A Life of Jesus Little Known
The Book of Revelation, the
Charter of the New Church
By rev. wm. L.WORCESTER

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

ALBERT H CHILDS
YALE '61
MEMORIAL COLLECTION

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A Life of Jesus Little Known
The Book of Revelation, the
Charter of the New Church

By
Rev. William L, Worcester

Massachusetts New-Church Union
134 Bowdoin Street, Boston, Mass.

A Life of Jesus Little Known

A Life of Jesus Little Known

MAGINE theinterest which
the Christian world would
feel in the discovery of a
new Gospel, another record
^^ of the Lord's life on earth
more full than the records of the evange
lists, entering more deeply into the secrets
of that life, and telling many things which
they leave untold. Imagine the interest in
such a Gospel, if one of undoubted authen
ticity should be discovered. It would be
read not only in our churches but in our
homes. It would be reprinted in the daily
papers and sold upon the streets. It would
furnish exhaustless themes for sermons;
it would be the subject of earnest con-
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A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
versation everywhere. The Christian
Church would find a new impulse of life;
for with the new knowledge of the Lord
would come a new quickening of desire
to live the life that is from Him.
Such a new Gospel is discovered, or
rather is revealed, by the opening of the
deeper meaning of the Old Testament
Scriptures, which shows them all to be
about the Lord. There must follow, with
all who love the Lord, a new interest in
entering understandingly into the story
of His life, and a new earnestness in
following in the way of life with Him.
Notice the abundant testimony of the
New Testament itself to the fact that the
Old Testament is about the Lord. There
is the Lord's own saying to the Jews:
"Search the Scriptures: for in them ye
think ye have eternal life; and they are
they which testify of me. . . . Hadyebe-
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lieved Moses, ye would have believed me;
for he wrote of me." There is the experi
ence of Easter day, when the Lord joined
two disciples who were walking into the
country, talking sadly of the things which
had just occurred. And He said, "O
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. . . . And be
ginning at Moses and all the prophets, he
expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself." And
later that same day He came to the dis
ciples gathered in Jerusalem and spoke
to them of the things written about Him
in Moses and the prophets and the Psalms.
He before had said that He came not
to destroy the law or the prophets,
but to fulfil; that one jot or one tittle
should in no wise pass from the law till all
was fulfilled. "The testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy," says the Book
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of Revelation. John's Gospel declares
that He was the Word made flesh.
But this testimony is general. There
is other testimony in the Gospels declar
ing the relation of definite parts of the
Old Testament Scripture to the Lord,
and in many cases indicating the period
or phase of the Lord's life to which the
Scripture applies.
Many times in the Gospels — more
times than we realize — it is said of some
event of the Lord's life, "That it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophet," and a passage of Old Testa
ment Scripture is quoted. We do well to
notice carefully each reference of the
Gospels to the Old Testament Scripture,
to turn to the Old Testament and read
the chapter or the Psalm referred to;
for the reference shows that the Scripture
cited belongs to the experience of the
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Lord's life which the Gospel is relating.
In effect, it says, Insert here the Old
Testament Scripture. It adopts the Old
Testament passage and makes it a part
of the Gospel at this place. There is no
incident of the Gospel which the Old
Testament Scripture does not make more
full. It was not till the last hours of His
life on earth, that the Lord, in connection
with such a reference to the Old Testa
ment, said, "For the things concerning
me have an end."
Note a few familiar examples. Remem
ber the day in the synagogue in Nazareth,
when the Lord stood up to read: "And
there was delivered unto him the book of
the prophet Esaias. And when he had
opened the book, he found the place where
it is written. The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor" — and more
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of the same tender promise. And He
closed the book, and sat down and began
to say unto them, "This day is this Scrip
ture fulfilled in your ears." Here is a
particular chapter of Old Testament
Scripture, the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah,
which the Lord Himself declared to be
fulfilled in His ministry of teaching and
healing in the towns of Galilee. As an
other example take the reference to
Isaiah in the eighth chapter of Matthew.
We read here the story of a day of the
Saviour's life, which was filled with
works of mercy. Of this day it is said that
"he cast out the spirits with his word, and
healed all that were sick: that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias
the prophet, saying. Himself took our
infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
The reference is the fifty-third chapter of
Isaiah: "Who hath believed our report?
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and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?" — the chapter which sets forth
in such touching language the infinite
condescension of the Lord, His wonderful
sympathy and patience; which shows
how completely He entered into all
human states, sharing all human tempta
tions and trials, and the severity of the
conflicts by which He overcame and
gained the power to bring deliverance to
men. "Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows. . . . He was
wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastise
ment of our peace was upon him; and with
his stripes we are healed." Insert this
chapter of Isaiah at this point in the
Gospel story as the cross-reference bids
us to do. It reveals the Divinely tender
sympathy in which the Lord walked
among men, in which He received the
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sick and those possessed by devils who
pressed about Him that day in Caper
naum, and healed them. It tells how
severe were the conflicts through which
He gained the power to bring healing of
body and soul to men. "He was taken
from prison and from judgment: and
who shall declare his generation? for he
was cut off out of the land of the living:
for the transgression of my people was
he stricken." We learn at what cost of
inner conflict and suffering He gained
the power to help the afflicted people
who came to Him for help. How much
of inner conflict and laying down of life
was involved in the apparently simple
act of laying His hands upon the lepers,
of speaking the word of command and
casting out the devils !
Another example, where the Old Testa
ment reference not only makes more full
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the picture presented in the Gospel, but
explains an incident, and with it several
similar incidents which without the ex
planation are hard to understand. In
the twelfth chapter of Matthew we read
that great multitudes followed Jesus, and
He healed them all; "and," it Is added,
"charged them that they should not make
him known." Why this charge not to tell
of His wonderful works and make known
His power? and why the charge presently
to tell no man that He was Jesus the
Christ? nor to tell of the vision of His
glory seen on the mountain of transfigu
ration ? The answer comes in one of these
references to the Old Testament Scrip
ture, where more of the inner side of His
life is told than was possible in the
Gospels, "That it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
saying. Behold my servant, whom I have
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chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul
is well pleased : I will put my spirit upon
him, and he shall shew judgment to the
Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry;
neither shall any man hear his voice in
the streets. A bruised reed shall he not
break, and smoking flax shall he not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto
victory. And in his name shall the Gen
tiles trust." This reference, to a chapter
of Isaiah, full of wonderful expressions of
the Lord's patience with men and His
tender accommodation of His power to
them in their feebleness, explains the
charge that they should not make Him
known. It was not the Lord's will to
compel an outward acknowledgment from
men by display of outward power or
glory; He avoided such compulsion,
tenderly winning their hearts and minds
as it was possible to win them, but re-
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fusing to compel in a way which would
do violence to the beginnings of real
acceptance. Take as one more instance of appeal to
the Old Testament Scripture, which
greatly enriches the Gospel narrative,
