Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991

Vol. CXI           January, 1991               No. 1
New Church Life
     A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
     PUBLISHED BY
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE MEW 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 A highlight for 1990 was the recognition of the following societies in South Africa: Alexandra Township, Clermont, Diepkloof, Enkumba, Hambrook, Impaphala, Kwa Mashu. A highlight for 1991 may be the making available of the Writings in Russia and Eastern Europe. We hope as the year progresses to have news on that subject. As a start we have an article by Igor Yefimov, whose work we will mention in a later issue.
     For stretching your mind we begin a study by Erik E. Sandstrom. Notice what he says about the date 35,000 B.C., and note on page 21 his saying that the Ancient Word is "a very curious time-warp, since its made-up stories are retroactive.
     The sermon this month is by Rev. Wendel Barnett who is principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School. As we go to print, Major Barnett is about to make his second trip to visit the troops in Saudi Arabia.
     Twenty years ago a New Church school was started in Washington. We have been provided with a photograph taken of the student body in its first year, along with a current photo of that school (pages 43, 44).
     We have a report of "the largest New Church meeting ever to be held in Japan" (p. 40).
     Miss Paula Bennett works with the deaf. Because of that she read the book Helen and Teacher. And that is what led her to discover the Writings. See p. 24.
     Note on p. 29 the Assembly-by-the-Lake video that is available.

     ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE

     The next newsletter, scheduled for mailing in early February, will include information on the mini-sessions, travel costs and directions, the golf outing, society displays, accommodations, and will include the last opportunity for early-bird discounts on registration.
     Early registration allows you to save up to $23.00 per person, and provides the assembly committee the information needed to plan. Since we need to commit to the college soon, we would appreciate your prompt response.
     Watch your mail for the February newsletter and register early. Can we count on you?

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LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME 1991

LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME       Rev. Wendel R. Barnett       1991

"Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God (Mark 10:14).

     As the ministry of Jesus was drawing to a close in the spring of His 33rd year, He journeyed for the last time from the northern region of Galilee, and advanced toward the lush east bank of the Jordan River near Judea in the south. As a multitude followed, the sick, lame and blind were healed, and the Lord's Divine compassion was experienced by those who would soon be called Christians and would help to establish a new church among the few.
     Prior to leaving Capernaum on the eighty-mile pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Jesus drew a child to Himself in order to respond to the question of His disciples, "Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
     Setting the youngster in their midst, Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3, 4).
     By the child was represented innocence, not an innocence to be confused with simplicity or naivete, but an innocence that makes one with a tender love for others, a caring and empathetic wisdom built upon an understanding of truth from the Word and united with a humility that wishes to be led by the Lord and not by self (see AC 10210).
     Innocence, as this term is used in the Word, is the "inmost of all good," flowing from the Lord into the souls of little children to later become the innocence of wisdom with the regenerate (see AC 1568, 5126:2, 7840). This affection for good, provided it is not destroyed by a life of evil, remains with a person. Innocence is to be preserved with children, and serves throughout their growth and development as a plane and affection for receiving knowledges of truth.

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The age of infancy is therefore said to be as an egg to the age of childhood, and the age of childhood is said to be an egg to the age of adolescence, and so on through the stages of one's growth; so that a person is, as it were, being born continually (see AC 4378). It is the innocence of love and charity, making one with the affection for good and truth, that we as a church are obligated to safeguard. This is done in an attempt to maintain that foundation which serves a child as he seeks truth and responds to this knowledge in his thought and action.
     The "innocence of infancy," as it is called in the Writings, can be observed and felt as we encounter the spheres of tiny babies and little children. This phenomenon occurs whenever the gestures and speech of little children affect us with delight (see CL 395, 396). Innocence can be observed any time a child obeys the wishes of a parent with joy, assumes something is true because a parent has said so, plays in a loving and charitable way with siblings or friends, fears to offend parents or let them down in any way (see AC 7280), or begins to ask questions from an affection for knowing, questions like, "Where is heaven?", "Why are there boys and girls?" or "If the Lord made everything, then who made the Lord?" These questions challenge our parenting skills, but also delight us as we are able to witness the Lord's working within infants and children to establish a basis for a growing rational capacity.
     These inquiries are all evidence of the affection for wisdom which is first observed as a desire for knowing and understanding this world and its purpose. Children first gain knowledge of these matters in their homes, while listening to discussions or taking part in various forms of family worship. This desire to know, to understand and eventually become wise has its origin in the innocence of infancy, without which the development of true innocence in the regenerate would not be possible (see AC 5126:2).
     Parents have a special opportunity to work with the Lord by offering instruction and worship to their children in the home. On His part the Lord quietly works from within, implanting an affection for good and truth while at the same time introducing an affirmation in children that what is taught by parents is true (see AC 2689:3).

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These knowledges remain until a child's mind has developed and is capable of going to the Word. This affirmative state provides parents the opportunity to share the teachings of the church with their children in a positive sphere that can so quickly be lost as children get older and enter into states of doubt and negative questioning that often mark the transition from childhood to youth (see AC 5135:2, 3).
     The end to which spiritual parental instruction looks is the good of the child. It is a desire to serve as an instrument by which children are led to the Lord. The goal is regeneration, conjugial love and a spiritual quality that delights in doing the Lord's will for the sake of others. Parents, as well as members of a church community, allow for this goal when they include prayer and religious conversation in their home and also provide for regular readings from the Word and other books of instruction (see CL 175). Formal Sunday worship and New Church education are a supplement and extension to these efforts in the home, efforts that are essential if young people are to fully benefit from what priests offer in services of community worship and educators present in classrooms.
     Another goal of parental instruction is gradually letting go or letting a child turn from us to the Lord, another way of supporting the Lord's call to "Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them." A regular practice of reading the Word looks to this end. A gradual transition from receiving truth from parents to receiving truth from the Lord alone is a vital ingredient of the maturing process.
     The habit of reading the Word should begin early, first by parents reading to their children, and then children reading parts of the Word for themselves. The historical portions of the Word are especially adapted to the mind of children and are serviceable to them. This part of the Word has been so written that everything contains what is Divine and can be read with delight, for as the angels who are in association with children are pleasantly affected by the Word, so their affection is communicated with happiness and delight to the child (see AC 3665:5, 3690:2, 3982:3).

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     A powerful teaching from the Arcana states, "They who have arrived at maturity, and still more they who have arrived at old age, and have not viewed with their own eyes the truths of the church and seen whether they are true and then been willing to live according to them, retain them merely as knowledges . . . relying on others" for a faith that is not theirs (AC 5432:2, emphasis added). The passage continues, concluding that when a person arrives at adult age he is to "search the Word with devout prayer to the Lord for enlightenment" that he might thereby make the church his own in faith and in life (5432:4,5). This can occur at any time after the rational mind has formed. It is never too late so long as a person truly wants to know what is true for the sake of doing good.     
     As a child matures and learns from this affection for gathering knowledges of truth, he can eventually choose to shun what he learns to be evil as a sin against the Lord. Through the years this allows the innocence of infancy gradually to be conjoined with the innocence of wisdom (see HH 341:2). Without knowledges from the Word that help a growing youth distinguish truth from falsity and right from wrong, the innocence of infancy is said to be of absolutely "no use," for within this external and borrowed innocence are hereditary tendencies to evils of every kind (see AC 1616:3).
     On the other hand, the innocence of wisdom is the result of a lifetime of striving to do the Lord's will, and this innocence resides in a person's inmosts while hereditary and actual evils are rejected to the peripheries or outmosts of life.
     It is sometimes difficult to accept that the evil heredity of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents exists within the innocence of tiny infants, but experience and the observation of various stages of development with children testify to this fact. The innocence we observe in little children is as an external shell that is often well perceived, even when children are acting from hereditary tendencies to evil. A slap on the face from a tiny infant, a bonk on the head of a playmate with a plastic toy, a first attempt at disobedience, often evoke a knowing smile or quiet laughter from surrounding adults (see AC 164). Why? Because the action was not taken with any sense of forethought, nor did it pass through a mind capable of rational reflection (see AC 1667:2).

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There was no premeditation, just a spontaneous and, perhaps to the parents, an all too familiar behavior reminiscent of their own characteristics, but nothing we could call an "actual evil" that would be attributed to the child.
     This is the innocence of ignorance, a guiltless state of human development. Because of this lack of guilt, tiny infants who die enter heaven immediately, for nothing of actual evil clings to them. They have not imbibed falsities from religion nor defiled their spiritual life with riches and honors in the world.
     In the general sense of the letter, our lesson from Matthew stressed the importance of protecting children, emphasizing that "it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt. 18:14).
     This theme of protecting children and innocence seems to connect the final teachings of Jesus, as He left Galilee, with His continuing ministry in the south. Even as Jesus journeyed toward Judea, Pharisees came testing Him asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" The Lord's response served to promote the uses of marriage, including the protection of children. We are reminded in this context that one of the reasons for conjugial simulations, being appearances of a love and friendship resembling truly conjugial ones, are for the sake of providing for the well-being of infants and children in the family (see CL 284).
     We would suggest that the close proximity of these teachings about marriage and children in the letter of the Word is for the purpose of reminding us of the protection that exists for children when the order of marriage is preserved, and in addition to highlight the many responsibilities parents have to care for their children.
     Our purpose here is not to invite the agonizing guilt which can plague parents as they recall their imperfect efforts to lead their children to the Lord, but instead to encourage and promote our mutual and cooperative efforts to this end. An entire community is involved in this endeavor, for just as we join together in witnessing a child's baptism, so too does a community join with parents in assisting them in the raising of their children by supporting the values of the home and modeling behavior that is consistent with the teachings of the Word.

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     Shortly after He responded to the Pharisees' question, little children were brought to Jesus. The disciples rebuked those who brought them, "but when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.'" The Lord's love for children could not be restrained as He lifted them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them (Mark 10:14-16, emphasis added).
     "Let the little children come to Me," says our Lord and Savior, and the intent of this message lives in the hearts and minds of every married person that looks to the Lord and strives to do His will.
     The conjugial sphere that descends from the Lord into the lives of married partners and inspires them to protect and educate their children involves them in a parenting process that serves them, as nothing else can, to invite the conjugial into their lives, that is, unite and associate their souls and lives into one (see CL 176). To raise children is to learn from our own childhood, to improve on the past and provide for the good of society in the future;
     Much of the power witnessed during the sacrament of baptism rests in the fact that parents enter into a "solemn covenant" or agreement to "keep for the child the commandments of God." Parents are charged with what is for them a joy, to cooperate with the Lord in preparing their child for a life in heaven, by seeking enlightenment in their work, by leading the child to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as his God and Father, by teaching him or her the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and by instructing the child in the Sacred Scripture and the Heavenly Doctrine (see Liturgy, p. 67).
     The imperative or command of the Lord to "let little children come to Me" is also an invitation not only to children but to all people to receive the innocence of love and charity which makes one with the true innocence of genuine wisdom.

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It's an invitation to be with the Lord in heaven, for we are taught "the Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself, so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven, but He wills that they should be in the third heaven, and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself. Such is the Divine love" (AC 1799). It is from this love for the human race that the Lord instructs us to "let the little children come to" Him for He is speaking to all of us as His children.
     The Lord's directive goes beyond an invitation to become innocence; it insists that we not forbid children from approaching Him. This prompts the question: Is there anything done in society that might obstruct a child's access to the Lord? It is a rhetorical question, for while society today offers more opportunities for the young than at any other time in modern history, it is also saturated with obstacles and roadblocks to spiritual growth with children.
     The hells, we know, loathe innocence, and their influence is ever present. We read that they cannot endure to see infants, and the moment they see them they are inflamed with a cruel desire to injure them (see HH 283:2). To understand their disdain of the young, Swedenborg on one occasion saw evil spirits treating a sweet and delightful child in a most shocking manner, even to the point of willing to kill him, because of their hatred for innocence. The passage goes on to remind us that without civil laws to hinder such behavior, such people would rush insanely against all who are innocent (see AC 2126). In another passage Swedenborg sees represented the upbringing of children during the eighteenth century. Young children are observed being punished by their mothers, who are combing them most cruelly (see AC 2125, SD 3992). Have conditions improved so much in the last two hundred years? This is a challenging question to answer, but the potential for improving conditions for children have certainly improved through the clear teachings of the Writings of the New Church.

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     From our final lesson this morning we can recall the reaction of the angels who responded with horror as they observed parents inciting their children to fight in the streets, "thus extinguishing, in the earliest age, ah the mutual love and all the innocence that children have from the Lord" (HH 344). As we think about the violence that plagues our major cities we can be thankful that our children are not physically exposed to it, violence which seems far Worse than what was witnessed in our world by angels, to which they responded with astonishment and horror.
     If we could see with the eyes of angels, what would strike us with horror knowing that our children were being exposed to its influence? We can become so numb to the insanities in the world around us that we can fail to see their potential harm to the young. The status quo becomes normal and in time, can even be seen as harmless unless there is discriminating thought from the Word. But harmless it is not.
     The people of the church are not raising children for worldly success alone but for a life of eternal use to others beginning in this world. Revelation about the spiritual world, specifically a knowledge of how children are brought up in heaven, helps us to strive to understand rightly what the educational mechanism should be, and to identify appropriate goals and standards for raising children on earth to prepare them for life in heaven. Are not our goals one with those of angel parents, namely, "to lead children by means of an understanding of truth and the wisdom of good into the angelic life" (HH 344)?
     Another store of information that helps us to measure our progress comes from the book of the Writings entitled Earths in the Universe. Our teachings from the Word about other planets provide a contrast between life on earth and the life of our neighbors in the universe. If is interesting to note that spirits from one planet believed it impossible for worse spirits to exist than those who came from our planet, especially from the Christian world (see EU 61). Concerning spirits from our earth, they said that they "talk much and think little, and thus that they are not capable Of an interior perception of many things, not even of what is good, concluding that the people of our earth are external" (Ibid.).

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They greatly wondered when they heard that many who are from our earth also become angels, and when this was demonstrated to their complete satisfaction they promised to return to their people and tell them about it.
     The point is, all people of the New Church who care for the instruction and well-being of children desire to lead them to heaven, and may wish to choose better models and select new standards by which they determine their progress in providing the right environment for leading their children to the Lord. If we search the Word for guidance, our model may be significantly changed from the one we presently use to judge our parenting.
     Again from our lesson, if we could see with the eyes of the angels who were struck with horror at what they saw being encouraged in the streets of eighteenth century Europe, what aspects of our society, features that our children are exposed to on a daily basis, would we view with sorrow and abhorrence, and recognize as devices of the hells for extinguishing the mutual love and innocence of children? In the words of Jeremiah, "Death has come through our windows, has entered our fortresses, to kill off the children" (Jer. 9:21).
     In order to protect the innocence of our children, the people of the church are not to assume a posture of hiding from the world. This isn't healthy, it doesn't work, and it would appear to be contrary to the teachings of the Word that encourage us to live in the world without becoming of the world. We can, however, use the tools given us in Providence: prayer, the truths of faith, and the rational capacity to distinguish right from wrong, to examine our society and discriminately reject and oppose those elements that make war on our efforts to provide an environment in which children can come before the Lord for guidance and strength.
     It would take us a long time to list the ways in which the hells are presently attacking the innocence of our children. Examples abound, like the pollution that inundates our society; the hells ingeniously attack, and unless we are vigilant they can penetrate our defenses, corroding the integrity of our minds and souls, and those of our children.

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     We of the New Church are most fortunate. We are among those whose children have the chance to be taken up in the strong arms of the Lord's new Word. To possess so great a treasure, and to live according to its message, is to receive the touch of His hands and the blessing of His Providence. We can, if we choose, protect the innocence of our children, strengthening them with the means required to live in this world, while at the same time helping them to contribute to the needs of our society. For "The Lord God is a sun and a shield" (Psalm 84:11). With our assistance the Lord can give our children the light they need to see their way; He can give them the strength to defend themselves against the hells, and He can protect them with His truths as a shield protects a warrior. The means for accomplishing our desire to lead our children to the Lord have been given in the threefold Word. Children are a heritage from the Lord (see Psalm 127:3), and it is the delightful duty and blessing of every parent, grandparent, aunt and uncle, every member of the community, teacher and priest to heed this calling, indeed this command of the Lord to "Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God." Amen.

     Lessons: Matthew 18:1-14, Mark 10:1-16, HH 277, 344 Utopia Against the Family-The Problems and Politics of the American Family 1991

Utopia Against the Family-The Problems and Politics of the American Family       Dan Horigan       1991

Utopia Against the Family-The Problems and Politics of the American Family by Bryce J. Christensen, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA (ISBN 0-89870-282-8), 1990, 146 pps., $11.95

     In the preface Dr. Christensen explains his reasons for writing this book, as follows:

This book focuses on an unpleasant reality: a crisis in American domestic life. This social crisis is reflected in our unprecedented levels of divorce and illegitimacy and in our depressed rates of marriage and fertility.

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But these trends also symptomize-and in turn reinforce-a profound cultural and spiritual malaise manifest in the growing rootlessness, narcissism, and boredom of the American people. When confronted with these adverse vends in society however, many Americans would rather not admit that they symptoms of moral squalor which can be eliminated only by a return to family commitments. These people place their hopes instead on political or economic programs meant to compensate for family dissolution. It is much easier to hope for utopia than to confront the hard realities visible east of Eden. As husbands and wives betray one another, and parents grow estranged from their own children, Americans go on-in T. S. Eliot's words-"dreaming of systems so Perfect that no one will need to be good" (Choruses from The Rock, VI). And, of course, many university Professors and politicians are only too eager to endorse such utopian illusions. The characteristically modern American weakness for positive thinking" makes sustained pondering of moral guilt hard.
     
The purpose of this book is to force examination of Post Edenic realities that are oft-obscured by our infatuation with utopia. The ugly consequences of our national retreat from family life include not only poverty, disease, alienation, violence, and political conflict, but also widespread moral confusion. An ethic based on family loyalty is giving way to a dubious utopian ethic. In the chapters that follow, I cull a great deal of evidence from the social sciences to show some of the costs of this shift.

     Throughout his book Dr. Christensen contrasts utopian thinking with that of biblically-based thinking. Repeatedly he shows how the latter holds the key to the social and economic problems plaguing us. In his own words:
     
At a time when millions of Americans are abandoning the family, it is appropriate to ask what kind of institution they are leaving behind. Is it an evolutionary relic to be consigned to the fossil heap in our march toward utopia? Or is it a divine pattern prescribed by Scripture and forsaken only at great peril? These questions cannot be answered scientifically, but modern science-so central to the utopian vision-finally forces cosmic acknowledgment of a truth forcefully expressed in Genesis but anxiously avoided by the utopians: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19).

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The illusory promises of utopia crumble beneath the weight of that stark truth. When rooted in post-Edenic truths, including human mortality, the family can provide a sturdier hope.
     
Ultimately, defenders of the family must help Americans rediscover the truths-including the hard, dark truths of sin, guilt, and death-pronounced in Genesis. In this rediscovery, nothing will substitute for the sober witness of faith. Without trust in the Lord who expelled our first parents from the Garden, few can accept the difficult responsibilities of family life while resisting the false pressures of utopia.
     
In the short run, however, Americans can at least reduce the adverse pressures on family life by labeling utopian political measures (e.g., the establishment of a national day-care system, pay equity, no-fault divorces, sexual "liberation," and ever-more-liberal welfare policies) as such and pointing out their adverse effects upon the family. More fundamentally, defenders of the family can expose the logical fallacies and moral incoherence in utopian strategies.

     Of particular interest to New Church people will be the chapters on education and the "birth dearth." In the former, Dr. Christensen shows the importance of a religious foundation (more specifically, education of the kind the General Church offers). In his words:
     
Some educators have tried to balance utilitarian education with the teaching of traditional morality . . . . It does not appear likely that moral instruction will become supportive of the family as long as American education remains militantly secular, excluding every trace of those religious principles which form the moral convictions of most Americans.
     
Here, then, lies the dilemma in American education: the United States cannot improve its dismal educational performance without strengthening marriage and family life, yet modern education is committed to utopian principles that undermine both. More fundamentally, educators need to rethink the ideological cost of education.

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     The importance of acknowledging the reality of death and the need to reproduce ourselves is emphasized in the chapter on the "birth dearth." As Dr. Christensen sums up the problem:
     
The blind spots in utopian ideology are showing up at life's end points: Americans refuse to contemplate the cemetery or to enter the maternity ward. The utopian denial of death and the current "birth dearth" appear as the two opposing sides of the same debased coin of religious belief.

     In reading this chapter, New Church people will see how the knowledge of heaven and hell provided in the Writings can do much to mitigate the unwillingness to face the reality of death which Dr. Christensen shows to be such an integral part of utopian ideology.
     In the book's final chapter, Dr. Christensen concludes his argument as follows:
     
It is hard to overstate the future social consequences of our high rates of divorce and illegitimacy, our low rates of marriage and fertility. Our national epidemics of crime, drug abuse, youth suicide, academic failure, and sexually transmitted diseases will continue and probably worsen as long as the home life of many Americans remains unstable.
     
. . . the challenge belongs to people of faith-die laity as well as the clergy-who must somehow penetrate the smug self-absorption of the DINKS (couples with two incomes, no kids) and one-child Yuppies. If those who speak for God cannot free Americans from a giddy narcissism that obscures the reality of death and sin, then the "birth dearth" will continue and probably grow worse.

     Bryce Christensen is editor of The Family in America, director of the Rockford (Illinois) Institute Center on the Family in America, a research organization devoted to the investigation of cultural, economic, ethical, and political issues affecting family life in the United States. He is also an active member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
     Dan Horigan

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AGE-OLD ADVENT 1991

AGE-OLD ADVENT       Rev. ERIK E. SANDSTROM       1991

(The Advent has been expected for far longer than it has been celebrated.)

     1990 Bryn Athyn Swedenborg Birthday Address

     At a Swedenborg birthday celebration such as this, it is my understanding that we in fact celebrate the existence of the Writings. The Writings say that "the human intellect carries over those things which are of the light of heaven into those which are of the light of nature, whereby the former appear in the latter" (AC 6125).
     So I plan to match what the Writings as the Word actually say with factual knowledge, as is the founding belief of both the Academy and the General Church.
     And my target area is time and existence. Why do we exist? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? When was creation? How do time and existence relate to the advent? Christmas has been expected for far longer than celebrated.
     I will present some curious time-warps involved with the relativity of time in the Word as it flexes forward and backward.
     The Writings say, "We are because God is" (DP 46).
     So to the question "Why am I here?" just answer, "Because God is."
     But does God exist? His existence cannot be proved but can only be "seen in the light of truth from the Word" (Faith 10). That is what the Lord meant when He told Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe" (John 20:29).
     But then "What did God do before creation?"
     Aha, you can't ask that question. Why not? Because the word "before" is a time concept, and time belongs to creation but not to the Creator (see DLW 69, 73). "Before creation" is a contradiction of terms. Instead, God is the same now as always. His timeless purpose is a heaven from the human race.

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Simple. So again, the answer is, "We are because God is." And the "we are" goes on forever.
     When did you first think about all this? College Philosophy? No, at the first moment of breath. We read, "Inmost thought is the first effect of life" (DLW 2). Even before sensation and action there is a perception of ends (Ibid.). You thought of why you are here and your eternal use in heaven with the first breath of your life.
     We continue with the seven days of creation and Adam and Eve. It is perhaps cruel to come to the adult New Church version, that these stories involve human beings evolving through stages of spiritual growth, a pattern for each of us to follow in our regeneration. The very first people in Genesis 1, we read, "lived like animals" (AC 286). From being natural on day one, they were raised to become spiritual, meant by "day six." They were then called "image and likeness." We read: "The setting up of the Most Ancient Church is described by the creation of heaven and earth in Genesis chapter 1, and their wisdom by paradise" (AC 10545).
     Eden was mankind's golden age of wisdom, but also a geographical area from Egypt and Ethiopia to Iran, from Sinai to Turkey (see Coronis 52, AC 4289, 4447).
     As we mature to rethink the early Genesis stories, we face the time-warp of the Ancient Word. This Word was before the Old Testament and is now lost. The book of Numbers mentions "the book of the wars of Jehovah," (21:14), a book of the lost Word. But we have Genesis chapters 1 to 11 intact.
     That includes Noah and the ark, which we find was not a floating zoo; instead the ark means the human mind providentially preserved through a spiritual cataclysm worthy of Hollywood's special effects team. The clean animals went in-how many? In lots of seven, and the unclean two by two (see Genesis 7:2) Redesign illustrations as needed! This means goods and evils were separated in the mind; the window on top means conscience, the door on the side means speech and hearing through the ear (see AC 651). The whole story means a new kind of instruction through a written Word. More of this in a second.

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     And the Tower of Babel refers to the lurking desire to enslave others through religion (see AC 1280, 1302). That one is still going on.     
     Why is the Ancient Word a time-warp? Because its stories are retroactive, written after the flood to describe pre-flood legends.
     Now we do have something similar in our life. You don't remember what you were like as a baby, do you? We have to be updated on our infancy. This is like the Ancient Word updating us on pre-deluge life.
     No one can recall not existing. The origins of human life are lost in the shrouds of time. So our life, whether racial or personal, seems to exist "from eternity." We can identify even more with the phrase, "We are because God is."
     But we know we have not always existed. We were born. Mankind began. So when did creation take place? Well, perhaps 20 billion years ago. No watch shows "universal time," so read Dr. Baker's explanations (Towards the Beginning of Time, New Philosophy 1980, LXXXIII No. l, p.3).
     What did God do before 20 billion years ago? Question invalid. God created the word "before." So instead ask, "What is God doing now that He always does the same?" The answer is: "Preservation is perpetual creation" (CL 86). Within grasp. The Creator is doing the same thing now as 20 billion years ago. And "we are because God is."
     And when was the flood?
     The brain was changed during the flood. Before the flood, affections were manifested directly in the face, but after the flood, we read, " . . . these were no longer manifest in the face. The fibers of the cerebellum have changed their pathways into the face, and the fibers of the cerebrum have been carried thither in their stead, which exercise command over those from the cerebellum" (AC 4326:3).
     This change came, we read, when " . . . man began to love himself and not his neighbor, when vocal speech began to develop, the face being silent or dissembling" (EU 54). So if we want to find a human specimen from the flood, start looking for the first "poker face."

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     The change in brain-fibers and the poker face we surmise involved a change in the shape of the skull-well. We know that Neanderthal type people had low foreheads, and Cro-Magnon type people had high foreheads. In the Holy Land, archeologists have found these two skull-types side by side, and some that are half and half. The time when the great change took place? Around 35,000 B.C.
     These facts can be tentatively superimposed on what is stated about Noah: he was of the same hereditary disposition as the giants who perished in the flood (see AC 788). But a new mind was installed. Neanderthal could be Noah who perished. Archeologists do talk about a Neanderthal extermination, so suddenly did they disappear. And Cro-Magnon would thus be those among the Neanderthal with whom the brain-fibers changed, who gradually received instruction in the Word, and are meant by Shem, Ham and Japheth. Their skull would by this theory gradually get higher.
     What is the evidence to support this rather far-fetched hypothesis? Well, most recently a Neanderthal man was found in the Cabara Cave, at Mount Carmel of all places, and among the bones they found the hyoid bone, which is used in speech. I quote from an article called "Old Tongue Bone Speaks on the Past" in a Biblical archeological journal: "Equally disturbing to the evolutionary theory is that the skeleton that has been found, of which this hyoid bone is a part, had been carefully buried . . . Anthropologists generally assume that death rituals imply a belief in an afterlife" (Diggings, Oct. 1989 p. 11, Sydney Australia publication).
     "The bones prove that early beings had the natural capability of speech." So the verdict is that ". . . Neanderthal society was much more complex and advanced than [so far admitted] . . . If Neanderthal Man could speak. . .[he could be] just a slightly differently shaped human, and not . . . a missing link between man and ape" (Ibid. p. 12).
     Of course ascribing the 35,000 B.C. rise of Cro-Magnon as a date for the flood is speculation, but it seems to be supported by the similar type Australian aborigines who have been in place for 25,000 to 40,000 years.

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Their mythology includes "alcheringa" or "dreamtime" which was talking with dead ancestors, i.e. now angels, as happened in the Most Ancient Church. Also, they believe in a "rainbow serpent," which featured in creation. The imagery of serpent and rainbow, of course, evokes the Ancient Word Genesis account.
     So the adult version of Adam and Eve is the establishment of the first church; and the flood is that the Lord changed mankind's spiritual make-up, brain-fibers and presumably skulls and all, all for the sake of preserving the Word. How exactly did this preservation take place?
     A group of people collected the wisdom of the Most Ancient Church and invented writing for the purpose. This document was the ark. It is hard to switch our minds from a boat of animals floating on water to a written document, but we read in clarification that Enoch's collection was the source of "the Word in the Ancient Church which was after the flood" (AC 2897). The Lord "provided that some of those who lived with the Most Ancient people should collect together the correspondences and gather them into a manuscript; these are here meant by Enoch, and that manuscript is what is here meant. Because that manuscript was to serve the coming churches that were to be established by the Lord after the flood, . . . it was preserved by the Lord for their use, and also guarded lest the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church, who were evil, should offer injury to it. This is meant by 'Enoch was no more, because God took him.'" (AE 728:2).
     I wonder if we will ever see an Oscar-winning thriller about prehistoric people preserving a manuscript against destruction by giants! Imagine the film-title: "The Nephilim Inheritance," or "The Enoch Manuscript."
     Although the "giants on the earth in those days" (Gen. 6:6) perished in the flood, enough survived somehow for the twelve spies to see the "sons of Anak" in the Promised Land. They said they were like grasshoppers in their sight (see Numbers 13:13). Later still, David slew Goliath (see I Samuel 17:49-51). Heroes from Joshua and Caleb to King David fought against the giants of Hebron and Gath (see II Sam. 21:15-22, I Chron. 20:4-8).

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     To be a giant actually meant to have deadly persuasions of one's own supereminence, which nullified everything holy and brought on a self-suffocation, thus called a "flood" (see AC 1673, 581, 662).
     So Enoch collected a manuscript, which we read "was their Word" (AC 1241). However, this was not the Ancient Word. The Writings clarify that Enoch's Word consisted of doctrines which led to the establishment of the Ancient Church (see AC 521, 609, 1241, AE 728). This church later produced its own Ancient Word (see AC 2897), which consisted of made-up histories as those found in Genesis 1 to 11.
     The Ancient Word is a very curious time-warp, since its made-up stories are retroactive. In writing, it describes a time before writing was invented. But also, the Ancient Word jumps forward to the Lord's Advent; for the giants from the flood, and those slain by David and the rest, roamed all through the world of spirits right up to the Lord's advent. We read: "Unless the Lord by His advent into the world had delivered the world of spirits from those who are meant by the giants, mankind would have perished" (AC 581, 1266).
     If anything, this knowledge would affect how you design your Christmas cards in the future. The advent ties the flood right in with "the shepherds. The Lord conquered these giants when He was a mere child on earth! That practical knowledge is also useful when your children have nightmares. Just tell them, "The Lord beat up those monsters when He was your age. Let's pray to Him."
     In fact, such nightmares may be relies of the giants. And both Cro-Magnon and aborigines made paintings of deformed humans. Celestial angels guard our infants from these monsters. Perhaps those cabbage-patch dolls are therapeutic after all!
     I know that Dr Keiser has some fascinating thoughts about the psychological after-effects of our Neanderthal ancestry (see New Philosophy     , vol. LXXVIII no. 4, p. 303). Psychologists can trace our ancestral ills.
     Time flexes forward from the flood to the advent. Prior to the flood we read there was a common saying: "The seed of the woman would trample the head of the serpent" (AC 1123).

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This was, we read, "From the time of the first promise [of the advent] (spoken of in Genesis 3:15), the faith of love in the Lord who was to come effected conjunction" (AC 2034:7).
     Just a common expression expecting the Lord's advent effected conjunction!
     The flood was thus an interval in the expectation of the Lord's advent: In fact the Lord made His advent during the flood, seeing men through the immense mental change, brain-fibers, skulls and all. We read, "To the man of this church, the Lord's coming was the beginning of temptations" (AC 728). "Had [the Most Ancient Church] remained in its integrity, the Lord would have had no need to be born a Man" (AC 2661).
     But because the fall and flood were foreseen and temptations had begun, the prophecy was made. Because expected, the Lord's advent had begun.

     (To be continued)
WRITINGS IN RUSSIA 1991

WRITINGS IN RUSSIA       IGOR YEFIMOV       1991

Russia is coming now through a very critical moment of her history. The country is in turmoil. People are desperately searching for new solutions in spheres of political, economical, and spiritual life. In religious terms it is a nation of seekers. From my own personal experience, and from the conversations with many Russian intellectuals, I got the impression that the main stumbling block on the way to Christendom is the difficulties experienced by a rational mind facing a problem, the mystery of free human will confronted by the idea of God's omnipotence. Either my will is free, and in this case God's will is limited, or God's will is ruling the world in its smallest cells, and in this case my will is not free and I am not responsible for my deeds.
     The first religious thinker who helped me to overcome this problem was Kierkegaard. In his book Repetition he reveals the mysterious dualism of the relationship between Job and God.

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Job sees his soul, his free will, as a gift from God which cannot be taken back from him even by God Himself. He insists on that despite all the suffering, despite all convincing arguments poured on him by his friends, and in the end of the book of Job we hear God's words confirming his righteousness.
     It is no accident that Kierkegaard' s works became so popular in Russia in 1960-80s, and were widely read in typewritten copies distributed by Samizdat. Surely the same interpretation of this theological and philosophical problem can be found in the New Testament, in Christ's own parables about seeds thrown by the Master into the earth, about the talents (gift of freedom) given to servants so that they would not only preserve them but apply all their energy to increase this capital of freedom. But profound religious truth sometimes needs a helpful word from a philosopher to Penetrate a critical mind brought up in an atmosphere of atheism.
     I don't know any other Christian Church except the New Church founded by the followers of Swedenborg which would stress the phenomenon of free human will joyfully joining God's efforts in creation with such clear emphasis. And that is why I think that the Swedenborg interpretation of Christian teachings will find many grateful disciples in Russia of our time.
     Unfortunately, so far Swedenborg's influence on Russian cultural and spiritual life was mostly connected with his mystical experience. The thinkers listed by Erin C. Martz in her interesting article "The Writings in Russia" (A. N. Aksakov, Vladimir Soloviev, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Andrei Bely) were attracted to Swedenborg mostly as a mystic. Consequently, the same side of his teaching was emphasized in the Russian encyclopedias; the same image was established in the minds of my intellectual friends. Everyone I asked knows only Swedenborg the mystic, not a prophet of free human will as a gift of God which we must preserve, cherish and let grow. The publication of an annotated compendium of Swedenborg's works in Russian will undoubtedly open this treasure of human spirituality to the wide spectrum of Russian seekers of religious truth.

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AMONG MY FAVORITE PASSAGES 1991

AMONG MY FAVORITE PASSAGES       Paula Bennett       1991

One of the many passages that have enlarged and tenderized my heart is found in AC 1799:2. It gently speaks His great heart: "The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself, so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven, but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself: (emphasis added).
     This passage concerning the reality of His love melts a heart. The melting brings forth great delight in pouring out of ourselves to others. It makes "bonds of sharing." It is a bond not of force but of utmost willingness. The angels of the third heaven, with their delicate faces of innocent love, would happily embrace all who would receive Him, the Lord who is innocence itself and peace itself. We continually receive Him as He longs for a dwelling place in us and we in Him. A place where He dwells in purity will be a glorious tabernacle!
     The Lord wills that we should be in Himself as a bride so intimately knows and shares all things with her beloved one. The Lord beautifies and purifies a heart that is willing and the church that so excitingly betroths herself to Him. When He lovingly speaks, "Seek ye My face," we spontaneously respond, "Oh yes, Lord, Your face will I seek." Our heartcry and our very life sings to Him our desire that we might see Him face to face. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."
     The Lord and the inmost heaven are so attractive to me! The profound simplicity is quite overwhelming. I never cease to be amazed at the wonder of childlikeness. The very thought is "joy unspeakable and full of glory."
     The Writings have truly become my deepest intimate friend. There is so much to taste and to be deliciously nourished by. I am just absolutely fascinated by the Lord. I also do treasure the beautiful elucidations of correspondences. How wonderful that God is so personally involved. This draws us to Him and to suffer ourselves to be led. We can fully and completely trust Him!

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     Oh, I do also express my awe of something Swedenborg did. This seems practically to write on our hearts what is at the very heart of the Writings. This was when a dear little one so eagerly longed to know what an angel looks like. She even asked Swedenborg if he might tell her the answer to her "secret searching." Swedenborg, in his sensitivity and keen awareness, escorted the little one to a mirror where she would behold herself face to face! How beautifully this also teaches us to acknowledge our own evils and aspire to know Him by shunning and turning our backs to them and our faces toward Him. We then cry with a repentant but joyful sob, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him."
     Paula Bennett,
          Johnson City, Tennessee
EXCERPTS FROM AN OCTOBER TALK TO THE GENERAL CHURCH BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONCERNING CHURCH CAMPS 1991

EXCERPTS FROM AN OCTOBER TALK TO THE GENERAL CHURCH BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONCERNING CHURCH CAMPS       ROBERT D. MERRELL       1991

New Church summer camps have been very important to many people. They probably date back to the beginnings of the church. The Convention's Almont, Michigan, camp was founded by Rev. Eugene Schreck in the late 1910s or early 1920s. In 1925 he also started the British Summer School. Frank and Donald Rose were active in the British Summer School during their entire tours of duty in England. I suspect that it was this experience that began Frank and Louise Barry Rose's interest in camps as an effective tool for orienting teenagers toward the Lord and the church. The British Summer School serves teenagers from all over Europe, and has a unique use for the church in that it provides the only opportunity for many of these young people to contact other New Church teenagers.

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     When Frank moved to Kitchener, he started the Maple Leaf Academy, which has become the Canadian version of a high school age summer camp. Maple attracted 65 people this year, the highest in ten years. Of the 327 high school campers over the past thirteen years, 124 have returned at least once; 90 twice, 25 thrice; and 21 four times! Twenty-one have returned to serve on staff. At the same time nineteen different ministers and 46 lay men and women have been on staff.
     Some evaluations of Maple by the campers include such appreciation as: "Maple is a place where you can be yourself and where you are accepted and loved for what you are." "The friendships I made will remain for many years to come." "The people here helped to put my life in perspective. It gave me love and support when I needed it. Maple has changed me as a person." "Maple is the only place where a teenager can go where it's cool to be good." "I have learned a lot and grown closer to God." "It was so moving to see the Lord in people's faces and actions, and humbling and heartbreaking in a beautiful way to feel the Lord moving in my heart." "It's great to worship in the company of so many friends. The Lord is definitely here.
     In recent years Denis Kuhl, Terry Schnarr, and many others have kept the spirit of Maple alive.
     The first camps at Laurel Hill State Park were under the leadership of Gilbert Smith, and were mostly Pittsburgh Society outings. Then there was the infamous weekend camp in 1968, organized by Rev. Erik Sandstrom as a "young people's weekend." It was attended by some disgruntled college people who came to complain about the Academy's and the General Church's not meeting their needs.
     In the following years Frank and Louise and many supporters turned the Laurel camps into very positive, spiritually oriented happenings. Today, Laurel is a family camp where many of those same college people are bringing their teenage and younger children back to get the spiritual experience not only for themselves but to share it with their families.
     Today Laurel prospers under the able leadership of Alan Grubb, with important support from Chris and Gall Simons, Hugh Hyatt, Andri Muth, Shareen Blair, Jack Rose, Paul and Beryl Simonetti, many others, and the spiritual leadership of Eric Carswell.

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Continuity of spiritual leadership since Frank Rose left Laurel has been ably supplied by Ragnar Boyesen and Ray Silverman.
     In 1984, immediately following the assembly, there was an adults-only camp called Dayspring, organized by Garry Hyatt and held in Mt. Misery, New Jersey. This camp primarily focused on the relationship between church doctrine and mental health practices. About 60 people who are interested in both gathered to share their work and loves. Most left with a renewed commitment to their work, with the assurance in their minds that their efforts in the field of mental health are guided by the Lord.
     A regular adult camp was started in 1986, retaining much of the mental health emphasis of Dayspring, and blending in the strong spiritual orientation of the Laurel camps. This summer the fourth Sunrise camp was held with about 115 people in attendance. Based on the critiques received following this Sunrise, this camp too was a resounding success. Many people characterized their experience as a new level of contact with the Lord, and an opportunity to fearlessly redirect their life into line with the Lord's will.
     There have been many other New Church summer camps held around the world. There is often one in the Tucson area. They have also been held in San Diego, the northwest, Dawson Creek, New England (Pine Needle), Lake Tahoe, and Deer Park (near New Hope, Pennsylvania). It is rumored that there have been some held in the Dakotas, and also in Australia. There may be a need for a new camp oriented (and timed for) college age and other young people. There is now a gap between the Laurel/Maple (youth) states and the Sunrise/Laurel (adult) states.
     If there were a written charter for these camps, it might read. "to foster spiritual growth and looking to the Lord in a social and pleasant environment. Major purposes would include strengthening our bonds to the church and each other, reawakening remains, and welcoming newcomers (evangelism).

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     Doctrinal classes by ministers, application-to-life lectures or workshops often given by lay persons, and worship are the heart of the camps. Without first turning our minds to the Lord the camps would soon become much less valuable.
     At virtually all camps, in the late afternoon and/or evening there are sharing groups, consisting of 8-10 people, who meet for the purpose of integrating newcomers as well as old friends into strong, cooperating groups. These groups provide a supportive environment for members to share their experience of the camp, usually with emphasis on the impact of the doctrinal and applicational lectures and workshops in their day-to-day lives.
     During these sharing groups people make life-long friends. They often attain a relationship in one week that many people seldom find in their whole lives. And finally, each day ends with worship, to allow people to have the opportunity to express their appreciation to the Lord for what they have received, and to enter into a peaceful sphere before bed.
     Another major feature of the camps is the liberal use of music throughout. There are frequent individual performances as well as a great deal of group singing. This music is highly affectional and contributes to people's feelings of acceptance and belonging in the camps. Besides being a wonderful experience for almost all people who come to the camp, there is also a closer bond with the Lord and the church for them.
     I believe the fact that 600 or 700 people each year are having such an experience as these camps offer is an important statement about the role of the camps in the active life of the church. At these camps an emphasis is placed on (and many people experience) the Lord's love in addition to His truth, which most know so well.
     Several interesting results of the camps include the emergence of other spiritually-oriented activities throughout the church, such as Marriage Enrichment activities, which have sprung up in several areas of the church, partly due to the influence of these camps.
     Spiritual growth groups, which are taking place in many of the church centers, are a direct outcome of the camp experience and, incidentally, follow the same basic format.

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     The Mental Health Symposium is another related activity and seems to have been supported and fortified by the camp activities.
     Retreat weekends for men or for women have become very powerful sources of spiritual motivation and direction. These weekends also follow a format and style similar to that of the camps.
     The reason Peggy and I are so involved with these camps and the related activities is that we simply love the work. We love being with people who are so involved in seeking a knowledge of the Lord's will for themselves and seeking the power to do His will. This work fills us with joy.
     It is probably not possible to estimate the overall strengthening benefit these camps have given the church, but I hope this presentation gives you an appreciation for what many of us believe is an important component of the church's vitality.
ASSEMBLY-BY-THE-LAKE VIDEO AVAILABLE 1991

ASSEMBLY-BY-THE-LAKE VIDEO AVAILABLE       Editor       1991

Are you considering attending the assembly but would like more of a feel of what to expect'
     A fifteen-minute video has been prepared illustrating the Carthage College campus, tour opportunities in Milwaukee and Chicago, and the Glenview Society. This video has been sent to all North American societies for their use in November and December. If you live outside a society, or missed seeing the video when it was shown in your society, we will be happy to send you a copy for five days.
     Please write the Assembly Publicity Committee, 74 Park Drive, Glenview, IL 60025. We will send a copy as soon as possible and bill you $2.00 (U.S.) for postage and handling.

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SUZUKI'S ATTITUDE IN RELIGIOUS WORK 1991

SUZUKI'S ATTITUDE IN RELIGIOUS WORK       Editor       1991

In coming to appropriate attitudes in the work we do, we might seek to benefit from the experience and wisdom of others. Without traveling to a Tibetan monastery you might pick up something from one of the renowned Buddhist thinkers of the century.
     Daisetz Suzuki (1870-1966) is widely regarded as the foremost authority on Zen Buddhism in the west. He was a man regarded by millions as worth listening to. More than once he lectured before the emperor of Japan, Thinkers in many universities were eager to hear him. He lectured in Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Princeton, the University of Chicago, and in many other centers of learning.
     To find his point of view on religious work, we turn to a speech he gave in a less famous setting. On June 11, 1912 Mr. Suzuki addressed a meeting of the Swedenborg Society in London. He spoke of the difficulty he had translating the book Heaven and Hell into Japanese, and of the even greater difficulty he was experiencing in translating Divine Providence. He went on to say, "Personally, however, the more difficulties I experience and finally overcome, the more satisfaction I seem to get from them, and at the same time more insight into the philosophy of Swedenborg, whose greatness in mind and heart grows ever upon me."
     He said that he was not really satisfied with his translation of Heaven and Hell and that he hoped some time to revise it. How did he think the book would be received? This brings us to the point of the editorial.

     Attitude in Religious Work

     "My attitude towards religious work is, do what you think right or true, and do not cease doing it, but do not look for any immediate result, or in fact for any result.

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Goodness and truth have their own germinating power, and do not necessarily require impetuous human urging to make them grow. Fifty or one hundred years from now, a stray copy of Swedenborg laid aside in a corner or on the upper shelf of a library may attract curious man's attention. He takes it down, glances it over, and finding in it something of man's usual walk, he is interested and goes on reading. He ponders over what he has read. It grows upon him, he is captivated by it, but one day when a sudden illumination comes over his mind, he is no more himself as he used to be. He is a spiritual man, with deeper perception. He will be a Swedenborgian, with a living interest in Heaven and Hell."
     What if someone just reads the book casually?
     "What he has read once, in whatever circumstances and with whatever degree of attention, is never lost in him, though he may think he has forgotten all about it. This is a well-established psychological fact. This being so, he will recall his past in his late life when a combination of affairs brings him back to a mental state which favors the growth of the germ once so carelessly taken in. This is something. Our work has had its reward."
     How does this thought fit with the work in which New Church people are engaged? Think about it, and maybe write a letter about it to New Church Life.
     Let us finish with the concluding words of Suzuki's talk to the Swedenborg Society. "I wish to express my gratitude for your having made it possible for me to peruse Swedenborg with thoroughness, which has opened to me so many beautiful, noble things belonging to the spirit. My next task will be to purify my own will through this elevated understanding and thus to appreciate his wonderful message spiritually."

     *     *     *     *

Note: In March of 1985 we published an important article by Mr. Tatsuya Nagashima entitled "The New Church Mission in Japan." The following is from page 123 of that issue: "The first Japanese translation of Heaven and Hell appeared in 1909.

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The translator was an internationally known Buddhist, Dr. Daisetsu Suzuki, who introduced Zen Buddhism to the western world. It was also a notable event that he was the sole delegate from Japan at the International Swedenborg Congress in London in 1910."

     MAURICE NICOLL AND SWEDENBORG

     Maurice Nicoll (1884-1953) is a popular author among many New Church people. His affirmative and insightful religious approach would by itself commend him. There are also those places when one gets the feeling that he is quoting Swedenborg.
     Nicoll's book The New Man is excellent. Where did he get that title? Was it from those places (e.g., AC 928, 4063, 4904 and 9596) which speak strikingly of "the new man"? In the fifth volume of his Commentaries the vocabulary and concepts often sound like the Writings. For example, he says that "the higher can see and comprehend the lower, but the lower cannot comprehend the higher" (pp. 1673, 1691).* In the chapter on self-love he says he is quoting "one writer." Who might that writer be?
     * This is taught in such places as AC 1914, 8237, 8977.
     One writer speaks of self-love in these words: What is more restless at heart, more frequently provoked more violently enraged, than self-love; and this as often as anything does not succeed according to its pleasure or desire?*
     * Readers may recognize that this is Divine Providence 250:2.

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FURTHER CONCERNING THE CONTINUOUSLY OPEN WORD 1991

FURTHER CONCERNING THE CONTINUOUSLY OPEN WORD       Alan Ferr       1991

Dear Editor:
     After the sixth seal was opened, " . . . the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together . . . [or as a book when it is closed]" (Rev. 6:14, emphasis added). "So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it" (Rev. 5:4).
     Concerning the letter of Mr. Richard R. Gladish published in the September 1990 edition of New Church Life I would like to respond as follows:

     Action is everything.

The following was previously published in NCL but that was a long time ago.

     The Significance of Action in Ritual

     In ancient times action was the leading thing of ritual, and speaking secondary, as we learn from a reading of the Old Testament. There were many examples of action, such as washing the feet, lighting the lamps. . . . eating and drinking, the tithings, and other things which were to be done (A.C. 6292). The many statutes, laws and precepts were things to be done (A.C. 4288), and thus were rituals of worship; for in that time the ritual was a thing of life as well as a form in the temple; and the forms [in] the temple were mostly things done, in order to represent the rituals of life.
     It was because of this action in the ancient ritual that the term liturgy came into use, meaning public work, something done, or worship in act . . . . "The Reformers removed the element of action from worship, as far as they could; but something of it is still left to us, such as kneeling, standing, and even walking . . ." "Notes on the Service and on Ritual in General," W. F. Pendleton, NCL May 1919, p. 313, bold added).

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     Even in common speech, actions speak louder than words. If actions are so elemental to ritual, every single action taken in our worship services should represent something heavenly. Closing the Word doesn't come close to qualifying as an appropriate ritual.
     After the sixth seal was opened " . . . the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together . . ."

     Why We Close the Word

     Perhaps we should be looking at causes rather than effects. Does our choice of rituals tell us something about ourselves? Surely the ritual of closing the Word arose out of the desire to start our services with the opening of the Word, in "celebration of TCR 508" (Notes and Papers on Ritual, W E Pendleton). The significance of closing the Word in ritual could not have been considered. If the tradition in our church was to keep the Word always open, could anyone successfully argue from revelation that the Word should now be closed? Is the reason the ritual of closing the Word is used by us because it corresponds to the present state of the New Church? There can be only one answer to that question: No! "'And the heaven departed as a book rolled up' signifies separation from heaven and conjunction with hell" (AR 335 concerning Rev. 6:14).
Anyone who has some knowledge of the Church of the New Jerusalem and its dedicated clergy knows that this question is inappropriate to it. However, this question may be appropriate to the "wilderness" around us. Is the New Church like an unopened flower, looking to the goal of service to others but while with the few, looking inwardly to the life of its own? Are we spiritually closed to "outsiders" as a protection, like the hard surface on a bud, excluding them out of fear that they collectively might change the church as we presently know it? Perhaps now, as the church approaches the millenium, and as its active membership approaches twelve thousand (The Lord needed only twelve disciples), the church may now be ready to burst forth out of the wilderness and put forth leaves for the healing of the nations. (But this can only happen if there is a reciprocal receptivity by outsiders.)

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Perhaps the ritual of closing the Word is now being generally recognised for what it represents because the receptivity of those around us is changing. In any case our rituals should not become ossified with the passage of time. Wouldn't it be better that our rituals represent the state of the New Church rather than that of those who are against it?

     Respect for the Word

     In Mr. Gladish's letter he referred to someone "leaning upon the open Word or thumping it during an 'old church service.'" Did we not feel that this act was one of profanation? However, "A person who totally denies the truths of faith does not profane them . . . . That person profanes, however, who does know the truths of faith, and still more one who acknowledges them, bears them on his lips, . . . while at the same time he leads a life of hatred, revenge,. . . [etc.] and confirms such behaviour in himself by many statements which he scrapes together from the Word. He profanes by perverting the truths of faith . . . " (AC 1008, emphasis added).
     Of course we should treat the Word with respect. Such respect will naturally (spiritually?) follow with our affection for the Lord. But the treatment of the Word by others may or may not indicate something about their spiritual state. And the physical book called the Word is not the presence of the Lord with us His Body, as it were. "The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis, the containant, and the support of its spiritual and celestial senses" (SS, chap. III heading, emphasis added). "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20, 21). "The Word of the Lord lives by virtue of its internal sense. This is as the soul, of which the external sense is, as it were, a body" (AC 1133, emphasis added). When you die and while you live) you cannot claim that your religion is in some book(s). You can only take what is in you. The Word must be "grafted" into you, or rather you into it.

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"I am the vine; you are the branches . . . " (John 15:5). "So when man comes among angels, he does not know what the Word is in the sense of the letter, but only what it is in its soul" (AC 1143).

     Our Treatment of the Word

     Concerning the Jews at the time when our Lord walked the earth: "But it must be understood that everything related concerning the passion of the Lord signifies the mockery of Divine truth, and therefore the falsification and adulteration of the Word because the Lord, when in the world, was the Divine truth itself, which is the Word in the church. For this reason He permitted the Jews to treat Him in the same way that they treated the Divine truth, or the Word . . . " (AE 627:15, emphasis added). The treatment of the Lord by the Jews of His time represented their treatment of the Word. Is the converse true in our time?-that our handling of the Word in ritual is representative of our relationship with the Lord? Do we close the Word because we are shutting the Lord out of our active lives? Again, does this only represent the state of the world around us? " . . . the forms [in] . . . the temple were mostly things done, in order to represent the rituals of life."

     Externals and Their Signification

     "In the most ancient times the science of correspondences was the science of sciences" (SS 8). "Correspondences have all force, so that what is done on earth according to correspondences has power in heaven" (AC 8615). Shouldn't we be using this science, especially in our rituals concerning the Word? "The Jews who lived before the Lord's advent, as also those who lived afterwards, had no other opinion concerning the rituals of their church than that Divine worship consisted solely in externals. They cared nothing for what they represented and signified . . . . And as they were in externals separated from internals, the worship relatively to them was nothing else than idolatrous . . . " (AC 3479, emphasis added). Do we care?

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     Exposure of the Word

     Mr. Gladish suggests in his letter that we should seek to "protect and hallow the Word in our services-to seek to make it special, not common, exposed, vulnerable, in an unprotected state." This description is similar to the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture n. 33. However, the description there refers to the Word "without the sense of the letter . . ." being like a "temple . . . without roof or walls . . . " etc. (emphasis added). There is no concern expressed there about the Word being open.
     Having the Word open and illuminated on the altar does not endanger it in any way or make it vulnerable. The Word is not going to be "thumped" merely because it is open. On the contrary, it will be treated with greater respect! And what is wrong with the Word being common? "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not" (Mark 10:14). Should we not expose the Word to others who have something of the quality of innocence as much as possible? Yes, the Word is very special, but it should not be exclusive to us.

     Enlightenment from the Word

     "In every larger society of heaven a copy of the Word, written by the angels inspired by the Lord, is kept in its sanctuary . . . . In the sanctuary where the copy of the Word is kept there is a flaming, bright light that surpasses every degree of light in heaven that is outside of it. The cause . . . is that the Lord is in the Word" (SS 72, 73). Can a closed Word enlighten anyone? Can any light, which in heaven is spiritual, come from the copy of the Word if it is closed?
     "Knock and it will be opened to you . . ." (Man. 7:7, emphasis added). Is the Word opened in ritual merely to be closed once again? To be understood and then not applied to action?
     "And He said to them, 'Is a lamp brought to be put under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand?

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For there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed . . . " (Mark 4:21, 22, emphasis added).
     "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). How can a closed Word be such?
      "So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll . . . "
     And in Revelation 3:7-13 (emphasis added): "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, " . . . He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens": "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; . . . Behold I come quickly! Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown . . . . He who has an ear; let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (emphasis added).
     Alan Ferr, Etobicoke,
          Ontario, Canada
DIVINE COPYRIGHT 1991

DIVINE COPYRIGHT       Rev. Norman E. Riley       1991

Dear Editor,
     It would be far from courteous of me if I did not reply to the question raised by William Weaver in your September edition, in respect to my comments entitled "Infringement of Divine Copyright" in the July 1988 edition.
     There is a great difference between quoting from a person's work and an abridgment of that work still presenting it as the author's own work.
     I don't think we should be particularly concerned about what is generally accepted with regard to what the Writings are but with what they say about themselves.
     In this respect I wish also to comment on the letter of Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom in your October 1990 edition, in particular with his statement, "I elect to say 'the Word of Scripture' and 'the Word of Doctrine.' Then teachings such as these make sense: The internal sense of the Word is identical to doctrine they have in heaven .
     The sense of revelation does not depend on what we wish to elect to call anything.

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If it did, we could use revelation to support whatever we wished to believe.
     Revelations carry their own definitions. That the Writings are the Word is abundantly clear from their own statements.
     What the Word is is also clearly spelled out for us in the pages of "the Writings." "In the beginning was the Word [the Word is the Divine True itself]" (AC 2803). " . . . true Divine is the Word, and doctrine of the church is the true thence" (AC 9222). "The Lord is the Word" (NJHD 263). "The Divine True which makes heaven and the church is the Word" (AC 9406). "What the Divine has revealed is with us the Word" (AC 10320). Are the Writings a Divine Revelation? "As the Word is from the Lord, and descends from Him through heaven to man, it is Divine as to every particular" (AC 4279). "None can see the glory of the Lord that is in His Word but those who are in faith, its charity, and the good of charity" (AC 2135).
     The teaching that the Old and New Testaments are the literal sense and the Writings are the spiritual sense, and due to this they are to be called the Word, is from man and not from revelation. If we are to regard the Writings as the spiritual sense in itself, that is, equal to what the angels have, then not only are we in serious trouble, but it runs counter to the whole order of creation, since the two worlds, spiritual and natural, make one only by correspondence.
     Organizations and people may, if they so choose, concoct their own definitions, statements of belief, etc., since man is left in freedom, but if the New Church which is the New Jerusalem is to be within man, this will depend on his acceptance of that which is from the Lord alone, and what He says it is.
     Rev. Norman E. Riley,
          Rochdale, England
ANNOUNCEMENT 1991

ANNOUNCEMENT       Editor       1991

The Rt. Rev. Louis B. King has recognized the Boston Circle as the Boston Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem effective November 2, 1990.

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BISHOP'S VISIT TO JAPAN 1991

BISHOP'S VISIT TO JAPAN       Tatsuya Nagashima       1991

On Saturday, November 3rd, twenty-five people gathered at the Pana-Lingua Institute for a potluck lunch with Bishop King and Freya. After a meal of suchi and other foods, the Bishop gave a short talk about the Heavenly Doctrines. I acted as interpreter while he spoke of three books of the Writings whose titles bore the phrase "Angelic Wisdom." These are Divine Love and Wisdom, Divine Providence and Conjugial Love.
     After the lecture, questions that were raised included reincarnation, the distinction between the Divine Humanity and a divinely inspired human, and the distinction between a shamanistic oracle-giver and the truths revealed from the Lord. The men and women in attendance enjoyed the Bishop's clear answers and his simple and honest personality. We were also much impressed with Freya's human touch with people.     
     The next day, Sunday, November 4th, was the highlight of our Tokyo assembly. We rented a large lecture room at the Nakano Sun Plaza Hotel in downtown Tokyo. There we had Sunday worship administered by the Bishop. His sermon was on the text, "Lord, save me."
     After a luncheon in the large dining hall on the 20th floor (from which we could view the western part of Tokyo after a heavy rain) we reconvened in a room to hear reports given by fourteen local New Church leaders from all over Japan. As individuals and as groups they have long sought for the truth. Their backgrounds were various. Most of them read Rev. Yoshi Yanese's translations of the Writings, but were doctrinally undetermined. Since 1983 the General Church sermon series has been translated and distributed to them. They are now close to us in two basic points: the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine Humanity and the shunning of evils as sins.
     After these reports the Bishop spoke for ten minutes about the essence of the Heavenly Doctrines, and of the Lord's presence with those who love and obey Him. Some asked questions; for example, it was asked whether their personal encounters with the Lord in vision were authentic. The Bishop answered by pointing out the use of those experiences without going into the particulars of individual experiences.

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Everyone seemed satisfied, but it seemed to me that there would not be enthusiasm to come forward for baptism. And yet as it turned out, twenty-one people actually did come forward to be baptized. This was without the slightest pressure to do so.
     Five children were baptized and sixteen adults (eight men and eight women). This included four married couples. This was an unexpected time of personal decision and determination.
     Sixty-five people attended this Tokyo assembly (men out-numbering women). This included people of many kinds, of different ages and backgrounds. We were able to witness the largest New Church meeting ever held in Japan.
     Tatsuya Nagashima
WASHINGTON SOCIETY CELEBRATION 1991

WASHINGTON SOCIETY CELEBRATION       Jim Gese       1991

On November 10, 1990, the Washington Society celebrated the 25th anniversary of the dedication of its building and the 20th anniversary of the Washington New Church School.
     The evening began with a wine and cheese reception during which everyone enjoyed visiting and looking at the photographic displays showing the growth and development of the building and school. There were also compositions by the students about the school, and letters from former teachers and students reminiscing about their days here.
     After the banquet, which featured the same menu as was served at the dedication twenty-five years ago, presentations were made in honor of the occasion. Laurie Horan, as president of our local Theta Alpha Guild, gave two "Welcome" signs with maps of the layout of the building and also two new mahogany offertory bowls. The second presentation, made by Principal Tom Rose, was two banners constructed by the school students under the guidance of Mary Cooper and Erin Junge. The banners depict Michael and his angels fighting the dragon, and the woman clothed with the sun. Both will hang at the back of the nave.

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Speeches and songs followed the presentations focusing on the importance of New Church education. The first, from former student Aaron Smith, spoke of the unique aspects of New Church education in a small school providing the most important elements of "socialization" far better than a public school, despite its larger peer group. Former pastor and principal Fred Schnarr spoke of the tabernacle and Solomon's temple and their correspondences, and how they can symbolize the uses going on in our building. Bradley Johns and Matthew Smith sang (to the tune of "Under the Boardwalk") of how this same building, in performing its use, is bursting at the seams with the largest enrollment ever and the need for expansion. And finally, to the tune of "Dearie," Carole Waelchli, Erin Junge, Lawson Smith and Tom Rose sang of the school's history.
     This milestone for our society gave us the opportunity to look back with fun and laughter (and groans at "that horrible picture") and at the same time seriously look ahead at the challenges and growth which lie before us.
      Jim Gese

     [Photo of Washington Society Building]

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     [Photo of students and teachers of Washington New Church School]

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     [Photo of Washington New Church School twenty years ago. Photo taken Sept. 1970. Teacher: Gillian Simons (Mayer)]

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ORDINATION 1991

ORDINATION       Editor       1991

Kwak-At Seoul, Korea, November 11, 1990, Rev. Dzin Pyung Kwak into the second degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.
LEXICON TO THE LATIN TEXT OF THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG 1991

LEXICON TO THE LATIN TEXT OF THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG       Editor       1991


     A LEXICON
TO THE LATIN TEXT OF
THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

PART VI II: SUAD EO-ZWINGLIANI
The Final Segment

EDITED BY
JOHN CHADWICK

     Published by
The Swedenborg Society
Price $11.50 plus 90 postage
     General Church Book Center                    Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                                   or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009               Phone: (215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



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Following his book review Dr. Kurt Simons indicates a practical way in which people can make a difference. He suggests that you "may want to look into the work of the American Family Association" (see p. 85).
     We thank those who have responded to our appeal for photographs from around the church (see p. 74).
     Sometimes the use of the term "the Word" becomes the subject of debate. And sometimes this is simply because that term can be legitimately used in a restricted sense or in a wider sense. See page 63.
     Have you registered for the assembly?
     See page 81 about the job opportunity at the Swedenborg Foundation.

     Stockholm, Sweden

     The Stockholm Society was not properly listed in December's directory of General Church Places of worship and doctrinal classes (p. 562). While the winter nights are long and cold in Sweden, there is a warm center of the New Church in Stockholm, where the light of the Lord's Second Coming is shining brightly. Every Sunday we have worship in the center of town, just minutes away from where the Heavenly Doctrines were born on earth. That is inspiring! The society is small, but we are showing promising signs of growth in the future. If you are interested in contact with this exciting church center in the north, whether you just want to visit and see Swedenborg's old stomping ground or you are considering moving into the area, call the pastor. See page 95 for our listing.
     Rev. David H. Lindrooth

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RETURNING HOME 1991

RETURNING HOME       Rev. G. S. CHILDS       1991

(The Field in Benjamin)

     "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land (Jeremiah 32:15).
     . . . there shall be heard . . . the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride . . . (Jer. 33:10, 11).

     Under Kings David and Solomon, the Israelites had times of exultation, of peace and openness to the Lord. But those days were over. After a succession of depraved kings, the northern ten tribes had been overrun by Assyria and carried away captive. All traces of them became lost. Only Judah, the kingdom of the south, was left. But now Jerusalem in Judah was surrounded by the armies of Babylon-siege had been laid, and inevitably the city would be starved out. It was at this time that "the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah" (Jer. 32:1). Jeremiah the prophet was "shut . . . in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house" (vs. 2). For he had foretold that Judah would be conquered by Babylon, and that King Zedekiah would be taken captive to Babylon.
     The Lord told Jeremiah that Hanameel, his uncle's son, would come to him in prison and ask him to buy a field in the tribe of Benjamin. Jeremiah was to buy this field, using the proper legal evidence, both that which was sealed and that which was open, according to the law and custom. Hanameel and Jeremiah did this and then gave proof of purchase to Baruch. Then Jeremiah writes: "and I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed and this evidence which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land" (Jer. 32:13-15).

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     Judah was about to be conquered and the people led captive to Babylon. The homeland would be given over to other nations, with only a few of the poorest Jews left behind as hints that once a great nation was there. But before this exile, the Lord promised that someday there would be a return home. Then to Jeremiah, or his children or grandchildren, would belong this field in Benjamin. The evidence, both open and closed, was sealed away, to be dug out at some future time when the exiles came back. What a beautiful promise! But it must have been forgotten in the events that followed, except by a few. A year later the siege of Jerusalem succeeded. All food was gone, for supply routes had been cut off by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar. It is recorded that "the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land"
(II Kings 25:3). In the massive Babylonian attack that followed, the Jews were crushed. Zedekiah and his warriors fled at night through a little known gate by the king's garden; but the Babylonians pursued them, scattering Zedekiah's warriors, taking him captive. "They slew [his] sons . . . before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon" (Kings 25:7). The great temple was ransacked and burnt, the houses of Jerusalem were set afire; even the walls of the city were broken down. The Jews were led away captive to Babylon, leaving behind a deserted, burnt-out homeland. Hope died. But there were a few, Jeremiah among them, who remembered the Lord's promise: some day there would be a return, when Jeremiah's descendants would claim that parcel of land in Benjamin and again dig out the proof of purchase buried under the earth of Israel.
     The holy land, the land of Canaan, represents the presence of heaven in man. Throughout, Canaan is a symbol of what is good and true in the human mind. It is all that is heavenly with man. In a wide series of correspondence, the one thousand years between Abraham and Solomon represent all of childhood-all the remains from infancy to the innocence in youth. In this sweep of years, Abraham is the time of early infancy, a pastoral time when the highest of remains are implanted: when loves of the Lord and neighbor are instilled in the human heart.

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All the years between Abraham and King David, all the leaders, are symbols of the affections and truths instilled secretly by the Lord throughout childhood. King David, that strong leader, represents deep spiritual remains of truth-truths implanted in youth through idealism and moral life. And Solomon is the time of idealism, when the hope of conjugial love is at its height in youth, and there is a looking to the Lord. This is before self-interest has begun to awake in its adult strength-before the cynicism of hereditary evil has begun to attack. It is a height time-the culmination of remains given by the Lord.
     But then, as adult age approaches, new loves awake. Innocence starts to fade; doubts and negative attitudes arise. Sweeping rationalizations invade, even as the Assyrians swept in upon the northern kingdom of Israel and took captive the ten bribes. At the very edge of adult life, Babylon is poised to attack the last tribe-the kingdom of Judah in the south. Babylon represents the love of dominion; that is, it depicts selfishness from hereditary evil. This self-interest may center upon the burning desire for personal success, or upon getting money, or upon-in apparently opposite lifestyles-doing nothing, giving up any work and becoming idle, simply pampering self. In one form or another, love of dominion will have its attack at this stage and state-in the beginning of adult life. It will surround Jerusalem, which is the faith of religion from childhood. And eventually Babylon will starve out childhood faith, break down its walls of historic truth, and carry away captive man's belief, carry it into the citadels of Babylon.
     Sometimes this brings a conscious giving up of religion, perhaps more often it means that religion is forgotten. Other interests take over. Religion, if not rejected, becomes a servant, subservient to more selfish interests. Yet the Lord protects in the state-He will not allow what is heavenly to be destroyed. He secretly protects man's faith as Daniel was protected in the captivity at Babylon. Remains are guarded despite man's ambitions or self-love. Not even the lions-hell's lowest loves-harm remains.

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This is true as long as man has some ideals.
     What the Writings are saying here is that in early adult life, selfish ambition very likely will rule. And yet innocence will not be destroyed, even as Daniel was protected. Man will be in mediate good-when both ambition for self and innocence are together in his mind. Neither fully recognizes the quality of the other. They live together in a Divinely arranged truce. Of this state, in a powerful passage, the Writings teach: "If anyone loves himself more than others, and from this love studies to excel others in moral and civic life . . . and to be exalted to dignities and wealth in pre-eminence to others, and yet acknowledges and adores God, performs kind offices to his neighbor from the heart and does what is just and fair from conscience, the evil of this love of self is one with which good and truth can be mingled; for it is an evil that is man's own, and that is born hereditarily, and to take it away from him suddenly would be to extinguish the fire of his first life" (AC 3993:9).
     Yet gradually man is led away from this intense love of self. The power of Babylon begins to be challenged. Daniel, man's belief in the Lord and religion, starts to take on increasing strength. Nebuchadnezzar the king goes through great vastations, which Daniel foretells and even relieves to some extent. As states go on, self-love loses its protecting innocence. Belshazzar comes to the throne, a mocking king who profanes the holy vessels from the temple at Jerusalem. There comes the terrifying hand of judgment, the writing on the wall: mene, mene, tekel, upharsin: "thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting" (Daniel 5:27).
     Man begins to perceive his own selfishness. This can come only if in his inner heart, man wants to change-if he wants to become a different person. He finally sees how cold and calculating his proprium is. But how does he change?     
     Daniel prayed to the Lord three times a day, despite the negative decrees of the king. "To pray corresponds to living the life of truth despite hereditary ambition outside the window. And this living the truth, patiently and again patiently, is what brings the change.

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This life of truth gradually separates man from evil, or from the purely natural man. Man finds he begins to love truth-not as a thing of the memory but as something of life itself.
     The third lesson is a key number on truth becoming first a habit and then spontaneous. It reveals the universal law of learning, which applies to all learning, from how to walk to how to regenerate. Man learns by taking a knowledge and trying to apply it. He stumbles, makes mistakes, cannot get the idea. But if he keeps trying, persistently, then gradually he learns. He learns like a child learns to walk, or like a student learning to type, or an adult trying to absorb a complicated new occupation. Once he understands the proper methods, his progress will gradually take place. There are times when he reaches a new plateau of ability, but then all progress seems to stop; or there seems to be a retrogression. But persistence, and allowing the above conscious forces of the Lord to operate within the mind, gradually allows for changes and improvements until finally, wonderfully, the art is learned. A child can walk spontaneously. The skill has become a learned habit. It comes spontaneously. It becomes second nature. So with every skill-application, including that spiritual skill of applying the truth to life. If one turns to the Lord as the Teacher, persistence leads to habit, habit leads to spontaneity, and wonderfully there is a turning around: truth becomes of the life-it becomes good. And the man, from the Lord, becomes "another" person.
     It is said that when a man is being regenerated "he is then becoming altogether another, and is being made new; therefore also when he has been regenerated, he is called 'born again' and 'created anew.' Then, although he has a similar face and a similar speech, yet his mind is not similar, [for] his mind, when he is regenerate, is open toward heaven . . . " (AC 3213:3).
     In the setting of the children of Judah captive in Babylon, this new state is depicted initially by Daniel, then by Persia, which overcame Babylon. The enlightened King Cyrus of Persia allows the Israelites to end their exile, to return home to the land of Canaan.

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The descendants of Jeremiah came back to uncover that earthen vessel, the vessel containing proof that half a century before, Jeremiah had purchased the field in Benjamin.
     When the Lord regenerates man, man returns home to the land of innocence. He returns not in ignorance but in wisdom from the Lord. The earthen jar is dug out, and the sealed and open evidence is found: proof of purchase of the field. Benjamin represents "new truth"-truth seen from love. Such truth is purchased at the end of childhood by Jeremiah. When regeneration takes place, man returns to the land of belief. Inmost remains that were sealed above consciousness, and also those that are conscious, are found in that land. The field of Benjamin belongs to man; that is, the Lord gives it to him as if it were his own. Man finds truth-heavenly truth absolutely known, seen beyond doubt as reality. This field on the hillsides of Benjamin is like eternal life on the hillsides of love.
     "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing; then said they among the heathen. The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126: 1-5). Amen.
     Lessons: Jeremiah 32:1-15; 33:10, 11; Daniel 6:10, 11; Arcana Coelestia 3203:2, 3 THOSE BEING REGENERATED 1991

THOSE BEING REGENERATED       Editor       1991

At first they are like young children, in that at that time the spiritual truths which they possess exist as facts, for when matters of doctrine are learned and introduced into the memory they are nothing other than facts. But then the Lord summons those facts from the memory one after another and implants them in the person's life. AC 3203:2

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NEW CHURCH EVANGELIZATION IN JAPAN 1991

NEW CHURCH EVANGELIZATION IN JAPAN       TATSUYA NAGASHIMA       1991

Within the past couple of years we have seen a drastic change in many parts of the world. According to the Divine Permission and Providence, various things have happened and various things are going to happen. By giving opportunities and wisdom, the Lord continuously excites, awakens and encourages human beings to be more understanding and more free than ever. The end is invariably the new heaven consisting of those from many different human races under the sole sovereignty of the Lord.
     Out of a very limited view of my own circumstances, noticeable change has been observed these days, especially through Rt. Rev. and Mrs. Louis King's visit to this country. Although the number of baptisms does not tell all about the New Church itself, the number of New Church baptisms has increased. Since my wife and I were baptized in the General Church in 1983 and 1987, New Church baptisms by the General Church clergy have risen to fifty-two as of November, 1990. We have no resident ministers, no missionaries, no church buildings, no schools, and no libraries, but we still grow. Of course we have a few very devoted co-workers, the publication of the Writings and sermon books, distribution of these books to local libraries,
family worship services held in private homes, and so on, It seems to us all that the Lord ceaselessly leads and guides us in the same way as before, unless we put human obstacles in His way. Our simple endeavour is to eliminate such obstacles as much as possible.
     He is opening up a new way to go in our New Church evangelization here. With the invisible help from the General Church organization through taped or printed sermons and their translations, the New Church membership has visibly grown. It is quite evident here that the Lord teaches men truths mediately by means of the Word, preaching, reading, conversations and communications with others, and thus by thoughts within one's self about these (see AE 1173:2). Without an organizational power in particular, the Printed sermons are evangelizing for themselves.

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It is miraculous!
     We cannot ignore the sign of the recent changes in the world. We feel much more than ever the unity of the whole human race inhabiting the same small planet. What actually concerns the local scene concerns all nations, Owing to rapid telecommunication over the world, we have come to the age of pan-communicative globalization. New appreciation of religious values is also noticeable, so that we see the restoration of religions in Eastern Europe. What actually is happening here in Japan may have a bearing on New Church evangelization over the world. Let me show the present needs for religious communications in three terms: international, inter-denominational, and inter-ministerial.

     1. International New Church Communication

     Bishop King and Freya arrived here on November 1st, 1990, for a ten days' stay in this archipelago. As it is so in other countries where English is not spoken, our worship services and doctrinal instructions had to be interpreted from English into Japanese. It was exactly bilingual work. Japanese worshipers and a few other English-speaking people shared mutual affections in cooperating together in order to carry out the liturgical procedure in as harmonious a way as possible. We sang the hymns to the same melody in two different languages. We knelt down and prayed in English as well as in Japanese.
     Fortunately, in the General Church in Japan, there is no such distinction as that often seen in Catholic and Protestant overseas missions; typically a mother body gives financial aid to an indigenous mission church. Our New Church activities here are all self-supporting, and the spirit of local independence is working well. And this easily fits with the doctrine of the Gorand Man. All human beings are created for making a harmonious whole of the Gorand Man in heaven, and each part is equally indispensable for all. There is no part which is ethnically superior or inferior to others. Now is the time when the earth gets smaller and global communications are faster and easier. So racial discrimination and nationalistic egotism are being mitigated as well.

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The New Church is "new" because of a new dispensation of the Lord for all human beings. The more we get free from nationalistic exclusivism, the more and better the New Church will increase.

     2. Interdenominational New Church Communication

     While the colonial style of propaganda by various Christian denominations has discontinued, we feel there is a global need to keep up spiritual and religious values against materialistic degradation. Putting aside physical starvation, more and more people are being spiritually starved due to spiritual malnutrition. It is a sheer fact that New Church people and only New Church people know most appropriately that the healing comes from the Heavenly Doctrines and their application to human lives.
     At the November 4th Tokyo assembly we were able to have a fellowship with many of those who were once involved with activities of New Church Convention churches. Out of sixty-five attendants in all, thirty-five were baptized by the General Church clergy in the Tokyo area (ten by Rev. Robert Junge in 1989, and twenty-one by Bishop King last November).
     The Convention churches were very active in the nineteen fifties and sixties. They even had a large music school in Tokyo (see M. Block, The New Church in the New World, p. 366. It refers to Kunitachi Music University in Kunitachi City, Tokyo).
     At our assembly the Bishop's instruction was focused upon two essentials of the Heavenly Doctrines: The Lord being the sole God of heaven and earth with His Divine Human, and shunning evils as sins. Variety in non-essentials does not divide.
     It was also surprising for many who listened to him to know that New Church baptism does not bestow membership in any ecclesiastical body, but implies only a readiness to enter into the life of the church. For in almost all other Christian churches, as far as we know, the rite of baptism itself signifies admittance into a particular denominational church. For membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem, an application should be made to the bishop.

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In this practice we acknowledge that the universal New Church is in a higher dimension than a human organization called the New Church.
     This can appeal much to Japanese Christians at large, because they are still deeply suspicious of any human organization. We have had a long historical background, since the sixteenth century, that a Christian minority was often abused, ignored, and oppressed by the government on account of their independent belief, and that many Christian organizations more or less compromised with the government or became extinct.

     3. Inter-ministerial New Church Communication

     Since we have no General Church minister here, lay ministry is urgently needed. Japan might be an experimental place in which the lay people make a tentative endeavour to organize the New Church. In Tokyo we started calling ourselves Budoonoki (Vine Tree), which reminds us of the Lord's Word, "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). While we are willingly led and guided by the clergy through their sermons, our situation requires us to use our own initiative in many church activities. We are like crew/passengers in the same plane flying in the air. Without a professional pilot, some may be obliged to sit at the cockpit and fly ourselves. Or we are like a symphony orchestra without a professional conductor, being reminded of the movie "Symphony on the Air" shown a long time ago.
     Our weekly guide and nourishment is a set of three volumes of collected General Church sermons. We listen to the most outstanding Christian sermons in the world each week. By reading the sermons, we are protected from two extremes: either criticizing human fallibility of the preacher's private life or emotionally attaching to a particular minister who might have too much personal charismatic influence.
     Making use of the best of the present exceptional situation, we have to try to find more lay co-workers for helping an increasing number of Arcana Friends all over Japan. Arcana Friends are the registered subscribers for Arukana Tsuushin (Arcana Newsletter) who financially support the publication of the Writings and other collateral books, just one hundred members as of December 3rd, 1990.

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We can invite visiting ministers from outside countries to our local groups for sacraments and doctrinal instruction. This is what I call "Interministerial Communication," which is needed in today's evangelization in this country.
     The money saved from the absence of a permanent church building and resident minister could be channeled into other uses. For example, we could financially support overseas training of New Church co-workers, transportation for ministerial visits such as Bishop King's or Mr. Junges, and extended publication of the Writings throughout Japan. This is in addition to a new-found financial ability to send our children to New Church schools in the U.S.
     Lay co-workers feel much more responsible for making a contribution to the New Church as a whole. Without depending too much on professional ministers, they positively participate with the ministry by interpreting the sermons and translating books into Japanese. Being free from factional seclusion, they can communicate with other co-workers, New Church people around the world, for common programs and developments. As can be seen in the political world, we have reached an age when a separating barrier will fall, and human beings will have many things in common for global use. At the same time, it seems to me that the Lord provides more opportunities and wisdom to make us more rational and more free. The New Church expands where intellectual and volitional faculties are more cultivated. In the process of eliminating possible barriers, Japanese New Church co-workers will go with the above three religious communications: International, Inter-denominational, and Inter-ministerial. The international communications are among nations, and inter-denominational communications are among New Church organizations, and inter-ministerial communications are between priests and lay people.
     In the light of the above, our New Church people in Japan are undergoing a tentative experiment for the future development of the Lord's providential kingdom on earth and the eternal Gorand Man in heaven.

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4TH ART SHOW AT A NEW CHURCH ASSEMBLY 1991

4TH ART SHOW AT A NEW CHURCH ASSEMBLY       Editor       1991


     4TH ART SHOW AT A NEW CHURCH ASSEMBLY

     SPONSORED BY THE FRIENDS OF NEW CHURCH ART

     at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin

     This show is open to all artists. All entries are due there by June 12, 1991. There is an adult show and a children's show. Schedules and information on each are available. We welcome all entries if these rules are followed. We would very much appreciate any publicity you can give us in the convenient near future to encourage as many artists as possible to participate. Questions may be referred to

Helen Lindsay Lee, Chairman
Friends of New Church Art
1015 Jefferson Heights Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
Phone (412) 373-0209.

     NEW CHURCH INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR ART SHOW AT THE ASSEMBLY-BY-THE-LAKE

     Children throughout the New Church are encouraged to enter the 4th Junior Art Show to be held during the assembly in 1991. Artwork should be two-dimensional; size is limited to 24" x 36" because of travel considerations. Each entrant (a child or young person under 18) may submit one work, which should illustrate a theme or concept from the Writings, and be accompanied by an appropriate quotation. Every entry will receive a seal inscribed "New Church International Junior Art Show." Entrants should sign works legibly, please.
     The purpose of this exhibit is to increase awareness of our children's creative art capabilities and to show some of the beautiful work they can do. Chairman for the show is Julie D. Uber. Entry forms are now available from her, and entries may be mailed to her at: Pittsburgh New Church School, 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Questions? Phone (412) 782-2710.

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ON THE NATURE OF THE WORD 1991

ON THE NATURE OF THE WORD        HEULWEN M. RIDGWAY       1991

(This is a continuation of what was printed in the May issue, 1990.)

     "The Law" is a term commonly used to describe the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, but Doctrine of the Lord no. 8 tells us how we are to reach a fuller understanding of what this term means:

At the present day many persons believe that when it is said of the Lord that He fulfilled the law, the meaning is that He fulfilled all the commandments of the decalogue, and thus became righteousness, and also justified the men of this world through this matter of faith. This however is not the meaning. The meaning is that the Lord fulfilled all things written concerning Himself in the Law and the Prophets, that is, in universal Holy Scripture, because this treats solely of Him, as has been said in the foregoing article. The reason why many have believed differently is that they have not searched the Scriptures and seen what is there meant by "the Law." The Law there means, in a restricted Sense, the ten commandments of the decalogue; in a wider sense, all things written by Moses in the five books; and in the widest sense, all things of the Word.

     We can apply the same guideline of searching the Scriptures to see more fully what the term "the Word" means. AC 2894defines what "the Word" means in a wider sense, in just the way that Doctrine of the Lord no. 8 defines what "the Law" means in a wider sense:

Few know what is here meant by the Word: that the Lord is meant is evident from every particular; but the internal sense teaches that the Lord as t, the Divine Human is meant by the Word And since the Divine Human is meant, by the Word is meant also every truth which relates to Him, and is from Him, in His kingdom in the heavens, and in His church on earth . . . . And since all truth is meant, by the Word is meant also all revelation, consequently the Word itself or Holy Scripture.

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     This thought flows straight into the next number, AC 2895, which tells us that:

There was one Word in the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood; another in the Ancient Church which was after the flood; then the Word written through Moses and the Prophets in the Jewish Church; and finally the Word written through the Evangelists in the new church.

     The message is that "the Word," in a restricted sense, is the revelation for a particular church and, in a wider sense, is the Divine Human, all Divine truths, all revelation, and universal Holy Scripture. (That Holy Scripture means all revelation, see AC 2894 above.) The term is used in the restricted sense in expressions such as "the Word of the Ancient Church," "the Word of the Old Testament," "the Word of the Jewish Church," "the Word of the New Testament," and so on. The following passages from Arcana Coelestia reinforce the message that, in a wider sense, "the Word" means all Divine Revelation:

4391:2 Divine revelation is defined as the Word
5272 " . . . hence Divine revelation is called 'the Word'
9212e Revealed Divine Truth is defined as the Word
10606 " . . . the Word which is Divine Revelation . . . . "
10320 "What the Divine has revealed is, with us, the Word."

     Approaching the Writings with the knowledge that the expression "the Word" may be used to describe all Divine revelation puts an entirely different perspective on many well known passages, such as Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 37: "the Word in the sense of the letter is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power. . . . " To which Word does this teaching apply? The Old Testament Word? The New Testament Word?

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The Word of the Old and New Testaments? Or perhaps, using that wider definition of "the Word," does this apply to all Divine revelation from the time of the Most Ancient Word to the revelation for the "crown of all the churches" (the Writings)? Are we told? Does either the Old or New Testament tell us whether "the Law" means only the Ten Commandments or something more? We are told that if only people would search the Scriptures they would know what "the Law" is. If we search in the Writings, the question of which Word is being spoken of in SS 37 is clarified.
     A very clear definition of what the Writings are is given in DP 264 and repeated in no. 265:

Neither were the genuine truths, in which the spiritual sense of the Word resides, revealed by the Lord until the last judgment was accomplished, and a new church, meant by the Holy Jerusalem, was about to be established by the Lord.

     The Writings are not defined here as the spiritual sense but as the genuine truths in which the spiritual sense of the Word resides. The genuine truths are the containant of the spiritual sense.
     To this definition can be added the one in SS 4:

the Lord has revealed to me the Word's internal sense. In its essence this sense is spiritual, and in relation to the external sense, which is natural, is as soul is to body.

     Here we are told that the internal sense has a spiritual sense which is its essence or soul, and an external sense which is natural and is as a body to that soul. This passage and the previous ones (DP 264, 265) apply to the Writings. So it can be understood why it is said that "Henceforth the spiritual sense of the Word will be imparted solely to him who from the Lord is in genuine truths" (SS 26V, my emphasis), namely, that the letter of the Writings is the natural and we come into the spiritual sense only by regeneration. This is explained further in the following passages from Arcana Coelestia:

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10322: That which is from the Divine descends through the heavens down to man; therefore in the heavens it is accommodated to the wisdom of the angels there, and on earth it is accommodated to the apprehension of the men who inhabit it. Consequently in the Word there is an internal sense for the angels, which is spiritual, and an external sense for men, which is natural.

10323: The true meaning of the Word is apprehended by none but those who are enlightened, and these are they alone who have love to, and faith in, the Lord, for the interiors of such are raised up by the Lord even into the light of heaven.

9430: This sense [the literal sense] is called a cloud, because it is in obscurity compared with the internal sense, for this latter sense is in the light of heaven; that it is in obscurity and like a cloud is on this ground, that it is for man during his abode in the world, while the internal sense is for man when he comes into heaven. Yet it is to be observed that during a man's abode in the world he is at the same time in the internal sense of the Word when in the genuine doctrine of the     church as to faith and as to life; for through that doctrine the internal sense of the Word is inscribed then both on his understanding and his will, on his understanding by faith, and on his will through life. When a man of this description comes into heaven he understands the Word only according to its internal sense and he knows nothing of its external sense . . . .

     Our understanding of the nature of the internal sense of the Word, that is, of all revelation including the Writings, is enriched in succeeding passages in the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture:

6: . . . the Divine in proceeding from the Lord to its ultimates descends through three degrees, and is named the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural.

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The Divine which comes down from the Lord to men descends through these three degrees; and when it has come down, it holds these three degrees contained within it. Such is everything Divine, so that when it is in its ultimate degree it is in its fullness. Such is the Word: in its ultimate sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost sense it is celestial; and in each sense it is Divine.

27: In every Divine work there is a first, a middle, and a last (or ultimate); and the first passes through the middle to the last (or ultimate), and so comes into manifest being and subsists. Hence the last or ultimate is the basis. But the first is in the middle, and through the middle in the     ultimate, so that the ultimate is the containant. And as the ultimate is the containant and the basis, it is also the support.

28: The learned reader will comprehend that . . . in every complete thing there is a trine, which is called first, middle, and ultimate . . . . When these things are comprehended, it is also comprehended that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its ultimate; and likewise that the whole is in the ultimate, which is a trine, because the prior things are together, or simultaneously, in it.

29: It is from this that by "three" in the Word, in the spiritual sense, is meant what is complete and perfect; and also the whole simultaneously.

30: These things are premised with a view to those which follow in order that they may be comprehended with understanding; and for the present Purpose that it may be comprehended that the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, is the basis, the containant, and     the support of its spiritual sense and of its celestial sense.

     It is particularly noteworthy that no. 6states that this trine applies to "everything Divine," while nos. 27 and 28 both state that the trine applies to "every Divine work."

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This reinforces the message that each Word that has ever existed, including the Writings, which are in all respects a "Divine work," contains this trine of celestial, spiritual and natural senses.
     These passages answer the question asked earlier: To which Word does the teaching apply, that "the Word in the sense of the letter is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power"? We are told that "the Word" means all Divine revelation and that all Divine revelation contains within it the Divine Celestial, the Divine Spiritual and the Divine Natural. Each Word, including the Word for the New Church, contains this trine; therefore each Word, in itself, is threefold in that each contains these three senses; and each Word is in its fullness, holiness and power in its sense of the letter.
     This sheds light on the opening sentence of SS 1: "It is in everybody's mouth that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine."
REGULAR READING PLAN 1991

REGULAR READING PLAN       Editor       1991

You can obtain from the Secretary of the General Church, Bryn Athyn, PA, 19009, pink book markers for 1991 with a reading plan on them.
     The last week in February the readings are from chapters 21-24 of the book of Jeremiah and from True Christian Religion 596-617.

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ONE WORD OR THREE-OR FIVE? 1991

ONE WORD OR THREE-OR FIVE?       Rev. KURT P. NEMITZ       1991

The Fivefold Word-so began an article by Rev. Cairns Henderson in an earlier issue of this journal ("The Fivefold Word," NCL 1960, p. 456). This expression, the "fivefold Word," is somewhat unusual; we are more accustomed to hearing the "threefold Word" spoken of, by which writers mean the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings. Mr. Henderson's thesis was that from the beginning the Lord has always provided the human race with a testimony to Himself and a means of regeneration-a Divine revelation adapted to the specific nature of each religious dispensation. He wrote that whereas the Lord has successively established five spiritual churches, each founded upon such a revelation from Him, it is proper to describe the totality of Divine revelation on this earth as the "fivefold Word.
     "Each Word," as a more recent writer has observed, "stood as a Divine revelation in its fullness, that is, each is a Word in its own right and each contained its own internal sense" ("The Nature of the Word," NCL, May 1990, p. 223).
     The doctrine upon which this observation is based is readily illustrated. Each revelation, each part of a revelation, is like an atom; that is to say, just as each tiny atom is a reflection of the great solar system of which it is a part, books, chapters, and verses, sometimes even the very letters of the Word, reflect God the Messiah from whom it came, who is Being and its Form, Soul and Body itself.
     Even the fifth and last revelation of the Divine Word, the Writings themselves, has a soul and a body, a spiritual sense and a literal sense (although the body of their rational language is so transparent that it is understandably often taken for its inner Divine soul of spiritual meaning itself).
     While we respect the validity of the above statement regarding the wholeness of each dispensation of the Word and of the expressions, the "fivefold Word" and "threefold Word," we would nonetheless suggest that wisdom will be furthered if we keep in mind that the Word is essentially one.

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For not only the individual dispensations of the Word but also their totality are of vital value to us. At the time it was given, each dispensation of the Word was, as it were, a complete spiritual meal. But for our growth today we need to be fed with all of them.
     There is but one God and Lord and one Word. Indeed, because the inmost sense of the Word is the Lord and He is one, so also is His Word in all its successive outward formulations for mankind essentially a one.
     This is a heavenly verity enfolded in the profound opening chapter of the gospel of John. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God . . . and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14).
     "Few know what 'the Word' is really used to mean here," the Writings explain. "From every particular detail it is clear that the Lord is meant, but the internal sense teaches that it is the Lord as regards the Divine Human who is meant by 'the Word.' For it is said that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.' And since the Divine Human is meant, 'the Word' is used to mean every truth having reference to Him and deriving from Him which exists in His kingdom in heaven and in His church on earth" (AC 2894).
     The Word here, we are further enlightened, "is the Divine truth, which in its essence is the Infinite Manifestation (esse) of the Infinite Being (existere), and is the Lord Himself as to His
Human" (AC 4687e).
     There is only one soul in the Word given mankind through all the ages; that indivisible soul and life is the Lord our Savior, the infinite, Divinely Human God. This is the clear purport of the following passages:

In the Word's internals is its soul, that is, its life. These internals regard nothing else than the Lord, His kingdom, the church, and the things which are of His kingdom and church with man . . . (AC 1984).

