop Benade ruled that this was not a suitable activity for women (see Messenger 1887, Vol. 52, p. 343). Bishop W. F. Pendleton had a great appreciation for women's intellectual abilities, and his own daughters received good educations and were given the advantages of travel abroad. They all had interesting careers during their lives. The nine Pendleton sisters undoubtedly were influential in early General Church policies. It was during Bishop Pendleton's time that it was ruled that women could participate in a rising vote at assemblies (see "Journal of the Assembly" 1899, p. 47).
     It was at the sixth General Assembly of the General Church held in 1907 that the formation of the Corporation of the General Church took place. Previously the business affairs of the church were run by an executive committee of the Academy of the New Church. Mr. Hugh L. Burnham offered the resolution which caused the Corporation of the General Church to be formed to take over the civil uses of the ecclesiastical body known as "The General Church of the New Jerusalem." A book was provided in which "all adult, male members of the General Church who had attended at least two meetings of the General Assembly would be entitled to sign and thereby become members of the Corporation" (NCL 1907, p. 586). This resolution was seconded by Mr. Robert Caldwell, Jr., and was "unanimously adopted by a rising vote" (ibid). There is no mention of any discussion at this meeting of the 1907 Assembly. It seemed to go through as a purely cut-and-dried business matter. However, at the 1903 and 1904 meetings there had been considerable discussion with some strong recommendations that all members of the church should be eligible to join the Corporation. And it is interesting to note that at the seventh General Assembly, the entire meeting of the Corporation with all its reports reported to the full General Assembly. But only members of the Corporation were allowed to vote on the business matters (see NCL 1911, p. 485).
     When it was moved and seconded at the March 21, 1980, meeting of the Corporation that the word "male" be struck from the by-laws of the Corporation, the meeting was not ready to make the decision which would have immediately opened the membership to women. They asked the Bishop to form a committee which would report back to the March 1981 annual meeting.

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That appointed committee, consisting of seven men under the chairmanship of Bishop King, recommended that women be admitted to the Corporation: "Since the object of the Corporation is to present, teach and maintain throughout the world the doctrines of the New Church as contained in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the wisdom and perception of women should have appropriate expression in its government" (Committee report, January 21, 1981). "The majority of the committee, and, for that matter, the majority of the clergy do not feel that any direct teachings of the Writings preclude women from participation in these activities of the Corporation" (ibid.). Because there still remained some doubt as to whether participation on the Board of Directors was an appropriate use for women because of the limitation of their "rational wisdom" (CL 165), the eligibility of women to be on that board was left undecided.
     At the 1984 General Assembly a major part of the business session on Saturday morning, June 9, was devoted to this subject with the purpose of coming to a consensus. I believe it was obvious to all present that more than two-thirds of the members present did feel that women should not only be allowed membership in the Corporation, but, if qualified, should also be eligible for membership on the Board of Directors. I hope we may have some action on this and no further delays, because there seems to me to be a possibility of a creeping divisiveness and polarization. Let's stop wasting time and energy and get on with the important uses of spreading the Lord's Word.
     All are enjoined by the Writings to shun the love of dominion. The heavenly rule is to rule from the love of uses (see CL 26 1). The love of rule from hell is to rule from the love of self or the proprium. Perhaps men are exercising their propriums when they exclude more than half the membership of the church from participating in its civil and fiscal affairs. Men and women approach solutions to problems in very different ways. Much has been made of the difference between the masculine and the feminine as an argument against women being involved in the decision-making body of the church. But this very difference is where and how uses may be better served. This is why the Lord created both men and women. If husbands and wives do not consult and decide together about matters concerning their marriage, their home and their life, they leave a door open to the love of dominion which can destroy them. So in the life of the church, men and women should consult and decide and work together. The feminine point of view will be expressed. The more it is suppressed, the more it will insidiously seek to rule through husbands, brothers, fathers and friends. Is it not more orderly to have direct expression in orderly ways? Let us not invite the hells to tear us apart. Let us keep our minds and hearts on the high love of performing uses together for the glory of God.

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PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND       Rev. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1984

     Part IIIa: Enlightenment

     A DOCTRINAL STUDY BY REV. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON. PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL FACULTY OF THE ACADEMY ON APRIL 26, 1984

     (The second part of this paper will be printed in the October issue of the LIFE, Note: Many of the teachings cited from Arcana Coelestia in this paper are also contained in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, Apocalypse Explained nos. 1065-1089 and the fourth chapter of True Christian Religion.)

     This is the third in a series of six papers. The first paper (NCL Nov. 1983) expressed the view that the essential difference between the priesthood and the laity is a difference in kind rather than a difference in degree. The second paper (NCL March and April 1984) focused on the relationship between the representative and occupational aspects of the priestly office; and the conclusion was drawn that the effective carrying out of the representation of the office is more dependent on the occupational discipline and extension of the priest's work than we have tended to emphasize in our discussion, if not our thought, on the subject. This comparative overemphasis on the representation of the priestly office, and underemphasis on the office in its occupational discipline and function, has caused what I believe is an imbalance in our attitude and response to the work of the priesthood, both as a representative office and as a group of men who minister in that office.
     I would observe here-as a number of you have observed to me-that I have not as yet gone into what the "difference in kind" consists of in practical application to the work of priest and layman; nor have I discussed how this difference fits into their respective occupational areas, as far as the thought and life of the church are concerned. My plan is to pursue both of these questions through to the end of the series, commencing with this paper on enlightenment. My purpose here will be to define enlightenment in very basic terms, and to relate that definition in its several parts to the priesthood and the laity generally. In the final three papers, to be presented next year, these general doctrinal definitions and applications will be extended into particulars relating to the functions of teaching, leading, and governing.
     What is spiritual enlightenment? It is the light of heaven striking upon the human understanding, or intellectual faculty, of a man who is being regenerated by the Lord (see AC 4156:3; 5822e, 6222:3, 4, 6; 6384e; 6405; 7233:2; 7503:2; 8694; 8780:2; 9051).

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Such a man comes to possess the "intellectual of the church" (AC 6222:3)-an intellectual that is variously defined as: interior understanding (AC 9051, 9424:2); internal sight (AC 7503:2, 8780:2, 10786:2); the understanding of the internal man (AC 9300:5). The result of this influx of heavenly light is said to be enlightenment, perception (see AC 6222:3, 4; 6384e; 7503:2; 8780:2; 8967), and, in several places, revelation (see AC 8780:2, 8694:2) with the man who has become, or is in the process of becoming, a church.
     This light of heaven consists of a communication to regenerating men in the world of the affections and intelligence of associate angel societies, whose source is the Divine of the Lord flowing into those angels, and from them into the man of the church on earth (see AC 8694:2, 8780:2, 9051, 9382:2 and 3, 9405, 9424:2, 10330:2, 10355:6, 10551:2). The path of this angelic influx is into the rational of man (see AC 2701, 3094, 3098, 3128:2 and 3, 3493)-that is, into the spiritual of the rational (see AC 2701)-and from thence into all things of the natural which are "matters of natural reason and scientifics [knowledges]" (AC 129, 589e, 3108, 3128:2 and 3, 4156:3). There, "by an infitting, it forms for itself truths" (AC 3128:3), according to the truths that the man has as to both quality and quantity (see AC 2531:2, 3098, 3508:2, 3665:3, 5208, 6222:3, 6766, 7233:2, 7306, 8368e, 10400e, 10402e). By this his natural is also enlightened (AC 3 128:3, 5208, AE 1067:3), which enlightenment of the natural consists in the ability to confirm spiritual truths by means of "things rational and scientific" (AC 3175:4, 5008:6).
     We should note here what I believe is an important point, which has (as we shall see shortly) a very practical bearing on the question of enlightenment in reference to what we call "church uses." Enlightenment, as it is both generally and specifically defined throughout the Heavenly Doctrines, is in itself a spiritual phenomenon from "top to bottom," so to speak. Its influx from the Lord, into and from the heavens, imparts to the man of the church the capacity to perceive spiritual truths in his higher rational, and to confirm those truths in and by means of his lower rational and natural. Nowhere have I found doctrinal indication that this inflowing spiritual light transmutes or changes into the things of natural light with the regenerating man. For there are two lights which form the understanding, or intellectual faculty, with man: the light of the world and the light of heaven (see AC 3138). The light of the world-quite apart from, and even when in opposition to, the light of heaven-gives the ability to reason, confirm, imagine, perceive, with great acuteness and subtlety on the natural, sensual, and corporeal planes of life, whether from a good or evil interior (Ibid.). From and in this natural light, the human mind can comprehend in the "exterior" understanding, and even love, spiritual truths (AC 7233:2, 9051, 9300:5), but only naturally-that is, looking only-from and to natural effects (see AC 761:2, 3128, 3138, 5127e, 7012, 7233:2, 7306, 7680, 7950:2, 8013:2, 9039, 9367, 9382:2 and 3, 10201:3, 10406, 10551:2, 10638:2, 10702:2).

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An evil man and a good man share this ability in that both can, and do, understand spiritual truths in natural light (Ibid.). In fact, this is the state of every man prior to actual states of repentance and reformation; before this, the mind is capable of acknowledging spiritual truths only naturally-only in and from natural light-therefore only as a matter of natural reason and confirmation. Thus does all human life begin. The difference between the evil man and the good man (also between the good man prior and subsequent to regenerate states) is that the latter comes, successively and increasingly, to acknowledge spiritual truths from and in the light of heaven as well as in the light of the world. The Writings do not deplore the existence of natural light, or the light of the world, with men; it is a vital constituent of human and angelic life, and therefore of their potential as spiritual beings; it was created by the Lord to serve this purpose of reception, fixation, and return with the race to eternity. Natural light is absolutely necessary to success in any occupation, including the occupation of the priesthood. What the Writings deplore is merely natural enlightenment with man that is, the light of the world apart from, and therefore inevitably in opposition to, spiritual enlightenment; this along with the fact that so many "at this day" regard the objectives and results of merely natural enlightenment as constituting wisdom.
     The Lord's Divine "continually inflows" with every man, in the endeavor to enlighten him spiritually. For the man who is in natural light apart from any reception of spiritual light is said to be "in thick darkness" as far as spiritual truths are concerned, thus in "no enlightenment," because the natural apart from the spiritual is open only to influx from the hells, thus becoming a breeding-ground of "all evil and falsity," which rejects, suffocates, and perverts the influx from heaven (Ibid: also 5127e).
     Here we run into two sets of apparently conflicting teachings on the subject. We read that a man who is in merely natural light both can and cannot understand and acknowledge spiritual truths when he hears or leads them. In a parallel vein, we read that the understanding, or intellect, both can and cannot be enlightened apart from the new will of regeneration. We have, for example, the statement that a man cannot comprehend or acknowledge the internal sense of the Word "unless he is regenerate, and at the same time is peculiarly enlightened" (AC 7233e). (So much for ordaining men into the priesthood before they are at least 50 years of age!)

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The key to this apparent conflict would seem to be in the difference drawn between the exterior and interior understanding (see AC 9051), or the natural (first) and spiritual (second) rational (see the AC Ishmael/Isaac series). Thus we are told that with a man who is in natural light only, which is to be in a state of evil and falsity, there can be no internal or spiritual enlightenment. The merely natural man can indeed understand, and even acknowledge-yes, even love-spiritual truths, as knowledges in the natural memory, and as matters of reason in the natural rational. What he is incapable of is either understanding or acknowledging those knowledges of and reasonings about spiritual truth as anything but natural in their origin and their effects or results. Indeed, it becomes evident upon reflection that if the understanding could not contemplate and understand spiritual truths apart from the states of the perverted hereditary will, and prior to the establishment of the new will, there would be no possibility of reformation ever beginning. It is for the sake of this, man's reformation, that the understanding in its exterior parts, is able to be "illustrated" apart from and despite the prevailing emotional influence of the hereditary will (see AE 140:6, 7; NJHD 28-35). Thus, a man not yet regenerate, nor even reformed, can be in the "heat" of the old will, yet at the same time in the "light" of heaven as far as his understanding is concerned, as we read in DLW 244: "A man not altogether stupid, and who has not confirmed himself in falsities from the pride of self-intelligence, hearing others speak of some exalted matter, or reading something of the kind, if he is in any affection of knowing, understands these things and also retains them, and may afterwards confirm them. An evil man as well as a good man may do this. Even an evil man, though in heart he denies the Divine things pertaining to the church, can still understand them, and also speak of and preach them, and; in writing learnedly, prove them; but when left to his own thought, from his own infernal love, he thinks against them and denies them. From this it is obvious that the understanding can be in spiritual light when the will is not in spiritual heat." This is where all men start. The difference between a good man and an evil man is that this is where the evil man stays, confirming himself from and in the natural against the spiritual, even though he may skillfully and persuasively utilize his knowledge of spiritual truth, and his reasonings by means of those knowledges, to advance his natural reputation for the sake of honor and gain.
     We must here draw a very definite line of distinction between merely natural light, or the light of the world, and the natural when it is enlightened by the influx into it of the light of heaven. When the Heavenly Doctrines speak of the enlightenment of the natural with the regenerating man of the church, they are not referring to his occupational expertise or acumen, but to his forming of a conscience, from his acknowledgment of the truths of the Word, in the ordering and carrying-out of his natural occupation and his dealings with others in that occupation.

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     Enlightenment of the natural from the spiritual in man's understanding, therefore in his thought, and thence in his actions, is derived through one source, and one source alone: the Word. In studying the many numbers on enlightenment, I have been struck with the repeated statement that a man is enlightened by the Lord when or while he is reading the Word (see AC 129, 2701, 4214, 5432e, 6047:2, 6222:3, 6405, 7012, 7233:2 and 3, 8078:4, 8648e, 8694:2, 8780:2, 8993:4, 9188e, 9300:4, 4382:1, 2 and 3, 9405, 9424:2 and 3, 10105:2, 10250H, 10290:2, 10330:2, 10354, 10400e, 10551:5, 10638:2, 10659:3.) This simple statement is strongly and repeatedly made, so much so that I have come to question whether a man is spiritually enlightened at any other time, or in any other activity, than when he is either actually reading (or hearing) the Word, or is actively reflecting from some principle of conscience which he has formulated from the Word, upon some natural aspect, condition, or circumstance of his occupation or life. For it is our consociation with the heavens-with societies of angels there-through the spiritual and celestial senses within the literal sense of the Word, that the angels of the various heavens are said to inflow with the man on earth who is reading it. This consociation with their thoughts "is enlightenment" with the man who is "one with them" as to his interiors, and they with him, "when he is reading the Word" (Ibid.). It is true that angel societies are with every man at every instant throughout his life on this earth, be he good, evil, or in-between-guarding, protecting, leading him time and time again back into spiritual equilibrium, thus into states of potential reformation. But this constant, moment-by-moment guardianship and equalizing is not what the Writings mean by "the enlightenment of the understanding." Enlightenment-the light of heaven, flowing by correspondential association from angel societies into the understanding and thought of a man on earth-occurs only when the man who is in a state of genuine affection of truth reads the Word or is thinking from a conscience of truths formed from the genuine truths of the Word. This, when and to the degree that it occurs, does so equally with the priest and the layman. I see no essential or significant difference here, either in degree or in kind.
     Enlightenment from the Lord, into and from the heavens with the man of the church, through his reading of the Word, takes place in close accord with two things with the man who is receiving the enlightenment:

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(1) It is according to the good in which he is, which is his affection of truth for the sake of uses of life (see AC 589e, 2701, 3094, 3098, 3102, 3128, 3974e, 4214e, 6047:2, 6222:6, 6405, 6564, 7012, 7223:2, 7435, 7950:2, 7989, 8078:4, 8368e, 8648e, 8694:2, 8780:2, 8967, 9039, 9051, 9086e, 9188e, 9300:5, 9382:2 and 3, 9407:15, 9424:2, 10105:2, 10201:3, 10290:2, 10323, 10330:2; 10355:6, 10406, 10551:2, 10638:2, 10702:2); (2) this good, in turn, is according to the quality and quantity of the knowledges of truth in which that good can be received and formed by the Lord (see AC 2531:2, 3094, 3098, 3102, 3128, 3131e, 3508:2, 3665:3, 5208, 6222:3, 6766, 7233:2, 7306, 8368e, 10400e, 10402e, 10551:2, 10640:2). Thus it is according to both the quality of his good of life and the extent and depth of his doctrinal knowledge and understanding. The achievement of such a state is, of protective necessity, a gradual and cumulative one. Thus we are told that the natural is at first enlightened only generally in spiritual things, and that "little of the spiritual" is seen in earlier stages of reformation from this general enlightenment, because "that which first enters is general truth which in itself is obscure, and in which scarcely anything appears until it has been enlightened by particulars, and these by singulars" (AC 3131; cf. 5208). This general enlightenment of the natural can, and should, become in time more particular, as particular truths are taken into the mind and "interior things" are thereby for the first time "made clear" (Ibid.; cf. 3508:2). How this occurs in the regenerative process with the man of the church is interestingly described, in that it is brought about by an apparent "banishment," or loss, of those truths from the natural, then their return into the natural "in their order" (AC 5208). This is achieved through spiritual temptations, in which the regenerating man experiences "grief in the mind" occasioned by the fact that "the order of its thoughts is being reversed" (DP 147).
     When it comes to the drawing of doctrine from the literal sense of the Word-or, more properly, up out of (haurire) the Word-we are told that this can only be done with genuine results by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord as to both doctrine and life (see AC 9186:3, 9424:2 and 3, 10105, 10323, AE 356:1, TCR 23). There are said to be "few" who are in both the [genuine] doctrine and life of truth" (AC 9186:3). And among these few there is evident subordination, in that those who are in "primary truths" are said to be "more enlightened than others" (AC 6766; cf. 5044). Indeed, there is strong indication that many, if not the majority, of men have difficulty, if not inability, to be enlightened in doctrine for themselves-that is, from their own study; this may result, we are told, either from their thought being taken up with their worldly occupation (see SS 59), or from "possessing little of what is intellectual" (AC 6222:3), due either to innate capacity or education or both.

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These, we are told, "have faith in those whom they believe to be enlightened" (Ibid.; cf. SS 59), and "can learn" from them (SS 59). This might seem at first reading to go directly counter to the very strong instruction given in AC 5402, 6532, 6047, 6822, 10645, 10789; cf. AE 190, 195:14, that every man, when he becomes adult, must go to the Word for himself and there discover whether the doctrinal teachings of the church in which he has been brought up are true; and that what he discerns in the Word as being true is to serve him for doctrine; and that when he does this in a state of genuine prayer to the Lord, "he is enlightened, without knowing whence, as to what is true" (Ibid.). I have worked this one over (the apparent contradiction, that is) for some time; and I believe I see a reconciliation between the two; however, this will fit more properly into the next paper, on teaching and leading.
     One final question, as far as this survey of the doctrine of enlightenment is concerned: What of the vast numbers of the human race who do not possess the Word as their source of acknowledged truth, or if they do possess it do not see the genuine truths that are contained within it? Where do they stand as far as spiritual enlightenment is concerned? AE 1177:24 teaches as follows: "To be enlightened by the Lord through heaven is to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit . . . . From this it is clear that the Lord teaches the man of the church mediately by means of the Word, according to the love of his will that comes from his life, and according to the light of his understanding that he gains by means of knowledge; and that this cannot be otherwise because this is the Divine order of influx. And this is why the Christian religion has been divided into churches, and into heresies in general and in particular within the churches. Neither can those who are outside of the Christian world, and who do not have the Word, be taught in any other way, for they are taught through the religious principle that they have instead of the Word, which is in part from the Word . . . . Those whose worship is from that origin are taught by the Lord mediately by means of their religious principle, the same as Christians are by the Word; and this is done . . . by the Lord through heaven, and thus by a stirring up of their will and also of their understanding. But enlightenment by means of those religious principles is not like enlightenment by means of the Word. It is like enlightenment at evening, when the moon is shining more or less brightly, while enlightenment by means of the Word is like enlightenment in the daytime from morning to noon, when the sun is shining more or less brightly. Thus it is that the Lord's church, which as to its light which is Divine wisdom extends through the entire globe, is like the day from noon to evening, and even to night; while as to its heat, which is Divine love, it is like the year from spring to autumn, and even to winter."

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This, to my mind, is one of the most powerful, and at the same time most touching, statements in the entire Heavenly Doctrines of the Lord's infinite and unfailing care for every human being born into the world.
     In the second section of this treatment on enlightenment I will be presenting some general applications of the above doctrinal teachings to the priesthood, the laity, and the life of the church.
REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Prescott A. Rogers       1984

The New English Translation of the Arcana Caelestia by Rev. John Elliott, for the Swedenborg Society

     It is a very difficult task to evaluate anyone's work, including one's own. There are so many factors in the evaluation which create this difficulty. Some factors have to do with objectivity. Certain questions need to be answered. In the work were certain standard procedures followed? Is there sufficient evidence of training and labor? Are proper sources or evidence presented? Is the work complete? etc. These factors must be considered, and can be considered fairly easily. The real problem rests in the factors that have to do with subjectivity. The person who creates (and a translator does create) puts himself into his work. He can't help it, and he should not try to prevent his personal involvement in the work. But another person with his own subjectivity then evaluates the work. And, of course, if he had been the creator, he would have done things differently.
     My task as a reviewer is to make judgments as to the overall product, which is the new English translation of the Arcana Coelestia, translated by Rev. John Elliott. I must also evaluate certain aspects or elements of that translation. These judgments will be subjective. They are mine, and my opinions may be weak or strong.
     Most of my remarks will be negative, and the appearance may be that I am harshly critical of Mr. Elliott's translation. But, please, do not accept the appearance as an actuality. As a history teacher, I have to evaluate many, many term papers, and my comments are usually negative, although the grades are usually quite good. The general comments state why the paper was good and received its grade. But the particular comments state what, in my opinion, could have made the paper ideal-and so they are negative. It is the same with this review.
     My comments are presented to enable others-and to encourage them-to read the new translation with a greater understanding of the work itself: its message, its merits, and its demerits.

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For the translation has been prepared and published for the use of people in and out of the New Church. It is up to you to make your own judgments as to the quality of Mr. Elliott's translation. Does it make sense to you? Is it better than the old translations? Why?
     Behind the practice of translation is the philosophy of translations-the examination and consideration of how it might be done and it should be done. It is not fitting here to go into the details of the philosophy of translation or the various positions maintained. But one observation is important since it deals with our attitudes in the New Church to new translations of Divine revelation. The general issue in translation is what type of translation is desired. There are two general types: 1) formal equivalency (the "literal" translation) where the primary effort is to present in the new language the very forms of the message in the original language, including vocabulary, word order, and grammatical structures; and 2) dynamic equivalency (the "liberal" translation) with its emphasis on getting the idea across, with a secondary regard for the forms of the original language. How would you translate in Swahili the English phrase, "So long!"? Would you use Swahili words for "so" and "long" and perhaps give the idea of the measurement of distance, or would you use the Swahili equivalent of "Good-bye"? Over the centuries English translators as a whole have fluctuated between the two.
     At the heart of the issue is the relationship of the form to the message, or of words to the ideas contained in those words and their order. The essence of any communication is the message. The purpose of the communication is to convey ideas to others. The words, whether spoken or written or acted, are the means by which the purpose is fulfilled. And the form must serve the message, as any means must serve their purpose. Once a person has the desire to convey an idea, he must choose his words, their order, the pauses or punctuation, and the complexity of his sentences. And he should choose them wisely so that his message is conveyed in the best way. For the form prevents, hinders, or aids the communication. And, in general, the more a person who receives the communication has to pay attention to the form, the more is the message harmed. If I have to puzzle over a word in a term paper, my chain of thought is broken. If you poorly choose the way in which you communicate important matters in a personal letter or remark, you end up with a lot of unnecessary explanations. In terms of translation, whatever the philosophy of translation, the result should not be a burden to its readers. A burden consists of overloaded and complex sentences with unusual vocabularies and improper syntax (and arrangements).

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     The concern here is with New Church translations of the Lord's Word. We either preserve the forms of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin as much as we can in English, or we strive to find the English ways of presenting the ideas. This is especially a problem with regard to the Old Testament, for we are taught that the very Hebrew words have spiritual meaning, and yet the understanding of the letter of the Word is so vital to the New Church. If we choose to be strictly literal, we lose the idea behind the words. If we choose to translate freely, we lose certain words that signify. And this may be a problem for the translation of the Writings. Our belief as to the letter of the Heavenly Doctrines will affect our translations and our response to them. Should we present the Writings in Latinized English to preserve the Latin structures at the expense of the easy reading of the English translation? This has been the characteristic of almost all the translations prior to the 1970s. Or should we not worry too much about the Latin forms, and concentrate on the facility of English style? Or should we somehow combine the two positions?
     It is my opinion that Mr. Elliott has striven to present dynamic equivalency, but has presented a combination of dynamic and formal equivalencies. The result is favorable for the most part, but what I consider awkward sentence structures do exist. Too many of the sentences are still "Latinized," that is, they contain too many clauses linked together in a complex fashion, which is a burden for the average reader of English. But more on this later.
     As to the overall appearance, I have some unimportant remarks. The dust jacket is attractive in color and design. The small print is irritating, probably the result of an attempt to put more words on a page and so keep the cost down. But it makes reading rather difficult. The block paragraphing is clear, as is the printing. However, I wish the passages were more noticeably numbered with the numbers in the margins, as the sub-sections are so marked.
     Other minor points include the following. Of course, the spellings are British (e.g., "neighbour"). Many of the special nouns are capitalized (e.g., Church, Sanctuary in AC 57, and Marriage in AC 55). The translator makes excellent use of parentheses and dashes to separate subordinate clauses that are tangential to the thrust of the sentence. And, as is usually the case, certain inadvertent omissions occurred (e.g., the verb "is" is omitted in the first sentence of AC 34:2).
     Of greater importance are remarks with regard to the substance of the translation. The translator's preface is outstanding in the inclusion of its material and in the clarity of its presentation and explanation. Before I began to read the translation I knew where I was going and how I was getting there.

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On the other hand, I was not impressed with the word list at the end of the volume. Its purpose, as stated in the preface, is not satisfied, although the entries entitled "Celestial" and "Cognitions" are very good. Why are "Minchah" and "Real things" included in a list of seven entries? And so many other words could have been, and should have been, included (e.g., "Remnants," the new translation in place of "remains").
     The footnoting is very beneficial, especially with regard to Hebrew citations. As was mentioned in the preface, the translator decided to put the dynamically equivalent English of a Hebrew phrase in the body of the text and the formally equivalent English, a literal translation, in the footnote. In this way both the idea and the form are preserved. This is an improvement over the old translation which used formal equivalency only. As an example, see AC 1069:2 where the reference from Isaiah 5 includes the words ". . . on a very fertile hill. . .," when the literal translation in the footnote reads "on a horn of a son of oil."
     I believe that Mr. Elliott made a wise choice to usually translate the Latin home as "person," for homo refers more often to a human being than to a male. Such a rendition replaces most of the references to "man" in the old translations, and directs our minds to both men and women in the descriptions and explanations of the Arcana.
     Mr. Elliott has rendered the Latin of the Arcana into good, readable English in most cases. An example of this can be found in AC 1008:2 at the end. The old Swedenborg Society translation reads:

As when the idea of marriage arises, if he has been an adulterer, all filthy and obscene things of adultery, even though about it, come forth; likewise all things with which he has confirmed adulteries-whether from things of sense, from things of reason, or from the Word-and how he had adulterated and perverted the truths of the Word.

     The new translation reads:

For instance, if he has been an adulterer, when the idea of marriage crops up, all the muck and filth of adultery, even of thought about it, does so too, likewise all the arguments used to confirm adulterous practices, whether based on the evidence of the senses, or on rational grounds, or on the Word. And the way in which he has adulterated and perverted the truths of the Word crops up too.

     The language is more living as well as more clear. Mr. Elliott has chosen to break the one Latin sentence into two English sentences. He has used commonly understood and graphic terms, such as "crops up." And he has given concise meanings from context to general words in Latin (e.g., "all the arguments" for omnia, or "all things").

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This passage, then, is an example of Mr. Elliott's striving for dynamic equivalency. (Other examples of improved translations exist throughout the work, but ones that would have been included if more space were provided are AC 24:2 and 3, 32, and 796.)
     Often, when the Latin or the theological thought is especially difficult or obscure, Mr. Elliott manages to make great sense in English. I will not present the Latin here, as you will have to either trust my judgment or look at the Latin for yourself. But at the end of the first section of AC
978, the new translation reads:

And the fact that the body, and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, is not the external man is clear from the consideration that spirits likewise who do not possess the [physical] body such as they had while living in the world still have an external man.

     With the addition of English words called for from the context and with the use of brackets and "physical," this translation states the matter accurately and clearly.
     Although in general the new translation is an improvement in terms of English style, there are problems in the work. To me the greatest problem is the burdensome English structure that exists in several passages, especially in the later chapters. The cause of this is, I believe. the inability of Mr. Elliott to sufficiently break away from the Latin sentence structure, in spite of his ability to produce dynamic equivalency in the rendition of phrases and clauses. Modern communication studies have shown that the average English reader or listener finds it difficult to receive many one-clause sentences (the so-called "Dick and Jane" structure) and many sentences which consist of more than three clauses. Most sentences in a communication should consist of two clauses, and many of three clauses, with more complex sentences and one-clause sentences being used occasionally. Our New Church translations don't do that. We have inherited the Latin of the Writings which can easily deal with multi-clause sentences because of the way it introduces each clause so that the Latin reader knows how it relates to the rest of the sentence. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," but when English is spoken, do what the educated majority of those countries do-use two-and three-clause sentences.
     The new translation of AC 67 is one sentence that runs for eight lines. A person can figure out such a sentence, but he doesn't want to, or he has to labor at it. And the more he labors at the form of a message, the less the chain of ideas is likely to enter his mind. Willing to work very hard, he benefits greatly from his efforts.

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But most people are not so willing, and some are not able to overcome the confusion that complex sentences produce in their minds.
     A similar problem exists for an English-speaking person when sentences do not get to their subject and verb fairly quickly. The subject and main verb are the pillars of every sentence, and although Latin can precede the heart of a sentence with several subordinate clauses, it is a burdensome practice in English. This sentence from AC 1038:7 has five subordinate clauses before the main verb (indicated by italics) is presented:

That external things do not constitute the covenant unless internal things are joined to them and so through that union act as one and the same cause, but are merely "signs of the covenant" by means of which, as by representative images, the Lord might be called to mind, is clear from the fact that the Sabbath and circumcision are called "signs" of the covenant.

     Most of the problems of this nature could be reduced, if not eliminated, by the use of the impersonal "it" at the start of many sentences, and also by breaking up the sentences into two or more English sentences. Here is a sentence from AC 990 as it appears in the old Swedenborg Society translation, in the new translation, and in my own suggestion:

. . . from what precedes, since these evils and falsities are treated of, over which the regenerate man rules, and therefore here affections of good, which are given unto his hands. . .

From what has gone before where the evils and falsities over which the regenerate person rules are the subject, it is clear that the affections for good which are given into his hands are therefore the subject here.

Up until this point the subject has been the evils and falsities over which the regenerate person rules. From this it is clear that the subject here is the affections for good which are given into the
regenerate person's hands.

     Other examples of linguistic burdens occur in awkward word order, phrases, etc. AC 42 reads:

"Sea monsters" means those facts, general sources, below which and from which details derive.

     It seems better to say, ". . . means the general sources of those facts. . ." Read the next example as it appears in the new translation and then without the "that of," which is underlined in the translation and is uncalled for in the Latin:

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Since the nature of everything depends on that of the person to whom it refers, the same holds true with regard to the meaning of blood.

     Sometimes words are omitted since they appear to be understood. But this can place an unnecessary burden on the reader to supply such a word. AC 21 reads

But in reality they are darkness and things proper to that person which are lingering on.

     It is less burdensome to read:

But in reality they are darkness, and they are things proper to that person which are lingering on.

     Another example exists in AC 1042:

The reason the likeness of a rainbow appears is that their material things corresponding to spiritual present such visible shape.

     It would be easier for the reader to have included "things" after "spiritual."
     The following sentence in AC 1042:2 suffers from a supposedly understood phrase and from an unnecessarily added word:

As is the person's reception of these gifts so is the appearance of his rainbow when manifested visibly-the more beautiful, the more that the will side of his proprium has been taken away, disciplined and reduced to a state of obedience.

     The middle section should read:

. . . the more beautiful the rainbow is, the more the will side of his proprium. . .

     So far, the English style of the new translation has been discussed. As an example of translation problems involving doctrinal considerations, I chose the concept of the proprium, which happens to be one of the seven words in the word list. The English word "proprium" is a direct borrowing from the Latin word proprium, which is the substantive form of the adjective meaning "belonging to oneself." Because there is no English noun that is an equivalent of this Latin form, there is great difficulty in translating it. The word "proprium" means nothing or little to anyone who has not studied the passages about the proprium. Mr. Elliott usually uses the term "proprium" for the lack of such a choice.

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And this is a good practice; for when terms can be anglicized without harm to the meaning of the Latin terms, they should be. But when this cannot be done, as is the case with proprium, it is necessary to begin a new vocabulary for the New Church (and besides, every great, new religion has done so).
     In AC 1000 the word "proprium" is used and is identified in that passage as a person's own will (as opposed to a new will from the Lord). In such a case "proprium" must be used. In one instance, Mr. Elliott translates the Latin term proprium as an adjective (AC 1023:3):

To the extent that the area of a person's own will (proprium voluntarium) can be separated from this understanding part (a proprio hoc intellectuale) the Lord is able to be present with him. . .

     What are the propriurn voluntarium and the proprium intellectuale? All the Latin terms are adjectives and so we could be dealing either with "one's own will and understanding" or with "the proprium of the will and the proprium of the understanding." When we study the passages about the proprium, we can make a better estimation of which choice should have been made.
     The term proprium voluntarium does occur in other places (AC 1042:2, 1044, 1047). In these passages the term is translated "the will side of his proprium" or the like. So Mr. Elliott in these places believes that proprium is the substantive, or noun, and not voluntarium. And this is a proper choice because the context of these passages shows that the proprium of the will is being discussed and not a person's will as a whole. Consequently the word "proprium" probably should be used in AC 1023:3 as well. (And besides, Swedenborg rarely uses voluntarium for the will; he prefers voluntas.)
     Other terms are also worth noting. As was stated before, an attempt has been made to avoid Latinized terms, and this includes English cognates from Latin words. If we can rely more on an Anglo-Saxon heritage than has been done in the past, the message of the Writings will find a wider readership facing fewer hindrances. Perhaps the most notable step in this direction is the translation of significare as "mean" and of signification as "meaning" instead of the previous "signify" and "signification." The problem with this decision is that our words "mean" and "meaning" are very general, and perhaps are too general to convey the idea of spiritual meaning. But the context does give that idea. On the other hand, the traditional "signify" and "signification" are unusual words. Unusual words are not always bad, especially if a special vocabulary is desired. But it seems to me that this is not a case of a necessary entry in our special New Church vocabulary.

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     Other examples are the rendering of cupiditates as "desires" instead of "cupidities" and the translation of corporeus as "bodily" in place of "corporeal." On the other hand, we still find "vastation" for vastatio, even though such an English word must be found in the larger, unabridged dictionaries, because it does not appear in many of the smaller ones. (Every word used, if possible, should be accessible in a medium-sized dictionary, if not a small one.) Why not use the word "desolation," "devastation" or "destruction"?
     In the opposite trend is the term cognitiones which has been translated in other translations as "knowledges," a perfectly understandable word. The trouble is that there are other words that mean "knowledges" which are presented as distinct from cognitiones, especially scientifica. For this reason Mr. Elliott uses the Latin cognate "cognitions" for cognitiones, and includes an entry under that name in the word list. (Therefore, unlike "signification," "cognition" is an example of the need for a special vocabulary.) Scientifica is then translated as "facts" (or "factual knowledges") in place of "knowledges" (or "memory-knowledges"). In this way the distinction between the two terms is preserved in the new translation.
     Another special term in the New Church is "remains," which Mr. Elliott renders as "remnants." Although this may sound strange to New Church readers, it has the advantage of identification with the word "remnant" in the Bible.
     Mr. Elliott translates the adjective sensualis as "sensory" rather than as "sensual" or "sensuous." Sensuale becomes "the sensory," and sensualia becomes "sensory evidence," and home sensualis becomes "the sensory man." At first I did not like this choice because the term "sensory" was unusual to me, and I believed that I knew what "sensual" meant when it was used. However, upon reflection I like Mr. Elliott's change, for "sensory" refers only to sense-impressions and is a neutral term, while "sensual" and "senuous" refer to the response to such impressions and are negative terms. Angels are sensory, but are not sensuous.
     As mentioned above, Mr. Elliott often adds words to make a phrase more understandable, and such words are taken from context. He does the same with individual Latin words as well, especially neuter forms of adjectives used as nouns.

     scientifica = factual knowledges (instead of factual things or facts)
     corporea = bodily feelings (instead of bodily things)
     rationalia = rational concepts (instead of rational things)

     There is a risk that in making a term more concise in its meaning the wrong English term may have been added.

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But such risks must be taken for the sake of clarity and facility of reading, as long as the context guides the translator in his choices, as it did Mr. Elliott.
     I am not quite sure why Mr. Elliott decided to retain the word "arcana" for arcana instead of "secrets," in spite of his explanation in the preface. I agree that "Heavenly Secrets" may convey the wrong implications as to the contents of Arcana Coelestia. But the word "secrets" is quite appropriate in AC 37, for example.
     I have other reservations as to other specific renditions. For fidei mysteria Mr. Elliott has "mysteries that are part of faith" as an improvement over "mysteries of faith." What else can "mysteries of faith" be but a part of them? For amor sui he has "self-love" instead of "the love of self." I don't consider that an improvement, and I noticed the comparison with amor mundi which he translates "love of the world" in AC 20. Mr. Elliott translates fides amoris as "loving faith" in AC 30. I wonder what loving faith is, and I wonder why not keep the usual translation "faith of love," although perhaps he too can wonder what that is. He prefers "perversities" to "perversions" and "humbleness" to "humility," and I guess that I am used to the old vocabulary and don't see the need for changes here. I love the term "quasi-historical" in AC 66, but I am a member of a decreasing minority who love big words. I doubt if my college history students know what it means, even in context. (They have a hard enough time with "history.")
     I apologize for the length of this review, and I apologize even more for what may seem an inappropriate emphasis on negative responses. I do have reservations about the translation, especially the complex sentences, but I do consider it an improvement over the other available translations and do recommend its usage. Others, I know, have greater and lesser reservations having to do with the translation of special words, phrases and sentences. But, again, translation, its evaluation, and its appreciation are all subjective. I urge the reader to critique the new translation for himself by comparing it with other translations and by seeing if it makes more sense to him than the others do.
     Prescott A. Rogers

     Note: The new translation of the first volume of the Arcana Coelestia may be obtained from the Swedenborg Society in London. The cost from the General Church Book Center in Bryn Athyn is $13.35 hardback and $8.40 paperback. These prices include postage.

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REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Christopher M. Clark       1984

A Guide to the Enjoyment of Swedenborg by Wilson van Dusen. New York: The Swedenborg Foundation, 1984. Pamphlet, 36pp., $1.00

     Wilson van Dusen's new pamphlet is a delight-brief, clear, and comprehensive enough in its references and sources to get any reader of English well started on a life-long study of the Writings. Van Dusen opens with a puzzle: "Swedenborg's theological writings help some people to soar, to wander in spiritual worlds, and to gaze upon the design of creation. For others these same books are dull stuff." The succeeding pages are an attempt to orient the reader for soaring.
     The pamphlet has three major sections: Getting into the Writings, The Frame of Reference of the Writings, and Personal Development Through the Writings. It ends with a briefly annotated list of reference works, a directory to seven major topics in the Writings, and the addresses of publishers of the Writings and libraries where they are found. Van Dusen draws on his own experiences as a student of the Writings throughout, and provides practical tips to the prospective reader (e.g., Don't read more at a time than you can make felt sense of. Read under ideal circumstances. Mark passages significant to you.)
     Van Dusen intends that the pamphlet serve as a starting point for the novice, and I agree that it will serve this audience very well. But it can also be of great use to those for whom the ideas in the Writings are not completely new. I think of the high school or college student who is ready for a more personal, less academic exploration of the Writings, of the priest or layperson who wants some ideas on how to communicate the essentials of the Writings to newcomers, and of the New Churchman who has been intending to do more reading of the Writings but who needs a bit of inspiration to get started.
     Van Dusen puts the opportunity and responsibility for reading and understanding the Writings squarely in the hands of the individual. Understanding the Writings is presented (believably) as an exciting and life-long personal quest to see our own lives and surroundings as expressions of the Lord's timeless truths. The call is for a direct and personal approach to the Writings.
     Twenty years ago, when I first learned of the Writings and of the New Church, this booklet would have been a very valuable introduction and resource to me. Today it is valuable to me in two additional ways: as a well-written link with those who have never heard of the Writings and as a booster shot to remind me of the reasons for and rewards of private study of the Writings. I recommend it highly.
     Christopher M. Clark

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REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Rev. Erik Sandstrom       1984

OMANDA RNA S VARLD och Manniskans Liv Efter Doden (The World of Spirits and the Life of Man After Death), Proprius Forlag, Stockholm, 1984, 150 pages. Translation from the Latin into Swedish by Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen.

     It is pleasing to report that Mr. Boyesen's drive to make the Writings available in modern Swedish is progressing at a good pace. A few years ago Den Gudomliga Forsynen was published (Divine Providence). I am informed that by now Himlen och Helvetet (Heaven and Hell) has been completed in manuscript and is undergoing scrutiny by consultants both for accuracy of translation and smooth Swedish phrasing. In the meantime the middle section, Om Andarnas Varld, has been published in paperback as a kind of forerunner-a happy idea. The title has been stretched to include the words, "och Manniskans Liv Efter Doden," which words are not in the original but for the purpose of a separate booklet probably both justified and useful.
     The book itself, Himlen och Helvetet, will of course include the middle section. At the time of its completion a more full review than the present notice will be called for. For now, therefore, I submit only a few general observations.
     Mr. Boyesen is faced with some difficulties that a translator into English would not encounter. What for example do you do with affectio? Unlike English there is no Swedish word borrowed from the Latin to fall back on. I think Mr. Boyesen has been quite successful in using "kansla" (feeling) as the base word for a Swedish equivalent, but frequently in combination with another word or two designed to bring out the meaning as demanded by the context. In no. 37 ex affectione ejus becomes "fran manniskans kansloliv" (kansloliv = life of the feelings), and affectio regnans in 65 is rendered "den radande kansloinriktningen" (radande kansloinriktning = ruling disposition of the feelings). I would not know of any better way of dealing with affectio in these and similar cases.
     Jucundum is perhaps even a bit more difficult. An English translation usually says "delight"; but there is really no single Swedish word to cover the concept of jucundum, so again you have to use word combinations. Here too I think Mr. Boyesen has been for the most part successful, but in one case I hope he will reconsider in time for the printing of the book itself. The chapter beginning at no. 65 speaks of jucunda vitae cuiusvis (in English "the delights of everyone's life") and states that after death these are turned into things that correspond.

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The jucuncia vilae is, I think, adequately rendered "livets fornimmelser av behag"; but vertantur in correspondentia (English, "turned into things that correspond") is by Mr. Boyesen interpreted to mean "vands i motsvarande gladje-eller lustfornimmelser," i.e. "turned into corresponding delights," where jucunda is assumed to be included in the word correspondentia and is rendered "gladje-eller lustfornimmelser" (literally "perceptions of joy or lust"). In view of the examples given in nos. 68 and 69 of the same chapter I do not think that the Writings intend correspondentia to mean "corresponding delights," but only "corresponding things" (the chapter speaks of the corresponding scenery that surrounds spirits and angels after death), and I therefore suggest "vad som motsvara" for correspondentia. "Gladje-eller lustfiirnimmelser" is of course awkward, and can be neatly avoided if in fact "delights" is not intended by the Latin in this case.
     I wonder too if ralionalis home (35 et al.) could simply become "en rationell manniska" instead of "en fiirnuftig manniska," since "fornuftig" has the connotation of "sensible" rather than "rational" (cf. "sunt fornuft" = "common sense").
     Further but minor suggestions are: Use pronouns more frequently to avoid repetitions of nouns; skip the "namligen" ("namely") when not needed and not called for by the Latin (ex. 78); and drop the last clause of the editorial note at the bottom of p. 121. Also, in the book itself restore the references to the Arcana Coelestia which in the original occur under the line at nos. 445, 446, 447, 449, 454, 455, etc. (Mr. Boyesen has converted the original's 421-535 into nos. 1-1 15, but in his foreword has provided a key by which the reader can refer from the extract to the book itself.)
     I should add that the cover has a very pleasing design and contains very thought-provoking quotations from the introductory chapter of the book itself (HH 1).
     Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr.

     Note: The book Heaven and Hell is divided into three sections, the section on heaven being more than five times as long as the section on hell. The middle section on the world of spirits (now translated into modern Swedish) is divided into twelve chapters and covers about 75 pages.

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DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE 1984

DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE       Various       1984

     These were read during the service of inauguration on June 6, 1984.

