Emanuel Swedenborg

1. The "New Church"
"A Great Voice out of
Heaven"
~
BY THE
Rev. H. GORDON DRUMMOND
~ JI ~

2. The ~~New Church"
"A Great Voice out of
Heaven"
BV THE
Rev. H. GORDON DRUMMOND
FirJt Edition 1933
Serond Edition 1934
Third Editiotl 193 8
NEW-CHURCH PRESS, LTD.
20 HART STREET,
LoNDON, W.c. l

4. CONTBNTS
PA.GE
What the New Church 1s 5
A Christian Church 7
What is a Church ? 8
Jesus, Divine . 12
The Word of God ]6
Salvation and Atonement 20
Providence and Chance . 24
The Second Coming of the Lord 30
Life after Death . 36
The Day of Judgment 4]
The Christian . 44
A Fulfilment of Prophecy 45
The Creed of the New Church 47
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6. What the New Church Is
Perhaps the answer to the question, "What is the New
Church ?" can best be given by stating in as simple and brief
a wery as possible what the New Church teaches.
But ftrst it should be dearfy understood that the New Church
is deftnitefy and unfalteringfy Christian. It is founded upon a
belief in the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom it looks
for enlightenment and direction in ail matters.
The New Church teaches that in Jesus Christ we have the
/tillness of the Divine,. the Father, according to His own
statement, being in Him, and the Hofy Spirit proceeding from
Him, as when He breathed upon His disciples and said,
" Receive ye the Hofy Spirit."
It teaches that the inspired books of the Old and New Testa­
ments were dictated by His Spirit,. that within the sense of
the letter there is a Spiritual and Divine sense, having reftrence
solefy to the things of heaven and the Lord,. and that their
inspiration, and their daim to be the Word of God, consist in
and are proved from this.
It teaches that Salvation is deliverance not from the conse­
quences of sin, bllt from sinning,. and that the Atonement is
the reconciliation not of God to man, but of man to God.
It teaches the continuity of life after death,. and the reality
of the spiritual world,. that ail are immortal,. that those who
bave loved goodness and truth and tried to do right, to serve
God and their neighbollr, go to heaven, and are happy for ever ,.
and that onlJ those who have chosen evil ftnd their place in hell.

7. The "New Church U
lt leachu Ihat ail are created for heaven, and none for hell
and that they who go to hell do so of their own accord.
lt teaches that Judgment is the disclosing of charactsr, .nti
that our final abode hereafter is with our own kind.
lt teaches that the Divine Providence rules ail things,. that
it is the Government of Divine Love and Wisdom,. that nothing
con happen in this or any other world apart {rom it,. that
then is no such thing as Chance.
lt teaches the Second Coming of the Lord as an event that
has alreacfy oceurred,. not in any dramatic or physical manner,
but in the opening of the spiritual sense of the Word whereby
He is enabled to come in the fullest possible wCfJ to the conscious­
"ess of the individual soul.
lt teaches that he onfy is a Christian who lives as a Christian.
The New Church is the fulftlment of the Scripture: "And
l, John, saw the Hofy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for ber hus­
band.' And of the promise: "Behold, 1 make ail things
New."
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8. The" New Church"
A Christian Church
IRST, it should be clearly understood that the New
F Church is definitely and unfalteringly Christian; it
rests upon the old foundation: "For other foun-
dation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ"; it is Christianity itself, re-stated and re-born.
The New Church is founded upon the rock of Faith in
the sole and absolute Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom it looks for enlightenment and direction in ail
matters.
By a belief in His Divinity is meant the acknowledg-
ment that He, and He only, is God over all-Divinity
itself; the self-existent Maker of heaven and earth.
The New Church makes this acknowledgment with-
out reservation or qualification of any kind, not merely
as an item of its creed but as the fundamental and
universal principle, the beginning and end, first and last
of al! it has to teach.
The New Church holds that apart from this acknow-
ledgment there is no true Christian religion, and can be
no true Christian Church.
A Christian Church is a Church in which Jesus Christ
is held supreme.
The acknowledgment of this supremacy of Jesus is
no mere matter of Hp confession: no lip confession can
make a Church. It is more than knowledge: the Church
does not exist from knowledge. It is more than inte1-
lectual assent. The Church of the Lord exists from love
of Him.
The true Christian Church is found where the Lord
Jesus Christ is recognized and confessed as God of
heaven and earth; where His commandments are obeyed,
and He is loved with al! the heart and ail the mind and
aU the might.
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9. The "New Church"
What is a Church ?
l
Ta know al! that the New Church is would make one
wiser than the angets of heaven. But we may, by
a little effort, get to know enough to make us
considerably wiser than perhaps we are.
In attempting to answer the question of what the
New Church is, in such a way that even the simplest
inquirer may fol!ow, if he will, it may be wel! to consider
first the meaning of the term Church. What is it that
actual!y constitutes a Church ?
The first and simplest meaning with which ail are
familiar is, a building set apart for the worship of God.
To such a building it is usual to give the name of
Church; but refleetion shows that this must be far from
the true or essential meaning: it is never a building
that makes a Church, but only the purpose for which the
building exists. When a building ceases to serve the
purpose of a Church it is no longer a Church. Moreover,
as the purpose of a Church involves people, and has no
existence apart from them, it fol!ows that they alone who
entertain and seek to achieve the purpose form the
Church. If the same people were to meet in the rudest
barn or cave, or even under the open sky, the Church
would be there; for it would be in them.
The purpose of a Church is to worship God. Worship,
therefore, is that which constitutes the Church.
But before there can be worship, there must be know­
ledge of Truth; we must know whom or what we wor­
ship. Worship from ignorance is impossible.
The New Church is a new spirit of worship, from a
new realization of Divine Truth.
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10. The" New Church"
II
W HEN it is said that the purpose of a Church is to
worship God, further questions at once arise:
Who is God? And how do we worship Him ?
Let us take the second of these questions first. The
term worship is a contracted form of worth-ship, and
implies the acknowledgment on the part of the wor­
shipper of supreme worth. It is when one sees the
superlative value or worth of God that one is in a position
to worship Him, and not until. This implies, of course,
a knowledge of what He is; and such knowledge of
necessity implies revelation. Revelation is the making
known to man of things otherwise unknowable, beyond
the range of physical sense. Revelation is The Word of
God. If there were no W ord of God in the world, nothing
would be known of Him. No man by searching, that is,
by the exercise of natural intelligence, could find Him
out. Even the cry, " 0 that l knew where l might find
Him l' would be impossible without some previous
revelation and acknowledgment of His existence. For
no one would think of seeking the altogether unknown.
The New Church is a new worship of God, from a
new knowledge of Him, through the fuller revelation or
opening up of the inner or spiritual contents of His Word.
III
T HE question as to who is God is now to be answered
for us, in the only possible way, by reference to the
Ward itself. For in it alone we find the record of
His Being and Doing. His Word is the answer to ail
man's questioning. It gives us the name of God; it
shows His face; it speaks with His authority; it is the
assurance of His presence.
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11. The" New Church n
From it we get to know not only that there is a God,
but what kind of a God He is. And, what is more, exactly
what kind of people we are and ought to be. We ought
to be like Him. And this we cannot be until we learn
to worship Him. To worship Him is to esteem His
worth above ail other values; to set Him on the highest
pedestal of our adoring regard, and to love Him with
ail the heart.
The name of the God who thus invites, and also renders
possible, this attitude of adoration, worship and love,
is that of Him who came in love and pitYto redeem man­
kind; to save His people from their sins: "Thou shalt
cali His name, Jesus."
The New Church is the worship of the Lord God, the
Saviour, Jesus Christ.
IV
T HE New Church is the Christian Church, reborn.
It is the Christian Church, from natural made
spiritual.
Its newness is no mere circumstance of time. "Time
cannot wither it, nor custom stale." When countless
ages have passed away it will still be new. For it is the
Church of the new-born spirit, the regenerated human
soul, the "new man," the "second birth." It has the
newness of the" new heaven" and the "new earth."
To it the "many things" the Lord had yet to say to
His disciples have been revealed in the "spirit" and
" life" of His Word. The ineffable things of His love
and wisdom, veiled in mercy to the eyes of His first
followers, because they could not bear them then, are
now to it and through it by His mercy made known, to
ail who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
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12. The "New Church st
They have been made known through the instrumen­
tality of a man of unique enlightenment and incomparable
genius, prepared of Divine Providence for the special
work, endowed with all the necessary gifts of intelligence
and perception, able to avail hirnself of the richest fruits
of the world's scholarship, gathering into himself the sum
of earthly knowledge, and, through the opening of spiritual
faculties, granted the extraordinary experience, during
many years, of the life and circumstances of the world
beyond; an intimate of kings on this side and of angels
on the other; the great Swedish writer, scholar, scientist,
philosopher, and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg.
II