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The internal sense concerning the Lord is the supreme sense, but the internal sense concerning His kingdom is the relative sense (AC 3245:3).

Divine doctrine is Divine truth, and Divine truth is the Word of the Lord in its entirety. Divine doctrine itself constitutes the Word in the highest sense, in which the only subject is the Lord. As a consequence Divine doctrine also constitutes the Word in the internal sense, in which the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth is the subject. Divine doctrine constitutes in addition the Word in the literal sense, in which all things in the world and on earth are the subject (AC 3712).

     From these teachings we conclude that it is correct to refer to all Divine revelation collectively as "the Word."
     And, obversely, in the light of the foregoing it would seem to be technically incorrect to say, as we often hear ourselves do, "the Word and the Writings." Truth, like true faith, we are reminded in True Christian Religion, is a one and cannot be divided (n. 279).
     But this cannot mean that it is not right to refer to the Writings as the "New Word." The light of truth has, of course, been warmly streaming forth from the Sun of heaven ere this world ever was, but after the earth's first spiritual day, as it has turned away there has always come as it were new light and a new dawn. Thus, in the Divine mercy, has it but two centuries ago happened yet again. Since the dimming of faith and the descent of night on the First Christian Church, the Lord has come anew and established a new church, by means of a new revelation of the truth about Himself. Indeed, in this new revelation itself we read that by the Lord's prophetic declaration in the book of Revelation, "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5) is meant that "in the church now to be established by the Lord there will be new doctrine" (Lord 65). From our time-based earthly viewpoint may we not consequently say this new doctrine is a "New Word"?
     But just as God is designated by many names, for each describes another aspect of His infinite nature, so may we not also rightly, and usefully, describe the revelation of the Lord's second coming by various other terms, e.g., simply as the "Word," or as the "Writings" or "The Heavenly Doctrines," and perhaps at times even calling it "The Third Testament"?

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     But although a "new" Word has been given by the Lord for His New Church, we would disagree with the proposition that this Word can "stand alone"; for it is as much dependent on the Old and New Testaments as the New Testament is dependent on the Old.
     "I have not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets," Jesus told His disciples. "I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matt. 5:17). It is evident from this that the revelation the Lord was personally making of Himself depended upon the previous revelation He had given to the Israelitish nation. In Jesus Christ men were given to behold the fullness and glory of God Himself, yet His advent to them as the "Word made flesh" was in part also an "opening of their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures," the Scriptures of the Old Testament (Luke 24:45).
     When the Lord came He opened men's understanding to the truth that the Old Testament inwardly dealt with Him. He showed its unity with Him. Indeed, practically speaking, how could our Lord's first advent be understood apart from the Old Testament? Would not much of its content be unintelligible?
     In like manner is not the Lord's second advent incomprehensible apart from both the preceding Old and New Testaments? His Second Coming involves the opening of men's understanding so that they may perceive the spiritual content of His previous revelations.
     "'His coming in the clouds of heaven"' (Rev. 14:14), we are told in Apocalypse Revealed, "means that when He comes to judgment He will appear in the sense of the letter of the Word. And because He has now come, therefore He has appeared in the Word by doing this, He has revealed that the spiritual sense was in the details of the sense of the letter of the Word, and that in the spiritual sense [the Word] treats of Him only, and that He is the only God of heaven and earth. These are the things that are understood by His coming in the clouds of heaven" (AR 642).

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     Or, as it is put in a passage in the Apocalypse Explained,

"To come in the clouds of heaven" means the manifestation of the Lord in the Word; for after His advent they clearly saw the predictions concerning His advent in the prophetical parts of the Word, predictions they had not seen before; and they are seeing still more clearly today, when the spiritual sense of the Word has been opened . . . (AE 906:2).

     The letter of the Writings too can admittedly be thought of symbolically as such a "cloud," but the passage immediately above makes it clear that the "clouds of heaven" spoken of in the book of Revelation are not the letter of the Writings but of the Old and New Testaments. The "glory" we see radiating from the Son of Man coming in His new descent to earth is the spiritual truth with which the Heavenly Doctrine from Him now fills and transluminates the Sacred Scriptures of old.
     The New Word rests on the previous Word, and is a one with it.
SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1991 SUMMER CAMP 1991

SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1991 SUMMER CAMP       Editor       1991


     ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     The 1991 ANC summer camp will be held on the campus of the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, from Sunday, July 7 until Saturday, July 13, 1991.
     The camp is open to boys and girls who will have completed eighth or ninth grades in May or June of 1991.
     Students will receive registration details after the first week in March. We try to send to every eligible student but sometimes miss someone. If you have not received the information form, or know someone who may need information, please contact the camp director, William C. Fehon. Call him at (215) 947-4200 or write to him: Box 278, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

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AMONG MY FAVORITE PASSAGES 1991

AMONG MY FAVORITE PASSAGES       Ervin Lloyd Dykstra       1991

In 1985 the Lord led me to the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Since that time I have been deeply impressed by very many passages; however, the underlying theme that has most affected me is that of the need to "live according" to the doctrines received from the Lord's Holy Word. I do not believe it difficult for anyone to recognize the truths contained in the Word, but making them live by living them is quite another matter. " . . . for all things which man acknowledges remain implanted, since nothing perishes with man which has entered by acknowledgment" (AC 10287).
     "Hence also it is evident that the external or natural principle of man is not anything unless it serves the internal or spiritual, and it becomes something in proportion as it serves. To serve is to obey, and it then obeys when from the intellectual principle it does not select reasons favoring the evils of the loves of self and the world but complies with the reason and doctrine of the church, dictating that good and truth ought to be done not for the sake of self and the world as ends, but for the sake of what is good and true itself (AC 9776).
     Ervin Lloyd Dykstra,
     Wyoming, Michigan
Title Unspecified 1991

Title Unspecified       Editor       1991

[Photo of Trustees and Treasurer of the Cincinnati Society. Left to right: Maxwell Blair, Stephen A. Childs, Thomas Gladish, Harris Behlert.]

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AGE-OLD ADVENT 1991

AGE-OLD ADVENT       Rev. ERIK E. SANDSTROM       1991

(Part II)

     Enoch's Word and the Ancient Word were vehicles for the advent, and when they were lost, a new vehicle came about: the tabernacle housing the Ten Commandments. On this subject we read the startling words: "The decalogue was the first of the Word" (DP 326:11).
     Not so remarkable, you may be murmuring to yourselves! Of course it is the first of the Word, since it lies at the root of all religion. However, we read again, "The ten commandments were promulgated from Mount Sinai before the Word was written by Moses and the prophets" (AE 939, emphasis added). The Ten Commandments were the first of the Word, in TIME!
     This is a further time-warp. After the Ancient Word was lostafter Enoch's Word had been even more lost-the Word was re-started by the Lord's own finger: the first tables of stone. This means that when Moses wrote the five books of Moses, he started by turning parts of a copy of the Ancient Word into Genesis chapters 1 to 11. From chapter 12 on, he received Divine inspiration to record Israel's history so that every word contains an internal sense (see AC 1468). Only by Exodus chapter 20 was he inspired to slot in the Ten Commandment account. But that event had started the writing of the Old Testament. (Dr. William Kintner is writing a fascinating book on this general topic.)
     So our copies of the Word began, both in time and in importance, with the Ten Commandments.
     But this time-warp is more majestic than we can imagine. These commandments, we read, " . . . came down out of heaven upon Mount Sinai with so great a miracle [because] in their internal sense [they] were uttered and heard in heaven, while in their external sense they were uttered and heard on earth" (AC 2609).
     The "first of the Word" was a simultaneous annunciation of all truth in a Divinely inspired compacted version: angels heard them in their language, even as they were announced and written by the Lord on earth.

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No wonder the Sons of Israel ran away at the sound! Who wouldn't?
     The tabernacle was created to surround the Decalogue. Where did the pattern for the tabernacle come from? Another fascinating twist in this time-warp. We read that in the heaven of the Golden Age (from the Most Ancient Church) Swedenborg saw "a tabernacle, both outside and inside exactly like the description of the tabernacle built for the Sons of Israel, the form of which was shown to Moses upon Sinai" (CL 75:8).
     The celestial angels from the Most Ancient Church-the very people who died out in the flood-transferred the order and wisdom of Eden to rest on a replica of their own heavenly tabernacle, housing the Ten Commandments. No wonder all these angels attended the Israelites marching through the desert. The pillar of fire and cloud were actually a column of celestial angels. But because the angels saw the internals involved but the Israelites saw only the externals, a cohort of simple good spirits was interposed, because they only marvelled at the external. We read, "The . . . angels of heaven saw in those spirits the . . . Divine things that corresponded; for they . . . could not [be present] with the men except by means of the spirits" (AC 8588:6).
     No wonder Balaam could not curse the encampment of Israel but only blessed it instead, and prophesied the advent star (see Numbers 24).
     You have no doubt seen those wooden dolls that you open up, one after another, looking just the same? That is the pattern in preserving the Most Ancient wisdom meant by Eden: the Word of Enoch, then the Ancient Word, then the Ten Commandments and the tabernacle, then the temple. The same "innards" were preserved. Doll after doll pops out, looking just the same as the previous one.
     Is it surprising then to find that, "When the externals of the Ancient and also of the Jewish Church are unfolded and as it were unwrapped, the Christian Church is disclosed"? (AC 4772). "The Christian Church is essentially the same as the representative church" (AC 4498:3).

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     Representatives came to an end at the Lord's first advent (see TCR 109), unveiling a Christian interior. But after the Lord's second advent, we read, "true Christianity is now for the first time beginning to dawn, and a New Church meant by the New Jerusalem is now being established by the Lord" (TCR 700). So the unwrapping of the Ancient Church in fact discloses the New Church. The New Church receives the baton from Eden. The "tabernacle of God," patterned on the Most Ancient Eden, "is now among men" (Rev. 21:3). The tree of life stands in the New Jerusalem (see Rev. 22:2).
     Now as the history of the Sons of Israel, angel column and all, unfolded and was recorded, the very text came to embody the expectations of the angels. Another time-warp here. We read: "All things were set forth at that time as present to the angels who perceive the Word according to the internal sense, and so the Lord was placed before them, and also how [He glorified the Human]. Unless these things had been as if present to the angels through the Word the Lord would have been obliged to come into the world [right] after the [flood], . . . for there was a prophecy of the Lord's advent. And what is more, the human race of that time could not otherwise have been saved" (AC 2523).
     If it had not been for the Hebrews, the advent would have come early and the Old Testament would thus have stopped with Genesis 11, and we read, " . . . would have been different if it had been written among a different people" (AC 10453). We can only imagine what Genesis 12 onward could have been like. But in any event, the Hebrew text became a "you are there" account of the advent for the angels, preventing the end of life on earth, and giving new meaning to "we are because God is." For God is "the Word in the beginning made flesh."
     But the time-warp goes even more deeply, right into the geography of the Holy Land. We read: "All places and all boundaries there were representative from ancient times" (AC 4289). We read, "The Mount of Olives from ancient times signified and represented Divine love. These significatives were what at that time conjoined the Lord with heaven and the world . . . Because [of this signification] the Lord was accustomed to stay on [the Mt. of Olives]" (AE 638:16).

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     The mere mention of a place had the power of conjoining heaven with mankind.
     That is why the Lord on earth went to the Mount of Olives prior to the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem. But all the while that the Hebrew text, which incorporated the correspondential place-names of Eden, held heaven and earth together, the Lord's advent could be postponed. But at last the final link snapped. We read: "When the connection between the human race and heaven was totally broken . . . the Lord then came into the world, and by the union of the Divine and Human in Himself, conjoined heaven with earth" (AC 2243).
     The Lord became a living link: He was born in Bethlehem-Ephrata-that ancient place representing a fruitful house of bread, where the Bread of Life Himself could descend.
     The "I AM" Himself came down. "We are because God is." The "God is" part became actually present. The Lord said, "Unless you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). This means that we have to believe in God's existence, and that the Lord is that God (see AC 20). Then He later juxtaposed the past and present tenses to show that the Creator is apart from time and space. He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58),
     This means, we read, "The Lord is Jehovah even as to His Human; thus His Human is Divine. For this reason it is said in John, . . . 'Before Abraham was, I am,' not 'I was,' for the 'I AM' is Jehovah" (AC 10579:6).
     No wonder they picked up stones to throw at Him. Time does not apply to the Creator. He "is," apart from anything that ever "was." And as we know, "Without Him was not anything made that was made . . . He was in the world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." We humans cannot comprehend the Creator's existence or advent unless we remove time and space. Then the answer to the question, "How does the Creator's advent affect my life?" resolves into the same old answer, "We are because God is." We see the Lord's creation and advent contained in the words, "God is," or "I AM." And our existence depends on His.

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     Perhaps the disciples saw the Lord as the Creator after He stilled the wind and the waves, and when He walked on water, For they said, "What manner of Man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" "And they worshiped Him" (Matthew 8:27, 14:33).
     Little did they know that the Lord as a child had experienced a time-warp of His own. When we read in Genesis 13 how Abram went out at night and was told by God, "Lift up, I pray, thine eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward, and southward, and eastward and westward" (Gen. 13:14). In the internal sense this means "all men, as many as there are in the universe . . . north, those outside the church,. . . south, those within the church,. . . east, all who had lived previously, . . . west, all people who are to come" (AC 1605). All of these signify that "the heavenly kingdom should be the Lord's" (AC 1606).
     The Lord saw this vision as a child, while reading His own Word (see AC 1461). He saw that He was the "I AM," the God of the universe, past, present and future. The Lord was about "His Father's business."
     The Writings put the advent of the I AM in this timeless summary: "Jehovah or the Lord is Life, and His Human Essence also was made Life,. . . and between Life and Life there is union" (AC 2021).
     Between Life and Life there is union. Jehovah, the I AM, took on a body of flesh, in time and space limitations. By the glorification, by Divine means, the body came no longer to be a receptacle but a Source of that Life, just as the Divine Soul or Father already was. Then "between Life and Life there is a union." In the process, the Lord became "the same as before the advent" (AC 4687, 5663, 6831). The I AM extended His Divine sphere down to material reality, replacing a potential formerly filled by angels with His Own Divine natural (see DLW 233). And in that extension He took on Divine power over His creation, so that ". . . once having conquered, He always conquers" (AC 9715).
     Now everyone can be reached, forever. Every materializing evil can be conquered. But another result of the glorification is that the Lord could enlighten both man's interior and exterior minds simultaneously (see TCR 109).

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Heavenly light could flow into nature's and be seen within it. The Lord on earth had also delighted in scientific knowledges, and He grieved when He thought He had to give them up. But then He divined that these "existed that He might reach celestial things" (AC 1495). He glorified them instead! As a result, the Lord can be regarded as a Divine "Scientist." His disciples called Him Master. He said, "You call Me Master, and you say well, for so I am" (John 13:13).
     The I AM mastered omnipotence on the Divinely Natural level, and the Lord could next choreograph history. With the age of representations over (see TCR 109), Canaan, a province of Eden, was no longer needed for a correspondential connection. With a hop, skip and jump, a new geography for the future Christian Church was targeted. We read: "Patmos . . . was between Asia and Europe. The church itself is meant by the land of Canaan, by Asia those of the church who are in the light of truth from the Word, and by Europe those to whom the Word is about to come" (AR 34).
     The Word was about to come to Europe. But when John was on Patmos, there was not as yet any Europe. Only after Peter and Paul and countless Christians had been tried or persecuted in Rome did Constantine become Christian. By the 4th century the whole Roman Empire became Christian. Then barbarian tribes, from Franks and Goths to Lombards and Huns, all lined up for a turn to conquer Rome. Instead, all were smitten with Christianity. It was rather a shallow affair, of course, but missionaries finished the job. Barbarian homelands became future European nations. The Franks became France, the Goths and Visigoths Germany, the Lombards Belgium, the Huns Hungary, etc.
     The Lord's hand of Providence not only created a Europe for those where the Word was yet to come, but also transferred the spiritual qualities of Canaan in the process. Thus we read: "All things which take place in the natural world . . . have relation to the church. It is not known in this world which kingdoms in Christendom represent the Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians and Philistines, which the Chaldeans and the Assyrians, and the others with whom the Sons of Israel waged war; and yet there are people who represent them" (DP 251).

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     European nations represent the same spiritual qualities as the ancient nations hailing from Eden. And we already know that, "When the Ancient Church is unwrapped, the Christian Church stands forth" (AC 4772). So today's European nations can be regarded as "unwrapped" Ancient nations!
     More than that, European trading empires, from Spain through Holland to England, were in Providence. We read: "Communication with heaven exists by means of the Word, for which reason, by the Divine Providence of the Lord, the kingdoms of Europe . . . have a universal commerce with the nations outside the church" (SS 108). The Europeans' "commerce extends over the whole world, and everywhere the Word is read by them, or there is teaching from it This appears like fiction but still it is true" (DP 256:2; cf. AC 9354, 8944).
     The whole world, parts being America and Australia, is covered by these statements. The world is a spiritual map of mankind's uses. And one of its main uses, we read, is to inform the "angels and spirits from other earths" that God is actually Man. "They receive the Word, acknowledge it, and rejoice that it is so" (EU 118, 121).

     (To be concluded)
POSITION AT SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION 1991

POSITION AT SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION       Editor       1991

The position of Executive Director of the Swedenborg Foundation was advertised on page x (at the end of the index) in the December issue. That position is still open. Contact Mr. John Seekamp, Swedenborg Foundation, 139 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010 (phone 212-673-7310).

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Plug-in Drug-Television, Children and the Family 1991

Plug-in Drug-Television, Children and the Family       Kurt Simons       1991

The Plug-in Drug-Television, Children and the Family (Revised edition); Marie Winn; New York: Penguin Books (1985)

     A primary hallmark of the New Church outlook on life is its focus on internals. This behind-the-(spiritual)-scenes approach is a powerful analytic tool for confronting many of modern life's difficult questions. One such difficult question is how to help the children cope with the modern electronic media, especially movies and television. Most of the discussion about these media has focussed on their content, in effect their externals. This is certainly bad enough, with alluring role models glamorizing everything from simple brattiness to sexual disorder and cruelty. Indeed, the extraordinary vividness of evil presented in R- and X-rated features (now euphemistically reclassified NC-17) makes you wonder if Swedenborg's direct views of the hells can have been much worse.
     Yet, again, this content is still, so to speak, "only" externals. A fundamental aspect that has not received nearly as much reflection is the more "internal" question of the effect of the television experience itself, particularly on children. Marie Winn's landmark book on this subject has the triple virtues of being insightful, readable and short. It is also a little bit spooky from a doctrinal point of view, because much of it has the kind of atmosphere about it that you might expect if it had been written by one of those wise wives of heaven.
     It is not difficult to see where the author gets her title; even an adult, with a rational mind supposedly available to act as filter, is in a trance-like state within seconds of looking at television or a movie. And if the experience is drug-like, so is the addiction that so often follows, the endless hours spent in its grasp. In a word, that rational in fact isn't involved at all-the nominal adult is in effect locked into the sensual degree. What then of children, in whom only the sensual is awake in the first place? Are they not, as they say these days, simply "blown away" by the television experience, locked into that sensual degree in a way that works directly against their need to grow into the rational degree?

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     What is fascinating about Winn's book is that she takes the basic concept of her title and explores the many ramifications of it that you might not have thought of in just seeing the obvious drug-like effect on a child viewer. From the distortions of family life and the child's psychological and social development (for many kids today, much of childhood virtually is television) to the sabotage of children's reading interest and skills, there are wide ripples of the TV addiction. A sample comment, for instance, on parents using TV as a babywatcher or, more accurately, a narcotic that reduces the kids to silent statues so the parents are left in peace: "Surely there can be no more insidious a drug than one that you must administer to others in order to achieve an effect for yourself (p. 12).
     Or, on the question of the frantic pace of much of television programming (including, for instance, "Sesame Sneer"): "By choosing the most active programs possible, viewers are able to approximate a feeling of activity, with all the sensations of involvement, while enjoying total passivity. They are enjoying a simulation of activity in the hope that it will compensate for the actuality that they are involved in a passive, one-way experience" (p. 102).
     This is not an experience you would confuse with learning to exercise as-of-self. She also suggests it as the basis for the appeal of violence in the media; it accentuates that illusion that something is happening other than passivity. Or: "When we read,. . . we can control the pace. We may read as slowly or as rapidly as we can or wish to read. If we do not understand something, we may stop and reread it . . . . If what we read is moving, we may put down the book and cope with our emotions without fear of losing anything. When we view, the pace of the television program cannot be controlled . . . . We cannot slow down . . . We cannot 'turn back' . . . . The program moves inexorably forward" (p. 60). Furthermore, quoting Bruno Bettleheim, "'Television captures the imagination but does not liberate it. A good book at once stimulates and frees the mind"' (p. 58).

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     Which experience is more likely to develop the habit of reflection, and from a doctrine based on written revelation?
     Well, there's lots more, from television's effect on the child's concept of reality to the possible role of television in so many modern mothers going back to work (e.g., the grumpiness of kids that follows extended TV viewing makes Mom glad to get away). Some of the conclusions drawn from research may be open to discussion, but on balance your reviewer feels this book is as providentially provided to the church as Life after Life, and may be more important for its mission at this point in its history. Certainly for any parents who take the inspiring but solemn vows of baptism seriously [including the uncomfortable but necessary promise that they "will renounce the devil and his works" (AR 531:8) for the child], the whole question of the role of contemporary television and movies in children's lives is a matter for reflection. Deciding what to allow into the child's interior memory, which permanently records "everything that ever reaches sight or sense of the body or even the internal sensories, whether a man has noticed and reflected on it or not,"* is certainly one of parents' most important set of decisions. The cumulative effect of these decisions permanently affects the outline of their child's eternal soul and helps create a vessel for influx in the child's mind which can help-or hinder-the child's battles with temptation.** Indeed, in terms of advancing states inappropriately, there is the very real opportunity today for their kids to grow up, in the words of the title of Winn's other book, as Children without Childhood.
* H. L. Odhner. The Human Mind, Its Faculties and Degrees. Bryn Athyn, PA, Swedenborg Scientific Association (1969), p. 94
** For a powerful and thought-provoking treatment of this whole question, the reader is referred to a sermon by Rev. Bruce Rogers, "The Protection of Innocence," New Church Life, September 1970, p. 393, based on the text of Matthew 18:7. Donnette Alfelt's article entitled "Pollution" in the Fall 1984 Theta Alpha Journal provides a further interesting counterpoint.

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     New Church parents, with and through their children, have an opportunity to help write the spiritual history of the human race of this age in a significant way-and maybe even more external history. But to achieve this great and good goal, both they and their kids need to be able to see clearly in the light of the Word, that "lamp unto our footsteps" that "shines on from age to age." They need to feel strongly the strength and sweetness of innocence and its ideals. The hells have become more sophisticated at packaging sensuality (e.g., by confusing the kids with profanation's blending of good and evil instead of plain old-fashioned sensual appeals). So parents need to respond creatively, using the equally sophisticated insights into evil's machinations that doctrine provides. Despite what the media would often have the kids believe, being "cool" is being alienated (like the folks in hell are); truly good guys really do win in the end; and living happily ever after is a perfectly realistic goal.
     Winn's book is not the last or only word on its subject. But it is a quick and easy means for developing reflection at the practical level before parents make that fateful decision to hit the "On" button for the first time with their children-and for parents who would like to hit the "Off' button for the first time as well!
     Kurt Simons

     An Afterword

     Parents or others who would like to be involved in an organized effort to combat pornography and other disorders in the media may want to look into the work of the American Family Association (P. O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 33803), run by fundamentalist Christians, under the leadership of a minister named Donald Wildmon. AFA has been remarkably effective in this work, largely due to their astute approach. On the one hand they go after the advertisers rather than the media itself (the pocketbook having its usual Powerful influence!). And in a sort of counterpoint to outfits like the American Civil Liberties Union, they get involved in legal proceedings, from which they have gained national media attention for their cause. As in the case of any such activist group, there are things that could be criticized about AFA's approach, but the bottom line is they are getting out and doing. They are, in effect, defending the conjugial, as well as other ideals, for the church universal, supporting the good courageously for the many who do not have the benefit of more interior-based defense against the powerful media propaganda for disorder.

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IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1991

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES       Editor       1991

The winter issue of Logos, the newsletter of the Swedenborg Foundation, begins with an article by Dr. Jane Williams-Hogan. She speaks of two kinds of love that were thought to be irreconcilable. But then, she says, "the Lord through the Writings of Swedenborg put things in a new perspective which reconciled the two modes of love, integrating them into a new theological and practical structure."
     The next article is by Bob and Peggy Merrell on the subject of marriage enrichment. The final piece is by Dr. Horand Gutfeldt. It is entitled, "The Outlook for the New Church: A Visit to Eastern Germany." Dr. Gutfeldt says, "I feel a strong concern that the New Church act on the new opportunities in eastern Europe . . . I hope that we will take advantage of the new situation and offer the new teachings that show the reality of the spirit and the spiritual world . . . . I have also met a few people who have been reading Swedenborg secretly. It is my wish and prayer that the New Church may find the support of all who have come to appreciate our heritage in a more favored world. Once it is recognized what these treasures are, the truth will spread. But we will have to make it accessible."
     Editor Marcia Smith is to be congratulated on a most interesting issue.

87


ADMIT YOUR FAULTS TO ONE ANOTHER (2) 1991

ADMIT YOUR FAULTS TO ONE ANOTHER (2)       Editor       1991

In December we mentioned the saying in the Epistle of James that we are to confess our faults to each other.
     The idea of owning up to our faults runs counter to the natural flow of life. Consider this striking passage: "Every man from infancy begins life from externals, and learns to act morally and talk intelligently" (TCR 568). Then when the man learns something about heaven and its happiness he goes to church and conforms religiously, but then something happens. Inevitably "evils spring forth from their native fountain." What does he do then?
     "He hides them in his mind's bosom, and also ingeniously covers them over with reasoning." He does this so well, convincing others, that he even convinces himself (Ibid). It is only natural to hide our evils. It is in our interest to keep them from being evident to anyone who might employ us or anyone with whom we would like to be popular. Whereas the human face was once used to convey our thoughts and feelings, it is often what we deliberately use to mask them.
     If life is like a game of poker with pretty high stakes, we consider it an asset to have a poker face. We do not show our disappointments, and we mercifully mask our distaste for something another might have. And especially do we hide our faults, If indeed there are circumstances in which it is beneficial to admit our faults, it is not easy. The exercise is difficult to undertake, and it is difficult to accept in the first place.
     Here is what Rev. Grant Schnarr says in his book Unlocking your Spiritual Potential:

Admitting the nature of our wrongs to God and to ourselves gets us started on the path to spiritual growth. But we might wish to confess these things to another person Why? Because it is an opportunity to bring our total personality into full light, giving us the most objective view of ourselves that we have ever encountered.

88


Confessing to another human being forces us to take a hard look at our problems and gives a truly balanced picture of ourselves.
Often, after doing some hard soul-searching, we find ourselves becoming introverted and prone to isolating ourselves from others. Perhaps some of our problems make us feel we are worse than others. We may think our problems are so unique that no one else could understand them. We tend to deny some shortcomings and place too much stress on others. For example, we might consider a lack of initiative our biggest problem when, actually, it is an indifference toward others. Or introspection may suggest that a fear is our obstacle instead of a selfishness that holds us back.
When we risk opening our hidden selves to another, we are forced to acknowledge the effect our spiritual life has on others. No longer alienated from the human race, we relate our inner lives to that human race.
Beyond this, we see another human being respond to our problems with a different point of view and we become less myopic. There is comfort in knowing others who share similar shortcomings and can understand us, show compassion, and offer help.

     Mr. Schnarr goes on to illustrate with an interesting example. (See page 47 of his book.)
     The matter of confiding something private to another human being may call to mind a phrase from the book Conjugial Love. There is a list of things destructive to the marriage relationship, and it includes "unbridled desire to divulge the secrets of the home" (CL 252). We might reflect on how this fits with the idea of admitting our faults to one another. Perhaps we will have more about this.

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EVERYTHING IS FULL OF GOD 1991

EVERYTHING IS FULL OF GOD       Editor       1991

Everything is full of God (omnia sunt plena Deo), and from that fullness each takes his own share. True Christian Religion 364 NOW AVAILABLE 1991

NOW AVAILABLE       Editor       1991


Free Study Guide
Prepared by
Reverend Grant R. Schnarr
for the most recent Chrysalis issue
     HOME
Write for your Study Guide today!
     Send your request to:
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139 East 23rd Street
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(Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope.)

92


PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1991

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES       Editor       1991


     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

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

     HUNTSVILLE
Mr. and Mrs. Wynne Sullivan, 1107 Princeton Drive, Madison, AL 35758. Phone: (204) 772-0074.
     Arizona:

      PHOENIX
Rev. Fred Chapin, 3724 E. Sahuaro Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85028. Phone: (602) 996-2919

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, 2695 Mark Lane, Batesville, AR 72501. Phone: (501) 793-5135.

     California:

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

     ORANGE COUNTY
Rev. Cedric King, resident pastor, 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630. Phone: (Home) (714) 586-5142. (Office) (714) 951-5750.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 225 Woodlake Ln., Newcastle, CA 95658. Phone: (916) 663-2788.

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

     SAN FRANCISCO
Mr. and Mrs. Philip C. Red Pendleton, 2261 Waverley Street, Palo Alto, CA 94901.

     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, 2386 Wood Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

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

     Connecticut:

     BRIDGEPORT

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203) 929-6455.
     Rev. Geoffrey Howard, visiting pastor, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (508) 443-6531.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.
     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     BOYNTON BEACH
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 10687 E. Clair Ranch Rd., Boynton Beach, FL 33437. Phone: (407) 736-9235.

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

     PENSACOLA
Mr. and Mrs. John peacock, 5238 Soundside Drive, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561. Phone: (904) 934-3691.

     Georgia:

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

     ATLANTA
Rev. Ray Silverman, 2119 Seaman Circle, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (office) (404) 452-0518.
     Idaho:

     FRUITLAND

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

     Indiana:

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

     Kentucky:

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

     Louisiana:

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

     Maine

     BATH
Rev. Allison L. Nicholson, HC 33-Box 61N, Arrowsic, ME 04530.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Thomas Rose, visiting minister, 3809 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20721. Phone: (301) 464-4585 (home), (301) 464-5602 (office).

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

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, 138 Maynard Road, Sudbury, MA 01776. Phone: (508) 443-6531.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Grant Odhner, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Karen Huseby, Secretary, 2800 Lake Blvd., North St. Paul, MN 55109. Phone: (612) 777-6962.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 1508 Glencairn Court, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Rt. 2, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Mr. Howard Leach, 4215 12th Street, Albuquerque, NM 87107. Phone: (505) 892-0936.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Rev. Bill Burke, 6010 Paddington Court, Charlotte, NC 28226. Phone: (704) 846-6416.

     Ohio:

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

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

     Oklahoma:

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

     Oregon-Idaho Border.See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

     ELIZABETH
Mr. Meade Bierly, 523 Snyder Ave., Elizabethtown, PA 17022. Phone: (717) 367-3964.

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

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 122 McKean Rd., Freeport, PA 16229. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855.

     HAWLEY
Mr. Grant Genzlinger, 4 Main Street, Hawley, PA 18428. Phone: (717) 226-2993.

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

94




     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Eric H. Carswell, 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-7421.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

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

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mr. Robert Grubb, 510 Academy Drive, Austin, TX 78704. Phone: (512) 447-6811.

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

     VIRGINIA:

     Richmond
Mr. Donald Johnson, 13161 Happy Hill Rd., Chester, VA 23831. Phone: (804) 753-9508.

     WEST VIRGINIA
Mrs. Thelma Smith, Rt. 1, Box 447, Peterstown, WV 24963. Phone: (304) 753-9508.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Mr. Thomas Andrews, 5035 NE 180th, Seattle, WA 98155. Phone: (206) 365-2194.

     Wisconsin:

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

     OTHER THAN USA

     AUSTRALIA          

     CANBERRA
Mr. and Mrs. Barrie Ridgway, 7 Whalen Place, Kaleen, A. C. T. 2517.

     SYDNEY, N.S.W.                                   
Rev. Douglas M. Taylor, 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, N.S.W. 2222. Phone: 57-1589.

     TAMWORTH
See Rev. Douglas Taylor under Sydney.

     BRAZIL

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

     CANADA

     Alberta:

     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.

     EDMONTON
Mrs. Wayne Anderson, 6703-98th Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6E 3L9. Phone: 403-432-1499.

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3. Phone: (office) 604-782-8035; (home) 604-786-5297.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER

Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5. Phone: (Home) (519) 748-5605; (office) (519) 748-5802.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 684 Fraser Ave., Ottawa, Ontario. K2A 2R8. Phone: (61) 725-0394.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (Church): (416) 239-3055.

     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. Christopher D. Bown, 2 Christ Church Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-575644.

95




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

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

     MANCHESTER
Rev. Norman E. Riley, 69 Heywood Rd., Norden, Rochdale, OL11 5TH, England. Phone: 0706 54003.

     HOLLAND

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

     KOREA

     SEOUL
Rev. Dzin P. Kwak, Horim #102, 1019-7, Daechi-dong, Kangnam-Ku, Seoul, Korea 135-281. Phone: 82-2-562-7344.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. H. Keal, 4 Derwent Cresc., Titirangi, Auckland 7, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

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

     SCOTLAND

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

     GLASGOW
Mrs. J. Clarkson, Hillview, Balmore, Nr. Torrance, Glasgow G64 4JA. Phone: Balmore 262.

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. James P. Cooper, 30 Perth Road, Westville 3630, Natal, Republic of South Africa. Phone: 011-27-31-821612.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Andrew Dibb, P. O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, South Africa. Phone: (011) 804-2567.

     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Rev. James Cooper, visiting pastor
Mrs. D. G. Liversage, Box 7088, Empangeni Rail, 3910, Natal, South Africa. Phone: 0351-23241.
     Please contact Rev. James Cooper or Rev. Andrew Dibb concerning these societies:
Alexandra Township
Clermont
Diepkloof
Enkumba
Hambrook
Impaphala
Kwa Mashu

     SWEDEN

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

     Stockholm
Rev. David H. Lindrooth, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma, Sweden. Phone/Fax: 011-468-26 79 85.

96


ARCANA COELESTIA 1991

ARCANA COELESTIA       Editor       1991

by Emanuel Swedenborg
VOLUME SEVEN
of John Elliott's new English translation
Hardcover postage paid $16.25
Softcover postage paid $12.25
     Box 278, Cairncrest                         or by appointment
General Church Book Center               Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

97


Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



98



We begin in this issue a substantial study on the subject of church government. "Should we strive in our government to imitate what takes place in heaven?" The qualified "yes" is explained partly in this issue and will be amplified in the April issue.
     The resurrection address herein recalls the forty years' active ministry of Rev. Norbert Rogers. During those years Mr. Rogers wrote many things of lasting value that have been published in this magazine.
     The sermon by Rev. Fred Elphick was delivered recently in London and was fared to us just in time for this issue.
     We have sometimes commented that church news has not been as prominent in recent years as it was in the past. Well, the news about news is very good this month. Would anyone undertake to present the news from Bryn Athyn covering an entire year? Where and how would one begin? Turn to page 135 and voila. Let this be an inspiration to news writers from other centers.
     Our mail has been lively on the subject of C. S. Lewis and the MacDonald connection. Three of the letters appear in this issue and they go together nicely.

     Applications for Admission to the Academy Girls School and Boys School. See December issue, p. 541.
     Applications for Admission to the Academy College. See November issue, p. 496.
ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE 1991

ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE       Editor       1991

The February mailing lists twenty topics for mini-sessions, not to mention the excellent main presentations in store! This 31st Assembly of the General Church runs from June 12 through the 16th at Kenosha, Wisconsin. The address of the registration committee is 74 Park Drive, Glenview, IL 60025-2700.

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WAR 1991

WAR       Rev. FREDERICK ELPHICK       1991

Today we focus on the question of war, our text being from the Divine Providence: "Who is more restless at heart, more frequently provoked and more violently enraged than the lover of selfand this as often as he is not honoured according to the pride of his heart, and when anything does not succeed according to his wish and pleasure?" (DP 250:2).

     One question we may reflect on as we contemplate the misery and destructiveness of war is the extent to which a nation gets the leaders it deserves.
     " . . . seek out how many there are in the kingdoms of the present day who aspire to high position who are not lovers of self and the world. You will not find fifty in a thousand who are lovers of God . . . " (DP 250:4).
     Yet, it is said, from their zeal the lovers of self do more useful functions. For the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses; and where there are but few who do uses for the sake of uses He causes worshipers of self to be raised to the higher offices in which everyone is moved to do good by means of his own love. Thus when we look around us in the world, rather than becoming cynical we have to be realistic, trying to see Providence working in a less-than-ideal situation, where only a few do uses for the sake of uses while the majority do them for their own ends.
     Put another way, we can see that it is more important-in fact vital-for the essential functions of a nation to be supported than for only a few good people to be in positions of power while other key functions are neglected. The thrust of the Lord's parable of the unjust steward is that because we don't live in an ideal world, we can nevertheless benefit from the worldly-wise. Often, driven by the desire to build a reputation or go down in history as benefactors of their country, people will achieve great things.
     This is what is inwardly meant by the Lord's advice to make friends of the "mammon of unrighteousness"-that is, for the good to make use of the rational concepts of truth and good possessed by the wicked.

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In a church we may see the truth of this in the way even corrupt leaders may yet teach the truth and lead to good even though they don't practice it themselves.
     One might also apply this on a wider scale to many of the statements of politicians, who, irrespective of their inward character, have valuable insights into the rights and wrongs of the international scene.
     For example, after the horrors of the last world war, a plan was devised to avert a repetition of such a catastrophe. Every nation was to be invited to pledge itself to observe certain minimum standards of civilised conduct, to abide by international law, to live in peace with its neighbours, to lend its military strength to enforce these rules if necessary, and to participate in the policy-making of a new United Nations organization (see Clifford Longley, The Times, December 15, 1990).
     While it took many years to bear fruit, the ideal was a good one. And so in the Gulf war, whatever the rights and wrongs of it may be, and irrespective of their leaders' real motives, there is an international force ranged against the aggressor.
     The point here is that while we can recognise good principles, we cannot tell whether they are being applied from pure self-interest or a genuine love of freedom. But the thrust of the teaching in the Writings is that while the zeal for justice may contain a great deal of self-interest, it nevertheless can, in Providence, be bent to good. "The Divine Providence is continual both with the wicked and with the good . . . " (DP 249:3).
     Given the nature of the native human will before people have started on the path of regeneration, a lasting world peace is an impossibility. Perhaps we may see progress in the fact that with increasingly awesome weaponry, aggression may be kept within the bounds of international law, even though in terms of human suffering this may still be at great cost. It has always been thus. People suffer as a result of evil, by bringing it on themselves or having it inflicted on them by others. But why does the Lord let it happen?

101



     Perhaps one of the most striking teachings of the Writings is that evil is permitted solely so that it may be recognized and shunned for what it is. Only in this way can anyone be saved from its power and led to the happiness of heaven. As it is said, wicked designs, cunning devices and deceit can only be removed by the Lord by means of the Word, especially the ten commandments. Thus for people who acknowledge all kinds of murder, adultery, theft and false witness as sins against God, living according to the ten commandments removes such evils (see DP 250:4).
     Again, it is said that these evils are also removed-at least in outward act-in evil people who do not admit that they are sins, namely by various fears, such as fear of legal penalties, loss of money or social standing. This is the way Providence governs the evil.
     "It is not from the Divine Providence that wars occur," involving as they do so many horrors-looting, violence, cruelty and worse. Still, we are told, they cannot but be permitted because since the time of the Most Ancient people, left to himself man has allowed his life's love to become that of dominating others (and, in the end, everyone), and of possessing the wealth of the world, and finally all wealth whatever.
     In the Word, when such a state of mind rules, especially when religion is used to hide selfish ends, it is called Babylon. This dates from the time when the Ancient Church-whose worship involved the use of various rituals and images that stood for Divine qualities-was spread throughout several regions of Asia: Syria, Arabia, Babylon, Egypt and Canaan. When the Ancient Church fell away from love of the neighbor, these things were turned to magic and the worship of idols.
     In this context we can see the hand of Providence in the rise of Islam in the Middle East, with its strong disapproval of idolatry, and its acceptance of some of the key elements in the Old and New Testaments.

102


But when we realize that Babylonia is now modern Iraq, we may fall into thinking that the present events in the Middle East may specifically represent the age-old struggle between good and the lust of domination. But as we shall see, while there are many interesting parallels to be found, the Writings have a somewhat different emphasis.
     To begin with, no country is completely good or thoroughly evil-and in any case, only the Lord knows its spiritual state, leading it accordingly. Significantly, though, some of the strongest statements about evil are in the context of war.
     For example, it is said that by heredity man is like a miniature hell and that no one can be withdrawn from this by the Lord unless he sees that he is in hell and wishes to be led out (see DP 251). It is explained that this removal from his hellish inclinations cannot be brought about without permissions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine Providence-that is, the Lord permits things that He does not will, but for a higher end-to save man from hell. We can apply this principle, then, to strife within a country or to whole nations. The Lord is constantly endeavoring to lead them away from hell and towards heaven.
     The Writings say that this is why there are lesser and greater wars. Indeed, Swedenborg notes in the Divine Providence that there are many other reasons stored up in the treasury of Divine Wisdom why the greater wars, with all their cruelty and destruction, are not prevented by the Lord.
     We read: "Some of these reasons have been revealed to me, and among them is this: that all wars, although they be civil in character, represent in heaven states of the church and are correspondences. Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day" (DP 251:3, emphasis added).
     We take "states of the church" here to refer to the universal church-that is, to the state of religion world-wide, as well as to the church specific.
     Thus in history, when the Children of Israel, who represented the church, departed from their precepts and laws, they fell into the evils which were represented by the nations who attacked them-among them the Babylonians.

103



     That this consequence also applies on a global scale seems to be implied when we read: "Similar things are represented by the wars of today wherever they occur. For all things which take place in the natural world correspond to things in the spiritual world, and all spiritual things have relation to the church" (DP 251:4).
     Again, we think of "the church" as standing for the inward attitude people have toward good and evil, toward God and the ten commandments, the precepts of which are known virtually everywhere. If they begin to use these true and good things for their own ends, there is bound to be a backlash.
     And so it is said that we cannot see the quality of the church on earth and what the evils are into which it falls and for which it is punished by wars, but these things are seen in the spiritual world, where internal things appear and where all people are linked together by their various states. The real character of religion is not in external things but internal. Our minds, after all, are basically spiritual. So we read that the conflicts of opposing spiritual states in the spiritual world correspond to wars in this world, which on both sides are governed by the Lord in His Divine Providence.
     What, then, of the present war? Commentators have pointed out that according to the teaching of a major Islamic sect in the Middle East, a Muslim ruler, having gained the consent of the community of the faithful and having proved his effectiveness by military success and by upholding the sect's version of Islamic law, his people are obliged to follow him unquestioningly, regardless of whether he is just or oppressive, moral or immoral.
     As long as an unjust ruler nominally upholds the law and is prepared to wage a holy war if Islam is attacked, the faithful have no right to overthrow him. The sect teaches that as no man except Mohammed is free from sin, all rulers will be flawed and that this must be accepted (see Horrie and Chippindale, What is Islam? W. H. Allen, 1990).
     Here the truth that no man is good is being used to justify even a dictatorship.

104


But another major sect of Islam has as a central part of its mission exactly the opposite-the overthrow of such unjust rulers. So the two branches of the religion are bitterly opposed. We can see, then, in just this one fact potential causes of war. What we cannot see is the underlying spiritual cause, except in the most general of terms.
     For the basic war waged in anyone's life-the battle for who will rule, be he Jew or Gentile, Christian or Muslim-is between good and evil, or between self and God. In armed conflict, wherever and whenever it takes place, there will be both good and evil on both sides, but what in Providence is intended to come out of it is the realization that all mankind desperately needs to live according to its own religious ideals-to seek the truth and pursue it.
     May we all learn-and learn quickly! Amen.

     Lessons: Luke 16:1-15; TCR 407, 408 (Chadwick translation)
1991 WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND AT LUTHERLYN 1991

1991 WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND AT LUTHERLYN       Editor       1991

     Theme: The Story of your Life:
     Writing a Spiritual Autobiography-a step-by-step approach to exploring your past and understanding your present.
     When: Friday, April 12 (5:00 pm) through Sunday, April 14 (1:00 pm, two weeks after Easter)
     Where: Camp Lutherlyn (near Pittsburgh, PA)
     To receive more information and applications:
      Shareen Flair, 341 Central Drive, Mars, PA 16046; phone (412) 776-6643.

105


PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT 1991

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1991

AN ADDRESS TO THE ACADEMY

     October, 1990

     Part 1

     "The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad (Psalm 97:1).

     "For He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:9-11).

     "The quality of a Church is according to the quality of its government, or according to the idea of government which rules within it," wrote Bishop W. F. Pendleton in 1897. "If a natural idea of government rules, then the Church will be natural, but if government is seen under a spiritual idea, this idea reigning in all its parts, then the Church will be a spiritual Church. A true idea of government, which is a spiritual idea, is then of supreme importance to the members of the church" (NCL 1897, p. 100).
     These are impressive words. I would like us to probe the spirit of Bishop Pendleton's landmark address, however, by reflecting that it is not the idea of government which is of primary importance. It is the willingness of an institution to seek a spiritual idea that makes the difference. Do we as an institution have the wish, the courage, the intellectual dedication, and the patience, to try to reflect in our government the principles of the new revelation?
     Clearly I believe the answer is "Yes." It isn't easy. We have been trying to do so for more than a hundred years. Each generation faces certain crises, and we are tempted to feel we have failed to craft a principled institution. The Writings, it seems, don't make a difference to our organizations, so we must resort to some concept of government which seems to have worked in the world instead.

106



     I have no quarrel with our learning from other forms of government. What should be foremost, however, is our dedication to seek a spiritual idea of government and leadership which qualifies whatever forms we adopt. If we do, then the Lord may come to rule, not only His church but also its servant organizations. If we don't, well, we're just another school.

Point and Counterpoint

     It may seem redundant to say that balance is achieved only after viewing both points of view in a discussion, but it is often overlooked. For example, the first part of this paper will emphasize the teachings that the Lord alone rules and we are all His servants, responding directly, without human intermediacy to His internal government. The thrust will be against human authority. In the second part I will spend a fair amount of time speaking of the responsibility of leaders to provide for order and coordination in the affairs of the human institutions. What is the correct tension between such apparently disparate ideas? A lack of balance causes us at times to go too far in our wish to correct the problem. We reject a lot of what is good on one side of the argument.
     One series in the Arcana Coelestia helps us in this regard. It is speaking of the principles we draw from the letter of the Word which are not in balance, and which frequently support a point of view which is advantageous to us. Yet we think they are true because they appear to come from the Word. The series advises us to reject such notions only after a searching inquiry, because otherwise we might reject our trust in the Word together with a mistaken conclusion (see AC 9025-9039). The common phrase is "throwing out the baby with the bath water."
     I hope that we will take a complete mental view so that if we discover false conclusions, they may be replaced, not with disillusionment but with a more genuine truth.

107




Does it matter what kind of government we have?

     Swedenborg himself, in a dispute about government in Sweden, wrote: "If there could be in the world a heavenly kingdom, consisting of men who had angel-minds, it could still not be without faults and shortcomings of weakness; and if these were to be sought out, reported, and exaggerated, this kingdom also would be undermined by slander and thereby would gradually be introduced, even with the well-intentioned, the desire and inclination to change and destroy it" (Letters and Memorials, page 553).
     W. F. Pendleton made the following observation about our wish to create a system which will certainly protect us from the vagaries of governors. "Is it the rational conclusion of a calm and reflecting mind that a humanly devised contrivance can protect and save the Church? A calm and reflecting mind will consider that the ingenuity of man can avail nothing against the cunning of evil spirits, and that the Church is protected and saved in the degree of its trust and confidence in the Lord . . . . If any movement in the Church is of the Lord, He will protect and save that which is His own, nor does He need the help of man . . . . All the ills of the Church, from the most ancient times, have arisen from the conceit or persuasion that man can care for the Church. Let us beware" (NCL 1897, p. 101).
     Both points are valid, and they might lead us to say that the kind of government we choose will not make a difference. We are human and fallible, and the best system will break down at times when run by mortal beings. It will surely be undermined if a spirit of criticism prevails. The most perfect system won't protect us against the devices of hell to undermine the church. The Lord alone can defend His church.
     Yet the Writings indicate that the kind of government we have makes a significant difference. In two passages they suggest that the mental outlook of an entire nation can be affected by its rulers. The Germans of Swedenborg s time were governed more strictly than the English or the Dutch. The result was a restriction on their freedom of thought that was like a dam, stopping the flow of creative thought.

108


For "influx adapts itself to efflux, and in like manner the understanding from above adapts itself to its measure of freedom to speak and publish its thoughts." Thus the German nation of 1772 was "little devoted to matters of judgment, but rather to matters of memory" (TCR 814).
     The Italians, the Writings state, had a corrupt government, which allowed no freedom in religious and civil thought, but "almost entire freedom of cheating, by cunning and deceit, and also of killing on account of there being so many places of sanctuary" (SD 5629ff). This produced a tendency to keep evils inside of them and not face them. They were contrasted with the English who could speak and write relatively freely against the civil and ecclesiastical opinions of their rulers but were not free to commit evil. They had the ability to bring evils out into the light and reject them, and therefore saw truths more clearly than did the Italians.
     A form of government which restricts the freedom to argue can deeply affect the character of a nation. It can limit the quality of judgment, dam up the fountain of original thought, allow evils to smolder unchecked.
     Note that the governments criticized here broke some cardinal principles of human interaction.
     Systems of government are not the panacea for all wrongs, but those formed on true principles will make a difference.

Human freedom in New Church Institutions

     "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

     "Now we believe, not because of your saying, for we have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world (John 4:42).

     "The matters written in this book have as their object to enable the reader to see truths in the light of his rationality and so give assent; for thus his spirit is convinced, and matters of which the spirit is convinced are accorded a standing above those which enter without the reason's being consulted, as the result of someone else's say-so and faith in his authority" (CL 295).

109



     "Those who will be of the Lord's New Church are instructed in genuine and pure truths through the Word" (AR 814). "It is one thing to have faith in and believe the Lord, and another to have faith in and believe any person (Faith 7, emphasis added; cf. Faith 2). Faith in the authority of another is natural. It may seem to be well reasoned, but because it is believed on the authority of someone else, the person accepting it is thinking from memory, and thus "as a crab walks, following its tail" (CL 295; cf. AC 8078, TCR 42:2, DP 359).

     The Writings are given so that individuals may approach the Lord alone, learn from Him in His Word, be enlightened by Him from within, and see His truth.
     How best do we allow this to happen in our church? By a form of government which emphasizes wherever possible the Lord's leadership, not human leadership.
     What is the best method to accomplish this? By encouraging the as-from-self in every person's work. Leaders of business and industry speak of "trusting the willing workers." It is a way of emphasizing the need to allow people to respond-freely-to the dictates of their consciences. In the General Church and the Academy we have taken to heart the Lord's words, "Put no faith in councils, but in the Holy Word" (TCR 624e; 489). "But, my friend, go to the God of the Word, and thus to the Word itself . . . and you will be enlightened" (TCR 177). The freedom of each individual to teach according to conscience, and to serve the institution according to a sincere, personal conviction, is supported by many of our customs. Certainly we can do better: that hope is one of the reasons for presenting this study; but this principle has been with the church since its inception.
     The fundamental law of the Divine Providence is that a person shall act from freedom according to his or her own reason. Theoretically the Lord Himself could force people to be better. He could drag them kicking and screaming into heaven. "But then a person would come into such a torment and into such a hell that he could not possibly endure it, for he would be miserably deprived of his life" (AC 5854; AE 1155:4).

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     It is a part of His omnipotence that He acts according to laws of order which He cannot break, and one of them is that we must will and think in freedom. We must sometimes even be free to do what we will and think even when it is evil.
     Our respect for the individual conscience must always be present. It is possible for one person, or for a group of people, to interfere with this freedom for a space of time. If we try to compel someone else's conscience, then the Lord has to undo the harmful effects of our leadership before He can exercise His own.

Government in heaven: Differences and similarities with earth

     "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon the earth" (Matthew 6:10).

     "The Lord's heaven in the natural world is called the church; and an angel of that heaven is a person of the church who is conjoined with the Lord . . . . From this it is clear that what has been said of the angelic heaven applies equally to the human heaven that is called the church" (DP 30).

     Should we strive in our government to imitate what takes place in heaven? I believe that the answer to that question is a qualified "Yes."
     There are two pertinent differences between the government of heaven and earth. The first is that some spiritual laws apply more directly in heaven. For example, if you disagree strongly with someone in the other world, he or she may well disappear. On earth we might experience something similar. You are talking with someone, and it's evident that he's no longer "with you." Nevertheless he is still there. In heaven a person's intentions are clear in his face, speech, gestures. Here on earth they often manifest themselves, but we can be fooled much more easily.
     The second difference is that in heaven everyone is good.

111


On earth the good and the evil mingle, and we don't know who is which. Our government must therefore take into account the possibility of outright evil, and of a greater degree of frailty in the realm of human motives than will ever exist in heaven. Sir Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government in the world except for all the other ones. Perhaps it was because he saw how necessary it is to protect ourselves against the love of rule on earth.
     In spite of these differences, however, there are surely principles of heavenly government which we can apply on earth. In fact, I would say that all principles in the heavens can be applied in some form if only we adapt them to the world of time and space, and to that weakness of the flesh which on this earth dwells side by side with the ideals of the willing spirit.
     We may well discuss how to apply in the Academy the spiritual law that one's intentions, even thoughts, show plainly in the face in the other world. We can see lots of ways in which it does not apply. We don't share all our thoughts with everyone. A teacher may hide her concern that a dedicated student of limited ability is not going to pass her course. The dean of the college with his disciplinary council may be at pains to keep confidential the deliberations about a student who has been guilty of a moral fault. The assistant treasurer will conceal from others any knowledge he may have about the financial strains which individual parents are experiencing. A teacher may work hard to hide some of his thoughts about the shortcomings of a colleague.
     Concealment for a good motive is praiseworthy, since it helps others to function in private and does not broadcast their weaknesses. By the same token, however, we will find many good motives for wanting others to know how we think and what we feel. Openness in an institution, a willingness to communicate, not just knowledge but also affections, is healthy. Most people in our institution count it a virtue to allow their feelings and thoughts to be manifest, while first taking care that in the privacy of their minds they control and moderate those which come from their proprium.

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     The law in both worlds is similar. People suppress the proprium and express the new will. On earth, however, there is more of the proprium in ourselves and in others which should not be broadcast aloud or held up to public disdain.

     (Next month's installment of this study will begin with clearly applicable teachings on government in heaven.)
WILL YOU TAKE UP "THE CHALLENGE"? 1991

WILL YOU TAKE UP "THE CHALLENGE"?       Editor       1991

At the General Assembly in 1987, Bishop King announced a General Church Committee on the Handicapped, appointing Rev. Kurt Asplundh chairman.
     This committee is now an association of over 100 people interested in the spiritual and natural needs of those in the New Church with disabilities.
     The goal of this association, called "The Challenge," is to enable those with handicaps to have the best possible opportunity to live, learn, and socialize in the sphere of the church. Allied to this goal is the desire to provide information and education to raise the awareness of the church membership about those with handicaps; to support those who deal with disabilities; and to provide a clearinghouse of materials for clergy as well as laity that can promote this use.
     You are invited to join The Challenge! A $5.00 minimum annual membership fee per family has been set to help defray secretarial and mailing costs. To join, mail your name and address with $5 to The Challenge, do Pastor's Office, P.O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     An open meeting of The Challenge will be held at one of the mini-sessions during the General Assembly in Tune. Anyone who is interested will be welcome.

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RESURRECTION ADDRESS For Rev. Norbert H. Rogers 1991

RESURRECTION ADDRESS For Rev. Norbert H. Rogers        Rev. KURT H. ASPLUNDH       1991

Delivered November 2, 1990, in Bryn Athyn

     "I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding" (Jeremiah 3:15).

     The Lord's love streams forth into His created world with but one purpose: to draw us to Himself so that He might bless us. Every effort of His love works toward this end. We are born as unique individuals destined to find happiness in serving others, ministering to them as no one else can.
     [Photo of Rev. Norbert H. Rogers]
     The Lord foresees our place and use, and secretly bends our steps to it. It is the remarkable teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine that "all things, even the least with man, are foreseen by the Lord, and are provided for his future state to eternity . . . " (AC 2679e). "Man is led of the Lord by continuous constraints to foreseen ends . . . " (SDm 4652).
     Think of a lifetime! So many moments, and each, we are told, "involves a series of consequences extending to eternity" (AC 3854:3).
     Our life in this world is only a beginning, a brief prelude to the life that is everlasting. Hear one angel's testimony: "I am an angel of heaven and have lived with my wife now for a thousand years . . . " (CL 355:3).

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     Happy couples on earth rejoice to celebrate a golden anniversary after fifty years of marriage. In heaven fifty times fifty would not be unusual. And these truly will be the golden years.

     A life of active employment here may amount to no more than forty or fifty years of service. By then the physical body declines; even the mind's powers fade. But this is not the end of our usefulness. So many say at the end of their earthly lives, "What use am I to anybody?" How happily they will discover that their life of use has hardly begun!
     The external man may flag but the internal man "is formed to serve the Lord . . . first in the natural world, and afterward in the spiritual world" (AC 5947e). "For the Lord's kingdom is nothing but a kingdom of uses," we are told, "and if in an earthly kingdom everyone is valued and honored according to his use, how much more is this the case in the heavenly kingdom!" (AC 5395e).
     We are created to live forever and in a happy state. The Writings teach, "He that wills that every man should live to eternity wills also that he should live in a happy state . . . . This state of man, indeed, is the end of creation" (DP 324:6). We are led by the Lord through the vagaries of earthly development to this end, and no man, we are told, can be led better than he is led (see SD 3114). What of death?
     Death is the gate of eternal life. It comes when our uses in this world have been fulfilled and when we are needed to serve in the Lord's kingdom in those spiritual uses for which we have been prepared.
     Norbert Henry Rogers, a faithful servant in the Lord's vineyard and a respected family patriarch, today enters into the joy of His Lord. Forty years he served as a priest of the New Church on earth, until retirement and failing health curtailed his active work. Now, as he awakens to renewed life in the spiritual world, he will not "rest from his labors" in the sense of remaining idle, but will find "rest" in the contentment and joy that comes from doing what is in his heart. Now he will have energy to study again, to minister and to preach.
     The Writings tell us about Divine worship and preachers in the heavens.

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"Such things exist in heaven, because the angels are being perfected continually in wisdom and love" (HH 221). Sermons "full of the spirit of wisdom" and adapted to the perceptions of the congregation are preached. The essential doctrine which is proclaimed there is the acknowledgment of the Divine Human of the Lord.
     We think of the disciples sent out throughout the spiritual world two centuries ago to proclaim the good news that the Lord God Jesus Christ had made His second coming, could be known, loved and worshipped in His Divine Human, a visible God of infinite love and wisdom. This work goes on now, carried forward in a special way perhaps by those who have been called to the priesthood of the New Church. The teachings of the Heavenly Doctrine, received by so few in this material world, are there heard eagerly and received with delight by thousands who are being prepared and instructed for the life of the new heaven. Can it not be said of this use in heaven: "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore: pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest"? (Matt. 9:37f). The Lord calls men to His Divine work.
     From the time that Norbert Rogers was born to New Church parents on a remote farm in the Orange Free State of South Africa June 18th, 1912, Divine Providence was leading him to a special life of use in the church. An education in the church was so important to his family that he was sent far from his home at the age of 11 to the newly established Kainon school in Durban. This school, begun in the year 1923, took for its motto the Latin phrase "in usibus felicitas," "happiness in uses," with the expressed hope "in due time to send over to Bryn Athyn worthy supporters of the Church . . . " (NCL 1923, p. 716). This hope was realized with the arrival of Norbert, age 17, at the Academy to continue an education leading to a Bachelor of Theology degree and his inauguration into the priesthood of the New Church in June of 1938.
     The first love of Norbert's life was to serve the church. Whatever the call, whatever the need, he responded.

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In forty years of active service he ministered in the societies in Kitchener, Bryn Athyn, Durban, Detroit and Philadelphia, and also served as visiting minister in New York, New Jersey, and Montreal. While he was in Detroit, society status was achieved and a multi-purpose church building was constructed and proudly dedicated. From the Advent Church in Philadelphia, his last pastorate, Norbert daily brought a station wagon load of children to attend the schools in Bryn Athyn and was also called upon to teach Latin at the Academy.
     A variety of General Church uses occupied the last fourteen years of his career: Director of Religion Lessons, Secretary of the Council of the Clergy. Secretary of the General Church, Chairman of the Translation and Publication Committees, even Acting Editor of New Church Life for a time. He also served on the Bishop's Consistory.
     Norbert worked diligently and effectively in these varied administrative responsibilities to serve important needs in the church although his chief love was in the study and teaching of doctrine. He was a man of keen intellect and scholarly brilliance, but a compassionate pastor as well. Those who penetrated his austere appearance and manner found a warm-hearted friend and trustworthy colleague in the church. It is a credit to his love of the priestly use and his delight in the work of the New Church that two of his sons have followed in his path to make careers in the ministry. Two significant studies, one entitled "Doctrine" presented at a General Assembly in 1959, and another, "Enlightenment," Presented to the Council of the Clergy, are examples of his interest in a sound foundation of doctrinal integrity for the church. His principles as a priest were ever based in the authority of the Heavenly Doctrine and his teaching given in that light.
     Norbert was also a family man. If his primary love in life was to serve the church, this was balanced by an equally powerful and important love of serving his family.
     It was here too that Providence brought Norbert from the remoteness of South Africa to find, in Bryn Athyn, the love of the New Church woman he was to marry, and with whom he would share more than fifty years of married life on earth.

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Norbert and Judy were married a year after his inauguration while he was assigned in the Kitchener Society as assistant pastor. Norbert treasured family relationships, having left his own home at such a young age, and he and his wife sought to raise their children in a sphere of affection and respect for family values.
     They recognized that the main use which brings husband and wife together "is their common concern in the education of their children. In this the offices of the husband and those of the wife are distinct, and at the same time conjoint," we are told. "[They] . . . become conjoint by consultations and mutual support and by much else which is of mutual assistance" (CL 176). Together, Norbert and Judy made one home, a place where four sons and a daughter found the consistency of order but the moderation of love; a place where a mother was shown courtesy and deference and a father's authority was respected. It was a home in which the church was held important above all, and a life of use nurtured.
     Among the gifts which the Lord has granted this couple are 23 grandchildren, one of whom, because of death at infancy, has already become an angel of an interior heaven. Perhaps she welcomes her grandfather today as he rejoices at seeing other family and friends already in the spiritual world.
     We feel a sense of loss when someone we love deeply is parted from us. In this loss, however, is consolation that new life is beginning for our friend. How glad we are that he can return to vigorous activity in the spiritual world, that he has left behind his medications and pain and the weight of physical needs that have drawn down his mind from its former brightness. The truth is that the memory is intact; the interests and affections confirmed in life all remain. It is as if a great burden or cloud has been lifted so that life may go on without these natural and material obstructions in the spiritual world
     And what a wonderful world is the spiritual world! There is brilliant light, clearer understanding, elevated ability in communication, and opportunity for eternal happiness in use. "In usibus felicitas."

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     As we gather to rejoice in the miracle of resurrection and life eternal, we remember Norbert Rogers as a faithful laborer in the church and a devoted husband and father.
     Today, his retirement is over, for the Lord has much work to be done. And as a family man he will begin now to prepare a place where, in the not-too-distant future, he and his eternal partner can dwell together in mutual love and happiness not for fifty years only, but for fifty times fifty and beyond.
     In a sermon published in 1980, perhaps the last he wrote, Norbert quotes as his text the Lord's words to His followers in the last week of His life: Walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you . . . " (John 12:35). The sermon ends with the following quotation from Coronis: "The man of the church advances from morning to day to the end that he may be reformed and regenerated by means of the light of reason, which is effected only by a life according to the precepts of the Lord in the Word. If this does not take place, his light becomes darkness, and the darkness thick darkness; that is, the truths of light with him are turned into falsities, and the falsities into unseen evils. It is otherwise with the man who suffers himself to be regenerated: night does not overtake him, for he walks with God, and hence is continually in the day; into which also he fully enters after death when he is associated with angels in heaven" (Cor. 5). To all outward appearance, Norbert Rogers practiced what he here preached. He sought to walk in the light.
     May the dawn to which he has awakened today in the spiritual world be but the first of new light that will never cease as he walks with the Lord in the uses of heaven. "Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, Oh God, my God" (Psalm 43:3, 4). Amen.

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AGE-OLD ADVENT 1991

AGE-OLD ADVENT       Rev. ERIK E. SANDSTROM       1991

(Concluded)

     We started by saying that people have expected the advent for far longer than they have celebrated it. But now angels from all human races in the universe are being informed about Christmas (see EU 118, 121). The Christmas story is indeed, "tidings of great joy which shall be for all people" (Luke 2:10). And since most other human races in the universe still have direct revelation through the Lord's angels, as happened on this earth until the flood, it is virtually certain that they by now have received these glad tidings on their earths! Christmas is a truly universal celebration. Redesign those Christmas cards once more. Include not only giants from the flood, conquered in the Lord's childhood, but other human races in the starry sky! For other human races see the God of the universe just the way He appeared when He was walking our earth! (see EU 40, 65, 141, 170e). Good luck!
     The scene is now set for the most curious time-warp, to do with the last judgment. Most of you know that the flood was the first last judgment, the second judgment was at the crucifixion, and the third was in 1757. And we are still here!
     I once read a secular account, as follows. I will disguise the location: "November 1, 1755 was All Saint's Day in                    ,                    's bustling capital city and principal port. Thousands of               's faithful jammed the city's numerous churches . . . and thousands of them died in their pews shortly before 10 in the morning, as a series of earth tremors sundered the city. Cathedral vaults collapsed, church walls cracked and buckled inward, and fires, lit by holy candles, swept the city. Perhaps 40,000 died in the holocaust. Thousands rushed to the harbor, only to be engulfed by a tidal wave.                was, in 1755, a showcase of wealth. Churches abounded, with giant organs, gilt woodwork, silver plating encrusted with precious stones. It was a city suffocated by inert wealth, compiled by a narrow-minded pious king, and supported by an inquisition-minded Jesuit order" (Milestones of History, Library of Congress catalog card No. 76-10315, Vol. N "Twilight of Princes." Suzanne Chantal, "Disaster Strikes Lisbon" p. 118).

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     The name of the city? Lisbon, Portugal.
     When I read this, I wondered: Nov. 1, 1755. Swedenborg was writing the Spiritual Diary (or Experientiae Spirituales) and the Arcana Coelestia (Heavenly Secrets) at the time. It would be easy to check if there were records of any coincidental spiritual event in the spiritual world. Perhaps Lisbon was a part of the preparations for the last judgment two years later.
     I dived into the Diary, and came up with a question mark around my neck! Swedenborg stopped dating his entries just around this time. But I said to myself, "The earthquake's aftermath was the execution of several Jesuits for plotting, which led to the expulsion of the Jesuit order from the Vatican by 1773, almost exactly over the same time-span the Writings were being published. Also Diderot's Encyclopaedia from 1751 to 1772 replaced the Bible in all the courts of Europe. What did Swedenborg observe on Nov. 1, 1755?" Or words to that effect!
     I spend some spare time on it: Spiritual Diary n. 5699 was written March 29, 1757. Lower. N. 4573 in August 1752. Higher. N. 4851 reports that Lars Benzelstjarna died. I checked Swedenborg Epic: year 1755. No month given. Close. And n. 5099 was in July 1756. Lower -between 4651 and 5099. I check Arcana Latin Vol. VII published in 1755, and n. 9407 states: "The church in Europe was being vastated." The Judgment was at hand. I was on the trail.
     Finally, I kick myself: check the Concordance for the first Diary entry on the Last Judgment! It turns up right where calculations estimate Nov. 1, 1755 would be! Cities sinking during earthquakes. Finally, I read, "Concerning the Catholic Religion and Babel." N. 4953. I put in the margin: When? Nov. 1, 1755?
     N. 4953 to 4988, 35 paragraphs, are talking about earthquakes, of Jesuit spy networks, Lucifer, false dogmas, but most interesting of all-I grasp my hat; grasp yours-a plot against the Writings. This plot against the Arcana Coelestia, we read, "was too horrible to divulge" (SD 4988).

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     Is it possible that the anonymously published Writings were being read in order to plot against them? We know from the Writings that certain English bishops in George II's time, thus that very year, had read some of the Arcana on earth, and rejected them, and continued to do so in the after-life (see AR 716). It would be interesting to see whether the Writings also had made their way to Lisbon by Nov. 1755. Researchers, to the barricades!
     In any case, the Lisbon earthquake galvanized anti-inquisition sentiment. In London, Voltaire bit his quill ever sharper. And just as the Writings began to make sense of the Bible, the encyclopaedia spearheaded by Diderot replaced it as a source of explanations among Europe's intellectuals, from the court of Frederick the Great to that of Catharine the Great (see Milestones, Richard Friedenthal, "An Encyclopaedia for the Enlightenment" p. 110).
     My thinking, therefore, is that these were spiritual-historical events, connected with the up-coming judgment. Those who perished in Lisbon, and those who perished in all the wars of 1756 in Europe, North America (French-Indian) and India (Clive), could fill out the necessary quotas in the world of spirits, so that the judgment could happen on its own. For the Lord judges no one.
     That brings us to the last consideration: contemporary society.
     They say that more people are alive today than have lived ever since humanity began. Combine that loose fact with the observation that the rate of change has picked up: Dinosaurs lasted for millions of years. Ancient Egypt lasted for 3000 years. World War II lasted for six years.
     Do we live in a contemporary society? Are the horizons retreating just as fast as we head toward them?
     What we have seen so far is that consecutive history has caught up in a simultaneous splash across the world. Eden was transferred to Canaan, and it to Europe, and it to the world! European nations are "unwrapped" ancient nations, in which Christianity lay concealed. The Last Judgment over 200 years ago, associated as it was with the Lord's Second Coming and the revelation of the Writings through Swedenborg, was like an indicator for the beginning of contemporary society.

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Past traditions have gradually been eroded and found wanting.
     Spiritually, the reason for this is that the Last Judgment had two lasting psychological effects: one, false heavens can no longer reinforce their fellows-in-crime on earth. Gone was the feedback from a mountain of cronies. Every unjust power hierarchy since 1757 will be overthrown by dissatisfied populace, from Boston tea parties to Rumanian tanks!
     And secondly, the Last Judgment allowed the world of spirits to return to its original function: a welcoming area with do-it-yourself judgments lined up, so that each person could find his own identity. Freedom and order. The judgment in effect lets you go either to the real heaven, or, if you insist, set up your own, but be prepared to call it hell by comparison.
     Can we see freedom and order at work today? Look at Eastern Europe, caught behind a curtain of ignorance and ossification. Change just had to come from within, from the people themselves. It did. The lack of feedback from the world of spirits has helped to topple unjust power. And secondly, freedom to judge yourself by your own values is in the daily news. True, people have mostly material needs, but the Writings say that "if man lacks all the necessities of life, he cannot practice charity" (NJHD 97). You cannot serve spiritual uses if you have to line up for food every day!
     So what of the New Church in this contemporary setting? Are we growing slowly just to conform to the prophecy of slow growth?
     But we know that the Writings can help the world today. Revealed reason can obviate domineering and greed anywhere in the world and let heaven's light be seen within nature's. Perhaps we should start a translating institute, inviting natives all over the world to come and translate the Writings into their own language.
     But there is one thing we can do in order to improve the church and help the world which has not yet, as far as I know, been recommended, The Writings reveal that to drink the water of life means, "He who knows anything of the Lord's coming, and of the new heaven and the New Church," (you all qualify!) "should pray that it may come; and he who desires truths should pray that the Lord may come with light . . . he will receive them from the Lord without his own effort" (AR 956, emphasis added).

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     These two prayers, for the New Church and for understanding truth, include all our current uses: New Church education, pastoral teaching and leading, missionary work, and of course regeneration.
     Do we dare to pray for this? The prayer might be answered! Can I face the consequences of a successful prayer? And the prayer here is of course private prayer, the only one which can be directly answered. How?
     Remember Isaiah who said, "Here am I; send me"? (Isaiah 6:8). True prayer springs from our life (see AE 325:7-9) so we should carry out what we pray for. If the New Church members pray for its growth and for more understanding, and are then willing to carry out what was prayed for, then the Lord has the most suitable means to fulfill the prayer. We read: "It is the Lord who teaches, collects and gathers . . . . For it was the Lord who prepared for reception those whom the disciples converted to the church" (AE 911). As we pray to Him and follow up, the Lord presents us with the opportunities.
     Why are we here? "We are because God is." We thought of our eternal uses from our first breath. Mankind expected the advent of Him who alone IS, and the expectation brought conjunction, The Lord has preserved mankind, even changed his brain structure and given a written Word, started with His own hand. Ancient values have been transferred and preserved, from Eden, to Canaan, to Europe, to the world, to the universe. And the Creator Himself came on earth so that He could give light in all our dark lives. His tabernacle is with us in contemporary life, guiding us to spiritual havens even as natural horizons retreat.
     We drink the water of the river of life when we pray for the Lord's kingdom and for a greater understanding of truth. We wish to become better tools in the hands of the Lord's Providence. So from the beginning of human life, either as individuals seeking eternal life or as a race transferred from Eden to today's international relations, "we are because God is."

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NoteParts of the substance of this address can also be found in the following articles:

"Adam, Noah and the Stone Age," New Philosophy 1974, p. 211
"From Enoch's Coder to the Ancient Word," N.P. 1976, p. 385
"The Genesis and Elevation of the Pre-Adamites," N.P. 1977, p. 115
Towards a Universal Chronology," N.P. 1983, p. 170
"The Science of Sciences: A Unique Human Era," N.P. 1986, p.77

Postscript: After I had the opportunity to deliver this address, the world situation in the Gulf has come upon us. More than one person has observed that Iraq is the site of ancient Babylon. What is the connection, if any? Canaan or Eden is no longer a representative land, but Europe is a spiritual "map." America grew from Europe, and its place on this map, and of the coalition against Iraq, must show a relationship known only to angels. Although we can perhaps see spiritual issues between Islam, Christian and Jewish people involved in this conflict, we cannot draw any specific conclusions. Yet our hope is that war, which is a "punishment of the church" for coming into falsities of religion (see DP 251), may lead ultimately to a religious conference aimed at seeking clarification and common ideals. Islam's Koran is drawn in part both from the Old Testament or Jewish Word and the New Testament or Christian Word.
ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP 1991

ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP       Editor       1991

ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP July 7-13 is open to those who will have just completed 8th or 9th grade, See February issue, p. 73.

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I HAVE POWER, I HAVE POWER 1991

I HAVE POWER, I HAVE POWER       Editor       1991

Twice in the gospel of John we find the phrase repeated, "I have power." In John 19 it is Pontius Pilate speaking. The governor was astonished that the Man standing before him would not respond to his question. Didn't He know that Pilate had power?
     The question was, "Where are you from?" and it was spoken with a fear that was building up within Pilate. In another gospel we read of something that could have stirred fear in Pilate. His wife sent to him saying, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him." The gospel of John shows that Pilate was frightened when he heard the saying about Jesus, "He made Himself the Son of God,"
     "When Pilate heard that saying he was the more afraid" (19:8). Did he begin to wonder whether he was actually standing in the presence of the son of God? His question must have been fraught with emotion. He went into the praetorium and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?"
     He received no answer, and his tone may have combined a last effort at authority with a mounting desperation. "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and I have power to release You?"
     Don't you know that I have power? This brought an answer that left Pilate wishing only to release Him.
     "Jesus answered, 'You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. From then on Pilate sought to release Him.     
     The other instance of the phrase "I have power" is in John 10. "I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."
     Pilate's sense of power was an illusion. The Lord's power was and is a reality.

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     In military conflicts there are those who imagine that their power or their prudence determines the outcome. A general may congratulate himself on the success of his prudence. The Writings say of such a general, "Let him do this if he will, for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine Providence or against it, and even in favor of God and against Him; but let him know that no part whatever of the plan or preparation is from himself; it all flows in either from heaven or from hell-from hell by permission, from heaven by prudence" (DP 251).
ANALOGIES IN THE WRITINGS 1991

ANALOGIES IN THE WRITINGS       Editor       1991

Dear Editor:
     I have begun an index of the analogies used in the Writings. Do you know of any work already done in this area?
     I see at least three ways such an index would be useful. (1) Studying it could prepare one to have more appropriate answers to children's questions. (2) The index could be a source for recitations rich with visual images. (3) Since so many of our analogies are to nature and physical processes, a complete index could indicate science curricular material that would best serve as a foundation for spiritual concepts later,
     Would New Church Life invite readers of the Writings willing to help me collect these analogies to write down the ones they find on 3 X 5 cards (complete with volume and paragraph number) and send to
     Gray (Mrs. Dale) Glenn
     RD 1, Box K
     Kempton, PA 19529

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C. S. LEWIS CONNECTION 1991

C. S. LEWIS CONNECTION       James E Lawrence       1991

Dear Editor,
     Thanks for your fun musings in your editorial on the potential positive influence Swedenborg might have had on C. S. Lewis. I think I can shed at least a little more light on their connection. There was a time when I thought the two most interesting exponents of Christianity were C. S. Lewis and Emanuel Swedenborg. The comparison was striking because both possessed such fascinating intellectual profiles. Lewis was at once an Oxford don and the General Editor of the Oxford History of English Literature (which he affectionately referred to as "O, Hell"), and a writer of the delightful children's Narnia series, and a lasting science fiction genius, and the leading Christian apologist of the twentieth century, among a few of his literary mantles! Swedenborg's intellectual prowess I trust needs no exposition in these pages.
     In 1979 I was contemplating going into the ministry, and at that time I was teaching an adult Sunday School class on Lewis in a university Presbyterian church while reading Swedenborg on the sly. Their relationship became very important to me, and therefore the question naturally arose, "Did Lewis read Swedenborg, and if so, what was his opinion?" I'm surprised you mentioned Lewis' The Great Divorce, because it is there that he makes his only published reference to Swedenborg-which apparently you missed! The Great Divorce was one of the last books of Lewis' that I read, and as I went through it I kept saying to myself, "This guy had to have read Swedenborg: this is straight out of Heaven and Hell!" (For the uninitiated, The Great Divorce is a first-person sojourn of various "after-life" regions. The word "divorce" in the title is an explicit rejoinder to Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Lewis convincingly describes the yawning chasm between good and evil, heaven and hell. Very Swedenborgian, indeed.)
     On the next-to-last page of the book, however, the one who has done all of the spiritual traveling asks the teacher (the guide) if all he has experienced is only a dream.

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The teacher says, "The bitter drink of death is still before you. Ye are only dreaming. And if ye come to tell of what ye have seen, make it plain that it was but a dream. See ye make it very plain. Give no poor fool the pretext to think ye are claiming knowledge of what no mortal knows, Ill have no Swedenborgs and no Vale Owens among my children."
     "God forbid, Sir," said I, trying to look very wise.
     "He has forbidden it. That's what I'm telling ye."
     This brief but telling snippet of dialogue provides clearly enough Lewis' attitude toward Swedenborg. When it is finally admitted that Lewis rejected Swedenborg, it is all so plain. Of course Lewis was aware of Swedenborg! He was an expert on Blake and Yeats, as well as a very literate man in a region with a strong Swedenborgian presence. Though a lover of the keen imagination, Lewis was skeptical of experiences as thorough as Swedenborg's. And in the matter of doctrine, Lewis was far from Swedenborgian. He argued strenuously for the vicarious atonement, for tripersonalism, and for faith separate from understanding. In one classic remark, he flunks on all three counts, when saying of the Son paying the ransom to the Father for the atonement of human sins: "We don't know how or why it works; we just know that it works." Despite some wonderful "common sense" approaches to modern Christianity that may sound to Swedenborgians as New Church, Lewis was nonetheless a staunch defender of orthodox Anglican doctrine and can in no wise be construed as a closet Swedenborgian.
     Because I had loved them both so much, working through their interface was fundamental to my forward progress. A battle of theological ideas played itself out in my thinking.
     Today, I have shelves upon shelves of works by Swedenborg and Swedenborgians; to respond to your editorial, it took me a minute or so to remember where I keep my dozen dusty Lewis books.
     James E Lawrence,
          San Francisco, California

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MACDONALD CONNECTION 1991

MACDONALD CONNECTION       Various       1991

Dear Editor:
     Reading the book George MacDonald (Macmillan, 1947, Collier Books edition, 1986) by C. S. Lewis gives interesting confirmation of your editorial assertion that there was a strong "MacDonaid connection."
     Concerning this book Lewis says, "In making this collection I was discharging a debt of justice. I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him [MacDonald] as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him," Lewis said that his debt to MacDonald "is about as great as one man can owe another."
     In the preface Lewis says that in 1842 MacDonald "spent some months in the North of Scotland cataloguing the library of a great house which has never been identified. I mention the fact because it made a lifelong impression on MacDonald." He suggests that this "great house in the North" was the scene of some important crisis or development in his life. "Perhaps it was here that he first came under the influence of German Romanticism?" If someone could track down the catalogue, we could see whether it included Swedenborg.
     MacDonald, says Lewis, was charged with heresy for expressing "belief in a future state of probation for heathens." In your editorial you quote a biographer of MacDonald as saying that his conception "derives in part from Swedenborg's thinking, such as is found in Heaven and Hell" Imagine MacDonald coming to the chapter in Heaven and Hell on the heathen in heaven: "There is a general opinion that those born outside of the Church, who are the heathen, or gentiles, cannot be saved . . . But that these also are saved can be known from this alone, that the mercy of the Lord is universal, that is, towards every individual; that these are born men equally with those within the Church, who are few in comparison, and that it is not their fault that they do not know the Lord."
     Aubrey C. Odhner,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania

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     Note: Rolland Hein's biography says that MacDonald "may have taken a position which involved cataloguing a neglected library somewhere in northern Scotland. No precise records remain of this experience, but the many scenes in his novels picturing characters making spiritual discoveries and having traumatic experiences in libraries leads one to suppose that MacDonald himself faced some spiritual crisis at this time."

     MACDONALD CONNECTION

Dear Editor:
     In the December 1990 NCL you asked the question: Did George MacDonald read the Writings of Swedenborg?
     Yes he did!
     The fabulous children's author George MacDonald (1824-1905) first discovered Emanuel Swedenborg's books in the library of Sir George Sinclair, a family friend. MacDonald was hired, at the age of 18, to arrange and catalogue Sinclair's great library in his castle.
     MacDonald immersed himself in Swedenborg and studied him as well did many of his friends--Garth Wilkinson (famous Swedenborgian doctor and homeopath who treated MacDonald) and Lord and Lady Mount-Temple.
     In George MacDonald by William Raeper (1987) Swedenborg is mentioned on six pages!
     Candace Frazee Redmond,
          Swedenborg Information of Los Angeles, Covina, California

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SUZUKI 1991

SUZUKI       Leonard Fox       1991

Dear Editor:
     In connection with your editorial in the January issue of New Church Life on Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, the first Japanese translator of the Writings, your readers may be interested in the following account by Henri Corbin, one of the greatest Islamic scholars of the twentieth century and a man who had profound respect for Swedenborg's revelations. This footnote appears in
Corbin's work Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969, pp. 354-355):

Here I should like to mention a conversation, which strikes me as memorable, with D. T. Suzuki, the master of Zen Buddhism (Casa Gabriella, Ascona, August 18, 1954, in the presence of Mrs. Frobe-Kapteyn and Mircea Eliade). We asked him what his first encounter with Occidental spirituality had been and learned that some fifty years before, Suzuki had translated four of Swedenborg's works into Japanese; this had been his first contact with the West. Later on in the conversation we asked him what homologies in structure he found between Mahayana Buddhism and the cosmology of Swedenborg in respect of the symbolism and correspondences of the worlds (cf. his Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series, p. 54, n.). Of course we expected not a theoretical answer, but a sign attesting the encounter in a concrete person of an experience common to Buddhism and to Swedenborgian spirituality. And I can still see Suzuki suddenly brandishing a spoon and saying with a smile: This spoon now exists in Paradise . . . " "We are now in Heaven," he explained. This was an authentically Zen way of answering the question; Ibn 'Arabi would have relished it. In reference to the establishment of the transfigured world to which we have alluded above, it may not be irrelevant to mention the importance which, in the ensuing conversation, Suzuki attached to the Spirituality of Swedenborg, "your Buddha of the North."

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     Corbin again mentions this conversation with Suzuki in his lengthy article "Hermeneutique spirituelle comparee (I. Swedenborg-II. Gnose ismaelienne)," originally published in 1964 in Eranos and reprinted in a posthumous collection of Corbin's essays entitled Face de Dieu, face de l'homme (Paris: Flammarion, 1983, pp. 41-162), stating: "And he [Suzuki] added: 'It is he [Swedenborg] who is your Buddha; for you Westerners, it is he who should be read and followed! (p. 45, n. 4).
     Leonard Fox,
          Charleston, South Carolina
UTOPIA AGAINST THE FAMILY 1991

UTOPIA AGAINST THE FAMILY       Linda Simonetti Odhner       1991

Dear Editor:
     I find Dan Horigan's review of Christensen's Utopia Against the Family extremely disturbing. While Christensen's idea that a utopian ethic opposes family values is worth consideration, the prospect of people being legally and economically coerced into conforming to a certain person's or church's idea of family values repels me.
     For example, among the "utopian political measures" which have an "adverse effect on the family," Christensen mentions pay equity (I assume he means between men and women). Is the underlying assumption here that if a woman is discouraged by low wages from entering the work force, she is more likely to stay home and watch her kids, or maybe have some? If she has no safe home to retreat to, wouldn't being economically crippled be likely to drive her to prostitution, drugs, or reliance on welfare-the very things Christensen deplores? The fact is, lack of equal pay for equal work is unjust, no matter what the purpose for it; the end does not justify the means. High moral pretensions are especially dangerous when they take precedence over basic civil justice.

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     Family size has always been a controversial issue. Couples with many children are branded socially irresponsible; couples with few or none are labeled selfish and spiritually bankrupt. Judging people's worth by the number of children they have strikes me as presumptuous, fruitless and destructive. Families of all sizes have their place. Raising a large family is a special, demanding vocation, and not everyone is called to it.
     I agree that national day care is not the best or only solution to our child-care problems. But as long as society requires that people somehow dispose of their children before they can work to support themselves, day care is a necessary option, particularly for single parents, who won't disappear just because somebody disapproves of them. It would help some if children of all ages were more accepted as part of the working, social, and recreational lives of adults.
     Dan Horigan does not explicitly evaluate Christensen's ideas, but his presentation implies agreement with them. He does not examine Christensen's statements either to question or defend them, but presents them as if they are obviously true and beyond controversy. This accounts for some of my uneasiness with the review.
     In closing I would like to list some ways in which society can support the family by increasing choices instead of limiting them. Some of the options which need to be promoted are: home birth and family-centered birth in other settings; postpartum support for young parents, including doula services and extended parental leave; home schooling; home business and more flexible working conditions; and hospice care for the terminally ill, allowing them to die at home (which may help to break down the denial of mortality which Christensen emphasizes). Society now actively discourages some of these choices. Family bonds can be strengthened by the shared experience of birth and death, learning and working, yet we are often prevented from facing these vital processes together.
     Linda Simonetti Odhner,
          Horsham, Pennsylvania

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MORE ABOUT CAMPS 1991

MORE ABOUT CAMPS       Erik E. Sandstrom       1991

Dear Editor:
     New Church camps are a great asset. I enjoyed reading Mr. Merrell's article (January, p. 25). I was a student at the first three British Academy Summer Schools, 1959-1961, and had the pleasure of being teacher and sometimes headmaster between 1973 and 1980. I just wish to add the names of Rev. Alan Gill and Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr., as those involved with Rev. Frank Rose in starting them up. Mr. Rose had carried on the boys' camps started by Rev. Martin Pryke. In 1958 a boys' bicycle tour preceded the 1959 coed summer school. It has been going annually ever since. Another student at that first camp was Mr. Christopher Smith. Two ministers came out of it!
     I recall "kicking the can" on Mr. Rose, and a chess game where all three ministers stood and commented on our moves!
     I also happened to be present at the weekend camp in 1968, called "infamous" by Mr. Merrell. I certainly don't remember it that way, but perhaps I was getting acclimatized just having returned from the Peace Corps. Presentations by Bishop Pendleton, Rev. Alfred Acton and Rev. Dan Goodenough and camp organizer Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr., all led to good discussions. Mr. Goodenough read the results of a questionnaire around the camp fire. Perhaps there was disgruntlement, but I hardly think it deserves "infamous." In fact, the attempt to meet the states of the young people at that time calls for a word of praise.
     Perhaps I could fill in something about camps in Australia (see Merrell, p. 27). The "Association" there has held camps for years. Rev. Douglas Taylor held a General Church "Gum Leaf Academy" in the sixties; and we held five "Australian Academies" from 1984 to 1988, including one which doubled as General Church weekend when Rev. Geoffrey Childs, as Bishop's Representative, visited in 1987. Rev. Robin Childs was also there (see NCL June, 1987, p. 288). These Australian weekend academies were overt copies of the British academies, although for families, not just teenagers.

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In setting up these camps, I was extremely blessed to receive such enthusiastic team support from the Hurstville Society and beyond.
     May I also comment on Rev. Norman Riley's reference to my October letter (January, p. 38) citing my quote, "the internal sense of the Word is identical to the doctrine they have in heaven." That needs a reference: New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, n. 7. So in fact I do what Mr. Riley recommends: "Revelations carry their own definitions" (p. 39). Because that same number says, "this doctrine, because it was revealed to me out of heaven, is called Heavenly Doctrine, and . . . is the purpose of the present book," we cannot deny this copyright statement either. We may admit that the Writings are Heavenly Doctrine, identical to the Word that they have in heaven. I thus refer to "the Word of the Heavenly Doctrine" before reading the third lesson from the Writings.
     Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
Church News 1991

Church News       Vera and Bruce Glenn       1991

BRYN ATHYN

     In response to the pastor's request for news notes about the Bryn Athyn society in New Church Life, we reviewed the BA Post (editor, Leon Rhodes) for the year 1990 to refresh our memories. It was amazing how many events went on in our society and schools in twelve months. There is no way we could include all that happened, so we have picked those which seemed of most significant interest from what we hope is not a narrow view.
     January began a new decade with high hopes for the growth of the church among us, and for a new peace on earth. As the year unfolded we found our lives taken up in the world of time and space with activities, uses, and concerns which we hope bear out more spiritual goals than we were often able to see.
     Our fine pastoral staff-Pastor Kurt Asplundh, assistants Thomas Kline, Donald Rose, Wendel Barnett, and Geoffrey Howard-provided us with inspiration and practical guidance. Two worship services were held in the cathedral each week, a family service and the regular 11:00 o'clock service. In Pendleton Hall during the school year another adult service was held. Special pre-school services in Heilman Hall on the first Sunday of the month appealed to families with small children.

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We were treated to a wide variety of sermons on many texts, surely something to appeal to every spiritual state, from the pastoral staff, from other ministers residing in Bryn Athyn, from priests from other General Church centers, and from Rev. Trevor Moffat, president of the Australian Association of the New Church.
     The doctrinal instruction on Friday evenings after the society suppers was also carried mainly by the pastoral staff, but the new year began with a series entitled "Morality" by Bishop Buss. Later Bishop King presented a series on the spiritual world. As the large society classes do not meet the needs of all, there are a number of smaller ones, both public and private. Cairnwood Village hosted Wednesday morning classes. When not on his travels, Bishop King gave classes on studying the Arcana; Rev. Messrs. Don Rose and Tom Kline held classes for inquirers. In the spring there was a series in the Swedenborg Library on the life of the Lord. It was hard to realize, when Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom gave the talk to mark the 302nd anniversary of Swedenborg's birth, that two years had passed since the tricentennial celebration.
     We are grateful to the Women's Guild, under the leadership of Pam (Mrs. Brian) Schnarr, for the support they gave to the uses of worship and the society. In this day when so many women are working outside the home, we realize afresh how dependent our church functions are on the volunteer services of the women of our society.
     The John Pitcairn Archives were opened to the public January 10, commemorating the birthday of this important New Church man on January 10, 1841. This valuable collection of personal memorabilia and historical letters and effects, now on informative display in the one-time garden house at Cairnwood, is the result of valiant work by Walter Childs II.
     Glencairn continued to be a center for cultural and educational events. For example, in February President's Day was celebrated by fourth and fifth graders of the Bryn Athyn Church School in this former home of Raymond Pitcairn, a strong patriot; and later in the same month the Bryn Athyn orchestra and church choir under Christopher Simons were joined in the great hall by other music lovers in a performance of the Mozart "Requiem."
     Glencairn also hosted the annual Council of the Clergy in March, with its growing membership from over the world, including three native ministers from South Africa. An inspiring view of the established and growing church in that land was presented at the General Church evening by Rev. Messrs. James Cooper and Andrew Dibb. A signal event that week was the nomination by the council of Rt. Rev. Peter Buss for Executive Bishop of the General Church.
     Evangelization Week was observed in late March. From the video studio in Cairncrest came a film on the cathedral developed by Stanley Rose and Bill Thomas.