the several references of the Gospel to
the crucifixion Psalm, the twenty-second.
Not only do we read in two Gospels,
Matthew and Mark, that the Lord
uttered the first words of this Psalm in
His agony upon the cross : "My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" — not
only this, but by two other references
this Psalm is brought into the Gospel
narrative of the crucifixion. We read in
Matthew's Gospel, "And they crucified
him, and parted his garments, casting
lots : that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet. They parted my
garments among them, and upon my
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vesture did they cast lots". (Matt.
xxvii, 35.) And again in John's Gospel,
the same Scripture Is quoted, and it is
added, "These things therefore the sol
diers did". (John xix, 23, 24.) The refer
ence is to the twenty-second Psalm where
these words occur. It tells us, in effect,
to insert the Psalm at this point in the
Gospel. Not only the opening words,
uttered by the Lord upon the cross; not
only this cry of despair and the saying
about the parting of His garments belong
to the Gospel at this point, but the whole
Psalm, which we see plainly as we read it.
"All they that see me laugh me to scorn :
they shoot out the lip, they shake the
head, saying. He trusted on the Lord that
he would deliver him; let him deliver
him seeing he delighted in him." It is
the voice of the priests and elders mock
ing the Lord upon the cross. And read
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on in the Psalm; "They pierced my
hands and my feet. I may tell all my
bones: they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them, and
cast lots upon my vesture." The whole
Psalm belongs to the hours upon the
cross, and it makes the Gospel narrative
so much the more full. It tells not only
the words heard by those standing by the
cross, but other words of unspoken
prayer. It reveals as no Gospel does, the
desolation of that last trial, the loneliness
of the combat with all the hells.
But perhaps the greatest value, the
greatest charm, of this Psalm as an en
richment of the Gospel narrative appears
as we read on to its close. For the sad
tone of the Psalm changes; it becomes
confident, it becomes triumphant, even
joyous; it tells of victory, and of blessing
to all the ends of the earth In all time to
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come. "For he hath not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
neither hath he hid his face from him;
but when he cried unto him, he heard.
. . . All the ends of the world shall re
member and turn unto the Lord: and
all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before thee. For the kingdom
is the Lord's: and he is the governor
among the nations. . . . They shall come
and shall declare his righteousness unto
a people that shall be born, that he hath
done this." This, too, belongs to the
story of the cross, this victory, this
triumph, this strength from the assurance
of blessing to all the ends of the world
and to generations yet unborn, which no
one of those standing by the cross,
whether friend or foe, could know.
We may sometimes have wondered
when we have read of the Lord's walk
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with two disciples to Emmaus on Easter
Day, what Scriptures they were which
He opened to them, which made their
hearts burn within them and lifted their
load of sorrow, when their Lord had been
condemned and crucified. "Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things," He
asked, "and to enter into His glory? And
beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the Scrip
tures the things concerning himself."
They may well have been Scriptures like
this Psalm, which tell of the trial which
He bore and the laying down of life, but
lead us through the hardship and the
sorrow to the victory and the joy —
through the loss of His outward presence
to the joyful realization of the risen and
glorified Lord, with us forever with all
power to save. If the hearts of the two
disciples burned within them as the Lord
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talked with them by the way, and opened
to them the Scriptures, so may our hearts
burn as the story of His life is opened to
us in these same Scriptures, revealing
deep things of His life. His Inner thoughts
and feelings. His emotions of sorrow and
of joy, and especially the victory and the
joy prevailing over all sorrow, which
were unknown to His disciples, even to
those who knew Him best.
No part of the Gospel story contains
more references to the Old Testament
prophecies than the chapters which tell
of the Saviour's birth and childhood.
There are five such references in the first
two chapters of Matthew; to prophecies
which speak of the virgin birth, of Beth
lehem as the birthplace of the King, of
bringing the Child out of Egypt, of
Rachel weeping for her children, and the
prediction, "He shall be called a Naza-
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rene." All these passages of Old Testa
ment Scripture are connected with the
story of the Lord's birth and the first
years of His earthly life, where the narra
tive is otherwise so meagre. The deeply
hidden things of the Lord's coming and
of His infancy could be little known to
the disciples, and could hardly be told
in direct narrative; but they are told In
the Divine way even to every detail. Do
we wish that the story of the Lord's com
ing were fuller as to the process by which
He clothed His Divinity with humanity
and dwelt among us? that the Gospel
told us more of His Infancy and boyhood
than the brief mention of His life in
Nazareth and the visit to the temple at
twelve years? It is all toldj the inner
story of these first years, and of all His
life. And these references of the Gospel,
"that it might be fulfilled which was
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spoken by the prophet," tell us to find
it in the Old Testament Scriptures.
"Search the Scriptures," the Lord Him
self said, "for in them ye think ye have
eternal life; and they are they which
testify of me." It is because the Scrip
tures do everywhere testify of the Lord,
because He is in them In every line and
word, that they have for us comfort and
strength; that we may search them and
find eternal life.
In Moses and the prophets and the
Psalms, the Lord opened to the disciples
the things concerning Himself. This
suggests a convenient division of the
subject for more careful and systematic
study. "Moses" means the first five
books of Scripture; and with them we
may group all the history of the Old
Testament. One simple thought may
sufficiently illustrate the relation of the
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Old Testament history to the Lord ; the
thought that the patriarchs, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the judges of Israel, the
prophets, and the kings, David and
Solomon, and the rest, all represent the
Lord, and that the history of these men
describes in parables the experiences of
His Divine-Human life. It is the general
recognition of this fact, which has led
to the effective use of Old Testament
tableaux in connection with the Gospel
story in the Passion Play of Oberammer-
gau. The thought is enough to open a
new light and a new power to us in the
Old Testament histories. They become
unspeakably holy. As we read them
they draw us into closer and more living
relation with the Lord. Let us now
attempt only in the simplest way to
suggest this representative character of
Old Testament persons. In the doctrines
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of the New Church the subject is de
veloped in detail; and In the case of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David,
and others, it Is shown with great fulness
what faculties of the Lord's human na
ture, and what experience of His human
life, each represents.
The blessing spoken to Abram and re
peated to Jacob, "In thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed," was
more truly spoken of the Lord.
If we would learn more of the Lord's
tenderness towards men, of His infinite
kindness to the unthankful and the evil,
and His salvation for every soul in which
is the least particle of good, read the
prayer of Abraham for Sodom — that the
righteous might not perish with the
wicked. "If there be fifty righteous In
the city," he prayed; If there be forty-
five, forty, thirty, twenty, ten. This was
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the prayer of the Lord as He walked
among men and saw them carried away
by worldliness and evil. No love but
His was at once so strong and so gentle
that It could check the wickedness of the
world without destroying the good. No
love but His could find the spark of
heaven in men's souls and save It alive.
Jacob's vision of the ladder is another
wonderful lesson of the Lord. The Lord,
at once God and Man, was the ladder set
up on the earth whose top reached to
heaven. By Him every one who will
may ascend from earth an angel, and by
Him heaven's best blessings are brought
down to us below. Almost In the words
written concerning Jacob's ladder, the
Lord said of Himself, "Hereafter ye shall
see heaven opened, and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son
of man." 29