13. The" New Church"
Jesus, Divine
N the FAITH OF THE NEW CHURCH, which fonns a
I _ preface to the LlTURGY issued by the General Con­
ference, the opening words are, "That there is one
God, in whom there is a Divine Trinity, and that He is the
Lord Jesus Christ."
This is what the New Church teaches, in briefest surn­
rnary, with respect to God; it is its answer to the question,
Who is He?
He is the Lord Jesus Christ 1
There is no other God in heaven or earth. He it was
who came into the world in fuifilment of His promise,
repeated through the ages, "1 will come and save you " ;
"Look unto Me and be ye saved aIl the ends of the
earth, for l am God, and there is none else"; and of
whorn it is written, " His narne shal! be cal!ed Irnmanuel,
which being interpreted is, GOD WITH us."
Thus the New Church proclairns that the notion of
three Persons in God is contrary to Scripture, and in
itself beyond rational acceptance; a quite unthinkable
proposition, only to be entertained by the suppression of
reason and the denial of cornrnon sense.
It is indeed rnost true that the idea of a Divine Being
who is Maker of heaven and earth and al! things therein,
transcends the capacity of the nnite hurnan mind to
grasp in all its issues. But the idea of a Divine Being
does not therefore contradict what the human mind is
able to lay hold of; the faith that entertains it is a faith
that sees 1
The faith that sees is that of an enlightened intelligence
-enlightened frorn above-and, strictly speaking, there
can be no other faith.
Faith has been supposed to irnply a belief in things
that cannot at al! be seen. But this would declare faith
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14. The "New Church ..
blind. Whereas a blind faith is a contradiction in terms.
Faith cornes by enlightenment, through the hearing of
the Word and by the exercise of the organ of aIl vision,
both natural and spiritual, which is the eye of the mind.
It is the mind that sees in every case; and only the
intelligent, seeing mind can have real faith. To say that
you have faith in what you do not see to be true is to
deceive yourself. You may believe that what you see
faUs short of the reality; but you cannot believe if you
see nothing.
True faith is seeing God! It is the inward perception
of His presence 1
The God who is seen must be a Person ; there is no
seeing of an impersonal Deity. Neither is there any
seeing of a Being who is more than one. The idea of three
persons making one God, as suggested by the Athanasian
Creed, is beyond conception. Even to caU it an " idea "
involves contradiction; for an "idea" is something sem;
and who is there that can see a God who is both One and
Three?
The New Church teaches, and by its teaching enables
the intelligent, affirmative mind to see, that there is one
• God in whom there is a Divine trinity.
The trinity in God is not one of persons, but of attri­
butes or aspects and essential parts.
There is a like trinity in every created thing. It may be
recognized in a flower, a bird, a human being. There
exists a trinity even in a grain of sand. It is not in
these indeed such as is the Divine trinity; but it is one
in which the Divine is surely reflected; it is a three­
in-one of substance, form and proceeding sphere. These
three make every one thing. But three flowers do not
make one flower at any time; nor do three birds make
one bird; or three human beings one human being.
But three essentials make one God; and these are speci­
ficaIly the Divine substance, the Divine form, and the
emanating Divine sphere. The Divine substance is His
Love; the Divine form is His Wisdom; and the Divine
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15. The" New Church "
sphere is His going forth to influence, sustain and bless­
the all-pervading effluence and operation by which the
universe is created and maintained. In these three con­
stituents the fullness of the Godhead consists. They are
all that the Divine is, has been, or ever can be. And
there is nothing more than these in heaven or earth. All
that presents itse1f to the senses is but their reflection and
expression.
The New Church teaches, and by its teaching enables
the intelligent, affirmative mind to see, not only that this
is the fullness of the Divine, but that all this fullness was
embraced in Jesus, and is in Him still. He was and is
Incarnate Love; He was and is Incarnate Wisdom, the
visible and effective embodiment of these constituent
e1ements. He was these effectually focused and brought
down to earth to dwell with men. And these are the
superlative things, possessed of greatest worth, inviting
human worship, promising heaven to all who can receive
them, because they are Divine. They are not abstractions;
neither do they exist in ether or in air; but their
dwelling is in persons, and their fullness is the Personal God.
The New Church teaches that there is one God in whom
is a Divine trinity; and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ 1
In Him the Divine of Love, Wisdom and Power were
•
manifested and contained according to His own repeated
declarations: "The Father, who is in me, He doeth the
works." "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father."
"1 and the Father are one." And that the Holy Spirit
was no other than His own all-vivifying sphere, the
creative breath of His life, He clearly showed in breathing
upon His disciples and saying to them, "Receive ye the
Holy Spirit."
" Breathing is an external representative sign of Divine
inspiration."
Does He not thus breathe upon us now, that we too
may have the true breath of life from Him, the quickening
and reviving influence of wisdom and of love, the in­
spiration of every living soul ?
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16. The" New Church"
The Father who was in Jesus, as the soul of a man is
in the instrumental body, was that impelling Love by
which He sent Himself into the world; the all-originating
soul of the living God. Love itself is Father of us ail ;
Parent of ail good. There is nothing born into the world
except from Love. Love begets Wisdom, and Wisdom
issues forth in Power to bless. Thus in the beginning
the heavens and the earth were made, and do still subsist.
Thus were we created, and are now maintained, in
being from moment to moment. Love is our Heavenly
Father. Yet in no impersonal or abstract sense is this the
case. The Love that is our Father is that which stooped
in Jesus to our estate. It is HIS Love. This was His
Father, and also ours. It is this that has ail power in
heaven and on earth. Nothing else has any power. For
Power is the proceeding of Love, by Wisdom, into
Effect. There is no other power.
We have power-so-called-to destroy. You can
crumple up a rose in your fingers and ruin it beyond ail
recognition; you may trample it under your feet. But
to create one of its delectable petaIs is beyond you. You
have sorne ability to take life, but none to give it. How
poor a thing-how utterly deceptive-is your " power"
when you come to examine it; it is only a semblance, a
shadow, a mere usurper and pretender of power. Power
itself is productive of ail good, from truth. Jesus alone
had this power. It was in Him and it proceeded from
Him. By it He caused the deaf to hear and the blind to
see, the lame to walk and the dead to live again. He
created them anew. And ail that He did was good. He
set imprisoned spirits free. He opened the gates of
heaven. He went before; for He was the Way, the
Truth and the Life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by Him. For in Him dwells al! the fuilness of the
Godhead bodily. He is "one God over ail, blessed
for ever."
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17. The" New Church"
The Word of God
The New Church teaches that the inspired books of
Old and New Testaments were " dictated" by the Spirit
of the Lord, which means that the writers were under
a unique control and guidance, not only as to the sub­
stance of what is written therein, but also as to the very
form or "letter" in which it is presented; they heard
voices speaking from within, and they also had visions of
the things described. The voices and the visions were of
God.
It teaches that the result of this dictation and control
is the LETIER OF THE DIVINE WORD.
It teaches, further, that within the sense of this Letter,
which is occupied with earthly and human affairs, and
with temporal events, there is a Spiritual and Divine
sense, having reference solely to the things of heaven,
which are enduring and timeless, the things of the soul
and of the Kingdom of the Lord. Their inspiration and
claim to be " the Word of God " consist in and are proved
from this.
Not aH the books of our Bible are of this uniquely
inspired character. AH indeed are serviceable, in varying
degrees, to the purposes of religion and the Church. They
are instructive to the student of Divine things, and have
proved helpful in preserving a sense of the Divine among
the people. It is not to be doubted that the inclusion of
such books as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon
in the Old Testament, and the Epistles of Paul and others
in the New, has been of the Divine Providence. But
this does not involve their having the same character,
quality or value as the books that were dictated and
directed by the Spirit. The dictated and directed books
are written throughout in symbolic language, the lan­
guage of inspired parable, of metaphor and "corre­
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18. The .. New Church "
spondence." Such are the books of Moses, Joshua, Judges,
Samuel and Kings, the Psalms and aU the Prophets of
the Old Testament; with the four Gospels and the
Revelation of John in the New.
By the "correspondence" according to which aU the
books of the Divine Word are written is to be under­
stood the intimate and vital relation of natural things to
spiritual, of earth to heaven, and the body to the soul ;
it is the relation in which every efficient cause stands
to its produced effect, and every produced effect to its
efficient cause. This may be illustrated by the living play
of expression in a human face, every feature of which
has its corresponding emotion in the mind. Other
instances occur in customary speech; as for example,
when the heart is mentioned as the recognized seat and
symbol of love, and the hand, of power. These are not
only figures of speech, but actual correspondences.
Because the inspired books of the Word have been
written according to "correspondence," not merely in
a general way, but in every detail, they must be so inter­
preted if they are to be correctly understood. Wherever
natural and earthly things are mentioned, spiritual and
heavenly things are indicated and involved. Where the
narrative appears to be concerned with matters of time
and space, infinite and eternal things are its theme.
Thus understood, the Written Word becomes the
inexhaustible source of knowledge concerning the Lord,
our relation to Him, His purposes to usward, and con­
cerning the world and life beyond.
The New Church teaches that the W ord of God is a
Divine Revelation, not only of what He is, but of what
. wc are; that we could not know even ourselves without
it; that it makes known to us the things that would
otherwise be undiscoverable. By its means the inmost
secrets of the universe and of the human spirit are brought
forth to view.
Men need no supernatural Revelation of matters with
which their senses make them acquainted. History,
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19. The" New Church"
geography, the discoveries of science and art, lie outside
its scope. What is known of these-all that is necessary
to be known-is the outcome, the gathered fruit, of
patient study, experiment and research. The natural
faculties of man are sufficient for these tasks. No voice
from heaven is wanted to tell us that the sky is blue, that
water runs down hill, and the river finds its way even­
tually into the sea. But we need a Revelation to inform
us that there is a God, a Being of Love, omnipotent,
omniscient and omnipresent; that there is a heaven and
also a hell; and that we are destined to live for ever. For
these are not among the facts dicoverable by observation,
or by any exercise of an untaught and unenlightened reason.
Nature alone does not in any of its phases prodaim the
existence of a God. All that Nature can do is to lend its
confirmation to the truth when the truth is ascertained;
to show it, as it were, in a mirror. Nature gives assurance
to the mind when it is already informed and disposed to
the conclusion; but the information and the disposition
to believe must first be there. Belief in God involves the
will to believe. And the will to believe comes only by
influx from heaven. The will to believe opens the eyes
to the evidence. Without the will the eyes are dosed.
The teaching that there is a God, and that He is Love
is Revelation from on high.
The New Church teaches that the inspired books of
the Old and New Testaments are not the Word of God
in an exclusive sense; for there is no nation, no tribe or
community of people throughout the world with any
daim to rationality, that is without a religion of some sort,
or without a knowledge of the existence of a God. All
have the knowledge, as we have it, from Revelation. All
have their cherished traditions, and their revered and
sacred writings.
Prior to the time when the books of the Old and New
Testaments were written there was a Word in existence,
~
a Divine Revelation, from which some of the contents of
the Old Testament were taken. This is spoken of in New
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20. The" New Church"
Church writings as "The Ancient Word." Moses, we
are told, took his account of Creation, of the Garden of
Eden, and the Flood, with the rest of the early Genesis
stories, from it. Similar stories occur in practically all the
sacred writings and traditions of the human race. They
have a common origin.
And before the time of the Ancient Word there was
Oral Tradition, instruction in Divine things conveyed
from mouth to mouth. And there was, from the very
beginning, communication between earth and heaven.
There has never been a time, since time began, when
the world was without a revelation of the existence and
nature of the all-creating and sustaining God.
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21. The "New Church"
Salvation and Atonement
What Jesus Came To Do
The purpose for which the Lord came into the world
is variously stated in the Scriptures. It is both negatively
and positively given; we are told not only what He came
to do, but also what He did no! come to do. He did not
come to send peace; nor to caU the righteous; nor to
judge the world.
That He did not come to send peace is perhaps the
most surprising of the negative statements; for it seems
to contradict a number of passages in which peace appears
to be of the very essence of His purpose in coming. The
Christmas angels sang "Peace on earth." And Isaiah
prophesied that His name should be caUed "the Prince
of peace." He said Himself to His disciples, "These
things have l spoken unto you that in Me ye might have
peace." "My peace l give unto you." "Peace be unto
you." Yet against this may be set the equaUy inspired
words of the aged Simeon to Mary, "This child is set
for the faU and rising again of many in Israel; and for a
sign which shaU be spoken against." And when Hcrod the
king had heard of the star seen in the east, "he was
troubled and aU Jerusalem with him." His advent did
not bring peace to these. Even to Mary it was to bring
a sword, piercing her soul.
Jesus came to "caU sinners to repentance." The caU
to repentance is meant to have a disturbing rather than a
soothing effcct.
He came to bear witness to the Truth. His witness to
the Truth resulted in the frenzied cry of the multitude,
" Crucify Him, crucify Hirn ! "
He came that whosoever might believe in Him should
not perish but have everlasting Hfe. But the attainment
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22. The "New Church U
of everlasting life necessitated the more or less painful
laying down of the earthly life, for His sake. He
came that we might have peace after couillct, but the
conflict must come first.
He said, "He that loseth his life for my sake shall
find it."
But the great purpose of His coming-as to which
there can be no question in any mind-was " to save His
people from their sins." It was the purpose of SALVATION !
The Church, as with one voice, proclaims this; and
the world also acknowledges it. For if Christianity is to
have any meaning, for us or for the world, it is summed
up in the word, " Salvation."
But as to the nature of the Salvation for which Jesus
came, what it involves and how it is accomplished, there
may be many questions. And on this subject the New
Church has much to say that is both new and true­
rational, practical, and at the same time entirely Scriptural.
It shows very definitely what Jesus came to do; and
what He is doing now; it teaches what Salvation actuaHy
is. It does this negatively; and it does it positively. It
tells us definitely what Salvation is not 1
It declares Salvation to be no mere deliverance from
the consequences of sin. Jesus did not come into the world
to save sinners from suffering the results of their wrong­
doing; He came to save them from sinning. He came
to prevent them from doing wrong. "The soul that
sinneth, it shaH die" was declared by the mouth of His
prophet long years before He came. His coming did not
make the declaration any less true. It is not less true for
us to-day. "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death "
-not the death of the body, which is quite another
thing, but the death of the soul. Death for the soul is
alienation from its Source; it is being, as it were, cut
off from God. Even as to live is to be in communion with
Him.
The death of the body is the soul's release; it is a
joyous birth into the spiritual world.
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23. The "New Church "
Salvation is deliverance, not from penalties of sin, but
from love of evil and from aU desire to do the wrong.
The New Church teaches that a saving faith is to believe
in the Saviour. To believe in Him is to have confidence
that He will save. And as none can have this confidence
but those who make the effort to do His commandments,
this also is included. There is no saving faith that excludes
or ignores the life of obedience, which consists in the
continuaI effort of shunning evils as sins against God.
Jesus came into the world " not to caU the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." Repentance precedes Salva­
tion. Repentance is more than confession of sin; it is
more than contrition for having sinned or even than
trusting in the Saviour's grace. It is the personal abhor­
rence and avoidance of sin. Until this is realized there
can be no Salvation for any one. ,
Jesus came as "the Saviour of the world." He was
this to the extent that by Him Salvation was made possible
for aU; whosoever wiU may receive it. But it does not
foUow that the world is therefore saved. He is the
Redeemer of the world. Every member of the race,
without exception, whatever his birth, heredity, environ­
ment, religion or state of life may be, is a subject of
the Redemption Jesus wrought. This redemption was
wrought, once for aU, in subduing the powers of heU,
so that men couId no longer be coerced or dominated by
heUish influence beyond their ability to resist. The
redemption wrought by Jesus set men for ever spiritually
free; it secured to them the liberty of thought and will,
that in the hour of temptation they might choose life and
not death.
But Redemption did not save them 1 It only made
their Salvation possible. It prepared the way. No man
can be saved against his will, or without his willing
co-operation. None can be delivered until they choose.
Salvation cornes in the fulfilment of the Divine covenant.
And the covenant is in the Ten Commandments. " If
thou wouldest enter into life," the Saviour said, " keep
2.2.

