John hargrove-hotson-the-future-of-the-new-church-1970

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.
John Hargrove Hotson

Isaiah 42, 9

Behold t the former things aré come to paSSt and new things
do l declare: before they spring forth l tell you of them.

Revised Edition
June 1970

PREFACE - THOUGHTS ON THE NE~J CHURCH vJORLD ASSEMBLY

"The Church is various as to truths, but is one through
charity. li A. C. 3451
iI~ •• that in heaven there are innumerable varieties of good
and truth, but that by harmony they never the less make one,
like the organs and members of the body.il A.C. 684, 690, 3241
"The case with the Lordls Kingdom on earth, that is, with
His Church, is that as it has its doctrinals from the literal
sense of the Word~ it cannot but be various and diverse as to
those doctrinalsoc.Thus the Lordls Church ••• will differ every
where, and this not only according to communities, but some
times according to the individuals in a communitYj but a dis
agreement in the doctrinals of faith does not pre vent the
Church from being one, provided there is unanimity as to will
ing well and acting wellen A. C. 3451

~

"At this day scarcely anyone knows what the internal of the
ChUrCh is: t~ it ~s chari~y towards the neighbor in will, and
from the will in act, and thence faith in perception, who knows
this? •• n They who do not know that this is the internal and
thus the essential of the Church stand at the most remote dis
tance from the first step towards the understanding of (the
things here explained), thus from the innumerable and ineffable
things which are in heaven. 1l A. C. 4899
"And there was given me a reed like a staff, signifies that
the faculty and power of knowing and~eeing the state of the
Church in heaven and in the world was given him by the Lord.
By la reed l is signified fe~ble power, Buch as man has from
himSelf; and by l~taffr is signified great p~,er, such as a
) man has from the Lora~n- A. R-: 48"5

We all i'know il the above passages, but how shall we apply
them? Even when the New Church has achieved an inner spiritual
unit y - as it must, for there is no internal worship in faith
alone - differences in doctrinals and worship will still exist-
facets of the same diadem--varieties of goods and truths which
perfect the Lordls Kingdom. We must not expect the currents set
in motion by the 11970 World Assembly ta bring early organizational
mergers--still lessa monolith-wït~uniform creed and worship.
Such an idea is a false concept of unit y and destroys the hope
of the genuine unity.w~ can attain.
y
he eyes cannot perform the
function of tlie ears, nor the heart the function of the lungs,
but we can recognize that the Lordls Church forms one body spirit
ually seen f and st rive to ultimate that truth in life.

l believe that it would be very much in order for a continu
ing "most general body performing uses which are in common ll to
result from the coming together to celebrate the 200th Anniversary
of the Second Coming of the Lord. Such a body was long aga suggest
ed by Bishop W~ F. Pendleton in his e:3say "Unit y in the New Church."
This body could do much to promote understanding and mutual aid and ,--
like John the Baptist could prepare the Way of the Lord.

..

J.

This paper, which l originally wrote in 1962, is being re
issued now in the hope that it is of use to the Church as she
1 strives ta make herself ready to become the Bride and W~Qf
't~Lard. Rereading it and the correspondence l had concerning

it with ministers and laymen of all branches of the Church l

considered whether a major rewriting of the paper was necessary.

l have decided that, although many things l tried to say could

have been said better, and sorne things l said might better have

been left unsaid, to leave the paper as it was save for minor

corrections. Rere l shall merely indicate my own thoughts regard.

ing the reactions to several points raised and a few further

thoughts.

First a disclaimer. The theme of the paper is that from the

teachings ~f the Word concerning the changes of state of the

Church, and man in his regeneration, that it is possible to know

why the New Church has developed as it has, and form sorne ide a re~

garding its future. The paper seeks to apply sorne of the great

series of the Word - The Seven Days of Creation, the Four Churches,

The Sons of Jacob and others to the histories of the organized

bodies of the New Church. It does not attempt to say anything

about changes in the state of the Church Universal, or the individ

uals in these bodies in th~ir own regeneration. These are immense,

and immensely important subjects. Doubtless there are essential

correspondences between these three subjects, but little is said

concerning them here. We are taught that the Church where the

-
Word is and is understood is as th heart.. and(lungs t (A.C. 9256)

./
and doubtless as its state changes the state of the whole Church,

and those in the world outside of the Church, change also.

If the central argument of the paper concerning our present
situation-...;that the New Church is in its Third Day--is correct it rG
certainly helps to account for the incrëàsing des air evident in
the worJ-d for we are taugh t, "Th; las t~;-of the Church is there
fore signified by the Third Day. " (A.C. 1825) ifbs there ever a
time wh en a total damnation mosre stood at the dQor and threatened
than now? On every plane man seems to have reached a dead end.
If the weapons science has given him do not destroy him it seems
his numbers, chemicals, and waste products will. All the apparent
goods and self justifications of the nations are exposed as rotten
within. Man plunges toward death and unless the Lord saves us man
will destroy himself utterly.

But He will save us. When the pre-ad vent Churches had sunk

te a me ~~e tative of a Church the Lord made His First Âdvent.

When the Christian Church fell the Lord made His Second Coming.

His New Church is the Crown of the Churches. In a world historical

Isense this Church is the Seventh Day of Creation (A.C. 9741) on

which the Lord shall rest to eternity. We may be sure of His final

triumph over all the hells in man. Rowever, in its own development,

the New Church must go throu h man trials before it cornes to a full

state.

11But,1I I have been asked, fiwhat warrant do you have for an

attempt to know the State of the Church? Where is it taught that

man can know this, or should want to know?"

There is nothing in my paper that all in the New Church do not
affirm in general--that the spiritual sense of the Word trcats
chiefly Ofeihe Chu~ (th: c~lestial, chiefly t~eats of(~::he Lor~)
(Last Judgmen 80); that lt lS now wlth a few ln early, ext<::rnal
states; that it must ss throu~~~t~t~s_c~rrespond~n~ childhood,
to
JJ youth, and maturity; that it lS lnfested b Bab lon and the dragon
but will overcome them rom the Lord. What-New Church man denles
any of this? What is questionable is my application of these truths
in a particular way to the history of the particular organizations
which have grown up in the first 200 years of the New Age.

These applications should be questioncd. For a thing is not
so because any man says so, but because the Lord teaches it in
His Word. We can rightly understand nothing in the Word unless
the Lord gives us to see. We should, however, look for the Doctrine
01 the Development of the Church in the Word. ~e know there is a
special providence over every aspect of its growth as wc affirm in
the favorite hymn:
Oh Zion, rise in glory, and shine before thy Lord;
Behold thy wondrous story unfolded in His Worw.
There are myriad t~ngs concerning the development of the Church.
Of what use are aIl these teachings l we can mak no ap lication
of them?

The Future of the New Church is my attempt to understand why
the New Church movement became divided and to see what the future
might hold. I am aware that 't partial and poorly expréssed. It
may be quite wrong--a weak r~ed that will pierce the hand.~(~saiah
36:6) If so l can onl hop~-t_hélt thE Lord vQ,~l_p-E0v~_d~ a staff
to som~onJL ~_~t ~nstructed than I. For the men of the Chu ch
cannot help but have sorne "doctrInel! or fltheoryil of the developm~ntJ)
of the Church. If we do not have a weIl developed doctrine based
6n the Word and ;Xperienëe we will hold some poorer concept--as .
that 'the true New Church is -e denomnation wehappene-cr to be
born into and that aIl others are to be held as heretics or dead
1 churches" This 11doctrine" ~aths forth the fires of the ""d'ra~on
ol-!aith alone, which we must overcome. -

John Hargrove Hotson
R. R. # 3

Preston, Ontario

June la, 1970

THE FUTURE OF THE NEW CHURCH

Arcana Coelestia 2913

The Church would be one if all had charity, notwithstanding
a difference as to doctrinals and worship.

Malachi 3, 1-4
Behold l send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before Me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to
His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant whom ye desire.
But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand
when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's rirë; and like
fuller's soap; and He shall sit refining and purifying silver,
' and shall purOfy the sons of Levi, and shall purge them as
) gold and silver, that they may bring to Jehovah-an offering
in Justice.-~hen shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
b~sweet unto Jehovah; according to the days of an age and
according to former years.

Genesis l, 14-19

And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the
heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let
them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.
And let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to
give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two
great luminaries, the greater luminary to rule by day, and the
lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars. And God set
them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the
earth; And to rule in the day, and in the night, and to
distinguish between the light and the dark ness; and God saw
that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the
fourth day.

Arcana Coelestia 10

The fourth state is when the man is affecteLw.-it.tL.love, and
illuminated by faith. He indeed previously discoursed piously,
and brought forth goods, but he did so in consequence of the
temptation and straitness under which he labored, and not from
faith and charity: therefore faith and charity are now enkindled
in his internal man, and are called two "lights-."