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Other videos for evangelization work are planned, as part of an increasing effort to open up the cathedral and our church to the public view, with programs designed for visitors and newcomers. The book room in the cathedral under the direction of Ed Cranch increased its holdings to 500 titles. Church members volunteer their services, organized by Curator Carl Gunther, to staff the book room and give tours to visitors.
     Perhaps the deepest and most moving of our religious observances is that of the Easter season. This year there were two congregational processions, one with waving palm branches on Palm Sunday, the other on Easter morning with bright flowers. The solemnity of the Holy Supper service, on the same day of the week as the Lord's Last Supper with His disciples, and the recently established live tableaux come to joyous culmination in praise of His resurrection.
     On May 10, less than a month after Easter, our thoughts were prepared for New Church Day with the Bryn Athyn Church School outdoor pageant of the Apocalypse. Children from kindergarten to eighth grade, their teachers, the pastoral staff and other ministers all took part in forming a living representation of the Holy City New Jerusalem and enacting several scenes from the book of Revelation.
     The BACS is a bright gem in the crown of our society uses. We love to see the close working of school and church in the religious education of our children. A delightful example was a display in the cathedral choir hall of pictures drawn and colored by first graders illustrating stories from the Word. Secular learning too showed up tangibly this year the stack of books on the reading progress signboard outside BACS grew and grew. On April 30 the goal was reached-a million minutes of reading by the children!
     There is opportunity for a lot of close contact between the school and the home. Parents and friends are invited throughout the year to participate in topical evenings and class activities, including the annual and always enjoyable eighth-grade play.
     We were warned in February that our school was growing, pushing against the walls, and that we would soon need more classroom space and a computer area. In June there was a presentation to the society led by the pastor, and in September the society officially agreed to begin a fund drive for the addition and renovations. The project is headed by a three-man committee of Garth Cooper, George Betz, and Reade Genzlinger. Work is scheduled to begin in September 1991 if funds are available.
     Speaking of growth, in spring everything blossoms in Bryn Athyn. Social groups that seemed dormant in the winter burst forth into activity starting with the Spring Fling-a day of innocent fun and entertainment for people of all ages. Every organization from the Swedenborg Scientific Association to the Civic and Social Club holds an annual meeting.

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There is no room to mention the lovely weddings of the spring season, but we do want to note a special anniversary: Dan and Betty Echols celebrated sixty years of marriage on May 16.
     This June we had a Bryn Athyn centennial-the anniversary of the first New Church service held in the area, on Knight's Hill, now Cairnwood.
     That month Rev. Geoffrey Howard received a call from the Boston Circle and resigned his position on the pastoral staff. Kurt and Martha Asplundh held a reception where we could wish Geoff and his family Godspeed in their new use.
     How we love the 19th of June, the children's festival service, the gifts from the church, many handmade and religiously oriented, wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with red ribbon, the picnic on the green velvet lawns, and with the coming of dusk the lighting of the cathedral with accompanying music.
     This year, because of the scaffolding swathing the tower for stone repairs, the effect was not as magnificent as usual. However, we are glad to report that the cage was removed this fall and the tower stands free. The west porch is now under wraps for renovation.
     In August the threat of war in the Near East reminded us of the Memorial Day ceremony in Borough park below the church, where Lt. Col. Michael Brown, USAF retired, spoke to the promise of real peace among us. As several of our young people and reserve personnel, including Rev. Wendel Barnett, were called to service, we were reminded of what may be the price of true peace in the world.
     The summer closed with the gathering of the General Church Education Council. Society members were invited to some of the sessions, and to two fascinating series of lectures "Ancient Church Foundations in World Cultures" by Rev. Prescott Rogers, and "The Word of Scripture and Findings of Archeology" by Rev. Harold Cranch.
     Autumn brought a return to our society's busy season, with school under way once more. There were notices in the Post for the Borough Beautification Committee, cemetery cleanup, B-ACT theater tryouts, a Theta Alpha rummage sale, Boy Scout events, and sessions on homeopathy. Pastor Asplundh continues a practice started the year before of inviting 15 to 20 different men and women to the Pastor's Council each month in order to provide a wider forum of communication.
     As soon as the ANC football season was finished, the field was halved to provide working space for the erection of a new municipal building. The Bryn Athyn police moved temporarily to the old library building next to Benade Hall. The need for the new facility was underscored by the 1990 census showing an increase for the first time in decadesmore births than deaths, more people moving in than moving out. In Bryn Athyn borough there are now 336 housing units and 1078 residents, men, women, and children.

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     There was also a noticeable increase in focus on mental and spiritual growth this past year. Rev. Geoffrey Childs gave a series of lectures in the fall from his book The Golden Thread: Spiritual and Mental Health. A broadly attended Mental Health Symposium was hosted by the Academy over Thanksgiving weekend. Ruth Wyland and others organized spiritual growth groups; as well there were camps, retreats, marriage enrichment seminars, and many other opportunities for renewal and commitment, for sharing problems and joys of both our inner and outer lives. One such was a talk by Dr. Mark Reuter, "Death, Dying, and Bereavement"
     During 1990 all of us were touched by the loss of family members and friends from earth. Some were young, but most had been with us for a long time. Representative of this older generation was Miss Creda Glenn, whose brother and six sisters peopled Bryn Athyn with Pendletons, Pitcairns, two families of Bostocks, Hyatts, Synnestvedts, and Glenns. Born in Philadelphia, Creda lived in the Robert Glenn home, Glenhurst, a social center in the early days of Bryn Athyn. Creda Glenn's life was exemplified by a love of people and a love of use; we all share in her use when we sing the hymns of the Liturgy. Like the maple trees dying around "the loop," her going signals the end of an era.
     In December we once more prepared to renew the advent season in our hearts and homes. The magic of Christmas is lights in the darkness. So we delight in the twinkling clear lights on the bridge over the Pennypack and on the post office and other buildings nearby, in the wavering lights of the lanterns carefully held by third graders as they journey through the dark hall at the school Christmas program, in the symbolic star over the cathedral. (That the star failed to shine out after the festival service on Christmas eve this year was hard on our "remains," but served as a nudge to our complacency.) As the year ended we prayed fervently for the true Giver of light to show us His glory in the heavens and grant us peace on earth.
     Vera and Bruce Glenn
INTERNATIONAL SWEDENBORG PUBLISHERS CONFERENCE 1991

INTERNATIONAL SWEDENBORG PUBLISHERS CONFERENCE       Editor       1991

Next month in the historic city of Manchester, England there will be a conference of people from around the world involved in the publication of Swedenborg. It begins on April 15th. Mr. Leon Rhodes has begun a newsletter relating to this use.

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UNUSUAL MARKETING SUCCESS 1991

UNUSUAL MARKETING SUCCESS       Editor       1991

Last November the Common Boundary Association held its meetings in Washington, D. C. More than fifteen hundred people attended, including psychologists, doctors, therapists and researchers. The Swedenborg Foundation had a display, which in two-and-a-half days attracted a steady stream of visitors. At least 300 people expressed interest in writing articles for the Chrysalis magazine. They took with them a list of upcoming themes and copy deadlines. It has been discovered that people wanting to write articles for Chrysalis familiarize themselves with Swedenborg in the process.

     Direct Mail Effort

     The Foundation undertook a direct-mail marketing campaign, sending to thirty-five thousand addresses an offer for a free book with a subscription to Chrysalis. There was a 3.8 percent return, which doubled the number of subscribers. There are now about 250 Swedenborgian subscribers to the magazine and about 1,750 who are not Swedenborgians.

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DELIGHTS OF WISDOM CONCERNING CONJUGIAL LOVE 1991

DELIGHTS OF WISDOM CONCERNING CONJUGIAL LOVE       Editor       1991

THE DELIGHTS OF WISDOM CONCERNING CONJUGIAL LOVE
Swedenborg Society Edition
Acton Translation
     Once again available in
Paperback
     Attractive new cover design
Nice for students, friends, and inquirers
     Size 5 x 8 - Price, including postage $9.50
     Box 278, Cairncrest                              or by appointment
General Church Book Center                    Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                              Phone: (215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



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Assembly by the Lake

     We are used to thinking of this event as way off in the future. Now it is an imminent and exciting reality-June 12th at Kenosha, Wisconsin.

     Can you see that the conversation at the well recorded in John 4 portrays the Lord's conversation with His universal church? The exposition beginning on the opposite page provides striking insights.
     The same writer says on page 167, "I have yet to find a passage in the Writings that talks about good human authority." Also on that page is the saying that "everyone desires to procure for himself the height of power!" (AC 8581). A quotation in this month's editorial comes to mind in connection with the example of Nicolas Caecescu (p. 169). "I have seen the wicked in great power . . . . Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more."
     It is interesting that we are publishing two letters about Maurice Nicoll and Swedenborg just at the time of the printing of "Edited selections from the lecture series Nicoll and Swedenborg." This book by Peter S. Rhodes is entitled Aim.

     SWEDENBORG SOCIETY ACHIEVEMENT

     The Swedenborg Society in London has just come out with a modern translation of the work The New Jerusalem and Heaven's Teaching for It. We look forward to a review of this attractive paperback which sells for L2. Here is appealing confirmation of the statement, "The Society publishes many excellent modern translations of Swedenborg's works. See last October's issue p. 473. In that issue are addresses for collectors for the Swedenborg Society; for example, Mrs. Kent Cooper, 503 Moreland Road, Willow Grove, PA 19090, USA."

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WOMAN AT THE WELL 1991

WOMAN AT THE WELL       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1991

The Lord's Conversation with His Universal Church

     Jesus dealt gently with this woman of Samaria, a member of a race the Jewish people despised, a woman whose life was far from ideal, one whom many of His followers would have considered an unlikely candidate for His Christian Church. Her response was positive. Not only did she herself believe; she brought the men of the city to see Him, and many believed because of her.
     The Lord's conversation with her represents the way in which He reaches out to the people of His universal church. The Writings for the New Church teach that the Lord loves everyone equally. He leads people to heaven, from whatever religion they come, as long as they believe in God and do what they think is right. They may have many false beliefs, but if in sincerity they follow their consciences, He will in time show them the truth, in this world or in the next, and they will be angels (see AC 1032, 1059, 9256, 9209, 845, 1832, 1366).
     While such people are living on earth they are part of His church. "The church of the Lord is not here, nor there, but it is everywhere. It is within those kingdoms where the church is and outside of them-wherever people live according to the precepts of charity. The Lord's church is scattered through the whole world, and yet it is one" (AC 8152).
     The woman of Samaria represents the people of His universal church. They may not know His truth, but in sincerity they are trying to do what they think is right. He loves them. He reaches out to them, and seeks to teach them.
     Therefore, in this story, when you hear the woman ask questions, think of people who are not yet in the Lord's New Christian Church but who are good in heart.

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When you hear Jesus answer, it is the Writings themselves speaking to His universal church. Inquiring people who come into contact with the Writings ask questions, and the Writings themselves give reply. Those answers are from the Lord Himself, just as if He were speaking upon the earth.
     "He needed to go through Samaria." Jesus was going to Galilee, but in fact He didn't have to go through Samaria. He could have done as He had often done before-journeyed east to Jericho, crossed the river, and gone up the east bank of the Jordan in territory more friendly than Samaria was to Jews. It is said that He needed to go through Samaria for His love was calling Him to reach out to those of His universal church.
     "And He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." Sychar is the name for the ancient Shechem, and that city represents the Word in its ancient state. In Shechem was a well. It was Jacob's well, not Isaac's nor Abraham's. The three patriarchs represent the three levels of human life. Abraham, the first, represents celestial life; Isaac, spiritual life; and Jacob, natural life. Water always represents truth, and therefore the well of Jacob represents the kind of truth the people of the universal church have-natural truth.
     The Lord has always revealed His truth, right from the beginning. It has been perverted over the centuries, but it is still to be found. The well of Jacob in Sychar represents the body of learning that exists in the world on which people draw for their values. They may go to the Hindu Vedanta or the Koran or the writings of Jewish or Christian fathers. From this learning of the past they draw water-truths that teach them how to live. They are basic truths, natural truths.
     "A woman of Samaria came to draw water." A woman represents the affection for truth which makes the church-the Samaritan woman that affection, that longing for what is true, in people who have not yet found the Writings.
     "Jesus said to her, 'Give Me a drink.'" Jesus asked her to help Him.

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Sometimes when people come to the church, we seem to give the impression that we alone have something to offer. They have things to offer as well. The Lord asked water from her. He is delighted in the natural values that good people throughout the world have developed.
     The woman was surprised. How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. She thought of Jesus as a Jew. In fact He is the God of all people, but she thought him a member of a particular race.
     At first, people who come across the Writings think of them as the teachings of a sect. Because sects tend to denigrate each other, there is the assumption that the Writings will condemn them. But as Jesus was not a Jew (although He seemed to be one), so the Writings are not a sect. They are the truth. Jesus answered in a strange and challenging way. "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me ,drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." What a lovely phrase for the Lord's Word: "The gift of God." That is what the Writings are. They are the Lord's gift to humankind.
     They are "living water." That is a strange combination of words. It communicates the feeling that people have when they read the Writings and feel that the truths here are something special, something alive.
     The woman was puzzled. "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?" People coming into contact with the Writings are puzzled at the fact that they don't seem to quote the authorities of old. They don't seem to draw on Jacob's well. We are reminded of the time when Jesus was giving the sermon on the mount, and at the end of it people were astonished, for "He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7:29). The Writings don't quote ancient sages. They speak with authority. They tell of life as it is after death.

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They reveal the continuous internal sense of the Word. They speak of the levels of the human mind. No human authority has revealed these things before. Where does this truth come from?
     "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself?" Remember that Jacob's well represents natural truth. People who read the Writings find themselves asking, "Is this truth deeper than natural truth? Is it something more powerful than the truth I have learned before?"
     Jesus answered positively. "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The water of Jacob's well is human truth. It is the collective wisdom of the past. It is useful, and it slakes the thirst for a while. People draw a useful principle from Shakespeare's plays or the philosophy of Kant or the writings of St. Augustine, and they apply it. But human philosophies are good only for a portion of our lives. We thirst again.
     "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." This represents the first sense that people have, when they read the Writings, that these books are different from any other books. The truths in them are a constant source of refreshment which will not wear out. There is endless meaning within them.
     "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw."' We are tempted to laugh. She misunderstood Him. She interpreted what He said in a superficial way, and hoped that she wouldn't have to carry her heavy water pot up to the well each day.
     So also, people seem naive when they first begin to be excited about the Writings, and feel that they contain simple answers to all questions.
     The Writings do not say that the woman was superficial. They applaud her answer. In AC 680 they speak of the fact that the Lord once said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this Bread he shall live forever" (John 6:58).

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"But at the present day," the Writings add, "there are people like those who heard these words and said, 'This is a hard saying; who can hear it?' and who went back and walked no more with Him." Then they speak of the woman's response when she heard Jesus say, "The water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life." "At the present day," they say, "there are those who are like the woman with whom the Lord spoke at the well and who answered, Lord, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come here to draw (AC 680).
     The important thing is that the woman accepted His statement! She could have mocked Him. She could have asked who He thought He was to offer living water. She didn't. Something about Him told her that this was no ordinary man, but one to be believed.
     There are people who read the Writings, and when they find in them the claim that they, from God they are disposed to believe, and to search in them for help in their lives. It is this kind of inquiring, seeking person who is meant by the woman at the well.
     Then there follows one of those apparently abrupt changes of subject. "Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here.'" You can almost picture the change in her expression, hear the slight hardening of her voice, sense the slump in her shoulders as she answered. "I have no husband." "Jesus said to her, 'You have well said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.
     This was no innocent young girl at the threshold of her life, filled with the hope of the happiness that would surely be hers. This was no happy matron, secure in the love of her husband and children, looking forward to her golden years. This was a woman who had known real hardship. She had reason to be bitter with life, and to expect little from it.

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Five times she had put her trust in a husband, hoping that with him she would find happiness. Each time (we don't know why) she had been disappointed. Now she was living with a man, perhaps not trusting to a sixth marriage, perhaps not valued herself.
     We might ask, "Why did the Lord reach out to such as she?" But think of the incredible capacity for idealism in this woman, who had had such a hard life and yet could stand at the well, talking to a man who promised her living water, and believe that such a thing was possible. Jesus knew her heart. He knew the longing for what was beautiful and ideal that had survived so much disappointment. He showed her that He understood her life!
     Five husbands. A husband in the Word represents the understanding of truth. The woman represents a longing for truth, and her husband the understanding, the value system that makes that truth applicable. The number "five" represents "a little." The spiritual picture here is of a person seeking for understanding, seeking for a set of values which can give comfort and meaning to life but finding little satisfaction. Finally she could not commit herself to the sixth man: there is a hesitation about embracing the latest value system which the learning of the world has to offer.
     All over the world there are such people. They are trying to make sense of human life. They are seeking for a guiding principle, a spiritual husband. They have not found it.
     But they are still searching. Deep within them there is a longing for that perfect truth which will speak of the kind of life that a loving God would provide for us, and of the way to find such a life.
     To such the Lord speaks. To them He offers His living waterthe truths of the Writings. He shows, in the Writings, that He understands them, their hopes, their disappointments, their longing.
     The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. That seems like a commonplace sentence but it is not.

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There had not been a prophet in Israel for four hundred years. She was announcing a wonderful discovery. In a similar way something dramatic takes place when a person reads the Writings and begins to see that in these are not the books of a seventeenth century philosopher, but a revelation from the Lord.
     Then she asked Him what seemed to be a rather trivial question. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." In effect she was saying, "Which church is right?" The Jews said that Jerusalem was the only place to worship God, but the Samaritans believed it was good to worship on Mount Gerizim, the mountain where Joshua read the blessings to the sons of Israel.
     When people find the Writings and begin to believe in them, they start by asking them to solve some of the external questions that have long puzzled people. They may ask whether abortion is right or wrong, what kind of birth control is correct, whether euthanasia is ever acceptable. Perhaps they ask about customs in worship. Does the New Church baptize by total immersion or by the sign of water on the head? What are the proper customs at weddings or at funerals?
     Notice how Jesus answered the woman. He said that the Jews were right but that in the final analysis it is the spirit of worship that matters. "Woman, believe Me; the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and auth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The Jewish worship was correct, but the spirit of worship is what matters.
     This is the way in which the Writings answer questions. They recommend certain specific forms of behavior at times, but they always lead the mind back to the principles from which applications are drawn. The Writings do not often give commands.

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They invite our understanding of the principles of love and faith which govern our decisions. They also show how there are many external forms, each of which might mirror the internal loves which are from God.
     Then the woman asked the final question. It wasn't really a question, but a hint. "I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things."
     Only three times in all the New Testament did Jesus state that He was the Christ. The last time was to the high priest when Jesus was being tried. The high priest said, "I adjure you by the living God that You tell us if You are the Christ, the San of God" (Matt. 26:63). Jesus would not deny so central a truth, and in any case it didn't matter: the listeners would not believe. He said that He was.
     The second time was to the man who had been born blind and to whom Jesus gave his sight. Because the man insisted that Jesus did this miracle, he was cast out of the synagogue-expelled from the church, Jesus then found him and volunteered that He was the Christ.
     The first time was to this woman of Samaria. It was a simple declaration. "I who speak to you am He." This is the clear declaration of the Writings that they are indeed the Word of God.
     The woman then left her water pot and went into the city and gathered all the men of the city, saying, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? And they went out of the city and came to Him."
     She left her water pot. No longer does the inquirer seek for values in the knowledge of the past. Instead he or she gathers the various principles of the mind together-the men of the city-and submits them to the Writings. This represents the effort to take past values and ideas and see if the Writings can enlighten them. It is a searching inquiry, looking toward commitment.

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     Notice the words of the woman: "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did." When people begin to become thrilled with what the Writings say, it is because they seem to touch their lives. They say to themselves, "The Writings seem to understand what I am thinking. They seem to have an answer for the feelings I have. It seems that they have looked into my mind and know what my life is like." It is exciting to them to have a question in their minds and then find that the Writings address it, and they address it with "living water"-truths that speak to the principles of things, leading to answers.
     So they say to themselves, "These books seem to know everything that I have ever done." There is not a dark corner in our minds that is not spoken of in the Writings. The Lord shows that He understands our weaknesses, our faults, our sins. He understands them, and He shows them for what they are, and He shows us how to be delivered from them. There is not an innocent hope or longing or love that He doesn't associate with. Through His truth He makes them into realities. "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
     Before the story ends, Jesus had a conversation with His disciples. There is much in this which addresses our church and its evangelization efforts, but let one verse suffice. The disciples returned, and they watched in silent wonder as He spoke with the woman. After she had left they invited Him to eat. He replied, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." They were surprised, and wondered who had fed Him, but He responded, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."
     What was the food of which Jesus spoke? It was His love for saving every single human being who could possibly be reached. For this He hungered, and when He has found and helped them He has been fed.
     The food of which the disciples did not know was the multitude of people outside of Judaism who would be brought into the Christian Church.

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At that time had He asked them whether they thought He should reach out to Samaritans or Romans or Greeks, they would probably have been unable to appreciate the hunger He had to love these remote people. They would probably have said, "No. Let this beautiful truth be for our people. We are the chosen race."
     But He reached out to the Samaritans of this village, and they responded, and satisfied the Divine hunger for the salvation of all people. Nor would He ever cease. "My food is to do the will of Him who seat Me and to finish His work." The Lord's love for His universal church is never satisfied. He is fed anew each time a human being hears His Word and responds.
     So they came to Him, the men of Sychar, and they asked Him to stay with them for two days. "Two days" represents a state of instruction. It reflects the learning process that takes place when someone is beginning to embrace the Writings.
     "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all that I ever did.'" That is one kind of faith. Many people come to the Writings because of the testimony of the church. The woman, now a believer herself, represents the affection of truth which makes the church. People come and listen to sermons and classes, and they feel that the teachings of the Writings help in their lives. That is a valid form of faith. "And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.'"
     This is the faith that the Writings themselves promote: the ability to see in their truths the Lord Himself, speaking directly to us. Their quiet, rational prose talks to each individual. They exalt the freedom of each human intellect to see for itself whether a thing is true or not. When an inquirer reads their pages and discovers that the Lord is the Author of them, then his or her commitment is not to the church primarily.

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It is to the Lord.
     This spiritual conversation did not take place once. Wherever on earth there is a person of good will, the Lord is seeking this communication. Where there is the longing for truth, where a person has sought, even through disappointment and disillusionment, for principles of life, the Lord is present, waiting to open the conversation by saying, "Give Me to drink." "I appreciate and enter into your love for truth," He says. Then He leads the conversation, in the silent fields of our minds, toward that moment when we can see Him clearly in His New Word and say, "This is the Christ, the Savior of the World."

     Lesson: John 4:1-42 MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1991

MINISTERIAL CHANGES       Louis B. King       1991

The following Academy of the New Church Theological School students have been recognized as candidates for the priesthood of the New Church as of April 1st, 1991: Goran Appelgren, Simpson Darkwah, Mauro de Padua and Leslie Sheppard.
     The Rev. Arthur W. Schnarr, Jr. has been called to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Hurstville, Australia Society effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith has been called to serve as General-Church-in-Canada Pastor, effective September 1st, 1991.
     Louis B. King,
          Bishop

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NEWLY REVISED LITURGY 1991

NEWLY REVISED LITURGY       Louis B. King       1991

Loose-leaf copies of the newly revised Liturgy will be available for your inspection at the General Church Assembly by the Lake. Assembly music and orders of service will be printed in a separate booklet, but you will have an opportunity to discuss the revision of the new Liturgy in its almost completed form.
     The Liturgy provides the means for a congregation and the priest to speak and sing as a unit, while allowing the individual to worship the Lord in his or her own private way. The different orders of service included in a liturgy allow a certain variety for congregations each Sabbath, yet their similarity and consistency permit a sense of comfort to the worshiper in our scattered General Church.
     It is important, also, to keep the liturgics and music dynamic by producing new editions from time to time, keeping some of the old but adding new elements as times and tastes change. In producing this revision, considerable changes will be found to be consistent with the New King James Version of the Word being used from the lectern. That necessitated revising all the sentences, the selections from Scripture, the Psalters, and to be consistent, the wording in the prayers.
     Considerable work went into revising, deleting and adding new music for our worship. New contributions were solicited from musicians in our church, reviewed by a Music Committee, tested in different congregations, and then offered as recommendations to the Worship and Ritual Committee, who gave final recommendations to the Executive Bishop, ultimately responsible for the Liturgy used in the General Church.
     Among those who served on the Music Committee over a course of years were: Lloyd Smith, Lachlan Pitcairn, Christine Taylor, Donald Dillard, Richard Show, Chris Simons, Kenneth Rose, and Cathy Odhner. This committee was chaired by the Reverend Alfred Acton and later by the Reverend Larry Soneson.

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     Those who served on the Bishop's Worship and Ritual Committee that reviewed and revised the liturgics during these years for this edition were: Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Donald Rose, Erik Sandstrom, Kurt Asplundh and Robert Junge. Many helpful and creative contributions came from members of the Council of the Clergy, who will be using it in their worship services. Particular thanks to Mr. Robert Glenn who has faithfully served as secretary and custodian of work in progress. Also, our gratitude goes to Rev. Larry Soneson whose tireless efforts have expedited this work since December 1989, when completion of the revision seemed hopeless. Larry's leadership, patience and expertise have brought a happy culmination to years and years of work by those mentioned above.
     A new liturgy necessitates change, and change often creates disturbance to our affections for the old. We love what we know. The new takes time to learn and earn our affections. This is especially true with music that is purely emotional in our external worship. It is a joy to sing to the Lord with music we come to love. But the externals of worship are like garments that should allow for change.
     In an effort to allow a period of adjustment to new and revised music in our worship, we plan to publish a hymnal in a loose-leaf format, permitting a period of examination and study by our various congregations. Then, after a reasonable period, the edited selections can be incorporated into the Liturgy as a combined book for our worship. Meanwhile, this Liturgy is available for our congregations to use along with music under separate cover.
     It is hoped that our members will find herein still intact much of what they came to love in previous editions, and will be patient as some changes and additions are gradually added to our rituals. It certainly is the sincere desire of those who labored long and faithfully to produce this edition. And to them I am deeply indebted for their labor of love.
     Louis B. King,
          Bishop

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RETIREMENT OF PETER NKABINDE 1991

RETIREMENT OF PETER NKABINDE       Editor       1991

Rev. Peter Nkabinde was ordained into the ministry in 1974 at the age of 63 and served for sixteen years. On December 2nd, 1990 he retired as pastor of the Diepkloof Society of the General Church in South Africa. On the occasion of the retirement a letter was read from Bishop Peter M. Buss to the members of the General Church in the Transvaal. (Mr. Buss had been pastor there.) Here follows part of that letter and then some of the remarks by Mr. Nkabinde.

Dear Friends,
     It is with deep gratitude that I write to express my appreciation of the work done by the Rev. Peter Nkabinde and his wife Tryphina in the service of the Lord's church over the last two decades.
     Around 1970 Mr. Nkabinde, then retired from his work as a school superintendent, approached me and asked if he could enter the ministry of the General Church. I was surprised. He was then 60 years old, and usually we ask ministers to retire from this work at 65. He would still have to complete some period of study before ordination.
     The ministers of the church, however-the Rev. Messrs. Benjamin Nzimande, Paul Sibeko, Alfred Mbatha, and others-urged me to accept his candidacy. They felt that he was a man of unique talents who should be allowed to serve the church for as many years as the Lord allowed him to continue in good health in this world. I accepted their judgment, and his training began. He was inaugurated into the ministry of the New Church at Ntumeni on June 23, 1974, by Bishop King, and ordained into the second degree of the priesthood, also by Bishop King, on November 13, 1977, at Alexandra.
     Umfundisi Nkabinde has served the church as a priest for sixteen years. During that time he has been pastor of the Alexandra Society, pastor of the Diepkloof Society, and district pastor to the Transvaal region.

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Under his able leadership the church has been strong, surviving and growing throughout this period. The forced move of many from Alexandra to different areas, the political changes and much of the turmoil which surrounded it have called for wisdom and understanding from the church leadership, Umfundisi Nkabinde has provided that leadership, helping people to see the Lord's leading, despite troubles and injustices, helping them to see His hand in their everyday lives so that they can look to Him for their salvation and their happiness.
     His wife Tryphina has been a strong support for his work. Together they have worked with Unselfish zeal for the progress of the Lord's church, and her inspiration has helped him in his dedication to the use of the priesthood.

     FAREWELL REMARKS OF PETER NKABINDE

     I have always understood that drowning men see before them a complete record of their lives; well, I felt like a drowning man while speakers were speaking. Ladies and gentlemen: In all my twenty years as Pastor of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, three years of which I served as candidate, this is the most memorable moment of all.
     That it is a happy day none will doubt, and that it is unique might take some proving and yet it is indeed unique, for not too many are given the privilege of enjoying eighty years of truly happy life.
     Sixty years ago my good wife and I had nothing but hopes and anticipation, but now I know that we can expect more sorrows than joys, particularly in earthly things.
     It is toward evening; it is the cool of the day; the hour of reflection has come on, for the day of my life, together with that of my good wife, is far spent and that thought could make us sad were it not for the fact that our Saviour still abides with us and that He has promised to do so until the end of time.

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     Therefore, on this notable occasion, we join most earnestly in the prayer of the Emmaus disciples: "Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent" (Luke 24:29).
     Our life has had its share of problems and cares. Its joys were offset with sorrows, but in them all we have found our Lord a faithful God; we found Him abiding; we found Him helping, and we found Him comforting. As a result we have been happy in spite of sadness, and because of that, we trust that He will continue to protect and guide us, for man's life is completely in the hands of the Lord.
     For never has a ship of life crossed the sea of life without its day of trouble; hence, when the day of trouble comes to us, we will remember the invitation of our Lord who says, "Call upon Me, no matter what the trouble may be; call upon Me whether sickness or sorrow; call upon Me whether pain or poverty; whether disappointment or death, call upon Me."
     "In prayer, trustingly slip your hand into Mine and I will deliver you." And, as such, we will take all to the Lord in prayer and as a result we can look forward still with the comforting anticipation that we will continue to be happy, for we have the Lord abiding with us, to help in every hour of need, and we have His assurance that He will lead us safely through the trial of death, into the glorious nuptial halls on high. There, in the heavenly home, we will find happiness forevermore.
     I am keenly aware of how much I shall miss my part in the active administration of the uses of the General Church, but the decision is a right decision, and I trust that the future will provide other ways in which I may continue to be of use in our beloved church, for as my years ripen, my love for work in the Lord's vineyard grows fender, and at this moment, all things of passing interest are out of my mind. There is nothing that stands out before my mind as of any consequence save work in the Lord's vineyard, which makes the parting difficult.
     It can be noted that we have, during my time of office, enjoyed a slow but steady increase in membership.

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For during these years a few areas have been organized and a few groups have been recognized
     To this should be added the awakening of the church to the responsibilities in the field of external evangelization, and as an outcome, we have good relations and have earned the respect of other sects who have shown interest in the essential doctrines of the church (e.g., life after death, etc.).
     A man or woman who co-operates with the Divine purpose in imparting to youth a knowledge of God and molding the character into harmony with His, does a high and noble work. As he awakens a desire to reach God's ideal, he presents an education that is as high as heaven and as broad as the universe; an education that cannot be completed in this life but that will be continued in the life to come: an education that secures to the successful student his passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher grade in the school above.
     In closing, I wish to express my deep appreciation to the Transvaal Society of the white South Africans and especially to its pastor, the Rev. Andrew Dibb, for their dedicated work that has led to the success of this enormous occasion. It is pleasing to notice that the white and black societies are developing strong working relationships.
     I thank you all with my full heart for the single mark of trust and goodwill which these beautiful presents cherish.
     I shall cling, while memory lasts, to remember the honor which I have this day received at your hands.
     My special thanks go to the Society of the New Church of South Africa. Their presence here reminds me of their stalwart, brave and courageous leader, the Rev. Obed Mooki, who was always ready to give assistance to the needy. Their presence here has graced this notable occasion.
     My appreciation and gratitude to dedicated and hard-working candidates for their unfailing and ready help in the day-to-day problems and to the societies and church councils for their cooperation and assistance.

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I am particularly pleased that I leave you under the guidance of three candidates for the ministry: Jacob Maseko, Albert Thabede and Reuben Tshabalala.
     Last, but by no means least, my thanks to my wife, a sweet love of a wife who for sixty years has never given me real cause for grief, a wife who stands by my side in the battle's front, a wife who is a comrade to me, ever willing to interpose herself between me and the enemy; a mother for my children who has cradled and nursed and trained them for the service of the living God, in whom I most delight; a mother indeed who has never ceased to bear their sorrows on her heart; a good wife who understands my very nature, the rise and fall of my feelings, the bent of my thoughts and the purpose of my existence; a friend whose communion has ever been pleasant-the most pleasant of all other friends to whom I ever turn with satisfaction, who never shocks my feelings by harsh, bitter, unwomanly provocation of extreme anger, and on this notable occasion, on this day of my retirement from active service, I thank her heartily, for were it not for her support in all undertakings, I would not have made such a success.
     I again and again thank you all here present.
PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT 1991

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1991

AN ADDRESS TO THE ACADEMY

     October, 1990

     Part 2

     Government in heaven: Principles that clearly apply

     "And I fell at his feet to worship [the angel]. But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!'" (Rev. 19:10).

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     "For who is greater? He that sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as One who serves" (Luke 22:27).

     There are different kinds of government in the heavens, particularly in the celestial and spiritual kingdoms (see HH 213, 214). There are also differences within the spiritual kingdom (see HH 217). Nevertheless, the primary quality is mutual love. That means that there is a devotion to a good higher than each individual. From this it is that governors regard the public good as more important than their own (see HH 213, 217).
     How are governors chosen? Their good and their wisdom are the qualifications. Their good is to "will good to all," and their wisdom is to "know how to provide for its being done" (HH 218). This is surely an applicable principle for earth. They administer all things in accordance with the laws, "which they Understand because they are wise, and in doubtful matters they enlightened by the Lord" (HH 215).
     In heaven, however, "no one is commanded or ordered" (AC 5732). This is of the Lord, for "the Lord does not command but leads" (AC 6390). Governors see themselves as servants and as ministers, for serving is doing good to another (see HH 218, 219; AC 10794), and ministering is to "be of service by supplying that which another person needs" (AC 4976; see also HH 218). Instruction is a form of ministering, for we need the truth (see HH 219, 10794, 5088).
     Angels have great power often through an influx into others of thoughts and affections, although there is willing obedience (see AC 5732). Government, even among angels, is necessary for the sake of proper order (see HH 213). The spiritual concept of such governance is that they "rule from the love of the neighbor; and from this the angels possess such great power" (HH 220 footnote). Yet they lose all power if they do not acknowledge that strength is from the Lord (see HH 230; cf. AC 1692, 1661, 3994, 1712 et al.

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     Governors accept glory, honor, and obedience (see HH 218; cf. AE 1191:2). Yet "in their conversation there is nothing of command from one to another, for no one desires to be master and thereby to look upon another as a servant; but everyone desires to minister to and serve others" (AC 5732). Such rule is compared to that of a father to the children whom he loves. He does not consider them his subjects, although they obey him willingly (see AC 10814; cf. HH 219, AC 10160). "In heaven all are like equals . . . but the very love of good and truth causes everyone, as if from himself, to subordinate himself to those who are superior to him in the wisdom of good and the intelligence of truth" (AC 7773).
     So there is government in heaven, yet it provides for freedom, since it protects order, and allows the greater good to be provided. This freedom is beautifully summed up in one line in the Writings: "No one there acknowledges in heart anyone above himself except the Lord only" (AE 735: 2, emphasis added; cf. AC 7773).
     Mutual love is the universal leveller. The countless multitudes of created beings who have responded to His love stand on one plane; only He is higher.
     "All servitude is from the affection of the love of self and of the world, and all freedom is from the affection of love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. The reason is that the affection of the former love flows in from hell, which commands with violence; whereas the affection of the latter love flows in from the Lord, who does not command but leads" (AC 6390).

The love of ruling and the sphere of authority

     "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be the slave of all.

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For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45).

     "The celestial of love does not wish to exist for itself bur for all, thus to impart all that is its own to others. The Lord wishes to impart to the human race everything that is His, which is what He meant when He spoke about the Son of Man coming to give His life a ransom for many" (AC 1419).

     The love of ruling is very sweet: so delightful, in fact, that it seems to be heavenly, even though it comes from hell (see LJ Post. 245-249). Therefore one scary passage says that we love any notion which gives us authority, because "everyone desires to procure for himself the height of power!" (AC 8581).
     We spend a lot of our lives fighting this harsh reality. Some of us are more aggressive than others, but we all like to get our way. Our way: that is human government gone wrong.
     I have yet to find a passage in the Writings that talks about good human "authority. They reject the notion. Some passages speak of commanders in military and civil affairs who rejected all notion of God after death, because "the love of commanding is opposite to heavenly love" (LJ Post. 246, 245). The love of commanding led another Person into evils of every kind (see LJ Post. 248). Those who, in this love cannot become spiritual, because they become immersed in the thought of how important they are, and these feelings are from the proprium (see LJ Post. 249). The most stubborn spirits in the other life are those who loved authority, because they became infuriated with anyone who opposed them (see AC 5721; also AC 1506).
     Then there are those who have loved to gain power by slandering the righteous. They can't censure them, "for uprightness defends itself; but they can misrepresent what they say, call them naive and incompetent, and imply that it's their fault if things go wrong (AC 4227). (Does this take place on earth?) Such People were found to be interiorly vicious.

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They counted the murder of just persons of no account if these people stood in the way of what they wanted.
     Others got power by the principle of "divide and rule." Their particular skill was in making people mad at each other, and while these people fought, they grabbed the power (see AC 5718).
     There are a few references to potentially good people who have a sphere of authority when they come into the other world. One such person took away all the freedom of the people around him. They felt they dared not speak in his presence (see AC 1507). Another was very knowledgeable, and this led him to want to control and direct everything. A society in the spiritual world sent him to Swedenborg because they were trying to get rid of him. Swedenborg taught him that when he tried to direct things from his own intelligence he was terribly limited, but that incredible variety exists when we are directed by the Lord's intelligence (see AC 4419).
     I like that example, because it emphasizes the oft-repeated principle that if we free up the many minds in our institution, it will accomplish so much more than if a few minds direct everything.
     Finally, a certain spirit who wanted to keep his authority in the other life was told that nobody cared how powerful he had been before. The king of this new kingdom dispensed favors in accordance with a person's goodness and truth and from mercy; those are the rules of heaven. Any other kind of command was treason. "On hearing this he was ashamed" (AC 451).
     Such complete rejection of the notion of human authority or of the superiority of one individual over others needs careful reflection. Consider the trappings of power with which people have surrounded themselves throughout the centuries, and their apparent effectiveness in drawing to themselves an adulation which belongs only to God. The pope is called "His Holiness." people addressing some tribal kings would take a while to get through all the customary terms of sycophantic address before they could get down to business.

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Castles, thrones, jewels, genuflections, honeyed phrases are a futile part of human history. It all passes away. As we know, it is a sham. Nicolas Caecescu amassed thousands to cheer him, and four days later he was dead and vilified by "his" people. In Africa alone in the last few decades 150 rulers have relinquished power, 144 of them involuntarily. What reliance should they have placed on the praise of their subjects?
     There has been some progress in this area in our culture. There is talk about involving all people in decisions; there are leadership styles which honor the contribution of all minds.
     This is a concept to which our church has often responded with enthusiasm. There is the story of old Mr. Price, back in the early 1900s, who was walking home from the station one cold January day. A neighbor from Huntingdon Valley, not in the church, walked with him, and opened what he must have thought would be a favorable conversational gambit. "That Bishop [W. F.] Pendleton: he's such a holy man," to which Mr. Price growled reply: "He's just an ornery cuss like the rest of us.
     Deeply imbedded in the human heart is the wish to act as from ourselves. To the degree that the respect accorded to others takes away from this, it is harmful. But remember, respect is said to be due to leaders because of the importance of the uses they administer (see HH 218; AC 10796).

(To be continued)
ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP (July 7-13, 1991) 1991

ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP (July 7-13, 1991)       Editor       1991

The camp, held on the campus of the Academy of the New Church, is open to boys and girls who will have completed 8th or 9th grades in May of June of 1991. Contact William C. Fehon, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (phone 215-947-4200).

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I HAVE POWER, I HAVE POWER (2) 1991

I HAVE POWER, I HAVE POWER (2)       Editor       1991

Last month we noted the saying by the representative of Rome's temporal might: "I have power" (John 19:10). But if it were not, given from above he would have had "no power at all."
     A common concept in the world is that there is on the one hand a powerful God, and on the other a powerful devil. Doesn't the hymn say that "his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate"? Does the devil not rule hell? No, the Lord rules the hells, and the power of the hells is "no power at all."
     This is emphatically stated. "As the evil have no power, so before the Lord the entire hell is not only as nothing, but in respect to power is absolutely nothing." This is from Divine Providence 19, which adds, "And yet, what is wonderful, the wicked all believe themselves to be powerful."
     Does one evil spirit have power over another evil spirit? The same passage says that those in hell "have indeed power with one another; for an evil person is able to do evil, and does it in a thousand ways." But is this power not dust against dust or chaff against chaff?

     A Flea Against a Flea

     The Writings portray the illusive power of those in hell in graphic fashion. "Infernal spirits believe themselves to be stronger and more powerful than others, but this for the reason that they prevail over those who are in evil and in falsities therefrom, thus one infernal spirit over another infernal spirit."
     The passage continues: "From this appearance they believe themselves to be powerful. But such power may be compared to that of a mite against a mite, or of a flea against a flea, of dust against dust, or of chaff against chaff, the power of which is merely relative to their mutual forces.

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Add to this that infernal spirits are elated in mind, and wish to be called vigorous, strong, and heroes for the most trivial reasons" (AE 783:4).
     We will speak in a later editorial about the sense in which hell is powerful, For the present, consider the truth as presented in the words of the 37th Psalm:
     I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found."
DISCUSSION IN JAPAN 1991

DISCUSSION IN JAPAN       Breton Blair       1991

Dear Editor:
     A recent church service and class provided me with an opportunity which I will cherish for my entire life-the chance to hear and understand Japanese friends discussing the Lord's Word in their native tongue.
     Thanks to accurate interpreting by Mineko Nagashima and her father, Tatsuya, I was able both to hear and participate in a talk which would otherwise have been well beyond the scope of my current linguistic ability.
     Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised to learn that church people in Japan entertain thoughts about the Lord's Word which are identical to those in the West. The following are only a few of the topics which were open for discussion.

Why does the Lord allow man to live in the world among people of different values?

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Why does the King James version of the Bible use the phrase "Hold your peace"? (e.g., Exodus 14:14, Mark 10:48). What are the implications of this?

Would young couples strive for, and truly gain; the spiritual fruits of marriages if they knew of the challenges ahead of them?

     Do these questions sound familiar? Coming from a western culture, which often mistakes non-proficiency in English as a sign of ignorance, I found it delightfully sobering to discover the opposite. New Church people in Japan maintain a relationship with the Lord which is not only sincere but is also discerning and sophisticated.
     I am currently living in Urawa, a small city just north of Tokyo. I am teaching English conversation full time, with my free hours devoted to studying Japanese. Fortunately, I can take advantage of the monthly church services being held at Pana Lingua, a Japanese teachers' school run by Mr. Nagashima.
     The services themselves are quite a heartwarming experience. Starting at 11:00 a.m., Mr. Nagashima welcomes the worshipers, one of whom later opens the Word. Throughout the course of the service at least three different people stand and read portions of the Word, the Writings, or a General Church sermon in Japanese translation. Also, as part of a new tradition, several other members often sing a religious choral piece, either in Japanese or English.
     Following the worship portion the lay people then treat each other to a delicious potluck meal, which is the scene of a very special activity-before eating they all cross their arms, connect tender hands, and worship the Lord.
     When the meal is concluded, all interested people are invited to stay and discuss the ideas of the day's sermon as they apply to their own lives. At this point I encourage you to remember my wonderful discovery.
     Breton Blair,
          Tokyo, Japan

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MAURICE NICOLL 1991

MAURICE NICOLL       Various       1991

Dear Editor:
     I'm not sure if this will end up as a bona fide "letter to the editor," but it is provoked by your brief editorial on Maurice Nicoll in the January NCL. Two phrases in particular sort of stuck in my craw: "Nicoll's book The New Man is excellent," and " . . . one gets the feeling he is quoting Swedenborg."
     While I would agree in principle that the book is "excellent," it is also, in my estimation, plagiaristic, for, so far as I know, he nowhere in the book even mentions Swedenborg, let alone credits him for the bulk of the ideas in the book. I was greatly upset when I read the book quite a few years ago, realizing that almost every idea of significance in it was directly or indirectly "borrowed" from Swedenborg. I began to highlight the passages that were clearly Swedenborgian in origin and before I tired of it, the first part of my book had hardly a page that did not have something highlighted.
     I have not read his Dream Psychology or his Commentaries on Gurdieff and Ouspensky, but am quite familiar with The New Man, Living Time, and The Mark. It was Living Time that helped vindicate him for me for he frequently mentions Swedenborg in that book, giving him due and proper credit. I'm enclosing photocopies of most of the instances that occur in that book.
     The Mark, of course, was not published until after his death and was edited by his daughter, Jane Mounsey, who decided on the order of the contents, etc. I'm aware of only two direct references to Swedenborg in that book, but again, it teems with his ideas. The dust jacket gives a clue to the origin of the title "the new man" as it identifies The Mark as a companion to the earlier work. Let me just quote the relevant part, "It [The Mark] discusses, in relation to the Gospels, the idea that real religion is about another man, latent but unborn, in every man.

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The end of this transformation of a man is thought of as The Mark to be aimed at."
     Perhaps it is too soon, but the biographical dictionaries that I have looked at all list his eminent father, William Robertson Nicoll, but none give Maurice so much as a line. History will decide, I suppose, what his proper place should be. But I still find it hard to forgive him for ransacking Swedenborg, so to speak, without so much as a "thank you, sir!"
     Rev. William Ross Woofenden,
          Sharon, Massachusetts

     P.S. Here are some quotations from Living Time by Maurice Nicoll

     "Swedenborg says that our self-love demands as its main object a favorable reflection of ourselves in others" (p. 42).
     "Nothing, says Swedenborg, can produce such a brilliant effect upon oneself as the fully gratified self-love. For its delight, he says, reaches to every fibre of the body, and is felt far more intensely than is the gratification of any of the physical appetites. So also are the effects of wounded self-love equally intense. Swedenborg defines the first step beyond self-love as the love of uses" (p. 44).
     "A division of memory into two kinds has been described by Swedenborg. He divides memory into exterior and interior. The former he connects with the outer man, and the latter with inner man. 'Nothing,' he says, 'perishes.'" (On page 117 Nicoll quotes from AC 2474 about "The Book of Life.)
     "Swedenborg insisted that at death man became a spirit and found himself in a world exactly like this, at first sight, so much so that the man did not know that he was dead. Then according to his state of understanding, he gravitated little by little in the direction of his 'ruling love' and so passed either toward heaven or hell" (p. 178).

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     "There are some valuable remarks on levels to be found in Swedenborg's writings, which we can draw out of the mass of other material that does not enter into our discussion" (p. 192).
     "Swedenborg asserts that there are three discontinuous degrees in man" (p. 193). On page 194 Nicoll gives Arcana Coelestia as the source for what he says for different kinds of truth.
"Swedenborg makes the striking observation, which I do not pretend to understand, that the natural understanding can rise to the topmost of the three continuous degrees that he divides the mind into" (p. 201).
     "Swedenborg observes that man is only re-action in his natural state . . . . Swedenborg adds: 'Natural man is said to be dead however good his actions may be from the civil and moral point of view'" (p. 216).

Dear Editor:
     In your January editorial "Maurice Nicoll and Swedenborg" you commented that "one gets the feeling that he is quoting Swedenborg" (p.32).
     I refer you to the book Maurice Nicoll: A Portrait by Beryl Pogson (Globe Press Books, 1987). Miss Pogson was Nicoll's personal secretary for fourteen years, from 1939-53, after having been a pupil for five years. During the fourteen years as secretary she lived with the Nicolls along with others who were his pupils. She recounts the several moves the group makes, quotes from his diary, and gives a general biography of this prolific writer and lecturer. She mentions Swedenborg twice in this 286-page work, on pages 140 and 267.
     In the first instance she is describing their sudden displacement in 1939 when their homes were taken over by the British military as they were on the expected German invasion route, and moved the group from Lakes Farm at Rayne in Essex, England, to Birdlip in Gloucestershire.

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She describes the group leaving the place on 24 hours' notice.

I had packed a number of Dr. Nicoll's books, all that were indispensable, every version of the Bible, all the volumes of Swedenborg, the Hermetica, Plato, and all the notebooks and manuscripts (p.140).

     The second reference comes in the last few months before his death from cancer in 1953.

However, at this stage, Dr. Nicoll had come to receive reviews and letters from readers, new and old, very quietly. We would read them aloud when we were all together in his room. His own private reading was Swedenborg and the Gospels. The papers that he was still writing week by week, many of them written in bed, were not published until after his death, and his further Gospel studies, also to be published posthumously, were not completed (p. 267).

     The papers were published as The Psychological Commentaries on Ouspensky and Gurdiefff. The Gospel studies were published under the title The Mark. Nicoll refers to Swedenborg several times in this work and nine times in Living Time, published in 1952, and it becomes obvious that the Writings were a primary source for him.
     My own favorite work by Dr. Nicoll is The New Man published in 1950 that you mentioned.
     I've used it in a course on introduction to Swedenborg for non-New Church audiences. Some key concepts are stated very clearly in the context of the New Testament. I like using this as a bridge between Carl Jung, who was a good friend and influence on Nicoll, and Swedenborg because many modern Christian writers are familiar with and draw from Jung in their writings about the Gospels. I'm thinking of examples such as Wallace B, Clift, Morton Kelsey, and John Sanford.
     I want to give credit for my discovery of Maurice Nicoll to Delores Soderberg of Glenview.

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She discovered The New Man in a bookstore and described to me, as you did in your editorial, the remarkable parallel between ideas in this little work and Swedenborg.
     B. Tryn Clark,

          East Lansing, Michigan
DEAD POETS 1991

DEAD POETS       Rev. Cedric King       1991

Dear Editor:
     I'm catching up on my reading of NCL and feel moved to respond to the very fine review, "Dead Poets Society-The Movie" (Sept. '90, p. 413).
     I agree with all of Norman Heldon's sensitive remarks, and wish to add some personal observations on the subject of suicide which he raised.
     I wonder if we are overly influenced by a culture which sees only the tragic side of suicide? Western society glorifies the individual. Unfortunately, when an individual voluntarily gives up his right to succeed, our sense of failure is often complete. Maybe we intimidated by the realization that an absolute faith in self-sufficiency is unwarranted.
     In cultures where the importance of the group overshadows that of the individual (Japan, e.g.), the choice of suicide is often viewed as altruistic, even redemptive. No single culture has a monopoly on the truth. We need to at least consider each other's points of view.
     One of the glories of the New Church is its emphasis upon the utter reality of the spirit world. Things only begin here. They barely get started. We shall all have eternity to work out the details, The less real the spiritual world is to people, the greater becomes the pressure to "solve" all problems in a few dreadfully short years. No wonder reincarnation is such a popular fallacy.

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     Many of the problems we face (self-image, addiction, sexuality, etc.) are too complex and deeply rooted to be fully unraveled on earth. We do the best we can with the limited tools we have, yet far more may be required-the extraordinary compassion and insights of angelic guides who have dealt with millions of cases over thousands of years. "They [angels] answered that they view all people from their purpose, intention or end, and make distinctions accordingly" (CL 527:3).
     Should we lament the spiritual state of a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to save his buddies, when he might have hurled it back at the enemy? Everyday life for some can resemble combat. One may be overwhelmed with personal issues of such a fearful and explosive nature that suicide appears to be the only solution. Who really knows how he will react to a crisis before the fact?
     In the movie (Dead Poets Society) the son realizes he can't change his father. So he solves their dilemma by removing himself from the situation. After my anger toward the father subsided, I could only feel pity for him. He was obviously a helpless victim of his own rigid value system. But what if his son's suicide brought him to the point of self-examination? I can imagine a scenario in which they finally meet again after death and embrace each other tenderly. I can hear the father say through his tears, "Thank you, son, for saving my life."
     "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4).
     Rev. Cedric King,
          El Toro, California

     PS. Aside from a very few obscure passages in the Diary, I could find but one passage in the Writings which deals directly with suicide, AC 8950. See what you think.

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CAUSES OF WAR 1991

CAUSES OF WAR       Rev. Martin Pryke       1991

Dear Editor:
     In recent weeks many have been led to turn to Divine Providence 251 in order to understand better the causes of war. It is certainly a number to be read and carefully considered in these days of discord. The teachings are clear and it is not my intention to develop, or even review, them. But there is one question that might perhaps be usefully asked. Note the following quotations from that number (emphasis is added):

. . . all wars, although they may be civil in character, represent in heaven states of the church, and are correspondences . . . Such are all wars at this day.

. . . all things which take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and all spiritual things have relation to the church.

. . . the quality of the church on earth and what the evils are into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be seen at all in the natural world . . . However, this is seen in the spiritual world where internal things appear, and in these is the church itself. . .

     My interest is in asking myself exactly what is meant in these places by "the church." Does it mean the church specific or the church universal? Surely neither, for those who are genuinely in these churches are in states of regeneration, not in states which would ultimate themselves in war. I think it must be self-evident that the reference is not to the church organizations. The Writings rarely refer to these except in reference to the priesthood or church government. Could our external church organization as such be responsible for the present war? I am sure that we personally make our own unregenerate contributions to it, but not as a church organization.

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     I suggest that the reference here is not to those associations of men which we usually think of by the term "church," but rather to the spiritual state of mankind as a whole. How far is the spiritual state of the human race at any given time impregnated with the sphere of the Lord's church? What is the state of mankind with reference to the Lord's kingdom? What is the state of the church, which is a spiritual state, with those countries which wage war? Surely it is upon the answer to these questions that the causes of human conflict depend.
     Rev. Martin Pryke,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
CONCERNING THE WORD 1991

CONCERNING THE WORD        Heulwen M. Ridgway       1991

Dear Editor:
     In the October 1990 issue of NCL, Rev. Erik E, Sandstrom disagrees with what I wrote in an article in the May 1990 issue (not in the August issue as mentioned by Mr. Sandstrom, which contained an essential correction to my article).
     Mr. Sandstrom says "I, however, feel a bit uneasy about many Words, each with an internal sense."

     Has there been one Word or have there been many Words? AC 2895 answers this question in these words:

As regards the Word in particular, it has existed in all times, but not the Word which we have at this day. There was one Word in the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood; another in the Ancient Church which was after the flood; then the Word written through Moses and the prophets in the Jewish Church; and finally the Word written through the Evangelists in the new church.

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     We can safely trust the Word of the Lord that there have been many Words.
     The Word is the Word on account of its internal sense, for: . . . the internal sense makes the Word to be Divine" (AC 1540). This is enlarged upon in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 4:

This sense [the internal sense] is the spirit which gives life to the letter, it can therefore bear witness to the Divinity and Holiness of the Word . . . .

     So we have many Words, each of which is the Word because each contains an internal sense. None would be the Word, but merely a letter lacking life, if it lacked an internal sense. In my article in the May issue of NCL I referred to other passages in the "Writings" which reinforce this message.
     I fully agree with Mr. Sandstrom that the internal sense of the Word cannot be dispersed. Indeed, it is critical that it cannot be dispersed, injured or violated. (The wording varies in different passages in the "Writings" in explanation of John 19:23, 24, to which Mr. Sandstrom referred, where it is said that the Lord's coat or vesture was not divided.) The reason for this is because: " . . . to violate the internal sense is to deny . . . the Lord's Divine Human, love to Him, and love toward the neighbor [and] that the Word . . . is Divine . . . " (AC 3454).
     However, it is clear that the internal sense is accommodated to different states:

Furthermore, all things in general and particular which in the internal sense treat of the Lord treat also of His kingdom and church . . . But the internal sense concerning the Lord is the highest sense, whereas the internal sense concerning His kingdom is the relative sense" (AC 3245:3).

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The Divine Itself is in the highest sense of the Word, because therein is the Lord. The Divine is also in the internal sense, because therein is the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; hence this sense is called celestial and spiritual (AC 3439).

But the Word in the internal sense is spiritual; and this sense is accommodated to the understanding of the angels in the spiritual kingdom of the Lord . . . but the Word in the inmost sense is celestial, this sense being accommodated to the perception of the angels in the celestial kingdom of the Lord. . . (AC 10614:5).

The coat not being divided signified that the Divine truth spiritual which proceeds immediately from the Divine truth celestial could not be dispersed, because that truth is the internal truth of the Word, such as it is with the angels in heaven (AC 9942:13).

     The first three of these quotations show that the Divine truth is accommodated to the celestial degree and thence to the spiritual degree. The fourth quotation tells us that the accommodation from the celestial to the spiritual does not disperse the internal truths of the Word.
     This accommodation is to each state of the individual and of the church itself. Accommodation is not a division or dispersal of the internal; it is a clothing of the internal to meet the needs of various states. So when passages in the "Writings," or Word for the New Church, show that each Word had an internal sense, we can understand that each was an accommodation of the Divine Itself to the needs of those ages of the church.
     Miss Heulwen M. Ridgway,
          Canberra, Australia

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C. S. LEWIS AND SWEDENBORG 1991

C. S. LEWIS AND SWEDENBORG       Gordon Jacobs       1991

Dear Editor:
     I should like to comment on your editorial on C. S. Lewis and Swedenborg in the December 1990 issue.
     First of all, regarding the MacDonald connection, we are given further information about the influence of Swedenborg on George MacDonald in a biography of him by William Raeper in 1987 (Lion Publishing).
     Apparently when he was a student aged nineteen at university, his family was Unable to pay for his studies as they were in financial straits, and so he spent about a year in a nobleman's castle in Scotland doing tutorial work and cataloguing the library. We are told (page 49) that in this library "he reached to the mystical writings of Swedenborg and Jacob Boehme. The writers he found in the library were the writers who were able to offer MacDonald the key to constructing a theology he could live with and submit to-introducing him to a God who expressed love and not judgment, and whose character was seen in the workings of nature."
     Later, we are informed (page 73) that when at college "MacDonald really was immersing himself in mystic and mysterious writers-in Swedenborg, the oblique Swede who spoke with spirits and wrote volume after volume of impenetrable, pseudo-biblical script, and in Jacob Boehme."
     The book also mentions that E D. Maurice, MacDonald's mentor, was familiar with Swedenborg (p. 240). We're also told that MacDonald was treated medically by Swedenborgian Garth Wilkinson, "one of his friends from early days" (p. 258).
     William Raeper also shows how MacDonald outlines "an alchemical correspondence between the things of the spirit and the things of matter, highlighted in Swedenborg's theory of correspondences which MacDonald had studied" (pages 370, 371).

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     Now, as regards the possibility of C. S. Lewis' having read some of the Writings, there is evidence of his knowledge of Swedenborg. In a book published by Collins in 1980 of essays edited by James T. Come, C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table, Arthur Cecil Harwood, writing on Anthroposophy, quotes from a letter from C. S. Lewis to him dated 28th October 1926: " . . . if more knowledge is to come it must be the wordless and thoughtless knowledge of the mystic; not the celestial statistics of Swedenborg, the Lemurian history of Steiner, or the demonology of the Platonists. All this seems to me merely an attempt to know the superintelligible as if it were a new slice of the intelligible."
     A. C. Harwood writes: "In comparing Steiner to Swedenborg, Lewis is here applying to the former Dr. Johnson's criticism of the latter, which I once heard him quote: 'Sir, if he had seen unspeakable things he would have been more reticent about them.'"
     I know of no other direct reference by C. S. Lewis to Swedenborg other than the above, but it at least establishes a direct connection. I find A. C. Harwood's quote from Dr. Johnson also especially interesting inasmuch as I have not seen this referred to in any New Church publication, nor anywhere else.
     Gordon Jacobs,
          Birmingham, England
AMONG MY FAVORITE PASSAGES 1991

AMONG MY FAVORITE PASSAGES       John Sabol       1991

I have been racking my mind trying to decide what would be my favorite quote from the Writings (if asked), and finally as I awoke one morning (on the Lord's Day, Oct. 28th, 1990) my guardian angels prompted me to think strongly about the concept, "To shun evil is to do good"!
     Our evil propriums make this an important doctrine to reflect on and understand! The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said that we have first to cease from evil and then to learn to do good.


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Before this we do not know what good is or what its nature is. Thus evil does not realize what good is, but good can see evil! And since the "first fruits" of the Word are the Ten Precepts, the "Thou Shall Not's" apply. We ate all introduced into the church by learning what evil is, and by not doing it because it is against God!
     Therefore the first part of the Word is holy because no one can do "Christian good" before observing the Lord's precepts "To avoid evil as sin is to do good"!
     Doctrine of Life n. 58 reinforces this: "In the second table . . . it is not said that man is to do this or that good, but that he should not do this or that evil . . . because man cannot do anything good from himself. But when he does not do evils, he then does good, not from himself but from our Lord"! (see AR 461 ending).
     Divine Providence 326:8 repeats this, stating that "If you do goods in all abundance, that is, if you build churches, endow hospitals, give alms daily, succor widows and orphans . . . and yet do not shun evils as sins against God, all these goods are not goods, but are either hypocritical or meritorious."
     True Christian Religion sums it up nicely in a law that we all should memorize: " . . . it is believed that charity is simply to do good, and that then one does not do evil. Consequently, that the first of charity is to do good, and its second not to do evil. But this is turned completely Upside down. The first of charity is to put away evil, and the second of charity is to do good! For it is a universal law in the spiritual world, and thus also in the natural world, that in proportion as anyone does not will evil he wills good. Thus in proportion as he turns away from hell, from which all evil ascends, he turns himself to heaven, from which all good descends . . . " (TCR 437).
     John Sabol

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Church News 1991

Church News       Norman Heldon       1991

HURSTVILLE

     It may be about two years since a report was sent from the Hurstville Society. However, its members have not been sitting down waiting for things to happen; they've been very busy. Increasing emphasis is being given to evangelization work, and it is certainly true that the church is becoming better known. Quite a number of contacts have resulted from a series of advertisements in a local newspaper, and Rev. Douglas Taylor is seeking opportunities to address organizations such as Lions and Apex and also university students. There have been encouraging responses to visitors' services, and we are learning as we go along. No need for a bigger church building as yet but we have that in mind.
     Some copies of the Writings were known to have been brought to Australia on a ship of the First Fleet that came to Australia from England. The pastor was invited by the Friends of the National University Library to present a 1786 edition of True Christian Religion to the library and be guest speaker on that day. The book was a gift from the Swedenborg Foundation.
     Mr. Lindthman Heldon was called by the Lord into the spiritual world on May 21st, 1990. Lin, who had served as lay leader of the Hurstville Society from 1946 to 1957, had a deep love for the doctrines of the New Church, a love which was shown in some of the many poems he wrote. In Canberra, where he and his wife Beryl lived after retirement, Lin maintained close contact with the church group there. We are sure he will now be seeking uses to suit his affectionate disposition and industry.
     The New Church Day banquet on June 1601 (1990) was a very happy occasion with good food and entertainnent in the form of three sketches or interviews. The first featured Robert Hindmarsh and an enquirer, the second, Bishop Benade and a reporter, and the third, between our pastor and a reporter, set in Bryn Athyn in 1988. In this Mr. Taylor made some crystal-ball predictions which caused amusement, and it will be interesting to see if some really come true.
     The Hurstville Society has participated enthusiastically in camps organized by the Association of the New Church in Australia. We strengthen the church in ourselves through worship, talks and discussions; we make new friends, and the experience is great for teenagers and children.
     In September at "Baringa," which is the pastor's home, there was a three-day camp for children of school year 4 to 7 (ages 10-13). As one looks over the program it seems that the pastor and the ladies assisting must have needed as much energy as the children.

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There were two Bible exploration classes, a tennis tournament, crafts, music, make-a-pizza lunch, games evening, build-a- sundae, sleep-over at "Baringa," a movie and a day at Australia's Wonderland-all in three days!
     One very important part of church work that rarely gets a mention is Sunday School, the work of dedicated teachers going unhonored and unsung. It is most valuable, however, and children will appreciate and remember in years to come, as I did, the influence for good on their lives of one or more Sunday School teachers. Scripture lessons are also being given at a nearby school by Mrs. Christine Taylor, and some of her pupils also come to Sunday School. As Christmas 1990 approached, Christine built up an orchestra of Sunday School children. They used guitars, recorders, percussion instruments, a clarinet and an electronic keyboard. Their performance was much appreciated. On a carol-singing evening also she directed a creative drama in which children acted the nativity stories. Despite its being an impromptu performance it was very well done.
     A new sign outside the church proclaims that it is "The New Church," dedicated to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the name and the church's logo are also on the front of the building. Landscaping also makes for a more attractive appearance. The grounds are rather extensive, necessitating work days sometimes. There is no time, in fact, for thumb-twiddling.
     Before Christmas we had a visit from Rev. Terry Schnarr of Toronto. He participated in worship services and gave a doctrinal class. He made sure that he met and talked with everybody, for "Getting to know you" was mainly the purpose of his visit.
     Norman Heldon
NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1991

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO       Editor       1991

In the April issue of 1941 there is a photograph of an old bearded man playing a violin. He puts one in mind of Johnny Appleseed. The accompanying article shows that he was much like Johnny Appleseed in his love for spreading the Writings. He was also a linguist and musician. In the Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, area August Drexler was a familiar sight fifty years ago.

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NEW LIGHT 1991 1991

NEW LIGHT 1991       Editor       1991


     The Academy of the New Church is pleased to announce the opening of

     NEW LIGHT 1991

     Eight Contemporary Artists
Imagery from the Writings of Swedenborg
Marianne Benko           Hungary/Holland
Asbjorn Boyesen           Norway
Richard Cook                    Great Britain/Canada
Dennis Duckworth           Great Britain
Jorgen Hauptmann           Denmark
Helen Lindsay Lee           USA
Erik Piquet                    France
Bernard Schofield           Great Britain
The exhibit will be open
March 3, 1991 - June 9, 1991
9:00 - 5:00 weekdays
Second Sundays: April 14, May 12, June 9
2:00- 5:00
     An illustrated catalog is available for $5.50 (U.S. dollars) which includes shipping. If you wish a copy please contact Eleanor Dillard, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (215-947-9919)

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     [Photo of CONJUGIAL LOVE, Tapestry, H:56" x W:38" by Marianne Benkii, based upon CL 270]
Title Unspecified 1991

Title Unspecified       Editor       1991

Now is the time to order for
Graduation
and
June 19th Gifts
     Please place your orders early to allow for shipping, and remember that with the Assembly in early June, the Book Center will be closed. June 19th orders must be filled in May, or hopefully April. So please write or phone now.
     Box 278, Cairncrest                              or by appointment
General Church Book Center                    Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                          Phone: (215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



194



     
     The main presentations anticipated at the coming assembly are outlined in a "menu" on page 208. Remember that in addition to these you will have a choice of twenty mini-sessions.
     At the assembly you should have the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Tatsuya Nagashima on the latest of his remarkable translation and publication achievements (see p. 206). Further on the assembly on p. 235.
     The sermon this month on being wise as serpents while harmless as doves directly addresses a question that has been frequently asked. How are we to understand unconditional love?
     The photographs on pages 228 and 229 are by Diane M. Fehon.
     As we review the book by Grant Schnarr (p. 216) we are pleased to relate the information that around 5,000 copies of this book have been sold. Those who have tried to order it through book stores may have had difficulty in the past, but now it should be more easily available.
     It is unusual to have a news magazine make the subject of "hell" its cover story. (See p. 221.) In 1988 another popular magazine published a survey of beliefs showing how many people expect to be reunited with their loved ones when they die (see NCL 1988, p. 118).
     Maple Leaf Academy-This is a camp for graduates of 9th through 12th grades. Location: two hours north of Toronto. Date: June 18-28. Phone Rev. Terry Schnarr: (416) 239-3054.
ANNOUNCEMENT 1991

ANNOUNCEMENT       Louis B. King       1991

The Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough has been called to serve as President of the Academy of the New Church, effective July 1, 1992.
     Louis B. King,
          Executive Bishop

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UNCONDITIONAL LOVE EXAMINED 1991

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE EXAMINED       Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS       1991

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16).

     The Lord told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and they afterwards understood that He meant their doctrine.1 Similarly, we too need to beware of the doctrines of apparent authorities in the world about us. Not everything they tell us is equally good and true, and we need to examine their contentions in order not to unwittingly adopt ideas and concepts from the world out of harmony with, and perhaps even in contradiction to, the teachings we have from the Lord.
     1 Matt. 16:6, 11, 12
     Our subject today is unconditional love. We propose to examine the concept to see in what way it accords with the teachings of the Word and the Heavenly Doctrines and in what way it does not.
     Unconditional love means love without conditions-love freely given and asking nothing in return. It is frequently illustrated by the love of a mother for her infant child. Such love is held to be the purest form of love and a model to be emulated in all our love relationships with others. If love becomes subject to conditions, on the other hand, it becomes less loving, so it is believed; and the withholding of love is not love at all.
     Now in a sense this is all true of genuine love. The fundamental teaching here is that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.2 And we should therefore treat others as we would have them treat us.

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This is the golden rule, enunciated by the Lord.3 Neither precept in principle admits of any qualifications or exceptions. Everyone is the neighbor who is to be loved4 and this includes strangers as well as friends and intimates.5 The Lord taught that even adversaries are to be loved: "Love your enemies," He said; "do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back."6 For a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil . . . . 7
     2 Matt. 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28; Matt. 19:16-19.
     3 Luke 6:31; Matt. 7:12.
     4 TCR 406, heading.
     5 Lev. 19:33,34; Deut. 10:17-19; TCR 407.
     6 Luke 6:27-30. Cf. Matt. 5:38-45.
     7 Luke 6:45.
     The Heavenly Doctrines, too, agree that "to love the neighbor is not alone to wish well and do good to a relative, a friend, or a good man, but also to a stranger, an enemy, or a bad man."8 In the spiritual world, even when evil must be punished, it is evil spirits who are then permitted to do the punishing. But "as soon as there is an opportunity, the good do good to both foes and friends.9
     8 TCR 407. Cf. TCR 409; AE 644:23.
     9 AC 8223:2, 3.
     When Peter once came to the Lord and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?" the Lord said, "I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."10 He then went on to tell a parable in which He illustrated the justice of our having compassion on others and forgiving them their trespasses as we would wish them to have compassion on us and forgive us our trespasses.11

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By forgiving up to seventy times seven, say the Heavenly Doctrines, the Lord meant that we should forgive others as often as they sin against us, without limit.12 Practically speaking, in such a context, seventy times seven is beyond counting.13
     10 Matt. 18:21.22.
          11 Matt. 18:23-35.
          12 AC 433.
     13 Cf. AE 257:4.
     In showing kindness to others we are also bidden not to look for something in return. In this sense, too, love is to be unconditional. The Lord said, . . . if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . . But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return . . . ."14 On one occasion He admonished a Pharisee against courting those in a position to repay him to bestow his kindnesses on those unable to reciprocate.15 He taught that good should not be done for the sake of reward or be made dependent on its being rewarded.16 The Heavenly Doctrines explain that true charity toward the neighbor is averse to any doing of good that looks to gaining something in return.17 Genuine goodness is free of any such motive.18 Rather the reward is simply in the delight of doing good-in being able to show kindness, in being allowed to do so, and in having the kindness accepted, without thought of recompense.19
     14 Luke 6:32, 33, 35
     15 Luke 14:12-14.
     16 AC 9981, 9982. TCR 439.
     17 AC 3956:1.
     18 AC 1102:3, 2371:4.
     19 AC 3956:1, 9983, 9984.

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     In all of this we are to follow the Lord's example.20 For we are told in the doctrines that "the Lord's life in the world was an example according to which people of the church are to live.21 So the Lord said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. . . .22 "This is My commandment, that you love one ulother as I have loved you."23
     20 Cf. John 13:12-17; Luke 6:40.
     21 AE 254:2.
     22 John 13:34, emphasis added.
     23 John 15:12, emphasis added.
     And in the Sermon on the Mount He taught the multitude, saying, " . . . love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."24 "The sun that He makes to rise on the evil and on the good signifies Divine good flowing in; and the rain that He sends on the just and on the unjust signifies Divine truth flowing in; for the Divine proceeding which is the Father in the heavens flows in with the evil equally as with the good . . . .25
     24 Matt. 5:44, 45, emphasis added.
     25 AE 644:23.
     Good people in whom the Lord is present accordingly scarcely see the evil in others.26 Judge not," said the Lord,27 and therefore they are not judgmental. Out of charity they think nothing but good of their neighbor, from the Lord thus working in charity.28 And if by chance they do see anything evil and false in another, they excuse it and try to put a good interpretation on it.29

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For they do not regard the speck in their brother's eye and ignore the plank that is in their own eye.30
     26 AC 1079.
     27 Luke 6:37, 38; Matt. 7:1, 2.
     28 AC 1088.
     29 AC 1079, 6655.
     30 Luke 6:41, 42; Matt. 7:3-5.
     In all these ways the concept of unconditional love advocated in the world accords with the teachings of the Word and the Heavenly Doctrines. In its essence and purity, love is unconditional. But at the same time, it is also prudent and wise.31 Love without wisdom is not truly loving, but is only a kind of formless emotion, which can even be quite foolish.32
     31 Char. 54.
     32 Cf. CL 183:1-4.8.
     The truth is that not all evil can be tolerated. In this too we have the Lord's example, in His cleansing the temple of the buyers and sellers, when He drove them out and overturned their tables, saying, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer . . .33
     33 Matt. 21:12,13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 20:45,46.
     This He did not once but twice, at the beginning of His ministry,34 and then again toward the end on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem,35 which we now celebrate on Palm Sunday. And the next day, in the temple precinct, He told this parable in reference to Himself: A certain man, He said, planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country. And at vintage-time he sent first one servant, then another, and again another, to receive some of its fruit. But the vinedressers beat them and turned them away even stoning some and killing them. Finally the owner sent his son, thinking, "They will respect my son." But the vinedressers took the son and killed him too. "Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? asked the Lord. "He will come and destroy those vinedressers," He said, "and give the vineyard to others."36
     34 John 2:13-17.
     35 Matt. 21:12,13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 20:45, 46.
     36 Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9-16; Cf. Matt 21:33-41.

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Wisdom sees that not all evil can be tolerated, and this because the good of the whole is greater than the good of the individual, and the good of spiritual concerns greater than the good of natural ones. So we read in the doctrines that a community of people is more the neighbor than an individual; the country more than any one community; the church more than the country; the Lord's kingdom more than the church; and in the highest degree, the Lord Himself.37 Thus goodness, justice and right are the real neighbor.38 And to love the neighbor, therefore, viewed in itself, is not to love the person, but the good that is in the person.39 Loving what is good in another from the good in oneself is genuine love to the neighbor," we are told40; but to love another apart from the good in him is to accept his evil, and even to encourage it, which is not charity, either to the person or to those whom he harms.41
     37 AC 8123; NJHD 91, 103; TCR 412-416.
     38 AC 8123; NJHD 89, 103; Char. 48, 71; Faith 20; TCR 410, 418; Cf. TCR     459:13-17.
     39 TCR 410, 417.
     40 TCR 418.
     41 Cf. Faith 21.
     "Judge not that you be not judged," said the Lord, but at the same time He also said, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.42 It is not charity to give aid to evil, and therefore it is not charity to give aid to those who are actively in evil.43 Rather, it is the part of charity to try to turn those in evil from their evil if possible, by exhortation, discipline, and even punishment.44 And this, both for their own sake and for the sake of others whom they injure with their evil.45

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As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten," said the Lord to the church of the Laodiceans in the book of Revelation.46
     42 Matt. 7:1,6.
     43 AC 8120. NJHD 100.
     44 AC 1079, 9174:3, 4, TCR 407, Char. 48.
          45 AC 8121, 8122, NJHD 101, 102, TCR 407.
          46 Rev. 3:19.
     And through Moses He said to Israel: "'You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.'"47 Moreover, in His advent He said to His disciples: "Whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from there, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them."48 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.49
     47 Rev. 19:17.
          48 Matt. 10:12-16; Mark 6:10.11; Luke 9:3-5.
          49 Matt. 10:34.
     In speaking to an assembly of people in the spiritual world who were discussing what charity is, Swedenborg once observed. as recorded in True Christian Religion: " . . . in the exercise of charity a person should see clearly whether he is acting in accordance with justice, and this he sees by the use of judgment. For a person by acts of kindness may do harm; and by what appear to be harmful acts he may do good.
     "For example, one who supplies an impoverished robber with the means to buy himself a sword, by an act of kindness does harm, even though the robber does not tell him his intention when entreating him for aid, So, too, if one breaks a robber out from prison and shows him the way to a forest, saying to himself, 'It is not my fault that he commits robbery; I have rendered assistance to a human being.
     "Take as another example one who feeds an idler, and protects him from being forced to go to work, saying to him, 'Come into one of the rooms in my house and lie in bed; why should you weary yourself?' A person like that supports idleness.

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     "Or again, take one who promotes relatives and friends of immoral character to influential positions in which they can initiate many kinds of malicious schemes. Who cannot see that such works of charity do not result from any love of justice coupled with judgment?
     "Conversely, on the other hand, by what appear to be harmful acts a person may do good. Consider, for example, a judge who lets an evildoer go because he sheds tears, pours out words of piety, and begs the judge to pardon him because he is his neighbor. Yet in fact the judge performs a work of charity when he imposes punishment on the person according to law, for in so doing he prevents him from doing further evil and from being a source of harm to the community, which is the neighbor in a higher degree . . . . Who does not know, too, that it turns out to their good if servants are reprimanded by their employers and children by their parents when they do wrong?
     "The like happens with those in hell, all of whom have a love of doing evil, in that they are kept shut up in prison, and when they do evil are punished, which the Lord permits for the sake of their amendment. That is because the Lord is the essence of justice, and He does whatever He does by the exercise of true judgment.50
     50 TCR 459:14,15.
     In His advent the Lord did teach forgiveness, and this without limit; but He also said, "If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.51 Forgiveness is predicated on repentance.52 The Writings comment: "'To forgive seven times, if he should turn again seven times,' means to forgive as often as he turns . . . . 53 And if he will not turn?

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Again the Lord taught: " . . . if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you as a heathen and a tax gatherer."54
     51 Luke 17:3,4.
     52 AE 746:15.
     53 AE 257:4.
     54 Matt. 18:15-17.
     The Lord Himself came to call sinners to repentance, but not those unwilling to repent or who saw themselves without need to repent.55 It can require judgment to tell the difference between those who are repentant and those who are not.56 "Judge not," said the Lord, "that you be not judged57; but in the same discourse He said also, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.58 And on another occasion He said, "Do not judge according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.59
     55 Matt. 9:9-13; Mark 3:13-17; Luke 6:27-32.
          56 Cf. Char. 62, 64, 65.
          57 Matt. 7:1.
          58 Matt. 7:15.
     59 John 7:21-2A.
     The doctrines explain: " . . . at the present day man is of such a character that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil and a person may also appear to be evil and yet have good within. On this account no one is ever allowed to judge concerning the quality of another person's spiritual life, for . . . this is known to the Lord alone; but anyone may judge of the quality of another's moral and civil life, for this is in the interest of society.60 Therefore, when the Lord says to judge not, it is not to be construed as forbidding judging of another's moral and civil life, but of his spiritual life.61

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It is such a spiritual judgment that is forbidden. But to judge of another's moral or civil life is not forbidden, provided it is a just judgment.
     60 AC 2284:3.
     61 CL 523.
     A person who is in charity consequently looks for the truth, and "by means of the truth he examines thoroughly and sees what ought to be loved, and in loving and conferring benefits regards the quality of the use to be served."62 He does this, moreover, in accordance with the Lord's commandments; for the Lord said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.63 These commandments constitute the auth according to which he judges. "Charity is practiced if through truth connected with the church the neighbor is led to good," say the doctrines. But "if in the church anything is called truth which leads away from good, it is not worthy of consideration, for it is not true.64
     62 Faith 21.
     63 John 14:21.
     64 AC 6822.
     In the light of truth, some people by their words and actions stand condemned. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" declared the Lord. "Serpents, a brood of vipers," He said to them. "How can you escape the condemnation of hell?65 And to His disciples, toward the end of His advent, in promising them another Counselor, the Spirit of truth, He said: "I will send it to you. And when it has come, it will convict the world of sin . . . because they do not believe in Me. . . .66
     65 Matt. 23:13-17, 19, 23-25, 27, 29, 33.
     66 John 16:5-13.
     Everyone is not the neighbor who is to be loved in an equal degree.67 This the Lord showed in the parable of the good Samaritan.68

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A person is the neighbor according to the good in him69; and in order to foster good and not nurture evil, "it is the part of Christian prudence to search well the quality of a person's life, and to exercise charity in accordance with it. The man of the internal church does this with discrimination," say the doctrines, "thus with intelligence"; but others do it indiscriminately.70 A natural disposition to do good, found in some, is not a substitute for genuine charity if it is blind. Such persons cannot be affiliated with the angels, we are told, and they stand estranged from people whose good is formed in accordance with truths of the church.71 Indeed, the naturally compassionate, who do good to bad and good alike without inquiring into their character, are partly responsible for resulting injuries done to the good.72
     67 TCR 410:1-3.
          68 Luke 10:25-37. AC 6708. NJHD 87. TCR 410:3. Char. 50.
          69 AC 6706-6712, 6818. NJHD 86-88. Char. 50-61. 73-77.
          70 AC 6704. NJHD 85. See also AC 6703, 6820; NJHD 84, 92; TCR 413.
          71 AC 8002:1-3, 6.
          72 TCR 428.
     From this perspective, then, we return to the concept of unconditional love. If real love is unconditional, how then can it refuse to abet evil? How can it exhort, discipline, and even punish, and predicate forgiveness on repentance? If love is unconditional, what then does love have to do with judgment?
     The Lord said to His disciples, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.73 Love, in itself, is as harmless as a dove, and wills to be so. It is an internal affection which wills only good.74 As such, it sets no preconditions. It is not judgmental in that it does not seek to judge. It does not extend itself to some and exclude others. And it takes no delight in retaliation or revenge, but only in imparting benefits.75

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At the same time, however, real love is also wise-as wise as a serpent if need be. Though it wills only good, yet it sees that good at times may be protected or achieved only by taking a stand against evil.76 It is precisely because of its love of good that it is willing and able to do this. Indeed, "those who have genuine charity have a zeal for what is good," we are told, "and that zeal may appear in the outward man like anger and flaming fire; but its flame dies out and is quieted as soon as the adversary returns to reason.77
     73 Matt 10:16.
          74 AC 8124; NJHD 104.
     75 AC 8223:2, 3.
     76 TCR 407.
     77 TCR 408.
     As an internal affection, in short, love is unconditional, and wills to give of itself unconditionally; but in its exercise it is at times compelled to alter its expression for the sake of some greater or truer good. This does not make it less loving, only more wise. If it appears less loving, it is because its wisdom is not seen. Yet wise love is nevertheless still loving, and of even
greater benefit because of the wisdom which guides it. Wisdom does not corrupt love. Rather it enhances it, and gives it a greater sight of what is really good. Love without wisdom is a child's love. But love combined with wisdom is an intelligent and responsible love. Amen.

     Lessons: Luke 6:27-45; Matt, 7:6, 15; Mark 6:10, 11; Matt. 10:16, 34-37, 18:15-17; NJHD 100, 84, 86, 85

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SELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE BISHOP 1991

SELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE BISHOP       Rev. Alfred Acton       1991

According to the order observed in the General Church, the Executive Bishop is named in and by the Council of the Clergy, and the choice of that body is then referred to the Board of Directors of the General Church Corporation for counsel and response. The Joint Council (the Council of the Clergy and the Board of Directors acting together) determines the mode whereby the name is finally to be placed before the General Assembly for confirmation.
     At its meetings in March 1990 the Council of the Clergy named Rt. Rev. Peter Martin Buss as its choice to be the next Executive Bishop of the General Church. That choice was announced to the Board of Directors at its meeting on March 9, 1990, and was unanimously affirmed.
     These actions were reported to the Joint Council, which determined that they should be placed before the church prior to action by the General Assembly through a statement published in New Church Life. It was also determined that at the General Assembly to be held in June, 1991, the Secretary of the Council should nominate, and the Secretary of the Corporation should second the nomination of, Rt. Rev. Peter Martin Buss as the next Executive Bishop of The General Church of the New Jerusalem.
     Rev. Alfred Acton II,
     Secretary, Council of the Clergy;
     E. Boyd Asplundh,
     Secretary, Corporation

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ON THE ASSEMBLY MENU 1991

ON THE ASSEMBLY MENU       Editor       1991

Among the speeches at the Assembly by the Lake (June 12-16) are the following:

     Covenant renewal. Prescott A. Rogers. Consider the role of the covenant and its renewal in ancient Israel, and note that we in the General Church are in need of the powerful effects of covenant renewal to revitalize our mission.
     The triumph of Joseph-Knowing the truth, not just the facts. Eric H. Carswell. No amount of instruction or personal study guarantees an understanding of the most fundamental truths. How well have we as a church seen the Lord as a visible God, recognizing His influence on us and others?
     What is the Lord's will and how do we follow it? Brian W. Keith. What is the Lord's wish for our marriages, our jobs, our happiness in this world? What is His will when we are in less than ideal states or in outright disorders? To what extent is His will done in spite of natural obstacles and abuses of freedom?
     Living a spiritual life based on the Writings. Frank S. Rose. The Word was written not to teach us how to think but how to live. How do we go about shunning evils as sins? References: AC 6324, 6325, Life 18, 19, DP 320, 321, TCR 395, 611.
     Continuity and change-A balanced General Church. Louis B. King. An examination of attitudes in the church which I have observed during the past forty years of my ministry, fifteen of which have been in the capacity of Executive Bishop.
     Elijah: The trials of human conviction. Peter M. Buss. Elijah's battles and his own insecurity and self-doubt tell of the challenges our faith will face, both from within and without. It is a story of courage, of despair, of consolation and eventual triumph.

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PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT 1991

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1991

AN ADDRESS TO THE ACADEMY

     OCTOBER, 1990

     (Part 3)

External forms of government are needed

     There are indeed teachings which make it clear that governors should be obeyed. It seems that there are three reasons for an external form of government.
     1.      For the sake of order, so that an institution can operate as a one
     2.      For the sake of equilibrium (perhaps that can mean a proper balance between uses)
     3.      Where there is disorder or evil

1. For the sake of order, so that an institution can operate as a one

     In heaven order is "inviolable" (HH 213), and the heavens keep the hells in order (see AC 8237). On earth both civil and ecclesiastical things need to be in order (see AC 10789). Leaders on earth observe and reward those in order, punishing those who are not (see AC 10790, 10791; cf. DP 73:5). There must be levels of administration, for otherwise lower governors might disturb order by their decisions (see AC 10792). This is true in a church and in a civil government (see AC 10793).
     Note that none of this implies the need to believe what the governor believes, priests ought not to compel. Those who disagree are free to do so, but must not create a disturbance or they may be separated, "for this also is of order, for the sake of which the priesthood was established" (AC 10798).
     A definition of order in the Writings is, "the quality of the arrangement, determination and activity of the parts, substances, or elements which constitute a form" (TCR 52).

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The series goes on to point out that the purpose of order is that all parts should act as a one (see TCR 54). In any body, "no one part can be touched and affected without some sense of it overflowing to all the rest" (TCR 62, emphasis added; cf. TCR 65).
     Of all the reasons for external government, this seems to be the most compelling. "In empires and kingdoms the signs or marks of distinction are titles of rank, and the administrative rights attached to them; and from this comes subordination, by means of which all are coordinated as it were into a one" (TCR 680, emphasis added). Without order and subordination an army would have no strength. Instead of a single, disciplined force, you would have lots of tiny points of strength, which would quickly be dissipated by a unified opposing force.
     One very interesting aspect of this passage is that it ties the concept of governance and subordination to delegation. Immediately following the quote above, it says, "In this way the king exercises his royal power, which is distributed among many according to order, and it is from this that the kingdom becomes a kingdom."
     The Doctrine of Charity contains several statements on leadership, subordination, and service. A leader in a country establishes useful laws, and "especially" lives under those laws. "He will regard himself as the highest in the order of those that serve others; and thus not as the head," for the Lord is the head (Char. 161). Officials under leaders obey their superiors (see Char. 162). Leaders should be aware that they get honor, and the workers only the delight of the use (see Char. 165). A worker who is in charity "serves freely, and not by compulsion" (Char. 172).
     There are other principles of subordination on which I will touch briefly. Particular uses are subordinated to the general ones (see AC 42, AE 904 with refs, AC 8717 et al). The series on Moses' dividing up his people under captains of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens implies something like this, although the internal sense speaks of the influx of truths out of heaven (AC 8700-8725).

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     Subordination in the heavens is of influx (a sphere?) rather than command (see AC 1801). Subordination is appropriate in civil and ecclesiastical governments (see NJHD 313). In fact it is an obligation in civil matters. "There are duties of subordination, obedience, honor and social intercourse which must be called obligations because a person ought to do them" (Char. 187). This is so even if you do not like the ruler (see Char. 211)! Then there are those who desire to be ruled. Such government is acceptable as long as it is from a heavenly love, which regards them as equals (SD 5001, 5963).

2. Equilibrium or balance

     The Lord has to rule both heaven and hell. If He ruled heaven only, the hells would upset the balance of human life (see HH 536, 592). This equilibrium can be provided by human governors only through what is the Lord's with them-the truth (cf. HH 538).
     These passages are talking about the importance of equilibrium between good and evil. Perhaps we can apply this to government in a human institution on a lower plane. Governors should accentuate the positive by dealing with the problems of the institution, and they should provide leadership in establishing the balance between higher and lower uses. There are several passages which talk of the subordination of lower goods to higher goods, and perhaps these can apply also to priorities in our endeavors (see AC 3091, 5127, 5128, 2541, series AC 8700-8725).

3. Where there is disorder

     It is fairly obvious to all of us that where there is disagreement there is the need for someone to make a decision. This exists even in the heavens, for which reason there are "positions of responsibility, ministries, and higher and lower courts of law" there (CL 207). Decisions are handed down.

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     There is another principle governing disagreements and evil. Where good is present, the Lord governs by Divine good and Divine truth together. Where evil is present, he appears to govern by the Divine truth alone (see AC 2447, 2768e, 8227, 592; SD 4206). I think the application to human rule is that when we are in harmony in our work, external rules are not necessary. When harmony is not present, however, disagreements arise, and then we want to know "the truth,"
     This comes all the way down to things such as contracts and policies. If we feel we know where we are and are in harmony with each other, these things are unimportant. When we are disturbed, we want to know exactly where we stand.
     Certainly it is a matter of government to be awake to and warn of danger. The most telling passage on this is found in the Summary Exposition of the Prophets and Psalms, giving the meaning of the law of the watchman (Ezekiel, chapter 33, where Ezekiel is told to sound the trumpet against evil or he will die also). "Those who are instructed by the preacher concerning falsities and do not take heed perish. When the preacher sees falsities and does not give instruction concerning them, he perishes. The same is true of everyone who teaches doctrine, when he teaches and is not heard or when he does not teach." Therefore the priesthood is called a "military service" (AE 734:14).
     While this passage is speaking of the need to warn about spiritual dangers, we can certainly see how the principle can apply to lower problems. Dangers threaten any institution. Some people see them more clearly than others, and it takes courage to warn of them.
     But there is a host of passages that suggest that in pointing out problems we assume the best of those involved (see AC 1079, 5432, 3147, 1080, 4951, 7747; I've got a long list which I lifted out of the margins of Brian Keith's AC volume I).

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By focusing on the problem rather than making the person the problem, we have a chance to address the disorders in our institutions.
     It should also be observed that a person may think he is being a watchman when what is moving him is a wish to find fault. Rational truth can be hard, almost irresistible, when people want to use it to assign blame (see AC 1949-1951). Especially in an idealistic institution we will tend to exaggerate faults when we find them-and find them we will. When this mood comes upon us, then each fault of another person or part of the institution is "indicative" of some dreadful evil that lurks within. The angry rational moves from particulars to generalizations, using what may be valid evidence of a particular mistake as proof of a general malady.
     Yet we need "militant truth." Once again, as they do so often, the Writings give us a clear governing principle. It comes in the story of Joshua in the wilderness, leading his rag-tag army against the battle-hardened Amalekites. Joshua represents militant truth, truth that roots out falsity and evil. But Joshua couldn't win without Moses, up on the mountain, whose hands uplifted to God made the difference to the battle in the plain below. Moses represents interior truth Divine, which is "not militant but pacific, for it is peace itself because it proceeds from the Divine good of the Divine love" (AC 8595).
     By all means let us be willing to argue about what is wrong with our institution. We must if we are to improve. But let us remember the injunction of the Word. "They who are in zeal fight, yet not from any enmity and hostility but rather from charity; for zeal differs from anger in the fact that zeal has within it the good of charity . . . . For from the charity that is in it, zeal wishes well even to those who are in evil and falsity, and also does well to them so far as they do not injure the good. Whereas anger, from the hatred and revenge which are within it, wishes harm to all with whom it fights, whether they be good or evil. From this it can be seen what is meant by the influx of the good of charity into militant truth" (AC 8598; cf. 4164, 4444).