     I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one God of heaven and earth. I believe that His love is the love of the salvation and redemption of man's soul. It was for this reason that He assumed a human form and took on the frailties of human nature. By the process of glorification the Lord put off these frailties and made His Human Divine. By these acts mankind is saved.
     It was also for the love of mankind's salvation that the Lord revealed Himself to us, so that we might know Him and worship Him as the visible God. At the time of His second advent the Lord laid bare the inner meaning of the Old and New Testaments, so that we can see clearly the things concerning Him there. If we live the life He prescribes in His Word, the Lord will save us from our evils, and He will become a visible and living God with us.
     I believe that the Lord has called me to serve as a priest in His work of the salvation of souls. By teaching the Lord's truth, I believe that I can help people to see and understand the life that leads to heaven; nevertheless, it is the Lord Himself who saves man.
     I pray the Lord that He grant me the enlightenment, the perception, the disposition and the instruction from these to rightly perform the use to which I have been called. May He give me the courage of my convictions to preach His Word without reservation, and may He give me humility so that my will may be subordinated to His will in all things.
     Andrew M. T. Dibb

     *     *     *

     I believe that the infinite and eternal God, Jehovah, came into the world as the Lord God Jesus Christ. He took on the corrupted heredity of fallen humanity. From His Divine Love He overcame every hell that could ever assail mankind, and glorified His Human. In so doing He restored the Word and thereby saved the human race. And all are saved who look to the Lord in His Word, shun evils as sins against Him, and do good to the neighbor. In doing good, I acknowledge that we can do nothing that is truly good from ourselves, but that all good is from the Lord alone.
     I believe that the path that leads to eternal life is now revealed; for the Lord has made His promised second coming in and by means of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

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The Word of God, obscured for so long, now shines forth with great glory, revealing the wonders of heaven, the blessings of conjugial love, and the means for the salvation of the entire human race.
     I hereby dedicate my life to the work of the priesthood. Lord, inspire me with Your love for the salvation of souls. Guide me as I strive to teach Your truths and lead thereby to You, who alone is the good of life. "Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law" (Psalm 119:18); and "Make me walk in the path of Your commandments" (Psalm 119:35).
     Ray Silverman

     *     *     *

     I believe that Yehowah God is one God in essence and in person in whom there is a Divine trinity, and that this God is the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. This God came into the world by means of a virgin birth, took on a human, and by a complete victory against the hells He glorified that Human and made it Divine and became God even as to the natural. By this victory He also redeemed man and, therefore, all those that believe in Him are saved. Saving faith is possible only through a life according to the commandments of the Word. And this life consists in shunning evils as sins against God, and also in doing goods toward the establishment of the Lord's kingdom. Such acts are made in appearance by men, but in actuality by the Lord and those who so believe. In this way, man has conjunction with the Lord and salvation. I believe that the Lord effected His second advent in the world by means of a man, Emanuel Swedenborg, before whom the Lord did manifest Himself in person and reveal the spiritual sense of the Word. In His second coming the Lord also effected the Last Judgment upon the former Christian Church and gave the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. These doctrines, from God out of heaven, are the same as the spiritual sense of the Word. I believe that the use of the priesthood in the New Church is teaching the people and leading them by means of the truth to the good of life, but without compelling anyone nor claiming to oneself any power over the souls of men. Therefore, when I offer myself to the Lord in order to perform His use of the priesthood, I beg him to accept me, and pray to Him, "Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts. So shall I talk of Thy wondrous works."
     Cristovao R. Nobre

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BATH SOCIETY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1984

BATH SOCIETY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Rev. Allison L. Nicholson       1984

     On October 18, 1983, the Bath Society voted to sever its ties with the General Convention. The long-standing differences between the society and the General Convention were deemed to be of an irreconcilable nature.
     Three months later, on January 25, 1984, it was unanimously voted to seek affiliation with the General Church of the New Jerusalem. A committee was formed to amend the society's bylaws so as to reflect its acceptance of the order and organization of the General Church. Subsequent to this decision, several of our congregation joined the General Church, bringing our total membership in that organization to twenty-one.
     In May 1984, our preparations were completed, and application was made to the General Church for acceptance as a member society. On May 18, 1984, the Bishop recognized Bath as the newest society of the General Church.
     It seems fitting that something should be said, for historical and perspective purposes, about the history of the Bath Society. The Writings were first brought to Bath in 1792 by Rev. Abraham Cummings, a Baptist minister who traveled the coast of Maine. It is believed that he had become interested in the doctrines through the lectures of James Glen.
     In 1805, Rev. William Jenks, pastor of the Old South Congregational Church in Bath, became interested in the doctrines and began to preach sermons based on the Writings. In 1.820 a reading circle consisting of Zina Hyde, William D. Sewall, Cushing Allen, Captain Horatio Allen, and their wives was formed. In 1827 the circle began regular Sunday evening meetings for doctrinai classes although they continued to attend the Congregational Church services. In 1828 the Congregational Church reprimanded the group and warned them to desist from further reading of the Writings. The following year seven members of the circle were excommunicated from the Old South Congregational Church, and they immediately organized themselves into a New Church society under Rev. Thomas Worcester of Boston.
     From 1829 to 1835 worship services were held at the home of Cushing Allen. During the years 1835 to 1844 the society met at the music hall at Washington and Center Streets. In 1838 a day school of twenty students was started which was open to all faiths due to the small number of New Church children. The school operated from 1838 to 1844.

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     The Bath church is the oldest church structure in the city, having been dedicated January 11, 1844. The inspiration for the Greek Doric-styled building was the Madeleine in Paris, which Zina Hyde had visited during one of his trips to Europe.
     On March 20, 1920, a severe snowstorm collapsed the roof of the structure, destroying everything except the front facade and vestry. Immediately the society set about to rebuild the church along the lines of the original plan.
     The Bath Society faces the future with a confidence gained from one hundred and fifty-five years of being led by the teachings of the Writings. We look forward to a warm and productive relationship with the General Church as we seek to further the establishment of the Lord's New Jerusalem in this world.
     Rev. Allison L. Nicholson
REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE 1984

REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE       Donald L. Rose       1984

     When we report that there were 556 pages in the LIFE in 1983, we are not including the 12 page index in the December issue. Those 12 pages serve, in a way, as a kind of report for the year. The 1983 index is the last one to be prepared by Miss Beryl Briscoe, who has served this publication with such fidelity over the years.
     One of the features of the index is the gathering into alphabetical order of the 241 baptisms reported during the year. A number of people have used the report of their baptism in NEW CHURCH LIFE when in need of documentation for obtaining passports.
     Sermons printed during the year are not only listed under "Sermons," but also under "Scripture Text Used." This year we provided a list of all Scripture texts used in the past 23 years. (See page 33 of the January issue where information is also given as to how to find all the Scripture texts used in this magazine over a century.)
     We are happy to report that Miss Alice Fritz has taken up the indexing responsibility. Her alertness and knowledge continually astonish others who work on this magazine. The possibility of making errors when printing so many pages is considerable, unless you have exceedingly sharp people like Miss Fritz and unless you have diligent workers like Mrs. Kenneth Rose, who not only coordinates people but also phototypesetting machines. As editor, I am grateful to work with people who have such a high standard of excellence and who work so hard to maintain it.
     Another word about sermons: In our church dozens of sermons are delivered every month. Only one per month appears in the LIFE.

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Help in making choices is not only welcome, it is absolutely necessary. Please continue to send those letters recommending the publication of a certain sermon by your pastor, but bear in mind that we try not to have sermons by the same minister in two consecutive years.
     In 1983 we mentioned a consideration for readers outside the U. S. (May issue, p. 215). Since many of them get the December issue after Christmas, we proposed to put most of the Christmas material in the November issue. We will take reader response into consideration in deciding whether to continue this practice.
     Our pages in the past two years have been used as follows:

                              1983     1982
Articles                         210     221
Sermons                         64     63
Reports                         50     53
Communications                    48     75
Announcements                    25     33
Church News                         33     33
Editorials                         35     27
Reviews                         9     9
Directories                         31     14
Memorials                         0     4
Miscellaneous                    51     56
TOTALS                         556     588

     Number of Contributors:
     Priests                    36     40
     Laity
          Men          32     41
          Women          8     19
TOTAL LAITY                         40     60
TOTAL CONTRIBUTORS               76     100

     CIRCULATION                    1983     1982
Paid Subscriptions               1,106     1,149
By gifts                         323     382
                              1,429     1,531
Free to clergy, libraries, new members, etc.     342     324
                              1,771     1,855

     Donald L. Rose, Editor

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REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 1984

REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH PUBLICATION COMMITTEE       Lorentz R. Soneson       1984

     1983

     The General Church Publication Committee is comprised of: The Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Harold C. Cranch, Daniel W. Heinrichs, Dandridge Pendleton, Donald L. Rose, Erik Sandstrom, Lorentz R. Soneson, Chairman, and Douglas M. Taylor; and Mrs. Ian Henderson, Secretary and General Church Book Center Manager; and Mr. William R. Zeitz, Treasurer's Office.
     Several manuscripts were submitted and approved for publication when funds are available. Among those are:

Life After Death-a small collection of children's stories about life hereafter by the Rev. Peter M. Buss. These include some lovely illustrations by his wife Lisa.

The Happiness of Heaven-by the Rev. John L. Odhner. These too are stories for children, translations of the first twenty-six numbers of Conjugial Love. While awaiting publication under its separate cover, this rendition will be run seriatim in New Church Home.

An Heritage of the Lord-by the Rev. Robert S. Junge. This is manuscript, approved by the Publication Committee, is 72 pages of passages addressed to young parents, to read from the time of the birth of their child until the time of baptism.

Escape from Egypt-by the Rev. Douglas M. Taylor. This booklet, stemming from a series of doctrinal classes, hopefully can be reproduced when funds are available.

Another pamphlet entitled Seeing's Believing, by Dr. David Gladish, came off the presses in the early part of 1984. It is a collection of numbers on the subject of faith that should prove very useful as an introduction to the Writings for newcomers. This attractive pamphlet (retailing for $1.50) can be obtained from the General Church Book Center or from other book centers around the church.

     In spite of the shortage of funds the Publication Committee continues to welcome manuscripts from authors, young and old, for possible publication. These can be forwarded to the Chairman, care of Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.
     Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Chairman

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

     A RESTORATION OF CHEERFULNESS (II)

     In our first editorial under this title we noted that the word "solemn" has so changed its meaning that most people get the wrong idea when they read it in the Bible. Recently Latin scholars have pointed out that we have had similar misunderstanding in some translations of the Writings. The word that some have translated as "solemn" did not originally have connotations of gloom, gravity or lack of cheerfulness. Although for some of us this is a little surprising, it is not a new discovery. If you want to find the word that has been translated as "solemn" you will not find it under "S" in the Potts Concordance. You will find it under "Customary."
     A phrase in the Writings sometimes rendered "the solemnities of worship" might more cheerfully be rendered "the rites of worship" or "worship customs." When the Writings speak of a "customary form of speech" among the ancients, it was not a gloomy or solemn form of speech. It was joyful. "Bless the Lord!" (AC 1422).
     (Have some of us picked up some wrong nuances when we have read about a "solemn betrothal" before marriage? Is betrothal supposed to be somber? If we try to answer such a question strictly on the basis of the Writings, it can take genuine effort to separate out wrong nuances we may have picked up, especially if they have been with us for long.)
     Some people were taken aback by the cheerfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Compare Luke 7:34 with HH 358.) Followers of John the Baptist found it hard to relate to this. They asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast, when they and the Pharisees did so often. The answer was: "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" Christianity at first seemed to embody a restoration of cheerfulness. (Who would have foreseen the extremes of monasteries in which one only experienced a solemn silence?) One can find Biblical passages that would support the somberness to which the Writings allude. One of the Epistles offers this advice: "Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." Why has religion for centuries been identified with solemnity? See the items in this issue from NEW CHURCH LIFE 50 and 100 years ago on page 471. We hope to add to this another time.

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SEEING THE LORD IN ART 1984

SEEING THE LORD IN ART       Linda S. Odhner       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor,
     After reading the July issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE I feel called upon to put in a good word for artists' impressions of the Lord. With these remarks I respond particularly to Rev. Michael Gladish's communication, "Confessions of a Dualistic Dissipationist," and also to a few things which the Revs. Erik Sandstrom and Geoffrey Childs expressed in the same issue. I would like to start by pointing out a few things we should keep in mind when we are trying to visualize the Lord.
     Firstly, spiritual sight is based on natural sight and cannot be divorced from it (see AC 1806. 3310e). Imaginative visualizations, although we may not have much awareness of them, always attend even the most purely rational of our thoughts. It is important to distinguish clearly between these two elements in our thoughts-the higher rational and the lower imaginative-and to remember that the higher comes first and flows into the lower, but let's not try to disconnect them or get rid of the sensual and imaginative basis of our thinking. When we transcend natural vision in our conception of the Lord, we don't leave it behind-it still remains with us as a foundation.
     (Just so with the letter of the Word: when we transcend it with the help of the Writings it still remains with us. When Rev. Sandstrom, in his communication "Our Lord in His Glory," talks about pictures of Christ on earth being useful "for children and others who remain in the letter of the Word." I assume he means those who remain only in the letter of the Word. But of course we never outgrow our dependence on the letter-even the angels have one, though it is different.)
     I agree with Rev. Gladish that if we focus on the Lord's physical body, or a representation of it, we risk dwelling on it at the expense of His essential nature, but we can't avoid the risk by trying not to picture Him in our minds in a concrete way. Trying to purge ourselves of these ultimates in our thinking about God can be just as distracting and unproductive, causing us simply to replace our existing images with less appropriate ones. (See the chapter "Horrid Red Things" in C. S. Lewis' book Miracles for an illuminating discussion of this subject.)

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     Secondly, while it is true, as Rev. Gladish points out, that "Real humanity is not physical," the physical body is not merely incidental to humanity; it is more than just a necessity. The physical body is a powerful correspondence of the human form, down to the smallest detail. It is by far the most eloquent medium for the expression of humanity that we experience in this world. To express the Lord's humanity in a picture, therefore, it makes sense to use a human shape.
     Rev. Gladish states, ". . . the best pictures of the Lord are not pictures showing His supposed physical features . . . but those showing His love in action, His wisdom leading and protecting." This sounds as if the two kinds of pictures are mutually exclusive and we must choose between them. I realize he is making a distinction between the maternal human and the glorified Divine Human of the Lord, and that distinction is important; we need to guard against a concern with what He "really" looked like while in the world. But precisely because the New Testament is full of Christ's deeds and teachings, and His physical appearance is not described (as Rev. Sandstrom points out). it offers material for picture-making which can express "His love in action, His wisdom leading and protecting." We know that the concept of love in action has no meaning apart from love, and a man acts by means of his body, whether physical or spiritual. While Rev. Gladish does not deny the role of the body in the performance of uses, he seems to be emphasizing its potential to obscure real humanity to the exclusion of its potential to express it. It is true that we must not limit ourselves to a static image of the Lord's body, but such an image may be a necessary foundation in our efforts to see Him in action.
     The third point I wish to make bears most directly on the issue of artists' impression. Artists can have true perceptions of the Lord whether they have the Writings or not, and, what is more, can express them in highly specific terms. AC 4345 explains that particulars are necessary to the reality of general principles, and that particulars are contained in generals and are internal to them. It follows that any living idea of a person cannot be merely general, but must be constituted of specific examples of his qualities. If we shy away from specific images of the Lord, we miss an opportunity to express many aspects of love and wisdom in use.
     These essentials find expression not only in what the body does, but in how it does things-how it appears in the process of doing. The appearance of the face and body can show whether a thing is done with ease or difficulty, with eagerness or reluctance, with joy or sorrow, with total concentration or absent-mindedness.

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The specific appearance of the body can express some of the inner quality of the action.
     We see these things in each other, and we are all images and likenesses of the Lord. So an artist does not have to see the Lord with his physical eyes to make a picture that shows something true about His Humanity.
     Of course no one picture can show all of the Lord's qualities. Not even an infinite number of pictures could do that. But by using a variety of images we can gain an idea of the infinite variety contained in God, and also avoid limiting ourselves to one appearance to represent the Lord's Human, as Rev. Geoffrey Childs suggests in his article, "The Lord Our Father."
     Rev. Erik Sandstrom comments, ". . . the Lord's appearance in His maternal human is nowhere described in the Word (and isn't there a Divine reason for this?)." I realize that he, also, is here distinguishing between the maternal and glorified Human. Still, couldn't the "Divine reason" be that we can make use of many different pictures of the Lord, all expressing His Humanity a little differently, without worrying about physical accuracy or likeness, which is just what we should not dwell on? Instead, we can concentrate on their capacity to embody the spiritual.
     Rembrandt often succeeded in embodying spiritual qualities in his portraits. A few of his etchings of Christ give me unique glimpses of His Divine Humanity and make Him more real to me. While they don't give me doctrinal enlightenment or much factual information, they provide an experience of Him unlike any other. These pictures give me great joy and are very precious to me. And because I have the truths of the Writings, 1 can see more truth and love in them than Rembrandt knew he was putting in. Art is like that. (See Madeleine L'Engle's book on Christian art, Walking on Water.) Someone in the church would be able to do even more with such a gift.
     I believe that we should feel free to choose those portrayals of the Lord which suit our individual needs and states, which differ from person to person and from time to time. This is why Rev. Childs' suggestion that we use images which are "not too explicit," which leave much to the imagination, would be applicable for a public place of worship.
     Our physical sight is such a precious and powerful gift; can't we make use of it as a tool in our contemplation of the visible God in His Human shape?

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     I would just like to add that I agree with what Rev. Gladish says about the fate of the Lord's physical body at the time of His resurrection, even though he presents it as speculation. He has saved me the trouble of writing a letter about that.
     Linda S. Odhner,
          Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
CHRIST IS ALIVE 1984

CHRIST IS ALIVE       Kent O. Doering       1984

Dear Editor:
     I read Mr. Michael Gladish's and Mr. Grant Odhner's responses to "Christ Is Alive." Excellent-they missed the central point of my paper and proved it.
     The central point of my paper was that we should also critically analyze "the how" we think about the paradox of the Divine Humanity of Christ. The paper further stated that "either/or-a third possibility is excluded" cognitive operations of a rigidly dichotomous nature cannot conceptually resolve this seeming paradox.1
     Grant Odhner rightly focused in on L. 35 where the paradox is most compactly presented to our minds. Then, he goes on to apply the cognitive operation of "either/or-a third possibility is excluded" (dichotomous thinking) to this crucial area and arrives at a solution which requires him to compare the Divine Substantial of our Lord to the spiritual substance of Calvin. (See his citation of TCR 798.) The other part of my thesis was and is that a logic of this nature which requires us to confuse Christ with Calvin will eventually leave us as confused as Calvin about Christ (see TCR 798: 10). My challenge to Grant Odhner is to go back to the problems posed in L. 35 and come up with a solution to the paradox posed there which precludes any comparison of Christ with Calvin (citing TCR 798:1), and reduces the possibility of thinking like Calvin about Him (TCR 798:10).
     As for Mr. Gladish's "Confessions . . .," I take his response to be precisely that. How unfortunate that the self-imposed limitations of his logic keep him from being able to either approach Christ as physically (not materially) man in the imagination or rationally enter into a deeper understanding of the problems posed to us in a way that Einstein approached the paradoxes posed to him in physics. He could do both.
     The most obvious limitation on Mr. Gladish's mind is working on a one-dimensional vertical line. The spatiality of all his prepositions is restricted to the vertical axis. It is all "up and down," that is, "above and beyond" et cetera. (Here, I would like to note that the elimination of the horizontal axis to focus on the vertical axis in General Church thought about man's relationship to man2 is accompanied by a noticeable closing up of the depth axis to work along the vertical axis in regard to thinking about the Lord's resurrection body-God-Man's relationship to man.

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The two observable phenomena are not unrelated.)
     Back to physics: a mind working along a one-dimensional vertical axis would have a difficult time conceiving of all three axes of space being tied up to time. Is it possible then that the same rationality which would have a difficult time in understanding relativity which postulates a conjunction of space and time would be able to adequately understand a conjunction of something outside of both space and time with something in space and time, the Divine Human?
     Secondly, Mr. Gladish also demonstrated the rigid dichotomous cognitive operation mentioned above in his use of phrases like "rather" (either/or thinking). A physicist working along "either/or-a third possibility is excluded" would not be able to understand the paradox of light. Indeed, many dualistically thinking physicists were stumped when confronted by light's behavior. Particles and waves are different things. They cannot be the same thing. However, light demonstrates the behavior of both.
     Light is a paradox. It behaves like a particle. It behaves like a wave. But a particle and a wave are not the same thing. This is a paradox. And the paradox of light is no more difficult than the problems we are faced with when we read L. 35 and other similar numbers.
     Mr. Odhner, Mr. Gladish and other readers are invited to think about the problems defined here. I will be presenting a possible solution to them in an upcoming article-"The Quantum of Christ3-A New Approach to Understanding the Lord's Divine Substantial."
     Kent O. Doering,
          Munich, West Germany

     1 See Watrlawick et al. "Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution," New York. 1974, W. W. Norton and Co. for some funny descriptions of "Either/or-teritum non datur" thinking and the problems it can cause.
     2 See Dan Pendleton's excellent analysis of vertical, one-dimensional thinking in "Priest and Layman Hand in Hand." NCL Nov. 1983. For a good "critical rationalist" analysis of the same phenomenon of one-dimensional thinking, see H. Marcuse: One-Dimensional Man, Routledge and Kegan Paul 1964. It is also treated in Adorno: The Authoritarian Personality, and by C. Lasch: The Culture of Narcissism.
     3 Copyrighted title, as I am presently working on a book of the same title.

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ANGELIC BEHAVIOR 1984

ANGELIC BEHAVIOR       Sara Heersink       1984

     A Response from Holland

Dear Editor:
     Reading Patricia Rose's letter "Angelic Behavior" in NEW CHURCH LIFE (May 1984) made me glad and thankful to the Lord and to her. I agree with her. I could quote some things she said, but this will not be necessary since anyone who wants to can go back and read it again.
     We are taught that all our thoughts are coming from heaven or hell, so that our opinions we draw from them are a mixture of good and evil ideas.
     We cannot read the minds of other people; we can only regard their speech and actions. But before we can see the good ends, we must believe people, even if we have our doubts. For the Lord is also in that person, as I believe He is in me. We have to take him seriously, and that is then to love the neighbor or charity.
     The Lord says: Do not judge. But if good ends do not appear to be there, we have to give place to our doubts, and we must reject excuses. That is then not uncharitable, critical and unmerciful.
     When we do not reject excuses that do not seem justified, we are in danger of being overruled by evils and condoned thoughts in ourselves and others. This is something we are especially likely to do about our own lives.
     The Word says, "Watch, therefore, lest ye fall into temptations." The first place we must watch is in our own thoughts.
     In the world around us there are many thoughts and opinions. For example, nowadays people call a woman with more than one lover a "wanderer." But the Lord says in His Word that she is a harlot.
     When we condone what goes on in our own minds, we are not coming to repentance. It is a trick of the hells to prevent us from coming to humility before the Lord.
     Taking away from other people something we need-spiritually, naturally, or materially-is not always sinful in our eyes; we condone it in our minds, overruling our consciences, which try to tell us that it is stealing. Such overruling destroys our minds and takes away our freedom, which the Lord gave us as a precious good.
     By closing our eyes to what is sinful before the Lord, we deny the Lord and do not love Him, for by doing the commandments we express our love to the Highest.

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So when we love the Lord, we will not overlook sins we see in others or in ourselves.
     This is not the kind of judging that is forbidden. It is part of our love to the neighbor to try, with the Lord's help, to open his eyes to the evils that exist in all of us.
     Again, I am very thankful for Mrs. Rose's letter. It gives strength to go on in the way as the Lord told us to do.
     Sara Heersink,
          Voorshoten, The Netherlands
DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE 1984

DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE       Name Withheld       1984

Dear Editor,
     First I would like to express appreciation for the article on divorce and remarriage which has appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE (June and July 1984). Rev. Brian Keith has done an immense service by being willing to express his opinions on a very sensitive issue. I would like to comment on this article.
     I have been divorced for about ten years. I have no plan to remarry. I was married for 23 years. In the ten years since my divorce, I have watched many of my friends being hurt by the unwillingness of ministers to take a stand or express an opinion concerning divorce and remarriage. Because of this, some of my friends have expected to remarry within the church and have not looked at the possibility that a minister might not be willing to marry them for what the minister considers to be good and valid reasons. The fact that Rev. Keith's opinions have been published makes it possible to discuss the issues raised in his article.
     I feel it is important that guidelines be set so that both ministers and the laity can reach some kind of resolution as to what can be expected when a couple seeks remarriage. It is important that these guidelines make it easier for a minister to judge whether or not he can, with integrity, perform a second marriage. Guidelines need to be stated as to whether a marriage can be performed by a New Church minister, and further, whether it can be celebrated in a New Church chapel or church. People seeking remarriage need to know what to expect.
     At the time I got my divorce, there was only one person within the church circle in whom I confided some of the hurts of my marriage. Therefore, my other church friends were horrified by my "hasty" decision. I felt no compulsion to give explicit reasons for my decision to seek divorce.
     I feel strongly that two people who have wrestled with the decision to divorce have not made this decision lightly.

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Well-meaning friends who ask the question, "Are you sure you tried hard enough?" either do not trust the integrity of the person they question or do not understand the searing pain this kind of decision causes. Surely at the very least the people seeking divorce should be able to make this painful decision with as much privacy as possible. Except in a few cases where I chose to share my experience of pain in order to facilitate healing, my private hell of what went on during those years is just that-my private hell!
     What concerns me most is watching my friends being hurt deeply and having their belief in the compassion of the clergy and the laity disastrously undermined because there are such widely divergent opinions on how to implement "judging the act but not the person."
     In Rev. Keith's article the question was posed, "What should our attitude be toward those who divorce without just cause and remarry?" Let's look at the assumption there: That we can judge whether a person divorces with or without just cause. How can this be accomplished if the person maintains his/her privacy and does not divulge the details of the disorders in the marriage? Unless there is flagrant adultery (meaning a party in the marriage living openly with another person), who is going to judge "just cause"? Why should there be any compulsion for a person to prove that he/she is the "innocent party"? Actually, I don't believe there are any innocent parties in a failed marriage. In such a close relationship, there is always action and reaction compounded (and even inaction can be a strong action) so that what pushed the "guilty" party into disorder is not something I feel qualified to judge.
     When we attempt to decide whether or not a divorce action is acceptable after a search of the Writings, there must be a personal judgment about precisely what "manifest obscenities" means. I know what I believe this to mean. I could explain to you how I feel about my belief. But never would I want to impose my definition on anyone else. That is for the individual to decide.
     Money is a mundane thing to discuss where spiritual values are being considered, but what if the person financing the separation/divorce cannot possibly afford both and cannot really manage even one without a legal separation of finances?
     In a case where a couple wants to marry and one or both of them have had prior marriages, the minister wants to assure himself that there has been valid reason for the divorce and that the "innocent" party is the one who wants to remarry. Why must people who get divorces be expected to bare their souls and tell details of a marriage terminated for valid reasons?

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When later there is a chance to start anew with bright hopes for a new marriage, why cannot divorced people be required only to vow that they have not done what they see to be disorderly in the light of their understanding of the precepts of the New Church? I do not feel that this vow would automatically make a judgment on the spouse.
     I believe that most young people getting married for the first time are given the benefit of the doubt. I do not believe they are quizzed by ministers as to whether or not they have had premarital sex or whether this was their first sexual partner. Are they not married gladly in the church? I assuredly do not begrudge those who have indulged in premarital sex their church wedding. What I am unhappy about is that once a grievous, hurting error in a marriage has been made, finally brought to a conclusion and bright hopes for the future found in another partner, why must these people be questioned and their privacy invaded in order to have the "sanction" of a church wedding to begin their new marriage?
     It is important that clergy and laity consider what is being required of those of us who have been hurt by failed marriages. I wonder how many of these requirements are necessary to protect the office of the priesthood.
     Name Withheld
SEEING IS BELIEVING 1984

SEEING IS BELIEVING       J. E. Blair       1984

Dear Editor,
     I enjoyed reading the review of Dr. David Gladish's new translation of selections from the Writings, Seeing's Believing: A Swedenborg Reader on Faith. I was particularly interested that Rev. Kurt Nemitz expressed his reaction in terms very similar to those I would have chosen. He reports experiencing a warm "familial glow of satisfaction." I, too, experienced that familial glow, but I suspect we actually have a different set of relatives. Among other reasons, my "family" has not been in the church for very long.
     Rev. Nemitz is undoubtedly very familiar with these passages. He was struck by the nicely handled translation that contrasted so well with older Latinate renditions. He goes on to describe not just this work by Dr. Gladish but the nature of translation in general, comparing it to painting and portraiture. He thinks that this rendition is done in a style that will appeal to his friends who have less acquaintance with the Writings.
     By "friends" I think Rev. Nemitz was referring to me and my "family."

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My own understanding of the niceties of translation and my knowledge of these numbers about "faith" is less than formidable. So it turns out that, although 1 read this work because it was a translation written for people outside the church, I was actually taken with the content itself. Since I enjoy evangelization, I had started out reading from the aspect of a new reader. However, I quickly forgot who I was supposed to be and continued reading because I was so impressed with what was being said. The sensation I had was as if here was a personal letter written directly to me by an older and wiser friend describing in clear, simple English the nature and relevance of "faith." I had a familial glow of recognition not to the words or the style but to the ideas. The translation became transparent. In its absence was a different presence.
     Since my first reading I have read this booklet a number of times with a bit more objectivity. As noted by Rev. Nemitz, there are a few shortcomings. For example, it would be nice to use the RSV for quotations extracted from the Word. I am happy to report there will shortly be a second printing of Seeing's Believing in which some of these deficiencies will be worked out. Looking at it through the eyes of a new reader, one can see that there are additional changes that may well be implemented. Through the devices of excerpting quotes, boldfacing type and employing graphic elements, the entire piece can be rendered more attractive, more readable, and certainly more easily perused. Other modifications will provide a little more continuity to the development of the ideas presented. Footnoting of definitions or a glossary might be very helpful; e.g., although Dr. Gladish certainly uses plain English, there are words such as "spirit" or "angel" that a new reader has no choice but to misinterpret. Even Webster's does not list satisfactory definitions.
     Already in this work Dr. Gladish has made the best attempt in decades to adapt the Writings to the ear of the modern reader. When these new modifications have been made, we will have something truly remarkable, an easily read, attractive presentation of a major doctrinal subject directly from the Writings. Rev. Geoffrey Childs, in the same July issue of NCL as the book review, states that we see the Lord in His Human from a consideration of His Essence. I think a contemporary translation of the Writings shows us this Essence in a more present sense.
     J. E. Blair,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania

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CHARTER DAY NOTICES 1984

              1984




     Announcements






     BANQUET TICKETS

     Orders should be sent to the attention of the Development Office, The Academy of the New Church, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 by October 5th. Tickets will be carefully held at the Development Office in Pitcairn Hall for pickup either by visitors or their hosts. No tickets can be sold at the door because of the need for advance arrangements with the caterer. It would be appreciated if local residents would pick up their tickets early. The banquet is on Saturday, October 13th. Prices: Adult-$7.00 and Students (ANC and other)-$3.75. Checks should be made payable to the Academy of the New Church.

     THETA ALPHA

     LUNCHEON TICKETS

     Tickets for the Theta Alpha luncheon, preceding the annual meeting on Saturday, October 13th, must be purchased in advance. This way we will not have to turn away anyone. Tickets will be on sale at the Development Office in Pitcairn Hall. They also can be purchased through the mail (in the same manner as banquet tickets-please see above). Orders should be in by October 10th and checks made payable to Theta Alpha International. Price: Adult and Student-$3.00.
     If ordering tickets for both meals through the mail, please enclose two checks made out in the correct amounts. Please mark clearly on the envelope "Banquet Tickets" and/or "T.A. Luncheon tickets."
     Deadline for picking up tickets at Pitcairn Hall is 10:00 a.m., Friday, October 12th.
     Thank you very much for your cooperation.

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MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 1984

MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENT              1984

     Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh has been appointed Bishop's representative for Europe. Rev. Frank S. Rose has been appointed Bishop's representative for the Western District of the United States.
NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1984

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO              1984

     The September issue in 1934 contains the memorial address of Walter C. Childs, the man who wrote songs that have cheered New Church social gatherings for so many years. In his memorial Alfred Acton pointed out that this was a man of a naturally joyous disposition. Religion had not appealed to him, because it seemed to be "accompanied by a joyless life." Walter Childs was struck with the cheerfulness of the New Church. "With the reading of the Writings, a new vision dawned upon him" (see p. 319 of that issue). Spiritual life is not incompatible with life in the world with its joys and pleasures, enhancing the delights of social life. This realization especially struck this young man, and it radiated from him to other New Church people of his time. How newcomers add to the spirit of the church.

     NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

     In September of 1884 this magazine noted the need to restore cheerfulness.
     "The custom of wearing black garments must arise from an obscure state of spiritual life and from the decay of religion. At the end of the Ancient Church the wearing of black and sad-colored garments and the indulging in laments and wailings for the dead prevailed. And now, in the decay of the Christian Church, the same thing takes place"(p. 139).
     On the same page is an item that will fascinate certain people who faithfully serve the use of mailing this magazine. A hundred years ago this is what was said: "We sometimes receive letters from subscribers inquiring rather indignantly why their paper doesn't come. Investigation shows that they have changed their address and neglected to notify us of the fact. Persons wishing to receive the LIFE regularly must remember to inform us promptly of any change in their address."

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Guide to the Enjoyment of Swedenborg 1984

Guide to the Enjoyment of Swedenborg              1984

An introductory pamphlet on how best to use the Writings, and especially how to enjoy them.

     Wilson Van Dusen
Postpaid $1.40

     General Church Book Center
"Cairncrest"
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

473


Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984

                                                            
Vol. CIV     October, 1984          No. 10
NEW CHURCH LIFE

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     Did you watch the pageant at the Assembly in June? The scenes of that pageant are reviewed as a part of the study on Isaac in this issue. Although the main focus is on the internal meaning as it applies to the glorification of the Lord, there are applications to our lives. In some states "the hells will attack our love to be regenerated by rubbing our noses in our failures. In down states the proprium will demonstrate how desperately wicked we are and how little of what is truly salvable there is in our natures. Discouragements have their place, but let us have trust in the Divine Human of our Lord" (p. 485).
     Mr. Adam Alfsen of Canada favors us with an unusual and valuable presentation about art. He makes the point that "the artist's function now is to interpret the visible world around him in the light of the higher reality he sees. . ." (p. 494). Mr. Alfsen's emphasis on the part the sun plays in a painting is striking. He has discussed with us the teaching that the ancients likened the Divine sphere to radiant circles in the midst of which was God and pictured God in the center of shining rays (AC 10188, DLW 94).
     "There are many different natural occupations in this world, the priesthood being one of them." In the latest installment of this series Rev. Pendleton invites us to pay attention to the way the Writings deal with a subject and to consider dropping phrases that may have become habitual with us but which do not reflect the teaching of the Writings (p. 497). He speaks of practical matters. "A priest may be deeply enlightened as far as his own personal response to the Word is concerned, and at the same time be a poor organizer and administrator; in this case uses are going to suffer . . . . He may be a regenerate man-angel in spiritual quality, yet a hopeless procrastinator in his natural disposition . . . ." His congregation may suffer "spiritual malnutrition from his poorly structured sermons and classes" and school children under his charge may suffer from his inadequacies as a disciplinarian (p. 503). Ordination does not preclude shortcomings!
     When Mr. Richard Gladish's book was published his series in these pages called "News from Benade" ceased. But he is undertaking further studies, and we are glad to have a "vignette" from him on page 521.
     On the same page is a notice about a book competition. You are encouraged to write to the Australian address there given, but you may also get additional information from the editor of the LIFE.
     Finally, take note of a new magazine entitled Chrysalis to appear early next year (p. 522).

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ISAAC: THE BEGINNING OF HUMANITY 1984

ISAAC: THE BEGINNING OF HUMANITY       Rev. LOUIS B. KING       1984

     AN EPISCOPAL ADDRESS
     AT THE 1984 GENERAL ASSEMBLY. JUNE 8, 1984

     The story of Isaac1 is a touching, beautiful story. When its images are active in our thought, a wonderful phenomenon occurs. Angels and good spirits reach down with spheres of affection for these stories, caressing the substance of our minds.2
     The result-a change of state is induced upon the organic substances of the mind;3 we sense a new delight in the Divine narrative of the Word; innocent remains of yesteryear are stirred, generating renewed insight into the Lord's presence; and confidence in His loving care heightens.
     This inspiration and delight we feel when reading and reflecting upon the Word is it from the angels and good spirits who then touch us with their spheres? Not directly. True, their influx touches the spiritual substance of our mind from without, causing changes of state in us. This change of state, however, simply helps us open the vessel of our mind to the influx of life from the Lord through our soul. The result is new affections of our own, not unlike the quality of affection with those angels and spirits who touched us.
     What do angels and good spirits get out of this spiritual encounter? Because they do not have an active, natural memory, they are dependent upon, but not limited by, the natural thoughts of men living on earth. If men on earth do not read the Word, angels and spirits cannot enter into its spiritual sense.4
     When the Isaac story is active in our thought our natural memory becomes an open and stimulating book to our unseen spiritual associates. They do not focus upon the natural images of the sense of the letter which delight us. Instead, they see and savor the interior content and implications of our thoughts.
     The celestial angels do not see Isaac, but the Lord as a youth on earth when His rational mind was glorified or made Divine. Their interior reading of the Word, as its letter is active in our thought, stimulates in them their love of the celestial sense of the Word, which deals with the subject matter of the Lord's glorification. Continued meditation upon this inmost content of the Word changes the state of their mind, opening it to the Lord's influx through their souls, producing in them a deeper love to the Lord with its tender, innocent delight in use. The interdependence of angels and men, as the Word conjoins them with the Lord, is a wonderful reality.

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Spiritual angels see in the Isaac story, in our minds, the subject matter of man's regeneration. So is their thought open to the Lord to receive from Him new insights and inspiration, enabling them to love more tenderly than ever the good in their fellow men from the Lord.
     Natural angels see the progressive states of the church, which is the Lord's kingdom of heaven on earth.5 Good spirits in the world of spirits share with us the sense of the letter. In the literal narrative of Isaac's life, however, they perceive more interior things than do we.
     When we read and reflect upon the Isaac story the angels draw near and so affect us with their love for this story that our state is changed to receive new love and its light from the Lord. We enter into a communion with our angelic associates, mutual thought bringing closer presence with them while mutual love conjoins more deeply. If we are able to enter into the spiritual sense of this story, accordingly our conjunction with the heavens, and through the heavens with the Lord, becomes more complete.6

The Pageants

     At the Assembly the Isaac story came alive in pageants. Each scene portrayed an important event in the life of the patriarch, accompanied by a tender sphere of affection inspired out of heaven. Some of you were able to raise your thought above the letter, reflecting upon the spiritual sense, experiencing something of the interior delight and spiritual insight enjoyed by unseen angelic companions.

Isaac's Representation

     Isaac represents true rationality. His birth marks the beginning of the Divine rational with the Lord on earth. In relation to man's regeneration by the Lord, Isaac represents the true or regenerate rational mind.7 Here is the doctrine concerning true rationality or the beginning of the human in man.

The Doctrine

     "The human with every man begins in the inmost of his rational [as before said, number 2106]; and so also the Lord's Human: That which was above it was Jehovah Himself, differently from any other man whatever. As the human begins in the inmost of the rational, and as the Lord made all the Human that was with Himself Divine, He first made the rational itself so from its inmost, which, when made Divine is represented and signified by 'Isaac,'" (AC 2194)". . . for the human begins in the inmost of the rational, and extends itself thence to man's external" (AC 2106).

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     Why is it said that the Lord when on earth, and with every man "the human . . . begins in the inmost of the rational"? When a finite soul is conceived in the womb, establishing the inmost vessel of a new life, is not that soul human? Yes, it is the human soul or human internal, but true humanity exists in potency only. It is through this human internal, existing from conception, that the Lord's life inflows and then weaves a body in correspondence to the soul's potential and unique usefulness.
     When the soul fashions its own body in the womb, and as the little body reacts with its own heartbeat, is it not a human body? Is not the life of the embryo human life? Yes. True humanity, however, has not yet begun. Finally, when birth takes place and the lungs are opened, making possible individual life as-of-self, is it not human life-individual, eternal human life? Yes, but humanity has not yet begun. Throughout infancy, childhood, and youth, knowledges and other learning experiences enter through the senses to form planes of conscious thought and affection. Life from the Lord inflows through the soul and does the forming. Knowledges are the building blocks. Affections and their delights, stimulated by associate angels and spirits, give motivation-sometimes self-centered, sometimes use-oriented, depending upon the quality of our spiritual associates.
     So the first birth and growth of human life is from outmosts to inmosts. The body is formed, then the sensual mind, then the imagination or middle natural mind and finally the rational with its capacity to perceive contrasts, make judgments, and establish a value system for its own life style. Surely, we now say humanity must have begun. We now have an adult human being. He has a soul or human internal into which the Lord's Divine life acts. The natural mind with its sensual, natural and rational planes reacts with life received through the soul.
     Think of it. The rational mind can be fully formed and operative. A man can judge between right and wrong, read the Writings and compel himself to obey the truth, and still be reacting from the love of self and the world. True humanity does not exist until regeneration begins. That is why it is so emphatically taught in the Writings that "the human with every man begins in the inmost of the rational . . . and extends itself from there to man's external." You see, there are in the natural mind two centers of willing or reaction to the influx of life through the soul. During the first birth (from externals to internals) the proprium or hereditary and acquired love of self is in control. Evil spirits draw near and caress the substance of this will so that its state is such that it reacts against the ends of the Divine life inflowing through the internal.
     Before regeneration this proprial will is in charge. The Lord uses it, however, for the upbuilding of the natural mind, looking to that day when regeneration can begin with the establishment of a new center of willing in the elevated understanding.

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This new will is fashioned out of truths from Revelation implanted in the seedbed of remains, good inflowing from the Lord through the internal, operating as the formative force. It is the effect of this good proceeding from the Divine Human of the Lord and operative through the internal of man that organizes and causes the true human to be born in the internal of the rational.
     Angels stimulate this new will so that it increasingly opens to influx through the internal, endowing man with incentive to oppose the proprial will below. Consciously man alternates between these two centers of reaction-these two centers of willing in his natural mind. The warfare existing between these two wills, as they alternately react to inflowing life, is called temptation. Temptation softens the vessels, breaks the hold of the proprium from below, allowing the new will above, which is conscience, to react with the soul's life in such a way that man's second birth (from internals to externals)-his rebirth or regeneration-may begin.
     This beginning of regeneration is really the beginning of the true human in the inmost of the rational. It is man being made new by good inflowing from the Lord through the internal to organize successively the mind below itself.
     As the new will, situated in the inmost of the rational, begins to order the rest of the mind below itself, good descends. The good which reorders the rational mind is the human that has its beginning from the Lord in the man whom He is regenerating.
     "The human with every man begins in the inmost of the rational . . . and extends itself thence to man's external."8
     It is a familiar teaching that the rational is conceived of the internal man (life through the soul) and born of the external man (knowledges in the natural), affection (by means of angels and spirits) serving as the means. Again, it is said that the rational is formed from knowledges based upon nature and revelation. Yet another teaching declares that it is not from knowledges but the affection of knowledges that the rational is born. Finally, and clearly, we are taught that it is genuine good descending from the Lord that reorders these knowledges according to affections and produces the true rational.
     When the rational is first formed it is under the direction of the proprial will. When regeneration commences, the rational is reformed by descending good, beginning in the inmost of the rational, wherein true humanity has its commencement, proceeding from there into the lower regions of the mind as regeneration continues.

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The Lord Made It Possible. His Divine Example Represented by the Patriarchs:

     Man's rebirth, or the beginning of the human in the inmost of his rational, would not be possible today if the Lord had not come into the world. He made it possible. He gave the example. He provided the eternal means for all men to receive true humanity, for all time. Just as His glorification began in the inmost of His human rational mind, extending downward to include the sensual plane of both His mind and body, so with man today regeneration or the commencement of true humanity begins in the inmost of his rational and extends downward to include even the sensual plane of mental life.9
     Reflection upon the doctrine of glorification gives us a picture of the Divine pattern in the light of which we may understand the process and necessity of our own regeneration. Reflection upon the doctrine of regeneration, on the other hand, illustrates the reality of the Divine Human as the source of that true humanity which has its beginning in the inmost of man's rational mind.10
     What do the patriarchs have to do with this? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob represent this Divine process whereby the Lord, step by step, glorified His human nature. The same patriarchs represent how the Lord, from His glorified Divine Human, regenerates finite man, as man opens his life to the Lord by shunning evils as sins. Chronologically Abraham represents the Lord's infancy and childhood; Isaac, His youth and early manhood; Jacob, His adult life and public ministry.11 These wonderful Biblical characters symbolize not only the times and ages of the Lord's life on earth, but especially the interior development which took place in the Lord's mind during these successive ages.12
     Picture in your mind the Lord above the heavens, cut off from men on earth by their evils. Try to feel His tender, even desperate, longing to reach down and embrace His children who had so completely turned away from His love. How would He draw near to save them? Think now of His infinite love passing through heaven, "bowing the heavens" by putting on His own celestial and spiritual things which He had adjoined to the angels. Perhaps you will remember that before the Lord put on a natural body He could appear to men on earth only by means of an angel whom He filled with His Divine presence.
     To see the Lord in this way, the man on earth had to have his spiritual eyes opened so he could see the spiritual body of the angel representing the Lord. These Divine, celestial and spiritual things with the angel, which enabled the angel to appear as the Lord to men on earth, are referred to in the Arcana Coelestia as "the Divine Human from eternity."13

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     Please do not lose the tender humanness of this wonderful process. Think of the Lord's infinite love to save the human race, "bowing the heavens" or clothing itself with His Divine celestial and spiritual things that were with the angels, becoming the incarnation seed to fashion in Mary's womb a body and potential mind. Indeed, infinite love, clothed and accommodated by the Divine as it was received in the heavens (the Human Divine), entered Mary's womb to conceive human life and wrap it with a tender body which would be called "the Son of God." The Divine celestial and spiritual things which previously manifested the Lord's presence in the heavens now served the Lord in place of a paternal heredity. So the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man.14 His internal or soul was essentially Divine life itself-an infinite conatus to save the human race. This life, together with the Human Divine or Divine celestial and spiritual things which clothed it, and through which it operated, comprised the internal of the Lord on earth. Abraham represents this internal.15
     Besides this internal, the Lord had an external-a physical body and natural mind. As is the case with each one of us, the Lord's natural mind was built up from knowledges out of the Word and from nature. First His natural mind was formed, and then His first rational mind, represented by the first son conceived from Abram, the father, and born of Sarai's handmaid, Hagar, as mother. This child representing the Lord's first rational was named Ishmael.
     Notice, we are now using the names Abram and Sarai to symbolize the Lord's internal which was not as yet fully glorified. How could the Lord's internal be glorified so as to become the Divine life itself? In one way only-by means of His Word. Remember: The Lord had access to the Old Testament. Deeply within the sense of the letter was the Divine sense itself which could provide that form which alone could be united with the infinite love itself.
     Hold fast to the big picture. Visualize the Lord's infinite love operating into and through the Divine celestial and spiritual things of His internal, flowing down through the first rational into the sense of the letter of His Word. Just imagine the brilliant light, generated by His infinite love, penetrating and drawing forth from the Word truths too Divine for any man to comprehend.
     How wonderfully these truths were distilled as they were elevated into the Lord's internal mind where they gave new form to the Divine and Celestial things (now Divine remains) put on when He bowed the heavens and came down. In this way the Divine good, by means of Divine truth out of the Word, effected the glorification of the Lord's internal mind.16

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     The beautiful story of Jehovah changing Abram's name to Abraham and Sarai's name to Sarah, by adding to them the "h" from His own name, represents the glorification of the Lord's internal.17 What does this mean' Simply this: The Divine celestial and spiritual things in the Lord's internal, which had served as receptive forms, were so perfected by truth from the Word as to be united with life itself. Now the infinite would operate out of the Lord's glorified internal, gradually glorifying all planes of life below itself, beginning with the rational and extending to the corporeal.
     So Abraham represents the glorification of the Lord's internal Human, or that Human Divine taken from His own things in the heavens. Isaac represents the glorification of the Lord's rational mind, or that Human which He put on in the world. Jacob represents the glorification of the Lord's natural human mind, together with its sensual and corporeal vessels.18

The Human which Begins in the Inmost of Man's Rational Mind Is from the Lord's Divine Human.19

     Remember the big picture. The Lord's love to save the human race clothed itself with the Human Divine (the Divine celestial and the Divine spiritual) in the heavens, then formed its own finite body and mind in which the Lord might enjoy conscious human life on the natural plane. As the Lord drew up Divine truth out of His Word and united it with His infinite love for the salvation of mankind, the Divine doctrine or Divine natural was formed in His conscious mind.
     The totality of the hells attacked this doctrine and were defeated and eternally ordered. The heavens embraced this doctrine in the Lord's mind, and were reordered and exalted. The Christian Church was instructed in the generals of this doctrine as the Lord walked among them, teaching and healing. Divine promise was given by the Lord that at the time of His second advent He would reveal this Divine doctrine in fullness. As the Spirit of Truth He would lead into all truth. So was the human race redeemed historically.20
     In order that the Lord might continue to be man's redeemer forever, He glorified His Human, that is, made Divine the whole degree of natural life in Himself.21
     As a result, the Divine celestial, the Divine spiritual and the Divine natural could now inflow into the very soul of mankind, giving an immediate presence of the Divine proceeding, an immediate presence in His own glorified Humanity not before possible.22 The power and light with which the Lord ordered the heavens and subjugated the hells is now immediately accessible to man, through the soul, if vessels to receive this influx are built up from the Word in the mind.