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Again, we read the story of Joseph, well
beloved of his father but hated by his
brethren. Joseph came seeking his
father's flock. So did our Lord come into
the world to seek the Father's sheep, and
to speak to His brethren a message of
the Father's love. But Joseph's brethren
hated him and conspired to slay him,
because he told them his dreams in which
they bowed down to him. So did men
conspire against the Lord, and took up
stones to cast at Him when He told them
of His Divinity. They sold Him too for
money to the Gentiles, and parted His
garments, as the brethren sold Joseph
and sent his blood-stained coat to their
father. But still Joseph dealt kindly with
his brethren, and though unknown by
them preserved their life; and could not
restrain his tears, so earnestly he longed
to make himself known to them, and to
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tell them of his forgiveness and his love.
How true was all this of our Lord!
Though hated and despised He still was
giving His life for men, patiently working
for them in ways which they knew not,
and longing for the opportunity to make
them know His love. How precious this
simple story of the Old Testament be
comes when we know that It is a story of
our Lord, and what a new depth of
tenderness it adds to the Gospel record
of His life!
We read the story of Samuel, given by
the Lord, who was weaned by his mother
and brought as a child to the tabernacle
in Shiloh to serve the Lord. It is a
charming and touching story, and far
more so when we know that Samuel
represents the Lord in some aspect of
His Divine-Human life. The Lord was
the child given from above In the world's
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hour of deepest sorrow. From His
earliest years He was weaned from His
mother, as He felt His Divine origin, and
that although He was in the world He
was not of the world. Mary could give
Him natural birth; she could wrap Him
in swaddling clothes and minister to Him
in external ways, as Samuel's mother
made him a little coat and brought it to
him from year to year. But from the
first she began to wean Him, and to look
upon Him with holy wonder, pondering
the shepherds' words, and the Child's
own question, "Wist ye not that I must
be about my Father's business?" It was
the Lord Jesus who, from tender years,
began His service at the tabernacle —
began Indeed to make Himself a taber
nacle in which God could dwell with men.
As a child He learned In the silence and
darkness of the world's night to listen
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to the Divine voice and to obey it; and
as Samuel, In the morning, opened the
doors of the tabernacle, so did the Lord
open the doors of the Divine presence,
bringing morning to the world. It was
not by chance, but to remind us of the
deeper meaning of this story, that it was
written of Samuel, almost in the same
words as of the Lord, "And the child
Samuel grew on, and was In favor both
with the Lord and also with men,"
Again, we read of David who, as a lad,
was called from the sheepfolds and
anointed king. The Lord was the true
David of Bethlehem. He was the man
after God's own heart. He was the David
who continued to be promised by the
prophets, long after King David lived
and died. The Lord was the good Shep
herd who, even as a child, cherished in
His heart the lambs of perfect innocence,
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and with courage defended them against
the lion and the bear of childish passions.
The Lord was anointed King as He
advanced in youth from perfect innocence
to perfect strength, and began to rule
His own life in the power of Divine truth,
and to make the influences of evil which
had oppressed men tremble, David's
first battle, with the Philistine giant, is
a wonderful picture of the Lord's early
conflicts with evil. David went down into
the valley to meet Goliath, armed with
his shepherd's sling and five smooth
stones from the brook. The armies stood
watching on either side, knowing that
their fate depended upon the result of
the single combat. It is a most impressive
picture, the shepherd lad meeting the
proud warrior, trusting in no earthly
armor but in the name of the Lord of
hosts. And how it grows in grandeur
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when we know that the picture Is really
of the Lord, fresh from the innocence of
His Divine childhood, trusting in the
power from on high, going forth alone to
fight the battles on which the fate of all
mankind depended! The whole world
and heaven itself stood dismayed and
helpless before the giant power of evil.
The Lord alone took the whole battle
upon Himself and gained a victory which
earth and heaven might share. David
slinging his smooth stone at the giant, is
the Lord as a boy — and He was always a
child in innocence — meeting the tempter
with a simple Divine truth from the
stream of the Holy Word: "It is written,
Thou shalt not." Can we admire David's
courage? and have we not a still deeper
admiration for this courage of the Lord?
And we are not idle spectators of His
battle, but our own life depends upon
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His victory. As the host of Israel
shouted and joined in the pursuit, so we
may be victorious in His strength.
We read of Moses, how he built the
tabernacle in the desert after the pattern
shown him from heaven. We wonder
at the minute details of its materials and
form. We read again of the building of
the temple by Solomon of the choicest
materials of the earth. How holy does
all this become when we know that we
are reading of the tabernacle and temple
which the Lord was building in His
Divine-Human life; a tabernacle of God
with men. In which He could dwell for
ever with them; a temple which men
could not destroy. How full of meaning
Solomon's prayer becomes at the dedi
cation of the temple, when he prays for
all the people wherever they may be, in
whatever distress, that they may find
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relief, every one according to the needs
of his own heart, when they turn towards
the temple! It is the Lord's prayer that
all may learn to know Him in His Divine
Humanity and find forgiveness for every
sin and strength for every duty. While
we read, the tabernacle in the desert and
the temple at Jerusalem fade away. We
see no temple, but the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb.
Read of the prophets Elijah and Elisha,
how they passed to and fro over the
paths of Galilee proclaiming the true
God and doing mighty works by His
power, but how they were rejected by
Israel, so that Elijah found a home with
the widow of Zarephath, and only Naa
man the Syrian came to Elisha to be
healed of leprosy. And all this ingrati
tude and hardness of heart was prophetic
of the Lord's own life; as He told the
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men of Nazareth. He, too, walked in the
paths of Galilee blessing the people's
bread, imparting to them both natural
and spiritual life. But with those who
should have loved Him best there was
no place for Him to lay His head; He
found a welcome only with the simple and
the Gentiles.
Read where you will in the Old Testa
ment history, and everywhere, sometimes
more plainly and sometimes more ob
scurely, you read of the Lord Jesus Christ
and His redeeming work. It is not by
chance that some of those stories of the
Bible which we loved best as children
are now those which speak to us most
plainly of the Lord. It is the Lord in
them which makes them precious to the
children. We ought to treasure that
childlike reverence until we learn its
meaning, until with maturer understand-
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ing we clearly see the Lord, where, as
children, we felt His presence. So Moses
wrote of the Lord.
"Moses and the prophets, and the
Psalms." Turn now from the historical
to the prophetic Scriptures. Here the
ray of Divine promise shines out of the
darkness of the later days of Israel and
Judah, even more brightly and definitely,
pointing not now to a vague hope to come
from Abraham's line, but to a child to be
born of a virgin; who should come from
Bethlehem in the land of Judah; who
should be called as a child out of Egypt;
upon whom the Spirit of Jehovah should
rest, to make Him of quick understand
ing; who should be heralded by a cry in
the desert, which should turn the heart
of the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers;
who should come as a light into the
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darkness of Galilee, by the way of the
sea, beyond Jordan; who should be
anointed by the Spirit of the Lord Je-
hovih, to preach good tidings unto the
meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to the bound; who
would be greeted as King, though He
came lowly and riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt the foal of an ass; who
would be hated without cause; who
would be despised and rejected of men,
would be wounded for our transgres
sions and bruised for our iniquities,
would pour out His soul unto death
and be numbered with the transgres
sors; who would swallow up death in
victory and wipe away tears from off
all faces; who would lead captivity
captive; who would bear the govern
ment upon His shoulder, and of the
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increase of His government and peace
there would be no end.
This voice of prophecy breaks out
continually from the shadows of Israel
and Judah, from the story of their decline
and captivity, with hope and consolation
not for that people only, but for the
world. In very many instances, as we
have seen, the prophecies are cited in the
Gospels, and in not a few instances by
the Lord Himself, as fulfilled in His life.
Not only did He read from Isaiah in the
synagogue at Nazareth, and say, "This
day is this Scripture fulfilled," He spoke
of the three days and nights of Jonah in
the whale's belly — or as Jonah himself
says, in the belly of hell — as a type of His
crucifixion and burial, which also was typi
cal of all His temptations. When the
thought of deliverance from the trial
came to the Lord in Gethsemane, He
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said, "But how then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" And
again on the same night, "For I say unto
you, that this that is written must yet
be accomplished in me. And he was
reckoned among the transgressors: for
the things concerning me have an end."
Still more plainly than Moses and the
history of Scripture, the prophets are
speaking of the Lord, not here and there,
but everywhere.
As we search the Scriptures to find
the Lord, the whole Bible becomes trans
figured with His brightness. Moses
and Elias — history and prophecy —
appear with Him in glory, and speak
of the experiences of His own perfect
life. But even while we read, Moses
and Elias are forgotten, and all mere
human names. We are In a holy pres
ence, and as we raise our eyes we
42