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     Correction or punishment: which is the end? Remember that Joshua lost when charity was not uppermost. Anger, as described in this passage, destroys the person who expresses it.

Four forms of government

     "Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness . . . Make Your way straight before my face . . . . For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety (Psalm 5:8; 4:8).

     The Lord rules us by our affections, and He uses four different sets of motives to do so. I think there are, therefore, four different kinds of leadership in any human institution. The two middle ones have some similar traits.

1.      A conscience of good and           Government by influx
     truth
2.      Conscience of justice and           Government by moral obligation
     fairness
3.      Fear of loss of standing           Government by moral pressure
     and gain
4.      Fear of punishment                     Government by civil constraints

     There are many places in the Writings where these four are dealt with, but they all come together in AC 4167.
     Sometimes you go to work because you love your work. You feel that the Lord is leading you, and you are creative. Sometimes you do so because you respond to your obligation to serve others. Upon other occasions you may not feel like working, but you do so to uphold your reputation. Then there are those days when you don't care what people think of you, but you go to work so you won't lose your job.
     It seems that the first two apply to good people, and the second two to evil people. I think we will all recognize that the Lord leads us in each of these ways, at different moments in our lives.

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     Note that these are ways in which the Lord keeps us doing external good. It is interiorly good only with the higher two levels.
     Number 1 relates to love to the Lord; number 2 to love to the neighbor; numbers 3 and 4 to the love of self.
     When I discussed these principles with a management consultant, I was fascinated to have him respond immediately to the three higher levels with equivalent motivations in his philosophy of leadership.
     Government by influx related to "meeting your personal goals." A company, he said, should try to allow its employees to meet their private goals-and these can include obedience to a particular religion or value system.
     Government by moral obligation related to "meeting the requirements of your customers and exceeding their expectations."
     Government by moral pressure related to the need to have a good "company image."
     There is a proper relationship between these forms of government in all human institutions.
     Note: Next month we will consider these four forms of government one by one.
NEW JAPANESE TRANSLATION 1991

NEW JAPANESE TRANSLATION       Editor       1991

We have just received from Japan a copy of a translation of Divine Love and Wisdom. This is the work of Mr. Tatsuya Nagashima, whose translating and publishing are quite phenomenal and an inspiration to New Church people in different parts of the world.

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Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential-A Twelve Step Approach 1991

Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential-A Twelve Step Approach       Patricia Street       1991

Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential-A Twelve Step Approach, by Grant R. Schnarr, Abbey Press, St. Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, IN 47577

     Do you have an acquaintance who enthusiastically testifies to the effectiveness of an Al-Anon program in changing her life, and who encourages you to attend meetings, yet you wonder how you could benefit, as you do not have an alcoholic in your life? Have you wondered whether the highly acclaimed "Twelve Steps" of Alcoholics Anonymous and its numerous offspring could have any application for someone who does not have a problem with alcohol, narcotics, overeating, gambling, or other addictive/compulsive behaviors?
     Rev. Grant Schnarr wants us to know that the Twelve Steps are for everyone. As he says in his book, Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential, a Twelve Step Approach, "These Steps . . . have existed in many religions, philosophies, and psychologies throughout the ages. They are based on basic principles of human psychological and spiritual development. Because of this, these Steps work not only for the addictive-compulsive person but also for others. Anyone who desires to grow spiritually can benefit dramatically from following the Twelve Step Program."
     Grant's book is a guide for understanding the Steps and putting them to work in a self-help program he calls the Twelve Steps for Spiritual Growth. In his program (for which he acknowledges the help and inspiration of many others), the original Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are adapted slightly for more general use; e.g., Step One, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable," becomes, "We admitted we were powerless over our destructive tendencies and that when we followed them our lives became unmanageable."

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The 110-page book consists of twelve chapters introducing and exploring the purpose behind each Step, giving a spiritual understanding of why the Step is necessary and why it works, and ending with a set of exercises for putting that Step into action.
     The reader is encouraged to become part of a group of individuals "working the Steps" together, and offering support and feedback to one another. Some guidelines and rules for such a group are offered as an appendix to the book.
     Grant has used straightforward, simple language, and the book gives the appearance of an "easy read-but that appearance is deceiving, as there is so much food for thought here, and the reading sends one into such an immediate personal journey that it can actually take weeks to read. My original intention was to read a Step (a chapter) each day, to allow time for reflection. But the book contains such real spiritual motivators that I found myself pausing often, sometimes inspired by what I read, sometimes uncomfortable, but always with something to think about and work on for a while. Though I have read a number of books related to the Twelve Steps concept, I found the ideas developed in a slightly different form here, and the new view was fruitful.     
     One of the strongest sections of the book is a long discussion of the meaning of the story of Jesus' walking on the water to the disciples, and Peter's walking to meet Him. Grant calls this "a parable of letting go," and says, "Jesus, Peter, the boat, the wind and the waves all symbolize a part of us and our spiritual development." A lengthy discussion follows, showing how our lives correspond to each of these elements at different phases of our personal journey. As to Jesus' lifting Peter up, we learn, "This represents the ultimate letting go and letting God. There comes the point in our spiritual development when each of us recognizes that we cannot do it ourselves . . . . Then Jesus takes Peter and, together, they get back into the boat . . . This time, the Presence comes with us and is at the center of our beliefs, at the center of our very being.

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Moreover, when this happens, a great change occurs. The winds cease and the sea becomes still. The storm is over. Serenity takes its place."
     Another strength of Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential is its self-disclosure, as the author includes several examples from his own life and struggles. This kind of humble sharing is at the heart of Twelve Step support groups, and in this case helps the reader to feel that the author "knows whereof he speaks"-perhaps also allowing the reader to feel more open about admitting some of his own difficulties.
     While this is a powerful little book, I found myself feeling concern over it finding a "niche" in the book world because of two possible problems. One is that, in serving as an introduction to a program, it understandably lacks a certain depth. This presents a limitation for the two groups of people most likely to buy the book first and spread the word to a larger audience: people already familiar with and interested in promoting Twelve Step programs, and people already familiar with and interested in promoting the teachings of the New Church.
     From a Twelve-Step perspective, although the book offers a good start on examining how following the impulses of one's "lower self' without self-examination or an appeal to a Higher
Power leads to self-destructive tendencies, I would have liked to see more description of just what these tendencies include and how they disrupt lives-including areas like control, attachment, and codependency, which are commonly explored in Twelve-Step groups. Perhaps additional "tasks" for working on these specific areas could have been included as well,
     As a New Church reader, I found myself desiring more in the way of exploring the truths of the Writings as combined with the practical applications of a Twelve-Step program. For instance, in terms of some of the specific issues mentioned above, an exploration of how these relate to the love of one's own intelligence and the love of dominion would make for thought-provoking reading.

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     The other concern which strikes me is that, for traditional Twelve Steppers, the book may be disturbing in that one of the fiercely protected principles of Twelve-Step Groups is that God is to be defined individually-"[We] made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him" (Step Two). Many people see this freedom of interpretation as one of the main strengths and reasons for the phenomenal growth of Twelve-Step programs. In encouraging readers to take this second Step, Grant confronts some commonly held negative feelings toward God, and suggests, "Perhaps we can accept the possibility that there is a God of a different nature." He goes on to define God rather distinctly: " . . . a God who loves us no matter what, who would never reject us but is always willing to come and fill us with a wonderful presence." Later Grant shows problems that arise from having no idea of a personal God, but rather seeing God as merely "life itself, nature, or perhaps just the power of people." It is a tough callhow to offer a true picture of God for the healing of souls, yet leave the traditional freedom of the program intact. Among the Twelve-Step network, this could potentially limit active promotion of the book.
     General Church members looking for the book to serve as a method of specific evangelization may be disappointed. Grant refers to the Writings of Swedenborg only in his brief acknowledgments, though there is a sticker inside the back cover of my copy (from the General Church Book Center) which refers to the Writings and the New Church, and gives a telephone number for "Swedenborg Information." However, New Church truths and concepts are at the heart of the book and sprinkled generously throughout. Examples: the love of self is okay as long as it doesn't rule (p. 7); it is important to have a conjunction of spirits before physical conjunction (p. 17); the loving nature of God (p. 20); man is in spiritual freedom (p. 21); there is an internal sense to the stories in the Bible (p. 23ff.); religion is of life, not just belief (p. 35); the importance of self-examination (p. 35ff.); the paradox of feeling life to be more truly one's own when it is given over to God (p. 56); the need to act as from oneself while admitting that only God has power (p. 62); we are making our own heaven here and now (p. 78); spiritual rebirth is not instantaneous (p. 81).

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Because of these many nuggets of spiritual truth, the book definitely serves as a tool for evangelization as seen in the broader sense of the church universal.
     Hopefully many who read Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential will feel "called" to start a group for working through the Steps, and, after all, it was the success of such groups that caused the snowballing effect of the original AA program. It would be a wonderful thing if Grant's program, the "Twelve Steps for Spiritual Growth," and others like it, could become a means for spreading the life-giving truths of the New Church internationally in the same rapid-fire way in which AA and similar programs have taken off. "Step One" is to get your own copy, start a group, and give it a chance.
     Patricia Street
OFFICIAL DEPOSITORY 1991

OFFICIAL DEPOSITORY       Louis B. King       1991

The Swedenborg Library has been recognized as the official depository library for the Academy of the New Church and for the General Church of the New Jerusalem. All editors of New Church books and periodicals are asked to contribute copies to the library free of charge.
     A minimum of two copies of newsletters, periodicals, books, pamphlets, etc., should be deposited with the library-one for a non-circulating collection to be preserved, and one circulating copy which can be used for research. Manuscript materials should be sent to Mrs. Nicholas Walker, Academy Archives, Swedenborg Library, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     Louis B. King,
          Executive Bishop

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BELIEF IN HELL 1991

BELIEF IN HELL       Editor       1991

The cover story in the magazine U. S. News and World Report for March 25th was about belief in hell. According to their survey 78% of Americans believe in heaven and 60% believe in hell. This is the highest belief rate in forty years, and the age group professing the most belief is age 18-29.
     An incident recorded in the Writings is like a survey on such beliefs. Together with angels Swedenborg interviewed a dozen newcomers to the spiritual world. There was less belief in hell than there was in heaven. One person responded, "Of what consequence is it to me to believe that there is a heaven and a hell? For who has come from either place and told us of them?" (TCR 160).
     Now that someone has come back to tell about it, is it not remarkable that an article based on research on the subject does not even allude to what he reports? Mention is made of Origen, Augustine, Luther, Calvin and some present-day theologians. There is no mention of Swedenborg nor of the answers he gives to the very questions raised in the article.
     Is there really such a thing as hell-fire? The Writings show that there is no one burning in hell. "Those there are conscious of no burning, but only of a warmth like that which they had felt when in the world" (HH 571).
     "At this day . . . the nature of heaven and of hell has been disclosed by the Lord" (TCR 847:4). Swedenborg comments sadly that the things revealed "are regarded on the earth as of no value" (TCR 848). Shall we blame ourselves for not having done enough to make this known? Shall we blame others for their slowness, indifference, stubbornness?
     Blame doesn't help anyone. If indeed there is a growing interest in questions about heaven and hell we will have opportunities to shed light in personal conversations.

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And some may find ways of making the teachings of the Writings more available or accessible.
NICOLL AND SWEDENBORG 1991

NICOLL AND SWEDENBORG       Gordon Jacobs       1991

Dear Editor:
     I was extremely interested in your short editorial on Maurice Nicoll in the January issue.
     In the July/Sept. and Oct./Dec. 1956 issues of The New-Church Magazine, I dealt with Swedenborg's influence on Nicoll in some detail. In that article I also drew attention to several references to Swedenborg in Nicoll's writings, especially his most favorable assessment of the Writings in referring to Swedenborg's "tremendous interpretation of the opening books of the Old Testament."
     Subsequently, in a biography (limited edition) of Nicoll written by his secretary and published by Vincent Stuart in 1961, I came across the following telling statement. Referring to his wartime move to Birdlip in 1940, she writes: "I had packed a number of Dr. Nicoll's books, all that were indispensable, every version of the Bible, all the volumes of Swedenborg, the Hermetica, Plate and all notebooks and manuscripts."
     May I stress the importance of Nicoll's The New Man having run to several editions, as it shows what a number of people there are receptive of New Church truths when presented in a modern way.
     I should also mention that a knowledge of Nicoll has opened the way in some cases to a reception of Swedenborg. An editorial referring to Nicoll in the English Science of Thought Review resulted in correspondence from which I was invited to write an article on Swedenborg which appeared in the April 1963 issue.

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Possibilities for outreach certainly arise when we come across anyone familiar with Maurice Nicoll.
     Gordon Jacobs,
          Birmingham, England

     AIM-The book by Peter S. Rhodes is available from the General Church Book Center. The subtitle is "Edited Selections from the Lecture Series Nicoll and Swedenborg-New Will."
FIRST YOUNG PEOPLE'S GENERAL GATHERING 1968 1991

FIRST YOUNG PEOPLE'S GENERAL GATHERING 1968       Rev. Erik Sandstrom       1991

Dear Editor:
     In your January 1991 issue Mr. Robert D. Merrell had a comprehensive review of the history of General Church camps. On p. 26 he included a surprisingly negative remark concerning the first Young People's General Gathering in 1968, which I had the honor of organizing. In view of this I wish to state the following.
     The four-day camp (Aug. 31-Sept. 4), held at Laurel Hill State Park, was organized to meet the unrest and turmoil of the '60s which especially we educators witnessed all around us and experienced also at the Academy. Perhaps Mr. Merrell meant to speak of the "infamous 60's." Having recently seen the success of the special young people's program, led by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph David during the Oberlin Assembly in 1966, I was encouraged to bring the young people of the church together once more while we still had a good momentum. I brought up the matter in the Bishop's Consistory and obtained Bishop Pendleton's consent to go ahead.

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The gathering was to be for the whole church. In the April and May issues of New Church Life 1968 (pp. 210, 258) Bishop Pendleton called the gathering and said: "All those who have completed high school and are thirty years of age or younger are eligible to attend. The following have agreed to serve as a committee to organize the gathering and to be responsible for its operation: The Rev. Erik Sandstrom (Chairman), the Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh, Mr. Gilbert M. Smith."
     The purpose of the gathering was twofold, doctrinal and psychological. On the doctrinal side the aim was to prepare for the 1970 200th anniversary of the publication of The True Christian Religion. To this end the Brief Exposition was chosen as the theme for our program. This little work, the forerunner of the TCR, was published in 1768, and the camp would therefore coincide with the 200th anniversary of that most important book.
     On the psychological side we were hoping to bring the feelings of unrest and opposition out in the open, so that they could be dealt with in a constructive and "listening" sphere. We knew there were many very affirmative students as well as those who appeared negative, and were assuming an undercurrent of hidden affirmativeness even with the latter. We had campfire as well as under-roof discussions, and prepared papers were presented both by students and ministers.
     In addition, the following should be noted:

- Charlotte Gyllenhaal (then college student, now Dr. Gyllenhaal Huft) gave excellent assistance as pre-gathering publication editor.
- The total attendance was roughly one hundred, with representation from many societies.
- Mr. Gilbert Smith, helped by his wife, organized the logistics, and especially his food department would be difficult to surpass.

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- Two then young ministers, Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton II and Daniel Goodenough, contributed by giving papers and helping out in the general as well as group discussions. For Alfred Acton's paper, "The Brief Exposition," see NCL, June 1969, pp. 258-266.
- In addition, thoughtful papers designed to introduce discussions were presented by young people, notably Kurt Simons, Tom Andrews, Greta Doering (now Mrs. John Davidson), and Brace Henderson. Greta's and Bruces papers were published in NCL, November 1968, pp. 494-501.
- We ministers noted with growing satisfaction that the "disgruntled" were less and less in evidence, and that our affirmative young people seemed more and more to have the last word. Let not the peer element in setting things right be underestimated!
- On Sunday afternoon we had an outdoor service, attended by a number of visitors from the Pittsburgh Society, and conducted by the Rev. Kurt Asplundh and myself.
- That same Sunday, in the morning, Bishop Pendleton gave an extemporaneous talk to the whole camp on what the Academy stood for and worked for, after which he fielded questions-many tough ones-head on. That session ended with a sustained standing ovation for the Bishop.

     Mr. Merrell was not there. His assessment was uninformed. That by Bishop Pendleton was very different (see his episcopal report, NCL, Nov. 1968, pp. 510, 511).
     For further aspects of the gathering, see NCL, June 1968, pp. 294, 295 and Nov. 1968, pp. 502-505 ("Summary Report" by Kurt Simons, Tom Andrews, and Alison Glenn [Mrs. Ottar
Larsen]).
     Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr.,
          Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania

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TURNING POINT 1991

TURNING POINT       Richard Linquist       1991

Dear Editor:
     A tall, muscular young man, probably in his twenties, strode boldly through my office (when I was serving the use of our cathedral's curator). With an agility which now is more of a memory than a current reality, I was on his heels in an instant. Yet he appeared not to notice me as he flew through the choir hall. Stopping at the chancel steps he looked at the "Do Not Enter" sign. Up he went onto the outer chancel and walked to the communion rail, which he promptly vaulted. I was just a step behind him.
     Turning toward me, he declared defiantly, "Nobody can stop me. I go wherever I want. I've been all over the world." "Why?" I asked. My question was delivered with heat which I hope arose from a curator's love of preserving order in externals so that internals may be served. "What compels you?" I demanded with an anger that apparently was forceful enough to smash through his arrogance.
     He appeared stunned. Maybe few people had ever confronted and challenged him. Perhaps he saw the truth that rather than being a free man, he was, in fact, a slave to his compulsion for "freedom" of physical movement. Anyway there we stood before the tranquil aura of the sanctuary and the Word. The young man seemed to withdraw into contemplation as he left the chancel. I suspect that he reached a limit to his travels and turned inward.
     If our visitor was a natural man, then no matter how free and wise he appeared to himself to be, really he was ignorant and unconscious of spiritual truth. Those with only worldly wisdom may believe that they see and are free, yet they are sleepwalkers. "Natural life, considered in itself, or without spiritual life, is nothing but sleep . . . " (AR 158).
     If, like this young man, some of us find ourselves in a place where we should not be, elevated on an inner chancel, dictating to the world that our will be done, then maybe it is time to examine our loves.

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We are free to return to the nave, and as genuine Christians kneel humbly when serving the uses which the Lord places before each of us.
     Richard Linquist,
          Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
NEW LIGHT 1991 1991

NEW LIGHT 1991       SARAH SYNNESTVEDT       1991

I attended the New Light 1991 exhibition at Glencairn and was pleasantly surprised, I found much among diverse subjects, media and styles to think on, and some works simply to relish.
     Also entitled New Light, Glencairns 1988 exhibition featured only New Church artists of the past and much of the work was secular, while the current exhibit presents only the work of living artists. The artists were chosen from those generally unknown in the Bryn Athyn area, and the 23 works included paintings, drawings and one tapestry-are clearly prompted by the Heavenly Doctrines.
     These works spring from many cultures; they document the reach of revelation world-wide. In addition to being an historical marker, New Light 1991 represents an artistic movement just beginning, one that will develop its own imagery and iconography. What symbols do New Church artists employ to convey ideas to those well versed in their source of inspiration or to others unfamiliar with the Writings?
     An oil painting entitled "The Tiara Goes to the African," by Asbjrn Boyesen of Norway, is, I understand, one of the first large-scale depictions of a memorable relation (75.5" x 95"). CL 103-114 describes a gathering of Europeans in which they attempted to speak of the source and power of conjugial love.

228


[Photo of Love Truly Conjugial: The States or Love, pencil, H: 10" x W: 14.5" by Bernard Schofield, 1983, with a quote from CL 180; Lent by the Michael Church, London]
     [Photo of The Tiara Goes to the African, oil on canvas, H:75.5" x W:95" by Asbj rn Boyesen, 1976, based on CL 114]

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[Photo of The Holy City, oil on canvas. H:44" x W:36" by Richard Cook, 1990, based on Rev. 21:2]
     Photos by Diane M. Fehon
An African was granted permission to speak, and spoke of that love's source as God alone and not from rational or natural sources. A tiara, the award for the true answer, was placed on the African's hands.
     Frenchman Erik Piquet submitted two abstract watercolors whose subject is the holy city New Jerusalem. These works, bursting with color, invite one's eye to roam, to seek within the frame symbols (such as the omega sign or the symbol for infinity) and to contemplate.

230


Richard Cook of Canada painted John's vision of the New Jerusalem as a bride. She descends through the clouds; the light at her head bursts from the direct unchanging nature of the Divine. Cook says of the light beneath her, "The light without shows man's reception of the Lord, never constant but revolving, fluctuating, as clouds moving across the sky, intercepting the light's passage" (New Light 1991, p. 21).
     Dennis Duckworth, an Englishman, has illustrated several memorable relations from the True Christian Religion. In "The Deceit of Adultery," from TCR 80, his dramatic and fragmented use of black Cont crayon and watercolor convey the deceptive and infernal relationship of a satan and his concubine.
     Marianne Benk 's tapestry illustrates the abode of conjugial love in the human mind. The natural, spiritual and celestial levels of the mind are depicted by means of vibrant color-from green to blue to white, by means of three pairs of birds, swans, birds of paradise and doves, flying to a three-story tower. A Hungarian by birth, BenkCi now lives in Holland where this tapestry was made for The Lord's New Church chapel in The Hague. Find an illustration of this work in the April issue of New Church Life.
     Bernard Schofield, another English artist, has also chosen conjugial love as his inspiration. One of his colored pencil drawings in the exhibition illustrates a heavenly wedding. The Lord is present in the background, and before Him the wedding party dance and dine in an enchanting garden. One is charmed into feeling their delight by their innocent faces, the imaginative flowers, the whimsical, decorative shapes and details in the picture.
     Jrgen Hauptmann of Denmark has submitted three abstract paintings for this exhibition, each entitled "Where Does the Light Come From? What Delights Us?" Hauptmann's use of flat shapes, notably round figures and broad areas of color, are accommodated to man.

231



     The final artist in the exhibition, Helen Lindsay Lee of the United States, has exhibited an explosive painting entitled "Entrance into Eternal Life," which depicts the time when a person awakens in the spiritual world for the first time. The inspiration for this picture is an Arcana passage which states, "eternal life . . . is represented by a bright white light that becomes of a beautiful golden tinge" (AC 186).
     I urge readers of the Life to visit Glencairn and see this exhibition if at all possible. Religious art not only serves to illustrate our beliefs, but urges us to question our own working images. Does that picture express my vision of heaven or not? Do those colors suggest an emotion I feel about conjugial level. How we criticize or appreciate art is a gift toward self-knowledge, thence progress in our spiritual lives. New Light 1991 will be open through June 9, 1991, daily from 9:00 to 5:00, and Sundays May 12 and June 9 from 2:00 to 5:00. For those unable to visit, an illustrated catalog is available at a cost of $5.50, including shipping, and may be ordered from Eleanor Dillard, Glencairn, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
Church News 1991

Church News       Andrew Bruell       1991

London, England

     Greetings from London! For those of you unfamiliar with London, here are a few facts: London is the fastest developing European city, is the capital of England, and is also one of the world's greatest historical, commercial and entertainment centers. Less well known is that London is an important center for the New Church. It was here that Swedenborg published many of the books of the Writings, and here that early readers of the Writings met and formed the first New Church group.
     A short four-mile underground ride from the city center lies Michael Church, the oldest purpose-built General Church building still in use and home to our society.

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The church having survived dry rot and 99 years of English weather, we are very much looking forward to the Michael Church centenary in 1992, which will involve much celebration in the society and planned enhancements to the building to coincide with this date.
     The Michael Church Society keeps an active doctrinal life all year round, with weekly services and classes in homes in North, South, and East London, as well as the Surrey region. The active Young Adult Discussion Group holds its lively monthly meetings mainly on Saturday evenings in our homes, combining the doctrinal argument with a potluck supper-spiritual and natural food in great variety.
     Socially, Michael Church is no backwater, with car rallies in the beautiful countryside near London, valentine's and square dances at the church as well as many other happy get-togethers at the church and manse.
     The manse has had its uses extended by being partly demolished internally to create a mammoth-sized reception room to cater for almost any occasion. Visitors to Michael Church have come from many far-flung lands including Zaire, South Africa, Russia, Japan, Turkey and even North America; we are happy to see them all.
     Last summer a successful British Assembly, hosted by Michael Church in the countryside north of London, was attended by friends from all over Britain, and overseas visitors including Bishop King, as well as Rev. Dan Goodenough. Excellent doctrinal presentations covered topics such as the nature of the divinity of the Word, our involvement in Providence, and a session on the future challenges facing the New Church in England, taking into account the scattered nature of the members. But living far apart means that you are always pleased to see each other! The assembly was also made memorable by the delightful setting of the High Leigh mansion and grounds, by the varied social activities, and the beautiful summer weather.
     Through 1990 we have had a number of joyous events-the adult baptisms of Gaye Baxter, Michael Costello and Nelun Dassanayake, as well as the welcome to the world and baptisms of Charity Warwick and Florence Kirton. We have had two weddings to celebrate, namely Josephine Turner and Goran Appelgren, and Anita Sharp and Kieron Leech. We were sorry to say au revoir to Caroline and Steve David and family, but wish them every success with Steve's studies at Pittsburgh. We look forward to the events planned for 1991, and the centenary in 1992, that our success and effectiveness may continue and grow. Andrew Bruell.

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ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE 1991

ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE       Editor       1991

The April newsletter contains the last registration form that will be mailed to the membership of the church. As of early March, 503 of your fellow New Church men and women have registered to attend the 31st General Assembly. If you did not receive a registration form, or misplaced the information that was sent to you, please call 708-724-0120 between 8:30 a.m. and noon (Central Time) and we will send a copy of the registration form. Don't miss out on the excitement that will be The Assembly by the Lake.
     Register by mail and avoid the $5.00 late fee that will be charged for registration at the desk.

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PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1991

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES       Editor       1991

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:
     BIRMINGHAM
Dr. R. Shepard, 4537 Dolly Ridge Road, Birmingham, AL 35243. Phone: (205) 967-3442.
     HUNTSVILLE
Mr. and Mrs. Wynne Sullivan, 1107 Princeton Drive, Madison, AL 35758. Phone: (204) 772-0074.
     Arizona:
     PHOENIX
Rev. Fred Chapin, 3724 E. Sahuaro Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85028. Phone: (602) 996-2919
     TUCSON
Rev. Frank S. Rose, 9233 E. Helen, Tucson, AZ 85715. Phone: (602) 721-1091.
     Arkansas:
     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, 2695 Mark Lane, Batesville, AR 72501. Phone: (501) 793-5135.
     California:
LOS ANGELES
Rev. John L. Odhner, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone: (818) 249-5031.
     ORANGE COUNTY
Rev. Cedric King, resident pastor, 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630. Phone: (Home) (714) 586-5142. (Office) (714) 951-5750.
     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 225 Woodlake Ln., Newcastle, CA 95658. Phone: (916) 663-2788.
     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.
     SAN FRANCISCO
Mr. and Mrs. Philip C. Reds Pendleton, 2261 Waverley Street, Palo Alto, CA 94901.
     Colorado:
     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, P. O. Box 95, Simla, CO 80835. Phone: (719) 541-2375.
     DENVER
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone (303) 429-1239
     Connecticut:
     BRIDGEPORT
     HARTFORD
     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203) 929-6455.
     Rev. Geoffrey Howard, visiting pastor. Phone: (508) 443-6531.
     Delaware:
     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.
     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.
     Florida:
     BOYNTON BEACH
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 10687 E. Clair Ranch Rd., Boynton Beach, FL 33437. Phone: (407) 736-9235.
     LAKE HELEN
Mr. and Mrs. Brant Morris, 264 Kicklighter Rd., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2276.
     PENSACOLA
Mr. and Mrs. John Peacock, 5238 Soundside Drive, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561. Phone: (904) 934-3691.
     Georgia:
     AMERICUS
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

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     ATLANTA
Rev. Ray Silverman, 2119 Seaman Circle, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (office) (404) 452-0518.
     Idaho:
     FRUITLAND
(Idaho-Oregon border)
Mr. Harold Rand,1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.
     Illinois:
     CHICAGO
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 729-0130 (home) (312) 724-6130 (office).
     DECATUR
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.
     GLENVIEW
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.
     Indiana:
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.
     Kentucky:
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.
     Louisiana:
     BATON ROUGE
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 6050 Esplanade Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70806. Phone: (504) 924-3089.
     Maine
     BATH
Rev. Allison L. Nicholson, HC 33-Box 61N, Arrowsic, ME 04530.
     Maryland:
     BALTIMORE
Rev. Thomas Rose, visiting minister, 3809 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20721. Phone: (301) 464-4585 (home), (301) 464-5602 (office).
     MITCHELLVILLE
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.
     Massachusetts:
     BOSTON
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, 138 Maynard Road, Sudbury, MA 01776. Phone: (508) 443-6531.
     Michigan:
     DETROIT
Rev. Grant Odhner, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064.
     EAST LANSING
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.
     Minnesota:
ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Karen Huseby, Secretary, 2800 Lake Blvd., North St. Paul, MN 55109. Phone: (612) 777-6962.
     Missouri:
     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 1508 Glencairn Court, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.
     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Rt. 2, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.
     New Jersey-New York:
     RIDGEWOOD. N.J.
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.
     New Mexico:
     ALBUQUERQUE
Mr. Howard Leach, 4215 12th Street, Albuquerque, NM 87107. Phone: (505) 892-0936.
     North Carolina:
     CHARLOTTE
Rev. Bill Burke, 6010 Paddington Court, Charlotte, NC 28226. Phone: (704) 846-6416.
     Ohio:
     CINCINNATI
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.
     CLEVELAND
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River, OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.
     Oklahoma:
     OKLAHOMA CITY
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone: (404) 478-4729.

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     Oregon:
     PORTLAND
Mr. and Mrs. Jim P. Andrews, Box 99, 1010 NE 36th, Corbett, OR 97019. Phone: (503) 695-2534.
     Oregon-Idaho Border: see Idaho, Fruitland.
     Pennsylvania:
     BRYN ATHYN
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.
     ELIZABETH
Mr. Meade Bierly, 523 Snyder Ave., Elizabethtown, PA 17022. Phone: (717) 367-3964.
     ERIE
Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.
     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 122 McKean Rd., Freeport, PA 16229. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855.
     HAWLEY
Mr. Grant Genzlinger, 4 Main Street, Hawley, PA 18428. Phone: (717) 226-2993.
     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-4301; (Office) (215) 756-6140.
     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Eric H. Carswell, 299 Le Roi Road., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-7421.
     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.
     South Dakota:
     HOT SPRINGS
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57745 Phone: (605) 745-6629
     Texas:
     AUSTIN
Mr. Robert Grubb, 510 Academy Drive, Austin, TX 78704. Phone: (512) 447-6811.
     DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone: (214) 247-7775.
     VIRGINIA:
Richmond
Mr. Donald Johnson, 13161 Happy Hill Rd., Chester, Va 23831. Phone: (804) 753-9508.
     WEST VIRGINIA:
Mrs. Thelma Smith, Rt. 1, Box 447, Peterstown, WV 24963. Phone: (304) 753-9508.
     Washington:
     SEATTLE
Mr. Thomas Andrews, 5035 NE 180th, Seattle, WA 98155. Phone: (206) 365-2194.
     Wisconsin:
     MADISON               
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison, WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.

     OTHER THAN USA

     AUSTRALIA

     CANBERRA
Mr. and Mrs. Rex Ridgway, 7 Whalen Place, Kaleen, ACT, Australia 2517.
     SYDNEY, N.S.W.                                   
Rev. Douglas M. Taylor, 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, N.S.W. 2222. Phone: 57-1589.
     TAMWORTH
See Rev. Douglas Taylor under Sydney.
     BRAZIL
     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Cristovao Rabelo Nobre, Rua Lina Teixeira, 109, ap. 101, Rocha, CEP 20.970., Rio de Janeiro. Phone: (021) 201-8455.

     CANADA

     Alberta:
     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.
     EDMONTON
Mrs. Wayne Anderson, 6703-98th Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6E 3L9. Phone: 403-432-1499.
     British Columbia:
     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3. Phone: (office) 604-782-8035; (home) 604-786-5297.

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     Ontario:
     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5. Phone: (Home) (519) 748-5605; (office) (519) 748-5802.
     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 684 Fraser Ave., Ottawa, Ontario. K2A 2R8. Phone: (61) 725-0394.
     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (Church): (416) 239-3055.
     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: 46 78 9968.

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Christopher D. Bown, 2 Christ Church Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-575644.
     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 24 Berkeley, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2HA. Phone: 0462-684751.
     LONDON
Rev. Frederick Elphick, 21B Hayne Rd., Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA. Phone: 01-658-6320.
     MANCHESTER
Rev. Norman E. Riley, 69 Heywood Rd., Norden, Rochdale, OL11 5TH, England. Phone: 0706 54003.

     HOLLAND

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

     KOREA

     SEOUL
Rev. Dzin P. Kwak, Horim #102, 1019-7, Daechi-dong, Kangnam-Ku, Seoul, Korea 135-281. Phone: 82-2-562-7344.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. H. Keal, 4 Derwent Cresc., Titirangi, Auckland 7, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

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

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Cape:
     CAPE TOWN
Mrs. Sheilagh Brathwaite, 208B Silvermine Village, P.B. 1, Noordhock, 7985 R.S.A. Phone: 021-891424.
     Natal:
     DURBAN
Rev. James P. Cooper, 30 Perth Road, Westville 3630, Natal, Republic of South Africa. Phone: 011-27-31-821612.
     Transvaal:
     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Andrew Dibb, P. O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, South Africa. Phone: (011) 804-2567.
     Zululand:
     KENT MANOR
Rev. Andrew Dibb, visiting pastor
Mrs. Maarten Heimstra, P. O. Box 10745, Meerensee, 3901 R.S.A. Phone: 0351-32317.
     Please contact Rev. James Cooper or Rev. Andrew Dibb concerning these societies:
Alexandra Township, Baccleugh, Clermont, Diepkloof, Enkumba, Hambrook, Impaphala, Kwa Mashu

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater. Furusjo, S-566 00. Habo. Phone: 0392-20395
     Stockholm
Rev. David H. Lindrooth, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma, Sweden. Phone/Fax: 011 468 26 79 85.

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June 19th Card Game 1991

June 19th Card Game       Editor       1991

68 Questions and Answers from
the Book of Revelation
     A unique educational pastime
     Plastic-coated cards
Printed red on white
     Produced by the Phoenix Circle
     $5.00 per set
plus $1.05 postage
     General Church Book Center               Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                         or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

241


Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



242



A theme in this issue is "Reading the Writings." Patrick Rose writes of the experience of the Lord's coming as we read the new revelation. (Chris Horner in a letter from Australia promotes a method of sustained reading.) In his brief article Patrick also mentions the circumstance when we seem to find in these Writings "dry, uninteresting statements." Two writers collaborate in suggesting ways to get people through the difficulties often experienced.
     New Church Life has an exclusive in quoting what C. S. Lewis wrote to R. R. Gladish (p. 269). A prestigious college has asked for a copy of this correspondence.
     Does the phrase "government by influx" mean that "higher" individuals inflow into "lower" ones and so govern them? "Common sense dispels that notion." (See page 248 for the conclusion of the thought-provoking series on principles of government.)
     The delightful sermon by Brian Keith is timely (considering the frequency of June weddings).
     Tom Kline's book The Journey of Life has sold more than 1,200 copies. Because a review of this popular book was delayed we have decided to provide some sample pages.
     There is a reference on page 266 to STAIRS. This is a system for making the Writings accessible on computer. STAIRS stands for Swedenborgian Theological Automated Information Retrieval System. A description appeared in New Church Life in 1987 (April issue). We are now planning an update on this information under the new name NewSearch.

     200th ANNIVERSARY

     On June 19, 1791, the first New Church house of worship ever built was dedicated in Birmingham, England.

243


BLESSINGS IN MARRIAGE 1991

BLESSINGS IN MARRIAGE       Rev. BRIAN W. KEITH       1991

While little boys may turn their noses up at the thought of marriage, it is a relationship that is desired by most others. Joining together with one other special person and forming an intimate connection is very appealing. For who wants to be alone? Who wants to be so self-reliant that there is no room for another? We have all experienced the fact that joy shared is joy multiplied. So how much more must that be the case in marriage.
     Marriage is also thought of as a happy state. The Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church confirm this, emphasizing that "into this love are gathered all joys and all delights from their firsts to their lasts" (CL 68-all joys and all delights from firsts to lasts. While in some ways this is hard to imagine, we can sense that it should be so, and we pray that it becomes so in our lives.
     But if marriage is supposed to be filled with so many blessings, why do we not always sense it? why may it seem that the ideal of conjugial love is far distant, if possible at all?
     The blessings of marriage may not be evident because of how few good examples and how many poor examples of it there are. Although there are some insightful portrayals of joyous marriages, the media are filled with many more relationships gone awry. Or perhaps we have personally seen the hellish fury or desolation of a marriage where no happiness is felt. How unfortunately true is the observation of the Writings that conjugial love is so rare that it is not known what it is and scarcely that it is (see CL 58).
     But the blessings of conjugial love may not be evident for other reasons than its total absence. Since marriage is a growing relationship, each person will be developing during its process. This is a polite way of saying that any two people trying to achieve happiness in marriage will be fighting against their own hellish inclinations that inevitably rise up, causing painful and prolonged troubles.

244



     This is especially seen whenever there is a struggle for control (see HH 380). The happiness of marriage is destroyed when one, but usually both, vies to take charge. This strikes at the heart of marriage, for it challenges its mutuality. Rather than seeking to share by giving, there is an effort to take by imposing one's will on the other. As everyone treasures his or her freedom, it is not surprising that resistance leads to all-out conflict. Whenever open or subtle struggles for control exist, there is no joy in marriage.
     But even when such hellish struggles do not exist, the blessings of marriage may not be easily perceived. When we have a superficial view of marriage, when we judge it based on external measures, we are likely to miss the point.
     This is the case if we have false ideas of what marriage is supposed to be. Anyone thinking that a good marriage means one without arguments, one with instant agreement of the partners in all things, will be bitterly disappointed. When there is conflict he may think the marriage is hopeless, that there can never be any happiness. Or a person who imagines that marriage is endless intelligent conversations, like what had been the case on dates, will probably be surprised to discover that the other person is not always as witty and bright as had appeared. Did he marry the wrong person? No. It is just that false expectations may lead one to reject reality and be unable to identify where there might be happiness.
     There may also be a superficial view of marriage if one is overly concerned about the external or sensual aspects of it. The man who wants to marry the most attractive girl around, or the woman who wants to marry someone who will ensure her financial security, may well get what he or she has ordered, but will not necessarily find happiness in it.
     This can be taken even further.

245


If we listed all the qualities a good marriage should have-similar interests, spending quality time together, working together, good communication and problem-solving skills (to name but a few)-and then ran ,computer match with extensive training sessions, could we manufacture a genuinely happy marriage? Probably not. For these alone cannot create the blessings of marriage.
     Why? Because while all of these can make marriages smoother, they am aimed at the external interaction of the couple. If general similarities and various techniques could create a good marriage, then the blessings of conjugial love would exist in virtually every marriage.
     What is missing? The essence of it. The source of all blessings in marriage is the Lord (see CL 335, 336). He brings couples together. He causes them to sense that special attraction. He leads them throughout their married life, forming them into an angelic couple that will dwell together in heaven forever. He does all this "because in the Lord is an infinity of all blessings" (CL 335).
     The Lord's love is creative. It does not remain alone. Its very essence is to communicate its goods to others (see CL 335; TCR 43). It is from this that we were made. It is from this that He made us male and female. It is from this that conjugial love is given us as the precious pearl of human life.
     Any sense we have that we can create the happiness of marriage is certain to lead to frustration. For there is no magic formula that automatically produces: the blessings of marriage. There is no hidden secret that will guarantee lasting happiness. If we think there is, we are likely to impose it on our relationships, forcing them to conform to a set standard.
     This does not mean the Lord simply gives certain couples the blessings of marriage regardless of what they do. For they "are given to no others save those who approach Him alone and live according to His precepts" (CL 336). To find happiness in marriage we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is then that all other things can be added to us.

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For happiness is not found in living together, raising children, or having the security of someone else there. Real happiness can only be found when each person is approaching the Lord alone. When He is acknowledged as the source of everything good, when He is regarded as the fountain of truth, then are we opened to His love.
     And this openness exists only when we respond to His direction by following His Word. As He said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21).
     In other words, every step taken in the path of regeneration enables more of the conjugial to flow into our lives. As we come to appreciate and eventually love the Lord through shunning evils as sins, His love is showered upon us.
     Note the implications for a single person. Although the blessings of conjugial love can only be fully experienced in the marriage relationship, the conjugial itself grows within each and every regenerating spirit. Conjugial love makes a one with love to the Lord. Although a person may not have a spouse in this world, to the extent there is a turning to the Lord and walking in His way, a love of marriage grows and will enable the person to experience the full blessings of conjugial love.
     For where regeneration is taking place, there is a greater interest in others than in oneself. This enables the mutual sharing of marriage to occur. Indeed, it is from this source that the real happiness of marriage comes. The Heavenly Doctrines note that the "sharing [of love] and consequent conjunction are the interior delight itself that is called blessedness in marriage" (HH 380).
     As two people draw closer to the Lord they have heavenly loves to share with each other. The Lord thereby knits their two souls into a one. This is the source of a couple's happiness-it comes from the Lord and is felt in the innermost recesses of one's life.

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     From there it can permeate the rest of a person's life. A regenerating love descends even into the least things. When it is present, there is happiness in little things, like just sitting quietly together. When it is present, then affections are expressed in subtle smiles and tones of voice. And when it is present, all things of being together hold delight-not delight in themselves, but delight as they embody inner loves that are shared.
     What happens is that within the regenerating mind there is a growing innocence. It is a willingness to trust in the Lord and seek His guidance. This produces a peaceful, tranquil state--a state without worry about what might go wrong. And so there is an inner friendship and confidence. It is the security in knowing that one's spouse, although flawed and still developing, cares deeply for what is good. And this security produces the desire to do every good for one's spouse.
     From such an inner reservoir of love coming from the Lord flow all the blessings of marriage. These are unlimited in number. They can only increase with time. For within marriage is the possibility of all joys, of all happinesses.
     Evils may block out these joys. Natural worries may cover them over. But as each person in a marriage is gradually shunning what is from hell, the Lord is drawing each closer to Him and each other. From that growing love which is shared between souls and minds comes all happiness in life. The blessings of marriage are not found in any external riches or advantages, but in the spirit of love to the Lord which brings two to become one flesh. Amen.

      Lessons: John 14, CL 180

     "The states of this love are innocence, peace, tranquility, inmost friendship, full confidence and a desire in mind and heart to do the other every good, and from all these blessedness, satisfaction, joy and pleasure" (CL 180).

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PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT 1991

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1991

AN ADDRESS TO THE ACADEMY

     OCTOBER, 1990

     (Concluded)

1. Government by influx

     "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3).

     "And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof " (Rev. 21:22, 23).

     The most wonderful secret of heaven is that a person "is led and taught by the Lord alone, and he is led and taught immediately by Him when this is done from the Word" (DP 172:6). Government in human affairs has as its end that the Lord alone shall lead, and He does it individually.
     Some people may misunderstand the term "government by influx," thinking it means that "higher" individuals inflow into "lower" ones and so govern them. Common sense dispels that notion. We know very well that the Lord alone leads from within. The Holy Spirit does not pass from person to person, but "from the Lord by means of (per) a person into a person" (Canons, Holy Spirit N; cf. TCR 154:5). We do not inflow into others. Priests may teach the truth and bring it to the understanding of many, but not to the heart of anyone (see DP 172:6).
     It is interesting that when Moses was advised by Jethro to delegate leadership to captains of thousands, etc., the internal sense differs sharply from the literal sense. In the internal sense the Lord, represented by Moses, still governs all things (see AC 8705 et al).

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The point is that He governs in two ways-by good from within immediately and by truth through the medium of the heavens. Yet "what comes out of heaven comes through heaven from Him" (AC 8717).
     This is the key to the concept of government by influx. The Lord is the only teacher. He uses us as intermediaries. We work for Him, and through our uses we find happiness (see AC 8719). But we cooperate best with Him when we influence others in such a way that they are led to look to Him alone! I might be tempted to call this "step-aside government-getting out of the way so that the Lord rules. But it is more than that. The series on Jethro and Moses mentioned above, and also another beautiful series, point out that humans have been given the opportunity to partake in this use.
     Jehovah wanted to send Moses to save the sons of Israel, but Moses was "heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue" (see AC 6985). Moses, the Divine truth that inflows into the hearts of people, does not express itself perceptibly in the spiritual church.
     Moses needed a mouthpiece. This was Aaron, and he represents the truth that is taught mediately-through angels, and today through the Word itself (see AC 7055, 7056, 7058). So Moses and Aaron met on the mount of God and they kissed, and went forth to deliver Israel. It is when the Lord speaks to us from without by His Word and from within by His presence that we are truly led by Him. This is government by influx.
     The marvel is that the Lord has allowed us to provide for such government when we take principles from His Word and teach them and apply them to the life of our church. For the truth that is taught by others is still from the Lord! (DP 172; cf. AC 6998; 7009). And here is the point: it is only that which is from the Lord that meets His influx from within. Thus He alone leads, even though we are going to be most fallible in the way we present His truth. His immediate presence is only in that which is from His Word.

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     "God has spoken once: twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God" (Psalm 62:11). Whenever we are led to accept a truth, we hear Him speak twice: audibly, in His Word, and then silently in our hearts. After that second speech we feel His power.
     To sum up: "Spiritual faith is that which is insinuated by an internal and at the same time by an external way. The insinuation by the internal way causes it to be believed, and then that which is insinuated by the external way causes it to be confirmed" (AC 8078; 7056; 9683).
     One teaching says that nothing good and true which becomes part of a person's life is from angels (let alone from us). Some things seem to be good and true, flowing from us to others, but they only serve to introduce to the genuine good and truth which the Lord inspires (see AC 8728; cf. 8719; also AC 6473; 6474). We may think that we inspire people and lead them. In fact we may have helped them, but once they have responded to the Lord, we have "stepped aside."
     How limited our effect is appears from the following passage: "Everyone is taught according to the understanding that belongs to his own love. What is beyond this is not permanent" (DP 172:5; emphasis added). We may present great and wondrous truths, but for them to affect someone else in any lasting manner, they must be allowed to attach themselves, in secret, to his or her love. Otherwise they have no good effect. If we force them upon others, they may do harm (see AC 9212, 9213).
     When we can accept that the Lord rules by influx, then we have peace (see AC 6325). We realize how little we accomplish, and therefore we can see ourselves as servants of the Lord and of others. Yet we have a role to play (see AC 7004; cf. AC 8719).
     There is much more on this subject, but I will mention only one further point. The Lord leads from within by means of affections. This is the silent touch which He alone can control (see AE 1173, 1175, 1177; AC 6472; of HH 197 footnote).

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Were He to lead from within by means of truths, we would have no freedom. Were He to lead from without by means of affections, we would probably feel driven, and resist. Our responsibility is both to present ideas so that people can see them from without, and to provide an atmosphere so that they can be in the mood to respond to the Lord's silent, inner leading.

2. Government by moral obligation

     'The baptism of John: was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me. And they answered and said to Jesus, 'We do not know.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things'" (Mark 11:30,33).

     Moral law is God's law (see AC 2609; 3690:3, 4; 8861; 9300:3 et al). The baptism of John represents obedience to the letter of the Word and to the moral and civil regimen it teaches. If we do not see the connection of moral law with God, we will not feel His "authority" in us.
     The difference between the internal, spiritual conscience and moral conscience is that the second is recognizable. We do not know the inner motives of people. In our governance we should provide for each individual to respond as freely as possible to government by influxthe Lord's secret leading. We can and must, however, provide lower forms of government which are based on recognizable moral law.
     On the second level of government, then, an institution establishes the moral concepts according to which it wishes to operate. The Academy assumes that its workers and its supporters wish to support what is just and fair-the principles of moral law (see AC 4167, 6027, 5145, 9119; see also AC 4574; HH 484, 495, 529, 530). It enunciates these laws openly, is free to discuss them, strives make them clear to all who know of the institution.

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     No one can tell whether or not we are sincere in trying to carry out the lofty goals of a spiritual purpose. But the character of the institution is measured in the degree that it keeps its own articulated moral standards. These we can judge.
     "Were it not lawful for a person to judge the moral life of his fellow inhabitants in the world society would fall" (CL 523). Another passage is more pointed, "It is proper for a person to know what connections may be safely entered into, and how much trust is to be reposed in another; what is suitable to be done, and what not; for there are pretenders, deceivers, hypocrites, adulterers, and evil persons of all kinds; there are wise people and fools, and those who value nothing of the public good, but prefer themselves, and there are all varieties of character. Therefore without reflection, thought, and thus judgment with oneself no one would ever be able to live in civil life" (SD 4425; see also SD 4426; AC 2284).
     Here is a direct application to government. The passage continues: "It is especially necessary to judge whether this or that person is useful for discharging public offices, and so forth; in which it is not possible to distinguish without judgment with one's self about another."
     In employing a person, or in dealing with someone, we have a responsibility, not only to make a personal judgment about his or her moral fiber, but also to decide on that person's suitability for the job he or she is seeking.
     Is it a subjective judgment? Yes. Moral things are not measurable by some thoroughly objective standard. "Judgment with one's self about-another-that is how we make such decisions. We take counsel, and hopefully we benefit from the thoughts of many minds. But we would be fooling ourselves if we didn't admit that we all make judgments like these every single day, on the basis of our trust in someone or our lack of it, or on the basis of our confidence in his ability or the lack of it. How else do you choose a doctor, or a lawyer or a builder? If your doctor says you need an operation, your sense of his integrity and his competence makes a difference to how readily you agree to it.

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     Moral law speaks of human relationships, "the virtues which look to life and enter into it" (CL 164; cf. HH 484, 529, 468; cf. Char. 57). It is a life according to laws both human and Divine (see TCR 445; AC 8861; Life 53). The Lord teaches moral law through human agents (see CL 207:4; AE 1177). Some people excel others in moral perception, depending on how much they can elevate their minds above the sensual, from a wish to live well (see AC 6598; cf. TCR 354:3; DLW 239).
     Nevertheless, one of the ways the Lord rules is to see to it that all people acknowledge morality (see DP 322; Life 7). For He knows that if He can guide them through this external conscience, He can later inspire a spiritual love for good and truth (see DP 322; also CL 102e; HH 356:3; DLW 253). Is there less freedom in "moral obligation" than there is in "government by influx?" Certainly. A conscientious person assesses his or her responsibilities to other human beings, and their needs are the topic of moral law. You ought to be honest with them, courteous, forgiving, generous, and so on. The decision to do these things is private and free, but the form in which they manifested is in a more public arena. Was it Oliver Wendell Holmes who said, "Justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done"? (Maybe one or two others have said it over the centuries.)
     Also, morals are learned not only from the Word, but also through parents and teachers (see TCR 443), by "reflections upon the morals of men" (AC 4538:3), and by rational considerations of one's own (see TCR 564:2). This means that what others think is just and fair influences our principles.
     In summary, our institution governs itself by moral law, and deals with each individual according to moral judgment. "It is in the interest of Christian prudence to examine well the quality of a person's life, and to exercise charity to him accordingly" (NJHD 85; cf. n. 84; AC 3820:2, 3; 4954; 4955; 4956; 7259-7263; 9993).

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Indiscriminate trust is folly (NJHD 100, 101).
     But the assumption, at this level, is that all are acting from a sound, external conscience of what is just and fair. Therefore moral law governs us all equally, and its essential component is what is honorable (see AC 4574, 2915, ISB 12 et al).

3. Government by moral pressure

     "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'If we say, From heaven, He will say, Why then did you not believe him? But if we say, From men'-they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed (Mark 11:31, 32).

     "Rational freedom is from the love of reputation with a view to honor or gain. The enjoyment of this love lies in appearing externally as a moral person . . . . He acts from freedom in accordance with his reason in sincere, just, chaste and friendly ways; and from this reason he can advocate such conduct. . . . This rational freedom is merely a more interior natural freedom; and this freedom too by the Lord's Divine providence remains with everyone" (DP 73:5).

     "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves of the riches of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations" (Luke 16:8, 9),

     Moral pressure is not a popular thing in the world today. Everyone is supposed to be free to do what he or she feels like doing, and other people's morals are not supposed to be any of our business.
     The Writings don't agree. Fear of moral disapproval is a powerful force for good. It is the medium the Lord uses when conscience fails (see AC 1835, 1077, 2748; cf. AC 5060). "In a civil society, where everyone is for himself and no one for another except for the sake of himself, unless there were laws to unite, and fears of the loss of gain, honor, fame and life, the society would be utterly dissipated" (AC 5002).

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     Fear of the consequences of moral wrong can produce all kinds of useful behavior. One passage speaks of those who are kind to their spouses because they are afraid that otherwise they will not be cared for when they become old (see AC 2742). Another says that from fear of being judged, people sometimes work harder than do the just (see AC 6207; cf. 4293, 5066 et al).
     The evil fear the truth, and at times obey it, lest it discover them (see AC 218, 224, 2462, 4180, 7437; TCR 568). Of course, they hate it because it restrains them, but in the meantime they conform to the standards it teaches. They even have a spurious kind of faith (see AC 4352).
     If some of these bonds were taken away, they would "rave insanely" (AC 1944; cf. 4217, 5145:6, 2126), but the presence of them causes them to appear rational (see AC 1944).
     Of course, if a person is being good because he or she is afraid of the consequences, there is no real freedom. There is a certain kind of freedom-the choice to put on a good face, because we want what that good face will bring us in the way of worldly reputation.
     Is this talking only of the evil? Not at all. Sometimes we work for selfish motives. We are not evil, but lower goals are more powerful at certain times. It is good that it is so, for otherwise not much would get done in the world.
     This is the burden of the Lord's words about the unjust steward, "The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light" (Luke 16:8; see DP 250:5; AE 430:11). We are often wiser in pursuing our selfish aims than we are in following our infant consciences.
     "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves of the riches of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations" (Luke 16:9). How many values have we pursued, how many knowledges accumulated, for less than noble reasons?

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Our consciences would have failed us, but our self-interest kept us going. But when conscience is active again, we benefit from what we learned and did in our more mercenary moments.
     Therefore, we should have a government in our institutions which takes account of human frailty, and puts social pressure on all of us to conform.

4. Government by civil constraints

     "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are Gods" (Luke 20:25).

     "Civil good is what a person does from civil law. By means of and according to this good he is a citizen in the natural world (Life 12).

     There are passages that make it clear that civil law is useful when all else fails. When a person is not going to be governed by either conscience or by the fear of what others will say, then he needs civil punishments to restrain him. Such, in fact, are all the evil who come into the other world, and that is why they are punished in the hells (see AC 1077, 1835, 7280; cf. AC 4167). It is the only thing that will restrain them.
     That kind of government exists in this world also, and should do so in a church. Governors are to punish if there is disorder (see AC 10790, 10798). The middle three laws of the Decalogue-forbidding murder, adultery, and theft-are civil laws. They apply in all organizations.
     In general, however, civil law applies also to the external expression of what is morally and spiritually good, and to life in this world.
     This is an important concept about civil law. It is easily forgotten, since civil law in a country or an organization is often established by human beings, and their careful formulation is frequently dictated by a temporal necessity.

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The essentials of civil law take their origin from moral and spiritual edicts. In this sense, a just civil law is one where principle is honored on a lower plane. The Decalogue proclaims laws that are civil and moral, but they are primarily Divine (see Life 53). A civil and moral life is according to laws both human and Divine (see TCR 445).
     Consider the laws of marriage. They are embodied in a covenant, but the Lord set up that covenant. We might "change" the laws of marriage, in one country or another, but they are eternally the way God established them.
     Therefore, He says that He never establishes a covenant with us (see AC 1864; cf. 10299; Life 53). He sets out the rules; our part is to obey. "One proposes and the other accepts" the Lord's way (AE 971:5).
     Civil law, however, may be temporary (see TCR 415, 494; cf. AC 2480). It passes away when we leave this earth. It speaks of our employment on earth (see TCR 508). Therefore in an institution we have procedures which reflect the needs of that organization. They don't have a mandate from God. They have no eternal validity. They are simply policies to meet a present need.
     One of the most powerful arguments for civil contracts in the Writings is their insistence upon a "marriage covenant," which should precede the marriage. It is so that "the requirements and ordinances of truly conjugial love may be acknowledged and a remembrance of them be retained after the wedding. Such a covenant also serves as a bond, obligating the couple's minds to an honorable marriage. For after some initial tastes of marriage their former state preceding betrothal recurs at times, and in that state their memory fails and they begin to forget the covenant they entered into . . . .
     "To deter such transgressions, however, society itself has taken under its jurisdiction to protect that covenant, and has set penalties for those who break it.
     "In sum, a prenuptial covenant makes plain the requirements of truly conjugial love, establishes these, and binds libertines to complying with them.

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In addition, such a covenant establishes the legitimacy of any children they produce, and legally secures for the children a right to inherit their parents' possessions" (CL 307).
     This is a summary of the doctrinal reasons for civil government, even in such a spiritual bond as marriage:

     a.      to make clear what the rules of marriage are;
     b.      to remind people of the agreement;
     c.      to help them when states arise when they would rather forget it;
     d.      to punish those who break the agreement;
     e.      to establish the legal right of "beneficiaries" of the covenant (in this case the children).

     It seems that these five concepts have application to our procedures in an institution. People need to know what the rules are and what is expected of them. They (employer and employee) need to have a tangible reminder of the agreement, especially when it becomes onerous. There should be pain attached to anybody's breaking an agreement. Finally, there are beneficiaries for every job that is done: they are entitled to that benefit.
     We have turned more and more towards civil agreements in the church. I confess that I am in two minds about this. I started working for the church without any written agreement, and felt comfortable about the unspoken agreements which existed between me and the bishop, between me and the congregation I served. Yet when I became president of the Academy I inherited a system of contracts, and worked hard to ensure that they were applied uniformly throughout the institution. Many spoke with appreciation of "knowing where they stood," what their duties were, what the conditions of employment were. It is helpful to us all, for example, to know what our retirement benefits are.

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     My question is: Have we moved too far towards a civil government in our institution, or are we simply expressing by means of civil law the honorable intentions we have in offering and accepting employment? Will our increasing attention to legal definitions (often required by the country in which we live) draw the mind down towards what is required of us? Or will it free our minds from the fear of misunderstanding, so that we can concentrate on doing our work from spiritual love and with moral integrity?

The tension among these four forms of government

     Discrimination is most helpful when we tackle any subject. Can we see the separate nature of each kind of regimen under which we should live? When we adopt policies, can we ask ourselves why we are doing so? Is it to facilitate matters so that people are free to act from conscience? Is it to define more clearly the moral imperatives of our institution? Is it to express our determination that certain moral standards will not be lowered? Is it to clarify the agreements between us, ensuring that they are appreciated and honored, and allowing the institution to operate in an orderly fashion?

Conclusion

     "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shalt not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

     These are words for the New Church. "The rock" is the belief that the Lord is God. If our faith-that the Lord as He speaks to us in His Word is our God-is strong enough, He will build His church in our midst.
     The Academy claims as its central use to allow the Lord to do that, for we are established for "propagating the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and establishing the New Church signified in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem."

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     We are merely human, and oh so fallible. That is why we keep asking the Lord what kind of organization we should have. What should motivate its human leaders, its workers, its volunteers, its supporters? There are many people in the world who can help us to do things better than we are doing them now. The New Church has no special enlightenment in management procedures or educational administration. I hope we will learn from others, in humility and with appreciation.
     But only in the threefold Word do we find the grand vision of how the whole universe should be governed, and what place we as individuals, and our human institutions, have in that panorama. The whole of the Word is about human interaction and about use, and about how to serve the Lord's plans. We turn to Him first with the humble prayer that something of what we are doing here, in this tiny part of creation, has the stamp of eternity upon it. For the government of the Academy, like its uses, should be founded on everlasting principles.
     "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11).
IVYLAND, PENNSYLVANIA 1991

IVYLAND, PENNSYLVANIA       Editor       1991

Among the circles of the General Church we have listed Hatboro-Horsham. As the circle now has a location of its own, we listed it in December as "Hatboro/Horsham (Ivyland)." Now we plan to list it as "Ivyland Hatboro/Horsham).'' The address is 841 West Bristol Road, Ivyland, PA 18974. The pastor is Rev. Robert S. Junge. The phone number is (215) 957-5965.
     Pennsylvania now has eight listings, California five, Illinois and Florida three each. (See the May issue.)

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DAWN OF A NEW ERA 1991

DAWN OF A NEW ERA       Rev. PATRICK A. ROSE       1991

This month we celebrate the Second Coming of the Lord. The Lord has come again. He has come, not in Person as He did when He made His First Coming, but in the Word. "This Second Coming of the Lord is not a coming in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him and is Himself (TCR 776).
     It might seem, then, that the Lord has come in a fairly abstract way. Yet if by abstract we mean something that is unreal, the Second Coming is by no means abstract. The Lord actually has come, and we can actually see Him. In fact, the very reason we can celebrate His Second Coming is that we have seen Him. We have seen Him in the form of truth.
     We have seen the Divinity of the truth of the Writings. Perhaps we have doubts at times. Certainly there will be some things we do not fully understand. Nevertheless, despite occasional doubts, and despite the fact that there are inevitable limits to what we can comprehend, we have seen in the Writings something most precious and most wonderful. We have sensed a power and a wisdom which transcend completely merely human ideas. We have sensed the Lord's presence-seen His wisdom. He has shined into our minds through the new heaven. Perhaps only a few small rays of light have reached us. But that light which has reached us has blessed us with the ability to see clearly that it is the Lord Himself who is speaking to us within the sacred pages of the Heavenly Doctrines. This vision is a blessing we have not earned. It is something for which we thank the Lord from the bottom of our hearts.
     The light we have seen and sensed in the Writings is the Lord Himself. He is beginning to shine in the minds of people here on earth. A star was the sign of His first coming. This same star is the sign of His Second Coming as well. This is why He says, in the book of Revelation, "I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16).

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     The same God who came down to Bethlehem, and was born into the house of David, has now come again-shining in the darkness as a star, bringing light to the minds of men, a light which can guide their steps along the path of life.
     This light is now just beginning to shine. But still, the dawn has come! In a world in which there is so much spiritual ignorance we might as times despair. There is no need for despair. The dawn has already come. Even now the Lord is moving in secret ways to bring about a new Christian era here on each.
     As for us, our part is simple. We have seen the Lord. We must not turn away from Him. If we do not live what we know, then most surely the light will depart from us, and we ourselves will then see nothing but dry, uninteresting statements in the Writings. We must live what we learn, and we must learn more that we might live it. Then the light that we have seen-perhaps only a faint star far away on the horizon-will grow in splendor and magnitude as we follow it. We must pray, pray both with our lips and with our lives that the Lord's New Church might be firmly established here upon this earth. Let us neither doubt nor despair. Whatever might be the appearance at times, a new and glorious age is now beginning to dawn upon the peoples of this earth.
     Our Lord Jesus Christ has come!
HOWARD PYLE ON READING THE WRITINGS 1991

HOWARD PYLE ON READING THE WRITINGS       Editor       1991

HOWARD PYLE ON READING THE WRITINGS: This grand gentleman had a hard time with Heaven and Hell, and he read Divine Love and Wisdom "almost in agony." But when he got into the Arcana Caelestia he wrote, "Next to the Bible upon which it stands it is the greatest book that I have ever read. It is the very word of God, and the history of every man's soul" (see NCL May 1926).

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MAKING THE WRITINGS READABLE 1991

MAKING THE WRITINGS READABLE       Rev. MESSRS. FRANK S. ROSE AND JAN H. WEISS       1991

Second Generation Writings

Essential and Yet Hard to Read

     The New Church cannot be established unless human beings absorb the truths of the Writings and apply them in their lives. And truths cannot be absorbed unless they are read and understood. Here is the problem: the Writings are hard to read and understand.
     Many New Churchmen and outsiders have told us about this problem over the past 35 years. We have understood this complaint but until recently we have not done much to help.

Additional Problems

     The problem of reading the Writings is more complicated than fifty years ago. Today we are deluged by television that we can have by pushing a button any time of the day. Watching TV is so much easier than reading, and is therefore extremely tempting.
     Today our young people are not as well educated as 50 years ago. According to many educators, their reading skills are lower. In school, homework is not emphasized and so our young people can return home and after dinner quickly retire to the TV room.
     Our educational system does not require prolonged reading of difficult material. Religious books cannot be long or involved. We do not have time to read a book of 500 to 600 pages. Religious books also must be short because then they can be inexpensive, so outsiders and our young people can afford them.

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     The need for a simplified version of the Writings has been seen before and by others, but until recently, publishing a simplified version was a very difficult task. It required too much work and time from the minister. There was no money for the large amount of secretarial work that was needed. There was no money to print the simplified versions.

Solutions to Problems

     Because of the computer many of these problems have disappeared, so we are now in a position to produce and market an inexpensive simplified version of the Writings. We are now able to scan the text of the Writings, convert it to text in ASCII form and deposit this text onto a floppy disk outside the computer or to a hard drive inside the computer. With a sophisticated word-processing program we can pick up this text, manipulate it and simplify it. Such simplification can occur in a very short time and with relatively little effort. The simplified text can be printed by an inexpensive PC printer, and such a version can be multiplied very cheaply on advanced Xerox type copiers. Velo and similar bindings are inexpensive and easy to use. Today it is very easy to print a book ourselves in our church office.

Touching Divine Revelation

     The first time we contemplated the idea of simplifying the Writings the fundamentalist New Church man in us shrunk back. They are the Lord's work. Would we dare to cut them shorter? Would we dare to delete from them? But then suddenly we realized we had been reading and studying the Writings in that simplified mode all the time. We skip over the text all the time. We never read every word and number.
     When we quote from the Writings we select and cut out. We leave out words and numbers, so we can highlight the essential point we want to make. Laymen read the Writings in the same way.

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If they do not understand they skip over. If they are not interested they skip over or do not read at all. If they are yearning for a truth that can shed light on a certain problem, they scan the Writings in a strongly selective mode.
     When ministers select readings for church services, they pick and choose, and they often leave out sentences or words to make the lesson more understandable. It even would seem that the Writings themselves employ this selective scanning approach.
     After publishing the eight-volume Arcana Coelestia, Swedenborg published five short works. Why? Most of the material already existed in the Arcana Coelestia. Three of the five works were reprints of inter-chapter material from the Arcana with some added material. These are The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, The White Horse and The Earths in the Universe. Much of the material in Heaven and Hell was originally printed in the Arcana. Since most of the contents of these four books already existed in the Arcana, why did he write and publish the smaller works? We suggest he tried to make it easier for the reader.
     People have wondered why Swedenborg wrote the Apocalypse Explained covering some 4330 pages but never published them. Then seven years later he wrote the Apocalypse Revealed, covering 1000 pages, and had them printed. Again, was not his purpose to simplify and shorten?

The Use of Simplification

     Ministers are not held up by the form and style of the Writings. But when they bring them to newcomers or to children they find that this form and style pose a real problem. These readers find it hard to see the Lord there, to sense His marvelous love, and His many new and enlightening truths. Even long-time members of the New Church have problems reading the Writings. Even they could use a simplified version.

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Of course, ministers can try to show the Lord in sermons and classes. But a personal relationship with the Lord is not established unless we can see the Lord in the Word for ourselves.
     This fundamental truth motivates us to work on the simplification of the Writings. We will always lead people to the Lord in His Word. The Writings will never be replaced by a simplification.

First Efforts

     At the last California ministers' meetings we discovered that both of us had started to work on simplified texts of the Writings. Both of us had seen the tremendous use performed by the STAIRS committee of the Academy, and we had begun to work with the results of their efforts-the Writings in ASCII form.
     Frank Rose did a summary of Divine Providence for a doctrinal class series and has started on a version of Divine Love and Wisdom consisting entirely of selected quotations from the work. He was asked to provide a summary of New Church doctrine for the new Liturgy and made this summary by selecting key passages from the True Christian Religion.
     Jan Weiss first wrote a short book that introduces people to the idea that the Lord has made His second coming in a new revelation. One section is written for people in the Christian Church who know about the second coming. Another section is directed to non-church people who are not familiar with the second coming concept.
     One short chapter speaks about the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming, and then refers to the book of Revelation, where the coming of a new Christian Church is described. At the end of this chapter the reader is referred to two books.
     The first book is a compilation of passages that were extracted from the Arcana Coelestia and that explain how the second coming prophecies in the gospels have been fulfilled in the Writings.

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The second book is a shortened and simplified version of the Apocalypse Revealed, where we find a description of the last judgment and of the coming of a new Christian Church.
     In a third book you will find the internal sense of the Ten Commandments from the True Christian Religion and the Apocalypse Explained. The fourth book is a shorter and simplified version of Conjugial Love.

Questions to the Readers of New Church Life

     At this point in time we are wondering: Are we just spinning our wheels? Both authors of this article would like to get letters from the readers of New Church Life, telling us how you feel about the idea of simplifying the Writings. Would you be interested in having such summaries and simplifications of the Writings? Would these help you feel more confident in developing more time to the reading of these simplified Writings? Would you like to help in this work? We need retired ministers, writers, editors, reader evaluators, word-processing experts, and book producers.
     Send your letter to Rev. F. S. Rose, 9233 E. Helen Street, Tucson, AZ 85715 or to Rev. Jan H. Weiss, POB 3966, Industry, CA 91745.
HELEN KELLER ON READING THE WRITINGS 1991

HELEN KELLER ON READING THE WRITINGS       Editor       1991

Helen Keller wrote: "If people would only begin to read Swedenborg's books with at first a little patience, they would soon be reading them for pure joy." This does not gainsay the point of the above writers. See the note on page 262 about Howard Pyle.

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INTERNATIONAL SWEDENBORG PUBLISHERS' CONFERENCE 1991

INTERNATIONAL SWEDENBORG PUBLISHERS' CONFERENCE       Editor       1991

Three Days in Manchester (April 15-18, 1991)

     Visitors from abroad found a lovely springtime in Manchester, England, but they scarcely paused to smell the flowers. There were daily sessions from 9:00 to 12:00, 2:00 to 5:00 and 7:30 to 9:30. There was so much to discuss and to learn about what is being done and what might be done in the future. Presenters were given twenty minutes each to make their points, and this led to a concentrated diet for discussion among more than forty participants.
     Besides presentations from the Swedenborg Society in London, the Swedenborg Foundation in New York, the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, and New Church House in Manchester, there were presentations from scholars from the continent, such as Anders Hallengren of Sweden and Eberhard Zwink of Germany. We learned what was going on in Czechoslovakia (thanks to Christopher Hasler and David Krejza). We heard about the circulation of books in Yugoslavia (thanks to Risto Rundo). It was enlightening and gratifying to hear of publication activities in Switzerland (Friedemann Horn) and in Sweden (Olle Hjern.)
     Leonard Fox handed out copies of a map of the Soviet Union which contained information on languages spoken by the regional populations. Speakers reviewed work done in book distribution, effective means of presentation, and the vital role of libraries. The desirability of greater communication was evident, and Leon Rhodes agreed to put out an informative newsletter. Since those memorable three days we have heard many affirmative comments on the delight experienced in learning about each other and gaining ideas and inspiration in the work in which we are engaged.

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C. S. LEWIS WRITES TO R. R. GLADISH 1991

C. S. LEWIS WRITES TO R. R. GLADISH       Editor       1991

Clive Staples Lewis was a devout atheist at the age of 31. But he felt that God was "closing in" on him. He describes this in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy. He became a kind of apostle to the skeptics, producing outstanding works of Christian apologetics. Last December we published an editorial about Lewis which brought us a good supply of interesting mail. We received information on a bit of personal correspondence which we will summarize here.
     On November 8, 1946 Richard R. Gladish of Bryn Athyn sent a two-page typewritten letter to C. S. Lewis. He pointed out to Lewis "the striking resemblance between your teachings and those found in the writings of Swedenborg." He spoke of the concept of people on other planets "worshiping one God whom we know as Jesus Christ"; also of the concept of hell as being "freely-chosen self-hood." Referring to belief in Christ as God he said, "I am so delighted to find that you hold that belief." In closing he said, "If you would some time drop me a line about the sources of your ideas and inspiration I should be truly grateful."
     On November 14th Lewis wrote to Gladish from Magdalen College, Oxford. He said, "I have read very little Swedenborg and use the idea of the other inhabited planets only as a 'supposal' for theological romances."
     On November 30th Gladish wrote a five-page letter to the renowned author. "I know that you are doing a very great use for Christianity; I would not perhaps be doing the world a service in hoping that you would give some study to Swedenborg's Writings, since you have been so successful in your chosen work, and this might divert your talents, I think that you are paving the way for many Christians to remain true to the essential truth of Christianity, and I am amazed that you have developed so many (pardon me) tremendously true ideas from the Bible and Creed alone."

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     Writing again on December 8th Gladish chided Lewis. "In the last few pages of The Great Divorce you carelessly lump together Dale Owen and Swedenborg in one careless (excuse, I said that, didn't I) phrase and throw them both out of your mind, supposedly, your readers' minds." He asked that Lewis would "find time to make a fair examination of Swedenborg's life, his statements and his claims,"
     Lewis replied on December 28th, "The name was Vale (not Dale). The only point in common to him and Swedenborg was that both claimed to reveal: the secrets of the next world. After that, a great difference: for Vale Owen was an ass, and Swedenborg certainly had elements of genius. I can't however go anything like ah the way with you and you'll agree that we can't embark on a controversy by post which would take us years. We must agree to differ."
     On January 19th, 1947 Gladish began a letter with the words: "Where there is charity, differences of doctrine do not divide. He thanked Lewis for his attention but added, "Just as an an afterthought, however, does not your last note make it plain that you have Swedenborg an injustice? By your own words, you have lumped together 'an ass' and a man having elements of genius' and proceeded, in the vernacular, to give them both the brush-off."
     The last communication Gladish sent to Lewis was on September 14, 1947. He recommended certain paragraphs in Conjugial Love. This elicited the final response, dated September 30, 1947:

Dear Mr. Gladish,
     Thank you for your letter of the 14th. With all good wishes,
          Your sincerely,
               C. S. Lewis

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     In one of the Gladish connmunications he said to Lewis, "In my humble opinion, you have a wonderful philosophy and viewpoint on which to build, and it would be a shame not to build upon it without more delay. This is not so inane of me if you understand that I believe you will build from the Writings open it in the other world, anyway. So, as a certain flour manufacturer here says, 'Eventually, why not now?'" In 1963 Lewis departed this life, and we may like to think of his continuing to build in philosophical understanding.
'91 SYMPOSIUM: WOMEN AND THE NEW CHURCH 1991

'91 SYMPOSIUM: WOMEN AND THE NEW CHURCH       Editor       1991

Sponsored by the Girls School of the Academy of the New Church and Theta Alpha International
Dates: November 29 to December 1
Place: Bryn Athyn Society Building
Cost: To be determined Costs are being held down so that participation can be maximized.
Goals:
1.      To explore the experience of being female in the church and in Western culture.
2.      To examine, in the light of the Writings, the findings of recent secular research into female development.
3.      To encourage women to assume responsibility for unfolding the complexities of the female mind, and to strengthen their confidence in their ability to do this.
4.      To become aware of the ways that cultural stereotypes may have clouded our thinking from doctrine about feminine uses.
5.      To heighten awareness of the true differences between masculine and feminine minds.
6.      To laugh together, have some fun, and celebrate the joys of being women.

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Utopia Against the Family 1991

Utopia Against the Family       Daniel L. Horigan       1991

Dear Editor:
     I do wish to take the conversation further with respect to my review of Utopia, Etc. (January issue). Here goes:
     First, I would like to say I fully concur with the ways of supporting the family which Mrs. Odhner lists in the last paragraph of her reaction to my review (March issue). Having said this, however, I disagree strongly with her comments on pay equity and day care. In the former instance, she-in common with most people (deliberately, in the case of radical feminists)-fails to appreciate the difference between equal pay for equal work and equal pay for work of equal value, referred to as pay equity or comparable worth.
     Discrimination against women in the work force has been all too common. But, increasingly, the better managed businesses are adjusting pay scales to correct past injustices. However, this does not satisfy the utopians. Using a misleading statistic (women, on average, earn 60% less than men), they have pressured governments into enacting pay equity and affirmative action (another misnomer) legislation in spite of the fact that such laws are detrimental to businesses' ability to create wealth or, in many instances, survive.
     Pay equity involves having some third party (who bears no responsibility for its consequences) deciding that job A must be paid at the same rate as job B; e.g., secretaries should be paid the same as truck drivers. This is done with no concern for the ability of the business to pay the higher wages, and, I might add, ignoring the fact that all wages are paid by customers, not the business they work for. Not surprisingly, the concept has been applied most widely in the public sector where ability to pay is a minor consideration (the increased cost can simply be passed on to taxpayers or future generations.)
     Furthermore, numerous studies show that the discrepancies in wage rates vary widely. In some instances, such as black

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     Furthermore, numerous studies show that the discrepancies in wage rates vary widely. In some instances, such as black professors with a PhD., females are paid more than males; in others, the state of matrimony affects the wage rate. Women with family responsibilities have no right to expect pay rates as high as those of people who can give their full attention to their employer's business.
     With respect to day care, here too the issue is far from simple. The question needs to be asked: "Why is there such a demand for day care?" A large part of the answer is, "Why are there so many single parents?" And one of the main reasons is the breakdown in society's moral standards. This is reflected in such things as the now-acceptable sexual promiscuity, no-fault divorce laws which foster a lack of long-term commitment, allowing children to leave home at the age of sixteen to be supported by the taxpayers, and similar social welfare measures which do more harm than good.
     Finally, as is evident from my comments, I am in basic agreement with Dr. Christensen's ideas. I believe they are consistent with those in the three books reviewed by Mrs. Charis Cole (Life, March 1987), those in Charles Murray's Losing Ground, and those in John Silber's Straight Shooting, among others in a similar vein. As New Church men and women, we know the hells are constantly attacking. Because conjugial love is central to all other good loves, it is logical to assume it is their principal target, and this in ways that are less than obvious. Issues which impact on the family have been a concern of mine for many years.
     Daniel L. Horigan
          Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

     P.S. The Rockford Institute Center on the Family in America has a monthly publication, The Family in America, which documents the trends which are destroying the family. It is well worth subscribing to for anyone who shares a concern for preserving the family.

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DAILY READINGS 1991

DAILY READINGS       Chris Horner       1991

Dear Editor:
     When I became interested in the General Church and made my first annual subscription to New Church Life more than forty years ago, and shortly afterwards joined the General Church, the "Calendar of Daily Readings" was distributed regularly to all members, and each number of New Church Life contained a commentary on the month's readings by a minister of the church. The introductory sentence of the calendar read, "This Calendar of Daily Readings is intended to encourage continuous individual readings of the Sacred Scripture and Heavenly Doctrine." Less than a decade later the monthly commentary in New Church Life ceased, and a few years later the readings were sent out by the church only "to those on its address list." Last year the readings were printed on bookmarks and this proved to be very satisfactory; but this year, instead of daily readings, the bookmarks have dwindled to presenting only weekly readings. To me this has virtually defeated the whole object of the presentation.
     I believe the institution of the Daily Calendar Readings has been one of the most important functions of the General Church. In an article in this journal a few years ago I expressed the opinion that "If all members around the world would support this scheme consistently it would be like a continued mighty prayer arising from the Church to the Lord-the Lord of the Second Advent." I believe that it was something of this sort of a vision that inspired some amongst the early fathers of the church to launch this important use at the beginning of the century. Is it to expire as the twentieth century gives way to the twenty-first? Has the practice outlived its usefulness?
     Some might contend that there is no need for a communal incentive to endeavor that each member of the church read a portion of the Word every day, but that it should be left to each one's discretion. But would we all find it easy without some such assistance?!

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     It seems that there are now only approximately fifty recipients of Calendar Readings, and this amongst a church membership in excess of four thousand appears to be insignificant. Do the members want to continue this service? Does the church need it? Most New Church ministers from time to time bring into their sermons an exhortation to read the Word every day in all its forms, but does this really rub off on their congregations? In an excellent sermon entitled "The Spirit of Truth" (NCL, Jan. 1990) by Rev. Bjrn Boyesen, he tells of the necessity for each one of us to read at least some part of the Word, including the Writings, each day. Consistent reading promotes reflection, and reflection on the Word is something we should all endeavor to cultivate.
     If we enquire about the church's progress we are likely to receive a glib reply that the current evangelization program is going well. But are we giving sufficient thought to the maintenance and integrity of the established body? In a sermon in the September issue of the New Age, Rev. Bernard Willmott writes, "the real and enduring vitality and strength of the organized New Church on earth is to be found not primarily nor essentially in terms of numbers or material affluence and power, nor in the enthusiastic involvement in social welfare. Its enduring life is found both in and from the effort of both minister and people to enter with understanding into what the Lord has revealed in the Second Advent in the Writings of His servant Emanuel Swedenborg.
     Were not the Calendar Readings instituted to promote this very end, and were they not a large factor in helping the General Church to become a solidly established body within the first half century of its existence? I believe that if the church allows this tradition to lapse for lack of support it will lose a vital element which is capable of assisting in the maintenance of its integrity.
     Chris Horner,
          Ogunbil, Australia

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NEW CHURCH, BUCCLEUCH 1991

NEW CHURCH, BUCCLEUCH       L. Allais       1991

Dear Editor:
     Please note that at the annual general meeting of the former Transvaal Society held in Irene on February 3, 1991, it was unanimously decided that the name of the society should change to "The New Church, Buccleuch." This decision was taken because there are now three General Church societies in the Transvaal (Alexandra, Diepkloof and Buccleuch).
     A big influence in helping us decide on this name was the article by Rev. Donald K. Rogers, namely, "A Rose by Any Other Name . . . Only Causes Confusion," which appeared in the October 1990 edition of New Church Life.
     Please help us publicize this new name.
          L. Allais, Secretary,
               The New Church, Buccleuch, South Africa
HEAVENLY DOCTRINE 1991

HEAVENLY DOCTRINE       Editor       1991

Dear Editor:
     My reply to the letter of Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, in your March edition, page 135, is in the interest of accuracy. I have never questioned the statement in New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine no. 7, which actually reads, " . . . sensus spiritualis Verbi est idem cum doctrina quae est in Coelo . . . " What I did question was that what is written in the natural world can be the same as that which the angels have.
     With regard to the Heavenly Doctrine, which is described as the "holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven," it is important that we recognize the distinction between the walls of the city and what lies within; otherwise one may imagine that he is in the spiritual sense when only in the natural.

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     In the natural are knowledges about spiritual things, whereas when the true itself forms the internal in man, then he is thinking from the spiritual in the natural, even though, as the Word teaches, he is not aware, while in the world, of the spiritual as it is in itself. To the natural alone belongs the imaginative of thought, while to the spiritual, the intellectual. It is therefore of paramount importance for our regeneration that the intellectual is being formed within the internal or spiritual man. If a man does not make this distinction, he remains in the imagination that he is in the spiritual and thereby is regenerate simply by knowing.
     Rev. Norman E. Riley,
          Rochdale, England
WELCOME TO MANCHESTER 1991

WELCOME TO MANCHESTER       D. K. McCallum       1991

Dear Editor:
     During the recent International Swedenborg Publishers Conference-held at Hulme Hall, Manchester, England, we were delighted to welcome several delegates to New Church House to see the shop and to inspect our library and archives. Also some of them went to see the Manchester Society church, which is on the first floor of this building, and four of the
European delegates attended our Sunday services.
     The whole of the meeting was very exhilarating and enjoyed by all present, and the atmosphere was one of complete accord.
     I am writing to extend a warm welcome to any of your readers who may be on holiday or business in this part of England. We would be delighted to meet them.

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The shop is open Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the services at the Manchester church begin at 10:45 each Sunday.
     D. K. McCallum,
          Hon. Secretary, New Church House, Manchester, England
GOOD HUMAN AUTHORITY 1991

GOOD HUMAN AUTHORITY       H. Keith Morley       1991

Dear Editor:
     In the April issue you highlighted a statement of Bishop Buss to the effect that he had not been able to find any passage in the Writings that talks about a good human "authority."
     References to a good love of dominion are, however, available, and since Webster defines dominion as "supreme authority" this could be a good substitute.
     We read in HH 564 that "there are two kinds of dominion, one of love toward the neighbor and the other of love of self . . . One who rules from love toward the neighbor wills good to all, and loves nothing so much as uses, that is, serving others . . . This love of dominion continues with everyone after his life in the world. Those who have ruled from love toward the neighbor are entrusted with authority in the heavens . . . " (emphasis added).
So there is apparently nothing intrinsically wrong with human authority. In fact the granting of appropriate authority is essential to the effective assumption of any given responsibility.
     H. Keith Morley,
          Toronto, Canada

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JOURNEY OF LIFE 1991

JOURNEY OF LIFE       THOMAS L. KLINE       1991

The following is an excerpt from the popular 97-page book now in its second edition. It is available from the General Church Book Center, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 for $5.75 including postage.

     THE JOURNEY OF LIFE

     BY THOMAS L. KLINE

     FOREWORD

     Around the year 1290 BC the children of Israel began their exodus from captivity in Egypt. For hundreds of years these people had been held as slaves while building the cities of Pharaoh. Finally the Lord raised up a new leader for the Israelites. Through the flame of the burning bush, He called Moses to confront Pharaoh with the command, "Let My people go." And so began a forty-year journey to the promised land of Canaan. We can picture almost a million people, an entire nation, slowly making their way through the wilderness. It was a journey in a vast desert, and yet the Lord would provide for the people. He would lead them day by day with the pillars of fire and of cloud. He would provide bread from heaven for their food and would bring them water from the rock.
     In the first year of their journey they made their way southward to Sinai where they received the Ten Commandments. Next they traveled to the very border of the land of Canaan, but were turned away because they lacked the courage to face the enemies that stood in their way. For the remainder of the journey they wandered in the wilderness of Kadesh. After the fortieth year the Lord finally led them to the border of Canaan. This was the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Here the people formed the nation known as Israel.
     There are many levels of meaning in this story.

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An historian would see the chronology, historical parallels, and present-day evidence of these past events. Above this historical level there is the deeper story of faith and trust in God. But in this book we will explore a still deeper meaning to the Exodus account-a personal meaning. Here we want to develop the Exodus as the story of our lives-to come to the point where we can look at a map of the Exodus journey and respond, "Yes, this is my life, I have been there." We can know what it is to leave the "Egypt" of our lives, how it feels to cross a sea with the waters parting on each side, what it means to thirst in the wilderness and have the Lord quench our thirst, and what it is to eat bread from heaven. The fact is, each of us is on a journey right now. It is a spiritual journey, one of becoming the person the Lord wants us to be and of discovering our true potentials. It is essentially a journey of finding God. This ancient book of the Exodus is a Divine allegory of our spiritual growth, a spiritual guidebook we may use as we make our way from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. Here the Lord speaks to us and gives us hope.

     Chapter I

     THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN

     This book is about the journey out of spiritual captivity. Spiritual captivity is that time in our lives when the Lord is calling us to go forward and make regress, and we find that we cannot heed His call. In captivity, we find ourselves spiritually stuck or tired from trying. The message from the Lord is this: there is a way out of spiritual captivity; there is a path that we can follow which will bring us back to the dreams and goals He sets before us. This path, this journey is shown to us in the ancient story of the Exodus. It is the story of the people of Israel and their journey from captivity in Egypt to their promised homeland in Canaan. In these ancient words of the Bible there is a beautiful allegory, the personal story of the Lord's healing and restoration of our lives.

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     Spiritual captivity-we have all experienced it. It is the statement, "I don't know how to deal with my anger any more. I just can't control it." Spiritual captivity can be a state of cynicism: "Yes, I used to believe in those dreams, those ideals . . . but now I know the hard reality of life." Spiritual captivity can be a time of hopelessness and despair: "I have tried to follow the will of the Lord, and each time I fail. What is the use of trying any more?"
     This state of mind is pictured by the story of the people of Israel in the opening verses of the book of Exodus. They were a people who were held captive in a foreign land, a people who had become slaves in Egypt. The former promises and memories of their homeland, Canaan, were but a distant dream. In the Word, we read that their lives in Egypt were made "bitter with hard bondage-in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field" (Exodus 1:14).

     Canaan and Egypt

     What do Egypt and Canaan picture in our lives? Canaan pictures the spiritual values and goals we hold to, Egypt pictures the things of the world.
     Canaan is the ideals of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. It is the love of family, the love of marriage, the dream of a life of use and service to others. Canaan pictures the spiritual promises the Lord leads us to in the truths of His Word. The Lord calls us to go to Canaan, just as He called the people of Israel to go there in the opening chapters of the Word. The Lord calls us to fulfill spiritual goals and dreams in our lives; He calls us to become spiritually reborn.
     Egypt pictures the things of the world. The meaning of Egypt is not merely physical possessions and material objects, but also worldly knowledge and skills that can serve and express the higher, spiritual ideals of Canaan.

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For example, a farmer can have the higher, "Canaan" love of feeding the masses, but he also needs the "Egypt" knowledge of planting crops and harvesting the soil. A doctor can have the spiritual love of healing the sick, but that love rests on the foundation of his worldly knowledge of the science of medicine.
     The Egypt of our lives, worldly knowledge and physical possessions, can turn into a place of captivity, but this is not its created purpose. Worldly things and worldly knowledge in themselves are not evil, they are not innately contrary to the will of God. The Lord gives us the physical things of the world as a realm where we can tangibly express the higher values of heaven, here on earth. Egypt can be a place of great wealth. It is for this reason that several stories of the Bible speak of a journey from Canaan to Egypt for the purpose of gathering wealth in Egypt. In the book of Genesis, it is recorded that Abram went down to Egypt to gather food and wealth when there was famine in Canaan. In the same way, the Lord sent Joseph to Egypt to gather storehouses of food for his family, so that they could survive famine in Canaan.
     A journey from Canaan to Egypt-it is a journey we often make in our lives. The Lord touches our hearts with a dream, and we hunger for the fulfillment of that dream. We journey southward from our state of inspiration in Canaan to a state of learning and preparation in Egypt. Egypt is a cognitive state of mind. Often the heat of inspiration we felt in Canaan is temporarily left behind as we set our mind to the relatively cool pursuits of study and learning in Egypt. The medical student with his Canaan vision of healing the sick may find that love distant as he sojourns in the technical Egypt of medical school. A married couple may find times when they need to stand back and look at their marriage objectively, even taking the time to learn practical skills that will serve the marriage. But our hope is to return to Canaan after gathering wealth during a temporary stay in Egypt.

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After gathering the wealth of knowledge and skill, we return to those former loves and go back into the day-to-day life of service and usefulness. We return to the promised land of Canaan, our spiritual ideals, with the wealth and provisions of Egypt, and our lives are made whole.
     Egypt, the things of the world, can serve the higher, spiritual ideals of Canaan. But Egypt sometimes has a negative meaning in our lives. Rather than serve, Egypt can sometimes enslave. This is what happened to the Children of Israel at the beginning of the book of the Exodus. The people had come down to Egypt to escape famine in Canaan. Joseph had been sent before them to prepare the way. He had been made a great ruler in Egypt, a ruler second only to Pharaoh himself. But rather than making a temporary sojourn in Egypt, gathering wealth there and returning to Canaan, the people chose to remain in Egypt. They lived in Egypt for hundreds of years. And during this time their situation changed drastically. They forgot about their home in Canaan. To the Israelite living in Egypt at the time of the Exodus, Canaan had become a distant memory. Some probably denied its existence, calling it a fairy tale or myth. Furthermore, the king of Egypt was no longer friendly toward the people. Rather than a king who was willing to serve the needs of the people from Canaan, we read, "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). A pharaoh took control of Egypt who made the Canaanites into slaves, a pharaoh who would never allow them to leave the land. It was a time of captivity.
     How often do we get so caught up in the things of the world that they take over our lives and enslave us? It is the medical doctor who has forgotten his vision of healing and serving, and seeks only worldly gain and honor. It is the business man who has grown cynical about serving others and looks only toward wealth. It is the head of a family who is so busy with his job that he forgets to take time to be with his family. After a while the dreams and promises of Canaan become a distant dream.

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The Canaan ideals and visions of our youth become a mere fairy tale or myth in the reality of our adult life.
     So the Exodus story begins with a picture of captivity. It is a dream that has gone awry, a dream that has been forgotten. The people could not return to Canaan on their own. By themselves, they did not have the strength or the vision to begin a journey out of Egypt. The Lord would have to come and inspire them with the vision of Canaan. Only through His gentle leading would they be able to return to their home in Canaan.