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In the Writings given by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg, we have the Divine doctrine so manifest in rational appearances of truth that the immediate presence of the Divine Human may be with us from without, as well as through the soul from within. Never before was the immediate enlightenment of the Divine proceeding present on the natural plane of life.
     As man shuns evils as sins, taking up truths from the Word into his rational mind, the Divine good, proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human, descends and establishes the beginning of true humanity in the rational mind. Through this good, which is the beginning of the human in the rational mind of the regenerating man, the Lord draws up, distills and formulates the Divine doctrine, so that the Lord Himself is seen and worshiped in these rational ideas.23
     As regeneration progresses, the human or genuine good from the Lord descends from the rational to the natural and finally to the sensual plane, which is the last to be regenerated. Man reads the Word and from its truths shuns evils as sins against the Lord. In response, the Lord imparts His good to man to organize the truths into mirrors that reflect the Divine Human of the Lord, enabling man to see more and more interiorly into the inner contents of the Word.
     The story of Isaac describes the regeneration of the human rational, just as in the glorification series it describes the Lord's Divine rational.

Isaac Pageants Depict the Beginning of True Humanity in the Rational Mind

     Those of you who attended the Assembly were touched by the lovely scenes enacted from the life of Isaac. What did the angels perceive as those images filled your thoughts?

Scene 1: Isaac promised24

Abraham, sitting in the doorway of his tent in the heat of the day, noticed three men of angelic countenance standing nearby. He ran to meet them, bowing down and urging them to partake of his hospitality. As they ate, one of them announced that Sarah, who was standing behind the tent door, would have a son, notwithstanding her great age. Sarah laughed, and then denied her laughter. The heavenly guest rebuked her for her laughter and said, "No Sarah, but you did laugh . . . . Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

     The approach of the angels to Abraham represents the Lord being instructed by Divine perception during His boyhood. The heat of the day and Abraham's eager reception of the angels pictures the Lord's delight when first He realized that the Divine, the Divine Human and the Divine proceeding would enter His finite mind and become one in Him.

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     A second perception followed. His rational at the time (Ishmael) would be divested of all things purely human and gradually made Divine (Isaac's birth promised).25
     What about man's regeneration as portrayed by the approach of the angels? Proceeding from His Divine Human is the Lord's Divine good. It inflows touching man's soul and shedding warmth and light in his mind. Man receives this influx as genuine good or charity from the Lord if truths have been taken from the Word into the mind, and evils have been shunned as sins. Charity, therefore, though originating from within, is said to be born and developed according to the quantity and quality of truth from without.26
     In the glorification series the promised birth of Isaac represents the Lord's perception that His human rational would be made Divine. With man it is a growing confidence in the Lord that if he obeys the Lord he will be saved. This promised beginning of genuine good enlightens man to see in his unregenerate rational (Ishmael) selfish motives and conceited reasonings to be cast out if the inmost of his rational is to receive genuine good (Isaac's birth) from the Divine Human of the Lord.27
     Sarah laughed the laughter of unbelief. Laughter is associated with affection and pertains to the rational faculty of perceiving contrasts. The Hebrew form of the name Isaac literally means laughter. With the Lord, Sarah, in this context, represents the human rational as to truth, immediately prior to its glorification. From human appearances, excited by the hells, the Lord resisted giving up what was human, because it appeared that human rational truth alone could save the human race.28 The Lord did not laugh. As a boy, however, He perceived that the human He put on would be glorified, but that human rational truth would doubt (Sarah's laughter), and have to be expelled (Ishmael sent out when Isaac was born).
     With those whom the Lord is regenerating, Sarah's laughter represents doubt concerning the Lord's willingness or even ability to regenerate the human mind. The first or unregenerate rational trusts only in what can be demonstrated from knowledge and experience.29
     The challenge of regeneration is to believe in the Lord while recognizing the source of doubt and disbelief. "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." The Lord responds, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "All things are possible for him that believes."30

Scene 2: Isaac born"

When Isaac was born there was song and dance and laughter. Sarah laughed, but this time in open acknowledgment and joy in the Lord's mercy.

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     The actual birth of Isaac represents the making Divine of the Lord's rational mind, or that human which He put on in the world.
     With man, Isaac's birth represents the rational mind regenerated and progressively enlightened concerning the internal sense of the Word. With this deeper perception of truth in the Word, made possible by influx of good proceeding from the Divine Human of the Lord, the rational mind is continually ordered. The human begins from this influx of good into the rational, where newly ordered truth and the shunning of evils as sins takes place. Human appearances associated with conceit, dominion, adultery and deceit begin to crumble-Ishmael can no longer be Abraham's heir. All that conduces to confirm the appearance that we live from self, or the persuasion that we can save ourselves, must be sent away. Ishmael must give way to Isaac.
     During the regeneration of man's rational mind, the proprium becomes quiescent, apparent goods and truths being entirely reordered by the Lord's influx through the soul. Out of the Divine rational a true intellectual is restored to man in his regenerate rational. This enables him to see truth from good.32 True humanity or true rationality is to see and perceive clearly that good is good and truth is true, and that their conjunction is absolutely imperative.33
     Reflect. If the Lord Jesus Christ in His glorified Divine Human is the Divine Man, surely, then, true humanity in finite man is a living reception and vision of the Lord in the ordered images of the rational-an order which the Lord from His Divine Human effects in man when He regenerates him.

Scene 4: The Sacrifice

How tenderly Abraham walked with his son Isaac, the wood for the sacrifice secured to the lad's back, a knife and fire in the old man's hands. "My father," said the lad, "behold the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb?" He answered, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb."

     The Lord's most grievous temptations whereby He united His Human to His Divine are depicted in this story. Temptations are attacks by the hells upon man's love. With the Lord, human appearances of truth were stirred up by the hells so as to bring the Lord's love into doubt.34 What was His love? To save the human race. How? By uniting in Himself the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. This was the Lord's love-to unite the Human Essence to the Divine Essence-form this process, at each step of the way, He beheld the salvation of the human race.35
     The first attack upon the Lord's love was the appearance that salvation could be accomplished by and from the mere human. Had not glorification gone far enough?

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Could not Jesus come down from the cross and prove His Divinity? Would it not be a simple thing to take away man's freedom and simply save him? Divine perception knew better. The human, before glorification, was not wholly Divine, nor could it save the human race.
     The second attack upon the Lord's love was the appearance that there was no salvable element left in humanity, so why not abandon the process? It is taught in the Arcana Coelestia that when the Lord beheld the evil state of the human race He was struck with horror and willed to withdraw from the perception of this wickedness.36 Perhaps we think of the Lord viewing the state of the world as if from a mountain in the desert where Scripture recorded His temptations. It was within the hereditary inclinations of the human, taken from Mary, however, that the Lord beheld the depravity of fallen man. Is it any wonder, then, that the appearance was so strong-that the human which He had put on could not be united to the Divine which was His soul?
     Again, Divine perception prevailed. Not only must the Lord's Humanity be glorified before He could effect the redemption of the human race, but that glorified Humanity, touching the souls of men ever after, could produce in those who would allow the Lord to do so, that genuine good from which the Lord can regenerate any man who will open his life to the Lord.37
     As the Lord longed for the union of the Divine and the Human in Himself, so we must long for the conjunction of His good and truth in us. The hells will use every subtle appearance of evil and falsity to obstruct this process.
     We will be tempted to feel that regeneration has gone far enough. Do we not know and do what is right in most instances? Is not the life that leads to heaven simply a matter of shunning evils as sins? Will we not be able to do this and regenerate, given time? What is the hurry? Are we not really in charge of our destiny, if we so choose to be? In other states the hells will attack our love to be regenerated by rubbing our noses in our failures. In down states the proprium will demonstrate how desperately wicked we are and how little of what is truly salvable there is in our natures. Discouragements have their place, but let us have trust in the Divine Human of our Lord. Doubts can serve our regeneration if our last state is one of innocent trust. "My father, where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" "My son, God will provide a lamb." Doubt, then trust. In Gethsemane Jesus expressed doubt: "My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from Me." Then trust: "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done." And on the cross: "My God, My God, why hast Thou foresaken Me?" "Father, into Thy hand I commend My spirit."
     In temptation it appears that we must give up that which we love most. The truth is, however, that by perseverance, patience and trust the Lord secures to us the very thing He wills us to love.

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Abraham had waited an hundred years for his promised heir. Would the Lord require the death of the lad to prove the father's obedience? Perseverance in sustaining the temptation, patience with heartache and doubt and, above all, trust in the justice and mercy of the Lord's love, resulted in Abraham's securing the thing he loved most, which Jehovah had promised.
     So the Lord in His Human fought the onslaught of the hells, trusting in the power and presence of the Divine in the Human to unite the Human to the Divine and save His beloved human race. In image and likeness man may now oppose the hells, trusting in the Lord to conjoin to His Divine Human that human in man which has its beginning in the inmost of the rational. As this good from the Lord descends, drawing up appropriate truth to conjoin with itself on each plane of the mind, regeneration proceeds from inmosts to outmosts, making all things new in the natural mind, even to the sensual.
     The remaining scenes of the pageant, particularly the beautiful narrative of acquiring a wife for Isaac, tell the interior story of man's continuing regeneration by the Lord, in image and likeness of the glorification. Genuine good proceeding from the Divine Human of the Lord is first established in the inmost of the rational. So regeneration begins. The Lord works through this infant humanity in man's rational to reach down to the Divine doctrine in the Word, drawing up, distilling and ordering truth by a life according to it. So does man perceive the Lord as a Divine Man, the Divine love in human form.
     At first our concept of the Lord is very personal, not unlike the idea held by the primitive Christian Church. As doctrine is drawn up out of the Word we focus on the essence of the Lord, His Divine love and wisdom. As our intellectual concept of the Lord is reformed to see that He is the Word, we may suffer a sense of losing His tender human presence. If, then, we "abide in the Lord"-if we shun evils as sins, acknowledging that all good and truth are from Him alone- His Divine Human will begin to operate by means of that good from Him in the inmost of our rational. This is the beginning of the human with us, ordering our ideas drawn from the Word, enabling us to think from essence to person. Such thought is not from personality, but from essence into person. Doctrine out of the Word must continually build our concept of the Lord's essence. Then the Lord's love proceeding from His Divine Human builds in us genuine good (true humanity) which orders those knowledges to reflect the Lord's person. Without a perception of the Lord's living and personal presence, we lose all real concept of Him.38

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     FOOTNOTES

1 Genesis, chapters 17-35, AC Vols. II-IV
2 AC 10330, 6600, 8690; DLW 150; TCR 238; AE 1177
3 AC 3464; DP 279:6; 195e; DLW 209e, 304
4 AC 254012541, 2545, 2551, 2574, 1800, 288
5 SS 62-64; HH 306; AE 8116; AC 10760, 7396, 3310, 6637, 9276, 10125
6 AC 9410, 3359, 3360, 10028, 9375, 10794, 6822; AE 1177; De Verbo chapters 11, 12
7 AC 1950, 2066, 2083, 1890, 1893, 1899
8 AC 2106
9 TCR 591
10 AC 1502, 1554, 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 6864
11 AC 1438, 1450
12 AC 1906e, 4670, 1738, 1906, 1963, 3251, 1988, 3048, 3740, 5335
13 AC 6831, 9303, 3251, 7193
14 AC 4592, 4594, 6247
15 AC 2833, 2836, 3251, 7193
16 AC 600, 6831, 9303
17 AC 1416, 2010, 3251
18 AC 5078:2
19 AC 9399, 9498, 7058, 10290; SS 57
20 TCR 115, 126
21 TCR 109; DLW 233, 234
22 TCR 109; AC 2034
23 AC 10028, 3359, 3260; AE 545
24 Genesis 18: 1-4, 9-15
25 AC 2171
26 AC 2189
27 AC 2171
28 AC 2201, 2203
29 AC 1916, 1936, 2196, 2209
30 Mark 9:24; Genesis 18:14; Mark 9:23
31 Genesis 21:1-6
32 AC 2657
33 DP 75, 96, 82, 85; see also AC 6240:2; AC 1385, 3283:2, 4741:3; HH 464:3
34 AC 28 13, 2814
35 AC 2034; AE 1187, 975:2; TCR 13:3, 415
36 AC 2222
37 Canons: God the Redeemer, Chaps. 6, 7, 9
38 HH 55, 121; see also AR 611; DLW 97; AE 1108e, 1114e, 1115:4, 1116e, 1116:3,4, 1119e, 1124; DLW 18; AC 4075:3; TCR 777

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TOWARDS A NEW REALISM 1984

TOWARDS A NEW REALISM       ADAM ALFSEN       1984

     There appears to be a pattern in the development of art similar to that which has been observed in other areas of human endeavor, a pattern much like the growth of an individual from childhood through manhood into old age. This process is apparent both in the individual artist and in the society as a whole. As a child, one paints differently than one does as a young man or when one is old and full of experience. Even so, a society or culture also goes through a similar growth and change in its artistic expression.
     Children are spontaneous and, in a natural way, express their inner feelings in their art. It is well known that a child who is disturbed or depressed will use dark colors in his paintings, while one that is happy will use bright colors. The unhappy child, for instance, may portray dark cloudy skies, while the secure child will paint a bright clear day. Thus, a child's feelings are a part of his reality. He identifies his feelings with the world around him and expresses them through the objects he portrays.
     Secondly, a child portrays things (within his limited ability) as they are and not as they appear to be. One woman told me that at one time her child put ten fingers and ten toes on everyone she drew-even when the person had shoes on. It was because the child discovered that people have ten toes that she always painted them in. In a way, she was showing faithfulness to the reality she knew and not to the appearance she saw.
     This form of realistic expression is similar to what we see in some well-known ancient cultures where an attempt was made to show figures from the simplest and, at the same time, the most true angle. Thus, the face in Egyptian art was always shown from the side while the trunk was presented at an angle so that both arms would be clearly visible and the most important details of the torso could be distinctly presented. Here again we see the same faithfulness to reality and not to appearance. A renaissance man portrays his figures from any angle and doesn't bother if an arm is not visible or if a hand or leg is partially concealed. With the primitive or ancient, this would not be done. In fact, in some cases both eyes were shown even though the face was drawn from the side. Finally, in both ancient cultures and among children, we find an interest in symbolic expression. Both, for example, commonly show important figures such as a ruler or a father of a household as being larger than life. Thus, they represent a truth which is not apparent but is nevertheless real.

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     Our next level of development in art may be compared with youth and its growth to manhood. As a child becomes a youth, his attention turns to the world of objective reality. He wants to understand the things around him and learn skills so that he can adapt. During this period, the young artist slowly begins to learn the techniques of his profession. He must come to a general understanding of art history. He must learn to draw objects as they appear in this world of form and space. He will probably have some introduction into various art styles, techniques and different media. Eventually, he will narrow his endeavors into one or two of the branches of the visual arts and having found and developed his particular abilities, he may thus continue his work with little change until the end of his life.
     This second level of development compares in our western culture to the changes that took place from the end of the crusades until the nineteenth century. First, there was a breath of fresh air from the east. New ideas stimulated a search for new techniques and new forms of expression. Slowly at first, but then with greater speed, the renaissance blossomed. It was, in essence, a new realism. The way of thinking that had brought about the crusades was discarded and a new way of thinking began to develop. From the renaissance on, we find a growth of naturalistic realism in Europe. From the late fifteenth century until the nineteenth century, there were many styles and schools of art but in almost all cases this realism prevailed. They accepted and portrayed the world as it was seen through the human eye.
     This brings us to the third level. For the man who has passed his physical and social prime, there is an opportunity to develop the more lasting qualities of character and to go back and, tempered by wisdom and experience, allow the more beautiful qualities of the child to shine through his face.
     For the artist, there is a similar opportunity. Often, however, in the case of the artist, as well as the man on the street, advancing years bring stagnation rather than further growth. If, however, depth of character and personal expression do develop, they often come out in a subconscious or semiconscious way. Perhaps there is a liking for certain colors of subject matter. Perhaps there is a certain expression on the faces of his portraits or a definite mood to his landscapes. If his art, however, is to become as beautiful as the character of the wise old man, he must also return to his childhood and rediscover those qualities he had thrown off when he began to get involved in the objective world around him. This is not a digression into the past but a synthesis of his entire life with the spirit of youth dominating and controlling the technique and skills developed through years of training.

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The artist must allow the exploring, exuberant, hopeful nature of the child he was to give new life to his work.
     Photography, along with new movements in religions and philosophical thought, seems to have permanently damaged the old tradition of realism much in the same way that a man's ambitions and high hopes are often seen to become empty shells when old age creeps upon him. Modern artists and modern culture are facing an identity crisis with many alternatives-many alternatives but only two directions.
     What is needed is a new dimension in realism. Surrealism and abstract art seem to be attempts to explore and express the realities of mind and spirit. These and other similar art movements have cut themselves off from the objective world. Commercial art, on the other hand, along with modern realistic art, seems to have gone in the other direction. Theirs is a cold hard realism without any soul. Both styles, however, are, in a sense, lacking what the other could provide.
     What I believe is needed is a form of realism where both can exist together within a proper harmonious relationship. The inner aspect of reality should dominate, but not overcome or destroy the objective. Foundations of personality laid in the first years of life must be returned to as a fountain, continually renewing our hopes and giving us a love for forms, shape; color, discovery and life in general.
     In the day of Michelangelo, an artist was judged, first of all, by his ability to paint or draw objects in such a way that they appeared real and natural. The mood or feeling of a painting was a secondary, though often important, consideration. I suggest that we are now moving towards a realism in which the artist is judged by his ability to express feeling and mood while his faithfulness to the objective reality around him becomes a secondary consideration. As the old realism had to develop a set of artistic principles to portray objects as they appear to the eye, so the new realism must also develop a set of laws or principles to govern the relationship between the inner and outer worlds. There is a need for deeper understanding of the spiritual and psychological realms. There is a need for a deeper and more universal insight into symbolism. There is a need for more research into child psychology and children's art. There is a need for a deeper insight into artistic principles. Finally, there is a need for a synthesis of our cultural past with all that we have learned in recent times. Can a society or an individual artist rejuvenate after years of decline or a man be born again and see all things new when he is old? In every way, the answer is "ye must be born again."
     Let us consider for a minute just how we are to go about this process of returning to the personality of our childhood (something we can only do effectively with Divine help). We are not, mind you, returning to the childhood technique (or lack of it) but to the state of mind we once possessed.

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If I once had the qualities of unbounded hopefulness, exuberance and an ability to lose myself in my interests but have afterwards lost these, if I once played games for the sake of the enjoyment they brought but have afterwards become too business-like to become involved in any type of game-then how do I restore these lost qualities in my art and in my life? Many writers can give us invaluable help in our efforts towards spiritual renewal but let me give one personal example which relates to art.
     As a child, I had been taught to make paper airplanes and paper boats. Although I always remembered how to make paper airplanes, I had forgotten long ago how to make the boats. Although I tried to remember on several occasions, I could never quite recall just how it was done. It was about a month ago when I was making some paper airplanes for some children that the thought occurred to me to try once more to make a boat. The idea occurred to me that my hands used to be able to make paper boats. Maybe I could do it if I just stopped trying to figure it out with my head and let my hands do the job. If I could just, so to speak, put my conscious mind on the shelf then maybe the answer I once knew would come out of the back of my head.
     I tried it and it worked. I've relearned a simple skill which I once knew but lost. Even though this was a very small example, I use it to illustrate that things that have been lost to our conscious mind can be reclaimed. Barriers to the past can be removed. From being fragmented, we can become integrated in our personality. If we do begin to proceed toward that goal, the change takes place in a way of which we are unaware--like the slow growth of a tree.

Development of My Style

     I was born in 1947 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and was raised in an artist's family. 1 first became interested in art at sixteen years of age in Metz, France, where I took classes at night. Later I attended the University of Guelph and graduated in sociology in 1970. I went to the U.S.A. and worked as a cook (six months) then returned to the University of Guelph and took the equivalent of a major in Fine Arts. Afterwards, I went to teachers' college and received a certificate as an art teacher and taught art for a year in Cornwall, Ontario. Since my year of teaching, I have worked in a pottery plant (two years) and later in a vinyl factory.
     It was about five or six years ago that the seeds of a new style of art began to develop in my mind. It started when the influence of the sun on a landscape began to dawn on me. Most artists concern themselves with the details of the land while treating the sky as a sort of backdrop of little importance. The sun they leave entirely out of the picture.

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I saw, however, that a landscape without a sun was like a portrait without a face. Without a sun, there would be no grass or trees or buildings. The angle and distance of the sun determine whether it is winter, summer, tropical or polar. Thus, because the sun was the primary determining factor of a landscape, I knew that I must find a way to put a sun in my skies.
     I also knew that my composition must now from and relate to that sun just as in nature all plants receive daily an inflow of light and heat from the same. After this insight into the primary importance of the sun, it followed that the atmosphere was second in importance in that it is the means by which the sun reaches us. The atmosphere is secondary because it alters and tempers the light, and contains the heat so that we are not damaged by the sudden and drastic changes from day to night. Thus, the living things of our earth exist first because of the sun and secondly because of the atmosphere. And so we are usually so aware of the things around us, such as trees, houses, etc., we seldom consider the sky (except perhaps when it rains) and almost never think of the sun. I saw that I must reverse the order and thus portray things according to their true relative importance. It is interesting to note that children are not unaware of the sun in their art as adults are, nor do they portray it only according to what they see, but also to what they feel.
     It was with the realization of the importance of the sun in a landscape that opened the door to the development of a whole new style of art based on the anatomical, philosophical and religious insights of the eighteenth century scientist and seer Emanuel Swedenborg. The principles developed in Mr. Swedenborg's writings have, it was discovered, wonderful applications in the fields of art, music and even writing. Who knows how far these principles may extend in their application? May I also add that although the principles are scattered throughout the writings of Swedenborg, they have been wonderfully condensed in the book Science of Exposition by W. F. Pendleton, so that once the basic idea had come to me, all I had to do was take many of those set forth by Bishop Pendleton and make a further application of these ideas into the realm of the arts.
     Let us now set forth some of the primary aspects of this style. First of all, and central in Swedenborg's thought, is the idea of three degrees in all created things. We may not be aware of these in ourselves but they are there, either active or potentially active. Furthermore, in each degree there is what the Chinese might call the yin and the yang or we call the masculine and feminine (the active and passive of that degree). Each degree is separate and distinct from the others yet related (e.g. in the human body by fibers, connective tissue, etc.) so that there can be an influx of one into the others.

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     Finally, we see that to the extent that all of the degrees come under the rule of that which is highest, to that extent they come into the truly human form; for a man the soul is to rule the mind and the mind must rule the body.
     There can only be influx from the highest into the lower degrees. If the lower degrees resist this operation from the higher, they can limit, hinder or twist its influx but they cannot do anything from themselves apart from the influx they receive. Thus a body from which the soul has departed is dead and incapable, as also is the brain.
     In the case of landscape painting then we also divide our painting into three degrees. In terms of matter, we have the objects and aspects of the landscape itself (trees, houses, water, etc.); the region of the atmosphere (clouds and colour effects in the sky) and finally, the heavenly bodies,
especially the sun upon whom we depend for the energy necessary for all life to exist. Even if the sun is not definitely placed into the painting, its presence, via the light it gives, cannot be avoided. At night, it still bears testimony by means of the reflected light from the planets and the moon.
     In terms of space, once again we may make three divisions of a landscape into foreground, middle ground and background. Although some landscapes may effectively be treated as just foreground and background, the more panoramic the character of the landscape, the greater the need is for at least three degrees of depth in the painting. Going beyond three may create a certain amount of confusion because simplicity in one's basic framework or approach to the problem of depth is as important to the artist as it is in many aspects of life. These degrees of depth, however, are not clearly distinct as are the degrees of height. Instead, the foreground fades gently into the middle, and the middle into the background. Thus, the degrees of height in a landscape may be compared to the discrete degrees in heaven, and the degrees of depth to the continuous degrees within a particular heaven or society thereof.
     Now let us touch on this second aspect of yin and yang or masculine-feminine duality which is in all things of nature. In some instances (when referring to the celestial), Swedenborg compares good (or essence) with the masculine, and truth (form) with the feminine, while in other instances (when referring to the spiritual), he compares the feminine with good and the masculine with truth. Whatever the case may be, the two are always present, side by side, working to create a harmony or wholeness which neither can do by itself without the aid of the other.
     For the artist, form and space are the duality with which he must struggle in his effort to create harmony and balance. Before he begins to work on his canvas, he has only a blank space-a surface-but as soon as he puts something on that surface, he creates a duality-form and space.

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This duality enters into almost all of his aspects of his painting. It's in the sky (cloud and air); it's in the earth (foreground-background); it is in color (warm vs. cool) and it is in the matter of illumination (light and shade). Just as the masculine and feminine (essence and form, yin and yang) enter into and permeate all created things, so for the artist there isn't a nook or cranny into which the duality of form and space does not enter. This aspect of space relates, it would seem, to what Swedenborg calls the essence of an object, while form relates to the existence which qualifies its essence.
     This brings us to our third major point, which is the importance that the sun plays and should play in a landscape. As I mentioned earlier, the function of the artist is no longer simply to paint a landscape or scene as he sees it. This task can be performed by the photographer more accurately and with greater ease. No, the artist's function now is to interpret the visible world around him in the light of the higher reality he sees in his mind or with the soul.
     When the importance of the sun in nature and its symbolic significance dawned on me, I saw that I had to put a sun in my skies. It represented the first principle or source from which all come and upon which they depend. Furthermore, since influx is from the higher into the lower, my compositions had to, in a sense, flow from and relate to that one source upon which all things (in a natural sense) depend. Thus, manifesting three discrete degrees (sun, sky, earth) and continuous degrees (foreground-background or foreground-middle ground-background); having the duality of form-space entering into all aspects of my art and, most important, seeing the Symbolic importance of the sun and making it the center and source from which all things flow and to which they relate, my landscape becomes a mirror or image of heaven as Swedenborg describes it with its three kingdoms, the marriage of love and truth and, finally, the one Lord who "is and was and is to come." This one Lord who reigns in the heavens is symbolized by the one sun that rules any landscapes. Of course, the principles set forth by Swedenborg can also be applied with respect to portraiture, still life and other arts such as music, but such topics, if dealt with, must be done at another time.
     Let me just say with respect to music that every diatonic scale is determined by the first note of the scale. "C," for instance, is the primary note of its scale and also of any composition written in that scale. Thus the tonic ("C") in musical terms corresponds in importance to the sun in a landscape. Thus we see that these realms can be applied beyond the realms of simply landscape painting. This is because they relate to spiritual principles which are universal.

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PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND 1984

PRIEST AND LAYMAN, HAND IN HAND       Rev. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1984

     Part IIIb: Enlightenment

     A DOCTRINAL STUDY BY REV. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON. PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL FACULTY OF THE ACADEMY ON APRIL 26, 1984

     Based on the survey of the doctrine of enlightenment presented in the first part of this paper (September issue) I will now move into several areas of general application relating to priests and laymen.

     Enlightenment with all men, be they priests or laymen, is given according to exactly the same fundamental "rules" as far as its source, its means, and the conditions of its reception are concerned. Priests, as well as laymen, receive the Holy Spirit according to the faith of their life (see Canons: Holy Spirit IV). Also, the requirements for the continued development of enlightenment are the same for all men. Some (priests as well as laymen) will have more intellectual capacity for enlightenment in doctrine than others; and these, according to their capacity, will be more or less dependent on others for doctrinal enlightenment (see AC 9186:3, 6222:3, 6766, 10227; cf. 5044; SS 59).

     I am convinced that all have a proper part in doctrinal enlightenment, teaching, leading, and governing in the life of the church. Yet in all of these areas, the priesthood-both representatively and occupationally-has by Divine designation the central and centralizing role and a commensurate measure of both responsibility and authority that is different from the laity. The priest is not simply a "doctrinal facilitator," as I have occasionally heard it expressed by some. There is more to it than that-considerably more. The following numbers give a basic overview of support for this:

. . . the fallacious opinion of those who reject the priestly office, saying that the priesthood is universal (SD 4904).

What is Divine is among men by ministers, what is just by judges, and what is moral by what is Divine and just (Char. 131).

The priesthood is the first of the church (AE 229:4).

Enlightenment is with the clergy in particular (TCR 155).

Truth must be taught by a teaching minister, otherwise heresies arise (AC 6822).

Priests are properly in charge of ecclesiastical things; they must teach the truth and lead thereby to the good of life; they must reward those who live according to order, and punish those who live contrary to order; and they must separate those who cause a disturbance (AC 10789-98).

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     The priest, by virtue of his occupation among men, re-presents the Lord's work of salvation; and thereby he provides actually one of the essential means thereto in the church (see DP 154 heading; Canons. Holy Spirit IV). When he does this, he becomes a "form of charity" (Char. 160); whereupon the "promise" of the Holy Spirit, bestowed at his ordination (Canons: Holy Spirit IV), is fulfilled-made active and actual-in and with the church. I would observe here that this fulfillment with the priest in his occupation occurs in exactly the same manner, and under the same basic conditions, that every layman also becomes a form of charity in the performance of his occupational duties: namely, by carrying out those duties sincerely, honestly, justly, and faithfully (see Char. 158 heading; Life 114).
     I have observed with growing interest in the course of this study that the only actually stated-and, again, general-difference drawn in the Heavenly Doctrines between priestly and lay enlightenment is contained in the phrase "in particular"(TCR 155); and that this distinction is drawn within the context of doctrinal study and perception (Ibid.). As already pointed out, within the ranks of the priesthood itself there will be those who possess greater or lesser capacity for doctrinal enlightenment, and therefore for drawing that doctrine out of the Word and preaching it to the church. This whole matter is of intense interest to me, as it ties into the difference drawn in AC 3131 between the degree, or quality, of enlightenment available from generals of truth as compared with the enlightenment that is given from particulars and singulars of that truth (cf. AC 3508:2). How much does the strictly representative aspect of a priest's office have to do with this difference between generals and particulars? Little, if anything; it is almost, if not totally, occupational in its nature, extent, and depth, depending on his intellectual capacity, innate as well as acquired, his self-discipline in performing the essential functions of his office. . .and also on something in addition, i.e., his mind not being distracted with the world's business (see SS 591Faith 30). This distraction, with our pastors and especially our executive bishops, and even with our priest-teachers in the Academy, can occur just as surely, but with far more destructive results as far as the life of the church is concerned, as with the laity. I will be running out my 36-pounders for a broadside on this one in the next paper(on teaching and leading).
     Returning to the question of generals and particulars, here's a question for you to chew on: Does "in particular" (TCR 155) mean the same thing as "in particulars" (see AC 3131; cf. 3502:2), especially in the context of comparison between priestly and lay enlightenment? I have looked at this one from a number of different directions and have come to the conclusion that it does not.

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A layman who is intellectually capable, who has the inclination and interest, and especially if he has the time free from his occupational concerns, can also enter through study into particulars as well as generals of doctrine. Every pastor has at least one or two such laymen within his occupational orbit; they are both the delight and the bane of his existence! I believe the reference to the clergy having enlightenment "in particular" is not to some magical and/or automatic opening of the heavens into the upper regions of the novitiate priest's mind as the hands of episcopal ordination are laid upon his head. Rather, I believe, it points to the fact that with the priesthood alone the study of doctrine constitutes-or should constitute-the proper, primary, day-to-day focus of his occupational love, attention, and application. This is not the case with any other human occupation in the natural world. Therefore the priest, insofar as he has the capability and insofar as he performs this essential and central duty of his occupational calling on a continuing basis, will enter into a kind and fullness of enlightenment in doctrine that men in other occupations cannot.
     I am going to concentrate my attention for the remainder of this paper on a question that I have pondered over for many years: namely, the manner in which spiritual enlightenment is related to natural use, or occupation. As you will soon see, I believe this question has equal and fundamentally identical application to the priest in his occupation as it does to the layman in his.
     We have seen what spiritual enlightenment is in itself, what its Source is, and under what conditions it is imparted to man. We have also noted the distinction between spiritual enlightenment and merely natural enlightenment. How does all of this relate to and affect a man in his natural occupation, or use, of which the priesthood is one? To what extent is a man's spiritual enlightenment affected by his natural occupation, and vice versa? This question is crucial to the related question of church uses, and who has what of these uses in his proper charge and carrying-out. I will speak to this question here in relation to basic enlightenment only; many, if not most, of the questions that immediately and inevitably arise will be considered in their proper order and context in the final two papers next year.
     We often hear the phrases "a man's enlightenment in his use," ". . . from his use," or ". . . according to his use." Yet I have been surprised to discover how seldom the word "enlightenment" is mentioned in the Writings in association with the word "use." We put these two words together all the time, so I expected to find them together all over the place in the Writings; but "'tain't so!" I think we should expunge the phrase "enlightenment from use" from our vocabulary, if by enlightenment here we mean spiritual enlightenment, and by "use" we mean natural occupation.

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Spiritual enlightenment does not have its source in, therefore does not arise from, natural occupation. The phrases "enlightenment in," or "according to" use are acceptable to me, but only if we are very careful to observe and keep a vital distinction in our thought between the spiritual and the natural. I have heard laymen, and sometimes even priests, use the terms "use" and "love of use" in a very mixed, fuzzy kind of way; whereas the Writings themselves employ the term "use" in the sense of uses and so state it (in the plural)-a great deal if not most of the time. Uses are those natural forms of activity in which we are, or can be, of service to others on the ultimate plane of life. What we so often refer to as the doctrine of use would perhaps better be thought of as the doctrine of uses. It is by means of uses performed that we are of use to others. Look at the Potts Concordance some time under "Use" for confirmation of this.
     Now, it is true that without ultimation in natural uses, all the spiritual enlightenment in the world will fall to the ground. (We do find reference to "uses" in this sense in relation to enlightenment; see TCR 231; HH 393.) But a man's performance of the use itself is the result, not the source, of his enlightenment; it is the natural embodiment of spiritual enlightenment; it is the receptacle in the natural in which each man's interior enlightenment is so directed toward the lives of others that he becomes something in addition to a personal receptacle of charity; he becomes a form of charity (see Char. 158-172), which comes into existence as a result of a direct relationship between his own natural life and the natural lives of others: namely, by his dealings with others primarily in and through his occupation. In this, once again, I see no essential or significant difference between priest and layman.
     This brings us back to the distinction between the light of heaven, or spiritual enlightenment, and the light of the world, or natural enlightenment, and their meeting-point within the man of the church, whether priest or layman. I would point out that they (these two lights) do not mingle; they are not continuous, but contiguous-the one within the other, like a hand within a fitted glove-and they remain so. The Writings speak of spiritual enlightenment entering into and enlightening all things of a man's natural, which are things rational, natural and scientific. They are referring here not to a change in his understanding, perception, or capacity in relation to those rational and natural things in themselves, but to a change in his ordering and directing of those lower things from a conscience of spiritual truth and good. For example, a businessman who is in spiritual enlightenment from the Word will not thereby become a better businessman per se; i.e., he will not thereby be enabled to use his desk computer more efficiently, or interpret the market statistics more effectively.

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These are all matters of natural light or enlightenment and its proper-and necessary-development in his occupation as a businessman. But in his business dealings, he will have an attitude, from an enlightened conscience, that will be different from that of other businessmen, from which he will direct those dealings. His business objectives will still be natural; but they will be governed in their carrying-out from a spirit, or ethic, that will cause him to shun unjust and fraudulent business practices that are common among those who possess no such conscience (see DP 220:11).
     All of the above applies just as surely to a priest in the performance of his office among the men of the church, especially in relation to those church uses which come either directly under his charge or indirectly under his influence. He must guard against "playing politics" in a manner that is essentially dishonest, or freedom-removing, or both, in regard to achieving his objectives in reference to those uses, just as surely as a conscientious businessman or politician must do in seeking to attain the objectives of his occupation. Such a man, be he layman or priest, will hopefully be enlightened spiritually in the performance of his use through conscience, and naturally in the performance of his use according to his natural light-i.e., according to his natural abilities, the degree to which he applies himself to its study, etc. Thus, the two lights (spiritual and natural) do come together and cooperate, mutually and reciprocally, as two essential parts of a single whole; yet they are ever distinct and separate from each other as to degree, or level. Together, they produce a common product, called use. This common product, or use, with each man will be distinct from every other human use; it will therefore have something to offer to the common use, or "common good" (Life 114), of society in general that is unique. As a result of this uniqueness, which is a composite working together of each man's spiritual and natural light, there can be forthcoming a distinct and unique offering to the church-indeed, to the Lord Himself; as the Very Divine Head and Soul of the church. This offering will be made primarily by the application of that man's personal conscience from the Word in and to his occupational dealings in relation to other men. And the excellence of each man's offering will be measured, at bottom, by the quality and quantity of the truths that he possesses from the Word; for it is according to this quality and quantity that charity itself is said to exist with a man (see AC 2189:2). This is my understanding of what is meant by becoming a "form of charity," which is achieved essentially through the application of one's conscience in one's daily occupation. This entire concept is perhaps best and most briefly summed up in the final number of the Doctrine of Life (n. 114): "Christian charity with everyone consists in faithfully performing what belongs to his calling; for by this, if he shuns evils as sins, he every day is doing goods, and is himself his own use in the general body.

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In this way also the common good is cared for, and the good of each person in particular."
     In all of this, once again, I see no essential or significant distinction between the priest in his occupation and the layman in his. Yet in this occupational similarity, I believe we come upon something that does constitute a distinction between the priest and all other men-a difference which I referred to as a difference in kind in the first paper of this series. There are many different natural occupations in this world, the priesthood being one of them. Each of those occupations is distinct from all other occupations in kind; and each of them, for the man in it, provides a distinct and unique natural form in which he may receive, confirm, and activate his spiritual enlightenment, or conscience. But out of all these many and various natural occupations, only the occupation of the priesthood as an occupation constitutes a direct and immediate forming in ultimates of those interior, inflowing forces from the Divine which can create a state of spiritual enlightenment with men in all other natural occupations.
     Here I would like to refer back to the second paper of this series (NCL, March and April 1984) in which I emphasized the question of the representative as compared with the occupational aspects and importance of the priestly office. I have concluded, on further reflection since then, that the representation of the priestly office is not some kind of mystical "hangover" from the correspondences and representatives of the Ancient Church and Old Testament; only the two sacraments-Baptism and the Holy Supper-are still so constituted as to be direct, correspondentially active representatives in the life of the church. I believe the representative aspect of the priestly office finds its fulfillment in complete accord with the occupational adequacy and faithfulness of the priest in carrying out the stated functions of that office. These stated functions are essentially two in number, with a third added as an extension of the first two: namely, (1) to teach the truth of the Word as doctrine and (2) to lead the church thereby to the good of life actually, to be technically correct, to the good of the church, which differs significantly from the good of life (see AC 3310:1); these two extend into (3) the governing function in relation to the life of the church. If I am correct in this, then it would follow that the priesthood, and each individual priest, since the end of the representative Jewish Church, can only genuinely represent the Lord in and to the church insofar as he performs the essential functions of the priestly office sincerely, honestly, justly, and faithfully. Yet the office itself is properly set apart from all other human offices because of the use that it serves-namely, as the
Divinely designated agent on earth of the salvation of souls by the Lord.

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Therefore, that office and occupation does, and should, stand apart from all other earthly offices or occupations, both in the regard in which it is held by the men of the church and their response to that office; for it alone, if properly constituted and carried out, performs the service of bringing the Word to men in every other human occupation. In this, the office or occupation of the priesthood not only stands apart in kind from all other occupations; it stands also at the "center" of all other human occupations (see Chart at end of first paper, NCL November 1983); for it is the only occupation to which every other human occupation has a direct reference and relationship, if the men in those other occupations are looking to become proper forms of charity from the Word in their respective fields of work.
     Now . . . where does this bring us in relation to what we call "church uses" and the question of priestly as compared with lay enlightenment in those uses? That the priesthood is to be in direct charge of what are called "ecclesiastical things" (AC 10793) there can be little question. There remains, however, a continuing question of definition as to what is meant by, and included in, "ecclesiastical things." The Writings, once again, simply do not go into an enumeration of particulars in this regard; general definitions only are given. For example, they designate the "administration of the Divine law and worship" (AC 10799; NJHD 319) as being under the direct charge of the priesthood, which administration extends to rewarding those who live according to order, and punishing those who live contrary to order(AC 10790), and to separating from the organization those who "cause a disturbance"(AC 10798). But what of other uses-including our formal educational systems-which, while certainly ancillary to the life and development of the church as an organized body, are not in the direct line of descent from or ascent to "the Divine law and worship"? Should anything properly be called an "ecclesiastical use," and therefore be under the direct charge and jurisdiction of the priesthood, that is not directly connected to the administration of Divine law and worship? Frankly, I have not been satisfied-and still am not-with any of the positions taken up to this point in the General Church on this question: it is, for me, a question that we have still to answer satisfactorily and incorporate into the structure and life of the organization. I suspect there may be several reasons for this. One (as indicated above) is that we have not so far paid sufficient attention to the two lights-the natural as well as the spiritual-which properly make up the human understanding in relation to any complete forming of uses on the natural plane. We have not studied these two lights sufficiently, first separately and then in their cooperative relationship; and therefore we have tended to wash back and forth between them as extremes, making an "either/or" out of them, and finally ending up assigning "spiritual" to the occupation of the priesthood and "natural" to all other occupations. (We haven't been quite sure where to put New Church teachers in this either/or structure, so we've placed them kind of in between the positions of priest and layman-which has raised, and continues to raise, all kinds of problems, both psychological and practical.) The outcome of al this has been to cause these two vital parts of any complete use to work against each other, rather than with each other, in our outlook on what is or is not of order; but more on this next year. Another reason may be that, on this as on so many other "applied" subjects, the Writings have presented us with a few generals only, leaving us to derive those generals into particulars relating to what properly constitutes an ecclesiastical use, and therefore the proper parameters of priestly government. It has left us also, and inevitably, with a host of murmurings in the church concerning priestly authority. More on this next year also.
     In the final three papers of this series, I will be trying to approach some of these questions from as thorough a consideration as I can of the state trine of priestly functions in relation to the stated single, general charge of the Divine law and worship. Perhaps if we can view the latter in relation to the former together, we may come to something that otherwise eludes us if we concentrate our thought on one or another of those former three functions by itself, rather than on each of the three functions in its relation to the other two, and then all three together in relation to the single general ("Divine law and worship").
     I will close this paper by simply laying the ground work for the above consideration next fall. In order to do this I would raw your attention to several things that I believe are absolutely imperative to any fruitful inquiry into the subject. When the Writings speak of priestly enlightenment, they do so in primary reference to the study, understanding, and administration of the spiritual truths of the Word, and the teaching of those truths as doctrine to the church. The references to priestly government in AC 10789-10798, and repeated in NJHD 311-318, have their essential focus and application under this primary reference. As an example of this, we should take careful note of the fact that the priestly responsibility of separating a member from the organized church body is specifically tied to that member's disagreeing, in a manner that is disturbing to the church, with the doctrinal understanding and position of the priest (AC 107984-5, 10798), not to a disagreement, even if disturbing, with the priest's position or actions in reference to church uses. For all uses in this world are on the natural plane, are constituted to a large degree of natural derivation and application, and depend, both in their conception and extension, on a foundation of natural light, or light of the world. The fact that the priest proposes this or that natural use, even if from a state of personal enlightenment-i.e., in and from a state of genuine, personal conscience from the Word-gives no guarantee that the uses he proposes are equally enlightened.