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
see no man, but Jesus only with our
selves. It remains to speak of the Psalms as
songs of the Lord's life — "Moses, and
the prophets, and the Psalms." And
here we have not only the fact that the
Lord opened to the disciples In the
Psalms the things concerning Himself,
but we have David's own testimony as
recorded in the Book of Samuel: "David
. , , the sweet psalmist of Israel said.
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
and his word was in my tongue." Re
member also, as we have already noted,
that David represents the Lord, and the
Psalms of David become the songs of
the Lord's life, the expressions of His
heart in times of conflict and of triumph.
We have seen how plainly this is true
of the crucifixion Psalm, the twenty-
second, and how much that Psalm adds
43

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
to the fulness and tenderness of the
Gospel story. Passing from this Psalm
to the next, is it by chance that we find
the words of peace and of protection in
death: "The Lord is my shepherd; I
shall not want. . . , Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil"? And still
reading on we find the story of resurrec
tion and ascension: "The earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof, , . .
Who shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord? of who shall stand in his holy
place? . . , Lift up your heads, O ye
gates; and be ye lift up ye everlasting
doors: and the King of glory shall come
in." We think not of the man David, but of
the Lord, when we read in the Psalms the
professions of perfect innocence and
faithfulness. Our thought is more with
44

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
the Lord than with David as we read,
"A Psalm of David [and in the original
this title is a part of the Psalm]. Lord,
how are they increased that trouble me!
Many there be that rise up against me."
"A Psalm of David. Blessed be the Lord
my strength, which teacheth my hands
to war, and my fingers to fight: my
goodness and my fortress ; my high tower
and my deliverer; my shield, and he in
whom I trust; who subdueth my people
under me." Even the cruelty and vin-
dictiveness of some of the Psalms express
the thoroughness of the Lord in His
victories, making no compromise with
evil. And when above two Psalms we
read, "A Psalm for Solomon," it tells us
that we read of the peace which followed
victory, for the Lord. "In his days shall
the righteous flourish, and abundance of
peace so long as the moon endureth."
45

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
"Except the Lord build the house, they
labor in vain that build it. . , . It is vain
for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to
eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth
his beloved sleep."
The Psalms are songs; and songs are
the fullest expressions of love. You know
how affections are expressed in music;
how our hearts are stirred by joyous or
plaintive strains. You know how feeling
is expressed and perceived in the music
of the voice. There is music in heaven,
we are told, which is affection itself
sounding and affecting all hearts to their
depths. When we know that the whole
Word is written of the Lord, that Moses
and the prophets and the Psalms, no less
than the Gospels, tell the story of His
life, we are prepared to learn that the
great love of the Lord's coming, and the
affections of His life in sorrow and joy,
46

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
are expressed in fulness in the great song-
book of the Scripture, the Book of Psalms,
which, enfolded in the midst of the
Scripture, beats like the warm heart of
the whole. Even the names of musicians
and of strange musical instruments, in
the titles of the Psalms, will have Interest
when we are able to see in them indica
tions of the phases of affection which the
Psalms express.
All readers of the Bible know the
tenderness of the Psalms, their appeal
to the affections; their power to quiet
fears and troubled feelings, and to in
spire trust and courage. It is because
the Psalms are Divine songs, are ex
pressions of the Lord's great love, in
which He came into the world. In which
He met and conquered all temptation,
and made blessed Christian life possible
to men. "God so loved the world."
47

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
This great love is expressed in the Psalms
as nowhere else.
The doctrines of the New Church
repeatedly and emphatically declare that
the Sacred Scriptures are Divine In every
line, and full of infinite light and power,
not because of their letter, which is taken
from the language, the knowledge, the
experiences of men, but because of their
spiritual and inner meanings which do
not regard one nation or one people, but
the universal human race, as it is and
has been and will be; and what is still
more universal, the kingdom of the Lord
in the heavens; and in the supreme sense
the Lord Himself. In a very wonderful
way the Sacred Scriptures make one with
the Lord's life. "The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us." In the Old
Testament Scriptures the whole story of
that life was told as it would be, even to
48

