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NEW CHURCH MISCELLANIES

OR,

ESSAYS

ECCLESIASTICAL, DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL,

BY GEORGE BUSH.

[Republislied from the New Church Repository.]

WM. McGEOKGE, No. 47 BIBLE HOUSE.
Boston : Otis Clapp ; Philadelphia : Boerick & Tafel ;
London: Wm. Whitb.
1855.

JOHN P. PBALL, PEINXER,
xo. 9 SPEXICE-ST. N. Y.

M-1VZ35

CONTENTS.
PiGB,
The Priesthood and the Kingship,  5
Preaching,  69
The Ministry,  82
The N. j. Magazine and the N. C. Ministry, - - 103
N. C. Organization and Gotbenment, .... 120
A Trained and Professional Clergy, ... 146
The Party of Order and the Party op Liberty, - - 157
Aphokisms on Slavery and Abolition, ... 165
Pseudo-Spiritualism,  239
Sleep,  28»
The N. C. System referable solely to a Divine Origin, 314
Swedenborg and Paul,  369

ERRATA.
On page 346, ninth line from bottom, for "spiritual illumined," read "spirit
ual illuminees."
On page 364, ninth line from the bottom, for "remorseless" read "re-
morsefuV

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
(N. C. Kepos. April, May. June, 1853.)
" And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out ofthe
mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
children of Israel ; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I
bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore,
if ye will obey my Toice indeed, and keep my covenaut, then ye shall be a
peculiar treasure unto me above all people : for all the ear(h is mine: and
ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." — Ex. xix. 8-6.
The distinction and pre-eminence which accrued to the
people of Israel, as a representative people, constitutes
the theme of a large portion of the Sacred Volume.
Their history as a peo]jle has ever been regarded as one
of the most striliing phases of the Divine Providence,
and yet it has been deemed a problem how such a people
could have stood in a peculiar state of favoritism with
Heaven. They were of a genius so perverse and intract
able — so prone to idolatry — so dull, so gross, so carnal —
that it seems incredible that such a prerogative should
have been accorded to them. The difficulty on this score,
in respect to the whole nation, is substantially the same
with that in regard to David, one of ita brightest and most
distinguished sons. "With the history of this remarkable
personage in our hands, it has been with thousands a
serious question how he could have been denominated
" a man after God's own heart," when his conduct, on
various occasions, would appear to have stamped him
rather as a man after the Devil's own heart, and that too
in despite of many interesting and attractive traits in his
character. The solution of this difficulty is to be found in the
views of the Divine "Word, and the Divine Providence,
which are opened and inculcated in the writings of the
2

6 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
New Church on the subject of representatives. " It is
a thing of indifference," says our illumined author,
" what the quality of the man who represents, whether he
be evil or good ; for evil men may alike represent and
did represent the Lord's Divine (principle). The same
may appear from the representatives which exist even at
this day ; for all Kings, whosoever they are, and of what
soever quality, by virtue of the principle of royalty ap
pertaining to them, represent the Lord ; in like manner
all Priests, whosoever or of whatsoever quality they are,
by virtue -of the priestly principle. The principle of
royalty {regium), and the priestly principle {sacerdotale)
is holy, whatsoever be the nature and quality of the per
son who ministers them ; hence it is, that the Word
taught by a wicked person is alike holy, as when taught
by a good person, and also the Sacrament of Baptism and
the Holy Supper, and the like."— ^. O. 3670. Now we
learn that the Jewish nation sustained a representative
character, and that their whole outward history was a de
signed forecasting of the interior or spiritual history of
the true church, in all subsequent time. The truth in
volved in this position is not so entirely and exclusively
of New Church origin, but that it has been dimly per
ceived in all ages, by the possessors of the divine revela
tion, that there was a latent allusion in the histoiy of
Israel to the Christian Church. The bondage of that
people in Egypt — their deliverance thence — their long
sojourn in the wilderness — and their entrance into
Canaan — have ever been regarded as a significant adum
bration or type of the interior or spiritual history of the
Lord's true church, in the various periods of time. On
the principle of representation, their character as a people
may have been internally bad or sadly defective, and yet
they may have answered this end; and thus viewed,
their whole history is a kind of pictorial shadowing forth
of the inner career and experience of the Christian man.
This career and experience may.be read on this symboli
cal tablet somewhat as ^Eneas read the fortunes of Troy
depicted on the walls of Dido's palace at Carthage.

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. i
In this typical character, therefore, of the Jewish race,
we have a key to the import of the passage before us —
" Ye sliall be to me a holy nation, a kingdom of priests."
It is palpable that the declaration never became a literal
truth, as the priesthood was restricted to the family of
Aaron ; nor for the same reason was it predicable solely
of the nation itself It looked or penetrated through
them to some other people in whom it should receive a
more emphatic fulfilment.. But, in order to grasp this
more adequately, it will be expedient to go a little into
the nature of priesthood and royalty — the mitre and the
crown — and learn what is implied by both.
"When we consider that the whole Jewish ritual was
appointed by Jehovah himself, we must of necessity sup
pose that there was some worthy mystery shadowed forth
by the splendid and pompous array of dresses and duties
pertaining to the High Priest and his subordinate
officials. Aaron,invested with his pontifical robes, was,
next to the Tabernacle and the Ark ofthe Covenant, the
most conspicuous feature of that dispensation. Upon him
it devolved to lead the worship of the nation ; to preside
at the altar service ; to see that the sacrificial rites were
duly performed, and all the various minutise of the cere
monial strictly observed. Behold him, then, coming
forth from the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, his
head adorned with a mitre, and that part of it which
covered the forehead having a golden plate with the in
scription, KoDESH LA-HovAH, hoUncss to the Lord ; his
shoulders crowned with onyx epaulettes, and bearing the
appendant ephod ; his bosom covered with the breast
plate, glittering with precious stones, and his robe
fringed with pomegranates and bells, which latter tinkled
continually as he ministered at the altar and through the
camp. Behold him, I say, thus arrayed in " garments of
glory," and let us ask ourselves whether such a splendid
pageant could have been got up by the Divine command,
simply to feast the eyes of the congregation upon the
parade and glitter of a sacred raree-show. Could such
a. display have been designed as a mere gewgaw to de-

8 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
light the senses of a gross and worldly-minded people, as
the uniform of soldiers does the eyes of children ? Surely
not. "We must recognize some higher aim in these ap
pointments. We must realize in thera a representative
display, and a display in the first instance of the Lord
himself, for He is pre-eminently the substance of these
magnificent shadows. Look then at him through the
transparent veil of the priestly ordinances. Gaze at
Aaron till Aaron disappears from view, and you behold
the Lord himself as the grand and absorbing reality — the
sum and substance — the body and verity — of the Aaronic
mysteries. But the simple recognition of the Lord as the substance
of the representation, will still leave us far short of at
taining an adequate idea of priesthood. It is peculiar to
the spirit of New Church teachings that they prompt to
a process of breaking down or resolution of all generals
into particulars, and of particulars into singulars. The
mind of the Newchurchman, acunjinated by the habits
which it necessarily forms of exact discrimination, is led
onward to a close analysis of the component ideas enter
ing into all general and comprehensive terms. When,
therefore, he finds the Lord himself denominated a Priest,
he is conscious that he has no clear perception of the
truth involved in this designation, until he ascertains the
essential principle in the Divine nature of which this title
is more especially predicated. Now, as the fundamental
ideas of the Divine Being are those of love and wisdom,
or goodness and truth, so it is evident that we are to seek
for the grounds of the Divine priestly dignity in one or
the other of these principles. And here it is that we are
prepared to welcome the light that is afforded us in the
following paragraph from our illustrious authority, in ex
plaining the passage, Eev. xx. 6, " They shall be priests
of God and of Christ." ^
" By priests, iu the Word, are meant those who are in the good of
love, and by kings those who are in the truths of wisdom : wherefore
it is said above, ' Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests' Apoc.
i. 6 ; and likewise, ' the Lamb hath made us kings and -priests, that we

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSmP. 9
may reign over the earth,' v, 16 ; and it may be seen plainly, that the
Lord will not make men kings and priests, but that He will make
angels of those who are in truths of wisdom, and in the good of love
from Him ; that by kings are meant those who are in truths of wisdom
from the Lord, and that the Lord is called a king in consequence of His
divine truth, may be seen above, n. 31, 625, 941, 1242 : but the reason
why by priests are meant those who are in the good of love from the
Lord, is, because the Lord is divine love and divine wisdom, or, what
amounts to the same, divine good and divine truth ; and the Lord
in consequence of His divine love or divine good, is called a priest, and
in consequence of His divine wisdom or divine truth is called a king :
hence it is, that there are two kingdoms, into which the heavens are
distinguished, the celestial and the spiritual ; and the celestial kingdom
is called the Lord's priestly kingdom, for the angels there are recipients
of divine love or divine good from the Lord, and the spiritual kingdom
is called the Lord's royal kingdom, for the angels there are recipients
of divine wisdom or divine truth from the Lord. It is said that they
are recipients of divine good and divine truth from the Lord, but it is
to be observed, that they are continually receiving them, for divine
good and divine truth cannot be appropriated to any angel or man, so
as to be his own, but only so that they may seem to be his, because
they are divine ; wherefore no angel or man can produce from himself
any thing good or true, which is really good and true in itself ; whence
it is plain, that they are kept in what is good and true by the Lord,
and that they are so kept continually ; for which reason, if any one
comes to heaven, and thinks that good and truth are appropriated to
him as his own, he is immediately let down from heaven and instructed.
From these considerations then it may appear, that by their being
priests of God and Christ, is signified because those are kept by the
Lord in the good of love, and thereby in the truths of wisdom." — A.
E. 1265.
From this we learn that the priestly element in the
Divine nature is the good of love, and that it is the same
principle, in its measure, which forms the basis of a true
spiritual priesthood in the man of the church. It is this
principle, therefore, which is represented by the external
official priesthood of the Old Dispensation. But on this
head we shall have more to say in the sequel.
In the ancient representative church both the priest
hood and the royalty were conjoined in one person, be
cause the good and the truth which proceed from the
Lord are united, as they are united also in the angels
of Heaven. Melchizedek, " king of righteousness, and
king of peace," may be considered as a prominent type
2*

10 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
of this order of things, in which character, or as a repre
sentative of the Lord, he blessed Abraham, the greatest
man then living, and offered him bread and wine in
reference to these two principles, they being the sj^mbols
respectively of the good of love and the truth of faith.
In this relation we" perceive more adequately the pur
port of the Divine declaration, "Thou art a priest for
ever after the order of Melchizedek." The same train
of remark throws light upon the -historical phases in
which the race of Israel is presented to us in the Word.
In its earlier periods these two functions were concen
trated in one person, who acted as both priest and king,
and of this we have evident traces in Homer and Hesiod.
But eventually, on account of the wars and idolatries
of that people, the functions were separated, and rulers
presided over the civil, and priests over the religious
affairs of the nation. They were subsequently united
again in Eli and Samuel, but still the genius of the
people was so corrupt that the representation under this
form could not well stand, and therefore it pleased the
Divine Wisdom that a marked separation should again
take place, and the Divine truth be represented by kings,
and the Divine good by priests. The division of the
kingdom, at a still later period into that of Judah and of
Israel was providentially ordered with reference to the
same representative import, the kingdom of Judah de
noting good, and that of Israel truth.* On the same
* " In the representative church amongst the posterity of Jacob, there
was first a kingdom of judges, afterwards a kingdom of priests, and lastly a
kingdom of kings, and by the kingdom of judges was represented Divine
Truth from Divine Good; but by the kingdom of priests, who were also
judges, was represented Divine Good from which Divine "Truth is derived;
and by the kingdom of kings was represented Divine Truth without Divine
Good ; but when somethinsj of the priesthood was adjoined also to the regal
[office], then was also represented by kings the Divine Truth, in which
there was so much of good as there was of tbe priesthood adjoined to the
regal office. All these things were instituted in the Jewish Church, that by
them might be represented states of heaven, for in heaven there are two
kingdoms, one which is called the celestial kingdom, and the other which ia
called the spiritual kingdom ; the celestial kingdom is what is called the
priesthood, and the spiritual kingdom what is called the royalty of the

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 11
ground it undoubtedly is, that in the Divine providence
a similar disjunction has taken place and been long per
petuated in the world, whereby the officers of religious
and civil life are universally distinct, constituting the
two great departments of life, action, and interest. It is
here that we recognize the reason why the main aspect
induced upon the nations ofthe earth ia poliiicalinstead
of ecclesiastical, for in the outset we learn that men were
associated together as churches, and not as Tcingdoms.
The predominance of the secular over the sacred in this
way shows the corresponding prevalence of truth over
good. As this inversion of states had previously found
place in men's interiors, it was therefore of the Divine
wisdom that the institutions and polities under which
they lived should be accommodated to the perverted ex
igencies of their condition. But just in proportion as
the moral state of mankind is wrought upon and reno
vated by the new influences that are being brought to
bear upon it — just as the multiform evils of the existing
order of things are got rid of — just in that proportion will
there be a re-union or re-conjunction of these two func
tions, the sacerdotal and the magisterial, for the simple
reason that there will be a more intimate union of the
good and the truth which they respectively represent.
Every man will be becoming more and more his own
priest, as will every man his own physician, and his own
lawyer. The lawyers of the more advanced eras of the
church's development will answer more fully to the
designation as employed in the New Testament, where
it is applied to those who search into and expound the
Divine law instead of thecountless complexities of human
codes. But to return to the words of our text, " Ye shall be
L ord ; in the latter Divine Truth reigns, in the former Divine Good ; and
whereas the representative of the celestial kingdom began to perish, when
they sought a king, therefore on this occasion, that the representative of the
Lord's kingdom in the heavens might still be continued, the Jews were sep
arated from the Israelites, and by the Jewish kingdom was represented the
celestial kingdom of the Lord, and by the Israelitish kingdom His spiritual
kingdom."—^. G. 8770.

12 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
unto me a kingdom of priests," &c. "We have already
remarked that this language never received a literal ac
complishment even in the best days of the Jewish com
monwealth, when they came the nearest to that life of
obedience which was the condition of its bein^ fulfilled
to them. The priesthood, instead of being diffused over
the whole people in common, was restricted to one family,
and one line, whose prerogative, in this respect, was
guarded by the most explicit provisions and the most
fearful sanctions. How then was the promise realized in
its comprehensive import to that people? How were the
sons of Jacob, as a whole, ever made a "kingdom of
priests ?" Was it, in fact, ever fulfilled to them at all ?
JEven if we admit that to the truly and interiorly good
among them there was an intrinsic applicability of the
term, yet of what a mere fraction of the race have we
reason to suppose this would hold good? Are we not
forced, by the tone and tenor of their history, to deny to
them, as a body, the blessing ofthe promise, and to look
a long way onward and downward for the actual accom
plishment of what is truly intended by the burden of the
words ?
Nothing is more obvious than that a multitude of
things set forth in the Old Testament received their ful
fillment in the New. So, in the present case, the proper
way is to view the words as applicable to all true Chris
tians under the New Testament, and especially under the
New Dispensation, in whom they receive a more full, and
adequate, and signal accomplishment. Let the casket of
the literal Israel be conceived as opened, and the pearls
of the Lord's New Church appear. Let us travel on
wards with Isaiah and all the prophets to the happier
times of the New Economy, and read in the epistle of
Peter the coincident language which proves that the true
Christians of his own and subsequent ages are the real
subjects of the promise here made. " Unto you there
fore which believe he is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KDfGSHIP. 13
of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which
stumble at the word, being disobedient ; whereunto also
they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people ; that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light."* Here
we have Peter, whom so many so-called Christians
vifould make out the primate of the Church — Peter,
whose pretended successors have continued to exalt
themselves to the throne, and to trample the people in
the dust — this same Peter makes over to all good Chris
tians the title of priests, and so far from arrogating to
himself any peculiar preeminence on account of what
the Lord said to him respecting his being the Rock on
which the Church was built, he obviously makes Christ
the Rock, and says that they are " lively stones built up
unto Him" as the true basis on which the Church rests.
It may not be necessary to suppose that the apostle un
derstood the full force of his own language, but to those
who are possessed of the true " key of knowledge" the
phrase " lively stones" conveys the idea of living truths,
or truths personified and embodied in the spiritually
living men of the Church.
We see then here developed the grand truth of our
text, that those who obey the Lord's voice, and keep his
covenant, become to him a peculiar treasure, and a king
dom of priests. Accordant with this both in letter and
in spirit is the language of Isaiah and of John. Is. Ixi.
4-6 : " And they shall build the old wastes, they shall
raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the
* " To be a peculium (or a peculiar people) signifies to be the Lord's, for
a peculium denotes property, and thus possession, and it denotes that in
such cage Divine Truth would appertain to them above others. The reason
why they who have the Word are a peculium, and a property above others,
is, because they know the truths and goods of faith, and, in consequence,
can lire the life of heaven, and be thereby more especially conjoined with
the Lord than others ; for the good which makes heaven with man has its
quality from the truth of faith, thus good becomes more celestial or more di
vine, with those who have genuine truths, which are truths from the Word,
supposing they are kept." — A. C. 8768.

14 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons
of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vine
dressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord;
men shall call you the ministers of our Ood: ye shall
eat the riches of the Gentiles, and iu their glory shall ye
boast yourselves." Ver. 21 : " And I will also take of
them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord." Eev.
i. 5, 6 : " And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
Witness, and the First-begotten of the dead, and the
Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And
hath made us MTigs and priests unto God and his Father ;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen." What can be understood from this but that the inter
nal spiritual prerogative indicated by the name and an
swering to the outward function accrues or inures to every
one, even the humblest disciple in the Lord's kingdorn,
just so far as he is in the spirit of obedience to the Di
vine voice, and in the keeping of the covenant which
Jehovah hath ordained ? Our previous explanations
leave it beyond doubt as to what is interiorly conveyed
in the purport of the term. By a priest is implied the
good of love, and by a king, truth, and by the conjunc
tion of the two is denoted that these two principles are
to be found in union in those who come by their lives
into the sphere of the Lord's peculium. As it was pre
dicted of the Lord himself that he should sit as a priest
on his throne, that is, uniting the royal and sacerdotal
dignity in himself, so is it to be, in their measure, with
his true people, and with all of them. This is confirmed
by the words of the apostle when he says of Christians
that tliey "have received an unction from the Holy
One," compared with the Divine declaration, " for their
anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood
throughout all their generation."
As then we have it upon divine authority that every
good man is a priest and a king in a spiritual sense, so

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 15
under the present dispensation we are taught to recog
nize no other priesthood than that which is spiritual.
What other is there ?'/i Was not the Jewish priesthood
representative ? And has not the coming of the Lord
abolished representatives ? Is any thing more obvious
in the writings of Swedenborg than that the representa
tives of the Jewish system have all passed away, and
that we have come into the very reality of the thing sig
nified ? Baptism and the Lord's Supper were retained,
and these only.
" Washings and many such like things were commanded and enjoin
ed upon the house of Israel, because the church instituted with them
was a representative church, and this was such that it prefigured the
Christian church which was to come. Wherefore when the Lord came
into the world. He abrogated the representatives, which were all ex
ternal, and instituted a church, of which all things should be internal :
thus the Lord jsut away the figures, and revealed the effigies them
selves ; as one removes a veil or opens a door, and causes the things
within not only to be seen, but also to be approached. Of all these
things the Lord retained only two, which should contain, in one com
plex, all things of the internal church ; which two things are Baptism
instead of washings, and the Holy Supper instead of the Lamb." —
T. C. R. 670.
" The representatives of internal things ceased by the coming of the
Lord. The case herein is like that of the soul or spirit of man and
his body ; the soul or spirit of a man is his internal, and the body is
the external ; or, what is the same thing, the soul or spirit is the very
effigy of the man, but the body is its representative image : when the
man rises again, then the representative image, or his external, which
is the body, is put off, for then he is in the internal, or the very effigy
itself."— J. C. 4835.
In the transition from the Old to the New System, the
Temple, the Priest, the Altar, the Laver, tbe Incense,
and the Sacrifice have all vanished away, and the Lord
himself stands forth " sufficient and alone" the exclusive
Priest, Prophet, King, Head, and Husband, of his
church. Yet we have but to tum over the page of history to
see that this great truth has been grievously lost sight of,
and a raging propensity evinced to return again to the

16 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
old antiquated and superannuated idea of priesthood.
Accordingly, if we enter the precincts of the Roman
Catholic Church, we find the leading features of the Jew
ish system completely reproduced. There is the Priest,
and the Altar, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, and, to
crown the whole, there is the Arch-Pontiff, the Grand
High Priest of the Christian Churc, its SupremeHead,
which gives visible unity to the whole body. This poli
ty is sustained by a specious kind of reasoning, which is
in effect not unfrequently enlisted in behalf of general
conventions or synods, that stand virtually in the same
relation to the body of the church as does an individual
pope. The principle is by no means confined to the pa
pacy. It is maintained more or less in all churches in
which the esprit du corps, or spirit of sect, is strong.
But in whatever form it exists — whether of Pope, Bish
op, Council, Conference, Convention, or Assembly, it is
in effect the same, and is utterly and eternally abhorrent
to the true genius of the true church.
But however clear and unequivocal the principles
above enunciated, there is still with the advocates of a
Christian Priesthood a persistent leaning upon represen
tatives which goes to nullify the force of all we have
thus far said on the subject. " There were surely
priests," it is objected, " under the old dispensation, and
if they did not represent priests under the new, what
did they represent ?" We have already replied to this,
that the celestial element in heaven and the church is
that which the priestly function was designed to repre
sent, as is the spiritual that which is bodied forth by
kings. By these two classes of persons was represented
then the two distinct but intimately reX&ted. principles of
food and truth, and when these principles entered, at the
rst coming of the Lord, upon a more substantial devel
opment in the church, the representatives themselves
were formally abolished, just as a shadow disappears
when the meridian sun shines perpendicularly down up
on the object which caused it. The proof of this we
have already given. If now we admit, what is so clear-

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. l7
ly taught in the writings of the New Church, that these
principles were foreshadowed in these types, we are
bound to consider the import of the representatives
exhausted in them, unless we are furnished with some
express intimation to the contrary. If it be affirmed
that priestly persons under the Levitical economy re
presented an order of men devoted to ecclesiastical
functions under the old or new Christian dispensation,
we are at liberty to demand the authority for the posi
tion, which we have never yet been so happy as to meet
with. At the same time, we are far from holding that
the above-mentioned principles exist as mere floating ab
stractions. They are principles that are embodied — and
embodied too in living men of the Church, but not in a
so-termed distinct clerical order, contra-distinguished
from the laitj, as was the Levitical tribe among the Jews
from the other tribes. Such a distinction we affirm to
be unknown to the teachings of the Christian dispensa
tion. Still the sacerdotal good and the regal truth are
essential elements of the church, and must be operative
in the persons of its members. One may have a predo
minance of one principle, and another of the other, but
they are both found, in some degree, in every member,
and no such thing is possible, on orderly grounds, as a
restriction or appropriation of the priestly function, for
instance, to a particular class, to the exclusion of others.
All are priests, in some measure, and on this basis, the
church is constituted an universal ministry. This, how
ever, is in noway inconsistent with a special ministry or
teaching function to be exercised by those in whom these
principles shall assert or pronounce themselves with pe
culiar emphasis and force, and in whom they shall be
recognized and acknowledged by others. I am aware
that many find it difficult even to understand what is
meant by a " teaching minister," when he is viewed other
wise than as pertaining to a distinct clerical order. But
the distinction is intrinsically intelligible, and will be
more easily understood in proportion as the church
emerges from the false position in which it is now held
.3

18 ^ THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
captive, as it were, by reason of its long and unquestion
ing wont to priestly ideas and institutions. It is difiicult
indeed for one to see tbe false while he is mainly in it.
How is the mind of a native monarchist taxed to conceive
adequately of the state of things under a republic ? How
next to impossible for a minion of the Romish hierarchy
to entertain the idea of church-freedom with which we
are all familiar in America? Yet when the kingly or
priestly institution is subjected to a rigid inquest into its
ground or authority, how does the evidence vanish into
thin air?
In the present case, we deny the legitimate existence
of a priesthood in the New Christian Church, from the
utter absence of all positive proof in its favor. That
mention is indeed made of priests again and again in the
writings of Swedenborg is unquestionable, but tho con
text will almost invariably show that the church to
which his priests pertain is not the church of tbe New
Jerusalem, which was then but just commencing, but
the church of Christendom of which he spake as it was,
and to which he freely conceded a certain degree of the
gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, and that too as re
ceived through the mediam of the laying on of hands in
ordination. It is we conceive of this priesthood or clergy
that he speaks when he says, that the Divine proceeding
passes " through men to men, and in the church chiefly
from the clergy to the laity?'' So again when he says (A.
R. 567) that the clergy are in the internals, and the laity
in the externals, of the church. We perceive in this and
several kindred passages of the same work, no reference
to the New Church, but solely to the church that pre
ceded it. The same is to be said of the oft-cited passage,
T. C. R. 146, in which our author affirms that " the di
vine virtue and operation which is signified by the Holy
Spirit consists, with the clergy in particular, in illustra
tion and instruction, the reason of which is that they be
long to their office, and inauguration into the ministry
brings them along with it." One has but to read the
whole section connectedly to see that its reference is

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 19
primarily to the clergy of the old church, who were in
imminent danger of mistaking a fiery zeal for a divine
inspiration. It will be observed too that they are spoken
of in a highly derogatory and objurgatory vein, as em
bracing among them deniers of God and despisers of the
Word, Jesuits, enthusiasts, and Lucifers — predicates that
we can by no means believe applicable to the truly illus
trated and instructed man of the New Church. It is,
moreover, obvious from a multitude of passages in other
parts ofthe writings that true illustration is the privilege,
not of an ordained or inaugurated clergy only, but of all
who are in a suitable state to receive it. The following
are to the point :
" Every one is illustrated and informed from the Word according to the
affection of truth, and the degree of the desire thereof, and according
to the faculty of receiving." — A. C- 9382.
" The Lord leads those who love truths, and will them from Him
self ; all such are enlightened when they read the Word, for the Lord
is the Word, and speaks ivith every one according to his comprehension.
Men are enlightened variously, every one according to the quality of
his affection and consequent intelligence. They who are in the spirit
ual affection of truth are elevated into the light of heaven so as to
perceive the illustration." — A. E, 1183.
" They are in illustration, when they read the Word, who are in the
affection of truth for the sake of truth', and for the sake of the good of
life : and not they who are in the affection of truth for the sake of self-
glory, of reputation, or of ^ain." — A. C- 9382, 10,548, 10,551, Index.
" The divine truth is the Word, and they who are of that church
(the New Church) are illustrated from the spiritual light of the Word
by influx out of heaven from the Lord, and this by reason that they ac
knowledge the Divine (principle) in the human of the Lord, and from
Him are in the spiritual affection of truth : by these and no others is
spiritual light received, which continually flows in through heaven from
the Lord with all who read the Word ; hence is their illustration." —
A. E. 759.
With these paragraphs before us it would seem impos
sible to perceive any special restriction of the privilege
of illustration to the clergy. It is set forth as the pre
rogative of all those who are in the affection of truth for

20 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
the truth's sake. So far then as this spiritual illustration
is a criterion of clerical character, we are to recognize
that character as existing wherever the illustration exists ;
and this is surely not among any one class of the men of
the church. The clerical function evidently depends
upon states of mind or life, and not upon official desig
nation or inaugurating rites. The office properly resides
with men of special qualifications, and those qualifica
tions are not transmitted, however they may be recog
nized, by any particular form of induction. We are all
aware of the great stress laid upon a passage in the
" Canons," in which it is said that tbe Divine proceeding,
which is called the Holy Spirit, passes in the Church
chiefiy from the clergy to the laity, and that the clergy,
because they are to teach doctrine from the Word, are to
be inaugurated by the promise {sponsionem, covenant)
of the Holy Spirit, and by the representation of its trans
lation, though it is to be, or will be, received by the
clergy according to the faith of their life, by which we
suppose is meant the quality of their life as governed by
their faith. In this, however, we see nothing inconsist
ent with what might properly be said in reference to an
existing order of things in the Christian Church in
Swedenborg's time, and without any special allusion to
the economy of the church ofthe New Jerusalem, which
was subsequently to be established. And we are con
firmed in this by the fact, that in.the view which Swe
denborg gives us of the influx that accompanies illustra
tion — that illustration which shall enable a man to teach
doctrine, for, " to be illustrated through heaven from the
Lord is to be illustrated by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy
Spirit is the Divine proceeding from the Lord" — we see
nothing that limits it particularly to the clergy.
" It may be expedient briefly to say in what manner influx is eflect-
ed by which is illustration : the angels, alike with men, perceive the
Word when it is read, but the angels spiritually and men naturally.
The man whose internal is open also perceives the Word spiritually,
but this he is ignorant of while he lives in the world ; because his'
spiritual thought flows in into the natural in the external man, and

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 21
there presents itself to be seen ; nevertheless that interior thought is
what illustrates, and by which is effected khe influx from the Lord." —
A. C. 10,551.
It will be hard to detect anything exclusively official
in this, and so also of the extract which follows :
" Immediate revelation is not given, unless what has been in the
Word, which revelation, as delivered by the prophets and evangelists,
and in the historical parts of the Word, is such, that every one may be
taught according to the affections of his love, and the consequent
thoughts of his understanding. Illustration is as follows : light con
joined to heat flows in through heaven from the Lord ; this heat, which
is divine love, affects the will, whence man has the affection of good ;
and this light, which is divine wisdom, affects the understanding,
whence man has the thought of truth." — A. E- 1177.
That this is the common privilege of all good men in
the church, and belongs primarily to them, is to be in
ferred from the phraseology in T. C. R. 146, before cited,
in which it is said that the divine operation, reformation,
regeneration, renovation, vivification, sanctification, jus
tification, purification, remission of sins, and finally sal
vation, flow in from the Lord, as loell with the clergy as
with the laity. If the clergy had been principal in this
matter we should have expected this to read in the re
verse order, " as well with the laity as with the clergy.''''
How obvious the conclusion that the laity are the primary
recipients of these operations, and that the information
needed by the reader was that the clergy participated
with them in the reception. The drift of the language is
clearly to guard against the impression that the opera
tions in question were confined to the laity. But how in
congruous would it be to put the statement in this form
on the supposition that the clergy were of course to take
precedence in this matter ? "What would be the natural
inference if one in describing the worship of a Christian
Church should say that the choir, as well as the congre-
gation^ took part in the chanting ? What else would be
implied by this but that the congregation at large W3,s
the party which was understood ordinarily to take the
3*

22 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
lead in this service ? And that the clause respecting the
choir was designed to supply information which would
otherwise be lacking.
In our remarks above on the celebrated passage in the
" Canons" respecting the communication or transmission
of the Holy Spirit, or the Divine Proceeding, we have
offered some reasons for questioning the common appli
cation of our author's words. AYe deem ourselves, indeed,
forbidden to apply the Canon above cited to a sacerdotal
or clerical order from the fact that Swedenborg charac
terizes the tenet of succession of ordinations into the
ministry as an " elevation from the love of dominion
over the holy things of the church, and over heaven,
grounded in self-love, which is the devil ; as is also the
transferring of the Holy Spirit from one man to another,"
A. Ji. 802. We of course admit that this is spoken
originally and directly of the succession of the vicarship
of Christ and the Priesthood in the Papacy, but are still
constrained to recognize in it a principle in effect acted
upon in the New Church, when it is held that the clergy
perpetuate their own order by manual or " tactual" suc
cession. This principle we understand Swedenborg to
repudiate ; and from the following, with other passages
of his works, we infer that the genuine order of trans
mission is rather from the so-called laity to the so-called
clergy than the reverse.
" When the Levites were purified, and the ministry of the priesthood
under Aaron was ascribed to them, it was commanded that two bul
locks should be brought, with a meat offering, and that Aaron should
bring the Levites before Jehovah, and the sons of Israel should lay
their hands upon the Levites, Num. viii. 7. By the sons of Israel lay
ing their hands upon the Levites, was signified the translation of the
power of ministering for them, aud reception by the Levites, thus
separation." Here is the recognition of an original inherent right in
the people at large to minister for themselves, but for
adequate reasons an economy was to be established,
under which the exercise of this right, in their own per
sons, was to be waived as a general fact, and the function

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 23
discharged by proxy. It does not appear that this
amounted to an actual divesting of the people of the
right, but rather to a simple foregoing, for the sake of
peculiar advantages, of a prerogative with which they
were originally endowed. Now, when we look at this
Levitical institute in its representative import, we read
in it the pre-intimation of that order which we have all
along held forth as the genuine order of the New Church,
to wit, that while all the members of the church are
spiritually priests and kings, and thus every one poten-
itally a church in the least form, yet the advanced states
of some on the score of intelligence and affection quali
fy them in a superior degree to act as leaders and
teachers of their brethren, and that, consequently, it is
perfectly competent for these brethren, without the least
reference to any pre-existing ordained authority in the
church, to acknowledge such endowed individuals as
acting for them in this leading capacity. This they can
do without such teachers being thereby constituted into a
distinct order or caste, as the clergy are usually regarded.
Nor is an institute in this way created which shall operate
as a release of the mass of believers from all responsi
bility on the score of effort in building up, in the princi
ples of the church, that particular society with which
they may chance to be connected. If it is deemed
desirable that the ordaining rite should be administered
in such cases to represent just that kind of vice-agent
function which we have described, so be it ; we know of
nothing to render it improper, though at the same time
we see nothing to make it impei-ative. But, if done, let
it be understood as denoting a transmission or communi
cation from the people to their substituted ministers, and
not from one jure divino clergyman to another. Let it,
moreover, ever be borne in mind, that Aaron, his sons,
and the Levites, represent primarily principles, and per
sons only so far as persons may be necessary to embody
those principles. Wherever the principles exist iu the
proper degree, there the persons are found, provided
they are acknowledged in that character, as they will

24 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
scarcely fail to be, where a genuine affection of truth
exists ; and as to ordination or inauguration, the illus
trating influx is always to be viewed as preceding and
not following it, and nothing is clearer from the writings
of the New Church than that this influx, which is con
fined to no one class, carries with it all competent
authority to teach.
We object, therefore, to the restricted application of
the above Canon to the so-called clergy, from the fact,
that evidence exists in abundance, going to show that
the " teaching of doctrine from the "Word" is the duty of
every member of the church, just in proportion as he
understands it, and is prompted by the love of charitable
use to declare it. But as in this position I shall undoubt
edly appear to run counter to an express injunction of our
enlightened author, it will be expedient to present that
injunction distinctly in this connection.
" Grood may be insinuated into another by every one in the country ;
but not truth, except those who are teaching ministers (ministri
docentes) ; if others insinuate truth, it gives birth to heresies, and the
church is disturbed and rent asunder. Every one should first acquire
truth to himself from the doctrine of the church, and afterward from
the Word of the Lord, and this truth must be the object of his faith."
—A. C. 6822.
On this passage it may be remarked, that its genuine
scope can only be determined by viewing it in its rela
tions to the context. It occurs in a series of articles ap
pended to several chapters of the exposition of Exodus,
in which the author is treating at considerable length of
the doctrine of Charity. In his definitions of neighbor
he informs us that the term is not to be restricted to a
single individual but has an ascending purport, implying
successively an individual, a society, a man's country,
the church, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself.
On each of these heads he expatiates somewhat fully,
showing the laws of charity in reference to each, and the
grounds upon which they rest. The passage in question
occurs in what is said of the church as a neighbor, but

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 25
in the use of the term " country," we recognize an allusion
to what had been just before affirmed respecting the
neighbor viewed in that capacity. Otherwise we see not
clearly how to account for the peculiar phraseology em
ployed : " Good may be insinuated into another by
every one in t/ie country." " By every one in the
church" would seem to have been the more natural ex
pression, provided the sense commonly ascribed to the
language be the true one. But taken in its relations, the
idea we receive from it is, that while every citizen of a
country is a minister or servant to the community in
which he dwells, and bound to promote its interests,
secular or sacred, yet all are not equally qualified for
every department of service. In whatever concerns the
inculcation of good, no restriction is enjoined. Every
one, without exception, is at full liberty to do all in his
power towards insinuating this divine principle into the
minds of his fellow-men. But in regard to truth, or that
system of religious doctrines which is usually understood
by the term, the case is otherwise ; there, while there is
a general duty of imparting religious truth in an informal
way, and according to the measure of attainment, yet it
is more expedient and more orderly that this function
should be systematically discharged by those who are
ministri, i. e., ministers or servants of a higher degree,
to wit, ministri docentes or teaching ministers — a class of
men not necessarily constituted into a distinct order, but
men possessed of certain qualifications, enabling them to
perform this use to better advantage than others, because
from their longer acquaintance with the docti'ines, from
their deeper study of them, and from their conjoining
with their doctrines an exemplary life, their instructions
would naturally have more weight. The distinction to
which we allude is, perhaps, recognized in the following
passage : " By the Lord's disciples are meant those who
are instructed by the Lord in the goods and truths of
doctrine ; but by apostles they who, after they are
instructed, teach them," A. R. 79. We shall soon pro
ceed to show that this is the true representative function

26 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
of apostles, and also of prophets. With those persons
in a community who were less conversant with the truth
in its various bearings, there would be more liabilityto
crude conceptions and enunciations, by which heresies
might be engendered, and " confusion and every evil
work" ensue. Let, then, the formal teaching of truth
devolve more especially upon those whom the Lord, by
a longer training in his school, has qualified to take the
lead in the instruction of their fellow-men, and who have
thus been empowered to act as ministri docentes to their
fellow-christians. The ability with which they are gifted
to perform the office, and the recognition of this ability
on the part of their brethren, is what constitutes the
essence of the appointment. These " teaching minis
ters," i. e. servants, having been peculiarly taught of
God, are thereby qualified to teach their novitiate bre
thren, and these latter are inhibited from exercising the
function simply from their present inability to do it with
advantage to the cause. The words, however, do not
imply so much an imperative veto as a dehortation ap
pealing to the modesty and good sense of the neophytes
of the church not to " meddle with things too high for
them." As they advance in spiritual knowledge and
experience, they will grow in the teaching capacity, and
thus be enabled in due time to take the place of their
elders. Accordingly, it is said in the extract under con
sideration, '-'¦Every one ought first to acquire truth to
himself from the doctrine of the church, and afterwards
from the Word of the Lord, and this truth must be the
object of his faith." That is, he is first to acquire truth
before he undertakes to teach — before he can justly lay
claim to the character of a " teaching minister" — for all
such are to officiate on the ground of their superior apti
tude for discharging the duty, and not by virtue of any
instituting or inaugurating rite.
It is thus that we are forced to understand the drift of
the paragraph cited, and we now proceed to adduce our
reasons, in the form of a series of distinct quotations, for
believing that any other mode of interpreting the pas-

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHH". 27
sage brings our author into the most pointed contradiction
to himself. And here we add an explanatory remark.
It will no doubt appear a problem why we refuse to
receive the various passages from Swedenborg usuallj'
cited in support of a priesthood in that sense which they
seem to bear on their face, and in which they have
always been received and acted upon in the New Church.
To this we reply, that it is for the simple reason that it
would make Swedenborg inconsistent with himself. To
our mind nothing is clearer than that the general tenor
of his writings is at variance with the literal import of
the specific paragraphs in question. This apparent dis
crepancy is never alluded to, nor would seem ever to be
recognized by the opposite school, but it is exceedingly
plain to us, and we feel bound to adopt such a construc
tion of the author's language as will at least make him
consistent with himself. That which we have indicated
above is to our own minds satisfactory on this score ; if
others dissent they no doubt feel competent to assign
valid reasons therefor, and such reasons we shall always
feel bound candidly to weigh.
We have already dwelt at length upon the position
that the priests and Levites of the Jewish dispensation
represented principles and not persons. The Apostles of
the New Testament have a like representative import.
" By the twelve apostles are represented and signified all in the
church who are in truths derived from good ; thus also, all traths de
rived from good from which the church is ; and by each apostle in
particular is represented and signified some specific principle. Thus,
by Peter is represented and signified faith ; by James, charity ; and
by John, the good of charity, or the good of love." — A. E. 8.
We need not say how incongruous would be the insti
tution of a trinal order of persons on the ground of this
statement, and yet, why is there not as much warrant for
it as for the appointment of such an order on the ground
of the representative character of Aaron, the Priests, and
the Levites under the old economy ?
" By the apostles are signified those inho teach the truth.t of the
church."— A. E. 100.