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The essential response of the laity to an enlightened priesthood, as set out in every series and statement I have found on the subject, is to priestly enlightenment in reference to doctrine, not their enlightenment in reference to church uses. The two are related, certainly, but they are not to be identified with each other.
     In regard to this whole question of church uses and priestly enlightenment, then, I believe we must bear in mind and keep a clear-headed distinction between the two fundamental kinds and levels of enlightenment with all men, in whatever occupation they may be. There has been, in my estimation, a lack of such distinction made, even among the priesthood; I have not found it emphasized-nor, in most of the studies I have read, even mentioned. It is little wonder to me, therefore, that there has been continuing confusion in this regard with priests as well as laymen. This has been an inevitable result either of failing to form our conclusions on the subject from a clear concept of this double-layered, or double-leveled, formation of the understanding with every man in every occupation, including the occupation of the priesthood; or else of assuming that somehow spiritual enlightenment gives, or produces, the light of the world in the performance of uses on the natural plane, especially in reference to the uses of the priesthood; yet this is not the case. A priest may be deeply enlightened as far as his own personal response to the Word is concerned, and at the same time be a poor organizer and administrator; in this case, uses are going to suffer, perhaps fail, under his hand. He may be a regenerate man-angel in spiritual quality, yet a hopeless procrastinator in his natural disposition and carry-through; in this case, church uses under his charge, and ultimately his use (occupation) as a priest of the church, will inevitably deteriorate to a point of no return if he doesn't change his ways in this regard. He may be headed for the very highest heaven, yet be an exceedingly poor writer and a pathetic disciplinarian; in this case, his central work of worship and instruction-especially if he is in a society with a school-will languish, his congregation suffering spiritual malnutrition from his poorly structured sermons and classes, and the children in his school running riot.
     Does spiritual enlightenment give the priest a higher, or deeper, insight than laymen into the natural uses of the church? I believe it can give him a different kind of insight; but I qualify this with "can," because this difference in kind will come about with any degree of adequacy in proportion as there are adequate receiving forms in and from his "light of the world" properly ordered and organized. His first and essential focus of thought and activity in his occupation as a priest must be a conscientious and continuing study of the Word itself.

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But in order to bring his study of the Word to his people he must be increasingly aware of, and increasingly proficient in meeting, many natural states and levels of human life and human response, in order that his teaching and leading may be rightly accommodated to those states.
     In short, that phrase "enlightenment in use(s)," or "according to use(s)"-for priests as well as for laymen-must be defined and regarded on two levels: (1) the spiritual enlightenment that is measured by the degree of conscience within a man's performance of his natural occupation; (2) the natural enlightenment that results from the man's consciously applying himself to the continuing development of that occupation. Both lights may, and should, exist with the priest and the layman in their respective occupations; one may exist without the other; neither may exist. The point is that spiritual enlightenment with all men inflows and forms itself as conscience, within the duties and necessities of their natural occupation. It requires natural enlightenment to discern and discriminate appropriately among those duties and necessities and to work out their applications on the natural plane, which is the plane of uses. I believe that the priest can have enlightenment in reference to those uses of the church which are not a direct extension of worship and instruction; but that this is not given automatically, nor on and from the same level as that of his enlightenment in the direct uses of worship and instruction from doctrine. Rather will it be given in proportion as he develops in and from the light of the world a genuine knowledge and understanding of those natural states, and those necessities of life on the natural plane, to which he directs his teaching and leading from doctrine.
     This does not mean that the priest must, ipso facto, become proficient in some other occupation, or take a degree in some other professional area. He may do so, if it is felt that this would significantly prepare or aid him in that natural area to which his priestly love and interest has led him. But apart from this, bear in mind that he is already a professional in his own right, with a professional degree in his chosen occupation secured through three years of intensive post graduate study and the writing of a thesis. By the same token, every layman possessing a graduate degree in his chosen profession would have to take in addition a degree in theology in order to study the Word and discern genuine truth there-a requirement that the Writings certainly do not support.
     Well, there is more to be said on the subject of enlightenment-a great deal more-as to particulars of doctrine in relation to the generals I have mentioned here. This fact in itself has made this the most frustrating paper I have ever tried to write; because I either had to limit myself to these few general areas along with a few of their particulars, or launch into a whole series on enlightenment.

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I hope to do this someday . . . but is probably won't happen. Perhaps it's just as well. Other minds need to get into this study, but it must be real study, not a number here and a number there (I call it "playing the numbers"). It must be a study of the doctrine of enlightenment. In the meantime-probably "for the duration"-the major part of my references and notes on the subject will simply remain in their several files (there are thirteen of them). On the front of the first of these files is written "Enlightenment-A Hope Expressed."
MEDICINE AND THE NEW CHURCH: A RESPONSE 1984

MEDICINE AND THE NEW CHURCH: A RESPONSE       JOHN ABELE       1984

     Let me start by saying how much I appreciated Dr. Heilman's article in the August issue. He made several fair and reasonable statements about the modern-day practice of medicine viewed from a New Church perspective. It must be both exciting and challenging to be a New Churchman and a physician.
     My response to his article is directed primarily at his reaction to the use of homeopathic medicines. I think in order to have a fair assessment of Homeopathy that there is some additional evidence about it that must be presented. In this article I shall try to avoid repeating many of the arguments in favor of Homeopathy that have already appeared in this magazine many times over. The interested reader is referred to several articles that appeared in NCL between 1911 and 1919 beginning in the August 1911 issue with an article entitled "The Philosophy of Disease and Cure" by Rev. E. E. Iungerich. These several articles taken together serve as a useful compilation of references from the Writings on the whole issue of health and disease.
     It is interesting that many of the early New Church champions of Homeopathy referred to their medical practice as the truly "rational" one and called upon those of other persuasions to get a touch of rationality in their practices. Now Dr. Heilman tells us that non-homeopathic medicine may really be the rational way to practice. Personally, I think that the issue of Homeopathy is not so much an issue of rationality as it is an issue of freedom. My understanding of the Writings is that rationality is a faculty given to each and every individual by the Lord. It, along with its counterpart, freedom, are what make man what he is: man. We are in freedom to choose among several forms of medicine available to us-all of which were provided by the Lord-and all of which reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals doing the practicing.

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Hahnemann, in one of his books, states that the Lord mercifully allowed Homeopathy to be discovered. Medical historians have attributed the demise of bleeding (by lancets and leeches) as treatment of choice directly to the rise of Homeopathy.
     To summarize briefly the history of Homeopathy in the New Church, New Churchmen have been attracted to Homeopathy primarily because they see an affinity or harmony between the laws of natural healing and the laws of spiritual healing together with a knowledge of correspondences and a desire to see the truths of the Word confirmed in life. There is undoubtedly some recognition of the limits of human understanding as well. Potentized sulphur is a common constitutional remedy in Homeopathy. The Writings tell us that sulphur corresponds, generally, to the concupiscences of the love of self. Without being condemnatory or judgmental an experienced homeopath can see how this ultimates itself in the classical sulphur patient.
     It is also worthy of note that there have been many New Church physicians who have practiced exclusively homeopathically. I would refer Dr. Heilman to the writings of James Tyler Kent, M.D., an eminent homeopathic physician, and see if he does not agree that Dr. Kent had to be as knowledgeable of Swedenborg's theological works as are any of us today. Interestingly, Dr. Kent had been a "rational" physician until his wife became ill and he could not help her, but a homeopath brought her back to health.
     Dr. Heilman states that there has been little movement in the field of Homeopathy in the last twenty or thirty years. I can appreciate how someone not trained in Homeopathy might feel that way. Rational medicine bases much of its practice on constantly updated and new research results and new drugs. Countless medical journals are filled with new findings and reports of new medicines for which the practicing physician is responsible for keeping himself updated. Homeopathy, on the other hand, to quote Dr. Kent, "asserts that there are principles which govern the practice of medicine" (emphasis his). These principles do not shift and change every time a new piece of research is completed, but rather are enhanced and embellished and further revealed, if you will. (See J. T. Kent, Lectures in Homeopathic Philosophy.) And here is the point: many of these principles are articulated and revealed to us in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. As a result of these unchanging principles, the Pulsatilla I give someone today is exactly the same stuff that Dr. Kent dispensed 100 years ago. The only advantage I have over Dr. Kent is 100 years of additional experience in using these remedies, which experience is reported in the journals, books and conferences.

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This must be attractive to the minds of some physicians because the number of caring, responsible, licensed and even board-certified physicians who are limiting their practices exclusively to Homeopathy is growing.
     Finally, I must comment on Dr. Heilman's evoking the placebo-effect argument as an explanation for homeopathic effectiveness. It is one of the most commonly raised, yet groundless, concerns opponents to Homeopathy raise. Newborn "blue babies" have been resuscitated with Homeopathy, and people have been aroused from comas with it. Coincidence, perhaps, but hardly placebo! I won't even raise the issue of the number of homeopaths who treat themselves and claim to get results. Imagine a double-blind study to verify this. On my bookshelf I see Clarke's Materia Medica which fills three volumes with 2500 pages on more than 800 remedies. Kent's Homeopathic Repertory lists over 600 remedies. Boericke's Materia Medica is over 1000 pages in length. Julian presents 121 new remedies. If Homeopathy is really nothing more than placebo, why does all this work? Just have on hand four or five nostrums with important-sounding names and be done with it. And why do we have homeopathic manufacturing pharmacies that keep up with the latest in pharmacological techniques if all we are using is "inert" substances?
     On the other hand, placebo effect is a very powerful tool and in its place ought to be used. As long as it does the patient no harm, use it. The Writings teach: "For man's mind, in all its particulars, extends into all things of the body; its range is into all things of the body; for it is the very form of life" (D. Love XIII:3).
     In conclusion, perhaps one of the most important principles that comes from the Writings regarding a philosophy of medicine is found in the Spiritual Diary in a number that describes the operation of spirits in the production of a fever. "Medical means are likewise mediate causes, which the Lord disposes from Providence. That a man becomes restored from the Providence of God man knows for he so says; and some acknowledge it by attributing their restoration to God, and by giving thanks on account of it" (SD 457l-emphasis mine). Put more succinctly, "Medicines help, but still more . . . the Providence of the Lord" (SD Min. 4650). It is quite possible that there are several forms of medicine all of which are part of the Lord's Providence, given to man to choose among freely as his reason dictates. Just as New Churchmen continue to argue about the Lord's resurrection body, so they will argue about Homeopathy. It's one of the concomitants of freedom.

     [See the letter on page 518.]

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EDUCATION THAT STICKS 1984

EDUCATION THAT STICKS       REY W. COOPER       1984

     (Part II)

     Let's begin with some thoughts on "Affection in Education," making no pretense that anything here is new. We will, however, suggest some changes in emphasis with a view to making the education provided by the Academy more available to those who tend toward underachievement. The hope is that the church can thereby welcome a higher percentage of Academy graduates who will become active and dedicated New Church men and women.
     But the Academy cannot do the job alone. Its success depends heavily upon the homes' unstinting efforts at proper child-rearing. This will result in a preconditioning for the absorption of the Academy's offerings. Expressed more strongly, the Academy cannot be expected to reverse bad habits acquired during an inadequate upbringing-but she will always try.
     Everyone knows that there is no learning without affection, and that at the start those affections that make it possible are probably not the right ones. However, through a Divine miracle, if the man will regenerate, those affections can be converted.
     But there are other kinds of affections which impact upon the student. The teacher's love for the subject, his love of teaching, the student's love for the teacher, the love the student experiences at home-and outside of school in general-and, among others, the teacher's love for the student. Let's look more closely at this last one. We mentioned earlier the great need for classroom discussion. Is this not most profitably undertaken in a conversational mode? I believe the successful achievement of this and of other classroom learning depends heavily upon the student's perception of the teacher's affection for him. If you question this, consider the disastrous consequences of its lack, as evidenced in the belief by some students that they and the teachers are on two opposite sides of some kind of competition called education; or feeling that the faculty is trying to force them into some particular mold.

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Such beliefs cancel out any chance for real education. Therefore, to make it possible, the students (all the students) must see that the teachers are genuinely concerned in helping them find their way to happiness and success. The importance of solving this problem appears from the realization that failure here causes many other great developments in education to be of very limited use.
     Before the student can perceive the teacher's affection for him, it must be there. But of what nature is this affection? It could be a general affection directed toward the whole student body-kind of a by-product of the love of being an educator. It could also be a more specific love for each individual student.
     From other teachings we would infer a need for the latter, namely a love for each individual student. For instance, we do not understand the universal nature of Divine Providence until we see how it oversees each single person. Is it not particular application that finally counts?
     How can such a specific affection be achieved? Of course it will be difficult and may even be a time consuming effort. But is it not the commencement of real communication? If so, can it be avoided? Perhaps some kind of social relationship or other extracurricular activity would develop it.
     I have read of teachers who spent an occasional Saturday afternoon or weekend with their classes on a field trip, even in winter, and another who invited his class to his home for Friday afternoon tea and discussion of current events or other topics of interest to the students. Both these activities apparently built strong affectional ties between student and teacher. A teacher friend has come to believe that whatever device is employed, it should be centered on use or interest. This fits well with the other approaches. Certainly it is a subject requiring a lot of research and experimentation, and its attainment will doubtless be paid for by cutbacks in other areas. But would it not be worth the cost? It is apparent of course that now, just as fifty years ago when I saw it, some of the teachers evidence this affection for the students as individuals without any recognizable device to achieve it. That is wonderful.
     As the years pass, and ever-new approaches are developed, we can hope for a continuing increase in the fruitful transfer to every student of knowledges, understanding, affection and affirmative attitudes. But learning is only a first step.
     Let us turn now to the problem of carrying out into life the things that have been learned. Active and dedicated New Churchmanship is synonymous with living the doctrines. Exposure to doctrine at home and in the classroom provides a basis for living. When school days are behind us, many educational acquisitions have to be kept very much a part of consciousness or else life will fade away before its purposes are realized-a tragedy of staggering proportions.

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     Look at some of the things which must be part of that consciousness:

     1. One must know that the principal purpose of earth-life is preparation for eternal life. It will be such a preparation in any case, but he must direct it consciously to that end.
     2. He must know that this preparation is accomplished by making himself into a true New Churchman. He may well have to start without a strong conviction, but having been exposed to the idea by teachers and parents he respects, then experience, observation, study and reflection can do the rest.
     3. He must know that the Word is the key source of what he needs for true success and happiness-in the world and beyond.
     4. He must know that a life guided by the Word will be very different from the life he would otherwise have followed. He might do well to have in mind a "plan for living." This would be a written document, produced by himself as part of a class which could also be called "Plan for Living." As already noted, the principal purpose of earth life is preparation for eternal life. This knowledge must have several elements. First, that it is so. Second, how it is so. Third, there must be a continuous awareness that it is so-in other words, a frequent reminder to keep at it. This document could take any one of a number of forms designed to hold him on course. It might remind him of ends to be achieved, dangers to be avoided, methods for attaining ends, what can be in store, and some inspirational messages. As an auxiliary aid in this effort, one might use something like this daily reminder chart. Each individual would have his own. The idea would be to spend a few minutes each morning planning the new day, and a few more each night checking on the day's performance. Perhaps the document could be discarded after the practice is well established.

     Daily Reminder Chart

     Search out personal shortcomings.
     Make someone happy.
     Think about spreading the church.
     Help someone become better.
     Study the Word in its three dispensations for the sake of living.
     Stimulate continued activity and dedication of New Churchmen.

     Of course the mere listing of aims will accomplish little. However, there is a way to use the chart profitably:

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     Find a place free from distractions, read the first item, put the chart aside and reflect deeply. Ask yourself some questions. For the item "Search out personal shortcomings," a first question might be, "In what area am I in most danger?" Supply an answer. "Where does it show up?" Supply an answer. "Can I avoid thinking about it?" Supply an answer. "What kind of thoughts do I entertain when I am alone?" Supply an answer. "What can I do about it?" And so on.
     This sounds very complicated. It should be seen as only a temporary expedient until affection can take over and be a guiding force. In AC 4884 we find, "When a man does a truth frequently, it then recurs not only from habit but also from affection, and thus from freedom."
     The third and final part of this essay, to appear in a later issue, will propose a formal high school course entitled "Manhood," as a means of getting across to all the boys that essential feature of male human life without which neither the individual, the world nor the church can progress.
GENERAL CHURCH TRANSLATION COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 1983 1984

GENERAL CHURCH TRANSLATION COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 1983       Rev. N. Bruce Rogers       1984

     Despite some temporary setbacks, the work of the Translation Committee continued to go forward. We regret to report the loss of the services of Mrs. Lisa Hyatt Cooper, who retired in August to devote herself to her family, but we rejoice with her and her husband Kent at the birth of their first child. We have not yet found an adequate replacement for her. We were also unable to go on with two projects due to other factors, and one did not reach the completion we had anticipated. On the other hand, we managed to come in under the budget for the year, thanks in part to unexpected gifts; and other projects continued to progress.
     Experientiae Spirituales (formerly Diarium Spirituale). The church has waited a long time for a new, scholarly edition of this most important work, containing as it does a detailed, day-by-day record of Swedenborg's spiritual experiences from 1745 to 1765, a period of twenty years. Because of the size of the work and its hasty style of writing, making the manuscripts often difficult to read, the project is a major undertaking. Nevertheless, under the editorship of Dr. J. Durban Odhner, signal progress has been made.

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     Tangible evidence of this progress has now appeared in the publication last summer of Volume I, the first of six projected volumes. Published by the Academy of the New Church, under Dr. Odhner's supervision, with considerable technical assistance from Mr. Jonathan S. Rose, this handsomely bound volume exhibits in its lengthy prefaces and critical apparatus the level of definitive scholarship which the work deserves and upon which careful study and reliable translation must depend. Numerous erroneous readings have been corrected. Eventually, to serve the whole church, translations into contemporary languages will have to be made. But publication of this first volume of this new Latin edition constitutes the first and indispensable step toward that goal. (A brief description of the contents may be found in last year's annual report.)
     Further progress also continued on the second and third volumes. With the assistance of Mr. Rose, Dr. Odhner completed his editing of Volume II, to contain nos. 973-3527 (all originally written in 1748), and it is now ready for typesetting. The editing of Volume III is underway.
     Mrs. Cooper', moreover, continued her preparation of a typescript of Swedenborg's index to this work, which the author compiled in four volumes. Before her retirement, she had edited and typed out the first of these and started on the second. This material is projected for Volume V of this new Latin edition.
     Several difficulties still have to be faced, however. As of this writing, we have learned that funds are not now available for continuing with publication of Volume II. We have yet to secure a consultant for Volume III to replace Mrs. Cooper. And with Mrs. Cooper's retirement, progress on the index has come to a temporary halt. Dr. Odhner continues with his editing, with some assistance from Mr. Rose, but if his work is to reach proper fruition, somehow these difficulties will have to be overcome.
     De Verbo. In our annual report for 1981 we reported completion of a new Latin edition of this work, fully titled De Scriptura Sacra seu Verbo Domini, edited by the Rev. N. Bruce Rogers. As it turned out, after typesetting, final proofreading had to be done last summer by Mrs. Cooper and the editor, in the course of which it became apparent that a new method of typesetting was required, both to eliminate potential errors in final paste-up and to make copies immediately ready for preview by photocopy before final emendation and paste-up. Thanks to Mr. Rose's inventive capabilities, a new method was devised, requiring extensive modifications in material as already typeset. This material may, then, be ready for preview soon. Again, however, as reported last year, it is our intention to hold up its publication until it can be published with De Ultimo Judicio (posthumous) and other companion material found in the same codex (Codex 12).

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     The Word of the Lord. This new translation of De Verbo, also made by Mr. Rogers, was typeset, reviewed and proofread by his consultant, Mrs. Cooper, and last summer finally proofread and revised by the translator. Like the Latin version referred to above, this material needs to be modified as presently typeset before sending it out for preview. This step will have to wait, however, till funds for publication become available again. In any case, final publication will await completion of the new English translation of The last Judgment (posthumous) and other companion material in Coder 12, as reported last year.
     De Ultimo Judicio (posthumous). The primary editing of this new Latin edition, first by Mr. Prescott A. Rogers and then by Mr. B. Erikson Odhner, has been completed. Mr. Rogers continued the work of consultant on the latter part but due to other commitments was unable to finish. Certain decisions still remain to be made over the placement of certain paragraphs and the handling of miscellaneous material in the same codex (Codex 12).
     The Last Judgment (posthumous). Mr. Odhner embarked last summer on an English translation of the new edition of De Ultimo Judicio, and a first draft has been prepared of the first fifty numbers.
     Selected Memorable Relations. Mrs. Lisa Cooper continued her work on these simplified translations for the young, described in last year's annual report. Of the nineteen chosen, seven are in final form (five of which were published serially in New Church Home), and the rest are ready for final revision following review by consultants.
     The Old and New Testaments in Latin According to the Writings. This collation of verses as quoted in the Writings remained in its state of suspension. Though funding was available to carry it on, we were unable to find a qualified researcher with the time to work on it during the hours when the Swedenborgiana Library was open at Glencairn, where the collation is necessarily housed for its protection.
     Parallel Passages in the Writings. Thanks to the generous support of a special contributor, work on this project continued last summer under the leadership of Mr. Edward Gyllenhaal, assisted by Misses Julie David and Angela Rose and Mr. Brian David, under the general direction of the Rev. N. Bruce Rogers. Fundamental research on the interchapter material in Arcana Coelestia was completed. Work was begun on True Christian Religion and completed through no. 281. Some general research and analysis of past work was done as well. Evidence suggests that new methods of study, utilizing the "crossed out" passages in the Spiritual Diary (Spiritual Experiences), could yield many more parallels between the Diary and the interchapter material in Arcana than have previously been found.

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     "Translator's Corner." Dr. J. Durban Odhner continued as editor of this feature appearing in The New Philosophy. This past year saw the appearance in it of the first installment of the first English translation of Swedenborg's work On Common Salt translated by Mr. Michael David. Dr. Odhner also comments: "An area of Swedenborgiana research that has been almost completely neglected in the past seems to be opening up: resources contemporary to Swedenborg in Swedish and other Germanic languages, especially German. Some bibliographical data will be presented in the 'Translator's Corner,' we hope, during 1984."
     Swedenborg Lexicon. Mr. Jonathan Rose continued to assist in producing this work by verifying quotations and references in preparation for Part VII, working through most of the listings under R. Part VI (P, Q) is ready for printing. Compiled and edited by Dr. John Chadwick of England, this valuable Lexicon to the Latin Text of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg is being published in installments by the Swedenborg Society.
     Conclusion. We still have difficulties to overcome in finding needed personnel and funding-difficulties already indicated in this report. Nevertheless, at the same time we are conscious of how much has been accomplished, to an extent we could not have envisioned ten years ago. It is with hope, therefore, that we look forward to the next ten years. Every year seems to bring new people interested in the work. And it is a vital work, one which will never be finally accomplished, but which must be continually pursued if the church is to be built upon its proper foundation. To quote Dr. Odhner in a recent communication: "Ever more acutely, the General Church Translation Committee is sensing the ponderous responsibility that its assignment brings with it, to convey the sacred texts committed to the custodianship of the church with the greatest possible fidelity and clarity-the most fundamental and basic aspect of the Lord's work of salvation, upon which all other aspects ultimately depend."
     Rev. N. Bruce Rogers,
          Chairman

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Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages       Editor       1984

     A RESTORATION OF CHEERFULNESS

     Anointing the head with the oil of joy

     Sincerely mistaken religious people think it is right to walk around "with a sad and sorrowful face." The pity is that the posture they adopt in the name of religion does not get them closer to heaven than others. In fact that very posture is a hindrance, for it is "not receptive of heavenly joy" (HH 528).
     The true religious life should be receptive, receptive of what the Lord intends for us. His teachings should provide a way for us to be more receptive of the joy that He intends. "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
     When you think of the phrase in the 23rd Psalm, "Thou anointest my head with oil," think of the Lord reaching out to brighten your day and to make your face shine. There was once a beautiful custom of anointing oneself and others with oil to testify gladness of mind and good will. The Writings refer to this ancient custom more than once as they mention the phrase, "Thou anointest my head with oil." They also allude to the fact that when the Lord came into the world there were people who made it part of their religious fasts to abstain from anointing the head and face. "They disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting." But the Lord came to restore gladness. "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face" (Matt. 6:17; see AE 375:23, AC 9954:19).
     Swedenborg encountered angels who flow into the face. While they are present they tend to keep the face "smiling and cheerful." Swedenborg testifies from experience that his heart was filled with delight when such angels were near. "The desires and anxieties about the future, which induce intranquility and unpleasantness, and excite and agitate the mind into various disturbances, were then removed" (AC 8113).
     Such kind offices come from the Lord who has created so many things for man, including "oil to make his face to shine"(Ps. 104:15). This is the "oil of joy" or "oil of gladness" which is celebrated in the 45th Psalm. Yes, the Lord anoints the head with oil. He gives

     beauty for ashes,
     the oil or joy for mourning,
     the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

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     Are we supposed to begin our day by assuming an artificial smile? Are we to put on a mask of pretended cheerfulness? No, we begin our day lifting our thoughts to the incredibly good things of the Lord's providing. We can say in spite of ourselves, This is the day, that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. And we can pursue a life of usefulness, a life mindful of the Lord's purpose of a heaven from the human race, a life "receptive of heavenly joy."

     ALLOWED TO ATTEND IMPORTANT MEETINGS

     Some people have to attend a lot of meetings, and sometimes the meetings seem dreary. Necessary, yes, but by no means the most fulfilling parts of their lives. Perhaps the most attractive meetings are those to which we are not invited. Perhaps we sense that important decisions are being made somewhere, and we wish we were part of them. Once the newsletter of one of our circles reported that many were suffering from the feeling that the important decisions were being made by someone else. The circle was sometimes referred to by members as "them" rather than as "us."
     Minorities protest that they should have more say in decision making. Students want to have more say in matters of school policy. Meetings seem so glamorous when by virtue of our status we are not involved. Some have longed to sit on a board or council but have found when they finally got the chance that it was more like work than they had imagined. And instead of having the sensation of controlling others through high-level decisions, some have found that important meetings call for a lot of self-control!
     Every organization and meeting (like every position of authority) when viewed rightly is a serving of others and is not an outlet for self-exaltation. The Writings describe some people who had not looked to the service of others. "In their offices they had not looked to uses but to themselves, and thus had set themselves before uses." It seems that when they got to the other world they wanted to be in on important meetings.
     "As they were very eager and importunate to be set over others they were allowed to associate with those who were consulting about matters of great importance." The problem was that they only knew how to talk with reference to their own importance and were blind to the real issue of use. "They were unable to give any thought to the business under discussion, or to see matters as they are in themselves, or to speak with reference to the use of the thing" (HH 563). They were eventually excluded from participation. Is there a moral in this true story for all of us?

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KING JAMES VERSION 1984

KING JAMES VERSION       Alice Fritz       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor:
     At the end of the Saturday morning Assembly session, in the last minutes of the discussion of the King James Version vs. the New King James Version, the final speaker, Miss Creda Glenn, reminded us of the beauty of the King James Version, and of the music we could lose if we move away from it. She was mainly concerned with the Liturgy, to which she has devoted so much time and talent, but her remarks reinforced a strong feeling of mine which has to do with the music, the poetry, of the Word as we all grew to know and love it.
     I am most enthusiastic about new and better translations of the Writings, whether they be major works like the Arcana by Rev. John Elliott or tantalizing bits by some of our brilliant young linguists. I have no affection for English texts of the Writings, some of them so muddy-well, over-wordy-that I can't read them productively, after many years of trying. The Writings give us Divine truth, and the more clearly that light shines through the verbiage, the better.
     But the Word, that is, the Old and New Testaments, is different. We must remember that so much of it is allegory that our orientation wanders away from concentrating on the literal, especially when we are trying to keep in mind the internal sense. But the important part for me is that the new version, promised as the one which would give us clarity and accuracy while retaining all the beauty of the old one, doesn't fulfill that promise. It isn't the fault of the translators. That task would be impossible, given the differences between contemporary English and that of the beginning of the seventeenth century, when our beautiful language reached glory.
     The sonorities, the perfectly balanced phrases, the poetry, are not incidentals. They lift us to a higher plane. Our affections are deeply involved when we read or listen to the Word. And we have to follow our affections. The new version doesn't really bother me personally-in general, I don't read it, and when it's read to me I find I stop listening (not ideal in church). I can hear the defenders of the new version responding joyfully, "Aha! This is habituation. And sentimentality. When these kids have been used to this one for fifty years, they'll like this one better." This, unfortunately, is probably true, and it's something I dread. I do not subscribe to the lowest common denominator strategy, as demonstrated in television programming-simpler, and emptier, because they like it! We should never promote a second class product because it's easier to teach.

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We should hone our teaching skills, and raise the levels, not come down to them. I certainly never had trouble understanding the Word as a child-when I met a strange word I did what I always did, and asked. So should our children.
     When I was a teenager we were as excited about the Philadelphia and other great orchestras, via concerts and radio, as today's poor kids are with rock stars. The difference is that our music is still with us, a solace and a joy. I wonder what they'll have in fifty years-impaired hearing aside. We must do our best for our young, hoping that their potential will be fulfilled, and when we think of religious instruction, it might help if we contemplate the enormous effect of this truly inspired version of the Word on the English-speaking world during almost four centuries. To be really contemporary, I have to quote "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The "fixed" one is often a step down, and we must always try our best to step up. There's so much that really needs doing.
     Alice Fritz,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
FAIRNESS ON HOMEOPATHY 1984

FAIRNESS ON HOMEOPATHY       Viola F. Omlor       1984

Dear Editor,
     The issue of homeopathic and allopathic as raised in the article "Medicine, the New Church and Homeopathy" is on a par with:

     Democratic and Republican
     Nuclear and solar
     Vegetarian and meat eater.

     Should there be a publication which could involve lay people in these issues and allow NEW CHURCH LIFE to be for enlightening or debating doctrinal issues?
     Until then, in fairness to the other side, a few comments on the side of Homeopathy.
     The point was made that Homeopathy was introduced "at an even less certain time in medicine than today." Was the inference that Homeopathy wasn't very good because medicine wasn't very good at that time? Or was it that Homeopathy was turned to because medicine was so bad at the time? If the first inference is correct, are we then to ignore one good artist because that artist lived in a time of mediocre artists? If the second inference is correct, then it must surely illustrate that Homeopathy had something of value to offer.
     The fact that the Hahnemann Medical School is now a "full-fledged and modern hospital" and "that the role of homeopathy in that growth . . . is historical" somehow seems irrelevant.

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There could be many reasons for that, among them being the fact that the modern field of medicine is more profitable.
     As for the public in the statement: "Even the much maligned institution of marriage has had a better track record with the general public than has homeopathy," the public can be wrong as can the entire medical world. History can provide numerous examples of both groups being in error.
     And now for what might be the complicated heart of the matter. Is Homeopathy merely a placebo? Homeopathy is known to work best with children and animals. For examples of this, in the interest of brevity for this letter, the reader should turn to the small paperback book, Homeopathy, an Introduction Guide by A. C. Gordon. Can animals or children be "talked" out of their illness with a sugar pill?
     Progress is being made in the field of Homeopathy. It is playing a role in the rising appeal of wholistic and alternate medical treatments. It is being used with considerable success in the treatment of allergies and environmental sensitivities caused by our modern world pollution.
     Much more could be said in favor of Homeopathy and this not in denigration of allopathic medicine whose achievements will not be denied. The ideal is for the patient to have adequate knowledge and to have the freedom to select one or both.
     The debate has been waged for years, unresolved, as the debates between political parties, energy conscious individuals, etc. And so should we decide who should be attracted to the church: the Republican, or the vegetarian, or the nuclear activist or the allopath? Should there be a particular mind-set or does the Lord wish His teachings to be received by anyone in humility, with a genuine desire to live in charity?
     Viola F. Omlor,
          Darlington, Pennsylvania
LORD OUR FATHER 1984

LORD OUR FATHER       Michael A. Nash       1984

     Dear Editor,
     In the highest terms I would strongly praise the article by Rev. Geoffrey Childs entitled, "The Lord Our Father" in the July issue of this magazine. And just as strongly would I plead for everyone to read or re-read the same, as it deserves the full attention of the church. That means all of us.
     When the Word teaches us that the Second Coming of the Lord is not a coming in person but in the spiritual sense of the Word as revealed through a man whom the Lord would manifest Himself to and commission to teach the doctrines of the church called "The New Jerusalem" (Nova Hierosolyma), it is my sincere belief that the following points should be considered:

520




     1.      We must reflect also upon the teaching of the Lord that one is to think from essence to person and not the reverse. Remember and know that the Lord came on earth in person and not the reverse. Remember and know that the Lord came on earth in person, glorified His human, and revealed His essence more and more to all true men of His church. Indeed, like the original disciples, we see Him but naturally at first, but as we advance in His strength alone in our regenerate path, He is seen transfigured before us, and finally we witness His ascension when brought to see Him in our whole mind and heart as the one and only God in heaven and earth who is increasingly visible to us into eternity. The period between His resurrection and His ascension in us is also forty days in that it is for us a period of spiritual combat and doubt leading to miraculous victory in His name.
     2.      His Second Coming not in the historical sense but to us as individuals is one with our regeneration when completed and we enter His heaven for us for eternity. This is our heavenly mansion which He alone has prepared for us. Then we are from Him alone in the light and heat of heaven where we forever enter into the internal sense of the trinal Word suited to the exact degree of our prepared receptivity. This, then, is our whole life from Him alone in which He keeps us. We know more and more of Him for His essence is received into our conscious minds which reveals to our sight something of His Person. Previously, we knew about Him in some degree, but did not know Him by comparison. Now the order has been reversed: We first learned about His Person but with much obscurity and false ideas in which He is yet unglorified in our minds and hearts. The Third Testament was given to us and as we first tried to live in His power by its literal teaching, the Holy Spirit began to speak to us directly there. Then we followed the command of Divine order to think from Essence to Person instead of the reverse. Then we truly saw that the Holy Spirit is one with the Lord and is the Lord Himself and not another. Now we are increasingly being given a revelation and sight of His Person, now glorified.
     3.      Also at first in our natural state, we thought Swedenborg the man was the revelator. Now we know that it is the Lord Himself.
     Michael A. Nash,
          Mountain Home, Arkansas

521


VIGNETTES OF THE EARLY CHURCH IN AFRICA 1984

VIGNETTES OF THE EARLY CHURCH IN AFRICA       R.R.G       1984

     The New Church in Bedford, Pennsylvania

     The following is taken from a biographical sketch of S. M. Barclay written by Richard De Charms, Sr.

      In the lapse of years, by slow and gradual accretions of such verbal knowledge, she (Mrs. Nawgle) was enabled to master, after her own peculiar fashion, Swedenborg's grand work, the Arcana Coelestia, in its English rendering; and when we were minister in Bedford, in 1828, she had read thru that entire work seven times, and was partly thru it the eighth . . . by repeated tests. . .we soon found that she had quite as good, if not a better understanding of the Arcana, than ourselves.
     Judge Walker had exclaimed, "I would give all I am worth for Mrs. Nawgle's understanding of the Arcana Coelestia!" Her ardent and pure affection for the truths of heaven gave her a common perception of even the deepest heavenly mysteries, which oft times far transcended the feeble graspings of our puny intelligence; and we felt constrained so sit in silent reverence at the feet of this mother in Israel.
     (Mrs. Nawgle, wife of a tavern-keeper in Bedford, had received "only six months schooling in the German, and was wholly illiterate in the English. She read the German Heaven and Hell, and became most passionately in love with its truths; so much so, that hearing there were other theological works of Swedenborg's translated into the English language, she resolved to learn the English." This she did by learning the words used in reading and in the hymns sung at morning and evening worship, conducted by Josiah M. Espy, a New Churchman staying at her Inn.)
     R.R.G

     [Compare this to the incident in SD 5997. Ed.]
BOOK COMPETITION 1984

BOOK COMPETITION              1984

     The Swedenborg Lending Library and Enquiry Centre in Sydney, Australia, is organizing a book competition with the Swedenborg 1988 Tricentenary in view. There is a category of books for children 5 to 10 years old and one for books "utilising Swedenborgian thought and directed towards the public generally."
     Closing date for receipt of manuscripts will be June 30th, 1986. We will publish more details later, but you are welcome to write directly to Mr. Neville C. Jarvis, at the Enquiry Center, 55 Clarence Street, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000, Australia. NEW MAGAZINE FROM THE SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION 1984

NEW MAGAZINE FROM THE SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION              1984



522


     How often have you wished for a general introductory publication to give to friends who want to learn something about Swedenborgians and the Swedenborgian heritage?
     Would a beautifully printed and illustrated magazine describing our rich cultural tradition help to meet this need?
     Would you also like an opportunity yourself to take a fresh look at the Swedenborgian heritage in publication of "coffee-table" quality, laid out with beautiful imagery and many graphics? The Swedenborg Foundation hopes so.
     To respond to the requests being received from thousands of viewers of its new motion pictures, the Foundation will introduce on January 29 the trial issue of Chrysalis, an illustrated magazine intended for a general audience. But to make Chrysalis permanently feasible, the Foundation will need the support of Swedenborgian subscribers worldwide.
     We will give more information on this magazine in the next issue. You are welcome to send indication of your interest and support to Darrell Ruhl, Executive Director, the Swedenborg Foundation, 139 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010.
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1984

NCL 50 YEARS AGO              1984

     A heading in the October issue of 194 reads: "The Writings at Woolworth's." It is there noted that at twenty-nine of the principal Woolworth stores in Great Britain the works Heaven and Hell and Divine Providence are on sale.

     NCL 100 YEARS AGO

     In the October issue of 1884 we read the following news: "A Girls' School has been established under the direct supervision of the Chancellor. The teachers are Mrs. S. deC. Hibbard, Miss Alice Grant, and Miss Susie June." It is further noted that "the recitation rooms of the Girls' School are bright and cheerful, being tastefully furnished and decorated, and present a marked contrast with some other parts of the Academy Schools, which seem never to have realized the importance of suitable externals. The course of instruction adopted promises to be both novel and successful."

523


CHARTER DAY 1984

              1984




     Announcements





     All ex-students, members of the General Church, and friends of the Academy are invited to attend the 68th Charter Day exercises, to be held in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, Friday, October 12th and 13th, 1984. The program: Friday, 11:00 a.m.-cathedral service with an address by Rt. Rev. Louis B. King; Saturday, 7:00 p.m.-banquet (toastmaster, Mr. Burton Friesen); 9:00 p.m.-dance following banquet.
CHARTER DAY BANQUET TICKETS 1984

              1984

      (see September issue, p. 470)

     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS CALENDAR

     You are reminded that the school calendar for the Theological School, College and Secondary Schools, giving the dates of Charter Day, term endings, Christmas and spring recess, etc. appeared in the April issue (p. 177). Extra copies are available.
SAY NOT, WHAT CAN MY NEIGHBOR DO FOR ME 1984

SAY NOT, WHAT CAN MY NEIGHBOR DO FOR ME              1984

     "It is one thing to love the neighbor on account of the good or use he is to us, and another to love him from the good or use we may be to him."
     Doctrine of Faith 21

525


PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1984

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES              1984

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

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

     AUSTRALIA

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

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Cristovao Rabelo Nobre, Rua Xavier does Passaros 151, Apt. 101 Piedale, Rio de Janeiro, RK 20740. Phone: 021-289-4292.

     CANADA

     Alberta:

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

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

     British Columbia:
DAWSON CREEK
Rev. William Clifford. 1536 94th Ave., Dawson Creek, V1G 1H1. Phone: (604) 782-3997.

     VANCOUVER
Mr. Douglas Crompton, 21-7055 Blake St., V5S 3V5. Phone: (604) 437-9136.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Christopher Smith, 16 Bannockburn Rd., R.R. 2, N2G 3W5. Phone: (519) 893-7460.

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

     TORONTO
Rev. Geoffrey Childs, 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington, Ontario M9B 424 Phone: (416) 231-4958.

     Quebec:

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

     DENMARK

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

     ENGLAND

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

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 111 Howard Drive, Letchworth, Herts. Phone: Letchworth 4751.

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

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

     FRANCE

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

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Daan Lupker, Wabserveen Straat 25, The Hague.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. Lloyd Bartle, Secretary, 13B Seymour Rd., Henderson, Auckland 8. Phone: 836 6336.

     NORWAY
OSLO
Mr. Eyvind Boyesen, Vetlandsveien 82A, Oslo 6. Phone: 26-1159.

     SCOTLAND

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

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

526




     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

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

     Transvaal:

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

     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Louisa Allais, 129 Anderson Road, Mandini, Zululand 4490.

     Mission in South Africa:
Superintendent-The Rev. Norman E. Riley, 8 Iris Lane, Irene, 1675 R. S. A., Phone: 012-632679.

     SWEDEN

     JONKOPING
Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, 5-56600, Habo. Phone: 0392-20395.

     STOCKHOLM
Rev. Roy Franson, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma. Phone: 48-99-22 and 26-79-85.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

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

     Arizona:

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

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501.

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Michael Gladish, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone:(213) 249-5031.

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

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Cedric King, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (714) 268-0379.

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

     Colorado:

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

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

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Rev. Glenn Alden, 47 Jerusalem Hill Rd., Trumbull, CT 06611. Phone: (203) 877-1141.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 417 Delaware Ave., McDaniel Crest, Wilmington, DE19803. Phone: (302) 478-4213.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     LAKE HELEN
Rev. John Odhner, 413 Summit Ave., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2337.

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

     Georgia:

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

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Dr., Chamblee. GA 30341. Phone: (404)457-4726

     Idaho:

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

527




     Indiana:
Contact Rev. Stephen Cole in Cincinnati, Ohio, or Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051

     Louisiana:

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

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Donald Rogers, #12 Pawleys Ct., S. Belmont, Baltimore, MD 21236. Phone: (301) 882- 2640.

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

     Massachusetts:

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

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 132 Kirk La., Troy, MI 48084. Phone: (313) 689-6118.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110.

     Missouri:

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

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

     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Dr. Andrew Doering, 1298 Sagebrush Ct., Rio Rancho, NM 87124. Phone: (505) 897-3623.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. Gordon Smith, 38 Newriver Trace, Clover, SC 29710. Phone: (803) 831-2355.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Stephen Cole, 6431 Mayflower Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45237. Phone: (513) 631-1210.

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

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

     Oklahoma:

     TULSA
Mrs. Louise Tennis, 3546 S. Marion, Tulsa, OK 74135. Phone: (918) 742-8495.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.-Se Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

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

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

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

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 7420 Ben Hur St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731- 1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     ORAL-HOT SPRINGS
Rev. Erik Sandstrom, RR 1, Box 101M, Hot Springs, SD 57747. Phone: (605) 745-6714

     Texas:

     FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 13410 Castleton, Dallas, TX 75234-5117. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     Washington:

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

     Wisconsin:

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

528


LIFE IN ANIMALS AND PLANTS 1984

LIFE IN ANIMALS AND PLANTS              1984

A translation of extracts
from
chapter nineteen of
THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED
by
EMANUEL
SWEDENBORG

     Including an introductory essay by translator John Chadwick

     Postpaid $3.15

     General Church Book Center
"Cairncrest"
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
(215) 947-3920

529


Notes in This Issue 1984

Notes in This Issue       Editor       1984


     
Vol. CIV          November, 1984          No. 11
NEW CHURCH LIFE

530


     The Sound Recording Committee has tapes of more than twenty items from the Assembly. You may listen to the banquet speeches and hear the voices of Rev. Cedric King, Mr. Nishan Yardumian, Miss Suzanne Bernhardt and Mr. Kent Cooper. You may get the tape of the panel of young people and hear Jeff Odhner, Angela Rose, Glenn Hyatt, Matt Smith, Barbara Horigan, Roberta Stein, Carl Engelke and Carl Heilman. You can listen to the "mini" sessions (for no one could attend them all) and hear any of the following ministers: T. Kline, G. Howard, S. Cole, M. Carlson, L. Smith, M. Gladish, A. Acton, C. Smith, G. Alden. A tape that is proving popular is on the subject of "Tactics of the Hells: The Devil Made Me Do It." We mention these because those items will not be appearing in the LIFE.
     In this issue Bishop de Charms favors us with a study on the corporeal memory. "There is a remarkable similarity between the birth of an infant and the resuscitation of one who has died. Both of these experiences are miraculous, because they are under the immediate supervision of the Lord Himself, operating by means of the celestial and spiritual angels" (p. 536).
     You will notice that we have a Christmas sermon in the November issue. This is something we proposed to do because of the readers in different countries who receive their December issue after Christmas. (See the September issue p. 455.)
     The Writings tell us that the idea of God enters into all things of religion and that a false idea of God will lead to false religious notions (BE 40). In this issue the editorial deals with the notion that religious people should be somber and gloomy, is this caused by a wrong idea of God?
     In his evangelization report Rev. Douglas Taylor notes the recommendation of the Denney Report that we "concentrate on publicity"(p. 569). Mr. Taylor recently had outstanding success in a publicity effort. He sent an article to the Philadelphia Inquirer which was published at the top of the page opposite editorials. The heading was: WHY NOAH'S ARK WON'T BE FOUND. In his substantial article Mr. Taylor said, "Whatever else we may think of Swedenborg's interpretation of this story, it makes much more sense than taking it merely literally." Three responses later appeared in the Inquirer which sustained the publicity.

531


JOY OF THE ANGELS AT THE LORD'S BIRTH 1984

JOY OF THE ANGELS AT THE LORD'S BIRTH       Rev. ERIC H. CARSWELL       1984

     "Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord'" (Luke 2:10-11).
These words of the angel were truly good tidings of great joy for all people. Although neither the shepherds nor anyone else in the world really understood the importance of what was begun that night, the angels did, and they had been unceasingly awaiting this event for centuries. They knew why there was cause for great rejoicing. The promised Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of mankind, had finally been born. The nearly incomprehensible joy of the heavens was wonderfully depicted before the shepherds. Suddenly with the angel who had spoken to them there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).
     Why were the angels so joyful? We can hear the nearly uncontrollable excitement in the voice of the angel that spoke to the shepherds. And we can imagine the shiver of wonder that must have filled the shepherds as they heard the resounding sound of the angelic multitudes praising God. What was the source of the angels' joy? What did the birth of the Lord on earth mean to them?
     The angels had known that the Lord would be born on earth ever since the first hint of evil had appeared in mankind. At the moment that the first of the Lord's people began to turn away from innocently following Him, the angels could foresee in a general way what would happen. With the human mind working the way that it did and does, the angels could foresee that the power of evil, once begun, would gradually increase (see AC 4687:2). With horror they recognized that eventually the human race would turn so far away from the Lord that it would no longer know anything true nor be able to do anything good. They recognized that the human race would turn completely from the Lord's life and His blessings, and they knew that when a complete separation took place, the world and the human race would be destroyed.