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
its inmost thoughts and feelings; so fully
so that when that life was lived, it was
but the fulfilling, the making actual, of
what had been written.
And this involves a very tender thought
about the Word, that it was to the Lord
an essential means in living the perfect
life with men, and in doing His saving
work. What was there written as per
fect truth He made actual, and joined to
the truth the love which made it living,
and filled it full with power. We value
a copy of the Bible which has been the
property of father or mother, or one
whom we have loved. We value the
worn pages, and the signs that the book
has been often opened to certain Psalms
and chapters of the Gospel; we love to
think of the dependence of these strong
men and women upon those pages of
Scripture, and to realize that they were
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A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
the secret of their strength; and so in a
still deeper and more sacred way it adds
to the value of the Scriptures to read
them as the book of the Lord's life, to be
taken by them into the inner secrets of
His life, to go to the springs of His com
fort and His strength.
The simple truth, that the Scriptures
are all about the Lord, shows as nothing
else does, the unity of the Scriptures, and
makes of many books, written by many
men, in different languages, in different
places and at widely different times, one
Holy Bible, one Word of God, "The
Lord gave the Word : great was the com
pany of those that published it." The
Scriptures are one book from the Garden
of Eden to the Holy City, especially
because they are the book of the Lord's
life, for they were never perfectly fulfilled,
and can never be perfectly fulfilled, except
SO

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
in Him. They are His sacred garment,
with healing in its very hem. Outwardly
they may be made of many parts, which
irreverent hands may rend; but inwardly
they are woven without seam, one per
fect whole, one continuous, perfect story
of His life.
But more than the transfiguration of
the Word with new glory to our minds,
when we know that it is all about the
Lord, — more than the unity that we find
in the Scripture in spite of all that critics
may do to rend it, when we know that it
all relates to Him, — more than these is the
sense of the Divine presence in the Word
when we read It all as the Lord's book
and the story of His life. There is a
wonderful interest In the history of the
patriarchs, the judges, and kings, when
we know that they are types of the Lord
in His human life; there is wonderful
SI

A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
interest in the prophets when we see in
them not only predictions of the fact that
the Lord would come, but revealings of
the inner story of His life; there is won
derful interest and wonderful tenderness
in the Psalms when we learn to read them
and to sing them as songs of the fatherland,
the national airs of heaven, as songs of the
Lord's own life. There is power in their
music, as in David's playing before Saul,
to drive away the evil spirit, to refresh
us and make us well.
As we read the Scriptures reverently as
the story of the Lord's life with men, the
reading is a coming near to the Lord; and
the Scriptures become the means, as they
were meant to be, of bringing the comfort,
the light, the power of God into the lives
of men.
The new Gospel is discovered — is re
vealed — and lies open for us to read; the
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A LIFE OF JESUS LITTLE KNOWN
Gospel that tells all that we need to
know and can wish to know of the inner
history of the Lord's coming and of His
redeeming work. It will open more and
more to teach of His life, and to bring us
into closer and more vital touch with Him;
that we may live from Him, and more
abundantly forever.

53

The Book of Revelation, the
Charter of the New Church

The Book of Revelation, the
Charter of the New Church
|T is related in the Book of
Ezra, that when the
people, returned from cap
tivity in Babylon, had be
gun in earnest to rebuild
Jerusalem and the temple, enemies op
posed the work and sent complaints to
the Persian court, and the work was
stopped, and for a long time was at a
standstill. The prophets Haggai and
Zechariah aroused the people, and at the
same time appeal was made to Darius,
who then was king, to search the records
of the court for the decree of Cyrus, which
had released the Jews from captivity,
and given them permission to restore the
57

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
temple, with assurance of royal pro
tection and assistance. They appealed
to their original charter which conferred
on them the right to build. Search was
accordingly made among the records of
the court, and not In Babylon but in
Ecbatana, the decree of Cyrus was found;
and it was reaffirmed by King Darius,
The opposition was set aside, and the re
building of Jerusalem and the temple
went on with vigor. It may often be
useful In work for the Church, to appeal
to our original charter, and by such
appeal to renew our strength and courage.
The comparison is especially suggestive
when we learn that Cyrus represents the
Lord in His Divine-Human, who is
omnipotent to save. It is in this spirit
and with this purpose that we now ap
peal to the Book of Revelation, the
charter of the New Church.
58

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
"It is certain," wrote Swedenborg a
hundred and fifty years ago, "that a new
church, which is the New Jerusalem, will
exist," Why? On what did he base this
certainty? Not upon the evidence of
such a church in his own day, for there
were but a handful of men who cared for
the new doctrines from the Holy Word
which are to form the foundations of that
church; not upon the eager reception of
the books, for they lay unopened In the
libraries to which they had been given.
The confidence in the New Church was
not based on any outward evidence, but
on the fact that this church is foretold in
God's Word, "It is certain that a new
church, which is the New Jerusalem, will
exist," he wrote, "because it is foretold
in the Apocalypse."* Swedenborg thus
?Apocalypse Revealed, n. 547; see also letter to Dr.
Beyer, Documents, vol. II., p. 383.
59

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
sets us an example of appeal to the
charter of the Church,
It is worthy of notice in turning to the
Book of Revelation for help, that the
book presents its own message as some
thing important for men to know and
heed. At the opening of the book we read,
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and
keep those things which are written
therein: for the time is at hand," In
the early chapters the exhortation is
several times repeated, "He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches"; and again at the
close of the book the sacredness and the
vital importance of every word is em
phatically affirmed: "These sayings are
faithful and true. . . . Blessed is he that
keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of
this book. ... If any man shall add
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
unto these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this
book: and if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part
out of the book of life, and out of the
holy city, and from the things that are
written in this book." The Revelation
regards its own message as important.
And with these texts from the book itself
put this from the "Apocalypse Revealed":
" 'And he showed me a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb,' signifies, the Apocalypse now
opened and explained as to its spiritual
sense, where Divine truths are revealed
in abundance from the Lord, for those
who will be in His New Church, which
is the New Jerusalem." Further on
in the same paragraph we read: "In
6i

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
the Apocalypse are now laid open the
evils and falsities of the Church, which
must be shunned and held in aver
sion, and the goods and truths of the
Church which must be done, especially
concerning the Lord, and concerning
eternal life from Him, which are meant
in particular by the pure river of water
of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of
the throne of God and of the Lamb."
Is the Christian world, or is the
New Church, making such vital and
practical use of the Book of Revelation
as these passages suggest? Certain
chapters and brief passages we enjoy;
but we certainly are not finding the
book, as a whole, such an abundant
stream of practical, cleansing and re
freshing truth as to make it our river
of water of life. How are we to find
in the book the practical help from the
62