28 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGHSIP.
" Apostles are so called because they are sent to teach, and to evan
gelize concerning the Lord ; hence it appears what is meant by apostles
in the Word, namely, not the twelve apostles who were sent by the
Lord to teach concerning Him and His Kingdom, but all those who are
in the truths of the church." — Id.
" By the twelve disciples are represented all who are principled in
goods and trutlis from tlie Lord." — A. C. 9942.
" By apostles are not understood apostles, but all who teach the goods
and trutlis ofthe church." — A. R. 79.
" Here, then, we have the representative bearing of
the twelve apostles, and not a syllable occurs to show
that they were intended to shadow forth a distinct order
of men apart from the general brotherhood of the church.
It is palpable that they denote all those who, by being
indoctrinated and principled in the goods and truths of
the church, are made capable of imparting them to
others, or, in other words, of becoming " teaching min
isters." The representative significance of prophets is equiva
lent to that of apostles, to wit, that of teachers of truth ;
and Swedenborg remarks in regard to priests that their
office was that of " explaining the law divine, and teach
ing, on which occasion they were at the same time pro
phets." The work, therefore, of imparting doctrinal
truth clothes one spiritually with the prophetic character.
" To prophecy signifies to teach in the Word, because by a prophet,
in the supreme sense, is understood the Lord as to the Word. Hence
by prophesyhig is signified to teach the Word and doctrine from the
Word."— A. E. 624.
" So in Amos, iii. 7, 8 : ' Surely the Lord Jehovah will not do a
word without revealing his secret unto his servants the prophets. The
lion hath roared, who will not fear ? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken,
who can but prophecy ?' Here by the Lord Jehovah not doing a word
without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets, is signified,
that the Lord opens the interior things of the word and of doctrine to
those who are in truths from good ; by revealing his secret are signified
the illustration and opening of the interior things of the Word ; by his
servants the prophets, are signified those who are in the trutlis of doc
trine, and who receive." — A- E. 601.

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 29
" By priests are understood those who teach life and lead to good,
and by prophets those whq^teach truths by which they are to be led —
in a word, prophets are to teach, and priests to lead." — A. E. 624.
" By the prophets mentioned here (Ezek. xiii. 2, 3, 8) and in other
parts of the Word, are understood in the spiritual sense all who are led
by the Lord, for with them the Lord flows in and reveals to them the
arcana of the Word, whether they teach them or not, wherefore such
are signified by prophets in the spiritual sense.'' — A. E. 624.
Such, then, is the spiritual import of apostles and pro
phets in the writings of the New Church ; and as that
church is a spiritual church, it is doubtless a S23iritual office
which is designated by these terms. The function indicated
is, indeed, to be performed -more especiaUy by a class of
men peculiarly adapted, from interior endowments and
elevated states, to the work, but still not so exclusively
by them as absolutely to preclude all others, and thus to
lay a claim to a monopoly of the use. This, we should
suppose, could hardly be maintained in their behalf with
such passages as the following before our eyes — passages
that evidently apply to every one who professes to be
governed by the laws of the Lord's kingdom. Their
drift, it will be seen, is to inculcate the communication
of truth and good as an exercise of spiritual charity. In
the spiritual sense feeding the hungry, giving drink to
the thirsty, and clothing the naked, is but another mode
of conveying the idea of this very duty.
" By Jesus saying three times to Peter, ' Lovest thou me?' and
Peter saying three times, ' I love thee,' and Jesus then saying, ' Feed
my lambs,' and ' Feed my sheep,' is signified, that theu who are in faith
derived from love ought to instruct those who are in the good of love to
the Lord, and in the good of charity towards their neighbor ; for they
who are in faith derived from love are also in truths, and they who are
thence in truths, instruct concerning good and lead to good."— ji. E. 9.
" By giving a cup of cold water to the little ones ia signified to teach
truth from spiritual innocence, and also to instruct the innocent in
truths."—^. E. 624.
" ' If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted
soul • then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the
4

30 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
noon day,' Is. Iviii. 10. In these words is described the exercise of
charity towards the neighbor, in this cas% towards those who are in
ignorance and at the same time desirous of knowing truths, and grieved
on account of the falsities which occupy the mind ; and that with
those who are in that charity, falsities shall be shaken off, and truths
give light and shine. Charity towards those who are in ignorance,
and who at the same time are desirous of knowing truths, is under
stood by ' if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,' the hungry
denoting those who desire, and soul denoting the intelligence of truth
instructing. That it is thus to instruct those who are grieved on ac
count of the falsities which occupy the mind, is signified by ' and
satisfy the afflicted soul ;' that with those who are in such charity,
ignorance shall be dissipated, and truths shine, and give light, is under
stood by, ' then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be
as the noon day.' Obscurity signifies the ignorance of the spiritual
mind, and darkness the ignorance of the natural mind ; light signifies
truth in the light, in like manner noon day. In such illumination are
they who, from charity, or spiritual affection, instruct those who a,re in
falsities from ignorance, for that charity is the receptacle of the influx
of light or truth from the Lord. Again : ' Is not this the fast which
I have chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every
yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that ye bring
the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked,
that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own
flesh,' Iviii. 6, 7. Similar things are understood by these words : for,
by dealing bread to the hungry, is signified that from charity they
should communicate to and instruct those who are in ignorance, and
who at the same time are desirous of knowing truths. To bring the
poor that are cast out into the house, signifies to amend and restore
those who are in falsities, and thence in grief." — A- E. 386.
i ../' ' I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, aud
ye gave me no drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in.' Here
by hungering and thirsting are signified to be in ignorance and in
spiritual want, and by giving to eat and drink, are signified to instruct
and to enlighten from spiritual affection or charity ; wherefore it is also
said, ' I was a stranger, and ye took me in,' for by stranger is signified
those who are out of the church, and desire to be instructed and receive
the doctrines thereof, and live according to them." — A. E. 386.
" In the Word where mention is made of borrowing and lending, it
signifies to be instructed and to instruct, from the affection of charity ;
as in Matt. v. 42, ' Give to every one that asketh of thee, and from him
that is desirous to borrow of thee, turn not thou away.' By asking
and desiring to borrow, and by giving and receiving what is borrowed,
is meant the communication of celestial goods, which are the knowledges
of good and truth."— ^. C. 9174.

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 31
" Lending denotes to communicate the goods of heaven from the affec
tion of charity, thus to instruct those who being in ignorance of truth, and
yet in the desire of learning, cmght to be instructed." — A. C. 9209.
Who can gainsay the inference which we draw from
this, that the duty of teaching, and that, too, of teaching
" doctrines from the Word," is actually incumbent upon
every one who is amenable to the Lord's laws of charity ?
How is it possible to restrict this duty to a clerical caste,
or to suppose that Swedenborg would so stultify himself as
absolutely to forbid the insinuation or inculcation of truth
to all save a consecrated class in the church ? At the
same time, we perceive nothing in this view inconsistent
with a more special office of instruction to be exercised
by those who are best qualified for it. This office, if we
mistake not, was particularly represented by the Levites,
who had no inheritance assigned them among the tribes,
but who were scattered, as a kind of leaven of charitable
use, throughout the mass of the people. The general
significance of that tribe is spiritual love or charity going
forth in good works towards the neighbor.
" The reason why the tribe of Levi signifies good works is, because
spiritual love or charity consists in performing goods, which are good
works ; essential charity, viewed in itself, is the affection of truth and
good, and where that affection is, there is a life according to truths and
goods, for affection without a life according to the truths and goods,
with which it is affected has no existence. Spiritual affection has
for its end the Lord, heaven, and life eternal, which it regards in the
truths and goods ; thus it loves truths and goods spiritually, and
when this affection has place with man, he then loves to think those
things, and to will them, consequently to live according to them. To
live according to goods and truths is understood in the Word by doing,
and the life itself, by the deeds and works which are so often mentioned
in the Word : these therefore are what were represented and signified
by Levi and his tribe in the church with the Jews. Inasmuch as this
affection is the very essential principle of the church, therefore the
tribe of Levi was made the priesthood ; and therefore the staff of Levi
in the tent of the assembly blossomed with almonds ; and for the same
reason, to that tribe was given an inheritance, not in the same manner
as to the other tribes, but amongst each of them. The reason why
the priesthood was given to the tribe of Levi was, because it repre
sented, and thence signified, love and charity. Love and charity con
stitute the affection of spiritual good and truth ; for affection being

32 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
the continuous principle of love, is predicated of love in its continuity.
The same is also signified in the Word by the priesthood and its min
istry, this affection being the essential principle of the church, since
where it is, there is the church, and where it is not, the church is not ;
for the affection of good and truth is the very spiritual life of man, for
when man is affected with good and truth, he is then in good and truth
as to life, his thought itself being nothing but affection in a varied
form, forasmuch as whatever a man thinks he derives from his affection,
to think without affection being impossible. Hence then it may appear
why the tribe of Levi was appointed to the priesthood." — A. E. 444.
The blossoming of the almonds of Aaron's rod is fur
ther explained in what follows :
" By almonds are signified the goods of charity, for by these all
things relating to the church flourish in man, because when he possesses
these, he.possesses intelligence and faith, inasmuch as he is then in the
affection of understanding what he knows from the Word, and in the
will of acting according to it." — A. E. 4A4:.
So also the fact of their not receiving separate inheri
tance among the other tribes has its significance unfolded
in the same connexion.
" Inasmuch as in all things relating to the church there must be the
good of charity, in order to the church being in them ; and inasmuch
as the affection itself of good and truth, which is charity, gives the
faculty of intelligence, and instructs all, therefore the tribe of Levi
was not only appointed to the priesthood, but the inheritance granted
to that tribe was amongst all the other tribes." — A. E. 444.
Comparing the above last cited paragraph with that
which follows, we seem to ourselves to perceive a distinct
intimation that the priesthood was not to constitute a
separate order, but was to be an operative element of
charity and good works pervading the entire body of the
church. " Inasmuch as the Lord as to all the work of salvation was repre
sented by the high priest, and the work of salvation by his office, which
is called the priesthood, therefore to Aaron and his sons was not given
inheritance and portion among the people, for it is said that Jehovah
God was to them an inheritance and a portion ; for the people repre
sented heaven and the church, but Aaron with his sons and with the
Levites represented the good of love and of faith, which makes heaven

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 33
and the church, thus the Lord from whom that good is derived ; there
fore the land was ceded to the people for an inheritance, but not to the
priests,/or the Lord is in them, but not amongst them as one and distinct."
—A- C, 9809.
What can we gather from this but that the Levitical
principle in the church, to wit, the good of love and the
fruits of charity, is the most direct and pregnant repre
sentative of the Lord himself, and that this, as the very
life of the church, is not to assume a distinct and isolated
form, but is to be diffused as a vital element throughout
the entire community of the church, as were the Levites
in Israel ? As before remarked, we do not by this convey
the idea that this Levitical principle exists as an abstrac
tion, unimpersonated, unembodied in the church. Not
at all ; we recognize it in the forms of living members
of the church, who have so far progressed in the regene
rate life, who have become so endowed with the gifts of
knowledge and charity, that they are rendered capable
of performing those spiritual uses to their brethren which
were so strikingly shadowed forth by the functions of
the sacred tribe in the literal Israel. What but this is
the drift of the ensuing extracts :
" Inasmuch, as already observed, as every man learns science, intel
ligence, and wisdom, according to the affection of good and truth
which he possesses, therefore it is also said in Moses, ' And the priests
the sons of Levi shall come near ; for them Jehovah thy God hath
chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah, and
by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried,' Deut.
xxi. 5. By these words in the spiritual sense, is signified, that the
affection of good and truth, which is charity, ministers to the Lord, and
teaches those things which pertain to the church and to worship, and dis
tinguishes falsities from truths, and evils from goods ; for by the sons
of Levi, in the spiritual sense, is signified the affection of good and
truth, which is charity. From these observations it may appear, that
the tribe of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and had an inheritance
among all the tribes, not because that tribe was better than the other
tribes, but because it represented charity in act, and good works,
which are the effects of all good and truth in man." — A. E. 444.
" Whereas the sons of Levi signify the goods and truths of the
church, and in general, the spiritual affection of truth and good, there-
4*

34 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
fore it is said concerning them, ' they have observed thy word, and kept
thy covenant ; they shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy
law ;' by which is signified that they who are in the spiritual affection
of truth act according to the Word, and teach the goods and truths of
the church, for the spiritual affection itself of truth is what does and
teaches, inasmuch as the Lord flows into that affection, effecting good
in man, and teaching him truth : the Word in this passage signifying
the divine truth, and to observe it obviously signifying to act according
to it, or to do what it commands. These things are said concerning
Levi, because divine truth, which is the Word, can exist only with
those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, which affection con
sists in loving the truth itself, and esteeming it above every good of
the world, because thereby man has life eternal, which cannot be
implanted in him by any other means than by truths, consequently by
the Word, for by the Word the Lord teaches truths." — A. E. 444.
" From these observations it may be seen what is signified in the
representative sense by Levi and his tribe, namely, the good of charity,
which is the good of life, likewise the spiritual affection of good and
truth, and, in the supreme sense, the Lord as to spiritual love." —
A. E. 444.
From the scope of these passages we know not for our
selves how to resist the conclusion, that the Levitical
principle in the church does ultimate itself in that course
of kindly pastoral care, instruction, and spiritual leading,
which is the native impulse of the affection above de
scribed. To confine this to any exclusive order of men
would be to prescribe an ex officio charity, which is as
gross an anomaly as can be conceived.
There is no point in regard to which we are more
anxious to have our views distinctly apprehended than
that which respects the existence oi" a priesthood in the
church. It is not the fact of a priesthood, but the kind,
which is a matter of debate with us. We fully admit
the existence of the institution, but we deny that it con
sists of a distinct order of men, standing out in relief
from the body of the church, exclusively devoted to
sacerdotal functions, and receiving temporal support
therefrom as did the Jewish priests from the altar which
they served. It is this particular feature of the prevail
ing theory of priesthood to which we object. We recog
nize no such distinction as now every where obtains be-

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 35
tween clergy and laity. We would retain every thing
that is essential in the order, and reject every thing that
is factitious. What we regard as such in both respects
can hardly fail to appear from the tenor of what we have
already said. When we deny the existence of an exter
nal priesthood in the church, we do not of course design
to be understood as implying that the priesthood is not
to be exercised by men in the flesh, and who are of
couise so far external, but we have constant reference to
the above-mentioned distinction. Our meaning is, that
we do not admit the existence of a priestly order as vis
ibly distinct from the laical. The true priesthood, we
contend, is to be sought for in the body of the laity, and
not apart from it, and that it is to be identified by the
possession of certain internal states and endowments re
presented by the priestly function under the Jewish dis
pensation. As we understand this external representa
tive institute to be abolished under the dispensation of
the New Jerusalem, we find no authority for any other
priesthood than that to which we now allude, and this we
feel at liberty to denominate spiritual, in contradistinc
tion from the external and visible above described. We
say this to cut off unequivocally from our opponents all
possible occasion for charging us with a total and un
qualified denial of a priesthood of any kind whatever in
the New Church. We are well aware, however, that the
distinction now made and insisted on will be resolutely
ignored by some " of the contrary part," but it is never
theless perfectly sound in itself, and clearly and intelli
gibly stated.
At the same time, we cannot be ignorant that this very
position will be most strenuously oppugned. The earnest
advocates for the opposite view admit no such construc
tion of Swedenborg's language respecting the abrogation
of representatives, as shall involve the doing away of the
sacerdotal order in the church. A representative priest
hood, it is contended, must always of necessity exist in
the church, and that priesthood cannot really be a priest
hood unless composed of men formed into a distinct and

36 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
privileged caste. This point has been elaborated at great
length, and with signal ability, by the Rev. Mr. De
Charms, in the " Newchurchman — Extra" (p. 416 — 473),
but still with results to our minds wholly inconclusive.
We cannot pursue the argument in detail, but its effect
is, if we understand it, to vacate entirely the force of the
following and many similar passages from our enlight
ened author.
" The Lord ' abolished the representatives of the Jewish nation, be
cause the greatest part had respect to himself — for the image must
vanish when the effigy itself appears. He established, therefore a new
church, which should not be led, as the former was, by representatives
to things internal, but which should know them without representa
tives.' "—A- C- 4904.
" When the Lord came into the world, then the externals which re
presented were abolished, because it was the Lord Himself whom the
representatives of the church shadowed forth and signified, and where
as they were external things, and, as it were, veilings or coverings,
within which was the Lord, therefore when He came, these coverings
were taken away, and He Himself appeared manifest with heaven and
with the church, in which He is the all in all." — A. E. 700.
" By the ark is signified the representative of the church in general,
in like manner as by the daily or continual [sacrifice] in Daniel, which
was to cease at the Lord's coming into the world : in this sense it is
mentioned in Jeremiah : ' I will give you pastors according to my
heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and intelligence ; and it
shall come to pass when ye shall be multiplied, and bear fruit in the
land, in those days they shall no more say, the ark of the covenant of
Jehovah, neither shall it come up upon the heart, nor shall they make
mention thereof, neither shall they desire it, neither shall it be repaired
anymore,' iii. 15, 16. These things are said concerning the advent of
the Lord, and concerning the abolition of the representative rites of
the Jewish church which should then take place : that the interior
things of the church should be manifested, which were veiled over by
the representative external rites, and that they should then become in
terior or spiritual men, is signified by pastors being given according to
the heart of the Lord, who shall feed them with knowledge and intel
ligence ; by pastors are understood those who teach good and lead
thereto by truths : the multiplication of truth and fructification of
good, is signified by, then it shall come to pass, when ye shall be mul
tiplied and bear fruit in the land in those days : that then conjunction
with the Lord will be by the interior things of the Word and not by
things exterior, which only signified and represented things interior, is

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 37
signified by, they shall no more say, the ark of the covenant of Jeho
vah, the ark of the covenant of Jehovah there denoting the externals
of worship, which were then to be abolished, the same as by the daily
or continual [sacrifice] which was to cease, as mentioned in Daniel,
chap. viii. 13 ; chap. xi. 31 ; chap. xii. 11 : that there was to be no
longer external worship, but internal, is signified by, it shall not come
into the heart, neither shall they make mention thereof, neither shall
they desire it, neither shall it be repaired any more." — A. E. 700.
" After the coming of the Lord, however, when external rites were
abolished, and representatives consequently ceased, these were no longer
changed in heaven into corresponding representatives ; for as man be
comes internal, and is instructed in iiiternal things, then externals are
as nothing to him, for he then knows what is sacred, as charity, and
the faith grounded therein. From these internal principles therefore
his externals are now regarded, for the purpose of ascertaining how
much of charity and of faith towards the Lord is in them. Wherefore,
since the Lord's advent, man is no longer considered in heaven in refer
ence to externals, but to internals ; and if any one be regarded as to
his external, it is solely because he is in simplicity, and in this state has
innocence and charity, which are introduced by the Lord into externals,
or into his external worship, without his consciousness."' — A. C. 1003.
All this would seem to be sufficiently explicit, and its
scope is so palpably adverse to the prevalent idea of a re
presentative priesthood continued under the New Dis
pensation, that it is no wonder that all the logical forces
of the upholders of the priesthood are concentrated to
the task of explaining away its obvious import. The on
ward march of the hierarchical argument is terribly im
peded by this huge rock lying directly in the way, and
unless it can be blasted, or tunneled, or triturated, or dis
solved by some kind of dialectic acid, the whole host
must come to a dead stand. We must say, in justice to
Mr. D., that Hannibal never labored more industriously
in applying his solvent to the granite of the Alps, to effect
a passage for his troops, than does our esteemed brother
to overcome the rocky resistance of the above class of
paragraphs. Indeed, he shows a marvellous tact in
eliciting from them a meaning diametrically opposite to
that which they bear in the sense of the letter, and
making them confirm the very tenet which they were in
tended to confute. " Can any thing be clearer than this

38 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
in showing that the external representative is not wholly
done away ?" * _
Yet we would by no means insinuate a disparaging
idea of the course of Mr. D.'s reasoning on this score.
It involves, in our opinion, many suggestions of undeni
able truth, and of great weight, and such as evince a
most profound acquaintance with the doctrines and phil
osophy of the New Church. But from his main conclu
sions we are obliged to dissent, because they strike us as
directly at variance with the tenor of the above quota
tions. He contends, among other things, that the Jewish
representatives were not so much done away as fulfilled,
under the Christian dispensation — that consequently,
" every representative form which is contained in the
letter of the Word, and which may represent the inter
nals of the Christian church, may be used in external
Christian worship, provided the Christian, at the time of
its use, knows, thinks of, and regards in it, its spiritual
meaning" — that the serpent of the old ceremonies is to be
made a staff of and lifted up in the holy acts of divine
worship — that " among the representatives thus lifted up
will undoubtedly be priestly offices, priestly functionaries,
and priestly garments" — that as in all true worship
"there must be an external as well as an internal, there
fore external representative rites are not to be wholly
done away in the Christian church, so that its worship is
to be internal alone ; but every external rite may be
adopted from the letter of the Word, and even from the
Jewish ritual, so far as that is representative of, and cor-
respondential to, divine things in the Word — provided
they are congruent with the Christian, as an internal,
church," — that consequently, " the Christian may have
Scriptural forms pictured and sculptured to his eyes —
aromatic odors, with the forms of flowers that produce
them in nature, or the incense of their burning extracts
as products of art, for his nostrils — sweet sounds of har
monious choral music for his ears, and sacred and corres-
pondential appliances to every sense" — that all these re
presentatives are legitimated under the present dispensa-

THE- PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 39
tion " in order to give to the church the vastly increased
powers of the ultimate principle of the mind, in develop
ing, forming, perfecting, and securing all her internal
principles" — that there is an important distinction be
tween t)'U6, pure, real, or genuine, and mere or external
representatives, and that " when the Lord abrogated the
Jewish ritual, he merely abolished idolatrous representa
tives, thus removed the Judaic and Hebraic superaddi-
tions to genuine or internal representatives, or cracked
the shell so as to give these true representatives as the
kernel to the Christian church ; and as priestly offices,
and whatever had relation to those functions, were among
the true representatives of the Ancient Church, therefore
these were not abolished in the Christian church by the
abrogation of the Jewish ritual."
These ideas are greatly and very ingeniously expanded
in the work to which we refer, and being enunciated in
a powerfully persuasive strain, and mingled with a goodly
measure of genuine truth, one is led to distrust himself
in calling them in question, while at the same time he
feels assured that if the plain declarations of Swedenborg
are to be received as true, there must be a lurking fallacy
pervading the argument, and nullifying its force. This
fallacy, if we mistake not, lies in Mr. D.'s views of the
external of a church as compared with its interned.
Thus, for instance, he cites Swedenborg as affirming that
" priestly offices, and whatever had relation to their func
tions," are among the true, and therefore essential, exter
nals of a church. This we are compelled to deny, and to
justify this denial we quote the context at length in
which the passage occurs.
" The first Ancient Church, which was spread far and wide over the
face of the globe, particularly in Asia, in process of time, as is usual
with all churches, in all places, grew degenerate, and was adulterated
by innovations, both as to its external and its internal worship. This
was the case in various countries, and this was owing especially to the
circumstance, that all the significatives and representatives which the
Ancient Church received by oral tradition from the Most Ancient
Church, all which had respect to the Lord and his kingdom, were
turned into idolatrous rites, and with some nations into magical cere-

40 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
monies. To prevent the destruction which hence threatened the whole
church, it was permitted by the Lord that a significative and repre
sentative worship should be again restored in a particular country.
This was effected by Heber ; and this worship consisted principally in
external things. The external things employed were high places,
groves, statues, a.nointings, besides the establishment of priestly offices,
and qf whatever had relation to their functions ; together with various
other things which are included in the name of statutes or ordinances.
The internals of their worship were doctrinals derived from the Ante
diluvians.—^. C. 1241.
¦Now, we cannot, for ourselves, perceive in this specifi
cation of externals that any one branch of them is of
more intrinsic necessity than another ; that the priestly
offices are any more genuine representatives than the
high places, groves, statues, &c., with which they are
classed. If one could be abolished, we see no reason why
the other could not be, and if we understand our author,
they were equally proscribed by the genius of the New
Dispensation. But from this it does not follow that the
law of correspondences is touched, or that the whole ob
jective universe ceases to be a representative theatre for
the display of internal and spiritual truths, and so far it
is certain that representatives have not been abolished.*
Great stress, we know, is laid upon the statement of our
author that both kings and priests, of whatsoever quality
they are, represent the Lord by virtue of the royal and
priestly principles appertaining to them, which of course
we admit ; but we are at a loss to discover why this re
presentative character does not belong as well to the kind
of priests for which we contend, as to that which consti-
* We are happy to find ourselves here in accordance with a writer in tho
" N. J. Magazine" (May, 1855) who in an able review of Rev. Mr. Benade's
Resignation Sermon, thus remarks : — " The point in question is not whether
ministers (priests) and other things are representative, — for no one who has
read the doctrines of the Church can deny this, — but the question is,
whether there is any thing in the doctrines that requires us to establish
ministers (priests), altars, and other things of worship, besides Baptism and
the Holy Supper, ia their representative character, as indispensable parts of
our worship. In the general sense, the Lord did not abolish representatives
at his coming. Things represent now just as much as they ever did,
though the representative ia not seen. He only abrogated the requirement
to use any representatives except Baptism and the Holy Supper."

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSmP. 41
tutes Mr. D.'s ideal. Cannot the spiritual represent the
divine ? A priest of the New Church is a man on the
earth, and so far is a visible and external priest ; but his
priesthood is to be sought in his internal character and
qualifications. Is he, for this reason, incapable of repre
senting the Lord ? So also as to his externals. It is a
bruited apothegm that the church and- the man of the
church must have an external as well as an internal. Un
doubtedly. But what then ? Because a man is a spirit
ual man has he no external ? Because the true priest
hood of the church is composed of spiritual men possessed
of certain endowments, and undistinguished frona the so-
called laity, has that priesthood no external ? Does it not
stand upon the ultimate plane ? Is it not embosomed in
the natural world ? Have not such men bodies? Do
they not meet for worship in earthly temples ? Do they
not engage corporeally in the services of prayer, praise,
reading, discoursing, and the like, and are not these ex
ternal things in respect to the internal principles by
which they are prompted ?
Did our limits permit, it would, we think, be easy to
show that for the same reason that Mr. D. and those of
his school find it impossible to form an idea of any other
priest than one who is set apart and inducted into office
by human agency, it is impossible for them also to con
ceive of any other representative external of such a priest
hood than the paraphernalia of inaugurations, vestments,
pulpits, litanies, &c., as to all which we see nothing in
them, but the shadows of things which we are now per
mitted to enjoy richly in the substance. This view of the
subject, we are well aware, will be regarded as crude
and superficial, and it will be maintained that if we have
not just such an idea of a priest of the New Church as
that which is sketched out for us, we have no idea of a
priest at all- If so, we submit. The imputation will
not trouble us. We know that Swedenborg meant what
he said when he said that the Lord at his coming into
the world " abrogated the representatives, which were
all external, and instituted a church of which all things
should be internal." 5

42 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
We have not, in this connection, adverted to the argu
ment founded upon the chapter entitled " Ecclesiastical
and Civil Government," in the " Heavenly Doctrines,"
although well aware that that chapter is regarded per
haps by the mass of New Churchmen as a divinely ap
pointed platform for the government, sacred and secular,
of the New Jerusalem. We have waived a reference to
this portion of Swedenborg's writings because we do not
regard it in the light in which it is viewed by the advo
cates of the priesthood as a separate caste. They look
upon it as laying down a distinct programme for the
ecclesiastical polity of the New Church, just as they
regard all the other chapters of the work as a divine code
of doctrine and an authoritative rule of life to the mem
bers of the Church. This they infer from certain pas
sages in which the author says, " This doctrine is from
heaven, inasmuch as it is from the spiritual sense of the
Word, and the spiritual sense of the Word is the same
with the doctrine which is in heaven." Again, " I pro
ceed to the doctrine itself, which is for the New Church,
and which is called Heavenly Doctrine, because it was
revealed to me out of heaven ; for to deliver this doctrine
is the design of this work." That this work is, in its
general scope, designed as an exponent of the peculiar
doctrines of the New Church, we, of course, cannot
doubt and still belong to that church ; but that this par
ticular chapter is specifically intended as a directory to
the New Church in the matter of its civil or ecclesiastical
government we are by no means prepared to admit, and
that for the following reasons : —
1. It is to our mind disproved by what our illumined
author himself says in regard to the general character of
the work: — " As to what concerns the following doctrine,
this also is from heaven, inasmuch as it is from the spi
ritual sense of the Word, and the spiritual sense of the
Word is the same with that which is in heaven." How is
this chapter related to the spiritual sense of the Word ?
To all the other chapters of the work are appended
copious extracts from the Arcana confirming and

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 43
illustrating its various positions, but to this closing
chapter there is not a single reference annexed. More
over, the main subject matter of the chapter is Kings
and Priests, of which the internal sense is Truth and
Good. Why are not the latter the subject treated of, if
the doctrine involved is the doctrine of the spiritual
sense ? How can the New Church, if it be a truly spirit
ual church, founded upon the spiritual sense ofthe Word,
know any other than a spiritual priesthood and a spirit
ual kingship ?
2. The opening sentence of the chapter strikes us as
disclosing its genuine drift : — " There are two classes of
affairs amongst men which ought to be conducted accord
ing to the laws of order." There is no specific mention
made of the New Church, but the affairs spoken of are
affairs amongst men widely and generally taken, imply
ing, if we mistake not, that the author here passes from
the consideration of the church to the wider field of the
world at large.
3. The state of things described as making governors
necessary is one entirely different from what we are
taught to regard as predicable of the New Jerusalem.
" It is impossible that order can be maintained in the
world ¦without governors, whose duty should be vigilantly
to observe the proceedings of those who act according to
order, and of those who act contrary to order, that they
may reward the former, and punish the latter. Unless
this were done, the human race would inevitably perish.
The desire of ruling others, and of possessing their pro
perty, being hereditary in every individual, and being
the source whence all enmity, envying, hatred, revenge,
deceit, cruelty, and numerous other evils proceed ; unless
men, in the exercise of their prevailing inclinations,
were, on the one hand, restrained by the fear of the laws,
and the dread of punishment involving the loss of honor,
of property, and of life, as a necessary consequence of a
course of evil ; and, on the other hand, encouraged by
the hope of honor and of gain, as the reward of well
doing, there would speedily be an end of the human

44 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
race." Now, we would ask if any candid and intelli
gent man, with Swedenborg's explication of the last two
chapters of the Apocalypse in his hand, can possibly
suppose this description to be applicable to the New
Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is a new church, in
closest conjunction with heaven, and the men of that
church are heavenly men, who are governed by other
motives than the " fear of the laws, and the dread of
punishment." Let the closing chapters of Isaiah be
consulted, in which it is said of the New Jerusalem, that
" henceforth there shall no more come into thee the un-
circumcised and the unclean ;" " thy people shall be all
righteous ;" and the declaration of John in the Apoca
lypse, that " there shall not enter into the city anything
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie," and then let any one pronounce whether
such necessities for restraining laws and rulers can exist
in that celestial economy.
4. The duty prescribed for priests is so worded in this
chapter as unequivocally to imply that " divided" or de
nominational churches are contemplated by the language,
which is wholly at variance with the idea of the unitary
character of the church of the New Jerusalem. " With
respect to priests, their duty is to teach men the way to
heaven, and likewise to lead them therein. They are to
teach them according to the doctrine of their church
{sum ecclesid), which is derived from the Word of God ;
and to lead them to live according to "that doctrine."
We have here given the reading according to the original.
The reader who consults almost any edition extant will
find the rendering to be " the church," instead of " their
church," but the error is palpable, though we are willing,
in the lack of any knowledge to the contrary, to believe
that it has crept into the translations without any express
design of falsification. But it will be seen to change
entirely the whole scope of the paragraph. What is the
fair interpretation ? Does it not imply that the priests
or ministers of the several churches in Christendom, as,
for instance, the Lutheran, the Calvinistic, the Episcopal,

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHH'. 45
the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Methodist, &c., are to
teach according to the tenets which these bodies respec
tively hold as being, in their view, derived from the
Word of God ? Is it replied that this is virtually
authorizing men to teach falsity instead of truth, and ex
horting them to lead in a way which conducts to hell ?
We ask in reply whether it be not a law of conscience,
or, in other words, a matter of Christian honesty and
integrity, for every so-called priest to be faithful to his
convictions, and to teach what he and the church to
which he belongs sincerely believe to be the doctrines of
truth derived from the Word ? Is it not distinctly a
principle of the New Church that every man is bound to
be faithful to the light he has, though that light may not
be the light of genuine truth ? And is it wrong to define
the duties of men as related to their present states, though
those' states should be very defective in many respects ?
If so, what shall be said of Swedenborg's Scortatory
doctrine, in which he undeniably adapts his suggestions
to the states of the natural man who is not yet prepared
to act from higher promptings ? The phraseology " their
church," is not uncommon in our author's writings, and
we may safely appeal to general usage as a key to his
meaning in the passage before us. Thus, " those who
are of the external church, are clearly in its externals,
but obscurely in its internals, whereas those who are of
the internal church are clearly in internals, and obscurely
in externals ; but those who are in externals, and not at
the same time in internals, are not of the church ; all
those are in both who are in the good of life, according
to the doctrines of their church {eoclesice sum) ; but those
are in externals without internals, who are in worship,
and not at the same time in the good of life according
to the doctrines of the church."— J.. O. 8762. " Those
who are in the affection of truth from evil, that is, who
desire to know truth merely for the sake of honor, gain,
reputation, and the like, do not see truths, but only such
things as confirm the doctrines of their church {ecclesicB
sum), whether they be true or false." — A. C. 8780.
5*

46 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
What, then, is the genuine character and scope of the
famous chapter on Ecclesiastical and Civil Government
in the Heavenly Doctrines ? We answer, that, as we
understand it, it is not to lay down an authoritative
draught or model of government, civil or sacred, in the
New Church, but simply to show the New Churchman
in what light he is to view tlie existing polities of church
and state in the world. Such a man is to view every
thing from his own peculiar stand-point. It is a part
of the grand economy of the Divine Providence to
maintain order in the world, as far as is consistent with
human freedom, and to this end he overrules the different
existing institutions of church and state, while at the
same time there may be elements involved in each which
a truly divine system of order would effectually repudiate.
Such a system is doubtless that of the New Jerusalem ;
but this is a system of slow development, and, in the
mean time, while it is gradually maturing to its acme,
it is proper and salutary to the best interests of humanity
that no violence should be done to men's convictions in
regard to those things which they have been taught to
consider sacred ; and it is accordingly the object of our
author in this chapter to unfold the principles by which
men ought to be governed in upholding religion and civil
government in the world, which are the grand pillars
whereon the welfare of society rests. The chapter under
consideration is, if we mistake not, a kind of general
conspectus afforded to the man of the New Church of
this department of the Divine Providence. He is in
structed how to regard the whole complicated structure,
and is shown by what means, or by the exercise of what
principles, the benign results of these institutions are
secured. If this be done preceptively, and the several
duties of the spiritual and civil functionaries are clearly
defined, it does not affect the general object of the enun
ciation, which, we repeat, is not in our estimation to lay
down a platform of polity for the New Church, but to
give a New Church view of polities already existing and
long established in the world.

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 47
The fact that the priesthood exists in heaven, and that
the worship there is conducted very much as on earth
{H. <& H. 215) is deemed by many as absolutely conclusive
in favor of the popular view and the existing order of
things. We have, of course, the most unbounded respect
for the utterances and informations fiowing from the en
lightened herald of the New Church, and have only to
be assured that in matters pertaining to the church his
genuine and true-meant teachings go counter to our views
to renounce them forthwith. But on this head we lack
conviction. We are not by any means clear that the
apparent measures the real contrariety existing between
his statements and ours. Certain it is, that the preach
ing and the priestly function are not identified in heaven.
" All the preachers are from the Lord's spiritual king
dom, and none from the celestial kingdom." " All
preachers are constituted by the Lord, and thence
in the gift of preaching ; it is not lawful for any ex
cept them to teach in the temples. They are called
preachers but not priests ; the reason that they are not
called priests is, because the priesthood of heaven is the
celestial kingdom."—.^. <& IL 225, 226. The priest
hood, therefore, pertains to all those who are in the good
of love, which is the main character of the angels of the
celestial kingdom. But these are not preachers. The
preachers are from the si^iritual kingdom, and they are
" constituted" by the Lord, i. e., as we understand it,
they are the subjects of a special influx endowing them,
for the occasion, with requisite qualifications, on the
score of thought and affection, for the discharge of the
function. It does not appear that the Lord " constitutes"
them into a distinct order sustaining a fixed and perma
nent office. We infer rather that a strong divine afflatus
comes upon certain spirits when convened for worship,
under the influence of which they are enabled to speak
to ediflcation to the assembled groups, while on the en
suing Sabbath it may be that some other one or more
may be moved to the exercise of similar gifts. In a
word, we take it that as far as any earthly analogy may

48 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
be cited, the mode of worship among the Quakers comes
the nearest to the heavenly model.
But even granting that the worship in heaven, as seen
and described by Swedenborg, bore a very marked
analogy to the prevailing modes of worship on earth, and
suppose a similar distinction between clergy and laity,
still we can account to the fact to our own minds without
enforcing any change of views in regard to the funda
mental question. The condition of things in the heaven
which our author describes would naturally be governed
in a greater or less degree, and for a longer or shorter
time, by the internals of those who composed it, and
when we consider that for ages the men of the church
on earth had been accustomed to the conduct of religious
affairs by the agency of a priesthood or a clergy, we can
see what a violence would be done to the fixed forms of
their spiritual life, had they been at once ushered into
the midst of an economy entirely diverse from that
which had been consecrated in their earthly memory.
The heaven of recent souls in the other life will be, of
course, in the first instance, a reflex of the church states
in which they had mainly lived in.the present life. But
we know of nothing that requires us to believe that the
type of heavenly things set forth by Swedenborg will be
utterly and eternally unchangeable. The genius of the
New Jerusalem, we imagine, will be of gradual develop
ment, both on earth and in heaven, and the only question
is, whether the views above expressed do indeed rightly
represent that genius. If so, we do not perceive that
our conclusions are invalidated by anything affirmed of
the state of the heavens when Swedenborg wrote. The
ultimate effects of the Last Judgment, our author tells
us {T. C. B. 123), had not been accomplished at that
time, but were then going on, and would continue to go
on. The reconstruction of the church in the way sug
gested in this essay may be one of them. At any rate,
if our positions are sound, the order of things in the
heavens will eventually conform to them.
We have thus exhibited, in strong relief, all the more

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 49
important passages usually cited as affording a warrant
for the institution of a priesthood or clergy, comprising
an order of men distinct from the so-called laity. To
our own mind the proof, whether from the Word or the
writings of the New Church, is utterly wanting of the
intended existence of any such class of men in the
Christian Church, and we do not therefore hesitate to
consider the whole sacerdotal order, as at present estab
lished, both in the Old Church and the New, as a stu
pendous falsity, replete with tendencies of the most
pernicious character to the interests of the Lord's king
dom. We are constrained by what we consider' the
strictest logical necessity, to deny the validity of the
claims set up in behalf of a separate clerical caste, while,
at the same time, we leave intact a leading or teaching
function in the church, and one, too, that is to be exer
cised by the men of the church. There is a true ministry
— not clergy — in the Lord's church on the earth, consist
ing of those who, in accordance with the representative
character of the ancient Levites, are possessed of the
endowments of spiritual love, enlightened intelligence,
and active charity, which shall enable them to exercise
a kindly pastoral office towards the lambs of the flock
that naturally turn to their feeding hand. Every other
form of priesthood we are forced to regard not only as
an anti-christian usurpation, but as having the effect of
an organic hypertrophy in the Lord's mystical body. By
attracting to itself an over-measure of vital influx, it will
rob the other portions of the system of their due share
of spiritual innervation, and a paralysis of the members
will be very certain to ensue. How much of enlightened
discernment, indeed, js even now requisite in order to
perceive that the broad line of distinction held to exist
between clergy and laity, acts disastrously upon the
interior life of the church by discharging the great mass
of its members from that degree of responsibility which
properly pertains to every one without exception?
What is more evident than that the fact of having an
individual salaried and set apart to preside over the spirit-

60 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
ual interests of a society, operates as a release to the^bulk
of the members from any duty but that of punctually pay
ing their subscription and sitting devoutly in their seats
from Sabbath to Sabbath, receiving with quiet assent
whatever is dealt out to them. The practical working of
the system is precisely such as to confirm the drift of our
theoretical objections. It goes all along on the assump
tion that the actual work essential to the building up of
the church is to be performed, not by the body collec
tively, but by a particular class acting as proxies for the
rest. If we make the analogy of the human body the
criterion in this matter, it would be as if all the organs
and viscera of the trunk should unite in feeing the brain
to perform their functions for them, while they should
enjoy an exemption from their appropriate work. Is it
possible for any one who is accessible to truth to avoid
seeing that this cannot be consistent with a true Divine
order ? That order is well expressed by the Apostle of
the Gentiles. " From whom the whole body fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint sup-
plieth, according to the efiectual working in the measure
of every part, maketh increase of the body to the edify
ing of itself in love." This is the true model of a
Christian church or society, and the ends of such an in
stitution can never be fully realized till there be a return
from the present to the primitive order.
The precepts and intimations of the apostolic epistles
may serve at least as documentary evidence of a his
torical kind, of the light in which this matter was viewed
in the primitive church. " God hath tempered the body
together, having given more abundant honor to that part
which lacked'; that there should be no schism in the
body ; lut that the members should have the same care
one for another."—! Cor. xii. 24, 25. " Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, ye, which are spiritual, re
store such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted."— -Gal. vi. 1, 2. Who
ever was spiritual might feel this a command to him to
exercise a kindly office of charity in restoring one who