532



     Yet at the time of the first hint of evil, the Lord immediately foretold in prophecy that He would be born to save all people. By prophecies given to people on earth, both they and the angels knew that the Lord would make His advent. He would come as the Word made flesh, as a light to the world. He would let His infinite soul fill a natural body. He would allow a mind to form within the workings of a natural brain-one precisely like yours and mine. He would learn the stories and laws of the Old Testament just like a child today can learn them. Then He would do something that no finite mortal could. He would slowly reveal to that natural mind and to the universal spiritual world the infinite life within revealed truth. He took revealed truth and showed its hidden glory. This is the essential function of the process that we know as the glorification. The Lord showed the infinite wisdom and the infinite love that had been hidden by the darkness of evil and the obscurity of finite thought. The Lord Jesus Christ gave a power to revealed truth that is the salvation of all who seek to follow it-to all who follow revealed truth while seeking to serve their fellow man. The Lord became the Word made flesh so that we might behold His glory, so that we might have the light that will give us life.
     All this lay in the distant future when the Lord's birth was first prophesied. Yet the prophecies themselves had great power. Yes, they were reassuring words, but they were something more. Faith in the promise of these prophecies, faith in the Lord who was to come, effected conjunction between God and man (see AC 2034). This faith gave life and blessings to men. It sustained men till the Lord's birth actually occurred.
     Over and over again, the Lord renewed the promise of His coming. But much time passed, and the promise of the Messiah was nearly forgotten. A few held onto their hope and waited, looking daily for the Lord to come. Wise men far distant from Judea watched the night sky looking for the sign that the Messiah had been born, and when they saw the star of wonder, they journeyed to bring gifts to the young infant. An old man in Jerusalem also waited for the Savior. When Simeon saw the infant Jesus and held Him in his arms, from a contented heart he spoke the remarkable words, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all people: A light to give light to the gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel" (Luke 2:29-32).
     Simeon certainly understood something of the meaning of the Lord's birth. Yet almost no one else in the world did. But the angels knew what the advent meant. The prophecies of the Lord's coming had been essential for the angels too.

533


We are taught that if the process of the Lord's glorification had not been shown to the angels through the internal sense of the Word and also in the rites of the Jewish Church, the Lord would have been obliged to come into the world immediately after the fall of the first church, the Most Ancient Church (see AC 2523:1). For the angels the Old Testament served as a detailed prophecy of even the smallest aspects of Jesus' life. From the Old Testament the angels knew the actual thoughts and perceptions of His whole life in the world.
     The prophecy sustained hope with the angels. It held in check their fears when they foresaw the growing power of evil. Their concern was not just a general concern for a mere matter of principle or for the battle of evil against good in an abstract form. They were concerned with the salvation of each individual soul. The possibility of anyone getting to heaven was greatly endangered.
     The angels were keenly aware of the state of the church with the human race. We provide a foundation for them. When the church is weak and ignorant, the foundation is threatened. We are told of the sadness of angels when the church is misled by false ideas and motivated by evil. Yes, the heavens are dependent on the church on earth. If the church should completely fail, the heavens presently associated with us would have to be transferred to rest on other earths, and life would cease on this earth.
     However, the concern of the angels was not for their own welfare. Their concern was for the happiness of others. They seek above all else to bring happiness to others. We read that "to save a soul from hell, the angels would regard death as nothing, nay if it were possible, they would undergo hell for that soul" (AC 2077:2). The angels suffered with and for those who wandered in spiritual darkness. They mourned over the sadness that filled the lives of so many. They waited and could do little to make life better for all who suffered. They waited, praying, hoping. They knew that the darkness and suffering would end when Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer, came in glory. So it was that when the Lord was born, the angels rejoiced. They rejoiced the night of the first Christmas so long ago. And with joy they brought the news to a small group of shepherds who were in the fields that night watching over their flocks.
     Yet they knew that the Lord's birth was only the beginning. Jesus would grow from infancy to adult life. He would undergo continual battles against the mind-numbing power of evil. His battles would continue to the final trial of the cross. The completion of His work would come as He rose from the tomb on the first Easter. He rose not merely as Jesus, but as the infinite God, Jesus Christ our Lord appearing in flesh and blood.

534



     On the first Christmas, the angels knew that much had to occur before mankind was truly safe from unavoidable hell. But after centuries of waiting, hoping and praying for this event, it had now begun. In the words of the angel, the birth of the Lord was indeed good news of great joy for all people.
     When we consider the Lord's birth, we too can be joyful. If the Lord had not come, we would not be alive today. If the Lord had not bowed the heavens and come down, nothing could save us from damnation. It is valuable for us to Come to an acknowledgment of this truth.
     But something of the true spirit of Christmas is shown in the joy of the angels. Their joy was not because they directly benefitted by the advent. The nature of angelic love is to feel another's joy as its own. The joy of the angels was for all mankind. In their joy they recognized the significance of the advent for the lives of so many people.
     We can form some idea of their joy if we think of what the Lord's coming means to all those whom we love. As the angels had fears and concerns before the first advent, we too can worry about loved ones. When we watch them learn and grow, it is not always easy. Perhaps we worry that they are making bad choices and that we cannot prevent it without taking away their essential freedom. It is then that we need to remember the Lord's coming. Because the Lord was born into the world, He is able to be very near to teach and lead our loved ones with His infinite wisdom and infinite love. He has come for them to lead them to receive as much of the joy of heaven as they possibly can. We can perhaps realize with joy that things may not be as hopeless as they sometimes seem. Yes, we need to remember to help our loved ones as prudently as we can, but we can be encouraged by the thought that an infinite and loving God is near and also working unceasingly with them. And as we see their joy when they do what is good and right, we can feel something of this joy as our own and give thanks to the Lord.
     The sense of another's joy is magnified many times with the angels. This is the joy with which the angels celebrated the birth of the Lord. They were rejoicing at the Lord's expression of His love and mercy to all of us. If we can enter into this joy of the angels, we will sense something of the true joy of Christmas. When this joy fills our hearts, we may echo the words of the angelic chorus, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Amen.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 40:1-2, 9-11; Luke 2:1-20; AC 2523

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CORPOREAL MEMORY 1984

CORPOREAL MEMORY       Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS       1984

     An Eternal Bond Between Two Worlds

In essence, the material world and the spiritual world are completely different. All the objects and forces of nature possess the characteristics of fixed time and space and these are utterly foreign to the spiritual world. They can by no means be introduced into it. Nevertheless, everything a human being perceives by means of physical sensation, from earliest infancy to the end of life on earth, is indelibly impressed upon the interior substances of his mind, and is retained in the "corporeal memory" to all eternity. For the most part no one is aware of this memory. Only a small part of it can be recalled to consciousness by an act of will. But every least part of it can be recalled by the Lord's permission, not only during man's life on earth but to all eternity after death. For this reason the "corporeal memory" remains forever an indestructible bond between the two worlds. Concerning this we read:

     When a man passes from one life into another, or from one world into another, it is like passing from one place to another, carrying with him all things that he had possessed in himself as a man, so that by death, which is only the death of the material body, man cannot be said to have lost anything that is really his own. Furthermore, he carries with him his natural memory, retaining everything that he has heard, seen, read, learned, or thought in the world, from earliest infancy even to the end of his life, although the objects that are contained in the memory, since they cannot be reproduced in the spiritual world, are quiescent, just as they are when one is not thinking of them. Nevertheless they are reproduced [in the memory] when the Lord so wills (HH 461).

     For this reason the corporeal memory provides a bridge spanning the gap between nature and the afterlife.
     It must be clearly understood that the term "corporeal memory" as used in the Writings refers specifically to human beings. Animals also have physical sensations, and therefore they have what might be called a corporeal memory, but both of these are dissipated when the animal dies. With human beings, however, the memory of all sensation is impressed upon a mind that is created to live forever. Although this memory is for the most part quiescent, it can be recalled by the Lord, not only while man lives in the natural world, but after he has awakened into the spiritual world.

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By means of it the Lord can then perform many important services both to men and to spirits. Perhaps the most important of these functions is to protect the passing from one world to the other.
     There is a remarkable similarity between the birth of an infant and the resuscitation of one who has died. Both of these experiences are miraculous, because they are under the immediate supervision of the Lord Himself, operating by means of the celestial and spiritual angels. Every nascent infant is completely ignorant, totally helpless and therefore completely dependent upon the Lord and the angels. The angels surround him with the sphere of their love to the Lord, their innocence, and their willing obedience to whatever the Lord commands. At the same time the angels stimulate the infant to reach out to the surrounding world. It is important to note that physical sensation is not imposed upon the human mind from without, although it appears to be. It is inspired from within by an act of will. Apart from this it makes no impression upon the mind. This is true not only with reference to a newborn infant-it applies to all men at every age. One becomes aware only of what he notices, or to what he consciously pays attention. An infant first awakens to conscious life by noticing the pressure of the surrounding world. This is inspired by the angels, but they conceal their part in it in order that the infant may receive his life as his very own. The infant is not aware of their presence, but he is being affected by the sphere of their love, and he perceives this as if it were his own. This impression is remembered with delight, and it may be recalled in later life to counteract the force of self love and the love of the world. Without these earliest "remains" of heavenly love and faith, man's regeneration would be impossible. At the same time, the infant feels great delight in physical sensation. He seeks to repeat it, and to extend it. Therefore he explores the world around him, and he does so by his own effort and determination. In this way, from the very beginning he develops the love of self and the love of the world, a tendency to which he has received by inheritance from parents and ancestors.
     When anyone dies, he comes into a state altogether similar to that of infancy. He is completely unconscious, as if in a deep sleep. He is under the immediate care of celestial angels whose function it is to awaken him, gradually, with utter gentleness. What happens to everyone immediately after death is fully described in the Writings. Swedenborg himself was reduced into a state altogether similar to that of death, and he was permitted to experience how everyone is resuscitated and thus introduced into the life of the spiritual world. He fully describes his experience, and we will therefore let him speak for himself:

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When the celestial angels are with a resuscitated person they do not leave him, for they love everyone, but when the soul is of such a character that he can no longer be in the company of the celestial angels, he is eager to depart from them. When this takes place, the spiritual angels arrive, and give him the use of light, for previously he had seen nothing but had only thought. I was shown how these angels work. They seemed as it were to roll off the coat of the left eye toward the bridge of the nose, in order that the eye might be opened, and the use of light be granted. To the man it appears as if this were really done, but it is only an appearance. After this little membrane has in appearance rolled off, some light is visible, but it is dim, such as a man sees through his eyelids when he first awakes out of sleep. He who is being resuscitated is in a tranquil state, being still guarded by the angels. There then appears a kind of shadow of an azure color with a little star, but I perceived that this takes place with variety. Afterwards there seems to be something rolled from the face very gently and perception is then communicated to him, the angels being especially cautious to prevent any idea coming from him but such as is of a soft and tender nature as of love, and it is now given to him to know that he is a spirit. He then commences his life. This at first is happy and glad, for he seems to himself to have come into eternal life, which is represented by a bright white light that becomes of a beautiful golden tinge, by which is signified his first life, to wit that it is celestial as well as spiritual (AC 182-186).

After the use of light has been given to the resuscitated person or soul so that he can look about him, the spiritual angels previously spoken of render him all the kindly services he can in that state desire, and give him information about the things of the other life, but only so far as he is able to receive it. If he has been in faith, and desires it, they show him the wonderful and magnificent things of heaven. But if the resuscitated person is not of such a character as to be willing to be instructed, he then desires to be rid of the company of the angels, which they exquisitely perceive, for there is in the other life a communication of all the ideas of thought. Still they do not leave him even then, but he dissociates himself from them. The angels love everyone, and desire nothing more than to render him kindly services, to instruct him and convey him to heaven. In this consists their highest delight" (AC 314-315).

     That such experiences vary with different people may be inferred from the testimony of some who have been brought to the verge of death without passing over into the spiritual world; but the similarity between infant birth and resurrection is very striking.
     Death is often preceded by severe pain and suffering; but it is a remarkable fact that death itself is wonderfully protected. In most cases the spirit slips away calmly and without distress. Attendant relatives and friends can scarcely help feeling a sphere of peace and trust if they have any heartfelt belief in a future life, such as may be derived from the Word.

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We are told that between physical death and first awakening to new life everyone is kept by the angels in a tacit thought of life and its continuance because the attendant angels tenderly protect the transition from one world to another. When their services are no longer needed and the spirit begins to think for himself, their first concern is for his freedom. To his awakening consciousness, however, there is and can be no sensation of material things. Knowing nothing about the spiritual world, when he first awakes after death he instinctively interprets what he sees in terms of the corporeal memory, and ascribes to them the properties of matter. For this reason, in spite of the instruction of the angels, he supposes himself still to be in the natural world. What one learns from others is by no means the same as what one discovers for himself. Unless one has been deeply imbued with the teaching of the Writings he must confirm what the angels tell him by means of his own exploration of his environment. If he has been imbued by his religion with mistaken ideas concerning the other life, these ideas will have to be tested by experience, and proved to be false. This is illustrated by the memorable relations to be found in the work Conjugial Love, numbers 1 to 26. If one has willfully rejected any idea of a spiritual world and confirmed the denial that there is no resurrection after death, he will continue to believe that he is still on earth in spite of what he is told, or even what he himself sees. How far therefore one may be convinced, either by what he is told or by what he himself sees, depends upon his willingness to learn. The time required to make such a transition varies greatly with different people, and meanwhile everyone is more or less dependent upon his corporeal memory.
     Before we proceed, however, we must explain what the corporeal memory really is. Without instruction everyone takes for granted that sensation is produced by the sense organs of the body. They suppose that the eye sees, the ear hears, the tongue tastes, the nose smells and the skin feels. This is an illusion. Neither material objects nor bodily organs can produce sensation. Sensation itself is a manifestation of the spirit. It is produced solely by inflowing life, or love. No one manifestly perceives this influx, but supposes that what he feels is produced by nature. This false impression is what is remembered, and is called the corporeal memory. This memory causes everyone, on first awakening in the spiritual world, to believe that he is still in the natural world and in a material body, with physical organs of sensation, and that his surroundings are material objects. Entrance into heaven is effected only as this illusion is dispelled, and one becomes aware of the inner truth. The illusion is produced by the love of self and the world, and these must be replaced by the love of the Lord and charity toward the neighbor.

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Nevertheless, the corporeal memory makes it possible for a newly awakened spirit to meet and communicate with friends and acquaintances who had preceded him into the spiritual world.

The state of man's spirit that immediately follows his life in the world being such, he is then recognized by his friends and by those he had known in the world, for this is something that spirits perceive, not only from one's face and speech but also from the sphere of his life when they draw near. Whenever anyone in thought about another in the spiritual world brings his face before him and at the same time thinks of his life the other becomes present as if he had been sent for or called. This is so in the spiritual world because thoughts there are shared and there is no such space there as in the natural world. So all, as soon as they enter the other life, are recognized by their friends, their relatives, and those in any way known to them, and they talk with one another, and afterwards associate in accordance with their friendships in the world. I have often heard that those that have come from the world were rejoiced at seeing their friends again, and that their friends in turn were rejoiced that they had come. Very commonly husband and wife come together, and congratulate each other, and continue together, according to their delight in living together in the world. But if they had not been united by a true marriage love, which is a conjunction of minds by heavenly love, after remaining together for a while they separate: or if their minds have been discordant and were inwardly averse, they break forth into open enmity and sometimes into combat . . . . Nevertheless they are not separated until they enter the second state, which will be treated of presently" (HH 494).

     The meeting of friends would not be possible if the corporeal memory had not been preserved intact, even with those who had been in the spiritual world for a long time. It is preserved, and therefore the Lord can recall it into active use even after it has been quiescent for a long time. By this means the spirit or angel is brought back into the state he had experienced immediately after he had died. Yet, if I understand the teaching correctly the knowledge and the wisdom he has gained by his stay in the spiritual world remains. For this reason, having been perhaps in heaven, he can instruct the newly-arrived friend about the wonders of heavenly life.

As the life of spirits recently from the world is not unlike their life in the natural world, and as they know nothing about heaven and hell except what they have learned from the sense of the letter of the Word and preaching from it, they are at first surprised to find themselves in a body and in every sense that they had had in the world and seeing like things, and they become eager to know what heaven is, what hell is, and where they are.

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Therefore their friends tell them about the conditions of eternal life, and take them about to various places, and into various companies, and sometimes into cities, and into gardens and parks, showing them chiefly such magnificent things as delight the externals in which they are. They are then brought into those notions about the state of their soul after death and about heaven and hell that they had entertained in the life of the body, even until they feel indignant at their total ignorance of such things, and at the ignorance of the church also. Nearly all are anxious to know whether they will go to heaven. Most of them believe they will, because of their having lived a moral life and a civil life, never considering that the bad and the good live a like life outwardly, alike doing good to others, attending public worship, hearing sermons and praying, and being wholly ignorant that external deeds and external acts of worship are of no avail, but only the internal from which the externals proceed. There is hardly one out of a thousand who knows what internals are, and that it is in them that man must find heaven and the church (HH 495).

     Such things they may be told by others who meet them on their arrival in the spiritual world, but they must be learned by experience, and this can be achieved only by degrees.
     That physical sensation is not the cause of conscious life, but rather the effect of inflowing love, is clearly taught throughout the Writings. To establish this we merely cite the following numbers as examples of the teaching: AC 5078, 5779, 10199.
     We are told that those who meet newcomers on their arrival in the spiritual world frequently ask "What news from earth?" We have supposed that they would inquire as to the welfare of family and friends still living in the natural world. Especially they must be interested in the life of the church with them, and how they are being affected by the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine. Yet their reaction to what they learn in this way must be largely affected by their own state and the conditions of their own life in the spiritual world. This is true of two people living in the natural world who meet after a long absence from one another. Their states have changed, and their interests have unavoidably become different. Whatever an angel had been interested in during his life on earth-a profession or an occupation to which he had given his life-could not fail to rouse his interest in what had happened concerning it since his death. One who has been in the love of country, and has either risked or given his life in its defense, would be eager to know what has happened to it. When the corporeal memory becomes active, natural loves return, and these would determine the nature of the questions which might be asked of a newcomer. These may include any subject of mutual interest. This is borne out by things Swedenborg himself relates concerning his conversations with spirits. It is just as if two people, both living on earth, should meet after a long absence from one another.

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Although both are really meeting in the spiritual world, they are thinking from the corporeal memory, and their thoughts are centered upon their past life on earth. At the same time, the one who has been living, perhaps for a long time, in the spiritual world remembers what he has experienced there, and he may long to share his knowledge with a newly arrived friend. Both memories may be active at the same time. If this were not so the angel could not instruct the newcomer. The opening of his corporeal memory does not obliterate his spiritual memory. Even the newcomer has begun to acquire a spiritual memory, derived from what the angels taught him during his resuscitation, even though he does not realize this wonder. We are told that the angel who meets him as he enters the spiritual world takes him abroad and shows him the splendors of the spiritual world even though he may respond to these negatively, and may regard them as merely imaginative.
     Those who are confirmed in evil and falsity remain in the ideas and beliefs they had held during their earthly life. One of the most important uses of the corporeal memory is to bring to light things that have been kept secret during the life of the body. Feelings of revenge, hatred, deceit, dominion over others, are carefully hidden, both by the evil and the good, for such feelings are universal with men, as derived from parents and ancestors. Whether such things are brought to light is under the immediate government of the Lord, for the protection of the good. In general all such things are recognized as harmful to society and therefore prohibited by civil law and are hidden. Yet they may not be seen as contrary to the Divine will, because they are seemingly sanctioned in the letter of the Word, or regarded as allowable by primitive people, and sanctioned in many gentile religions. An outstanding example of this was the widespread practice of human sacrifice as a part of religion. Everyone closely guards his inner thoughts and feelings of which he is ashamed, or which would injure his reputation and standing in the world. Such may be evils and falsities of which one is aware, and which he either recognizes, acknowledges, and strives to overcome, or to which he clings and uses for his own advantage. Between these two opposite kinds of hidden things there is a vast difference in the sight of the Lord, and He governs their exposure with infinite mercy and loving-kindness. These secret contents of the corporeal memory are the means whereby the Lord effects a "last judgment" on every individual, and also a last judgment upon the whole human race at His coming, to establish a new heaven and a new church. Without the corporeal memory, neither the individual nor the entire race could be judged.
     Superficially viewed, the corporeal memory appears as a "mess of pottage," in which goods and evils are indistinguishably mingled.

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But the truth is that under the Lord's direction they are marvelously ordered by what is called man's "ruling love." Every human being is unavoidably faced with the necessity of making a choice as to what shall be the inmost goal and purpose of his life. Over and over again he is faced with the choice as to whether he will think and act according to what the Word teaches, or will insist upon his own will. If he has not the Word, he must choose in favor of whatever he has accepted as true in accord with his conscience. The choice is always between self-will and what one understands to be the will of God. Over and over again, everyone of adult age is confronted with this choice. As he does so he determines what the Writings call his "ruling love." In relation to this love all the contents of his "corporeal memory" are ordered in the sight of the Lord. If this ruling love is good, it qualifies and governs the character of the whole mind and makes it a dwelling-place of the Lord and of heaven. But if it is evil the mind becomes the domain of the hells. In both cases this fundamental quality may remain completely hidden, both from the man himself and from all who know him. What man's real character is can be known only to the Lord, and He alone can reveal it. He brings about this revelation with everyone during his life in the world of spirits. To effect this "last judgment" is the purpose of man's sojourn in that world which is intermediate between heaven and hell.
     This is the meaning of the Lord's warning as given in the gospel of Luke:

Nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have (Luke 8:17-19).

     What anyone loves above all else is at the center of his mind; everything else is ordered in relation to it. Whatever is not in accord with this is kept secret. Such things may not be known even to the man himself. No one can be sure of his inmost motives. Everyone is influenced by both good and evil spirits. Even the good frequently yield in temptation, and regret it later. The evil constantly act in accord with what is good and true for the sake of their own advantage. No one can enter heaven carrying with him sins of which he has not repented; and no one can enter hell while retaining appearances of truth by which to deceive others. In both cases hidden things must "be known, and come abroad." This revelation must take place with everyone during his sojourn in the "second state" of the world of spirits. With both the good and the evil this last judgment is effected by the Lord alone, with infinite mercy and lovingkindness.

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     In the case of the good, nothing of which one has repented during the life on earth will be broadcast after death. Only sins that have not been recognized as such will be brought to light in order that they may be recognized and put away. Only thus can man's regeneration be completed after death. As long as these evil tendencies remain unrecognized, man is subject to persecution by the hells, who hold him in bondage. The whole purpose for which such things are brought to light by the Lord is that man may be free. In the case of the evil, so long as their evil designs can be hidden under the appearance of good will, they have power to hold the good in bondage. Their evil intent must be brought to light in order to protect the good with whom they are associated. At the same time they are under restraint to hide their evil intent and so are not free to express what they really feel. This restraint at last becomes intolerable, and they break forth in anger and cruel hatred against the good. When this happens, all who had mistakenly trusted them are disillusioned, and the good voluntarily depart from them in horror and great fear.
     None of this separation of the good from the evil would be possible apart from the "corporeal memory." This is its supreme purpose in the sight of the Lord. Without this inmost goal for the sake of which the entire universe was created the purpose would be frustrated. It is a necessary tool whereby the Lord brings merciful release, both to the good and to the evil, and achieves the ultimate goal of His Divine love and wisdom, through the mysterious operations of His Divine
Providence.
FIFTY YEARS AGO 1984

FIFTY YEARS AGO              1984

     The news from Toronto in November of 1934 was about a new society publication entitled the Olivet Society Chatterbox. "A foreword by the pastor, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, notes the teaching that in every heavenly society there is a communication of affections and thoughts extending itself from the middle in every direction, even to the boundaries (AE 674). This little magazine, he states, is intended to promote such a communication. 'We need this regular contact as a means of uniting us in what we recognize to be the highest work in the doing of which we can be associated. May the page grow to be a volume, and all the hopes of the founder editor be realized, in order that the church may prosper.' It is a pleasure to join heartily in this wish, and to welcome the newcomer to the circle of New Church periodicals.
     It is our pleasure in 1984 to congratulate the Chatterbox on its golden anniversary.

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REPORT OF THE BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1984

REPORT OF THE BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       Louis B. King       1984

     September 1, 1983 to August 31, 1984

     "If the Lord's church were to be altogether extinct on earth mankind could in no wise exist . . . . This was the cause of the Lord's coming into the world, for unless, out of Divine mercy, He had come, the whole race of mankind must have perished; for the church was at the point of destruction" (AC 637).
     "From these words it is clear that without the Lord's coming into the world no one could have been saved. It is the same today; and therefore without the Lord's coming again into the world in Divine truth, which is the Word, no one can be saved" (TCR 3).
     Reflecting upon these words of Divine Revelation one can hardly imagine the profound importance of the New Church. How important, then, become the uses of the organization as it strives to embody and represent the spiritual qualities of the New Church.
     Worship and evangelization, as endorsed in our General Assembly this year, testify to the strength and growth of the Academy and the General Church. The present is exciting. The future holds promise of greater uses and their delights yet to come.

Statistical Activities

As Bishop of the General Church

General Assembly
Board and Corporation meetings-6
Annual Council of the Clergy meetings
Bishop's Consistory-weekly
Bishop's Council-3
Annual Meeting of the General Church in Canada
General Church Planning Seminar
Inaugurations into the priesthood-7
Ordinations into the second degree of the priesthood-3
Bishop's Representatives-monthly
Worship and Ritual Committee-monthly

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As Chancellor of the Academy

College and Theological School Opening Commencement
Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty
General Faculty meetings-1
Theological Faculty meetings-monthly
Academy Board and Corporation meetings-9
College Chapel Services-6
Secondary School Chapel-5
Glencairn Awards Committee meetings
Teaching assignments:
Theology 1 (Doctrine of the Lord)-winter and spring terms
Elective Religion-spring term

Ministrations in Bryn Athyn

Total services conducted-79 (festival, public and private)
Society Doctrinal Classes-3
Arcana Classes-19
Heaven and Hell Classes-12
True Christian Religion Classes-12
Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem-7
Joint Council Meeting
Semi-annual meeting of the Bryn Athyn Church
Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School Worship-l0

     Louis B. King,
          Executive Bishop
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 1984

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO              1984

     In November of 1884 this magazine was looking forward to the day when a satisfactory version of the Word would be produced. It was foreseen that this would require a lot of work and that members of the church would need to be educated to facilitate the acceptance of a new version when accomplished.
     "The natural, ever averse to regeneration and to the uprooting of old states, will oppose and ridicule the work; words and expressions somewhat unusual, but necessary to render faithfully the original, will be ridiculed and rejected; even manifest improvements will be looked at askance or rejected, simply because different from what people have been accustomed to" (p. 166).

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COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MINUTES 1984

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MINUTES       Lorentz R. Soneson       1984

First Session

     A worship service was conducted by Bishop Louis B. King in the Cathedral, followed by the first session of the Council of the Clergy, at 3:00 p.m., Monday, June 11, 1984, in the Council Hall. Nominations for membership in the Council of the Clergy were made by Bishop King: Rev. Messrs. Robin Childs, Andrew Dibb, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Frederick Elphick, Christovao Nobre, Donald Rogers, and Ray Silverman. Also recommended for acceptance, from the previous year, into the Council: Rev. Messrs. Grant Schnarr and Paul Schorran. These men were duly welcomed into full membership by the council. In addition, Bishop King welcomed Rev. Alain Nicolier and Mr. Harold Eubanks to the council meetings. Candidates Prescott Rogers and Jonathan Rose were also introduced and welcomed to participate.
     The secretary then read a greeting from the secretary of Conference in England, wishing well to our deliberations from their clergy. After the program committee of Rev. Messrs. Brian Keith and Walter Orthwein arranged for their presentations, Bishop King read his episcopal report to the council.
     Among those items included in the Bishop's report were: His appreciation of the Bishop's Representatives for their growing assistance to his office; his plans to revise the ordination service, and to present his recommendations at our next Council meetings; the need for a logo and name for the church organization to help our visibility and identity as a church. He said he looked forward to a useful discussion of the New King James Version during these meetings so that a recommendation can be made from the Bishop's office. An announcement was made that Mr. King Wille had accepted appointment by the Bishop to serve as a lay administrator of evangelization in the General Church.
     The Bishop also mentioned that he hopes to complete a five-year plan for the General Church during the summer, covering all phases of church expansion, training of ministers, goals for society self-support, etc. He asked the council to consider the place of the next assembly. He suggested several studies that interested members of the Council of the Clergy could pursue in the near future. The subject of a need for some kind of associate membership in the Council of the Clergy has again come to his attention, and he plans to appoint a committee for this. In conclusion, the Bishop expressed his gratefulness to the Lord for the progress of the General Church in recent years. The completion of a happy and successful assembly gives evidence of the many uses underway.

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     This was followed by a full discussion. One of the matters debated was the frequency of Council of the Clergy meetings, which now are annual. Regional or district clergy meetings have become more frequent and have proven useful. It was suggested that the full council meet every other year, with smaller gatherings of the clergy meeting in the alternate years. A motion was made and passed that a committee be appointed to investigate alternate meetings, not only as to financial requirements but also common needs and uses.
     Then the report on the Theological School was called for. Dean Robert Junge explained a new proposal for screening candidates to the Theological School. It involves letters of recommendation, interviews with the dean and faculty, and evaluation of teaching abilities. He emphasized that the quality of the priesthood is of prime importance and that every effort is being made to bring the best of the church to the priesthood. He pointed out that it is extremely difficult to appraise personality traits necessary for a successful pastor while the students are in an academic environment.
     Mr. Junge also reported to the council on a study he is making along with the Bryn Athyn pastor and the Director of Evangelization about the feasibility of satellite communities surrounding Bryn Athyn. There are approximately three hundred to three hundred and fifty people associated with the church living near Bryn Athyn and Lower Moreland. It is only in its initial stage of investigation, including interviewing people to see what can be offered to them. He was pleased that there seems to be a sufficient number who want administrations from the priesthood in this area.

Second Session

     This session and the following ones were moved to the Cairnwood Village dining room. The air conditioning, attractive decorations and acoustics made the remaining meetings comfortable and pleasant.
     This evening session called for a report from the President of the Academy. President Peter Buss expressed thanks to those assisting him in his first year, especially to his predecessor, Rev. Alfred Acton. Even though on Sunday mornings he misses being a pastor, he is most excited about his administrative role as head of the Academy. Mr. Buss emphasized the Academy's need for the help of pastors in the field, not only for recruiting students, but also for passing on information that would be helpful to the faculty and administrators. The Academy in a very real sense is serving the whole church in general, and each society and circle in particular, by sending back students trained in the doctrines and enthusiastic about evangelization. Mr. Buss also discussed the various factors involved in considering a new college library.

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     The report of the editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE was then called for. Rev. Donald Rose gave a short report, and a lively discussion followed. Some overseas ministers mentioned the problem of receiving festival talks and sermons after the event because of delayed mail. One minister suggested ways in which our young people could get the habit of reading NEW CHURCH LIFE. Perhaps we should offer free copies to graduating seniors and to students of the Religion Lessons program. The session adjourned at 9:35 p.m.

Third Session

     The council called for the Program Committee's presentations, beginning with Rev. Walter Orthwein's study entitled "Order." This comprehensive address on the doctrine of order prepared by the Detroit pastor covered such areas as order in nature, the relationship of order to civilization, a recognition of the source of order (from the Divine), its relationship to modern physics, the human form and the spiritual order of human life. Beginning with one of the simpler definitions of order given in True Christian Religion 52, the speaker related his subject to man's concept of the Divine Human, the doctrine of freedom, and the concept of reality. In closing, the speaker said that the real heart of his paper was best summarized in Arcana Coelestia 5850, where the teaching is given that animals of every kind are in the order of their nature, and therefore, into them there is a general influx. The order into which man was created was that he should love the neighbor as himself, and even more than himself. Man is no longer in that order, but seeks to return to it.
     The speaker received warm appreciation for his presentation. Several of his colleagues expressed their gratitude for not only a review of the principles involved in the doctrine of order, but also the variety of examples he offered.
     Following this, a paper entitled "Counseling," circulated in advance by Rev. Robert Junge, was reviewed and discussed. One pastor spoke of his awareness of a variety of states among his parishioners that pastoral counseling might help; yet he struggled with how to initiate the subject with them. For example, if a couple is obviously having marital problems, when should the pastor offer his assistance, if at all? Another expressed his agreement with the message where it emphasized pastoral counseling, that is, thinking of the pastor as a shepherd. The shepherd in the field is constantly watching over his sheep, and, when they stray or are in trouble, brings them back to the flock. Perhaps something can be learned from this analogy. Another responder expressed appreciation that this is the first of a series of talks. He noted the saying that much of today's counseling is considered "conditional acceptance."

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The difference between conditional and unconditional needs study and clarification. The Lord's love to mankind is unconditional; however, salvation as an end is conditional. Faith alone rests on the condition that man believes that he has been saved. Love, however, as an ideal, should strive to emulate the Lord's unconditional love to all.

Fourth Session

     The program committee called on Rev. Brian Keith, who reviewed his already-distributed paper on the subject of "Self Knowledge." He addressed the question of what we can know about ourselves. Can we know our own spiritual state? Could we be going to hell and not know it? Even though there is a natural aversion to those claiming they are saved no matter what they do, there is a set of teachings which indicates that a person can know his ruling love. The speaker, in his thesis, described the many things that a person cannot know about himself or herself, but that these teachings should be seen in the light of what that person can know, such as a relatively clear idea of one's ruling love. In another way, it is not necessary to look for good in oneself, but rather to shun evils. This is the specific purpose of self-examination-to discover what is wrong, not what is right in oneself. The speaker thought from his review of the teachings that one can know the generals at least of one's state of order or disorder, granting that particular states may vary and thus alter perceptions of the truth. Still, the Lord has taught us ways to measure our state in the Word, implying that we can know. In his conclusion, Mr. Keith suggested that if we consider the teachings about what cannot be known as primary, and from them examine the teachings about what can be known, we may be led to confusion. However, if we first consider the teachings of what can be known about our own state as primary, then the teachings on what cannot be known may then serve as warnings.
     In the discussion that followed, the speaker was thanked for the ample appendices that organized the subject under categories with their references, for future study. It was mentioned that almost all the evil think they are good. Even though there is a danger of feeling assured of salvation, yet there's a trust in the Lord's assurance to us that we are being led to heaven. And by the same token we are taught that angels choose heaven every morning to eternity, exercising their true freedom. Another speaker said that our confidence should be in the Lord as a Savior, rather than in our being saved, for the Lord truly saves us from evil every instant of our life. Another thought that the paper could be renamed "A Doctrine of Hope," for our laity need these teachings held before them, showing that there is a difference between feeling good and feeling in good or in use, which means feeling the joy of heaven.

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Mr. Keith in his closing remarks reminded us of the teaching in Divine Providence that we can know when we are in uses; the Lord does want us to know if we are heading in the right direction.
     The subject of associate membership in the council was then raised and again referred to committee for further study.
     The question of language requirements for Theological School was brought up and responded to by the Dean of the Theological School. Mr. Junge explained the recommendation for greater flexibility in ancient language requirements for Theological School. Latin would always be required and Greek and Hebrew recommended. Pretheological ancient language requirements forced students into a Religion major. This did not allow for other undergraduate majors and courses that would prepare ministers, for example, to be heads of schools and administrators. One minister suggested that students may not be aware of the importance of ancient languages when in training, so provision should be made that ministers could return on sabbaticals to take their ancient languages or enhance them with brush-up courses. Some clergymen expressed concern if our ordained priests were not students of Hebrew and Greek for double-checking texts; others pointed out that learning languages has been perfected with new methods. Before giving up our study of these ancient languages, we might investigate new ways of teaching them.

Evening Session (Session 4-A)

     Instead of a workshop, the council decided to continue with items on the docket, and called for Rev. John Odhner's paper, "Positive Thinking." Reviewing Mr. Odhner's collection of passages, distributed in advance, validated his position that the Writings are positive in their approach. He used the word "contempt" to describe negative thinking, evident in those who downplay others for their affirmative actions and comments. Those in faith alone tend to think negatively about others, especially those unbaptized, reflecting a negative concept of God. However, the Lord speaks to us through the Writings in truth combined with good, which is always positive. Mr. Odhner used as an illustration of the affirmative principle when reading the Word for enlightenment the view angels have of their neighbor, and thus the basis of general charity. The Writings give us a positive attitude toward ourselves as long as we are clear on which self we are viewing. In his summary, Mr. Odhner said that the concept of positive thinking could be stated in one word: "Use." To think positively is to think constructively.
     One commentator afterward pointed out the problem we might have with semantics, namely, that positive thinking seems to imply one thing, while the speaker in his paper described another.

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Several listeners recommended Mr. Odhner's message be brought to our laity, either in the pages of NEW CHURCH LIFE, a correspondence course or as an evangelization pamphlet.
     The council then called for Rev. Tom Kline's report on a Word-study course he has been offering in the Bryn Athyn Society. He explained that for over ten years he has been preaching the importance of reading the Word, but never quite going all the way to teach how to read the Word as a living experience. As a cautious experiment, he invited twelve people who agreed to meet for at least two times, who took turns reading the Word aloud. There was also silent reading, and then a sharing of their reactions to passages read. Mr. Kline found the group not only knowledgeable of doctrine drawn from the sense of the letter, but each passage had significance to someone in the group. He sensed the power of reading the Word, especially its effect on husbands and wives together. Experience has shown him that just reading from the Writings was quite different, often turning into a discussion. The experiment was still continuing after fourteen weeks, and he encouraged other pastors to try it. In response, several men mentioned that they had similar experiences.

Fifth Session

     The subject of the use of the New King James Version was called for. Rev. Bruce Rogers, chairman of the committee for revision of the Word, explained where we stood with Nelson Publishing Company. At the present time we do have permission to rebind the New King James Version, removing the noncanonical works, as long as we retain their title page and statement of copyright. One question was whether they would dismantle and rebind copies or whether we would. We would prefer having a title page saying "The Word" and a listing of the canonical books it contains.
     A second request we have registered with Nelson Publishing is redoing their version with our recommended changes. These would be relatively few and minor, and only made after adequate research and study. The request to amend their text, however, is still under consideration, and if pressed for an immediate answer, they said it would be "no." They are, however, willing to present our request before their editorial board, which is meeting in August.
     Mr. Rogers stated that he is not interested in revising the Old King James Version with the existence of the revised one, which he graded highly. Also, he pointed out that there are works of the Writings that cry out for revision from the few scholars we have available to do the work. If we do not receive permission to emend their text with our own printing, then we should include our own emendations in a pamphlet when selling the NKJV.

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     When asked what our commitment for reprinting and binding the Word would be, the committee recommended a ten-year supply. In answer to a question, Mr. Rogers said we could obtain the NKJV in a larger print size. Mr. Acton, chairman of the Liturgy Committee, said we could easily incorporate the NKJV as revised by our own scholars. Another pointed out that we are not seeking an "authorized" version, but only essential agreement on which version to sell as "the Word" when the present supply is depleted. Another speaker expressed his disappointment that we did not have a response from the Nelson Publishing Company at this time to aid us in our decision-making. He felt the real test of the new version will be in our ritual, and asked that we do not reprint the Liturgy until a firm decision is made on which translation of the Word we agree on. He also distributed an office from our Liturgy, using the NKJV, for the council to study. He raised the question of whether the NKJV might be a poor compromise, and in a few years prove to be inadequate and unacceptable. Another speaker felt that only half the church is in favor of adopting the NKJV, and claimed that the old King James was closer to the Writings for containing the internal sense than the NKJV. He displayed numerous books to illustrate his point that all but 180 pages out of 1,000 of the Old and New Testaments have already been translated by New Church scholars. Another reminded the council that it is only the English-speaking nations that have a bound copy of the canonical books. Non-English-speaking church centers only have the Bible for their worship and studies.
     Bishop King, following the coffee break, mentioned again the need for counsel to find some essential unanimity on this subject that can be shared with the church. The continuing discussion included a number of points: remember that the spiritual sense existed prior to the literal sense, and will seek its proper receptacle; removing the noncanonical works was detrimental to our evangelization program; others pleaded that we make our transition with sensitivity, being conscious of the affections people have, especially older people, for the old King James Version. Perhaps also we could retain the old King James Version in the next Liturgy to show there is no perfect translation from the Hebrew and Greek, a plea was made not to change the Lord's Prayer in our Liturgy. One senior minister, after quoting from one of the Ten Commandments, pleaded that we not make the Bible an idol or image. Our goal, rather, should be to encourage our parishioners to avoid being so attached to the letter that they miss the real message within the sense of the letter.

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     Another priest reminded us that the selection and revision of a proper translation of the Old and New Testaments may be lower on our list of priorities than we realize. Translations of the Writings, such as Conjugial Love, probably should have more priority at the present time. Another speaker felt that it was quite the reverse-that is, that better-translated Old and New Testaments should hold priority over translating works of the Writings. Furthermore, he suggested that the committee appointed by the Bishop examine the total cost of typesetting, printing and publishing our own revised version of the Old and New Testaments. This motion was seconded and then discussed. Mr. Rogers pointed out that typesetting and printing our own version of the Word was a very minor item in achieving the goal, indeed less than one percent. The biggest problem is in the translation itself, obtaining the manpower and scholarship to achieve an acceptable translation for the church. However, the motion was defeated. Another, speaking on behalf of our children in the church schools, felt that the recent experiment of using the NKJV in the classroom was mostly successful. The resistance to change came mainly from the parents of the children, for it is true that the unregenerate person in us resists change. We do use Bibles in the classroom, mainly because of the concordances included in them. But perhaps some day with our own translation of the Old and New Testaments, we will have our own concordance to go with it as well. Meanwhile, he urged the council to go ahead with this interim program of binding the NKJV without the non-canonical books so that the church is not without copies of the Word, as happened once in the past.
     At this point, the Bishop pointed out to the council that copies of the large size Word composed of the Hebrew, Greek and a small portion of the True Christian Religion in Latin can be printed and bound for altar copies when the need is determined. It does, however, remind us that the threefold Word is only accurate in its original language, and that all translations leave something to be desired.
     Another felt that the symbolism of having one translation of the Old and New Testaments was important in the eyes of our children, who need ultimates. He had lost patience with the old King James Version in teaching children. It was later pointed out that Swedenborg had used at least four Bibles, not just one, when preparing the Writings. He also felt that the Word Committee was still active and producing emendations to the King James Version and will probably continue to do so. He supported going ahead with publishing our own New King James bound copy of the Word. It was also emphasized that by using a variety of translations, especially in writing a sermon, we seek which translation best brings out the internal sense without confining our selection to just the sense of the letter.

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Another suggestion was made that for instructional purposes we use the NKJV, but for worship we retain the old King James in our Liturgy, because of the power and majesty that that translation holds for many of us. The Word, after all, is addressed to our affections as well as our understanding, and affections not just in the older people but younger people as well.
     The chairman of the Revision of the Word Committee, Rev. Bruce Rogers, was called on to restate the motion. It was a recommendation to the Bishop to adopt the New King James Version for the text in our next printing of the Word. In the discussion of that motion some said they could not vote for this unless an amendment was made to include continuation of our Revision of the Word Committee to emend the New King James Version and make it available to the church. It was agreed to continue this discussion into the next session.

Sixth Session

     An amendment came from the floor to the motion in the morning session, namely, to continue actively with the Revision of the Word Committee of the New King James Version. This was seconded. During the discussion of this amendment, we were reminded that it took thousands of hours for the NKJV to materialize. In other words, it would take fifty priests qualified as to scholarship and translation ability some twenty years to produce our own New Church translation of the Old and New Testaments. Obviously, we do not have that kind of manpower available at this time. The question was called for on the amendment, namely, to continue actively with the Revision of the Word Committee on the New King James Version. After discussion this amendment was passed.
     One minister raised the question of where emphasis should be in translation work, namely, to favor linguistic emphasis, or to emphasize translating in the light of the spiritual sense. This question has had a long history with us. A substitute motion was then made and seconded to delay our decision on the Revised King James Version in our bound copy until next March. A discussion followed. Several spoke of how much they appreciated talking about this important subject, with a variety of ideas being presented both pro and con. Some felt that a delay in our decision allowing for more reflection might be useful. A consensus was taken, a clear majority recommending to the Bishop that we continue using the NKJV actively in the church until next March, when the council will meet again. Meanwhile, the Committee for Revision of the Word will continue its work emending the text of the New King James Version.

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     A motion was then made from the floor that a program committee be assigned by the Bishop to receive, assess, publish and distribute papers for future Council of the Clergy meetings, and assign time slots in advance. This was seconded, but the final vote was to go to committee, to study all the ramifications of such a motion. It was deemed important not to take away the freedom of the council members to select what they wish to hear during their time together. This motion to go to committee was passed and the Bishop said he would appoint such a committee to investigate this subject thoroughly.
     A paper entitled "Toward a Theology of Intimacy," by Rev. Mark Carlson, was then called for. This study, originally presented to the Canadian ministers, addressed the problem of broken marriages and the increase of divorces in the church. He felt it was not a question of adequacy of our doctrines on marriage, but that the doctrines of the New Church were not actually functioning to prevent marriage breakdown. He spoke of four myths that need to be addressed. One is that New Church people have no problems, or should not have them. We do not admit that we are facing struggles and tensions like everyone else in the world. It is unrealistic to believe that because we have the Writings, we are exempt from experiencing hurt and pain.
     A second myth is that the Writings have all answers to every life difficulty. This is a setup for failure and discouragement. Rather, the priest, in using the Writings, should provide answers that are relevant to new situations being faced each day, and encourage those able to seek their own answers from the principles given in the Writings.
     The third myth is to assume that all people want answers. All too often they know the answers, but cannot handle them emotionally. What they may seek instead is acceptance, not of their evils but the fact that they are struggling with evil, and need encouragement to continue. Laymen can certainly perform this role, especially if they are trained. But it is a very special function of the minister, a representative of the Lord who still accepts them and loves them.
     The fourth myth is that our spiritual journeys are best carried out in total privacy and isolation, which results in what appear to be solid marriages breaking up with no warning.
     Mr. Carlson explained that mental health can be measured by the degree of the separation of the will and the understanding, that is, when intellectual life can function separate from emotional life. This was the thesis of Mr. Carlson's presentation at the General Assembly. It has been observed that men and women frequently "match up"; that is, those whose intellect is controlled by emotion often are attracted to similar personalities. Those couples who have a greater ability to separate their intellectual functions from their emotional functions are more likely to face up to and resolve marital problems.