The Doctrine 2f ~ pevelopment of ~h~ N~w Church

May ~ Seen in The Word

What can we know of the~future states of the Lord's New Church S
before the states occur, since fore néWied~elongs-to the:Lord
alone? We can know this much: this Church is the Crown of aIl the
Churches which have hitherto existed in the world. We could be wrong
about everything else in our belief about the future; this cannot fail
to be. We know that the final state of full instauration of the New
Church is represented in the final chapt ers of the Apocalypse as the
ll
Holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. Knowing this do we really know
any more about the' future of the New Church on earth" than a -!Jlember of
the Apostolic Church kne~bout the fu ure 0 the First Christian
Cnurch? Such a member knew from the Apocalypse that the "world" would
"end" when the Last Judgment occurred and the Lord made His Second
[ Coming, Qut in every detail~ the Last Judgment and the Second Coming
he was in fallacious ideas. Or ~rhaps we should compare ourselves to
~JPbers of the Jewish ëhurch who were 1n patient expectation of the
Messiah and yet in utterly fallacious ideas about His First Coming.
Both the Jew and the Christian knew that the Lùxd was ta come, ~t of
how He was to come they knew nothing:--
- ~ ~

Can we know anything of the future of the New Church? Can we
rightly understand the past and present sA tes of the development of
the Church? Can we know whether we stand~ t the first dawn of the
First Day of Creation in Genesis 1:1, 0 ear the ct f the
AP9~~ly~se so that we may hope to see the Holy City descend into our
midst? In the very first sentence of the first number of the first
1 volume of the first work which Swedenborg wrote as the Servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ, as thou h to give it emphasis above aIl else, this
teaching is given: --

"From the mere letter of the Word of the Old Testament no one
would ever knQw that this part of the Word contains heavenIy arcana,
tthd that everything within it both in generül and pnrticular has
reference to the Lord, to His heaven, to the church, to faith, und
to aIl things connected therewith." A. 1:1

From this number we can see that our situation is quite different
from that of the Jew or Christian. One attempting to form a doctrine
of the development of the New Church from a study of the Word is
confronted not with any~de~t~ of teachings on the subject. Rather he
is given such a richness and variety of teachings, not only in passages
which openly treat of the development of the Church, but also in many
others which in the letter treat of other matters, that there is a
danger that the mind will be overwhelmed and that no connection and
or~ering of the teachings can result. Indeed, ~less one's readin~f
the Word is supported by- doctrine from the Word a)ld_E:nlighte~ment from
Il the Lord.t the m1nd must flounder. Either one will come to no c ear
conclusion or to a heresy. That doctrine support the Word and how
one is enlightened by the Lord we are taught in A. 9424.) -
l

2

"He who does not know the arcana of heaven must needs believe
that the Word is supported without doctrine from it; for he supposes
that the Word in the letter, or the literaI sense of the Word, is
doctrine itself o But be it known that aIl doctrine of the chureh
must be from the Word~ and that the doctrine from any other source
than the Word is not doctrine in which there is anything ~f the
church, still less anything of heaven. But the doctrine must be
collected from the Word, and while it is being cô11ected, the man
Imust be in enlightenment from the Lord; and he is in enlightenment
) when he is in the love of truth for the sake of truth, and not for
the sake of self and the world. These are they who are enlightened
in the Word when they read it, and who see truth, and from it maka
~tr1nel for themselveson.they who are in~the genuine doctrine of
t~~rrom the Word, and in enlightenment when they read the Word,
see everywhere truths that agree, and nothing whatever that is
opposed;.ooNor are the ed astra b falsities from the fallacies
o!-the external senses, as is the case with heretics
especial1y the Jews and Socinians; nor b f, ~s~~nf~~·~e~s~~r~IO~~e?-ï.o~v~es
of ~ and the world, as is the case ~t~ose who a~~_~eant y
, "B~L" As noneoftheSë--cailEe-enlightened, they ~ts-h "OUtfrom
l
. j tll~~_~1~F-1:!-a:L.ê~nse aIone a 'octr~ne ~n favor of theiI!:'J1tn loyes, and
add thereto many things from tne~r own; whereby the Word is by no
means supported; but falls."

One who seeks to collect doctrine from the Word must examine his
1 ..motives~ for desiring such doctrine to see if he is motivateg:Jiij" i(- "!ive
qf truth for tlie sake of trutli,11 or a love of truth, "for the sake of
1 self it'rid the worIa." Those to whom such an effort is presented must
'kikewise examine it to see if it is in accord with the genuine sense of
the Word and is a further support to the understanding of it, ~ o
see where, and if, the cl'lllector has "hatched out from the external
sense alone a doctrine in favor of jliis70wn 10ves. 1I and addedthere
to anything from his own. Thus doctrine must ass throug efining
fire and aIl dross consumed befor~itbecomesdocf~ for the church
asv_ell as for an individual.

Those who examine such efforts, and hard labor, are, like the
laborer, in a twin danger. One they may accept false doctrine as
enuine because the falsities erein appeal to t 'r sel ves.
Two they may reject genuine doctrine because i condemns and judges
evils a. . ies which élll.e bee confirme. Le 11 ray that
r in His rovidence will gran.t us pe_u_e.Jltj._ Ilg'-oLint.etior-t.rltth
so that we may draw doctrine from the Word which will be of use ~n the
UPbuilding of His C. hurch. May we he en1ightened to distinguish between
l
J ~ genuine doc tri
letter.
tained in the Word Dnd D.p1?earances of.. the

To return to the questions asked above: it is my belief that from
the Word we can understand a very great deal about the past, present,
and future of the Lord's New Church. We can know what the present
state of the ehurch is, and mueh of what ~ s t go, and become, to
.'lcome to the far fuller states of con 'unction with the Lord which are
in our future o l believe there is a definite or cr and progression
. ordained for the church ou~f the Lord's Div~ne Providence wh~c we
can see not only in general and in the abstract, but that in revi~wing
th~history_o t h ~ c h thus far we can make definite app ications
and judgment.

3
l believe that this universal teaching concerning the
~evelopment -:f the church is-given not once, but over and "-ver, and
that each time it ~s-given new aspects of the same truths are imparted
to increase our understanding. l believe further that these series
indicate that we are about to enter a most lorious §tage in the
~ns a onaf the New Cnurcli:- Al-though there are greater struggles
I~nd ~fare against evil and-falsity to be waged in this state than
anything the church has yet encountered, there is to be in this state
a_closer union with the Lord than an thin. any congregation of the New
_Church has_ yet known, wi th greater love and wisdom inthe church

~nflowing from the Source of all love and wisdom.

Because l want ta bring together sa many teachings and series ta
show their harmony and union, l must express ideas in as few words as
possi~e and will not be able at all to âevelop t~m in fulnes~~his
brevity will also make it appear that l am saying, "1 know," when
cbviously l should only say, "Perhaps ••• , is it not reasonable, etc."
With this in mind, l would proceed as follows.

Everyone who is being regenerated by the Lord is passing througp
the Seven Da s of Creation. ~h~New Church must likewise pass through
)I the Seven Da s, for an individual is a church in least-form, and what
iS true for a lesser form is true for the greater also. The sam~ even
~tat~s are also contained and reflected in the whole book-of Genesis
(
in the histories of Adam, Noah, Eber, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Joseph o In recognition of the ap~lication of these seven states of
regeneratnon to the successive states of development of the New Churcbmnr
rThe Lordls New Church which is Nova-Hierosolyma in 1956 adopted a
doctrinal statement, The Formation of the Church, based on this Genesis
series~ It was seen rrom the Arcan;-that the Fourth State, the call
of Abram, represents the First-C~ming of the Lord to the Church and
that Joseph represents His Second Coming. See the appendix for this
r
1
statement. For a further development of this statement see, A Study

of the States of the Formation of the Church, by Reverend Rarr W.

~rnItz where-rt is shown that~he Seven Days QI Creation contain the

Seven~es of the Formation of the Church.

It is also well known in ~he Apocalypse deals with
the last sta~es of the old church and he e ~nn~n s 0 ~ew; the
New Church being particularly t eated of in the letters to the Seven
-C~urches which~are in Asia~ the sealing of-the Twelve Tribes of Israel,
} Th~~V_man Clothed with the Sun, who flees into the Wilderne~s from the

tê-ces of the aragon, -the M-arriage Supper 0 the LamE, and f~nallyt-ne

church is depicted as the Roly City. Much attention has rightly been

focused on ha ter 12 of the Apocalypse bec~use it ha ee1lrecognized

~ that whatever_else they have been-alld beco~, none of e t~ee organ

ized bodies of the New Church; Conferenc ·'-C_Q!lvention, The General

'éhurch, The Nova Hierosolyma, ha-s yet "made herself ready"-to pasa

~ond the wilderness state to De ome the Bride and Wife of ttie amb.

It is not merely in these first and last books of the Old and New
Testaments that we find series which the Third Testament shows to
treat ~f the develo ment of the ew Church. The Twelve Sons of Israel
and tne-tribes-thence describe in their nativitie:s, blessings, histories
and several conjunctions, all the goods and truths of the church.

4

The hi.st~ries of the four churches, Most Ancient, Ancient, Hebrew, and
Christian, which have existed prior to the New Church, the depiction
of the state of the fallen Christian Church, and of the Lord's Ministry
and Glorification, are aIl full of meaning fer the development of the

! New Church. Doubtless there are many more series than these, but
already we have a seemingly great complexity.

In seeking to apply these series we must ever remember several
universal principles concerning the opposition of evil and falsity to
r the Lord's building of His New Church. We know that trust in self
-
rather than tr~_iB~he ord is the universal evil that destroys aIl

1 churches o We are further instructed, as in~. 741a, that the evils

U which infest the church are of two kinds symbolized y the n;agon and
(Babylon~ The(Drag,~rv represents those who make God three, ttie-ifu.d two,
and make faitn ~ saving. (A.R. 537) Babylon represents self
worship and t~e desire froID self to rule over the truths of faith.
(A.E. 1029) These evils f~ow in froID evil societies in the spiritual
Il
J 1 world and persecute the New Church. We cannot understand the history
y of the New Church apart frOID this infestati~ Nor can the churc~
. b~rul in§iau~tad-un~it has reco nized in what manner ~ has been
infested, Fe ents of evi~s and falsities to which ~ as been se ucea,
and casts out nraconic and Babylonic influences where ever they are
recognized. Our pride and selI tr~tell us that our church has not
been seduced, l"'ttiougninfes a . n can be recognized in the "other
two" branches. The Arcana Coelestia tells l1S that "every church is
s~ch that it ip.cludes a true internaI and a corrupt interna , a true
extern~qnd a corrupt ext rnal." (A. 1238) To trust in self is to
dêstroy our church, to trus in the Lord's Word is to build it.