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 51
had unfortunately lapsed from his uprightness. Each
was to bear the other's burdens. Again, " Now we ex
hort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort
the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward
all men." — 1 Thes. v. 14. Brethren are here exhorted to
warn, comfort, and support each other — a very principal
feature of what is considered as the pastor's peculiar
work. " Wherefore comfort yourselves, and edify one
another, even as also ye do." — Id. v. 1 1. Passages of this
nature might be largely multiplied, but it is unnecessary.
The gifts and services of the brethren are not to be
superseded, in a proper church arrangement, by those of
the clerical rank. The feeblest brother has as deep an
interest in the general spiritual life of the society as the
strongest. It is in fact the duty of every Christian man
to edify, warn, support, and comfort his brethren, accord
ing to opportunities offered, and that upon the ground of
a common concern in the spiritual well-being of the
body. It is doubtless much more consonant to the dictates of
the natural man to purchase exemption from self-denying
duties "at the price of one's annual subscription to the
support of a substitute, than to go forward and discharge
them in person, especially when their discharge implies,
in order to the best effect, that a prevailingly spiritual
state of mind shall be sedulously cultivated. Accord
ingly nothing is more obvious than the air of easy un
concern with which the mass of Christians occupy their
seats in the sanctuary on the Sabbath, and pass on
through the week, devolving all care of the interests of
the church on the spiritual stipendiary who takes them
in trust. This is undoubtedly a necessary result of the
system in vogue, and therefore we do not speak of it
reproachfully in reference to any to whom our remarks
may apply. They have been educated and have grown
up under the system, and a thousand infiuences have
been operating to prevent the suspicion of a wrong in it.
They accordingly act as is most natural under the cir
cumstances. While an external priesthood is recognized

52 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
in the church, it will not do to have the office remain a
sinecure. The people pay the priests for assuming the
care of their souls, and why should they do themselves
the work which they bargain with another to do in their
stead ? The fact is, the evil can never be reached but by
striking at the fundamental falsity on which the whole
rests, to wit, a distinct priestly or clerical order. This
is an institute which, in its present form, is to be traced
back to the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church,
where the spirit of hierarchy is the animating soul of
that vast corporation. That the great reformer, Luther,
had a very clear perception of this is evident from the
following passage in his " Letter on Ordination," ad
dressed to the Bohemian brethren.
. . . " Let that rock stand to you unshaken — that, in the New
Testament, of priest externally anointed there is none, neither can be :
but if there be any, they are masks and idols, because they have neither
example nor prescription of this their vanity, nor any word in Gospels
or Epistles of the Apostles ; but they have been erected and intro
duced by the mere invention of men, as Jeroboam did in Israel. For
a priest, in the new Testament, is not made, but born ; not ordained,
but raised up ; and he is born, not by the nativity of the flesh,*but of
spirit, that is, of water and the spirit in the laver of regeneration.
And all Christians are altogether priests, and all priests are Christians ;
and let it be anathema to assert that there is any other priest than he
who is a Christian ; for it will be asserted without the word of God,
on no authority but the sayings of men, or the antiquity of custom, or
the multitude of those who think so  Christ wfis neither
shaven nor anointed with oil to be made a priest ; wherefore neither is
it enough for any follower of Christ to be anointed to become a priest,
but he must have something far different ; which when he shall have,
he will have no need of oil and shaving. So that you may see that
the bishops erred sacrilegiously whilst they make their ordinations so
necessary that without these they deny that any one can become a
priest, although he is most holy, as Christ himself ; and again, that a
priest may be made by them, although he be more wicked than Nero
or Sardanapalus. By which what else do they than deny that Christ
is a priest with his Christians ? for whilst they discharge their abomi
nable office, they make no one a priest unless he first deny that he is a
priest, and so by that very circumstance, while they make a priest,
they in truth remove him from the priesthood  The min
istry of the word is common to all Christians ; that one passage, 1
Peter ii., establishes it : ' Te are a royal priesthood that ye may show

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 63
forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light.' I beseech you, who are they that are called out of
darkness into his marvellous light? Are they only anointed and
ordained priests? or are they not all Christians ? But Peter not only
gives them the liberty, but commands them to declare the praises of
God, which certainly is nothing else than to preach the word of God.
. . . . As there is no other showing forth of the praises of God
in the ministry of the Word than that common to all, so there is no
other priesthood than a spiritual one, also common to all, which Peter
hath here described  Wherefore it hath now been suffi
ciently confirmed most strongly and clearly, that the ministry of the
Word is the chief office in the church, altogether unique, and yet com
mon to all Christians, not only by right but also of command ; where
fore the priesthood also must needs be both excellent and common ; so
that against these divine lightnings of God's word of what avail are in
finite fathers, innumerable councils, everlasting usages, and the multi
tude of the whole world ?"
This is bravely said, though it has seldom found an
echo in later days, nor are we by any means confident
that the heroic Wirtemberger always speaks in his
writings on this subject in the same strain. But that is
immaterial. He saw then what we see now, that the
priesthood of the Eoman Church is the grand element of
its power, and that its power in spiritual things is the
breath of its nostrils. And though the institution exists
in all Protestant Churches in a greatly modified and
mitigated form, yet it is to this source that its origin is
to be traced, and it is next to impossible to divest it
altogether of its inherent tendencies towards the evils
of hierarchy and the other forms of abuse to which we
have adverted.
While frankly enouncing these sentiments we are per
fectly aware of the light iu which they will be viewed by
the majority of the men of the church. They will look
upon it as requiring nearly as much hardihood to deny
a visible clergy in the church, as to deny the existence of
the church itself. They will feel that a sad havoc is made
of all their traditionary and cherished associations rela
tive to the church, the ministry, the Sabbath, the worship
of God, and indeed everything sacred ; and they will be
prompted to put the question, whether we really mean

54 THE PKIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
guite so much as our words would seem to import. As
suredly we do ; and we will thank any man to designate
the point at which we can consistently stop short of our
present position provided our premises are sound. If
there is no external priesthood known in the Lord's
church, what authority is there for a clergy ? We find
it not, and therefore state our conclusions without reserve.
No hesitation have we in saying that in the truest and
purest state of the church on earth, no other than a spirit
ual priesthood or clergy will be known, and what that
is has been sufficiently unfolded in our previous remarks.
It is a priesthood and a clergy which exists in an utter
non-recognition of the distinction between them and the
laity. Tliese classes, as contra-distinguished from each
other, are wholly unknown to a just ideal of the church.
That a multitude of questions should be started as to
the sequences of such a theory as we have now an
nounced we can readily anticipate. Who shall propa
gate the doctrines of the church ? Who shall conduct
worship, and how shall it be done? — will be among the
first. What will be the use of churches in such a state
of things? Or, if we have them, what will be the use
of a pulpit if there be no regularly inducted clergyman
to fill it ? — will follow in the train. That in alt these
respects the adoption of our views would work momen
tous changes in the existing order of things there is no
shadow of doubt. But of sudden changes we are no ad
vocates. We have too correct a conception of the genius
of N. C. teaching on this head to think of urging abrupt
and violent innovations for which the states of men are
not prepared. We know very well that at the present
moment they are not prepared to forego a system to
which they have long been habituated, and therefore we
do_ not urge it. We would have changes introduced
neither farther nor faster than the firm and intelligent
convictions of N. C. receivers shall call for them. But
we do not feel ourselves on this account precluded from
broaching important principles. We hold that it is
never too early to give utterance to reformatory ideas.

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 55
Thougji not at once aated upon, they are still acting as
a secret leaven in the minds of men, and in due time
will bring forth their proper fruits. This position, we
are persuaded, cannot be logically controverted, and
yet the man who ventures to act upon it must make
up his mind to do it at his peril. He will not henceforth
be regarded as a perfectly sane or safe man. In his
reputation he must calculate to pay the penalty always
visited upon the disturbers of old notions. " The last
offence," says a French author, " forgiven to men is the
introduction of a new idea." We write under the full
force of this conviction. The broaching of such ideas,
however, though somewhat startling at the outset, is less
so upon reflection, and as they become familiarized to
the thought, they assume new aspects, and gradually
convert themselves to powerful elements of action. The
Divine Providence has permitted and still tolerates a
vicious order of things until his people, in the exercise
of rationality and freedom, shall be prompted to institute
a better. Meanwhile we have for ourselves no scruples
as to compliance with established forms of worship and
instruction, so long as we are conscious of inwardly up
holding no abstract principle at variance with truth.
Ministering truth and good to our fellow-men is ever
a laudable use, and a man in doing it is not called upon
always to proclaim his conviction that there are things
usually connectedt with the function involving grave
errors and requiring radical reform.
We should deem ourselves signally incompetent to the
discussion of the present subject, were we not fully aware
of the very great revolution which the ultimation of our
views is calculated to produce in the conduct of spiritual
affairs. It is impossible for us to be blind to the fact,
that the practical doing away of the distinction between
clergy and laity, would put entirely a new face upon the
services ofthe Sabbath, and present the whole matter of
worship in a new light. And what if this were the
result? What if the Sabbath gatherings of Christian

56 THE PRIESTaOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
people should p_artake more of a social character ? What
if the principle of mutual instruction and ediflcation
should replace the present mode, in which a single indi
vidual conducts the entire routine ? Is not such a method
of instruction more accordant with the spirit of the New
Church than that of professional preaching ? This form
of teaching was more in place at former periods, prior
to the invention of printing, when books were few and
expensive, and the mass of the people in Christian coun
tries could neither read nor write. In such circum
stances, when intelligence was limited, and the general
habits of thought and speech not adapted to sustain such
a mode of voluntary mutual instruction, it would be more
natural that one man should be employed to officiate in
behalf of a whole assembly. And so long as that was
the case, the clerical caste undoubtedly performed an
important use. But in the progress of things, that state
of the general Christian mind has been outgrown, and a
good degree of general competency to declare truth pre
vails. Why then should not those who are " of age"
have the privilege of doing their own religious business ?
We grant that such a mode of procedure would be liable
to abuses, just as is every system of polity where the
freedom of the individual is thoroughly secured. But if
good is the predominant element in the men of the
church, true wisdom will not be wanting, and wisdom
dwells evermore with prudence. The truth, moreover,
that is derived from good, is always of a prolific or self-
multiplying character, so that the word will dwell richly
in all utterance even in the humbler and weaker of the
brethren, as they are often accounted. The tongue of the
stammerer shall speak plain, and as there will be few too
ignorant to teach, so there will be none too wise to learn.
How is it now ? The trained and professional preacher,
being supported for this very work, has time to devote
himself to the careful preparation of his discourses, and
he will be led, of course, to elaborate them in finished
style, and by degrees to conform them to the most ad
mired models of composition, and thus to serve up weeklj'

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 57
to his audience an intellectual treat set off in all the
graces of Tullian or Tertullian eloquence. The conse
quence is, that the mind of the hearer, being accustomed
to this kind of pulpit entertainment, comes at length to
nauseate the plain and homely style of extemporaneous
talk among brethren. And yet who is not conscious that
this kind of communication takes a deeper hold of the
thoughts and affections and exercises more efficient con
trol over the inner man, than the most studied oratorical
displays to which one listens with mere passive acquies
cence. " The clear discourse, and cold as it is clear,
Falls soporific on the listless ear."
But a change in this respect, in the conduct of public
worship, will draw after it a change in the external ar
rangements which the present method has called into
requisition. Pulpit and priesthood are inseparable ideas ;
and pulpit and pews are related to each other just as are
clergy and laity. It is vain to think of abolishing the
distinction in the one case and retaining it in the other.
The architectural structure of churches is but an ultima
tion of the falsities which we have thus far endeavored
to expose. The proverbial sanctity of the pulpit must
fall before the correction of the errors in which it has
originated, as when the fancied " messenger of heaven
and legate of the skies" has disappeared, his consecrated
standing-place may as well vanish with him.
But in these circumstances, can the churches them
selves, or the worship to which they are dedicated, be
permanently retained ? We doubt if they can, without
undergoing the most signal alterations. The motive
which prompts such alterations will be the enthronement
of charity over faith alone, and charity can never breathe
but in an atmosphere of use ; and if use be the governing
principle, it cannot but be a question whether the enor
mous sums expended upon church buildings, as also in
the way of salaries to their official occupants, could not
be expended to far greater advantage to the interests of
6*

68 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
the Lord's kingdom in multiplying the issues of the press,
and in this way propagating the saving truth of heaven.
Plain and moderate buildings, adapted rather to small
than to large audiences, and made proportionally
numerous, will answer all the demands of those who
recognize the church as composed of " living stones" in
stead of polished dead ones, and who would devote to
beneficence what they can save from extravagance. And
in regard to worship and the Sabbath, we can easily con
ceive of an equally great improvement founded upon
what our enlightened author says on this head.
" By worship, according to the order of Heaven, is meant all the ex
ercise of good according to the precepts of the Lord : by the worship
of God at this day is meant, principally, the worship of the mouth in
a temple, both morning and evening ; but the worship of God does not
consist essentially in this, but in a life of uses ; this worship is accord
ing to the order of Heaven ; the worship of the mouth is also worship,
but it is altogether of no avail unless there be worship of the life." —
—A, C. 7884.
" Worship does not'consist in prayers and in external devotion, but
in a life of charity  Spiritual affection is what is called
charity towards our neighbor ; to be in that affection is true worship ;
prayer is what thence proceeds. Hence it is plain that the essential
principle of worship is a life of charity, and the instrumental thereof is
gesture and prayer ; or that the primary constituent of worship is a
life of charity, and its secondary is praying ; from which it is evident
that they who place all Divine worship in oral piety, and not in actual
piety, err exceedingly." — A, E. 395.
" Divine worship primarily consists in the life, of charity ; and,
secondarily, in that of piety ; he, therefore, who separates the one from
the other, that is, who lives in the practice of piety, and not at the
same time in the e-xercise of charity, does not worship God." — H.
D. 124.
Swedenborg no where disparages external worship,
but again and again enjoins it, as A. O. 1175, 1618 ; but
he evermore insists that the external apart from the
internal in worship is of no avail ; and under the guidance
of this principle, we have no doubt that important
changes may be advantageously made in the mode of

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 59
conducting it. A significant revelation respecting the
true nature of worship meets us in the following extract
from ''Heaven <& Hell" (222).
" Divine worship in the heavens does not consist in frequenting tem
ples, and in hearing preaching, but in a life of love, charity and faith,
according to doctrines ; preachings in temples serve only as means of
instruction in matters of life. I have spoken with angels on this sub-
ject,-and I said, that in the world it is believed that Divine worship is
only to frequent temples, hear preaching, attend the sacrament of the
supper three or four times every year, and do the other things of wor
ship according to the statutes of the church, and likewise set apart
particular times for prayer, and then to behave devoutly. The angels
said, that these are external things which ought to be done, but that
they are of no avail unless there be an internal from which they proceed,
and that the internal is a life according to the precepts which doctrine
teaches." Whatever, then, goes to make the worship on earth
most akin to the worship in heaven, ought to be the object
aimed at by the Lord's people, in conducting their Sab
bath services. For ourselves, we are firmly of the opinion,
that the plan of mutual instruction, on a perfectly volun
tary basis, is far better adapted to accomplish this end
than the present system, in which a single individual is
instar omnium, or a kind of spiritual fao-totum to the
congregation. How vastly more desirable that each
member of a Christian society, according to his measure
of gifts, should contribute his quota to the general stock
of instruction and excitation in the spiritual life. Men
learn more by the exercise of thought, and the putting
forth of affection in the effort to edify others, than by
listening to sermons when their faculties of use to others
are in abeyance. It is, moreover, a positive disadvantage
that men should have a hired functionary to do their
thinking for them. Religious meetings, as usually con
ducted, are on a plan less manly than district schools, for
the congregations do not even recite their lessons, but
have them recited by the master. Their problems are
all worked out for them, and they sit and hear the solu
tions with little interest and little profit. The people
actually need, for their own spiritual health, a great part

60 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
of the intellectual exercise from which their, ministers
now relieve them. Adult Bible and doctrinal classes are
now to a great extent conducted on this plan, and noth
ing is more evident than their tendency to develope
among the mass of members all the capacities necessary
to sustain the system. So would it be in the services
of the Sabbath ; and we think it unquestionable that
each society of the New Church has a claim upon the
powers and resources of all its members. The plea of
incompetency will no doubt be urged in regard to multi
tudes in the church, but with the same propriety it might
be urged that certain portions of the human body are
incompetent to contribute any thing towards the perfec
tion of the whole. If there be any such part of the
bodily structure, it does not belong there. But the fact
is, the difficulty in the case supposed arises from the
operation of a false standard in regard to what is most
useful in the way of social impartation. It is not the
most finished and elaborate discourses which do the most
good. They excite admiration, but they seldom move
the inner springs of action. They play round the head,
but they reach not the heart. The j>lain and even homely
utterances of a good man, accompanied by the sphere
which his goodness engenders, will commend themselves
by a certain unction to every kindred mind, and the
absence of literary or rhetorical qualities will not be felt.
The teachings of the New Church on this subject, dis
closing the nature and the relations of goodness and
truth, and assuring us that all truth is seminally included
in good, ought to have the effect to exclude fastidiousness
on this score, and to lay the mind open to the reception
both of truth and good even from the humblest sources.
Another fair and very important inference from our
premises here urges itself upon us. How many infant
and feeble societies in the New Church, are kept back
and drag along a dying kind of life, from an impression
of the almost indispensable necessity of a minister both
to their well-being and their being. There is no occa
sion, indeed, to be surprised at this, for a clergy will be

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. b'l
sure to teach, among its flrst and last lessons, the abso
lute necessity of its own order to the welfare of the
church, and in this way to lay the spell of inertia upon
the mass of the laity. How, then, can they find their
hands when they have been so carefully hid away by
their spiritual masters ? The effect answers perfectly to
the cause, and precludes the language of censure towards
the private receivers scattered over the country, for they
have merely practiced upon the copy that has been set
them. Nor in fact can we properly adopt a tone of
severe reproof towards the copy-masters themselves.
They, too, have acted according to the light that was in
them. They .have not intended either error or evil ; we
therefore view the past with all allowance. But it is
easy to perceive what the result has been, and continues
to be. Dependence upon a superior divinely commis
sioned order of teachers and leaders, and the fear of
trenching upon the sanctity of their prerogatives, has
tended to paralyze exertion on the part of receivers, and
to inure and reconcile them to a low state, and a slow
progress, in spiritual things. How is this condition to be
remedied ? Not by a supposed adequate supply of min
isterial laborers in the field, who shall receive a compe
tent support from the flocks which they feed. For years
and years to come this is utterly out of the question in
the New Church. There are scores of expectant clergy
men among us at this moment who are ready to enter
the vineyard, but who can find none who will pay them
their wages. Except in a very few prominent localities
in our country, a competent ministerial support is abso
lutely hopeless. This, for ourselves, we look upon as a
pregnant commentary of the Divine Providence upon
the truth of our main positions. It indicates to us that
it is not by a clergy that the New Church is either to be
sustained or propagated. It must be by eveiy man of
the church realizing himself to be a church in the least
form, and bound to act as if he were himself charged
with the responsibility of the priesthood involved in his
church character. All in a society or a neighborhood,

62 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
who have the heavenly doctrines at heart, ought to feel
it incumbent upon them, both jointly and severally, to
see that their " coal be not quenched," that their lamp
go not out. They are each and all to supply the minis
ter's lack of service, and every one who enters such a
society should do it with a distinct understanding that
such are the conditions of membership — that a New
Church society is a spiritual firm in which there are no
silent partners, but every one is to be an active working
member, always carrying with him the conviction that
the concern is complete in itself, that it must depend en
tirely upon its own efforts, and that its solvency and suc
cess can only be secured by every one, without excep
tion, feeling as if the result depended wholly upon him.
So in the matter before us ; we see no other method by
which the little bands of receivers scattered over the
country can ever be prompted to arouse themselves from
that torpid, dead-and-alive condition into which they are
so prone to fall, than by being weaned from reliance on
the ministry, and thrown upon their own resources ; and
how can this be done without discarding in toto the very
fundamental idea of a clergy or a priesthood as a distinct
order of men ? A priestly principle there must ever be
in the church, but that this principle must ultimate itself
in a separate priestly caste under the New Jerusalem
dispensation is, we are persuaded, one of the first-born
of falsities which unfortunately has made itself " higher
than the kings of the earth," i. e., to dominate over some
of the chiefest truths of the church.
That the fruits of this system haye not been all evil we
of course admit, and we have expressly said that we have
no " railing accusations" to bring against the parties who
have, without consciously intending it, fastened a false
and pernicious system of clerical order on the church.
But we feel, at the same time, no restraint from pointing
to the " mischiefs manifold" which refer themselves to
this source. Among these we have barely adverted to
one which demands a more definite presentation. We
allude to the every where prevalent idea that the Lord's

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSmP. 63
New Church is to be propagated mainly by the agency
of preaching. This certainly cannot be if our previous
position is sound, that the very office of the preacher, as
ordinarily apprehended, is a fallacy. Let this position
be tried upon its merits. " But how is the gospel of the
kingdom to be proclaimed ?" it will be asked. We reply,
by means of the press and the living voice, not of the
minister or the missionary as such, but of the ordinary
member as such. In the mode now specified, every so
ciety or circle of receivers is to regard itself as virtually
a band of propagandists, whose main business it is, in
this world, to live and labor for this end. To this every
thing else is to be subordinate, without at the same time
being neglected. Worldly resources are needed for spir
itual uses, and when every thing is viewed in relation to
eternal ends, we are doing our utmost to superinduce a
church-state upon the world at large — the grand finale to
which the Divine Providence is shaping its counsels.
Nothing, indeed, is more abhorrent to the true genius of
the New Church than a spirit of indiscriminate prose-
lytism ; but there is doubtless a growing receptivity in
the world which prefers a claim to be provided for, and
this claim will hardly fail to be met if the principles of
church polity now advocated be thoroughly carried out.
The fact is, the true church of the Lord is in its own na
ture self-propagating. It diffuses itself by outgrowth or
offshoots, like trees and vines. There is a spontaneous
multiplication of societies wherever a true spiritual vital
ity exists to give the start. There is in the essential life
of a true New Church society a constant conatus to re
produce itself in similar forms, and if the converse of the
apostle's aphorism, that " evil communications corrupt
good manners," hold good, to wit, that " good communi
cations purify bad manners," then we may reasonably
hope that the quiet intercourse ofthe men of the church
with others, their blameless example, their solid, if not
imposing intelligence, will be constantly operating, like
a wholesome leaven in the general mass of mind till the
whole is leavened. The upright walk, the sphere of

64 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
charity, the unwearied study of use — all which will be
sure to make themselves known and felt — will no doubt
effect as much in concentrating attention upon the truths
of the church as the discourses and appeals of a commis
sioned clergy, who will always have to contend, more or
less, with the prejudice founded upon the fact that the
preaching of the gospel is with them a paid calling in
stead of a voluntary service.
But this noiseless and unobtrusive insemination of
good and truth, within the range of each one's personal
influence, is not the sole ground of reliance in the prop
agation of the doctrines and life of the New Church.
The press is the great executive ministry of the present
age. It is by its instrumentality that the furtherance of
the Lord's kingdom on the earth is mainly to be effect
ed. Here, then, is the channel through which New
Church efforts are to be made to tell upon the progress
of truth and righteousness. The press we deem a vastly
more efficient agency of the church than an ordained
clergy ; and could the large sums annually expended in
paying salaries and building churches, be laid out in
publishing and circulating the writings of the church,
we are satisfied that a far more substantive use would be
accomplished for the cause of the New Jerusalem. And
let us here say, that while the employment of lay mis
sionaries and colporteurs in great numbers and on a large
scale may not be without its good results, yet, after all,
this system of operation is apt to serve as a virtual dis
charge of the mass of members from the duty of direct
personal effort in this sphere. The proper state of things
will not be reached till every one who prizes the spirit
ual treasures of the New Church shall feel himself con
strained to become a missionary to his neighbor, without
waiting to have the work done to his hands by a proxy.
Why should not every Newchurchman feel himself
bound, according to his ability, to keep on hand a supply
of the writings with which to furnish, by sale or gift,
those whom he may regard as proper objects of such a
favor ? The apathy which has heretofore so widely pre-

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP. 65
vailed on this score, is .no doubt referable to the same
general cause to which we have traced so many of the
«vils that have afflicted the church. The obligations of
duty have been commuted on the principle of clerical
substitution, and instead of being sacredly discharged
have been secularly disbursed. \Ve look, eventual!}',
for an entirely different procedure in this respect. We
can form no idea of a truly prosperous state of the
church, but one in which the individual shall more and
more assert himself — in which individual effort and
action shall not be so perpetually merged in association.
Still we would by no means forego this kind of ministra-
i;ion to the uses of the New Church. In the matter of
printing and publishing they are of immense importance.
But our ideal of a zealous Newchurchman, is of one who
is so intent upon ministering to the spiritual weal of his
fellow-creatures, tbat just in proportion tp his 'syorldlj
means, he will not only purcuase aiiJ distribute the
works of the church, but, if needs be, will actually, in
particular cases, publish and distribute them at his own
cost, where he is persuaded a great use will be thereby
accomplished. At any rate, most cordially will he come
forward to sustain the labors of those who, as a class,
would fain dedicate their powers, by means of the pen,
¦to the building up of the walls and temples of the New
.Jerusalem. But we are admonished that we cannot indefinitely
extend our thoughts even upon the momentous theme
before us. We have uttered ourselves upon it with all
frankness and freedom, and in full view of the conse
quences. We have been all along aware of the " revolt
of mien," of the estrangement of confidence, of the
alienated sympathy, which the declaration of such senti
ments will not fail to encounter in the minds of many of
our brethren. That they will strike their minds as the
¦very extreme of destructive radicalism, is more than
probable. Nevertheless, we have spoken advisedly;
.and however we may deprecate the sinister judgment
and the sombre auguries of those whose good opinion we
.7

66 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
covet, we are prepared to encounter them, if fidelity to
truth makes it inevitable. AVe have only to_ request,
that whatever exceptions may be taken to the views pro
pounded, they may be taken to the abstract argument
itself, and not to the practical inferences which we may
be supposed to draw from it. We can readily perceive
how natural would be the conclusion, that if an external
priesthood in the New Church be a falsity, it ought of
course to be regarded as a nonentity, and that therefore
the whole system should be abandoned instanter, as a
crying abomination before heaven. We have already
spoken in pre-arrest of any such sentence as this. We
are no advocates of sudden changes in the fixed habits
and usages of the Christian world. We would precipi
tate nothing before the fitting time. The present order
of things involves, indeed, a multitude of evils, but it has
gradually supervened upon the order of heaven, and
gradually must it be removed. Meanwhile we have for
ourselves not the slightest hesitation, in view of the pre
sent exigency, to act in a capacity which is ordinarily
termed clerical, for the Divine Providence has the lowest
as well as the highest states of the church under its
auspices ; and for the same reason, we have no denunci
ations to utter against the general body of those who now
sustain the sacred office, and of whom it cannot justly be
doubted that they have entered it with the most upright
intentions, and who continue to administer it according
to the best light they have respecting its nature and ends.
But all this does not vacate the force of our reasoning.
In respect to our main position— the utter repugnance of
a priestly or clerical caste to the genius of the New Dis
pensation — we are firm and immovable ; and fain would
we have every member of the Lord's Church appreciate
fully his birthright, and act under the consciousness of
the high things involved in his prerogative. Eegarding
it no more as an exclusive prerogative, confined to a cer
tain privileged order, and fixing the thought, not upon
the shadow but upon the substance, let every New
Church Christian realize, that whatever is embraced

THE PRIESTHOOD .«lND THE KINGSHIP. 67
within the functions of the priestly and the royal office,
pertains truly to him in and under the Lord ; and let
him therefore walk feeling charged with the responsibility
of this sacred character. Every one without exception is
a king and a priest, so far as he is in the truth and good
of the Lord's Kingdom, and that, too, " uuimpeached of
usurpation, and to no man's wrong." It is not alone in
consecrated ranks that we are to look for the priests of
the Lord's heritage. Wherever you find one that is meek,
gentle, guileless, loving, truthful, and wise — who is in
the life of love — whose sphere is bland and attractive,
because his spirit is deeply leavened with charity — whose
speech is marked by a certain unction indicative of an
inward fountain of delight — there is to you one whom
you may safely acknowledge as a " priest of the Most
High God." it matters not that ordaining hands may
not have been laid upon his head. It matters not that
he may be unable to bring due credentials of the fact of
his falling into the line of the apostolic succession. To
you he is a priest, because it is in these very qualities
that the priestly principle consists, and if you possess
these qualities, you thereby become in like manner a
priest to others. The unction of love is the only oil of
consecration by which the true priests of the church are
now to be inaugurated.
A similar vein of remark is applicable also to the
kingship, the spiritual dignity founded upon Truth.
The man most largely endowed with this principle, when
derived from good, is clothed, from the necessity of the
case, with a sort of roj^alty, which will be very certain to
be felt and acknowledged by those who come in contact
with his sphere. In this republican land, the name of
king, as a civil ruler, is very offensive, and that too upon
very good grounds. But the true interior quality deno
ted by the title, to wit, truth ruling, and involving the
idea of ascendency, predominance, weight, influence,
moral control, characterize the man to whom the term is
applicable. JEtis judgment rules in counsels, and submis
sion to it is easy and natural. " In heaven one prefers

68 THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGSHIP.
another to himself as he excels in intelligence and wis
dom : the love itself of good and truth, produces this
effect, that every one subordinates himself, as it were, of
himself, to those who are in the wisdom of good and the
intelligence of truth superior to himself." — A. O. 7773.
There is nothing forced or galling, to a right mind, in the
deference paid to truth, when assured that it is_ truth —
truth flowing from a Divine source — for it seems identical
with the light of our own intelligence which we cannot
choose but obey ; whereas, let any one endeavor to
bear down heavily upon us by the simple dead weight of
official standing, of power and authority, and we are
soon goaded into indignant resistance. Such govern
ment is not royalty but despotism, and against this the
free spirit of the Lord's people arrays and braces itself
with instinctive promptitude. But the sceptre of
genuine truth is a golden sceptre, i. e. having the element
of good as its basis ; and such a sceptre is wielded by
every one of the spiritual kings in the Lord's Church.
To this species of royalty let every son of the kingdom
aspire, and in him will be fulfilled the self-affirmed but
divinely authorized predication of the inspired Word,
which is but an echo to the language of our text, " Thou
hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests, and we
shall reign upon the earth."

PREACHING.
IN KEPLY TO EEV. GEOEGE MELD.
In the second volume of the Repository (Feb. 1849)
we had occasion to notice the Heport of a Committee on
Lectures and Licenses made at the Seventh Annual
Meeting of the Michigan and Northern Indiana Associa
tion of the New Church, held Feb. 3, 1849, in which it
was resolved, as the sense of the committee, that " Every
member of this Association, in accordance with what is
taught in Doct. Char. No. 101, consider the communica
tion of free and sincere instruction on religious matters,
according to his ability and disposition, to be at once his
duty and his privilege." From this resolution the Eev.
George Field, as a minority of one, dissented, and offered
a report, subsequently published, which was entitled " A
Protest of the Minority of the Committee on Lectures
and Licenses against that part of the (majority) Beport
which acknowledges the right of Lay Inauguration into
the priestly office ; and of Preaching without Ordination
or License." This Protest of Mr. Field we published in
the March number of the Kepository, (1849,) and in
reference to the following paragraph, felt constrained to
advert to what we deemed a philological error in his
reasoning upon Acts, viii. 4, " They that were scattered
abroad went every where preaching the Word," from
which the inference is d rawn in the majority report that
these were laymen. Upon this Mr. F. remarks :
" Both in the Greek and Latin, there are two different words used
for that which is rendered in English by this one word, preaching. In
the Latin, one word is prcBdico, which is literally what we mean by
preaching, and is used to denote the addressing of a large number
of persons, either in the Synagogue, the Temple, or the open air. The
other word is evangelus, or an evangelist, i. e. the bearer of good news,
such as went from house to house, bearing intelligence of the joyful
7*

'70 PREACHING.
tidings ; those who evangelized therefore were not performing thepro25er
functions of a priest, or publicly preaching, but such as by private in
struction and exhortation went from place to place. 'This, though
sometimes performed by the Apostles themselves, was nevertheless,
more particularly the province of the evangclizers, who are called
' Assistant preachers of the Apostles.' (See Gr. Lex.) Now the
word used in the passage above quoted (Acts viii. 4) for preaching is
evangelizantes, or the carrying with them wherever tliey were scattered
abroad the Gospel news. But in the very next verse, where mention is
made of Philip (an Apostle) going down to them and preaching to the
citizens of Samaria, who were assembled to hear him, the word used
is pradicabat. Thus, this text actually refutes the very position it was
advanced to prove." — Repm-t, p. 44, 45.
To this we replied in the following remarks :
Now the fact is, the original word here is ixijpvsas,
ekerusse, which is not fairly represented by the English
wordpreach. Campbell, in his Dissertation on this and
kindred terms {Prelim. Dissert, vol. i., p. 230), after re
marking that kerusso comes from kerux, a crier, also a
herald, and signifies to cry, publish, or proclaim, and
kerugma, the thing published or proclaimed, goes on to
say : — " To preach is defined by Johnson, in his dic
tionary, ' to pronounce tx public discourse upon sacred
subjects.' This expresses with sufficient exactness the
idea we commonly affix to tbe term. For we may admit
that the attendant circumstances of church, pulpit, text,
worship, are but appendages. But the definition given
by the English lexicographer cannot bo called an inter
pretation of the term kerusso, as used in scripture. For
so far is it from being necessary that the kerugma should
be a discourse, that it may be only a single sentence, and
a very short sentence too. Nay, to such brief notifica
tions we shall find the term most frequently applied.
Besides, the word kerusso and kerugma were adopted
with equal propriety, whether the subject were sacred or
civil. Again, though the verb kerusso always applied
public notice of some event either accomplished or about
to be accomplished, often accompanied with a warning
to do or forbear something ; it never denoted either a
comment on, or explanation of, any doctrine, critical ob-

PREACHING. 71
servations on, or illustrations of, any subject, or a chain
of reasoning in proof of a particular sentiment. And if
so, to pronounce publicly such a discourse as, with us, is
denominated sermon, homily, lecture or preaching, would
by no means come within the meaning of the word in its
first and most common acceptation. It is not therefore
so nearly synonymous with didasko, to teach, as is now
commonly imagined."
To these remarks Mr. F. sent us a rejoinder, which
was published in the Eepository for May(18i9). This
we now give in full with our comments upon the positions
involved :
Dear Sie,
Will you be kind enough to show me in what way my remarks on
Acts viii. 4, " betray a philological error," as I confess myself at a loss
to see it, from your present criticism. I have stated that there are
generally two words, both in the Greek and Latin Testaments, which
are given in the English version by the one word " preaching ;" and
that the Latin word answering to the Greek ekerusse is prcedico, which
is literally what we mean by preaching, aud is used to denote the ad
dressing of a large number of persons, either in the Synagogue, the
Temple, or the open air.
Whatever force there may be in your objection, seems to be con
veyed in the assertion that the original Greek word ekerusse, " is not
fairly represented by the English word preach." On this, I would re
mark, that I believe iu every case where the word " ekerusse" is used
in the Greek Testament, its synonym in the Latin is prcedico, prcedicans,
&c. I presume, therefore, that it will be admitted that ekerusse is
fairly represented in the Latin tongue by prcedico as its equivalent.
And not only from such authorities as I have at hand does it appear
that the English word " preach," is synonymous with the Latin prcedico
and the Greek ekerusse, but that the meaning given in each language is
the same ; as confirmed by the constant use of this word in the New
Testament in the same sense as given by myself, and as defined by
lexicographers, and admitted by you.
In the London Encyclopaedia this word is thus defined, " Peeach —
French, prescher ; Latin, prcedico ; to deliver a public discourse upon
sacred subjects ; to proclaim ; publish ; inculcate : — a preacher is one
who discourses publicly on religion. ..." There is not anything
publicly notified, but we may properly say it is preached.' — Hooker."
Worcester defines it thus, " Preach — [prcedico, Jjatm — precher,Fv.]
to discourse publicly on the Gospel, &c. ; to pronounce a public dis
course upon a sacred subject :" also, " to proclaim or publish in reli
gious orations or sermons ; to inculcate publicly ; to teach." And

72 PREACHING.
Webster, in strict agreement with the above, says, it is to " pronounce
a public discourse on a religious subject, or from a text of Scripture.
To discourse on the Gospel way of salvation, and exhort to repentance.
To proclaim ; to publish in religious discourses," &c.
If you will compare these definitions with the one given by myself
as the meaning of ekerusse and prcedico, I think you must admit that
they offree precisely; nothing is said of the length ot time used in
preaching ; whether it be an hour, half an hour, or fifteen minutes ; but
that the preachers were the public heralds ofthe Lord's advent ; speak
ing by authority as a herald should. And so far as I can find, in every
place where the Lord was thus publicly proclaimed, it was by a com
missioned preacher, and in every instance where it is recorded, the
Greek word used is cfernsse, which is answered in the Latin hy prcedico.
Thus when John preaclied in the wilderness (Mark i. 4), " There went
out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem," &c. : and
he preached the remission of sins, and said, " there cometh one mightier
than I, after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloose." " And ho said unto them, Let us go into the next
towns that I may preach there also. And he preached in their syna
gogues throughout all Galilee," Mark i. 38, 39. And Jesus "preached
in the synagogues of Galilee," Luke iv. 44. And Sa,u\ preached Christ
in the synagogues, Acts ix. 20. Peter also says, that the Lord com
manded him " to preach unto the people," Acts x. 42.
Ia all these places the Greek word is the same {ekerusse), and the
meaning coincides precisely with that given above of preaching. How
long time they preached, is not known. It is not probable that in any
case all the words they uttered are recorded, or but little more than
the subject of their discourse. Thus upon one occasion in the syna
gogue when the Lord took a text from the prophet Isaiah, " The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me," &c., and " the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And He began to say
unto them. This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all
bare Him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of His mouth," Luke iv. — those divine words which produced this
astonished feeling do not appear to be recorded at all.
I cannot but think also that yonr author (Campbell) must be wrong
in saying that this word (ekerusse) was " adopted with equal propriety,
whether the subject were sacred or civil." Is it ever used in the New
Testament to proclaim merely civil news ? It seems to me to contain
too much of the name of the Lord (kurios) in it, to admit of its being
properly used for any other purpose than to announce His advent ; i. e.
a coming in the name of the Lord ; — proclaiming by authority and
dogmatic teaching His coming to redeem and save — crying that name
in the wilderness, and publishing it abroad in all the earth. Thus
preaching is truly a public annunciation of the Lord, and the conditions
of salvation, to collect audiences whether at His first or second advent ;
whilst evangelizing was properly the more private act of telling it to
individuals or families, in a conversational, or social capacity ; as when

PREACHING. 73
it is written that Philip preached to the Enunch, the word used is not
ekerusse, but evangelisnto.
As I wish to be right in every point, on this subject as well as
others, I have endeavored to be so ; but if you in any particular show
me truly where I err, I shall be thankful for the information, and will
endeavor to profit by it. But permit me to say a word more in con
clusion ; I think you have hardly been just in making it appear that
the weight of my objection to the inference drawn from the narrative
in Acts viii. 4, depended upon what you have termed a " philological
error," as it appears to me to be refuted without the verbal criticism
which I offered.
With sincere regard for your zeal in the cause of the New Jerusalem,
I remain very truly, yours,
Geoege Field.
Detroit, Mich., 1849.
The ground upon which we employed the phrase
" philological error," in reference to Mr. Field's report,
was what we deemed the want of a due discrimination
in regard to the Scripture usage of the terms generally
rendered in our version to preach, and the building an
important conclusion upon a translation instead of appeal
ing directly and mainly to the original. He says, for
example, in the passage quoted, that, " both in the Greek
and Latin there are two different words used for that
which is rendered in English by this one word, preach
ing. In the Latin, our word is prcedico, which is literally
what we mean by preaching, and is used to denote the
addressing of a large number of persons either in the
Synagogue, the Temple, or the open air." Now it is
plain that this is interpreting the Greek from the Latin
— whereas, the reverse is the true process — and leading
the English reader to suppose that prmdico in Latin, and
preach in English are perfect equivalents to kerusso in
Greek. This we attempted to show, in regard to the lat
ter, is not the case, and with this view we quoted, at
some length, from Campbell, a passage going to prove
that the leading idea conveyed by the Greek kerusso,
from kerux, a crier or herald, is not fairly represented by
the leading idea involved in the English word preach,
which is defined by Johnson and by Mr. Field's authori
ties, " to pronounce a public discourse upon sacred sub-