     Applications to Marriage

     Marriage is a journey. This is one of the most important concepts for a married couple to accept. Marriage is not a static place, but it is a process. Marriage is a process of growth.
     Most couples look toward certain heavenly ideals for their marriage: closeness, joy, romance, intimacy, spirituality, a giving and sharing. And yet, when they look at the reality of their marriage, often they find themselves lacking. They might ask, "How de we get from here, where we are today, to there, those ideals?" Sometimes there is a period of discouragement, when a couples wakes up to the fact that their expectations about marriage are not being realized
     There is a false; concept of marriage as a static place, the idea that suddenly and automatically interior delights will descend into the relationship simply because a couple has taken the marriage vows. Marriage as a place is an idea that has been fostered in our culture: "If you are lonely, marriage will solve that loneliness; if you feel insecure about yourself, will take away that security; just open the door of marriage, enter in, and life's problems will be solved." The fairy tale always ends with the handsome prince marrying the beautiful princess, "they live happily ever after."

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ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE 1991

ASSEMBLY BY THE LAKE       Editor       1991

Hundreds of people are assembling this month at Kenosha, Wisconsin, from June 12th through the 16th for the 31st Assembly of the General Church.

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AIM 1991

AIM       Editor       1991


     AIM

by
Peter S. Rhodes
Edited Selections from the Lecture Series
Nicoll and Swedenborg - New Will
Inner Work, or spiritual work on oneself, is something that you do individually. It goes on quietly within yourself. If you're doing it, probably not too many people notice it. There are a lot of sacrifices that go on strictly within yourself. If someone affronts you or talks badly to you, turning the other cheek takes place inside of you. It is a fairly lonely thing. The Lord asks us to gird our self, wash our face, pray in quiet and so forth.
     This book is about the Inner Work which is necessary for man to be born again. It is about the aim of all aims, "thy will be done."
     Everyone must have aim in this work. He must think about it. His aim may be small or great, but a man should know what his aim is at any moment in time. It gives shape and meaning to his inner life. Maurice Nicoll
     The Lord regards nothing else in a person but aim or purpose. Whatever his thoughts and deeds may be, varying in countless ways, they are all good provided the purpose is good. . . . A man's aim is his very life.      Arcana Celestia
     Price including postage $9.00
     General Church Book Center                     Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30-12:00
Box 278, Cairncrest                               or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                         Phone: 216-947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



290




     Last September we featured an article by Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, "Dogmatism and Tolerance in the New Church." Mr. Boyesen received a lot of favorable mail. One of the letters was from William Griffin. We are now publishing the same letter (p. 319), substituting the salutation: "Dear Editor."
     Rev. Mark Carlson has already had the pleasure of reading the study by Dr. James Brush, and it is a pleasure to read studies that appear as a result of one's own studies. Now this new thought-provoking article on the theory of evolution is available for readers of the Life (p. 298).
     In the report by Rev. F. L. Schnarr you will read of two things that will become available this autumn. "We believe these will be invaluable to ministers, teachers and parents of youngsters." (See p. 309.)
     The Lord has the power to bring peace to the mind, a complete peace, that stretches from one end of the mind to the other, from its innermost recesses to its outermost fibers! Read the text of the sermon in this issue out loud with feeling. Then enjoy the development of the theme.

     NEW ORGANIZATION IN AUSTRALIA (SAA)

     London has its Swedenborg Society. New York has its Swedenborg Foundation. What about Australia? An organization is now being formed. It does not have a constitution or board of directors as yet, but it has a name, a location, and a list of objectives, and it is already inviting members. We will publish more about this later. You can write directly to Swedenborg Association of Australia, 1 Avon Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia.

     (cont. on p. 297)

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HE MAKES WARS TO CEASE 1991

HE MAKES WARS TO CEASE       Rev. Grant H. ODHNER       1991

"Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in Me; He burns the chariot in the fire" (Psalm 46:8, 9).

     No doubt this psalmist had seen something of "desolations in the earth." He lived in a time of ambitious empires. And Canaan was a "crossroad" of conquering nations. But had he seen "wars ceasing to the end of the earth"? Not likely, but he was singing, and when people sing, they tend to sing not so much of realities as of hopes. They sing of ideals-such as love or peace-as if they were accomplished facts.
     Under inspiration, our psalmist prophesied with conviction that the Lord had the power to "make wars cease to the end of the earth." And while this may never have happened in the recorded history of the world, its truth is sure: He has the power. This truth is still more sure of the spirit's world: the Lord has the power to bring peace to the mind, a complete peace, that stretches from one end of the mind to the other, from its innermost recesses to its outermost fibers! (to the "ends of the earth"!) And this inner peace is what the Lord offers to all people of any age!
     The Messiah is usually portrayed as a warrior king, strong and mighty, a hero of war (see Psalm 24:8, Isaiah 9:6, etc.). Why does He fight? Why does He make "desolations in the earth"? He loves us too much to let us be a prey to evil. So He fights continually in us and for us. But He looks to a time when evil will be subdued and He can become in us a Prince of Peace: "He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire" (Psalm 46:9).

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     This is a powerful image! Picture the aftermath of a final battle. Think of bows, arrows, and spears being rounded up from off the battlefield and from the land's arsenals, and broken in pieces. Think of the burning pyres on which chariots and the refuse of war are heaped: weapons, precious and coveted in times of war, suddenly used for fuel! Add to this the related image of metal swords and spearheads being beaten out to make plowshares and pruning hooks.
     The Old Testament writers use these images on a number of occasions to portray the aftermath of the Lord's victory over our enemies. In fact one of these images was indirectly present when Jesus, the Christ, entered Jerusalem as king. In recording this "triumphal entry" Matthew and John both quote from Zechariah, chapter 9, where the Lord says: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."
     This familiar quote is followed by these words: "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. [Your King] shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:9f).
     When we reflect on the peace which the Messiah (of the Prophets) was going to bring, we can readily see Jesus as that Messiah. But when we think of the battle which He was to wage, it is more difficult to see how Jesus could have been He. What we need to see is that the Lord's battles in the world were inner battles. As He said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 19). In other words, "I am not a worldly king, a worldly warrior."
     It is true that He once said, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matt. 10:34). And He advised His disciples on the eve of His capture, "He who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one" (Luke 22:36). But it is quite clear that He was referring to battles that were to be fought in the mind-battles between opposing mental forces, between opposing allegiances and desires.

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     The Lord's own battles were fought in this inner realm. And in this vast arena He was supremely victorious. Here the conflict was between the Divine will and a will of selfishness. The Divine will He had from conception. For His "Father" was the Divine Love. The will of selfishness was in the merely human part of Him which He inherited through Mary. And the armies of hell invaded this "infirm" will with a furious lust for control.
     Now in an absolute sense there can be no battle between Divine love and evil love. The one cannot draw near the other openly-no more than a stick of wood can get near the sun. But in Jesus the Divine love was not present in a full way at once; it was present only gradually, as His mind grew. It became present more and more as He learned and came to realizations and as He invited the Divine love into His present level of consciousness. At each level He met new and stronger foes, and conquered them one by one.
     It is similar with us. The Divine can be present with us only in the measure that we are prepared through our choices to receive it. His working in us is limited, at a given moment, by our current state of development. Of course, our states will always be limited; in the Lord's case, the limitations could gradually be overcome. The Divine life became completely one with the human; He made His human completely Divine.
     But during His life in the world the Lord had to limit His Divine presence and power in the human He took on. In this way only could He confront the evil that was plaguing and controlling us. Evil could face Him and attack Him only on its own level. He had to limit His Divine so that at all times there would be a balance or equilibrium between good and evil in His human mind. Otherwise there could be no meaningful battle.

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     Think of it in our terms. If the Lord did not limit His presence in us to the level of our choices, we might face battles but they would not be meaningful ones. For example, a certain woman may be fighting a strong desire to divulge what she knows about other people in order to make herself seem smart and sensitive and better. What makes this woman an individual human being, with a real sense of self, is the fact that the Lord matches her desire to use her neighbors with an equal desire to be true and good. Now if suddenly the one desire were magnified disproportionately above the other, she would no longer be in struggle. For instance, if she were granted a sudden abundance of heavenly love, she would feel no desire to gossip; that desire would be blown away in an instant! But she would no longer be a real person either! She would no longer have a sense of the relative value of what is good and what is evil. Nor would she have a sense of choosing the one above the other.
     What makes for useful battle within the mind is the fine equilibrium between good and evil. Whenever such a battle was to take place in the Lord's mind (when in the world), this equilibrium existed.
     Hopefully all this helps us to see the nature of the Lord's battles. They were real battles, specific battles. He could not fight evil in general, but only evil in particular. He had to meet it issue by issue, on the scale on which it exists, where we meet it. Otherwise there could have been no struggle, and thus no meaningful outcome for us.
     Now since the Lord fought specific battles, it follows that specific weapons were used. Specific weapons were used against Him; He used specific weapons. Specific persuasions and fears from hell would be injected into His human will; He would call on a higher perspective, analyze them, and frame responses. He would receive a realization or insight, and it would be attacked by a specific line of thinking or negative emotion.

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     The Word speaks of weapons-weapons that destroy people and ravish the land; weapons that protect and secure their happiness. Weapons stand for truths as they serve these same functions in the mind. Truth is destructive when it's abused and twisted (then we call it falsity). It is sometimes quite clear in the Word that "weapons" mean truth.
     The psalmist once complains that his soul is among people "whose teeth are spears and arrows" and whose "tongue" is "a sharp sword" (Psalm 57:4). This psalm was written to recount David's fleeing from Saul into a cave. In the highest sense it is about the Son of Man's struggle with the power of evil and its falsity when He was in a state of mental obscurity. The soul's enemies are not spears and swords, but ideas and perceptions communicated, as words are through teeth and tongue.
     Again, Isaiah says of the Lord-to-come, "He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked" (Isaiah 11:4). The Lord's mouth and lips are described as spiritual weapons, communicating truth and bringing about healing judgments. In the same vein, He is seen in vision by John with a sharp, two-edged sword coming out of His mouth (see Rev. 1:16).
     Truths are not in themselves weapons, no more than words are in themselves. Truths state and express what is good. In doing this they clarify that good; they give it power, both to bring delight and to dispel what threatens. Truth becomes a weapon only when it is opposed by some evil. When the source of threat is no longer there, the truth ceases to be a weapon. This is what is meant by: "He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire" (Psalm 46:9).
     Weapons being burned pictures the fact that truth which has fought for us becomes a source of delight to us, which helps kindle and sustain a fire in the mind. As Isaiah sang to the Lord in His well-known prophecy about the coming "Prince of peace": "You have broken the yoke of [Israel's] burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

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For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle, and garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . ." (Isaiah 9:4-6).
     Ezekiel also speaks of this conversion of weapons to a source of warmth and peaceful power. When Israel's enemies would be defeated, Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons" (Ezekiel 39:9, 10).
     But we see the ultimate image of this conversion in a prophecy found in both Isaiah and Micah: "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into Pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:2-4 = Micah 4:1-3).
     This is a promise of the peace that follows the Lord's coming to us-the peaceful order in which the Lord's love and law hold sway in the mind. The Lord's love is the mountain, Zion, which becomes the center, the point of reference. His love unites and integrates all aspects of our lives, high and low. His coming brings judgments and rebuke, but the swords of contention are converted to plowshares, and the probing spears of judgment to pruning hooks. One part of the mind no longer wars against another.

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Truth is no longer contentious, but is focused on bringing fruitfulness to the mind, bringing sweetness of life, usefulness, and interior satisfaction.
     This is the purpose of the Lord's coming. This is why He rode into Jerusalem as King-not to make war, but to offer people the truths that would "make for their peace." In the intimate struggles of His mind while on earth He worked to bring this peace. He revealed what was so; it met dark opposition, which turned that truth into a sword and spear and chariot. But when He overcame the enemy it became again a tool of peace.
     In this we have a parable about truth as it is with ourselves. We need not fear it when it flashes harshly before us, but welcome it. For though He may appear to make "desolations in the earth," in the fullness of time the Lord our King has something else in mind. As the psalmist sang: "He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire" (Psalm 46:8, 9). Amen.

     Lessons: Psalm 46; Matt. 21:1-11; TCR 84 Notes on This Issue (cont. from p. 290) 1991

Notes on This Issue (cont. from p. 290)       Editor       1991

Among the objectives referred to above are: promoting the works and theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg by advertising, meetings, lectures, exhibitions, and other functions; maintaining lending and reference libraries containing the works of Emanuel Swedenborg and other literature in agreement with, or collateral to, such works; printing, publishing, purchasing, selling and donating the works of Emanuel Swedenborg and other literature in agreement with, or collateral to, such works; operating and supporting branches and centers in country and metropolitan areas of Australia.

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THEORY OF EVOLUTION AND ITS RELATION TO THE NEW CHURCH 1991

THEORY OF EVOLUTION AND ITS RELATION TO THE NEW CHURCH       Dr. JAMES S. BRUSH       1991

Mark Carlson has brought before us an admirable discussion of a very important current issue for the New Church-the theory of evolution (NCL May, June, July 1990). It is a topic that requires considerable analysis, and it is hoped by this writer that it will generate a great deal of further discussion-that a synthesis will result which is valuable not only for ourselves but for those outside our fold as well. To quote from Mark Carlson's second paper:
     In addition to the above we have to deal with the doctrines which appear to teach the spontaneous creation of evil animals and plants after the fall. And Swedenborg himself seemed to think that some sort of spontaneous creation continues to exist. Many simply take these as scientific errors on his part, and certainly all the evidence seems to suggest that this is the case, though he was well within the scientific thinking of his day.

                         June, p. 261
     The Conflict Between Creationism and Evolution

     As an aside to the above quotation but related to it, one of the most important public debates today is that between those who espouse the conclusions of Evolutionary Theory and those who follow that of the Creationists. Most who have heard a public lecture by spokesmen for creationism, such as the biochemist Dr. Duane Gish, have had to admit to the correctness of their conclusions on two issues. The first is that in the fossil record, contrary to the conclusions of Darwinian evolutionists, the appearance of each new species is sudden and without transitional forms linking it to any earlier species in older strata beneath it.

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Mark Carlson also discusses this (Ibid. pp. 266-268). The second is that the appearance of species in the fossil record, from simplest first ones in the lowest and oldest strata to the more complex later and higher ones until man appears in the highest, runs contrary to what is called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The latter "law" is a rather universally accepted theory in the sciences. It states that any physical system left to itself proceeds in time from a state of relative order to one of lesser order, i.e., greater disorder. The term "entropy" is used, as both a theoretical term and a mathematical one expressing such a change-that as order decreases, entropy, as it is defined, increases. There are, however, thousands of examples in the fossil record of such Second Law violations, i.e., more complex species succeeding in time other less complex ones. In this, entropy apparently decreases-order increases instead of the expected opposite. Evolutionists had always proposed that the development of the species was in accord with all physical "laws," including the Second Thermodynamic Law. There has been much squirming by biologists in public debates with Creationists, claiming the latter misinterpret the Second Law, that the law is obeyed in the universe as a whole but that it "allows" there to be "micro" systems where entropy decreases. How this could occur, however, is never discussed. The argument made by Gish and other Creationists is apparently so clear to audiences that they carry the day with their arguments (which, incidentally, never mention the Bible for authority). The result has been that biologists in general now refuse such public debates.

     Creative Generation

     It is indeed to be questioned in the light of the fossil record whether there is any reasonable explanation for such phenomena of nature other than spontaneous generation. Presumably the experiments of Pasteur in the last century on the lack of generation of maggots when flies were excluded from decaying meat laid the theory to rest as far as its acceptance in the present age is concerned.

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The Writings seem to support the interpretation that such spontaneous generation (a suggested better term might be "creative generation occurred only at the creation of the physical universe, proceeding from causational forms in the spiritual world. Thus there is this teaching in a memorable relation:

     The next day an angel came to me from another community in heaven and said, "We have heard in our community that because of your thoughts about the creation of the universe you were summoned to a community near ours, and there you gave a lecture on creation, which they applauded and have since taken great pleasure in. Now I am going to show you how animals and plants of every kind were produced by God . . . . The reason why in our world creation is instantaneous, but in your world continued a generation at a time, is that the atmospheres and soils of our world are spiritual, while those of your world are natural. Natural objects have been created to serve as clothing for spiritual ones . . . . Report," he added, "what you have seen and heard to the inhabitants of your world, seeing that up to now they have been in total ignorance of the spiritual world, and without knowing about it no one can know nor even guess that in our world creation is continuous and was similar in your world too when God created the universe" (TCR 78, emphasis added).

     In some confirmation of the above interpretation the following may be quoted:
     And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

                         Genesis 2:2
     The resting of God on the seventh day could be open to one interpretation to mean the ending of creative generation and the beginning of sexual reproduction, that is if we can imply a quasi-scientific interpretation to Genesis creation.

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Though we know that the first chapters of Genesis are an inspired made-up history to describe man's regeneration-they had to be made up, for mankind (Adam) was not made until the sixth day of creation-still, a rational order exists within it like that of physical creation. Its order is not far removed from the evidence of the fossil record, and we must be somewhat tolerant of creationist attempts to bind it to a scientific mold.

     Chaos Postulates in the Sciences

     Many may be unaware that when analyzed philosophically, scientific theories are in the realm of ad hoc (literally, "to this") hypotheses, i.e., they are various rational explanations on a natural level, each applied to a particular aspect of the natural world. A major effort is applied to keep all of them in agreement with experiment and each other so that there are as few gaps in logic as possible. Most do not intrude into the realm of first causes, which are those of purpose in creation, technically the realm of religion. Evolutionary Theory in its proposed mechanisms, however, does so intrude with what may be called a Chaos Postulate.
     Darwin's theory of evolution proposed that the slow natural accretion of what was later called genetic changes in each species gradually changed their internal and external forms. Gradually too, it was proposed, "natural selection" weeded out the least fit of these variations, allowing only the most fit to survive. It was proposed in the present century that "chaotic" natural radiation from cosmic rays (radiation received from the sun and other stars), natural radiation from the environment, and ultraviolet light from the sun could provide the means for producing such genetic changes. Geneticists attempted for at least a decade to provide an experimental demonstration that artificially produced ultraviolet light and X-rays could be used to produce some positive or beneficial change within a species, making it more adapted for survival.

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The species most commonly used in these experiments was the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. They were, however, singularly unsuccessful in supporting the postulate. It did not, though, produce significant changes in the latter presumption until the challenge of Creationism as both a theoretical and political force.
     Darwinian evolution and its proposal of an essentially chaotic natural mechanism is but one of a class of theories within the sciences which, as noted above, may be called "Chaos Postulates." Little attention has been given to the analysis of Chaos Postulates as a class of thought. It can be concluded, however, that they are rather inimical to the progress of science. The basic assumption of scientific thought from its beginnings has been that natural events are open to interpretation by human reason. If chaos were the driving force of any natural system, then it would be essentially outside human rationality and incapable of generating rational, testable hypotheses. This is summed up in the very potent conclusion of the Writings: "From nothing, nothing comes" (DLW 373), or, in terms of Chaos Postulates: "From chaos only chaos comes."
     Chaos Postulates are also in conflict with the self-evident rule of the Writings that valid theory must be formulated by proceeding from thought to words, the reverse or inverted process leading to error because it manipulates words for purposes of gaining adherents through sophistry. Thus one cannot think from chaos and proceed to any valid principle. Another application of this principle is that one cannot proceed from mathematical equations to valid thought, a procedure which is, however, quite common in theoretical physics.
     It was the conclusion of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and his followers (founded upon the philosophy of Aristotle) in the Middle Ages that all of creation is permeated by the rationality of the Divine, which he termed Natural Law.

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This eventually laid the foundation for Natural Philosophy-the philosophy of nature from which developed the natural sciences. The rational underpinnings of science, therefore, are also not very different from the assumptions of religion, though few scientists reflect upon it. It may have been the attacks of the Catholic Church upon science at its very beginnings in the theory of planetary motion established by Galileo which established a tradition of distrust of philosophic analyses of its hypotheses. There has also developed a quite obstinate refusal to reexamine its more controversial Chaos Postulates for validity.

     Evolution's Defenders

     To illustrate a method taken by biologists in defending Evolutionary Theory it is useful to present a letter to the editor of a widely circulated multi disciplinary journal called Science from James L. Carew of the geology department at the College of Charleston in South Carolina:

     While reading Marcia Barinaga's summary article on cone snail toxins entitled "Science Digests the Secrets of Various Killer Snails" (Research News, July 20, p. 250) I encountered phrasing concerning the evolution of the snails that I feel compelled to address.
     The problem is one that occurs repeatedly in both the technical and popular literature, that is, discussions of evolution that cast it in terms that make the process appear as if it were purposeful. In this instance the article states, "the great variety of toxins in the venoms of the cone snails are due to the intense evolutionary pressure on the snails to stop their prey quickly sUe they can't chase it down." That language implies that some real pressure is driving the snails to develop the toxins, but that isn't how evolution works. The reality is that those snails that produced toxins that immobilized their prey rapidly tended to obtain food more often than those possessing slower-acting or no toxins, and thus over time the population of cone snails became dominated by those possessing the fast-acting agents.

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There was no pressure!
     Use of language that fosters the notion that organic evolution proceeds in a purposeful manner leads to confusion among both the public and, the majority of scientists. Further, it can provide an apparently legitimate avenue of attack upon evolution by the creationist element. It needs to be understood by all that evolutionary developments simply occur as slight to significant differences among organisms, and as a result of natural selection those features that confer greater survivability and concomitant reproductive success are the ones perpetuated into future generations. In the vernacular, "If it works, it works; and if it don't, it don't."

     Dr. Carew has touched upon a very significant problem in the evolutionary literature-that of the implication that evolution contains a "creative force" within it. It is quite difficult, in speaking of natural events, to escape from it as he would like. Indeed, in his own wording, ". . . as a result of natural selection those features that confer greater survivability and concomitant reproductive success are the ones perpetuated into future generations" utilizes a concept and language in the emphasized section that generates the question, What is doing the "conferring" if not a creative force? If he were to reply that this is forcing his language into a meaning he does not intend, we should have to ask from where does he derive legitimate authority in denying the existence of an obvious creative force within nature. Ultimately that authority is only his and other evolutionists whose will is to hold the allegiance of society.

     The Age of the Universe

     Much is made in the Evolutionist-Creationist debate of the age of things, e.g., the earth and the universe, each citing evidence or lack of it for a great age in the universe. Again each seems to be extending thought into a time in which man did not exist.

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It seems to this writer that time as a real entity of thought is created by man as an extension of his capacity for sequential thought in a series-his rational faculty. Some might object that it is based in the continuing turning of the earth on its axis, creating discrete, recuning days. Yet it is because man alone can derive a ratio between successive days, i.e., a capacity to count, that he can distinguish one day as being different from the one before. Some of this distinction becomes blurred to those who live in the tropics, where the seasons are little different from each other. One loses a sense of the passage of years and must always consult a calendar to restore it. When one thinks about the nature of thought in itself, though, it must be concluded that it has none of the properties of time and space, even when thinking about the passage of time. It has, for example, no age. We cannot ask, "How old is the thought I am thinking at the moment?" The question has no obvious answer. It cannot be said to have any physical measurement. Though the experimental psychologist would try to argue that thought is the impulses moving through a series of dendrites and synapses in a particular head, even he would have impossibly severe difficulties ascribing the properties of thought to the biochemical constituents, or even the structural organization of the dendrites, synapses, etc. Thus such impulses must be the accompanimentsor at best analogs-of thought in the body's brain and not thought itself (which must be above and within it).
     Thinking about time's extending to unimaginably great ages where man, the creator and interpreter of time, did not exist may have some practical value. In geology, for instance, arguments about its absolute theological meanings-or lack of them-extend beyond reason's limits. This is especially true if it also claims significance in terms of meaningless Chaos Postulates. But it may be reasonably asked: If the species came into being creatively from the spiritual world, must not some of them have come into existence in time before men existed? We
can probably answer this in terms of another question: Is not this again placing human thought into an age before humanity existed and thus beyond reason's limit?

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We might also answer it from a consideration of the teaching that the spiritual world is a world of causes and nature a world of effects. Thus the former is the source of not only all the species but also all the valleys and mountains, rivers, seas, continents and, of course, fossils in their layered order. Living nature must reflect something of man's spiritual-mental states and may have come about in an instant simultaneously, together with man's initial spiritual regeneration out of a state of sensual ignorance. This would seem to be in keeping with the internal meaning of the creation story, and to follow from that which the Writings teach.
     "But the universe has all the appearance of immense age," many would again object to the above reasoning. This must be to preserve man's freedom to conclude from appearances, if he wishes, that mankind exists by accident in a universe of immense age which created itself. It is revelation from the Word which teaches man that he has a spirit within which has formed his spirit which will live forever in a world without time. Lastly it teaches that the seeming great age of the universe is of little spiritual use to him and probably obstructs as false thought his eternal welfare.
     It is hoped that others will comment in these pages on these ideas, correcting them if they are flawed, in developing a consensus of some usefulness to the New Church.
SYMPOSIUM IN LENINGRAD 1991

SYMPOSIUM IN LENINGRAD       Editor       1991

On September 5th there will be a symposium in Leningrad to be attended by two of the people who were at the Manchester Conference in April. There is also a chance that Mr. Lars Berquist will attend.

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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OFFICE OF EDUCATION 1991

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OFFICE OF EDUCATION       Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr       1991

1990-1991

     The General Church Office of Education was established at Cairncrest in the summer of 1988 under the Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss. The Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr was appointed to act as Assistant Chairman. The purpose in establishing the Office of Education was to provide a means of coordinating and developing those areas of our educational uses which were, and are, a responsibility of the General Church.
     After a year of examination, analysis and counsel, it became evident that the General Church's educational uses fell into three main categories:

a)      Uses relating to General Church schools;
b)      Uses relating to mail-order Religion Lessons and studies for children and adults;
c)      Uses relating to the Education Council, where the distinctive needs of General Church schools come together with similar needs in the Academy schools and are served through joint meetings and shared programs.

Because the definition of these uses seemed so clear, in the fall of 1989 three separate divisions were established in the Office of Education.

1)      Division of Schools;
2)      Division of Mail-order Lessons;
3) Division of the Education Council.

     In 1990 Bishop Buss appointed the Rev. Frederick Schnarr to direct the Office of Education and to proceed with the changes and goals that our research and counsel had established.

     Many of the changes being made and new programs being developed are the result of two major observations:

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     1)      that the number of children throughout the church of primary and preschool age (newborn to nine years) is twice that of our present high school and college ages;
     2)      that the church is growing (sometimes rather dramatically) in countries where there has been little previous evidence of growth

     These two observations suggest that the church in the nineties, and specifically our educational programs, have many new needs and exciting challenges before us.
     A number of other specific needs have also brought forth changes in our materials and in the personnel required to accomplish necessary changes. To give just a few examples:

     1)      We are committed to a long-term plan of bringing Religion Grade-level Lessons into a greater curricular conjunction with General Church schools;
     2)      We are entering the "video age" and therefore experimenting with a variety of lessons with a video format;
     3)      We are meeting with administrators of the Academy College about the need to develop correspondence courses for both teacher and adult education.
     These and other similar endeavors require the commitment not only of knowledgeable teachers but also technical-support personnel.

     Besides volunteers who help in a variety of ways, the staff of the Office of Education consists of the following:

     Myra Asplundh (part-time) - Sunday School
     Barbara Buick (part-time) - Preschool Lessons
     Carol Buss - Master Teacher
     Charlene Cooper (part-time) - Secretary to FLS
     Don Fitzpatrick (1/3-time) - College Consultant

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     Nancy Odhner (part-time) - Secretary Assistant
     Candy Quintero (part-time) Video
     Karen Schnarr (part-time) - Grade-level Lessons
     Frederick L. Schnarr Director

     Among the projects and courses being produced, we would mention only two that we believe will be invaluable to ministers, teachers and parents of youngsters. By this fall a VHS video-cassette, with selected quotes and background music, will be ready for use. This tape contains selected slides of Old and New Testament stories, with numbering and a printed listing for convenient quick reference. By September a new pamphlet entitled What Is New Church Education? will be offered as a means of introducing both new inquirers and young parents to an understanding of the thesis and practice of New Church education.
     Listings of all lessons, courses, studies and materials is available in a revised Office of Education catalog. Sunday School materials are listed in a separate new catalog. Both are available upon request.
     We wish to acknowledge and express appreciation to the General Church Data Center at Caimcrest and the Development Office of the Academy of the New Church for their work in providing us with student lists and other information. This assistance has immensely improved our ability to meet growing international needs.
     We are delighted with the progress of the developmental work that is going forward in many areas. But we are reminded too of the teaching that "All instruction is an opening of the way . . . to the Lord" (AC 1495). We are only humble assistants in the Lord's great work of preparing the human mind for the reception of His love and wisdom.
     Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr,
     Director
Title Unspecified 1991

Title Unspecified       Editor       1991

Attendance at the June Assembly was 750.

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REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 1991

REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH PUBLICATION COMMITTEE       Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson       1991

January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1990

     A number of reprints were ordered by the General Church Book Center to replenish its shelves of out-of-print publications. One of those planned in the coming year will be Seeing Is Believing by Dr. David Gladish. This small work that offers a collection of teachings on the doctrine of faith was very popular but ran out of print several years ago. It is offered in an easy-to-read translation from the Latin, primarily directed at the newcomer to the church.
     The charming children's book by Gretchen Keith entitled The Life to Come was printed and made available to parents this year. It includes attractive drawings by Richard Cook.
     Progress is being made on the new Liturgy, and hopefully it will be available in 1991. Also anticipated for this year will be a description of Swedenborg's call that appears in the work
Introduction to the Word Explained.
     Manuscripts are always welcomed by the Publication Committee. Just forward them to the chairman at Cairncrest, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Chairman
NCL 100 YEARS AGO, H and H IN TEN LANGUAGES 1991

NCL 100 YEARS AGO, H and H IN TEN LANGUAGES       Editor       1991

In the July issue of 1891 is a full bibliography of the book Heaven and Hell, Twenty-one people had translated the book into ten languages, the first being German in 1775 and the second, English in 1778, followed by French in 1782, Swedish in 1821, and Russian in 1863.

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EDITORIAL PAGES 1991

EDITORIAL PAGES       Editor       1991

Things looked bleak when the July 1941 issue of this magazine was being put together. The world was at war, and the forces of tyranny threatened to prevail.
     Here are quotations from three different writers in that issue.

     These are times of great trial, fraught with moments of despair, but we may dispel this with the help of the Lord's Word.
     None of us knows what the future holds, but we are conscious that in all the turmoil and strife the Lord is guarding His Church.
     In spite of the difficulties of the prevailing conditions, our church uses have been maintained.

     In the issue is a speech of fewer than four pages, a speech that because of dramatic circumstances would never be forgotten by those who heard it. Mr. Alec Sargent delivered the talk in Toronto on May 15, 1941. He called it "a few thoughts that have come to my mind in relation to world events in the light of the doctrines."
     He spoke of "a world flooded with devastating evil, and threatened with permanent inundation." Then he spoke powerfully of the Divine Providence. His concluding paragraph and the dramatic circumstance are as follows:

     One last word. Hatred, we are told in the Writings, is hell. Under no circumstance whatever is it justified. If we find this passion in our hearts-and there is no question that at times we do find it there in almost overwhelming intensity-let us at all events recognize it for what it is-an influx from hell, and a demonstration of the proprium.

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In these devastating days we New Churchmen have the Writings. Let us believe in them and live them, and we shall then be worthy of them in the days to come.

     A few moments after speaking those words Alec Sargent died.

     (A short account concerning this gentleman is given on page 332 of New Church Life, July 1941.)

     RELIGION, THE GREAT UNTOLD STORY

     In response to our May editorial a reader has sent an article from the Reader's Digest of the same month entitled "Religion, the Great Untold Story." Our editorial noted that 78% of Americans believe in heaven, and that the highest belief rate is in the age group of 18-29.
The Reader's Digest article says:

     Poll after poll confirms these staggering figures:

     Nine Americans in ten say they have never doubted the existence of God.
     Seven in ten believe in life after death.
     Eight in ten believe God still works miracles.
     Nine in ten say they pray.

     The article also states that "more people go to churches and synagogues, in any week, than to all sports events combined.
     "Technology, urbanization, social mobility, education-all were supposed to eat away at religion, in a wash of overlapping acids. Each has crested over America, affecting other things, but showing little power to corrode or diminish religion."
     With this in mind consider these passages from Divine Providence:

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     It is of the Divine Providence that every nation has some religion; and the primary thing of all religion is to acknowledge that there is a God . . . and every nation which lives its religion, that is, which does not do evil because it is contrary to its God, receives something spiritual in its natural (n. 322).
     When a religion has been once implanted in a nation, the Lord leads that nation according to the precepts and dogmas of its religion; and He has provided that there shall be in every religion precepts like those in the Decalogue (n. 254).

     And from True Christian Religion:

     There is in all the world no nation possessing religion and sound reason that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is one (n. 9).

     And from the Coronis:

     Who can deny that the universe was created for the sake of the human race, in order that from it an angelic heaven might be formed, wherein God might dwell in the dominion of His glory? To promote and accomplish this end, what mediate cause is there but religion? And what else is religion than walking with God? (n. 40).

     CHURCH OF THE NEW REVELATION

     The subject of an appropriate name for the New Church comes up perennially. And the most acceptable name seems to be simply "the New Church." A phrase can be added to it, such as "a new Christianity," The name does get used by other church organizations. Recently noticed in Philadelphia's largest newspaper was a list of churches inviting attendance.

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At the head of the list was the Philadelphia "New Church." It has nothing to do with Swedenborg.
     The phrase "New Jerusalem" is used by different organizations. In the midst of a discussion of this subject a thoughtful gentleman said that the name "Church of the New Revelation" has the advantage of conveying what we have to offer. I have not seen this name used by others, and upon reflection I see that it has advantages which make it worth more consideration.

     It has been necessary that of the Lord's Divine Providence some revelation should come into existence . . . It is necessary that there should be heavenly truths somewhere, by which man may be instructed (AC 1775).
     Religion is not possible except by means of some revelation and by means of the propagation of this revelation from nation to nation (Coronis 39).

     SAYING IT VERY SIMPLY

     Last October we published some examples of translation in which passages from the Writings were expressed very simply.
     One of our readers, who lays no claim to Latin expertise, has let us see some efforts at even simpler expression with some emphasis on word economy.
     Later we hope to offer a comparison and word count. For the moment just enjoy this way of rendering very simply nos. 71-73 of New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine:

71. Love of self is also such that so far as external restraints are removed (being fear of the law and its penalties and loss of reputation, honor, gain, office and life), so far one pushes on until he not only wishes to rule over the whole world but even over heaven and the Deity itself. To him there is no limit.

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This tendency prevails in everyone who is in the love of self, though not seen by others while he is held back by the restraints just mentioned. Such a person, when met by impossibility, waits for any possibility to press further. Because of the restraints and encountered barriers, he is unaware of the mad unlimited desire lurking within him. Yet everyone can see that it is so in those autocrats and rulers who, lacking such restraints and barriers, rush to conquer provinces and kingdoms as far as successes take them, aspiring to power and glory without limit. Still more is this so with those who project their dominion into heaven and claim to themselves the Divine power of the Lord, continually desiring more.

72. There are two kinds of dominion: that from love toward others and that from love of self, and the two are completely opposite. He who rules from love toward the neighbor wills good to everyone and loves nothing more than being of service to others, which is to do them good from good will and to perform useful services generally. This is his love and his delight. If elevated to higher office he is further gladdened, not for the sake of the attendant dignities but for the sake of the still more and greater uses he is then able to perform. Such is dominion in heaven. But he who rules from the love of self wishes good to no one other than himself and his own. What services he performs are for the sake of his own honor and glory, which he considers the only useful services. To him, serving others is only that he in turn may be served and honored and eventually become a ruler himself. He seeks advancement not for the sake of what good he may do, but to achieve the eminence and fame which are his heart's delight.

73. The love of ruling remains with everyone after life in the world. Those who have ruled from love toward the neighbor have ruling entrusted to them in heaven also. But it is not really they who rule, but the useful services and good deeds which they love. When these rule, it is God ruling. They, however, who in the world have ruled from the love of self, after death are in hell and in wretched slavery.

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CANON OF THE WRITINGS 1991

CANON OF THE WRITINGS       Arthur Atherton       1991

Dear Editor:
     "The Word unites man to the Lord and opens heaven . . . it fills man's will with the goods of love and his intellect with the truths of wisdom; thus man receives life through the Word" (TCR 191). The Word is written by correspondences and has a spiritual or internal sense. Every church must draw its doctrine from the sense of the natural or ultimate form of the Word, and from nowhere else.
     The Writings are the Word, and the above remarks apply to them as much as they do to the Old and New Testaments. Through a reading of the Writings we can have closer conjunction with the Lord and the heavens. It is therefore of the greatest importance for us to know which books of the Writings form the Word. The subject has received little mention in New Church Life over the past ninety years. In 1925 Rev. E. E. Gyllenhaal wrote claiming that all the books from History of Creation onward had the full authority of the Writings. A contrary view was expressed by Rev. Albert Bjrck, who considered that the Writings consist only of the theological books which Swedenborg himself published. Where do we go to find a list of those books forming the Word of the Writings? Consider the following: (1) In the General Church Liturgy there will be found a list of the books which contain the doctrine of the New Church, and there follows a list of all the theological writings of Swedenborg from Arcana onward, including the Spiritual Diary, but not the smaller diary. (2) For many years until some time in the 1950s, we used to get at the end of each December issue of New Church Life a list of the abbreviated titles of the Writings. This is similar to the list in the Liturgy, but includes the Word Explained and the smaller diary.

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Thus we have two lists of the Writings issued by the General Church, and they do not agree. (3) Now look at Bishop W. F. Pendleton's book Topics from the Writings. In the introduction it says, "Abbreviated titles of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg referred to in this book" and gives a list which includes Economy of the Animal Kingdom. (4) Hugo Odhner's book Spirits and Men says, "Selected references of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg have been inserted as footnotes for the convenience of those who might wish to consult our sources on specific points." The references include The Word Explained and Economy of the Animal Kingdom. In his book The Spiritual World is another list which includes the smaller diary and the Word Explained. (5) A recent editorial in New Church Life (January 19X9) reads: "A few things in Swedenborg's letters have become particularly well known to readers of the Writings. If you look up the Epistles in the Swedenborg Concordance you will find that Potts made an exception and ended the entry with a fairly lengthy quotation from Swedenborg's letters, (This is exceptional because the Concordance is devoted to the Writings themselves.)" The Writings themselves? The Concordance makes references to the Word Explained, the Spiritual Diaries, the letter to Hartley, 9 Questions, Tafel's documents and others. It would be absurd to say that Tafel's documents are written by correspondences with a continuous internal sense. All this is very confusing.
     There is a good case for the view that the Word of the Writings consists of those theological works of Swedenborg from Arcana onward that were published by Swedenborg himself. No other books, however useful they may be, should be included. The following give support to this view: (1) In TCR, "It follows that He will do this by means of a man, who cannot only understand the doctrines of the Church, but can also have them printed and published. I solemnly declare that the Lord manifested Himself to me His servant, and sent me on this duty."

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It is quite clear what his duty was-to understand the doctrines, to write and to publish. (2) In a letter in September 1766 Swedenborg writes of the Apocalypse Revealed, "from which book one can clearly see that I do speak with angels, since not even the smallest verse in the Apocalypse can be understood without revelation. Surely anyone can see that by the New Jerusalem a New Church is to be understood, and its teaching can be disclosed only by the Lord . . . nor that they can ever be published in the world except by someone to whom a revelation has been granted." Again we have the emphasis that the revelation must be published by Swedenborg himself. Swedenborg often says he has a duty to teach and to make manifest, and this cannot be done merely by writing. (3) There was a reason, although we do not know what it was, why some books were left unpublished. We must not assume that Swedenborg forgot them or did not have time to publish certain books. When he was urged not to include the memorabilia in his writings he replied that he was commanded by the Lord to publish them. We are safe in assuming that he had no commands to publish those books which he did not publish. (4) Swedenborg was told he would not die until True Christian Religion was published. It is clear from TCR 791 that after this work was completed, his work was done. "After this book was finished, the Lord called together His twelve disciples: and the next day He sent them forth into the whole spiritual world to preach the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ever and ever, according to the prediction in Daniel and Revelation." There is no suggestion here of any unfinished work.
     It is interesting to note the ideas of the late 19th century. (a) A book, Emanuel Swedenborg, the Spiritual Columbus, published by New Church Press says, "and it is only those of his writings which he himself published that are endowed with any doctrinal authority." (b) In the Potts Concordance precedence of quotations is given to the works published by Swedenborg himself.

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(c) Trobridge, in his Swedenborg-Life and Teaching, published in 1907, describes the Word Explained as a notebook of Swedenborg's Biblical studies during his transition period between 1745 and 1747. Along with the Spiritual Diary he says, "Neither work was published by himself so we cannot regard them in the sane way as those he actually published. They were intended for his own private use."
     Can we have some discussion on this subject?
          Arthur Atherton,
               Bournemouth, England
DOGMATISM AND TOLERANCE 1991

DOGMATISM AND TOLERANCE       William T. Griffin       1991

Dear Editor:
     The study "Dogmatism and Tolerance in the Church" that was published in the September issue of New Church Life gives me many good feelings, especially the last part on tolerance. Relationships between members of the New and Old Churches are especially important to me. Here are several reasons. I joined the New Church as an adult in 1944 after being raised a Baptist. My grandparents (both pairs) were loyal, hard-working members of the Methodist Church. They regularly read and studied the Bible and tried willingly to live by its teachings. They believed that was what should be done. They lived in a happy sphere of charity with themselves and their neighbors.
     My parents are loyal, hard-working members of the Baptist Church. They too read and study the Bible and it is a rule and guide for their lives. They raised five children; I am the oldest. We were and still are a happy family. We too were brought up in a sphere of charity and love toward our neighbor. We went to church every Sunday morning. This was an important part of our lives.

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My mother saw to it that all five of us were scrubbed clean and properly dressed in our best Sunday church clothes. My parents opened every door they possibly could for their children. I truly believe that they have had a strong influence on every good choice that I have ever made.
     I was not disenchanted with the Baptist Church when I became a member of the New Church. I became a member so that Mary and I could belong to the same church and together bring religion into our lives. Since 1944 I have read and studied and have been closely associated with the New Church. I truly believe that the Writings are the Second Advent of the Lord. There is no conflict with my Baptist background as a child and my adult life as a New Churchman. The Writings give a richer, fuller meaning to the things I learned and loved as a child. I am grateful to the Lord and His Providence for making it possible for me to be closely associated with the Writings and fully conscious of His Second Coming.
     My parents and my brothers and sisters are still Baptist and I am a New Churchman. We are not separated, but are conjoined by charity. The references from the Writings and the Word in the tolerance portion of the article seem to confirm this. We do not argue or discuss doctrinal differences. We do talk about teachings from the Word that lead to the good of life.
     I look forward to being conjoined as " . . . one through mutual love from love to the Lord" (AE 1004) in heaven with my family and other loved ones from the Old Church.
     Thank you, Ragnar. I encourage you and others to study further, and help lead us through this opening to a genuine, charitable relationship with members of the former church.
     William T. Griffin,
          Kempton, Pennsylvania

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UNLOCKING SPIRITUAL POTENTIAL 1991

UNLOCKING SPIRITUAL POTENTIAL       Roger Murdoch       1991

Dear Editor:
     A short history of what lay behind the publication of Grant Schnarr's book, Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential, may help resolve some of Patricia Street's and other readers' concerns. Grant was approached by several members of the Chicago New Church who told him that the twelve-step program was an enormous influence in their lives and was especially powerful when combined with the teachings of the Word, The practice of the twelve steps made the Writings come alive, and the Writings gave substance to the twelve-step form. The church members suggested that a group be formed of like-minded people. Grant drew on the experience of Michael Cowley and twelve-step books from a number of the twelve-step programs, and some produced by churches were collected. Grant read these and felt he could do better. Members of the congregation collected references from the Writings which applied to the various steps, and an after-church discussion involving the congregation and visitors was devoted to rephrasing the twelve steps to broaden their application.
     Grant prepared a series of sermons on the twelve steps as well as the one about Jesus' walking on the water-all of which, by the way, are available on audio cassette from the Chicago New Church. From these sermons Grant drafted the book, which was read and commented on by various members of the congregation as well as those acknowledged in the book. The church started a pilot twelve-step group, which was successful, and then advertised and formed other groups, with mixed results. Something seemed to be missing. Grant and Cathy's visit with the Frank Roses provided the extra touch: tasks. A loose-leaf draft of Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential was also put into play. When tasks were added and a fixed time of twelve weeks for the program was set, the program began to grow. It has served people who have not set foot in church.

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     After a period of refinement, Grant was ready to send the book to a publisher with a wide distribution. Hazeldon, the major publisher of twelve-step materials, refused it because there was not a high enough margin of profit in it. Abbey Press was willing, but being a Christian book publisher distributing to Christian bookstores, they insisted that all references to Swedenborg be deleted from the manuscript. After all, the Swedenborgian Church is a cult whose principal doctrine is repudiation of a tri-person God, unacceptable to Christians. Grant was able to negotiate the minimal mention of Swedenborg found in the acknowledgment and bibliography.
     The book has fulfilled an evangelization use in that it is the basis for the ongoing twelve-step programs which are now held on our church site after Sunday services. Some of the participants became curious about the church and after a while begin to attend services where they learn that there is a church which teaches the things they are working on in their spiritual program. They learn that the Bible has application to today's life and become excited. The book alone could not do this, but it is useful in conjunction with a twelve-step group and personal contact.
     The Chicago New Church sees itself as an oasis where world-weary travelers stop for spiritual food and water. Most move on in their journey. Some stay. All have been reached and their lives affected. Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential has affected lives. One Catholic said she was able to understand the concept of powerlessness and letting go for the first time. Workers in substance abuse have read it and attended a workshop given by the church in March. If the purpose of evangelization is to affect lives, then this book is serving that purpose.
     This book is not meant to be another twelve-step book, but a book which merges the truth of the Word with the practical application of the twelve steps. It was meant to go beyond traditional twelve-step principles and present New Church doctrine.

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Bear in mind, though, Grant did write about God as he understood Him. Perhaps we are afraid of offending people with our doctrine and become wishy-washy. If traditional twelve steppers are offended by the doctrine contained in the book, then too bad! Grant takes a firm stand in his weekly sermons. Some walk out, but many remain and the numbers grow steadily.
     As to the New Church reader's desire for more exploration of the truths of the Writings combined with their practical applications, perhaps other New Church writers will write for the world which is crying for an alternative to what is presently available. Or, she can move to Chicago and attend services and twelve-step groups. Or, she can send for the weekly sermon tapes from the Chicago New Church. Or, maybe Grant will write another book.
     Roger Murdoch,
          Homewood, Illinois
EDITORS ASSEMBLY EXPERIENCE 1991

EDITORS ASSEMBLY EXPERIENCE       Editor       1991

"You must publish that one." "Do you think you can get that one to print?" Such phrases were not infrequent at the 31st General Assembly. The good news is that the speakers are being most cooperative in promising their assembly addresses in printable form.
     Who wants to read them most, those who missed them or those who heard them? We wonder. We will get them one or two at a time, and the flavor will last of an assembly well worth savoring.
     The flavor of the assembly as a whole was one of sweet success. And it really was "by the Lake." Many of us had rooms looking out toward the water, and slept with the sound of water lapping on the beach just dozens of yards away.

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Many took their meals and light refreshments out onto a patio to enjoy the breeze off the blue waters so very close by.
     Back to the addresses. They were of high quality, and the audience was appreciating that. I was surprised how well the visual aids worked for more than seven hundred people. Prescott Rogers got things off to a sparkling start with his address on covenant renewal. He had us raising our hands with various responses. He invited those who came from elsewhere than North America to stand. This resulted in loud applause. The international quality of the assembly was noticeable and delightful, culminating at the banquet when we had speakers from England and Japan, and singing from South Africa.
     The next morning Eric Carswell took us through the entire story of Joseph in his address called, "Knowing the Truth, Not Just the Facts." The doctrinal application was excellent. That same evening the host pastor, Brian Keith, addressed in brilliant fashion the question: "What is the Lord's Will and How Do We Follow it?"

     Friday morning the assembly gave a resounding affirmative vote for the Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss as Executive Bishop of the General Church. The speech that morning was by Frank Rose, who spoke with clarity on a spiritual life based on the Writings. That evening the speaker was the Rt. Rev. Louis B. King. What warm applause! The farewell to Louis and Freya was an emotional current in the assembly. Among the expressions of affection was a giant quilt in which many people provided scores of scenes from the letter of the Word.
     On Saturday morning we heard a masterful address entitled "Elijah: The Trials of Human Conviction." Our newly elected Bishop used visual aids with great effect. During the same session we were treated to a review of the past fifteen years in the General Church. Seeing what has taken place in that time gives us hope for good things to come in the future.
     Those few days at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, provided thousands of rewarding encounters.

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Over and over again people were exclaiming what a successful assembly it was. And very high marks were given to the Glenview organizers. Our hosts distinguished themselves. What a combination of efficiency and grace. They really were there to help us visitors. They were ready to respond to needs, and the need for a friendly smile was something they had obviously anticipated.
     When Bob and Naomi Smith responded on behalf of the Glenview workers as they were thanked, they said that these months of preparation had provided them with a lot of fun. An enormous amount of work, and a lot of fun-hey, isn't that what heaven is about?

     The above remarks were composed the morning after arrival back in Bryn Athyn. They are going to make it into the July issue! I am sure in a few days I will remember things I should have said, and so will others remember things, many things, from the 31st General Assembly.
     If you were not there, give yourself the pleasure of talking to some of those people who attended. The General Church is strengthened by what took place by the lake in June.
ORDINATIONS 1991

ORDINATIONS       Editor       1991

Gyamfi-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1991, Mr. Martin Kofi Gyamfi into the first degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Pendleton-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1991, Mr. Mark Dandridge Pendleton into the first degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Perry-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1991, Mr. Charles Mark Perry into the first degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Roth-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1991, Mr. David Christopher Roth into the first degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

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ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR 1991-1992 1991

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR 1991-1992       Editor       1991

THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR 1991-1992
     1991
Sept 3      Tue      Secondary School registration begins
                    Orientation for all new College students (8:15 p.m.)
                    Dorm students arrive (Secondary students by 8:00 p.m.)
     4           Wed      Registration of all Theological and College students
                    Registration for all new Secondary Schools students
                    Cathedral Worship Service for students, faculty, parents
     5           Thu      Classes begin
Oct 18-21               Charter Day Celebration
Nov 1           Fri      College application due (without penalty) for Winter Term
     21           Thu      Fall Term ends for College and Theological School-Thanksgiving break begins
     26           Tue      Secondary Schools Fall Term ends - Thanksgiving break begins (8:30 p.m.)
Dec 1           Sun      Dorm students return (Secondary students by 8:00 p.m.)
     2           Mon      Winter Term begins in all schools
     20           Fri      Christmas recess begins for all schools at 12:20 p.m.
     1992
Jan 5           Sun      Dorm students return (Secondary students by 8:00 p.m.)
     6           Mon      Classes resume in all schools
Feb 4           Tue      College application due (without penalty) for Spring Term
     17           Mon      Secondary Schools holiday
Mar 1           Wed      College application due (without penalty) for 1992-93 Fall Term
     5           Thu      College and Theological School Winter Term ends and Spring break begins
     6           Fri      Secondary Schools Winter Term ends and Spring break begins after scheduled exams and student work
     15           Sun      Dorm students return (Secondary students by 8:00 p.m.)
     16           Mon      Spring Term begins in all schools
April 17      Fri      Good Friday Holiday for all schools
May 25      Mon      Memorial Day Holiday
June 4      Thu      Spring Term ends
     4           Fri      Graduation Dance (Glencairn)
     6           Sat     Commencement (Field House)
     If a more detailed calendar is desired, please contact the ANC President's Office

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



330



Notes on This Issue

     The Council of the Clergy meetings are usually held in Bryn Athyn in the month of March. This year they were held in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in June just before the assembly. One of the meetings was devoted to the consideration of a presentation by Rev. Robert Junge, which we are publishing this month.
     From the assembly itself we have good things coming. People are still exclaiming at the quality of the presentations, and some are asking for them on tape. We will be publishing items from that excellent assembly in the months to come.
     There are people who have a knack for simple expression. One such person sent us some renditions of passages from the Writings, which we share on page 365. (See also last October's issue.) This is related to the subject of two communications in this issue. These were occasioned by the June article by Frank Rose and Jan Weiss. These gentlemen report that they have received a number of letters expressing interest in what they are hoping to achieve.
     Apropos to the above discussion, the book Aim by Peter Rhodes (see June issue, p. 376) has the following paragraph about reading the Word: "Let's say you read the Word. Well, there's no problem with the Word. A lot of people say there is a problem with the Word. A lot of people say it's not written right, it's too hard to understand. The same with the Writings-too hard to understand. They wouldn't dare mention their own level of being, but they can tell you what's wrong with the Word even though God Himself wrote it! (You can't do better than that!)" (p. 39).
     Usually the baptisms we report are predominantly from the USA. This month we have some from Sweden and Australia, but most of them come from Ghana, where on March 3rd a number of people were baptized. Rev. Martin Gyamfi is now taking up his work as a minister in Ghana. See p. 337 for this and other ministerial announcements.

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SELF-EXAMINATION 1991

SELF-EXAMINATION       Rev. MARTIN PRYKE       1991

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside may be clean also" (Matthew 23:25, 26).

     God reveals Himself to us in Divine revelation for many reasons, but especially in order that we may know Him and may know how to live our lives on earth. We can neither acknowledge nor worship and obey a God whom we do not, within the limitations of human faculties, understand. A part of this is to know His purposes for us, and to know how we may cooperate with those purposes, and so how to prepare ourselves for eternal life.
     Without these things, made known to us in the pages of the Word, we are at sea with neither compass nor rudder. Life would have no purpose except the immediate gratification of the senses. The future would have no meaning to us. We would not know where to turn.
     For these reasons Divine revelation has always shown man how he should live. In the Old Testament we see this in simple, direct terms in many places. The Ten Commandments have provided guideposts for human behavior for three dispensations. The prophets begged the Israelites and Jews to follow the Lord and find their proper destiny. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good" (Isaiah 1:16, 17). The Christian morality of the New Testament goes on to plead that we think not only of our external acts, but also of our intent and motive. "First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

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     In the Writings we are shown that there is a spiritual dimension to our lives which is not made clear in the Old and New Testaments. We are not only to look to natural or material ends, but to spiritual ends. Our concern for the neighbor is not simply to be for his physical and worldly well-being, but for his spiritual life. True charity looks to the good which is in our fellow, and seeks ways in which we may support and strengthen that good.
     More than this, the New Church is given a clear and detailed pattern for the progress of our own spiritual lives. We are not simply told to "Cease to do evil [and] learn to do good." We are shown how this may be done. Most notably in the True Christian Religion and in the Doctrine of Life the stages, or steps, by which regeneration, or spiritual rebirth, is accomplished are described. The steps are simple and do not need lengthy philosophical explanation. They are: first to go to the Word so that we know the path we are to follow; then examine ourselves to see where we are lacking. Next, recognizing our need, we are directed to turn to the Lord in prayer, seeking the strength which He alone can give us. Finally we enter upon the most vital step toward which the others lead, the shunning of evils in our daily lives, recognizing such evils to be sins against God. When we have removed those evils in our lives which stand in the way, the Lord will flow in and He will regenerate us; He will give us the new will, which is the new life, the new birth which prepares us for heaven.
     Sometimes the way will seem tortuous indeed, and even impossible of achievement, but the Lord tells us repeatedly in the Writings that this is not so. If we will conscientiously strive for these goals, He will answer the cry of our hearts.
     At this time we would like to make special reference to the process of self-examination. It seems that a careful examination of what the Writings have to say about this may be important to us in the face of the intellectual allurements of the modern world, for we live in a world which has, in many ways, neglected religion in favor of psychology.

333


Psychology, the study of the human mind, is a valid worldly science, but it is an inexact science because its elements are so hard to measure in reliable ways. Its conclusions are often largely the product of human ingenuity. We may usefully study psychology to find illustrations and confirmations of revealed truth, but it can never replace Divine revelation, one function of which is to reveal the nature of man.
     After we have learned the difference between truth and falsity, and so between good and evil, self-examination is the essential first step. In one place we read, "The knowledge of sin, and the examination of some particular sin in oneself, is the beginning of repentance" (TCR 525), and in another, "No evil can be dispersed until it is seen" (HH 533). To our great benefit, the Writings are quite specific in showing us how such self-examination is to be carried out-very practical instructions for our spiritual life.
     We have no difficulty in examining the external of our lives. We can periodically consider how we have behaved to our neighbor, and can judge whether or not these acts have been in accordance with the kind of life which is enjoined upon us, whether or not we have broken the Ten Commandments, for example.
     But this is not enough, for it is the spirit which is the real man and of real moment. The external man, his bodily life, may, or may not, reflect the nature of his internal. Therefore the internal must be examined too, for this is the immortal part which we take into the other world. External acts are important, especially as they affect our fellow man, but they may frequently be misleading as indicators of the quality of the internal.
     What we really have to consider, then, is the nature of our internal, of our ruling love. This is the only true indicator of the real man, for love is his life. And so it is not enough that we know acts, but we must also know motives, and these motives may not always clothe themselves in corresponding acts.

334


The Lord Himself warned us when He said, "Whosoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28).
     It is not so easy to discover the nature of the spiritual man as it is the natural. Nevertheless, we can, with careful reflection, see and acknowledge the motives which lie behind our acts, although we often find this difficult to do with complete honesty. The Writings give us some help in doing this.
     First it is suggested that we examine our thoughts. What is it that we think about? Sometimes we find ourselves fantasizing. What is the nature of those fantasies? Now it is true that evil thoughts will often spring into our minds unbidden, and sometimes at most inappropriate times. We find this very disturbing, but it is the work of the hells to insinuate such thoughts. We should not be unduly concerned about those things which come into our minds unsought, but we should be very concerned about those thoughts which we welcome, which we nurture, and which we dwell on. Why is a certain subject so often on our minds? Are we thinking kindly of others, or are we constantly thinking of ways in which we can find fault with them? Thoughts will indicate something of the nature of our will which delights in those thoughts.
     It is, then, the motive which we must eventually discover. The Arcana Coelestia speaks of the importance of this: "The only way to establish the true identity [of affections] is to discover the end in view. If that end is selfish or worldly, those affections ate not genuine. But if the end is the good of the neighbor, the good of the community, the good of the country, and more still if it is the good of the church and the good of the Lord's kingdom, they are genuine, for in that case the Lord is their end, since the Lord is within those varieties of good" (AC 3796, emphasis added).
     Frequently we do not express evil intentions in an external act because we are afraid of the consequence. The fear of punishment, or a fear of the loss of our reputation, or the loss of gain, will withhold us from doing things that we would like to do, and sometimes we do this instinctively, not realizing what our real motives are.

335


It is good, therefore, sometimes to consider what we would do if such restraints did not exist. Would we really speak in so kindly a manner to one whom we do not like if we were not afraid of the impression this would make? Would we avoid some evil act if we knew that it could never be discovered?
     Another check on what our loves really are is to ask what we inmostly deem to be allowable. We may refrain from certain words or deeds because of the resulting consequences for us, but do we really believe that such words or deeds are, in fact, allowable-that is, allowable to our conscience? Here we have a guide as to the nature of that conscience, and so of our spiritual standards.
     Consider also what it is that we delight in. What gives us real pleasure and satisfaction? Delights, we are told, reflect our loves; we delight in those things we love. What delights do we favor; what delights do we turn to most often? Do we find our pleasure in satisfying ourselves, or do we find a deep-seated satisfaction and joy in serving the neighbor and the will of God?
     Lastly we are advised that genuine self-examination must be specific. General confessions of evil, abject admission that we are nothing but evil, accomplish little. We must identify evils if they are to be overcome. We do not need to confess and work on all at once, but one or more, at regular intervals, should be recognized and shunned in thought and act. As we do this the Lord will change the intention.
     The Writings show us that all evil is from hell. It reaches us by many routes: by present association with the hells, by the influx of hell reaching us through others, by inheritance, or by environment. But the teaching about self-examination does not suggest that the source of evil, or of any specific evil, is important.

336


The strong emphasis of the teaching is that we should examine ourselves as we are now, and then work from that basis.
     We raise this point because modern psychology so often seems to be primarily concerned with delving into the past, seeking out causes of our present condition. Along with this emphasis goes the implication that the blame for our problems can be placed on other shoulders and so that we may avoid any sense of guilt. Our upbringing, our environment, the influence of other people, may be used to set us free from responsibility, and this may make a spiritual solution to the problem more difficult because the immediate, present issue (which is our present state) is not faced, and we dwell rather on the past.
     A consideration of past causes may be legitimate but it can lead to a natural, rather than a spiritual, approach to the vicissitudes of life. It may lead us to be reluctant to face a present issue squarely, blurring the real nature of the problem. It may also encourage us to dwell on the hurts that others may have inflicted on us and so to think primarily in terms of blame.
     The Writings teach a simpler and more direct approach. We are not called upon to speculate on causes so much as to handle the present and work for the future. And, of course, we work for the future as, having recognized evil within ourselves, we seek to shun it as an evil against God. This is why it is evil; it offends the Divine order and, in doing so, offends God and hurts the neighbor.
     Self-examination and shunning evils are the two essential steps which will change our lives and bring us happiness for both this life and the life to come. Nothing else will do it. Other devices may be palliatives, sometimes perhaps necessary palliatives, but they are not the lasting solution. This the Lord has made known to us so clearly in His threefold revelation.
     We read in the Apocalypse Explained: "Cease therefore to enquire of thyself, what are the good works that I shall do that I may receive eternal life? Only abstain from evils as sins, and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead thee" (n. 979). Amen.

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     Lessons: Isaiah 1:1-6, 16-20; Matt. 23:15-28; DP 152 MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 1991

MINISTERIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS       Editor       1991

Regretfully the Rev. and Mrs. Christopher Smith have decided that they cannot accept the call by the General Church, Incorporated, in Canada to serve as the first pastor and wife of the General Church in Canada. They have engaged in a good deal of soul searching in this matter and have not come to the decision without much pain. Christopher will continue to teach in the Academy schools.
     The Rev. Alfred Acton has been called to serve as Visiting Pastor to the Connecticut Circle effective July 1st, 1991. He will continue to teach in the Academy schools.
     The Rev. Martin Gyamfi has been assigned to serve in Kwahu Tafo, Oframase, and Nteso Region in Ghana under the supervision of the Rev. Robert Junge, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Rev. Mark Pendleton has been appointed to serve as Assistant to the Executive Vice President of the General Church in Canada, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Rev. Mark Perry has been appointed to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Rev. David Roth has been appointed to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Chicago Circle, effective July 1st, 1991.

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UNITY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT 1991

UNITY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT       Rev. ROBERT S. JUNGE       1991

REFLECTIONS BY REV. ROBERT S. JUNGE

     (An Address to the Council of the Clergy)

     The church seems urgent for: 1) a willingness to experiment and change; 2) a clearer sight of application; 3) a sense of the living presence of the Lord; 4) a sense of confidence in the Lord's healing care; 5) an inspired vision of the masculine and the feminine; 6) a sense of unity and harmony in the church itself.
     The answer to change, application, presence, care, harmony in marriage, unity in the church-indeed the answer to all the pressing needs of our people-must come from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth, the Glory in the Clouds, the Comforter inspires confidence and mutual trust in the church. Spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word, from the Lord alone, is the glory of God and the Lamb that dwells within that Holy City (see AR 919). The glory of God became visible when the Lamb was glorified.
     "He who knows anything of the Lord's coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, thus of the Lord's kingdom, should pray that it may come, and that he who desires truths should pray that the Lord may come with light, and that he who loves truths will then receive them from the Lord [freely] without his own work" (AR 956, emphasis added).
     At times it seems that if we do not learn to respond "with one shoulder" to these outstanding needs of heart and spirit, the church will be torn in pieces or transferred to other, more worthy hands. I believe that the most positive way to work on these challenges is to carefully look at our approach to the issues from the perspective of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
     This is not a definitive study, but rather reflections on the way I believe the Lord leads through freedom of inquiry to freedom of life.

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The state of the church seems to be crying out for a clearer understanding of the Holy Spirit, particularly what is meant by "the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). When Jesus is glorified in the church, we will see with light what He does and says, and so will see what we ourselves should do and say in response.
     The freedom of the church in potentially divisive issues lies not so much in "definitive studies" as in learning to respond with mutual respect to the Lord's teaching and leading; In simplest terms the Lord's teaching and leading is the active function of the Holy Spirit. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you can hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). Are we somehow afraid to teach the church to strive to be "born of the Spirit"? It is hard to inquire and yet not always be able to tell where it comes from and where it goes. It requires humility to learn to live with human uncertainty and yet acknowledge the unchanging, absolute and ever-responsive presence of the Divine. It is a real challenge to learn to live with convictions that we cannot always defend and to respect the convictions of others which they cannot always defend.

     It is hard to read the Word daily, but even harder to acknowledge the necessity of a prayerful acceptance of an ever-accommodating light of truth. Enlightenment involves loving confidence in things beyond, yet within, natural experience. And they may be things which we cannot always express in natural words.
     Perhaps as priests the hardest of all is to resist the temptation to try to press our supposed certainties upon others. However, certainty does not come from the form of the argument, but from the light which shines through it. We appeal to the same vessels of truth, and cannot communicate spiritually or naturally without ordering and arranging those vessels.

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But to see the good or the truth in another's position is to see the Holy Spirit, the thought and affection, not just the vessels which form that position. We judge righteous judgment when we look to the uses of others, when we try to see the Lord present and active within what they are saying or doing.

1. Change and Experiment

     A dynamic, living and changing church is enlightened by and responds to the Holy Spirit. "'to go out' or proceed . . . is to present one's self before another in a form accommodated to him, thus to present one's self the same but in a different form" (AC 5337, emphasis added). The Lord foresees how man leads himself, and continually accommodates (see DP 202e). The essential active force by which accommodation and disposition are effected is from the Lord, but unless man receives these operations with a free spirit, the Lord cannot go beyond the effort, which however unceasingly continues (see TCR 150e).
     We live upon a fascinating panorama of ever-changing experience. Human needs are never static, for if they were, there would be no eternal growth and perfection and no eternal happiness. Our ability to interact with the experience of others, and to freely choose our own experience, is the key to feeling the gift of human life as if it were our own. Change and use are inseparable.
     In themselves love and wisdom are unchanging, but in their reception they unfold with indefinite variety through uses. Human experiment is very much tied to human choice. In the church it is based upon hypotheses drawn from the Word about as yet unknown hopes and dreams. But it finds the courage to act from its confidence in the Lord's unchanging spiritual energy. The Lord Himself can be present in our effort to discover and do what is right.
     Experiment then builds upon what is seen so clearly in the Word that it is accepted as known and inviolate, and yet it acts with a dynamic sense that choice is its own.

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It acts in the Lord's name. The sense of belonging so precious to the life of the church cannot exist without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as our lives unfold.
     Some things about life are axiomatic, and in doctrinal terms may be called the doctrine of genuine truth. These spiritual-natural truths are the necessary essentials to life and salvation. They are the lamp which lights the way into the wonder of the feeling that with the Lord's help we can make a difference. Things can change, and our choice is vital to that change. Repentance is a hopeful doctrine which says things can be different. Reformation sees how they can be different and strives to make them so. In a sense, regeneration is the grandest experiment of all as love reaches out for ultimate expression. Experiments in the church must never do violence to axiomatic truths, but we must never give up our willingness to try new uses. The Lord wants us to grow beyond obedience, to acting creatively in His image from emerging love.
     Variety plays upon the axiomatic constants of plain teaching. But growth and creativity as if from self depend upon a dynamic sight of truth equally as upon a static statement of it. One of our greatest challenges is to see the difference between the doctrine of genuine truth and the indefinite extension of the glory in the clouds which the Lord would open to each one of us individually. The sight of the spiritual sense of the Word is suited to every human need according to individual ability to respond. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
     The doctrine of genuine truth is like the melody line in a great symphony, glorified by the supporting harmony of the spiritual sense. Our ear delights in moving from melody to rich counter-melody and harmony and back to melody again. We are lifted up and inspired to the real meaning of the music as we compare one glorious passage with another. We all hear differently with no apology. Can we not listen to the symphony of doctrinal development with similar acceptance?

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     It is similar with the visual arts. We are led by the focal point into a work of art. The whole composition plays and speaks to the viewer as we dynamically move through the work. It is true that analysis of the elements of composition can serve as means to its enjoyment. But we must not mistake the means leading to understanding for the meaning and purpose of the work itself. The integrity of the work, like the integrity of doctrine, is seen from the heart when it sees the creative love that put the various symbolic elements together in the form presented.
     The letter of the Word is fixed, and our thought rests confidently upon it as a Divinely inspired constant, and yet we know it can be turned this way and that. The Lord's inflowing love and wisdom is varied in its reception, but is also a profound constant.
     As a church we must learn to love the tension between the constant and the dynamic, for it is the secret of human freedom. Even at the heart of our theology there is a tension between the infinite constancy of the Divine and the wonder of the dynamic accommodation of the Human to every human heart-Divinity and Humanity, a seeming contradiction, yet reconciled in the dynamic process of the glorification of the Lord Himself. "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).
     Christianity first acknowledged the Lord's Divinity, as it were from His origin, as the Son of God. But they needed to see that through the series of His glorification Jesus became one with the Father. The Lord's Divinity must be seen in an unfolding series or its purpose has no real effect on our lives. The glorification process reveals the Lord's use as Redeemer. When the Human was glorified, man could be inspired to see the dynamic process of his own re-generation. Those who learned to see that redemption was a process and not a single act learned to see that their own regeneration was a process and not a single act. They learned to respond to the spirit of truth throughout their lives.

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The concept of series is essential to the sight of truth.
     In defending the "authority," we have labored long to assure that the church rests firmly upon the plain constants of the Word. We have asserted the Divinity of the Writings and acknowledged their origin. The very soul of the Word is the Divine of the Lord. That must never be denied. An affirmative heart willingly responds to what the Lord Himself says. The letter of the Word is compared to the body. But true humanity is more than a soul and body. It is a living and eternally accommodating spirit.     
     It is not enough simply to assert the Divinity of the Writings. We must come to love them in their teaching function. That teaching function is not acknowledged by simply giving their plain statements the right to command. They were given by the Lord to lead and form the light and will of conscience, freely. They open the way for us to see the Lord step by step throughout our lives. Heavenly Doctrine exists in heaven to eternally perfect angels and provide for their happiness.
     We must learn to see how the whole of the threefold Word is in a glorified human form, from which we are reformed and regenerated, renewed, vivified, sanctified and justified, purified, forgiven and saved (see TCR 142). The Second Coming of the Lord "in the Word" has enabled us to see the unfolding spirit within the Word, and so in life. That spirit is the Lord's revealing Himself in a series which unfolds freedom and love in operation. That spirit is capable of bending and not breaking, yet leading into all truth.
     I have often asked myself, Is the study of doctrine a science or an art? I believe the answer is "Yes." And when it is both an art and a science, it leads directly to use and to change. The Word is a living human form. Therefore, another way of putting the question is, "Do we study the Word as anatomy or as physiology?" Again I believe the answer is, "Yes."

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2. Application

     With some the cry for the church to teach application seems to come simply from spiritual laziness. But with many it seems to come from a sincere need to belong in an active communion of uses, like heaven. There will be joy and happiness in the church just so far as it responds to uses performed in the Lord's name. The joyful application of truth to life involves uses inspired by the Holy Spirit. The desire for application is also a desire for inspiration and joy. A church inspired by the Spirit of Truth, at heart will be a happy and peaceful church.
     Our people quite properly want to feel that the Lord is with them in their efforts to do what is right, even when they do not see clear commands. Of course, we try to pay attention to exactly what the Lord says. But we must also learn to put our confidence in what we sincerely believe He means, even if it isn't plainly stated, and even if we cannot know for certain. The Spirit of Holiness had to command (I believe because it operated from the Father through the angel of Jehovah). An invisible God can only ask obedience, but a visible God asks love. The Lord, in contrast to His operation as the Spirit of Holiness, now operates of Himself from the Father, and His Spirit touches the heart and leads through conscience. The Divine Human operates propria potentia (from His own proper power), and allows the man to act as if propria potentia (in human terms sicut a se), but acknowledging that all power is from the Lord.
     We can walk confidently not always because we can defend what we do to others, but because we believe in our hearts that it is what the Lord wants. "Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light" (John 12:35, 36). We need to learn to trust the light as the Lord gives us to see it, though we must never claim that we have it.

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The Lord becomes more and more visible as we allow His Spirit to lead us. The further we progress, the more clearly we will see Him and love Him. His Spirit now revealed in His Word has the power to lead us, even to save us, but it will not compel us. And it must not be used to compel others.
     The church burns with so many questions about what to do in specific situations. Many reply that the Writings give general principles, not answers to specific applications, as if that will satisfy those who want to act in the Lord's name. But thought from first principles surely is not an invitation to be led only by human reason in our spiritual decisions. The Lord provides for our freedom of choice when we are guided rationally by the spirit of His Word. It is not the Word but the understanding of it which builds the church.
     The general principles which initiate and serve as a lamp are the doctrines of life contained in the doctrine of genuine truth. But enlightenment by the Holy Spirit can also lead to the sight of particular and even singular truths within the letter of the Word. That means that the Holy Spirit can lead to the sight of particular and even singular uses, for we do not see the truth unless we see its use. The Word does indeed teach application when it teaches the spiritual sense. But the sight of the spiritual sense leads willing hearts. It does not command.
     I believe that the sight of the spiritual sense teaches specific applications of indefinite extension, but it does so in individual accommodation to those who are ready to receive. Such will walk confidently in their desire to serve the Lord, but will probably be the last to assert to others that they know the "answers."
     Because the spiritual sense reveals the spiritual within its appropriate natural, it reveals to the sincere mind the proper correspondential relationship or ratio of the spiritual to the natural. The sight of this relationship leads to rational conviction. But what is so wonderful, you cannot club your neighbor with the sight of the spiritual sense and make him believe as you do.

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This sight of truth is individually accommodated; it is exquisitely relevant; it involves illustration and perception; it brings joy in use. It is love seeing what thoughts and affections should dwell within freely chosen words and deeds. Nothing is more applicable to the individual human life. Nothing could possibly lead to a greater sense of freedom. Such a sight of truth, while individual, is not relative in the usual sense of the word. Both the spiritual side and the natural side of the relationship are Divinely revealed in the threefold Word. The Lord guides the regenerating man from within and without at the same time. The light to see the relationship of the spiritual to the natural and so to understand what the Lord wants us to do is the gift of the Spirit. The Word is the measure of the use and gives form to it. It is just as wrong to say we tried it and it worked as to say we tried it and it didn't work, if the Word is not the measure of the use.
     "A consideration of the love of uses teaches what is meant by loving the Lord and loving the neighbor, and in addition what is meant by being in the Lord and being a man. 'Loving the Lord' means to do uses from Him and for His sake. 'Loving the neighbor' means to do uses to the church, to one's country, to human society and to one's fellow citizen. 'Being in the Lord' means to be a use, and 'being a man' means to do uses from the Lord to the neighbor for His sake" (D. Love 35).

3. Presence

     The living presence of the Lord (a se) with man is the Holy Spirit. Uses are the Lord Himself with man (see D. Love 36). And use is the Lord's alone. God becomes visible in His Divine Humanity not so much in what He said and did as in what He says and does, which is the Holy Spirit. The Lord came into the world as our Redeemer. But we must come to "know that our Redeemer lives," now. Thinking of the Lord and His advents in the past tense is thought from dead theology.

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Theology only lives when it becomes a living religion in the hearts of our people. We must learn to think and teach in the present tense, in the ongoing series of life, for purpose is the spirit behind the sequencing of events.
     "The Holy Spirit is no other than the Lord; and . . . going forth and proceeding mean nothing else than enlightenment and instruction through the presence of the Lord with man according to his reception of Him" (Lord 46:4; emphasis added). The Lord is Immanuel, God with us, today, tomorrow and forever.
     It is not enough to be able to form a human picture of the Lord in our mind's eye. Genuine human relationships involve a covenant of uses. . All of us want to feel that we have a place in the stream of life. But a lasting sense of purpose and belonging depends on a sense of the living presence of the Lord with each one of us. His unified presence is the supreme unifying bond in life.
     Perhaps the renewed interest in the doctrine of prayer illustrates the church's sense of need for the Lord's presence. Prayer is talking to the Lord. We see God in front of us when we pray (see DLW 129e). In response to prayer, the Lord answers, informs, and does (see AR 376). The Lord's response is something like revelation as to hope, comfort, and a certain internal joy (see AC 2535). All of these things are functions of the Holy Spirit which must become real to our people.
     Prayer and a sense of the living presence of the Lord are intimately connected. If we want to help the church sense the Lord's presence, like the disciples we should perhaps ask, "Lord, teach us to pray." "Truths with man are what pray, and man is continually in such prayers when he lives according to the truths" (AE 493e).
     The Lord is also present with us, even the simple, when we read the Word with reverence. It is the affection of truth, the heart, which opens the Word. We can read from habit and duty, or we can read from affection and love. Our attitude when we read, like our attitude when we pray, determines the Lord's ability to be present and to respond.

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The Word is a conjoining medium with the Lord and our fellow men, not simply by the reading of it, but by understanding it and living it. The letter kills, but the spirit gives life. We need to learn to trust the spirit as the Lord reveals it to us, and apply it in the letter of daily life.
     A king cannot rule unless the law of the land is recognized and obeyed. He rules through the law or there is no order. But a true subject responds not just to the letter of the law, but to what he believes the king really wants-he responds to the spirit of the law.
     There is a time when disciples become apostles and their relationship to the truth changes. To be an apostle is the higher calling of the spirit for it calls to use for its own sake.

4. The Lord Cares

     The Divine Providence, caring, healing, renewing and saving, is the operation of the Holy Spirit. All presence of the Lord is Providence (see AE 25:2). Our people want to see Providence and feel the Lord's presence, not to claim the sight as their own but so that they can be led by its stream. In simplest terms, the Lord cares. And a living church cares,
     "The Infinite and Eternal in itself is the Divine itself, or the Lord in Himself; but the Infinite and Eternal from itself is the Divine Proceeding, that is, the Lord in others created from Himself, thus in men and in angels; and this Divine is the same as the Divine Providence. For by means of the Divine from Himself the Lord provides that all things may be held in order . . . " (DP 55, emphasis added).
     Today the Divine from Himself with us is the Holy Spirit which was not yet. It proceeds in human terms of love, wisdom and use, directly as the power of the glorified Lord Himself. But it is revealed to the New Church, If we will, we can see the Lord providing love, wisdom and use as a glory in the clouds of our daily life.

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     It is true that we see providence in the back, but from that sight, when we learn to love, we can come to acknowledge Providence as presence. Put another way, Providence operates according to law but always from love, for it is the Lord's loving Presence with us. All that the Lord does is Providence (see AC 5503). Providence is His use. We can see Providence clearly only when we see its every operation in loving human form as the very use of the Divine Human.
     The Lord provides of Himself, from the Father. The Holy Spirit was not yet before the glorification, but it is revealed today so we can know and love the Lord by what He Himself is doing and saying. Providence is the active effort of the Divine Human Himself.
     Sometimes Providence is like the wind blowing where it wills and we cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes, but we can know that it is the Lord Himself present with us, warm and full of eternal purpose. If we do not see, we know that with trust and patience the Lord can heal our blindness.
     When our people long for warmth, care and joy in the church, it is the Lord's love and care they need, and the Divinely Human operation of His Holy Spirit must become a loving reality for them. When the Lord is with us, He can provide that all things which happen can turn out for our good (see AC 6303). He bends our freedom to good (see AC 3869). When the Holy Spirit becomes a Divinely Human use in their minds and hearts, our people simply will not feel coldly alienated from the possibility of renewal and salvation. They will feel confident and cared for. They will learn to hope. They will know peace.
     Creation and redemption (sustaining) are different and yet go hand in hand. They are done by the same God, with the same purpose, but they are separated in our thought so we can understand more clearly. The creative process is in a sense irresistible. The creative process in relation to the Word is in a sense its inspiration.

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The Lord inspired and created the written Word at a fixed point in time, even as He became the Word made flesh at a fixed point in time. But redemption is an ongoing process which sustains our rebirth. Bearing a child is one thing; parenting is another. Creating us is one thing; preparing us for heaven is another.
     Historically we have defended the Writings as created or inspired by the Lord. This is absolutely necessary. They are the Second Coming of the Lord Himself in the Word. But their redemptive function is a living presence. There is a loving, providing Spirit that must come forth to teach and lead the church with warmth and love.

5. Male and Female Relationships

     Understanding the relation of male and female depends upon a clear sight of their mutual use. The Divine of the Lord with angelic couples makes them one as to use. What is the Divine of the Lord a se with man? with woman? If we make their differences only creative, the church will read those differences as compelling. If we learn to see them as dynamic and changing, as the gift of a living spirit, they will become challenges and free.
     When he is reforming and truth is uppermost in his mind, a man is very different from when he is regenerating and love is uppermost. His appreciation for his wife (a form of love) must significantly change as he grows spiritually. His wife also reforms and regenerates, and what a difference there must be in her role as these changes take place. Conjugial love grows step by step with the regenerative function of the Holy Spirit, It's a truism spoken at almost every wedding reception that marriage is a process of growing together. The growth of an eternal marriage is the operation of the Holy Spirit.
     The tension between the masculine and feminine will not be resolved solely by trying to find a formulation of the doctrine which satisfies all the passages we see as applying today.

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It will, however, be resolved as the couples in the church, on the basis of those passages, learn to walk in the Light together.
     The more nearly conjoined together couples are, the more they feel their individuality, and are able to bring unique gifts from the Lord to their partners. Spiritual conception, formation, and giving birth to use are wonders and joys far exceeding the gift of natural children. The gift of a mutual use, born in freedom through mutual consent, brings eternal happiness, because it is founded upon the living presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to gather all joy and all delight from firsts to lasts into the conjugial.     
     Of course we need to go to the doctrines and try to discover what the created differences between men and women are. We need to lift our thoughts and try for the biggest picture we can see. But the light we need will come as the men and women of the church try to live by the few things they see clearly.
     It is interesting that the marriage of good and truth is everywhere in the Word. Each time we approach the question of masculine and feminine, we find ourselves confronted with a correspondential relationship. Of course there are the plain teachings, which essentially tell us that there is a difference between men and women which exists for the sake of their learning to work together as one angelic use eternally. The lamp of the doctrine of life is given sufficiently to start us on our way. But how this is to take place will be unlocked by the Holy Spirit within the letter of Scripture for every couple who strives for that promised mutual use.
     We must not expect uniformity of application in the families and homes of the church. But we can find a glorious harmony and mutual respect if as far as we can we focus on the living effort behind their uses. If our New Church neighbors deny that there is a difference between men and women, then we may have to ask if their view does violence to the doctrine of genuine truth as we see it.

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The line between what is plain teaching on the subject and what is not will not be drawn in the same place by everyone in the church. But if our church is to rise to the challenge to build eternal marriages as a communion of New Churchmen, we will have to learn to focus first on what is clear and what we hold in common. In the light of that agreement we must then respect the variety to which the Spirit of Truth leads. We need to look for the light which individually leads and guides others if we are going to see the Lord in them and be true neighbors.
     If we will, we can find love and joy in exploring the wonder of the challenge together. But it will happen only when the Lord becomes the true Spirit of the inquiry, not when there is clubbing of our neighbors with passages, not by thumping Conjugial Love like fundamentalist evangelists. But guided by what we see as the doctrine of genuine truth, neither will we be like a modernist serving up some tepid trust of a spirit which sort of universally inspires but lets everybody do what he wants.
     How we use that precious work Conjugial Love, and how we see its teachings enlightened and confirmed in the Old and New Testaments, will determine whether we come together as families in the church or whether we divide. We must defend the plain teachings, but with the help of the Writings we also must be willing to explore the wonder of the spirit which reveals a marriage of good and truth everywhere in the letter, and so gives life to marriage itself.

6. Unity

     Unity of affection, thought, and life comes when hearts, heads and hands are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Christianity died when it divided the Godhead and made salvation depend upon sacraments or on faith alone rather than a living and responsive relationship to the Lord. Redemption became a single act rather than the living operation and presence of a visible God.

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The Bible became a dead letter and a book of heresies. The Word teaches and leads dynamically, and enlightens wherever the Lord is present in a dynamic and living way, "when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come," and guides into all truth (John 16:13).
     There can be no unity without charity. Charity is seeing and loving what is from the Lord out of others. It is seeing and responding to the presence of His Spirit as others respond to it. It is the spirit we love expressed by the body. When we really learn to look for the truth with others, we will be on the right track. When we respond as best we can to the longings of the hearts of others, instead of to their clumsy hands, we will begin to know what conjunction is. We have to learn to see and trust the spirit, for it is the reality that inspires our acceptance of the doctrine of genuine truth and opens our minds and hearts to the wonder of the spiritual sense.
     Yes, we must try the spirits to see if they be of God or of man. We must measure our lives against the written threefold Word itself. Doctrine based upon spirit alone is a house without a foundation and cannot stand.
     I believe the wonder of the threefold Word is to be discovered in the interaction among its three levels of expression. The Writings lead us to look for the spirit within the letter of the Old and New Testaments, even as we must look for the spirit within our neighbors' words and deeds and expressed natural thought and feeling. As the threefold Word impacts our minds and hearts, we see ratios of indefinite extension. We see how moral decision influences behavior; we see how reasons cause action. We learn how actions represent and can even correspond. There is a Living Teacher within the threefold Word, whose goal is for us to think and live spiritually, so that ultimately we will appreciate the meaning of the love which is our very life.
     I believe that the Holy Spirit enlightens, reforms and regenerates through the interplay of the parts of the threefold Word, just as we communicate and express our love for each other through the interplay of the degrees which make our life in this world.

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The threefold Word is Divinely inspired and therefore has a Divine soul. It is fully Divine even to its letter. But its letter is seen openly to be Divine or glorified wherever the soul shines through. When that Divinity is acknowledged in the Word as the doctrine of genuine truth, it becomes the key to seeing the spirit of the Word which can lead into all truth. A genuine understanding is built out of the doctrine of genuine truth, not through it. So the Word itself has a Divine soul, a Divine body, and a Divine operation.
     My emphasis on the Holy Spirit is not, then, an effort to get us to look for its operation as some deeper meaning to the Writings. While we acknowledge that its operation is hidden from the unregenerate and enlightens the regenerate, that is simply a confirmation of the wonder of the threefold Word. I believe the operation of the Holy Spirit which can open minds and hearts and lead to freedom operates from the threefold Word itself. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, but the Holy Spirit was not yet until Jesus was glorified. The Lord operates in His Second Coming from His own proper power, in His Divine Humanity as the Word, not through that Humanity. He can teach us to communicate man to man, because He is "Man." The spirit revealed today which can lead into all truth is not the spirit within the Writings, but the spirit which reveals itself as we use the threefold Word as the means of our instruction and our spiritual life.
     A word of caution. Infinite things in God are separated in thought for the sake of accommodation, but they are not separated in reality. Christianity died as it separated God into three persons, yet there are three attributes which we need to understand in the one God. We must not separate the Word into three independent entities. It is one Word But there are three attributes to that Word. The Word is Divine from its soul. It is often identified with the Son. It is also called the Holy Spirit.

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I believe we need particularly careful thought to distinguish the soul from the operative spirit of the Word.
     Apparently the answer to change, application, presence, care, the masculine and feminine, unity, and many other urgent needs of our people lies in renewed understanding of and response in life to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I believe some of what seems to divide us comes from a lack of clarity as to our approach to the threefold Word. We tend to disagree in the answer and then posture. "Pragmatism, literalism, fuzzy interpretation-you name it; there are many irresponsible ways of dismissing the positions of others. But it is impossible for a true man to dismiss the sincere spirit of inquiry.
     I might have focused on the doctrine of the Word and said that we need renewed study of it, but I am trying to avoid an emphasis which might lead to association with controversies of the past. Too often it is easier to walk beaten paths than try to discover new ways to our destination.
     Another reason I have emphasized the Holy Spirit is that I believe understanding the leading of the Holy Spirit in the doctrine of genuine auth and in the spiritual sense is the key to making the doctrine of the Word come alive.
     The Lord as the Spirit of Truth uses the interaction between our internal man and external man to give us a sense of freedom and with it the ability to love, He provides a lamp of clear teaching to get us started on the path and to keep the path straight. But He also provides the tools and the inspiration to explore the internal and the external of the Word. He has not left us comfortless or without His Divine guidance. He has made it possible for us to discover series within series of potential ways to understand each other, to love each other, and to serve each other.
     We may worry about a potential over-emphasis on the spirit and light seemingly rather than on the vessels of the Word itself, but the New Church is foretold as both a bride and a city. And the "spirit and the bride say come. And let him that is athirst come.

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And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."
     In His wonderful accommodating hands as we discover the harmony of the internal and external of His Word, we can enter into the joy of the potential harmony of our own internal and external man. It is His way of letting us feel not only that the discovery of truth is as if our own, but the ability to love is as if our own. Those who come into such order within themselves will come into a rich and truly human association with others. In the most precious sense our Creator and Redeemer come together in all our hearts when we respond together to the Spirit of Truth which leads into all truth.
     Given a conviction concerning the Word as the Source of truth, the living spirit of inquiry is more important than "answers." We ask before it is given; we seek before we find; we knock before it is opened. Asking, seeking, knocking are activities inspired by the Holy Spirit. The affection of truth and good is alive and free. Humility knows where to look, but it never claims the truth as its own. We need to focus on the asking, seeking, and knocking of our colleagues, rather than standing in judgment as to whether the door is opened or not.
     Enlightenment is an individual gift. Neither this council nor the church can live without it. For an individual man of the church, authority depends upon whether he sees the Lord in the doctrine put forth or not. The spirit of truth is drawn out of the letter. Communication of the spirit of truth is absolutely dependent upon coming together in a covenant which consists of commonly shared vessels or knowledges from the Word. But it is the light of truth and the warmth of love we must also learn to share. The vessels are the Divinely ordained means of communication, but what is communicated is the Lord Himself.
     Covenant, communication, conjunction and consent all go hand in hand. In an effort to understand things about the Lord, we separate concepts in our thought, and yet recognize that in the Lord they are truly one.

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This is certainly true when we discuss such a concept as that the Holy Spirit was not yet. In True Christian Religion we read, "The soul acts in and into the body, not through it; the body acts of itself from the soul" (TCR 154:6). The Divine Human of the Lord acting of itself from the Soul is the glorified Human. Directly from that Human flows the Spirit of Truth which leads to all truth. Is there a spirit which is not yet in relation to the Second Coming of the Lord?
REVIEW 1991

REVIEW       Dan Horigan       1991

A recent book provides insights which can be of benefit to anyone who is concerned about the current state of affairs in Canada, and who wishes to contribute to their improvement. This book is Mosaic Madness: The Poverty and Potential of Life in Canada (Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited, Toronto, Canada, 1990) by Dr. Reginald W. Bibby. It is essentially a critique of life as it is being lived interpersonally and within Canada's major institutionseducation, the media, government, the workplace, the family, and religion. The author, a professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge, is one of Canada's best known analysts of social trends.
     Describing the startling changes currently occurring world-wide, in the introduction to his book Dr. Bibby writes:

The pervasive theme in these dramatic political developments is that of freedom. At the collective level, people are saying that they want freedom to govern themselves, to develop their economies, to enhance their overall quality of life. Closely tied to the theme of freedom is the theme of the individual. At the personal level, men and women are saying that they want to be free from oppressive regimes, free to express themselves, free to work, to worship, to travel, to share in what their nations and the world have to offer, free to become everything that they as individuals are capable of being.

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Closely tied to the themes of freedom and the individual is a third important emphasis-pluralism. Sheer diversity, nationally and globally, makes pluralism a descriptive term: we have many "pluralistic" societies; internationally, we have a "pluralistic" planet As a policy, pluralism contributes to collective and personal freedom by legitimizing diversity. It resolves the question of how different individuals who want to be free can live in community. Pluralism diplomatically and optimistically declares that the whole is best served by the contribution of varied parts.
Nationwide and worldwide, such a policy translates into an emphasis on coexistence versus conquest or assimilation. Pluralism's call for tolerance and respect frequently takes the form of statements about human rights. Expressed nationally, it means that Californians are expected to coexist on U.S. turf with Mexican Americans; that ethnic groups in the Soviet Union no longer need to pretend that they don't exist; that blacks and whites in South Africa can live as equals in an integrated society; that minority group members in Canada no longer need to change their names and cultures if they want to "fit in" Expressed globally, it means that war and domination of societies no longer are appropriate. Cultural obliteration in the form of both intolerance and alleged enlightening is likewise an unacceptable violation of the norms of planetary pluralism. Customs and languages, world views and religions are not to be tampered with.
The three themes of freedom, the individual, and pluralism are joined by a fourth centrally important characteristic-relativism. The free expression of the individual and groups is made possible only by suspending value judgments about how people live. Truth and best are not listed in the pluralism dictionary. The only truth is that everything is relative. "Cultural relativism" is accepted as a given; those who dare to assert that their culture is best are dubbed ethnocentric; those who dare to assert that they have the truth are labeled bigots. Truth has been replaced by personal viewpoint.