That the New Church is to be infested by the dragon is taught
plain1y in the Apocalypse Explained and Apocalypse Revealed in explan
ation of Chapter 0 the Apocalypse. The New Church is there
depicted as pursued and warred ~n by the dragon. Verse 9 states that
the "great dragon(Y;as cast out, ca11ed the devil and satan, that
àeduceth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth," To seduce
the whole earth is to pervert aIl things of the church. (A.E. 741)
Further in verse 13, "'And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto
the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought forth the son,' sign
ifies that the dragon in the world of spirits, immediately upon their
bein thrust down, began to infest the New Church wn account of it-é
j doctrine 0" (A .R. 5-60 The dragon cannot_ be cas~ out of the New Chu~ch,
,asOût Mf t~~ Heaverl"'ünti! we~o nize the success he has had in
Ylperv:rting the thin~s of aIl branches of the New Church.

T~ recognize the things of the dragon(with USiwe must read the
passages ~f the Word which treat of the dragon, that old serpent, from
his seduction ~f Eve in the Garden to the depiction of his terrible
power over Protestant Christianity not as mere history. ~ real Use
of these IDany passages is not at al~o make us feel superior to former
l,
churches, but to enlighten us as to how t~e still e~isting infernal
societies frOID these ~h~rchës infest the New_Church today. We know
frOID the Word that "the Devil is come down" unto us IIhav"ng great anger,
J knowing that he hath bu~sh.9rt time." (Rev. 12,12) because his defeat
by Michael and his angels in the heavens is to be re eated in the
"earth" which is theJ~w Cnu!'ch.

5

In the same manner we must see that Babylon is not finally
destroyed and cast like a millstone into the sea ~ long as such

,.~b lonish strivin for( su remacyl con inuLwithin the New ure.

IIndeed, en tnousan~ years m now when he Catholic Church is as

dim a memory as the M0s.1.-A-ncient Church is 'today, these passages'will
still have living meaning for the New Church.

We learn in the remarkable number~64 that the "crafty" and
"pernicious .. reasonings cf those meant y e dragon about the separa
tion of faith from good works, ••• are only with the learned lead~rs of
the church, and are not known to tne eo e 0 e c urc ecause they
are not understood by them, therefore 1t is b the latter t at the New
Chured hich is called the Holy Jerusalem, is helped and also grows." _
Tt--is also manefestly true that it lS e pr1ests and m1nisters6f the
' 'New Church who are most im~eriled by seduction to babylon1an love of

rule since their Use requires of them le3dership and a certain pre

) leminence. Caution, prudence, and true charity must ~used in seeking

to apply this knowledge. Thot we must recognize and cast out the

/Dragon and Babylon does not mean that we must cast out some minister

because, in our opinion, his doctrine tends to divide God, or faith

( from charity, nor should we of the laity feel pride that we have dozed

'--through innumerable sermons an doctrinal classes and thus "helped the
chureh" by not receiving any dragonish reasonings which may have been
present! Nor are we competent to judge whether a given leader is animated
by a pr~per love ef rule from the love of Use, or a Babylonish love.

We must ever learn again to examine .these tendencies' apart from
person: If we should see that a tendency which was later seen to be
dragonish, entered the thinking of the church through the agency of a
c~rtain individual, w~ must look on hmm as the dragon's victim, not
condemn him as himself a dragon. We cannot know another's interiors,
and furthermore, a an's state ~hanges. The good that we have done is
the Lord with us; we must not merit in it or worship others because
this good is with them. The ~vil we have done is fr~m the influx ni
hell; let us not eonfirm it in ourselves nor condemn others for i~
.presence.

That we must never condemn individuals/does not mean that we must
not review the histor of the New Church to date in order to see where
the dragon has infested her and prevailed against her. Nothing is more
/ ïmportan than that we do this. How can we recognize the dragon? We
have been told already; the dragon are those who make God three, ~
Lord two, and who make faith al one saving. Further, it is the dragon
who divides the church. "'That he might cause her to be swallowed up
by the river,' signifies~hat the church mi ht be b~ed and scattered
by reaspnings." C<A.E. 763}2)" Before turning to such nec essary, but
distressing matte s as tnese, however, let me state the thesis of this
paper.concisely~ Simply put forth it is as follows.

The Development ~f the Church

( It is a Universal Law that "the Lord when He operates, does not
operate from first princ-ï'ples by mediates into ultimates, but from
first rinciples by ultimates, and so into mediates. ' ! (A.E. 1087.

6
The Lord, in establishing His New Church operated from ~~~f$
and created His C~urch of the New Jerusalem now enerally called the
Conferen_ce or Conven'tion. He then 0l'erated by l timates land •
:reated the General Church of the New Jerusalcm. He thereupon operated
~n(mediate~and created The Lord's New Church which is Nova Hierosolyma.
In l~ke manner the church responded, he~onference-Convention~coming
into exist .ce from an acknowledgment of the Lord ~n ~rs St as the -f ~
'Z.
Divine Man; he General Church coming to an acknowled ent of His
presence in lasts, in the Letter of the Writings, an he Nova Hiero-
solyma attaining to an acknowledgment of His presence in mediates, in
J the Doctrine and Life of the Church. AlI three of these are the Lord's
N~Church. "Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made
us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His
pasture." Psalm 100,
u ~
' Had it not been for the infestation of the dragon~ this successive
operation of the Lord in primes, ultimates, and mediates would not have
resulted in corresponding separations in the church. Since this~-
/p_<?§.llion was foreseen, it was of the Lord's permission that each of
these eternal planes of good and truth in Him should create ~~R~~te
churches., This is not the end of the development, however, because a
fragm;nted New Churc is n t the end of Divine Providence., "Divine 7""
Love a is om go forth from the Lord as a one •• 8The end of the Divine '
Providence is that every created thing •• esha~be such a one; and if it
'is not, that it shall become such." D.P. 4, 78 Consequently, the Lord
~- will n ~ erate to gather u2 these three lanes of Good and Tru~h, and
ltheir corresponding New Churches, i to a~, ~d this o~e is the ~w
Church which shall go forth from the wildernes~.

These planes of prime.,-_ultimate" and mediate in the Lord are also
meant b Father~(son, and~ irit or Divine Proceeding; and the
rLor~ the Wor 'an the'Doctrin~from the Word. These are One Lord and
they must foFm'one Church, E9t b~ separated into three go~orshiped

{
-
)J by three churches.
---
--- ~
The Church of the New Jerusalem, often called the(Conferen~or
Convention; as the first body of the Lord's New Church ~s an essential
c~spondence with aIl first things of love, life, and faith. This it
corresponds to the First Day of Creation; toFa1th in the Understanding,
the first of the church and of regeneration; to the Most Ancient, or
Adamic, Church; to the first son of Jacob, Reuben; to the state of the
church represented by Jacob and his sons when they dwelt in the Land of
Canaan; to Peter, the first of the disciples; and to the first of the

2
1-""'" -
Seven Churches which are in Asia, Ephesus.
,..r-' -
TheGeneral Church 'of the New Jerusalem, created by the Lord in
-/lasts, andla~ e Word, has an essential correspondence to the Second
Day of Creation; to the acknowledgment of and hearkening to the Word in
its Letter; to Faith in the Will; to the Ancient, or Noachic, Church;
to the second of Jacob's sons, Simeon; to the state represented by
Jacob and his sons dwelling in Egypt, thus with the Ancient Church, and
with aIl descents into Egypt; to Andrew; and to the second church in
Asia, Smyrna"
----
j

7
The Lord's New Church which is Nov~ Hierosolyma, created by the
Lord in mediates, corresponds to the Third Day of Creationj to the
acknowledgment and following of Doctrine out of__the Wordj to Faith in
the Act, or Charity; to the Second Ancient, or Hebrew, Churchj to
Jacob's third son, Levij to the state of the church represented by the
twelve tribes w~ndering for 40 years in the-wilderness under Moses~d
~onj to Jacob, the third disciple; a;~o-th~fllird church~Asia,
Per~~moso

~ The New Church which is soon to be, to which we must look, for
,which we must labor as~of ourselves, but knowing it is the Lord's
creation, is ~ presented ~y the Fourth Da~ of creatio~· the Celestial
of Love to the ~or, he en of reform~tion and the e inning 0 true
regenera 10nj ~Abrahamj by the four h of Jacob's sons, Judah; by the
"Children of Israel entering the Land of Canaan under Joshuaj ~n,
jthe d'ciple whom Jesus lov~d; by tbe church in Th atira; above arr;
tt this fourth state of the church rnyese ts the First Comin of the Lord
and the r1 'an Church thence. As He by His Coming into the world
.glorified His Human, uniting it to His Divinity, so 3hall He gather u ,
"uplift, and g}orify the goods and truths of His existin~, partial New
C urches so that the y may become truly His.
---~ Without entering into a full treatment of any of the se series, let
us illustrate the History of the New Church so far by means of the
series of the First Three Days of Creation and the first three churches
thencej Adamic, Noachic, and Hebrew, showing the correspondence of1U1e
conven~ General Church, an Nova ~erosolyma.

1h2 First Day ------ ----
/The Conference-Convention

If the first chapter of Genesis is applied to the creation of the
New Church, rather than the regeneration of the individual, the result
is somewhat as follows.