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
Lord, which it holds in store for the New
Church ?
The question may seem not to be
clearly answered, when we turn to the
two works of the New Church devoted to
the unfolding of the deeper meaning of
the book, the "Apocalypse Explained"
and the "Apocalypse Revealed"; for In
the former of these works the interpreta
tions seem somewhat abstract, and in the
latter work, while the interpretations
are more concrete, the persons and events
to which they are applied are for the
most part of the other world; the Revela
tion is interpreted as the story (told
prophetically in visions shown to John)
of the Last Judgment, which was accom
plished in the spiritual world in the year
1757, many events of which Swedenborg
himself witnessed, and saw in them the
fulfilment of this book of Scripture. We
63

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
read all this with interest in the "Apoc
alypse Revealed"; and there is a satis
faction in seeing the strange visions of
the Revelation intelligibly explained. But
of what immediate and vital importance
is this to us ? Are we any nearer finding
this book of Scripture a river of water of
life? The practical value of the Revelation
appears when, as we read the interpreta
tion of the book, we remember that the
spiritual and the natural worlds are near
together; the influence of the spiritual
world, although unseen, is powerful in this
world for good or harm; the state of life in
that world affects our state. Essentially
the same upheavals and changes of thought
and affection which have taken place in the
spiritual world are taking place more
slowly, but no less surely, in the minds of
men on earth. It is recognized on every
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
hand that these are times of unrest and
change, especially In matters of religious
faith and life. Old and time-honored
creeds have lost their hold upon the
people; the Church cannot control men
as it once did by authority. There is a
breaking down of old states of thought
and feeling. What is coming? Religious
faith Is In confusion. Whither is it
tending? What is to be the outcome?
No wonder that many persons are alarmed
and know not where to turn, how to
direct their own effort, or where to look
for hope. It Is impossible from a merely
natural standpoint and with unaided
human wisdom to read the signs of the
times. Without higher guidance our
action must be paralyzed with uncer
tainty and doubt. Here is the practical
value of the Book of Revelation and its
bearing upon the daily conduct of life.
6S

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
In this book of Divine prophecy the Lord
Himself tells us the meaning of the
changes in religious faith and life that
are going on about us. He tells us what
inner forces are working these changes,
and whither they tend. He shows us that
we need not fear when we see religions
passing away. They have been judged
in the spiritual world, and they have lost
their power on earth. We need not fear
the new freedom of thought and action,
or that it will lead to denial of the Chris
tian faith. It is opening the way for a
new and stronger faith, for a faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ as the one only God,
and for the establishment of a city of
holy Christian life more beautiful, more
consistent, more enduring than the world
has ever known.
The man who is weather-wise looks up
to the mountain-tops. He observes the
66

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
clouds, or sends his kite into the upper
strata of the air, and he finds how the
great upper currents of the atmosphere
are moving; and this tells him what wind
and weather will soon prevail In the
lower atmosphere which lies next the
earth. So the prophecy of the Revela
tion teaches one to read the signs of the
times; it makes him spiritually weather-
wise; it tells him how the currents of the
Divine Providence are moving, and shows
the real inwardness of the states and
changes of human life In the midst of
which he lives. It shows him what his
part must be to co-operate with the Lord
and heaven.
Turn to the Book of Revelation itself,
and see in outline the message of the
book to us today, men and women of
the New Church, who are trying to live
the life of the New Church and do the
67

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
work of the New Church in the world.
The Revelation is the sequel of the
Gospels. The Gospels tell of the Lord's
relation with His Church while He walked
on earth, seen by natural eyes ; they close
with the account of His crucifixion and
ascension. The Revelation takes up the
story where the Gospels lay it down, —
the story of Him that liveth, and was
dead, and is alive forevermore, and has
the keys of hell and of death; it tells of
the Lord's continued relation with His
Church In His glorified presence. The
Gospels give the promise, "Lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the
world," "I will not leave you comfortless ;
I will come to you." "It is expedient
for you," the Lord said, "that I go away";
for His presence, risen and glorified,
would be even more full of blessing and
of power than His outward presence had
68

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
been. The Gospels give the promise; it
is left to the Revelation to expand the
promise and to tell fully of these things.
The Book of Revelation, spiritually
understood, describes the Christian life
now possible from the presence of the
risen Lord, which is but faintly outlined
in the Gospel promise. The Revelation
is the Gospel of the glorified Lord, and
of the Church which knows and loves
Him in His Divine Humanity.
The Book of Revelation opens with
the appearing of the Lord to John; a
glorious form, with hair like wool and
snow, with feet like burning brass, and
His countenance as the sun shining in
its strength. And yet with all this glory,
John recognized the Lord whom he had
followed in His ministry in Galilee and
Judea, on whose breast he had leaned at
supper. With all this glory, there was
69

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
something In the face, the look, the smile,
which told John that it was the Son of
Man, the Lord Jesus whom he had known
and loved. And the Lord Jesus who is
revealed in the first chapter of the Revela
tion is the central figure of the book
throughout. Everywhere its theme is the
Divine-Human Lord and His relation
with His Church in heaven and on earth.
The Lord Jesus sends His message to
the churches, with His appeal and prom
ise. In the scenes that follow. He Is the
Lion of the tribe of Juda, who alone could
open the seals of the closed book. He Is
the angel ascending from the east, re
straining the winds of heaven, that no
violence might be done. He is the one
upon the throne, before whom stood the
multitude with palms in their hands, to
whom they sang songs of thanksgiving.
He is the mighty angel with a little book
70

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
of new Christian doctrine in His hand,
who stood upon the sea and land, and
cried with a great voice as when a lion
roareth. He is the Lamb standing on
Mount Zion with the redeemed. He is
the angel with great power, lightening
the earth with His glory, who cried
mightily with a strong voice announcing
the fall of Babylon. He Is the one on the
white horse, called King of kings and
Lord of lords, who in righteousness doth
judge and make war. He is the mighty
angel standing in the sun who announced
the supper of the great God. He is the
angel with the key of the bottomless pit
and the great chain, who bound the
dragon and cast him out. In the Holy
City there is no other temple save the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, and
no light but the sunshine of His presence.
The Lord Jesus Christ Is named In the
71