24. The" New Church"
the commandments." To enter into life, and to be saved,
are the same.
J es,us " did not come to caU the righteous "; for they
who daim that title are without the sense of sin. They
are the self-righteous, and the self-righteous are the
self-deceived. They know no need of repentance. They
have no ears to hear the Saviour's caU.
The New Church teaches that the ATONEMENT made
by Jesus was a reconciliation not of God to man, but
of man to God. It dismisses altogether, as unworthy and
even blasphemous, the idea of a God offended and
estranged, needing to be reconciled, willing to accept the
sacrifice of the Innocent for the guilty and to admit men
to heaven on the basis of a vicarious act. It maintains,
with overwhelming confirmation from the inspired Word,
that He who came in love and pitY to redeem and save
mankind was no other than the Omnipotent Being who
created the heavens and the earth; who is and who was
and who is to come, the Almighty. There is no other
God. "l, even l, am J ehovah," is His word, "and beside
Me there is no Saviour."
The New Church teaches that we share in this Atone­
ment to-day, not through the blood of Christ, understood
in any merely literaI or historical sense; not, that is to
say, by His death upon the Cross, which was the last of
the temptation trials by which He brought His earthly
labours to a dose. But we are saved by His Blood in the
purely sacramental sense, whereby that blood becomes
identified with Life itself, and with the revealed Truth
of which the eartWy life of Jesus was the completely
adequate expression. He caUed Himself "The Truth."
And "he that drinketh My blood," He said, "hath
eternal life."
We are saved to-day to the extent in which we receive
His Truth, foUow Him in that life, and are daily guided
by Him in thought and word and deed.
23