1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
The Lord in His Second Coming created the New Heavens and a New Church
in place of the former Christian Church.
'2. "And the earth was a void and emptiness, and thick darkness was
upon the faces of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the
faces of the waters." The judgment of the former Christian Church
that it was without good or truth and thus consummated.
3 .. "And God said let there be light, and there was light. 1l The
enlightenment of the understandings of those who were to be of the
New Church.
4. "And God saw the light, that it was goodj and God distinguished
between the light and the darkness. And God called the light day,
and the darkness called He night." The separation of the New Church
from the former Christian Church.
,.-- - 5. "And the evening and the morning were the first day." The evening
is the consummation of the Christian Churchj the morning, the be~i~ng
of the New Church., "'Evening' means every preceding state, because it
± - state of shade, or of falsity and of no faith; 'morning' is every
subsequent state, being one of light, or of truth, and of the cognitions
of faith ••• As it is 'evening' when there is no faith, therefore the
Coming of the Lord into the World is called, 'morning,' and the time
when He comes, because faith is no faith is called 'evening.'" A. 22

8
The morning state of the First Day of the New Church is unfolded
·in the creation of Adam and his state in the Garden of Eden. It a
primitive celestial-sensual_state of love to the Lord and charity to

war he ne~Dor, 0 joyful perception that the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ is the only God of heaven and earth, that He is aIl love and aIl
wisdom, that He wills to save aIl men, that He condemns no one, that He
' is making His Second Coming. It is a state of tender love, genuine
~thusiasm, and faith in the underst~ing which is a first~-rue-enlight
{
enment. Like the Most Ancient Church which had no written Word, it is
an approach to the Lord as the Divine Human largel~ apart from an
acknowledgment of., and entering into, the scientifics of the Word.

Perhaps nowhere is this Adamic plane of the New Church and the two
essentials of love to e LQ d and charity toward the neighbor better
expressed than in Convention's beautiful Declaration of Faith.
------------
"We worship the One God, the Lord, the Savior Jesus Christ, the
Creator and Redeemer of the world; in whom is the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit; whose humanity is divine; who for our salvation
did come into the world and take our nature upon Him. He endured
temptation, even to the passion of the cross. He overcame the halls,
, and so delivered man. He glorified His humanity, uniting it with the
Divinity. ~f which ~t was l?egotten. (....ê3 H~ became the Redeemer of thè
( worTa •. W1thout th1S no mortal could have been saved: and they are
saveâ who believe in Him and keep the commandments of His Word. This
is His commandment, that we love one another, as He hath loved us.
Amen."

Here we have no mention of the Lord as the Word, the Second Coming,
the Spiritual Sense of the Word, and the Life after Death, matters which
are the concern of the creed of the General Church. Love to the Lord
and charity toward the neighbor are the aIl in aIl. Convention~~-!Èe
Mamie Chureh reborn , "that. acknowledged no faith than that of love to
the Lord and love towards the Neighbor." A. 337

Who in the New Church does not know the story of the downfall of
the Adamic Church? That they were forbidden to Gat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, i.e., forbidde~~o~n~~re into the mysteries
of a~th~y means thins of sense_and_s~ientifics: (A. 126) that
they inclined to their ro rium or Eve, the evil and falsity that springs
from love of self and the world, and trusting self rather than the Lord
land the Word; that Eve harkened to the voice of the serpent or sensu~l
land did eat of the tre~~ desiri_n to be e~~y_self rather than the Lord,
and that her husband, the rational, consented.Thattheywere removed
1 from the Garden., ~.~., r~duced to the state they had been in revious
J to regeneration (A. 284) and finally d~riv~d of aIl knowledge of what
is good and true lest theY-shOuld profane the holy things of faith;
• ~8~) tna in time faith with them destroyed charity, representedùby
Cain killing Abel, and their remnant was destroyed by a flood of evil
a -fals."ty. AlI this is known, but beeause it is not known that
Convention corresponds to this Adamic Church the many indications in
e Third Testament that these states refer to the New Church are dis
regarded, or if confessed as true, th~cQnfession is one like the

_
a
general confession of sin in the Reformed Church,~which does not become
.
confessi ~n articula~'î~, an us brings aboul;ï1o repen anee •

9
Conventi~is the Adamic New Church. The Lord addresses it aS the
church WhlCh is in Ephesus with words of praise, love, consolation, and
instruction as to what is necessary to restore this Adamic plane~
"But l have this against thee that thou hast left thy first charity.
Be m~ndf ther~fEre of whence thou .has a ~en, and repent, and do the
first worksj ~i-f not l will come unto thee quickly, and will~e
thy lampstand Ol!t of its place, except thou re ent~" Rev. 2, 4-5.
The promise to retore the Adamic is openly giVên: "To him that over
( cometh will l give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of
the paradise of God." Rev. 2, 7.

The Second Day - The General Church

6. "And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide, between the waters in the waters," This first
distinguishing of the second day involves the distinguishing between
the things ~f fantasy or self-intelligence and the pure scientifics of
the Letter, the things actually said in the Writings. It was the will
toward this distinction, or the acknowledgm&nt o~ ~__
"Divine AuthQrity
0i the Writings" that led t'Othe -separation of the General Church from
the Convention.
7."And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters which
were under the expanse, and the waters which were above the expansej
and it was so." This secc.nd distinction of the second day involves
the distinguishing not only between those things whiçh are oî h~ ~d
and those things which are ,roper to man, (A. 8) but also a first
Igen~ral awar~ness of the Interna Sënse of the Word in the Writings as
distinct from the scientifics of its Letter. These two acknowledgment~;

r the acknowledgment of the Divine with man, and of the Intern
the Th~rd Testament, were the two basic cognitions that led to the
development 2!(the ova Hierosolym~ since these have never been fully
e of

~ received in the General Churcn;--~evertheless, theLord remains present
in the Genuine InternaI of the General Church where ~here is a true
reverence for His resence in the Litera ense of the Third Testament
for wrchin this there may arise that spiritual affëëtion of Truth that
is the essence of Charity.
8. "And God called the expanse heaven. And the evening and the
morning were the second day." The acknowledgment of the existence of
the internaI man and the presence of the Lord wi th man 1 s inter..nal. A. 24

When the Adamic Church fell into evils and falsities, the Lord
raised up the Noachic, or Ancient, Church. This r~ ras~nted boxh a
J) descent and an ascent. A descent(f~om the celestial to a spiritu~
churchj and an ascent from the sensual 0 pane 0 sc. cs or
me~ knowledges in the rirs c~ to have a written Wo~ Similarly,
when onventi~ failed to foll~the Lord in lasts, the Lord raised up
the Ge era éhurch This likewise represen etl descent and an ascent.
A descen in that this second New Church tended to lose the celestial.
} quality of love to the Divine Human in which Convention in its best
s1at8ËÏhad beenj an ascent because the General Church accepted the
"Writings" as Divine Revelation, the Lord in lasts as the Word, and
thus infsllible. Its members entered into the cognitions (spiritual
plane) and scientifics (plane of memory knowledges) of the Word,
determined to order aIl states of the life of the New Church by the
teachings of the Word. This is a progression from faith in the under
standing to faith in the will, where man seeks ta order his life by what
( he sees in the Word, not from his corrupt will.

10

~ In order to protect the new body from the "flooçl" then swee~ng
Convention, the founders of tl'i'e General Church determined to form
communit~es and schools in which aIl social and educational life as
Well as worship should be within the sphere of the New Church; thus a
I}
1 veritable. Noah' s Ark. "And Noah did according to aIl tha t God cOiiiliïanded
him; so â3..a: he." Gen. 6, 22. The basic faith of the Second Day is
perfectly presented by the Creed of the General Church~

"I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and everlasting
God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Redeemer and Savior of the
World.
l believe in the Sacred Scripture, the Word of God, the Fountain
of wisdom, the Source of life, and the Way to heaven.
l believe in the Second Coming of the Lord, in the Spiritual
Sense of the Word, and in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.
l believe i~ the New Angelic Heaven, in the New C~istian Church,
in the communion of angels and men, in the repentence from sin, in
the life of charity, in the resurrection of man, in the judgment
after death, and in the life everlasting."

Here we see the recognition of lasts, the Lord as the Word, not
even mentioned in Conyention's Declaration, made of equal importance as
the Lord in firsts as the Divine Hunan.. Certainly there is development
here. There is also a falling away from the "faith of love" of the
Convention. (In the General Church Jcreed the "life of charity," the
) second essential of the church, becomes a mere doctrinal lost among

scientifics.

Is it merely for convenience and simple expression that the Third
Testament refers to the Ancient and successive churches as "the new
church" (nova Ecclesia) or is this done to remind us that this "new
church" corresponds to a development in the New Cpu~? The adjective
"nova." could easily be avoided by the use of "another," "additional,"
or "succeeding" chur~h. In the manuscripts in Sweà-enborg's own hand
a statement clearly refering to the New Church is often written "nova
Ecclesia." AlI initial capitals are consistently used only when the
proper name "Nova Domini Ecclesia ll is used.

"The subject now treated of is the forma.tion of the ncw ul'c~,
which is called IINoah"; and its formation is described b the ar
into which living things of every kind were received. But,>a s
wont to be the case~ b.Efore ~ha.t ew chur.cIL. Qould ilrise i~s

--
) necessary that the man of the church should .§.ttffer many tem tations,
which are described DY the lifting up of the ark, its fluctuation,
and its delay upon the waters of the flood. And finally, t~at he
became a true s i r i t · man and was t free, is d scribed QY tpe
)IJ ;essation o~ the waters, and the many things that follow. No one
1 can see his who a he~to ~g~ense of th~ letter only, in
1 consequence (and especially is this the case hera) of al~ things
being historically connected, and presenting the idea of a history of
events o " A. 605.