74 PREACHING.
jects." The scope of our brother's argument is to evince
that the function indicated by the term translated ^reac/i
was not properly to be performed by laymen, although
the office denoted by evangelizo (from evangelos, evangel
ist) might be discharged by them. "Those who evan
gelized were not performing the proper functions of a
priest or publicly preaching, but such as by private in
struction and exhortation, went from place to place."
Now, to say nothing of the implication iu these words,
that public preaching was a part of the priest's office,
whereas his duty was solely to offer sacrifices and minis
ter at the altar, the function of preaching, according to
the genuine purport of the original word, was as open to
what are considered the laity as that denoted by the term
for evangelizing. As it implies, in its dominant import,
simply announcing, proclaiming, pvhlishing, or acting
the part of a herald or crier, every one who had himself
received the message of the Gospel, was at liberty to
announce or promulgate it to others.
As Campbell in his preliminary dissertations has gone
most elaborately into the usage of the New Testament
writers in respect to this whole class of words having re
lation to what is usually understood by preaching, I shall
again draw upon his pages in this connection.
" Further, I must take notice, that though announcing
publicly the reign of the Messiah comes always under
the denomination, kerussein, no moral instructions, or
doctrinal explanations, given either by our Lord, or by
his apostles are ever, either in the Gospels or in the Acts,
so denominated. Thus, that most instructive discourse
of our Lord, the longest that is recorded in the Gospel,
commonly named his sermon on the mount, is called
teaching by the evangelist, both in introducing it, and
after the conclusion (Matt. v. 2, vii. 28, 29). ' Opening
his mouth, he taught them, saying :' and, ' when Jesus had
ended these sayings, the people were astonished, at his
doctrine^ his manner of teaching. It is added, 'for he
taught them as one having authority, and not as the
Scribes.' He is said to have been employed in teaching

JPPE ACHING. 75
(Matt. xiii. 54, Mark vi. % LtuW ^i- 1^, 22) when the
wisdom, which shone forth in his diecOnrees, excited the
astonishment of all who heard him, Iti lil^e manner, the
instructions he gave by parables, are callea .teaching the
people, not preaching to them (Mafk iv. 1, 2) u^d those
given in private to his apostles, are in the sam?' 'way
styled (Mark viii. 31) teaching, neter preaching. A-w
if teaching and preaching be found sometimes coupled
together, the reason appears to be, because their teaching,
in the beginning of this new dispensation, must Jiave
been frequently introduced by announcing the Messii.' l^j
which alone was preaching. The explanations, admoni
tions, arguments and motives, that followed, came under
the denomination of teaching. Nor does anything else
spoken by our Lord and his disciples, in his lifetime,
appear to have been called preaching, but this single
sentence, ' Eepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
In the Acts of the Apostles, the difference of meaning in
the two words is carefully observed. The former is
always a general and open declaration of the Messiah's
reign, called emphatically the good news, or Gospel ; or,
which amounts to the same, the announcing of the great
foundation of our hope, the Messiah's resurrection ; the
latter comprehends every kind of instruction, public or
private, that is necessary for illustrating the nature and
laws of this kingdom, for confuting gainsay ers, per
suading the hearers, for confirming and comforting
believers. The proper subject for each is fitly expressed
in the conclusion of this book (Acts xxxviii. 31), where,
speaking of Paul, then confined at Rome in a hired
house, the author tells us that he received all who came
to him, '•preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching
the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.' An
nouncing to them the reign of God, and instructing them
in everything that related to the Lord Jesus Christ."
In a subsequent paragraph he thus comments on the
Latin translation of the original : —
" In regard to the manner wherein this word has been
translated, with which I shall finish what relates

76 PREACHING.
peculiarly to it, we may observe th&t prmdicare, used in
the Vulgate, and in all the Latin versions, corresponds
entirely to the Greek word in its primitive meaning, ana
signifies to give public notice by proclamation, in this
sense it had been used by the Latin classics long befo e
the Latin translation of the Bible mtp their tongue But
prmdicare, having been emp oyed uniformly in rendering
'keruSmni-^ot only in ^l^e history, bum he Epistles
Keru.. <- , J ,^ - a signification different
has derived from the latter u.. ^,^ ^ ^^^^^^
and much more limited than it has i^ ^ fion is that
Now, this additional or acquired signfficw.. "ostics •
which has principally obtained amongst ecclesia '
and hence has arisen the sole meaning in moderil lau-
guages ascribed to the Word, whereby they commonly
render the Greek kerusso. The Latin wofcl is manifestly
that from which the Italian prwdicarCf the French
preacher, and the English to preach, are derived. Yet
these three words correspond to the Latin only in the
last mentioned and ecclesiastical sense, not in the primi
tive and classical, which is also the Scriptural sense in
the Gospel and Acts. Thus the learned Academicians
della Crusca, in their Vocabulary, interpret the Italian
predicare, not by the Latin prmdicare, its etymon, but
by concionari, concionem habere ; terms certainly much
nearer than the other to the import of the word used in
the other two languages mentioned, though by no means
adapted to express the sense of kerussein in the historical
books. This is another evidence of what was observed
in a former dissertation, that a mistake, occasioned by
supposing the word in the original, exactly correspondent
to the term in the common version, by which it is usually
rendered, is often confirmed, instead of being corrected
by recurring to translations into other modern tongues,
inasmuch as from the same, or similar causes, the like
deviation from the original import has been produced in
these languages as in our own."
From all this we may perhaps deem ourselves war
ranted in applying the phrase " philological error" to the
remarks of Mr. Field on the import of the original word

PREACHING. 77
for preaching. In regard to the peculiar meaning of
evangelizo, evangelos, as denoting the impartation of good
news, our friend is no doubt correct, but when he would
make it a distinction between this term and kerusso, that
the one donoted a function which none but the clergy
could properly perform, while the other fell within the
sphere of laical uses, we are obliged to dissent from his
position altogether. And it is worthy of notice that
while in Acts viii. 4, 5, we read that when " they were
scattered abroad and went every where preaching
{evangellizantes) the word, then Philip went down to
the city of Samaria, and preached {ekerusse) Christ unto
them ;" yet in v. 12, of the same chapter we find the
phraseology varied ; but when they believed Philip
preaching {evangellizomeno) the things concerning the
Kingdom of God," &c. Indeed as a Newchurchman we
presume Mr. Field will appreciate the following note of
Mr. Clowes on Luke viii. 1, "And it came to pass after
ward, that he went throughout every city and village,
preaching (Jierrusson) and declaring the glad tidings
{evang ellizomenos) of the kingdom of God." " A dis
tinction," says Mr. Clowes, " is here made between
preaching (Gr. kerrusso) and declaring the glad tidings
of {evangellizomenos) ; preaching having more respect
to the affection of divine and heavenly good in the will,
whilst declaring the glad tidings qf, has more respect to
the illumination of the divine and heavenly truth in the
understanding. Thus both expressions combined have
reference to and mark the divine and heavenly marriage
of good and truth, with which the whole world is replen
ished." If this be well founded, then it would seem
that preaching rather than evangelizing denotes that
" insinuation of good" which Swedenborg allows to every
member of the Church, while he apparently restricts the
" insinuation of truth" to the " teaching minister."
We insert, in conclusion, an extract from " Conder's
Protestant Non-Conformity," a very able work, treating
of the fundamental principles of ecclesiastical policy, it
is not the work of a Newchurchman, but it contains

78 PREACHING.
ideas very much in accordance with New Church prin
ciples, and for ourselves we regard the following extract
as decidedly of that character.
" Truth by whomsoever it is promulgated, cannot but
possess the same intrinsic authority. The fact that an
individual does or does not preach the truth of Christ,
cannot be made to depend upon any hypothesis respect
ing his having, or his not having, the right to preach it.
If he preaches the Gospel, the fact is placed beyond dis
pute that he is competent to the exercise of the Christian
ministry, and what is there that can be interposed
between the competence and the right ? Were our assent
required to this position, that it is not every one who
chooses to assume the ministerial function that is compe
tent to discharge it with fidelity and efficacj', there would
be no difficulty in coming to an agreement ; but the ad
vocates of ecclesiastical restrictions, proceed upon the
supposition that the self-constituted teacher is possessed
of the requisite knowledge, the moral competency ; a
thing very different from mere choice ; nevertheless, his
right and his authority arc represented as dependent on
human appointment. If, however, as we believe, this
authority is of a purely spiritual nature, and the preach
ing of the Gospel is one of those religious actions, which
are not subject to magisterial control, while Ave deny
that any man may preach merely because he chooses,
we affirm that his choice, which may possibly spring
from a sense of duty, is a sufficient reason in the sight of
man. A person cannot be said to believe because he
chooses to believe ; he does not understand that which
he preaches because he chooses to understand it. The
will is not itself the adequate cause of such voluntary
actions. If there is any truth in the Scripture declara
tion, that ' the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned, but he that is spiritual
judgeth all things,' — then, we must admit that a capacity
for preaching the_ Gospel with intelligence, is not a
matter dependent either on human fancy on the one hand.

PREACHING. 79
or on political regulations on the other. The usurpation
of the sacred office by incompetent persons, is an evil
which the interposition of ecclesiastical restrictions is ill
adapted to mitigate.
" But further : every individual has a natural right to
the free assertion and argumentative maintenance of his
own opinions, provided those opinions are not subversive
of social order. If no objection lies against the nature of
his sentiments, no criminality can attach to the most un
reserved expression of them. It would be indeed
strange that this natural right should be lessened in pro
portion to the certain truth and supreme importance of
what he teaches. Yet those who would restrict the exer
cises of the Christian ministry, rest their arguments on
this consideration, that it is the Gospel which is preached.
The objection is taken not against the truth of what is
taught, but against the authority of the teacher, as if his
natural freedom in respect of the assertion of what he
knows to be true, and feels to be infinitely consequential,
underwent some mysterious modification, when the truths
which he labors to propagate relate to the salvation of
the soul. ' Master,' said the disciples to our Lord, ' we
saw one casting out demons in thy name, and we forbade
him, because lie foUowetii not with us.' Our Lord's
reply stands on record as a rejjroof of the officious zeal of
those who, in a similar spirit of worldly wisdom and sec
tarian policy, would impose laws on the church which
Christ has not imposed, and exclude from the ministry
those whom he has not excluded : — ' Forbid him not ; for
he that is not against us, is for us.' — ' Wherefore I give
you to understand,' says St. Paul, when treating expressly
of spiritual gifts, and of the essential unity of the Church,
' that no man speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth
Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is
the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. There are diversities
of operation, but it is the same God, which worketh all
in all.' Neither the right, then, to exercise the minis
terial function, nor the authority annexed to it, originates
in the will, or is dependent upon the appointment, of man.

80 PREACHING.
" Every faithful preacher of the Gospel, in fulfilling
the will of Christ, claims to be considered as invested
with a necessary ministerial authority ; an authority
simply and entirely resulting from the message which he
promulgates and the command which he fulfils ; an
authority under which the Christian evangelist goes
forth to execute a commission extending to all nations,
and to every individual of every nation under heaven ;
a moral or rather spiritual authority, distinct from the
pastoral jurisdiction, which rests upon particular rela
tions originating in appointment and choice ; distinct
from whatsoever has its source in the will of man ; and
attaching to whomsoever, as the bearer of the evangeli
cal message, we may regard as the organ of Christ. The
ministry is of necessity one in kind : it must, therefore,
as regards the discharge of it by any individual, be
either that of ' the Spirit of truth,' or of ' the Spirit of
error ;' it is either efficient, as the preaching of Christ, or
it is wholly inefficient and unauthorized. Official desig
nation, ecclesiastical dignity, can make no difference in
the character of the ministry exercised by any man in
the Church of Christ. The humblest self-constituted
teacher, who is possessed of the appropriate credentials
of the ministerial character, in the purity of his doc
trines, the success of his labors, and the unblemished
tenor of his life, is invested with an authority to which
no circumstantial additaments of human appointment
are requisite to impart validity ; it requires no sanction
from man, for with man it does not originate. A preacher
may be undeniably deficient in some of those subsidiary
qualifications which constitute a 7iatural fitness for the
office of teacher ; but the capacity for preaching the truth
of Christ, so as to fulfil the purposes of the Christian
ministry, is, let it never be forgotten, a spiritual capacity;
and where this is possessed, it is in vain, and worse than
in vain, for us to withhold our recognition of the essential
character and authority of the Christian minister as ex
isting in that individual, how humble soever his station

PREACHnfG. 81
or his acquirements. With the utmost propriety such a
man may appeal to those to whose consciences he has
been commended by the efficacy of his pious labors :
' If I be not' a minister ' unto others, yet doubtless I am
to you ; for the seal of my' ministry ' are ye in the
Lord.' " — Prot. Non-Com. vol. i. p. 166-174. '

THE MINISTRY.
LETTEE FEOM EEV. T. O. PRBSCOTT.
[N. C. Repos., May, 1850.]
Me. Bditoe,
My attention has been attracted by reports in your Magazine, and
also by the article in the last No. of the New Church Quarterly on
the su'bject of the Ministry, lay-preaching, ordination, &c. I was also
reading, a day or two since, your remarks on the subject of your own
ordination, in the July No. of the Eepository. These things, my dear
sir, have brought my ideas in some degree to a focus on the subject of
the ministry, aud I should like to have a little conversation with you
on this important topic. I am a lover of freedom, and at the same
time a lover of order. I am desirous to see maintained the greatest
degree of freedom consistent with Divine aud Heavenly order, and the
real good of the church and of individuals, and I feel anxious to dis
cover what is the true medium. I believe your own mind to be in
& similar state in this respect. Perhaps, then, a little comparison of
views on this subject would aid both of us.
The way I look at the institution of the ministry, is somewhat as
follows : First, I believe the ministry to be, both from the teachings
of the Word, and the writings of the Church, as also from all histori
cal evidence, from the conclusions of reflection and common sense, and
from a consideration of the wiMits of mankind, a distinct office and use.
Setting aside other grounds fur such a belief, I think the teachings of
the Church entirely explicit on this point Priests and the priesthood
and the clergy are spoken of everywhere in the writings, as a distinct
office, filled by a distinct class of individuals. This is so manifest
that, as it seems to me, no one can have a doubt of it, but one who
has made up his mind, and persists in holding another view. Num
berless quotations might be made from the writings upon this
point, but it is needless, for it pervades their whole tenor. The
view, therefore, contained in one of the reports before referred to,
that all internal men who have learned interior doctrine and con
firmed it by the Word, are meant by the clergy, and that all who
from love to the Lord and charity to the neighbor are in truth, &c.,
arc meant by " teaching ministers" — surprised me exceedingly ; the
serious holding up of such a view seemed to me to argue rather a spirit
of ingenuity, and desire to support a preconceived opinion, than wis
dom or truth, 'that it is quite unsound may be seen by a single quo
tation from tho writings. In heaven all certainly are internal men (at
least in the higher heavens), and all there are in truths from love and
charity ; yet even there we are taught that preachers are a distinct

TIIB MINISTRY. 83
class, and that " it is not allowed any except them to teach in the
temples," H. ^ H. 226 ; and in T, C, R, 661, one of these, named as
the " high priest," and calling himself " minister of the church" in
heaven, is described and presented to view.
But, in the second place, if ministers or the clergy be a distinct
body of individuals, by whom should they be appointed to their office ?
In heaven, as we learn, they are appointed, as all officers are, directly
by the Lord : but in this lower world, this duty, like every other, is
left to man to perform, " acting in freedom according to reason." How
then should they be appointed ? Should it be by other ministers ? I
cannot see any principle on which they should. As to the figment of
" Apostolic succession," we know from our author, A. R. 802, as pro
perly quoted in the report above mentioned, that the notion of trans
ferring the Holy Spirit from one man to another, was a mere invention
from the Babylonish love of dominion. But shall a man appoint him
self? In other words, is it proper or expedient that every one who
chooses should declare himself a minister of the church, and proceed
to exercise the functions of the office ? I answer, No .' for two or three
reasons. One is, that it is well known, and any one of observation
must have been struck with the fact, that it is not always those who
think themselves qualified, and who have a desire to preach, who are
qualified for the work. I have been struck with this myself, in
several instances. It is often not a spiritual love of use, evidently,
that prompts such desire, or even the " genius stirring within," or the
spirit of the Lord at all, but sometimes a mere love of display, or a
high opinion of one's own intelligence, or the desire of distinction,
which is at the bottom. The true preachers, as biography shows, are
those men who have been reluctant to come forward, who had to be
forced almost into the office, by their friends, who knew their fitness
(in the biographies of Massillon, Fenelon, Augustine, Chrysostom, and
many others) . And this backwardness, I can easily understand, is the
effect of the very power and spirit moving in the centre of their souls,
and giving light to their minds, which by its very brilliancy at once
interiorly urges them on, and yet makes them shrink from the great
and high duty, which the Spirit presents to them to be done. Just
as the common mind thinks it can do anything while the man of genius
is cautious and timid, aud fearful he cannot bring into act the grand
conceptions that burn within him.
Thus, then, it is no criterion of a man's fitness to preach, that he
has a desire to preach. But another and an unanswerable reason
why a man should not appoint himself is, that it is not a private office
but a public one. The whole church has an interest at stake in its
preachers. They stand in a manner as its representatives before the
world ; and their character, both intellectual and moral, will affect
greatly the estimation in which will be held both the opinions which
they utter, and also the members who entertain those opinions. This
being the case, the whole church has a right to have a voice in the

si THE MINISTRY
appointment of the ministers of the church. Nay, there is no way in
which that general voice can express itself so justly or truly, nor in
deed do I perceive any other practicable way, than through the
Annual Conference or Convention, which is the nearest approximation
to a representation of the church at large (or in a country as extensive
as the IJnited States, perhaps a State Association would be a body
sufficiently general). This, then, my dear sir, is the simple and obvious
reason, in my opinion, why the Convention should appoint the minis
ters of the church ; and why it is not right for an individual or for any
single society or small body to appoint a minister ; because, a minister,
once appointed, does become, by custom and courtesy, if by no other
rule, the 'representative, and is received as the minister of the church
at large. Therefore the church at large has an interest in, aud should
have a voice in, the appointment.
But in the next place, the person thus appointed, chosen, or ap
proved of (or recognized, as you express it) by the church in general,
is then, by the laws of Divine order, as we are expressly taught, to be
introduced into the office by an orderly form of inauguration ; and we
are taught distinctly also what that form is, viz., " imposition of
hands," which represents or corresponds to communication (See Divine
Love and Wisdom, 220 ; A. C. 6292). We are also expressly taught,
T. C. R. 146, that certain gifts and aids attend that inauguration and
are imparted with it from the Lord, as illustration, &c. Now, the
way I understand this somewh.at difficult point, is thus : not that a man
can be made a minister, or become fitted for the office, solely by this
inauguration — by no means ; but simply that one already in general
fitted by the proper talents from the Lord, education, &c., has his fit
ness completed or perfected by the influx that attends orderly intro
duction into the office. Just as baptism or the Holy Supper alone
will save uo one, but yet will be a help, and will bring increased spiritual
influences to him who does the work of regeneration otherwise — who
believes in the Lord and keeps his commandments.
The question has been sometimes raised, Who in such cases may
perform the right of imposition of hands. May any one, or may only
a minister ? I would reply that to my mind it is certainly a function
that belongs to the ministerial office ; for we are taught in A. C.
10,799, that priests are appointed for the administration of those
things that relate to the divino law and worship. It belongs to that
office just as the administration of Baptism and the Holy Supper
belongs to it. Not that the Holy Spirit or any power whatever
passes from the minister himself to the person ordained (as is the idea
of the "Apostolic succession" principle), for all the gifts that attend
inauguration into the ministry are communicated doubtless from the
Lord alone ; but simply, because, according to the quotation just made,
all functions and ceremonies relating to the divine law and worship,
belong to the ministerial office, just as civil duties belong to a civil
office, &c. ; and order requires that these distinctions should be ob
served.

THE MINISTRY. 85
But here it is to be noticed, that the mere performing of the cere
mony of ordination by a minister, and his appointing another to the
office ofthe ministry (which are sometimes confounded), are two per
fectly distinct things, and have no connection with each other what
ever. It has already been shown, that ministers should be appointed,
that is, chosen or approved of, by the church at large : the minister
simply performs the ceremony upon those thus appointed : — ^just as it
is not for a minister to say who shall be baptized or who shall partake
of the Holy Supper ; he simply administers the ordinance to those who
present themselves or are presented. A minister, indeed, should have
his voice or his vote in the appointment, like every other member of
the Convention. The judgment of the ministers present at the Con
vention will, indeed, naturally be consulted on an occasion of this
kind. Since they have iu some respects a peculiar fitness for judging
ofthe candidate's intellectual and educational qualifications, and there
fore s.ich applications might with propriety be referred to them for
their farther opinion ; still, however, the decision will be with the
whole body of members.
Tou will observe that my remarks, thus far, have been directed to
this point, or these points, viz. : that there is in tho church a distinct
office of the ministry ; that there is and should be a distinct body of
individuals who fill that office ; that these should be appointed, ap
proved of, or recognized by the Church at large, or a body that repre
sents it ; that when so appointed, they should be inaugurated into the
office by an orderly form, which should be performed by the hands of
a mimster, the effect of which inauguration has also been touched
upon. Thus my object has been to show that, as the writings teach ,
there is and should be a regular ministry in and for the New Church.
And I have dwelt upon this, because there seem to be floating doubts
in some minds in regard to it, or at least loose ideas concerning it.
Now, there is another topic of interest, which is quite distinct from
this, and should not be confounded with it, viz. : the question of lay
preaching ; that is, whether (admitting that there is a regular ministry,
&c.) it is still allowable for laymen, or persons not ministers, to teach
and preach the doctrines of the Church, when they seem to have the
ability and inclination to do so. This, as before said, is a distinct
question. And it is one, I confess, of difficulty. It is certain that
the writings teach (in A- C. 6822) that preaching, or the public teach
ing of truth, belongs to the ministerial office, and that there is danger
arising from an indiscriminate exercise of this function. And, proba
bly, when the church becomes fully and wisely established, this order
of things can and will be strictly observed. But in the present
incipient state of the Church, where there are few regular ministers,
where there is much 1 o be done, and so few to do it ; when it is diffi
cult in many places to support a minister in the sole uses of his office ;
and when the reception of the now truth kindles a desire to make it
known to others. I do not know whether it would be wise or neces
sary to put too close a restriction on the efforts of individual members

86 THE MINIS IRY.
in this respect. I do not perceive that any serious harm could arise
(and perhaps some good might) from an individual, not a minister,
giving an occasional lecture, or course of lectures, on the doctrines,
when so disposed and when desired by those who may wish to be in
structed. At the same time I think that it would be the more orderly
course — when a layman finds himself led on, from giving an occasional
lecture, to the regular delivery of discourses — to obtain the recognition
and approbation of his brethren of the church at large, as expressed
through their proper organ, the Convention, or any ofthe State Associa
tions. This might be expressed in the form of a license, as hitherto
common in the church in the United States, which license I regard as
simply meaning an expression of opinion on the part of the church in
general, that the person so licensed is properly fitted for the duty or
use of preaching the doctrines ; not that such a license is supposed to
have in it any power of conferring fitness, nor that it means to imply
any authoritative forbidding of any one else to open his lips (as some
seem to have conceived), but that it is simply a recognition of fitness
in the person so licensed. And the asking of such a recognition is
orderly and proper, because, as before shown, a public teacher of the
doctrines becomes in some degree a representative of the whole Church,
and its character ; and the whole church, therefore, has a direct interest
in seeing that such teachers are worthy and properly qualified. I
think that no one, with such a spirit of humility and self-distrust, as is
becoming a teacher of spiritual truth, could object to such a course ;
and he would find his hands strengthened by pursuing it — by feeling
that he has the publicly expressed approbation of his brethren. Such
licentiate might then be regarded as a candidate for the ministry, and
as preparing himself to be admitted into it in an orderly manner, when
circumstances permitted, and a proper opportunity offered.
This is the way, my dear sir, in which the subject of lay preaching
presents itself, after much reflection to my mind. And it seems to me
a course which would put no unnecessary restriction on individual
freedom, and yet would tend to preserve due order. Tou observe the
points are two : first, there is no objection to any receiver of the doc
trines, who feels so disposed, giving an occasional lecture, or course of
lectures ;. but, secondly, that if he finds himself led into a regular and
habitual course of public teaching, or preaching, that then it would be
orderly that he, or his friends for him, should make application to tho
Convention or State Association, for their approbation expressed in
the form of a license, which there is no fear would be refused to any
one truly worthy, both as to ability and moral character.
In regard, however, to the administration of the ordinances of Bap
tism and the Holy Supper by laymen, or those not in the office of the
ministry (a question which has also been occasionally agitated), I
must express tho opinion that it seems to me quite contrary to due
order and unwarrantable. These are duties properly and strictly be
longing to the office of the ministry or priesthood, as may be seen from
a reference to A. C. 10,799, where it is declared that " priests are ap-

THE MINISTRY. 87
pointed for the administration of those things that relate to the Divine
law and worship." It is a case quite different from that of publicly
teaching or preaching the doctrines. Every man who has the know
ledge of truth will naturally have a wish to express his thoughts in
regard to it, either privately to one or a few, or publicly to many ; so
that every receiver of truth is naturally, in some degree, a teacher or
communicator of it to others. But to perform a religious ceremony,
to administer a sacred and solemn ordinance of the church, is altoge
ther another thing. No one does this by nature ; he must go out of
his way to do it ; it is an extraordinary not an ordinary thing. And
in doing it, he is entering upon functions that belong to a distinct
office, established in the church both on earth and in heaven, for the
express purpose of performing such holy administrations. Neither is
there the necessity for it that there may be for the other. The teach
ing of truth is a work which has to be widely carried on, and conti
nually kept up, for the enlightenment and salvation of mankind ; many
hands must be incessantly engaged in it. But the administration of
the ordinances of Baptism and the Holy Supper, is only an occasional
thing, that may without much inconvenience or injury be deferred till
such time as the services of an authorized minister of the church can
be obtained.
These, my dear sir, are some of the thoughts which have presented
themselves to my mind on the subject of the ministry in the New
Church. If you think the publication of them will be of any service
I have no objection to it. I remain, dear sir, truly.
Tour brother in the Lord,
T. 0. Prescott.
Glasgow, March, 1850.
As the above article or argument by oiir transatlantic
brother presents what may probably with justice be re
garded as the prevalent view of the Ministry obtaining in
the E"ew Church, and as it differs very materially from our
own, we shall embrace the opportunity to enlarge a little
upon the general subject. The particular replies which,
under other circumstances, we should perhaps offer to the
several points made in Mr. Prescott's communication, we
shall leave our readers to educe for themselves from the
scope of our remarks. As a whole, the theme is one of
vast extent and complex relations, and it will be almost
inevitable that we fail, in some point or bther, to do full
justice to the argument. We may leave our positions
open to an interrogation which, because unanswered.

88 THE MINISTRY.
may appear on a cursoiy glance unanswerable. But
our fundamental grounds will claim the chief attention ;
and if these are sound, the minor matters of detail will
readily right themselves in the reader's mind.
A correct idea of the Ministry in the Lord's New
Church cannot be formed apart from a perception of
the true genius and ends of that Church in contradistinc
tion from those of the Old Church, as practically con
ceived and acted on, against which it virtually arrays
itself in nearly every particular. The individual man in
the Old Church is held in abeyance ; in the New he is
brought forward and elevated. Every man of the
Church is a church itself in the least form. Freedom
and rationality are his grand characteristics, and for any
man to wave the exercise of these is to surrender his
most distinctive prerogatives. Each individual must see
truth for himself, and order his life according to it, or he
can have no alaim to discipleship in the IsTew Jerusalem.
Still, as there are states of instruction in the progress of
regeneration, so there is a corresponding office of teach
ing, and one whicli grows in an orderly way out of the
nature of the case. It is the normal product of the ex
igencies of men's states, and is primarily referable to
the law of charity, which dictates that one who has more -
of good and truth should impart of his abundance to
him that has less ; and it is not to be questioned that
Swedenborg, for the most part, treats the subject of min
istry under the head of charity, of which it is one pro
minent department. Exciting good and imparting truth
is spiritually feeding the hungry and clothing the naked,
as every one knows who has himself received any
adequate measure of this species of benefaction. Action
of this nature towards its appropriate objects is the very
law of the regenerate life. It requires not that a man
should be called by official designation to exercise the
functions of neighborly love. Such an universal duty
cannot be exclusively confined to any distinct class or
caste. This will be more evident if we look at the primitive

THE MINISTRY. 89
formation of a society of the New Church, or of any
Church. A community of this kind is one of an entirely
voluntary character, composed of individuals drawn
together from interior affinities and for a common end.
They propose to .themselves the instituting of divine
worship, and the mutual edification of each other. They
agree to walk together in the ordinances of the Lord's
house, and somewhat of a mutual covenant is implied in
the union. Their relation to each other is more than
that of mere aggregation. It involves the idea of
organization. There is, in the first place, a community
of spirit, of interest, of aims, operating as an attractive
force to draw them together, and then there is a kind of
spiritual crystallization, which brings them into an oi--
ganized form. It is wholly immaterial in what manner
the associative infiuence first begins to operate. It may
be from preaching, or it may be from reading. But the
right of Christian believers thus to come together, and
to organize themselves into a society, is a primary and
indefeasible right, derived from the Lord himself, and
ratified in the explicit declaration, " Where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them." This is the charter of heaven under
which any number of Christians is as fully authorized to
form themselves as a banking company among men in
the business world is at liberty to avail itself of the
general law to that effect. For the exercise of this right
they are not dependent upon any other society, or upon
any clergyman. They are at full liberty to form them
selves into such a fraternity in obedience to the Lord's
will, and with a view to secure its appropriate ends. At
the same time we admit that if they can conveniently
enjoy the presence and concurrence of their brethren in
the faith, or that of an acknowledged clergyman on such
an occasion, it is well ; only let it be understood that all
such persons are present as helpers and not as authorizers
of their proceedings. To these they are amply compe
tent in themselves, being authorized from the highest
possible source ; and it may sometimes be important, for
9

90 THE MINISTRY.
the sake of a more emphatic assertion of Christian liberty,
to decline any other co-operation on the part of laity or
clergy from abroad, than that of their brotherly sympa
thies and good wishes.
Supposing, then, such a society ofthe New Church to
be duly formed, it is obvious that the performance of
use, bearing upon the general interests of the Lord's
kingdom, is the great end which they are ever to have
in view. But as use is governed by quality'-, their first
and paramount aim is to be, to render themselves, ac
cording to the laws of divine order, of such a quality as
shall enable them to achieve the largest amount of good,
each to the other, and'all to each ; beside what they are
enabled to render to the world at large. The action of
such a society is a kind of secretion of spiritual use, just
as the secretion of an organ in the human body tends to
the conservation and well being of the whole. And as
every particle of every organ contributes its share in the
elaborating process, so is each individual in such a
society to furnish his respective quota of influence to the
perfection of the whole. In this respect they all stand
upon an equal footing. In the common aim of the whole
every member has an equal interest. The humblest dis
ciple has as much at stake as the highest and most dis
tinguished. His soul is of as much importance, his
comfort and prosperity in spiritual things as much an
object of Divine and angelic care, as that of his other
wise more favored brother, and he in like manner is
under equal obligation to study in his place and relations
the best good of the entire body. All this, be it observed,
lies upon the society from its very inception, and prior
to the appointment of any one or more individuals to
what is termed the clerical or ministerial office ; for in
the nature of the case, the particular church or society
must be prior to its ministers, just as any civil society or
government is prior to its officers. In this primitive
state of things every one is virtually and potentially a
minister, preacher, or priest, because every one is a
church in the least form. Nor do we see any adequate

THE MINISTRY. 91
reason why this prerogative should be considered as ever
alienable from its rightful subjects. The exercise of it
may be waved to a greater or less degree under peculiar
circumstances, as when the superior gifts of one, in any
particular department, may supersede for a time those
of another; but so far as the principle is concerned, we
hold it undeniable that everj' man of the church, from
the necessity of things, is potentially a minister. And
in this matter it is important to hold fast to first principles,
for it is here that usurpation generally makes its entrance,
by falsifying or sophisticating some fundamental truth,
and making it, thus transformed, the basis of a system
of tyrannous domination and oj^pression.
But it will be asked, Is there no such thing as a dis
tinct function of teaching or preaching in the New
Church % Can anything be more obvious than the recog
nition of such a function, both in the Word and in the
writings ofthe Church ? Aud if there is to be teaching,
must there not be teachers ? Does not a function imply
functionaries, or men discharging what Mr. Prescott
terms " a distinct office and use ?" If all are teachers,
where are the taught? If all are leaders, where are the
led ? To this we reply^, that diversity of uses in the
Lord's spiritual body does not necessarily create diversity
of grades in those who perform such uses. We acknow
ledge at once the necessity of teaching and of teachers
in the Church ; but we deny that this fact lays a founda
tion for that radical distinction oi clergy and ZaiY^/ which
has obtained currency throughout Christendom, and
which has opened a Pandora's box of evils and mischiefs
to the church of the past. The New Church of the
present and the future is not a church in representatives,
but in realities. The substantial things which the priest
hood represented are now enjoyed by the general body
composing the New Jerusalem, and being diffused
throughout the whole of that body, they cannot be ap
propriated or monopolized by any one class. New
Church societies on earth are now to form themselves
more and more on the model of the societies of the New

92 THE MINISTRY'.
Church in the heavens, and with these there is no preach
ing priesthood. There is indeed a priesthood, but it is
composed of the whole celestial kingdom, and the men
of that kingdom never preach. There are also preach
ers in the heavens ; but as they are not priests, being of
the spiritual kingdom, so they are not constituted preach
ers by a self-perpetuating order, but receive their aj)-
pointment directly from the Lord, and that too, as we
may reasonably infer, by the operation and influx of his
Spirit flowing into their minds, and generating both the
love and the ability for the use which they are thence
called to perform. Their gifts and endowments are per
ceived by the society to be adapted to their exigencies,
and they receive and acknowledge them in this relation.
They do not confer any power upon them ; they do not,
strictly speaking, appoint them ; they simply acknowl
edge them as qualified, and thereby designated by the
Lord himself to officiate in this capacity in the perform
ance of a use which their states render requisite. Such
individuals fall into the centre, instead of the circumfer
ence, as a matter of course, and in an orderly state of
things it is just as natural that their peculiar province
should be recognized and acknowledged as that the cor
poreal system at large should acknowledge the all-per
vading and sustaining action of the heart. But we see
nothing in all this that necessarily constitutes them a
permanently distinct class, invested with any kind of
rule or authority other than that which emanates from
the truths they communicate. They are to the whole
society what a particular organ is to the whole human
body. To the eye, for instance, pertains the function of
seeing, but it cannot see apart from the body to which it
belongs. So with the ear, the nose, the tongue. They
all have their several uses in the bodily economy, but
they are not on this account in any manner distinct from
the body. So in like manner the use or function of
teaching or preaching in the societies of the New Church
does not constitute a distinct grade or ord.er in such
societies, discriminated from the mass as the clergy are

THE MINISTRY. 93
now supposed to be discriminated from the laity — a dis
tinction equivalent to a discrete degree.
We are well aware how difficult it will be for many of
our readers to rest in our conclusion, that there may be
a distinction in use which does not amount to a distinc
tion in office, or rather in official order or caste. Nor
are we sure that we can make our idea any more intel
ligible by expansion or illustration. If it does not strike
the mind with somewhat of an intuitive perception, it
will not probably be apprehended after pages of elaborate
exposition. We would say, however, that by the distinct
order or office of the clergy in the church, we mean an
order which perpetuates itself by some special form of
ordination or inauguration, wherein the body of the
church, or the laity, as they are termed, have no share.
That such an order of men, whether called priests, cler
gymen, or ministers, was designed to exist in the New
Church is what we venture to deny ; while at the same
time we freely admit and strenuously maintain that
there is a function of teaching which is to be discharged
by those who have the requisite qualifications therefor.
If these two propositions are deemed inconsistent with
and destructive of each other, so it must be. In our
view they are not.
The function of teaching in a wider sense, or of preach
ing or proclaiming the gospel as an evangelist or mis
sionary to the world at large, wo would place on the
broad ground of a general right of all men to utter and
enforce by argument such sentiments as they may enter
tain on any subject whethv-r secular or sacred. Especially,
if no exceptions are taken to the sentiments themselves,
there can be do just exceptions taken to the most free
g,nd unreserved expression of them by their holders.
This open and free declaration of opinion is the more
legitimate import of the word preach, which is derived
from a root expressive of the office of a public crier, a
proclaimer, or herald of tidings whether good or bad.
When the tidings are good it is gospel, another name for
the good news,^ar eminence, of the kingdom of heaven,
9*

94: THE MINISTRY.
and we would ask how much ecclesiastical authority one
requires to empower him to declare the glad tidings of
the Lord's second advent, especially when we learn that
every one to whom the message comes is to be an echo
to its gracious burden ; "And the Spirit and the Bride
say. Come. And let him that heareth say. Come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Is not this a sufficient commission ?
The origin, then, we contend, of the ministry in the
New Church is in the exigencies of the society. The
office is necessarily created by the spiritual demands of
the members. Certain gifts are in requisition, and the
possession of the gifts, together with the genuine love of
the use, is the warrant for their exercise. The divine
infiux is into the use, and the thing is orderly of course.
The true ministerial function is therefore intrinsically^
prior to all ordination administered by man, for we are
now in quest of the manner in which the very first min
ister becomes such. We are endeavoring to re-mount to
the primo-jjrimitive source of a New Church ministry.
We have seen that it is merely one form of that complex
of uses which pertains to a society qf New Church
Christians. It is a use of serving rather than of ruling.
A minister is a servant, find not a lord or master ; this
is the very meaning of the term. But tlie service ofthe
church is multiform, and so is the ministry. As every
member has a service to perform, so he has a ministry
to discharge, and nothing would be more pernicious than
to regard the employment of a teaching minister as car
rying with it a supersedeas to all other forms of spiritual
service. But here we can easily foresee that the claims of oi^der
will be urged. Is it not opening the door to confusion
and every evil work to concede such license on the score
of preaching or teaching ? Will it not be a grievous
infraction of order and a serious periling of the best
interests of the Church if the seal of sanctity be taken
off from the clerical office, and the current distinction
between clergy and laity virtually done away ? As the

THE MINISTRY. 95
office is a public office and the good name and well-
being of the church is at stake, should there not be an
express authority conferred before any one assumes to
himself the responsibility of the function ? Does not
the church need protection against the inroads of false
teachers and unworthy representatives ? Our answer to
this vrill suggest itself from the tenor of what goes
before. The question fairly arises, if our premises are
sound, where the authority sought resides. As the office
of teaching grows directly out of the wants of a society^,
and its authority lies in its use, the existence of a min
istry cannot depend upon an antecedent ordaining clergy
any more than an effect can re-act and re-produce its
cause. The ministry of a society ante-dates that of an
order of clergy pertaining to the church at large, grant
ing for the present that such an order may exist.
If the view now presented be still thought to be preg
nant with evil results, it behoves us to look well to the
remedies proposed and see whether they may not, in the
long run, involve greater evils than those they are in
tended to cure or prevent. This they will surely do if
they conflict with genuine order and virtually deny first
principles of truth or freedom. It is not unusual to hear
it said that persons not duly inducted should not be
allowed to officiate in the ministry. But who is author
ized to prevent them, and whence came the power ?
What are the credentials shown for it ? Is not every
man at liberty to utter his sentiments on any subject
that he deems of moment to his fellow-men, and even if
those sentiments should be intrinsically erroneous or mis
chievous, are not the evils incident to a restraining power
greater than any that could flow from the most unlimited
freedom of speech ? So we sometimes hear men talk
about certain portions of the human race not being fit
for civil freedom. But whence arose the right of one
portion of mankind to judge for another on this score ?
Does not God create all men free ? How has it hap
pened that one class of men deems itself entitled
to sit in judgment on the capacity of another to enjoy

96 THE MINISTRY.
the birthright with which the Creator endowed them ?
And how can they restrict this right without injustice
and oppression ? We do not of course say that all men
are equally prepared to use civil freedom without abusing
it, but we do say that this fact does not annul the original
right, and that the evils of usurped coercion are greater
in the final issue than those of self asserted liberty'.
So in the matter before us. We know of no authority,
no tribunal, which is empowered to restrain the exercise
of any man's freedom in the proclamation of what he
regards as truths of the most solemn import. If such a
prompting proceed from the working of genuine neigh
borly love it will act in wisdom and will be acknow
ledged by those endowed with sj^iritual perception, for
wisdom is justified of her children. .If the voice of the
shepherd is heard in such a man, the sheep will turn
towards him, but not otherwise, for thej^ do not know
the voice of a stranger. But men are as free in the
matter of hearing as of speaking. No one can be com
pelled to hear what he does not wish to hear, or what,
upon hearing once, he does not wish to hear again. If
an individual assuming to be of the New Church faith
preaches a doctrine at variance with her truths, there is
no remedy but in the sounder views which it may en
counter in the minds of the hearers, and in the rectifica
tions of time and Providence. In the end truth will
eliminate and vindicate itself from the perversions of
error, and though the injury done in the mean time in
the name of the New Church is to be regretted, yet the
violent suppression of an inborn right would be still
more to be deplored. On the whole, therefore, the evils
resulting by possibility from this source do not strike us
as being so formidable as might appear to a slight refiec-
tion. Human prudence is prone to multiply the fancied
safeguards of truth, when in fact it is most effectually
panoplied by its own inherent might.
The foregoing train of remark does, if we mistake not,.
develope somewhat of the nature and design of the New
Church ministry. It is not an office of ruling, except so