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Many observers are heralding these significant worldwide developments as indications of a new era in world history. What lies ahead, they say, are unprecedented Peace and affluence. Social forecasters John Naisbit and Patricia Aburdene, for example, maintain that "the great unifying theme at the conclusion of the twentieth century is the triumph of the individual. Threatened by totalitarianism for much of this century," say the two authors, "individuals are meeting the millennium more powerful than ever before." As for the future, they write: "On the threshold of the millennium . . . we possess the tools and the capacity to build utopia here and now . . . .
Within the hearts and minds of humanity, there has been a commitment to life, to the utopian quest for peace and prosperity for all, which today we can clearly visualize."
Our planet is indeed moving toward worldwide freedom, led by the emancipated individual. That freedom is being made possible by pluralism and relativism. It all sounds progressive, for many exciting, and for the likes of Naisbit and Aburdene a cause for celebration.
But hold on, everybody-the victory party is premature. Since the 1960s, one country has been leading the world in advocating freedom through pluralism and relativism. It has been carrying out something of a unique experiment in trying to be a multinational society, enshrining coexistence and tolerance. The preliminary results are beginning to appear. The news is not good.
Societies on the verge of implementing pluralistic ideals would do well to take a good look at this important case example. The country? Canada.

     In the body of the book Dr. Bibby describes in some detail the factors of individualism, Pluralism, and relativism as they have developed in Canada. He also describes at some length the effect these have had on cultural groups, women, the family, education, the workplace, the media, politics, and religion. He cites instances where these three forces seem to have been very beneficial to Canada, but concludes by saying, "There's more to the story."

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     Although promoted as panaceas for the social challenges the country has faced (and is still facing), he contends that:

In our time, excessive individualism and relativism may well be two of the most serious threats to social life in Canada. In its zeal to promote coexistence, the country may find itself a world leader in promoting the breakdown of group life and the abandonment of the best. Individually, we have been emancipated; socially, we are in disarray. Despite a generally high level of affluence, Canadians these days seem frustrated, restless, and nervous.

     Dr. Bibby also contends that there is good reason to believe that "our strong Canadian emphasis on individual rights and personal gratification is making group life in Canada very difficult; in the long run it may make it impossible." And he believes relativism has contributed to a situation in which "many Canadians are not differentiating between being judgmental and showing sound judgment, between exhibiting discrimination and being discriminating." He also believes that:

When a country like Canada enshrines pluralism through policies such as multiculturalism and bilingualism and the guaranteeing of individual rights, the outcome is coexistence-no more, no less. It's a good start in building a society out of diverse peoples. But there's a danger: coexistence as an end in itself fails to inspire anyone. If there is no subsequent vision, no national goals, no explicit sense of coexisting for some purpose, pluralism becomes an uninspiring end in itself. Rather than coexistence being the foundation that enables a diverse nation to collectively pursue the best kind of existence possible, coexistence degenerates into a national preoccupation. Pluralism ceases to have a cause. The result: mosaic madness.

     In the latter part of his book Dr. Bibby shows how and why this mosaic madness carries considerable costs. It is affecting our everyday interactions, our most personal relationships, and our institutional involvements.

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This madness is highly destructive, keeping us from experiencing the best possible quality of life, individually and collectively. But, he says, "the recognition of its presence can mark the beginning of its demise. Social sanity is not beyond the realm of possibility."
     Since, as Dr. Bibby shows, our problem in Canada lies with excess in our promotion of pluralism and relativism, he sees the solution being devised as a better balance between conflicting ideas, between the individual and the group. While promoting pluralism, we need to recognize that social membership isn't free; benefits from group life carry a personal price tag, primarily a willingness to accept personal responsibility for the long-term consequences on the group of our individual actions or inactions. With respect to relativism, we need to accept the idea that-to paraphrase Richard Weaver, author of the classic Ideas Have Consequences-there is a source of truth higher than, and independent of, man. To the extent our actions are based on these twin constraints, Canada can indeed become the role model for a peaceful, prosperous world.

     [Review by Dan Horigan, President Emeritus of the Canadian Organization of Small Business, Inc., and a life-long student of human behavior and the values on which it is based.]
CAN GOD SPEAK LIKE THAT? 1991

CAN GOD SPEAK LIKE THAT?       Editor       1991

A person can fall into error about the Word, and when he reads it he may say to himself, "What does this or that mean? Can this be Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, talk like this? Where is there anything holy in it, and where does this holiness come from except from religious belief and the conviction it carries?"
     True Christian Religion 189

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REPORT OF BUSINESS CONDUCTED AT THE 31ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1991

REPORT OF BUSINESS CONDUCTED AT THE 31ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       E. Boyd Asplundh       1991

The business of the 31st General Assembly was divided into several parts. Following the worship service that preceded Session IV on Friday morning, June 14, 1991, Bishop King called the meeting to order, and the minutes of the business meeting of the 30th General Assembly were approved as published in New Church Life for July 1987.
     The Bishop then called on the Rev. Alfred Acton, Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, who formally moved the confirmation of the Rt. Rev. Peter Martin Buss as the next Executive Bishop of The General Church of the New Jerusalem. The motion was seconded by Mr. Boyd Asplundh, Secretary of the Corporation.
     Ballots were collected. While these were being counted, business was suspended, and the assembly heard the scheduled address by the Rev. Frank S. Rose.
     Following Mr. Rose's address, and while waiting for the tally of ballots to be completed, Bishop King spoke briefly of the history of the episcopal form of government in the General Church. He said, "The church has traditionally invested a great deal of trust in the office of the Bishop, because this form of government looks to the Lord, governing His church through influx." He went on to explain how this takes place, concluding that "It is a very precious thing, and a very important work that we are doing today, completing the selection process of our next executive bishop."
     The results of the vote having been determined, Bishop King announced that those voting in person at the assembly and by absentee ballot had given an overwhelming expression of consent to the government of the Rt. Rev. Peter Buss, who will become Executive Bishop of the General Church on July 1, 1991.

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     Bishop and Mrs. Buss were called to the platform, where they received an extended ovation. Following this, Bishop Buss gave an eloquent and moving response. The Bishop's remarks -which he began first in Zulu, then in Swedish, and finally in English with the words, "Thank you very much. I feel privileged to accept your call to be the Executive Bishop of the General Church" will be published in full later in New Church Life.) This concluded Session IV.
     The remainder of the official business of the 31st General Assembly was completed on Saturday morning, June 15, as a part of Session VI. It consisted of summaries of the past fifteen years under the leadership of Bishop King, from the point of view of the Rev. Lorentz Soneson, who had served most of those years as Secretary of the General Church, and Mr. Neil Buss, Treasurer of the General Church and the Academy.
     Mr. Soneson's report, supported by slides, included statistics on societies, circles, and groups, and on membership and the clergy. He reviewed progress in such areas as translation and publication, and he closed with an impressive tally of the official and unofficial acts of Bishop King during his term as Executive Bishop and Chancellor of the Academy.
     Mr. Neil Buss also used slides to illustrate his review of the growth of the church and the Academy during Bishop King's tenure. His remarks dealt first with the Academy, then the General Church in North America and overseas. He concluded with comments on developments in church government and a financial report. His final slide was a picture of Louis and Freya King, and Mr. Buss expressed to them a "Thank you" from all.
     The business portion of the assembly closed with presentations to Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Smith, who had chaired the assembly committee, and to the Rev. and Mrs. Brian Keith, the host pastor and his wife, in appreciation for their leadership in making this assembly a great success.
     E. Boyd Asplundh,
          Acting Secretary

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Editorial Pages 1991

Editorial Pages       Editor       1991

DOES EVIL HAVE POWER?

     In an April editorial we quoted the teaching that in respect to power "hell is absolutely nothing." This is speaking relative to the Lord. Relative to each other, evil spirits have power that might be compared to the power of a flea against a flea (see AE 783:4). What about their power relative to our power?
     Without the Lord we can do nothing. Without the Lord the thought of resisting hell is absurd. In this respect the power of hell is not like a flea but like a giant, ferocious animal or like the relentless power of the ocean.
     Hell is "like a huge lion" (TCR 123). "Unless man approaches the omnipotent God, he has from himself no more power against evil and its falsity than a fish has against the ocean, than a flea against a whale, or than a grain of dust against a falling mountain, and much less than a locust has against an elephant, or a fly against a camel" (TCR 68).

     Like the Waves of the Ocean

     Moses said to the Israelites, "The Lord shall fight for you." In this connection the Writings say, "The Lord alone sustains the combats of temptations, and conquers, because the Divine alone can conquer the hells. Unless the Divine acted against them they would rush in like a vast ocean, one hell after another" (AC 8175).
     "They are like the sea which presses upon every part of a dike; and if the dike should be broken through by a cleft or crack, the sea would never cease to burst through and overflow, until nothing was left standing. So would it be with man unless the Lord alone sustained in him the combats of temptations" (AC 1692).
     The Lord's combat against hell "may be compared to resistance against the whole ocean breaking in with its waves over demolished barriers upon countries and towns; and the Lord's subjugation of hell is meant by His calming the sea by saying, 'Peace be still'" (TCR 123).

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     A fundamental lesson of life is that of ourselves we are powerless, and that the Lord has all power. The cover story in Time magazine on June 10th was "Evil." The essay posed the question of whether evil exists. Evil does exist. There is a sense in which it has no power whatsoever (see, for example. HH 539). But there is a constant destructive endeavor emanating from hell. It is "like a perpetual effort to destroy all that is good and true, combined with anger and a kind of fury at not being able to do so" (HH 538). The Lord grants action to the hells. Remember His saying, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). In our lives we experience the effects of evil, and of this we hope to speak another time.

     SAYING IT VERY SIMPLY (2)

     In October we gave some examples of expressing concepts from the Writings in a way that anybody might understand. Here are a few more.
     1) "Where no togetherness or unity exists, the church has no 'being,' for unless something were present to unite its members or make them one, the church would disintegrate and cease to exist. The same happens to civil society if everyone there is out only for himself and nobody, except for his own purposes, takes any interest in anyone else. Without laws to unite its members, and without any fears for loss of gain, position, reputation, or life, society would fall completely to pieces."
     2) "It is unknown today that among those who have real married love the husband receives this sphere only through his wife, and yet it is no secret in its own right, because a bridegroom and newlywed can know it. Everything that comes from a bride or a new wife nurtures a love of marriage, doesn't it? But at that time what comes from others of her sex does not.

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It is like this with people who are living together in real married love."
     3) "Everything about us comes from the primary tendency of our life. This is what distinguishes us from other people. If we are a good person we make our heaven according to it, and if we are a harmful person we make our hell according to it. It is our basic motivation, our personality, and our character, since it is the reality of our life. It can't be changed after death because it is our essential self."
     4) "Heavenly love is loving to do good and useful things and getting heartfelt enjoyment from it. The more we are motivated by this kind of love, the more we are being guided by the Lord, since this is the kind of love the Lord has, and it comes from Him.
     "But the more we're motivated by selfish love, the more we are being guided by ourselves. And the more we are guided by ourselves, the more we're guided by our ego. Our ego is completely harmful-it is our bad heredity, which is loving ourselves more than God, and material things more than heaven."
     5) "We are materialistic when we are bent on getting other people's belongings for ourselves by different tactics, especially when we do it by trickery and deception. We regard other people's well-being as unimportant. When we're absorbed in this love, we long for other people's belongings. The less we are afraid of the law and of losing our reputation, the more we cheat them and even steal from them because of our greed."
     The above five examples of saying something very simply are intended to convey the following passages of the Writings.
     1) "Where there is no conjunction or union, there is no being; for unless there is something to bring to a one or unite, there must be dissolution and extinction. Thus in a civil society, where everyone is for himself and no one for another except for the sake of himself, unless there were laws to unite, and fear of the loss of gain, honor, fame, and life, the society would be utterly dissipated" (AC 5002).

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     2) 'That with those who are in love truly conjugial this sphere is received by the husband solely through the wife is at this day an arcanum; yet in itself it is not an arcanum, it being possible for the bridegroom and the newly married husband to know it. Does not everything which proceeds from the bride and the newly married wife affect him conjugially, and not what proceeds from others of the sex? It is the same with those who live together in love truly conjugial" (CL 224).
     3) "Man is altogether of such a quality as the ruling principle of his life is; by this he is distinguished from others; according to this is his heaven if he be good, and his hell if he be evil. It is his will itself, his proprium, and his nature, for it is the very esse of his life; this cannot be changed after death, because it is the man himself (NJHD 57).
     4) "As far as anyone is in heavenly love, which is to love uses and goods, and to be affected with delight of heart when he performs them, so far he is led by the Lord, because that love is what He is in, and what is from Him. But as far as anyone is in the love of self, he is so far led by his proprium; and man's proprium is nothing but evil; for evil is his heredity, which is to love himself above God, and the world above heaven" (NJHD 70).
     5) "They are in the love of the world who desire to draw the goods of others to themselves by various artifices, especially they who do so by means of cunning and deceit, making no account of the good of the neighbor. They who are in that love covet the goods of others, and so far as they do not fear the laws and the loss of reputation for the sake of gain, they deprive others of their goods, yea commit depredations" (NJHD 76).

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EXCELLENT BOOK BUY 1991

EXCELLENT BOOK BUY       Editor       1991

J. Appleseed and Co. has come out with a new edition of Brian Kingslake's book Swedenborg Explores the Spiritual Dimension under the new title Inner Light. The cost is only $1.00 from J. Appleseed and Co., 3200 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94115.
SIMPLIFICATION OR TRANSLATION? 1991

SIMPLIFICATION OR TRANSLATION?       John J. Schoenberger       1991

Dear Editor:
     I feel compelled to hazard some response to the article in your June issue by Messrs. Rose and Weiss about things they suggest should be done about the Writings. They invite response by letters sent directly to them, but the effects of publication on their part seem reasonably to suggest publication of some responses, of which I hope there may be several.
     "Making the Writings Readable" is the article's intriguing and provocative title, and at the outset the problem addressed is concisely stated: In this day and age "the Writings are hard to read and understand," With priests and teachers available it may be a separate question whether the truths of revelation, as the article suggests, need necessarily be read by all kinds of persons, including children, in order to be understood and lived. However, the problem as stated is still a valid and timely one. But what of the solution?
     "Convert," "cut," "delete," "leave out," "manipulate," "pick and choose," "scan," "select and cut," "shorten," "simplify," "skip," "summaries-such for brevity's sake is an alphabetical listing of words and phrases used by Messrs. Rose and Weiss to articulate what they propose should be done about the Writings. At one point they briefly state that originally the "New Church man in us shrunk back" from the proposals made, but then they go on to explain at length that they and others have been doing all along the things proposed, including even some publication of their own "shortened and simplified versions" of the Writings.

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This seemingly is intended as justification for their cause, which I seem unable to clearly appreciate. Even the revelator himself is cited for what may appear as efforts on his part to alter, rearrange and republish his works, but surely that cannot seriously be regarded as reason or justification for our doing likewise with his works.
     Midway in the article is a single sentence saying, The Writings will never be replaced by a simplification," but this is said in the midst of all kinds of reasons and motivation expressed for production of altered versions for actual reading.
     There is nothing more profound than Divine revelation, a concept that needs constant preservation. That much of revelation must be in the form of ink and paper, or even human language, poses limitation enough, without any of the manipulations suggested by the terms above quoted. Surely those who have read the article cannot fairly protest that I have taken those terms out of context. Indeed they are the context of the subject article. What I believe can be fairly suggested is that an out-of-context danger with respect to the Writings themselves could well result from adoption and likely further expansion of the proposals in question.
     The article includes appreciative things said about how computers can be used to "manipulate and simplify" the text of the Writings. I here state emphatically that about computers I am not at all knowledgeable. I am confident that by means of them much useful work is done, but from personal observation all I am really aware of is that my grandchildren are forever playing with them. Probably for such reasons I have never been particularly thrilled by the prospect of those thirty-some volumes being all tucked away, out of sight, into some machine and there jammed onto some kind of disk, whether floppy or otherwise.

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Whatever is meant by ASCII or S620X I trust they good things, and also that STAIRS are ascending only.
     More serious is the question of its being made even easier for the picking and choosing that has been so favorably described, for looking to the Writings for what is being sought or possibly wanted as distinguished from looking there for all and whatever may be found. Some of such "tool" use is of course appropriate and even in some circumstances, perhaps necessary. But it's a question of emphasis, which leads me to the observation that really good translation is by far the better and safer solution to the problem the article addresses.
     Good translation, as we all know, is far more than translation of Latin words into English words, or into Japanese or Russian words. It is also very much a translation of style and time and culture and circumstance. For the translator to be a Latin expert is not nearly enough, even if such expertise does include the particular sort of Latin that is involved. On the one hand, translating the Writings requires a good knowledge and feel for those eighteenth century times, the whole of Swedish and European culture, and especially the particular academia of the "learned world" to whom the Writings were at the beginning addressed and for whom they were published. On the other hand, for the here and now with most people probably more literate and better educated than the "learned few" of Swedenborg's day, translation also requires expertise in today's language (English or otherwise), as well as comfortable familiarity with the whole current culture as variably evidenced by the man on the street, the librarian, the associate at the office or university, the plumber or retailer, and the person sitting beside you on the bus. Such are the persons a good translation addresses, and a good translator had better know them all, especially if any evangelization purposes are contemplated. My own conclusion from all of this has been that there can hardly be such a thing as a good translator all in one person. I have always believed that translation of the Writings should be a team project.

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Criticism, suggestions, input, review and alterations by experts of various sorts should be afforded in abundance before, rather than after, a translation is published.
     As already suggested, the Writings certainly were not addressed to children or to the simple. It is for us adults, parent and teacher and priest, to appropriately teach children and all people the truth as given us by revelation. In our time and culture, with its educated masses, good translations for direct enlightenment of the adult mind are very much needed. In the process I believe simplification should be avoided as far as possible, and certainly not stressed. Despite the difficulties, or perhaps because of them, my suggestion for consideration is that limited resources be devoted more to good and pleasantly readable translations than to an undertaking so questionable as an attempt to manipulate or even to simplify God's Word. The very subject of all the Writings is the One who with everything concerning Him changes not and bears no limitation of any kind.
     Regarding revelation, the constant emphasis ought to be toward expanding comprehension of the whole, and my concern is whether concepts of simplicity, selection and excerption might over time prove counterproductive rather than helpful. Putting the revelator's work carefully into the form of present time and culture is not change or limitation, but quite the opposite. The world changes, and good translation accommodates and thereby preserves. The old eighteenth century academic style and its wordiness also need "translation" to the crisper and more succinct language of today, which again, if well done, is not change or reduction but preservation and conveyance of what actually is said.
     Sermons, leadership, instruction and inspiration provided by the priesthood will for us laymen ever be needful-yes, often with regard to specific aspects of revelation or the religion it evokes, but also often on the wonder and the glory of the whole. Any fragmentation or alteration of the source, I believe, would best be left even beyond suggestion.

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The venture here is into what is undoubtedly the most important entity extant in our material world-it is a treading upon what veritably is holy ground. The domain is primarily that of the priesthood, but when even a layman feels real caution or concern, I believe he should express it. That is why I have written this.
     John J. Schoenberger,
          Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS? 1991

SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS?       Howard Roth       1991

Dear Editor:
     The article of Messrs. Rose and Weiss in the June issue has elicited a defensive reaction that leaves me emotionally shaken. People who state that the Writings are hard to read and understand do so because they fail to follow simple rules and guidelines. A litany of causes was given that prevent the Writings from being understood. This was followed with the suggestion that a simplified version of the Writings is needed. Simplified by whose judgment?
     Our Lord has authorized these wondrous works. All men who truly seek the Lord and look to Him for guidance and enlightenment throughout His Word will find Him in His revealed glory if they but exercise patience and discipline through daily study, if it is only 15 to 30 minutes a day, every day. Consider these three requirements:
1)      To acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the one only God, Creator, Savior and Redeemer of heaven and earth;
2)      To look to Him and to seek understanding from the Word, confessing before the Lord that we cannot receive understanding and enlightenment save through Him alone; to resist doing evils as a sin against God and to seek to do good;

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3)      To recognize that the Word, the Writings, should be read on a daily basis whenever possible, as a taking in of spiritual food, just as we feed our natural body for physical sustenance.
     Every item listed in the article as detractions that hamper the reception or understanding of the Writings signals the solution to the problem.
     It comes down to the order of priorities in the individual's life. If one confesses love to the Lord in lip service while allowing earthly interests (i.e., immersion in T.V. and a thousand other distractions), there is a diminished spiritual reception. Worldly interests drown out the Lord's call to us as He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me."
     The article says that they can, with a sophisticated word processing program, pick up the text, manipulate it and simplify it. It says that the Writings are the Lord's work. Would you dare to cut them shorter or delete from them? It says that a personal relationship with the Lord is not established unless we can see the Lord in the Word for ourselves, and it admits that the Writings will never be replaced by a simplification. Thus the writers answer their own question.
     Following the article is a quotation from Helen Keller: "If people would only begin to read Swedenborg's books with at first a little patience they would soon be reading them for pure joy!"
     The Writings are perfect. The Word is perfect. It is man who is imperfect, and only through study and a constant search for spiritual knowledges can he receive enlightenment and become truly spiritual.
     Howard Roth,
          Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania

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NEW CATALOGUE 1991

NEW CATALOGUE       Editor       1991

The General Church Office of Education has published its catalogue for 1991-1992. There are fourteen pages showing a wide array of materials available from preschool through college to adult education. There are mail-order courses and programs for studying the Word: preschool, grade-level, family lessons; festival lessons, projects and felt figures; video programs.

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



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     Notes on This Issue

     How sweet it is to put together a magazine when there are such good things to publish. On the opposite page is the first of the major 31st Assembly addresses to be presented in our pages.
     Japanese people are so talented and industrious. How could a Japanese committee need your help? See page 413 and get a perspective on the assembly.
     We are indebted to Rev. Andrew Dibb for providing the presentation on page 393 concerning the New Church in Southern Africa. And as we honor Obed Mooki, that redoubtable figure on the African continent, we hear that another great worker in Africa, Benjamin Garna of Ghana, has departed this life (see p. 409).
     In this issue we begin an extensive study by V. C. Odhner on a subject that has a long history in New Church publications (see p. 406).
     The message from Louis and Freya on p. 405 refers to "the quilt."
     This quilt, presented to the Kings at a poignant moment during the assembly in June, has been hanging for some weeks now in the choir hall of the Bryn Athyn cathedral. During its sojourn at the cathedral it has attracted much appreciative attention, and more than one bridal party has been photographed with it as background.

     Swedenborg Foundation Executive Director-Dr. Kent Kessinger has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Swedenborg Foundation and will commence work there in September.

     Midwest Women's Renewal Weekend-Glenview, Illinois, October 25-27, 1991. For information phone Audrey Grant at (708) 729-0180.

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LORD'S WILL 1991

LORD'S WILL       Rev. BRIAN W. KEITH       1991

General Assembly Address, June 13, 1991

     A little girl is born-so beautiful; so wonderful. What does the Lord envision for her? What does the Lord will for her? A relatively easy question-He wants her to experience a sphere of love. He wants her parents to raise her with care and wisdom, so she can learn from all that they say and do. The Lord wants her mind opened to the truths of the New Church and her heart stirred by its goods. He also wants her to meet someone who can touch her heart in a special way-a young man she will marry, raise a family with, and gradually form an eternal union. The Lord wants her to lead a useful life on this earth and have a heavenly existence forever.
     Now take a middle-aged man who is experiencing many frustrations in his life. His job has never been particularly fulfilling. He may work for others who are not terribly supportive or appreciative of his work, and his job has an uncertain future. His children are going through various states of resistance and rebellion. His marriage is not fulfilling the dreams that he had in youth. All too often their communication is filled with bickering and pettiness. He knows he is not making the most angelic choices at all times, although he wishes he could.
     What does the Lord want for him? What is the Lord's will in this case? The question is not as easy as in the case of an infant because some choices have already been made which close off certain avenues, and patterns of behavior exist which make change more difficult.
     Now consider an older man whose body is gradually deteriorating. He can't get up the steps as easily as he used to. What's more, he has trouble remembering why he wants to get up the steps! His spirit of independence is being restricted as he accepts the fact that he needs help even with easy chores such as driving and preparing meals.

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He has many friends in the other world, and sees it as an attractive alternative to his life here.
     What is the Lord's will for him? To improve? To die?
     Difficult questions, usually without any clear-cut answers.
     We sense the Lord's will is important. An ancient psalmist said, "Teach me to do Your will" (143:10). We regularly pray "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). And the Lord Himself, in His last and most severe temptation said, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39).
     What is the Lord's will, both in general for everyone and specifically for our own life? We pray that the Lord's will be done, but what is His will? How does it affect us-in states of good? in states of disorder?
     Let's begin with a look at the Lord's will.

The Lord's Essential Will

     What is the Lord's will? At its essence it is Divine love (see AR 254), or as the True Christian Religion states, "His will is of the Divine love and the Divine love is of His will" (n. 778). The Lord is love itself, and this comprises His will. However, Divine love does not remain within itself. Its very nature demands that it reach outward to others. The Divine love as it goes out is the expression of His will, His desire to affect others (see AC 1419, 3742, 6478, 3934; AE 678:3; DP 324:2; TCR 43). "Whatever goes forth from the Divine love is the Divine will" (AE 423).
     In fact, the Lord's love is so intense and so intensely outward-looking that He wills not just to reach out, but to give everything of Himself to others, retaining nothing (see AC 3742, 6478. Note: this is specifically said of angels but is also true of the Lord).

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     So the primary definition of the Divine will is the Lord's love with us. From this we can then identify numerous goals or objectives which express particulars of the Divine will.

Creation

     This is the source of the existence that we know. For it is the Lord's will that produces the physical universe. "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by your will they exist and were created" (Rev. 4:11). And He created them that they are for the purpose of sustaining human life. Indeed "the Divine created the universe for no other purpose than that the human race may arise" (AC 6697; see also 6698; TCR 13).
     But the Lord's love is not satisfied with creation in itself. It could never be content simply to create mankind and set it adrift. His will is not done unless the nature of His creation was such that it could receive the fullness of His love. So we are taught, " . . . the Lord continually wills to impress His love on mankind, and through it His wisdom, and thus create him into His image" (AE 1153:6).

The Lord's Image and Likeness

     How is His image created in us? By giving us qualities which can reflect the Divine nature. One of the most important of these is eternity. "And this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life" (John 6:40). Indeed, what would be the gift of life if it were not eternal? Or, if life were only of the body, "what would the Lord be but a Creator causing something to be and not to be, or to exist and not to exist, and this for no other purpose than that He might contemplate from afar a mere shifting of scenes and continual changes as in some . . . . Can [the Divine] give and take away again? Would not this be giving what is about to perish? Inwardly in itself this is nothing . . . .

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But the Divine love gives what is, that is, which does not cease to be, and this is eternal" (DP 324:2).
     But eternal life alone does not make us in His image. It is how we live to eternity. So His will is that there be a heaven from the human race. This is the end of His Divine Providence, that "a heaven should consist of people who have become, and who are becoming, angels" (DP 27).
     And this not just for a few, for the Lord "wills to save everyone and to draw him with mighty power to heaven, that is, to Himself (AC 1038; see also 1803, 2023, 4352e, 8178:3; TCR 142). In this sense we are all predestined to heaven. The Lord sees in each and every child born a potential angel-not the vague hope that some will "make it," but a firm intent that each person can and will dwell in heaven forever.
     And His will is more specific than that, for He does not expect us to barely make it by the skin of our teeth; rather, He sees us reaching the peaks. As the Heavenly Doctrines note, "the Lord . . . wills to have all near Himself, so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven, but He wills that they should be in the third" (AC 1799:2). The Lord wills that we not be in the first heaven but in the third! Not only that, but He is ever leading us to a specific place in heaven. For the "inmost design [of the Divine Providence] is that a person may be in this or that place in heaven" (DP 67). The Lord's will is not foolish or unreasonable. This means that each of us has the potential for that third heaven!
     This is true for every single human being who comes into existence. His love, His will, does not know the bounds of race, culture, or even creeds (see HH 318; AC 1032, 1285, 8307, 10645:5; AE 297:2; AR 527; DLW 27). It is universal to all people-the unthinking bureaucrat in Communist China, the subsistence farmer in the sub-Sahara, the middle-class wage earner in the Midwest.
     Why, then, is the Lord so concerned that we live forever and that it be in heaven? Because He wills all good things to be communicated that we might be happy (see AC 1388).

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"Salvation" and "heaven" have no meaning unless it is happiness. The Lord's love does all this that its joy might be shared. This is the end of creation, that the Lord might make us happy (see AC 4735:2, 6645:2, 10578:3; DP 27:2). This is how we are fully created in His image, how we receive His love, how His will is done.

How the Lord Provides Means for His Ends

     If these things are what the Lord wills for us, what does He do about it? We are familiar with the teaching that "he who wills an end wills also the means" (TCR 122). The Lord's will is always joined with the Divine wisdom and omnipotence so that He does not just sit back wishing for certain ends. Indeed, whatever He wills He actively works to bring about. Thus His will is a force that is always moving forward.
     One of the means that the Lord uses to realize His will is revelation. He has revealed Himself to us in the Word that we might know, have affection for, and follow Him (see AC 8931:3; SD 6101:2). And this not only for those in the church specific, for He has provided sufficient truth in every religion so all might be saved. (It is interesting to note that the far more common terminology for this is that it "pleased" the Lord to reveal truths. I do not feel this is relegating revelation to a lower degree of Providence-something the Lord really does not will. For it is a positive usage, an instance when "good pleasure" is identified with the Lord's will (see AC 6357; AE 295:4f).
     Another means by which His will is done is through spiritual birth and development. The Lord "wills that a person be reformed and regenerated" (DP 138). Our regeneration is never an end in itself, but a means to happiness. While we may feel bogged down in the details of repentance and reformation, focusing our attention on them, they really just look to fulfill the end of eternal happiness.

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     Still another means to fulfill the Divine will is the appearance of life's originating from ourselves. All of our efforts in regeneration seem to come from us alone. We appear to resist evil and choose good. We seem to be the ones fighting from ourselves. In fact, it appears that life is ours alone (see AC 1937:6; AR 224; Life 96; AE 911:17). But the sole reason for this is to enable the Lord's life to be present with us (see AC 8497e). As the doctrines note, "the Lord . . . wills what is its own should be another's . . . . Hence life appears as if it were in a person, and not as inflowing" (NJHD 278).
     Our fierce sense of independence-of thinking rationally, of being able to act freely-is a provision of the Lord that we might accept His inflowing life.

Worship

     One arena in which the Lord's will is seen most visibly is in worship. "He wills to be adored" (AC 2009:5), Worship is not optional if convenient for us, but is an essential way in which His will is done. "He wills humiliation and submission . . . for a person's sake. For when a person is in humiliation he feels aversion for the evil and falsity in him . . . and thus removes them, and on their removal the Divine can flow in with good and truth" (AC 4347:2; see also 5957, 6138:2, 7550). Everything that the Lord wills is for our sake, from regeneration to external worship.

Marriage

     Marriage is another arena in which the Lord's will is done. For if the Lord provides that for every person there is one other who can perfectly join and form an eternal union, it obviously is His will that we all eventually are married (see CL 229, 316, 206:2). Why would the Lord want us to be married? Probably for a variety of reasons, as any married couple can attest!

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Not only is this relationship a forum in which we can experience the fullness of heavenly joy, a setting in which we can act perhaps as selflessly as possible; it is also a relationship that challenges us to face our problems and overcome them as no other can. For when we surrender part of our lives to one other person, and accept that life in ours, the intimacy of give and take is beyond description, both in its frustrations and joys!

What Does the Lord Not Will?

     These things the Lord wills, and many more, present a picture of the ideals to which He is leading us. But also interesting are the things He does not will.
     Above all, the Lord does not will evil. He does not will floods, disease, pain, injustice, dishonesty-the list goes on and on. Although these are permitted or allowed to occur, they are never, never what the Lord wants to have happen. "The permission of evil by the Lord is not as of one who wills, but as of one who does not will, but who cannot bring aid on account of the end" (NJHD 170e; see also AC 7877, 8227:2; DP 16, 234). Whatever the Lord permits is in a sense in direct opposition to His will. Evil is so opposed to the Divine love that the Lord cannot will the slightest bit of evil to anyone (see AC 1911:4, 9033:2; AE 647). In fact, the Writings stress that the Lord is "infinitely above willing evil to anyone" (AC 5798:6, emphasis added).
     There is the appearance that the Lord's will is sometimes done by teaching us through pain. A person might casually say that the automobile accident he had was the Lord's way of teaching him to be more careful. But the Lord never uses pain or evil from His will. His will is only for good, and He has much better ways of leading us from good than ever could be the case from evil. What the Lord permits He does not will.
     Even where someone totally rejects the Lord, freely and adamantly choosing to be selfish or focusing solely upon the things of this world, violating everything He stands for, the Lord is not vindictive.

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In fact, no matter how much someone deserves it and wants it, He never wills that anyone go to hell (see AC 9452, 10659e; HH 524; BE 66).
     Not only does the Lord never wish anyone to hell; He never wills anyone to be punished, "for it is the Lord's will that no one should . . . be punished" (AE 643). Think of the worst criminal possible-a murderer, a traitor, a child molester; even with these the Lord does not delight in their punishment. Yes, their discipline is necessary and He allows it, but never does He will it as one who enjoys it!
     Moving to a less extreme situation, the Lord never wills that anything good might suffer harm. This is seen in the teaching concerning remains, the tender states of good and truth stored within each and every one of us. "The Lord is not willing that they should perish" (AC 7493). For this reason He protects everything within us that is heavenly and does not allow these remains to come out in states of evil where they might be damaged (see AC 2284:4).

How Is His Will Done?

     Now these and many other elements in life can be seen as what the Lord wills or does not will for us. But what happens when His will does not appear to be done? What happens when states of evil or disorder arise that seem to subvert the Lord's will? Is the Lord's will not done when someone goes to hell? Are the lower degrees of Providence, leave and permission, really areas in which the Lord's will is inoperative or less effective?
     The exposition of one aspect of the Joseph story sheds light on this. Joseph was approached by his brothers after the death of their father, when they feared that Joseph would at last take revenge for their mistreatment of him. However, Joseph was not spiteful, and gave this amazingly enlightened explanation: "as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good."

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The Writings note, "That this means that the Divine turns it to good is evident from the meaning of 'thinking for good' as being to intend, but as it is said of God, it denotes to nun into good; for what God intends, He does" (AC 6572; cf. AE 1138:2). What God intends He does!
     A surprising teaching. If God intends all these good things to happen to us, and nothing bad, why are evils permitted? This is not the simplistic question sometimes heard from the lips of the agnostic, "if there is a God how can there be evil?" Rather, it is a question about the nature of the Lord's will.
     Often we think of the Lord present in our states of good, tolerating our foibles, and looking askance at our evils. Because evil is opposed to good, it may seem to us that the Lord is very distant from us when we are in states of disorder, that He will not and cannot muddy His hands. So when the Lord permits evil, it may seem that He has little to do with it.
     But the Lord's love, His will, is more subtle and powerful than that. In fact, His will is as fully operative in states of evil as in states of good. For even when others act in hellish ways, or when we abuse our free choice, the Lord's will is still present. It is not present by forcing us to think or act in any certain way, determining a preset outcome. But it is present in His desire and effort to be joined with everyone. Remember, His will is primarily the outpouring of good, and only secondarily of specific ends. Even though He cannot be as closely joined with those in hell as with those in heaven, it does not stop the Divine love from continually endeavoring to give of Himself (see AC 937). "For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).
     This is really just another aspect of the teaching that the Lord is present in things greatest and least. All too often we want the Lord in charge of great political movements, armed conflicts, and the weather, but would rather He not intervene in our daily lives.

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However, "unless the Lord's Providence was in the veriest singulars, it would be impossible for a person to be saved, or indeed to live, for life is from the Lord, and all the moments of life have a series of consequences to eternity" (AC 6490). If the Lord's will were not present in every least moment and aspect of our lives, we would fall into such extreme evils that we could not be saved even if the Lord were governing the "big picture."
     Indeed, the extent to which the Divine is present and exerts an influence is startling. As Swedenborg noted, "I once played in company a common game of chance with dice, and the spirits who were with me spoke to me about fortune in games, and said that what is fortunate was represented to them by a bright cloud, and what is unfortunate by a dusky cloud; and that when a dusky cloud appeared with me, it was impossible for me to win; moreover by this sign they predicted to me the turns of fortune in that game. From this it was given me to know that what is attributed to fortune, even in games, is from the spiritual world; much more that which befalls a person in relation to the vicissitudes in the course of his life; and that what is called fortune is from the influx of Providence in the ultimates of order, where it so comes forth; thus that Providence is in the veriest singulars of all things, according to the Lord's words, that not even a hair falls from the head without the will of God" (AC 6494).
     The Lord's will is present even in a game of chance! Not just His leave or permission, but His will. Does that mean that whoever wins is more highly favored by the Lord? Obviously not. For the Divine Providence is a matrix of complex objectives and means which cause and permit a wide variety of results, The external form of Providence is heavily influenced by our states of good and evil, but the driving force which leads is always His will. So in every least event the Lord's will must be present.

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How Is the Lord's Will with Those in Evil?

     The Lord's will is also seen with those who are in states of evil. It is not causing the evil, but present in willing that they change so that they might receive the fullness of His love. For "the Divine wills nothing but good . . . [thus] the amendment of the wicked" (AC 8700:4). The Lord never wills the punishment or even the discomfort of anyone (see AE 643). He permits it because it is the only way His overpowering will to save and to make happy can be accomplished. Zn this sense even permissions are an expression of His will, and "Providence is nothing but the direction or the determination of evil to less evil, and as far as possible to good" (AC 5155).

Is the Lord's Will Always Done?

     To what extent, then, is the Lord successful in leading evil to good? Well, the eternity of hell seems to be a repudiation of the Lord's ability to have His will done at all times. However, the Lord's will is never defeated. For "nothing is permitted except for the end that some good may come out of it" (AC 6489). The Lord permits absolutely nothing unless He can bring good from it. This is His will, to always bring about good. While it may not raise all of us to the third heaven, His will is always present and successful in the sense that good is always done. So while a person may insist on going to hell, he or she will still perform some use, good results, and the Lord will make that person as happy as possible. The Lord's will is done.
     So if we view the Lord's will as the imposition upon us of all of His highest goals, His will will be frustrated. But if the Lord's will is of such a giving nature that its primary focus is to make others happy, it cannot be harmed, it cannot be defeated. His will is done in every least thing that occurs, including the permissions of life.

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Variety of the Lord's Names

     An example of this is seen in the variety of names the Lord has acquired in this world. Yes, originally they all depicted aspects of Him, but once the essential auth of the oneness of God was lost, they were viewed as separate and distinct gods. Was this a failure of the Divine will? Only if we assume the Divine will must achieve a specific end, a certain result. In fact we are taught that "the reason why the Lord was willing to be first represented before them by the name 'Shaddai' is that the Lord by no means desires to destroy suddenly (still less in a single moment) the worship that has been inseminated in anyone from his infancy" (AC 1992:4; see also 2001).
     What can be inferred from this Is that when the Lord accommodates to us in our less-than-ideal states, it is not done from sadness nor in frustration as we might feel when we are trying to communicate with less than angelic children. But because His will is always to bring about good, He loves to accommodate, to be called Shaddai, even though the people's concept was quite imperfect.
     Would the Lord have ideally wished to be seen fragmented into distinct gods? No. The state of evil which necessitated this accommodation meant the form by which the Lord's will was done was of permission, but through it the Lord was acting from a love to accommodate and He did bring about good.

The Lord's Birth and Life

     Another example of this is the Lord's birth on earth. It's a well known teaching that "the Divine itself willed to assume the Human and to make it Divine" (AC 4733; see also 1573:7, 3195:3). Think what it means for the Lord to will to be born on earth. He certainly did not will evil to come about which necessitated His coming. In fact, the original system that He established did not mandate His presence on earth. His inflowing through the heavens was certainly an adequate, if not ideal, means of leading the first people on earth where evil was non-existent.

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Would the Lord have come on earth had there not been evil? Because the Lord did not do so during the course of the Most Ancient Church even when it was in decline, it seems His birth on earth was an accommodation to the origin and destructiveness of evil. Evil is certainly a permission, but the Lord's means of dealing with it, to be born on earth, was of His will.
     And so we have other teachings about how the Lord willed to make His human Divine in His usual manner, in the way in which a person is reformed and regenerated" (AC 3043:3; see also 3030:3, 3138:2). He willed to go through the same developmental process as we experience. Think of what this means-growing up is not easy! From the bumps and bruises in learning to walk, the social embarrassments of the early adolescent, to the challenges of regeneration, the Lord was willing to experience great unpleasantness and hardship for our sakes.
     Perhaps the most extreme form of this is seen in the Lord's final days. We are taught that "the Lord was willing to be tempted even to the passion of the cross" (TCR 129). In fact, the Writings state that "the Lord willed to undergo death" (AE 899:14). What could be clearer than this? It obviously was not good for the Lord to be killed. We can't look at the forces of hatred that were swirling around Him, resulting in the destruction of His human form, without sensing within our hearts that it had to be a permission. So did the Lord will to be killed? In one sense, no, because He does not will the evil which necessitates a permission. But He always wills a good end, and for the sake of that He accepted, nay even willed, the opportunity to bring about that good. It is in this sense that the Lord was willing to be tempted and even be killed.

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Implications

     What does all this mean for the newborn girl, the middle-aged man, or the older gentleman? For the baby the Lord's will is most obvious both in her existence and the possibilities which lie open for her. His will is His presence with her. For the middle-aged man it may be for him to change his job, alter his lifestyle, or several other options, but the Lord's will is done in each decision he makes which leads to good. And for the older man the Lord's will for him may be seen in a relishing of the time left to him here before he is free to enter the spiritual world.
     These are not specific answers, for the Lord's will primarily is that He be present every moment of our lives. Not a hair falls from our head apart from the Lord's will (see AC 6494). When we pray "Thy will be done" in the Lord's prayer, we need not be praying that in some distant future state everything will be perfect. We are not even praying that we might be all good. Rather, we are praying that the Lord might be present in all things and that His will might be present both in the good that results and in the forms in which we allow Him to lead us.
     This can have tremendous power for us when we are in states of disorder. At such times we tend to feel cut off from the Lord. We see the evil and feel the pain. It seems the Lord's will has not and cannot be done. But the Lord's will can be done-whatever He intends He does! It's not a matter of our changing suddenly from being all evil to being all good. Rather, the Lord's will is done in providing us with the help to make the least little step toward what is good. Even as His will can be present in every state, so His will can be done by us at any point and at all points in our lives.
     For the Lord never looks upon us as flawed beyond repair or impossible to cure. It is as the Heavenly Doctrines note, that "before the eyes of men and spirits do all and each of what is in the world appear disordered and confused, when yet in the eye of the Lord they constitute an attractive image, to wit, the image of a man or virgin, which is heaven in its complex, not such as it is, but such as the Lord wills that it may be, namely, that it may be the image of Him" (SD 2164).

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     Whenever He looks at us it is not at our states of disorder; it is seeing us as we might be, as He wills us to be. All the teachings about what the Lord wills for us-eternal life, happiness, a heavenly existence, being engaged in the regenerative process, receiving the Lord with a humble and submissive heart, and the joy of marriage-He sees as real and possible even in our states that are less than ideal.
     That is how He leads us constantly. He never focuses on the evil but sees the potential and then accomplishes His good. If we do not see the Lord's will operating in our lives, it's we who are blind and not that the Lord is absent. His will is done.
     Let us then be comforted from the constant presence of His will. Let us act in such a way that His will is with us less and less via permissions. And let our lives be a prayer that His will is fully done.
NEW CHURCH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 1991

NEW CHURCH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA       Rev. ANDREW M. T. DIBB       1991

On Saturday, April 27th, 1991, amid rejoicing and singing, a new president was elected by the largest New Church organization in the world. Rev. Johnson Sidla Nqutyana Kula, of Steynsburg, near Port Elizabeth in the Cape Province, was unanimously elected by his colleagues and the delegates who attended the annual conference,
     Mr. Kula is the second president of the New Church in Southern Africa since its "independence" from the Conference in 1969. He succeeds the well remembered, and much beloved Rev. Obed Mooki, who passed into the spiritual world last year.

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     The New Church in Southern Africa began when Rev. Obed Mooki's father, Rev. David Mooki, found a dusty copy of the True Christian Religion in an old bookstore in Krugersdorp. In those pre-First World War days, there were few New Churchmen in the Transvaal, and one can only speculate how the book came to be there. But it was. David Mooki was never the same again.
     Like many keen readers of the Writings before and after him, Mr. Mooki began introducing concepts from the Writings into his sermons. For many reasons it became apparent that he was no longer compatible with the organization he was serving. Taking several fellow ministers with him, he organized the New Church.
     In trying to find the source of the True Christian Religion, Rev. David Mooki encountered the British Conference, and a long and happy association began. The Conference took the fledgling church in South Africa under its wing, sent out mission superintendents, and the largest New Church organization in the world began to grow among the people in the Transvaal.
     In those early days a great enthusiasm spread throughout the church: new congregations sprang up in many, many parts of the country, some urban, some rural. In Orlando, the first "township" in what is now Soweto, the New Church was given a site-in fact, the first church site to be allocated in that area. Under the care of the British Conference, a church and school were built. Students came from far and wide to train for the priesthood at the Mooki Memorial College.
     Among these was Rev. Obed Mooki, son of David Mooki. He was a keen young man, eager to learn, eager to please. He saw the New Church as a major influence in all spheres of life, and carried it there himself: into community projects, into rehabilitative schools, into the very politics of this country. But he never forgot what he was doing. Several times during his life Mr. Mooki had to make a choice between serving the church or some worldly and seemingly more exalted organization.

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He was once offered the position of Bishop in the Methodist Church. He always chose the New Church. And when the relationship between the church and worldly organizations became strained, as they did with the African National Congress, he left those organizations to concentrate on the church.
     As the years passed and the winds of change swept through Africa, it was felt that the New Church in Southern Africa could stand on its own two feet. For nearly a decade the Conference groomed and prepared the church for its future. The obvious choice, at least in retrospect, for the position of head of the church was Rev. Obed Mooki. As secretary of the church, he had been close to the centre for a long time. His charismatic personality was a perfect match for the people he had been called to serve.
     Mr. Mooki, in his years as leader of this organization, showed himself yet again as a man of tremendous ability and talent. During the nineteen sixties the church had merged, for largely political reasons, with another large African church. As the years went on, the task of converting these new members fell to Mr. Mooki. Some people left, but the vast majority stayed, were re-educated as New Churchmen and have become a vital part of the church.
     Add to this challenge the severe political restrictions imposed on blacks in South Africa, which eventually erupted into violence and confusion in the nineteen seventies and eighties, and we see the challenge Mr. Mooki faced. He carried err, and the church grew and prospered, not only in numbers but in spirit and dedication to the Lord and His church.
     However, the Lord had work for Mr. Mooki in the spiritual world. After a long illness, he finally died quietly in his sleep.
     His memorial service is one of the highlights in this writer's mind. I was asked, by Rev. Kula, if I would give the memorial address. The service was on a Saturday morning.

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     People began arriving between seven and eight o'clock. They came in their droves, by car, busses, taxis, and on foot. The church leaders in Orlando had expected something like this, so they had rented a huge marquee, erected beside the church. By the time I arrived it was filled to capacity. It was later estimated that at least five thousand people had attended.
     Because the majority of the people at the service could not fit into the church, the entire service was video recorded and broadcast on closed circuit TV. Those in the tent were able to watch the service on banks of television sets.
     The service started at about nine in the morning with tributes to Mr. Mooki. Many people testified to his work, to his dedication as a minister, as a parent, a friend, a leader in the community.
     When I read the memorial service, it was translated into two other languages so that everyone Present would be able to understand. The funeral cortege took over an hour to assemble, wind its way through the dusty Soweto streets to the cemetery. There, erected next to the graveside was a smaller marquee, filled with flowers. The casket was gently lowered into the earth as the people sang songs of mourning.
     Back in Orlando, the throngs of people were welcome to eat their fill, and it has been said that not one single person went hungry that day.
     The memory of Mr. Mooki is still with the people of the New Church in Southern Africa. He was a dearly loved leader. With his passing Rev. Johnson Kula was asked to act as General Secretary of the church, and give it the leadership it needed. This is no small task. The New Church in Southern Africa has nearly twenty-five thousand members, with thirty church buildings and eleven under construction. Their clergy numbers fifty-one, which includes probationary ministers and evangelists.
     According to African tradition, a new leader is not elected until a suitable time has passed, to allow for people to mourn.

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It was not, therefore, until the Conference in April this year that it was possible for a new leader to be chosen.
     In the New Church in Southern Africa, a leader is chosen by a vote taken among those present at the conference. He remains in office for a period of six years before a new election is held.
     At the request of the conference I was asked to preside over the election. It began with nominations from the floor. The first person to speak nominated Rev. Johnson Kula. This was immediately seconded. Further nominations were called for, but it was moved that the nominations be closed at that point. This was put to a vote, and unanimously agreed on.
     There was nothing else to do but to present Mr. Kula's name. The response was unanimous. The church had a new leader. The room burst into spontaneous songs of praise to the Lord for giving them a president. The people sang and danced in the aisles. It was a wonderful and moving sight.
     Then, as Mr. Kula came in, the diminutive Mrs. Mooki, still in black mourning for her husband, came forward to greet him. She was followed by the rest of the people present, ministers first, then the assembled laymen.
     Once the church had quieted down, people rose to make speeches, each reflecting the affection they have for Mr. Kula: he is a man of proven ability, young, keen, with the stature needed to lead the church into a new era of its history.
     The prospects of the New Church in Southern Africa are bright. Despite the political turmoil in our country, there is real hope for the future. The Mooki Memorial College is to be rebuilt, with the planned opening next year. There are eleven sites in course of construction, and a glance at them shows them centered primarily in the Orange Free State, a province of South Africa which is vibrant with New Church teachings. The New Church in Southern Africa is strong and vibrant and keen to bring the Lord's Word into the lives of its own people as well as to those outside it. Our hopes and prayers are that it will succeed, for the Lord's presence is urgently needed.

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DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE 1991

DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE       Various       1991

June 9, 1991

     I believe that God is one in person and in essence, in whom is the Divine Trinity, that is, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ in His visible Divine Humanity, is that God.
     I believe that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah God, came into the world and assumed a Human. By the assumption of this Humanity and by its glorification the Lord subjugated the hells and thus reduced to order all things which were in the hells and in the world of spirits.
     In doing this the Lord removed from mankind an overpowering influence of hell. He thus removed the impending eternal damnation that threatened the universal human race, and so He is now most present in the soul and mind of every person. The Lord became the Redeemer and the Savior to eternity.
     I believe that the Lord's presence with us is especially by means of the Word and that the Lord is this Word. As the Lord is the Word itself, He manifests Himself in the threefold Word of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings.
     I believe that the church is based on the Word. The Word itself teaches how a person should live on earth if he or she is to be happy to eternity. Anyone, therefore, who approaches the Lord and reads the Word in a holy state is directly taught by Him as to what life should be, and is at the same time furnished with spiritual power, or affection.
     I believe that a saving faith is to believe in the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ. Evils are not to be done because they are of hell and from hell. On the other hand, goods are to be done because they are of God and from God. These goods are to be done by a person as if from himself or herself, but it should be believed that they are done by the Lord in and through him or her.

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     I believe that two married partners are in love truly conjugial when they allow themselves to be made spiritual by the Lord. Also from this love descends the genuine love of offspring and of human society. Therefore, the life of the church in particular and that of human society in general are founded upon love truly conjugial.
     I believe that there is a heaven and there is a hell. When a person dies, his or her spirit survives death, and the spirit, or the essential person, either goes to heaven if he or she had lived well, or to hell if he or she had lived wickedly. I believe that after death a man and a woman in love truly conjugial to eternity live together as one in heaven.
     A priest ought to have at heart the love for the salvation of people. I believe a priest is in this love and is thus a good shepherd when he teaches the Lord's truths and thereby leads to the good of life. I pray, therefore, that the Lord will grant me the love and wisdom to do the priestly work He has called me to.
     Martin Kofi Gyamfi


     I believe that God is one, in whom is a Divine trinity, and the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ is that one.
     I believe that the faith which saves is a belief in Him.
     I believe that evil or harmful works should not be done, for the reason that they are of the devil and from the devil.
     I believe that good or beneficial works should be done, for the reason that they are of God and from God.
     I believe that these should be done by a person as if the power to do them were from himself, but it should be believed that they are, in fact, done by the Lord within him and by means of him (see TCR 3:2). (A tool has no power of itself. All power is in the person who uses it.)

     (continued on p. 402)

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Title Unspecified 1991

Title Unspecified       Editor       1991

[Large two page group photograph of participants of the Assembly by the Lake.]

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     I believe that these are the five basic facts of heavenly life. They're the facts which, when lived, allow the Lord to touch a person's heart with a Christian spirit.
     I believe that these facts are lived when a person repents of his sins, one by one-they become tangible in a life of repentance. For that reason I believe that a life of repentance is "the Christian religion itself-the one and only way from hellish pain to heavenly peace.
     My purpose in entering the first degree of the priestly office is to share the facts of the heavenly life with others (see HH 380).
     My purpose is to share these facts along with the joy that is associated with them, both in my preaching and in the way I live. In that way I hope that my life will help nurture the cooperative spirit which I see growing within the body of the General Church, and on a larger scale, within the body of mankind. It is a spirit of consideration and reaching out-a spirit which searches out what is good in others and which promotes the common good-heaven on earth (see HH 64).
     To this end I would offer a prayer to the Lord: Lord, in your time, give me eyes that see and a heart that loves.
     Mark Pendleton


     I believe in the one God of heaven and earth, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that God. Further, the Lord put on a Human, and dwelt among men on earth, to the end that there may be salvation for all who seek it. I believe in the threefold Word: the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. In this Word I believe the Lord has laid out His laws and precepts for all mankind, so that he who believes will not die but have eternal life.

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I believe that there are two essential doctrines of the New Church: the Lord is to be loved above all things, and evil deeds are to be shunned as sins against Him.
     I believe that the Lord's church consists of those who desire with all their hearts to follow the Lord. Or what is the same, the church consists of those who cease to do evils and learn to do well, I understand the church to be the Lord's kingdom on earth, in which and through which all people are conjoined with the Lord. The priesthood, I believe, has been established in the Lord' s Providence that the uses of worship and preaching might be protected and dedicated to the Lord. And it is to this use that I believe I have been called.
     My purpose in presenting myself for inauguration is to serve the Lord in the ministry of His church. My purpose is to teach auth and thereby lead to the good of life, all the while recognizing that it is the Lord alone who saves. I pray for the courage and strength to stay firm in the way of truth, keeping the Lord's Commandments. In this way may the Lord help me become a good and faithful servant, worthy to serve in the uses of His church.
     Mark Perry


     I believe that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Human, is that God. I believe that in Him is life, and His life is the life of all mankind. I believe that the Lord is fully present in the Word of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings for the New Church. I believe that in His threefold Word He makes Himself known to us in all His fullness, holiness, and power.

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I further believe that the Lord is Divine Love and Mercy Itself, and because of His Love through His Infinite Wisdom He has made it possible to draw all people to Himself who are willing to be drawn. I believe that this is accomplished through the Divine Proceeding from Him, or by His Divine Truth, and that by this means He is present with all peoples in all lands and in all religions. I firmly believe that any person who in humility of heart turns to a God who is one and lives a life of charity is able to come into the kingdom of heaven.
     But because the Lord can be more fully present and so more perfectly lead those who have been instructed in genuine truths and who then live according to them, and who in their hearts acknowledge the Divine Humanity and unity of the Lord as now revealed in His Second Coming, I pledge my life, my heart, my mind, and my strength to the cause of truth, and to the struggle for its increase. And for this I will strive, that all people may know of the Lord and hear His new evangel, that "The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be forever and ever. Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (TCR 791).
     In presenting myself for inauguration and ordination into the priesthood of the New Church, I hereby commit my life to the furthering of the Lord's kingdom on earth. It is my prayer, O Lord, that I will be granted the courage and conviction to look to You in all my ways, that I will seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness and not my own ends, so that all things may be added to the furthering of Your kingdom on earth. "Not as I will, but as You will."
     And now I raise my thoughts to You, O Lord, and commend my life into Your hands. I am not alone, for You are with me. "Into Your hands do I commend my spirit."
     David C. Roth

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MESSAGE FROM BISHOP LOUIS AND FREYA KING 1991

MESSAGE FROM BISHOP LOUIS AND FREYA KING       Louis and Freya King       1991

Two weeks after the assembly we are still overwhelmed by your generosity and expressions of support and affection. The quilt is breathtaking. So many stories from the Word depicted in such a beautiful way by so many hands from around the world express the joy and affection in the blessings of our church. This means more and more to us each time we admire the finished product.
     Thank you to so many generous individuals around the world who contributed to the lovely crystal bowl and its artistic wooden base. Both grace our living room. What a wealth of creative artists we have in the New Church. Freya's pin from "her sisters in the use" is a gentle symbolism of how much we all need each other. The Glencairn Award medals and gift intensified our gratitude to all of you for the outpouring of love heaped upon us.
     As the afterglow mellows we are deeply grateful to the Lord for the commitment of our New Church priesthood which delights in serving its laity, and in a laity that responds and supports with wholehearted enthusiasm that office which represents the Lord's presence in our church. We shall never forget the happy sphere of unity in uses which prevailed at the assembly, nor cease to be grateful to the Lord for the warmth of friendship shared by all present. Our hope and prayer is that in the coming years we may try to become worthy of the nice things that were said and done for us at the termination of our responsibility as executive bishop and wife. We are truly excited and grateful to be able to work with and support Peter and Lisa as they enter into their deserved leadership position in our General Church. It is the Lord's church and He will prosper it. We look forward to productive and happy years ahead, sharing with so many friends the blessings which He has given to all of us.
     Affectionately,
          Louis and Freya

406


LORD'S Resurrection Body 1991

LORD'S Resurrection Body       Jr. V. C. ODHNER       1991

Introduction

     In reviewing the exchange of three letters on the Lord's Resurrection Body in NCL 1982-83 between Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr. (ES) and Rev. N. Bruce Rogers (NBR), I want to stress what an important contribution ES made to the doctrinal thought of the church.
     The importance of the Resurrection Body, as a part of the doctrine of the Lord, is seen in AC 4692:2-" . . . this is the supreme truth of all, which the church that has separated faith from charity especially despises and to which it is averse, namely, that the Human of the Lord is Divine"; also, in AC 10353-" . . . that the very essential of the church is the acknowledgment of the union of the Divine Itself in the Lord's Human, and that this must be in each and all things of worship. . . " (see also AC 4687:1e, 3e; 6827:1). If it is contended that the Lord rose with His material body, some might question the Divinity of the Lord.
     The very fact that the Lord was born on earth has been a "scandal or stumbling-block" to some people through the centuries, as in AC 2034:5-"Very many of these-almost the greater part of those who had been men of talent in the world-when they merely think that the Lord became a man, and in external form was like other men, that He suffered, and that nevertheless He rules the universe, at once fill the sphere with scandals, because this had been a scandal or stumbling-block to them in the life of the body, although at this time they had divulged nothing about it, and had adored Him with outward sanctity" (emphasis added; see also AC 4733:2, 4766:2, Lord 32:8).

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     But the Writings make this clear statement in AC 4727:2e "The Human of Him whose soul was Jehovah Himself (as was the case with the Lord, for He was conceived of Jehovah) could not when glorified [which occurred on the cross] be other than Divine. From this it is plain how greatly those err who make the Lord's Human, after it was glorified, to be like the human of a man when yet it was Divine" (emphasis added).
     What started the Rogers-Sandstrom letter exchange was Bishop de Charms' December 1981 NCL article (pp. 607-15). On p. 614 he wrote: "The idea that the material clothing of the Lord's body was resurrected was permitted because without this idea, the worship of Jesus Christ as God would have been impossible . . . . But I see things in the Writings that lead me to believe that there is a more spiritual and more satisfying concept of the Lord's resurrection . . . . 'It is finished' means that the last of His temptations had been undergone, that the victory over hell was completed, that the hereditary from the mother had been completely cast out, to the point that Mary was no longer His mother, and that He was not only conceived of Jehovah but also born of Him . . . . It was not the maternal heredity, for this had already been cast out [on the cross]" (emphasis added; see also AC 6945:2, 7802e, 10758:2, SD 5556e).
     "Already been cast out" is one of the key points of this article, discussed below. NBR may not have noticed this point by Bishop de Charms, indicated in NBR's propositions about the Mary mental or spiritual heredity's being the only thing put off by the Lord in the world. On p. 615 Bishop de Charms continues: "I cannot conceive of how this could be said of the dead material elements drawn from the mineral kingdom, which of necessity formed a clothing for the Lord's body . . . . Nothing is more important in the long run than to understand the glorification of the Lord, for to this extent can we really perceive the Divine Human" (emphasis added).

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The Word and Doctrine

     In considering the subject of the Resurrection Body, it is helpful first to survey the Writings on the doctrine of the Word as it relates to the understanding of the Word.
     A useful doctrinal study on the Word is The Crown of Revelations by Bishop Alfred Acton, published by the Academy Book Room in 1934 (126 pages). A main point of the book is to show that if the teachings of the Writings regarding the Word do not apply to the Writings themselves (with due reserve), then how can we be justified in calling the Writings the Word of God? The Crown of Revelations, p. 12, refers to the view of Rev. E. S. Hyatt as expressed in New Church Tidings. Hyatt "taught not only that the Writings are the Lord's Word to the New Church, but that, being the Word, we must apply to them all that they themselves teach concerning the Word." Mr. Hyatt judiciously added that this application must be made with due reserve, his meaning being that in certain passages the term "Word" is evidently used in reference to the Old and New Testaments.
     The importance of doctrine to the understanding of the Word is seen in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 54: "The Word by means of doctrine is not only understood but it also as it were gives light because without doctrine it is not understood, and it is like a lampstand without light . . . . The Word, therefore, by means of doctrine is understood, and is like a lampstand with lamp lit. . . . Hence it is evident that true doctrine is like a lamp in darkness and a sign-post on the way" (emphasis added). Doesn't this imply that any part of the Word is understood by all its doctrine in the final analysis?
     In HH 311:3-" . . . the sense of the letter of the Word, until illuminated by genuine doctrine, draws the mind in different directions, and this begets . . . errors" (see also CL 519). And in AC 10276:8-"Therefore, they who lay stress on the sense of the letter of the Word alone [and do not procure] . . . . doctrine that is in agreement with its internal sense can be drawn into any heresies whatever."

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In AC 3769:1-"The Word is said to be closed when it is understood solely as to the sense of the letter, and when all that is in this sense is taken for doctrine" (see also AC 1807:4). In AC 4642:1-"Doctrine is as it were the embodiment of truth, because doctrine is not in itself truth, but truth is in doctrine as the soul is in the body" (see also AC 9424:3, 9425, 10400:3; AE 356:1). And in AC 614" " . . . for doctrinal things are generals to which truths are brought into relation . . . " AC 7233:3 indicates a need to compare various doctrines to arrive at a clear picture-" . . . but not so if doctrine is formed from the internal sense. The internal sense is not only that sense which lies concealed in the external sense, as has heretofore been shown, but is also that which results from a number of passages of the sense of the letter rightly collated . . . " (emphasis added; see also AC 4783:1). And in AC 9380:2- "The case is the same with those who remain in the mere literal sense of the Word and gather from it nothing of doctrine; for they are separated from the internal sense, because the internal sense is doctrine itself."

The Doctrines of Influx and Order

     Anyone who considers the Resurrection Body might wonder how the material can "go into" the spiritual, let alone the Divine. Is not this one of the first questions of anyone who really considers the subject?

     (This will be addressed in the next installment.)
PASTOR GARNA 1991

PASTOR GARNA       Editor       1991

We have heard that Rev. Benjamin Garna of Ghana died on June 26, 1991, at the age of 71.

410


SPECK OF DUST 1991

SPECK OF DUST       Editor       1991

Look, a speck of dust just hanging in the air in front of you. No problem. Purse your lips and give a little puff of air. Goodbye speck.
     How powerless evil is! It can be dispersed with a single breath. Are evil spirits powerful? "They have no power whatever; and therefore thousands of them can be driven away, cast down, and dispersed by one angel of heaven, much as a mote in the air is driven away by the breath of the mouth" (AC 9327:3).
     It doesn't always work that way with us. Sometimes the speck of dust makes a giant difference with us. When we are in certain states of mind we can be dominated by the smallest things. And then "the smallest objection prevails over a thousand truths, just as a minute particle of dust in contact with the pupil of the eye shuts out the universe and everything it contains" (AC 215).
     The speck in our own eye might as well be a log or a plank when we are focused on the mote in our brother's eye. Do your associates have faults? Does your married partner have faults?
     That question answers itself. A more important question is how large do those faults become in your view? How much do they block out appreciation of the good that you might see?
     The person who in humility approaches the Lord dwells in a bright world of reality. In that state or in that world the power of hell is like dust in the air. When we approach the Lord we are aware that of ourselves we are but dust. "He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). Yes, we are dust, and how much power has the dust against an avalanche? How much power against a tumbling mountain?

411



     "Unless man approaches the omnipotent God, he has from himself no more power against evil and its falsity than . . . a grain of dust against a falling mountain . . . Moreover, man has all the less power against evil and its falsity because he is born into evil; and evil cannot act against itself (TCR 68).
     When we actually run away from the face of the Lord we "cleave to the dust" (AC 247). With these teachings in mind, we find phrases in the Psalms that become our prayers. "Our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies' sake"
(44:25, 26).
     "My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word (119:25).
GATHERING OF NEW CHURCH MEN 1991

GATHERING OF NEW CHURCH MEN       DAVID R. CONARON       1991

Recently I was privileged to participate in a wonderful event which I describe her so that other New Church men may be aware of what can be done in a traditionally difficult area.
     On the eve of his wedding the male friends and relatives of a young man met to honor him and the occasion. What follows is the format of that gathering.
     The first step was gently to kidnap and blindfold the groom, with the brides knowledge, and bring him to the campfire where twenty-six men were waiting, including his and her relatives and his friends from college, work and Laurel.
     We started with an impromptu prayer from one of the organizers and then we said the Lords prayer together.
     We then sang a song that had been written for the occasion, the words of which were handed out before the groom arrived.

412



     We were introduced to a stick or baton, and informed that possession of the stick allowed a man to speak from the heart.
     The baton was passed around four times and each man in turn (except for the groom) was thereby given the opportunity to speak or pass. The instructions for each pass were:

Pass one:      Say who you are and how you know the groom. Then relate something you admire about him and share a fond memory of him.
Pass two:      Single men only-What do you like and dislike most about being single?
Pass three:      Married men only-Share something about your marriage.
Pass four:      What blessing do you wish for the groom in his marriage?

     The groom was then given a chance to speak.
     We finished by standing up and forming a circle around him and singing "Dear Friend." As we moved around, each man came face to face with the groom and could give him a hug.
     The occasion was simple, positive and beautiful, and was deeply moving. Like all things in the spirit of the Lord's love, it was wonderful for all participants.
ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH NONDISCRIMINATION STATEMENT 1991

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH NONDISCRIMINATION STATEMENT       Tatsuya Nagashima       1991

The Academy of the New Church will not discriminate against applicants and students on the basis of race, color, sex, and national or ethnic origin.

413


31ST ASSEMBLY AFTER 1991

31ST ASSEMBLY AFTER       Editor       1991

Dear Editor:
     At home after the 31st General Assembly, one person from our Japanese twelve remarked, The best thing at the Assembly by the Lake was to see the people look so happy all the time! In the large grandstand photo you can see hundreds of big smiles shining from big faces in front to distant miniature faces in the last row. Of course we have not found ourselves in the photo, but a committee is working on it.
     The assembly was entirely successful. It was very well prepared, organized and performed. It showed not only the assembly committee's "wisdom" but also their "love" to those who would come from distant places.
     The six main sessions of June 12-15 were noteworthy Prescott A. Rogers' "Covenant Renewal" renewed our minds to the New Church covenant with the Lord. Eric Carswell's "Knowing the Truth" led us to concentrate on the visible Lord through Joseph's triumphant story. In Brian Keith's "The Lord's Will," our Lord is unceasingly leading us to the happiest state, even to the third heaven, in the Providential culmination of the Gorand Man. Frank Rose's "Spiritual Life Based on the Writings" was shortened into two steps only knowing the truths and repenting. Bishop King's "Continuity and Change" was the last address from his executive bishopric. The Lord's Divine Human is invariable in His utmost Love and Wisdom even in the continuous changes in human societies and organizations. The new executive bishop, Peter Buss, gave a message about Elijah, his desperation, a long journey and a triumph, in which he was finally taken into heaven, his expmng faith revived by overwhelming love.
     As a result of the assembly, I am just thinking about how it is going to be with the New Church in the near future.

414


We gained a confidence that by keeping His Commandments and trusting His guidance, we surely attain the land of His promise in whatever outward changes might happen from now.
     The future can never be predicted, nor need it be. But the following lines are roughly expected by most of us, more or less clearly.
     1.      We shun blind hatred more than ever. It incites sectarianism, splits religious organizations and sows discriminatory injustice. We are more conscious that all men and women are in     the same boat, not only in terms of physical existence on the same small planet of earth, but also by our religious conviction that we incline to every kind of evils, and that the Lord is the sole origin of all goodness and love. According to the New Church doctrines, charity should be first conjoined with faith. Otherwise, it is not a genuine faith any longer. In this regard, our love for the neighbor must outreach to all other nations, religious faiths and Christian denominations.
     2.      Nevertheless, we are called by the Lord to keep His New Church covenant which is based upon revelation by means of the Writings. Now truths should not be used as weapons for     conquering other beliefs but recognizing and acknowledging every kind of goodness in other religious people. Truths are to be a saving power instead of a beating power.
     3.      Now the time seems at hand such as when a worm expands after shrinking for years. This expansion can be performed by committed people whatever age, sex, occupation and status. We begin thinking of the New Church lay ministry, including women's roles; e.g., for translations, publications and evangelization for the sake of New Church globalization. We start now with a new effort for revised translations, liturgical readings, music and school education so that they may appeal to modern, high-tech youths and adults in the present age and societies.

415



     4.      A scholarly endeavor should be focused upon a "New Church Missiology," if any. Among General Church ministers and lay persons the fire of outreaching-people evangelization was kindled. Now we are close to the time when a theological framework must be made within regeneration and education which have so far been developed according to the Academy principles throughout the General Church history.
     The Lord is working with us and through us at the end of the twentieth century. The New Church is now confronting the big challenge of whether or not we can cooperate with Him. We might not be able; to expect any extravagant changes or reformations, but we have to obey the Lord's calm and quiet voice which can be heard by us even in the age of ultra-speedy high-tech advancement and political turmoil here and there in the present world.
     No one in the New Church is isolated or neglected. Each of us is dispatched by the Lord as a New Church pioneer over the world. We can see it as follows:

The church of the Lord is scattered through the whole world, and yet it is a one; for when the life makes the church, and not doctrine separate from life, then the church is a one; but when doctrine makes the church, then there are many (AC 8152).
     Tatsuya Nagashima,
          Tokyo, Japan
1968 YOUNG PEOPLE'S GATHERING 1991

1968 YOUNG PEOPLE'S GATHERING       Kurt Simons       1991

(CONTINUED)

Dear Editor:
     In your May 1991 issue Rev. Erik Sandstorm, Sr., writes to correct the impression of the 1968 Young People's Gathering contained in the negative statements of Mr. Merrell's January article.

416


I too was surprised at Mr. Merrell's remarks, and would like to "second the motion" of Mr. Sandstrom in correcting the impression. It has always seemed to me that in fact the gathering was an important watershed for the General Church and had a very positive result.
     Those who were young people at that time and place will remember the mood-the depressing end of a decade that had begun with such high ideals and expectations. And some of this mood was certainly reflected in the spheres brought to the gathering. But, in Providence presumably, this all ended up setting the stage for one of the most dramatic moments of New Church history I've had the privilege of being present at-Bishop Pendleton's talk and, particularly, question-and-answer session. It has always seemed to me that the U. S. Senate lost a distinguished leader when Bishop Pendleton chose the priesthood as a career instead, and this was never more in evidence than at that memorable Sunday morning at Laurel. His straight talk set precedents for openness in the church that have had long and useful reverberations since. And his understated remarks, clearly radiating deeply held convictions, created a sphere that still shines brightly in memory two decades later. The standing ovation he received "said it all" (as they used to say in those ancient days) about the, in fact, positive result of the gathering.
     One other footnote to this small piece of General Church history is the credit due Mr. Sandstrom for having the vision to start what became the Laurel camps. There had been a variety of precedents, from the British Academy Summer School to the Oberlin Assembly get-together, but he was the person who saw the need, the opportunity, and the means for Laurel. Its evolution and growth to seam-bursting multiple sessions in the years since make clear the accuracy of that vision.
     Kurt Simons,
          Lutherville, Maryland

417


GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1991

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES UNITED STATES OF AMERICA       Editor       1991

Alabama:

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

     HUNTSVILLE
Mr. and Mrs. Wynne Sullivan, 1107 Princeton Drive, Madison, AL 35758. Phone: (204) 772-0074.

     Arizona:

     PHOENIX
Rev. Fred Chapin, 3724 E. Sahuaro Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85028. Phone: (602) 996-2919

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

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, 2695 Mark Lane, Batesville, AR 72501. Phone: (501) 793-5135.

     California:

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

     ORANGE COUNTY
Rev. Cedric King, resident pastor, 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630. Phone: (Home) (714) 586-5142. (Office) (714) 951-5750.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 225 Woodlake Ln., Newcastle, CA 95658. Phone: (916) 663-2788.

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

     SAN FRANCISCO
Mr. and Mrs. Philip C. Reds Pendleton, 2261 Waverley Street, Palo Alto, CA 94901.
     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, P. O. Box 95, Simla, CO 80835. Phone: (719) 541-2375.

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

     Connecticut:

     BRIDGEPORT

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203) 929-6455.
     Rev. Geoffrey Howard, visiting pastor. Phone: (508) 443-6531.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.
District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     BOYNTON BEACH
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 10687 E. Clair Ranch Rd., Boynton Beach, FL 33437. Phone: (407) 736-9235.

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

     PENSACOLA
Mr. and Mrs. John Peacock, 5238 Soundside Drive, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561. Phone: (904) 934-3691.
     Georgia:

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

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     ATLANTA
Rev. Ray Silverman, 2119 Seaman Circle, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (office) (404) 452-0518.

     Idaho:

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

     Illinois:

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

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

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

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

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

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

     BATH
Rev. Allison L. Nicholson, HC 33-Box 61N, Arrowsic, ME 04530.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Thomas Rose, visiting minister, 3809 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20721. Phone: (301) 464-4585 (home), (301) 464-5602 (office).

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

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, 138 Maynard Road, Sudbury, MA 01776. Phone: (508) 443-6531.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Grant Odhner, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064.

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

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Karen Huseby, Secretary, 2800 Lake Blvd., North St. Paul, MN 55109. Phone: (612) 777-6962.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 1508 Glencairn Court, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Rt. 2, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.
     New Jersey-New York:

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

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Mr. Howard Leach, 4215 12th Street, Albuquerque, NM 87107. Phone: (505) 892-0936.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Rev. Bill Burke, 6010 Paddington Court, Charlotte, NC 28226. Phone: (704) 846-6416.

     Ohio:

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

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

     Oklahoma:

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

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     Oregon:

     PORTLAND
Mr. and Mrs. Jim P. Andrews, Box 99, 1010 NE 36th, Corbett, OR 97019. Phone: (503) 695-2534.

     Oregon-Idaho Border: see Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

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

     ELIZABETH
Mr. Meade Bierly, 523 Snyder Ave., Elizabethtown, PA 17022. Phone: (717) 367-3964.

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

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 122 McKean Rd., Freeport, PA 16229. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855.

     HAWLEY
Mr. Grant Genzlinger, 4 Main Street, Hawley, PA 18428. Phone: (717) 226-2993.

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

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Eric H. Carswell, 299 Le Roi Road., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-7421.
     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.


     South Dakota:

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

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mr. Robert Grubb, 510 Academy Drive, Austin, TX 78704. Phone: (512) 447-6811.

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

     VIRGINIA:

     Richmond
Mr. Donald Johnson, 13161 Happy Hill Rd., Chester, Va 23831. Phone: (804) 753-9508.

     WEST VIRGINIA:
Mrs. Thelma Smith, Rt. 1, Box 447, Peterstown, WV 24963. Phone: (304) 753-9508.

     Washington:
     SEATTLE
Mr. Thomas Andrews, 5035 NE 180th, Seattle, WA 98155. Phone: (206) 365-2194.

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

     OTHER THAN USA

     AUSTRALIA     

     CANBERRA
Mr. and Mrs. Rex Ridgway, 7 Whalen Place, Kaleen, ACT, Australia 2517.

     SYDNEY, N.S.W.                                   
Rev. Douglas M. Taylor, 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, N.S.W. 2222. Phone: 57-1589.

     TAMWORTH
See Rev. Douglas Taylor under Sydney.

     BRAZIL

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

     CANADA

     Alberta:

     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.

     EDMONTON
Mrs. Wayne Anderson, 6703-98th Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6E 3L9. Phone: 403-432-1499.

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3. Phone: (office) 604-782-8035; (home) 604-786-5297.

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     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5. Phone: (Home) (519) 748-5605; (office) (519) 748-5802.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 684 Fraser Ave., Ottawa, Ontario. K2A 2R8. Phone: (61) 725-0394.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (Church): (416) 239-3055.

     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: 46 78 9968.

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Christopher D. Bown, 2 Christ Church Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-575644.

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

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

     MANCHESTER
Rev. Norman E. Riley, 69 Heywood Rd., Norden, Rochdale, OL11 5TH, England. Phone: 0706 54003.

     HOLLAND

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

     KOREA

     SEOUL
Rev. Dzin P. Kwak, Horim #102, 1019-7, Daechi-dong, Kangnam-Ku, Seoul, Korea 135-281. Phone: 82-2-562-7344.

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Mrs. H. Keal, 4 Derwent Cresc., Titirangi, Auckland 7, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

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

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Cape:

     CAPE TOWN
Mrs. Sheilagh Brathwaite, 208B Silvermine Village, P.B. 1, Noordhock, 7985 R.S.A. Phone: 021-891424.

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. James P. Cooper, 30 Perth Road, Westville 3630, Natal, Republic of South Africa. Phone: 011-27-31-821612.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Andrew Dibb, P. O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, South Africa. Phone: (011) 804-2567.
     
Zululand:
     KENT MANOR
Rev. Andrew Dibb, visiting pastor
Mrs. Maarten Heimstra, P. O. Box 10745, Meerensee, 3901 R.S.A. Phone: 0351-32317.
     Please contact Rev. James Cooper or Rev. Andrew Dibb concerning these societies:
Alexandra Township, Baccleugh, Clermont, Diepkloof, Enkumba, Hambrook, Impaphala, Kwa Mashu

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater. Furusjo, S-566 00 Habo. Phone: 0392-20395

     Stockholm
Rev. David H. Lindrooth, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma. Phone/Fax: 011 468 26 79 85.

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



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     Notes on This Issue

     Many people who read these lines will remember the day in June when Bishop Buss responded to the vote of the General Assembly. He began in Zulu, then spoke in Swedish and then English. He did not read from a manuscript, but his remarks are fairly closely reproduced beginning on the opposite gage.
     We are publishing five letters in this issue, and other input we have received recently shows lively interest in the contents of the Life.
     On page 451 John Parker speaks of initiatives to "widen church contacts in other countries around the globe, such as Ghana, Korea, and Japan." SPI (see page 467) has promoted the circulation of books in Eastern European countries. Guus and Aline Janssens of Holland have undertaken an epic journey with a van load of books. Two representatives have been sent to conferences in Russia. We hope to have news on these activities in a later issue.
     Charter Day Weekend
     The cathedral service is at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 18th, and the dance at the Society Building is the same evening at 9:00 p.m. There are Sons and Theta Alpha luncheons at noon on
Saturday the 19th. Then there is a wine and cheese reception in Heilman Hall at 9:00 p.m. before the 7:00 p.m. banquet in the Bryn Athyn Society Building.

     CONTACT ADDRESS FOR MINNEAPOLIS CIRCLE

     Karen E. Huseby, 4247 Centerville Road, Vadnais Heights, St. Paul, MN 55127; phone (612) 429-5289.

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RESPONSE TO ASSEMBLY CONFIRMATION VOTE 1991

RESPONSE TO ASSEMBLY CONFIRMATION VOTE       Rev. PETER M. BUSS       1991

Ngiyanibonga Kakhulu. Ngimukela ubizo ukuba ubishobha omkulu wesonto ngokubanzi.

     Jag acceptera med stor tacksamhet kallelse till att bli utovane biskop av Allmanna Kyrkan.

     Thank you very much. I feel privileged to accept your call to be the Executive Bishop of the General Church.

     I'm sorry I can't speak Japanese and Korean and Portuguese and French and other languages. We are a "General Church. The Lord wants the church to be in the whole world.
     The General Church serves three sets of people. There are those who already believe in the Heavenly Doctrines and have committed themselves to them in adult life. The church serves them in their wish to be transformed by the Heavenly Doctrines into angels of heaven.
     The second group is the children of such People whom the church serves in seeking to lead them in their innocence to believe in the truth and to love it.
     And the third is all those millions of people in the world today who do not know that the Lord has come a second time and that this new revelation is the beginning of a new life for all humankind.
     The mission of the General Church for these three sets of people is the same. The General Church exists to help people to worship the Lord as He is revealed in His second advent. It exists to help people to learn from His threefold Word the way of life and how to walk in it. And the General Church exists to try to provide an environment in which the wish of people to obey the Lord is nurtured and fostered and encouraged and strengthened.

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     Prescott Rogers spoke on Wednesday night about these three uses: worship, instruction and distinctive social life. I see distinctive social life as being to try to create an environment in which the wish of people to follow the Lord, to enter into the truths of His Word, may be encouraged and supported and strengthened. Sometimes we don't realize how powerful that is.
     I'd like to share with you for a minute today my own feeling of the power of that sphere with just a few of the people who have meant so much to me.
     I didn't know my father very well. He died in the Second World War when I was three. Just before he died he got three copies of the New Testament, which the king had sent to all the armed forces working under the crown of England, and my dad sent them to his three sons. He wrote an inscription to each one of us. "May the Lord guide you in the path to righteous manhood." It was signed "Your loving father-March 1944, the middle east." Six weeks later he was dead,
     I looked at that inscription a few days ago. It has affected me deeply over nearly five decades.
     When I was made a bishop, Bishop Pendleton wrote me a nice letter and he said, "Your mother would have been so proud to have seen you today." I thought to myself that as my mom got older she probably would have said, "Well, that's very nice, Peter, but how's your regeneration going?" Mothers do that, don't they? Now she has been in the other world for five or six years and she would probably be saying, "That's very nice, Peter, but are you becoming a more loving and a more understanding person?" That spirit, which was with her her whole life long, affected me. It was her faith in the New Church, her response to the Lord.
     I think of all the lay people that I have grown up with like Sylvia Pemberton in South Africa or Willard Mansfield. I think of people like Don Edmonds in Glenview, and what his belief and conviction in the church did to help me; or of Naomi Smith and her sense of what the church is.

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So many people have helped me to sense what the church means.
     I think of the bishops whom I have known and loved: Bishop de Charms, Bishop Pendleton, and my very good friend, Louis King, who has been such a mentor to me over so many years now (and I hope he is going to continue); the ministers when I was growing up: Wynne Acton, David Helm, Danny Heinrichs. I think of Mom and Dad Sandstrom. Sometimes I say I didn't just fall in love with Lisa; I fell in love with her parents too. Dad was the spiritual mentor and leader and guide that I needed so badly when I was young and very conceited and very sure of myself. And I need a lot of that still.
     I think of growing up from the age of 25 with a family of children and seeing the Lord at work with them, causing the church to be a meaningful thing in their lives, seeing how the Heavenly Doctrines can bring out beautiful states in their lives. I have seen them become, not what I wanted them to become, but so much better, having values that are not just my values but are better values that now inspire me.
     I think of living for 25 years with a girl who probably was an angel round about the time she was 18. (Now that can be kind of demotivating too, you know)-somebody who always thinks kindly of you, seems to think of you first. You men who are married know what I'm talking about. That is the power of the church, creating an environment in which we feel strengthened to want to be a part of the Lord's way.
     So the mission of the General Church is to worship the Lord in His second advent, to help people to learn the path to heaven, and to provide that environment in which our wish to follow the Lord can be strengthened and nurtured and encouraged. It is a beautiful mission.
     As we enter into the '90s we have a new challenge ahead of us. There are new stimuli to our senses, new opportunities for enjoyment. We are going to have to be selective. There are new knowledges. One study said that by the end of this decade we will have ten times as much knowledge available to us as we do now.

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That's never happened before. We're going to have to be very wise in the way we respond to this new information. And it is to this and to all future decades that the Lord has given His threefold Word.
     We live in a time when values are going to be challenged. They are not just going to be accepted because the leaders of the church have said so, and that's good because the truth can stand up to any challenge and any scrutiny. William Whitehead once said, "We should be the most open-minded church in the world. We should not be afraid of any idea, because the Lord has given us the truth."
     A word about government. I wrote a lot about government in New Church Life in the last few issues. Here let me mention one or two ideas. I believe the Writings teach that the ideal government of the church is when the Lord Himself leads each individual person through that person's conscience, based on that person's knowledge of the Word. That is government by influx, and in the degree that the Lord is able to do that, why then the leaders of the church have very little to do. They are as it were in the background, providing knowledge, providing the right atmosphere, but letting the Lord lead people directly.
     In order to let that happen, we as a church are dedicated to trying to let the truth lead, and to encourage an open discussion of the truth: not to govern by tradition and custom, but by the present understanding of the truth. That is the strength of the General Church.
But below that there are moral and civil agreements. The church must be governed by visible moral and civil laws. Society must be governed by visible moral and civil laws. The leaders of the church must be governed by moral and civil laws. These are the checks and balances which must exist in this world, on leaders, on the church, and on society.
     This is an era in which communication and participation in the uses of the church must increase.

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I have been so impressed to see the way in which Bishop King has led this church more and more into a sense of freedom. Bishop Pendleton once defined the value of the bishop's office as being to provide for the freedom of the church. Bishop King has certainly done that. I hope, through real communication, through leadership from doctrine and through participation, that I can continue that work.
     Now I would like to close with a few of my own dreams and visions for the church. I believe very strongly in the power of the Heavenly Doctrines to transform individual lives and to transform an organization. I believe that in the next ten years-well, actually forever-we need to take that beautiful abstract doctrine that the Lord has revealed and bring it down more and more into the realm of human thought and feeling. Frank Rose illustrated that beautifully today.
     There are three levels of the natural mind. There is the rational mind where abstractions are given, first principles, and there are two levels below that-imaginative thought and sensual thought. Our mission in the next few decades is to bring abstract principles down and color them in illustrations of life: in the realm of human experience, in the realm of the experience of the world, so that people may be touched where they live.
     I dream of a church which accepts more courageously the teachings of the Writings about repentance. The Writings are not about being perfect. They don't say that if you are not perfect you are condemned. The Writings are about change. Sometimes we are afraid of being wrong, and yet the whole of the Writings are given to us to say that if you are wrong you can change. We can be wrong in our thoughts; we can be wrong in our will; and if we will acknowledge that, the Lord can make it to cease to happen.
     I dream of a church where the teachings about marriage love are not just beautiful ideals to which we pay hopeful service but are actually principles of life in the marriages of our people.

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I dream of a church in which our children grow up secure in the sphere of the truth, feeling that the Lord is with them, that He is in their homes, that they can worship Him and talk to Him, that there is really a heaven which they can think about and understand here on earth.
     I dream of a church which learns more and more what true gentleness is. That's the application of charity, to be gentle and understanding with the feelings and the needs of others.
     I dream of a church in which the Lord is honored in all the things we do. You may say, "Well, of course!"-but reflect that most churches that fail do so because they exclude the Lord Himself from the deliberations of their body. Let us dedicate ourselves to the principle that the Lord Himself will be present whenever we speak of His truth.
     And I dream of a church that will accept without fear, without concern, that call of the Lord to go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to keep all things whatsoever He has commanded us. If we do that, friends, why then the Lord will be with us always, even to the consummation of the age. Swedenborg once wrote: "Since I have seen these things, I am obliged by my conscience to write them down. For what is the use of a truth if what is known to one is not known to many?"
     The Heavenly Doctrines are not ours. They are for all people. We have the opportunity to begin as 4,261 adults and their children and their friends to carry this message. We don't all have to be evangelists, but we can all feel the joy of sharing with people the knowledge of the Lord's second advent, the most precious gift we could give. What a wonderful opportunity we have to see the church growing up in all lands.
     Last of all I dream of a church which learns patience in all these things. They won't/happen in a hurry. They will happen in the Lord's own time. "By little and by little will I cast the enemies out," said the Lord. If we can be patient and let the Lord do His work in His own time, then our church will grow and prosper.

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     Lisa and I thank you so much for your confidence in us. We look forward so much to serving you, and getting to know all of you. Thank you very much.

     [Photo of Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss]

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ELDERLY LAYMAN'S REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD 1991

ELDERLY LAYMAN'S REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD       CHRIS HORNER       1991

"We read in John, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made through it, and without it was nothing made that was made. In it was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light appeareth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth . . . ' And since all truth is meant, by the Word is meant also all revelation, consequently the Word itself or Holy Scripture" (AC 2894).
     The Word was with God, and God was the Word. Would anyone deny that God is the Word? "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty." The Word is identified as one with God, who is the First and the Last. Can we have a new Word without having a new God? Yet this term is becoming increasingly popular as a caption for the Writings!
     The Word has been clearly defined in The Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture. The sectional heading declares, "The Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is Divine truth itself." Can the Writings supplant the Sacred Scripture as the New Word or the Word for the New Church? Granted that the Writings are the internal or spiritual sense of the Word adapted to human comprehension on the earthly plane, can we rightly designate them as THE WORD?
     AC 9825 states, "In order that anything may be perfect, it must be distinguished into three degrees" and there are few who would contend that the Word is not of this category. We are all familiar with the somewhat loose appellation of "the threefold Word."

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Rev. Geoffrey Childs, in his excellent article "Distinctive New Church Education," in November and December 1989 NCL, uses the term "Trinal Word." Is not this more cohesive and binding? Can we lay aside the Sacred Scripture and call the internal sense "the Word"? SS 33 states, " . . . the Word without the sense of the letter would be like a palace without a foundation," and it goes on to say, "Indeed, the Word without the sense of the letter would be like the human body without its coverings, which are called skins, and without its bones; without these and coverings, all interior parts would fall asunder." Again, in n. 39: "The spiritual and celestial sense are not the Word without the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, for they are the spirit and life without a body." Is not the "New Word" (if there is one) and the "Word for the New Church" the trinal Word of Old Testament, New Testament and the Writings?
     Some, in an endeavor to set up the fulness of the Word as being in the Writings, have claimed that the Writings have an internal sense, but is not this redundant? To me it savors of the logic drawn from the old schoolboy rhyme, "Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, and little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum." Did not the Lord say in John, when speaking of His second coming, "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs but I shall show you plainly of the Father"? Would the Lord leave us with further enigmas to solve before acquainting us with the truth? The Writings certainly have an illimitable depth, but surely their profundity is presented in continuous and not in discrete degrees.
     AC 9824 speaks of the outermost or ultimate as being more holy than the internal. This is corroborated by SS 37, which is headed "Divine Truth, in the sense of the letter of the Word, is in its fulness, in its holiness and in its power"; and De Verbo 15 states the same in almost identical words, and finishes by stating, "In the sense of the letter all things which teach the way to salvation, thus to life and faith, stand forth clearly; also that every doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word and confirmed thereby, and not by the spiritual sense, for conjunction with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, is not given by this sense alone but by the sense of the letter; and the Divine influx of the Lord through the Word is from firsts through ultimates."

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     The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture and De Verbo both speak of the sense of the letter as being the containant of the other senses, and surely this is the reason why the Sacred Scriptures are often referred to by the revelator as "the Word" since they contain within them the whole of the spiritual senses in potential.
     In the prophetic phantasmagoria of the book of Revelation, the most graphic and breathtaking presentation is that of the Lord Himself as the Word of God riding upon a white horse, and those of the heavenly army following Him, all on white horses. We are told that the signification of the white horse is a new understanding of the Word. Nowhere is it suggested that the New Jerusalem or the New Church should have a new Word. Can there be a new Word?!
     The section of the Arcana embracing nos. 2895 to 2900, speaking of different Words attached to the four earlier churches, may give the impression that the fifth church-the crown of all churches-must also have a different Word again, and some have taken this as conclusive; but I would suggest that each of the former churches had apparently different Words, all of which were derived from the unwritten Word of the Most Ancient Church, and were limited to the requirements of each particular era. That the Word of each church should have an internal sense would be essential in order to maintain a Divine influx from heaven to earth so that the human race could survive. Surely the Word of the New Jerusalem is depicted by Him who sat upon the white horse, King of kings and Lord of lords; and is not this the complement of all the Words of the earlier churches?