25. The" New Church U
Providence and Chance
Milton prefaced his Paradise Los! with the prayer,
What in me ig dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
1 may assert etemal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
And Shakespeare wrote,
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
The ways of God are ways of Providence. And Pro..;
vidence is the Divinity that shapes our ends, even from
the beginning.
Among the distinctive messages of the New Church
to the world its teaching with respect to the Divine
Providence has a foremost place. Nothing more com­
forting, satisfying and tranquillizing to the believing spirit
could weil be imagined. To those who can receive it it
brings peace in the midst of the turmoil and stress of
daily life; peace to the troubled heart.
Peace. perfect peace. our future ail unknown ?
Jesus we know; and He is on the throne 1
That He is on the throne of the universe we are
assured; the government is upon His shoulder, and His
name is Prince of peace. He has ail power in heaven and
on earth.
The New Church teaches that the Divine Providence
controls all things, from the least to the greatest, from
centre to circumference; and that nothing can happen in
this or any other world apart from its jurisdiction; it
declares that there is no such thing as Chance.
Chance is a phantom; the substanceless creation of an
infatuated mind.
Z4

26. The" New Church"
According to the literaI meaning of the term, Provi­
dence is the seeing of things before they come into
existence; it is Foresight.
Providence on the part of God becomes prudence on
the part of man. Human prudence involves so mething
of foresight; we have the capacity to anticipate events.
And we find it an extremely useful capacity; we exercise
it freely in all our affairs. Without foresight the business
world would soon be in confusion. But with all its
usefulness, and our dependence upon it, we are sadly
conscious of its limitations; we are rarely, if ever, quite
sure of it. Foresight with us is largely guesswork. We
assume from past experience that things will take a certain
course. Alas, too often we have to admit ourselves mis­
taken ; even the wisest among us errs. Life, we say, is
full of surprises, pleasant and unpleasant-the unpleasant
seeming to outnumber the pleasant. Which is a faithless,
and surely a false conclusion to come to, due largely, if
not altogether, to our unhappy habit of paying more
attention to the unpleasant, taking the agreeable for
granted, and forgetting how much we have to be thankful
for in "the trivial round, the common task "; in the
enjoyment of food and sunshine, sleeping and waking,
the ability to see, to hear, and to remember.
Providence is Foresight; and something more. When
we speak of Divine Providence we imply not only Fore­
sight but Over-sight, and Through-sight; not only the
Divine Seeing but the Divine Doing; arranging, devis­
ing, restraining, impelling; a continuaI preparation for
all that is to come. Providence sees the end from the
beginning-that is, not merely in time but from eternity
-and makes ready for it; causing all earthly circum­
stance and events to work together for eternal good.
Now the end, foreseen and provided from the begin­
ning, is nothing else than a happy people, a heaven of
angels from the human race, a place in realms of joy for
all. This is the thing anticipated, proposed, and rendered
possible. For this we were created, and are now sustained ;
c 25