11

Nor can one who "adheres to the sense of the letter only" see the
essential correspondence of the Noachic {élrla- eneraÎlChurches. However,
if one considers that the Celestial-Sens~ am~plane corresponds
( to the physical infanc -of the indiv1dual: to the spiritual infancy of
that individual in the "First Day" of his rœ:generation, and to the
"First Day" ?f the New Church, which i ~ëiitIOn, he can also see

~
CJ.earlY that the Sp:i.ritual-Scientific Noac 1C lane corresponds to the
cnï.anoo Jf the individual? both naturally and-spiritually, and to the
cn1ldhood of the New Church ~.n(~e General Church

Again, neithe~ the mOTn~ng? or genuine, state, or the evening, or
opposite: state of th2 General. Churr.h can be treated adequately here.
They are contained in the Arcana Coelestia in the spiritual sense of
the buildi~g and v()ya~~ of_the A~ko of the Lord's blessing of Noah and
his sons, of the bow in the cfOuds, signifying that such a flood would
never again inundate the church, and of Noah planting a vineyard, thus
. becoming instructed i~ doctrinal things and becoming a spiritual
~ church. (Ao 1067) The decline of the Ancient Church is fi t treated
lof in Noah' becoming drunk with t~ ~ine he had made, which signifie~
,to fall into errors, (Ao 1072) and his illtreatment by Ham, who
represents the ancient enemy of the Church, e dragon of it i~~ut
J charity (A o 1061) who is the father of external worship apart from
int~als which is Canaan. How much there is for us to t~e ta ~ea~t
in~he tëachings-CO~erning this event. Here we see what our attitude
should be when we see, or believe we see, th8 piritual drunkenness, and
nakedness of another o Let us with Shem and Japheth excuse errors---
( rather than deride with Ham~ The Ancient Church aIse f~ victim OfJ]
t at other enemy? ri s~~orship and love of dominion as ~pre~ed
in the rise of the 'Tower of Babel and tb§ conse~uent confusion of
tongues~Th8se dë;ïining st~tes are summarized in A. 1250 in explan-.
a ion of Genesis 11: l-~

"Concerning /the first Anciènt Church f s7 first state, that 0.11 had
one do'ctrine (verse 1) j its second state,-that it began ta decline
(verse 2); its third~ that the falsities of cupidities began to reign
'1 (verse 3); its fourth, that men b~gan t~rcise dominion by eans
of Divine worship (verse 4); and therefore the state of t e church
was changed (verse 5 and 6); so that none had the good of faith
(verse 7 to 9)0

The "confoundi.ng of their lip" and aOJ;isèquent sc~ring of the
c.hurch -was a Divine jud ment upon it.

IIICome, let us go down, and there confound their lip, that they
hear not a man the lip of his fello~·' 'Comè, let us go down,'
signifies that a judgment was thus effected; 'and there confound
1 their lip,' signifies that -no -one has the truth of d..Q.c...t~ine; 'tha t
1 they hear not a man thë lip of his fellow,' signifies t~t aIl are
1 at variance with one nnother." A. 1319.
~
That this state of confounding their lip "that they hear not a man
the lip of his fellow, Il indeed occurred in the General Church a t the
time of the "Ha ue Cont:.::."oversy" was keenly fel t by Bishop DeCharms as
w1tness his statemen

12

"From the very first replies to the printed statements of the
Hague Position, we have been met ~nsistently with the declaration:
( "You 0 not understand~" This has been the out standing character
istic of the present controversy." New Church Life, Vol. LVII 1937.

It is of great interest to see such a, possibly unconscious,
confirmation of a change in the state of the church from one present at
the time. It is probable that a stud of sermons, articles, and
doctrinal classe~ver the ea s would bring to light many s~
[ ~onf~rmationso Di~he earliest New Churchmen see themselves as~nd
~ng_~t the first dawn of creation and warn against the eating of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Did the founder§ of the
Academy and the General Church compare Distinctive New Church Education
-
and social life to the Ark which Noah built? Did the ioneers of ---.
{he
Nova Hierôs~l ma . ee themselves as, like Moses, leading the church up
from the Land of E t of mere seientifics? l believe that the answer
is Ilyes" to all of these questions, and that in so speaking they spoke
1 spiritual truth~

The General Church is the Noachic New Church. The Lord addresses
the General C ure as the second church in Asia, Smyrna. Smyrna
represents the second state of the church, "those who are in the know
ledges of truth and good, and also in a life according to them, thus
those who are in the affection of truth from a spiritual source."
fl (A.E. 112,/M Smyrna also represents i1those wi-thin the church who w:hsh
to understand the Word, but do not y~ understand." (A.E. 111) The
Lord is here, "the First and the Las, who was dead and is alive,"
I(Revo 2, 8) recalling the General Church' acknowled ment of the pre
s~nce of the Lord in ~ s as well 'as Firsts. He warns of the afflic
tion they must suffer ecause of the infestation of "them who say 1hat
they are Jews and they are not, but are of the synagogue oi Satan."
The Lord counciis His faithful disciples in Smyrna, "be thou faithful
even till death, and l will give thee the crown of life ••• He that over-
COmeth shnll not be hurt by the second death," signifies tha i2..e wh02:.s
)
steadfast in the genuine affection of truth to the end of his life in
1 the world sha come ~nto the new eaven." (A.E 1.11)

The Third Day - ~ Nova Hierosolyma

9. "And God said~ let the waters under the heavens be gathered
[ together in one place, and let the dry f.ïanil appear; and it was so."
The w~ters under t~e heavens being gathered together into one place in
-an outmost sense signifies that the Writin sare ac nowledg~ tO.ê...-...the
Word equa~y' . h e Q1 and New Testaments, whereby the Three Testa
m~nts of the Word are united. In a deeper se~, this gathering to
~ gether of the waterssignifies the acknowledgment of the need of the
1 Lord gathering together and ordering of the scientifics in the hüffian
l mind, by His Holy, SRirit, thus the acknowledgment of Doctrine, Spiritual
o Celestial origin, this being the crowning acknowledgmeEt which led
to tl!e Nova Hierosolyma. The "dry" is the external man itself, which
first appears in its real natural quality when man, by virtue of
(genuine Doctrine, ~no lon er assumes that the scien~ifics from the
IlLetter in his external memory are spiritual truths,"" or mis-a plie.§ the
appearances_o~he Literal SeEse to the loves of self and the world.

li

13

10. "And God called the dry ;Iand7earth, and the gathering together
of the waters called He seas; and God saw that it was good."
The distinguishing between the Presence of the Lord in the Letter ~d
His Presence in the human mind, by the gathering together and ordering
of the scientifics t e:nce into the form of Genuine Doctrine. Also the
distinguishing between doctrinal things in the underst:anding (the seas)
and the f~llowing of Doctrine in the natural life of repentance (the
dry) whereby the seeds of Truth, Spiritual and Celestial, may be im
planted and received. It was the will to th e distinctions that led
to the separation of the Nova Hierosolyma and the General Church.

11-12. "And God said, let the earth bring forth the tender herb, the
herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree bearing fruit after its kind,
whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was sOG And the earth
brought forth the tender herb, and herb yielding seed after its ~ind,
and the tree bearing fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind;
and Gad saw that it was good G "
The L~rd calls upon His New Church to repent pf the evils and falsities
out of its "co.a:u. in.:ter11ê:l" int~ it~s "corr pt external" which destroy
the first three daysj the false celestialism, sensual reasonings, and
heresies of îaith nlone by which Cain, the tiller of the soil, killed
Abelj the spiritual drunkenness, derisiveness, and l dom:i.Aion
which des~rùy' the Spiritual-4Scientific plane; the idolatry by which ours
and others g limited, Natural-Rational understanding of Truth becomes a
false god, the "work of our own hands" worshipped in place of the Lord,
which was the end of the third church in history. The church out of
, the good enrth of repentance brings forth the "tender herb" - a humble,
loving worship and true natural charity out of Celestial originsj "the
herb yielding seed" - a mutual affection of the True, the "seed" being
the spirituaJ. cognitions within the natural scientifics; and finally,
"the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed was in itself" - a humble,
natural-rational understanding and perception of Doctrine out():(which
the genuine external of the church i8 prepared for ttre Advent of the
Lord in the Fourth Day.

As summarized in Arcana Coelestia the Third Day of Regeneration is:

"The third state is that of repentance, in which the man, from his
internal man, speaks piously and devoutly, and brings for th goods,
Î like goods of charity, but which, nevertheless, are inanimate, because
he thinks they are from himself. These are called the "tender grass,"
( and also the "herb yielding seed," and afterwards the "tree bearing
fruit .. "

Again in the change from the Second to the Third Day we see both
an ascent and a descente An ascent from the scientific ta the doctrinal
or rati9pal, a descent from the spi~~al to the natural gooiL-of faith
J and obedience. This descent is not~decline, but an advance, in that
the New Church thus advances from Spiritual ch11Qhood to S iritual
youth so that the Celestial and Spiritual seeds may come forth from the
" ood earth." It can be seen that while the Nova Hierosolyma has
entered the ThirdJDay, most ojf its work has notlb,Ben accompl~ed as
ye~indeed, most of its work cannot be accomplished by the Nova Hiero
sOlyma alone. The external of the New Church must be re-formed so that)
He-may-open and form its internals. s did the Hebrew ro ets of old;
so must the men of _the No~ierosolyma prepare the New chur~h for--the
Lord's Ministry of the Fourt ay.