THE MINISTRY. 97
far as truth itself is of a ruling nature when presented
to the mind. It is simply one form of the multifarious
uses which are requisite to the building up of the church
in the goods and truths of the Lord's kingdom, and one
too, as we conceive, which was never intended to be
made so completely paramount to every other use as it
has come to be in the Christian world at large. It was
never designed to be erected into an institution which
should stand complete by itself as a virtual hierarchy.
That such has been the case we attribute to the subtle
working, in all deceivableness of unrighteousness, ofthe
love of dominion which has never faund a more congenial
abode than in the bosom of the clergy\ This spirit will
never lack logic to justify its usurpations, and its proton
pseudos, its fundamental falsity will ever be found to lie
in asserting a radical distinction between the clergy and
the laity, whereas if this sophism is exposed the whole
system receives a death-blow and totters to its fall. We
would not be understood by this as involving the clergy
of the present day in the odium of devising and con
sciously upholding a system of sacerdotal dominion.
Far from it. We believe them to be conscientious and
well-intentioned men, aiming to do the will of God in
sincerity, and we impute their error to too readily taking
for granted the soundness of opinions and usages which
have come down to them by inheritance, and which,
from their being so seldom questioned, they have had
but little reason to doubt.
We cannot for ourselves but indulge the hope that the
New Church will eventually develope an entirely new
order of things in this respect, and that while everything
essential to the ministry will be retained, everything
factitious will be discarded. How, otherwise, can any
sign of promise be read in the Church's future ? As to
an adequate supply of regularly and canonically ordained
ministers for the various societies of receivers spread
over the length and breadth of the land, who shall re
ceive their support from such societies, it surely is now
and must be for a long time to come wholly out of the

98 THE MINISTRY'.
question. Indeed this is a fact that holds good not of
the New Church only, but of all Churches. There lis
beginning to be an alarming deficit of clergymen —
alarming, I mean, to all those who look upon the clergy,
as we do not, as the very bone and bulwark of the
church. The prevailing spirit of wordliness, or the
higher prizes of other walks of life, is continually thin
ning the ranks of the candidates for the ministry —
which, however, had probably better be thin if such
motives can make them so. Now for ourselves we do
not regard this as in itself a circumstance to be deeply
dreaded by the New Church, however it may be with
others. It will throw her upon her own resources — upon
her lay resources. She will be forced to wean herself
from that dependence upon the ministry which has been
so much the bane of Christendom, and which is not
without its ill effects in the New Dispensation. Although
it is unquestionable that the man of the New Church is
to be built up more by reading than the man of any
other church, yet the inveterate prepossessions in regard
to the stated ministry are continually tending to relax
and paralyze individual action and to beget an uncon
scious reliance upon a substituted agency in matters of
religion. The latent impression is almost inevitable,
that as the minister or pastor is paid for his services, the
entire conduct of the religious affairs of the society is de
volved upon him, and that the duties of the rest are dis
charged by contributing their due proportion to his sup
port, and sitting with exemplary regularity under his
preaching from Sabbath to Sabbath. As a general fact
men are about as willing to pay to be excused, as they
are to pray to be excused, from the duties which make
somewhat of a stringent demand upon the inner man.
One effect of this state of things in the New Church
is very disastrous. Scattered over the country in towns
and villages are little bands of receivers who have
become such by reading. And as they are too weak to
support a pastor, so they are prone to regard themselves
as too weak to keep up worship or even to form them-

THE MINISTRY. 99
selves into societies. They therefore remain in an isolated
state, making little or no united effort to promote their
spiritual weal, but waiting for the Lord to increase their
numbers and with their numbers their means. Conse
quently everything for the present languishes, though
they may, by private reading, keep up a faint life of
goodness and truth in their own souls, and walk unim-
peachably in the outer man. But why should they not
meet in little clubs for reading and conference, and thus
form the germs of future societies ? The writings of the
.Church are a never failing fund of edification, and there
is usually some one or more individuals in these circles,
of intelligence and ability, and well qualified to take the
lead and to communicate instruction. Why do not such
receivers avail themselves of their inalienable privilege ?
Why do they not at least combine their resources and
furnish themselves with the writings of the New Church,
and with an abundance of collateral works for general
distribution ? Alas, we fear that the grand let and
hindrance on this score is to be found in the exorbitant
views entertained of the ministry as a kind of sine qua
non as much to the being as the well-being of the Church.
They have, from traditional teachings, taken up the idea
that a settled and salaried preacher is an indispensable
element in every such body, and that there can be no
such thing as a lay circumference without a clerical
centre. Now we do not hesitate to say that the sooner
this idea is got rid of the better. If every truly good
man is a church in the least form, any number of re
ceivers associated according to the laws of the Lord's
kingdom is no less a church in a larger form, and compe
tent to the performance of all the appropriate uses of such
a body. That it is possible in such circumstances for
self-complacent and aspiring spirits, " loving to have the
pre-eminence," to thrust themselves forward to the dis
paragement of worthier men, must indeed be admitted.
But the true remedy for this is the cultivation of the
true spirit of the Church, which is a spirit of modesty,
of self distrust, of retiring humility, while at the same

100 THE MINISTRY.
time'jt is a spirit that shrinks not from any plainly en
joined duty or service of use. Contingent evils ought
not to be allowed to bear down and frustrate divinely
instituted goods. " It is not always those," says Mr.
Prescott, " who think themselves qualified and who have
a desire to preach, who are qualified. It is often not a
spiritual love of use that prompts such desire, but some
times a mere love of display, or a high opinion of one's
own intelligence, or the desire of distinction which is at
the bottom." Granted, but what then ? Are there not
those who have a true love of use, and who are not
prompted by the corrupt motives here recited ; and shall
they be precluded from a sphere of useful action in the
Lord's church, because others may prostitute that service
to the ends of vain glory ? Is it, moreover, just to in
sinuate of such men who are drawn to this province of
use by interior promptings of pure quality, that they are
self-appointed if they enter upon it with the full concur
rence of their brethren without passing through the pre
scribed church forms of clerical inauguration, which
perhaps they could not do without compromising some
of the clearest and most sacred convictions of their own
minds ?
We. do not forget, in all this, that Mr. Prescott has
cited chapter and verse, as it were, from our great
authority on this head to which he will challenge assent,
unless we are prepared to disregard it altogether. But
we are at present prepared neither for the one nor the
other. We respect the authority of Swedenborg, but we
know nothing of a blind allegiance to the letter of par
ticular paragraphs apart from the ruling scope and
genius of the system as a whole. In reading the works
of Swedenborg we recognize a certain analogy of faith
not unlike that which the theologians of the Old Church
in.sist upon as a necessary element in the interpretation
of the inspired Word. He himself teaches the import
ance of referring every thing to first principles, and we
could not be faithful to his lessons were we to shrink
from applying the test of a rigid logic even to the rela-

THE MINISTRY. 101
tion between his own premises and conclusions, and
between the parts and the whole. In the matter before
us we do not see that we can be mistaken in regard to
the leading scope and spirit of the system in the aggre
gate, nor, assuming our view of this to be correct, do
we see why our inferences therefrom are not altogether
legitimate and fair. Consequently if certain passages
niay be cited wliich seem, from the letter, to lead to
different results, we do not feel required at once to
abandon our previous ground, but will rather hold our
judgment in abeyance and wait till farther light has
shown how apparent discrepancies may be reconciled.
It is certain that compared with the prominence which
the ministry holds in the present economy of the New
Church, very little is said about it by our author. He
has no chapter in the " True Christian religion" devoted
to that subject, nor does he anywhere treat of the church
as an organized visible polity. Why is this if indeed
these are matters of such vital moment to the welfare of
the Lord's kingdom on earth as is to be inferred from
the general estimate in which they have been held ? For
ourselves we do not hesitate to infer from it that the
very genius of the New Church is anti-clerical, and that
it is destined to work a complete revolution in the minds
of its members in this respect. We cannot resist the
conviction that the existing order of things in the New
Dispensation, which has doubtless derived its origin
from the Old, has tended greatly to impede individual
regeneration, by delegating the oversight of the interests
of tha soul to a consecrated order of men, instead of each
one being taught to consider them as entrusted to his
own keeping. The effect has been to segregate the con
cerns of religion from the ordinary routine of life, and
to give rise to a spurious pietism which virtually ignores
a life of charity and use. The church and the world
have been distinctly marked ofl' and arrayed against
each other as two antagonist kingdoms, instead of vigor
ous efforts being made to break down all artificial bar
riers between the two, and to infuse the true and genuine
10

102 THE MINISTRY.
life of the church into the world, — the complexion to
which things must come at last.
But we must, perforce, bring our remarks to a close at
the point we have reached, although conscious of leaving
a multitude of closely-related topics altogether untouched.
Future occasions may perhaps warrant more extended
discussion. For the present we would simply add, that
we should deem it injurious if a revolutionary character
were to be charged upon the vein of our remarks. We
do not propound our sentiments on the subject before us
with a view to urge any sudden or violent change in the
existing order of things, but simply to ' ^icit truth, which
will not fail to be adequately operative on honest minds
when once clearly established. The enunciation of
sound principles is always seasonable, and it is not un
frequently the case that the soundness cannot be tested
apart from the enunciation. Let this be our apology or
our exj)lanation in the present instance. We have be
lieved, therefore have we spoken.

THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE AND THE NEAV
CHURCH MINISTRY.
(N. C. Repo.5., Ang. 1850.]
We have already advertised our readers of the appear
ance, in the May ISTo. of the New Jerusalem Magazine,
of a somewhat caustic criticism on our Eemarks upon
Mr. Prescott's Letter. The Letter of Mr. P. is trans
ferred entire with much approbation, but our appended
Kemarks have evidently greatly disturbed the serenity
of the writer, whose initials, C. P., indicate the Editor,
and filled him with alarm as to the probable con
sequences of the spread of sentiments so pernicious.
That they should be entertained by any one in the church
is indeed, as he lets us know, to be regretted, but seeing
they are entertained, it is perhaps best that they come
forth to the light and make themselves known. It is
better that the mental impostliume should break and
discharge itself, though it occasion a bad odor, than that
it should rankle and fester Avithin and out of reach.
Though the sentiments are not likely, from their contra
vening the express authority of Swedenborg, and the
intuitions of his disciples, to prevail to any great ex
tent, yet " as they are put forth by one who has of late
taken so prominent a post as a defender and disseminator
of New Church truth and doctrine, we feel bound to take
the earliest opportunity to enter our protest against them,
as opposed to the teachings of Swedenborg, and disor
derly and injurious in their tendency and infiuence." To
say nothing of the insinuated charge of assumption in
taking what he terms " a prominent post as a defender
and disseminator of New Church truth and doctrine," —
which would probably have been a less offence had we
applied at the proper ecclesiastical college for our diploma

104 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
— it must be admitted that the characterization of our
strictures is not of a very soothing tone, and that of the
two styles of rhetoric, the ad concilianduTn and the ad
invidiam, the writer manifests a decided preference for
the latter. As to the implied presumption and arrogance
which have marked our humble efforts to " defend and
disseminate" the truths of the New Dispensation, if our
critic will sjjecify the exact point of our criminality on
this score, and designate the appropriate penalty to which
we ought to submit, we will promise at least to take the
matter into consideration, and if we can convict ourselves
of having done or of still doing wrong, we will enter our
humble confession to that effect.
As to the outrage upon Swedenborg and the asserted
disorder and injuriousness of our sentiments, we cannot
feel greatly moved so long as we fail to perceive the
truth of the allegation. Meantime we would suggest, by
way of inquiry, whether the higher interests of the New
Church would not be as much promoted by a tone less
invidious and bitter, when speaking of the labors of those
of whose motives charity would dictate a favorable con
struction on the whole.
In following the thread of our reviewer's censures we
can but barely glance at the more prominent points ad
verted to, and in which he has assailed the main positions
of our article. Yet without extended quotations and
elaborate arguments it is difficult to do justice to our
views or to countervail the effect of a certain plausive
sphere that diffuses itself around the paragraphs of the
reply. But something may be urged ^e?' contra.
'' In running through Professor Bush's remarks, one of the first
things which strikes the reader is, their constantly disparaging tone in
regard to the ministry ;— not the clergy of the present day, whom he
specially excepts, as ' conscientious and well-intentioned men,' but the
institution itself. The distinction between the clergy and the laity, is
spoken of as a falsity and a sophism, and as having ' opened a Pan
dora's box of evils and mischief's to the Church of the Past.' We
speak of this as one of the first things to strike the reader, because it
is so entirely different from anything to be found in the writings of
Swedenborg. Indeed, one can hardly avoid asking whether he is

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 105
reallj^ perusing the production of a professed receiver of the heavenly
doctrines, or that of some of those self-styled reformers of the day, who
attribute all evils to the mere relations and circumstances of society,
without tracing them, as Swedenborg always does, to their true source,
in the loves of self and of the world." — P. 169.
The writer here manages to work himself into a sur
prise which is itself not a little surprising when the ob
ject of our Remarks is taken into view. What was that
object? Not the disparagement of the ministry in the
abstract, but simply to show that certain views enter
tained of the ministry — certain theories relative to the
ministry as a distinct aud self-perpetuating order — ^were
incorrect. In this light, therefore, aud in this alone do
we speak disparagingly of the ministry, i. e. as an insti
tution which, in its present form, is a perversiou of true
order — an opinion for which we give our reasons, such
as they are. Is there anything in this which should
move the critic's special wonder ? So far from its being
" one of the flrst things which strikes the reader" that
we speak of the distinction between the clergy and the
laity as a falsity and a sophism, it is about the only thing
that will strike him at all, as this is the express and
avowed drift of the Remarks from beginning to end.
This C. R. would have us believe to be very surprising,
" because so entirely different from anything to be found
in the writings of Swedenborg." Our censor must have
read Swedenborg with very different eyes from ours, if
he has not found him sjieaking disparagingly of things
which he regarded as false and as perversions of order,
and this is the only ])o'ml in which there is any ground
for the comparison. "We are speaking of the New
Church, in which we deny that the peculiar distinction
so long maintained hitherto between clergy and laity is
to be recognized. We deny that this is fairly to be made
out from Swedenborg himself, or, in other words, that
our position in this matter is not accordant with his,
inasmuch as we contend that he does not assert such a
distinction, and that the principles of the New Church
are inconsistent with it. What then does the writer
10*

106 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
mean by saying that our train of remark is " so entirely
different from anything to be found in the writings of
Swedenborg?" If he means that there is nothing in
Swedenborg to sustain our main position, he takes for
granted the very point in debate, and arrays against us
the example of our author for the purpose of creating
odium. If he refers to the general tone or style in which
Swedenborg speaks of things that he considers false or
fallacious, it has certainly very little to do with the ar
gument, besides that we are not conscious of anything
more than a design to enunciate clearly and emphatically
what we believe to be true, and of this mode of discus
sion we have ourselves found a great niany specimens
in Swedenborg. As to not tracing the evils in question
" to their true source in the loves of self and the world,"
it is precisely to this origin that we refer them. The
besetting sin of the clergy iu all the ages of the past has
been pre-eminently " the love of ruling from the love of
self" " But we almost hear our readers exclaim, what is the meaning of
all this ? Is not Professor Bufh aware that Swedenborg not only re
cognizes the distinction between clergy aud laity, but always treats it
with the most perfect respect, f^nd even declares the priesthood to be
necessary to the preservation of order iu the world, without which [i. e.
order, not the priesthood] the human race must perish? [H. D. 311,
314.")— P. 169.
We must of course l,e egregiously ignorant of the
whole subject as treated by Swedenborg not to be aware
of what is said in the iamous chapter of the Heavenly
Doctrines on Ecclesiastical and Civil Government. But
we view the scope of this chapter in a very different
light from that in which C. R. looks upon it. We regard
it as simply a declaration of the great principles of order
by which the Divine Providence governs the afiairs of
the world in its two leading departments, secular and sa
cred. We see in it no special allusion to the New Church
— no formula of civil or ecclesiastical regimen to be
adopted in that Church — but a comprehensive statement
of the economy by which the Divine Wisdom has ever

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 107
hitherto kept the world in order, and still continues to
do so. It is a summary of that grand system of agencies
by which the various evil promptings of our fallen nature
are controlled, and an expose ofthe principles by which
those ought to be governed who are called to exercise
the functions of office in each of these important spheres
of action. If a priesthood is a necessary appendage to
the New Church it is incredible that it should not have
been explicitly stated in the True Christian Religion or
in some other parts of the writings. The spirit of the
following passage is at any rate decidedly against it.
" All things that were done in that Church (the Jewish)
were turned in Heaven into corresponding representa
tives. But after the coming of the Lord, when external
rites were abolished, and thus representatives ceased,
then such things were no longer changed in Heaven
into corresponding representatives ; for when man be
comes internal, and is instructed concerning things
internal, then external things are as nothing to him,
for he then knows what is holy, viz. that charity is
so, and faith thence : from these his externals are then
viewed, namely, as to how much of charity and faith
towards the Lord there is in the externals : Wherefore,
since the Lord''s coming, man is not considered in heaven
with respect to things external, but to things internal, if
any one be considered in respect to things external, it is
hence that he has simplicity, and in simplicity has inno
cence and charity, which are in things external, or iu his
external worship, from the Lord, whilst the man himself
is ignorant of it."— J.. C- 1003.
The writer goes on to make a somewhat extended
quotation from our remarks in which we state our rea
sons for believing the New Church to be anti-clerical iu
its genius, notwithstanding that a contrary inference
might be drawn from the letter of occasional paragraphs,
and upon this extract he comments as follows :
" Here, if we understand the language, it is admitted that Sweden
borg does expressly teach that the New Church should have a min-

108 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
istry, as indeed it must be impossible for any one to deny. But it is
assumed in the same breath that what he thus taught in ' the letter of
particular paragraphs,' is opposed to ' the ruling scope and genius of
the system as a whole.' In plain English the meaning is, that Sweden
borg did not understand the scope and genius of the system which he
was raised up and commissioned of the Lord to expound for the instruc
tion and benefit of mankind ; and consequently that his writings
already need the application of Prof. Bush's ' rigid logic,' to prune
them of such antiquated and injurious excrescences as the idea of a
regular and established ministry, and to show them up in the beauty
of their true ' anti-clerical' character. In this matter it seems that
Prof Bush has made up his mind so clearly that he ' does not see that
he can be mistaken.' There is only one alternative, and that is, that
Swedenborg must be mistaken. He has indeed the modesty to speak
of waiting for further light, and in the mean time of holding his judg
ment in abeyance. But we think it plain that he has made a mistake
here, as it is not his own judgment, but Swedenborg's doctrine con
cerning tho ministry, which he holds in abeyance." — P. 170.
We cannot well conceive anything more unfair and
invidious than the complexion here given to our senti
ments. In the first place it is not admitted in the pas
sage quoted that " Swedenborg expressly teaches that
the New Church should have a ministry," nor had the
writer any authority for asserting it. We simply say
that " we do not forget, in all this, that Mr. Prescott has
cited chapter and verse, as it were, from our great
authority on this head, to which he will challenge assent,
unless we are prepared to disregard it altogether. But
we are at present prepared neither for the one nor the
other. We respect the authority of Swedenborg, but we
know nothing of a blind allegiance to the letter of par
ticular paragraphs apart from the ruling scope and genius
of the system as a whole. He himself teaches the im
portance of referring everything to first principles, and
we could not be faithful to his lessons were we to shrink
from applying the test of a rigid logic even to the relation
between his own premises and conclusions, and between
the parts and the whole." It will be seen that it is only
by violence that he extorts from these words the admission
that Swedenborg '-'¦expressly teaches" what is affirmed.
We say that Mr. Prescott has referred to certain portions

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 109
of the writings which he understands as sustaining his
views, in which, while, for the sake of the argument, we
do not deny, yet neither do we admit, that the purport
of the letter favors his idea. Still we maintain that a
logical consistency of interpretation requires another
meaning to be put upon the language, for which we pro
ceed to assign our reasons at some length. This the re
viewer tortures into the ill-natured paragraph above, in
which we are represented as virtually charging Sweden
borg with being ignorant of his own system, with being
mistaken, and his writings needing explication by means
of our " rigid logic." If these are the weapons of New
Church warfare, we have sadly mistaken its genius. Is
it so very difficult for C. R. to perceive that what we
mainly deny is not a function of minist7-y in the New
Church, but an office or order of clergy, for while we hold
to the one we repudiate the other ; and yet C. R. would
fain bring us under the odium of rejecting both. This
is very much the character of the article throughout.
Whatever advantage it may appear to gain is the result
of thus arraying our positions in alleged antagonism with
Swedenborg, and disregarding the real distinctions which
we are careful to make. Thus, for instance : — " The
more we have studied Swedenborg, the more fully have
we been convinced not only that he was commissioned
by the Lord to announce the doctrines of the New
Church, and to teach and explain them in his writings,
but that he was most wonderfully fitted and prepared
for this high office, not merely by being imbued with
their true spirit, but also with a sound wisdom and
judgment in regard to all necessary details." And
what of all this? Who denies it? What have we said
that makes this vindication necessary? The passage
has no relevancy in this connexion, except so far as it
involves the implication that we had advanced something
inconsistent with it, which is not the case. There is no
dispute as to the endowments or authority of Swedenborg .
The only question is as to his meaning. This C. E. evi
dently regards as so plain as to admit but of one possible

110 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
construction, and that whoever dissents from that rejects
his authority. We dissent notwithstanding.
" But let us look for a moment at some of the points of Prof. Bush's
remarks, without however undertaking to examine them very fully.
So far as we can gather up his chief argument against the distinction
between the clergy and the laity is this. Every one is virtually and
potentially a minister, preacher, or priest, because every one is a church
in the least form. As, therefore, all are ministers, the distinction
between clergy and laity is obliterated ; because there is no longer any
laity left, from which the clergy can be distinguished. But what sort
of rigid logic is this ? Would it not be equally just to begin with
assuming, that because every one is a church in the least form, there
fore every one is a layman, aud cut off the distinction by thus showing
that there are no clergy from which the laity can be distinguished ?
And the same course of reasoning would equally show that there is no
distinction between kings and their subjects, magistrates and private
citizens. Because every one is a church in the least form, or an indi
vidual man, therefore every one is a king and there are no subjects,
or every one is a subject and there are no kings ; every one is a magis
trate and there are no private citizens, or every one is a private citi
zen and there are no magistrates, and so on throughout all the relations
of society. We are not conscious that we have in the least misrepre
sented Professor Bush on this point, incredible as it may seem that he
should take such ground. And though it has in part the appearance
of a logical or syllogistic statement aud inference, we regard it simply
as a piece of sheer sophistry."— Pp. 171, 172.
Our critic has not misrepresented us, neither has he
confuted us, notwithstanding its being so "incredible
that we should take such ground," and notwithstanding
his magisterial verdict upon it as " simply a piece of
sheer sophistry." Does not C. R. admit that Sweden
borg again and again declares that "- every man of the
church is a church in the least form ?" If he does, with
what face does he venture to charge us with rejecting
the authority of our illumined teacher ? And why does
he virtually involve this proposition in the same odium
with the inference which we profess to draw logically
from it, viz., that if every man of the church is a church
in the least form, then every constituent element of the
church in a larger form exists also in the church in its
least form, consequently if the priesthood, ministry, or
clergy is an essential principle in the one it is also in the

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. Ill
other? If this inference is unsound or fallacious, why
not prove it to be so, still vindicating the fundamental
truth from the gross perversion to which we have sub
jected it ? But from his treatment of our position no one
would know but that he rejected the premise as well as
the conclusion, for he speaks of the whole without dis
crimination as " a piece of sheer sophistry." But let us
look at his " rigid logic." " Would it not be equally
just to begin with assuming, that because every one is a .
church in the least form, therefore every one is a layman,
and cut off the distinction by thus showing that there are
no clergy from which the laity^ can be distinguished ?
And so in like manner as to kings and subjects, magis
trates and private citizens." But C. R. is in the same
category with ourselves as to the admission that all good
men are spiritually both priests and kings, for this is ex
pressly declared in the Word, while it is not said that
they are laity and subjects. It is in vain for him to deny
this and still claim to be a believer in the Word, or a re
ceiver of Swedenborg's exposition. The only cjuestion
that then remains is, as to the relation which this spirit
ual dignity bears, in the New Church dispensation, to
the outward or ultimate office so denominated. Is there
any relation between them ? In other words, is there
any other than a spiritual priesthood recognized in the
New Church ? If so, what is it, and where have we an
account of it ? Let us not be answered by saying that
the internal of the New Church is constituted by the
priesthood or clergy, and the external by the laity, for
this is an assertion that equally lacks proof, although it
holds good in the Old Church. What we are authorized
to demand is, the evidence that in the New Jerusalem
any priesthood or clergy in ultimates is recognized by
our author. We do not find it ; and therefore we say
that every man of the church, being a church in the least
form, and being actually a priest in spiritual dignity, is
potentially a priest in natural function as to all those
services of instruction, admonition and guidance, which
may be requisite for the edification of the Lord's body

112 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
on the earth. This is the true ministry of the true
church. It is not the priesthood teaching the laity, for
such a distinction is necessarily done away by their being
all priests ; but it is one portion of the spiritual priest
hood teaching another, while they all stand upon the
same plane. How can it be otherwise, if all are priests
in the sense affirmed? If the question is alleged to
have relation to another kind of priests, we ask again
who they are, and what is the authority for them ? How
futile then the objection urged above, that we may just
as well maintain that from the doing away of all distinc
tion between the clergy and laity every man is a layman
and there is no clergy. This is an objection that could
never be urged but upon ground which we expressly
deny, to wit, that such a distinction as C. R. holds between
clergy and laity exists. From the express declaration of
the Word that spiritual priesthood embraces all, there
can of course be no laity in the corresponding sense. So
also in regard to the royalty. If all are kings they can
not be at the same time subjects. Consequently the
charge of " sheer sophistry" may as well be made to shift
sides. But the beauty of our critic's logic looms up to sight
in the next paragraph, where he unequivocally endorses
the very view of the subject which we have given, and
which, at the same time, he is so earnest in condemning.
" Now let us look for a moment at the doctrine on this same point
as taught by Swedenborg, which we briefly state thus. Every one is
a church in the least form. But men are created with different capaci
ties and tastes, fitting them for the performance of different uses ; and
when several are united together, who are mutually adapted to each
other, they form a society or social man, or church iu a larger form.
This society corresponds with the respective individuals of whom it is
composed. That is, it is spiritually in the human form, and the indi
viduals of whom it is composed actually belong to the respective parts
of that form to which their several uses correspond. There is, there
fore, among them all the variety of function, of quality, of rank, or
- grade, in flue, of distinction, which is to be found in different parts of
the human body."— P. 172.
We should confess to a great mistake in our anticipa-

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 113
tions M^ere any sensible and candid man to peruse our
article and pronounce one item of it at variance with the
view here set forth as that which Swedenborg teaches.
We most fully agree that the form of a New Church
society is the human form, and that there is among the
members " all the variety of function, of quality, of rank,
or grade, in fine, of distinction, which is to be found in
difi'erent parts of the human body." But in order that
this_ language may be made to sustain C. R.'s view ofthe
subject some one member or organ ought more speci
fically to represent the clergy than the rest of the body ?
To which of these, in C. R.'s opinion, does the priesthood
correspond ? Pie is very careful to affirm the analogy in
general, and equally so not to define it in particular.
Why not specify the items of coincidence ? We are
perfectly ready to admit that the function of teaching
supposes in those who exercise it a more internal state
than distinguishes those who are subjects of it, and that
this ministry is properly represented by the more central
and dominant organs of the body^ But as these are in
the body and a part of it, so the teaching ministry is a
art of the spiritual bod}', and not on a plane above it.
"ut he goes on.
" Neither can there be the least doubt that the general scope and
spirit of this doctrine recognize in society every variety of distinction
which exists between the different organs of the human body, with
every variety of grade which intervenes between the head and the feet.
And yet Prof. Bush appears to see nothing of the kind, and actually
asserts ' that diversity of uses in the Lord's spiritual body does not
necessarily create diversity of grades in those who perform such uses.'
To this absurdity is he fairly driven by his logic, which infers that
because all members of the social body are men, therefore there is no
distinction between them ; and would equally prove, that because the
head and feet are parts of the same individual man, therefore the one is
not above the other, but that they are both on precisely the same level,
and the human system is as destitute of organization as a block or a
stone."— Pp. 172, 173.
We should be somewhat interested to see an attempt
made to misrepresent our real sentiments more effec
tually than is here done. From the tenor of our remarks
11

114 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
nothing could be more obvious than that by •' diversity
of grades," we mean that kind of grade which separates
one class in the church from another by a discrete degree
of dignity aud pre-eminence. Such a grade we under
stand to be occupied by tbe clergy as contradistinguished
from the laity. Such a grade we do not recognize as
existing in the New Church, nor do we consider the
analogy on which C. R. insists as requiring the admission
of that kind of distinction. The variety of functions and
uses in the natural body, we freely concede to have their
analogues in the spiritual, but we are wholly at a loss to
discover with which of the corporeal organs or powers
the clerical caste corresponds.
As our critic proceeds in his strictures ho ascribes to
us the confusion which he finds in his own ideas in regard
to a distinction in use which does not amount to a dis
tinction in office. " Our own view of the case is, that
the attempt which Prof Bush has made to explain this
difficulty is not a successful one ; and we think, more
over, that the more it should be extended, the less suc
cessful it would be. For he very carefully leaves out of
the case one essential element, and the farther the argu
ment is pursued the greater is the confusion that ensues.
This element is the religious or sacred or priestly order."
That is to say, that inasmuch as we deny the priestly caste
in the New Church in contradistinction from the laic, we
therefore exclude that element in the church which is
properly to be deemed " religious or sacred," as these epi
thets he makes synonymous with " priestly." How far
this comes short of denying to the profane laity any
thing " religious or sacred" and ascribing it wholly to
the clergy perhaps other eyes may see more clearly than
our own. As to the truth of the allegation as bearing
upon our views, we have only to say, that if there is a
" religious or sacred element" in the church or in the
universe we recognize it in the function performed by
the teaching ministry. Is there no possibility for a reli
gious element to come into play in the New Church but
through the medium of just such a priesthood as C. E.

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 115
contends for ? But again, " He concedes something to
the necessity of having teachers in the church, but he
makes no concession in favor of a ministry or priesthood,
or of anything strictly clerical." The reader is of course
aware by this time of the true sense in which our lan
guage is to be understood, and of the genuine grounds
on which our positions rest. We do make concession in
favor of a ministry, a function of teaching, but not of a
priesthood or clergy, because the ideas conveyed by
these latter terms are to our apprehension entirely dif
ferent. If it be not so, it behoved our opponent to show,
in an argumentative way, the fallacy of the distinction ;
but instead pf this he confronts us afresh with his quota
tions from the famous chapter on civil and ecclesiastical
government, around which as a centre the clerical argu
ment always swings, and to which it is apparently
tethered. " We hardly need remind our readers how different this teaching is
from the teaching of Swedenborg, who says that there are two things
which ought to be in order among men, — the things of heaven and
the things ofthe world, or ecclesiastical things and civil things. That
this order cannot be maintained without governors, and that governors
over ecclesiastical things are called priests, and their office the priest
hood. Also that dignity and honor ought to be paid to priests, on
account of the sanctity of their office. {H. D. 311-318.) But, accord
ing to Prof. Bush, the sooner the seal of this sanctity is removed the
better."— P. 174.
Here, as usual, a special turn or twist is given to our
words, making them to utter as offensive a sentiment as
possible. Our language is as follows : — " But here we
can easily foresee that the claims of order will be urged.
Is it not opening the door to confusion and every evil
work to concede such license on the score of preaching
or teaching? Will it not be a grievous infraction of
order and a serious perilling of the best interests of the
Church if the seal of sanctity be taken off from the
clerical office, and the current distinction between clergy
and laity virtually done away ?" The sanctity of which
we speak is the sanctity attaching in the estimation of
the Christian world to an order of men called the clergy

116 THE NEAV CHURCH MINISTRY.
or priesthood, which we deny to exist in the New Church.
All that we should say is, that that peculiar form of sanc
tity which has been supposed to pertain to the clergy of
the Christian Church is not mentally carried over to the
true ministry of the New Church, which is constructed
after an entirely different model. To this also as being
the Lord's ordinance we believe a genuine sanctity
belongs, from which we would not derogate in the least.
Yet C. R. asserts that " the teachers wliich our theory
contemplates are not properly^ ministers ; for their office,
if indeed any official station is really left them, is entirely
divested of all idea of sanctity." Why so ? If they are
of divine appointment, or in accordanca with divine
order, why should they not have all requisite sanctity?
Every thing has its sanctity according to the degree and
quality of its use, and the measure oi^ the divine influx
into it. What motive could we have for impairing the
reverence for this kind of sanctity ? As to the citation
from Swedenborg, which our critic would fain offset
against us, we perceive in it no special appropriateness
to the present case, as we, like him, are disposed to let
the Old Church remain in possession of all the sanctity
that its votaries may think fit to ascribe to it, only we
object to predicating the same kind of sanctity of the
teachers of the New Church, because we do not look
upon them as constituting the same order. As to
Swedenborg himself, he would naturally in this relation
speak of the sanctity of the priestly office, because speak
ing of what was reputed holy in the existing order of
things in the world.
The same remark applies to the extracts from the
" Doctrine of Charity," which evidently inculcate the
exercise of that principle in the various relations of life,
as society is at present constituted. For this reason it
prescribes, among other things, the duties incumbent
upon soldiers and generals. Can such a state of things
exist in the New Jerusalem ? Will wars and fightings
find place under that dispensation of love and peace ?
Not but that the men of that dispensation, in its earlier

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 117
stages, may be brought into contact with the " horrid
trade " of arms, but can its genius harmonize with the
spirit of carnage and conquest ? Can the institutions of
war spring up as a natural growth under the benignant
and heavenly auspices of the New Jerusalem ? It is
obvious then that Swedenborg prescribes the duties of
charity in a reference to a state of things which will pass
away as the Holy City descends more and more fully
into the minds of men. On this ground we interpret all
such passages as those so often quoted in defence of cleri
cal prerogative. They are dicta not strictly j^redicable
of the New Churchy but of the Old. This construction
will doubtless be regarded as the crown of all our here
sies — an imputation to which we shall submit with the
best grace we can command.
We had said, in the course of our Remarks, that
among the contrasted characteristics of the Old and the
New Church was this, that in the Old Church the indi
vidual man was held in abeyance, while in the New he
was brought forward and elevated — that freedom and
rationality were especially his prerogatives, the exercise
of which he was never to wave — that each individual
must see truth for himself and order his life according to
it. In this we had reference to what Swedenborg more
than once says relative to the mass of men in Christen
dom, that they are prone to take up their religious senti
ments from tradition and education, thinking blindly
with the multitude, and making it merely a thing ofthe
memory, whereas, the very genius of the New Church
requires that every man should have a clear and rational
perception of truth for himself and order his life accord
ingly. But upon this score our article is again taken
seriously to task.
" Now we know of no authority whatever for the distinction here
stated, in regard to the individual man being kept in abeyance in the
Old Church, and elevated in the New. Indeed, if there is any differ
ence of the kind to be taken account of, it seems to us clearly to be
the opposite of what is here declared. For freedom and rationality
are the essential elements of man in all churches, and it was equally
11*

118 THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY.
necessary in the Old Church as in the New, that every one should see
truth for himself, and order his life according to it. There is given to
the New Church, a higher degree of freedom and rationality than was
enjoyed by the Old. But this has no tendency to bring forward and
elevate the individual, as compared with the social man. For the free
dom and rationality of the New Church is the freedom and rationality
of heaven, as its doctrines are the doctrines of heaven. And if we
contemplate for a moment the state of a heavenly society in this respect,
we shall see that the perfection of the individual does not consist in his
being elevated as an individual, or apart from the society of which he
is a member, but in the closeness of his union with the other members.
As the society becomes more and more perfect, which is effected by
the addition of new members, who come into their respective places, as
it were in the interstices of the body not yet filled out, there is no ten
dency to make themselves or others more prominent as individuals, but
to cause all to be more united as one man." — P. 175.
Here, the whole force of the reasoning rests upon the
assumption that the more full and perfect development
of the individual man is inconsistent with his relation to
the integrity of the social man as formed after the model
of the heavenly societies. In this respect he has not the
happiness to agree with Swedenborg, who, after saying
that " a one does not exist without a form, but that the
form itself makes a one," goes on to remark : —
" Thattheform makes a one so much the more perfectly in proportion
as the things which enter into it are distinct from each other, and never-
theless^ united. This is comprehended v/ith difficulty unless the under
standing be elevated, because there is an appearance that form cannot
make a one except when there is a similarity in the things which
constitute it. _ On this subject I have frequently conversed with the
angels, who said that this is an arcanum, which the wise among them
could perceive clearly, but the less wise obscurely : that nevertheless
it is a truth, that a form is so much the more perfect in proportion as
the things which constitute it are distinct from each other, but still
united in a particular manner. They confirmed this by reference to
the societies in the heavens, which, taken together, constitute the form
of heaven ; aud to the angels of each society, of which it may be af
firmed that, the more every individual has a distinct identity of character,
m which he freely acts, and thus loves his associates from himself or
from his own affection, the more perfect is the form of the society.
They also illustrated it by the marriage of goodness and truth, which,
the more distinctly they are two, can more perfectly form a one •
and, in like manner, by love and wisdom ; showing that what is indis-

THE NEW CHURCH MINISTRY. 119
tinct is confused, whence results all imperfection of form." — Divine
Providence, n. 4, 5.
Of course our reviewer will say that he does not ques
tion this in the least ; that it is precisely his own view of
the matter, and that he objects to our view because it
does not harmonize with this. But wherein ? Why are
we represented as going counter to great principles
taught in the New Church, when the points of contra
riety are not distinctly shown ? To this he has nothing
to reply, but that " the perfection of the individual does
not consist in his being elevated as an individual, or
apart from the society in which he is a -member, but in
the closeness ofhis union with the other members." So
also in the succeeding paragraph, after affirming that
there is one particular part in the society which every
member fills alone and exclusively, he adds, " this is far
from making him prominent, or bringing him forward as
an individual , or causing him to be independent of others."
Here are conditions annexed which our positions know
nothing of, and for which, of course, they are not respon
sible. We have advanced no theory of individualism
which conflicts with the closest relation to the collective
man. On the principle above quoted from Swedenborg,
that the perfection of the whole depends upon the degree
of distinctness with which the parts i^ronounce them
selves, the two things are perfectly consistent with each
other. Our friend has therefore launched out into a
train of discourse very sound and edifying in itself, but
very far from having any special relation to aught that
we have affirmed in our remarks.
G. B.