27. The "New Church tt
and there is nothing that can by any possibility happen
to any one of us that is not either designed or perrnitted,
6tted and directed to the furtherance of this great project,
no matter how unfavourable it may appear to be. Pro ­
vidence secures to each the requisite opportunity and the
urge; it even brings pressure to bear-short of com­
pulsion. The Divine Providence cannot compel. For to
compel would be to destroy; compulsion would defeat
the end. Only that which is effected in freedom remains
with a man. There is no place in heaven for those who
have not freely chosen it and are prepared to 611 it. For
heaven is made for man; even as man is made for heaven.
There are no angels there who were not once human beings
like ourselves living on earth. Angels are not another
order of creation. "Angels are men, in lighter habits
clad; and men are angels loaded for an hour."
Heaven is made for man; but man must do his part
in getting to it. It is a covenanted mercy, to be realized
through co-operation. Neither God alone, nor man alone,
is able to accomplish it; but the two together; one
acting and the other reacting; the Divine proposing and
the human being disposed. The invitation is given,
" Come unto Me. Ail things are now ready. Behold l
stand at the door and knock; if any man will open the
door, l will come into him and sup with him, and he
with Me." There is nothing between them but the door,
which only man can open.
" They who are in the stream of the Divine Providence,"
we read in the work by Swedenborg on this subject,
" are borne continuaily towards happiness, whatever may
he the arpearance of the means; and they are in the
stream 0 Providence who put their trust in the Divine,
and attribute all things to Him."
They who are in the stream of Providence are at peace,
whatever may be the appearance of the means. The
appearance is not always what one would choose; often,
alas, it is quite otherwise. "God moves in a mysterious
way His wonders to perform." In the world only those
26

28. The "New Church ..
things that seem favourable to our desires are accounted
"Providential." When threatening troubles are averted,
or dangers escaped, we speak of a "Providential" de­
liverance. And it is right that we should do so. For the
deliverance is surely from above. AU good is from the
Lord alone. And aU tbat is from Him is fortunate. But
what one bas to remember is that Providence may be no
less in what seems to us unfortunate, even to the extreme.
The most unfortunate of happenings may prove occasions
of the greatest blessing. When troubles and disappoint­
ments come, it may seem that Providence has failed. But
the truth is, Providence never fails 1 it is only we who
fail at times to appreciate the issue.
It is hard for most of us to realize that we are not in
this world merely to get what we would like; we are
here rather to get experience and discipline; we are here
to be prepared for things to come. Providence bas us in
its care. Providence sees the way. It has the necessary
foresight; and it commands the means. Jesus said, " The
very hairs of your head are aU numbered." By the hairs
of the head are signified the least things of human life.
To be numbered is to be known. "He knoweth our
frame; He remembereth." "There is not a word in our
tongues, but 10, 0 Lord, Thou knowest it altogether."
The Divine Providence is the government of the Divine
Love and the Divine Wisdom.
It is not a matter of interference, or of any mere
intervention, either in human affairs or in the order of
Nature.
The universe as we know it, as every intelligent and
truly rational mind perceives it, as science has discovered
it to us, and as every tireless investigator into the more
recondite things of Nature invariably assumes, is no
haphazard affair. Things did not faU fortuitously, we may
be sure, into the amazing relation and perfect adaptation of
parts-the interdependence-in which we find them.
Everything is seen to be connected, mutuaUy supporting,
and harmoniously working to a common end. Every­
27

29. The" New Church"
where we are enabled to trace the features of a consistent
scheme; design is manifest throughout; purpose is
assumed; Infinite Wisdom is displayed. Nature is
nothing else than a theatre or stage on which the opera­
tions of a Wisdom passing aU understanding are exhibited
from day to day.
And surely not less evident, to those who have eyes to
see, is the universality of Divine government in the
aifairs of men. Just at the time when events occur we
may be too near the circumstances to see the trend or
to recognize the directing and controlling Hand. But as
we look back upon the past the vision clears.
Othe wondrous Loving-kindness
Planning, working out of sight 1
How wisely we have aU been led, despite our way­
wardness 1 How lovingly we have been guided and
prevented, along the earthly road 1
But while it is comforting to know that nothing can
by any means happen to one apart from the Divine
Providence, it is not therefore to be concluded that what­
ever cornes is according to the will of God. For this
would be a serious mistake. Things certainly happen, on
a large scale and a smaU, at home and abroad, that are not
at aU as He would have them, or as they would be, if we
were diiferent. Things come to us according to our need
of them. Is it not from sorne recognition and acknowledg­
ment of this fact that George Bernard Shaw has written
in his mordant way, "Every drunken skipper trusts to
Providence. But one of the ways of Providence with
drunken skippers is to run them on the rocks"? Provi­
dence does not run even drunken skippers on the rocks,
but it permits sorne of them to get there at times.
The trials and the mishaps, the disappointments of
life, are things permitted; but they are never sent. Al!
that is sent us is for gladness and delight. Fain would the
Heavenly Ruler make smooth the way before us, He
wouldbrighten al! the path in which we rove. The
28

30. The" New Church "
troubles and the sorrows of our experience He permits,
as not being quite preventable; yet are they permitted
only to the extent in which they may b~ of use as means
towards a happier time in stdre.
They who truly and devoutly put their trust in Divine
Providence are in its stream. They go with it; they are
carried along by its beneficent current. They meet the
future-all unknown-without a fear.
For" Jesus they know; and He is on the throne."
29

31. The "New Church"
The Second Coming of the Lord
It is usual to think of the promised Second Coming of
the Lord as still awaiting fuIfilment in the dim and distant
future; and as an event involving catastrophic happen­
ings in the visible universe; a grand finale in the cosmic
play, and a " last day " for all. This has been concluded
from a literaI interpretation of the answer given by Jesus
to the question of His disciples. "Tell us, when shall
these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming,
and of the end of the world ? "
The New Church teaches that this conception is based
upon a misunderstanding of the Scripture; that what is
said in Matthew is to be understood spiritually and
metaphorically rather than naturally or literally; that the
Second Coming of the Lord has already occurred; not
in any spectacular, or physical manner, but in the opening
of the spiritual sense of the Word, whereby He is enabled
to come in the fullest and most directly possible way to
the enlightened consciousness of the individual sou!.
It assures us that He has fulfilled His promise and is
still fulfilling it in individual experience; and that He
will continue to fulfil it thus in the experience of ail
who are ready to receive Him, through time and to
eternity.
The Second Coming of the Lord is a distinctly spiritual
eventl
To look for spectacular happenings or dramatic demon­
strations is to be in danger of missing the experience
altogether. Just as the manner of His First Coming was
50 different from all human expectation, that when it
took place there was hardly a soul to recognize the fact ;
so with the second. And still with respect to it may it
be said: "The light shineth in darkness; and the dark­
ness comprehendeth it not." He was in the world, and
3°