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     If we read the dissertation on the Word in the opening numbers of the fourth volume of the Arcana, we must not neglect to read the initial number, 2894, which qualifies all that is stated in the six succeeding numbers; for this reason I have quoted it as an introduction to this article. The Word and God are surely one and the same. The only way we can see God is in the Word. The Word is God manifest, and if God is triune, the Word must also be triune. Can we discard the concept of a threefold Word? The ultimate doctrinal statement in the Arcana, number 10821, reads, "That there is a trine in the Word, that is, the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the proceeding Divine, is a mystery from heaven, and is for those who shall be in the Holy Jerusalem." Can there be any doubt that the Word for the New Church is the trinal Word of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Writings? Can we disassociate the Word from the Rider of the white horse, the King of kings, and Lord of lords?
     Solomon of the "understanding heart" wrote in Ecclesiastes, "There is no new thing under the sun." He was indeed a discerning man, for newness cannot be preserved. It is but a fleeting characteristic. Once it is disclosed and known to the world, no entity can be new any longer in its own right. Its newness remains only in comparison with former things. The Elizabethan proverb says, "Comparisons are odious," and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing uses the word "odorous." Can there really be a New Church in perpetuity? Is the title any longer descriptive?
     In our current drive for evangelization is the name helpful? It seems to me that for a church founded on a creed that was established almost a quarter of a millennium ago the name is confusing and ambiguous. Is it not unassuming and commonplace? Is it any wonder that Walter Martin assigned us a place in The Kingdom of the Cults? To those who have a love of the literal sense of the Holy Scripture, anything new in the church or the Word savors of "false Christs and false prophets" (Matt. 24:24), and "A New Christianity" is anathema to those who have been reared in the traditions of the first Christian Church.

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     Was it thoughts of this nature that motivated Alan Ferr to write in February 1990 NCL of the Church of the Open Word? He did retain the word "new" in his proposed title, but this seemed to be to avoid implications with an already existing body called the Church of the Open Word. We could possibly use The Church of the Open(ed) Word, or alternatively, The Church of the Second Advent. Is it not time that the church which is the crown of all churches should be given a name expressive of its real significance?
LORD'S RESURRECTION BODY (Part 2) 1991

LORD'S RESURRECTION BODY (Part 2)       Jr. V. C. ODHNER       1991

The Doctrines of Influx and Order

     Anyone who considers the Resurrection Body might wonder how the material can "go into" the spiritual, let alone the Divine. Is not this one of the first questions of anyone who really considers the subject? The last sentence of Mr. Sandstrom's third letter is: "The Divine can indeed make matter, but matter can never be made Divine" (February 1983 NCL, p. 72). In Intercourse Between the Soul and the Body 1-" . . . spiritual influx . . . is from order and its laws; since the soul is a spiritual substance, and therefore purer [also described as discretely different], prior and interior, but the body is material, and therefore grosser . . . and it is according to order [see TCR 90-1] that the purer should flow into the grosser, prior into posterior, and interior into exterior, thus spiritual into material, and not the reverse" (emphasis added). See ISB 2; also AC 1096:2e, 3721:2, 5119, 5779, 6322, 9110; CL 326:3; SD 4604-6, to cite a few numbers relating to this doctrine on spiritual influx and spiritual order.

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     In TCR 73:3-"'. . . to enable you to see that the Divine omnipotence is in order, and that its government, which is called Providence, is in accordance with order, and that it acts continually and to eternity in accordance with the laws of its order; nor can it act against them or change them one iota, because order, with all its laws, is Himself'" (emphasis added; see also TCR 74:4).
     On p. 480 of the October 1982 NCL, ES touches on the history of the Resurrection Body controversy, mentioning Rev. Robert Hindmarsh (also see 1975 NCL, p. 296, "The Lord's Resurrection Body" by Bishop W. D. Pendleton). Mr. Hindmarsh, in An Essay on the Resurrection Body of the Lord (1833) says: " . . . as if matter, which is a quiescent substance of nature, destitute of life itself, and which proceeded from Him who is essentially Life in Himself, could again be returned into the Divine Essence, lose its character of creature, and become the very Form and Substance of the Creator Himself!" James Arbouin, a lay New Churchman, writing a dissipationist article in the Jan.-March 1818 issue of The Intellectual Repository, on p. 47 comments: " . . . though we are certain that the material body could not find access to the celestial abodes . . .
     The idea that the Lord's material body could leave this world is so diametrically opposed to reason from doctrine that I fail to see how it can be doctrinally maintained, except by a viewpoint entirely caught up with the literal sense and failing to see through this sense to the genuine sense. It would seem that the corporealist view of the Resurrection Body can be rejected on the basis of the doctrines of influx and order alone, because God acts according to order, as in the important TCR 90-1 and 94. Is it not admitted that for the material to rise into the spiritual, or the Divine, is contrary to Divine order? (See AE 689:2.)
     At the start of his second letter, October 1982 NCL, p. 478, ES quotes the AR relation 611:7, speaking of an angel's instructing some boys in heaven on how to avoid material thought when thinking of God.

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The angel says: "Know, then, that the material does not flow into the spiritual, but the spiritual into the material." Also, in the above-referenced 1975 Council of the Clergy address by Bishop Pendleton, he quotes Rev. Samuel Noble: "'. . . that what is material cannot by any sublimation or rectification be exalted into what is spiritual, much less . . . into what is Divine! (See Lord 35:1.) I have never read a corporealist explanation about the material's rising into the Divine. NBR doesn't seem to provide one in his letters, nor does he say how far "up" the material body turned into the Divine. I suppose the question becomes whether what the "miracle" corporealists say happened was or was not against Divine order. In DLW 234-" . . . for in this way [the virgin birth] He could put off a nature which, although a receptacle of the Divine, is in itself dead, and could put on the Divine" (emphasis added).
     In the face of all this, we have NBR's statement from the March 1982 NCL, p. 120: "What could be plainer? The Writings clearly teach-again and again-that the Lord rose with His material body, His natural body, which He took on in the world, and this differently from what happens with anyone else."

The Infinity of God

     Another doctrine to be considered is the changelessness and infinity of God. In TCR 30-"He [the Lord] is always the same, from eternity to eternity; thus He is the same since the world was created as before; and as before creation there were in God and in His sight no spaces and no times but only since, and as He is always the same, so is He in space without space and in time without time" (emphasis added). And in Canons: Holy Spirit II:1What God was before creation, such He is after it; thus such as He was from eternity, such He is to eternity."

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In one sense the names and attributes of God are simply the differing human views of the one God of heaven and earth.
     These quotations are comforting words when you really think about them. But if the Lord "took into heaven" the material body, would not this absorption be a change in Himself? What is the consequence of making something which is not Divine, Divine? Is this not changing the Divine Infinite God which the above numbers deny? In his third letter (NCL February 1983, pp. 71-2) ES gives a brief essay on what the word "make" means in connection with the Resurrection Body, after having, of course, covered the concepts in his two prior letters.
     By "make" or "made," corporealists, as I understand it, contend that by fiat the material body was made Divine, that is, that with the rising Lord there existed the Divine with all that it involves, and the natural body with all that it involves. What is not seen from doctrine is that by the verb "made" is not meant just replacement (for then the Lord's material body might be thought not to exist), but the fruition of the Divine Human, made Divine, from the glorification process within the material shell or plane (see DLW 234); that is, the material body had to exist for temptation's (or glorification's) sake until: 1) the glorification and resurrection were complete; 2) it was dissipated in the tomb for other purposes.
     Writing for NCL, April 1968, p. 155, Bishop Elmo C. Acton said: "By glorification there was no change in the Infinite, in se. That would be to deny the Infinite. There was a change in Its presence in the finite, or with men and angels, God always was Divine Man; from eternity there were the Divine Esse, the Divine Existere and the Divine Procedere [some capitalization added]. The change brought about by the Advent was a change in the presence of God with man." ES, in his first letter, July 1982 NCL, p. 317, makes this doctrinal point: "I think we can search for the answer to these questions on the basis of DLW 283 . . . 'Yet there is nothing whatever in the created universe that is God' (DLW 283)" (emphasis added).

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No Longer the Son of Mary

     Numerous passages say the Lord was no longer the Son of Mary at glorification, which took place on the cross and was culminated in the tomb. (AC 2776:2 says, " . . . the passion of the cross was the extremity of the Lord's temptation, by which He fully united His Human to His Divine and His Divine to His Human, and thus glorified Himself.") But, to be no longer the Son of Mary required that the body from her be also put off. In the essential way it had been, even though there was the material body on the cross. While at first this seems not so, it is, for the Divine Human (the one and only God) had completely descended (at the last of temptation on the cross) into the prepared maternal mind and body, the very means through which the hells tried to prevent glorification. This is the aspect of glorification so incomprehensible to corporealists: how it could be that the material body on the cross was not really the Lord. On this subject Christian theology and tradition has probably had more of an influence than we know. With little New Church doctrinal knowledge, it is easy to believe that the dissipation of the Lord's material body is against the Divinity, an approach not beyond the letter or human proprial thinking.
     But the Writings provide the answer in many numbers, as for example AC 2159:1 . . . at last there remained not any thing whatever from the mother. Thus He entirely put off all that was from the mother, and therefore was no longer her son . . . "; AC 2574:2-". . . how the Lord by degrees [see AC 3318:5] cast out the human from the mother, until at last He was no longer her son. . ."; ". . . it is to be known that the Lord gradually and continually, even to the last of His [natural] life when He was glorified, separated from Himself and put off that which was merely human, namely, that which He derived from the mother, until at length He was no longer her son but the Son of God, not only as to conception but also as to birth, and thus He was one with the Father, and was Jehovah Himself (emphasis added).

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See AC 2658:2; 3036; 4692:5; 6872:4; 10057:6; 10830; NJHD 302. If the Lord had risen with the material body, I don't see why the Writings would say He was no longer her son, for surely that body was from her, as in TCR 102:1-" . . . It is true that He was the son of Mary, but not true that He still is . . . " (emphasis added).
     In AE 1108:2-"He took, indeed, a body or a human from the mother, but this He put off in the world and put on a Human from the Father, and this is the Divine Human" (emphasis added). That is, when on the cross He was glorified, the Divine had so descended to complete the promised Divine Human work that "a [Divine] Human from the Father" had been "put on," and as the glorification then had no longer any need for the body, it was "put off, that is, its use in conquering the hells ended; its further use will be discussed below.
     In AE 899:14-" . . . for everything human that the Lord took from the mother He rejected 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" (emphasis added). See SD 5834.

     (To be continued)
NEW CHURCH WOMEN'S SYMPOSIUM 1991 1991

NEW CHURCH WOMEN'S SYMPOSIUM 1991       Editor       1991

Sponsored by the Girls School of the Academy of the New Church and Theta Alpha International
Dates:           November 29-December 1, 1991
Place:           Bryn Athyn Society Building
Cost:           Full registration                     $40.00
                Minimum registration                    10.00
                Full-time student registration          5.00
                Meals                               20.00

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Goals:
     1.      To explore the experience of being female in the church and in western culture.
     2.      To examine, in the Light of the Writings, the findings of recent secular research into female development.
     3.      To encourage women to assume responsibility for unfolding the complexities of the female mind, and to strengthen their confidence in their ability to do this.
     4.      To become aware of the ways that cultural stereotypes may have clouded our thinking from doctrine about feminine uses.
     5.      To heighten awareness of the true differences between masculine and feminine minds.
     6.      To laugh together, have some fun, and celebrate the joys of being women.
Program:
Addresses by Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss and Rae Friesen; workshops and other presentations by Kay Alden, Donna Bostock, Sheila Brown, Kris Carlson, Nina Cooper, Kris Earle, Rachel Ebert, Debra Grant, Sarah Headsten, Judy Hyatt, Martha Gyllenhaal, Trish Lindsay, Aubrey Odhner, Janna Odhner, Lori Odhner, Penny Reiss, Bronwyn Reuter, Mandy Rogers, Gail Simons, Kara Tennis, Leah Rose, Louise Rose, Cathy Schnarr, Beryl Simonetti, Dolores Smith, Dolores Soderberg, Edith van Zyverden, Nina van Zyverden, Julia Wyncoll, and Ruth Zuber. Registration: Write or telephone Judy Hyatt, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, (215) 947-6357.

     MIDWEST WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND

     A Midwest Women's Renewal Weekend is scheduled for October 25-27, 1991, in Glenview, Illinois. For information please phone Audrey Grant at (708) 729-0180.

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MYTH OF SUICIDE 1991

MYTH OF SUICIDE       Name withheld       1991

Introduction

     My life has been plagued by periods of being suicidal. My problems seemed monumental, and my depressions overwhelmed me. A few months ago I made another attempt to end my torment. This time I was almost successful. But the Lord was with me even in this time of great distress. He brought me the help I was searching for.
     I learned a lot from this experience and I would like to share this with others. One question helped me above all the others. A friend asked, "What's the payoff? What will you get by dying?" Reflecting on this question led me to the realization that what I wanted could not be attained through suicide. Suicide promised things it could not deliver. Eventually I had a list of promises which I call "The Myth of Suicide."
     If there is anyone reading this who is thinking of suicide, I hope these thoughts will help you reevaluate this solution. Then ask yourself, "What's the payoff? Can suicide give it to me?" and then go and look for help. There are many who wish to help you; it's just hard for you to see them right now.

     The Myth of Suicide

I always thought that dying would be easy-that I could take some pills, go to sleep and never wake up again. I thought that if there was any trauma involved in the process, I would be blissfully unaware of it.

The truth is that the process was terrifying. I have never, ever experienced such fear. I still wanted to die, but I could not get through the period of terror. I have talked to others who have tried to die. Several expressed similar feelings. Some expressed it as coming in close contact with hell. I had to get away from that feeling. I had to make it stop.

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The only way I could do that was to stay awake and get some help (see AE 677:4, SD 1043).

I thought I was a good person and that God knew that I was a good person. God knew that I went to church and read the Word regularly. I tried to do good works and to be charitable. Therefore, God would forgive me this one bad act since I was mostly good.

The truth is that I knew that I was breaking one of the ten commandments. This made what I was doing a sin. The Lord wanted to forgive me because He loves me and forgiveness is from His love. However, I could not receive His forgiveness because one must repent and turn away from evil before receiving forgiveness. I had turned my back to the Lord and I rejected what He was offering me (see AC 2447:2, 5398, 8573:2, 9014:3).

I wanted to stop the pain. I wanted to get away from the turmoil I was in. I thought death would end all this. I hoped it would bring peace.

The truth is that the turmoil would not have ended. Those things that were not resolved on earth would have to be resolved in the world of spirits before I could pass on to my final place. I have even heard that those kinds of things are even harder when they are not resolved here. Doing it here is difficult enough (see SD 1336).

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I thought that people didn't care about me. I felt abandoned. I felt as if I were the last person on everyone's list. If people took care of all the "important" things and had any leftover time, then maybe they could share some with me. I was not important.

The truth was that there were many people who cared about me. It was as if I woke up one day and suddenly saw all these friends and they had been all there all along. I had just been blind. I realize now that something was wrong with my perception. Hell has the power to distort our perceptions of the world. When they have departed, then we can see the world as it truly is (see AC 920:2).

There was anger at everyone for not getting me help. I felt as if I was screaming for help and no one was listening.

The truth was that I was screaming for help. Many of the people who cared very dearly for me heard my screams but did not know how to help me. They did not have the knowledge. I rejected those people who did have the knowledge to help me because they needed me to examine the source of the pain. Until I was ready to stop running away, they could not give me the help I was searching for.

I thought that I loved the Lord and the church. I wanted to die to be closer to Him.

The essence of God is love. The essence of love is to be conjoined to things outside of oneself.

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God wants all mankind to go to heaven so He can be conjoined to them. When I tried to kill myself, I wanted to be removed from all those people who were hurting me, I wanted to leave behind even those people I loved. It no longer mattered if I loved them or not, or if I hurt them or not. I just wanted to die. In the end I even wanted to get away from myself. The truth is that I wanted to remove myself from everyone. That is as opposite from God as a person can get. Think about that carefully and maybe you will know the horror of that (see DLW 47, 57, 170). (Name withheld)
EVER HEARD OF "A RE-FIXED POSITION"? 1991

EVER HEARD OF "A RE-FIXED POSITION"?       Editor       1991

The book Kingdom of the Cults, mentioned on page 437 of this issue, was discussed at length in our pages in 1986 by Rev. Grant Schnarr (May and June issues). We have since made an amusing discovery. The book undertakes to list the books of the Writings, and when it should have said "A Brief Exposition" it said something that sounds like it: "A Re-fixed Position."

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BANQUET SPEECH 1991

BANQUET SPEECH       C. JOHN PARKER       1991

AN ADDRESS BY C. JOHN PARKER AT THE ASSEMBLY BANQUET, JUNE 15, 1991, THE THEME BEING 'THE EPISCOPAL MISSION'

     The Lord's second coming, the hope of this world, the message of the New Christian Church, is meant by Him to be for all people, for all time. Very broadly speaking, for whatever reasons the historically recorded appeal of the New Christian Church has been mainly to those of a north European Protestant cultural background, who are middle-class with a good education, and who are frequently entrepreneurs, self-employed, or in "white-collar" occupations. I think it can be said of those observations "that surely isn't the way it was meant to be, but that seems to be the way much of it has been," at least until quite recent times. After all, didn't even Swedenborg himself fit that profile?
     Of course there have been exceptions to these broad generalities, and we have maintained an African mission like most other Christian churches, but in the main the church's past appeal seems to have been limited to those fitting the above profile. Wittingly or unwittingly, in our main stream, so to speak, have our perspectives on, or our attitudes toward, those of different social-economic levels, race, religious background, etc., made the church we believe in seem less appealing to them? For instance, many of you who grew up in the church a few years ago will recall hearing non-members referred to as O. C.'s (Old Church). Perhaps it would have been more charitable and useful if those initials O. C. had stood for "Other Christians."
     From AC 6628 we learn, "The doctrine of charity was the doctrine in the Ancient Churches, and that doctrine conjoined all churches, and thus of many made one; for they acknowledged as men of the church all who lived in the good of charity, and called them brethren, however greatly they might be at variance in the truths which at this day are called truths of faith.

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In those they instructed one another, this being among their works of charity; nor were they indignant if one did not accede to the opinion of another, knowing that everyone receives truth in proportion as he is in good."
     Men search the Scriptures for guidance and for understanding that they may form thereby doctrine for the leading of their lives. Yet, as the Scriptures also teach, doctrine divides men while charity conjoins them. Have we spent too much time and energy formulating doctrine for ourselves, losing sight of the broader, conjoining, charitable aspect of such Christianity as we may see in our neighbor, whoever and wherever he or she may be?
     Through illustration of the destructive incompatibility of the dragon of the Apocalypse and the woman clothed with the sun, the Scriptures warn the New Church against conjoining with the faith of the former church. And yet we may, and indeed should, in charity join other Christians in shared ideals of life and application through uses therefrom
     From AC 3267 we learn, " . . . the Lord's spiritual church is dispersed over the whole globe and is everywhere various according to articles of belief or the truths of faith. The Lord's spiritual kingdom itself in the heavens is also thus circumstanced, that is, it is various according to what belongs to faith, insomuch that there is not one society, nor even one in a society, who, in those things which relate to the truth of faith, is entirely agreed with others as to his ideas. Nevertheless, the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens is one; the reason is that all account charity as the principal thing . . . . Whosoever is in charity loves his neighbor, and with regard to his dissenting from him in matters of belief, this he excuses, provided only that he lives in goodness and truth."
     In recent years, under the inspiration and guidance of Bishop King, whom we honor, some of the penetrating questions noted in my beginning have been asked, and have started to be addressed.

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To accommodate as wide a variety of people as possible, including those of less formal bent, sites, styles and situations of alternative worship have been developed, not only in the field but in our mainstream societies. All of us know, or know of, people whose lives could be gladdened by some knowledge of what the New Christian Church has to offer.
     We have begun to be aware of those people with special emotional needs, both among our own numbers and those peripherally about us, and various programs like camps, interest groups, and special classes have been undertaken to meet those needs.
     A serious declaration of evangelism effort has been made, and the name of Swedenborg is now much more widely known. The Sacred Scriptures revealed through Swedenborg are being distributed ever more widely throughout the world, and in an increasing number of different languages.

     Many initiatives have been undertaken to establish and widen church contacts in other countries around the globe, such as Ghana, Korea, Japan, etc. In my own country, we have seen the inception and growth of the General Church in Canada as an umbrella organization for initiating, encouraging, and overseeing church development country-wide. While the Bishop is President of that body, its Executive Vice President is a resident Canadian pastor, and its board is comprised of Canadians, elected by the body's members, with particular interests in seeing the church grow in Canada. This is seen as a responsible coming of age, as it were, in our relationship with the General Church international, and we are moving steadily closer to being self-supporting financially.
     May Bishop King's example of outreach, inspiration, and guidance to an increasingly needful and complex world be an ongoing and increasing episcopal mission for our new bishop, Bishop Buss!

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Editorial Pages 1991

Editorial Pages       Editor       1991

THE MIND UNDER SIEGE

     When we are happily intent on usefulness we are secure; it is as if we were inside a house, safe from the threats that may lurk outside. The Writings put it this way:

While a man is in some pursuit and business, that is, in some use, his mind is bounded and circumscribed as by a circle, within which it is successively integrated into a form truly human. From this as from a house he sees the various lusts as outside of himself, and from sanity of reason within, banishes them (Conjugial Love 249).

     The safety and sanity of that mind can sometimes be in jeopardy. We have in previous editorials spoken of the power of evil. On the one hand we have noted that evil has no power whatever, that is, no power against what is good and true. Evil spirits do have power against each other, against "those who are in evils and falsities" (AE 783:4). They can affect us, infringing upon the serenity of our minds.
     Let us consider some of the ways this can happen. If the pursuit of use provides a secure house for the mind, then "sloth and idleness" can lay the mind open to assault. "In idleness the mind is spread out to various evils and falsities" (SD 6088:4).
     The mind is then "unrestrained and unbounded, and the man then admits into the whole of his mind all manner of vain and frivolous things . . . The mind is then rendered stupid" (CL 249).
     Idleness is called the devil's pillow (see Charity 168). That pillow is sometimes foisted upon us when we don't want it. Spheres from hell can press upon our minds. A passage about spheres speaks of a certain type of spirit.

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The effect of their sphere was to take from me the power of close application and to make it so irksome for me to act and to think in serious matters, true and good, that at last I scarcely knew what to do (Arcana Caelestia 1509).

     Spirits like that can induce a listlessness or "torpor" similar to the one just described.
     Does it do us any good to know that we are under siege? Well, it casts light on our human condition. It describes a reality of our predicament. But the reality is not one to make us more troubled and fearful. Those pictures we have of someone surrounded, whether in the stories of Scripture or in descriptions in the Writings, emphasize safety and the Lord's power.
     For now consider two examples, one from the Psalms and one from the Writings.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of People who have set themselves against me all around (Psalm 3:6).


I have sometimes been surrounded by thousands, to whom it was permitted to spit forth their venom, and infest me by all possible methods, yet without their being able to hurt a single hair of my head, so secure was I under the Lord's protection (AC 59).

     More on this another time.

     RUSSIA AS A SPHERE OF WORK FOR THE NEW CHURCH

     We are tempted to let you read this report to the Swedenborg Society and then spring the date on you. But here are the facts right up front. The date is June 1918. (Does it sound like 1991?) The president of the Swedenborg Society, L. B. de Beaumont, delivered a ten-page paper to the society, from which we excerpt the following.

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     The recent revolutionary events in Russia, sad as they have proved to be for us and for Russia herself, have nevertheless created a situation in that Country which has awakened a fresh interest for all members of the New Church. It is probably too early yet to speak with confidence of the future, political and social, of Russia. Everything seems to depend on the measure of assistance which England, France and America, and also Japan, will be able to afford, in order to combat the sinister influence which has brought Russia to her present condition. But one great fact remains which is the foundation of our religious hope in regard to the Russian people, namely, their deep spiritual feeling and spiritual inwardness, their instinctive thirst for reality in religion, and the sincerity which they are ready to exhibit, often at great personal cost, where their apprehension, however vague and mistaken, of the True and the Good is concerned.

     The writer says that the vast masses of the Russian people have "a strange craving for the things of God, an innate instinct to solve in their own way the great problems of existence."

     It is the knowledge of these characteristics of the masses which constitute the Russian nation, which renders them so interesting to New Church people and which makes us inquire eagerly how far it would be possible to convey to them the truths which, we believe, are the very truths they are thirsting after, the very truths which, for so long, they have been more or less consciously struggling inwardly to reach.
     To understand this question and to provide adequate means for solving it, it is necessary in the first instance to realize clearly the mentality of that race and to be acquainted with the evolution and manifold aspects of its religious thought. It is clear that in any serious attempt to bring the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg within the reach of the Russian masses in a form adapted to their needs, the Swedenborg Society must inevitably find itself invested with a very definite responsibility . . . .

455


The Russian people, in spite of autocracy and its methods, has never been as docile and easy to control as we, in the West, have often been led to believe. They evidently can be strong, brave and stubborn whenever they believe that great principles or special interests are at stake. In no other way can be explained the dogged energy with which, in the face of powerful authority, they have asserted for centuries their sense of religious liberty and their religious ideals, whatever we may think of some of them. This also makes it easier for us to understand how ready to rise were the masses of the Russian people when circumstances came to make it possible. This no doubt was well known to those who, for their own ends, have engineered the revolutionary movement and brought on the crisis at the time most suitable for them.

     More than seventy years have passed, and again those who know the value of the Writings are looking at ways to share them with people in the Soviet Union.

     A BOOK BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S SON

     I recently received from a reader a book of eloquent prose entitled Love Is a Spirit (1896). Did I agree that the writer must have been familiar with the Writings? Yes, I did agree. The romantic narrative shows an appreciation for the beauty of conjugial love. It mentions angels of the third heaven, Divine permission and the Divine Humanity.
     The writer was Julian Hawthorne (l846-l 934). His illustrious father's novels are classics of American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a close friend of Longfellow and acquaintance of Emerson, Thoreau, Whittler.
     In Nathaniel Hawthorne's notebook he describes a visit to his mother's bedside Mo days before her death.

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He poses the question: What if there were nothing beyond this life? And he answers: "Then it would have been a fiend that created us, and measured our existence, and not God. It would be something beyond wrong-it would be insult-to be thrust out of life into annihilation in this miserable way. So, out of the very bitterness of death, I gather the sweet assurance of a better state of being." (See the quotation from Divine Providence below.)
     The Swedenborg Library found for me a little book that confirmed that Julian was Swedenborgian. The booklet is called Lovers in Heaven (1905). The fact that it was published by New-Church Press of New York speaks for itself. It tells about a married couple who meet after death and love each other more tenderly than before.
     "They meet again and reunite themselves, and love each other more tenderly than before, because in the spiritual world (CL 321).


Note: The words of Hawthorne above put one in mind of some phrases in n. 324 of Divine Providence. "As the Divine is of glory inexhaustible, would He keep this to Himself alone, or would it be possible for Him to do so? For love desires to communicate its own to another, and even to give from its own as much as it can. Must not the Divine love, then, which is infinite, do this? Can that give and take away again? Would not that be to give what must perish? and inwardly in itself this is nothing, because when it perishes it comes to naught."
NCL 100 YEARS AGO 1991

NCL 100 YEARS AGO       Editor       1991

A hundred years ago this magazine published a paper by several students that was presented at the "Gymnasium of the Academy of the New Church." The subject was "Tobacco Smoking." In the October issue we read, "If smoking is found to be beneficial, then one may form the habit; if injurious, he should not."
     "One will sometimes think that smoking at home will not injure the neighbor, but if he inquire more closely, he will often find a neighbor in the form of a wife, mother, or sister to whom the habit in one way or another is distasteful, if not hurtful . . . "

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AGE OF THE UNIVERSE 1991

AGE OF THE UNIVERSE       Editor       1991

Dear Editor:
     While I would like to comment on many aspects of Dr. James Brush's article on evolution in the July issue, I will here limit my remarks to the final section, "The Age of the Universe," Brush's suggestion that time has no objective reality apart from human perception of it, and that therefore the indications of a great age for the universe may be only an appearance, is uncomfortably similar to the idea that the Garden of Eden was created in an instant, the trees complete with rings and Adam complete with a navel, although no elapsed seasons or gestation process gave rise to them.
     Modern physics tells us that time and space are so closely related that they cannot be completely distinguished from one another, the area of overlap cannot be eliminated. Would Dr. Brush also maintain that spatial relationships have no objective reality?
     The statement in Divine Love II that that Divine creative impulse must descend into the lowest things of nature prior to its ascent in the formation of human beings implies to me that space-time is a necessary matrix for the gestation of the human race. The Writings also mention the "fixedness" and independent reality of the natural world as a prerequisite for human freedom.
     The concept of the artificially fabricated appearance of elapsed time can be compared to a diorama in a nature museum where a three-dimensional representation blends into a flat, painted backdrop. The intention is to deceive the eye into extrapolating depth that is not really there. I don't believe God operates that way.

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As my husband Dewey puts it, God preserves our freedom of thought by giving us paradoxes, not by telling us lies.
     Linda Simonetti Odhner,
          Horsham, Pennsylvania
PHYSICAL LAW, ETC. 1991

PHYSICAL LAW, ETC.       Dewey Odhner       1991

Dear Editor:
     It may seem strange that I am writing a tutorial on physics for New Church Life and not offering any spiritual interpretation, but I think a correct idea of how the Lord operates this world can help us get to know Him better, and I think that erroneous statements in an article in NCL should be corrected.
     In the July issue, p. 299, Dr. Brush says, "There are . . . thousands of examples in the fossil record of. . . Second Law violations, i.e., more complex species succeeding in time other less complex ones." I disagree. Certainly the fossil record indicates that complex species appeared later in time than some other less complex ones, and entropy is a measure of a kind of disorder, and simple organisms may be more disorderly than complex ones. I do not know how to measure the complexity of a species, nor how to define a system whose entropy would be determined by it But I know the meaning of entropy and what the Second Law of Thermodynamics says about it.
     Entropy is defined in terms of heat flow and temperature. Heat is a form of energy which often but not always causes a change in temperature. (If heat flows into ice at the melting temperature, it melts the ice but does not change the temperature.) Suppose a certain amount of heat flows into (or out of) an object, but not enough to change the temperature. The amount of entropy gained (or lost) by the object is that amount of heat divided by the temperature of the object above absolute zero. So if a certain amount of heat flows from a hot object into a cool one, the cool object gains more entropy than the hot one loses.

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     The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that entropy can be created but not destroyed. It is very well established both experimentally and theoretically, and deserves its status as a physical law. There are no well documented violations. Please note that the Second Law does not prohibit increasing complexity of species. Heat is continually pouring into the earth from the hot sun and pouring out of the earth into cold space, taking lots of entropy away with it. It is therefore perfectly consistent with the Second Law for the entropy of the earth itself to decrease.
     Dewey Odhner,
          Horsham, Pennsylvania
CARE AND COUNSELING 1991

CARE AND COUNSELING       Ruth Cranch Wyland       1991

Dear Editor:
     Since my retirement five years ago I have obtained many books about pastoral counseling as Presented to Christian churches. There are so many suggestions that could be implemented by our clergy. One that especially touched me I found in Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counseling by Howard Clinebell on Page 232.
     The Crisis and Grief of Divorce:

Divorce is one of the most widespread grief experiences in Western societies . . . . Our society has few organized resources for helping dividing women and men do their grief work, and learn to grow from their painful experiences. Churches have a strategic opportunity to develop innovative pastoral care programs to help divorcing people use their losses as occasions for emotional, spiritual and interpersonal growth, including helping step-parents learn the difficult but essential skills of co-parenting a reconstituted family . . . .

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     To be effective in establishing a healing ministry to divorcing people, clergy who have not been through divorce must develop heart understanding of the experience. Divorce is usually an ego insult, an experience that diminishes self-esteem. Women are programed to feel especially responsible for the success of interpersonal relationships including marriage. Thus their sense of failure and guilt is often intense. Both men and women feel the painful wound of being rejected by their ex-spouse . . . . Feelings of failure and rejection are reinforced by the judgmental attitudes of some church people. Unresolved anger, bitterness, resentment, loneliness, self-doubt, and depression swirl together producing the infected grief wound that frequently results from divorce.
     The ministry of pastoral care and counseling with divorced persons should aim at accomplishing three closely related objectives. The first is to help them work through and resolve the grief and the pain . . . . The second objective is to help divorcing people to learn and grow from the experience . . . . The third objective of divorce counseling is to reduce emotional damage to children to a minimum.

     These are books which are put out for the "Old Church." They are not only read but the suggestions are followed in their parishes. Why is it that the New Church does not realize how needed this type of compassion is for our divorced population? Why is there not information in New Church Life put out by ministers to serve both ministers and lay friends concerning how to support and reach out to these grieving people? I have often heard it said that the Christian army is the only one that shoots its wounded. Why is there not more compassion for us, the divorced, in this church which is the Crown of the Ages?
     Ruth Cranch Wyland,
          Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania

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SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS 1991

SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS       Robert C. Kern       1991

Dear Editor:
     This is in response to the two communications in the August issue of New Church Life concerning the subject of simplifying the Writings.
     I am not surprised, but always find it curious, when people are afraid to use the tools with which God gave us to work. I have always run into the argument, when discussing religion with fundamentalist believers, that Swedenborg took away from the Word of God by deleting books of the Bible and added to it by expounding an internal sense, and they quote from the Apocalypse that nothing should be added or taken away from this revelation.
     This seems to be the argument put forth in August's communications but applied to the Writings.
     God, through Swedenborg, gave us a very useful tool by which means we can more fully comprehend our place in the cosmos, i.e., who God is and how to see Him and His purpose through His preceding Words. The Old and New Testaments are tools that the human race forgot how to use. The Writings teach us how to use them as well as how to use the Writings themselves if we will but open our eyes and do so.
     Fundamentalism is good for preserving things so as not to lose them, but when it makes one afraid to modify them in order to understand them better. I don't find it to be at odds with the Divine purpose. The way people learn is from generals to particulars. I see nothing wrong in presenting general concepts from a book of the Writings in a succinct form so that people can quickly assimilate the general teachings contained therein.
     To modify a tool that it may serve a need is humanity's prerogative, and for this reason the Lord gives us intelligence and wisdom.

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     There is a danger in preserving something only for the sake of its preservation and not for its usefulness, and this danger is that we can lose our saltiness and then be good for nothing, as the Lord says in Matthew 5:13.
     Robert C. Kern,
          Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS 1991

SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS       Rev. Bernard S. Willmott       1991

Dear Editor:
     The June issue of New Church Life arrived yesterday. I write about the article "Making the Writings Readable." To say that words fail me would not be appropriate in view of the probable length of this letter, which, in your editorial wisdom, you may or may not decide to print in full. I hope, however, that my voice will be one among many raised in protest against the idea of mutilating the Writings as they were given by the Lord through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg.
     It is very evident, of course, that the only motives in the minds of the writers of this article were the fuller development of the Lord's New Church and the more extensive knowledge and understanding of these Writings. I do not impugn these motives in any way. But I am bound to confess, and it is a confession I have no hesitation in affirming publicly, that I cannot see how the suggestions made for a "simplified" or "edited" version of the Writings would achieve this purpose. Indeed, I believe they would have a completely contrary effect.
     After reading and rereading this article, it seems to me to be based very largely on the assumption of generalisations that are half-truths: cliches that are the products of the re-action of the natural unregenerate mind to all revealed truth. The first of these "cliches" is found in the opening paragraph: "Here is the problem: the Writings are hard to read and understand."

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     It will be readily-and, I think, truly-conceded that not every individual will possess the intellectual or educational background to be able to read Arcana Caelestia from cover to cover, even in the new Elliott translation, a translation of surpassing excellence. But the "simple in heart and the simple in faith" can readily understand the truths embodied and revealed therein (see HH 1), as and when they are expounded and explained. Surely we find first-hand evidence of this from the early days of the formation of the New Church as an organized body. The men and women who established the first New Church societies in Yorkshire and Lancashire in Great Britain heard men like Clowes expound the teachings of the Writings as a Divine revelation and were able to understand them. Such an understanding, begotten of a simple love of truth, convinced them that herein, in these Writings, the Lord had indeed made His second advent.
     We may go back still further to the time of the Lord's first advent. Many of those who listened to His teachings shook their heads and said, "This is an hard saying" and went away. It was "the common people who heard Him gladly." And when Jesus saw how the crowds melted away, complaining that "This man's teachings are hard to understand," it is recorded that He said to His disciples (again, for the most part "simple" people), "Will you also go away? And Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go: Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure. . . .
     In company with Rev. Messrs. Frank Rose and Jan Weiss I myself, during a ministry of over fifty years, have heard the complaint that "The Writings are hard to read and understand." Strangely, perhaps, such a complaint seems to come more often from within the organized New Church than from without. Yet-and perhaps in particular in my work in the Swedenborg Lending Library and Enquiry Centre in Australia-I have met with countless people whose delight in coming across the Writings is truly uplifting. And they do not find them hard to read and understand!

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It will not and cannot be denied that they are profound truths that are revealed in these Writings; nor that it takes effort and concentration to read them; nor, again, I would suggest, that no matter how fully we may be able to enter into them with perceptive understanding, we can but penetrate into the outermost fringes of their eternal wisdom. But this being said, is not the real difficulty we have in reading them found in the fact that they are concerned with the very life of man, inquiring him to look into the very love that animates and motivates him and to "shun evils as sins against God"? The stumbling block with many is found in Swedenborg's insistence that what he writes herein is "not my work but the Lord's." Had he put these teachings forward as his own ideas and addressed them to the so-called or self-styled intellectuals, much of this fallacious idea that "the Writings are hard to read and understand" would be demolished. It is of more than passing interest here to note that when Count von Hopken suggested to Swedenborg that it would be better to omit the memorable relations-"which seemed to throw so much ridicule on his doctrine, otherwise so rational"-Swedenborg answered that he "had orders from the Lord to publish them." An affirmation, surely, that should be kept in the forefront of our minds when considering "editing" the Writings!
     And who would edit them, deciding what is or is not to be included in this "simplified" version? And at whom would such an emasculated version be directed? There is an old economic dictum that "bad money drives out good money." And it is surely wishful thinking in the extreme to suggest-as the article suggests-that a "simplified version" would never replace the Writings.
     As the current editor of The New Age I know that letters of undue length are not always welcome, and I must not try your patience too much, Mr. Editor. But there are so many more, to me quite fallacious, ideas brought forward in support of this, to me, quite unwarrantable suggestion.

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"We do not have time to read a book of 500 to 600 pages." When traveling on trains here I see so many people, young and old, absorbed in books of this length; and they are not only novels but scientific textbooks and those dealing with computers, electronics and so on.
     It is also a fallacious generalization to assert that "when reading or studying the Writings . . . we skip over the text all the time. We never read every word and number." If this be true, then more's the pity! And if this be true, would not the same treatment be meted out to an "edited" version?
     The amount of collateral literature published by the organized church is truly enormous. There are commentaries, expositions of the Heavenly Doctrine, books dealing with life after death, etc., etc., all designed to provide introductions to and explanations of what is revealed in the Writings themselves. And as and when people read these and wish to go further, or confirm some particular point, the Writings themselves are there in their fullness. An edited or simplified version-the contents of which would be determined by the particular understanding of the editors-could well fail to include a vital phrase or doctrinal truth needed for such confirmation.
     Finally, Mr. Editor, I refer to the statement, "Even long-time members of the New Church have problems reading the Writings, Even they could use a simplified version." Is not the continuing burden and appeal of the Writings to each one of us to raise our sights so that we see, recognise and acknowledge that herein there is nothing less than a revelation of the Lord's infinite and all-embracing Divine Love itself?
     Perhaps if we spent more time, thought and effort on seeking a fuller understanding of the Writings, and less on trying to get others to read them, the organised church would be a more effective instrument in the Lord's hands.
     Rev. Bernard S. Willmott,
          Wahroonga, NSW Australia

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NEW CHRISTIAN BOOKS (CANADA) 1991

NEW CHRISTIAN BOOKS (CANADA)       Editor       1991

Mr. Follrert Nater of The Hague has replaced Vera Goodenough Dyck as manager of New Christian Books, the Swedenborg Outreach Book Distribution Centre in Toronto, on September 1. New Christian Books acts as the Canadian representative for Swedenborg publishers worldwide. In addition, we currently supply fifteen commercial bookstores across Canada with thirty Swedenborg and collateral titles, as well as operating a mail order business which sold almost 1,000 books to new readers of New Church literature this year. On September 29 we will participate in the huge "Word on the Street" book fair in downtown Toronto, continuing to give Swedenborg and his ideas greater public exposure.
     New Christian Books is funded by the Olivet Church Society, and works closely with Information Swedenborg, Inc. (ISI), a legal charity separate from the church whose goals are to promote the theological writings of Swedenborg and establish study groups and bookstores for this purpose. Recently there has been some thought in the Olivet Society of turning over the funding and management of the distribution centre to ISI. Even more than ever, ISI is now looking for increased membership and contributions to carry on its work of spreading the truths of the Second Coming to the whole world. For more information about our purposes, current and past projects, and membership, please write us at 4939B Dundas Street West, Etobicoke, Ontario, M9A 1B6 Canada.
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1991

NCL 50 YEARS AGO       Editor       1991

The October issue of 1941 includes a good photograph of the New Church building in Rio de Janeiro. The work in Brazil has made considerable strides since those days.

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BOOK IN MODERN RUSSIAN 1991

BOOK IN MODERN RUSSIAN       Editor       1991

The book has been published! It was Leonard Fox who in June of 1990 pointed out the need for a New Church book in the Russian language. He suggested that The Essential Swedenborg by Sig Synnestvedt would be a good choice, since the quotations from the Writings cover several subjects. Sig's book includes a 21-page biography of Swedenborg. (I notice this comes out to 20 pages in the Russian version. The entire book comes to 150 pages.)
     The volume was well planned and well produced. There is a list of publishers of Swedenborg on the back, and there is also a list of the books of the Writings. Thanks to the work of Leonard and Nana Fox there is an index.
     Swedenborg Publishers International took up this challenge, and there was support and encouragement from the Swedenborg Foundation, the Swedenborg Society and others. There are good things to say about this volume even by someone who does not read Russian. For now we rejoice that it has been published, and we encourage people with Russian acquaintances to put it
to use.
     Swedenborg Publishers International (SPI) has a number of vital projects. (See New Church Life, June, p. 268.) The chairman is Dr. E. Brock, and the newsletter editor is Mr. Leon Rhodes.


     [Russian Script]

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PHOENIX CHURCH BUILDING 1991

PHOENIX CHURCH BUILDING       Editor       1991

Services are already being held in the building acquired by the Phoenix Circle, with an average attendance of 30 to 40 people. They are looking forward to the service of dedication for their building on November 23rd. They have put a new roof on the building and are in process of remodeling it and increasing the seating capacity. Phoenix has a very active Sunday School program with fine participation. They accommodate pre-school up to 6th grade.
     Resident Pastor Fred Chapin and his wife Aven have been in Phoenix for about a year. The church office phone number is ( ) 991-0048.
     We might add that the Phoenix Newsletter is one of the very lively church publications in circulation these days.

     [Photo of THE PHOENIX CHURCH BUILDING]

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     [Photo of Seal]

NOW AVAILABLE
Limited Run of the Traditional Style
Band-Coat Bronze Seal
Orders must be placed by November 1st to ensure a "by Christmas" delivery time.
(A portion of the proceeds will go to the Phoenix Church)
     $75.00 EACH
Greg Glebe
4236 S. 36th Place
Phoenix, AZ 85040
(602) 470-1501

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CORRECTION 1991

CORRECTION       Editor       1991

In his death announcement in the June issue, the middle name of Stanley Rose was incorrectly given as Arthur. The correct name is Alan.

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New Jerusalem 1991

New Jerusalem       Editor       1991


     The New Jerusalem
a new translation by
John Chadwick
of The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrines
published by Swedenborg Society
     This book of the Writings covers many key topics such as: Charity, Faith, Piety, Conscience, Temptation, Regeneration, Baptism, Resurrection, Providence, the Lord, the Church, the Sacred Scripture, Government. . .
     Softcover 106 pages postage paid $6.05
     Box 743, Cairncrest                          or by appointment
General Church Book Center                Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                         Phone: (215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



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In his final report as Executive Bishop (p. 500) Louis B. King looks back and remembers many wonderful happy times "when members of the church, old and young, joined together in expressions of love to the Lord and to each other."
     The church news from Colchester, England, mentions the 100th birthday of one of its members. On the page opposite that we learn of another 100th anniversary. A committee of Michael Church in London chaired by Freda Griffith is making plans to celebrate the coming centennial of that society. There will be an event in June and another in October (p. 514).
     A sixteen-page address in this issue is yet another reminder of this year's excellent assembly. One wonders, could a dedicated reader of the Writings make "a colossal mess" out of his life (p. 477)? Would life-long students of the Writings, endowed with keen minds and committed to the authority of the Writings, disagree occasionally or even frequently? Why? (same page). Incidentally, the letters are still coming in on the subject of simplifying the Writings. Do you find yourself sometimes disagreeing?
     We noted last month that there will be a dedication in Phoenix on November 23rd, See the notice below on another dedication.
     We have heard of the death of Mr. Basil Later in Canberra, Australia. Mr. Later was known to many New Church people throughout the world.
DEDICATION IN SOUTH AFRICA 1991

DEDICATION IN SOUTH AFRICA       Editor       1991

The dedication of the new chapel in South Africa takes place on November 3rd. It is to be known as "The New Church Buccleuch." We hope to have news on this soon.

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KNOWING THE TRUTH: THE TRIUMPH OF JOSEPH 1991

KNOWING THE TRUTH: THE TRIUMPH OF JOSEPH       Rev. ERIC H. CARSWELL       1991

An Address at the 31st General Assembly

     The story of Joseph's life-his estrangement from his brothers, his ordeals, his rise to power and the final resolution with his brother-is dramatic just as it is written in Genesis. The internal sense of this story is equally dramatic. It strongly underscores the fundamental truth that there is a great difference between knowing the facts of revelation and being truly wise. A person's wisdom in this sense is not directly related to his understanding of doctrinal subjects such as discrete degrees, but rather it is related to his ability to live wisely in this world and to care for those people whom his life touches.
     The difference between knowing the facts and being wise can be illustrated in several ways. First, picture a parent coming into the living room to find the children playing a wild game of catch. The parent looks at the children and asks, "Do we have a rule about playing catch in the house?" The children meekly nod their heads. They knew the rule, but it was not influencing their behavior. Although their behavior may appear to be a matter of direct disobedience to the parent, often this is not the case. Consider an adult driving a car who takes a risk turning in front of traffic because he is in a hurry. Does he know what the results will be if he has misjudged his opportunity? Yes, he does. And in a more objective mood he would probably say that those results were not worth the little bit of time saved; nevertheless, in the situation he takes the risk. He knows the facts, but they don't influence his behavior any more than a knowledge of the rules about throwing things in the house influences the behavior of children. Wisdom is not just a matter of knowing; rather it's a matter of having this knowledge come to mind and influence our thoughts and behavior when it would be useful.

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     A second way we can see a difference between knowing the facts and being truly wise is illustrated by the situation in which a harried and discouraged wife and mother expresses to her husband her unhappiness with how her day has gone. He listens, gives her two objective solutions to the particular problem she faced, and then settles in to read his newspaper. He might be right in his assessment of the situation, but his wife can feel even more discouraged and alone as a result of his response. She didn't want answers; she wanted someone to recognize and understand how she felt. Her husband failed to see that what she really needed was support. The reality of life is that there are many situations in which it is far easier to be right than it is to be useful. When a person is truly wise, he will be far more likely to recognize the deeper needs of those around him and to minister to them.
     The internal sense of the story of Joseph's life illustrates the reality that each individual comes to wisdom as a product of his own spiritual rebirth. Although as individuals and as an organization we must make decisions based on our present understanding of truth, our words and actions can be subtly influenced by the realization that we may be wrong even though our thinking is based on passages from the Word. While we want to be unfailingly solid and strong on fundamental truths such as the two great commandments, in addition we want to foster an appropriate humility in areas that are less clear, and a readiness to acknowledge that we may not have understood the Lord very well.
     One of the aspects of the General Church that we can take pride in is our allegiance to the Word as our authority and guide. We acknowledge that one of the dearest ways that the Lord can lead each of us as individuals and all of us as a church is by means of a correct understanding of revelation. Without Divine revelation we have no capability of seeing what is genuinely true and good no matter how broad our experience or how keen our reasoning ability.

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An underlined or emphasized line in the Arcana Caelestia, rare in the Writings, states that "the more truth that is implanted, the more is the life of charity perfected. Thus, as is the nature and amount of truth present with a person, so is the charity present with him" (AC 2189).
     Our allegiance to the Word's authority is a great strength, but it will not save us from major troubles if we remain natural in our understanding. A natural understanding of the Word can lead to a rigid legalism that "looks at everything from truth and at nothing from good" (AC 1949:2). A person whose life is dominated by this outlook tends to be morose and combative, sees faults and flaws in everyone and everything, and makes no attempt to accommodate to their point of view (ibid.) A rigid legalism tends to take two forms, one that emphasizes a natural understanding of mercy and the importance of freedom, and one that emphasizes a natural understanding of right and wrong and the need for judgment. In either form it tends to see most others as failing to follow the Lord as they should. Though strongly committed to obedience, a legalistic morality is not really inspired by the Lord and is not particularly useful.
     If knowing the truth were a matter of natural intellectual ability and study, we would not expect life-long students of the Writings, endowed with keen minds and committed to the Writings' authority, to disagree in areas of doctrine and application as much and as frequently as they do. Likewise we would not expect dedicated readers of the Writings to make a colossal mess of their lives. But the Lord assures us that this is exactly what we should expect. The quality of a person's life does not arise from what he knows but rather from what he cares about or loves. What a person loves affects what he thinks about and what he understands. For example, there is the familiar lament of the True Christian Religion: "It is extraordinary how anyone can scold another intending to do evil and say to him, 'Don't do that because it is a sin,' but he finds it very difficult to say that to himself.

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The reason is that saying it to oneself involves the will, but saying it to someone else merely comes from a level of thought not far removed from hearing" (TCR 535).
     The internal sense of Joseph's life story given in Genesis dramatically illustrates how the natural mind in each of us reacts negatively to the wisdom of life and what must happen before we can receive that wisdom as our own.
     What Joseph represents is defined in a number of ways. Some passages in the Arcana Caelestia use the mind-boggling phrase, "the celestial of the spiritual from the rational" (AC 4675), Translated into more common terms, this means the love (celestial) that enlivens the truth (spiritual) from the rational plane of the human mind. More simply, Joseph represents the Divine truth received from the Lord by people in heaven and in the church (see AC 4669). He represents the presence of the Lord as the Holy Spirit guiding and directing our lives toward understanding and doing His will (see AC 4673e). He represents genuine truth or wisdom within our thoughts.
     It is impossible for us to receive this true wisdom when we first enter adult life, and it will continue to be impossible as long as we remain natural. Only the process of spiritual rebirth can allow true wisdom to guide our thoughts and decisions. Consider this passage: "The person who is being regenerated and becoming spiritual is first led to good by means of truth; for a person does not know what spiritual good (or what is the same thing, Christian good) is except through truth or through doctrine drawn from the Word. In this way he is initiated into good. Afterwards, when he has been initiated, he no longer is led to good through truths, but to truths through good, for he then not only sees from good the truths which he knew before, but also from good brings forth new truths which he did not and could not know before . . . . These new truths differ greatly from the truths which he had previously known" (AC 5804).
     This passage indicates that the first truths a person learns are really a factual knowledge of truth.

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Through this knowledge and with the Lord's help, a person can be led away from destructive thoughts and behavior and toward good ones. As a person works to shun evils as sins, the Lord can freely form within him new loves or a desire to do what is good. From these new loves the person recognizes new truths that are quite different from his previous understanding. Now he will be far wiser and far more useful.
     Joseph's brothers represent the first truths that we learn. In reality they are not genuine truths but rather are a knowledge of the facts that describe truth. Joseph's brothers represent the church with us as an intellectual process. They represent a church that starts from faith that is separated from genuine charity. They represent a legalistic morality that can overemphasize either mercy and freedom or right and wrong and judgment. We all have to start our adult lives leaning toward one or the other of these two approaches because we all start our adult lives as natural individuals. We aren't condemned because our adult minds are dominated by natural motivations at first. But as long as we stay natural, we cannot understand the real truth or have genuine wisdom as our own, and so we cannot operate from genuine charity.
     Joseph was the next to last of Jacob's children. To the older ten he was the little brother, troublesome and impudent. But he was his father's favorite. He reported his brothers to his father when they were doing a poor job of shepherding the flock. The brothers resented Joseph's position and influence.
     Similarly, our natural mind does not like wisdom, Yes, we may sometimes acknowledge and admire wisdom in others, but we don't readily accept real wisdom into our thinking. It appears to be a pesky younger brother. We have thoughts and motivations that are not ready to welcome genuine wisdom. They are not ready to welcome the Lord. We don't see these thoughts and motivations as obviously self-centered and worldly. Joseph's older brothers represent a part of our mind that knows the facts of the Ten Commandments and that we are commanded to love our neighbor, but it doesn't really see the implications of these teachings for our own lives and for the lives of others.

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Real wisdom of life gets in the way of what we think ought to be done. Wisdom may be objectively appreciated but it strikes the natural mind as hopelessly idealistic and unworkable in "the real world." Besides, it tends to make us uncomfortable because it shows up our flaws.
     One of the things that Joseph's brothers resented about him was his dreams. Have you noticed how many people have trouble picturing themselves behaving in a truly angelic way during their natural lifetime? If the talk turns to true wisdom, many people shake their heads and say, "I'm just me. I'm rather impatient and am sometimes unaware of the needs of the people around me. No, I don't think Ill ever be truly wise, at least not in this lifetime." The possibility that wisdom could rule in our lives seems like a vain dream. Viewed objectively, that possibility just seems unlikely, but if someone suggests that wisdom really ought to dominate our thoughts and decisions more right now, we get defensive and even angry.
     The part of our mind that is represented by Joseph's older brothers knows what the Lord teaches but says to itself, "I don't need to obey this. It doesn't apply to this situation or to what I am thinking or doing. What I am doing is justified and correct." This part of our mind supports everything that we do from our flawed human nature. It justifies times of discouragement or fear, it defends anger and impatience; it explains why a single-minded conviction and domination of others is excusable or even desirable and necessary; or it can assert that we must just submit to mistreatment and domination by another. It has reasons for everything we do. Our natural behavior makes sense to it. The most dangerous quality of this part of our mind is that it tends to claim Divine or absolute authority for its point of view. "False ideas are seen by that person to be true, and once he has confirmed those false ideas, true ideas are then seen by him as false" (AC 4729:2; see also NJHD 23).

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This part of our mind uses facts from the Word to justify what it does, but these facts are ordered and arranged by self-love and love of the world (see AC 4672). This part of our mind hates real wisdom.
     The hatred that reigned in the brothers' hearts flared up when it saw an opportunity to act. When they were far from home and saw Joseph coming to check up on them, they plotted to kill him. When he arrived, they caught him, stripped off his coat of many colors, threw him into a pit, and later decided to sell him into slavery in a distant country. After he was gone, they bloodied his coat as evidence to show their father that he was no more. Using Joseph's bloodied coat represents how we can use passages from the Word to justify our living contrary to true wisdom. We can easily support our rejection of true wisdom with many facts of religion. The Lord wants us to know that our first adult understanding of truth is like Joseph's brothers. Because it is guided by an unregenerate will in any matter that is close to our own lives, it will reject genuine wisdom and will believe that God teaches this rejection.
     Why does this happen? It happens because of the way our natural mind inevitably works. What we care about provides the framework for what we think. When we are considering some issue objectively, our understanding can be raised into the light of heaven; but when we are caught up in day-to-day life, our natural will imposes a structure on what we think and see. We cannot receive real wisdom until we have the heart for it. While the Lord has perfectly revealed His Divine truth in the Old Testament through the Writings, our mind cannot receive the ideas that the words are intended to convey. We read the multitude of statements that reveal the truth, that reveal true wisdom, and our natural mind misunderstands these statements, changes their priority, and reorganizes them into something that bears no relation to the real truth; but we ourselves are quite convinced that our thinking is based on the Lord's Word. Our minds organize the facts to win an argument, to impress others, to justify what we want to do.

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Until these facts are organized from a love of others and a desire to benefit them, we will reject the truth or wisdom as being false and wrong. We will reject the Lord's knock at the door of our minds.
     The Lord will inevitably be rejected by the unregenerate mind's understanding of auth just as Joseph was rejected by his brothers. But this isn't the end of the story. This isn't the only part of our mind that deals with real wisdom of life. Joseph was taken down to Egypt and sold as a slave to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard, Joseph in Potiphar's house represents the power of truth or wisdom in daily life, for true ideas are very powerful. They can help us in our friendships, in our jobs, and in understanding how our own minds work. Many self-help books make no mention of God or spiritual life, but their intent is to reveal how our lives can go better. Each year dozens of books are published with ideas to guide business managers, couched in terms of what will be successful. They tend to base their arguments on a broad pragmatism, on what will work in the long run. Potiphar represents this desire for natural success or natural good. This pragmatic view has considerable respect for true wisdom because it really works. A business manager may not want to treat his employees as thinking, feeling human beings, but he can realize that his business thrives when he acts this way. In Potiphar's house Joseph rose rapidly until he controlled everything.
     But a problem occurred. Potiphar's wife wanted to commit adultery with Joseph. She represents the merely pragmatic truths-our non-religious conclusions-about how things work in this world. These ideas are imaged in aphorisms such as "Honesty is the best policy," or "Eighty percent of success is showing up," or even "Good guys finish last." These ideas are a natural view of what works. This part of our mind sees no difference between real wisdom and pragmatic truth. Although it desires to be one with genuine truth, it cannot be.

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For it sees the end as justifying the means; it states that anything that helps my child, that helps me keep the house going right, that helps my business, that furthers my cause, is good and true. Genuine good coming forth as truth, which Joseph represents, cannot be one with pragmatism. Trying to make them one is spiritual adultery. And so Joseph refused to lie with Potiphar's wife and even fled when she insisted, leaving his garment in her hands; she used this garment as proof to convict him and have him thrown into prison.
     Twice Joseph lost his garment, and twice he was cast down. Joseph's garment represents the appearance of truth in the Word, the facts revealed by the Lord. Joseph's brothers' stripping him of his coat and throwing him into the pit represented the religious part of our mind rejecting genuine wisdom and justifying this rejection by facts from revelation. Potiphar's wife's actions have a similar meaning, only this time it is our natural thinking that rejects genuine wisdom and then quotes the Word to justify itself.
     In the story, Joseph has sunk to the lowest imaginable place-prison. So too in our natural mind it seems there is almost no place for wisdom, no place for the Lord. If we go about life in a merely natural way we will experience problems. Our lives will not go smoothly. There will be times of trouble and sadness, doubt and questioning. We can reflect on what works and does not work well, looking for the flaws.
     This is where Pharaoh's butler and baker enter the story. They represent two parts of our mind. The butler represents the ideas that come from natural experience, and the baker represents the desires that arise from natural experience. Both are flawed and both cause us trouble. Natural experience supports simple erroneous ideas, such as that the sun goes around the earth, or more significant ones such as that happiness is tied to natural things and that, for example, we need more money, possessions, or recognition in order to be happy. Natural desire drives us to delight and indulge in natural things and to care little about the consequences to ourselves and nothing about the consequences to others unless we too will suffer.

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Wanting things isn't bad in itself; what we want and how we go about getting them are what count. While we may have trouble at times recognizing the effect of natural desire in our own lives, we can easily see the disasters it has wrought in other people's lives. Many have risked and lost friends, family, and careers to satisfy a natural desire.
     The dreams of the butler and baker represent the Lord's forewarning about where natural thought and desire can lead us. Joseph interpreted these dreams. The butler (natural thought) would return to serve Pharaoh, but the baker (natural desire) would be executed. The Lord teaches us that the ideas we gain from experience will be useful if we understand and use them properly, but we must reject the life prompted by our merely natural desires. While these desires hold out the apparent promise of happiness, in the long run they will ruin everything if left in control.
     But this insight is not enough to bring true wisdom to its proper place in our minds. So the butler returned to serve Pharaoh but forgot Joseph. Two years later Pharaoh had his mysterious dreams about seven good cows and seven good heads of grain being devoured by seven ugly and thin cows and seven thin and wind-blown heads of grain. What is the meaning of these dreams in our lives? Picture a husband who is home for an afternoon looking after the children while his wife goes out. He has plans of doing something special to show his love for her. He gets supper ready and puts the house in order with happy thoughts of her in his mind. But then she is late, perhaps not by just minutes but by half an hour. As he waits, he wonders why she isn't home, why she hasn't called, why she doesn't care. Resentment builds. When his wife does arrive, what greets her? What happened to the loving husband who had prepared for her arrival? Pharaoh's dream presents the reality of our natural lives. Too often good intentions and strengths are outweighed and overwhelmed by weaknesses, especially in relationships.

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The weakness can be anger or impatience, or it can mean passively standing by as a friend ruins his life with self-destructive behavior. It can be a matter of parents who care deeply about their children but all too often end up sounding as if they care more about the living room furniture.
     When we reflect on the meaning of our ups and downs, on our good intentions that are ruined by negative emotions or weakness, we can see that by ourselves we will never understand or be able to overcome our problems. After all, the wise men of Egypt failed to explain Pharaoh's dream. Joseph was brought before him, and he said, "God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace" (Genesis 41:16). If we sincerely want to serve those around us, the Lord can help us to recognize the flaws of our natural will. The Lord, represented by Joseph, will lead us to see the need to grow spiritually, to see the need for spiritual rebirth.
     However, as we know all too well, a single decision on our part won't erase the flaws of our natural mind. We need to choose ideas that will continue to lead our thoughts and actions. We must be willing to follow what the Lord teaches, to obey the commandments, to love others as we love ourselves. We will need to consider what treasure we have set our hearts on. A commitment to following these ideas does not exempt us from times of spiritual trial, but it prepares us to face them. Like Joseph's supervising the storing up of extra food during the years of plenty, a commitment to following the Lord can let Him build up within us the spiritual reserves that we will need in times of doubt and weakness. When spiritual famine arises, our storehouses will be filled with the ideas, the commitment, the strength we need to get us through.

     At this point in the story of Joseph's life he has risen to the second most powerful position in Egypt. This represents the progress in our daily efforts to live according to our best understanding of what is true. But what about Joseph's brothers? What about his estrangement from them?

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How can true wisdom guide us to a genuine understanding of the Word? The brothers, imaging a legalistic morality, had rejected Joseph, or true wisdom. How can they be reconciled? How can the Lord bring us insights without forcing them upon us and without taking away our feeling that life is our own?
     The famine: that blighted Egypt also devastated Canaan. We can also sense a famine in our understanding of what is true. As we reflect on the course of our day-to-day lives we can realize, "I have got to understand better what the Lord wants me to know! My life just isn't working well enough. There must be something missing." Not everyone is at this point in his life. Some people say, "I'm doing just fine," or, "Things are going well enough. No one promised me a rose garden." They may even argue that "happily ever after" is just a myth. But the Lord wants us to believe that there can be a happily ever after. It's called heaven. And heaven is not just a place and time in the far distant future. It is a state of mind, and it can be now. The Lord promised this when he said, "The kingdom of God is within you!"
     Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt from Canaan to buy grain because the famine was so severe. Their journey represents our quest for wisdom through our own efforts. "I am going to start reading to learn my way to wisdom." This won't do it. Wisdom doesn't come from reading more or from listening to more sermons. Wisdom is not attained by collecting more facts. Our mind is like a magnet that attracts and holds only certain things. When we read more and more but don't do our part to grow spiritually, we will recognize many true ideas but we will tend to apply them to other people's lives. The Lord will be trying to tell us about the plank in our eye, but we will see and reflect only on the specks of dust in the eyes of others.
     When Joseph's brothers arrived in Egypt, he treated them harshly and called them filthy spies coming to see the nakedness of the land. If a person goes to the Word to learn facts without a desire to learn truth for the sake of living a better life, he is like a despicable spy.

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Because Joseph had spoken to his brothers through an interpreter, they did not realize that he had understood every word they said when they talked among themselves and acknowledged that this trouble was doubtless caused by their mistreatment of Joseph so long before. Their words represent our acknowledgment that we need to listen when the Lord speaks to us. It represents our heart-felt realization that we are far from perfect and that we are in need of the Lord's forgiveness and help. When we turn to the Lord in this state of mind, we know that He understands our challenges, and we know that He is merciful beyond our ability to believe; but just as Joseph remained unknown to his brothers, so, too, real wisdom is not yet within our grasp.
     Joseph sent his brothers home with the command to bring Benjamin to him. He sent them off with the grain they needed, and he returned their money. The grain was free; the brothers had not bought it after all. We too can realize that our most brilliant insights do not come from our own effort. These insights that apparently come from nowhere are in reality a gift from the Lord. If we have been relying on our own ability, these insights can be disconcerting, and we can feel like Joseph's brothers discovering that their money has been returned. They are disconcerting because we don't control them. We cannot command them. They are a gift.
     Why were the brothers to return to Joseph with Benjamin? Benjamin was the youngest of the brothers, born after Joseph, and he was Joseph's only full brother. He represents the ability of our mind to feel wisdom as our own. Benjamin was to be the link between Joseph and the brothers, and he represents the link in our mind between wisdom and the facts of truth that we have learned.
     When the brothers arrived with Benjamin, they were taken to Joseph's house. Learning that this was their destination, they were fearful that they would be enslaved because they hadn't paid for their grain.

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Their fears represent what a person feels when it seems that the Lord is calling him to follow the dictates of a higher and somewhat mysterious inner truth (see AC 5647). It seems that he will have no freedom to be himself, and consequently he will feel little sense of accomplishment and little happiness. But instead of being enslaved, Joseph's brothers were treated to a better feast than they had ever had, a feast that took place because Benjamin was with them. But still Joseph did not reveal himself. We are still not ready to receive true wisdom as our own.
     When it came time for the brothers to leave, Joseph instructed his steward to place his silver cup in Benjamin's sack. After the brothers had left, the steward was dispatched to stop them and accuse them of stealing the cup. Why this charade? The cup represents truth that the Lord gives to us. Before regeneration, a person supposes that he gained the truth by his own effort and consequently attributes to himself things that rightly belong to the Lord (see AC 5747). This is spiritual theft. When the cup was found in Benjamin's sack, the brothers tore their clothes in sadness and returned to the city. All of them had promised to be slaves if the cup was found. This represents the paradox that a sense of loss occurs during the progress of regeneration (see AC 5773). It is not the loss of something good, but since it has been an integral part of our natural life, we feel sad to have it change.
     When the brothers returned to Joseph, he insisted that only Benjamin needed to remain. But Judah stepped forward and offered to take Benjamin's place. He had taken responsibility for Benjamin when Jacob had been unwilling to send him. When Judah offered up his life, an unimaginable event occurred. The fearsome man who had treated them so sternly tearfully revealed himself as their long-lost and loving brother. At first the brothers could not comprehend the news. The tumult in their minds represents the new ordering of truths that takes place in a person's natural mind when he has submitted his life to the Lord (see AC 5881).

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It is Judah's willing submission that allows the miracle of regeneration to take place and finally permits the Lord to bring true wisdom, or Joseph, into their lives without taking away their freedom.
     Before regeneration there is no relationship between the knowledge of truth in a person's mind and genuine truth or real wisdom. But regeneration accomplishes a wonderful miracle. It allows the Lord to give a person a new will. The affections in this new will rearrange the facts in his memory far differently from their previous form. This new organization is called an intermediate between the inner wisdom that Joseph represents and the facts represented by Joseph's brothers. Benjamin represents this intermediate. It reveals the genuine relationship between the facts of revelation (the brothers) and genuine wisdom or the Lord's presence (Joseph).
     The story of Joseph shows clearly that genuine wisdom does not come from learning the facts. It shows that genuine wisdom or the Lord can be rejected by those who are confident that the Word supports their position and that they have the quotes to prove it. Obviously, knowing the truth is not as easy as our minds tend to make it.
     What lessons can we draw from this story? It can encourage humility in our hearts to temper our natural legalism and righteous fundamentalism. Knowing the facts of truth is not enough; if there is no love in our hearts, greater knowledge will tend to make us more morose, critical and intolerant (see AC 1949:2). By itself this knowledge offers no guarantee of a more useful life. This is true for us as individuals, and it is true for us as a church. No matter how much or how clearly we try to teach others, the words we use and the ideas we convey will be ordered by the will of the person who hears them. Someone listening to our best efforts to present the truth may have his understanding temporarily raised into the light of heaven (see DLW 243), and insights and inspiration can be received and acknowledged; but these insights will flow away when the person thinks within the framework of his own life and loves.

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When a person's natural mind is thinking from itself, many facts can be known from the Word, but these very facts will be used to reject the Lord and dismiss real wisdom.
     One of the significant areas of doctrine that we as a group have not understood very well is the relationships among ourselves and evil and the Lord. The True Christian Religion states that the New Church is to be the crown of all the churches because it is to worship a visible God (see TCR 787). He is invisible when a sense of our own evil overwhelms us. The Lord is invisible if the evil in those near to us bogs us down, and a sense of evil lurking in the world poisons us with a fearful outlook on the people we meet and on life in general. This is not what the Lord wants for us. He wants us to grow in our recognition that He is working in the least details of our lives to lead us to a better and happier future. He wants us to see that He is doing the same for all whom we meet. The Lord wants us to become aware of His love and wisdom through the words and deeds of those who benefit us. He wants us to see that He is working within the events of the world. Our recognition of His omnipotent activity need not lull us into apathy. He has taught us that He needs and uses our efforts to accomplish His goals.
     Certainly there are many passages in the Writings that speak of evil, and they are there because the Lord wants us to recognize its destructive power; but He also wants us to recognize that He is far more powerful than evil can ever be.
     I believe that as our church comes to a clearer sight of the Lord as a visible God, this sight will generate an active optimism in the lives of individuals and in our organization as a whole. It will shine forth with great power and at the same time with great gentleness. (See AC 1950:2.) It will be a beacon of hope for many who realize that something vital is missing from their lives-the Lord's presence and love. Our worship of the Lord as a visible God will bless our own lives and the lives of all whom we meet.

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May we as individuals turn to the Lord so He can gift us with the heart that truly receives His presence.
GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1991

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       E. Boyd Asplundh       1991

(A Pennsylvania Corporation)

     SECRETARY'S REPORT

Membership

     On June 12, 1991, the date of the annual meeting, there were 853 members of the corporation. Twenty-three new members had registered since the last annual meeting of March 9, 1990. Five of these were men and eighteen were women. There were ten deaths and one resignation.

Meetings

     The annual meeting was held at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, in conjunction with the General Assembly. One hundred fourteen (114) members and a number of guests were present. In addition, 110 members were represented by proxy.
     A memorial resolution was read by Bishop King in memory of Frederick G. H. Archer, Donald P. Gladish. Henry Mellman, Dorothy Nelson, Aldvin M. Nickel, Joel Pitcairn, Morley D. Rich, Norbert H. Rogers, Sylvia C. Smith, David H. Stebbing and John H. Wille.
     Eleven directors were elected, ten for three-year terms and one for a two-year term to fill the vacancy created by the bylaw change making the Treasurer an ex officio director. This bylaw change, and others, were adopted at a special meeting of members held for the purpose on November 161 1990.

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     The agenda for the annual meeting also included reports on evangelization by Rev. Grant Schnarr, and on computer aids to scholarship and translation by Dr. Charles Ebert.
     During the period since the 1990 annual meeting, four regular meetings of the Board of Directors were held, with an average attendance of seventeen directors plus guests.
     The consideration of bylaw changes was begun at the meeting held on May 5, 1990.
     At the October 1990 meeting an integrated flexible benefits plan was adopted, and the board approved the proposed bylaw amendments and authorized the calling of a special meeting of members to consider these. At this meeting Rev. Robert Junge gave a comprehensive report on the development of the church in other lands based on his recent visits to Ghana and to the Far East.
     At the February 1991 meeting Rev. Kurt Asplundh gave a preliminary report on "The Challenge," an association of New Church people with a special interest in assisting those with disabilities.
     Mr. Peter Gyllenhaal reviewed the history of Cairncrest as a headquarters for the church, and outlined a restoration plan involving extensive work on the heating system and the roof of the building. The board gave its approval to proceed to more detailed planning.
     The entry into a contract with Carthage College for assembly facilities was authorized.
     At the May meeting, changes were authorized in the Career Teacher System.
     At each of these meetings routine reports were considered and necessary action was taken.
     An organizational meeting of the board was held at Kenosha, following the annual meeting of members. The officers were reelected, with Bishops Buss and King exchanging the offices of President and Vice President. Routine resolutions regarding investments were also adopted.

493




     DIRECTORS

     Terms Expire 1992                    Society/Circle

Edward F. Allen, Jr.                     Phoenix
Margaret I. Baker                     Bryn Athyn
Roy B. Evans                         Colchester
Thelma E. Henderson                    Glenview
Denis M. Kuhl                         Kitchener
Robert D. Merrell                     Bryn Athyn
Duncan B. Pitcairn                     Bryn Athyn
William B. Radcliffe                    Washington, D. C.
S. Brian Simons                         Connecticut
James G. Uber                         Pittsburgh

     Terms Expire 1993

Theodore W. Brickman, Jr.           Bryn Athyn
Sonia S. Doering                         Bryn Athyn
Henry S. Dunlap                         Atlanta
Theodore C. Farrington                     Florida
Geraldo C. Gomes                     San Diego
Hugh D. Hyatt                         Bryn Athyn
Bruce A. Reuter                         Glenview
Brian L. Schnarr                         Bryn Athyn
Gerald G. Waters                         Durban
Dan H. Woodard                         Glenview

     Terms Expire 1994

Peter H. Boericke                     Bryn Athyn
Eyvind H. Boyesen                     Kempton
B. Tryn G. Clark                         Central Michigan
B. Reade Genzlinger                    Bryn Athyn
Terry K. Glenn                         Bryn Athyn
Glenn H. Heilman                     Freeport
Michael G. Lockhart                    Hurstville
Kim U. Maxwell                         Detroit
Roger W. Schnarr                     Toronto
Philip R. Zuber                         Washington, D. C.

494




     Ex officio Members

Neil M. Buss                         Bryn Athyn
Peter M. Buss                         Bryn Athyn
Louis B. King                         Bryn Athyn

     Honorary Life Member

Willard D. Pendleton                    Bryn Athyn

     E. Boyd Asplundh,
          Secretary
LORD'S RESURRECTION BODY (Part 3) 1991

LORD'S RESURRECTION BODY (Part 3)       Jr. V. C. ODHNER       1991

The Lord's Material Body as a Servant

     Erik Sandstrom, in his second letter, Oct. 1982 NCL, p. 479, deals with the subject of doctrine, set forth in AC 2159. We read: "The reason is-as already shown several times-that until He had put it off and made it Divine [one and the same process, as shown above-the Divine Human fully descended] the human that appertained to Him was merely a servant. The human that appertained to Him was from the mother, thus was infirm, having with it from the mother an hereditary which by means of combats of temptations. He overcame and utterly expelled, insomuch that nothing was left of that which was infirm and hereditary from the mother; nay, at last there remained not anything whatever from the mother . . . " (emphasis added).
     By "combats and temptations" He reduced the human to complete subjugation and compliance, with the last of temptation on the cross, so that without any opposition from the hells, the Divine Human had completely descended to union with the Human Essence (see AC 1607:3, 2921:6).

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When there "remained not anything whatever, the resurrection from the sepulcher had taken place.

By a Means, Not from a Means

     A major point of doctrine concerning the Resurrection Body is in AC 4065". . . the Lord, who never took anything of good and truth from another but only from Himself. . . . It is one thing to acquire something from a means, and another to acquire it by a means. The Lord acquired good by a means, because He was born a man, and derived from the mother an hereditary which was to be expelled; but He did not acquire good from a means, because He was conceived of Jehovah, from whom He had the Divine;. . . for the Divine has need of none, not even of that mediate good except that He willed that all things should be done according to order" (some emphasis mine). See AC 1475, 3518:1e, and Bishop Pendleton's 1975 address, referenced above, NCL, p. 301.
     To acquire good from a means would have been for the Lord to have acquired, or united to Himself, something from Mary, which is denied in the above number. By the means of the Mary inheritance He was able to conquer the hells and descend with His Divine Human, which came to fruition and completeness with the last of temptation on the cross. See AC 5041; AE 272:3e, 476, 806:4-6.

Not Only Conceived of Jehovah but Born of Jehovah

     Another major point of Resurrection Body doctrine is the repetition of the concept that the Lord was not only conceived of Jehovah but born of Him. In AC 2649:4- "And further, in regard to the separation and putting off of the maternal human, those do not comprehend this who have merely corporeal ideas respecting the Lord's Human and think of it as the human of any other man;. . .

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They do not know that such as the life is, such is the man, and that the Divine Esse (Being) of life, or Jehovah, was in the Lord from conception, and that a similar Esse of life came forth [the Divine Human] in His Human by means of the union" (some emphasis added). See Canons: Redeemer, Ch. IX:3. In AC 2628"First, that the Lord's Divine Human came forth from the Divine Itself; . . . second, that the Lord's Divine Human was not only conceived but also born of Jehovah, and hence the Lord as to His Divine Human is called the 'Son of God' and the 'Only Begotten'. . . " (emphasis added). In AC 2798:1, 2-" . . . the Lord's Divine Human was not only conceived but also born of Jehovah . . . . [2] That He was born of the virgin Mary is known, yet as another man; but when He was born again, or became Divine, it was from Jehovah who was in Him, and who was Himself as to the very being of life" (emphasis added). See AC 2093:3, 4641:1, 6872:2e, 8878, 10044:10, 10125:2e; AE 684:8e, 1108; Ath. Creed 150; U 21, to cite a few.
     He was conceived of Jehovah, but what is the significance of "born of Jehovah"? Can it mean anything other than that the Divine Human was, so to speak, "born" on the cross? that the dead body (see DLW 234) on the cross had served its purpose? AC 6716:3. . . and because the inmost was the Divine Itself, was not this, more than in any man, able to make the external, which was from the mother, an image of itself, that is, like itself?" (emphasis added). By means of that prepared external, the Divine could be born through the descent into it, to become the Real Human, the Very and Whole Body, the Divine Human Itself.

What Body

     In his first letter, March 1982 NCL, Bruce Rogers makes these points: "The fact is the Writings are very clear here.

497


This is quite indisputable on the basis of the evidence . . . Here is my list" (p. 118). "What could be plainer? . . . It's clearly what Swedenborg himself thought. Nor is there any statement anywhere in the Writings to contradict it" (p. 120). In the face of this, Erik Sandstrom, in his first letter, July 1982, p. 313, shows magnanimity. He frequently looks for points of agreement in all his letters, yet cogently makes his doctrinal points clear, prefacing them with the idea that some of NBR's statements "allow for a different reading." Patiently, unobtrusively, but firmly, on p. 314 he says: "I wonder why Mr. Rogers insists that the Lord rose with His 'material' or 'physical' body. The Writings do not say that. They do indeed teach, as all the passages that he quotes and many others show, that the Lord rose 'with the whole body that He had in the world [that is, the whole Divine Human Body glorified with the last of temptation on the cross].' But I have never found any passage, anywhere, that calls that body 'material,' or 'physical.' 'Divine-Substantial' is the correct phrase. (Mr. Rogers uses this phrase also, p. 122.) 'His body was no longer material but Divine-Substantial' (Doct. Lord 35:10). But as to the question of what body it was with which He rose, I would like to discuss a little further on." Also see the previously mentioned Bishop W. D. Pendleton address in July 1975 NCL, p. 299 and the April 1968 NCL article, pp. 155-7 by Bishop E. C. Acton.
     Note how, in the following numbers from NBR's list, each passage uses the word or phrase "united," "made Divine" or "glorified," which words I've italicized. What the word "united" conveys is open to explanation; "made Divine" and "glorified" are synonymous. Each of the quotes I've parenthesized shows that the Lord made His natural body Divine in the manner discussed above and below; that is, by making that body Divine is not meant turning the material into the Divine, but that the human, both as to the natural mind and body, was subjugated to the glorification process, the Divine Human descended even to ultimates, thus conforming in reception to the Divine, unseen to man's natural eyes; the Divine mission was essentially completed on the cross since the body had undergone its supreme intended glorification use.

498


Thus on the cross that body had undergone its use (John 19:30-"It is finished"), and in the tomb it was dissipated. The Writings frequently refer to man's regeneration regarding the glorification (see NJHD 185). Think of the spiritual body formed, unseen to our eyes, in a person well along the regeneration road in this world as corresponding to the Divine Body formed, unseen to men's eyes, within the body of the Lord on the cross. See AC 3212:3.
     Here is NBR's list (emphasis added):

AC 1729:2           ("united to His Divine Essence"; "all is Jehovah")
AC 2083:2           ("made Divine all that was human")
AC 5078:2           ("The Lord made the very bodily in Himself Divine)
AC 5078:6           ("because He glorified His body, or made it Divine")
AC 10125:4           ("That the Lord glorified His very body")
EU 159           ("which He glorified in the world")
HH 316           ("because when He was in the world He glorified His whole human")
Lord 35:9           ("Since the Lord's Human was glorified, that is, made Divine, therefore, after death . . . "
DLW 221           ("And because He fully glorified the natural Human")
TCR 109:1           ("The glorification of the Lord is the glorification of His Human, which He assumed in the world")

     Also, on NBR's list, in AC 10252:7 it is said that what is said of the Lord must be "understood in a supereminent sense, and therefore these things here signify His Divine life in the sensuous . . . and the resurrection of this" (emphasis added).

499


The number then refers to Luke 24:38, 39 which will be discussed below. On the NBR list is AC 10825, in which the words "conceived of Jehovah" imply that the body became a likeness of the soul (see also AC 6716:3, SD 4845), which will be discussed below. Also in AC 10825 is reference to Luke 24:39, the spiritual meaning of which is that men and angels don't have a proprium as the Lord had at glorification, which is explained in AC 149:2 (cf. AC 256, 9315:5), the spiritual meaning of which overcomes the common misconception of what these Luke 24:39 words mean.
     The list's NJHD 292 is also related to what has been said above regarding AC 10825. NBR's list is most essential to understanding the Resurrection Body if the numbers are received in context with the rest of the Resurrection Body doctrine's many numbers. They explain how the Divine was brought down to the very ultimates of bodily life, yet, in conjunction with the other numbers, how the Divine remained separate from the body itself.

     (To be continued)
Ethics Study Guide Now Available 1991

Ethics Study Guide Now Available       Editor       1991

Swedenborg says every single action an individual takes has eternal consequences (A.C. 3854). Is this true for environmental issues?
If Christian Americans could go back in time and do it all over again and you were in charge of developing a new America, how would you do it and not negatively affect the American Indians?

     (continued on p. 519)

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REPORT OF THE BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1991

REPORT OF THE BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       Louis and Freya King       1991

July 1, 1990 to June 30, 1991

     "Everyone who comes into heaven comes into the greatest joy of his heart" (DP 254).

     "Peace has in it confidence in the Lord, that He directs all things and provides all things, and that He leads to a good end. When a person is in this faith, he is in peace, for he then fears nothing, and no worry about things to come disquiets him. A person comes into this state in proportion as he comes into love to the Lord" (AC 8455).

     In this fifteenth and final report of my episcopacy, Freya and I gratefully acknowledge the Lord's presence in His church, sensing a time of peace and joy in the ongoing uses of the General Church.
     As this report is being written we are in our sixth week of retirement, surviving the many mental and physical adjustments incurred by this change. Our confidence in Bishop Buss and his lovely wife Lisa adds to our good feeling for the welfare of the church, and their proposed use of us in the year to come is quite exciting to contemplate. So we look forward to doing many of the things that we have done in the past but without the awesome responsibility of the episcopal office on our shoulders.
     One of the familiar teachings in the Writings describes the true church on earth as one with the Lord's kingdom of heaven. I think we all sense, from time to time, the delights of heaven in the uses of the church, particularly when there is a minimum of self-consciousness and self-centeredness. Looking back, Freya and I remember so many wonderful, happy times when members of the church, old and young, joined together in expressions of love to the Lord and to each other. These precious times come to all of us intermittently when we truly can look to what is from the Lord in each other and work for the establishment of His church on earth.

501



     "They who in the life of the body have received the Divine things of the Lord, that is, His love toward the universal human race, and consequently they who have received charity toward the neighbor, and also they who have received reciprocal love to the Lord, are in the other life endowed with intelligence and wisdom, and with indescribable happiness for they become angels and thus truly men" (AC 4220).
     "It is provided by the Lord, who is Jehovah from eternity and the creator of the universe, that the state of a person who conjoins himself with Him by a life according to His commandments, is more blessed and happy after death than before it in the world; and that it is the more blessed and happy from the fact that the person is then spiritual, and the spiritual person sensates and perceives spiritual delight, which is preeminently above natural delight, exceeding it a thousandfold" (CL 29e).
     Surely the General Assembly, so vivid in the memories of many of us, was a foretaste of what the Writings are speaking of in the above numbers. In the Lord's Providence the New Church will continue to grow and flourish on the earth. May the General Church be a genuine embodiment of this spiritual communion of angels and men.
     Affectionately,
          Louis and Freya
ACTIVITIES STATISTICS OF THE BISHOP 7/1/90 to 6/30/91 1991

ACTIVITIES STATISTICS OF THE BISHOP 7/1/90 to 6/30/91       Louis B. King       1991

As Bishop of the General Church
Annual Council of the Clergy meetings-3 services
Bishop's Consistory meetings-13
Bishop's Council meetings-2
Bishop's Representatives meetings-5
Board and Corporation meetings-5
British Assembly

502




     Episcopal visits-25
31st General Assembly-1 service
Inaugurations into priesthood-4
Joint Council meeting
Ordination into second degree1
Total services conducted on episcopal visits (festival, public and private-88
Worship and Ritual Committee meetings-weekly

     General Church in Canada
Episcopal visits-3
Canadian Ministers' meetings
General Church in Canada meeting
Total services conducted on episcopal visits (festival, public and private)-5

     As Chancellor of the Academy
Board and Corporation meetings-7
College chapel-9
Secondary Schools chapel-9
Teaching assignment: Applied Theology 1-Studies from the Arcana on the Glorification
                    Theology 1C-Formative States of the Human
                    Theology 1D-the Glorification
Theological School Faculty meetings-9

     Ministrations in Bryn Athyn
Arcana classes-Tuesday evenings
Bryn Athyn Church School worship-3
Cairnwood Village classes-Wednesday mornings
Society doctrinal classes-2
Total services conducted (festival, public and private)-44
     Louis B, King,
          Bishop

503


Editorial Pages 1991

Editorial Pages       Editor       1991

     A BOOK ABOUT ANGELS

     Something that annoys me, even appalls me, is the way Swedenborg is ignored in some religious studies. Brian Kingslake once wrote: "There was (and still is) a conspiracy of silence about Emanuel Swedenborg." Mr. Kingslake's book Swedenborg Explores the Spiritual Dimension has been published in an attractive revised form under the title Inner Light. It is put out by J. Appleseed and Co., 3200 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. In the preface we read of how some have treated Swedenborg.
     "They boycotted him intellectually, ignoring his ideas, excluding his teachings from the syllabus of their theological seminaries, pretending he never existed!" I have complained in past editorials of the way Swedenborg is omitted in studies about angels. (See for example the December editorial, 1985.)
     Dr. Billy Graham published a book in 1975 entitled Angels. He deplored the fact that so little has been written about angels. (He does not mention Swedenborg.) And so what a pleasure it was to look at a new book entitled Angels, Ministers of Grace. It is by Geddes MacGregor, published in 1988 by Paragon House, New York.
     The news is good! Swedenborg is not ignored. One of the chapters of the book begins with a quotation from n. 229 of Heaven and Hell about the power of angels. Swedenborg is mentioned as one who "deviated singularly from prevailing theological opinion." I am just getting into this book of over 200 pages, but I don't want to delay the mention of its existence. Here is a quote, beginning on Page 88:

Perhaps no one in the history of humankind has written about angels with such matter-of-fact nonchalance as has Swedenborg.

504


In the latter part of his life he lived in a world peopled with angels. It was a world in many ways strangely like the one with which we are familiar, yet one in which the spiritual state of the inhabitants dictates the entire scenario. It is the combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar that at first startles us as we come to grips with Swedenborg's writings about the angelic world. The angels do not only speak; they write. Angelic writing is very different from human writing; for example, he tells us, in the inmost or highest heaven the angels express affections with vowels; with consonants they express the ideas that spring from the affections; and with words they express the total communication that they wish to make. He assures us that in angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say. Angelic writing reflects, moreover, the extraordinarily ductile quality of angelic speech. Angelic speech is audible, for angels, like ourselves, have mouths and tongues and ears. They breathe, too; but all this occurs in a spiritual atmosphere adapted to their angelic nature. The tones of their speech reflect their affections, the words or vocal articulations correspond to the thoughts that spring from their affections. Yet he goes on to tell us that, having conversed often with angels, sometimes as friend to friend, sometimes as stranger to stranger, angelic language has nothing in common with human language except that their sounds are the sounds of specific affections. Angels cannot speak human language. It is impossible for them to do so not only because it is too cumbersome and discursive, but because they can utter only that which expresses with perfect sincerity the love that is in them, whence issues their grandeur, their beauty, and their power. Angelic speech, he says, is an indescribable symphony.

Angels, however, as Swedenborg depicts them, have no power of themselves. They are but agents of the Almighty, the Eternal One. If an angel were to doubt whence his power comes he would instantly become so weak that he could not resist a single evil spirit. "For this reason angels ascribe no merit whatever to themselves, and are averse to all praise and glory on account of anything they do, ascribing all the praise and glory to the Lord."

505




What is evident over and over again in Swedenborg is that the angels in the spiritual world, although they are ordered in various ranks, are all real entities and far superior to man. He does not invent a race of imaginary beings for the composition of a poetic allegory. To back up his own experience of how the spiritual world impinges on the empirical one he quotes the Bible: "David saw the angel that smote the people."

Man has freedom, according to Swedenborg, but only because of the equilibrium of heaven and hell between which he is poised. This God-given freedom makes it possible for humanity, which is born into a morass of evils of every sort, to be redeemed by love, which makes possible our liberation from bondage. This liberation is not easily attained, however, for the love that effects it entails sacrifice: the sacrifice of self. But if love entails such a sacrifice, surely the angels can be no strangers to it, being plainly within its swirl.

     CONVEYING THE SENSE OF THE WRITINGS

     It is clear from the mail coming in that many people are interested in the work of conveying the sense of the Writings. Here is a recent effort to convey AC 453, but first the end of AC 452, which gives a beautiful definition of heaven.

     "It is a heartfelt wanting better for others than for self, a serving others for the sake of their own happiness, for no selfish reason, but out of love.
     "Some people have such a crude idea of heaven that they think getting in is all that matters. They see heaven as a gathering to which one is admitted when the door is opened, when they are let in by the doorkeepers."

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     You may be familiar with this in the following rendering:

     "Heaven consists in this, that from the heart we wish better for others than for ourselves, and desire to be of service to others in order to promote their happiness, and this for no selfish end, but from love.
     Some entertain so gross an idea of heaven that they suppose it to be mere admission, in fact that it is a room into which they are admitted through a door, which is opened, and then they are let in by doorkeepers.

     Compare the above to John Elliott's rendering:

     "Heaven consists in a heartfelt desire that things shall be better for others than for oneself and a desire to serve others and further their happiness, doing so with no selfish intention but out of love.
     "Some have so crude an idea of heaven that they think it is simply a matter of being let in. They even think of it as a room they are let into through a door which is opened, and that they are ushered in by those who are doorkeepers there."
CONCERNING THE WORD 1991

CONCERNING THE WORD        Heulwen M. Ridgway       1991

Dear Editor:
     Rev. K. P. Nemitz' article, "One Word or Three-or Five?" in the February 1991 issue of NCL was most thought-provoking. I had been hoping for comment such as this since my first article on this subject appeared in the May 1990 issue.
     I was very interested to read that Rev. Cairns Henderson wrote on the fivefold Word when I was a young girl, and would be pleased to study his article if I could obtain a copy of it,

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     Mr. Nemitz and I are obviously in agreement on many points, including that the term "the Word" is used in one sense to mean all Divine revelation and in another sense to mean the Word for a particular church.
     One important point in his article is unclear to me, however. On p. 69 he states that the Writings have "a soul and a body, a spiritual and a natural sense." Then on p. 73 he states that "the 'clouds of heaven' spoken of in the book of Revelation are not the letter of the Writings but of the Old and New Testaments." Since the Lord made His Second Coming in the clouds of heaven, or sense of the letter of the Word, and in the glory, or spiritual sense, the latter statement implies that the Old and New Testaments are the sense of the letter and the Writings are the spiritual sense. Thus, his two statements appear to be at variance.
     The Writings say clearly that the ultimate of all Divine truth is signified by a cloud (see AC 9406:3, 9430, 10574:12, AR 24:4, AE 36, 594). In any case, we would be in considerable trouble if the "clouds" applied exclusively to the Old and New Testaments, and the "glory" only to the Writings, as we would not be able to understand anything of the Writings unless we were regenerated, for " . . . the internal sense, which is called 'glory,' cannot be comprehended by man unless he is regenerated, and then enlightened" (AC 8106:2).
     In my May 1990 and February 1991 articles it was not implied that the Writings could have been given without the previous revelations first having been given in their order; this would have been contrary to Divine order.
     Certainly the Word is essentially one, but the value to us of each dispensation of the Word is open to discussion. The essentials of previous revelations have been implanted in the Word for the New Church, for the use of this church as with the previous Words, where all that was essential for the previous churches was carried forward.