NEW CHURCH ORCtANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
BY RBV. A. E. FOKD.
[N. CBopo?., July, I860.]
It is designed, in the present number, to advocate a General Conven
tion, and to advocate it from the proper constitution of the ministry.
But, as the rightful existence of the ministry as a class distinct from the
laity has been called in question, this point must first engage our atten
tion. It is a wearisome task to be laying foundations, over again, but
when that which has been settled, both in the flrst Christian Church
and the New Church of the Lord, is treated as the error of ages, we
have no choice left us.(o)
A ministry distinct from the laity is plainly to be read in the New
Testament ; it existed iu the times immediately succeeding the Apos
tolic age, and was almost universal through every period of the first
Christian Church to its close. (6) It is plain that the Lord during His
life in the world brought the Apostles into a peculiar relation with
Himself, one whereby they were prepared to become teachers of Chris
tian doctrine, — that He commissioned them, at his ascension, to preach
and baptize — that, after His ascension, they actually fulfilled this
office — -that they exercised the power of ordering the external affairs
of the Churches — that, among other things, they appointed " Presby
ters " who were a teaching class — and that " Deacons " are mentioned
in the Epistles in a way strongly favoring the idea that they had the
same function with presbyters in a subordidate degree. That Poly
carp, the disciple of John, was the " Bishop " of Smyrna, that Clemens
(probably the companion of Paul) was the " Bishop " of Rome, and
that Irenaeus was the " Bishop " of Lyons, are among the undisputed
facts of ecclesiastical history — and whatever sense may be attributed
to the word " Bishop," it bore, undeniably, at that period, the sense of
a permanent functionary in teaching and admistering the things of
public worship. That there was a clergy, distinct from the laity, in
three orders, called bishops, priests, and deacons, is as certain, in the
year 1850, as that there is a clergy, consisting of these grades, with the
superaddition of Archbishops, Cardinals, and a Pope, in the Roman
Catholic Church of the present day. Now, even setting aside the
Scriptural part of this argument, the position which Eusebius has
taken, and in which the esteemed Editor of the Repository has joined
him, has against it the heavy presumption, that a thing so enormous
(in their account) as the distinction of clergy and laity should have
originated in very contact with the Apostles. The universal consent
of the first Christian Church also lies against it— and if it should be

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 121
alleged, that that Church, its great abuses in the matter considered, is
but a poor commentary on the principle contended for, it is to be re
membered that the abolition of the clerical order has a yet more dis
creditable patronage, it having found favor only with some of the en
thusiastic sects of that church — its very worst portions, (f)
With this passing notice of the Scriptural argument confirmed by
ecclesiastical history, let us turn our attention to some of the respective
grounds on which the distinction between the clergy and the laity may
be made to rest.
It rests on use as its true, and indeed, sacred foundation. If we look
at the very nature of a Christian Church, we shall perceive, that it
implies instruction. (rf) Men are gathered together iuto a church, in
order that in it aud through it, as an instrument, they may be prepared
for heaven. This preparation is to be made, in the first instance, by
acquiring truths, and then by living according to them. We cannot
have these truths by intuition, like the men of the most ancient Church.
Nor by revelation, like the men of other earths in the universe. It
remains, therefore, that we learn them by the external way. This
learning, in accordance with the law of the Divine Providence, that
men must be ministers of use to one another, demands a medium of in
struction — and, in accordance with another of its laws, the law that we
must be led by delights — this instruction will fall into the hands of
those who have a love for it in the will, a capacity for it in the intel
lect, and qualiflcations for it by study. Thus far, it may be said that
there is no dispute between the two sides of the present question, those
who advocate a perfect spontaneity in the things of the clerical func
tion not supposing that all would avail themselves of their inherent
right to be priests. It will be well, therefore, to turn to points on
which there is a diversity of views. 'Three of these may be noticed.
1. The first is, authorized introduction into the ministry as contra
distinguished from self -introduction. Shall the ministerial function be
something left in the midst, as it were, and open to every one who
chooses to occupy it ? May every one, making himself the judge of
his own qualificatious, say : " I feel myself called to this use : I have
an inherent right to it. I admit no power on earth to abridge me in
the exercise of this right," and thereupon proceed to preach and ad
minister the sacraments. It seems to some that, if this question is set
tled in the affirmative in the church, an admirable state of things, as
regards liberty, will result, and that usurpation and dissension will have
their very roots pulled up among us. But cool reason has its doubts
on this matter. If the gates of the ministry are thus thrown open to
all, with no guard at them on the part of the general Church, it is
morally certain that many will enter who will be defective in capacity,
in learning, and in civil and moral character, (e) The clerical function
will be taken up from evil as well as good delight ; it will be used as
the mere means of livelihood — as a make-shift, while the occupant pre
pares for the medical or some other profession ; it will be a kind of
sewer to catch those whom school-teaching, and mercantile life, and

122 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
the legal profession, have purged out of their ranks. But let us look
only at the effect of this arrangement on the intelligence of the minis
try. The majority of its members, it will be safe to say, will be with
out skill in the original tongues in which the Word is written, and
without the general cultivation which is essential to respectability.
They will be making constant mistakes, which the more intelligent of
their hearers can see through, and exposing ignorance at which the
more light-minded among them will laugh. The consequences will be
unhappy, for respect is an element in the feeling with which a teacher
must be regarded, no matter what his subject, if he is to teach with
effect. We have examples of both, a learned and an unlearned minis
try, before our eyes, of religious bodies where the teachers and the
taught pride themselves upon their scorn of intellectual preparation for
the ministry, and of others in which learning is prized and cultivated.
We can make ourselves, in point of respectability, like the oue or the
other, at our option, and we shall be making our choice, in deciding
whether we will recognize any one who come.g to us offering to take
charge of our spiritual instruction, on the simple ground that he feels
au impulse so to do, or whether we will require of him, besides, that
the Church, as well as himself, shall have judged of his fitness, and
stamped his vocation with her impress. (/)
The other side replies to this argument, of course, that each congre
gation, or society, can best judge of what, in a minister, suits it. This
is true ; but societies can use this right either in a selfish manner, or,
looking to the general good. A society cannot " live to itself," any
more than a man ; all its actions, usages, and measures go abroad in
effects on the general church. If it recognizes an unfit man as a minis
ter, it so far discredits the ministry in general, compromises the res
pectability of the New Church, obliges neighboring societies to put
up with his lack of capacity, vulgarity, or immorality, if these are his
traits, or else, at the risk of exciting bad feeling, to refuse his services.
It is for this, among other reasons, that societies should combine to
gether and determine by rule, what qualifications are desirable for en
trance into the ministry in general, while they reserve to themselves the
right of selecting, from this general body, those adapted for themselves
in particular. Such a step, if it involves any sacrifice of rights on the
part of societies, would be a sacrifice from a noble motive. Who shall
forbid this pervading of mutual regard ? The opposite argument steps
in and binds societies to selfishness, bidding them look at their minis
ter, each, as one in whom it alone is interested, when, in fact, the mi
nistry is a public office, and the peace and respectability of the church
at large is involved by every one of their recognitions. Moreover, as
regards this matter of recognition, no society can get along with recog
nizing only the minister or ministers that officiate to it. The indispen
sable commerce of societies among themselves requires that they recog
nize one another's ministers. Shall this recognition or non-recognition
of other ministers be made by special acts, or by a general arrangement
among themselves ? Manifestly the latter is the preferable way.(g)

NEW CHUKCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 123
A remark about this whole matter of deducing ecclesiastical order
from the rights of societies will be in place here. It is a selflsh spirit
that is thus inculcated upon societies. Swedenborg, somewhere in the
Spiritual Diary, has made the observation that jurists have erred in
deducing the maxims of municipal and international law from the
rights of the parties, and that they should have drawn them from mu
tual charity. This observation, so striking in its flrst application, is
equally so as regards the mutual intercourse of societies.
2. The second point of difference v.ill be the ordination cf the clergy
by the clergy. One looks in vain over the articles of Eusebius and the
remarks of the Editor for an allowance of ordination. It lays in their
very path, but they have got by it without notice. One is compelled
to feel that, if they recognize it at all, it is with a most suspicious and
backward acknowledgment. However this may be, of ordination by
the clergy there is the following plain rejection : " By the distinct order
or office ofthe clergy in the church, we mean an order which perpetuates
itself hy some special form of ordination or inauguration, wherein the
body of the church or the laity, as they are termed, have no share."
That such an order of men, whether called priests, clergymen, or minis
ters, was designed to exist in the New Church is what we venture to
deny. That to the contrary of this, ordination, by some hands, is to be
used in the New Church, we have the explicit authority of Sweden
borg. Canons of N. C. iv. 7 : " That the clergy, because they are to
teach doctrine from the Word concerning the Lord, and concerning
redemption and salvation from Him, are to be inaugurated by the
covenant (or promise, sponseonem) of the Holy Spirit mjrf by their re
presentation of its translation ; but that it is received by the clergy ac
cording to the faith of their life." Now, shall the right thus explicitly
recognized by Swedenborg be administered by the clergy, that is, by
those who have already been inaugurated, or by those who have not?(/i)
All congruity and propriety say, by the former. It would be a strange
spectacle, at an inauguration, that those inaugurated for the very pur
pose of conducting public religious services, should be bid to stand
aside, while some one uninaugurated, unused to the work, and probably
unskillful in it, should read the necessary services, make the prayers,
and perform the representative of translation. The only reason
pleaded for this indecorum in oue point of view, and in another, this
violation of the very principle of ordination by giving a function allied
to teaching to the uninaugurated, is, that certain false doctrines have
been associated with this rite in the Old Church. But this reason be
comes of no weight, the moment it is known that these doctrines are
held in abhorrence, not more by the laity than by the clergy, among
us. (A)
But if the clergy ordain the clergy, does this make them a " self-per
petuating order ? " To a certain extent it would, perhaps, if they should
assume this authority ; but, if it is conferred upon them, by the rules of
the Church, which, as has been shown, have their origin with the laity,
then any one can see that it does not. Neither are they a self-perpe-

124: NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
tuating order," unless, besides the power of ordaining, they have the
power of appointing themselves— but, in this essential article, which is
well distinguished in Mr. Prescott's letter from ordination, they are
now associated with the laity — and no one wishes it to be otherwise, (z)
3. The third point of difference will lie in the position, that thefunc-
tioiis of teaching publicly and administering ihe Sacraments shoidd be
appropriated to the clergy. {]) My friendly opponents would have these
functions free to all, without ordination. One of them says : " It is
not unusual to hear it said, that persons, not duly inducted should not
be allowed to officiate in the ministry. i?ut who is authorized to pre
vent them, and whence came the power ? " But, that certain functions
should be restricted to the clergy, is plain from the nature of ordina
tion, (i) It is originally an inauguration, that is, a badge of entrance
— sometimes into a society, sometimes into a college (then called ma
triculation) , sometimes into an office in the state — and, in every case,
the entrance is into something peculiar and apjiropriated, not into some
thing that was open to the person entering before the ceremony, and
which he is to hold in common with all who are without this badge
afterwards. Ordination would be the merest nullity, regarded as an
inauguration, if the recipient might have officiated without it himself,
and all others can enter into his functions without it also. Would such
an empty trifle be recognized among the canons of the New Church ?
Inauguration is entrance into something segregated or secluded ; but
this would be entrance, so to speak, into all " ou.t o' doors."(^)
The point argued for is plain, also, from the nature ofthe office — a term
which Swedenborg applies to the priesthood. We can imagine a state
of the Church in which clerical functions should be exercised indiscri
minately by all, and there would be no difficulty in showing, in the
words of the Editor, that, in this case, there would be " a distinction in
use which does not amount to a distinction in office, or rather in official
order and caste." But he is really called upon to show that, when the
clerical functions have been segregated, as it were, and constituted into
an " office," that office, and consequently they who fill it, are not set
apart by limits. There would be no " office " of the Priesthood, in the
state of things advocated by Eusebius, any more than in a community,
where every man acted, as occasion called, as arbiter in disputes, there
would be " the office" of a Judge. No office exists until functions,
that were before in common, are gathered up and limited to a certain
individual or class. Now he who fills the office of the priesthood is a
clerical officer, as he who fills an office in the administration of justice,
is a judicial officer — and this fact as much implies, that, for reasons of
public utility, his functions shall not lie open to the first occupant who
chooses to make himself such, as that those of the Judge should not.
If this parallel is denied, it must be shown that what is manifestly a law
of divine order, in civil government, is a law of tyranny in ecclesiastical
government. As regards " the authority to prevent " all from acting as ministers
indiscriminately, which is demanded in the extract given above, it lies

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 125
in the right of every society to recognize its religious teachers (which,
of course, involves the right to refuse recognition to the unfit), which
is contended for on the other side. It is this very right, exercised by
societies in combination. (m) By what authority, it might be asked,
imitating the question above quoted, shall any one say to societies :
" Tou may accept or refuse whom you please for your religious teachers,
provided you act separately, but you shall not combine into a body,
and prescribe, in the body you then form, whom you will and will not
accept."(n) The above arguments for appropriating the functions of the Ministry
to the clerical order are confirmed by Swedenborg. How could the
point under consideration, so far as teaching is concerned, be asserted
more luminously than in the words which follow : — " Good may be in
sinuated into another by every one in the country, but not truth, ex
cept by those who are teaching ministers. If others insinuate truth, it
gives birth to heresies, and the Church is disturbed and rent asunder."
—A- C. 6822.(0)
That the same is true of the sacraments appears from the Canons,
C. 4, 8, 9, — " That the Divine (Proceeding"), which is understood by
the Holy Spirit, proceeds from the Lord through the clergy to the
laity, by preachings, according to the reception ofthe doctrine of truth
thence derived. And also by the sacrament ofthe Holy Supper accord
ing to repentance before receiving it." The heading up of the whole
chapter is as follows : " That hence [the Divine proceeding passes]
through men to men, and, in the Church, chiefly from the clergy to the
laity,"(p) To these arguments for the clergy as a distinct class might be added
one from the innumerable collisions and irregularities by which the
Church, if it were so unwise as to make the experiment urged upon it,
would be " taught as with thorns " that law is not tyranny, nor the un
bounded liberty of individuals, freedom. Such confusions can be easily
foreseen, and while the fear of them is upon us, we cannot feel re-assured
by such assertions, as those contained in the following words : " As to
heretical or incompetent ministers, and the proper mode of dealing with
them, this, in an orderly state of the Church, will take care of itself."
There are remarkable analogies between the " no human priesthood,"
sentiments and the "no human government" ones. The assertion of
both, that no disorders will result from the attempt to realize theories,
is very confident, but very destitute of rational guarantees. (5)
The above positions might be supported by more numerous citations
from the writings of the Church ; but space does not admit of this, and
scarcely of the single observation which we will here subjoin, with re
gard to the construction of such passages. There are two ways of deal
ing with them. In the first, we collect them together and submit them
to the view of the mind, not only singly, but as a whole, which they
make by combining together. We suffer one to cast light on another.
We suffer them to develope and support each other mutually, and then
gather the import of each passage according to the general sense of the
12

126 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
whole. In the second way, we take each passage singly, and apply to
it an ingenious criticism by which its more obvious meaning is made
doubtful, and then judge tho meaning of the whole to be the sum of the
senses yielded by this isolating process. When we gather into one
view all that Swedenborg has said ou the necessity of " goverment in
the Church " as well as in the State, that there must be " governors "
in it who are " priests "—what he has said respecting " the clergy and
the laity," manifestly distinguishing them, and showing what the for
mer must do and not do — respecting their " inauguration " — respecting
the danger of heresy when others are allowed to teach — respecting the
" honor and dignity " which are to be shown them, and the principles
on which they may accept them — and respecting the Trine in which
they are to be constituted — and then contemplate such opinions as are
drawn from theeie paesages by Eusebius, supported by the Editor ; we
cannot help feeling, that, with the most heartfelt reverence for Sweden
borg's instructions iu higher matters, they are, in these minor ones, by
the isolating process above described, unconsciously engaged in contra
dicting their teacher, while they seem to themselves only construing
him in a sound sense.(r)
The grounds on which that sense of these passages which would
strike most as the fair one is eliminated, and another one put in its
place, are three — which will now be noticed in succession.
1. Ecclesiastical domination. The adverse argument everywhere
goes on the supposition, that the love of dominion piroduced the distinc
tion between clergy and laity, and the ordination of the clergy by the
clergy. It even asserts one of these to be " the proton pseudos, the
fundamental falsity " of the love of dominion. But the assertion is not
true, historically ; the clergy as a distinct body, dates itself far back
of the rise of that spirit in the Church, (s) These external institutions
and forms became hurtful only when the doctrine of the keys, that of
absolution, and that of the apostolic succession were added to them.
These doctrines were as a hand put forth by the love of dominion, by
which it seized upon a legitimate and useful implement, and turned it
to most mischievous uses.(t) Do away with those doctrines' — (and
surely my friendly opponents will allow that they are held in abhor
rence among us) — and the separate existence of the clergy will be like
an axe taken from the grasp of a madman, and given to a workman in
his right senses, who immediately employs it in building a house. Is
it not a little external — to indulge in a friendly retort — to be attribut
ing to the merest externals the desolations of the Babylonish spirit ?
Had it not been for the doctrines above mentioned, the external consti
tution of the Roman Church (which, after all, is a perversion of the
original form of the ministry) would have been only a highly inex
pedient form of Church government ; it would have embarrassed charity
and faith, but could never have changed them into their opposites.(M)
2. The individual man is a Church. Strange that the general prin
ciple relied upon for calling Swedenborg's special statements into
doubt {Rep. p. 227) should give them a decided support. Carry out

NEW CHURCH ( U;G ANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 127
the analogy correctly, and this will be apparent. The man is composed
of goods and truths, two perfectly distinct things ; priests correspond,
in the collective church, with goods, and the laity consequently with
truths, and as goods and truths are distinct, the clergy and laity must
be distinct also. If every man in the collective church were a priest,
then the individual man could consist of nothing but goods, (ij) On
the subject of every man being a priest, the following passage from the
Diary, No. 4904, has a bearing : " There were also certain ones [fall
ing from heaven] who rejected the priestly function — saying that the
priesthood was universal, thus with all." This passage which will be
found (with remarks by the Editor) in a former number of the Reposi
tory, is reproduced here for the purpose of remarking, that, by obvious
implication, " rejecting the priestly function " (or office") is the equiva
lent of " saying that the priesthood is universal, and with all." In the
general can any one believe that Swedenborg would mention, in this
way, an important particular of New Church order, as the priesthood
of all is asserted by the other side to he,(iii)
3. Societies are prior to the ministry and establish it. " The minis
try of a society antedates that of an order of the clergy pertaining to
the Church at large." This argument proves something only by con
founding tTie forming stage of the Church as to government, with its
mature stage. All things that grow have these two stages, and the
order of operation in the last is very different from that which obtains
in the first;. Take for example the earth ; its flrst state is that of the
mineral kingdom, which kingdom at first receives influx immediately
through heaven ; but when the two superior kingdoms are formed, with
man at their head, the influx into that kingdom is thenceforth through
them. So with the mind of man itself, the influx of good is, at flrst,
into the affection of sciences in the external, whereby the rational is
formed, but afterwards, so far as the rational is formed, good flows into
the affection of sciences through it. It is matter of necessity that the
first ordination should be by the laity, but it is vain to rely upon this
as proof that it should be so always- If our country had been settled
and organized by counties, aud counties had afterwards combined into
states, and states into the federal union, would it be thought a valid
argument for taking away from the President and the Senate the ap
pointment of certain officers, that officers were at flrst appointed by
counties ? You cannot govern a 7nan by the laws of embryo life, and
you should not make the ohxi-cch, full- grown, conform to the model of
'\ti forming stage.(a;)
if, by what goes before, it has been sufficiently shown that the cleri
cal functions are dictated by use — that none should enter upon them
self-inducted — nor without ordination by those personally inaugurated
to the same, and that they should be appropriated to the clergy for
reasons of public order, it is plain that the clergy and the laity ought
to form distinct classes in the New Church. A. E. P.

128 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.

REMARKS
It is with some reluctance that we extend the space
devoted to the preceding article by any subjoined re
marks of our own. But as we have some strictures to
offer upon the positions of A. E. F., and as they would
lose much of their eifect by being presented separate
from the matter which occasions them, we embrace the
present opportunity to put in our rejoinder. We are
conscious of doing this at a great disadvantage from be
ing obliged to restrict ourselves on several points to a
few sentences, when whole pages would scarcely suffice
to do justice to our views.
{a) It is doubtless a wearisome task to be laying foun
dations over again which will not stay laid, and such
will necessarily be the case with every foundation laid
by man and not by the Lord himself It is easy to say
that such and such things have been " settled," and " set
upon their own base," when a stricter inquisition may
show that they have been built upon the shifting sand
banks of falsity instead of the immovable rock of truth.
The mere fact that a particular institution of the church
has long held its place unquestioned is no infallible sign
that it rests upon a solid basis. It is quite possible that
it may be among the old things which are to be dis
allowed and pass away before the genius of the ISTew
Dispensation. In this case it will be iu vain to say
"The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with
hewn stones; the sycamore trees are hewn down, but
we will change them into cedars." Foundations of all
sorts are the very things which New Church principles
most sternly interrogate.
(5) The evidence on this head drawn from the New
Testament and from the writings of the Fathers, is, in
our view, of very conflicting character, and of very un
equal authority. In the mind of a ISTewchurchman it is
of very little consequence to the argument that the dis
tinction between clergy and laity " existed in the times

NEW OHURCH OROANIZATIOM AND GOVERNMENT 129
immediately succeeding the apostolic age." The leaven
of Antichrist began to work even in the life-time of the
apostles, and it is not at all wonderful that the clergy, fol
lowing in the wake of Diotrephes, should have begun to
erect themselves into a separate caste at the early period
alluded to. The love of pre-eminence easily grafts itself
upon the function of teaching, and the history of the flrst
Christian church from the outset is a running commen
tary upon the truth of the intimation. The advocates of
church power and clerical prerogative are very prone to
rest the argument rather on the patristic than the scrip
tural basis, and the words of Ignatius, Clemens, Tertul
lian, and the rest are, on the Episcopal theory, for in
stance, all gold and precious stones, while on the New
Church theory they are hay and stubble, dirt and trash.
It is the Word of the Lord only and its illumined ex
position that determine for us every thing pertaining to
the Church, and we have for ourselves sought unto these
oracles in vain to flnd an adequate warrant for the past
and present order of things ecclesiastic which has pre
vailed throughout the Christain world. But upon this
head we cannot now enlarge. We are prepared, how
ever, to discuss the Scriptural argument whenever it
shall be fairly called for.
(c) We could hardly have anticipated that an argument,
from a New Church pen, in behalf of the distinction be
tween clergy and laity, should have been so constructed
as to recognize as well founded, the trinal array of
Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. If such an argument is
valid against the denial of the existence of the clergy as
a distinct class, why is it not valid in support of such a
gradation as an actual feature of the New Church ? We
do not see but that according to A. E. F. the same Scrip
tural proof which establishes the fact of the distinction,
establishes also the duty of its observance ; or, in other
words, that the Church is recreant to its Lord if it do not
arrange its ministry according to the Episcopal model.
In this case we shall content ourselves by turning over
our correspondent to the Presbyterians and Indepen-
12*

130 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
dents who have on this head so successfully entered the
lists with the Papists and Prelatists. It is a controversy
with which the Newchurchman has nothing to do but to
stand aloof from it. " That there was a clergy distinct
from the laity, in three orders, called bishops, priests,
and deacons, is as certain in the year 150, as that there
is a clergy consisting of these grades, with the superad
dition of Archbishops, Cardinals, and a Pope, in the
Koman Catholic Church of the present day." Doubtless ;
and the authority for the one is just as good as that for
the other ; which is saying as little for either as can well
be said.
{d) We have expressly declared that we recognize a
function of teaching in the New Church. This function
rests of course on a foundation of use. But what we
maintain is, that the discharge of the function does not
necessitate the creation of a distinct order or caste in the
Church, exclusively and pre-eminently set apart to it,
and forming, as it were, a separate plane above that of
the laity. The ability to teach in spiritual things de
pends upon the degree of illumination in the teacher, and
this again upon the degice to which he is in good and
truth. But the being in good and truth is not the prero
gative of any one portion of the men of the church, but
the duty of all. It is what all are to aim at, and yet as
there will always be a diversity of attainment in this res
pect, so the function will distribute itself accordingly. The
same member who is a teacher to others whose spiritual
state is below his, may be at the same time a pupil to
others whose spiritual state is above his. The gifts of all,
however, are in some way put iu requisition. TEvery one
is to edify another as occasion may offer, yet not in a
spirit of arrogance or dictation, but in a spirit of humility
and selfsubjection. The evil heretofore existing has
arisen from erecting an occasional function into a per
manent office, aud appropriating the performance of its
duties to an exclusive and privileged class. Subtle argu
ments are never wanting for such a process, as one party
does not object to being excused from onerous duties, and

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 131
the other has an innate latent love of dominion to be
gratified. Between both the present order of things has
been begotten and obtained establishment in the church.
It is doubtless a perverted order, from which there will
eventually be a recession, but we do not advocate its in
stant abandonment. We are willing to await the result
of a gradual change, provided a change shall be actually
intended, and it is no more than justice to our sentiments
that they should not be charged as so essentially radical
and revolutionary in their nature as to demand sudden
and violent reforms. On this head it is probable we
shall be greatly misapprehended and misrepresented, but
as we know ourselves in the matter, we shall abide the
issues with calmness. It is not necessary that wrong im
pressions should be taken up in regard to our true posi
tion. (e) A case is here supposed which amounts to well-
nigh a complete caricature of the state of things for which
we are contending. No better evidence of a man's utter
unfitness for the function in question could be afforded
than the spirit which expresses itself in the language
above put into the lips of a self-sufficient aspirant to
ministry in the Church. No rightly disposed servant of
the Lord can enter upon any sphere of use in a spirit of
arrogant assumption or with a tone of lofty deflance.
The true minister, as the name imports, is one who would
fain be tho servant of all, and this is a spirit of modesty
and self-distrust, prompting one to withhold rather than
protrude his claims to consideration and deference. As
to the danger that may hence accrue to the church, from
a non-authorized or self-authorized introduction into the
ministry, we have only to say that on the true theory, as
we apprehend it, of church order, there will be little to be
feared on this score, inasmuch as every society will select
its own teachers, upon adequate probation, and as the
function is unfeed, its labor being purely a labor of love,
small indeed will be the inducement for any one to resort
to it from any selfish or mercenary motive. On the score
of detriment to the church from the probable intrusion of

132 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
unlearned men as teachers, we may admit the force of
the objection provided the culture of the intellect is to be
regarded as the paramount object of tho Christian min
istry. But it would seem that a simple reference to the
first principles of the New Church would be sufficient to
correct a fallacy like this. If all wisdom is the form of
love, and all truth the product of good, the grand deside
ratum is the purification of the will and its affections.
All desirable mental enlightenment will follow in the
train of a regenerated love. Ubi charitas, ibi claritas.
The influence necessary to effect this is not that of human
learning. The revelations vouchsafed to the New Church
teach new lessons respecting the comparative value of
the attainments of the "head and of the heart, and leave
us in no doubt that the great work of the ministry is to
lead to the good of life by a pathway continually illumi
nated by the light of the genuine doctrines of the Word.
Human learning, as furnishing ampler vessels for the in
flow of divine truth and good, is ne^er to be disparaged,
but we would fain fortify our own minds against the idea
that the true standard of ministerial qualification is a
knowledge of the original languages of Scripture or rare
acquisitions in science, letters, or art. The kind of abili
ty to unfold the spiritual sense of the Word, which re
sults from the illustration usually granted to a pure and
exemplary life, is of incomparably more use in the min
istry than the most signal mastery of the learned tongues.
Moderate talents and attainments, coupled with good
sense and an enlightened zeal, are usually the best guar
antee for usefulness in the service of the Lord's New
Church. {f) The surest way for the New Church to attain the
respectability which our correspondent covets for her, is
to live up to and act fully out her distinguishing princi
ples. These are principles of life, and such as make
their appeal to every individual of the church ; and if
the mass of receivers honor the truths they possess, the
church will inevitably be respectable and respected, and
her teachers, as a general fact, equally so. " Like peo
ple, like priest."

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 133
{g) Every step in a discussion like the present shows
how difficult it is to divest the mind of its old concep
tions. The strictm-es of A. E. F. recognize all along just
such a state of things ecclesiastically as now exists as a
field of clerical action. Each society has one minister
or pastor, and as he is inducted into the sacred office by
the consecrating act of his clerical brethren, he thereby
obtains the seal of their sanction and an entree, in conse
quence, into the various pulpits in the connexion. In
this sense the office is held to be a public one, which ren
ders the occupancy of it by fit incumbents a matter of
great concern to the general body of the Church. But
how is it in the order for which we plead ? There every
society has a plurality of teachers according to its exi
gencies, and according to the diversity of gifts possessed
by its members. The society in Boston, for instance,
may serve as an example. We have there listened to .
lectures of eminent ability and use delivered from time
to time by highly intelligent laymen, who were every
way qualified for the work, and to whom the society evi
dently gave heed with great delight. We know of noth
ing that should prevent a New Church Society from re
garding a number of such men as its true ministry, who
need nothing more than the acknowledgment of the
members to authorize them for the due discharge of all
the functions of spiritual teachers and guides. And if
acknowledged in this capacity by one society, why should
they not be by another, should they perchance visit or
sojourn for a time among them ? They are men in good
repute, qualified to impart instruction or to kindle affec
tion, and prompted by a love of use. Is there any rea
son why they should not sustain abroad the same charac
ter they do at home ? Yet they would not covet or claim
the title of clergymen on this account, for they do not, by
exercising this function, constitute a distinct order or
Brahminical caste in the Church. They are plain citi
zens, gaining their livelihood by their several secular vo
cations in life, and giving themselves, as occasion may
serve, to the spiritual benefit of their brethren, because

134 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
actuated by the love of the neighbor in one of its purest
forms. On the whole we do not perceive that the above
objection is a valid one ; we do not acknowledge that the
interests of the church at large are any more promoted
or protected by the existing arrangements than by those
proposed. Indeed, the advantage, if anything, is on the
side of the latter as it is supposed that none will be call
ed to the exercise of the teaching function but those
who have been tried and approved in that department,
whereas, in the present order, persons are introduced into
the ministry without any previous preparation, other
than scholastic, and the various societies are expected to
recognize them on the ground of the approbation of their
ordainers. (A) Denying, as we do, the legitimate existence in the
New Church of the clergy as a permanently distinct
class of men, it were scarcely to be expected that we
should have much to say of the distinguishing rite which
has been regarded as constituting them as such. Butvv'c
have no quarrel with ordination as such • it is with its
asserted instrumentality in creating a superior order in
the Church that we are at variance. It is, therefore, by
a misapprehension of our meaning that we are charged
with " plainly rejecting ordination by the clergy."
What we reject is the clergy ordained as a separate class,
and not the ordination itself, except as the basis on
which the clerical character rests. We are obviously
arguing here against a self-perpetuating order of men,
distinct from the laity. Viewed in this relation we of
course deny to ordination the virtue usually ascribed to
it as producing such an effect, but we do not thereby
necessarily repudiate the rite altogether. To disallow it
under one aspect is not inconsistent with allowing it un
der another. Kightly understood and rightly applied it
may have a very intelligible use in the New Dispensa
tion. If a society shall deem it proper to signify their
acceptance of the labors of their teachers by such a cer
emony, very well ; we would not object to it, though we
do not perceive it to be indispensable. But our objec-

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 135
tions lie mainly against the interpretations put upon the
rite in its relation to a permanent and distinct class. To
charge, therefore, that we reject ordination by the clergy,
is very little to the point so long as the main question is
in regard to the very existence of the order of the clergy
as A. E, F. understands it. But upon this point we
have little hope that our true position will be justly ap
prehended. The proposition that there may be a distinct
use of teaching and of spiritual leadership in the church,
without, at the same time, its constituting a distinct and
self-perpetuating order termed the clergy ia contradis
tinction from the laity, is one so complex from its very
simplicity, that it will find an exceedingly difficult ad
mission into minds pre-occupied with a different idea.
Consequently we shall deem ourselves fortunate if we
are not represented as denying the use as well as the sep
arate office of all ministry in the Church. If so, so be
it ; we would define our position more clearly if we
could. Our correspondent begins by giving prominence
to our alleged rejection of ordination of the clergy by
the clergy, which in our argument comes into question
solely as a rite by which a distinct order of -caen ¦perpetu
ates itself. It is in this relation, or as having this bear
ing, that we reject it. We do this on the ground that
the means cannot bo legitimate to an end which is illegi
timate. Ordination, we hold, is not legitimate as a
means of giving perpetuity to the clerical order. In this
relation solely do we speak of it in a tone of disappro
val. But from this fact it cannot be fairly inferred that
we reject it in all other relations. That which is not
good for one thing may be good for another ; and so
with ordination. The strictures of A. E. F. on this head,
as they proceed, gradually shift the point and direct
themselves at last against an imaginary position, as if we
rejected ordination altogether because we reject it under
one particular aspect. Accordingly he wheels round
upon us the heavy ordinance of the extract given above,
the discovery of which in 1830 among the unpublished
papers of Swedenborg caused so much exultation among

136 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
the brethren of the English Conference who then had the
subject of the trine in the ministry under review. And
what does it prove ? Simply that our author, in his day,
recognized the existence of a church and a clergy among
whom the communication of the Holy Spirit was signi
fied by the imposition of hands. From a somewhat
close and protracted examination in reference to this
point we are satisfied that numerous passages in the
writings of Swedenborg, in which mention is made of
the clergy and the priesthood, refer in reality, not to the
New Church, but to the old. Thus in H. D. of N. L,
315, " With respect to priests, their duty is to teach men
the way to heaven, and likewise to lead them therein.
They are to teach them according to the doctrine of their
church {sum ecclesim), which is derived from the Word
of God." In the English edition of 1841 of the H. D.
from which we quote, the reading is " according to the
doctrine of the Church." This, we trust, is a typographi
cal error, as it is plainly contrary to the original. Whe
ther the American edition contains the same reading we
cannot say, not having a copy at hand. We can under
stand this only as interpreted in conformity with the
view now expressed. The spiritual teachers whom he
calls priests, in the several departments of the Christian
Church, such as the Lutheran, Eeformed, Anglican, &c.,
are to inculcate the doctrines of their respective creeds,
which they all of course regard as drawn from the in
spired Word and accordant with it, and to which they
are faithfully to adhere in imparting instruction. In the
Divine Providence of the Lord, civil and ecclesiastical
government are both made to act an important part in
that system of infiuences and agencies by which the
world is kept in order. The object of the chapter is not,
we conceive, to lay down a formal rule of regimen for
the church, bxtt to show in what light its members are to
regard the existing order of things in the two great de
partments of Church and State. This order, as occur
ring under the economy of Divine Providence, Sweden
borg nowhere disparages, as our Lord did not that of the

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 137
Jewish dispensation in his day, though it was destined
ere long to pass away. But we do not learn that our
author any where, on that account, adopts or po-escribes
this order as designed to be perpetuated in the New
Jerusalem. We do not for ourselves find that he dis
tinctly recognizes an earthly priesthood as an element in
the New Economy, or that any inaugurations are refer
red to except such as are spiritual. If there be any such
passages we should be glad to have them pointed out.
{i) We do not perceive in this a very satisfactory re
ply to the objection. The fact that the authority is con
ferred instead of being assumed does not militate with
our position that the clergy is a " self-perpetuating
__ order." They are certainly a constantly-subsisting body,
they are distinct from the laity, and they are introduced
into the office by each other. Why does not this con
stitute a self-perpetuating order ? What more would be
requisite to do it ? As to appointment, it avails nothing
towards conferring clerical character, on the prevailing
theory, apart from ordination.
{j) If we see a bugbear in this, it is because we see
with optics badly trained. So deeply for a long tract of
ages, has clerical prerogative become entrenched in the
prejudices and aflections of the Christian world, so com
pletely has it moulded their forms of thought, that it is
an immense achievement to get out of the magic circle
of associations which it conjures around us, and to look
upon the subject in the light of the Lord's Word and of
man's wisdom. Who thinks oi pxdflic instruction in a
church but in connexion with a consecrated edifice, a pul
pit sacred to an ordained occupant, and a passively lis
tening audience ? But these are mere adventitious ap
pendages which have grown by slow degrees around the
central institute of worship. In like manner with the
sacraments, which have been clothed with a pre-eminent
degree of sanctity in order to enhance the official sancti
ty of those who administer them. We would not imply
by this that they are not to be reverently regarded as of
Divine appointment, but we are yet to learn the grounds
13

138 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
on which the administration of the sacraments is to be
prohibited to any but those who have passed through the
regular sacerdotal routine and received the due credentials
at the hands of the due authorities.
Qc) That is, if it be granted in the outset that there is
a distinct class of men in the church denominated the
clergy, and that they are solemnly introduced into that
office by the ceremony of ordination, and can derive a
title to the performance of these functions in no other
way, then it will indeed follow of course that no one can
invade the sacred prerogative without the grossest sacri
lege. But it might be as well to remember that we
deny this asserted effect of ordination, and consequently
the results that follow in its train. We adhere immova
bly to our position, that the qualification to teach in the
church, the love for it as a use, and the acknowledgment
of both on the part of a society, authorizes a man to of
ficiate '• uuimpeached of usurpation" in that capacity,
and that no man or body of men has a right to prevent
him. Moreover, as the functional use in question is an
important one, if the society are pleased to signify their
sense of it by selecting some of their number to express,
by imposition of hands, accompanied with prayer, their
earnest invocation of blessing in the discharge of it, we
see nothing in it that is open to reasonable objection.
But in admitting this we do not admit that such a rite so
consecrates the recipient as to elevate him to another
plane of dignity and sanctity.
(Z) We ask ourselves again and again where is the pe
culiar difficulty of apprehending the distinction to which
we have so often adverted, and which draws the line be
tween an occasional or even a stated use and a perma
nent office that constitutes its functionaries a separate
and sacred order of men. Certain exigencies on the
score of instruction in a New Church Society demand
the exercise of certain gifts or endowments at certain
times. The services requisite are rendered accordingly,
just as the teachers in a Sabbath-school perform the du
ties which, because they were needed, they have consent-

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 189

ed to assume. But has this the effect of making them a
distinct; class of men in tho community ? Are they not,
during the week-days, pursuing their fixed occupation
like other citizens and perfectly upon a par with them ?
Suppose their Sabbath-day employment to be called an
" office," still they are properly " officers" no longer than
while engaged in it, even though engaged in it statedly
and for a term of years. No one ever dreams that they
become, in consequence of this function, a distinct order
prescriptively invested with the prerogative not only of
teaching, but of creating by ordination other teachers.
A. E. F. would make the clerical and judicial functions
exactly parallel. This would require that the limits of
each should be defined with the utmost precision, and
that uo one should presume any more to invade the pro
vince of the minister than the lawyer or the common
citizen does that of the judge. But we ask if this is pos
sible? Would A. E. F. undertake to define the precise
line which separates the duties of the laity from the
prerogatives of the clergy ? May not a layman teach
any spiritual truth at all ? If he may teach some, how
much? Suppose a warm-hearted Newchurchman in
some remote village in Maine or Michigan should be
impelled to open his doors on the Sabbath to such of
his neighbors as saw fit to attend, and should read, pray,
and sing with them, and under the promptings of a full
heart should venture to propound his own views of the
grand and glorious truths of the New Jerusalem, and
urge them upon his audience, by what scale of crimi
nality should we measure his offence ? Should we trem
ble for fear that the doom of Korah and his companions
would come upon him? Should we not fear rather that
his own soul would suffer leanness were he to withhold
that which would tend to remedy the leanness of the
souls of others 1 The fact is, the civil and ecclesiastical
spheres are entirelj' diflerent. It is impossible to bring
the principles applicable to each into the same category.
Every man of the church is potentially a minister or
priest, and the development of the fitting endowments.