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Mr. Carlson reiterated that natural truths are not revealed and that there are natural truths we need to discover about marriage, to learn them and apply them as needed. Trained counselors can speed this process of learning and applying these natural truths. Mr. Carlson was not yet sure whether pastors could assist in this process. However, there is much the priesthood could do in teaching natural truths about the separation of the will and the understanding, not only in our elementary schools and high schools, but in our societies.
     Finally, Mr. Carlson encouraged more experiential environments like Mr. Tom Kline's experiment with reading the letter of the Word, where parishioners can share their reactions and experiences in a comfortable and affirmative environment.
     Several men encouraged Mr. Carlson to share his knowledge not only with our school students but also with members of the Council of the Clergy. One saw Mr. Junge's paper on pastoral counseling forming a framework for future study of this important subject. Another mentioned the pain and hurt when couples come to pastors, planning divorce, and there is so little that can be of help to them. Concern was expressed as to whether vows are taken seriously. One man emphasized the responsibility of parents in training young people properly for marriage. Perhaps having parenting classes would be a solution. Another suggested using whatever tools are available now, especially in pre-marital instruction. Another minister, who has accumulated training and experience, cautioned us not to lean too heavily on counseling techniques in solving the marriage crisis in the church today.
     Mr. Carlson, in his closing comments, noted that many times people come to their counselor while undergoing natural temptations. But sometimes they are combined with spiritual ones, which makes it difficult. To the question, "Do the Writings have all the answers?" yes, of course they do, but the more we study natural truths, the more clearly we can see the answers given in the Writings. He expressed concern for trends he has observed recently in modern therapy that he considers a return to "magic." Those could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Finally, Mr. Carlson repeated the importance of respecting individuals when we are counseling them-to allow them "as-of-self' in problem-solving.

Seventh Session

     The paper by Rev. Kenneth Alden entitled "The Masculine and Feminine Offices in the Church" was called for. This had been distributed in advance and Mr. Alden expanded on it for the next hour, using illustrations and charts.

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In the first part of his study he showed that the two sexes were created distinct for the sake of conjunction. He demonstrated through numerous quotations how men and women are distinctly different in every part of their minds and bodies, to eternity. He explained that distinctions on the spiritual plane produced corresponding distinctions on the natural plane so that there are duties or offices proper to each sex. The Writings characterize masculine offices as forensic, and public in nature. The feminine offices are characterized as domestic. He felt in summary that the largest problem facing the General Church is in rousing men to serve their church after their strenuous day in the business world. And even though the health of the church depends equally upon its women performing the spiritually domestic role of forming the church in both husband and wife, we should not take away from men their "forensic" role in the externals of the church, and risk losing their spiritually forensic role as well. A lively discussion followed.
     One speaker recalled a paper given ten years ago, emphasizing distinctions in what people do: specifically as to application of the words "use," "office," "job" and "employment." Never do the Writings use masculine or feminine connected with the word "employment" or "job." Another speaker felt we had not made enough studies of doctrine to determine whether women should be on corporations or boards, and asked that the church reconsider this decision until further study is made. Another speaker remarked that trying to define the word "forensic," which implies "public," might lead us to prove girls should not be school teachers because it is work outside the home. He doubted that we could construct a list of male and female uses in the church that we could agree on.
     Bishop King pointed out, however, that a committee had investigated all the studies made previously that were available to the church on this subject, and had compiled them for review. This committee studied these results and made their presentation to the Council of the Clergy for further study before coming to their final recommendation. During that time, a bishop's council was appointed for counseling the episcopal office; half the members were women. Finally, after hearing the counsel from the church at the final session of the assembly, he plans to forward to the Corporation at their annual meeting next March the recommendation of the committee to allow women to become members of the Corporation.
     The remaining minutes of this session involved review of the council's agenda. Committee chairman, Rev. Frank Rose, quickly covered the subjects therein.
     Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Secretary

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MINUTES OF THE JOINT COUNCIL OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1984

MINUTES OF THE JOINT COUNCIL OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Lorentz R. Soneson       1984

     1. The 90th regular joint meeting of the Council of the Clergy and the Directors of the Corporation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Pendleton Hall, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, June 6th, 1984, at 2:00 p.m.
     2. Attendance: Ninety-one men (fifty-seven clergy, fourteen lay members and twenty guests).
     3. The minutes of the 89th annual meeting were accepted as published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1983, page 350ff.
     4. The Secretary pointed out that the Evangelization Committee's report and the Sound Recording Committee's report, received too late for distribution, were available at this meeting.
     5. A memorial resolution for Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal was then read by Bishop King, and a moment of silence was observed in honor of the passing of the church's Treasurer. The memorial resolution read as follows:

     At the age of sixty-six years Leonard Gyllenhaal entered the spiritual world on February 4, 1984. Leonard was born and raised in Bryn Athyn. He attended the Academy High School and then the University of Pennsylvania, where he received the degree in Civil Engineering. After graduation he was employed by Bethlehem Steel Company.
     During the Second World War, Leonard served in the Pacific Theatre as a Lieutenant in the Navy, building airstrips for the Allied Forces. After the war he returned to Bryn Athyn and joined the Academy staff, working in the treasurer's office until 1952, when he was appointed Treasurer of the Academy and the General Church.
     In 1978 he was elected Vice President of the Academy and in 1982 he became the Development Officer for the Academy and the General Church. Now in his thirty-eighth year of service to the Academy and the General Church he has entered the spiritual world.
     During his tenure here, Leonard oversaw the expansion of the Academy secondary school campus, the evolution of a college campus, proliferation of buildings, personnel and educational programs. Concurrent with the latter period of this Academy expansion, he gave lay leadership in the expanding uses of the General Church the centralization of the payroll system, computerizing the business office and establishing a development fund to stimulate local initiative in our New Church societies and circles. As these new centers of the church developed, Leonard gave inspiration and leadership to General Church treasurers as a new and needed trend toward local self-support development.

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     When Leonard gave up the office of Treasurer and became the Development Officer of the General Church and the Academy, he continued as a symbol of security and financial stability. He was able to clutch supportively in one hand the principles and practices of New Church education as held by early Academians, while simultaneously reaching out with the other hand to endorse and support the General Church's new and necessary commitment to outward evangelization. He saw no conflict. He saw one end-the promulgation of the Heavenly Doctrines in order that the New Jerusalem, the Lord's New Church, might grow on earth-one Divine end served by a two-fold means: formal education of children of New Church parents and evangelization of future New Church parents, whose children and grandchildren will populate the church schools in the future.
     Be it resolved that our affection for Leonard and our appreciation of his usefulness to the church be recorded and communicated to Mrs. Gyllenhaal and their children.

     6. The report of the Secretary of the Council of the Clergy was accepted as published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1983, page 338ff.
     7. The report of the Secretary of the General Church was accepted as it appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE~ December, 1983, page 517ff.
     8. The treasurer's report was given by Mr. Neil Buss. The following are excerpts:

     Although we are nearly halfway through 1984, I feel it is useful to review the 1983 operation. Thereafter, I will touch on five-year planning and the 1984 budget.
     Members of the Board have received copies of the 1983 operating results and the 1984 budget. Additional copies are available at the doors for ministers. They include the results and budget information of individual societies, groups and circles, and the overall church.
     1983 was a successful year for the church from a financial point of view:
     Income-Revenue increased by $144,700, or 11.6%, whereas expenses rose by $85,832, or 7.3%. We were able to effect all planned transfers to reserves as well as increase the endowment by $38,400. This is most gratifying as the income from our endowment pays for more than 57% of all the expenses of the church. Total income increased 5.2%, or $69,000, over the figure budgeted for the year, which was $1,316,740.
     Several factors contributed to the improved receipts. Gifts and grants to operating income exceeded the budgeted figures by $12,117, or 3.1 %. Endowment income was $32,852, or 4.2% over budget, due mainly to an extraordinary dividend payment which will not be repeated.

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     Improved earnings on our cash management program, as well as miscellaneous items, increased the sundry income category by a further $14,000 over the anticipated figure.
     Expenses-The budget for overall expenses was on target. Certain areas of expense varied from the budget, but the positive canceled out the negative. One in excess of expectations was the cost of operating the General Church offices at Cairncrest. There were several others. Of most significance on the positive side was the fact that societies that receive grants increased payments toward salaries of their ministers and teachers by almost $28,000 over budget. This is really gratifying and is the second consecutive year in which contributions by societies toward their costs have exceeded the budget.

     This is the final year of a five-year plan. It provided for the addition of three new ministers and one new teacher each year. Essentially, we have done this. We have also given salary increases approximating inflation and have made significant improvements in benefits. The change in health insurance from Lincoln Life to Bankers Life has been a real benefit as has the increased life insurance coverage.
     This expansion, plus increases in costs, has strained our finances. In 1981 we incurred a net deficit of $43,000, covered by transfer from a reserve. Since then, by prudent budgeting and generosity of contributors, both at the society and General Church level, we have balanced budgets and have replaced reserves.
     During the summer we will begin a new five-year plan. The Bishop and I will study realistic goals for the church.
     We need pastoral input. Many societies and circles who currently receive grants from the General Church are already on 5- or 10-year plans toward self-support. The Budget Committee strongly encourages this, and it is to be a prerequisite of all future development.
     This form of society planning, as a stepping stone to receiving a resident pastor and Development Fund support, was initiated with the Twin Cities Circle.
The Bishop and I will be discussing the new plan with the pastors, hopefully next week.
     The need to plan carefully for development, growth and improvement is truly important.
     The 1984 budget presented some unusual expenditures, specifically:

1.      Placement of new ministers-for which the General Church is to bear a significant portion of the cost.
2.      Placement of a new full-time teacher. (The above two items were anticipated.)
3.      Three overseas moves of ministers, domestic moves for ministers, and teacher moves. (We will probably have to draw on the moving reserve which has been added to for the last two years.)
4.      The cost of the new Adult Education Program.

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5.      The cost of bringing wives of ministers to the Assembly. (Both these expenses are under "Services and Information" and basically account for the 32% increase in that category.)

     All these items are going to strain our resources and it is essential that we do all we can to communicate needs to others and seek support. The challenge is there as we emerge from this five-year period of adding manpower to meet future growth.
     To date, contributions have been forthcoming. I am sure that this will continue if we all do an adequate job of communicating the uses we see.

     There were no questions about this report, and Bishop King praised the work being done by the treasurer's office and the smooth transfer from Mr. Gyllenhaal's to Mr. Buss' leadership.
     9. The Salary Committee then made its report through its chairman, John Wyncoll. He explained that increases to the salary scale will come into effect July 1st. The committee is also examining new hiring policies, allowance for administrators, and an investigation for starting up new schools. The program for advanced salary scales for our teachers is also being updated.
     The Salary Committee chairman described the survey of housing costs that is being conducted, revealing wide variety. The salary increase scale had leveled off at twenty years, but this year has been upped to twenty-one years. It is possible that this will increase to twenty-five years, comparable to the Academy scale. The largest item on the General Church budget is benefits for employees, up 13% from last year. Mr. Wyncoll hopes that local societies begin to help to pay for this major item in the General Church budget.
     In response to a question, Mr. Wyncoll explained that benefits are now 25% of the total salary.
     10. The report of the Finance and Development Committee was then called for. The chairman, Neil Buss, explained that Tucson, Kempton, and Washington were receiving financial aid from this fund and that the Twin Cities are also requesting assistance in 1984.
     11. Mr. Theodore Brickman, Jr., chairman of the Development Office Search Committee, explained to the Joint Council that a letter was to be sent out to the whole church soliciting candidates for this important position. (He then read the letter.) The Development Officer, who will solicit funds for both the General Church and the Academy, will report directly to the Treasurer.
     12. Mr. Hyland Johns, chairman of the Personnel Advisory Committee to the Bishop, gave a short oral report, explaining that his written report had been mailed in advance from the Secretary's office.

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     13. The Bishop then called for comments on reports that had been distributed in advance to the Joint Council, such as the report of the Secretary of the Corporation of the General Church, Evangelization Committee, Board Evangelization Committee, NEW CHURCH LIFE, Orphanage Committee, General Church Pension Committee, General Church Publication Committee, General Church Religion Lessons, General Church Schools Committee, General Church Sound Recording Committee, Sunday School Committee, General Church Translation Committee, General Church Press Committee, and the Housing and Mortgage Committee.
     14. Bishop King then called on the President of the Academy, Rev. Peter M. Buss, to give the Joint Council a report on the pending new college library. Mr. Buss explained that the accreditation committee had reviewed our college in 1970 and was critical of our library facilities. These comments were reiterated in the 1982 accreditation, at which time the Academy said it was postponing development of a new library until 1990 because other needs were pressing. However, the Middle Atlantic States Association said that the present library facilities were not suitable. The Academy's self-evaluation described the 1911 construction as having poor heating, poor lighting, drafts, no elevators, etc. The Association wrote in February, 1984, that the current time schedule for constructing a new library was not acceptable. They said they asked for an answer by October, 1984.
     Mr. Buss explained that if we did lose accreditation our foreign students, including those from Canada, would be refused admittance across the border. U.S. students would find it difficult to transfer credits to other schools and there probably would be a drop in enrollment. President Acton last year appointed a Library Committee which began a detailed study of the Academy's status. This committee described the needs of faculty, students, researchers, especially college requirements and also community needs. Mr. Leonard Gyllenhaal and the Librarian, Miss Mary Alice Carswell, toured libraries in the area, investigating card catalogues, fire codes, use of computers, high density shelving, etc. Mr. Gyllenhaal made several drawings of our older buildings to see if they could accommodate the library. The Academy hired an architect who met with the faculty and board and considered many options, including remodeling the present library, the Assembly Hall, Cairnwood, de Charms Hall, Pitcairn Hall, etc. Costs were estimated between $3,000,000 and $3,500,000 just to convert present facilities.
     Would such an expense threaten the uses of the General Church and the Academy? The President felt that this library expense would not. The Library Fund now available would cover 20% of the estimated cost.

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Mr. James Junge and Mr. Stephen Pitcairn, speaking for the Glencairn and Cairncrest Foundations, suggested matching funds as a way of covering costs. Nothing has been decided as yet while the analysis continues. Mr. Buss felt that costs would govern their decision.
     A discussion followed. Will the Archives be included in the same building? Answer: Possibly. Does our library contain more or fewer books than the average high school and college library? Answer: Mr. Buss said the average is 80,000 volumes. We are trying to weed down from 100,000 volumes by discarding books. The average library doubles in 16 years, he said, but ours has only been growing 3% per year. When asked whether Bryn Athyn bore funds could be used the answer was "No." One board member clarified that we want a library and not just because the government is telling us to get one.
     President Buss' presentation of this pending, expensive project was much appreciated, both by the General Church Board of Directors and the gathered Council of the Clergy.
     The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
          Lorentz R. Soneson,
               Secretary
REVIEW 1984

REVIEW       Kurt Simons       1984

     Remember the Secret, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Illustrated by Heather Breston; Millbrae, Calif.: Celestial Arts, 1982; price $8.95

     A classic problem in the New Church is how best to interpret the compact and ideationally dense presentation of the Writings into images more immediately appealing and obviously pertinent to the lives of the people around us. Even an optimally phrased modern translation of the doctrines cannot escape the heavy informational load that, in most cases, every sentence of it carries (though experimentation with a Good News Bible-like1 version, such as The Child's True Christian Religion of many years ago, might prove interesting!). It seems likely that many people are never going to read the Writings "in the original" until they feel some reason to do so from exposure to a more accommodated "introductory offer" form of the truth. How to provide that offer?
     One approach that's worked is that of Dr. Moody's Life After and Dr. van Dusen's Presence of Other Worlds. Both in effect stand aside from their subject matter and ask the reader to look over the author's shoulder while he reviews a subject that he is obviously interested in and enthusiastic about.

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The overall sphere projected in both cases can be characterized as friendliness, a sphere with great appeal, and certainly "distinctive" in this age of religious hard sell. This friendly sphere is projected even more explicitly in another example, the actor chosen to play Swedenborg in the movie "The Man Who Had to Know." So often we seem to think of Swedenborg as some larger-than-life effigy, an institution or a monument-perhaps a projection of how we think of the Writings. Yet as portrayed in this movie, he comes across as a man at once serious and gentle, never pompous and with a twinkle in his eye that is enormously appealing, an effective and-again-friendly spokesman for spiritual things.
     Thus we come to the subject of our review, the recent book of Elisabeth Kubier-Ross. Dr. Kubler-Ross is a physician widely known for her books and articles on death and dying (more widely, in medical circles, than Dr. Moody, in fact). Even if we didn't know from other sources (e.g., she corresponded with Rev. David Helm), it is clear from this book that she is very familiar, and basically in agreement, with the Writings' teachings on life after death and other matters, such as the existence of free will.
     Like Winnie the Pooh, Remember the Secret is a children's book that grownups may get more out of than the kids. It's about death, but with a larger moral/philosophic scope than that may suggest. And it's beautiful. It varies in some respects from the letter of doctrine (e.g., mention of "unconditional love" and implication of no hell), but it is certainly harmonious with the spirit of the Writings' teachings. A key point is the warm and loving presentation, aided by the ambience of its illustrations. They are the warmest artistic evocations of heaven, reasonably accurately portrayed (e.g., no wings), that this reviewer has seen.)
     The story is brief (l8 pages of text) and as much a mood catcher as plot sequence, though the tale is an affecting one (our kids really liked it). Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that it involves two child friends talking to an angel couple, with the help of an out-of-body experience in one case, and how this affects their lives, particularly in a later difficult time. The angels are portrayed as gentle, friendly and wise "special friends" (in the book's words) that any of us would welcome. They impart what is basically doctrine to the children in a low-key happiness-oriented way that provides food for thought in our new missionary era.
     Technically, from doctrine, we might argue about all this happening prior to death (or near death), but it's done with a light touch and is certainly far less fantastical than the contents of many other kids' stories!

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Indeed, how fantastic is it to speculate that one day, if men really do return to the order of their lives in a new golden age, young children at least might once again have open discourse with angels, as did the Most Ancients? In any case, presenting the story in this way makes for a simple transition to the images of heaven that are the tale's main focus.
     As with the Moody and van Dusen books, in Remember the Secret you're looking through someone else's viewpoint-in this case the eyes of a child. Not a bad way to begin a reader's thinking about the truths concerning heaven. The book is also in the form of fiction, a story, a form not yet well explored in our evangelization efforts, yet one perhaps deserving closer examination. The Lord Himself used stories to teach, after all, both speaking Himself in parable and presenting most of the letter of the Word as a historical story. Or consider the sale of fiction vs. non-fiction books. And outright religious fiction is no exception, from the familiar best-sellers such as The Silver Chalice or The Robe to the novels of Grace Livingston Hill. Her plots are rudimentary, her (Old Church) doctrinal presentation verging upon preachy, perhaps because she wrote 50 years ago, but she has dozens of titles in print by a big-time, and non-religious, publisher, presumably because her books sell.
     When you're handing out a book to an interested friend, then-or giving a lecture, or setting up a bookstore-and you want something by a nonchurch (and hence high credibility) source, Remember the Secret makes a good addition to your present collection of Life After Life, My Religion and the Ripley cartoon about Swedenborg. Whether or not your newcomer agrees with it, he'll probably read Remember the Secret cover to cover, and it will leave a good feeling. That's not a bad way to begin thinking about the church either. Kurt Simons
     [Scanner note: although there are listed 2 and 3 footnotes, I did not find the #'s corresponding to the footnotes listed.]

     Footnotes

1 Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson. 1976 (see review, NEW CHURCH LIFE. April 1980. P. 172).
2 New York: New Church Board of Education. 1912 (4th edit.)
3A relative who is an artist says they are pre-Raphaelite in style.
MY LORD AND MY GOD 1984

MY LORD AND MY GOD              1984

It was because the Lord was now fully united to the Divine Itself, which is called the Father, that Thomas called Him his Lord and his God.
     Apocalypse Explained 815:15

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OUTREACH 1984

OUTREACH              1984

     During the 1984 Assembly a new service called Outreach was introduced. Outreach is a communication network through which, in charity and love for our neighbor, we can give aid to each other. It is based on the idea that someone who has "been there" has an understanding and empathy that can be of great value to another in a similar situation. With this in mind, we have established a referral system whereby people wanting help with their personal struggles can be put in touch with another New Church person who has gone through a similar experience. When we presented this idea to Bishop King, he gave enthusiastic approval, indicating that the Outreach concept is a tangible way to bring our religion into life.
     To establish this network we have compiled a list of people throughout the church who are willing to help. When someone in need contacts Outreach we will supply him with the name of an appropriate person to communicate with. Participation in the network will be strictly confidential with the names only being used for those in need. Over 60 people have offered to help in a wide range of problems.
     Do you feel that Outreach could be of help to you or someone you know; or would you like to help others in this way? If so, please write to the Outreach committee at the address below. We are excited about the possibility of serving each other in this way, and look forward to your

                              Steering Committee (all area code 215)
                              Gwen M. Asplundh          947-2682
Outreach                         Natri H. Carswell          947-4140

425 Woodward Drive                              Sarah J. Headsten          947-6357
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006          Jane K. Hogan          947-6941
                              Judith M. Hyatt          947-4133
                              Valerie L. Rogers          947-7823

Name                                                                      Phone (     )                                   

Address                                                                                                                   

Type of problem I would like to give support to                                                                 

Type of problem I would like to receive support for                                                            

Collateral literature and/or organizations I have found helpful are                                        

               

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REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH EVANGELIZATION COMMITTEE 1984

REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH EVANGELIZATION COMMITTEE       Rev. Douglas Taylor       1984

     1983

     The year 1983 was characterized by the expansion of existing programs and the beginning of new ones.
     For instance, our bi-monthly publication, the Missionary Memo, had to be expanded from 6 pages to 8 per issue in order to report the increasing number of activities throughout the church. The 8-week training course "Answering Questions about the Church" was given in at least five societies by local pastors; and the centralized sermon mailing program from Bryn Athyn and Toronto has grown to 887.
     Two new members-the Revs. Frank Rose and Grant Schnarr-have been added to the Evangelization Committee, and one-Mr. King Wille-to the Board Evangelization Committee.
     This year the Evangelization Committee brought out another series of graded pamphlets addressed to various kinds of people. This time the subject was the life after death. A reading guide describes different needs and how new and existing pamphlets on the subject meet these needs. Another much-needed publication was the book Scripture Confirmations of New Church Doctrine, a compilation of Scripture passages arranged under various headings presenting the Heavenly Doctrine from the sense of the letter of the Word. The demand for this was shown by the rapidity with which the first edition was sold. The second edition is also moving quickly.
     In November the Board Evangelization Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. Garth Pitcairn, sent out a letter soliciting funds for evangelization. The pleasing response confirmed our impression that there is growing support for this use in the General Church. We were very delighted with the increased numbers of contributors-a very healthy sign.
     In the fall we took advantage for the first time of a candidate's practicum in Connecticut to carry on a sustained evangelization program for several weeks continuously. The program consisted of monthly film evenings, library placements, a paid advertisement, news releases and other publicity, neighborhood research, and telephone calling. The object of this last activity was to identify readers of Swedenborg. Some three years ago research by the then pastor, Rev. Christopher Bown, indicated that many people had taken out books of the Writings. The most tangible result of the whole campaign was the discovery that one out of every 100 people phoned had read Swedenborg. One of these contacts continues to be very interested.

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     This year was the first time we could report any organized activity in Japan. In April Mr. Tatsuya Nagashima came all the way from Tokyo to Bryn Athyn to be baptized. Since then he has been very active organizing a small group near his home. He receives the sermons from Bryn Athyn, translates them, and distributes them to a group of about ten very keen readers.
     This year also saw the beginning of an ongoing project to make what were called "testimonial films"-films of the experiences of those who have come into the church. These interviews give fascinating insights into the workings of Providence in the establishment of the New Church.
     Another "first" was an address on evangelization given by the chairman to the General Faculty of the schools in Bryn Athyn (see NEW CHURCH LIFE. Sept., 1983).
     The public address is usually considered a somewhat dated medium for reaching those prepared for the New Church. However, in 1980 Dr. Kurt Simons discovered the secret of drawing a relatively large crowd even when the lecturer is not very well known. His subject was: "Life After Death: the Details," and it was given at the public library in Albany, New York. This formula has worked in several places since then-especially this past year in Canada. It can almost guarantee to be well attended-provided there is plenty of pre-publicity and that the formula is followed strictly.
     Another exciting innovation was the remarkable series of fourteen half-hour cable TV programs produced by Rev. Wendel Barnett in San Jose, California. Entitled "Dying, Death, and Beyond," this series consisted of interviews with doctors, nurses, hospice personnel, people who reported on their "near-death" experience, and two New Church ministers drawing attention to the teaching of the Bible and the Writings of Swedenborg on the subject of the life after death. This series is being made available to other societies of the church for airing on public-access cable TV stations.
     Another exciting development was the reading group project begun by the Glenview Society. A group of readers of Swedenborg was organized in Evanston, some distance from Glenview. This may well be the pattern of the future-going out to readers rather than expecting them to come to an already established group.
     Have you ever heard of a New Church minister having a forty-five minute conversation with an inquirer every day? That is indeed something new! But it is happening at the Toronto Society's Book Store in a shopping area two miles from the church. A total of 600 people visited the store in the first six weeks of its existence-which included the Christmas period.

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Altogether 230 sales were made. The store maintains a comprehensive stock of New Church literature. It was in this setting that these daily conversations occurred.
     But the outstanding "first" of the year was the publication of the Denney Report. This was the market research project mentioned as a future event in last year's report. Now it is an actuality. Robert Denney and Associates, in association with James Murphy, a market research organization, questioned many people-including some 30 recent new members of the church and 401 randomly selected members of the public in areas near three of our churches--and gave us a very enlightening report. A digest of this report is available at a price of $5 (postpaid), but here we will summarize some of the main findings: that public awareness of the church is pitifully low; that by varying names for the church, differing logos and sign boards, we give a confused and misleading picture of the church; that the most efficient way of reaching people likely to be interested in the Heavenly Doctrine is by personal contact; that "finding a religion that makes sense" had more appeal than anything else to the participants in the research. The report recommends that we focus on making our own members more comfortable about discussing the church with their friends; that we concentrate on publicity rather than paid advertising; and that we focus on these things before attempting anything else.
     All in all, it has been a year in which a number of exciting prospects have emerged. The evangelization program of the General Church is certainly gathering momentum.
     Rev. Douglas Taylor,
          Chairman
UNPRECEDENTED PUBLICATION OF PART OF THE WRITINGS? 1984

UNPRECEDENTED PUBLICATION OF PART OF THE WRITINGS?              1984

     A handsome book has been published, the main title being Emanuel Swedenborg. The subtitle is The Universal Human and Soul-Body Interaction. The "universal human" section consists of all the interchapter material in the Arcana on the subject of the Gorand Man, and the Soul-Body Interaction consists of the book we know as Intercourse of Soul and Body, (sometimes called Influx). Paulist Press has published this as part of a series of books entitled Classics of western Spirituality. Is this the first time an "outside" organization has published some of the Writings? We can only think of the "Everyman" series published a half century ago (Heaven and Hell in 1909, DLW and DP in 1913, and TCR in 1933).
     The hardcover edition is selling at $12.95 (267 pages). The cover features a painting of Swedenborg.

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SWEDENBORG 1988 TRICENTENARY BOOK COMPETITION 1984

SWEDENBORG 1988 TRICENTENARY BOOK COMPETITION              1984

     We are pleased to announce, in connection with the 1988 Tricentenary of the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg, a book competition. Manuscripts are invited for books in the following two categories:

     A.     On a topical subject utilising Swedenborgian thought and directed towards the public generally, i.e., working on a premise of introducing Swedenborgian thought rather than a totally in-depth analysis.

     Preferred topics include the following:
          Evolution/ Creation
          Marriage Love/The Place of the Sexes
          The Relevance of the Book of Revelation and the Future.
          Title to be nominated by the author.
          Some illustrations, photographs, diagrams, etc. are considered desirable.
          The manuscript should be between 30,000 and 50,000 words.

     B.      For children, somewhere in the age range from 5 to 10 years, on any appropriate subject, but conveying the thrust/application of teachings in the theological writings of Swedenborg.
     A pictorial presentation/ illustrations will be essential.
          Recommended age must be stated.

General Regulations

     1.      Closing date for receipt of manuscripts-30th June, 1986. It would be helpful if entrants could advise us of their interest in the competition as soon as possible.
     2.      The competition is open to everyone, although manuscripts must be original material (not previously submitted for publication anywhere), and in the English language.
     3.      The winning entry in each of the two categories will be determined by a panel of judges whose decision will be final.
     4.      A prize of $750.00 will be awarded to the winning author in each category.
     5.      The Swedenborg Lending Library and Enquiry Centre, Sydney, will retain an interest, along with the author, in the selected manuscript copyright. An option to arrange for the publication of all other manuscripts submitted will be held by The Swedenborg Lending Library and Enquiry Centre, Sydney, for a period of twelve months after the closing date.
          The Swedenborg Lending Library and Enquiry Centre,
          P.O. Box 42, Willoughby, N.S.W. Australia

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Editorial 1984

Editorial       Editor       1984

     A RESTORATION OF CHEERFULNESS

     Our Idea of God

     We have been discussing the fact that people have identified a religious life with a gloomy life (HH 528). What could be the cause of such a notion? The Writings emphasize the importance of having a right idea of God (DLW 13). Wrong ideas of God lead to wrong religious ideas. This has been so through the centuries.
     Imagine having a king (boss, president, leader) whom you do not admire. He doesn't like people to enjoy life, and he seems most satisfied when people are miserable. If you have to impress such a master, you must take into consideration these flaws in his nature.
     Well, let us take two ideas about God and put a wrong twist on them and notice something of resultant ideas.

     1)      God wants you to be humble.
     2)      God wants you to avoid evil delights.

     How easily the human mind has put a twist on God's will that we should be humble. Why does God like to see us humble? The answer is very simple (and beautiful), but from false reasonings it might be thought that it is because God likes to see our heads bowed-that He likes to see us walking around "with drooping heads," sad rather than cheerful (HH 358). We might imagine that God is pleased because we bow down and give Him glory.
     There have been people who so embraced this false idea that in the name of religion they would lie on the earth, sometimes for days! They would go without food and demonstrate their miserable state by weeping loudly (see AC 4293). The idea was that the sadder they were, the more God would be pleased and just might reward them.
     Traces of this kind of thinking have affected many people. When David was fleeing from Absalom he found himself in a miserable situation. A man was cursing and insulting him and throwing dust at him. Should someone stop the man? No, said David. "Let him alone, and let him curse . . . . It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day" (2 Samuel 16:12).

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The prophets of Baal had a custom of cutting themselves with knives, thinking that this would impress and please their god (1 Kings 18:28).
     What do the Writings teach about this? The Lord wants us to be humble for the simple reason that He can make us happier if we are humble. He wills to "give eternal life and happiness" (AC 7550), and that is the purpose of humility in worship. It may seem otherwise. It may seem that God wants glory for Himself (Ibid.) A vain and disagreeable master might want that, but it is not at all true of the Divine love. The Divine love is "a longing for the salvation of all and the happiness of all from inmosts and in fullness" (HH 397).

Why does God want you to avoid evil delights?

     The true answer is simple (and beautiful), but there are false notions that produce other answers. Some might think that evil delights annoy or irritate God. They think that certain things make God angry or diminish His good will.
     The truth is that evil delights interfere with our happiness (and the happiness of others). It is because of the Lord's will to give genuine, lasting delights that He wants us to avoid evil delights. The concept is so simple, and yet in a way it is revolutionary. Human minds may be slow to take it in and need to be persuaded that it is so.

Every man was created to live into eternity in a slate of blessedness . . . . He who wills that man should live to eternity also wills that he should live in a state of blessedness. What would eternal life be without that? All love desires the good of another-the love of parents desires the good of their children; the love of bridegroom and husband desires the good of his bride and wife; and friendship's love desires the good of friends; why not, then, the Divine love? And what else is this good but delight? Divine Providence 324:6

     Since religious life includes a drawing away from evil delights, it does involve giving up something that we seem to want. But how twisted this concept has been. People believed that God would be pleased if they sacrificed their children, giving up what they loved! So inclined were they to this concept that animal sacrifices had to be permitted to prevent them from sacrificing their children! (See AC 2818.) And see how the concept appears in a twisted Christian theology. A God of limited love gets angry with the human race and will not forgive, but will be impressed and moved by seeing the suffering of the cross (Faith 45).

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     Such an attitude could not exist in any angel "and scarcely with any well-disposed man, much less with God," for God's love to the human race is infinite (AE 805:3).
     The genuine truth is that God takes no satisfaction in suffering. "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel 18). "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11).
CHRIST IS ALIVE 1984

CHRIST IS ALIVE       Rev. Mark Carlson       1984




     Communications
Dear Editor,
     Mr. Kent O. Doering, in his article "Christ Is Alive," (March and April issues) suggests that the church has been the victim of "either/ or-a third possibility is excluded thinking," or what he calls "dichotomous thinking." There may be something to this. A process of doctrinal argument which may not always be helpful seems to occur rather frequently in the church. There is one set of passages which appears to say one thing-for example, Christ put off everything of the maternal human-and another set which seems to say the opposite, that He rose with the whole body. Often the apparent contradiction is contained within the same paragraph, as for instance, in this case (Doctrine of the Lord no. 35). Protagonists then line up on one side or the other, each claiming that one set of passages is the real truth, and the other passages only an appearance of truth, or some such argument. The net effect of the debate is to nullify what appear to be quite clear statements of doctrine. The history of the church is filled with such arguments, some of which have led to separations and divisions of the church.
     Perhaps this is "the how" of our thinking that Mr. Doering is questioning. Can we hold in our minds the truth that the Lord put off everything of the maternal human, and alongside that also hold the truth that the Lord rose with His whole body unlike any other man? Is it possible that by simply allowing both to be equally true we are closer to the truth-a third possibility? At least we are no further from the truth.
     Another doctrinal paradox concerning the Lord's Divine Human is contained in AC 1461, where it is stated that "the Human Essence was only a something that was added to His Divine Essence that was from eternity."

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By our standard definition of the "Divine Essence" nothing can be added to the Divine. Was something added to the Divine or not? Is an either/or answer required, or can both be true-a third possibility?
     The Writings often speak about how spiritual truth appears paradoxical when presented before the natural mind. And they indicate that the paradox cannot be resolved through a purely intellectual approach. While a compilation and comparison of passages is useful for seeing the whole of a doctrine in context and detail, it cannot resolve paradoxes. The basic problem with intellectual approaches to understanding paradoxes is that manipulation of passages and reasoning are processes which take place outside of the perceiver; they are changes and reformulations of the paradox itself, while what is necessary to solve the paradox or problem is a change or reformulation in the observer, a change in how we observe rather than in what we observe.
     The way the Writings speak of the change that is required within the observer is that truth must be removed from having priority in the mind and good must take the prior place. When this happens, truths subordinate themselves to good, and many truths flow in from the interior man that were not apparent before. The change is in how truth is viewed, not in how truth is presented or explained. Unfortunately, such truth is difficult, if not impossible, to communicate to another.
     I appreciate why Mr. Doering refers us to Watzlawick (Sept. p. 462). I have found his work fascinating and indeed the whole movement toward short-term paradoxical psychotherapy offers interesting confirmations and parallels to New Church doctrine. Perhaps the most startling confirmation is Watzlawick's simple observation that "action precedes knowledge." Or in terms of the New Church, that good precedes truth. Watzlawick calls the change which results from action "second order change." "Second order change" is change which goes beyond the normal range of rules for problem resolution, and involves some change in how the problem is perceived. Change which is simply a rearranging of the problem, or trying to do more of what has already been done only better, he calls "first order change." This sort of change he claims serves only to perpetuate the problem and often makes it worse.
     It seems that Mr. Doering is asking for some "second order change" in our approach to doctrine. It is worth thinking about, or would that keep us stuck in first order change?
     Rev. Mark Carlson,
          San Jose, California

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1984

SCIENTIFIC METHOD       Patricia K. Rose       1984

Dear Editor,
     I agree with others who believe that the recent discussion about homeopathy should not have taken place in NEW CHURCH LIFE, but since it has, there is one claim Dr. Heilman made that I want to respond to: "There was and is no way to test this type of prescription in terms of mechanism of action . . . . it may work for one of several reasons . . . , except . . . pharmacologic efficacy"(August 1984 issue, pp. 389 and 391).
     In the field of medicine, to learn whether a particular drug brings relief to patients a double-blind study is done. With two sets of people matched as evenly as possible, one set receives the drug, and the other group a placebo. To avoid prejudicing the patients in any direction, neither they nor the doctors know who is receiving which substance.
     The British Journal of Clinical pharmacology reported in its May 1980 issue that such a double-blind study had been done at the Centre for Rheumatic Diseases in Glasgow, Scotland-using homeopathic remedies! Two physicians from Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital prescribed homeopathic remedies for 46 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (different remedies because a homeopathic medicine must be selected according to the individual). Each of these patients had been taking a regular anti-inflammatory drug for two to six months before the test and they continued to take them during the three-month study. They had had arthritis for between one-half and 36 years, averaging out to eight years each. The patients did not know that homeopathic remedies were the subject of the test. Even though homeopathic medicines had been prescribed for all of them, half the people were on a placebo. Over 20 different remedies were actually used for the others. At the conclusion of the three months the results were assessed:

                                   On Homeopathy          On Placebo
Dropped Out                              1                    2
Worse                                   1                    3
No change                              2                    13
Slightly better                         15                    5
Much better                              4                    0

     Nineteen of 22 people experienced more improvement from the homeopathic remedies than from taking only the standard anti-inflammatory medications. That's over 86%. In that study, the article said, ". . . improvement in pain scores, stiffness and grip strength produced with homeopathy over three months compares favourably with those produced by gold and levamisole over one year . . . . more than one-third of the patients dropped out from both the gold and the levamisole series because of toxic side effects, while no toxic effects were reported with homeopathy" (emphasis added).

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As one non-homeopathic M.D. in the Philadelphia area commented, the results are "better than any conventional medication could do in treating rheumatoid arthritis."
     Another interesting experiment was done recently in France by Laboratoires Boiron. Patients having corrective plastic surgery were divided into two groups, one receiving arnica after the surgery and the other group taking a placebo or nothing. Within a week there was such a striking difference between the two groups-the arnica group having healed a great deal more-that the attending physicians thought it would be ethically wrong not to administer arnica to the other group. Arnica clearly promoted healing. Only those unfamiliar with homeopathy think of it as a quaint system of treatment of bygone days. It is now enjoying a surge of popularity, both within and outside the church.
     Some people have been converted to homeopathy by studying it in order to disprove it. That is what a German named Constantine Hering was hired to do in the 1800s, and as a result he not only realized the efficacy of homeopathy but came to be called the father of American homeopathy. It is said that he was baptized by Bishop Benade.
     It was mentioned recently that in the near future the journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy will publish an article about the influence of Swedenborg on the practice of homeopathy.
     Quaint and out-of-date as homeopathy seems to some people who don't understand it, it has now been the subject of scientific experiment. And it passed with flying colors. The results can hardly be attributed to the placebo effect. Homeopathy does work, as many of us have seen over and over from our own experience.
     Patricia K. Rose,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
HEAVENLY FORM 1984

HEAVENLY FORM              1984

     The angelic state is such that everyone communicates his own blessedness and happiness to others, for in the next life all affections and thoughts are communicated and perceived faultlessly. Each individual therefore communicates his own joy to all others, and so do all to each individual. Consequently each individual is, so to speak, the focal point of all. This is the heavenly form.
     Arcana Coelestia 549 (Recent Swedenborg Society edition)

577


IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1984

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1984

     On page 566 of this issue is a notice entitled "Outreach." For further information and insight on this see the Fall issue of Theta Alpha Journal. At the beginning of the issue is a description of the program with examples of the types of problems that may be helped. On page 17 of the same issue Miss Sarah Headsten elaborates on this need.

     What gets in the way of New Church people helping one another in times of distress? It is often hard for a troubled person to ask for help; she may feel that she should be able to handle it herself. Many who want to help feel they should have a solution, or feel inadequate to say the right thing.

     She offers practical suggestions and encouragement.
     The September-October issue of New Church Home has an interview with Donald and Eleanor Dillard. This is highly interesting and it is an excellent example of the fact that evangelization efforts do work. Mr. Dillard begins with the following statement:

     We discovered the Writings actually through a radio ad on the Philadelphia station WFLN, given by Doug Taylor. The radio ad said essentially, "Would you like to know more about life after death?" At that time I was thinking about life after death. So I simply sent for the book, Heaven and Hell, which was advertised on the radio, and read it . . . . We were both quite excited about what we had found, so much so that we decided that there must be other things that we could read by Swedenborg which would give us additional information. In the mailing for the book was a list of other books. I began ordering some. Over a period of a year or so, we were able to read not only Heaven and Hell, but The Four Doctrines, Divine Providence, Divine Love and Wisdom, New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, Conjugial Love, and True Christian Religion. We read the Trobridge account of Swedenborg's life and teachings. And just about two years ago, we purchased the entire Arcana Coelestia and have been reading from that ever since.

     As noted on page 567 of this issue, the Missionary Memo has been expanded. In the August editorial by Mr. Edward Cranch and Rev. Douglas Taylor we read:

     Some in the General Church feel uncomfortable with the idea that evangelization is a use commanded by the Lord. Apparently, they feel it is something to be done with delight, not from duty. True. But where do we begin if we have no delight? From duty, surely . . . . It is the same with the Church-a Greater Man. Unless we compel ourselves to evangelize, we will never come into the delight of evangelization-a use of charity.

     Your attention is called to an outstanding study by Mr. Prescott Rogers entitled "Philosophical and Ethical Movements Before the "Lord's Advent." This appears in the July-September issue of The New Philosophy.

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ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1984

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH              1984




     Announcements






     Each year the Academy invites 9th and 10th grade students from other areas to visit the Boys School and the Girls School for a few days. These visits have generally been useful in interesting students in Academy education and in preparing them for it.
     In order to facilitate planning for the visits, we invite the students from different areas on a rotating basis. This fall we expect students from New England, New Jersey, New York, southeastern U.S., and Washington. In the spring of 1985 we will invite those from Canada and northeastern U.S.
     In the next school year the Academy will arrange for visits from Glenview in the fall and Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the spring.
     Those who wish to participate in one of these visits may contact me or their pastor for further information.
     In addition to these visiting groups, individual students, parents, and others are welcome to visit at any time. Just write or give us a call.

Steve M. Irwin, Office of Students Services
Academy of the New Church
Boys and Girls School
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

580


Life is Forever 1984

Life is Forever              1984

An Introduction to the Spiritual World for Children

     By Rev. Peter M. Buss
Illustrated by Elisabeth S. Buss

     Available now
postpaid $3.60

     General Church
Book Center
Hours: 9-12 Monday-Friday
(215) 947-3920

581


Notes on This Issue 1984

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1984



Vol. CIV          December, 1984          No. 12
NEW CHURCH LIFE

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     1984 marks an important 200th anniversary. There used to be a bronze memorial tablet in Philadelphia on the corner of Third and Chancellor Streets, just below Walnut Street. The inscription said:

     Bell's Book Store, Here in 1784 was delivered by James Glen, of Demerara, B.G., the first public lecture ever given on the Christian Doctrines set forth by Swedenborg.

     We have not as yet succeeded in finding that tablet but have some hope of doing so. In the later part of 1784 (probably around November) a box of books arrived in this country containing many copies of the Writings both in Latin and in English translation. We are pleased to have an account of this by Dr. Ray Silverman on page 620.
     1984 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Girls School (see the notice on page 6 19 of a centennial album to come out in the spring). It is in recognition of the Girls School anniversary that Bishop Pendleton has provided the article for this issue entitled "Education for Feminine Uses."
     The December issue is an issue for names and figures. You will find the names of 129 people who have joined the General Church in a year. You will find the names and addresses of all the ministers of the church with a brief description of their responsibilities. We have in the past listed the societies of the church (21 this year) and the circles (31 this year), and this time we are listing groups (26 this year). A group consists of all interested receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine in any locality who meet together for worship and mutual instruction under the general supervision of pastors who visit them from time to time. We note that the group in New Zealand has become a circle, also the group in North Carolina (see p. 628).
     On page 603 we have the current enrollments of our ten local schools as well as the enrollments in the Academy schools. We thank those in local schools for also providing us with current information on teaching staffs (pages 601-603).
     The Notes on the October issue mentioned a new magazine entitled Chrysalis to be published by the Swedenborg Foundation, This is still anticipated early in 1985 (probably in February).
     Your attention is called to two new publications-Escape from Egypt by Rev. D.M. Taylor and An Heritage of the Lord by Rev. R. S. Junge.

583


WISE MEN 1984

WISE MEN       Rev. HAROLD C. CRANCH       1984

     The wise men, who worshipped the newborn Lord, like the shepherds, represented remains, but of a spiritual affection of truth. The very fact that they are called wise men refers to truth and the love of truth which is implanted later during childhood; and while this is good, it is not of the same degree as the celestial remains represented by the shepherds. Wisdom and intelligence are led by truth, as the wise men were led by the star. So they did not see an angel or hear his voice. Rather they were shown that Messianic prophecy was fulfilled by the appearance of a star before their spiritual eyes. This required the use of reason to understand. They had to apply the prophecy of Balaam and other prophecies known to the ancients, and from this interpret their sign and then follow its indications. This symbolism was continued in that they were led first to Jerusalem, which represents the doctrine of the church. There, no one had seen the star. It could be seen only by those in the love of truth, those who were truly wise. So when the wise men said: "Where is He that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him" Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Yet here Jerusalem fulfilled its meaning of the doctrine of the church, for that doctrine is to lead men to the Lord in the Word that wise men may see Him there. So Herod gathered the scribes and doctors of the law and they searched the Scriptures and found the prophecy that the Lord would be born in Bethlehem.
     After instruction, the wise men proceeded on their journey, rejoicing to see the star which they had seen in the east again going before them until it came and stood over where the Lord could be found. So does the love of wisdom lead men to the church and its doctrine which then points the way to see the Lord clearly in the Word. The star of truth goes before all who seek Him there. Bethlehem-the house of bread-represents the Word in its letter. There the Lord can be found, the living infernal within the humble external forms of the letter.
     The wise men, being truly wise, offered all their precious possessions to the Lord. They offered Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We are told in the Writings that this represents all forms of charity-love to the Lord like pure gold, love of the neighbor like the sweetness of frankincense, and the love of obedience to external order, which has the healing qualities of myrrh. Being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.