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In no way does this suggest that the interiors of the Word, which is the Lord Himself, can be divided. But it is clear that the presentation, or manifestation, of that one interior was accommodated in a different form to the state of each dispensation. (Compare the different modes of revelation to the successive churches, as described in AC 10355.)
     Miss Heulwen M. Ridgway,
          Canberra, Australia
SAYING IT SIMPLY 1991

SAYING IT SIMPLY       E. Bruce Glenn       1991

Dear Editor:
     The proposal of Rev. Messrs. Frank Rose and Jan Weiss to prepare and issue "simplified" versions of the Heavenly Doctrines (NCL June) is based, it appears to me, on a series of assumptions each of which can be challenged. I want to address one of their points which, to me, is enough to reject the proposal. I cite:
     . . . suddenly we realized we had been reading and studying the Writings in that simplified mode all the time. We skip over the text all the time. We never read every word and number . . . . Laymen read the Writings in the same way (NCL June 1991, pp. 264-5).
     If this is true of all of us all the time, I am dismayed. But that is not the point. If indeed it is true that we all skip around in our personal (or priestly) reading of the doctrines, all the more reason to preserve them in their written fullness, and to turn regularly to them as they were set down by Divine command.
     I thank you for the examples of "simplification" that you published in the August issue (p. 365-7). Incidentally, the first one is no simplification at all, but the full text from the original
Latin as newly rendered in John Elliott's translation of Arcana Coelestia.

509


It may or may not be found easier or more understandable than the standard version printed two pages later, but we should be careful what we term a "simplification" achieved by leaving things out.
     It is in passages 3 and 4 of your examples that the danger and confusion of simplifying or modernizing are aptly displayed. In both of them Swedenborg used the Latin term proprium, translated by the same term, distinctive in English, in the standard edition. What have your simplifiers used? In 3 the term is "personality, and in 4, "ego." Do they mean the same thing? Does either of them say the same thing as "proprium"? ("Your sister has a delightful proprium"! "His proprium stands out a mile"!)
     The essential question is that if we are to publish simplified versions of the doctrines, whose simplifications shall we choose? Frank Rose's? Jan Weiss's? Bruce Glenn's? Joe Doakes's?
     E. Bruce Glenn,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS 1991

SIMPLIFYING THE WRITINGS       Patrick L. Johnson       1991

Dear Editor:
     I was interested in what was said on this subject in your June issue, and welcome the efforts to make Swedenborg more accessible. I also have respect for the cautious reactions in the August issue, but do not feel the doubts expressed are really necessary.
     I believe much of the doubt felt about proposals such as those made is the result of an ingrained supposition that all Divine revelation has a fixed ultimate material form. Rather as the medieval church imagined Jerome's Latin Vulgate was sacred and the English-speaking world imagined the Authorized Version was inviolate, we are in danger of allowing ourselves to assume that English translations can be near-perfect transcriptions of Divine revelation.

510


While the Writings teach that this was so in the case of the Hebrew Word, they do not seem to me to convey that the same applies to the Greek of the New Testament or the Latin of the Writings, and certainly not to translations of them.
     I suggest that it is worth noting how carefully Swedenborg avoids discussing any such entity as the "letter of the Word" and sticks doggedly to the more cumbersome "sense of the letter of the Word" (see SS 27-69)-a case where careless "simplification" would be dangerous. He says that the celestial and spiritual senses are contained in the sense of the letter, not in the letter itself. In AC 241 he even suggests that those who pay too much attention to the "words" will miss the "sense." Hence we are surely free to change the letter as long as we do our best not to change the sense. I would suggest that simplification of sentence construction and avoidance of repetition do not necessarily change "the sense."
     Today the Vulgate or the Authorized Version no longer rule the roost; we accept that the Word can be expressed in many ways. Beside my desk there are half a dozen different versions of the Bible which I use for different purposes, while my children have made fruitful use of other, heavily abridged and simplified editions. Why should we not (in time) have a similar range of editions of the Writings? There is surely a use for "Good News" versions of the Writings among the young or less studious.
     Perversely, what I would like are more complicated versions-something like my Eyre and Spottiswood Study Bible where the footnotes are as long as the text, noting anachronisms and offering background material and cross references for which the most skillful translation is not a substitute. The common theory is that the Writings can only be made more understandable by making them "readable," hence simpler. I suggest they could also be made more understandable by offering variant readings, notes and commentary.

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That is not likely to come about in my time, but I hope "simplified" versions may.
     Patrick L. Johnson,
          London, England
Bruce Powell 1991

Bruce Powell       Editor       1991

Dear Editor:
     Although I am a college graduate with two degrees in electrical engineering, I have often thought that the current translations of the Writings are hard to understand. The thought has occurred to me, "If they are hard for me to read, how must they be for others lacking my level of education, or, perhaps, not as well endowed with intellect, or not having the innate desire to read and comprehend these books?"
     Swedenborg has taught us that the previous testaments were "accommodated" to the customs and intellect of the people at the time they were written. (Please forgive the lack of scriptural references. I am a student of Swedenborg, not a scholar.) Why should we assume it is not so with the Writings?
     I have read with pleasure the excerpts under the title "Saying It Very Simply" in recent issues of NCL. I also enjoyed the poetical offerings printed last year(?). I feel all such efforts are worthwhile. The New Church's responsibility, as I see it, is to provide a repository in this world for the Writings and to get the truths out into the world to those who do not yet have them.
     Now the question becomes how best to do these things. Certainly, to do the first, accurate translations which are as faithful to the original text as possible are needed. Also we need those who know the ancient languages well enough to make such scholarly determinations.
     However, the dissemination of truth does not depend on perfectly accurate translations. It depends more on availability and accessibility. Precise translations might be readily available in dentists' offices (!) as well as libraries but will do little good if unread.

512


They might even turn people off to the embedded truths because the books are too "elitist."
     On the other hand, if translations which read easily but still capture the essence of the truths, if not all the subtleties and nuances, are not readily available, they will not be read either. But at least they will do no harm.
     Now let's consider what happens if a person picks up a readily available book, finds it easy reading, and finds some truths which strike a chord in his/her heart. Has something good happened? I think so. Will it lead to a better world? Not instantly, but eventually. Will the General Church be disadvantaged? That depends on how the church rises to the evangelization and assimilation of, for want of a better term, the gentiles-i.e., the newcomers, inquirers, etc.
     If we continue to use exclusionary tactics-special Latin-based words without explanation, grilling people about their ancestry in the General Church, and harping on the heresies of the Old Church-the General Church will likely be remembered as the organization from which the New Church emerged in spite of itself, sort of like the Christian Church emerged from Judaism, certainly not with the intention or blessing of the latter!
     Do you think that the tens of millions of present-day Christians might be somewhat justified in thinking Swedenborgians to be a bit arrogant in insisting that the Christian Church and all its traditions and doctrines have been supplanted by a couple dozen books which the Swedenborgians alone know about? If we wish this position to appear more reasonable, the truths in the Writings must become more generally known and understood so that they speak for themselves. It seems to me the proper strategy is to make the truths available in the simplest form possible. Keep in mind that today's citizen is not given to reading to begin with. Many do not read at a high school level, even with a college degree. We must accommodate these people or admit that we are elitist.

513



     The excerpts in NCL are an excellent start in this direction. But my next question is, "How will they be presented to the public? In book form? Many people will not read books. In pamphlet form? Good, but who will distribute them and how to assure widespread dissemination among the gentiles? TV? Great, but what is the format and where does the money come from?"
     I am encouraged that these issues are finally being addressed by our members. Let us look to the future and imagine what can be (or better, what must be!) rather than look to our roots and think of what we have been. We are at an important point in history. Russia is metamorphosing; greed, self-indulgence, and sensuality in all forms have emerged to challenge traditional beliefs and family and church values. A recent survey revealed that Christian churches are experiencing membership growth but less blind allegiance from the members in matters of faith.
     The smoke will not go back into the bottle. We must address the world as it is today, not as it has been. That means new ways of doing things. No one way is "right." It will take a wide variety of "right ways" to bring about the changes necessary. If we do, in fact, have God's truth in our beloved Writings, we owe it to Him to make these truths available to as many people in all countries and walks of life as humanly possible.
     If we plant the garden, we can trust Him to make it grow. It seems to me that making the Writings available and accessible moves the seed from rocky ledges to fertile soil. Simplicity is one right way. Let's get on with it.
     On a related note, I think that an electronic bulletin board would be an excellent way to both simplify the Writings in an expeditious manner and to begin the dispersal to people outside the General Church. The board would provide means for people throughout at least the U. S. and Canada to jointly "translate" and edit the Writings. As the word got out, non-NC people would join in to read and discuss. The concept is delicious!

514


I would like to hear some discussion on this topic. Or if such a conference already exists somewhere, please let me know about it-I don't want to miss out any longer!
     Bruce Powell,
          Franklin, Virginia
MICHAEL CHURCH CENTENARY 1991

MICHAEL CHURCH CENTENARY       Marjorie S. Warwick       1991

Dear Editor:
     Your readers may be interested to know that Michael Church, London, England, will be celebrating the centenary of the church building next year.
     Our official celebratory programme starts at the New Church Day weekend 20-21 June, 1992: Saturday, a banquet with speeches-Victorian dress, possibly Victorian speeches??; Sunday, a special re-dedication service, and afterwards a picnic lunch with Victorian games!
     The other official date is our Harvest Festival Sunday on the 4th of October (a dual Thanksgiving service). Members of the local community will be invited to come to this special service.
     Former pastors of Michael Church have been invited to join us at these times, and we hope to see most of them on at least one occasion.
     As well as these two main events there will be an ongoing exhibition throughout the summer of old photographs, etc., and a booklet of the history of Michael Church will be available, which we hope will be of interest to all.
     An Anniversary Fund has been launched, the proceeds of which we hope will provide something to beautify the church; if anyone would like to donate a little something to this fund we would appreciate it most gratefully.
     Finally, we extend an invitation to all our friends to come and join us in our celebrations of 100 years of worship in Michael Church, Great Britain.
     Marjorie S. Warwick,
          Harrow, Middlesex, England

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Church News 1991

Church News       Ruth Motum Greenwold       1991

COLCHESTER, ENGLAND

     In January a new baby for Beth and Paul Appleton brought Beth's parents, Bill and Anne Fuller, over from Glenview to be here at this happy time. While here, Anne gave a talk about her work with the radio station WMWA in Glenview.
     Early February our oldest member reached his 100th birthday. Mr. Norman Motum enjoyed being the center of a party at his senior Citizens home, Ballrerne Gardens, with family, friends and the mayor and mayoress of Colchester. The Queen sent a congratulatory tele-message.
     At a young adults weekend in February, after classes and outings, a Valentine's dance was enjoyed by all the society.
     Annual social events now include the table tennis and snooker tournament, the military whist drive, and the society picnic (this year held at Fasboume Hall, Suffolk, home of Ruth and Ken Davies).
     Our minister, Rev. Chris Bown, has made trips to Holland, Sweden and France. He has also exchanged pulpits with the London Society. We have had weekly doctrinal classes and one group took a spiritual growth course.
     The evangelization group in Colchester undertook to deliver 2,000 invitation leaflets to our Easter service to homes around the church. At the previous harvest and Christmas times flyers had also been delivered. Our society was well represented by seven members of the congregation at the General Assembly in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA in June 1991. From all accounts this was a wonderful event and much enjoyed.
     On 27th July the wedding took place of Mr. David Glover and Miss Sally Marchant. Held in a church in Colchester's town center with Mr. Bown officiating, the wedding procession then moved to the Moot Hall, in the Town Hall in Colchester's High Street. Here a very happy celebration took place with all their family and friends. We wish them joy to eternity.
     Two couples reached silver (25 years) anniversaries of their wedding day. Ruth and Sean Evans and Ruth and Ken Davies were given presents by the society to mark these occasions. In September Owen and Winifred Pryke celebrate their golden (50 years) anniversary of happy marriage. We extend our loving wishes to them all.
     Ruth Motum Greenwold

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ETHICS STUDY GUIDE 1991

ETHICS STUDY GUIDE       Editor       1991

(continued from p. 499)

What is the essential problem with the doctor-patient relationship as it exists today?
What does "follow your bliss" mean to you?
What is your definition of evil?
These are just a few of the questions for thought and discussion included in the study guide prepared by Grant Schnarr after reading the latest issue of Chrysalis on the topic of ethics. Send for yours today.
     For a copy of the Ethics Study Guide, send $1 (to cover postage and handling) to the Swedenborg Foundation, 139 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010.

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Stories for children and young adults 1991

Stories for children and young adults       Editor       1991

Stories for children and young adults

Invisible Police
In the King's Service
Heaven's Happiness
Golden Heart & Other Stories
Life to Come
Pomegranate with Seeds of Gold
Evangeline's Way
Visit from Johnny Appleseed & Other Stories
Willie Harper's Two Lives
Wedding Garment
Wonder Footprints
Magic Spectacles
     General Church Book Center
Box 743, Cairncrest
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
     Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Phone: (215) 947-3920

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Notes on This Issue 1991

Notes on This Issue       Editor       1991



522




     Notes on This Issue

     The late Cairns Henderson wrote the piece called "Tidings of Great Joy." Contemplating the good news of the Lord's birth, some readers were struck with an unusual piece in the San Diego newsletter, New Church Invitation. The pastor was anticipating a new person in his family and shared some of his musings. We are publishing these on p. 524, and we are glad to say that the little girl was subsequently born and is doing fine.
     This is the last issue of the year, and we notice that there are items we have been postponing from month to month. The editor's report, for example, has fallen to the bottom of priority list each month, and here we are about ready for the 1991 report! It certainly has been a year with many good things waiting to be published.
     984 is the figure we come to when we add up all the students from the various elementary schools and the Academy schools. (See p. 541.)
     A European assembly is coming up next summer (see p. 542).


     POSITION AVAILABLE

     The Academy of the New Church College invites interested parties to apply for the position of Director of Physical Education and Athletics, Athletic Coach, and Instructor of Physical Education.
     Please indicate whether full or part-time employment is desired.
     Send resume to Margaret Y. Gladish, Dean of Women, Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     Girls School Announcement - see page 568.

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GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY 1991

GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1991

     The news of the Lord's birth was proclaimed as "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people," yet it was announced only to certain shepherds. Others in Bethlehem may have known that a child had been born. But they knew not who He was, and eventually He was rejected by a people, the coming of whose longed-for Messiah would have been good tidings for none but themselves. This paradox was to continue.
     It was to restore the knowledge of God that the Lord came, to teach men how to love and worship Him, and to show that Only as they did so could there be genuine peace and happiness within and among men. This was indeed the greatest tidings that could be brought to all people. But with few exceptions, men, loving themselves alone, had ceased to look to God as the source of life, had forsaken Him in their supposed self-sufficiency, had lost all knowledge of Him, and had put their trust in man. And when men do this, freedom is displaced by tyranny; hatred, strife, war and cruelty follow as the price of ambition or security.
     In the world today there are men of good will who are striving sincerely to found a lasting peace among the nations, to establish justice and equity in the state, and to promote true kindness between man and man; and we do not doubt that the Lord will operate through their labor, as far as He may. But the final truth is as yet known only to a few, and perhaps not fully understood and loved by all of them: the truth that only as men learn to love the Lord more than themselves will they so love one another as to live together in true love. But as that truth is extended, all people will find in it the true joy.

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ANTICIPATING A NEW PERSON 1991

ANTICIPATING A NEW PERSON       Rev. NATHAN D. GLADISH       1991

     Our household is expecting a baby. In fact, there are a whole lot of people waiting for the news of this baby's birth!-church friends, our children's teachers and classmates and their parents, our babysitter (equipped with a pager just in case), relatives far and wide (Won't the phone company like that?), our neighbors across the street, people my wife meets on walks ("Twins?"), cashiers, gas station attendants, waiters, and of course the midwife at the birthing center, the nurse, the secretary, and the insurance company. The list goes on. Lots of people know this birth is about to happen! Not that it's a big deal or anything-just an ordinary birth of an ordinary baby. This sort of thing happens all around the world probably many times a minute. What is the birth rate nowadays anyway? No big deal.
     No big deal?! A new person! A new creation! A new potential angel! In fact, it's nothing short of extraordinary, as is every single birth! What a blessing to be entrusted with this gift of life. A new person!
     It warms my heart to think of all the friends who are excited about the birth of our "new person." He or she is coming into a world of loving people.
     I know another group of people eagerly expecting the arrival of a new person. The mother has experienced many births, and she is as youthful as ever. She looks forward to the next one more than the last. For her the preparation is a labor of love. There is no greater delight to her than to welcome newcomers, to nurture them and to show them care. This mother has a love for new people that knows no racial or ethnic boundaries. She has tremendous patience, loves to be a part of personal growth, and radiates a welcome glow.
     Who is this fantastic mother?

525


She is actually a network of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, co-workers, friends and acquaintances of one spiritual household. She is a friend in the congregation who gives comfort after a loss. She is a Sunday school teacher who encourages a new outlook. She is a peer who is delighted to hear a story about personal growth. She is a thoughtful individual with a kind word and a bright smile. She is anyone who anticipates in a positive way what is good in another human being.
     This mother is the heavenly network of all good people who love to welcome new family members into their spiritual home. This mother is the Lord's church in heaven and on earth. She is eagerly anticipating each new person who comes to her. She wants to give each one her undivided attention and love.
     How heartwarming to think of our congregation as part of this nurturing, supportive group eagerly preparing for the arrival of people who want and need what we can offer to assist in their spiritual birth.
     Like all who anticipate the arrival of a new baby, each of us in the congregation has a vital part to play in the process of welcoming people into new awareness of the spiritual world. Isn't it exciting to anticipate new spiritual births in each other as well as in people new to our congregation? It gives new meaning to the words of our Lord, "Let the little children [new people, new states of mind] come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of God."
MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENT 1991

MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENT       Editor       1991

The Academy of the New Church Board of Directors has approved the appointment of the Reverend Brian W. Keith as Dean of the Academy of the New Church Theological School effective July 1, 1992.

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GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM DIRECTORY 1991

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM DIRECTORY       Editor       1991

     1991-1992


     Officials and Councils


Bishop:                Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
Bishop Emeritus:           Rt. Rev. Louis B. King
                    Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
Acting Secretary:      Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh


     Consistory

     Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
Rt. Rev. Louis B. King; Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Kurt H. Asplundh, Christopher D. Bown, Eric H. Carswell, Geoffrey S. Childs, Daniel W. Goodenough, Daniel W. Heinrichs, Geoffrey H. Howard, Robert S. Junge, Brian W. Keith, Thomas L. Kline, Donald L. Rose, Frank S. Rose, Erik Sandstrom, Frederick L. Schnarr, Grant R Schnarr, Lorentz R. Soneson, and Louis D. Synnestvedt


     "GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM"


     (A Corporation of Pennsylvania)


     Officers of the Corporation


President:                Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
Vice President:           Rt. Rev. Louis B. King
Secretary:                Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh
Treasurer:                Mr. Neil M. Buss
Assistant Treasurer:      Mr. Bruce A. Fuller
Controller:           Mr. Ian K Henderson

     BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CORPORATION


Rt. Rev. Peter M Buss, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King; Edward F. Allen, Jr., Margaret I. Baker, Peter H. Boericke, Eyvind H. Boyesen, Theodore W. Brickman, Jr., Barbara Tryn G. Clark, Sonia S. Doering, Henry R Dunlap, Roy B. Evans, Theodore C. Farrington, B. Reade Genzlinger, Terry K Glenn, Geraldo C. Gomes, Glenn H. Heilman, Thelma P. Henderson, Hugh D. Hyatt, Dennis M. Kuhl, Michael G. Lockhart, Kim U. Maxwell, Robert D. Merrell, Duncan B. Pitcairn, William B. Radcliffe, Bruce A. Reuter, Brian L. Schnarr, Roger W. Schnarr, S. Brian Simons, James G. Uber, Gerald G. Waters, Dan H. Woodard, Phillip R Zuber
     Honorary Life Member:      Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
     Ex Officio Members:      Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
                    Rt. Rev. Louis B. King
                    Mr. Neil M. Buss


     BISHOPS


Buss, Peter Martin. Ordained June 19, 1964; 2nd degree, May 16, 1966; 3rd degree, June 1, 1986. Served as Assistant Bishop of the General Church until June 30, 1991. Confirmed by the 31st General Assembly as Executive Bishop of the General Church, effective July 1, 1991.

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Serves therefore as General Pastor of the General Church, Chancellor of the Academy of the New Church, President of the General Church in Canada, and President of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Incorporated. Address: P.O. Box 711, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

King, Louis Blair. Ordained June 19, 1951; 2nd degree, April 19, 1953; 3rd degree, November 5, 1972. Served 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 of the New Jerusalem, Incorporated, until June 30, 1991. Served as Bishop Emeritus from July 1, 1991. Assisted the Executive Bishop's office in non-administrative functions, providing support for pastors and administering development reports; giving counsel to the General Church offices in Cairncrest; teaching and preaching in Bryn Athyn; traveling to societies, and representing the bishop, especially at the dedication of the Buccleuch Church in Transvaal, South Africa. Address: P.O. Box 743. Bryn Athyn, PA 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: P.O. Box 338, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     PASTORS

Acton, Alfred. Ordained June 19, 1964; 2nd degree, October 30, 1966. Continues to serve as an instructor in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School Chairman of the General Church Translation Committee and Visiting Pastor to Connecticut Circle. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Alden, Glenn Graham. Ordained June 19, 1974; 2nd degree, June 6, 1976. Continues to serve as resident pastor of the Northwestern District of Canada, resident in Dawson Creek and Visiting Pastor to Crooked Creek. Calgary, Oyen, Red Deer and Edmonton, Alberta. Canada. Address: 9013 8th Street, Dawson Creek, B.C., Canada V1G 3N3.

Alden, Kenneth James. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree May 16, 1982. Continues to serve as Principal of the Carmel Church School and Assistant to the Pastor of the Carmel Church in Canada. Address: 107 Evenstone Road, RR 2, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

Alden, Mark Edward. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree May 17, 1981. Currently unassigned. Has received medical degree and is doing his residency. Address: 2959 Sycamore Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.

Asplundh, Kurt Horigan. Ordained June 19, 1960, 2nd degree, June 19, 1962. Continues to serve as Pastor of Bryn Athyn Society and Bishop's Representative. He is also Acting Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School. Address: P.O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Barnett, Wendel Ryan. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, June 20, 1982. Continues to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society. Address: P.O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Bau-Madsen, Arne. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, June 11, 1978. Continues to serve as Associate Pester to Kanpton, and Visiting Pastor to the Wallenpaupack Circle, and as a translator. Address: Box 527, Rt. 1, Lenhartsville, PA 19534.

Bown, Christopher Duncan. Ordained June 18, 1978; 2nd degree, December 23, 1979. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Colchester Society and Senior Pastor for Great Britain and Bishop's Representative for Great Britain, Holland and France. Address: 2 Christ Church Ct., Colchester, Essex, England C03 3AU.

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Boyesen, Bjorn Adolph Hildemar. Ordained June 19, 1939; 2nd degree, March 30, 1941. Retired, on active assignment. Continues to serve as a translator of the Writings from Latin to modern Swedish, as Pastor of the Jonkoping Circle and Visiting Pastor to the Copenhagen Circle. Address: 1 Brukster, Furusj , S-5661 001, Habo, Sweden.

Boyesen, Ragnar. Ordained June 19, 1972; 2nd degree, June 17, 1973. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Freeport Society. Address: 122 McKean Road, Freeport, PA 16229.

Burke, William Hanson. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree. August 13, 1983. Continues to serve as Visiting Pastor in the Southeast District and Resident Pastor of the Charlotte, North Carolina Circle. Address: 6010 Paddington Court, Charlotte, NC 28277.

Buthelezi, Ishborn. Ordained August 18, 1985; second degree, August 23, 1987. Recognized as a General Church minister November 19, 1989. Continues to serve as Resident Pastor of the Clermont Society and District Pastor in Natal. Address: P.O. Box 150, Clernaville 3602, Rep. of South Africa.

Carlson, Mark Robert. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, March 6, 1977. Continues to serve as Housemaster of Stuart Hall and instructor of religion in the Academy Secondary Schools. Address: P.O. Box 707, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Carswell, Erie Hugh. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, February 22, 1981. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society and Principal of the New Church School Address: 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208.

Chapin, Frederick Merle. Ordained June 15, 1986; 2nd degree, October 23, 1988. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Phoenix Circle and Visiting Pastor to the Albuquerque Circle. Address: 3724 E. Sahuaro Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85028.

Childs, Geoffrey Stafford. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, June 19, 1954. Continues to serve as President of the Academy of the New Church and Bishop's Representative. Address: P. O. Box 711, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Childs, Robin Waelchli. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, June 8, 1986. Continues to serve as Principal of Midwestern Academy and Assistant to the Pastor of the Immanuel Church in Glenview. Address: 2700 Park Lane, Glenview, IL 60025.

Clifford, William Harrison. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, October 8, 1978. Resigned August 15, 1986. Address: 509 Scarlett Lane #819, Lansing, MI 48917.

Cole, Robert Hudson Pendleton. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, October 30, 1966. Retired Address: P.O. Box 356, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Cole, Stephen Dandridge. Ordained June 19, 1977; 2nd degree. October 15, 1978. Continues to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Oak Arbor Society. Address: 5789 Orion Road, Rochester, MI 48306.

Cooper, James Pendleton. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, March 4, 1984. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Durban Society and Headmaster of Kainon School. Address: 30 Perth Road, Westville, 3630, Natal, Rep. S. Africa.

Cowley, Michael Keith. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, May 13, 1984. Continues to serve as Assistant Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Address: 66 Cronin Drive, Etobicoke, Ont. M9B 4V2, Canada.

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Cranch, Harold Covert. Ordained June 19, 1941, 2nd degree, October 15, 1942. Retired. Address: 501 Potter Street, Glendale, CA 91205.

Dibb, Andrew Malcolm Thomas. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, May 18, 1986. Continues to serve as Pastor of the New Church Buccleuch and Director of the ministerial training program in South Africa, Visiting Pastor to Cape Town and Kent Manor Groups and Acting Pastor to Diepkloof Society. Address: P.O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, Rep. S. Africa.

Echols, John Clark, Jr. Ordained August 26, 1978; 2nd degree. March 30, 1980. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Central Western District, and Resident Pastor of the Denver Circle. Address: Church of the New Jerusalem. Box 1065, Westminster, CO 80030.

Elphick, Frederick Charles. Ordained June 6, 1984. 2nd degree September 23, 1984. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Michael Church, London, England and Pastor of the Surrey Circle. Address: 21B Hayne Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 41A, England.

Gladish, Michael David. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, June 30, 1974. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Visiting Pastor to the Parry Sound/Muskoka Group. Address: 2 Lorraine Gardens, Etobicoke, Ontario, M9B 424, Canada.

Gladish, Nathan Donald. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, November 6, 1983. Continues to serve as Pastor of the San Diego Society and Visiting Pastor to the San Francisco Bay Area Circle. Address: 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123.

Goodenough, Daniel Webster. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd degree, December 10, 1967. Continues to serve as Dean of the Academy Theological School, Associate Professor of religion and church history in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School. As of July 1, 1992, he will become President of the Academy of the New Church. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Heilman, Andrew James. Ordained June 18, 1978; 2nd degree, March 8, 1981. Continues to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Kempton Society. Address: R. D. 2, Box 172, Kempton. PA 19529.

Heinrichs, Daniel Winthrop. Ordained June 19, 1957; 2nd degree, April 6, 1958. Continues to serve as Resident Pastor of the New Church at Boynton Beach, Pastor of Florida District (excluding the panhandle). Served as Chairman of the Traveling Ministers' Committee. Address: 10687 El Clair Ranch Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33437.

Heinrichs, Willard Lewis Davenport. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd degree. January 26, 1969. Continues to serve as instructor in theology and religion in the Academy of the New Church Theological School and College. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Howard, Geoffrey Horace. Ordained June 19. 1961; 2nd degree, June 2, 1963. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Boston, Massachusetts Society. Address: 17 Cakebread Drive, Sudbury, MA 01776.

Junge, Kent. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, June 24, 1981. Resigned March 23, 1989. Address: 14812 N. E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98052.

Junge , Robert Schill. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree. August 11, 1957. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Hatboro-Horsham Circle and Bishop's Representative in certain developmental areas outside the U.S. Address: 851 W. Bristol Road, Ivyland, PA 18974.

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Keith, Brian Walter. Ordained June 6. 1976; 2nd degree. June 4, 1978. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Immanuel Church in Glenview, President of the Midwestern Academy, and Bishop's Representative for the Midwest United States. As of July 1, 1992, he will become Dean of the Academy of the New Church Theological School Address: 73 Park Drive, Glenview, IL 60025.

King, Cedric. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree. November 27, 1980. Continues to serve as Pastor of the El Toro Circle and Visiting Pastor to the Seattle Circle and the Portland Group.
Address: 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630.

Kline, Thomas Leroy. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, June 15, 1975. Continues to serve as Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society. Address: P.O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Kwak, Dzin Pyung. Ordained June 12, 1988; 2nd degree, November 11. 1990. Continues to serve as Minister of the General Church in Korea (on special assignment). Address: #B01 Sanho-Villa, 238 Shinsa-Dong. Eunpung-Ku, Seoul, Korea 122-080.

Larsen, Ottar Tromik. Ordained June 19, 1974; 2nd degree, February 16, 1977. Resigned July 31, 1987. Address: 1505 Grove Avenue, Jenkintown, PA 19046.

Mbatha, Bhekuyise Alfred. Ordained June 27, 1971; 2nd degree, June 23, 1974. Recognized as a General Church minister November 26, 1989. Resident Pastor of the Kwamashu Society and Visiting Pastor to the Hambrook Society and Dondotha and Umlazi Groups. Address: PO. Box 2701l, Kwamashu. Natal 4360, R.S.A.

McCurdy, George Daniel. Ordained Tune 25, 1967; Recognized as a priest of the New Church in the second degree July 5, 1979; received into the priesthood of the General Church June 9, 1980. Continues to serve as instructor of religion in the Academy of the New Church secondary schools, chaplain for the secondary schools. Address: P.O. Box 707, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Nemitz, Kurt Paul. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree. March 27, 1966. Unassigned. Address: 887 Middle Street, Bath, ME 04530.

Nicholson, Allison La Marr. Ordained September 9, 1979; 2nd degree, February 15, 1981. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Bath, Maine Society. Address: HCC33-Box 61N, Arrowsic.
ME 04530.

Nkabinde, Peter Piet. Ordained June 23, 1974; 2nd degree, November 13, 1977. Recognized as a General Church minister November 2, 1989. Retired as District Pastor of the Transvaal, and Resident Pastor of the Diepkloof Society as of January, 1991. Address: 2375 Diepkloof, Zone 2, Soweto, Johannesburg 2100. R.S.A.

Nobre, Cristovao Rabelo. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, August 25, 1985. Continues to serve as Resident Pastor of the Rio de Janeiro Society in Brazil Address: Rua Line Teixeira. 109 Apto 101, Rocha, Rio de Janeiro, 20970, Brazil.

Odhner, Grant Hugo. Ordained June 7. 1981; 2nd degree, May 9, 1982. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Oak Arbor Society and Principal of the Oak Arbor Society Day School Address: 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48306.

Odhner, John Llewellyn. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree, November 22, 1981. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Los Angeles Society. Address: 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214.

Orthwein, Walter Edward, III. Ordained July 22, 1973; 2nd degree, June 12, 1977.

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Continues to serve as an instructor in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Pendleton, Dandridge. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, June 19, 1954. Retired. Address: P. O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Pryke, Martin. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd degree, March 1, 1942. Retired. Address: P.O. Box 707, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Reuter, Norman Harold. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd degree, October 13, 1930. Retired. Address: 566 Anne Street, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.

Riley, Norman Edward. Recognized as a priest of the General Church January, 1978. Continues to serve as Resident Minister of the Manchester Circle and Visiting Assistant to the Pastors of Colchester, London, Letchworth and Woking. Retires from active service as of January 1, 1992. Address: 69 Harewood Road, Norden, Rochdale, OL11 5TH, England.

Rogers, Donald Kenneth. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, May 25, 1986. Resigned June 30, 1989. Address: 3601 Nessa Court SW. Smyrna, GA 30080.

Rogers, Prescott Andrew. Ordained January 26, 1986; 2nd degree. April 24, 1988. Continues to serve as a teacher in the Academy of the New Church College and Visiting Pastor to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Rose, Donald Leslie. Ordained June 16, 1957; 2nd degree, June 23, 1963. Continues to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society and Editor of New Church Life. Address: P. O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Rose, Frank Shirley. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, August 2, 1953. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Tucson Society and Bishop's Representative in the West. Address: 9233 E. Helen Street, Tucson, AZ 85715.

Rose, Patrick Alan. Ordained June 19, 1975; 2nd degree. September 25, 1977. Continues to serve as Resident Pastor of Cincinnati, Ohio Society and Visiting Pastor of the North Ohio Circle and South Ohio Circle and Southern Indiana District. Address: 785 Ashcroft Ct. Cincinnati, OH 45240.

Rose, Thomas Hartley. Ordained June 12, 1988; 2nd degree, May 21, 1989. Continues to serve as Assistant Pastor of the Washington Society, Principal of the Washington New Church School and Visiting Pastor to the Baltimore, Maryland Society. Address: 11910 Chantilly Lane, Mitchellville, MD 20721.

Sandstrom, Erik. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd degree, August 4, 1935. Retired. Address: 3566 Post Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.

Sandstrom, Erik Emanuel. Ordained May 23, 1971; 2nd degree, May 21, 1972. Continues to serve as an instructor in the Academy Theological School and College and Visiting Pastor to the North New Jersey/New York Circle. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Schnarr, Arthur Willard, Jr. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, June 19, 1983. Continues to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Hurstville, Australia Society, Address: 26 Dudley Street, Penshurst, 2222 NSW, Australia.

Schnarr, Frederick Laurier. Ordained June 19. 1955; 2nd degree, May 12, 1957. Continues to serve as Bishop's Representative for Education, Director of General Church Religion Lessons, Director of Adult Education, Permanent Chairman of the Education Council, Chairman of the Headmasters' Committee, and Editor of New Church Home. Address: Box 743, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

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Schnarr, Grant Ronald. Ordained June 12, 1983; 2nd degree, October 7, 1984. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Chicago Circle and as Director of Evangelization for the General Church.
Address: 73A Park Drive, Glenview. IL 60025.

Silverman, Raymond Joel. Ordained, June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, June 19, 1985. Continues as Pastor of the Atlanta Society. Address: 2119 Seaman Circle, Chamblee, GA 30341.

Simons, David Restyn. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd degree, June 19, 1950. Retired. Address: 561 Woodward Drive, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.

Simons, Jeremy Frederick. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, July 31, 1983. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Kempton Society and Principal of the Kempton New Church School Address: RD. 2, Box 217A, Kempton, PA 19529.

Smith, Christopher Ronald Jack. Ordained June 19, 1969; 2nd degree, May 9, 1971. Continues to serve as instructor of religion in the Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools, and head of the religion department. Address: P.O. Box 707, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Smith, Lawson Merrell. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree. February 1, 1981. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Washington Society, and Assistant Principal of the Washington New Church School Address: 3805 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville. MD 20721.

Soneson, Lorentz Ray. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree May 16, 1965. Retired. Continues to serve as Chairman of General Church Publication Committee, Chairman of the Liturgy Revision Committee, Secretary of Consistory, and Secretary of the Council of the Clergy. Address: Box 743. Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Stroh, Kenneth Oliver. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd degree, June 19, 1950. Retired. Address: P. O. Box 629, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Synnestvedt, Louis Daniel. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree. November 8, 1981. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Cannel Church Society, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Executive Vice President of the General Church in Canada, and Chairman of Information Swedenborg. Address: 58 Chapel Hill Drive, RR #2, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

Taylor, Douglas McLeod. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd degree, June 19, 1962. Continues to serve as Pastor of the Hurstville Society, Australia, and Visiting Pastor to Tamworth Circle, Australia Address: 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, 2222 NSW Australia.

Weiss, Jan Hugo. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, May 12, 1957. Unassigned; has done volunteer missionary work producing printed material and video tapes. Address: 2650 Del Vista Drive, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745.

Zungu, Aaron. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd degree. October 3, 1948. Recognized as a General Church minister November 25, 1989. Retired: still works on translation of the Writings into Zulu. Address: c/o Kent Manor Farm, P-B Ntumeni, KwaZulu 3830 R.S.A.


     MINISTERS

Ankra-Badu, William Ofei. Ordained June 15, 1986. Continues to serve as minister of the New Church, resident in Ghana. Address: P.O. Box 11305, Accra, Ghana, West Africa.

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Barry, Eugene. Ordained June 15, 1986. Resigned June 30, 1988. Address: 662 Cathedral Drive, Aptos, CA 95003.

Buss, Erik James. Ordained June 10, 1990. Assistant to the Pastor of the Immanuel Church in Glenview and Visiting Minister to the Twin Cities. Address: 156 Park Drive, Glenview, IL 60025.

de Figueiredo, Jose Lopes. Ordained October 24, 1965. Retired. Continues to give assistance to the Pastor, Vice President of the Rio de Janeiro Society in Brazil. He has been engaged in translating. Address: Rua des Isidro 155. Apt 202 Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro 20521 RJ, Brazil.

Fitzpatrick, Daniel. Ordained June 6, 1984. Resigned June 30, 1988. Address: 5845 Aurora Court, Lake Worth, FL 33643.

Gyamfi, Martin Ken. Ordained June 9, 1991. Assigned to serve in Kwahu Tafo, Oframase and Nteso Region in Ghana under the supervision of the Reverend Robert S. Junge. Address: c/o Box 11305, Accra, Ghana, West Africa.

Lindrooth, David Hutchinson. Ordained June 10, 1990. Acting Pastor of the Stockholm, Sweden Society. Address: Aladdinsvagen 27, S-161 38 Bromma, Sweden.

Mcanyana, Chester. Ordained November 12, 1989. Acting Pastor of the Alexandra Township Society. Address: 5221 Orlando East, Morta Street, Soweto 2100, R.S.A.

Pendleton, Mark Dandridge. Ordained June 9, 1991. Assistant to the Executive Vice President of the General Church in Canada. Address: 10 Evenstone Avenue, RR 2, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

Perry, Charles Mark. Ordained June 9, 1991. Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society. Address: P. O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Rogers, N. Bruce. Ordained January 12, 1969. Continues to serve as Translator, Part-time instructor in the Academy of the New Church College; Chairman of the General Church Word Committee and Secretary of the ANC Publication Committee. Head of the Committee for the Revision of the King James Version of the Word. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Rose, Jonathan Searle. Ordained May 31, 1987. Latin graduate student completing PhD program; as of July 1, 1991, full-time employee of the General Church and the Academy of the New Church, serving as Swedenborgiana Curator; General Church translator, and instructor in the Academy College. Address: P.O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Roth, David Christopher. Ordained June 9, 1991. Assistant to the Pastor of the Chicago Circle. Address: 2604 N. Racine Avenue, Apt. 1, Chicago, IL 60614.

Schorran, Paul Edward. Ordained June 12, 1983. Unassigned. Address: RD 2, Box 14, Kempton, PA 19529

     (continued on next page)

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     AUTHORIZED CANDIDATES

Appelgren, Goran Reinhold. Address: P. O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Darkwah, Simpson Kwabeng. Address: P. O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

de Padua, Mauro Santos. Address: P. O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Maseko, Jacob. Address: 8482 Zone 5. Pimville, Soweto 1808, Rep. of South Africa.

Sheppard, Leslie Lawrence. Address: P. O. Box 717, Bryn Athyn. Pennsylvania. PA 19009.

Thabede, Albert. Address: 140 Phase One, Alexandra Township, P. O. Bramley, Rep. of South Africa

Tshabalala, Reuben. Address: 1428 Zondi. P.O. Mozodo, Johannesburg, Rep. of South Africa.


     ASSOCIATE MINISTER


Nicolier, Alain. Ordained May 31, 1979; 2nd degree, September 16, 1984. Address: P. O. Box 171, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.


     EVANGELIST


Eubanks, W. Harold Address: Rt 3. Box 136, Americus, GA 31709.


     SOCIETIES, CIRCLES AND GROUPS


     Society                              Pastor or Minister
Atlanta, Georgia                    Rev. Raymond Silverman
Alexandra Township, R.S.A.           Rev. Chester Mcanyana
Baltimore, Maryland                Rev. Thomas H. Rose
Bath, Maine                     Rev. Allison L. Nicholson
Boston, Massachusetts                Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania           Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh
                              Rev. Thomas L. Kline, Assistant Pastor
                              Rev. Wendel R Barnett, Assistant to Pastor
                              Rev. C. Mark Perry, Assistant to Pastor
                              Rev. Donald L. Rose, Assistant to Pastor
Buccleueh, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Cincinnati, Ohio                    Rev. Patrick A. Rose
Clermont, Rep. of S. Africa           Rev. Ishborn Buthelezi
Colchester, England                    Rev. Christopher D. Bown
Detroit, Michigan                    Rev. Grant H. Odhner
(Oak Arbor Church)                Rev. Stephen D. Cole, Assistant to Pastor

535



Diepkloof, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Durban, Rep. S. Africa                Rev. James P. Cooper
Enkumba, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Ishborn Buthelezi
Freeport, Pennsylvania                Rev. Ragnar Boyesen
Glenview, Illinois                    Rev. Brian W. Keith
                               Rev. Erik J. Buss, Assistant to Pastor
                               Rev. Robin W. Childs, Assistant to Pastor
Hambrook, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. B. Alfred Mbatha
Hurstville, Australia               Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
                               Rev. Arthur W. Schnarr. Jr. Assistant to Pastor
Impaphala, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Ishborn Buthelezi
Kempton, Pennsylvania                Rev. Jeremy F. Simons
                               Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen, Associate Pastor
                               Rev. Andrew J. Heilman, Assistant to Pastor
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada           Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt
(Carmel Church)                    Rev. Kenneth J. Alden. Assistant to Pastor
                               Rev. Mark D. Pendleton, Asst. to Ex. VP of GCIC
Kwamashu, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. B. Alfred Mbatha
London, England (Michael Church)      Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
Los Angeles, California           Rev. John L. Odlmer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania           Rev. Eric H. Carswell
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil                Rev. Cristovao R. Nobre
                               Rev. Jose L. de Figueiredo, retired; asst. minister
San Diego, California                Rev. Nathan D. Gladish
Stockholm, Sweden                    Rev. David H. Lindrooth
Toronto, Ontario, Canada           Rev. Michael D. Gladish
(Olivet Church)                    Rev. Michael K. Cowley. Assistant Pastor
Tucson, Arizona                    Rev. Frank S. Rose
Washington, D. C.                    Rev. Lawson M. Smith
                               Rev. Thomas H. Rose, Assistant Pastor


     Circle                                   Visiting Pastor or Minister
Albuquerque, New Mexico           Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
Americus, Georgia                    Rev. Raymond Silverman
                               Mr. W. Harold Eubanks, Evangelist
Auckland, New Zealand                Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
Boynton Beach, Florida                Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Central Michigan                    Rev. Stephen D. Cole
Charlotte, North Carolina           Rev. William H. Burke
Chicago, Illinois                    Rev. Grant R Schnarr
                               Rev. David C. Roth, Assistant to Pastor
Connecticut                     Rev. Alfred Acton
Copenhagen, Denmark                Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas           Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada           Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Denver, Colorado                    Rev. J. Clark Echols
EL Toro, California                    Rev. Cedric King

536



Erie, Pennsylvania                    Rev. Stephen D. Cole
The Hague, Holland                    Rev. Christopher D. Bown
Hatboro-Horsham, Pennsylvania      Rev. Robert S. Junge
J nkping, Sweden                    Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
Lake Helen, Florida                    Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Letchworth, England                Rev. Christopher D. Bown
Manchester, England                Rev. Norman E. Riley
Montreal, Quebec, Canada           Rev. Michael K Cowley
North New Jersey/New York           Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
North Ohio                          Rev. Patrick A. Rose
Oslo, Norway                    Rev. Bj rn A. H. Boyesen
Phoenix, Arizona                    Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
Sacramento, California                Rev. Nathan D. Gladish
St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota      Rev. Erik J. Buss
San Francisco, California           Rev. Nathan D. Gladish
Seattle, Washington                    Rev. Cedric King
South Ohio                          Rev. Patrick A. Rose
Surrey, England                    Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
Tamworth, Australia                Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania           Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen


     Group                              Visiting Pastor or Minister
Accra-Tema, Ghana, W. Africa           Rev. William O. Ankra-Badu
Balfour, Rep. S. Africa           Candidates Jacob Maseko and Reuben Tshabalala
Batesville, Arkansas                    Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
Birmingham, Alabama                Rev. William H. Burke
Bonita Springs, Florida           Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Brisbane, Australia                    Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
Calgary, Alberta, Canada           Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Canberra, Australia                    Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
Cape Cod, Massachusetts           Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
Cape Town, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Carletonville, Rep. S. Africa      Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Crooked Creek, Alberta, Canada      Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas           Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
Decatur, Wilmington, Illinois      Rev. Brian W. Keith
Dondotha, Rep. of S. Africa           Rev. B. Alfred Mbatha
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada           Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Empangeni, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Erwinna, Pennsylvania                Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen
France                              Rev. Christopher D. Bown
Jacksonville, Florida               Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Kansas City, Kansas                    Rev. J. Clark Echols,Jr.
Rent Manor, Rep. of S. Africa      Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
Kwahu Tale, Ghana                    Rev. Martin K. Gyamfi
Lancaster, Pennsylvania           Rev. Prescott A. Rogers

537



Langhorne/Newtown, Pennsylvania      Rev. Jonathan S. Rose
Memphis, Tennessee                    Rev. William H. Burke
Ndlinda, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. Ishborn Buthelezi
New Hampshire                    Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
Norfolk, Virginia                    Theological School Faculty
North Central Florida                Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Nteso Region, Ghana                Rev. Martin K. Gyamfi
Oframase, Ghana                    Rev. Martin K. Gyamfi
Oral/Hot Springs, S. Dakota           Rev. J. Clark Echols, Ir.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada           Rev. Michael K. Cowley
Oxford, England                    Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
Oyen, Alberta, Canada                Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Parry Sound/Muskoka, Canada           Rev. Michael D. Gladish
Portland, Oregon                    Rev. Cedric King
Raleigh, North Carolina           Rev. William H. Burke
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada           Rev. Glenn G. Alden
Richmond, Virginia                    Theological School Faculty
Seoul, Korea                    Rev. Dzin P. Kwak
State College, Pennsylvania           Theological School Faculty
Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida      Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Umlazi, Rep. S. Africa           Rev. B. Alfred Mbatha
Vancouver, B.C, Canada                Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt
Wilmington, Delaware                Theological School Faculty


     New Assignments for Ministers

     1991-1992

     The Reverend Alfred Acton has been called to serve as Visiting Pastor to the Connecticut Circle, effective July 1st, 1991. He will continue to teach in the Academy schools.
     The Reverend Martin K. Gyamfi has been assigned to serve in Kwahu Tafo, Ofranase and Nteso Region in Ghana under the supervision of the Reverend Robert S. Junge, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Reverend Mark D. Pendleton has been appointed to serve as Assistant to the Executive Vice President of the General Church in Canada, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Reverend C. Mark Perry has been appointed to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Reverend David C. Roth has been appointed to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Chicago Circle, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Reverend Arthur W. Schnarr, Jr has been called to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Hurstville, Australia Society, effective July 1st, 1991.
     The Reverend Grant R Schnarr has been appointed to the position of Director of Evangelization effective July 1st 1991. He will continue serving, at least for the present, as Pastor of the Chicago Circle.

538


LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 1991-92 1991

LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 1991-92       Editor       1991

     Office of Education: General Church Schools Support System, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn
Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr      Director
Mrs. Neil M. Buss           Educational Consultant and Reference Center Director
Mr. Donald C. Fitzpatrick      College Advisor and Publication Chairman


Bryn Athyn:
Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh           Principal
Mr. Karl E. Parker           Vice Principal
Mr. Peter Gyllenhaal           Supervisor of Remedial & Support Uses
Mrs. Walter Orthwein (Kathy) Kindergarten
Mrs. Bruce Rogers (Kit)      Kindergarten
Mrs. Robert Zecher (Sonja)      Kindergarten (Asst.)
Mrs. Jaikoo Lee (Judy)           Kindergarten (Asst.)
Miss Gael Boatman           Grade 1
Mrs. Charles Lindrooth (Fay)      Grade 1
Mrs. Dean Morey (Robin)      Grade 1
Mrs. Claim Bostock           Grade 2
Mrs. Hugh Gyllenhaal (Ginny)      Grade 2
Mrs. George McCurdy (Lois)      Grade 2
Mrs. David Klein (Heather)      Grade 3
Miss Sheila Parker           Grade 3
Mrs. Sigfried Soneson (Judy)      Grade 3
Mrs. Willard Heinrichs (Vanessa)      Grade 4
Miss Rosemary Wyncoll           Grade 4
Mrs. Robert Kees (Linda)      Grade 5
Mrs. Prescott Rogers (Jill)      Grade 5
Mrs. John Boatman (Kirsten)      Grade 6
Mr. Wade Heinrichs           Grade 6
Mrs. Walter Childs (Elizabeth)      Intermediate/Upper Grades Assistant
Mrs. Christopher Smith (Diana)      Intermediate/Upper Grades Assistant
Mrs. David Doering (Barbara)      Grade 7Girls
Mr. Steven Irwin               Grade 7Boys
Mrs. Christopher Simons (Gail) Grade 8Girls
Mr. Glade Odhner           Grade 8Boys
Mr. Robert Eidse                Physical Education
Mrs. Robert Eidse           Physical Education
Miss Noel Klippenstein      Physical Education
Mr. Christopher Simons      Music-Director
Mrs. Steven Irwin (Margit)      Music-Primary
Mrs. Glenn Walsh (Betsy)      Accompanist
Mrs. Richard Synnestvedt (Diana)      Art
Mr. Reed Asplundh           Computer/Science
Mr. Kenneth Rose           Grade 8 Science
Mr. Karl E. Parker           Director-Children's Library and Curriculum Center
Mrs. Bradley Smith(Jid)      Librarian
Rev. Kurt Asplundh           Religion
Rev. Wendel Barnett           Religion

539



Rev. Thomas L. Kline           Religion
Rev. Mark Perry                Religion
Mrs. Amin Zacharia (Nuhad)      Tutor
Mrs. Gordon Rogers (Eileen)      Tutor
Miss Rachel Genzlinger      Tutor


Detroit:
Rev. Grant H. Odhner           Principal, Religion
Rev. Stephen D. Cole           Religion, Sacred Languages
Miss Nadine Zecher           Grades 1-3
Miss Amanda Rogers           Grades 4-6
Mrs. Dale Genzlinger (Nancy) Part-time Grades 3, 4
Mrs. Greg Clay (Cara)           Aid, Grades 3, 4

Durban:
Rev. James P. Cooper           Headmaster, Religion
Mrs. Clement Chaning-Pearce      Deputy Head, Afrikaans, English
Mrs. Luigino Berto           Grades 1-3, Music, Art
Mrs. Michael Edmunds           Grades 4-7
Mrs. Ian Andrew                Geography, History, Maths
Mrs. Bryan Lester           School Secretary


Glenview:
Rev. Brian Keith                Headmaster
Rev. Erik Buss                Religion, Greek
Rev. Robin Childs           Religion, Physical Education
Mr. R. Gordon McClarren      Principal, Math, Science
Miss Yvonne Alan           Keyboarding, Grade 8 French
Miss Laura Barger               Kindergarten, Art
Mrs. John Donnelly           Music, Physical Education
Mrs. Kent Fuller                Home room teacher Grades 7, 8
Miss Rebekah Brook           Grade 4
Miss Alison Pryke           Home room teacher, Grades 1, 2
Miss Marie Odhner           Home room teacher, Grade 3
Mrs. Russell Rose           Grade 4 Art
Mrs. Daniel Wright           Home room Grades 5, 6; History 7, 8
Mr. Rex Knauer                Grades 5-8 Art
Mrs. Brian Keith                Gifted and Resource Center
Mrs. Wayne Hyatt                Gifted
Mrs. Willard Smith           Resource Center

Kempton:
Rev. Jeremy Simons          Principal, Religion
Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen           Religion
Rev. Andrew Heilman           Religion
Mrs. Dale Glenn                Kindergarten
Miss Bryn Junge                Grades 1, 2
Miss Angels Rose                Grades 3, 4
Mr. Curtis McQueen           Grades 5, 6
Mrs. Stephen Conroy           Grades 7, 8, 9, 10
Mr. Eric Smith                Grades 7, 8, 9, 10
Mr. Mark Wyncoll                Grades 7, 8, 9, 10
Miss Kate Pitcairn           Latin

540



Mr. Yorvar Synnestvedt      Resource Person


Kitchener:
Rev. Louis Synnestvedt      Pastor
Rev. Kenneth Alden           Principal, Religion
Rev. Mark Pendleton           Religion
Mrs. Edward Friesen           Pre-kindergarten & Kindergarten
Mrs. Ernest Watts               Home room Grader 1-3, Librarian
Mrs. David Hill                Team Teacher Grades 1-6, Music, French, Env. Studies
Mrs. Roger Kuhl                Home room Grades 4-6
Mr. James Bellinger           Home room Grades 7 & 8, Physical Education
Mrs. Harry Currie           French

Pittsburgh:
Rev. Eric Carswell           Pastor/Principal, Religion
Mrs. Larkin Smith (Alix)      Grades 1-3
Mrs. James Gese (Judi)           Grades 4-6, Head Teacher
Mr. James Gese                Grades 3, 4; Physical Education
Mrs. Mark Gruber (Miriam)      Kindergarten & Pre-kindergarten

Toronto: Rev. Michael D. Gladish     Pastor, Religion
Rev. Michael K. Cowley           Asst. Pastor, Religion
Mr. Philip Schnarr           French, Grammar, History, Principal
Mrs. Gillian Parker           Kindergarten
Miss Natalie Baker           Grades 1, 2
Miss Julie Niall               Grades 3, 4, 5
Mr. Stephen Kraus           Grades 6, 7, 8
Mrs. Suzanne Pineau           French
Mrs. Debbie Cook                Music

Washington:
Rev. Thomas H. Rose           Principal, Religion, Art
Rev. Lawson M. Smith           Pastor, Religion, Geography, Child Development
Mrs. Wynne T. Hyatt           Kindergarten, French 10, Primary Physical Ed.
Miss Erin Junge                Grades 1, 2; Music and Art
Mrs. John Allen                Grade 3, Physical Education 4-10
Mrs. Edward Sprinkle           Grades 4-6, History, Language Arts, Literature, Word Processing
Mrs. Fred Waelchli           Grades 7-10, Mathematics, Science
Mrs. Edward Simons           Literature, History
Mrs. David Cowley               Woodshop
Mrs. George Cooper           Art
Mrs. William Radcliffe           Librarian

Midwestern Academy (MANC):
Rev. Brian Keith                President, Religion
Rev. Robin Childs           Principal, Religion
Mr. R. Gordon McClarren      Math, Science
Yvonne Alan                French, English, History, Broadcasting, Word Processing
Connie Donnelly                Music, Physical Education
Jerry Fuller                History, Math
Connie Smith                Stained Glass

541





     SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS


     1991-1992


     The Academy


Theological School (Full-time)          11
College (Full-time)                     120
Girls School                          94
Boys School                          94
Total Academy                               319


     Midwestern Academy
Grades 9 & 10                              6


     Local Schools
Bryn Athyn                               354
Detroit                              22
Durban                              27
Glenview                               56
Kempton                              69
Kitchener                               44
Pittsburgh                               29
Toronto                              22                              
Washington                               36
Total Local Schools                         569
Total Reported Enrollment in All Schools           984
HEAVEN AND HELL IN SPANISH 1991

HEAVEN AND HELL IN SPANISH       Editor       1991

     The Swedenborg Foundation has received the first shipment from Argentina of the new Spanish translation of Heaven and Hell. This is an attractive glossy blue paperback. The translator is Christian Wildner.
     Also available in Spanish is My Religion by Helen Keller, H. Spalding's Introduction to Swedenborg's Religious Thoughts, and a pamphlet entitled Real Religion.

542


EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY 1991

EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY       Rev. Peter M. Buss       1991

     This will be the 65th British Assembly to be held the weekend of August 7-9th, 1992 at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire (22 miles north of London). This assembly will be hosted by the Colchester Society with the Reverend Christopher D. Bown presiding.
     Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss,
          Executive Bishop
GENERAL CHURCH TREASURER'S REPORT 1991

GENERAL CHURCH TREASURER'S REPORT       Neil M. Buss       1991

     For the Year Ending December 30, 1990

     1990 was an excellent year for the General Church from a financial point of view. We had budgeted for a surplus of $1,050 and achieved one of $18,500 out of a total budget of $2,265,000.

     Revenues

     Contributions were within $1,300 of the target of $574,000, while endowment income was $8,060 over the budget of $1,589,000. Publication revenues were down almost $6,000 due to the winding down of New Church Home. Other income was short of budget by $15,000 due to lower income in the areas of real estate and miscellaneous; fortunately, this was partially offset by increased bank interest.

     Expenses

     Net support of pastoral and educational salaries and travel was $18,600 under the budget of $358,000, while the cost of facilities, which is mainly the Cairncrest operations, was $25,600 over the budget of $165,000.

543



     Total printing and publishing was $9,000 under budget due to lower New Church Home costs, and less than anticipated costs of the New Church Life publication. Moving expenses were $10,000 under budget, and this resulted in total services and information costing $14,400 less than the budgeted figure of $359,600.
     Administration was $8,800 over the budget of $519,000, but this was due almost entirely to the fact that some salary expenses were incorrectly allocated from evangelization.
     Employee benefits were $114,000 less than the $737,500 budget figure. Reducing this savings was a new line item in the budget of $21,000, which provides for retiree health care costs. This was agreed to by the board in approving the new benefit package last year, and the cost of the program was established as 2% of the salary bill.
     Almost all other benefit areas came in under budget, with the largest single saving being in the health plan area. This was $106,000 under the budget of $370,000 and some $35,000 under actual for 1989. This large saving was due to the adoption of the new health plan program.
     Results
     As a result of these positive expense variations, we were able to provide for:

an additional $10,000 to be added to the $20,000 set aside for ministers' and wives' assembly costs
$10,000 to be transferred to the moving reserve
an increase in the annual funding, from $8,000 to $20,000 for the Liturgy project, which is costing more than anticipated

544



$20,000 for the printing of the new translation of Conjugial Love by Rev. Bruce Rogers.
     Neil M. Buss,
          Treasurer
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS 1991

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS       Ernst and Young       1991

     We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of the expendable and nonexpendable funds of the General Church of the New Jerusalem as of December 31, 1990, and the related statements of support, revenue, expenses, capital additions and changes in fund balances and of cash flows for the year then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the church's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.
     We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
     In our opinion the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the General Church of the New Jerusalem at December 31, 1990, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
     Ernst and Young,
          Philadelphia, PA

545





     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     BALANCE SHEET


December 31, 1990 with comparative totals for 1989
                                        Expendable     Nonexpendable          Total
                                   Funds          Funds          (Memorandum only)
                                                       1990          1989*
ASSETS                                   
Cash and cash equivalents                    $1,367,290     $2,132,497     $3,499.787     $3,608,196
Accounts receivable, principally from related entities          526,077          608,226          1,134,303     792,779
Inventory                              112,957                    112,957          100,433
Prepaid expenses                         89,678                    89,678          124,345
Loans to related societies and employees, net          2,243,027               2,243,027     1,879,518
Loan to Cairnwood Village, Inc.                    722,500                    722,500          748,000

Investments                               2,963,515     28,506,799     31,470,314     31,008,165
Investments designated for investment savings plan          7,586,054               7,586,054     7,037,954
Land, buildings and equipment, net of accumulated
     depreciation                         2,425,076               2,425,076     2,479,186
Due from Expendable Funds                    944,804          164,250          164,250          191,000
                                   $18,980,978     $31,411,772     $50,392,750     $48,942,021


LIABILITIES AND FUND BALANCES


Accounts payable                         $383,889               $383,889     $458,158
Agency funds                              578,954                    578,954          571,616
Loans payable                                             484,000                    484,000          456,000
Due to Nonexpendable Funds                         164,250                    164,250          191,000
Deferred capital support                                         $474,345     474,345          459,588
Annuities payable                                                  57,346          57,346          84,818
Pension liability                                         3,418,135               3,418,135     2,315,019
Investment savings plan liability                    2,625,918               2,625,918     2,626,142
                                   7,655,156     531,691          8,186,847     7,162,341
     Fund balances:
     Unrestrictedavailable for current balances          1,577,448               1,577,448     1,505,985
          designated for specific purposes          9,454,963                9,454,963     9,761,812
     Restrictedavailable for current operations               293,411                293,411          220,679
          Endowment                                   30,880,081     30,880,081     30,291,204
                                                       11,325,822          30,880,081     42,205,903     41,779,680
                                   $18,980,978     $31,411,772     $50,392,750     $48,942,021

546





     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT, REVENUE, EXPENSES, CAPITAL ADDITIONS AND CHANGES IN FUND BALANCES
Year ended December 31, 1990 with comparative totals for 1989
                                        Expendable     Nonexpendable          Total
                                   Funds          Funds          (Memorandum only)
                                                       1990          1989
Support and revenue:
     Contributions and bequests               $1,159,621     $84,936          $1,244,557     $1,075,504
     Investment income                    2,460,476     648,657          3,109,133     2,929,383
     Printing and publishing                    239,453                    239,453          246,573
     Gain on sale of investments               757          72,013          72,770          305,838
     Other revenue                         182,050                    182,050          187,630
          Total support and revenue               4,042,357     805,606          4,847,963     4,744,928

Expenses:
     Program services:
          Pastoral and educational                              393,352                         393,352          375,376
          South African Mission                                   34,100                              34,100          22,000
          Information and other services                              289,895                         289,695          279,569
          Employee benefits                                   623,874                          623,674          658,.808
          Development grants to societies                          37,217          10,800          48,017          81,493
          Pension expense                                        1,641,346                     1,841,346      1,200,457
     Other services                                         237,306           318,213          695,619      724,626
          Total program service               3,306,690     329,113          3,635,803     3,340,329
      Supporting services:
     Administration                         946,670                          946,670           811,826
               Total expenses                                   4,253,360     329,113          4,582,473     4,151,955
          Excess (deficit) of support and revenue
               Over expenses before capital
               Additions and other charges     (211,003)     476,493          265,490          592,973
     Capital additions:
     Contributions and bequests                         130          130          770,515
     Investment income                              160,60          160,603          169,815
          Total capital additions                         160,733          160,733          940,330
          Excess (deficit) of support and revenue
               Over expenses after capital
               Additions and before other
               Charges                    (211,003)     637,226          426,223          1,533,303
          Other charges:
     Transfer                         48,349          (48,349)
     Excess (deficit) of support and revenue over
          expenses after capital additions and
          Other charges                    48,349          (48,349)
Fund balances, beginning of year                    11,488,476     30,291,204     41,779,680     40,246,377
Fund balances, end of year                    $11,325,822     $30,880,081     $42,205,903     $41,779,680

547





     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
Year ended December 31, 1990 with comparative totals for 1989
                                        Expendable     Nonexpendable          Total
                                   Funds          Funds          (Memorandum only)
                                                       1990          1989
Cash flows from operating activities:
     Excess (deficit) of support and revenue over
          expenses after capital additions and
          other changes               $(162,654)     $488,877     $426,223     $1,533,303
     Adjustments to reconcile to cash provided by
          operating activities:
          Deprecation               80,882                    80,882          19,289
          Other                                                  2,075     
          Gain on sale of investments               (379,194)     (72,013)     (451,207)     (303,838)
          Interest accretion on loan to Cairnwood
               Village, Inc.               (28,000)               (28,000)     (56,000)
          Changes in operating assets and
               Liabilities:
                    (Increase) decrease in accounts
                    Receivable               (38,407)     (303,117)     (341,524)     257,906
                    Increase in inventory               (12,524)               (12,524)     (3,086)
                    (Increase) decrease in prepaid expenses     34,667                    34,667          (32,828)
                    Decrease in due to/from expendable
                    Expenses               (26,750)     26,750     
                    Increase (decrease) in accounts
                    Payable               (74,269)               (74,269)     395,671
                    Increase in agency funds          7,348                    7,348          21,782
                    Increase in pension liability          1,103,116               1,103,116     835,760
                    Increase (decrease) in investment
                    Savings plan liability               (224)                    (224)          180,465
                    Increase in deferred capital support               14,757          14,757          39,314
                    Decrease in annuities payable                    (27,472)     (27,472)     (54,132)
          Cash provided by operating activities          503,991          227,782          731,773          3,398,232
     Cash flows from investment activities:
     (Increase) decrease in loans to related societies and
     employees, net               (363,509)               (363,509)     211,170
     Payments received on loan to Cairnwood Village,
     Inc.                              53,500                    53,500          45,500
     Purchases of investments               (1,079,444)     (1,041,386)     (2,120,830)     (4,369,426)
     Contributions of investments               (12,122)     (60,000)     (72,122)     (60,680)
     Expenditures for land, buildings and equipment, net     (51,241)               (51,241)     (197,408)
     Proceeds from sale of investments               1,130,595     557,425          1,688,020     1,914,285
          Cash used in investing activities          (322,221)     (543,961)     (866,182)     (2,456,559)
Cash flows from financing activities:
     Increase in loans payable               28,000                    28,000          56,000
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents          209,770          (316,179)     (106,409)     997,673
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year          1,157,520     2,448,676     3,606,196     2,608,523
Cash and cash equivalents, end of year               $1,367,290     $2,132,497     $3,499,787     $3,606,196

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LORD'S RESURRECTION BODY (Part 4) 1991

LORD'S RESURRECTION BODY (Part 4)       Jr. V. C. ODHNER       1991

In his second letter, NCL August 1982, p. 366, Rev. Bruce Rogers (NBR) explains at length what is meant by "the body." First, he says his opinion is identified with what the Writings say, and uses passages to purport this. He writes: "I am puzzled by attempts to explain what the Writings really mean by 'body,' as if the physical body was not the intended idea" (emphasis added). He attempts to show that all the Lord put off was the "mental and spiritual qualities" of the Mary inheritance, this being all that the Writings mean (to be discussed below). This, of course, was one of the chief aims in the glorification process, since here the Lord met the hells and conquered them. But since, as will be shown, these qualities were completely related to the material body, that was not enough, because these evils were ultimated in the natural body. NBR then contends that dissipationists fail to see how the Lord could put off the material body and still have a Lord on earth-which, of course, is true if that is what dissipationists believe. But since it is patently not, this contention fails. This contention arises from a misunderstanding of the reality of the matter. What is obvious is that the gradual process of putting off involved not only the subjugation and casting out of the "mental and spiritual qualities" or infirmities, but also, at the same time, the subjugation of the material, or natural, to conform with the Divine glorification process in the natural. By the time this was done on the cross, the process was complete and the body was no longer necessary for what had been done. A Divine Body was thus formed in the process at last upon the cross. The Lord could then prepare to arise with His Human made Divine, that is, His Human subjugated to the infilling Divine Human Body, which Divine Body could then "rise."
     Thus it is said in AE 1108:2-"He took, indeed, a body or a human from the mother, but this He put off in the world and put on a Human from the Father, and this is the Divine Human" (emphasis added).

549


See the whole subsection 2 of AE 1108. And in HH 86:4"When the Lord glorified His Human He put off everything human that was from the mother, until at last He was no longer her son (AC 2574, 2649, 3036, 10830)" (emphasis added). In AC 3318:5". . . so that He was not made new as are other men, but altogether Divine" (emphasis added). See AC 4692:5. To be "made new" allows for the subjugation of man's evils; to be made Divine involves the complete eradication of such evils. With man, evils can never be completely removed (see AC 633).
     A most clear explanation is to be seen in AC 4559: "Between making Divine and making holy there is this difference, that the Divine is Jehovah Himself, but the holy is that which is from Jehovah. The former is the Divine Esse; the latter is that which exists therefrom. When the Lord glorified Himself, He also made His Human the Divine Esse or Jehovah, but before this He made His Human holy. The process of the glorification of the Lord's Human was such." See AC 8724.
     The above-quoted AC 4559 is seen on p. 334 of a June 1906 NCL article by Bishop Alfred Acton, previously quoted, an article mentioned by Rev. Erik Sandstrom (ES) in his first letter, p. 480. This article is a most comprehensive yet succinct treatment of the Resurrection Body. Quoted here is a portion of this outstanding article: "By the expulsion of the maternal human in this passage [Ath. 192] is evidently not meant the expulsion of the body as to either its interiors or exteriors, for the language is clear, that things which correspond to the Divine took the place of the things maternal. But the meaning is that the organic things of the assumed human were reduced to order by the expulsion therefrom of evil and the reduction of those organic forms by the infilling Divine to a form corresponding to Itself. This is what is meant by the frequent teaching that while He was in the world the Lord made His Human holy before He made it Divine" (emphasis added).

550


See AE 272:3. Then follows the above-quoted AC 4559.
     The article continues: "The same is also involved in the statement, frequently occurring in the Writings, that while He was on earth the Lord made Himself Divine Truth, and at His resurrection He made Himself Divine Good (AE 28:2, 1069:2, AC 4577, 6864, 10730)." See AC 4973:5, 5307:2e, 7014.
     One of the numbers on NBR's list but unquoted is TCR 109. Subsection le says: "This makes it clear that by means of His glorification His natural body was made Divine." It has been shown above that, literally, this is against Divine order. Therefore, we must look for an answer transcending the literal sense (see Ath. 63). The answer has already been stated and will be below, as well as essayed by ES. Clearly, "to make Divine" involves the glorification process of the descent of the Divine Human into the natural body, that gradual and successive proceeding (see AC 2523) which completely prepared the natural body for the Divine influx, or Divine Human, yet at the same time looked to the eventual discarding of that body once its glorification use had been prepared and performed. This makes clear that it was "made" Divine both by preparation and for containment of the Divine Human. Ironically, it was not made Divine in the sense that the material became Divine, the sense beyond which few corporealists seem to see. See AC 2159:1, 2; 4559.
     I have often wondered how corporealists reconcile such numbers as the above-quoted HH 86:4 which says, " . . . He put off everything human that was from the mother . . . " (emphasis added). This "everything" always appeared to me to be very inclusive, such as meaning the natural body also, I was surprised to find the following array of numbers which say basically the same thing as that portion of HH 86:4: AC 2159:1, 2265, 2288e, 2625:4, 2649:2, 2816:1, 3036, 3318:5, 4692:5, 6872:4, 10053:1; AE 899:14; Ath. 106 (p. 508), 151, 161, 162, 192; Lord 16:7; NJHD 302; SD 5834; TCR 94, 102:1,3; 103:3; 130:3.

551



     Throughout the Writings by "death" and "burial" is signified regeneration and resuscitation to spiritual life. It is significant that Lord 16:7 and TCR 130:2e say that by "His being buried signified the rejection of what still remained of the Human derived from the mother" (emphasis added). Also, throughout the Writings, man's regeneration is compared to the glorification (see AC 3138:2e). Since man doesn't rise as to the body, it is clear that a more transcendent idea is implied by all the passages relating to the Resurrection Body. Many of the doctrinal controversies of the church, especially that of the nature of the spiritual body, have been anchored by the sway of the material. See AC 6945, 10595 and, paradoxically, CL 28. Is there an analogy between the idea of the Lord's material body rising and the Christian doctrine that the graves will be opened on the judgment day?
     Because the Divine descended even to ultimates to become the Divine Natural within the prepared material shell, thus representing even the ultimate of the resurrection, it could be said in HH 316 that the Lord rose "differently" than man does. " . . . the Lord's glorified Human is the Divine Natural" (TCR 109, emphasis added). To rise differently is to rise without evil, with union, not just conjunction.

     (To be continued)
REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE 1991

REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE       Donald L. Rose       1991

     1990

     This year we received reports of sixty-four weddings and 249 baptisms. Making sure of details like the correct spelling of names takes expert attention, and we are fortunate in having excellent people who consistently meet this challenge. We also received a great feast of printed material. In the first issue of the year we ran two book reviews, the books and the reviews being by distinguished writers.

552


Of the many letters we received twenty-six were published.
     Ten years ago our circulation was 1,797. Two years ago it was 1,877. In last year's report it was 1,938, and for 1990 it is 1,933.
     Here are the figures on how our pages were used.
                              1990      1989
                               Pages Pages
Articles                          202      256
Sermons                          54      59
Reports                         19      21
Communications                    56      57
Announcements                    46      30
Church News                     26      24
Editorials                     55      33
Reviews                          18      10
Directories                     36      34
Memorials                          17      12
Miscellaneous                     40      36
Total Pages                     569      572
     Number of Contributors:
          Priests                     34      35
           Laity
                    Men     35      34
                    Women     12      13
                    Total Laity      47      47
           Total Contributors      81      82


     Donald L. Rose,
          Editor

553


ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1991

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Editor       1991

     Between July 1, 1990 and June 30, 1991 one hundred fifty five new members joined the General Church.
     Three members resigned during the year, and the Secretary office received notice of the death of forty-five members.
                              
     Membership July 1, 1990                    4261
     New members (Certificates 7915 to 8069)      155
     Losses:      Deaths                     -45
                Resignations               -3
     Membership June 30, 1991               4368


     (Net gain during the period July 1, 1990 through June 31 1991-107)


     NEW MEMBERS


     Societies


     Atlanta, Georgia
Allen, Mr. Barry W.
Dike, Mr. Robert M.
Martin, Mr. Jack R.
Sansom, Mr. David L.

     Baltimore, Maryland
Gotsch, Mr. Gregory
Gotsch, Mrs. Gregory (Jeanne Schreiner)
Rodgers, Mr. W. Charles
Synnestvedt, Mr. D. Kevin

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
Clarke, Mr. Gary I.
Eidse, Mr. Robert H.
Eidse, Mrs. Robert H. (Louise Posey)
Frazier, Mrs. David O. (Kimberly Boericke)
Gartner, Mr. Thomas M.
Gartner, Mrs. Thomas M. (Kira Williams)
Gibbs, Dr. Robert C.
Gibbs, Mrs. Robert C. (Renee Theriault)
Glenn, Miss Rachel
Heinrichs, Mr. Brett J.
Lee, Mrs. Jaikoo E. (Judith Nash)
McCandless, Mr. John P.
Odhner, Mr. Anthony
Odhner, Mrs. Anthony (Mary Lacroce)
Roberts, Mr. William M.
Rogers, Mr. G. Kenneth
Roscoe, Miss Abigail
Roth, Mr. David C.
Valitski, Miss Karen M.
Zecher, Miss Bethany
Zecher, Mr. Derek R.

554




     Buccleuch, Republic of South Africa
Bongers, Mrs. E. Frank (Kathleen Oliver)

     Cincinnati, Ohio
Abaecherli, Mrs. Ruth (Ruth Herrick)

     Colchester, Essex, England
Appleton, Mr. Paul J.
Appleton, Mrs. Paul J. (Beth Fuller)

     Durban, Republic of South Africa
de Chazal, Mr. Dean G.
Draper, Mr. David M.
Dwyer, Mr. John W.

Homber, Mr. Warren G.
Mayer, Mr. Ashley P.
Osborn, Mr. Haydn B.

     Glenview, Illinois
(Immanuel Church)
Fiske, Mr. Barrett D.
Heilman, Mrs. Patrick B. (Martha Enis)
Lundin, Miss Bonny Sue

     Hurstville, NSW, Australia
Fallen, Miss Patricia J.

     Kempton, Pennsylvania
Boyce, Mr. Cory B.
Boyce, Mrs. Cory B. (Pauline Rhodes)
Brock, Mr. Nathaniel L.
Smith, Mr. Gordon T.

     Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
(Carmel Church)
Riepert, Mrs. Melvin S. (Kathleen Rueffer)

     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Neiger, Mrs. Steven Warren (Sharon Acton)
Smith, Mr. Barry W.

     Stockholm, Sweden
Hedberg, Mr. Erik

     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(Olivet Church)
Cooper, Mrs. Edward (Teresa Fuss)
Krause, Mr. Stephen
McDonald, Mr. William E.

     Tucson, Arizona
Baty, Mr. John K.
Baty, Mrs. John K. (Billie Sage)
Brown, Mr. Kevin L.
Goulian, Mrs. Jean M. (Jean Aldreany)
Iverson, Mr. Michael D.
Iverson, Mrs. Michael D. (Mary Ostgarden)
Kaler, Mr. Herbert H.
Kaler, Mrs. Herbert H. (Laura Keffer)
Smith, Mr. William D.

     Washington, D. C.
Klippenstein, Mr. Brian A.
Klippenstein, Mrs. Brian A. (Nancy Ramsden)
Radcliffe, Mr. David G.

     Circles

     Chicago, Illinois
Caldwell, Miss Dawn L.
Fuller, Mr. David B.
George, Mr. Rick W.
George, Mrs. Rick W. (Meredith Conant)
Murdoch, Mr. Michael S.
Penkava, Mrs. Glenn M. (Lynn Steagall)

555



Thomas, Miss Barbara L.

     Denver, Colorado
Bradley, Mr. R. Weston
Bradley, Mrs. R. Weston (Joyce Hoinig)

     Hatboro/Horsham, Pennsylvania
Dettinger, Mr. Bernard F.
Dettinger, Mrs. Bernard F. (Ruth Milbum)
Dettinger, Miss Emily A.
Son, Mr. Young W.
Son, Mrs. Young W. (Seon Kim)

     Manchester, England
Rowcliffe, Mr. Phillip

     North New Jersey/New York
Crockett, Ms. Donnalee

     North Ohio
Maloney, Mr. Daniel E.
Maloney, Mrs. Daniel E. (Marcia Geiser)

     Phoenix, Arizona
Allen, Mr. Joel E.
Allen, Mrs. Joel E. (Lee Asplundh)

     Groups

     Brisbane, Australia
Heldon, Mrs. Brian K. (Gaye Baxter)

     Central Pennsylvania
Glenn, Miss Heather

     Capetown, Republic of South Africa
Buss, Mr. Anthony Martin

     Portland, Oregon
Roof, Mr. Alan B.

     State College, Pennsylvania
David, Miss Susan L.

     Others

     Florida
Gumey, Gail (Davis)

     Georgia
Kim, Mr. Joseph Chanok

     Michigan
Dykstra, Mr. Ervin Lloyd

     Ohio
Blah, Mr. William Glenn

     Tennessee
Bennett, Miss Paula Gay

     Wyoming
Patterson, Mr. Harry Dixon

     Australia
Rocke, Mrs. Clifford (Lynette Nicolai)

     Canada
McCaughtrie, Mr. Edger
McCaughtrie, Mrs. Edger (Lena Hofer)
Merta, Dr. Ian
Villeneuve, Ms. Margaret

     England
Riley, Miss Joy

     Ghana
Adjapomaah, Jane (Mrs. Kuabena Ofori)
Adjapong, Mr. Paul
Adu, Mr. Daniel

556



Adu, Mr. Peter Kwasi
Aku, Juliana (Mrs. Kwasi Oyie)
Ampadu, Mr. Joseph
Anim, Miss Victoria
Appiah, Miss Mary
Asapea, Comfort (Mrs. Yaw Mensah)
Asare, Mr. Yaw
Bush, Mr. George
Coffy, Mr. Moses
Dankwa, Jane (Mrs. Sampson Debrah)
Darkwo, Mr. Oduro
Donkor, Akosua (Mrs. Kofi Anhwere)
Dwamena, Miss Helina
Kessewaah, Esther (Mrs. Peter Ankomah)
Konadu, Mr. Joseph
Konadu, Mrs. Joseph (Mercy Adjapong)
Konadu, Miss Mary
Konadu, Mr. Williams
Kwartemaah, Sarah (Mrs. Yaw Dakwa)
Kyeiwaah, Rosina (Mrs. Kofi Amoah)
Mansah, Miss Felicia
Mensa-Nknunah Mr. Seth
Nax, Mr. Derek
Obenewah, Janet (Mrs. Joseph Ampadu)
Obeng, Mr. Daniel
Opokuah, Miss Stella
Owusua, Gladys (Mrs. Paul Adjapong)
Quaye, Mr. Ebenezer
Sakaah, Magaretta (Mrs. Kofi Ansong)
Wilson, Leticia (Mrs. Seth Mensa-Nkrumah)

     Japan
Arima, Mr. Jun'ichi
Endoo, Mrs. Yoshifumi (Junko Yuuki)
Hate, Mrs. Satoshi (Sayuri Hate)
Kakinuma, Mr. Yuuji
Kakinuma, Mrs. Yuuji (Fumie Watanabe)
Kobayaski, Mrs. Toshihiyo (Katzuko Kamakura)
Matsushita, Mr. Tadayuki
Matsushita, Mrs. Tadayuki (Miciko Aragaki)
Miura, Mr. Takashi
Nakayama, Mrs. Yukihiyo (Yoko Matsumoto)
Sunagawa, Mr. Fumiyasu
Suzuki, Mr. Yasuyuki
Suzuki, Mrs. Yasuyuki (Mieko Isogaya)
Tooyama, Mr. Takashi

     Korea
Kim Mrs. Do Yeon (Soon Choe)
Park, Mrs. Chung Hyoo (Myung Lee)
Ryu, Mrs. Syo Sang (Hye Kim)
Shin, Mr. Keun
Shin, Mrs. Keun (Soon Park)
CHURCH IS FROM THE LORD 1991

CHURCH IS FROM THE LORD       Editor       1991

The church is from the Lord, and is with those who come to Him and live according to His commandments (Conjugial Love 129).

557


Editorial Pages 1991

Editorial Pages       Editor       1991

     THE MIND UNDER SIEGE (2)

     In the October issue we spoke of the mind as of a house that can be under siege.
     Notice the word "divide" in the saying from the Gospels that a house divided against itself will not stand. There are spheres that have the effect of dividing elements in our mental house. Swedenborg observed such spheres and the way they divide or separate faith from charity within the mind (see TCR 619:4). They divide, and they also extinguish the marriage torches between truths and goods (Ibid.).

     In our own minds how do we experience this? Sometimes we can't seem to get it together. There are things we know we ought to do, and we know how to do them, but for some reason we can't light the fire and start doing them.
     Is our mind at such times besieged by the kind of spirits mentioned in AC 1509? "The effect of their sphere was to take from me the power of close application and to make it so irksome for me to act and to think in serious matters, true and good, that at last I scarcely knew what to do."
     Have you ever tried explicitly resisting a negative sphere? On the one hand you could say, "Oh, isn't this annoying. I don't seem to be getting around to doing anything today." On the other hand you could say, "I am feeling the effects of a sphere that is dividing the house of my mind. This is a hard situation which I will resist now with deliberate action." If you are not in such a depressed state that you find action impossible, you may find that this kind of "resistance" brings you power.
     There is a saying in the Writings that when evil spirits perceive that a person can "resist" they retreat (see AC 1820e). How uplifting it can be when we get it together, get ourselves into the task, and the siege is broken.

558




     SEXUAL HARASSMENT

     A lesson many have had the opportunity of learning in 1991 is that it is not acceptable for men to treat women in a loose and contemptuous way.
     In the very nature of things do men owe a kind of respect to women? It is encouraging to see that some people in the 1990s are acknowledging that they do!
     There are valuable teachings in the Writings relevant to this subject. For now, consider this passage that puts it very clearly.
     "It is incumbent on men to be pleasant with women, soliciting and entreating them for this sweet addition to their life with courtesy, deference, and humility. Moreover, the beauty of that sex above the male in face, body and manners adds itself as a claim on their devotion" (CL 297).
     Another translation of the above is: "It is incumbent on men to make appeals to women, by politely, respectfully and humbly courting them and asking them to grant that sweet addition to their lives."
POSITION OPEN AT SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION 1991

POSITION OPEN AT SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION       Editor       1991

The position of Executive Director is open. Please send resume to Mr. John Seekamp, 139 E. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010. Phone 1-800-366-7310.

559


THROUGH MAURICE NICOLL 1991

THROUGH MAURICE NICOLL       Anne Leal       1991

     Dear Editor:
     I felt I must write and tell you how very interested I have been in reading your articles on Maurice Nicoll.
     It was through reading his three books The New Man, The Mark, and Living Time that I was led into finding the Writings.
     A friend of mine who knew that Maurice Nicoll had been influenced by Swedenborg suggested I read some of the Writings, of which she had a few books.
     This all happened about 1974. A few years later I was baptized into the New Church and have been a member of the church ever since.
     I have been eternally grateful to Maurice Nicoll and my friend for introducing me to the Writings, as I had searched for many years to find a religion that makes sense.
     How Divine Providence works!
          Anne Leal,
               Southbroom, South Africa
RELIGION ADAPTED 1991

RELIGION ADAPTED       Rev. David C. Roth       1991

     Dear Editor:
     You may wish to call this a "minister's favorite passage" or you can just call it something I feel compelled to share with others. Lately, while studying the work The Divine Providence I have been struck with the incredible mercy shown by the Lord. He has allowed tremendous deviations from true Christianity in the form of different religious sects and religions themselves.

560


For example, He has provided that the Muslim religion be created "to the end that it might destroy the idolatries practiced by so many nations and give the people some knowledge concerning the Lord before they entered the spiritual world" (DP 255:4). It provides them with one god, Allah, yet it does not leave Jesus Christ or the teachings of the Old and New Testaments out of the picture. It teaches that the Lord "was a very great prophet, the wisest of all men, and the Son of God" (DP 255:3).
     The point of this is to illustrate a truth that the Lord teaches in the Writings for the New Church, the same auth which is being echoed by many of the "church growth" people (Fuller Institute, Robert Logan, Jim Dethmer, etc.). The message is: "It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people." Yes, there are all kinds of people out there. Heaven itself derives its beauty from its vast variety.
     The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, has provided that there be all kinds of churches to meet the needs of all the different kinds of people in the world. In the Writings He makes it perfectly clear that each one of these different churches has been given the necessary tools in order to be saved; after all, isn't that the whole purpose of His creation? They all know to approach the Lord, if Christians, or to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, if Muslims, and to shun evils as sins. If they do this they enter heaven. (See DP 255:5, 257:4.)
     We know that it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people because the Lord has told us in the Writings. The church growth people know this, but not because they have read it in the Writings. So, the question is, what does it mean to us? and what should we do about it?
     I will tell you what it means to me and some suggestions as to what may be done to respond. Let me first tell you the quote around which all this writing of mine is focused. "A religion that is not adapted is not received" (DP 256:1). Brief though it is, to me this says a great deal about what we need to be doing in order to reach out and touch the lives of the spiritually hungry and thirsty. Don't worry; if we do take up this task we will not be alone.

561


The Lord is adapting His wisdom and love to people all the time, and so are many forward-looking Christian groups whose Sunday services are jammed with anywhere between one and thirteen thousand people. But are these people really being fed with something that can change their lives in the same way that the New Revelation can?
     Sadly, millions of people are out there dying spiritually, while we are capable of gorging ourselves with spiritual truth. To my mind there is strong evidence that we need to adapt our church services to meet the needs of the people around us so they can feel comfortable to join us and share the Lord's message and begin to live spiritually healthy lives.
     The first and most obvious thing that should be done is to tell people that we do exist. Whether we stand on street corners and pass out flyers or place advertisements in newspapers, somehow the message has to go out. In Pittsburgh and Chicago, for example, solid marketing plans have been formulated which are supported by regular and interesting newspaper ads. Yet to reach these people means more than placing advertisements. Once they know about us, then the real work begins.
     This might mean having to offer multiple services (perhaps just as a temporary experiment), which of course at least one of our church societies is doing. In other cases it might mean having to change the musical format. Is organ music the best and most suitable choice, or does it turn off many people? Can guitar or other kinds of music fit into our services? Or the preaching style: can we preach effective extemporaneous sermons? I believe we can. Initially it takes some extra work, but it does get easier. Personally, I was afraid to do it at first, but now I do it all the time and I enjoy it and believe the people appreciate it more. Or the way newcomers are handled or welcomed: do we have greeters that welcome everybody? Are our orders of service easy to follow? Are our congregations open and friendly to new people or do they walk away in fear?

562


Can we offer classes on greeting or sharing the church with others? Is the time of our worship service the most conducive to today's families and singles? Perhaps even the way the room is set up for worship can make a difference. Can the chairs be arranged better so that there is less of a "being preached at" feel and more of a worshipping together feeling? Whatever it is that your particular service may need to be more palatable to visitors, can you make the change? Are you willing to make such changes?
     If we want our church to grow and to reach all kinds of people, it would seem obvious that change is in order. It could be said that the writing is on the wall; let's read it and do something about it. Let's swallow our pride and put away any traditions that serve as nothing but barriers to others. I am not saying to scrap the old way, but to honestly reexamine and then introduce appropriate change, change that suits your particular people and situation.
     I can hear many people saying in reference to newcomers, "If they don't like our message they won't come back; if they do, they will." I don't care how great our message is; if people don't feel welcomed, appreciated or loved, they will most likely stay away. And the more we can do to make our services enjoyable and uplifting, the greater will be the interest of our own people as well as that of the newcomers.
     We can introduce change, healthy change, but each society must look at the people around them to see how they can best open up and serve them. We can adapt what we are offering without changing our principles or watering down the Lord's truth. If we do this effectively, we will be opening all the gates to the New Jerusalem whereby all the many kinds of people may enter, rather than blockading all but the ones that suit our needs.
     Rev. David C. Roth,
          Chicago New Church

563


ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE 1991

ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE       Editor       1991

The Academy College exists to order and unite the arts and sciences from a perspective of truths Divinely revealed in the teachings for the New Church. Each faculty member joins his or her special subject knowledge with a faith in the Heavenly Doctrines. The goal of this education is the development of mature men and women whose knowledges and skills are guided by religious principles toward a life of use and happiness.
     For more information about the college, or a copy of the catalog which describes programs and course offerings, please mail your request to the address below. Prospective students are welcome to visit the campus and attend classes any time the college is in session. Arrangements for visiting can be made by phoning Joyce Bostock, the college secretary, (215-947-2548) between 8:30 and 4:30 on weekdays.
     Students interested in entering the Academy College for the fall term of the 1992-1993 academic year should send requests for application forms to

Mrs. Bruce Glenn, Director of Admissions
Academy of the New Church College
Box 717
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, USA

     The completed application forms for the fall term should be received by the college no later than March 1, 1992. As The Academy College operates on a three-term system, students may be admitted to any of the three terms. Applications for the spring term of the present academic year, beginning March 16, 1992, are acceptable if received by February 1, 1992.

564


CORRECTION 1991

CORRECTION       Editor       1991

In the death announcement on page 471 of the October issue the name Greist was incorrectly rendered Grist.

568


GIRLS SCHOOL PRINCIPAL 1991

GIRLS SCHOOL PRINCIPAL       Geoffrey S. Childs       1991

On Monday morning, December 2, I received the following letter from Principal. Gloria Wetzel:

Dear President Childs:
     Having given much thought and prayer to the discussion we had a week ago, I have grown more sure that the decision to end my tenure as Girls School Principal is appropriate at the end of this school year. This resignation is made more from personal reasons than professional ones, and I do so without any feelings of animosity toward anyone. After essentially two years of being involved in staffing, budgeting and other operations of the school, it is clear to me that in addition to the professional satisfaction, there should be more personal satisfaction in the performance of these duties. Therefore, I look forward to returning to the classroom and continuing my uses to the Academy there.
     Sincere regards,
          Gloria Wetzel

     Gloria had come in to visit with me a week earlier, and spoke of her wish to resign from the principal's position at the end of this academic year. I spoke to her about my appreciation of her work, and my hope that she would stay on. I asked her to please think over her possible decision, and to contact me again a week later. The above letter is her formal reply, but of course we also talked the matter over.
     Gloria has the support of myself as President, and also of the President-elect, Dan Goodenough, Each of us expressed to her our desire that she stays as principal. However, her decision now is firm, and we respect this. Personal satisfaction in a position is vital to an ongoing performance, and if this is absent, then changes are indicated.

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Administration's primary use is to promote successful classroom teaching, and Gloria can return to this with enthusiasm and high capability.
     My primary concern now is to meet with the Girls School faculty, and to consult with them and the Academy family and friends about the selection process by the president in choosing a new principal. I wish to get fullest possible counsel on this. The Girls School has such a vital use in the New Church educational process. It is vital to the very heart of what we do. I will welcome help in finding a leader who will continue to serve and promote this vital and special use. The Rev. Dan Goodenough would serve on this committee, and the final selection would be made only with his full approval.
     Once again, I would express deepest appreciation for the two years of service by Dr. Gloria Wetzel. She has accomplished much, and I feel gratitude for her service to the Academy.
     Sincerely,
          Geoffrey S. Childs,
               President
ANNOUNCEMENT 1991

ANNOUNCEMENT       Editor       1991

In early January the President of the Academy will be forming an advisory committee to counsel him for the selection of a candidate for the new Girls School Principal. If you wish to counsel the President in this important selection, please write to the Reverend Geoffrey S. Childs, Chairman, The Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.