32. The "New Church "
the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not. He came unto His own and His own received Him
not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even. to them that
believe on His name."
Even the First Coming of the Lord is an event still in
procus 1 In the work entitled The True Christian Religion,
Swedenborg has written, " The Lord is present with every
man and is urgent to be received; and when a man
receives Him, which he does by acknowledging Him to
be his God, his Creator, Redeemer and Saviour, it is
then His nrst advent."
Regarded in the light of this statement, the First Coming
ceases to be a mere historical and local event and takes
on a universal and timeless character. It happens daily.
It is accomplished in the acceptance of the inspired record,
in the experience of aU who acknowledge Jesus to be
their God. To those who are brought to believe the
Gospel story He cornes afresh. "It is then His nrst
advent," in their experience.
And in making thus His First Advent the promise is
renewed, that He will come again 1
The Second Coming of the Lord is not to be thought
of as any mere repetition of the nrst. He does not do the
same thing twice. What He does He does once for ail.
Yet the fact rernains that in doing things once He is doing
themall the while; they continuaUy recur. For He is "the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." He cannot change;
He does not cease at any time to be or to do; He is like
the sun which goes on shining ail the while. He is "the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning."
His First Advent was predieted by seers and prophets
through long ages. That Jehovah-God, the Creator of
the universe, would eventuaUy visit the earth and show
Himself in Human Form, was known and believed by
the instructed people of the earliest cimes. The need
of such a happening was foreseen, and the necessary
3I

33. The "New Church "
provision made; accredited messengers were sent from
time to time to prepare the way.
Not to meet an unexpected crisis, and not into a whoHy
unexpectant world did the Promised One appear.
It is true that He found darkness when He came;
gross darkness covered the people. Yet even in the dark­
ness there were eyes straining upwards to the light;
inheritors of ancient wisdom watched the heavens for a
sign; there were those who waited patiently for the
consolation of Israel.
Some there were who proved ready to follow Him at a
word. And there was Mary, the humble and the willing
handmaid of the Lord.
These formed a nucleus of reception. To these He came.
With these His First Advent was begun. Through them
it cornes to us.
As with the First Advent, so with the Second; it was
an event foretold. Jesus said to His disciples, "1 will
come again and receive you unto Myself."
That His disciples remembered His words, and were
expectant of a fulfilment, is quite evident. As He sat upon
the Mount of Olives they came to Him saying, " Tell us,
when shaH these things be ? and what shaH be the sign of
Thy coming?" And He answered them in strange,
apocalyptic manner. The sun, He told them, would be
darkened, and the moon would fail to give her light, the
stars would fall from heaven and the powers of the
heavens would be shaken. And then would appear the
sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and they would see Him
coming in the clouds ofheaven with power and great glory.
Where were the heavens in which these extraordinary
happenings were to take place? Were they in the skies of
Nature?
" The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation;
neither shaH ye say, Lo here, or 10 there. For behold the
Kingdom of God is within you." It is within that one
must look, and not outside, for the phenomena of the
Kingdom, and for aH the signs of the coming of the
32

34. The "New Church"
King. It is here that He will keep His promise; it is
here that He has kept it. For" Now iJ the lime ofthe Second
Coming of the Lord! "
Lo, He cames, in cIouds descending 1
The " douds " that carry Him are not in space but in
the Word; they are its literaI messages; the adum­
brations of ancient prophecy; the obscurities of its
natural sense. And they are also the like obscurities and
adumbrations in the minds of those who so dimly appre­
hend Him-minds shadowed and bewildered by the
concealing circumstances of time and sense.
The heavens also, in which the sign of His Second
Coming appears, are tobe recognized in the Book that
tells of Him, that shows His face and brings to us the
consciousness of His love and power. They are where
we 6nd ourselves as we read it, most near to Him; in
the gracious sphere of His Presence, with minds enlight­
ened by His truth; exalted and strengthened by His
Spirit; where eyes that once were blind now see, and the
inmost prayer of the heart has been answered: "Even
so come, Lord Jesus 1"
o send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto mc ;
And do Thou touch mine eyes, and make me sec 1
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
That in Thy Book revealed 1 sec Thee, Lord-
Where the satis6ed heart makes thankful confession:
Here, 0 my Lord, 1 see Thee, face to face:
Here faith can rouch and handle things unseen ;
Here 1 would grasp with finner hand Thy grace,
And ail my weariness upon Thee Jean.
" Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto
us, and not unto the world ? " His disciples asked. And
they were answered, "If a man love Me, he will keep
My words; and My Father will love him, and We will
make Our abode with him."
Wherever He is truly loved, and His words are faith­
fully kept, He takes up His abode. He cornes to receive
His own unto Himself.
H

35. The "New Church"
Would spectacular happenings in the skies, or llmong
the douds of Nature, a reeling universe, a darkened
world bring assurance of greater actuality ?
Does not the inward experience provide its own entirely
adequate conviction?
He has come again (
His First Coming was and is of necessity to sense per­
ception 1 To the bar of sense perception ail things must
first be brought. From the testimony of the senses we aU
begin to learn. We use our eyes and ears, they give us the
starting-point of knowledge.
But they do not carry one very far. Other faculties and
endowments must be brought to bear on matters for
their correction, and for their indefinite extension.
We acquire our acquaintance with things from without;
but if we are to know them truly we must learn them again,
from within. Everything must come to us a second time,
not by mere repetition but by another route, before it can
become our very own, or enter and dweU within us.
The nrst time it is a matter of memorizing; the second
it is a matter of life. The first time it is the natural mind
alone that is engaged; the second, it is the spiritual
mind in charge. The nrst time it is a question of believing
in what we see and handle or can form a natural conception
of; the second rime it is a perception or a realization of
the invisible and enduring things of God.
Jesus comes into the world a first time for aUI When
the story of His coming is received, and the confession
made, tbat He who was born in Bethlehem was veritably
God, the timeless miracle of the ages has been wrought in
cime; the central happening of bistory is realized. The
Lord is then present with man, saying, "1 will come
again, and receive you unto Myself."
He must come again, in power and in glory, that we
may behold Him from within, in that spaceless place of
the spirit where every eye may see Him, as in His trans­
figuration with Face sbining as the sun and raiment as
34

36. The "New Church "
the light; even as He appeared to John in Patmos, with
eyes as a Rame of tire, saying, "1 am Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the Ending, who is, and who was, and
who is to come."
He must come again that we may look on Him with
spiritual eyes; that we may hear Him with the quickened
ears of the spirit; and touch .Him with the extended
hand of faith and of will to personal service, recognizing
and acknowledging Him as our only Lord and God, " To
Whom be glory and majesty, dominion and power both
now and ever, Amen."
3j