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     Every man is led by the Lord according to his leading state of love and wisdom. The shepherds were led by love to see and hear the message of the angels. They saw Gabriel, the society of angels that first appeared to them as a single angel and then as the whole host of heaven, for all of the angels are in the love of proclaiming the Lord's saving work. The wise men were led by their intelligence to see the fulfillment of the prophecies they held in their understanding. What they actually saw was the same angelic society that had appeared to the shepherds, but they saw it at a distance, in a more general way, so that it appeared to them as a star. But it proclaimed the same message, that the Lord had come. And it served the same use, to bring them to Bethlehem to worship, as it had already, in a more personal appearance, led the shepherds to worship.
     We must be led many times to receive the Lord and to worship Him. And we will be led in different ways in different states of our life. Many times the deeply implanted remains and affections of celestial goods and truths are stirred by the stories of the Word, by a deeply affecting service, or by the sphere of mutual love and trust that exist at times of assembly, or possibly at the time of the death of one whom we love very much. Such things rouse our affectional states which do lead us to deeper acknowledgment and love to the Lord. In such states, we see Him present, and we stand in awe. More frequently we are led to the Lord by the star of truth. In our reading, the truth touches our mind, enlightening it so that it shines as a star before us, leading to untold richness of ideas and truths in each of which the Lord can be seen if we follow where it leads. And first we are brought to the doctrine of the church, as the Magi were led to Jerusalem. The doctrine of genuine truth drawn from the letter of the Word by the church in us, and by the church in its complex, helps us to see the hidden passages of the Word, to see that they all contain within a deeper, living sense. So the doctrine guides us on to a better understanding of the letter of the Word that we may find the Lord there.
     As it is with the angels, so is it to be with us. Of them, it is said that the Lord is born every morning. That is, truth is given fresh and beautiful in a completely new concept for them to use, and understand, and love. If we will cultivate the habit of going to the Word sincerely, and allow our minds to be deeply affected by it in its living truth, and in the deep affections it stirs, we will be led to our spiritual Bethlehem to see the Lord and worship Him there.

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EDUCATION FOR FEMININE USES 1984

EDUCATION FOR FEMININE USES       Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON       1984

     In Recognition of the One-hundredth Anniversary of the Girls School

     In the educational world of today scant recognition is paid to the difference between the sexes. The reason for this is that few educators believe that there is an essential distinction between the masculine and feminine minds. They grant that there are biological and emotional differences which should be taken into consideration in any educational program, but they do not believe that these have any direct bearing upon the learning process. The thesis is that girls are as educable as boys; and while they may have in some respects a different motivation, it is not sufficiently significant to warrant the practice of educational segregation in adolescence.
     With the first proposition we agree: girls are as educable as boys, but it does not necessarily follow from this that they should be educated in the same way. The assumption that is made is that the learning process is the educational process. We hold, however, that the learning process is only one aspect of the educational process. What is more, we hold that what is learned may have a very different orientation in the mind of a woman than in the mind of a man. Add to this that all that is learned takes form as various knowledges which serve as means whereby one's interests, affections and loves are expressed. It is in this that the feminine mind differs from the masculine mind, and it is our conviction that in any educational program this difference should be addressed. In order to understand this, however, we must think from use, that is, from the use which from the beginning the masculine and the feminine were intended to serve.
     Use is to be identified with the Divine purpose in creation. This purpose is a heaven from the human race. So it was that in the beginning God created man, "male and female created He them" (Gen. 1:27). What we have here are two distinct forms of life, each essential to the Divine purpose. In the Divine scheme of things each has its own specific function, and each is intended to contribute to the relationship what is lacking in the other. So it is said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh" (Matt. 19:5; Gen. 2:24). The cause that is spoken of here is the Divine purpose in creation which obviously refers to the procreation and perpetuation of the human race, but when understood in its deeper implications refers to the conjugial relationship between husband and wife in which the kingdom of heaven consists.

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In commenting on this the Writings say: "The male and female were so created that from being two they may become as one man . . . and when they become one, then taken together they are one man in fulness; but without this conjunction they are two, and each is, as it were, a divided or half man" (CL 37).
     When understood in this way it becomes apparent that the distinction between the two sexes involves far more than a biological difference. A man is not a man merely because he is endowed with a masculine figure and because he can sire offspring; neither is a woman a woman in the real meaning of the word because she is gifted with a feminine body and, unlike the male. can bear children. If, as many seem to believe, these are the only distinctions which can be predicated of the two sexes, it follows that the relationship between man and woman has no greater potential for fulfillment than that which applies to the mating instincts of the various species of the animal kingdom. Unless there is a conjunction of minds, that is, of thoughts and affections, then what is commonly referred to as marital love is really nothing more than a physical attraction that is confined to one of the sex. It is a depressing thought and one that not only degrades the man and the woman whom the Lord God made, but also deprives the institution of marriage of the spiritual potential that is essential to the Divine purpose. It is the faith of the New Church, however, that women possess qualities and affections that men lack, and it is because man wills to conjoin himself with these affections that he is attracted to the woman whom he desires for a wife. The same is true of a woman who perceives in a man certain masculine attributes and virtues which she wills to adjoin to her own life. What we are speaking of here is love, that is, of a love which in quality and kind far exceeds any physical attraction which, although basic, has no sustaining power and, where genuine love is lacking, soon withers away. As noted, however, the love of a man for a woman, and of a woman for a man, involves a distinction between these two forms of life, and were it not for this distinction this love could not exist.
     Our thesis is derived from the work Conjugial Love. In all the history of religious thought this work stands apart. What we have here is a new concept of what is involved in the relationship between the sexes. Unlike Christian doctrine which subscribes to a literal interpretation of the New Testament teaching that "in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage" (Matt. 22:30), it is the faith of the New Church that the purpose in marriage is the union of minds which results in an eternal relationship. Hence it is said in the marriage service: "The marriage of love truly conjugial is the union of two in thought and will, in truth and good; and they who are in it love to think and will each as the other, and thus to become as one man.

587


The image and likeness of one is in the mind of the other, and they dwell together in all things of life even to the inmost. They who so dwell together on earth dwell together as angels after death" (Liturgy).
     What is spoken of here is an ideal. As any other ideal to which the human mind aspires, its blessings cannot be conferred upon us without an effort on our part; in other words, conjugial love, although a gift from the Lord, cannot be received unless in their mutual relations both husband and wife will that it should be so. In no other way can they enter with evident delight into the blessings of this love which are so beautifully defined as "states of innocence, peace, tranquility, inmost friendship, full confidence, and the mutual desire of mind and heart to do each other every good" (CL 180). What is described here cannot be predicated of any other human relationship, and it provides a glimpse of the potential for human happiness which is inherent in the distinction between the sexes; but this potential is at all times dependent upon the acknowledgment and perception of the uses involved in the marriage covenant. As we understand them these uses are: The preservation and cultivation of the conjugial relationship, the procreation of offspring, the establishment of the home, the care and education of children, and the mutual regeneration of husband and wife.
     In considering these uses it is essential to observe that the loves which give rise to these uses are not proper to man (vir). It is the repeated teaching of the Writings that they are insinuated into husbands by way of their wives who, in turn, receive them as a direct gift from the Lord. Concerning this we read: "That the inspiration or insinuation of love is from wives into men is because with men there is nothing of conjugial love, nor even of the love of the sex, but only with wives and women" (CL 161). This remarkable statement may be questioned by many, but the Writings insist it is so. We can readily understand, therefore, what is interiorly involved in the words of Genesis, "It is not good that man should be alone" (2: 18). In other words, women are forms of love, and their husbands are the recipients of their love according to their wisdom, especially, we are told, if the husband's wisdom is from religion, that is, from the acknowledgment that the wife alone is to be loved. When the wife alone is loved, the conjugial relationship abides in its strength and is constant and enduring (see CL 161).
     This dependency of man upon woman is a subtle thing and in its more interior implications is not understood at this day. One reason for this is found in Christian doctrine which, although it regards marriage as a Divine institution, has traditionally held that it is a temporal provision designed to preserve order among men and "to beget children of God."

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Hence the familiar words of the Christian liturgy, "until death do you part." But unless marriage is seen for what it was originally intended to be, that is, as an eternal union, its uses cannot be understood. Take, for example, the mutual regeneration of husband and wife. What we have here is a spiritual relationship to which each partner contributes what each has to offer out of his own Divine endowment. In this way, and in no other way, can they become one in spirit, in mind, and in all the ends and purposes of life.
     In the masculine-feminine relationship a woman brings to her marriage her potential love of the conjugial, and in so doing exerts upon her husband an influence for good through the insinuation of her delights. Like all delights by which the mind is affected, they are perceived by him as his own delights, but this is not so. As already observed, man is incapable of responding of himself to the uses of marriage. It is only as he is adjoined to a woman, and is affected by the sphere of her delights, that he is capable of appropriating these things to himself. We can readily understand, therefore, why it is that when the love of what is truly conjugial is aborted in a woman, the very foundation of marriage is destroyed. This is the reason why we believe that it is important that girls be educated in the ideals of womanhood, and that boys be educated to be men.
     As stated at the outset of this paper scant recognition is paid at this day to the distinction between the sexes. To say the same thing in another way this distinction is becoming increasingly blurred. In the long struggle to obtain equal rights under the civil law, many women have felt the need to prove that in all significant respects they are the equal of men. It is here that confusion arises in regard to the essential distinction between men and women. If, it is argued, women can successfully do what men can do, apart from feats of physical strength, wherein does the difference lie? The truth is, however, that even as no two individuals are equal, neither are the two sexes. Each is endowed with its own gifts and affections, and the difference is essential to the good of both. The performance and perfection of uses is not found in sameness, but in the harmony that only variety can produce. So it is that whereas the feminine mind is created a form receptive of love, the masculine mind is created a form receptive of wisdom (see CL 188). Obviously, the reference here is not to the body but to the mind, for love and wisdom cannot be predicated of the body but only of the mind. Yet in this we do not wish to be misunderstood. When it is said that a woman is a form of love, and that man is a form of wisdom, it does not mean that a woman is devoid of understanding, or that she is incapable of abstracting; neither does it mean that a man is incapable of love.

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What it does mean is that in the application of her love to the conjugial relationship a woman is dependent upon her husband's wisdom, and that in order to enter with delight into the uses of marriage a man is dependent upon his wife's love.
     It is here that the inevitable question arises: What is meant by a husband's wisdom? The reference is not to his erudition, nor to the knowledges of various kinds that he possesses; these are but the means whereby he may, if he will, enter into what the Writings speak of as the wisdom of life. We must distinguish, therefore, between one who is knowledgeable and one who is wise. One who is knowledgeable knows many things, but one who is wise applies what he knows to a moral and spiritual life. So it is that in speaking of the wisdom in man to which a woman can be conjoined the Writings have reference to the moral and spiritual virtues. These are formed in the understanding by way of instruction and education, and as in the truly masculine mind it is the understanding which is said to predominate, they are identified in the Writings as masculine virtues. Among the moral virtues specifically mentioned here we find honesty, industry, courage, dependability and sincerity; whereas the spiritual virtues that are emphasized are the love of religion, charity, truth, faith, conscience and innocence (see CL 164). In commenting on this the Rev. Hugo L. Odhner has rightly observed that: "If a man loses the primary masculine virtues, and proves dishonest and lazy and cowardly . . . he destroys his usefulness and loses his very soul, along with the respect of his fellow men"(The Moral Life, p. 105, Academy Book Room, 1957).
     It is not to be assumed that what are here referred to as masculine virtues are the sole prerogative of men. All history and human experience testify to the courage and fortitude of women in coping with the realities of life. The difference is that a woman's motivation stems from her love of conjugial uses, whereas a man's motivation is prompted by his dedication to the forensic uses of life. A woman's primary concern, unless diverted, is for her marriage and her home. A man's primary concern, if he is truly a man, is his usefulness to society. This does not in any way preclude a sense of social obligation in women, nor devotion to wife and family in men. In other words, there is no virtue in man that does not apply to woman, nor in woman that does not apply to man. The difference in what the Writings refer to as masculine and feminine virtues is a matter of those affections which are the most supportive of the uses which each sex is created to serve.
     It follows from this that the prime virtue in any man is honesty, that is, integrity of character in the conduct of the affairs of society.

590


Lacking this a man cannot be said to be a man. In a woman, however, the crowning virtue is chastity. It is generally assumed that the term "chastity" has a specific reference to a woman's virginity, but the Writings extend the use of the term to include what is chaste in marriage. What is chaste is whatever looks to the preservation of the conjugial, and it was with this in mind that the Rev. Hugo Odhner also said, "If [a woman] squanders her virtue as to chastity, she gives up, with small hope of recovery, that which with her is the center and mainspring for all other virtues" (The Moral Life, p. 105). In this day and age when many have come to regard the relation between the sexes as nothing more than a matter of lifestyle, this statement may seem extreme. Yet the truth remains that there is a purpose in creation, and this purpose is at all times dependent upon an orderly relation between the sexes.
     As parents and teachers the question before us is how in these times do we preserve in our children some remnant of innocence in regard to marriage? The problem is how to establish and preserve the ideal in their minds. Due to the irresponsibility of the media the child today is subjected to all manner of subversive influences. The shelves in our stores provide ready access to pornographic material, and the televisions in our homes serve up a daily diet of uncontrolled sex and marital infidelity. Add to this the disillusioning effect of a divorce rate which undermines confidence in the institution of marriage. It is no wonder that youth today is confused and is prone to dismiss the social mores that once exercised a restraining influence upon the relation between the sexes as nothing more than eighteenth century morality. This, we are told, is a liberated generation which rejects as untenable any code of morality which restricts the free expression of self. Be all this as it may, we are committed, as previously mentioned, to an unprecedented concept of what is involved in the relationship between the sexes. But how do we convey this to our children? The obvious answer to this lies in the environment which we provide for our children, both in the home and in the school.
     Unless prematurely disillusioned, adolescence is an age of ideals. It is also an age which requires careful guidance in regard to matters pertaining to sex. It is here that many parents admittedly feel a sense of inadequacy and all too frequently abdicate their responsibilities, leaving the adolescent exposed to peer pressures and the uncertainties that are typical of this age. It is also here that the school, if it provides a supportive environment, can lend needed assistance to the home. We are not speaking here of those highly controversial courses in sex instruction which are primarily designed to teach adolescents how to cope with the consequences of sexual intercourse, but of the need for an understanding on the part of youth of the uses which sex is intended to serve as distinguished from its abuses.

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This, however, involves more than instruction; it also involves a carefully considered and adequately supervised system of social life. After all, we are committed to those ideals of masculinity and femininity to which the Writings are addressed, and in reflecting on this we are convinced that the most effective approach to these ideals is the educational separation of boys and girls during adolescence. We are not referring here to social isolation, which at this age is self-defeating, but of two adjacent and coordinate schools each with its own faculty and mission.
     I would call the attention of the reader to the fact that coeducation is a relatively new development. It is the by-product of the establishment and extension of the public school system in the United States and Canada. The rapidly increasing demand for education placed a premium upon efficiency and did not allow for the traditional distinction between the sexes. As in so many things, however, necessity became the mother of invention, and it was only a matter of time before educational theories were advanced that were designed to justify the new order of things. It is pointed out that the now antiquated practice of segregating the sexes in education had its origin in the social system of the past. Among primitive tribes, man was trained for hunting and war, and woman was trained for work. In the Middle Ages, formal education of any kind was the privilege of the few; but as the uses of women were confined to the home, such education as they received was usually domestic in nature. With the industrial revolution, however, the demand for women's services increased to such an extent that women are now represented in large numbers in almost every profession and occupation. We cannot deny that in the past hundred years we have witnessed a social revolution.
     While in all social changes there is what is called "an educational lag," it is only a matter of time before educational practices become geared to social conditions. The day of Miss Jones's School for Young Females has passed, and coeducation has moved into the breach. The reason is obvious. The educational system that does not condition the individual to the needs of society is soon discredited. There are few parents today who would dispute the necessity of educating their daughters in such a way that they may be prepared to support themselves. From this the argument develops that since similar returns will be expected of both sexes in adult life, the sooner girls learn to compete with boys in the performance of mutual undertakings, the better their adjustment will be.
     In many respects it is a convincing argument, but one thing is lacking.

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Like all other socially derived doctrines it rests its case upon the assumption that man is a social being. This is true; but it fails to recognize that man (homo) is also a spiritual being, and it is here that New Church education takes issue with the generally accepted thought of the day. While we concur with the proposition that women must be prepared to take a part in occupational activities, we do not concede that the coeducation of adolescents is a desirable means to this end. On the contrary, we seek to create an educational environment in which the feminine mind may be free to develop those qualities which are essentially feminine.
     To many this may seem to suggest a return to Victorian attitudes, or the effort to provide a protective environment supported by an insistence upon artificial distinctions between the sexes; our concern here, however, is not with artificial distinctions, but with differences we believe to be basic. Were this not so, why would the Writings speak of the masculine soul and the feminine soul, of the masculine mind and the feminine mind, and of masculine and feminine uses? This being the case, should not these critical teachings be reflected and implemented in our educational system? Nowhere is this more applicable than in those years when boys are in the process of becoming men, and girls of becoming women. The very fact that at this age they are educationally separated says something; but there is much more to it than that. At this age boys should come under the direct influence and supervision of men, and girls should be educated by women. This does not mean that girls should be deprived of the benefits of a direct contact with the masculine mind in the classroom, but that the life, the activities and the ideals of the school should come under the aegis of women. Compare this to what is said in the Writings concerning the duties which are proper to the wife and those which are proper to the husband. To the wife belongs the duty of the education of her daughters, and to the husband the responsibility of educating his sons (see CL 176).
     We are reminded here of the familiar argument that since boys and girls are raised together in the home, it follows as a consequence that they should be educated together at school. As far as young children are concerned, this is true; but once the love of the sex is awakened, boys and girls come into a very different relationship than that which exists between brothers and sisters. This dramatic change in their lives is not just a biological phenomenon; it has a profound impact upon their minds. As this state develops, new affections are stirred and new interests are aroused. According to the Writings, these changes of state "are of one kind with men, and of another kind with women" (CL 187). Were this not so, there would be no essential difference between men and women, but only the biological difference which is found in animals.

593



     If my reading of the Writings is correct, it would seem that we are doctrinally committed to the development and extension of a distinctive educational system for girls. It is true that the Writings do not specifically charge us with this responsibility, but in all that is said concerning the sexes it is implied. I would remind you here of the teaching that "all instruction is simply the opening of the way" (AC 1495); that is, the way in which the mind is opened to the perception of use. This, as we understand it, is the real purpose of the educational process. As feminine uses differ from masculine uses, we believe that this opening of the mind calls for a different approach. In this, as in all things, we should think from the use. This does not mean that in setting up the curriculum we should confine the education of girls to things which are domestic in nature; but it does mean that in the interpretation and application of knowledge we should strive for a different orientation; that is, we should direct their thought to those interior uses which the feminine mind is created to serve in the establishment of the New Church.
     It should be noted that we are not alone in our conviction that an educational separation of the sexes should take place in adolescence. Many religious and private schools still adhere to this system. In defense of their practice they insist that it is psychologically sound. It is held that coeducation at this age results in distractions and promotes a degree of self-consciousness on the part of both sexes that detracts from the learning process. Concerned as we are with the learning process, our primary interest is in providing a distinctive educational environment for both sexes in order that each may develop in its own way. As applied to girls our purpose is to promote an increasing awareness of their role as women and to open the way whereby they may enter with understanding and delight into feminine uses. When confused with masculine interests these uses tend to lose their identity, and at no time in history has the confusion between the two sexes been more apparent than ii is at this day.
     We are living today in a society which in many respects has lost its way. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the loss of perception of what is involved in the masculine and feminine relationship. In rebelling against what is regarded by many women as the restrictive life of the home, the natural tendency is to seek stimulation and satisfaction in those forensic uses which have long been regarded as the territory of men. It is true that with some women this is a matter of economic necessity, but with others it is a matter of choice. In saying this we are mindful that women have a great deal to offer to any use or activity, but this is because they are women and their perspective is different from men's.

594


But if a woman's decision to enter into forensic uses involves an abandonment of her responsibilities to her home, she loses her perspective and thinks and acts like a man. Hence, the ancient law of Israel, "The garment of a man shall not be upon a woman, neither the garment of a woman upon a man" (Deut. 22:5; CL 175). When understood in its spiritual sense this law has reference to external affections which are not in accord with the uses that one has been created to perform. It is to be observed, however, that nowhere do the Writings say that women are not to enter into occupations that have been traditionally associated with men. What they do say is that the primary love of a woman's life should be for her husband, her family and her home. Failing this, all uses of society suffer, for the very life of society is dependent upon the home.
     What we are speaking of here is an ideal, and we are all too keenly aware that between the reality and the ideal there is a gap. This applies not only to families which are torn by discord, but to a lesser degree to every home. The important thing, however, is that the ideal be established at an age which is responsive to the potential for human fulfillment that the marital relation affords. It is, then, during the formative years of adolescence that the conjugial concept must be addressed. This is a work of instruction and education; it cannot be accomplished in any other way. Once the ideal has been established, however, it serves as a chart and a compass to the mind in directing our thoughts and affections to what is essential in the most important of all human relationships. It is true that in later states there may well be times when doubts will occur and the ideal seem remote. Like the psalmist who was afflicted by a sense of his own inadequacy we may say in our hearts, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm 139:6). in this, as in all things of spiritual life, however, we must have both patience and faith. In every challenge of life doubts are inevitable, but we must not lose heart; for it is the promise of the Writings that conjugial love, such as it was with the men and women of the Most Ancient Church, will be raised up anew by the Lord among those who receive Him as He is now revealed in the spiritual sense of His Word (see CL 81). In an age when many no longer regard marriage as a Divine institution, this nevertheless is the faith of the New Church.

595


ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1984

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Lorentz R. Soneson       1984

     During September, 1983, through August, 1984, one hundred twenty-nine new members were received into the General Church. Three members resigned, five were dropped from the roll. Thirty-four deaths were reported. On September 1, 1984, the roll contained three thousand eight hundred sixty-two members.

                                             Other
                                        U.S.A.      Countries           Total
Membership, September 1, 1983           2,618      1,157           3,775
New Members (Certs. 7044 to 7172)           115          114                129
Losses: Deaths                          -22          -12      (34)
     Resignations                     -1           -2     (3)
     Dropped from Roll                -0           -5      (5)           -42
Membership, September 1, 1984           2,710      1,152           3,862
Net Gain during the period September
     1983, through August 1984           92          -5                    87

     NEW MEMBERS

     UNITED STATES

     Arizona: Tucson
Mrs. Gaynelle (Smith) Goodfellow

     California: El Toro
Mr. William Bergen Junge
Mrs. William Bergen Junge (Mary Jane Bruser)
Mr. Eric Dale Soneson

     California: North Hollywood
Mrs. Charles Arthur Robbins (Karen Elizabeth Ryan)

     California: Los Alamitos
Mr. Eleazar D. Baltazar
Mrs. Eleazar D. Baltazar (Virginia Capuli)

     California: Los Angeles
Mr. Roy Karl Bedford

     California: Mira Mesa
Mrs. J. N. Lagman (Demialma Baltazar)

     California: San Diego
Mrs. Edwin Reyes Dela Cruz (Elwita Baltazar)

     California: San Jose
Mr. Brent Randolph Blasi

     Colorado: Ft. Collins
Mr. David Wayne Ayers
Mrs. David Wayne Ayers (Darcy Bostock)

     Colorado: Loveland
Mr. Charles Frederick White, IV
Mrs. Charles Frederick White, IV (Mara Bostock)

596




     Colorado: Littleton
Miss Linda Susan Weaver

     Illinois: Chicago
Mr. Steven Michael Simon

     Illinois: Glenview
Mr. Thomas Scott Nelson
Mr. John Peter Teschky

     Illinois: Lake Forest
Mr. Rex Paul Knauer

     Illinois: Merrillville
Mrs. Joseph Lloyd Johnson (Irene Mae Rose Mary Lord)

     Maine: Bath
Mr. Paul Joseph Graustuck
Mrs. Paul Joseph Graustuck (Catharine Hooper)
Mr. Samuel Merritt Trott
Mrs. Samuel Merritt Trott (Barbara Jean Kenney)

     Maine: Bowdoinham
Mr. William Worcester Briggs
Mrs. William Worcester Briggs (Jean Webster)

     Maine: Brooks
Mr. Norman Jolliffe, Jr.

     Maine: N. Edgecomb
Mr. Frederic S. Bowers
Mrs. Frederic S. Bowers (Cynthia Wolfe)

     Maine: Lisbon Falls
Mrs. Ernest Paxton (Mary Lucille Irene St. Amant)

     Maine: Sebasco Estates
Mrs. Ernest Haskell (Annie Perry)

     Maryland: Baltimore
Mr. John Howard Floyd
Mrs. John Howard Floyd (Karen Lynn Stockett)
Mrs. Frank R. Jackson (Barbara Mason Barry)

     Maryland: Gaithersburg
Mr. Laurence Harvey Kaufman

     Maryland: Lanham
Mrs. D. Kevin Synnestvedt (Carol Joyce Kennedy)

     Maryland: Mitchellville
Miss Emily Margaret Barry
Miss Rebecca Wilson Barry

     Michigan: Rochester
Mrs. John W. Keith (Helen Hallock)

     Michigan: Royal Oak
Mr. Harvey Thornburg Caldwell

     Minnesota: Minneapolis
Miss Kendal Leigh Lyon

     Missouri: Columbia
Mrs. Paul S. Johnson (Sonja Synova Bakke)

     Ohio: Alliance
Miss Kaia Lynn Synnestvedt

     Ohio: Norwood
Miss Ruth Sarah Woudenberg

     Pennsylvania: Bryn Athyn
Miss Joy Asplundh
Miss Jacqueline Marie Beirs
Mr. Stephen Paul Bochneak
Mrs. Stephen Paul Bochneak (Delinda Graham)
2nd Lt. Peter Gardner Brewer
Mr. Matthew Snowden Cole
Mrs. Beverly Denise (Doering) Connolly
Mr. Kent Cooper
Mr. Penn Torrey Cooper
Mrs. Penn Torrey Cooper (Leesa Violet Kloc)

597



Mr. Robert Kirk Echols
Mr. Carl Acton Engelke
Mr. Jeremy Kurt Finkeldey
Mr. James Theodore Gese
Mr. Terry K. Glenn
Mr. Andrew Michael Grubb
Miss Aven Gunther
Miss Paige Gunther
Mr. Charles Edward Gyllenhaal
Miss Cynthia Halterman
Mr. Brian Kirkland Herder
Mrs. Brian Kirkland Herder (Angela Acton)
Mrs. Richard E. Hill (Margaret Claire Waters)
Mr. Brian Scott Horigan
Mrs. Brian Scott Horigan (Leslie Lynn Genzlinger)
Mr. Carl Robert Hunsaker
Mr. Robert Gordon Johns
Mrs. Brandon Junge (Charlotte Odhner)
Miss Erin Cumming Martz
Mr. Brent Kenneth McQueen
Mr. Glade Lael Odhner
Mr. Mark Dandridge Pendleton
Mr. James von Waldeck Price (Erin Bridget Keegan)
Miss Alison Pryke
Mr. Nicholas Todd Rose
Mr. Kevin Howard Roth
Miss Crystal Lark Smith
Miss Jill Smith
Mr. Steven Arthur Synnestvedt
Mrs. Nicholas Tyler (Karen Burnham)

     Pennsylvania: Feasterville
Miss Karen Ann Freitag

     Pennsylvania: Huntingdon Valley
Mr. Dennis Wayne Brannon
Mrs. Dennis Wayne Brannon (Carol Brichman)
Mr. Richard MacFarlan Cole
Mrs. Richard MacFarlan Cole (Mary Kim Adams)
Miss Linda Frazier
Mr. Joseph Richard Hafner, Jr.
Miss Shirley Pitcairn
Mr. Gary Ivan Smith
Mr. Glenn Francis Walsh
Mrs. Glenn Francis Walsh (Elizabeth Cross)
Mr. Conrad Behrend Zecher

     Pennsylvania: Lansdale
Mr. David Matthew Smith

     Pennsylvania: Lenhartsville
Mrs. Jonathan Samuel Simons (Julie Rankin)

     Pennsylvania: Perkiomenville
Mr. Dan Matthew Odhner

     Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
Mr. James Raymond Bevan
Mrs. James Raymond Bevan (Barbara Carswell)
Miss Linda Mae Glenn
Mrs. Dewey Odhner (Linda Dawn Simonetti)
Mr. Duncan Bruce Pitcairn
Mrs. Duncan Bruce Pitcairn (Martha Jean Nash)
Mrs. Dallam Vaughan Smith (Joan Clarice Brock)

     Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh
Miss Roberta Jay Stein

     Pennsylvania: Warminster
Mrs. David Charles Metroka (Nancy Jane Englehardt)
Ms. Glen B. Starkey (Patricia Anna Finch)

     Pennsylvania: Warren
Mr. Stephen Llewellyn David

     Pennsylvania: Willow Grove
Miss Wendy Anne Twining

     South Carolina: Columbia
Mr. Cameron Jay Synnestvedt

     Texas: Corpus Christi
Mr. John Pendleton Pitcairn, Jr.

598




     CANADA

     Ontario: Islington
Mr. Daniel Lee Horigan, Jr.
Miss Sheila Lois Parker
Mr. Mark Harold Wyncoll

     Ontario: Kitchener
Miss Nancy Jean Brueckman
Miss Andrea Yadah Hill
Mr. Gerald David Hill
Mr. Robin Scott Kahler Wiebe

     EUROPE

     France: Villemandeur
Mr. Jean Henri Orieux
Mrs. Jean Henri Orieux (Simone Meyer Georges)

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal: Durban
Mr. Edward David Wellesley Browne

     Natal: Westville
Miss Lauren B. de Chazal

     Transvaal: Johannesburg
Mr. Alexander William Johnston
Miss Kirstin Mary Sharpe
Miss Marianne Kim Sharpe

     DEATHS


Asplundh, Mr. Lester, May 3, 1984, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania (83)
Ball, Mrs. Joseph Jarvis (Viva Melville Ridgway), September 28, 1983, Irene, Transvaal, Republic of South Africa (70)
Bergman, Mr. Eric M., March 12, 1984, Elmhurst, Illinois (81)
Brasell, Mr. James Walter, June 11, 1984, Christchurch, New Zealand (76)
Brown, Mrs. Charles S. Brown (Helena Coffin), February 28, 1984, Freeport, Pennsylvania (73)
Conner, Mr. Wilson Bennett, February 19, 1984, Melbourne, Florida (85)
Carroll, Mrs. Edward (Elmira Craig), August 14, 1984, Camden, New Jersey (82)
Carswell, Miss Flora Edina, December 30, 1983, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (97)
Cranch, Miss Doris Eleanor, February 21, 1984, Freeport, Pennsylvania (70)
Cronlund, Dr. Philip Robert, June 20, 1984, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania (70)
de Carcenac, Miss Emmeline Julie, March 30, 1984, Durban, Natal, Republic of South Africa (79)
Dorsey, Dr. Bert, January 2, 1984, Doylestown, Pennsylvania (77)
Flood, Mrs. John W. (Doris Martha Lovette), December 25, 1983, Auckland, New Zealand (86)
Gyllenhaal, Mr. Leonard E. Jr., February 4, 1984, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (66)
Holm, Mr. Bernard Hugo, March 23, 1984, Des Plaines, Illinois (91)
Iungerich, Mr. Alexander, June 23, 1984, Milwaukie, Oregon (72)
Kelly, Mrs. George (Cecilia Kintner), March 1, 1984, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (78)

599



Kostas, Mrs. Louis (Caryl Wells), April 16, 1984, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (88)
Lima, Mrs. Joao de Mendonca (Roza Penaforte), October 3, 1983, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (86)
Lindbloom, Mr. Karl Edwin, May 22, 1984, Glendale, California (90)
Muller, Mrs. Frank (Charlotte Caldwell), August 17, 1984, San Francisco, California (93)
Nash, Mrs. Phillip Eugene (Selma Christine Brownlee), August 7, 1983, Bull Shoals, Arkansas (65)
Nilson, Mrs. Eric (Frida Desidere Carlstrom), August 13, 1984, Royersford, Pennsylvania (97)
Owen, Mrs. Curtis Spruell (Edith M. Lind), October 17, 1983, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (78)
Pendleton, Mrs. Philip C. (Doris Elise Glenn), October 31, 1983, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (81)
Roschman, Miss Venita Julia, November 2, 1983, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada (95)
Sarmanho, Miss Georgina Gilda, January 24, 1984, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (83)
Schnarr, Mr. Clarence Roy, May 19, 1984, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada (82)
Schnarr, Mrs. Clarence Roy (Julia Ann Lenz), June 3, 1984, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada (83)
Scrimshaw, Mrs. John (Helen Colley), March 17, 1984, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania (91)
Waelchli, Mrs. Richard E. (June Alberta Rotert), October 21, 1983, Largo, Maryland (76)
Ward, Mrs. Herbert (Una May "Peggy" Patrick), January 24, 1984, Wembly, N. London, England (82)
Waters, Mr. Philip Andrew, July 6, 1984, Chelmsford, Essex, England (61)

     DROPPED FROM THE ROLL

Lemieux, Mrs. Ray (Katherine Anne Kuss), February 2, 1984, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Petzke, Mr. James Lynn, February 2, 1984, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Petzke, Mrs. James Lynn (Susan Jane Sandford), February 2, 1984, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Petzke, Mr. Michael Wayne, February 2, 1984, Hensell, Ontario, Canada
Stahl, Mrs. Inga Britta, July 19, 1984, Angelholm, Sweden

     RESIGNED

Campbell, Mr. Richard, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Stainton, Mr. John James Bruce, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Williams, Mrs. P. D. (Marian Glover), Colchester, Essex, England.

     Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Secretary

600


COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY 1984

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY       Lorentz R. Soneson       1984

     MEMBERSHIP

     During the year ending August 31, 1984, seven men were inaugurated into the first degree of the priesthood and three ministers were ordained into the second degree.
     At the end of the twelve-month period the Council of the Clergy consisted of three priests of the episcopal degree, sixty-seven in the pastoral degree, and eleven in the ministerial degree, for a total of eighty-one. Of these, five were mainly or essentially employed by the General Church, ten by the Academy of the New Church, fifty-three were engaged in pastoral work, ten were retired or engaged in secular work, and three were unassigned.
     In addition to the above figures the General Church has five priests of the pastoral degree in the South African Mission, besides the superintendent.

     STATISTICS

     The statistics of the sacraments and rites of the General Church administered during the year, compiled from reports of the priests of the General Church as of September 1, 1984, together with the comparative figures for the twelve-month periods five and ten years ago are shown below.

                                   1983-84      1978-79      1973-74
Baptisms
     Children                         140           152           94
          Adults                         30           41           33
          Total                              170           193           127

Holy Supper Administrations
          Public                         253           280           188
          Private                         44           60           32
          Communicants                         5,838      6,113      5,535

Confessions of Faith                    32           31           49

Betrothals                              23           33           33

Marriages                              48           57           57
          Blessings on Marriages               1           6           2

Ordinations                              10          8           5

Dedications
          Churches                         0          1          1
          Homes                              11           10           4
          Other                          0           1          1

Funerals and Memorial Services           53           46           57

     Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Secretary, Council of the Clergy

601


LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 1984

LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY              1984

     1984-1985


BRYN ATHYN: Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr                Principal
               Mrs. Neil Buss                         Vice-Principal
          Rev. Wendel Barnett                    Assistant to the Principal
               Mrs. Barbara Synnestvedt                Master Teacher
               Mrs. Peter Gyllenhaal                     Supervisor of Remedial and Support Uses
               Mrs. Bruce Rogers                     Kindergarten
               Mrs. Prescott Rogers                     Kindergarten
               Mrs. Charles Lindrooth                     Grade 1
               Miss Candace Rose                     Grade 1
          Miss Jacqueline Beirs                    Grade 1
               Mrs. Grant Doering                     Grade 2
               Mrs. Hugh Gyllenhaal                     Grade 2
               Miss Freya Heinrichs                    Grade 3
          Mr. Stephen Morley (Head Teacher - Primary)Grade 3
               Miss Rosemary Wyncoll (Head Teacher - Intermediate)     Grade 4
               Miss Joy Asplundh                         Grade 4
               Mrs. David Doering                     Grade 5
          Mrs. Downing Barnitz                    Grade 5
               Mrs. Dennis Halterman                    Grade 6
               Mr. Carl Engelke                          Grade 6
               Mrs. Ralph Wetzel                     Girls-Grade 7
               Mr. Reed Asplundh                         Boys-Grade 7
               Mrs. Peter Stevens                     Girls-Grade 8
               Mr. Robert Beiswenger (Head Teacher - Upper)Boys-Grade 8
          Mrs. Hyland Johns, Jr.                    Art Director
               Mr. Richard Show                          Music Director
          Mrs. Douglas Taylor                    Assistant to Music Director
               Mr. Robert Eidse                     Physical Education
          Mrs. Harry Risley                     Physical Education
               Mrs. Robert Alden                         Librarian

DETROIT:      Rev. Walter E. Orthwein                Principal
               Rev. Patrick A. Rose                     Assistant
               Mrs. Stanford Lehner                     Teacher, Grades 1-3
               Mr. Byron Franson                     Grades 4-6

DURBAN:     Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard                Headmaster
          Rev. Paul E. Schorran                    Religion
          Miss Marian Homber                     Grades 1-3
               Mrs. Oonagh M. Pienaar                     Grades 4-7

GLENVIEW:     Rev. Brian Keith                    Pastor, Religion
               Mr. R. Gordon McClarren                Principal, Math, Science
               Mrs. Daniel Wright                     Head Teacher, Grades 5, 6

602



          Miss Marie Odhner                         Kindergarten, Grade 1
               Mrs. Donald Alan                          Grades 2, 3
               Mrs. Benjamin McQueen                     Grades 3, 4
               Mrs. Kent Fuller                          Grades 7, 8
               Rev. Eric Carswell                     Religion
               Rev. Grant Schnarr                     Religion
               Mrs. Richard Acton                     Art
               Mrs. John Donnelly                     Music, Physical Education
               Mrs. William Hugo                     Librarian

KEMPTON:      Rev. Jeremy Simons                    Principal, Social Studies, Music
               Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen                    Religion
               Mr. Yorvar Synnestvedt                     Language Arts
               Mrs. Richard Gardam                    Kindergarten
               Mrs. William Griffin                    Grades 1-3
          Rev. Robin Childs                         Grades 4-6

KITCHENER:      Mr. Karl E. Parker                    Principal
               Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith           Religion
               Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb                    Religion
               Mrs. Erwin Brueckman                     Kindergarten
               Mrs. Ernest Watts                     Grades 1, 2
               Mrs. Claire Bostock                     Grades 3, 4
               Miss Sara Morley                     Grades 5, 6
          Mrs. Andrew M. T. Dibb                    French 7, 8
          Mrs. Christopher R. J. Smith               Composition, Spelling 7, 8
               Mrs. Don Glebe                          Grades 7, 8

MIDWESTERN
ACADEMY:     Rev. Eric Carswell                    Principal, Religion, History
          Rev. Brian Keith                     Religion
          Mr. R. Gordon McClarren                    Administrative Ass't., Math, Science
          Mrs. Kent Fuller                          Math, History
          Mr. Dan Woodard                          Athletic Director, English, Radio
          Mrs. William Hugo                     Librarian
          Mrs. John Donnelly                    Physical Education
          Mrs. Richard Acton                     Art
          Mrs. Ronald Holmes                     Typing
          Miss Yvonne Alan                         French

PITTSBURGH: Rev. James P. Cooper                     Principal, Religion, Math
               Miss Julie David                          Grades 1-3
               Mrs. John Gandrud                     Grades 1-5
          Mr. Curtis L. McQueen                    Grades 4, 5
               Miss Marcia Smith                     Grades 7, 8
          Mrs. Paul Schoenberger                     Grades 7, 8
          Rev. Ragnar Boyesen                    Religion

SAN DIEGO:      Rev. Cedric King                         Principal
               Miss Erin Junge                         Kindergarten, Grade 1
               Miss Karen Schnarr                     Grades 3-5

603




TORONTO:      Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr.                Pastor, Religion
               Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt                Ass't Pastor, Religion, P.E.
          Mr. Philip Schnarr                     Principal, Grades 7, 8
          Mrs. Richard Parker                    Kindergarten
               Mrs. Richard Cook                     Grades 1-3
               Mrs. Lee Horigan                     Grades 4-6
          Mrs. Robert Miller                    Geography
          Mrs. Rolande Langlais                    French
               
WASHINGTON: Rev. Lawson M. Smith                     Principal
          Rev. Kenneth J. Alden                     Ass't. to the Principal, Religion, Science
          Miss Rebecca Barry                     Grades 1, 2
          Mr. James Roscoe                     Humanities
          Mrs. Fred Waelchli                     Math, Science
          Miss Emily Barry                         Language Arts

     SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS

     1984-1985

     The Academy

Theological School (Full Time)          6
College (Full Time)                    134     
Girls School                         105
Boys School                              1117

     Midwestern Academy


Grades 9 and 10                         14

     Local Schools


Bryn Athyn                              286
Detroit                              10
Durban                              23
Glenview                              42
Kempton                              27
Kitchener                              39
Pittsburgh                              29
San Diego                              12
Toronto                              28
Washington                              19

     Total Local Schools               515
Total Reported Enrollment in All Schools     891

604


DIRECTORY 1984

DIRECTORY              1984

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     1984-1985

     Officials and Councils


Bishop:           Right Reverend Louis B. King
Bishops Emeriti:      Right Reverend George de Charms
               Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton
Secretary:           Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson

     Consistory

     Bishop Louis B. King     
                         
Rt. Rev. George de Charms; Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Kurt H. Asplundh, Peter M. Buss, Geoffrey S. Childs, Geoffrey H. Howard, Robert S. Junge, Brian W. Keith, Donald L. Rose, Frank S. Rose, Erik Sandstrom, Frederick L. Schnarr and Lorentz R. Soneson

     "General Church of the New Jerusalem"

     (A Corporation of Pennsylvania)

     Officers of the Corporation

President:                Right Reverend Louis B. King
Vice President:           Reverend Kurt H. Asplundh
Secretary:                Mr. Stephen Pitcairn
Treasurer:                Mr. Neil M. Buss
Assistant Treasurer:      Mr. Bruce A. Fuller
Controller:           Mr. Ian K. Henderson

     Board of Directors of the Corporation

Rt. Rev. Louis B. King, Messrs. E. Boyd Asplundh, Robert H. Asplundh, Brian G. Blair, Kenneth B. Blair, Robert W. Bradin, Theodore W. Brickman, Jr., William W. Buick, Neil M. Buss, Philip D. Coffin, Thomas R. Cooper, John A. Frost, Donald P. Gladish, Albert D. Henderson, W. Lee Horigan, Garry Hyatt, Hyland R. Johns, James F. Junge, Glen O. Klippenstein, Thomas N. Leeper, Christopher W. Lynch, Basil C. L. Orchard, Lachlan Pitcairn, Stephen Pitcairn, Maurice G. Schnarr, Robert A. Smith, Ralph Synnestvedt, Jr., Philip A. Waters, John H. Wyncoll.
Honorary Life Members: Rt. Rev. George de Charms and Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.

605




     Bishops

     KING, LOUIS BLAIR. Ordained June 19, 1951; 2nd degree, April 19, 1953; 3rd degree, November 5, 1972. Continued to serve as Bishop of the General Church and General Pastor of the General Church, Chancellor of the Academy of the New Church, President of the General Church in Canada, President of the General Church International, Incorporated. Address: P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     DE CHARMS, GEORGE. Ordained June 28, 1913; 2nd degree, June 19, 1916; 3rd degree, March 11, 1928. Bishop Emeritus of the General Church, President Emeritus of the Academy of the New Church. Retired. Served on the Bishop's Consistory, attended board meetings and wrote papers. Address: Box 247, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     PENDLETON, WILLARD DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 18, 1933; 2nd degree, September 12, 1934; 3rd degree, June 19, 1946. Bishop Emeritus of the General Church, Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of the New Church. Retired. Continues to serve conducting various rites and sacraments. Address: Box 338, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     Pastors

     ACTON, ALFRED. Ordained June 19, 1961; 2nd degree, October 30, 1966. Continued to serve as Bishop's Representative, Director of the General Church Correspondence School and Chairman of the General Church Liturgy Committee. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ALDEN, GLENN GRAHAM. Ordained June 19, 1974; 2nd degree, June 6, 1976. Served as resident pastor of the Connecticut circle, visiting pastor in parts of the northeast district, and Editor of the North East Watchmen, a newsletter serving the district, and ran the Sower Bookroom. Address: 47 Jerusalem Hill Road, Trumbull, Connecticut 06611.

     ALDEN, KENNETH JAMES. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree, May 16, 1982. Continued to serve as assistant pastor of the Detroit, Michigan, society. He also served as visiting pastor to the North Ohio circle and the Outstate Michigan group. Effective July 1st he served as assistant to the pastor of the Washington society. Address: 3809 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville, Maryland 20716.

     ALDEN, MARK EDWARD. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, May 17, 1981. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor of the Washington society. Resigned. Currently unassigned, attending medical school. Address: P. O. Box 332, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, PA 19009.

     ASPLUNDH, KURT HORIGAN. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd degree, June 19, 1962. Continued to serve as pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     BARNETT, WENDEL RYAN. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, June 20, 1982. Continued to serve as pastor to the San Francisco Bay Area circle, the Sacramento circle, the Ashland group and the Days Creek, Oregon, groups. As of July 1st served as assistant to the Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School. Address: P. O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, PA 19009.

     BAU-MADSEN, ARNE. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, June 11, 1978. Continued to serve as visiting pastor to the Wilmington, Delaware, group. As of July 1st visiting pastor to the Wallenpaupack circle and the Penn State group. Address: Box 527, Rt. 1, Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania 19534.

     BOWN, CHRISTOPHER DUNCAN. Ordained June 18, 1978 2nd degree, December 23, 1979. Continued to serve as pastor of the Atlanta society, and visiting pastor to the southeastern district. Address: 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, Georgia 30341.