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
opening sentence and in the closing sen
tence of the Revelation, The book is the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, risen
and glorified; present forever in His
Divine Humanity, with infinite power to
save and bless.
Look again and more closely at the
opening scene, the appearing of the Lord
to John; for it is the keynote of the whole
book. All that is said of the Lord in
this chapter is descriptive of His Divine
Humanity. The strength of His Divine
love, the purity of His Divine wisdom,
and the zeal of His Divine providence,
are described by the golden girdle about
His breast. His head like wool and snow.
His eyes like flames of fire, and His
countenance as the sun shining in its
strength. But joined with these tokens
of Divinity are those which represent
the bringing down of the Divine truth
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
and love to the plane of human life. This
is the meaning of the garment down to
the foot, of the feet themselves, like fine
brass as if they burned in a furnace, and
of the voice like many waters. The
picture is of Divine Humanity, of Divin
ity brought down to touch the lives of
angels and men. This, too, was the
meaning of the names by which the Lord
announced Himself in this first chapter
of the Revelation, and again in the closing
chapters : the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the
last, the Almighty. And the effect of
this Divine-Human presence in the lives
of angels and of men is also told in the
opening scene; for He held in His right
hand seven stars, and walked In the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks, —
the societies of angels and the Church
among men, the lights of heaven and the
73

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
lights of earth kept burning from the
Lord. We have said that this scene is the
key-note of the Book of Revelation. The
whole book may be regarded as the
development of this picture presented in
the opening chapter: the Lord Jesus
Christ risen and glorified standing in
the midst of His people; angels in heaven
and men on earth living in the light of
His presence. Read the second and
third chapters in connection with the
first. They are the message of the Lord
to the churches, the appeal of the risen
Lord to all who will, to know Him as He
stands among us, mighty to save and
bless, and to live in the sunshine of His
presence. How tenderly, with what sym
pathy, how earnestly, the Lord offers
the fruits of His life on earth, of His
redeeming work, making the repentance
74

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
required of each seem little in comparison
with the blessing.
And now from this picture of life with
the Lord and this Divinely earnest appeal
in the opening chapters of the book, turn
to the picture of the Holy City in the
two closing chapters; there Is pictured
the full development of that life with
the risen and glorified Lord which Is
fore-shadowed in the opening chapter.
At first the Son of Man was seen walking
in the midst of seven golden candle
sticks; now, "The tabernacle of God is
with men," the tabernacle of His Divine-
Human presence. "And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes ; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain; for the former things are
passed away." All that is told of the
Holy City is the description of the life
75

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
of living acknowledgment of the risen and
glorified Lord, The walls with founda
tions of precious stones, are the truths
of Christian faith which are received and
held with certainty of conviction by the
mind in which the truth of the Divine
Humanity is laid as a tried corner-stone.
The gates of the Holy City, all of pearl,
are the experience of the Lord's power
to save which they have who keep the
commandments in acknowledgment of
Him as the Divine-Human Lord, and
in daily dependence upon Him. The
measure of the city is told, the measure
of perfect manhood and angelhood made
possible through union with the Lord in
His Divine-Human life. Through the
golden street of the city the waters of
life are flowing from the throne of God
and of the Lamb. The waters are the
abundant truth of life which flows from
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
the Lord's Word for those who truly
acknowledge Him. For the acknowledg
ment of the Divine Humanity is the key
which opens the fountains of living truth
in the Old Testament history and Psalm
and prophecy, in the Gospels, and es
pecially in this sealed Book of Revela
tion. In the midst of the street of it
and on either side of the river, the tree
of life was growing with fruit and healing
leaves. Not only do they who live in
the acknowledgment of the Lord in His
Divine Humanity enjoy truth in abun
dance from the Lord, but their lives are
fruitful from Him, and their thoughts are
sane and wholesome even upon natural
affairs. One touch in this closing scene
of the Revelation especially takes us
back to the scene at the beginning, and
reminds us that the two scenes are one.
"The glory of God did lighten it, and the

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
Lamb is the light thereof." The picture
of the seven stars and seven candlesticks,
and in the midst of them one like unto
the Son of Man, has grown to this vision
of the Holy City with walls and founda
tions of precious stones, with gates of
pearl and street of gold, with the river
of life and the tree of life upon its banks,
and the sunshine of the Lord's presence
through all and over all. "The Lamb is
the light thereof." And at the end the
Lord renews the tender appeal to the
Church, expressed in the message to the
churches in the earlier chapters. "Behold
I come quickly, and my reward is with
me, to give to every man according as his
work shall be. . . . Surely I come
quickly." And the Church responds,
"Even so, come. Lord Jesus." For the
Church has learned her lesson, and done
the work of repentance. "The marriage
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath
made herself ready."
And what of the chapters of the Revela
tion between the appearance of the
glorified Lord to John in the first pages,
with the appeal to the churches, and the
picture at the end of the book of blessed
life with the Lord, in which the Church
is seen as the Holy City and the bride?
The chapters between are the description
of the false and evil things which come
between us and the Lord, and prevent
the blessed life with Him. They describe
in all their horribleness the falsity and
evil which were judged and removed In
the spiritual world that a heaven might
be formed of those who would acknowl
edge the Divine-Human Lord and live
in the sunshine of His presence. And at
the same time they describe (for the two
worlds make one) the false and evil things
79

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
existing in the minds and hearts of men,
which must be removed that the taber
nacle of God may be with men, and that
the Holy City may come down from God
out of heaven, and be established on the
earth. So the statement of the "Apoca
lypse Revealed" Is found true, that,
"In the Apocalypse are now laid open
the evils and falsities of the Church,
which must be shunned and held in
aversion, and the goods and truths of the
Church which must be done."
We also quote again and more fully
another passage quoted in part before:
"It Is certain that a new church, which is
the New Jerusalem, will exist, because
it is foretold in the Apocalypse, chapters
xxi, xxii; and it is also certain, that the
falses of the former church are first to be
removed, because they are what the
Apocalypse treats of as far as chapter xx."
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
Read the chapters Iv to xx in this light,
not only as the account of judgment in
the other world, but as definite practical
instruction in regard to the evil and false
things which must be shunned and over
come on earth, in preparation for the
coming of the Holy City. And with the
description of the evil and false things see
the assurance of the Lord's power to
overcome. Two enemies of the Church are espe
cially described: false doctrine with its
accompanying evil, represented by the
dragon; and the evil of self-love, repre
sented by Babylon. The judgment of
the false faith is described by the opening
of seven seals, the blowing of seven trum
pets, and the pouring out of seven plagues.
This, with the account of preparation for
the judgment, occupies chapters iv to
xvi, and the final casting-out of the dragon
8i