37. The" New Church"
Life after Death
The New Church teaches the unbroken continuity of
Life after Death !
It gives the assurance that there is no such thing as death,
in the sense of life's extinction; death is a passage from
one experience of life to another; it is a change of state.
There is no end to life.
It thus confirms the well-known lines of Longfellow;
" There is no death; what seems so is transition." But
it carries the poet's vision a little further in declaring
that what seems death is not merely a transition but an
exaltation, an immeasurable opening out and lifting up
of life.
What we calI death is but the removal of an encum ­
brance, the setting aside of what has usefully served, but
has now ceased to be of use. The body laid in the grave
at death is but a covering that was lent for use in the
world; it is committed to the dust, as being itself of the
nature of the dust; it is no part of the living man. Man
himself is a spiritual and immortal being, made after the
image and likeness of his Creator.
God Himself, we are told, is a Spirit.
A spirit is no mere wraith or ghost; but a fully equipped
and substantial being, in organic form. A spirit has eyes
to see with, and ears to hear with; it is endowed with
every sense and faculty which we associate with the idea
of a man. A spirit has hands and feet; a heart and brain.
There is, in short, no difference at all between a man and
a spirit, except that man, while he is in the world, has an
instrumental material frame by means of which he is able
to have commerce with material things. AH that is living
in him; aH that is conscious and effective, belongs to the
spirit, even while it functions and manifests itself in the
material body. The instrumental frame, with every organ
;6

38. The" New Church"
and aptitude for use, is shaped and distinguished in all
parts, and given efficiency, from the spirit within. In a
word, the flesh owes everything to the spirit; while the
spirit owes nothing to the flesh save a debt of gratitude
for temporary assistance.
Apart from the flesh the spirit is still a man, lacking
nothing essential to his existence as a man; he hears and
sees precisely as before, only more acutely; he thinks
and feels exactly as before, only more intensely; he
moves about as before, only more easily and swiftly,
relieved of the handicap of physical weariness and fatigue.
He derives his life from Life Itself, just as he did before.
How should he be or feel any different ?
Physical death is deliverance from the burden of a
frame no longer capable of résponding to the behests of
the spirit, and which has thus become a hindrance instead
of a help.
Physical death is this indeed; but it is more: it is
liberation for the spirit; it is man's entrance upon a wider
field, a more interior and therefore higher and more
perfect plane of living. Death brings us swiftly nearer to
the heart of things, and to the Living Source from which
ail our ability and ail our vitality are derived.
The New Church not only teaches the endless con­
tinuity of life; it also proclaims the nearness and reality
of the spiritual world.
The truth that there are two worlds, one natural and
the other spiritual, one temporal and the other eternal, is
a necessity of thought, as weil as of life. For we are living
in these two worlds even now. There is the world of
Nature of which we are aware; it lies outside of us.lt
is the realm of material things, a universe of measurable
time and space. In it alone the eartWy body dwells. The
eartWy body occupies a measure of space; it exists in a
measure of time; it is limited and conditioned by these
at every point. It is held subject to the so-called laws of
Nature. It breathes the air; it is warmed by the sun­
shine; it is fed and nourished by material bread.
37

39. The "New Church "
Not so the spirit. The spirit lives and moves and has
its being in a realm that is in all respects distinct. The
spirit occupies no space. It is affected by no time. It
has food to eat that the body knows not of. No circum­
stance of matter has ever entered into the realm of thought.
The extent of human love is neither ascertained nor
determined by any physical scale. Hearts are not to be
estimated according to the foot-rule.
For the simple reason that the spirit belongs to an
entire1y different sphere; it has its own peculiar world
to live in, and is subject ooly to the special laws, the
circumstances and conditions of that world.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body;
there is a natural world, and there is a spiritual world.
We are living in the spiritual world even now, as to our
spirits; ooly withheld from the immediate conscious­
ness of the fact by our prevailing physical sensations.
You do not see the spiritual world because you are
looking through the eyes of the flesh 1 They blind you
for the time being to its existence.
The New Church teaches the reality of the spiritual
world. It is the realm in which ail who have passed from
this world are now living. It is no realm of shadows ;
but is peopled by men and women like ourse1ves-not
ghosts, not disembodied spirits, but substantial men and
women, as real and as human, as capable as any of those
with whom we are now in daily conscious association.
It teaches that we are irnmortal; destined to live for
ever, by virtue of the amazing fact that we have been
created capable of knowing and loving our God 1 To
know Him is life everlasting.
In this capacity we are discretely separated and eternally
distinguished not ooly from one another but from every
other form of life. Ail life is one, in the sense that it has
a cornmon Source; it is derived from Him who has life
in Himself. In the opening of His hand the desire of every
living thing is satisfied. Thus the life of the animal and
of the vegetable is as truly a life derived from Him as is
~8

40. The "New Church "
the life of man. But in the case of the man tbere is recep­
tion and response, a capacity of will and understanding­
of willing good and understanding truth-of knowing
and loving-Iacking in the lower creation.
" Unless above himself he can erect himself, how poor
a thing is man," the poet wrote. He wrote in this, perhaps,
more truly than he knew. For it is in the possession of
this ability of apprehending and aspiring to what is
"above himself" that man is distinctly man. What is
" above himself" is God. It is from this distinguishing
ability that he alone, among created things, may be said
truly to live. Ali other things exist.
Life is something more than existence. Life itself is
love. And He who is Love Itself is Life.
The life of man is nothing but his love. It is from love
that we are actuated and impelled to think, to purpose
and to carry purpose into effect; by love we are
sustained. Our aspirations and desires are nothing
but the activities of love. If love were to cease within
us we should immediately cease to be. Love is our
very life.
From this alone-because the love that is our life is
actualiy not only a derivation from, but a response to,
the Divine love-we are immortal.
The New Church teaches that aU who love goodness
and truth, and are in the effort to do right according to
their opportunities, to act unselfishly, from a principle of
love to God and their neighbour, go to heaven when
they leave this world. They take their own heaven with
them where they go. Wherever they find themselves
hereafter it is heaven.
For heaven, we are assured, is primarily and essentialiy
a state of mind and life; and only secondarily a place.
The place is a projection of the state. Angels live in the
rnidst of beautiful surroundings, surpassing aU descrip­
tions, because they themselves are beautiful within; they
have love1y minds. The surroundings reflect and give
expression to their loveliness.
39

41. The" New Church"
It is quite impossible for any one to go to heaven
unless heaven is within him.
AB have been created by the Lord for heaven; but
aH, alas, do not go to heaven. They go where their love
leads them! They who love evil gravitate to heH; they
are not sent there; but move thither of their own accord;
they seek the company of their kind.
To be with their kind does not give loyers of evil
happiness. For only they who are in heaven are reaHy
happy. But it makes them somewhat less miserable. HeH
need not be thought of as a place of torture; except for
those who fil1d pleasure in torturing others. The punish­
ments of heH are self-inflicted. AH evil tends to punish
itself.
God is no punisher; for He is Love itself and Mercy
itself. He seeks to comfort and to bless even the evil­
doer; He mitigates sufferings, and makes existence even
in the lowest heH a thing that may be borne.
For the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever­
lasting, and it is over aH His works.
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42. The" New Church"
The Day of Judgment
The New Church teaches that Judgment is essentiaUy
the disclosing of character.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is written, "It is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg­
ment." The passage is familiar to most of us, from
frequent quotation. It gives convenient expression to
two widely recognized and accepted truths: (1) that we
must aU die; and (2) that we must aU be judged.
Mter death cornes the J udgment.
But what is the Judgment ?
In the Gospel of Matthew we find what purports to be
a description of the Last J udgment. The picture there
presented is that of a King seated on a throne with aH
nations gathered before him to be separated, " as a shep­
herd divides his sheep from the goats." In the separation
the sheep are set on the right hand of the throne, but the
goats on the left. Those on the right hand are caUed to
inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the founda­
tion of the world; while those on the left are dismissed
into everlasting nre.
It is an impressive picture, and in sorne respects a
formidable one; it terrifies. Other pictures, even more
formidable and terrifying, appear in the Revelation of
John. Are we to take these inspired pictures as presenta­
tions of literai fact ?
We are told concerning Jesus that He spoke at aU
times in parables; "for without a parable spake He not
unto them." Nowa parable is admittedly "an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning "; in other words it is a
statement of spiritual truth in terms of natural fact, or,
as we say, "according to correspondence."
Correspondence is the relation in which aU natural things
stand to their spiritual causes.
D 4I