606




     BOYESEN, BJORN ADOLPH HILDEMAR. Ordained June 19, 1939; 2nd degree, March 30,     1941. Retired; on active assignment. Continued serving as translator of the Writings from Latin to Swedish. He also continued to serve as assistant to the pastor in Scandinavia, mostly serving the Jonkoping, circle. Address: Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo, Sweden.

     BOYESEN, RAGNAR. Ordained June 19, 1972; 2nd degree, June 17, 1973. Continued to serve as pastor of the Pittsburgh society. Address: 7420 Ben Hur Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208.

     BURKE, WILLIAM HANSON. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree August 13, 1983. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     BUSS, PETER MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1964; 2nd degree, May 16, 1965. Continued to serve as President of the Academy of the New Church. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     CARLSON, MARK ROBERT. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, March 6, 1977. Continued to serve as part-time assistant pastor of the Carmel Church. As of July 1st served as pastor to the San Francisco Bay Area circle, the Sacramento circle, the Ashland and Days Creek, Oregon, groups. Address: 4638 Royal Garden Court, San Jose, California 95136.

     CARSWELL, ERIC HUGH. Ordained June 10. 1979; 2nd degree, February 22, 1981. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor of the Immanuel Church society. Address: 2700 Park Lane, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

     CHILDS, GEOFFREY STAFFORD. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, June 19, 1954. Continued to serve as pastor of the Olivet Church society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and as principal of the Olivet Church Day School. He also continued to serve as Bishop's representative in Canada. Address: 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington, Ontario, Canada M9B 424.

     CLIFFORD, WILLIAM HARRISON. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, October 8, 1978. Continued to serve as resident pastor of the Dawson Creek circle and visiting pastor for Crooked Creek, Calgary, Oyen, Red Deer, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Address: 1536 - 94th Avenue, Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada V1G 1H1.

     COLE, ROBERT HUDSON PENDLETON. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, October 30, 1966. Unassigned. Served as theological consultant and indexer in the Academy of the New Church Library archives. Address: Box 345, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     COLE, STEPHEN DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 19, 1977; 2nd degree, October 15, 1978. Continued to serve as pastor of the South Ohio circle, resident in Cincinnati. Address: 6431 Mayflower Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45237.

     COOPER, JAMES PENDLETON. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, March 4, 1984. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor of the Pittsburgh society; as of April 1st became assistant pastor of the Pittsburgh society. Address: 510 Lloyd Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15208.

     COWLEY, MICHAEL KEITH. Ordained June 13, 1983; 2nd degree, May 13, 1984. Continued to serve as resident minister to twin Cities and visiting minister in Midwest district. Address: 3153 McKnight Road - #340, white Bear, Lake, Minnesota 55110.

     CRANCH, HAROLD COVERT. Ordained June 19, 1941; 2nd degree, October 25, 1942. Retired. Address: 501 Porter Street, Glendale, California 91205.

     ECHOLS, JOHN CLARK, JR. Ordained August 20, 1978; 2nd degree, March 30, 1980. Continued to serve as pastor of the central western district. Address: 3371 W. 94th Avenue, Westminster, Colorado 80030.

     FRANSON, ROY. Ordained June 19, 1953; 2nd degree, January 29, 1956. Continued to serve as pastor of the Stockholm society, Sweden. Address: Aladdinsvagen 27, S-161 38, Bromma, Sweden.

607




     GLADISH, MICHAEL DAVID. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, June 30, 1974. Continued to serve as pastor of the Los Angeles society, and visiting pastor within a one hundred mile radius of Los Angeles. Address: 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, California 91214.

     GLADISH, VICTOR JEREMIAH. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd degree, August 5, 1928. Retired. Address: 1015 Gladish Lane, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

     GOODENOUGH, DANIEL WEBSTER. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd degree, December 10, 1967. Continued to serve as associate professor of religion and history in the Academy of the New College and Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     HEILMAN, ANDREW JAMES. Ordained June 18, 1978; 2nd degree, March 8, 1981. Continued to serve as on the faculty of the Academy of the New Church. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     HEINRICHS, DANIEL WINTHROP. Ordained June 19, 1957; 2nd degree, April 6, 1958. Continued to serve as pastor of the Miami circle and visiting pastor in the south Florida district. Address: 15101 N. W. 5th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33169.

     HEINRICHS, HENRY. Ordained June 24, 1923; 2nd degree, February 8, 1925. Retired. Address: 63 Chapel Hill Drive, R.R. 2, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     HEINRICHS, WILLARD LEWIS DAVENPORT. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd degree, January 26, 1969. Continued to serve as instructor in theology and religion in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     HOWARD, GEOFFREY HORACE. Ordained June 18, 1961; 2nd degree, June 2, 1963. Continued to serve as pastor of the Durban society in South Africa, headmaster of Kainon School, Bishop's Representative in South Africa, Ghana and Brazil. Address: 30 Perth Road, Westville 3630, Natal, Republic of South Africa.

     JUNGE, KENT. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, June 24, 1981. Continued to serve as pastor to the circle in Seattle, Washington, and visiting minister to the northwest district of the General Church and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Address: 14812 N.E. 75th Street, Redmond, Washington 98052.

     JUNGE, ROBERT SCHILL. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, August 11, 1957. Continued to serve as Dean of the Academy of the New Church Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     KEITH, BRIAN WALTER. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, June 4, 1978. Continued to serve as pastor of the Immanuel Church society in Glenview, Illinois, and President of the Midwestern Academy and pastor of the Sharon Church in Chicago. Address: 73 Park Glenview, Illinois 60025.

     KING, CEDRIC. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, November 27, 1980. Pastor of the San Diego society and headmaster of the San Diego New Church School. Address: 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, California 92123.

     KLINE, THOMAS LEROY. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, June 15, 1975. Continued to serve as assistant pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     LARSEN, OTTAR TROSVIK. Ordained June 19, 1974; 2nd degree, February 2, 1977. Continued to serve as visiting pastor to the isolated and small groups in Great Britain and Scandinavia. Address: 183 Norbury Crescent, London, SW 16 4JX, England.

     McCURDY, GEORGE DANIEL. Ordained June 15, 1967; recognized as a priest of the New Church in the 2nd degree, July 5, 1979; received into the priesthood of the General Church June 9, 1980. Continued to serve as instructor of religion in the Academy of the New Church secondary schools, chaplain for the secondary schools and head of the religion department. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

608




     McMASTER, ROBERT DAVID. Ordained June 18, 1978; 2nd degree, February 15, 1981. Continued to serve as pastor of Michael Church, London, England, and visiting pastor to The Hague, Holland. As of July 1st resigned his pastorate. Unassigned. Address: 157 University Avenue, West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3E5.

     NEMITZ, KURT PAUL. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, March 27, 1966. Unassigned. Address: 887 Middle Street, Bath, Maine 04530.

     NICHOLSON, ALLISON LA MARR. Ordained September 9, 1979; 2nd degree, February 15, 1981. Continued to serve as pastor of the Bath, Maine. Address: 897 Middle Street, Bath, Maine 04530.

     ODHNER. Grant HUGO. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, May 9, 1982. Continued to serve as resident pastor of the Boston circle. Address: 4 Park Avenue, Natick, Massachusetts 01760.

     ODHNER, JOHN LLEWELLYN. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree, November 22, 1981. Continued to serve as pastor to the North Florida district. Address: 363 Summit Avenue, Box 153, Lake Helen, Florida 32744.

     ORTHWEIN, WALTER EDWARD III. Ordained July 22, 1973; 2nd degree, June 12, 1978. Continued to serve as pastor of the Detroit society and also principal of the Detroit society Day School. Address: 132 Kirk Lane, Troy, Michigan 48084.

     PENDLETON, DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, June 19, 1954. Continued to serve as instructor of theology and religion in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     PRYKE, MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd degree, March 1, 1942. Continued to serve as Director of the Academy Museum Committee. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     REUTER, NORMAN HAROLD. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd degree, October 13, 1930. Retired. Address: 566 Anne Street, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania 19006.

     RICH, MORLEY DYCKMAN. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd degree, October 13, 1940. Retired. Address: Box 512, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     RILEY, NORMAN EDWARD. Recognized as a priest of the General Church January, 1978. Continued to serve as superintendent of the Mission in South Africa and as resident pastor of the Transvaal society, and to the groups at Kent Manor, Carletonville and the isolated. Address: 8 Iris Lane, Irene, TVL, Pretoria, 1675, Republic of South Africa.

     ROGERS, NORBERT HENRY. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd degree, October 13, 1940. Retired. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROSE, DONALD LESLIE. Ordained June 16, 1957; 2nd degree June 23, 1963. Continued to serve as editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, visiting pastor to North New Jersey/New York, circle, teacher of religion at the Academy of the New Church, Director of General Church Religion Lessons program, and Chairman of the Sunday School Committee. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROSE, FRANK SHIRLEY. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, August 2, 1953. Continued to serve as pastor of the Tucson circle, visiting pastor to the group in Phoenix and others in Arizona. In 1984 he was appointed by the Bishop as Bishop's Representative in the west. Address: 2536 N. Stewart Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85716.

     ROSE, PATRICK ALAN. Ordained June 19, 1975; 2nd degree, September 5, 1977. Continued to serve as a teacher of theology and religion in the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st assistant to the pastor of the Detroit society and visiting pastor of the North Ohio circle. Address: 132 Kirk Lane, Troy, Michigan 48048.

     SANDSTROM, ERIK. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd degree, August 4, 1935. Retired and on active assignment. Served as resident pastor of the Oral-Hot Springs group in South Dakota Address: R.R. 1, Box101-M, Hot Springs, South Dakota 57747.

609




     SANDSTROM, ERIK EMANUEL. Ordained May 23, 1971; 2nd degree, May 21, 1972. Continued to serve as pastor of the Hurstville society, visiting pastor to the New Zealand group, and groups in Canberra and Tamworth, Brisbane, and the rest of Australia. Address: 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, New South Wales, 2222, Australia.

     SCHNARR, ARTHUR WILLARD, JR. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, June 19, 1983. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor of the Olivet Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and responsible for the evangelization program for the Toronto society and the General Church in Canada. Address: 119 Martin Grove Road, Islington, Ontario, Canada M9B 4K7.

     SCHNARR. FREDERICK LAURIER. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, May 12, 1957. Served as principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School, permanent chairman of the Education Council, chairman of the Headmasters Committee of the General Church Schools, and Bishop's Representative for General Church schools. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     SIMONS, DAVID RESTYN. Ordained June 19, 1948, 2nd degree, June 19, 1950. Continued to serve as pastor to the Baltimore society. Retired July 1st, 1984. Address: 7204 Gunpowder Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21220.

     SIMONS, JEREMY FREDERICK. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, July 31, 1983. Continued to serve as pastor of the Kempton society and headmaster of the Kempton society school. Address: R. D. 2, Box 217A, Kempton, Pennsylvania 19529.

     SMITH, CHRISTOPHER RONALD JACK. Ordained June 19, 1969; 2nd degree, May 9, 1971. Continued to serve as pastor of the Carmel Church in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Address: 16 Bannockburn Road, R.R. 2, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     SMITH, LAWSON MERRELL. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, February 1, 1981. Continued to serve as pastor of the Washington society, principal of the Washington New Church School and visiting pastor to the Virginia area. Address: 3805 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville, Maryland 20716.

     SONESON, LORENTZ RAY. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, May 16, 1965. Served as Secretary of the General Church, secretary of the Council of the Clergy, Editor of New Church Home, Chairman of the General Church Publication Committee and Chairman of the Traveling Priests Committee and secretary of Consistory. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     STROH, KENNETH OLIVER. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd degree, June 19, 1950. Continued to serve as resident pastor of the Colchester society and Bishop's Representative in Europe. Address: 2 Christ Church Court, Colchester, England CO2 3AU.

     SYNNESTVEDT, LOUIS DANIEL. Ordained June 6, 1980. Continued to serve as assistant pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Canada. Also visiting pastor to the Montreal circle and Ottawa group. Address: 279 Burnhamthorpe Road, Islington, Ontario, Canada M9B 1Z6.

     TAYLOR, DOUGLAS McLEOD. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd degree, June 19, 1962. Continued to serve as Director of Evangelization, Chairman of the Evangelization Committee, and Chairman of the Sound Recording Committee. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     WEISS, JAN HUGO. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, May 12, 1957. Unassigned. Engaged in secular work. Address: 2650 Del Vista Drive, Hacienda Heights, California 91745.

     (Continued next page)

610




     Ministers

     CHILDS, ROBIN WAELCHLI. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his final year at the theological school of the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st, assistant to the pastor of the Kempton society. Address: R. D. 2, Box 217A, Kempton, Pennsylvania 19529.

     DE FIGUEIREDO, JOSE LOPES. Ordained October 24, 1965. Retired, on active assignment. Continued to give assistance to the pastor of the Rio de Janeiro society in Brazil. He has been engaged in translating Apocalypse Revealed into Portuguese. Address: Rua Des Isidro 155, Apt. 202, Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro 20521 RJ Brazil.

     DIBB, ANDREW MALCOLM. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his final year at the theological school of the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st, assistant to the pastor of Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Address: 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, R. R. 2, Canada N2G 3W5.

     ELPHICK, FREDERICK CHARLES. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his final year at the theological school of the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st, pastor to the Michael Church, London, England. Address: 21B Hayne Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA, England.

     FITZPATRICK, DANIEL. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his final year at the theological school of the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st, assistant to the pastor of the Hurstville society in Australia. Address: 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, New South Wales, 2222, Australia.

     GLADISH, NATHAN DONALD. Ordained June 13, 1982. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor of the Atlanta, Georgia, society and traveling minister in the southeast. Address: 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, Georgia 30341.

     NOBRE, CRISTOVAO RABELO. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his theological training. As of July 1st resident minister of the Rio de Janeiro society in Brazil. Address: Rua Xavier Dos Passar, 151, Apt. 101, Piedade, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20.74, Brazil.

     ROGERS, N. BRUCE. Ordained January 12, 1969. Continued to serve as associate professor of religion, Latin and Hebrew and as head of the division of religion and sacred languages at the Academy New Church College; chairman of the General Church Translation Committee, and head of the Committee on the Revision of the King James Version of the Word. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROGERS, DONALD KENNETH, JR. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his final year at the theological school of the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st, resident minister of the Baltimore society, visiting minister to Wilmington, Delaware, group and visiting minister to Virginia. Address: 12 Pawleys Court, Baltimore, Maryland 21236.

     SCHNARR, Grant RONALD. Ordained June 12, 1983. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor at the Immanuel Church in Glenview, Illinois, visiting minister to Decatur and Wilmington, Illinois. Address: 73A Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

     SCHORRAN, PAUL EDWARD. Ordained June 12, 1983. Continued to serve as assistant to the pastor of the Durban society. Address: 30 Perth Road, Westville, Natal 3630, Republic of South Africa.

     SILVERMAN, RAYMOND JOEL. Ordained June 6, 1984. Completed his final year at the theological school of the Academy of the New Church. As of July 1st, religion teacher on Academy of the New Church faculty, and curator of Swedenborgian. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

611




     Authorized Candidates

     ROGERS, PRESCOTT ANDREW, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.
     
     ROSE, JONATHAN SEARLE, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     Associate Minister

     NICOLIER, ALAIN. Ordained May 31, 1979, into the first degree of the New Church. Minister to the New Church in France. Address: Bourguignon-Meursanges, 21200 Beaune, France.

     Evangelist

     EUBANKS, W. HAROLD. Rt. #2, S. Lee Street, Americus, Georgia 31709.

     South African Mission

     Pastors

     MBEDZI, PAULUS. Ordained March 23, 1958; 2nd degree, March 14, 1965. Resident pastor of the Hambrook society, visiting pastor of the Balfour society, the Greylingstad society and the Rietfontain group. Address: Hambrook Bantu School, P.B. 9912, Ladysmith, Natal 3370, South Africa.

     MBATHA, BHEKUYISE ALFRED. Ordained June 27, 1971; 2nd degree, June 23, 1974. Natal district pastor, resident pastor of Kwa Mashu society. Address: P.O. Box 11, Kwa Mashu, Natal 4360, South Africa:

     NKABINDE, PETER PIET. Ordained June 23, 1974; 2nd degree, November 13, 1977. Transvaal district pastor, resident pastor of Diepkloof society, visiting pastor of the Alexandra society, visiting pastor of the Mofolo society, the Quthing society, and the Tembsia group. Address: 2375 Diepkloof, Zone 2, Soweto, Johannesburg 2100, South Africa.

     NZIMANDE, BENJAMIN ISHMAEL. Ordained August 2 1, 1938; 2nd degree, October 3, 1948. Resident pastor of the Clermont society, visiting pastor of the Enkumba society. Address: 1701-31st Avenue, Clermont Township, P.O. Clernaville, Natal 3620, South Africa.

     ZUNGU, AARON. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd degree, October 3, 1948. Mission translator. Visiting pastor of the Umlazi group. Address: c/o Kent Manor Farm, P-B Ntumeni, Kwa-Zulu 3830, South Africa.

     Authorized Candidate

     BUTELEZ, ISHBORN. Resident candidate of Impaphala society and visiting candidate to the Dondotha group. Address: 36 Perth Road, Westville 3630, Natal, South Africa.

     (Continued next page)

612


SOCIETIES AND CIRCLES 1984

SOCIETIES AND CIRCLES              1984

     Society                     Pastor
ATLANTA, GEORGIA               Rev. Christopher D. Bown
                         Rev. Nathan D. Gladish, assistant to the pastor
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND           Rev. Donald K. Rogers
BATH, MAINE                    Rev. Allison L. Nicholson
BRYN ATHYN CHURCH               Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh
                          Rev. Thomas L. Kline, assistant pastor
                         Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr, assistant pastor
                         Rev. William H. Burke, assistant to the pastor
CARMEL CHURCH, KITCHENER, ONTARIO,
CANADA                         Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith
                          Rev. Andrew M. Dibb, assistant to the pastor
CINCINNATI, OHIO               Rev. Stephen D. Cole
COLCHESTER. ENGLAND           Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh
DETROIT, MICHIGAN               Rev. Walter E. Orthwein
                          Rev. Patrick A. Rose, assistant to the pastor
DURBAN, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA      Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
                          Rev. Paul E. Schorran, assistant to the pastor
HURSTVILLE, N.S.W., AUSTRALIA Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
                         Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick, assistant to the pastor
IMMANUEL CHURCH, GLENVIEW
ILLINOIS                         Rev. Brian W. Keith
                          Rev. Eric H. Carswell, assistant to the pastor
                          Rev. Grant R. Schnarr, assistant to the pastor
KEMPTON, PENNSYLVANIA           Rev. Jeremy F. Simons
                         Rev. Robin W. Childs, assistant to the pastor
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA      Rev. Michael D. Gladish
MICHAEL CHURCH, LONDON, ENGLAND      Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
OLIVET CHURCH, TORONTO, ONTARIO,
CANADA                         Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs
                          Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, assistant pastor
                          Rev. Arthur W. Schnarr, assistant to the pastor
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA      Rev. Ragnar Boyesen
                          Rev. James P. Cooper, assistant pastor
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL      Rev. Cristovao R. Nobre, resident minister
                         Rev. Jose L. de Figueiredo, retired; assistant minister
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA           Rev. Cedric King
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN               Rev. Roy Franson
TRANSVAAL, REP. OF SOUTH AFRICA     Rev. Norman Riley
WASHINGTON, DC.               Rev. Lawson M. Smith
                         Rev. Kenneth J. Alden assistant to the pastor

     Circle                         Visiting Pastor or Minister
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO          Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
AMERICUS, GEORGIA               Rev. Christopher D. Bown
                         Mr. W. Harold Eubanks, evangelist
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND           Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS          Rev. Grant H. Odhner (resident)

613



CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA     Rev. Christopher D. Bown
                         Rev. Nathan D. Gladish
CONNECTICUT                Rev. Glenn G. Alden
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK           Rev. Roy Franson
DAWSON CREEK, B.C., CANADA      Rev. William H. Clifford (resident)
DENVER, COLORADO               Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr. (resident)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN           Rev. Patrick A. Rose
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA               Rev. James P. Cooper
FORT WORTH, TEXAS               Rev. Brian W. Keith, supervisor
THE HAGUE, HOLLAND               Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
JONKOPING, SWEDEN               Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen (resident)
LAKE HELEN, FLORIDA               Rev. John L. Odhner (resident)
LETCHWORTH, ENGLAND           Rev. Ottar T. Larsen
MADISON. WISCONSIN               Rev. Brian W. Keith, supervisor
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND           Rev. Ottar T. Larsen
MIAMI, FLORIDA               Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs (resident)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA     Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, supervisor
NORTH NEW JERSEY-NEW YORK      Rev. Donald L. Rose
NORTH OHIO                Rev. Patrick A. Rose
OSLO, NORWAY               Rev. Roy Franson
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA           Rev. Mark R. Carlson
ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA      Rev. Michael K. Cowley (resident)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA     Rev. Mark R. Carlson (resident)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON               Rev. Kent Junge (resident)
SHARON CHURCH, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS     Rev. Brian W. Keith
SOUTH OHIO                Rev. Stephen D. Cole (resident)
TUCSON, ARIZONA               Rev. Frank S. Rose (resident)
WALLENPAUPACK, PENNSYLVANIA     Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen

     Group                         Visiting Pastor or Minister
ASHLAND, OREGON               Rev. Mark R. Carlson
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA           Rev. Christopher D. Bown
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA           Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA     Rev. William H. Clifford
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA          Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS          Rev. Grant H. Odhner
CARLETONVILLE, AFRICA           Rev. Norman E. Riley
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA           Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
CROOKED CREEK, ALBERTA, CANADA      Rev. William H. Clifford
DAYS CREEK, OREGON           Rev. Mark R. Carlson
DECATUR-WILMINGTON, ILLINOIS     Rev. Grant R. Schnarr
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA     Rev. William H. Clifford
FRANCE                    Rev. Alain Nicolier
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND               Rev. Ottar T. Larsen
KENT MANOR, AFRICA          Rev. Norman E. Riley
NEW HAMPSHIRE               Rev. Grant H. Odhner

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ORAL-HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA      Rev. Erik Sandstrom
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA          Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt
OUTSTATE MICHIGAN               Rev. Patrick A. Rose
OYEN, ALBERTA, CANADA           Rev. William H. Clifford
PENN STATE, PENNSYLVANIA     Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen
PHOENIX, ARIZONA               Rev. Frank S. Rose
RED DEER, ALBERTA, CANADA      Rev. William H; Clifford
TAMWORTH, AUSTRALIA           Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
VANCOUVER, BC., CANADA           Rev. Kent Junge
WEST COUNTRY, ENGLAND           Rev. Ottar T. Larsen
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE           Rev. Donald K. Rogers

     New Assignments for Ministers

     1984-1985

REV. KENNETH J. ALDEN Assistant to pastor of Washington society
REV. WENDEL. R. BARNETT Assistant to principal of Bryn Athyn Church School
REV. ARNE BAU-MADSEN Visiting pastor to Wallenpaupack circle and Penn State group
REV. MARK R. CARLSON Pastor to San Francisco Bay Area circle; Ashland and Days Creek, Oregon, groups
REV. ROBIN W. CHILDS Assistant to the pastor of the Kempton society
REV. ANDREW M. DIBB Assistant to the pastor, Carmel Church, Kitchener, Canada
REV. FREDERICK C. ELPHICK Resident Minister of Michael Church, London, England
REV. DANIEL FITZPATRICK Assistant to pastor Hurstville society, Hurstville, N.S.W., Australia
REV. DONALD K. ROGERS Resident minister of Baltimore society, visiting minister to Wilmington, Delaware, group and visiting minister to Virginia
REV PATRICK A. ROSE Assistant to pastor of Detroit society
REV. RAYMOND J. SILVERMAN Religion teacher at the Academy of the New Church, and curator of Swedenborgiana.
MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 1984

MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENT              1984

     Following his ordination on September 23, 1984, into the second degree of the priesthood, Rev. Frederick C. Elphick has become the pastor of the Michael Church Society in London.
REV. ROY FRANSON 1984

REV. ROY FRANSON              1984

     As we go to press we have learned of the death on November 19th of Rev. Roy Franson of Stockholm, Sweden.

615


GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM TREASURER'S REPORT 1984

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM TREASURER'S REPORT       Neil M. Buss       1984

     1983 was a successful year for the church from a financial point of view. Gross current revenues increased by $144,700, or 11.6%, whereas overall current expenses rose by $85,832, or 7.3% over the 1982 figure. As a result, we were able to effect all planned transfers to reserves as well as increase the endowment by $38,400. This is most gratifying as the income from our endowment pays for more than 57% of all the expenses of the church. Total income increased 5.2%, or $69,000, over the figure budgeted for the year, which was $1,316,740. Expenses were $32 under the budget.
     Several factors contributed to the improved receipts over those projected. Gifts and grants to operating income exceeded the budgeted figure by $12,117, or 3.l%. Endowment Income was $32,852, or 4.2%, over the budget, due mainly to an extraordinary dividend payment on a particular investment. This will not be repeated in future years.
     Improved earnings on our cash management program, as well as miscellaneous items, increased the sundry income category by a further $14,000 over the anticipated figure.
     As stated above, the budget for overall expenses was on target. There were, however, certain areas of expenses which varied from the budget, but the positive variations canceled out the negative ones.
     Of most significance on the positive side was the fact that, overall, the societies that receive grants from the General Church were able to increase their payments to the church toward the salaries of their ministers and teachers by almost $28,000 over budget. This is really gratifying and is the second consecutive year in which contributions by societies toward their own costs have exceeded the budget.
     Fund balances increased by $1,531,000, or 7.8%, over those of the previous year. Approximately $400,000 of this increase was in respect of funds appropriated to the Investment Savings Fund and Pension plan. These two funds are administered in the name of the General Church and cover employees of both the church and the Academy.
     1984 is the last year of an ambitious five-year plan for the church during which period, on an overall basis, we employed three new ministers and one new teacher each of the five years. Our substantial endowment and the generous increased support of members have made this expansion possible from a financial point of view. A new five-year plan will be presented to the Board at the next meeting. This plan will probably place more emphasis on consolidation of our real growth, and the need to gradually effect improvements in salaries of our ministers and teachers than on employment of new staff.

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     The audited financial statements which follow form part of this report.
          Neil M. Buss,
               Treasurer

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     Balance Sheet

     December 31, 1983, with comparative totals for 1982
                              Expendable     Nonexpend-          Total
                              Funds          able Funds     1983          1982
     ASSETS
Cash, including short-term certificates
     and money market funds          $544,038     $629,100     $1,173,138     $1,460,852
Accounts receivable, principally from
     related entities               512,992               512,992     175,341
Inventory                          63,683               63,683     68,049
Prepaid expenses                    14,015                    14,015          35,357
Loans to related societies and employees
                              1,254,002               1,254,002     1,232,482
Loan to Cairnwood Village, Inc.     1,100,000               1,100,000     1,100,000
Investments                         8,260,846     9,907,054     18,167,900     16,558,134
Land, buildings and equipment, net of
     accumulated depreciation     452,799               452,799     430,723
Due from Expendable Funds                              100,000     100,000     100,000
                              $12,202,375     $10,636,154     $22,838,529     $21,160,938

     

LIABILITIES AND FUND BALANCES


Accounts payable                    $78,071               $78,071     $35,900
Agency funds                    204,900               204,900     155,357
Loans payable                    800,000               800,000     800,000
Mortgages payable                    87,616               87,616     88,836
Due to Nonexpendable Funds          100,000               100,000     100,000
Deferred capital support                    175,445     175,445     174,063
Annuity payable                              123,016     123,016     68,467
Total Liabilities                    1,270,587     298,461     1,569,048     1,422,623

Fund balances:
     Unrestricted-
          available for current operations
                              1,026,518               1,026,518     1,003,694
     Restricted-
          available for current operations
                              221,055               221,055     225,116
          -designated for specific purposes
                              9,684,215               9,684,215     9,044,142
Endowment                                   10,337,693     10,337,693     9,465,363
Total fund balances               10,931,788     10,337,693     21,269,481     19,738,315
                              $12,202,375     $10,636,154     $22,838,529     $21,160,938

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     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     Statement of Support, Revenue, Expenses, Capital Additions and Changes in Fund Balances
Year ended December 31, 1983 with comparative totals for 1982

                              Expendable     Nonexpend-          Total
                              Funds          able Funds     1983          1982*
Support and revenue:
     Contributions and bequests     $742,536     $106,619     $849,155     $1,272,701
     Investment income               1,353,384     70,494     1,423,878     1,179,690
     Printing and publishing          175,540               175,540     141,612
     Gain on sale of investments     15,409          451,430     466,839     245,549
     Other Revenue               58,835          28,983          87,818          109,209
Total support and revenue          2,345,704     657,526     3,003,230     2,948,761

Expenses:
     Program services:
          Pastoral and educational 250,546               250,546     298,883
          South African Mission     26,638               26,638     27,991
          Information and other services
                              192,420               192,420     233,085
          Employee benefits          318,854               318,854     277,941
          Development grants to societies
                              73,070               73,070     46,933
          Pensions paid          266,647               266,647     253,488
          Investment Savings Plan
               Withdrawals          124,138               124,138     103,200
          Other services          319,463     4,600          324,063     238,541
Total program services               1,571,776     4,600          1,576,376     1,480,062

Supporting services:
     Administration               574,014     2,117          576,131     430,505

     Total expenses               2,145,790     6,717          2,152,507     1,910,567

     Excess of support and revenue over expenses
     before capital additions     199,914     650,809     850,723     1,038,194

Capital additions:
     Contributions and bequests     61,544     220,451     281,995     109,200
     Investment income               1,258          1,070          2,328          17,610

Total capital additions               62,802     221,521     284,323     126,810

Excess of support and revenue over expenses
     after capital additions          262,716     872,330     1,135,046     1,165,004

Other changes:

     Pension Plan funding          224,096               224,096     205,721
     Investment Savings Plan funding
                              172,024               172,024     161,983

     Total other changes          396,120               396,120     367,704

     Excess of support and revenue over expenses
     after capital additions and other changes
                              658,836     872,330     1,531,166     1,532,708

     Fund balances at beginning of year
                              10,272,952     9,465,363     19,738,315     18,205,607

     Fund balances at end of year     $10,931,788     $10,337,693     $21,269,481     $19,738,315

     * Reclassified to conform with 1983 presentation

618


APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH BOYS SCHOOL AND GIRLS SCHOOL-NEW POLICY 1984

APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH BOYS SCHOOL AND GIRLS SCHOOL-NEW POLICY              1984

     Requests for application forms for admission of new students to the Academy Secondary Schools should be made by March 16, 1985. Letters should be addressed to Mrs. Sanfrid Odhner, Principal of the Girls School, or Mr. Burt Friesen, Principal of the Boys School, at The Academy of the New Church, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Letters should include the student's name, parents' address, the class the student will be entering, the name and address of the school he or she is now attending, and whether the student will be a day or a dormitory student.
     Completed application forms and accompanying material should be received by the Academy by June 30, 1984.

     APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE

     Requests for application forms for admission to the Academy College for 1985-86 should be addressed to Dean Robert W. Gladish, The Academy of the New Church College, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Completed application forms and accompanying transcripts and recommendations should be received by April 1, 1985, if the applicant is to avoid a $20 late fee.
     It should also be noted that the college operates on a three-term year and that applications for entrance to the winter and spring terms of any academic year can be processed, provided that they are received by Dean Gladish at least one month prior to the beginning of the new term.
     Catalogs describing the College programs and course offerings are also available upon request at the same address.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE ACADEMY 1984

COMMUNICATION FROM THE ACADEMY              1984

     The Academy maintains a list of individuals interested in being considered for employment in the college or secondary schools. If you are interested in applying for a position at the Academy, or know of someone whom you would like to recommend, please write to: The Rev. Peter Buss, President, The Academy of the New Church, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

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GIRLS SCHOOL CENTENNIAL 1984

GIRLS SCHOOL CENTENNIAL               1984

     As our celebration of the Academy Girls School Centennial draws to a close, you may still contribute to the Girls School center for the study and development of feminine uses. Some of the plans for the center have already become a reality, but much more is envisioned. Send your ideas, articles, pictures and/or monetary contributions. (Monetary contributions should be in addition to your regular support of Church and Academy uses.)
     The Girls School centennial album, full of history, nostalgia, and hopes for the future, is now planned to come out in the spring. We will send you gift certificates for the album to give as Christmas presents to current as well as former and future students, bringing them a lifetime of worthwhile enjoyment. We can all be strengthened by reestablishing our connection with our roots and focusing on our goals.
     Send the coupon with your check (made out to the "Academy of the New Church") to Morna Hyatt, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Please reserve      Copies of the Centennial Album (at $15.00 each)

     and send me      Gift certificates. In addition, I am including my contribution of $               for

     the Girls School Centennial Fund.

     Signed                                                                  Date                                        

     Address                                                                                                              

NCL 50 AND 100 YEARS AGO 1984

NCL 50 AND 100 YEARS AGO              1984

     The December issue in 1934 listed the names of 100 people (adults and children) baptized during the year. The average in recent years has been around 200.
     In December of 1884 it is reported that New Church activities on the Island of Mauritius have an average attendance of thirty-five. Also reported: a book of the Writings had been translated into the Finnish language, a language at that time spoken by about half a million people.

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YOU ARE THE HARVEST 1984

YOU ARE THE HARVEST       Dr. RAY SILVERMAN       1984

     In the summer of 1784 James Glen gave a series of public lectures in Philadelphia and Boston. While in Philadelphia he arranged to have a box of New Church books, Latin and English editions, sent over from London. His friend John Augustus Tulk shipped the box to him.
     Meanwhile, Glen had already left Philadelphia. When the box of books arrived they remained at Bell's Bookstore in Philadelphia, the place where Glen had delivered his first public lecture. Soon afterwards Bell died, and the contents of his store were sold at public auction. There is no record of exactly when the books arrived, or when the public auction took place. But we do know that the men who bought the various books in that box were Francis Bailey, Myers Fisher, and John Young. All three of these men, along with James Vickroy, had attended Glen's original lecture at Bell's Bookstore on June 5th.
     Both Bailey and Young became active disseminators of the Heavenly Doctrines. At his own expense Bailey began to reprint copies of the works in his possession, and he sent to Robert Hindmarsh in England for more. At the same time, Young ordered a copy of True Christian Religion from England and loaned it to Bailey who printed it. Among the subscribers to that first American edition was Dr. Benjamin Franklin.
     Ben Franklin is not the only notable American who was indirectly affected by the arrival of that box of books. There also may be a connection to Johnny Appleseed, who reports that he knew the Bailey family for years. it is probable that it was Bailey and Young who supplied this young missionary with the volumes that he divided into parts and distributed among the early American settlers.
     Now, two hundred years after the arrival of that box of books, our thoughts turn back to the efforts of those early missionaries: Glen, Young, Bailey, Chapman. We wonder about the miraculous ways in which their early efforts have directly or indirectly touched all of our lives. The laborers were few, but the harvest is great. May we each see ourselves as part of that harvest, and at the same time may we continue in those labors, turning many to righteousness: "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3).

621


Editorial Pages 1984

Editorial Pages              1984

     HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL

     Things which in themselves are really wonderful may be regarded sometimes as ordinary and commonplace. Every plant that grows is in itself a wonder. Its development and flowering and its reproduction are marvels. "But because these things from being seen continually and from their yearly recurrence have become familiar, usual, and common, men do not regard them as anything wonderful" (TCR 695).
     The word "wonderful" applies in a special way to the Lord's Divine Providence (AE 927). Sometimes we look back at the way things have happened in our lives, and we marvel. Or we "see events in some wonderful series" and inwardly we marvel at the ways of Providence.
     Those who do not acknowledge a wonderful providence the Writings compare to a near-sighted person who goes into a most beautiful garden and says afterwards that he did not see anything special. The same passage says that a wise man in a way sees the Divine Providence "in the whole world." It lists several of the things of life in which he sees a wonderful providence. The last thing in the list is the fact that the Lord Himself came into the world to redeem and save men (Divine Providence 189).
CALENDAR READINGS 1984

CALENDAR READINGS              1984

     During the month of January, 1985, the readings in Deuteronomy will be from chapter 15 through chapter 31 and in the Arcana Caelestia from no. 4715 to 4800. If you wish to have the daily* schedule before January, please write to the Secretary of the General Church, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     * For example, on January 16th the reading is Deut. 23:1-14 and AC 4749-4750.

622


CHRIST IS ALIVE 1984

CHRIST IS ALIVE       Erik E. Sandstrom       1984




     Communications
To the Editor:
     Mr. K. O. Doering's communications ("Christ Is Alive") have defined the difficulty of seeing a visible God, using the terms of his own previous inability to see the vision which the Writings reveal. In the process, he keeps alive the vital need for us all to understand the glorification of the
Lord's Human. But let us note: "They who in simplicity believe [that the Lord is God both as to the Human and Divine] . . . do not need to know how it was effected, for knowing how it was effected is simply for the end that they may believe it to be so" (AC 2094).
     So how can we make this most intricate and intriguing of doctrines simple enough for everyone? Perhaps by a process of elimination.

1.      Nothing from Mary was converted or transmuted into the Divine (Lord 35).
2.      The Lord put off everything from Mary, thus the body itself (TCR 103. 104)-"rejecting all that was left in Him from the mother" in the tomb (TCR 130e).
3.      He glorified His Human completely, even the bodily parts (AC 5078:2).

     Question: How did He glorify seemingly the same body that He completely rejected, without transmuting anything bodily into Divine?
     Answer: The "butler" (Joseph story) means all the sensuous things in the Lord, down to the body itself, subject to the understanding of the internal man; while the "baker" means the sensuous things down to the body itself, subject to the will of the internal man. (See AC 5078:2, 6, 4114, 5157:2, 3.)
     The "butler" was restored, the "baker" hanged on wood, i.e. crucified.
The baker is the maternal which was dissipated, and the butler, what was glorified from the Divine. The body was the same, but subject to two parts in the Lord.
     Rev. Gladish mentioned that which rots in the grave with man, which was glorified in the Lord. (See LJ post. 87.) But nothing was transmuted.
     So the only answer, as my father Rev. E. Sandstrom Sr. mentioned, is by replacement: "He put on in its stead the Divine Human" (AC 2965e).
     An even more powerful statement occurs in AC 6872 (emphasis added): "With the Lord the prior natural forms were completely destroyed and extirpated, and Divine forms were received in their place."

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     This replacement took place all through the Lord's life on earth. The Lord had not completed this replacement on the cross, since it was finished in the tomb (see TCR 130e); in fact even after His resurrection He said, "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended unto My Father" (AE 899:14).
     Only at His ascension did He transcend all maternal and material vehicles; He then rose above the Divine Human which He had "when He lived in the world; but when He had glorified Himself, He passed above it, and became the Divine good itself, or Jehovah even as to the Human" (AC 5307:2).
     It seems, as Mr. Doering pointed out, that the once visible Divine Human is now no longer visible (March NCL p. 121). But that is not the case, because the Lord's Divine Human is now "an essence by itself which fills the universal heaven" (AC 3061). Salvation and enlightenment are now possible as never before (see Ibid, TCR 109, AC 3195:3, 2776:3, 4180:5).
     How do we see this universal Essence, which is Jehovah or the Divine Good, in a visible Human form?
     "Conjunction with a visible God is like beholding a Man in the air or on the sea, spreading forth His hands and inviting to His arms" (TCR 787).
     "It is to behold a Divine person with rays of heavenly light about His head, with the inscription over it, This is our God, at once Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, and therefore the Savior" (TCR 296).
     And here, in the vein of AC, 2094, is the visible God we all seek. If we recreate this picture in our minds, then all we understand and will continue to understand re the glorification can be placed into these Divinely provided pictures of the visible God. Out place in heaven will then be where our view of the visible God places us. (See DLW 13-"man's state of life after death is according to the idea of God.")
     I am not sure where these comments tend in relation to the "either/or-a third possibility" construct. However, let me offer my own analogue: a fossil.
A fossilized tree trunk is not the tree, but is a replacement of the tree, in exact detail. Nothing of the original tree remains.
     So also nothing of the maternal human remained. But every single thing of the maternal human was glorified, even as to the bodily parts, subject to the understanding of the internal man (butler). The maternal forms were extirpated, and Divine forms received in their place. Thus that which with man rots in the grave was-by replacement-glorified in the Lord.
     Erik E. Sandstrom,
          Sydney, Australia

624


COMMENTS ON THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE 1984

COMMENTS ON THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE       Audrey (Brickman) Grant       1984

Dear Editor:
     I would like to congratulate you on the fine quality of NEW CHURCH LIFE articles that are being printed these last several years. The September issue had a few articles on which I would like to comment.
     The notes on the 29th General Assembly were most interesting, particularly to myself and others who were not able to attend. The overviews of the sessions by Rev. Soneson and the "Assembly Impressions" by his wife were most useful and filled in the gaps of the Assembly which one didn't hear about from friends who attended.
     I always enjoy articles written by Zoe Gyllenhaal Simons. In this issue she has taken point by point the argument about women on boards or the corporation. She has addressed the very points that have come up in many discussions in a rational, logical way and I applaud her clear writing on this somewhat controversial subject.
     The "Divorce and Remarriage" communication really touched home to me. I so much agree with the writer of this well-expressed response. Living in the society where Rev. Brian Keith sent his letter to each member, I was able to read his paper on this subject long before it appeared in the NEW CHURCH LIFE. Although some people disagreed with some of the points, Rev. Keith was very willing to hold discussion groups or private sessions to further discuss this important subject.
     The church needs to address this subject more thoroughly in a clear-cut manner, and Rev. Keith has made a big step in this direction. I don't believe anyone who gets married in our church ever believes his or her marriage will end in divorce. Anyone who knows the beautiful teachings of conjugial love enters into marriage with all the hopes of it being a conjugial marriage in this life and the next. When this expectation is lost, either through a divorce or separation (or death), the resulting pain is overwhelming. Even attending New Church weddings can be a painful reminder of shattered dreams. People who go through a divorce or separation suffer more than others can know, unless they have been through it themselves. These people need the caring and love they feel they've lost, and judgment on the part of others (who usually do not know the true facts) is devastating. The worst judgment often comes from oneself-the knowledge that his/her marriage has failed causes immense sorrow in knowing that they not only let down the Lord, but family and friends as well.
     We need to educate our young people in the practical problems of marriage, not only in the idealistic aura of happily living forever after.

625


Young people need to be taught how to get help either through a minister, counselor or other means. Perhaps an ongoing marriage renewal retreat should be held to strengthen faltering marriages. So many need the tools of a working marriage taught to them. It doesn't come naturally in this world of money, child, alcohol or drug abuse problems. There is much in the world today to thwart the smooth working of a marriage partnership. While the Writings show us how and what to aim for, they don't seem to address some of the real nitty-gritty problems of marriage.
     I thank "Name Withheld" for his/ her sensitive and intelligent comments about divorce and remarriage. It was very supportive to many of us who have and are going through the same pain.
     Keep up the good work.
          Audrey (Brickman) Grant,
               Glenview, Illinois
NEWS FROM THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY 1984

NEWS FROM THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY              1984

     Membership of the Swedenborg Society is still near the thousand mark. The main news is the publication of the second volume of the new translation of the Arcana Caelestia. In the case of volume one, six thousand copies were printed, 2.000 being bound in paperback, 1,000 in hardback and the remainder is stored unbound. During 1983 the Society sold 5,768 books, a considerable increase over the previous pear. Added to the Society library is the 28-volume Japanese translation of the Arcana Caeleslia and also a Japanese translation of the fifth volume of the Spiritual Diary. The Society has acquired several first editions of the works of Swedenborg which bear inscriptions purported to be in Swedenborg's own handwriting.

     ARCANA CAELESTIA SECOND VOLUME

     The New Translation by Rev. John E. Elliott

     The Swedenborg Society has published the second volume, and it may now be obtained from the General Church Book Center. Hardback, postpaid $13.35; paperback, postpaid $8.40.

626


ORDINATIONS 1984

ORDINATIONS              1984




     Announcements
     Elphick-At London, England, September 23, 1984, Rev. Frederick Charles Elphick into the second degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Nicolier-At Beaune, France, September 16, 1984, Rev. Alain Nicolier into the second degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Schnarr-At Glenview, Illinois, October 7, 1984, Rev. Grant Ronald Schnarr into the second degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.
DEVELOPMENT OFFICER 1984

DEVELOPMENT OFFICER              1984

     Mr. Walter C. Childs III has been appointed Development Officer for the General Church of the New Jerusalem and the Academy of the New Church, as of October 22, 1984.
CIRCLE IN NEW ZEALAND 1984

CIRCLE IN NEW ZEALAND              1984

     The group in Auckland, New Zealand has been recognized by the Bishop as the Auckland Circle of the General Church. The secretary is now Mrs. H. Keal, 4 Derwent Crescent, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand.
NEW CIRCLE IN CHARLOTTE, N.C. 1984

NEW CIRCLE IN CHARLOTTE, N.C.              1984

     The General Church group in Charlotte, North Carolina has been recognized by the Bishop as the Charlotte Circle of the General Church.
DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE 1984

DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE              1984

     A circle consists of members of the General Church in any locality who are under the leadership of a resident or visiting pastor appointed by the Bishop, and who are organized by their pastor to take responsibility for their local uses in the interim between his visits. A group may become a circle when on recommendation of the pastor it is formally recognized as such by the Bishop.
     Order and Organization of the General Church
          (See NCL June 1983, p. 249.)

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General Church Book Center 1984

General Church Book Center              1984

"Cairncrest"
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

     GIVE A BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS

     Bishop Benade, Richard Gladish               $15.00
Life of the Lord, George de Charms               8.00
Exposition of Mark, John Clowes               6.50
Divine Providence, Red Morocco               18.00
Arcana Caelestia, Swedenborg Society
     Vol. 2, Elliott translation
          Hardcover                    12.50
          Paperback                    7.75

     Please add 65 cents per item for postage.
Gift wrapping at no additional charge.

     Arcana Caelestia
Emanuel Swedenborg
Vol. 2 now available-$12.50 Hardcover, $7.75 Paperback

     
AN HERITAGE OF THE LORD
Selected Readings Concerning Infancy

     General Church of the New Jerusalem
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
1984

     Recently published, $2.00
Rev. R. S. Junge