140 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
together with the consent and acknowledgment of his
associates is all that is needed to make him actually so.
Assume any more restricted ground and the church has
a hierarchy inevitably fixed upon it.
{m) All the prevention that may be attempted, short
of actual force, amounts simply to non-acknowledgment.
A society may refuse to acknowledge as a teacher one
who would fain impose himself upon them in that char
acter, but they cannot prevent him from preaching to
another society who are willing to hear him, nor if ever
so many New Church societies combine and veto his
preaching could they prevent his officiating beyond the
pale of their jurisdiction. The mere fact of several so
cieties combining confers no new power of prohibition ;
it simply affords the means of a more united expression
of opinion on the subject. One who Avas intent upon
proclaiming what he deemed to be truth, and whose life
challenged investigation, would smile at all the edicts
that could be launched against him by Synods or Con
ventions. {n) There is nothing to hinder societies from combin
ing for purposes of use in advancing the Lord's kingdom,
but if they suppose that their coming together and
" combining into a body" invests them with an authority
of " prescribing" what they had not the power to do be
fore, they labor under as great a mistake, as would he
who should hold that the whole is more than an aggre
gate of all the parts.
{o) Nothing is more certain than that these words of
our author must receive limitation somewhere. With all
his zeal for a sharply defined distinction of grades and
functions in the church, A. E. F. would not say that none
but a clergyman was ever to insinuate truth into the
minds of his fellow-men. He must concede the right in
some degree — what is it? In some cases — what are
they ? We will abide by his determination. If he main
tains that while in the ordinary intercourse of life every
man is at liberty to improve the occasions that may oc
cur for correcting falsity and imparting truth, but" that

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 141
in the matter of formal instruction in public meetings,
for instance, the duty of unfolding and applying the
truths of the church should devolve rather upon-lhose
who occupy the post of teachers, we have no difficulty
in agreeing with him, for we regard such " teaching
ministers" or spiritual servants, as a very important ele
ment in every society, but we are very far from looking
upon them as such a distinct order of men as is now un
derstood by the clergy.
{p) As we put this in the same category with the for
mer extract from the Canons, it will be superfluous to
dwell upon it here. We flnd no evidence that Sweden
borg speaks either here or elsewhere of any other clergy
as such than that which he recognized in the existing
church of his day.
{g) We have guarded our statement sufficiently to re
but the force of this objection, as will appear by italicis
ing another clause of the sentence ; — "As to heretical or
incompetent ministers and the proper mode of dealing
with them, this, in a well-ordered state of the Church,
will take care of itself" It is seldom indeed that any
reform of moment is effected by itself apart from a re
form in the system to which it belongs. We should an
ticipate with A. E. F. that disorders and irregularities in
abundance would be the consequence of such a change
as he deems the legitimate consequence of our theory.
It is evident from his coupling together " no human
priesthood" with " no human government" that he attri
butes to our views a perfectly subversive or destructive
tendency without one redeeming element. It is, howev
er, well to remind ourselves that the bad consequences
Avhich might in the flrst iostance flow from the breaking
up of a corrupt state of things iu church or State are not
of themselves a sufficient argument against the plea for
reform. In the present case the question is as to the ab
stract truth of certain principles bearing upon the econo
my of the church. If the fundamental positions which
we assume are intrinsically sound, the legitimate conse
quences can by no possibility be evil. Let that question
then be decided. 13*

142 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
{r) We willingly let all this go for what it is worth, leav
ing it to our readers to judge how far we differ or how far
we agree with the teachings of Swedenborg rightly un
derstood. That he has much to say respfecting priests,
priesthood, clergy, &c., is readily admitted, but that he
predicates them of the New Church is not admitted. Thus
aa to imposition of hands, he says, C. L. 396, " Because
the hands are the ultimates of man, and his firsts are
simultaneously in ultimates, it is that inaugurations into
the priesthood are at this day performed by the laying on
of hands." But upon this head we cannot now dilate.
{s) There is but little prospect of bringing controver
sies to a close so long as either of the parties miscon
strues the leading position of the other, or puts its own
sense on an opponent's terms and then waxes valiant in
contending with it. We have nowhere denied that the
function of teaching exists and always has existed in the
Church, consequently that there are to be teachers. But
we deny that these teachers are identical with the clergy
of the present day, an order of men which, from the
love of dominion, has grafted itself upon that of the
teachers aforesaid, and in a thousand forms of usurpation
"lorded it over God's heritage." To what does it amount
then to say that the clergy, as a distinct body, dates it
self far back of the rise of the spirit of domination ?
This is a spirit which allows very few things indeed to
date back of it. The clergy, in the sense of teachers,
or, if you please, of teaching ministers, existed from the
origin of Christian .Societies, but the clergy, in the sense
of the priesthood, is of far later growth, and is the un
doubted offspring of the love of dominion, as any candid
man will see who reads father Sarpi's History of the
Council of Trent, or Campbell's Lectures on Ecclesiasti
cal History.
{t) The effect is here, if we mistake not, unwittingly
put for the cause and the cause for the effect. The doc
trines of absolution, of the power of the keys, and of
apostolic succession, were not born till the love of domi
nation begot them, nor will they die so long as their fos-

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 143
ter parent the clergy survives to nourish them. The idea
of a separate order of clergy subsisting in total disjunc
tion from the abuses which have ever accompanied it is,
in our view, chimerical.
{u) The course of reasoning which our friend pursues
throughout his article leans very strongly and naturally
to a most lenient and tolerant view of the church of the
Papacy, as the arguments by which both systems are
sustained have a marked affinity for each other. Indeed,
with the abatement or exception which he specifles, we
cannot perceive how, upon his ground, the constitution
of the Soman Church could have been " highly inexpedi
ent." Highly expedient would sound in our ears as the
more appropriate epithet. We are often amused at the
efforts made to separate the dross and still retain the vir
gin gold of Rome. The grand fact, however, still re
mains inexpugnable that the sacerdotal heresy is the
mother and the munition of the papal apostasy.
{v) We must put this down as a singular specimen of
hyper-reflnement in the way of confuting an axiomatic
principle of the New Church, to wit, that every good
man is a church in the least form ; from which, we main
tain, it follows that if the priestly function is an essential
element of the church, that element exists in every indi
vidual of the church. And how is this replied to?
" The man is composed of goods and truths, two perfect
ly distinct things ; priests correspond, in the collective
church, with goods, and the laity, consequently with
truths, and as goods and truths are distinct, the clergy
and laity must be distinct also." But where does our
respondent learn that the laity corresponds with
truths ? We by no means admit his " consequently" on
this head. The priestly principle does indeed both in
the Lord and in man correspond to good, but the proper
counterpart to this is not any lay-principle corresponding
to truth, but the regal principle of which truth is the
genuine basis. Therefore it is said that under the New Dis
pensation we are made priests and kings, but not priests
and laymen. The priests under the Old Dispensation

144 NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
were distinct from the laity by the very nature of their
office, and when it is said that under the New all become
priests, it follows that the former distinction is of course
done away ; that they are all upon the same plane,
though there may still be diversity of functions and uses ;
and that the spiritual forms of goodness and truth in the
collective man of the church are priesthood and king
ship, so that if there is an external order of priests on
the one hand there must be an external order of kings
on the other. Does our friend recognize his refutation
when it comes before him in this form, or does he ex
claim, " Quantum mutatus ab illo !"
{to) If our correspondent had here quoted our remarks
ujDon the passage referred to, it would have been appa
rent, we think, that the force of the objection built upon
it was effectually done away. As it is, we must rely
upon the reader's courtesy to refer to it (N. C. Repos.,
Dec, 1849).
{x) We may oftentimes admit the abstract truth of a
principle affirmed to hold in a particular analogy, and
yet refuse to admit that the principle can be fairly ap
plied in the case which the analogy is designed to illus
trate or confute. In the present instance we have no
quarrel with what A. E. F. says about the order of in
flux, &c., but we do not concede that it overthrows the
truth of our position. We do not grant that the origina
tion of the true ministry from societies is superseded by
any subsequent state of things into which the infancy of
the church resolves itself " It is a matter of necessity
that the fi-rst ordination should be by the laity ; but it is
in vain to rely upon this as proof that it should be so
always." We seem to be shut up to the frequent re
statement of our main position as the true answer to
nearly every argument of our opponent. With him the
great point is ordination as that in which the essence of
the clerical office consists ; with us the main question is
as to the office itself, which we understand to be a func
tion of use performed by certain persons duly qualified,
but still standing upon the same plane with the mass of

NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT. 145
the members of the society in whose behoof they offici
ate. In the first selection or appointment of these indi
viduals we see no objection to the members expressing
their concurrence in the choice by the rite of imposition
of hands, either in their own persons or by proxy, as
convenience may dictate, though we maintain that this
act does nothing towards investing them with authority,
or elevating them into a distinct superior order, but
merely implies a cordial assent to the appointment and
an earnest invocation of the divine blessing upon the
new relation which is now to be established between the
parties. The ceremony may properly enough be per
formed, if the societ}' sees fit, while at the same time we
see no such absolute necessity for it as that the validity
of the function shall be annulled by reason of its ab
sence. And so in regard to subsequenf appointments to
the same office in the same society. The existing func
tionaries may ordain new ones, as circumstances may re-
c[uire, with the same interpretation of the import of the
rite as in the first instance. It is a decent and becoming
ceremony, tending no doubt to enhance the impressive-
ness of the occasion, but devoid of that peculiar sanctity
and indispensable necessity which has been claimed for
it. Our readers will judge from these remarks how
much weight we assign to A. E. F.'s position that " you
cannot govern a inan by the laws of embryo life, and
you should not make the church, full-grown, conform to
the model of its forming stage." We are unable to see
why the simplest form of a New Church society should
not be permanent, just as we have reason to believe that
the forms of the heavenly societies are permanent. If
BO, the process we have described above of furnishing
societies with teachers is all that is requisite, and the
reasoning of our correspondent on the subject is an
swered.

A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY.
EXTRACT OP A LETTER FROM AN ENGUSH CORRESPONDENT.
[N. C. Eepos., May, 1851.]
Your fear of having given offence by your speculations to your
English brethren, I think you may dismiss at once. If I may judge
from my own limited circle, the impression produced is a feeling of
regret that your mode of improving our views of clerical institutions,
has been so much mixed up with the external and personal affairs of
tlie United States Institutions in the N. C.(a) ; and also that we can
not clearly see or firmly grasp your views of what is best to be under
stood and done, in regard to the relation in question, that is, practi
cally, either as regards the present time, or the immediate future, fi J I
flnd this same difficuUy in your letter ; and I hesitate what course to
take ; to point oat, by a reference to your own words, such as " exclu
sive class," " monopoly," " distinct caste" and " order," " permanent
order," &c., how you puzzle me ; or to state my own simple view of the
main points of the subject. As the shortest course, I will take the
latter, flrst remarking, that I cannot admit that in your controversy
any sense of teaching by priests was admissible, except that iu public
woiship. Any other sense could only generate confusion. (c)
I see no need to consult Swedenborg or the Word to ascertain
specially whether we want religious teachers (called by Americans
" clergy," but clergy here mean Established Church ministers only)
to instruct those who assemble for worship on Sundays. Common
sense, founded on experience, is an all-sufficient guide. It is a settled
point that Christians should use public worship, and no one doubts
that a part of the engagements on such occasions should be instruc
tion. Then : Query — Who is to give this instruction ? Answer —
The most efficient persons available. Query — Should they be per
sons specially trained to do so, and rendered more efficient by ap
propriate, regular, and constant mental culture, suitable to their
work, and perfected by the practice and habit of teaching? Or
should the teaching be given extempore by any person chancing to
be present, on being called upon ? Answer — When it can be proved
that an extempore doctor and lawyer, without special training for
their respective vocations, are more efficient than regularly trained
doctors and lawyers, then, and not before, it will be proved, that ex
tempore, or rather improvisatore, religious teachers, are the best.
Query — Is it well, then, to have a trained body of teachers, called by
a peculiar designation, who shall devote themselves /or life to the office,
and be a distinct body from the taught, called in contradistinction by
another designation ? Answer — Lawyers, doctors and schoolmasters

A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY. 147
devote their lives to their work, and why not religious teachers and
pastors ? As to the designation, of what consequence is it, except as
it is necessary to facilitate the understanding of speech ? We have
clergy and laity ; but the laity only means those who are not clergy.
In law we, in Great Britain, have lawyers and " laymen," the latter
being those who are not lawyers, including, I presume, clergymen. In
physic, we have doctors and the un-professional. These arc real dis
tinctions, and nothing more is meant by the designations descriptive of
them in one case than the other. Thus we say, " clergy and laity," not
to mark a stronger or dlEfcrent line than that which exists between the
operators and operated upon, in the other cases. The clergy are no
more a distinct body from the rest, than the lawyers and doctors are
distinct from the rest. Lawyers and doctors are esteemed according to
their talents and known acquirements, and why should not religious
teachers olatain influence and employment on the same grounds ? The
country wants the use, and wants it performed in the best manner, and
therefore wants those who can do it best, and therefore should encour
age those who have best qualifled themselves for their work, to adopt
the office for life.CdJ
In the flrst ages of Christianity, according to Peter, there existed a
spiritual priesthood ; and there were also religious teachers ; it does
not appear necessary to connect the latter fact with the former, either
then, or in the N. C. The former is an invisible body, and each one
should take care that he is a member of it ; but what has this to do
with providing for the instruction of the people on Sundays ? except,
indeed, so far as this — that if we can see in a candidate for the teach
er's or pastor's vocation traces of character such as belongs to the
spiritual priesthood, combined with efiective talents for teaching, we
have good ground for receiving him, since the former without the latter,
or the latter without the former, would be useless in a teacher. But it
appears to me that the traces of the spiritual priesthood, as existing in
the lawyer or doctor, are scarcely less important for them in their voca
tion, than for the religious teachers in theirs. Paul was a great reli
gious teacher appointed of God, but where, according to the Diary of E.
S., was his spiritual priesthood ? Divine Wisdom, in his case, coHsti-
tuted a man a religious teacher, who was not then, and perhaps not
likely to become, a spiritual priest. This proves that we shall not
fatally err by choosing for a religious teacher a man who appears to be
a spiritual priest, but is not. Now, all this being granted, how can
it be avoided to make a distinction in name between clergy and laity,
while there is such a palpable distinction in fact ? Tou admit that the
terms clergy, teachers or priests, " indicate a certain form of use," but
you affirm that those who perform that use are not a distinct order.
Now, my dear sir, I can make nothing out of this but your saying,
that they are actually distinct, being distinguished by a distinct use,
but they must not be accounted or said to be so ! If your ideas are
better than those here suggested, your words are not worthy of them.
Lawyers and doctors are a distinct order, and the only marked differ-

148 A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY.
ence is, that they deal with individuals, while teachers deal with aggre
gate bodies ; and partly, perhaps, in consequence of the latter being
the case, it has been found expedient that the covenant between the
taught and the teacher should be marked by a public ceremonial,
which is arranged in various forms, called Ordinations — the covenant
being the principal and essential thing, and the mode of ratifying it,
the instrumental or non-essential. The covenant is a fact — that cannot
be questioned ; and all talk about ordination is not, properly, talk
about the clergy as a fact, but a discussion about the mode of celebrat
ing a fact relating to them.
We have nothing to do with the views of the future N. C. about
clergy : we have only to provide for our own wants, and as well and
as wisely as we can. When the N. J. attains its glory, there will, per
haps, be no doctors and no lawyers, and no teachers such as we now re
quire ; but what have we to do with that ? Is it not to us a matter of
profltless speculation ? What we want we must liave, and leave the
wants of the future to suggest their suitable supplies. There is quite
as good reason for discontinuing lawyers and doctors now, as for
abolishing the clergy now, because hereafter none of them may be
wanted. Let each age do the best it can for itself. Sufficient unto
the day are the duties thereof
But you might say, " All this is very well, but you know that the
Bostonians and others have gone to E. S. to find grounds for a hier
archy of three orders, having peculiar and exclusive privileges and
powers." Certainly, and you have declared that you do not accept
their ecclesiastical constitution, as you had a right to declare; and
you have given your reasons for it ; and all I meant to say above in
regard to your reasons is, that I wish you had proceeded more accord
ing to the short usual process of argument, than according to U. S. N.
C. fashion, by so many questionable and uncertain references to E. S.
Of course I regard his authority as conclusive, but only when he is
obviously speaking to the very point in dispute, or when indisputably his
already expressed general principles obviously bear upon it. Con
structive conclusions, I like as well, or rather as little, as the old con
structive treasons in politics ; — one seeks to get your mind into thrall,
and the other, your body.
If people's, common conception does not qualify them to judge by
the rule of utility whether there should be a trine of clerical grades or
not, it seems to me, that all disputing with them, to show that their
conclusions from E. S. are perversions, will be lost upon them ; but for
the sake of the lookers on, I admit, it is needful for some who feel
their vocation for the work, to show that the conclusions referred to
are perversions. But this will require concentration of force and great
care, to avoid getting into a course of reasoning and disputes on incon
clusive, or misunderstood, or misapplied passages of E. S., as inter
minable as it is ineffective. It is like arguing by parallels, where
nearly all the time is occupied in pointing out want of parallelism.
It is said of some people, that they have all sorts of sense except

A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL OLERGY. 149
common sense, and it appears to me that E. S., according to your re
presentation of his meaning, must be numbered with such characters ;
that is, if, in writing the chapter On Ecclesiastical and Civil Govern
ment, he only traced what ought to be done in the Old Church by
priests and people, in relation to each other, when all the while he
knew that the Old Church was incorrigible, and was about to be su
perseded by the New ! He knew also, 'according to your reading, that
what he pronounced good for the 0. C, though impossible to it, would
not be good for the N. C, and yet he omitted to say so ! ! He is
evidently speaking of or to a church that he meant to profit by his sug
gestions, and therefore must have thought such benefit attainable : I put
it to your candor, therefore, and in justice to E. S., was that church
which E. S. addressed the utterly ruined 0. C, which cannot be bene
fited ; or another church which can ? If the latter, what church could
that be except the N. C. ? Why, then, charge him by implication,
with violating common sense, flrst by prescribing impossibilities to the
O. C. ,¦ and, secondly, by not warning the N. 0. that what he said was
exclusively meant for the 0. C, notwithstanding the title of the book
— " The N. Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrines ? " Youplace E. S.,
by your limitation of his meaning, in an inextricable dilemma. In any
point of view, you make him wanting in common sense. You make
him like a physician who should carefully take measures to convey to
his son, after his death, a prescription labelled foir him, and which ap
peared on the face of it, to be intended for his son's use, but which, in
fact, was nothing but a prescription which one of his dead patients had
neglected to take ; and, if taken by the son, would infallibly poison him.
Such I think is a fair parallel to the case drawn by you of the conduct
of our spiritual physician Swedenborg, in regard to this chapter 1(e)
KEMAKKS.
{a) We had no special reference, in the tenor of our re
marks, to the state of things among our English brethren.
We had no aim to " improve their views of clerical in
stitutions," but wrote mainly with the actual condition
of the New Church in our own country in our eye. At
the same time, we have endeavored to unfold the general
principles which lie at the foundation of the whole sub
ject, and which are of course universally applicable.
{b) Our brother is doubtless aware that there is always
a difficulty in " seeing clearly" and " grasping firmly" a
train of thought which goes counter to the whole current
of our previous notions, especially when it questions the
soundness of principles that form the basis of usages, in-
14

150 A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY.
stitutions, and polities with which he has been familiar
from childhood, and which are made venerable by his
toric recollection. We would not quote the pungent
aphoristic couplet of Cowper with any personal allusion
to our correspondent ; but it is apropos as expressive of
a general fact in human experience, —
" The text that suits not to his darling whim,
Though clear to others, is obscure to him."
We are at least greatly at a loss to conceive that the
views which we have advanced on the theme of the
ministry and its relative topics is at all difficult of ap
prehension considered as a theory. But the practical
carrying them out is another matter. And here we
must repeat what we have said before, that we have not
propounded our sentiments with a view to any abrupt or
violent change in the existing order of things. We
would have every thing ripen by due degrees. Seeds of
thought, like seeds of plants, may be properly sown, with
the full understanding that they are to lie for a longer or
shorter time in the mental soil before they germinate,
and still longer before they come to maturity. In the
present instance we have thrown out suggestions bearing
upon the true constitution and order of the New Church,
the tendency of which is undoubtedly to operate impor
tant changes, not only of opinion, but of action on these
subjects, as to which, however, we still trust to the good
sense and wisdom of reflecting men not to precipitate
results even from principles that are intrinsically sound.
That which is essentially reformatory need not be at the
same time violently revolutionary.
(c) We will not quarrel with this position, although
we should no doubt difi'er from our friend as to the pro
minence which was to be given to teaching as a de
partment of public worship. But of this more in what
follows. {d) The course of reasoning here adopted proceeds,
we think, upon an inadequate view, not only of the
true ends of worship, but also of the true coristituents of

A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY. 151
a Church. " Theology," says Jeremy Taylor, " is not so
much a divine doctrine as a divine life." This is entire
ly in accordance with the scope of the informations im
parted to the New Church. The aim of its doctrines is
to develope a new life wherever they are received,
and the elements of this new life are the same in all.
Wherever they exist, there is the church in its least
form indeed, but in all its essential fulness ; consequent
ly, every requisite function of the Church must poten
tially reside in every individual member of the Church.
How this can consist with the exclusive possession of the
teaching prerogative by any distinct order, class, or caste
of men, is what we are unable either " clearly to see or
firmly to grasp." And yet as here, if any where, is the
fundamental fallacy of our position, it claims to be
directly met and answered. Instead of doing this, how
ever, our astute correspondent plants his battery against
the practical operation of the scheme, by showing up its
impotency to secure the desirable ends of religious in
struction as a part of public worship. How shall a man
teach to any advantage who has not been duly qualified
by previous training and culture for the work? And
how can this important function be secured in the
Church, except by means of a trained body of teachers,
called by a special designation, devoted to the office for
life, and thus necessarily constituting a distinct and ex
clusive class ? And is not such a class as completely
contradistinguished, in the nature of the case, from the
taught as are doctors and lawyers from patients and cli
ents ? It is easy to see the extreme plausibility of this
kind of argument, and yet it is very far from carrying
conviction to our mind. It is not satisfactory, inasmuch
as it appears to us to give to the understanding the pro
minence due rather to the will, and to imply that in
struction, instead of devotion, is the principal object of
worship. As we read the genius of the Lord's kingdom,
his people come together in worship rather for the pur
pose of bringing the offerings of praise, adoration, and
grateful love, for looking to the Lord, seeking a direct

152 A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY.
influx of divine good to their souls, and for the quicken
ing of every holy impulse of feeling, than for the edifica
tion of the ' intellect. In a word, we regard the will
rather than the understanding, as the principle mainly
concerned in worship. The great end to be attained by
it we consider to be the quickening of the devout affec
tions — the reinforcement of love to the Lord and charity
to the neighbor, and all the minor graces of the regen
erating spirit. At the same time, as the opening of the
Word in its spiritual sense, and its application to the
personal conscience, conduces to the ends of worship,
so we freely admit the propriety of such instruction on
such occasions ; and as to the dispensers of it, the natu
ral impression would be, that those would be the best
qualified for it who were most fully furnished with it,
and those surely might be presumed to be most in truth
who were most in good, as all genuine truth is from
genuine good. So far as we can see, all in the Church
are required to be equally assiduous in the cultivation of
goods and truths, and all have an equal interest in the
spiritual well-being of the whole body. It is ordered,
too, that the gifts of each should be made available to
the behoof all, and we regard it as simply impossible
that any member of the Church should be truly in the
life and spirit of the Church, without being able to im
part useful instruction in some form to his brethren.
He can no more lack this ability than a healthy organ
in a healthy human body can fail to elaborate its use in
the general economy of the system. Nothing can be
more apropos in this connexion, than Paul's illustra
tion ; — " From whom the whole body fitly joined to
gether, and compacted by that which every joint sup-
plieth, according to the effectual working in the measure
of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edi
fying of itself in love." That there will ever be some
in every society better qualified to impart instruction
than others, is beyond question ; and if so, let them
chiefly exercise the function. But let them not, on this
account, make an exclusive prerogative of what is essen
tially a common privilege and a common duty.

A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL OLERGY. 153
From what we have now said, it will be seen that we
think little of the force of the argument drawn from the
su^jposed parallel case of the doctor and the lawyer. The
cases are not parallel. The vocations ofthe doctor and the
lawyer require of necessity the attainment of knowledges
diverse from those of the mass of the community among
whom their respective professions are practiced. A
peculiar training is therefore requisite in their case, be
cause the end is peculiar. They are to do what their
patients and clients cannot be expected to do, and they
are to prepare themselves accordingly. But how is it in
a Church ? What is a Church society in its essential
nature ? Is it not an association formed for purposes in
which every member has the same interest with every.
other member ? Is there not the utmost community of
object prevailing among those who belong to it? And
is not this object one that has relation mainly to life ? Is
not the Church rather a school of life than a semi
nary of science ? What interest have the so-called
teachers apart from that of the taught ? What does it
behoove one to know which it does not another? How
then can there be a basis for a distinction of classes simi
lar to those of physic and law? Or with what justice
can the peculiarity in the one sphere of use be offset
against the community in the other? As to the extem
pore character of the instructions given under the sup
posed order of things, our correspondent surely will not
deny that under a glowing state of heavenly affection
there may be and often is, not only a special interior
illustration, but a freedom, fluency, and pertinency of
speech, that the most elaborate preparation from the
memory can scarcely approach. But how absurd the
supposition that the Divine infiux should inspire doctors
and lawyers to act the improvisator in this manner in
the discharge of their professional duties ! The com
parison is altogether inappropriate, as in the one case we
are dealing with an art or science which is necessarily
limited to a class, and which must be acquired by a
special course of training ; whereas, in the other, we
14*

154 A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY.
contemplate a form of spiritual and moral life, the func
tions and obligations of which pertain equally to every
individual. We must of course be aware that the carry
ing out of the views now advanced necessarily supposes
a very altered state of things in the Church, from the
past or present ; and we are entirely willing that our
argument should be taken with all the abatement that
may accrue to it from the imputation of being impracti
cable in the present condition of things in the world.'
We are deeply sensible that the standard of life is alto
gether too low to allow us to cherish the hope that
existing usages and institutes may be dispensed with for
a long time to come ; nor, as we have already said, have
we any disposition to precipitate a new era, in this re
spect, in the Church. But we have no reserve in pro
posing the subject for consideration. We hesitate not to
offer suggestions. A commencement must be made at
some time or other. It will devolve upon some one to
broach the topic for the first, and we know not that it is
ever too early to announce the ideas which are destined
in the end to counteract the evils of long established in
stitutions. In the present case we have no debate with
our correspondent as to the fact of the usefulness of the
clergy in the present order of things ecclesiastical in all
Christian countries, nor do we question for a moment
that the more richly endowed, intellectually and spiritu
ally, are the Pastors of Churches, the more useful will
they be. On this head we can afford to make the am
plest concessions. But the true question is, first, whether
the distinction of clergy and laity as everywhere under
stood, rests upon a solid basis of truth ; and, secondly,
whether taking every thing into view, the disadvantages
attending the present system are not such as to outweigh
its advantages. The latter proposition may be pre
sumed, if the former be admitted, for what is not war
ranted by the Word, is not to be expected to be expedi
ent on the whole. For ourselves we see abundant
grounds of doubt on both these points. We see the
great body of the Church virtually released from duties

A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY. 155
and uses which cannot in our view be justly alienated or
made over to any other party. We see under the pre
sent system a sinking of individual responsibility in the
prominence given, and the importance attached to cleri
cal agency, which cannot but be eventually attended
with disastrous effects upon tlie best interests of the
Lord's kingdom in the hearts of his people. We see in
this system the germ of all that hierarchy which has been '
from the earliest ages of the Christian Church the bane
of its prosperity, and the presage of similar evils in the
Church of the New Jerusalem. It is for this reason
that the subject has weighed heavily on our thoughts,
and- as we have believed so have we spoken. It is on
this ground that we would plant our reply to what is
urged in a subsequent part of the above letter in respect
to our non-concern in the Church's future. We confess
to no little surprise on this head. " We have only to
provide for our own wants, and as well and wisely as
we can. When the New Jerusalem attains its glory
there will, perhaps, be no doctors, aud no lawyers, and
no teachers such as we (now) require, but what have we
to do with that ? Is it not to us a matter of profitless
speculation ?" It is surely the part of charity to consult
the well-being of those who shall come after us as well
as to study the good of our coevals. It is no matter of
" profitless speculation" to determine the principles
which should govern the Church in its ecclesiastical re
lations in our own day, and if these principles are sound,
we ought to feel an anxious desire that their operation
may be perpetuated. Surely we cannot be true to our
better promptings, aud still be indifferent to the highest
welfare of the Church in after ages. Can we see evils
in existence in the Church of the present, and not desire
to have them eradicated from the Church of the future ?
Shall we not aim to hand down this precious inheritance
to posterity purged to the utmost of imperfections and in
a form most prolific of blessing ? At the same time
there is a fallacy in the idea that we cannot consult
the interests of the future without violently abrogating

156 A TRAINED AND PROFESSIONAL CLERGY.
the present. It is not necessary to " abolish the clergy
now," in order to secure the benefits for our posterity,
which we would fain compass. All that we propose is,
that the subject should be candidly weighed, and if any
real errors or evils are indicated, that they should be
gradually corrected, as the wisdom of the Church shall
deem expedient. Is there any thing ultra or extrava
gant in this ?
(e) Instead of repeating our former arguments on this
head, we will propose one query to our friend, the writer
of the letter. In the H. D. (No. 315) we find the fol
lowing : — " With respect to priests, their duty is to teach
men the way to heaven, and likewise to lead them there
in. They are to teach them according to the doctrine
of their Church, {ecclesim sum,) which is derived from
the Word of God ; and to lead them to live according to
that doctrine." What is to be understood by the phrase
" their Church " in this connexion 1 It will be seen in
deed that theforce of the expression is altogether lost in
our translation, which renders it " the Church •," but we
have given the original, which, in the letter is too plain
to be misunderstood. What is its fair interpretation ?
Does it not imply that the priests or ministers of the
several Churches in Christendom, as the Lutheran, the
Calvinistic, the Episcopal, the Baptist, the Methodist,
&c., are to teach according to the tenets which these
bodies respectively hold as being, in their view, derived
from the Word of God ? If so, it obviously confirms
our constraction of the whole article, and this impres
sion is strengthened by the consideration that a monar
chical form of government for the State is as unequivo
cally prescribed as is a priestly order for the Church.
Our correspondent will no doubt find some way of get
ting smoothly over the difficulty, but there it stands, and
many there are, ourselves among the number, who do
not know how to reconcile it with such a view of the
whole chapter as the writer contends for.

THE PARTY OP ORDER AND THE PARTY OF
LIBERTY.
[N.C. Repos., March, 1852.]
We insert the following from an esteemed brother at
the West, because we are always happy to receive the
friendly hints of brethren in the Church, and because it
affords us an opportunity of adding a few words on the
general subject to which the writer alludes.
M  C  , Feb. 1, 1852.
DEAR SIR,
Inclosed you have two dollars for the current year of the Repository.
Mr. S., whose subscription I sent last year, is not disposed to renew ;
the course of the Repository the past year has not been attractive to
novitates. For myself I have been highly interested in the discussions on the
subject of Church order, though they appear to have occupied too
large a space. I cannot, however, apart from this, acknowledge my
self satisfled with the style of most of the articles on these subjects.
Each party seems to view but one side of the questions at issue, and to
be anxious rather to present their own partial conceptions, than to de
velop those universal principles in which truths of every phase are
seen to harmonize. Hence but little progress is made ; few are satis
fied, and if any are silenced, it is because they are weary of the sub
ject, rather than convinced or enlightened. Each party appears to
withhold the light from the very part of its position which is earnestly
questioned by the other side — whether from conscious weakness or
distrust does not clearly appear.
The party of " order" are careful to say very little about the source
of their authority, or of those grand principles of freedom of thought
and freedom of utterance which are supposed to conflict with their pre
tensions. On the other hand, the partizans of " liberty" are equally
silent upon questions of organization, subordination, and authority,
which are generally held to be essential to united and harmonious ac
tion, and when pressed with quotations from Swedenborg, have been
fain to appeal to other quotations from the same authority, with
scarcely an attempt to reconcile them.
Now I hold that such a state of things is disgraceful, especially
when taken in connection with the pretensions of the New Church to
superior illumination, and I do most sincerely hope and pray that this

158 THE PARTY OF ORDER AND THE PARTY OF LIBERTY.
one-sided business may cease. Let none presume to dogrnatize till he
can cover the whole ground, and without evasion harmoniously recon
cile order with freedom, the rights of man with his duties, as involved
in this question.
A slight attempt was made to accomplish this in the argument from
analogy which formed a part of the Majority report on this subject to
the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Michigan and Northern Indi
ana Association, which report you were pleased to notice in a very
favorable manner. I think that the principles presented in that report,
if properly developed, will be found to meet the difficulties of the sub
ject in the most satisfactory manner. I am aware that some portions
of it have been subjected to an unfavorable criticism in the (English)
New Church Review, and for some time I contemplated a reply, in
which I should have shown, that in the most important matter of dif
ference the report was misunderstood by the reviewer ; but want of
time, and flnally the withdrawal of the copy of the review itself pre
vented me.
However, should the subject be pursued in the Repository, and
should circumstances favor me, I will, with your permission, endeavor,
in a brief article, to present the matter anew, with such farther expla
nations and developments as may seem advisable.
I remain, very truly yours, R. H. M.
REMARKS.
We have before taken occasion to express some degree
of surprise that the thorough discussion of the sub
ject of church order in our pages should have
proved so distasteful to a large portion of our readers.
It cannot be denied that the subject is intrinsically im
portant, and therefore entitled to the most candid and
serious consideration of every member of the church.
Nor do we see any reason to doubt that views have been
held and assumptions put forth, in connection with this
theme, which it was perfectly proper should be called in
question, and submitted to the ordeal of the Word and
the writings. So far as our own humble essays are con
cerned, this is what we have attempted to do. Others
who have shared in our sentiments, have ably seconded
our efforts, and subjected the opposite views to a search
ing analysis. Meantime we have freely opened our
pages to the advocates of the prevailing " order," and
given them every opportunity to defend and confirm

THE PARTY OF ORDER AND THE PARTY OF LIBERTY. 159
their positions. So far no just exceptions, we think, can
be taken to our course. No one can object to our giving
a fair hearing to both sides of all important but disput
ed topics. The exception taken, however, by our corres
pondent, is not so much to the fact of the discussion as
to the mode in which it has been conducted. Each
party has taken a one-sided view of the matter, and aim
ed to present " its own partial conceptions, rather than
to develop those universal principles in which truths of
every phase are seen to harmonize." This may be so,
but such a process of umpirage is usually the result of
the successive pleadings of the parties concerned, when
each has brought forth and set in array the strong rea
sons upon which its opinions are based. The first object
in such a discussion is generally to assail some establish
ed error of faith or institution, and to expose the fallacy
of the reasonings on which it rests. This can seldom be .
done without converting mild discussion into excited
controversy ; for there are usually so many interests
wrapped up in existing systems, that the least ap
proach to an investigation awakens at once the signal of
alarm, and the whole force of the citadel sallies forth to
repel the invaders — who Pmust be enemies of course —
from the consecrated precincts. The self-styled assailed
can seldom see any other than sinister motives in the as
sailants, as they are invidiously termed, and the hard
measure of censure and reproach which they are prone
to deal out, no doubt tends very much to awaken
somewhat of a similar spirit, and both parties become
more are less blinded to the real merits of each other's
positions. In this way the spirit of charity is wounded,
and the interests of truth for a time sufter. But in the
meanwhile light has been elicited from the collision of
views, and when the excitement of the occasion has
passed away, some more dispassionate mind takes up the
subject of debate from a higher stand-point, and brings
it precisely to such an issue as our friend desiderates in
the above letter.
Of the two parties hinted at and designated by our

160 THE PARTT OF ORDER AND THE PARTY OF LIBERTY.
correspondent, we should ourselves undoubtedly fall into
that of " liberty," and of this he says, that the partizans
are " silent upon questions of organization, subordination,
and authority, which are generally held to be essential
to united and harmonious action, and when pressed with
quotations from Swedenborg, have been fain to appeal to
other quotations from the same authority, with scarcely
an attempt to reconcile them." Now to this we have
something to offer by way of reply. It would be strange
indeed if we had much to propound ofthe " nature of or
ganization, subordination, and authority ;" when this is
the very rock on which, in our view, the Church has
been in danger of splitting, and of which we have been
anxious to warn her. What system of external " organ
ization, subordination, and authority" have we to pro
pose, when the very drift of all our reasonings has been
to show that charity is itself an essential organizing
principle, aud that no man or society can possibly be in
the genuine charity of the Church, without being actual
ly organized in reference to every other man and society
that is under the infliience of the same principle. On
this head we beg leave to introduce a paragraph from an
article of our own, published under the signature of
" Eusebius" in the Eepository for Jan. 1850. " Every
society (in the New Church) is to be left iu the fullest
enjoyment of its freedom in the management of its own
concerns. It is responsible to no power or tribunal save
that of the Lord, except just so far as every organ and
member of the human body is responsible to the whole,
as being a component part of the whole and required to
conspire, in its place and office, to the production ofthe
general unity of effect in the whole. So far as one
life, in its orderly influx, pervades and governs the en
tire body of the Church, so far there will necessarily be
a sympathetic and reciprocal co-working of its multi
form constituents, all tending to one paramount result,
and that whether there be any such thing as conventions
or councils, or not. If the Divine influx be rightly and
adequately received by any organism, whether phy-

THE PARTY OF ORDER AND THE PARTY OF LIBERTY. 161
sical or spiritual, there will be of necessity a consentane
ous action of the several component parts, tending to one
ruling end, just as real and as effective as if it had pro
ceeded from the Voluntary and conscious purpose of those
parts. An associated religious body, i. e., a body asso
ciated by the profession of the same faith, existing in
true order, may be considered as having a cerebellum
which presides over all its involuntary motions, as well
as a cerebrum that controls the voluntary, and the func
tions of the former are no less conducive to the weal of
the whole than if they were governed by the direct con
scious volition of the cerebral intelligence."
Now in this we deem ourselves to have asserted a
genuine principle of the New Church, and if so it is en
titled to be imperative upon our faith ; if not, let its fal
lacy be shown. But it will perhaps be said that though
the principal is correct, yet our inference from it is un
sound — that an internal organization will necessarily
ultimate itself in an external one, and thus we shall of
necessary consequence have essentially that visible
church order which is contended for. To this we reply,
that there can be no end to be answered by an external
organization except an end of use, for use is what is con
stantly regarded by the charity of the church as an in
ternal organizing principle. And what is the grand use
which the life of the church incessantly breathes after
and effects ? Is it not the increase and propagation of
itself? Is it not the diffusion and multiplication of its
truths and goods ? Consequently whatever of associated
or co-operative efforts may be requisite for this end,
and which shall not trench upon the personal freedom,
or supersede the individual action, of each member, is
entirely proper, expedient, and wise. But this conces
sion will afford no warrant for any legislative council or
convention. The Church has nothing to legislate about.
Its laws are all made and have only to be lived. The
sole uses to be attained by occasional or stated meetings
of New Church men or New Church societies are those
which respect the ordering of its worship, the promotion
15

162 THE PARTY OF ORDER AND THE PARTY OF LIBERTY.
of its spiritual life, and the widest dissemination of
its doctrines as embodied in the writings of the Church.
The creation of a ministry is no part of the functions of
such meetings. The ministry is entirely and exclusively
the offspring of the several societies composing the
larger bodies, and these bodies are merely voluntary as
semblages meeting from time to time as convenience of
locality may dictate without being organically consoli
dated into permanent ecclesiastical unions, analogous to
the political confederacies which we call States. The
claim on the part of conventional bodies to be the true
source of ministerial power can never be allowed with
out at the same time planting the seed from which the
tree of hierarchy will be sure to grow. The ministry is
evermore prior to all bodies composed in whole or in
part of ministers. Whatever, then, be the use of con
ventions, it is something apart from the creation of a
clergy. But upon this point we have been sufficiently
explicit on former occasions.
Our leading idea on organization will be made still
clearer by referring again to the prototypal form and
fabric of the human body. What were more strange or
outre than to imagine the different organs and viscera
taking counsel together and entering into a compact to
act in unison in producing the normal effects of the
several functions ? What is the use of such a compact
when every portion of the body performs its office by
virtue of its being in the body and governed by its influ
ent life ? So in the spiritual body, the Church. Every
one by living and acting in his place most perfectly ful
fils his use, and works for the welfare of the whole.
What other organization is needed in the latter body
any more than in the former? Occasional or even
stated meetings within their certain territorial limits,
for consultation or co-operation does not amount to any
external organization of the Church in strict propriety of
speech. They are more nearly allied to the great benevolent
societies of the age, which would be acting a strange

THE PARTY OF ORDER AND TIIE PARTY OF LIBERTY. 163
part if they were to identify themselves with the church,
and maintain that their organization was the organiza
tion of the Church. All genuine New Church associa
tions and conventions we hold to be of a similar charac
ter — simply an expedient for furthering the interests of
the church without aspiring to form an essential part of
its constitution.
What then meaus our correspondent by saying that
the " partizans of liberty are silent upon questions of or
ganization, subordination and authority." What shall
we say about them ? What is to be organized ? What
is to be subordinated, and to what ? What authority is
to be assumed and acknowledged ? Can he or will he
define his drift on these points ?
But he intimates again that the party in question
" when pressed with quotations from Swedenborg, have
been faiu to appeal to other quotations from the same
authority, with scarcely au attempt to reconcile them."
Aud why should we attempt to reconcile them ? What
have we to do to assume the task which devolves on our
opponents ? We urge, upon the authority of our great
teacher, one grand fundamental principle — to wit, that
every man of the church is a church in the least form.
The principle involves in effect the whole of our positions
on church order. It is clear, deliberate, distinct, indu
bitable. Against it a man may heap up detached quo
tations till doomsday, and what does it avail? Here
stands the inexpugnable principle, and by this principle
stand we. We have nothing to do with quotations till
the truth of this principle is denied and its fallacy
shown. So long as the principle remains unshaken, we
know that no quotation, rightly construed, can countervail
it. If there appears to be a literal conflict, that is the
concern of our opponents, and not ours. We recognize
no conflict, no discrejjancy. In our view all is consis
tent and harmonious. On this ground we await calmly
the result. Hitherto there has been the most careful
shunning of contact with the principle above stated.
The writers on the other side have played around and
around it, but have never ventured directly to encounter

164 THE PARTY OF ORDER AND THE PARTY OF LIBERTY.
it. What wonder that so little progress is made in
the discussion when our main averment is left argumen-
tatively untouched, and merely a host of quotations, like
those accumulated by Mr. Cabell in reply to A. W., are
arrayed against it ? To the force of all such quotations
we are utterly insensible so long as the central fortress
of our reasoning is winked out of sight.
To the judgment of our readers, then, we submit
whether the intimations of our correspondent are well
founded. The discussion has, indeed, in a sense been
one-sided, for on our part it has been what we deem the
advocacy of the side of truth against the side of error,
and in this controversy we do not care to be found on
both sides. It were a singular imputation to have cast
upon Luther and his compeers, that in exposing the abo
minations of Popery that they took entirely a one-sided
view of the subject. They would undoubtedly at once
have owned to the charge while they greatly wondered
at it. If it be said that our positions are too sweeping,
that we would abolish what is good as well as what is
evil in the existing order of things, we can only say
that we would be grateful for specifications on this head.
We would not abolish meetings nor ministries. We
would not dispense with order nor form. But we would
plead for true order and true form — for right meetings
and right ministries — and what these are in contradistinc
tion from those hitherto established cannot but be gather
ed from the drift of what we have so abundantly said on
the subject. Should there, however, be any point on
which we could be desired to speak more explicitly, we
should be happy to respond when the desideratum is in
dicated.