43. The" New Church"
The Word throughout, we are assured, is written
" according to correspondence." Jesus spoke in terms of
correspondence. John also wrote his Revelation in sirnilar
terms. What he describes for us so dramaticaHy is a
series of spiritual events or experiences portrayed in
representative eartW y forms.
Now it is to be understood that aH spiritual events
have relation to and actuaHy take place in the mind; they
have nothing whatever to do with the body, or with
Nature, or with the things of space and time.
John was in the spirit when he had his visions, as aH
the prophets were. We also must be in the spirit if we
are to see what they denote.
To be " in the spirit" is to be dissociated in thought
from aH that is olltside; and to be concentrated upon what
is within.
The Judgment, and aH that is connected with it, takes
place in the realm of spiritual experience, which is within
the mind.
Whether we say the spirit, or the mind, or the soul of
man, or the very man himself, it is the same.
Jesus said, "For judgment l am come into the world."
But He also declared, "I judge no man. If any man
hear My words, and believe not, l judge him not: for
l came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
He that rejecteth Me . . . hath one that judgeth him:
the word that l have spoken, the same shaH judge him in
the last day."
By " the word that l have spoken " is to be understood
the Truth itself. There is no other judge but Truth. AH
things are judged, righteously,from the standpoint ofTruth.
A man of sound judgment is one who knows Truth, and
forms his conclusions from it. AH Truth is of the mind.
When one's mind is equipped with Truth it sits, as it
were, upon a throne; high and lifted up, to see the
things that are beneath it; and it sees them there in their
relation one to another; thus it has circumspection; it
is a wise judge.
42

44. The "New Church"
So when we are lifted up after death, to see things in
the light of Truth, and thus to know them for what they
reaUy are, we shaUlook at them not " as through a glass
darkly, but face to face"; not as they who know only
in part, but knowing even as we are known. We shaU
know ourselves; stripped of aU pretences and aU cover­
ings; with our illusions dissipated and our conceits
dispeUed. We shaU have one that judges us: even the
Word that He has spoken-the Truth that is in us.
Judgment hereafter is the process-begun and continued
even in this world-of the disclosing of character, and it
i s the discovering of what we actually are! It is the
discovering also of our kindred, and of our final place.
For in the other world there is no mixing of the kinds.
"Birds of a feather flock together." This is a spiritual
as weU as natural law. Inevitably we gravitate, each to
the company and quarters of those who are most like
ourselves. For only with these can we enter into any­
thing approaching to a state of satisfaction and of rest ;
only there we settle down.
The settlement is not to be accomplished aU at once;
only by degrees is the full discovery made; only graduaUy
are the coverings removed and the hidden things exposed.
The length of the process is according to the nature
and extent of our cherished self-deceptions. Sooner or
later for aU, in that intermediate realm into which we are
introduced immediate1y the earthly veil is rent, the
experience cornes, "There is nothing covered that shaH
not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known."
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45. The" New Church"
The Christian
The New Church teaches that
He only is a Christian who lives as a Christian!
In other words, it puts the whole significance of the proud
tide, and the justification for its use, not in creed, nor in
any kind of Hp profession, but in the aetuaHties of dail y life 1
It caHs to our remembrance, with renewed emphasis
and a persistence that is never satisfied, the teaching of
the W ord-made-flesh: "If ye know these things, happy
are ye if ye do them "; "Not every one that saith unto
Me, ' Lord, Lord,' shaH enter into the kingdom of heaven ;
but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven " ;
" He that doeth truth cometh to the light." ,
And it proclaims again the message of the prophet
Micah: "He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good ;
and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy GÇ>d?"
What is it to live as a Christian? Surely it is above aU
things to obey the law of love. Jesus said, "A new
commandment l give unto you, That ye love one another ;
as l have loved you, that ye also love one another. By
this shaH aH men know that ye are My disciples."
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46. The "New Church"
A Fulfilment of Prophecy
It is claimed for the New Church that it is itself the
fulfilment of the Scripture: "And 1, John, saw the Holy
City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" ;
and also of the promise: "Behold, l make aH things new."
Scripture is fulfilled when its inner content has been
realized; it is accomplished in the experience of the
developing human soul.
The essence of aB Scripture, God-inspired, is Revela­
tion; and Revelation is the opening of faculty, it is being
given 10 see !
There is no Revelation of things on the natural plane;
nor any fulfilment of prophecy to be looked for there.
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with
observation: neither shaB ye say, ' Lo here ! or, 10 there ! '
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
In the Holy City, New Jerusalem, seen by John as
coming down from God out of heaven, the kingdom of
God-the ceaseless topie and the end in view in aB our
Lord's teaching-is envisaged and presented in figure. In
the figure of a city it should not be difficult to see the
representation of a Church. For a city is a complex of
human relationships and activities; it is essentiaBy a com­
munity of life. The Holy City is the ideal Community,
the perfect human life; it is the achievement of that
Fellowship of the Spirit for which the Church exists, and
of which it is, ideally, the embodiment.
And in the figure of the Bride adorned for her Husband,
the symbolism of a Church is hardly less manifest; the
Woman is the Church in relation to the Divine Being
who has caBed it into existence, who bestows upon it aU
its beauty, and inspires it with His life.
If the existence of a New Church in the world is
45

47. The" New Church"
conceivable; if the possibility of such a thing is aUowed,
this claim to be the ful@ment of Scripture can hardly
be rejected: if there is, or can ever be, a New Church in
the world, it must be this, it can be nothing less.
If there is a New Church in the world to-day--and he
surely would be presumptuous indeed who would deny
the possibility-its newness will be seen, and proved
beyond aU controversy, in the fact that it reveals new
things, which are also true things; new readings of the life
inspiring and sustaining Word; new visions of the world
to come; "new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven."
It will show itself to be the Church of the new man,
who is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him
that created him.
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48. The" New Church"
The Creed of the New Church
1, l BELIEVE that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
is the one God of heaven and earth, the Creator
and Preserver of aU things.
2. 1 believe that our Lord Jesus Christ came into the
world for our redemption, and is now making His Second
Advent through His Word with power and great glory.
;. 1 believe that the Sacred Scriptures are the inspired
Word of God, the fountain of aU wisdom for angels and
men.
4. 1 believe that, if 1 would be saved, 1 must, in the
Lord's strength, shun aU evils as sins aga,inst Him, and
walk in the way of His Cornmandments.
5. 1 believe that when 1 die as to my natural body 1
shall rise in my spiritual body in the World of Spirits,
and be judged according to my works.
6. 1 believe that heaven is the home of aU who die in
childhood, and of those in every nation who fear God and
work righteousness; and that heU is the chosen abode of
those who love evil rather than good.
7. 1 believe in the universal and constant Providence
of our Lord, whose tender mercies are over all His works.
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