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
is described in chapter xx. The judg
ment of the evil love is told in chapters
xvii and xviii, with the rejoicing for that
deliverance in chapter xix. So all the
chapters are accounted for between the
appearance of the Lord at the beginning
of the Book of Revelation, and the Holy
City at the end. And while it all is
descriptive of judgment in the spiritual
world, there are in the interpretation
frequent and strong reminders that the
judgment described is also the prepara
tion needed among men, that the Holy
City may descend and the New Church
be established upon earth. Our own
part in the work is clearly shown.
One lovely feature of the Book of
Revelation. As it proceeds from the
opening picture of the Lord in His Divine
Humanity to the closing picture of life
with Him for those who acknowledge
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
Him and dwell in the sunshine of His
presence, there are occasional foregleams
of the happy consummation. Such is
the seventh chapter which tells of the
hundred and forty and four thousand
sealed out of the tribes of Israel, and of
the great multitude which no man could
number, before the throne, who "shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them, nor
any heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and
shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters; and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes" — almost the very
words which are used again in the final
picture, when the great voice Is heard out
of heaven saying, "Behold, the taber
nacle of God is with men, and he shall
dwell with them, and they shall be his
people, and God himself shall be with
83

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
them, their God, And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes," Again
in the fourteenth chapter is another fore-
gleam of the blessed state which is surely
coming; which is Indeed beginning to
appear. "And I looked, and lo, a Lamb
stood on Mount Zion, and with him
an hundred and forty and four thousand,
having his Father's name written in their
foreheads. . . And they sung as it were a
new song before the throne." These fore-
gleams are the beginning of the new
heaven forming of those who live in
acknowledgment of the risen and glorified
Lord. As applied to us on earth, they
mean the beginning of the Church, which
in its perfect development is the Holy
City and the bride. They are the begin
ning of this Church in the world and in
each heart where the Lord Jesus Christ
in His Divine Humanity is known and
84

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
loved; they are the beginning of that
blessed state which will brighten unto the
perfect day.
And ever and again throughout the
Book of Revelation, as one step after
another is taken, and one point after
another is gained, in the revealing of the
Lord, In the judgment and removal of
evil, in the gathering to Him of those
who will share the blessed life of the Holy
City, — ever and again, as each point is
gained, there is heard a Psalm of rejoic
ing and thanksgiving from the heavens.
There were such rejoicings as the work
of the Last Judgment was accomplished;
and there are such rejoicings in the heav
ens now, as more slowly the same evils
are judged and cast out on earth, and
some gain, even a very little gain, is
made by the Church on earth or by any
humblest man. In realizing in his life
85

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
the power of the living presence of the
Lord — a beautiful and grand example of
the truth declared by the Lord, that
there is joy in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth.
These rejoicings begin early in the
Book of Revelation, in the fourth chapter
where heaven is opened and the throne
is seen, a token that the Lord by His
power will judge and reign. Then the
four beasts, by which are meant the
highest heaven of loving angels, are
heard saying, "Holy, holy, holy. Lord,
God Almighty, which was, and is, and
is to come"; and the four and twenty
elders, by whom are meant the heaven of
angels strong in truth, reply, "Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor, and power; for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are
and were created." As we use these
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
words ourselves In our church service,
it should bring us near to heaven, for we
sing the song of angels, the song that
angels sing for the first revealing of
Divine power which gives promise of the
establishing of the New Church in the
world and in every willing heart.
Again in the next chapter, chapter five,
the song of heaven breaks forth, as the
Lord, the Lion of the tribe of Juda,
proves His power to open the sealed
book — to disclose and judge the character
of all men. Then all heaven sang,
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and
blessing"; and all creation answered,
"Blessing, and honor, and glory, and
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and
ever." Next is heard in the seventh
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THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
chapter the song of the great multitude
of the redeemed: "Amen; blessing, and
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honor, and power, and might, be
unto our God forever and ever. Amen."
Now we enter upon the scenes of
conflict, and in the eleventh chapter the
two essentials of the New Church, the
acknowledgment of the Lord and obe
dience to His commandments, are seen
for a time like two witnesses lying dead.
But by the power of the Lord they were
revived, and the heavens sang: "The
kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ;
and he shall reign forever and ever."
And the voices of the elders were heard
saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord
God Almighty, which art, and wast, and
art to come; because thou hast taken to
thee thy great power, and hast reigned."
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
Then in the twelfth chapter comes the
battle between Michael and his angels
and the dragon, that is, between the
men of the New Church — mark the
words, the men of the New Church —
who hold the truth that the Lord must be
acknowledged and His commandments
obeyed, and the falsity of faith alone.
The dragon was overcome. "And I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven. Now
is come salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of
his Christ," Presently the other great
enemy of the Church of the Lord Is over
thrown, self-love, the city Babylon; and
the voices of heaven break out again:
"Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and
honor, and power, unto the Lord our
God; for true and righteous are his
judgments." The beasts and elders, the
higher heavens, answered, "Amen; AUe-
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THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
luia"; and the great multitude as the
voice of many waters responded, "Alle
luia; for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honor to him; for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath
made herself ready." And then, two
chapters later, the vision of the bride
adorned for her husband; the New
Church, the Church that knows the Lord
risen and glorified, and lives in the sun
shine of His presence; the New Church,
as to her inner life a bride, and as to her
outer defences a Holy City.
Was a more magnificent charter ever
issued by any court, than this which
comes from the court and King of heaven ?
Was there ever an instrument written
and delivered, conferring such rights and
embodying such promises? Was it ever
more clearly and grandly shown, that
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CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
heaven and earth are one in fighting the
battles of the Lord and in enjoying His
blessings? that the angels of the Lord
encamp round about us to deliver us?
that they bear us up in their hands?
Were men ever made to hear so plainly
the sound of marching in the tops of the
trees, which gives promise of victory in
the fight? Were the eyes of men ever
opened to see so clearly the horses and
chariots of fire round about them in the
mountain, and to know that "they that
be with us are more than they that be
with them"?
If we need strengthening, if we need
light, we do not well to look into the
world about us and depend for courage on
evidence that comes to our dull natural
sense; look up, look above the dust and
smoke of earth to the mountains of
eternal strength, to the upper air and
91

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE
sunshine; our appeal is to the charter
which we hold from heaven, wherein is
written the Lord's own purpose for a
New Church of those who acknowledge
Him in His Divine Humanity and live
in the strength and light of His presence.
Already the Divine purpose is accom
plished in heaven, and the same forces
are moving towards accomplishment on
earth; all this is told in the Book of
Revelation, and what our part must be,
what battles we must fight, and what
work we must do, in ourselves and in
the world, to co-operate with the Lord
and heaven, and make possible the fulfil
ment of His purposes for men.
Could men have a grander charter?
Shall we keep it rolled upon the shelf,
while we cast about for encouragement
and guidance, or shall we open our charter
to the light, live in the inspiration of its
92

CHARTER OF THE NEW CHURCH
promises, and give ourselves with all our
heart and all our powers to learning and
doing our part in this great compact
between God and His Church ?

93

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