14

The genuinely priestly Use of lending by truths of Doctrine ta
genuine repentance and the life of charity first becomes ossible 'n
the Third Dayo For t e Priestho.ad is given ta Jacob' s third son, Levi.
Although the Lord Himae ,as the Good of Life, cannat be inmostly
1
Eresent with us until we have repented of the dragonish and babylonish
things which prevent this inwar~ con 'unction, let us never forget t at
He is omnipresent prepûrin His Church. As we labor ta pre are the
"good .round " let us remember the promise given in Isaiah 53, 2 ta this
New Church of the Third Dûy:

"Far He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground."

'l'he early third day quali ty of ther'Nova Hierosol ma,....,·a t i ts inception
is clearly sfiown in ffie statemen "Leading Theses Propounded in 'De
Hemelsche Leer'''. Here are se en the separations treated of in Genesis
l, 9-10, which begin the Third Day rather than the unfinished tasks for
the Church in Genesis l, Il. The gathering of the waters, distin uish
ing of the dry, and the worship of the Lord's third attribute, the Holy
Spirit or Doctrine, are clearly stated.

"1. The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are t he Third Testament of the
.J __

Ward of the Lord. The DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE

2~ -
SACRED SCRIPTURE must be applied to the three Testaments alike.
The Latin Word without Doctrine is as a candIe stick without light,
and those who rend the Latin Word without Doctrine, or who do not
~quire for themselves a Doctrine from the Latin Word, are in darkness
as to aIl truth. (cf. SS 50-61).
3 The genuine Doctrine of the Church is spiritual out of celestial
origin, but not out of rational origine The Lord is that Doctrine
itselL (cf. A.C. 2496, 2497, 2510, 2516, 2533, 2859; A.E. 19)."

The Natural-Rationûl and even "dry" quality of· the Nova Hierosol ma
may be seen in it state ent, ~ Essentials of the Church. This chûnge
in the inward quality of the church is contained in the very opening
words of the creeds: j'We worship" - "I believe" - "The acknowledgment."
. The celestial things of infancy have been left behind and the celestial
~ings of adult life have not yet been attained. '

"le The acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine HU!!lan
as the one only God of heaven and earth, in whom is the Divine Trinity.
2. The acknowledgment of the Word of the Lord in its three Testaments,
the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writin s of Emanuel
Swedenborg, which are the~rd Testament. In this Third Testament
't e Lord has ~ulfilled His Second Coming, and aIl the Divine Human is
present therein from firsts to lasts, in fulness, holine~s and power.
What is said in this Testament concerning the Sacred Scrlpture or
Word applies also to itself.
3. The life of faith, charity and love into the Lord that is of
heaven being the Divine essence of eternal life in man and in the
Church."

15
1
We who are the present membership of this third church7have
merely begun to understand our task~and what the accomplishment of
this st~~gle of repentance will allow the Lord to rëVeal t~us:--For
the answer to the questio~ "How lon must the church be temPted and
I;persecuted in the wilderness?~ is "hidden" in "plain sight" in-~732
an 0 her numbers. The New Church is to endure infestation in the
wilderness for "three and a half days" that is, until the evening state
WhiCh commences the Fourth Day of Creation, the mornin bein the
JJ Coming 'of the Lord.
The Fcurth Day-- Tpe Coming of the ~

It is a different matter to treat of the first three days of the
development of the New Church than it is to treat of the Fourth through
Seventh DaYn The former, l believe, are past and present, the latter
are the future. Nevertheless, something concerning them can be seen
and stated by following the same series of days, churches, sons and
disciples.

The great importance, beauty, glory, and holiness of the u~th
~tate of the Church is manifest in every series. It is the Day in
which the two great luminaries, Genuine Charity and Faith, are enkindle~
in the internal man. CGenesis l, 14-19, A. 10) It is the state of the
" reat reversal." Prior to this state the regenerating man, and the
church in its instauration, has looked te good from truth. After this
state has been realized it looks ta tr~th . om lLood. Peter, the first
apostle, represen s Faith and Tru h whic as appeared to be prior to
Joh the fourth a ostle, who re resents Love and Charity. Reuben and
Judah have a similar signification. It is when ~ ~s known by an
'~'inward dictate or affection that Love or Charity is the Sun, the
greater ~uminary, and that Faith or Truth is bu~ e ~n, that one
has known the Coming of the Lord. To know the Coming of the Lord is
t receive H~s Divinely umFn Love for the Salvation of the Universal
LJ
. - H1!..man Race as ones own loye. ----
C

"They who ••• have received the Divine things of the Lord, that is,
His Love towards t . human race, and consequently they who
J~ received Charity toward the neighbor and also the who have
j received.the reci rocal love to the Lord, are endowed ••• with intell
, ~gence and wisdom and with ineffable happinessj for they become angels
and thus truly men." CA. 4220)
-------
The intimate relationship between~her;egenerati~n'of the
individual and the instauration~f the Church ~s s own in many passages,
as A. 3759. -

"Afterward by the birth of the four sons of Jacob by Leah is
described in the supreme sense the ascent from external truth to
internal goodj but in the representative sense the state of the
church, which is such that it does not acknowledge and receive the
internaI truths that are in the Word, but external truthsj and this
being the case, it ascends to interior things according to this order,
namely, that at first it has the truth which is said to be of faithj
next practice according to this truthj afterwards the consequent
charitYj and final elesti ove. These four degrees are signi
tied by the four sons of Jacob borne to Leah, namely Reuben, Simeon,
Levi, and Judah.

16

Perhaps nowhere is the holiness of this Fourth State of the New
Church more wonderously portrayed than in Jacob's blessing of Judah
and the InternaI Sense given in the Arcana.

"Thou Judah, thy brethren shall celebrate thee, thy hand shall be
on the neck of thine enemies, thy father's sons shall bow down to-
thee. Juda~ is a lion's whelp; from the prey my son thou art gone
up; he bowed, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall
rouse him up? The scepter shall not be removed from Judah, and a
lawgiver from between his feet, even until Shiloh come; and to him is
the obedience ~f the peoples. He binds his young ass unto the vine,
and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washes his clothing in
wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes; his eyes are red with.
wine, and his teeth are white with milk." Genesis 49, 8-12.

l"'Thou Judah, , signifies the celestial church, in the supreme
Iisense the Lord as the Div.in Celes~ial; 'thy brethren shall celebrate
thee,' signifies that this church is eminent above the rest; 'thy
hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies~' signifies that the
1 infernal and diabolical cre wiL t his resence; thy father's
1 sons shall bow down to thee,' signifies that truths will submit them
selves of their own accord, 'Judah is a lion's whelp,' signi ~es
innocence with innate forces; 'from the prey my son thou art gone up,'
, s~gnifies that trom the throu h the celestia1 1 there is deliver
f man from hell; 'he bowed, he couched as a lion, and as an
old lion,' signifies the good of love a~the derivative truth in
( their owerj 'who shall rouse him up?' signifies that he is ~afe
among aIl the hells, 'the scepter shall not be removed rom Judah,'
signifies that sovere" _nt h n t de art from celesti l ood;'and
a lawgiver from between his feet,' signifies truths from t.~s good in
lower thin s; 'until Shiloh come,' signifies the comin the Lor~
~n e tranquility of peace thenj 'and to him is the obedience of
tfie peoples, , s~gn~ ~es :-;-rom His DI"vine'IH~n shall oceed
( truths, 'he binds his young ass unto the vine,' signifies~~
t~~nat~~al for the external church; 'and his ass's colt unto the
choice vine,' signifies~truth from the rational for the internaI
J~hurch;~'he washes his cl~thing in wine,' signifies thatlfiS-natural
J is Div~~ truth from His Divine &ood; 'and His covering wi the
blood of grapes,' signifies that ~is intellectual is Divine Good from
H~s _i~ ve~ 'his eyes are red with wine, , sign~es th~t the
(intellectunl or internaI Ruman is nothing but -ood; ~nd his teeth

~ are white with milkj 'signifies that the Divine natural is nothing

j f'- but the good of truth." • 3~

Indications abound that in this Fourth Day the New Church shall lm
1/ be united. It shall no longer lie scattered, broken, Jerusalem a heap
and Êi""'1i'lssing--'lf.-dr in the wilderness. 'J "In the fourth state_a
man is affected with love ••• The Church would~beone if aIl had Charity."
(i:. 10, 2913) of the Day of the Lord's First Coming Isaiah wrote:
"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,

l and the light of the sun shall be seven fold, a~e igh±~of seven
th t the Lord ind u the.breach of His people, ~d

da~S' in the ~
he h the stroke of their wound." Isaiah 30,2 • (See A. 91 3 and
T.C .R. 641)

17

In Isaiah 58, 12 we are exhorted to cooperate with t ord's
he ing as if of ourselves:

"And'the that shall be of thee·shall build the old waste places~
and the y shall raise up the foundations of many generations; an th9u

f shalt be calLed The re airer of the breach, The resto~er of paths to
dwelï1.n."
......,
If aIl were as one in the Declaration of Faith(ôf-convention~ in
the Doctrine of Love to the Lord and Love to the Neighbor, the New
Church would never lLave sp~~. T~e further true d velo pments which
became th 1
IGeneral Church" posit..iQg)and the "Nova Hier yma ll
positions would have occurred without a separation in the Church. If
aIl had Charity:

"Then would each person say, in whatever doct~in whatever
l outward orship he might be, This is my brother, I-J3ee that he
worships the Lord, and is a good man." A. 2385

We see from the Word, however, that true Charity, which Will~t~
the Church, ~s a state of Love that must -be attained through t~e
stru les of re entance This repentance must take place ~n aIl three
existing partia ew Churches. We are not yet prepa~d for the FotlJrth
Day. INe have first to bring forth from the "genuine internaI" 9f each
of these churches "goods, like the goods of charity.i1 As we do this,
as of ourselves~ormrng the genuine external of the church~the
~inelY--Human s h
/1 l
r--
f the Lord's Own Love w~l d~scen to ~s and
doctrinal differences, which now divide the Church, will be slowly
l
( brought into their proper harmony. This as of self re-formation is
the ministry of John the Ba tis •

"And he shall go before Him"~e s irit and ower of Elias~ to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobëdient
to the wisdom of the just; to make r~ady a people prepared for the
Lord~" Luke 1 17.

For the Lord comes to restore aIl the genuine states known to the
)J "Pre-Advent"churches and ead them to still more interior things. <:::-
estoraD is the message of the prophecy from Malachi on the t~ e page
' 0 ~ paper., By "the sons of Levi" are meant-all ho are in the .E;ood
) tof ~ty, thence in thE;' good of fai th. To Il urif the sons of Levi"
and 'purge them as gold and silver" is t purif the Celestial, Spirit.
ual an Natural of the Church. "The offer~ng of Judah and Jerusalem
1 shall be ngreeable unto Jehovah" signifies that t~n there will be
t. acce t· e worship from the good of love to the Lord. "According to
,r~ ~ t e da s of an a e and according to former years," signifies acc ~ding
to the worship of the Mosl; nci""Ul Cliurc , and the Ancient Church.

~
(See A.E n 433b, 444b) As is pointed out in these numbers, this ro h~cy
~of the restoraI of the worship of the Most Ancient and AncientChurches
w~s not u ~ ed in the Jewish Church. Nor was it truly fulfilled in
./ th~former Christ~an Church,.althou ~ t~ e was th~ ue celesti 1 of li
~~ ~ love to the Lord ~n the earl~est- r~st~an Church. (See T.C.R. 638 fi
whe;e the Auostolic Ch rch is likened to the Adamic.) It is in the
New Church that th, prop:g.~~y is to be fulfill~with the~sto§of
its damic and Noachi lanes.
--=:--

18

The Lord will unite His New Church, for He has promised it. Ta
J'"t.his united New Churc1:L He will evermore brin.,g His Children, the U!!J.
~v~rsal Human R~ce ta whom He has Come again.

"And other sheep have l, which are not of this fold: them also I
must bring, and the y shall hear my voicej and there shall be one fold,
and one shepherd." John 10, 14-16.

The Fifth throu~h Seventh Days

l believe that the diagram below, adapted from one used by Rev.
Harry W. Barnitz, will aid in a brief discussion of the remaining days
of creation.

.....:•.:(../

Spiritual Degree

i Natural Degree
V 3rd Day ~6th Day

Natura Spiritual Celestial States

il
" li Churches

It can clearly be seen in Genesis and the Àrcana-ih~t the Days of
Creation are linked as shawn in the diagram. On therFirst Da~ a first
light of love and faith is given in the heavens or Celestial plane.
thefFourth Day 'the two great luminaries shine forth. On the Sec nd
the waters b~ne&th are divided and the waters above distinguished.
the Fifth Day this spiritual plane is populated with living things,
"the créëping thing, the livingsoul" ta populate the waters, and
winged fouI ta fly above the earth. On the ird Day1the dry land
brings forth the tender herb, herb yielding seed, and fruit tree bear
ing,fruit. On th Sixth Da~the earth brings ~orth the beast wild
a~imal, and finally spiritual man himself. On the Seventh Day the
Celestial Man is formed. "The celestial man is the seven aYt_on
which the Lord rests." A. 74.

Correspondentially we see here the states of the development of
the Church. We can see, for example, t at the Ce10stial of the First
D~y of regeneration and çorresponding 'damic~NewIChurch, is the
Celestial of the Natural, while the Celes 1al of he Fourth Day and
corresponding Christlan New Church is the Celestial of the Spiritual:
The Celestial of the Natural is external, the Celestial of the Spirit
,ual Ls interior, and the Celestial Itself is internaI. In Coronis 51
we read "that the men of the Ancient C)lu~ch were external and natural,
nor could they becooe internaI nd,spiritual as men can-Bince- e
_Advent of the Lord." In .C .R. 78 we are taught that aIl chur~
before the Cooing of the oro-were not in the truth, and i T.C.R. 10~
we are taught that they were representative churches. Man before
egeneration is a dead man (A. 81), by passing through theS1X nays

19

in the first chapter of Genesis man becomes a living, or Spiritual man.
Applying this truth to the church we can see that it is only coming-ro
life. Indeed, the first living thing created is the "tender herb" of
the Third Day, which, l believe, we must now struggle to come to.

In His F~ing the Lord descended into the Natural Norld to
free mankind to enter a more full conjunction with Him. In His S~ond
~ng ., e lifted the man Swedenborg into the Spiritual World to ~l
to mankind the "things heard and SE:en." The Celestial Itself out of
which the New Church Itself descends cannot be firially forme~until
the men of the church have likewise known the Second COill1ng of the Lord.
r f(That is, until they h ve been brought t such a state of e cra ion
l' as to receive inmostl the Celestial DQYtrine which is within ~he Third
l1 Testament. From this the Spiritual and atural planes of this Cel stial
state of the Church will be ordered into perfect harmony as the Holy
City New Jerusalem descends from God out of heaven. Although this
!~~l Sabbath st~ ma ~e '1" distant, we must aver look t~ it~must
ever pray for the peace of Jerus~lem when ter warfare shall be accom
,Iplished, must ever, "remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."

In a world historical sense, the time until the New~Church is

Jfully instaurated is not long, but very short. In such G world sense,

~fie-New ~urc , the Crown of the Churëhes, is itself the Seventh Day = 1

r upon which the Lord shall rest ta etergity. ~~~e Six Days of la or are ----~
1lthe historie Adamie Noachic, e 1" w, ~ successive states of the
,~~hristian)Church containë in Genes1s 1. The New Church commences in
Genesis 2 with the Sabbath Day. However, just as the Sabbath of one
week is the beginning of the next, so within its own develo mënt~he
New Church COIl1L1enceS with the 'damic the Celes.t{a-~f the Natural, and
must from this develop to its full state.

As we look forward with hope to the Fourth Day, or Christian

state of the Church, we must recognize chat it is not the final state.

For, as we know, the Christian Church fell. It is only in the church

of the centuries before t e icean Council thé.l.t we can see the§e

illritual states of our futur n erverted. It is in tl:.e Christian

state hat the-most erribie forms of Babylon and the Dragon came out

in the Catholic and Protestant Churches. After Nicea there is a

certain corres ondonce of the Catholic Church with the 'ou th ay, of

( the Protestants with the Fifth Day, and the Holy Spirit sects, such as

the Quakers, with the Sixth Day, but it is nearly aIl an ex opposito,

or from the corrupt internal, one. The flying things are-not birds

but the winged dragon and the wild beast is that upon which the harlot

Sitteth. Nevertheless, .~w~ have 1" al" to the best states of

( Christe dom to the genuine internaI and external w1E ném rom the

Lord, we can see s;;ething-Qr-wha -m~gnt have een/had not ~hristendom

been s.e.duced to "make God three, the 'Lord two, and faith alone saving,"

and to pervert all truths of religion to self worship. We can therefore

see what the New Church must become, aS weIl aS overcome, as it passes

through corresponding states. ls there not something of the genuine

Christian internaI to be seen in the blessing of the Sixth Church that

is in Asié.l., Philadelphia~ For it is around the Philadelphia founded

b the Quakers, or properly The Society of Friends, that ver mUCh

of the develo ment_of__the w hurch so far has taken place.

20

Let us turn now to the unhappy, but necessary discussion of how
the Dragon and Babylon have infested the New Church. This is an un
~happy discussion because the night prior to the Coming-9f the Lord is
Na great spiritual crisis. All three degrees of the Church have been~
opened~ They have also been perverted. Thus it is of the corrupt

internal and external, or proprial things, and opposite states of the

organized bodies of the New Church that we now turn our attention.

This is a necessary discussion because we cannot repent of an evil or

falsity so that the Lord may remove it from us until we have seen it

and acknowledged it to be evil and false.

In introduction to this section let me say this. The Word teaches
~us that the Dra on will ervert ~ f th fore he is
1
~
.overcome. It is not for us, therefore, to argue whether the Word is
c5rrect, this is the negative principle of consulting the rational
which leads to all folly and insanity. (A 2568) It is rather for us
to "ai:::'irm the things which are of doctrine from the Word;" to use -our
rational faculty to discern how the truths of the Word have been borne
out in the history of the ChÜÏCh.

It will, nevertheless, be objected that to treat of these things

is to judge and mock the Church, to condemn with Ham. Surely there is

this danger and it also leads to "faith alone." Our finest patriotic

(hymn speaks of true loyalty and charity in the line, "America, America,
God mend thine every law" !Ne must with Shem and Japheth excuse errors,
i ter ret them to good, and most of all, w amendment and
healin of the church. We are not, however ,1 to blind ourselves to
rand call this charity. The following is my attempt to see how
Churchmen have been seduced to: make God three, the Lord two,-to
~~~-a-Iô'ne, and to divide the Church.

They Have Made God Three

The teachings of the Third Testament are so clear that the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ is the only God of heaven and earth, that it
would not be possible for us to split God into three persons; neverthe
less, by approaching only one of the Lord's three attributes, and main
taining that this attribute is the only way in which man can approach
~and by means of which the Lord can be present with man, the bodies of

the church have divided God anew. So mueh has b~en said on this above

that here we need merely summarize as followSé It is the tendency in

Co vention to worship the Lord apart from the ~ord and Doctrine from

the Word. It is the tendency in the Gener Church to worship the Word

apart from the Lord and Doctrine from the ~ord. It is the tende~f

the Nova ~_-rosolyma to worship the Doctrine from the Word apart from

the worsfil of the Lord and apart from e Word. All of thcse are

false worship and do violence to the Lord. For He is the Divine Human

or God in Firsts. He is the Word or God in Lasts. He is the Doctrine

or God in mediates and these three are One Lord. Further, the Dragon

having fragmented God, tends to a worShIp of God the Father, or God

above the Heavens, only, with which no conjunction is possible. liNo

one cometh to the Father but by Me."

...

21

In the Catholic Church the Lord's Divine was separated from His
Hunan so that the Popes and losser clergy could appropriate to them
selves the Lord's power on earth. Any similar claiming to ourselves
of the Lord's authority and consequent unleashing of the love of domin
ion by means of Divine Doctrine and Worship is to make the Lord two.
We have already seen this Babylonic evil in the subverting of t e
Noachic plane; however, it is particularly in the Christian lane of
~he New C~ch that the most grievoüS ~rms of this evil-must be
combatted.

However, just as the New Church was not seduced t ~ake God three
in the sarne way in which the "old church" did, so the New Church makes
"The Lord two l1 in a different manner than Was Cilone in the former
Christian Church. We know from the Word that the Lord is operating
both "mediately" and "immediately" to make His Second Coming manifest
and to establish His New Church. There is a tendency in the church to
look to 0 ~y one of these modes of oper tion and to deny the other.
Many in Convention have laid such stress upon the Lord's operation by
a universa permeation of the chur h univ~sal as to deny all import
ance to the church s ecific, the organized New Church. They thus con
fuse the genuine principle and very real evidence of the permeation of
the Christian world by light from the New Heaven, with purely human
states of good citizenship, humanitarianism, scientific advance, and
( even utopian cultism. Again we recognize the Celestiûl-Sensual which

becomes unable to tell true perceptions of the celestial from false

heavens.

The attitude of the members of he General ChurcÈJis quite differ
ent o They seern to lack all perception of the D~v1ne Operation, of
change, of movement, within or without the church, to feel that the
etate of "Noah 1 s Ark" will last for ever. or t Cl there are no -fû.lse
eavens, other than Bryn A~nyn 1tse f,- and the operation of the Lord
in mediates means that when the world becomes__good e ou h the ~w
Church will be recœived as it is now,--on y bigger. "and tooorrow
J shall be as this day, and much more abunden .f Isaiah 56, 12.
JI

The Nova Hierosolyma. tends to regard only the operation of the
Lord witn1n the ew-~ urch and even only within the Nova Hierosol~Ja.
This is to look to only a particulû.r reception of the Lord, neglecting
{the universal presence of the Lord in the natural and s~mple-Planë of
1 faith and charity. Thi~is to forget that the Lord is Omnipotent,
Omniscient, and Omnipresent. There is also the tendency to regard only
the operation of the Lord within the regenerating man of the church.
There is a need fo balance Qere, the Lord is both oQjective and sub
jective~ Turning to a purely subjective "Lord within" was the very
sin itself of the "Holy Spirit" sects, the detest ble heresy that tb-e
Lord has ceased to be Himself and has iufused Himself into men.

It is also (the Lord as the Word in His Second Coming tha t the
existing New Church has "made two." if/hen, in centuries to cone, the
Church has matured and counts its adheren~s in he bi~ lons ra er than
thousanas~i will be aS difficult for the~ to understand the l2ng
dis utes on whether the "writings" are the "Word" or not as it is for
'a present day Cnr1stian to n erstan the on ~~ruggle the e~rly
( Cpristians went through before they dared hold the Four Gos els to .be
Il( e~ual to Genes~s and Isaiah. For which is more Divine Reve ation: 1

-

22

Malachi? which orete of the
Messiah; the Apoc ypse which
jApocalypse Explained which ells of the Second Coming?
grieve that the true doctrine is received by so few may comfort them
selves with the reflection that this particular overcoming of the
( dragon is aIl but automatic. The New Church of the future, having
strength and numbers, out of self assertiveness, if nothing deeper,
would elevate its Sacred Books into the Third Testament.

Each of the existing bodies of the New Church has, however,
di~ide tp_~LQ~d~-Huma~t rom is i inity in regard to this Third
T~ ment of th Word. Convention has done this in accepting the
"New England Heresy;' the a se distinction between the Word by which
is meant only the Old and New'"Testa!I!.ents, and "Swedenborg's writings."
This is to make the Third Testament merely human.

"This new revelation is indeed imperfect in many respects o It is
given to man's'reaso, and to reason in its freedom; and that this
--~
freedom be more perfect, it is not given by inspiration. "No intelli
g~nt receiver of ~ t uth auglLt Swedenborg regards him as
inspired, or considers his writings aa supe~aing or equal to the
Bible.ooHis words are not God's words, but his words." Theophilus
Parsons, Outline ~f the Relig~on and Philosophy 2! Swedenb~

In one tremendous passage Swedenborg has given us the sword with.
which to dispose of this head of the dragon.

"Not a word which 1 set forth and write is mi~e, as 1 CHn sacredly
testify; wherefore if anyone should attribute to me one iota of the
things written, which are verities, whether he be on earth or in
heaven, he infl,:i.:.fls so great an i!1J~:.!:y_ on God Mel?-~ia.!LIli"~lf, that
it can be condoned by no one except God Messiah Himself."
aversaria II, 1654.

The General Church accepted the Writings as Divinely inspired, and
thus the Word, but when some saw that no book is part of the Word un
less it has internaI senses, they again made the Lord two by segregating
the "Heavenly Doctrines" as they came to calI them, from the rest of
the Word, insisting in remaining in their letter~ or the "plain teach
ings of the Writings." However, the plain t~chings of the Writings
are that the Writings are the Word and that they have an InternaI Sense.

"They /Certain spirits? said ••• that those things which l have
written are so rude and gross, that they judged that nothing which
is interior could be understood from these words or the mere sense
of the words; l preceived moreover by a spiritual idea that it was
so, that they were most rude, wherefore it was given me to reply that
1 they were merely vessels, into which purer, better and interior things
mi ht be poured in, El. • were a literaI sense; that such vessels,
as it were, are the man senses of the letter with the prophets, and
that they are not only rude, but also from the mire and the dunghill,
'and from the mud, but yet into them there might be infused interior,
clean and sacred things ••• thus it was given to add that if they
wished to remain in the senses of the letter, then they could h~ve
formed their knowledge from similar filthy things and vessels, and
they wno-/derive tb-ence their?doctrine, can be mightly deceived?"
(Spiritual-Diary, 2185
--~

23

How could Swedenborg have been given to state more forcefully that

the Writings have an InternaI Sense thun to show that to remain in the

senses of their Uetter is to form knowledge from the mud and the dung

hill? To see that the General Church, when put to the test in the

l 30s, insisted on doing this, is to recognize another of the dragon's

seven heads which must be cut off.

How then does the Nova Hierosolyma separate the Divine from the

Human? Certainly not by sepurating the W~itings from the Word or by

denying that they have an InternaI Sense. Rather it is by a n~t

klof the Lord's Human the Natural o~rinB of faith and life given in
J~the LiteraI Sense. The more obvious falsity, in which sorne of the Nova
Hierosolyma had been, of believing that since they acknowledged the
InternaI Sense t?ey were not bound by the LiteraI Sens~, has been con
demned and repudia edj however, more subtle falsities remain. There
,is a gloryin in doctrinal hicn are_abstract, minute, and aIl but
incomp~ehensiÈ..le; an exaltation of the "truths of faith" above the
l "truths of love," and a spurning of anything seeminly plain and obvious.
Tpis is to buil.d ourselves a false "secret chamber," and this the Lord.
has condemned.

"Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, Hf' is in the

desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe

it not. For as the li htnin cometh out of the east, and shineth

)J) even unto th west; so shall the coming of e of Mun be."

Matt. 24, 26-27

From this passage we can also see 'that the maSs of humanLty- are
~nder a Divine command not to have anything to do with the New Church
until it has overcome tlie dra on and left this wilderness and desert. j.f',
It is not their blindness, but our unreadiness whic revents the
s~d of tne New Church.
- ...
They ~ ~ in Faith Alone

Ever since "Cain" killed "Abel" in the Adamic plane of the ~w

Church, it has tended to remain in faith alone, in aith without

~ty, in a tendency for doctrinal differences to kill charity and

to divide the church. The genuine state of the Convention/is represent

ed by the blessings of Reuben and Peter, the firsf son and the first

disciple.

"Reuben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of
my forces, excellent in eminence, and excellent in power." Gen. 49,3
"And l say also unto thee, That thou art(peter and upon this rock
l will build my church; and the gates of he Il salI not prevail again
st it. And l will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
Matt. 17, 18-19
1

The opposite state of Convention is shown in the next number of

Jacob's prophecy concerning Reuben, and in the very next words the

Lord spoke to Peterj

"Light as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to
thy Father's bed, then profanest thou itj he went up to my couch."
"Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou
savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

John hargrove-hotson-the-future-of-the-new-church-1970

John hargrove-hotson-the-future-of-the-new-church-1970

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