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
[N. C Repos., April to Sept.]
We have for some time been conscious of a promjjt-
ing to broach in some way, in our pages, the subject of
the present communication, as we have no doubt that
it may be discussed as a department of New Church
duty in a New Church spirit. Large numbers of our
brethren of the church residing in the Southern States
are connected in one way or other with the institution,
and as the moral sentiment of the North, representing
both the New Church and the Old, is at this day serious
ly and somewhat sternly interrogating the whole spirit
and genius of the system, it seems no more than is due
from the courtesy of fellow recipients of the heavenly
doctrines that they should account to each other for any
modes of thinking or acting which are calculated to give
offence or wound the spirit of brotherly love. If such
a requisition be made in the spirit of meekness, with no
intention to denounce, vilify, or irritate, but simply from
the promptings of the great law of charity, and with the
most sincere design to give a candid hearing to every
argument or apology that may be offered in behalf of
the cause which they are upholding, we are unable to
see in this any real ground of complaint or disaffection
on the part of our Southern friends. We are well aware
indeed that the subject has not always been broached in
a manner adapted to secure a kindly or even patient at
tention on the part of slaveholders, and we can, make all
charitable allowance for the sensitiveness with which
every thing in the form of remonstrance, however re
spectful, or even of discussion, however candid, is prone
to be met. But that this sensitiveness should be so in
tense in the minds of Newchurchmen as to make them
frown upon the attempt to canvass its merits upon pure-
16*

166 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
ly moral grounds, we cannot well conceive ; nor will we
allow ourselves, without evidence, to anticipate a sinister
reception of what our pages may contain on the subject.
We will not look for an entertainment of our suggestions
at the hand of ora- brethren which would imply a secret
misgiving as to the intrinsic character of the institu-
tution which they are engaged in upholding.
For ourselves, we are free to say that we regard the
system of slavery, as it exists in the Southern States, as
an evil of such magnitude as imperatively to appeal for
a remedy to the consciences of all concerned in any way
in its support and perpetuation. But while we say this
we are at the same time conscious of no acerbity of
spirit towards the persons of those who are engaged in
upholding it. We say it in full view of all the peculiar
circumstances that go to qualifiy the evil as far as the
agency of individual supporters is concerned ; and we say
it under the firm conviction of deep and merciful de
signs, on the part of Divine Providence, hereafter to be
gloriously developed, bearing upon the destiny of the
colored race — designs which will have the effect to con
vert their residence iu this land to the most signal bless
ing that could have befallen them. Nevertheless we
clearly perceive a great moral evil and wrong in the sys
tem, against which we are inwardly moved to lift up a
voice of protest, and to bring the question home, as one
of practical import to every receiver of the New Church,
whether there is not something positive for him to do in
effecting its removal. In thus coming before our
brethren of the slave States, we should feel that we were
greatly wronged if met by an ill construction of motives.
We are conscious of nothing that should give offence.
We have no railing accusations to bring against any.
We feel the drawing of a kind and christian affection to
wards our brethren. We think, indeed, we see reason to
fear that their spiritual states may be injured by the rela
tion in which they stand to an evil thing, tinder this
impression, we come to them in a spirit of meekness,
and virtually say^ " Come, brethren, let us reason to-

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 167
gether of this momentous theme. Let us see whether
possibly we may not suggest to you some considerations
deserving of serious thought. But do not at the out
set of the conference, count us your enemies because we
propose it — because we wish to open our minds with
fraternal freedom on a point that weighs heavily with us,
and which, in our judgment, ought thus to weigh with you.
If it does not, pray show us why it does not. If it does,
expound to us the measures you propose to adopt to do
away the evil. As we are willing and anxious to listen
to you, so refuse not to lend an ear to us. Say not that
it is a topic with which we have nothing to do. We all
have to do with each other's spiritual welfare if we
would be- faithful to the law of love. We cannot proper
ly stand aloof from our brethren and forbear to utter a
word of warning if we deem them placed in circum
stances of danger, and where silence would be recreancy
to justice, affection and truth. ' Thou shalt not suffer
sin upon thy neighbor,' is a precept of which the literal
and spiritual sense are at one. Let us then in all Chris
tian amity compare views on the subject, and see how
far we hold in common, and where, and how far we di
verge from each other."
It is in this spirit that we approach the subject, and
we cannot but trust that our aim will be duly appreciat
ed. Let it not be said that though denizens of the
North we are incompetent to treat the theme, from igno
rance of the real posture of things in the Southern
States. This is a very deep-seated impression with our
friends in that region. It embodies itself in the spirit of
the following extract from a letter recently received from
a respected N. C. brother in Yirginia. " I never yet saw
a Northern man who thoroughly understood the negro
character — the relation of master and slave, as it exists
here — the state of this population — and the difficulties
which environ the whole subject. As to this matter,
even intelligent and sincere men with you seem to be
absolutely impenetrable." From this position we are
forced to dissent. We are utterly unable to see why a

168 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
sound and unimpeachable judgment of the morale of
slavery may not be formed by any man of ordinary in
telligence, though he may never have set foot upon
Southern soil, or made himself master of all the thou
sand-fold details of the system. And it is only in its
moral aspect that we propose to consider it. Its social
and political bearings we leave to others. Its character,
as compared with the perfect standard of "justice,
goodness, and truth," is what we would fain ascertain,
and this we do not regard as an achievement requiring a
previous personal contact with the system in its practical
working. The fact is, there is an antecedent probability
that those who have been born and bred in the midst of
the system, who have always breathed its atmosphere,
and who have, as it were, worn it as a garment, are
more liable to be blinded to its essential genius than
those who view it from without. But whether we under
stand it in all its length and breadth or not, we deem
ourselves sufficiently acquainted with it to call in ques
tion some of its fundamental principles; and to this
there can be no reasonable objection, provided it be
done in a proper spirit.
A reply to our remarks — and perhaps more than one
— may be proffered by some of our Southern, or, pro
bably, our Northern brethren. Such a reply, written in
the spirit of our own essay, we shall most readily and
cordially insert. But we must be allowed to insist that
it shall be a reply to our arguments and to no other —
that it shall confine itself to the single point in debate,
which is the absolute right or wrong of slavery, and the
consequent duty of those engaged in its support. It will
avail nothing to the determination of the grand question
to argue ever so elaborately that the African race in this
country is better off in bondage than in freedom — that in
this state they are for the most part kindly treated, not over
worked in health, nor neglected in sickness — that the insti
tution is patriarchal in its character, and warranted by the
letter of holy writ (as is also war and polygamy) and that
the schemes of abolitionists are fraught with infinite

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 169
mischief, etc., etc. To some of this we fully assent, and
therefore it is needless to dwell upon it. As to other
items we might be willing to consider them on another
occasion, or under a different issue, bu^ at present they
are aside of the main point, and we would not waste
time or anxiety on irrelevant topics. We would simply
say, as to one intimation, that we are accountable for no
body's abolition but our own, and for the genuine effects
of that we are ready at any time to be responsible. We
belong to no abolition society or clique, nor do we speak
in the name of any. Our sentiments on the subject flow
directly from our views of the great principles of recti
tude and truth, and as to who may agree or disagree
with us — this is a matter of indifference.
The true tone and temper in which we think the subject
ought to be broached is well set forth by Mr. De Charms in
his valuable pamphlet on Freedom and Slavery : — " The
wise and proper course is to reason with our brethren in
true political love — to show them, if we can, their error
in kindness ; and by convincing their reason, so act upon
their own wills as to get them to work themselves in
freely and rationally putting off an acknowledged evil."
We are not conscious of being governed by any other
spirit in dealing with the subject in our pages. Nor do
we deem ourselves justly liable to the charge of undue as
sumption on the score of virtue or sanctity, in thus prof
fering our sentiments to our brethren. We are deeply
sensible of our evils and infirmities in many respects,
but we humbly aim to put them away when discovered,
and we do not find a complete exemption from defects
in ourselves required as a pre-requisite to the duty of
pointing out, in brotherly kindness, the defects of others.
Our first intention was to have penned a formal article,
or series of articles, on the subject, discussing it exclu
sively on its moral grounds. Meantime the ensuing
" Aphorisms" were proffered for publication, and we
have concluded to make them a text for a series of
comments in which our leading views on the general
topic will appear.

170 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.

Slavery, in all states where it exists, is a public or national evil. This
is plain from its ofigin in the Slave-trade, which is now universally
condemned — from the fact that it deprives men of various natural
rights — and from several unhappy consequences resulting from it.
This is, doubtless, very sound as far as it goes, but we
should have given more extension to the evil. It is not
only a "public or national," but a private or personal
evil, inasmuch as it is sustained by individual agency.
The habit of contemplating it mainly as a "public or
national " evil, is apt to induce an obliviousness of its
moral features which have especial relation to the will
of the individual slaveholder. It is usually of but little
account for men to acknowledge the existence of public
or national evils, so long as they lose sight of the quota
which they, each in their individual capacity, contribute
to their existence or continuance. The slavery which
exists in any slave State is the slavery which has been
established in legal form by the collective will of the
people of that State, and no one can blink the share of
responsibility which fairly pertains to him as an up
holder of the laws which uphold slavery. It is on the
ground of this responsibility that the intelligent aboli
tionist of the North appeals to his Southern brother.
He would kindly admonish him of the fallacy of the at
tempt to stave off the demands of duty under the plea
that the system is the creature of the State, and that un
til the laws ofthe State are repealed, his aim is powerless
to attempt any thing towards its removal . But in matters
of moral moment the voice of duty is direct to the man
rather than to the citizen. The man stands in this re-
ffpect alone before God, and has no counsel to take with
flesh and blood. The only point to be settled is whether
any enactment, usage, or institution is intrinsically evil,
and whether we, as individuals, have any agency in
maintaining it. Let these two things be established
and the sequence is inevitable, that a man is solemnly

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 171
bound to ignore, withdraw, repudiate, and abnegate
that agency which he may previously have had in sus
taining the system. In what ]3recise way this is to be
done, we shall venture to suggest in the sequel.
II.
The State in which slavery exists cannot plead, in excuse of this evil,
the good results which may be shown to attend the institution, such as
the civilizing and christianizing of the Africans, &c. Every evil com
mitted by man has similar good results educed from it by the Divine
Providence, and might be excused on this ground.
Here again the individual is merged in the State.
Why could not the writer have said : " He who holds his
fellow-man in bondage cannot plead, in excuse of this
evil, the good results which may be shown to attend the
institution," &c. With this modification we accept and
endorse the aphorism in all cordialitj'-. The principle
here embodied is one to which we would especially invite
the attention of Southern Newchurchmen. It touches
the point where, if we mistake not, they are extremely
liable to settle down in a fallacious view of the doctrine
ofthe Divine Providence. We cannot indeed easily con
ceive that an intelligent Newchurchman should seriously
and of set purpose make the jDrovidential permission of
an evil a plea for contented acquiescence in it, yet when
the current of self-interest runs strongly in that direction,
there is doubtless danger of the ^raciiea? adoption of such
a plea. " If the Divine Wisdom and love tolerates such
and such evils, why should not we," is a language which
the heart may utter when the lips would shudder to pro
nounce it. But surely the permissions of the Divine
Providence can never be fairly construed into a sanction
of the reason, or a quietus of the conscience, that is con
cerned with them. The position of the aphorism, how
ever, is so clear and express on this head as to preclude
the necessity of reiteration or enforcement from us.

172 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.

in.
Slavery is imputable as a sin in a threefold manner ; first, to those
who are actually slave-holders ; secondly, to those who favor and uphold
it socially ; thirdly, to those who favor and uphold it politically.
Every one is in fault according to the degree in which, besides being
the holder of slaves, he asserts and defends the institution.
So far as slavery is a sin, it can scarcely be said to be
imputable in more than one manner, though it may be
imputed to different classes and in different degrees. This,
we presume, is the writer's meaning, and with a more
exact specification of the first class we should not pro
bably dissent from it. But on this whole subject the
nicest distinctions are imperatively required. " Slavery
is not imputable as a sin to those who are actually slave
holders." Yet in a subsequent aphorism, the writer
says, " Hence one may be a slave-holder, and yet be fully
exculpated from any share in the evil;" and in that
which immediately follows we read that, " they have not
slavery imputed to them who acknowledge it to be an
evil, and act for its removal." It is evident, therefore,
that the phrase " actual slave-holders" requires explica
tion, as the character of the slave-holding can never be
satisfactorily determined apart from the anijnus of the
slaYe-holder in sustaining the relation. Doubtless, cir
cumstances may exist which shall essentially change the
character of that relation. Take, for instance, the case
of one (would that their number were increased a thou
sand fold !) who has hitherto been a holder of slaves, but
who has — no matter how — become convinced that the
relation, in the light in which he has all along viewed it,
and in which it is generally viewed, is one which cannot
be sustained without sin, and who, under the force of this
conviction, is sincerely and deeply desirous of extricating
himself from that relation, and of retrieving the wrong
which he may have done to a fellow-creature, or, at least,
to the spirit of justice, — shall we say that his retaining
his bond-men, in this state of mind, is necessarily and

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLTnON. 173
per se a sin ? Surely, if the man is honest in his convic
tions, and this we suppose, he will not rest without efforts
to release himself from the dilemma in which he is
placed, and he will not feel at liberty to retain in his
possession this species of property, so-called, any longer
than the embarrassments of his condition and a regard
to their best good will allow. He will look upon the re
lation as a merely temporary one, which he is willing at
any time to dissolve, as soon as he sees clearly what the
Lord, speaking in his " royal law" of charity, would have
him to do. It must be obvious that, so long as one re
mains in this transition state, holding his slaves in trust
and not in fee, he comes not into the same category with
the selfsatisfied, unquestioning, unreflecting slave-mas
ter, ruling as by a divine right. The distinction is evi
dently an important one, and one that required to be
clearly made in the aphorism, as the position will not
hold good, unless by actual " slave-holders" the author
has in his eye those who have no scruples on the subject,
who never interrogate themselves, or permit the interro
gations of others, in respect to the moral aspects of the
relation. In reference to persons of this description the
position is, doubtless, sound ; and though we are not dis
posed to make much of the distinction between those
who uphold the institution " socially," and those who
uphold it " politically," yet we freely assent to the general
purport of the aphorism. While, however, we believe
that " slavery is imputable as a sin to those who are ac
tually slave-holders," in the sense above defined, we do
not, at the same time, forget that much charitable allow
ance is to be made for those who have had the system
transmitted to them from their fathers, who have been
born and nurtured under its influence, and who have sel
dom or never heard it called in question. The dictates
of a genuine charity will not permit us to lose sight of
whatever extenuating circumstances may be cited in con
nection with any particular form of evil. On this head
we acknowledge all the force of Dr. Channing's masterly
appeal in his " Letter to the Abolitionists."
16

174 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
" As an example of the unjust severity which I blame,
it may be stated that some among you have been accus
tomed to denounce slaveholders as ' robbers and man-
stealers.' Now, robbery and stealing are words of plain
signiflcation. They imply that a man takes consciously
and with knowledge what belongs to another. To steal
is to seize privily ; to rob is to seize by force the acknow
ledged property of one's neighbor. Now, is the slave
holder to be charged with these crimes ? Does he know
that the slave he holds is not his own ? On the contrary,
is there any part of his property to which he thinks him
self to have a stronger right ? I grant that the delusion
is a monstrous one. I repel with horror the claim of
ownership of a human being. I can as easily think of
owning an angel as of owning a man. But do we not
know that there are men at the North, who, regarding
the statute-book as of equal authority with the Sermon
on the Mount, and looking on legal as synonymous with
moral right, believe that the civil law can create property
in a man as easily as a brute, and who, were they consis
tent, would think themselves authorized to put their
parents under the lash, should the legislature decree, that
at a certain age, the parent should become the slave of
the child ? Is it wonderful, then, that men, brought up
in sight of enslaved human beings, in the habit of treat
ing them as chattels, and amidst laws, religious teach
ings, and a great variety of institutions, which recognize
this horrible claim, should seriously think themselves the
owners of their fellow-creatures ! We are sure that they
do view the slave as property ; and thus viewing him,
they are no more guilty of robbing and stealing, than one
of you would be, who, by misapprehension, should ap
propriate to himself what belongs to another. And are
we authorized to say that there are none at the South,
who, if they should discover their misapprehension,
would choose to impoverish themselves, rather than live
by robbery and crime ? Are all hearts open to our in
spection ? Has God assigned to us his prerogative of
judgment ? Is it not a violation of the laws of Christian

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 175
charity, to charge on men, whose general deportment
shows a sense of justice, such flagrant crimes as robbery
and theft ? It is said that, by such allowances to the
master, I have weakened the power of what I have writ
ten against slavery ; that I have furnished a pillow for
the conscience of the slaveholder. But truth is truth,
and we must never wink it out of sight for the sake of
effect. God needs not the help of our sophistry or
exaggeration. For the sake of awakening sensibility, we
must not, in our descriptions, add the weight of a feather
to the sufferings of the slave, or the faintest shade to the
guilt of the master. Slavery indeed, regarded as a vio
lation of man's most sacred rights, should always be
spoken of by us with the deepest abhorrence ; and we
ought not to conceal our fear, that, among those who
vindicate it in this free and Christian land, there must
be many who wilfully shut their eyes on its wrongs, who
are victims of a voluntary blindness, as criminal as
known and chosen transgression. Let us speak the truth,
and the whole truth, and speak it in the language of strong
conviction. But let neither policy nor passion carry us
beyond the truth. Let a severe principle of duty, stronger
than excitement, watch and preside over all our utter
ance." In this relation we cannot refrain from alluding to a
paragraph in Mr. De Charms' generally excellent
" Views of Freedom and Slavery, in the Light of the
New Jerusalem." In this pamphlet he argues very con
clusively that African slavery is a civil, political, moral,
and spiritual evil ; while, at the same time, he holds
that in our Southern States it may not be a sin, but is
rather to be regarded as a chronic constitutional disease,
which entitles our Southern brethren to our kind consi
deration, and imposes on us the duty of co-operation with
them in gradually getting rid of it as an hereditary evil.
That this proposition is not devoid of truth we are free to
admit ; while, at the same time, we are forced to regard
it as a truth, so much diluted by the excusatory elements
with which it is mixed, as very seriously to prevent any

176 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
erosive effect that it might otherwise have upon the con
sciences of those for whom it was, or at least ought to
have been, intended. The naked proposition that slavery
may not be a sin with our Southern brethren, leaves the
matter very much at loose ends, so long as there is no
speciflcation of cases and conditions that shall throw light
upon the casuistry of the subject. The position may be
easily offset by the counter assertion that slavery inay be
a sin with slaveholders as well as an evil, and what ad
vance is made towards a practical view ofthe truth unless
the due discriminations are made, and the parties aided
in settling the question for themselves in what cases it is
a sin, and in what not ? On this head we consider fhe
essay somewhat defective, for we do not perceive that
Mr. De Charms' reasoning meets the demands of an
awakened conscience, or would be very apt to awaken a
sleeping one. We were, in fact, rather surprised to find
no more than four pages of the whole work devoted to
this particular point, which evidently requires the most
elaborate and thorough-going discussion. The substance
ofhis argument on this head is contained in the follow
ing paragraph :
" Slavery, though undoubtedly an evil, may not, in all cases, be a sin.
Or, if a sin, may be one which the apostle deems ' not unto death ;' but
¦which may be ' prayed for.' The apostle declares ' all unrighteousness
is sin ;' that is, sin consists in all transgression of the divine laws. But,
says he, ' there is a sin not unto death.' Doubtless the sin which is
unto death is voluntary sin ; and that which is not unto death is in
voluntary. The sin of ignorance is involuntary sin. So is the sin of
hereditary transmission, so far as it does not become actual evil by one's
own irrational volition. Still, both these kinds of involuntary sin,
although not unto death, must occasion to the committer of them some
degree of penalty. ' The Lord,' says the doctrine of our church, ' re
quires no more of a man than that he should do according to what he
knows to be true.' The same doctrine is taught by our church in this
form : ' Those who know their duty, and not those who are ignorant of
it, are the objects of imputation, whether it be of righteousness or of
guilt ; just as blind men, when they stumble, are no objects of blame ;
for the Lord says — " If ye were blind, ye would have no sin ; but now
you say, We see ; therefore your sin remaineth," John ix. 41.' (17. T.
127.) Hence the condemnation and fatality of all sin lie in a man's
knowing what is true, and yet willing and acting contrary to it — in
'loving darkness rather than light, because his deeds are evil.' So

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 177
that if a man ' knows his Lord's will, and does things worthy of stripes,
he shall be beaten with many stripes.' But, if he ' knows not his Lord's
will, and yet does things worthy of stripes, he shall beaten with few
stripes.' In both cases a penalty is inflicted ; but in the former a
heavy, and in the latter a light one. Hence, if slavery be an evil, all
who are implicated in it — even those who are innocently implicated —
must suffer in some degree from it. But those who do not know, or
believe, it to be wrong, are not condemnable on account of it as sin.
Neither are those guilty sinners who have had slavery entailed on them
by hereditary transmission. Tet to those who do know, or believe, it
to be sinful, the implication of it is indeed a heinous offence both
against God and man. For surely not one can doubt that, while volun
tary service, or the service of love and therefore of freedom, is supernal,
. forced service, or that service which fear renders to imperious master-
dom, is infernal.
" Now, we cannot believe that slavery in our Southern States is
heinously sinful. "We do indeed believe it is an evil ; but we hold it to
be an evil mercifnlly permitted, in the divine restorative economy, for
an ultimate or final good. What that is, we shall see as we proceed.
Or, if Southern slavery be a sin, we are sure it is not one that is unto
death. It is a venial transmitted sin. The institution of slavery was
entailed upon the Southern States by the mother country's cupidity.
Hence we regard it there in the light of an hereditary evil, which re
quires much love and wisdom — great prudence, care, patience, and ten
der solicitude — in its eradication. It must be regarded as a politically
constitutional disease, which can be cured only by time, wise political
dietetics, and intelligent skill, exciting the body politic's recuperative
energies. All nature is as abhorrent to sudden change as to a vacuum.
And the sin of slavery sinks into absolute insignificance in comparison
with the egregious sin of those political or morbidly philanthropic
quacks, who, by their heroic treatment of this disease — by their sudden
alteratives, their decided blood-lettings, their drastic purges, their vio
lent counter-irritants, and their other strong remedies — would either
kill the patient, or inflict upon his shattered constitution vastly greater
and more incurable factitious diseases, if, by some merciful providential
fortuity, he should happen to get well in spite of their physic I No
true man will he^ forced to do even what is right. And the very worst
effect of all objurgatory and even seeming compulsory efforts to destroy
the evil of slavery in the South as a damning sin, has been the driving
of our Southern brethren into the justification of it as a divine institu
tion, and a positive good. Thus do extremes beget extremes."
The distinction between sins of ignorance and sins of
knowledge is certainly well founded ; but when the
author, with a mere whisper of a qualification, puts " the
sin of hereditary transmission" into the same category
with sins of ignorance, we feel that he disregards a point
lb*

178 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND AEOLmON.
ofthe utmost moment to a just estimate of the morale
of the subject. "Those who do not know or believe it
(slavery) to be wrong, are not condemnable on account
of it as sin. Neither are those guilty sinners who
have had slavery entailed on them by hereditary trans
mission." They are not of course made guilty by the
simple fact of the entailment ; but it is doing great injus
tice to truth to omit to state most' clearly under what
circumstances guilt is incurred in such cases. True, we
find in a previous sentence a few words of qualification
— " The sin of ignorance is involuntary sin. So is the
sin of hereditary transmission, so far as it does not be
come actual evil of one's own irrational volition." This
is every syllable that Ave find in the pamphlet tending to
qualify a position which will be very cei'tain to operate
as an opiate to the conscience unless guarded by the
most explicit statement of qualifications and exceptions.
We will, therefore, supply the omission by citing an
authority which Mr. De Charms is not prone to un
dervalue — " No one ever suffers punishment in another
life on account of hereditary evil, because it is not his,
consequently he is not blamable for it ; but he suffers
punishment on account of actual evil which is his ; so
also as by actual life he has appropriated, to himself
hereditary evil." — A. C. 2308. This j)uts the matter
upon the right basis; and our southern friends can avail
themselves justly of the above concessions only so far as
they are conscious of this non-appropriation of the evil
inheritance bequeathed them by their fathers. But on this
score we regret to say that we perceive very, very little
evidence that the Southern people, as a body, give any in
dications of a state of mind similar to that which elicited
the encomiums of an apostle — " For behold this self-same
thing, that ye sorrowed, after a godly sort, what careful
ness it wrought in you, yea, what cleaning of yourselves,
yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement
deBire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge ! In all things
ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."
We fear that the principal gravamen of the wrong-doing

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 179
chargeable upon slave-holders is a refusal to recede from
the ways in which their progenitors have walked — a re
solute closing of the eyes against the light that would
fain visit them — a persistent repellency put forth towards
every appeal, however kindly and well meant, addressed
to their rational and religious principles — a perpetual
process of self-justification — a proneness to resent and
treat as impertinent every suggestion implying that a
sacred moral duty rests upon every holder of slaves to
investigate candidly and thoroughly the genius of the in
stitution, and solemnly to repudiate whatever element
there is in it of offence towards God, and of injury to
wards men. However we may grant that an intemperate
and Ishmaelitic zeal may in some cases have character
ized the warfare that has been waged against slavery,
still even such a spirit in assailants does not nullify the
moral potency of the truths which they utter or write, nor
warrant the turning a deaf ear to all protestation and
admonition addressed by conscious philanthropy to ap
prehended oppression, which the men of the south are apt
to evince. There is truly such a thing as an unexcep
tionable end in the appeals of christian men in the free
States to their brethren in the slave States. There is
such a thing as a genuinely benevolent concern for the
spiritual weal of the parties invoked, and which, in the
sight of Heaven, is entitled to a kindly and courteous en
tertainment. Such appeals may appear harsh, simply
because they probe deep ; but, " faithful are the wounds
of a friend." They have for their aim the breaking up
of the false calm of a passive, inert, and consenting ac
quiescence in a state of things which, beyond all ques
tion, and notwithstanding all Divine permission, involves
a gross moral evil that imperiously demands a remedy.

IV.
They have not slavery imputed to them, who acknowledge it to be
an evil, and act for the removal of it, socially and politically, according
to the laws of order. This is plain from the analogy of the individual

180 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
man, to whom, in the course of reformation and regeneration, his evils
are not imputed.
We fear that there are those even in the bounds of the
New Church who will be very backward to accept the
salvo so kindly provided for them in the above aphorism.
The non-imputation of slavery as an evil will doubtless
be thought very lightly of by those who acknowledge no
evil at all in the system. However much of surprise it
may occasion, yet the fact is unquestionable, that a con
siderable portion of the Southern population, and among
them many Newchurchmen, strenuously maintain that
slavery is neither a civil, political, or moral evil, and, in
fact, that the term evil is in no sense predicable of it, view
ed in its essential character. There may be evils of abuse
in the practical carrying out of the system, but none in
its intrinsic genius. To what extent this view of it is
held by Southern N. C. receivers, we are ignorant ; but
we find it unequivocally avowed in some of the commu
nications addressed to us from that quarter, and a South
ern paj)er of late date embodies, no doubt, a large
amount of sectional sentiment in the following assertion :
•' If slavery cannot be defended on the grounds of its
abstract justice, it can have no defence at all worthy of
note ; aud no good man can give it defence." We can
easily discern the process by which the South is driven
to this ultra position, but to us, we are free to say, this
has very much the air of a false from evil — of the con
firmation of an utterly false principle from the blinding
effect of a selfish love. What is the essential genius of
slavery ? Is it not the claim of the right of property in
a human being ? How was this right acquired ? Was
there no evil in the original acquisition ? Was it not
effected by lawless might over resisting but powerless
weakness ? Was not this all the title which could be
pleaded in the first instance for the asserted right ? Has
the basis of this right subsequently changed its nature ?
Is the right of the possession any different from the right
of the acquisition ? If there was an evil in the circum-

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 181
stances in which the black man originally came into the
hands of the white man, how and when was that element
eliminated from the relation ? In the light of the New
Disj^ensation do we not learn that the laws of charity are
the standard of evil ? Does charity give its imprimatur
to the brand which proclaims a human being transform
ed from a freeman to a slave ? If the law of charity did
not preside at the first act, how could it preside at any
succeeding act of the mancipating process? On this
head we have never seen any specimen of slaveholding
logic that was not in our view essentially defective.
May we ask to be informed how the invasion of the na
tive freedom of a human being, and his reduction to
bondage against his will, is not a breach of charity ;
and if a breach of charity, how it is not an evil ; and if
it was an evil in the outset, how it ceases to be an evil
in the sequel. That the result is so overruled in the is
sue as to be a blessing to the enslaved, we do not ques
tion for a moment ; but was this the motive of the origi
nal slave-captors on the coast of Africa ? Has any one
the hardihood to assert it ? If it were not, how could
the act be devoid of evil ? And how can the whole train
of sequences, which takes its character from the initia
tory step, fail to be tainted with the same vice ?
What shall be said to the argument involved in the
following paragraph ?
" It were humiliating to set about the ^roo/ that the slave system is
incompatible with Christianity ; because no man questions its incom
patibility who knows what Christianity is, and what it requires. . .
Look at the foundation of all the relative duties of man — Benevolence,
Love — ^that love and benevolence which is the fulfilling of the moral
law — that ' charity' which prompts to acts of kindness, and tenderness,
and fellow-feeling for all men. Does he who seizes a person in Guinea,
and drags him shrieking to. a vessel, practice this benevolence ? When
three or four hundreds have been thus seized, does he who chains them
together in a sufibcating hold, practice this benevolence ? When they
have reached another shore, does he who gives money to the first for his
victims, keeps them as his property, aud compels them to labor for his
profit, practice this benevolence ? Would either of these persons think,
if their relative situations were exchanged "with the Africans', that the

182 APHORISMS ON SLAVBBY AND ABOLITION.
Africans used them justly and kindly ? No. Then the question is de
cided. Christianity condemns the system ; and no further inquiry
about rectitude remains. The question is as distinctly settled as when
a man commits a burglary it is distinctly certain that he has violated
the law." — Dymond's Essays, p. 507.
The truth is, we feel reluctant to assume an argumen
tative attitude towards this position. It is giving it too
much significance. The instinct of charity perceives it
self instantaneously revolted by the assertion that it is
not an evil to deprive a man of his freedom, and to con
sign him and his posterity to perpetual bondage. It is
a position that no reasoning can legitimate, and one that
really damages the cause it is intended to support. Far
better would it be for the South to confess the original
evil and wrong, and to plant their defence on the ground
of its unsolicited and deplored transmission from the
men of another generation — an inheritance bringing with
it a world of embarrassment as to the true path of duty,
as to which, however, they are far, very far, from indif
ferent, and if they appear to be tardy in action, that is
owing to the practical difficulties which beset every at
tempt to apply the proper remedy. Now, these difficul
ties, we shall endeavor to show, are by no means in
superable, but they are still difficulties, and the South
are at full liberty to plead them in reply to the rampant
urgency of a zeal of reform which is not according to
knowledge. We look upon it as peculiarly unfortunate
that the Southern defenders of the institution allow
themselves to be driven, by the stress of anti-slavery
logic, to so fiimsy a retreat as that of the intrinsic harm-
lessness of the central principle of the system. This
ground, we believe, was seldom or never taken in the
earlier days of slavery, nor do we think it would ever
have been resorted to, but for the vigorous onset made
by the anti-slavery sentiment of the North. An evil
hard pressed is very prone to betake itself to a falsity for
refuge. For ourselves, therefore, we are disposed to take
it for granted that there is, in fact, a latent conscious
ness of an intrinsic evil adhering to the system, and not

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 183
only so, but that this feature of it is a source of earnest
and anxious thought with conscientious men of the South,
who find themselves sustaining the relation, and who
would devoutly desire to acquit themselves to the approba
tion of the Searcher of hearts. To all such the proposition
ofthe aphorism will not have the air of a gratuitous moral
izing. They will respectfully consider the laws which go
vern the Divine estimate of evil, and they will agree with
us that the acknowledgment on this score which shall
secure the non-imputation of slavery as a sin, must needs
be something more than a mere general, lax, or matter of
course assenting to the proposition which affirms it as an
evil. A man may make his verbal acknowledgment,
while at the same time he loses sight of his own agency
in the matter, and thinks of it solely as an evil predica
ble of the community at large. Nay, he may even,
while inwardly favoring it in his heart, practise a certain
ruse upon his conscience by such an acknowledgment,
and secretly fancy that he atones for the evil by confess
ing it. But, plainly, such an acknowledgment amounts
to nothing. It must be a sincere, thorough-going recog
nition of one's own personal agency in upholding the
system, coupled with a course of positive action tending
directly, however gradually, to do away what he pro
fesses to deplore. This is doubtless implied in the words
of the Aphorism, but it may be well to reiterate it, as
the subtlety of the corrupt heart of man is such that he
will even make the testimony which his moral nature
compels him to bear to right, a cloak for the persistent
continuance in the very wrong which he would fain per
suade himself he abhors.
The remaining clause of the Aphorism undoubtedly
sets forth an analogy pertinent to the case before us, and
one which is strongly confirmatory of the ground we
have assumed above. In individual regeneration the
great desideratum is conscious sincerity, simplicity, and
honesty of aim. When this is present, and the soul is
pressing on to high and pure attainments, the evils of
which it is struggling to divest itself are not imputed to

184 APHORISMS ON SLA"VERY AND ABOLITION.
it, nor can they prevent a final felicitous issue. So in
the case before us. If the slaveholder gives moral prin
ciple fair play, and truly and sincerely labors to ascer
tain what the Lord would have him to do in the circum
stances, and is willing to go counter to his apparent'
worldly interest, and make sacrifices for the sake of truth
and righteousness, then he may assure himself that the
evil he may have formerly countenanced is not imputed
to him, and he may present an unruffled brow to all re
proaches and vilifications. But men thus prompted will
not take it ill to be reminded that subtleties and sophis
tries, the offspring of a perverted proprium, will scarcely
fail to cloud their perceptions, and warp their judgment,
when they come to grapple in earnest with the problem
that presses upon thera.

One law of Divine order is, that evils must not be removed sudden
ly, and that if the attempt be made, worse evils arise. The law ap
plies to public or national evils, as well as to those of the individual.
We question not that a very important truth is em
bodied in this paragraph, albeit we should have preferred
the phraseology which we see from the manuscript was
originally adopted — " that evils cannot be removed sud
denly." Language implying prohibition in regard to
the sudden removal of evil, is stronger than the nature
of the case admits, and is calculated to lead to wrong
impressions. At any rate we do not find this language
countenanced by Swedenborg, as his phraseology is very
uniformly cannot instead of must not. This will appear
from a few paragraphs which we insert, and to which we
give place the more readily from the fact that they de
velop the philosophy of the principle in a very beautiful
and striking manner. " Man is not hastily but slowly
regenerated ; because all things which he had thought,
had intended, and done from infancy, have added them
selves to his life, and have made it, and also have formed
such a connexion amongst each other, that one cannot

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 185
be moved away unless all are moved away together with
it. Hence, it is evident that evils and falses with an evil
man, cannot be removed suddenly, but so far as goods
and truths are imiDlanted in their order and interiorly,
for heaven removes hell from man. If this was to be
suddenly, the man would be defective, for all and singu
lar things which are in connexion and form would be dis
turbed, and violence would be done to his life." — {A. C.
9334.) " Goods and truths should remove evils and falses
by successive implantations ; for falses are not remova
ble except by truths, nor evils except by goods ; if this
is not done successively and according to order, the falses
which favor those loves flow in, and from the delight of
those loves the man concludes nothing but falses, if the
falses of evil are suddenly removed." — {A. C. 9335.)
" Man, when he is born, as to hereditary evils is a hell
in the least form ; hence it is that the order of his life
from nativity and from actual life is opposite to the order
of heaven. The former life, therefore, which is of hell,
must be altogether destroyed, that is, evils and falses
must be removed, to the intent that new life, which is
the life of heaven, may be implanted. This cannot in
anywise be done hastily ; for every evil being inrooted
with its falses, has connection with all evils and their
falses ; and such evils and falses are innumerable, and
their connection is so manifold that it cannot be compre
hended, not even by the angels, but only by the Lord ;
hence it is evident that the life of hell with man cannot
be destroyed suddenly, for if suddenly, he would alto
gether expire : and that neither can the life of heaven
be implanted suddenly, for if suddenly, he would also
expire." — {A. C. 9336.) This, then, develops the gene
ral law of procedure in regard to the removal of evils ;
but it evidently requires great caution to guard against
the perversion of the principle. It is perverted if we
make use of it as a plea to countenance the continu
ance of any positive act, or series of acts, of evil, when
their true character is made known to us. Every such
act is to be at once renounced, and we are to enter upon
17

186 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
a course of reformation as if the final effect would im
mediately follow, whereas we know it will not, for the
evil love which has originated the evil acts will be cer
tain to survive for some time after the acts have ceased.
Nevertheless, it is our bounden duty to commence at
once that course of action which will result in the fimal
abolition of every form of evil, leaving it to the opera
tion of the laws of Providence to extinguish in due time
the inward prompting to everything that is amiss. The
fact is, the language of Swedenborg on this head is not so
much to suggest a rule of duty for us as a law of Provi
dence, founded upon the constitution of things. It is
rather a declaration of what the laws of order imply,
than of a course of action by which we are to be guided.
The intemperate man, for instance, who sees the evil of
indulgence, is bound at once to abandon his cups,
though he does it under the moral certainty that the
appetite may remain to trouble him for a long time to
come. But on this head he is not required to be very
solicitous. This part of the consequences will take care
of itself. Let the drinking cease, and the thirst will
gradually die away. " Where no wood is, the fire goeth
out." So in the case before us. There is undoubtedly
something which is immediately incumbent upon the
conscientious slaveholder, while at the same time we are
fully persuaded there are some steps bearing on the final
issue which are not at once to be taken, as it would be
a rash precipitating of dangerous results, and contrary to
the order of Providence. What is at once to be done,
and what to be temporarily forborne in the premises,
will appear as we proceed. We do not differ from
A. E. F. as to the fact of the providential law to which he
refers, as the sequel will show, but we fear that the lan
guage of inhibition which he employs may lead to wrong
inferences, and paralyze that measure and form of effort
which is called for by the principles of charity without
the least delay. VL
This law is violated with less impunity, in proportion as the evil to

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 187
be removed is more interior. The sign that a public or national evil
is interior is, that it is recognized, sanctioned, and established by the
laws. Thus, intemperance is a less interior evil than slavery, because
though it prevails, it is not, or not to the same degree, sanctioned by
law. The " law" here spoken of is that which forms the sub
ject of the preceding aphorism, to wit : " that evils must
not be removed suddenly." We have endeavored to
show that this is not so much to be viewed as a prohibi
tory precept by which our duty is to be determined, as
the statement of a fact or a principle which obtains in
the regenerating process as governed by the laws of or
der, and is therefore not so much a law liable to be vio
lated, as a principle liable to be disregarded, and this it
no doubt may be, much to the injury of great moral in
terests. This injury, the writer thinks, Avill be apt to be
greater in proportion as an evil is more interior, or, in
other words, more deeply and organically inwrought in
the usages, institutes, and legal enactments of any com
munity. Consequently, he would deprecate the sudden
breaking up of the system, as by law established, lest
still more pernicious results might ensue, a general view
of the subject which we deem correct. An abrupt and
violent rending away, however, of this feature of the
civil code, is one thing, and a calm, deliberate, but still
immediate inchoation of measures that shall eventually
bring about that issue is another. We see nothing that
stands in the way of conscience or wisdom in the resolve
t9 enter at once upon the incipiency of an emancipating
process, and when this is done in earnest, we have no
fears that the right result will not follow. This we con
ceive to be the legitimate course in all cases of acknowl
edged evil, whether interior or exterior. Assuredly, if
men are involved in the support of such an evil, and
have their eyes open to the fact, and are with all anxious
to free themselves from it, there must be some way of ex
trication, for it is inconceivable that any man, or any class
of men, should be shut up by the insuperable bars ofthe
Divine Providence to the necessity of continuing in such

188 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
a predicament. There must be some " outgate" for him
who would escape. An irrevocable necessity of wrong
doing can be imposed upon no man in this world. If any
law, usage, or institution be intrinsically wrong, it can
not be right to continue it ; consequently, with those who
have been its abettors, there is of necessity some duty of
renunciation incumbent as soon as they are convinced
of the evil of their agency, past or present, in sustaining
it. Nor is any individual exempted from this duty, be
cause he is associated by civil or religious ties with others
who do not sympathize with him in his convictions, and
who therefore withhold co-operation. He has some
share in the general action of the collective body in per
petuating the evil, and this share he is bound to re
nounce, and to labor by protest and moral suasion to
bring his associates to unite with him in sentiment and
action, with a view to its final abrogation. Upon this
point it is hardly possible to insist too urgently, that the
individual is never at liberty so far to merge himself in
the state as to forbear acting in the redress of evils till
the state itself takes the initiative. The demands of an
enlightened conscience press themselves directly upon
the man as responsible first of all to the " higher law"
of his God, irrespective of his relations to the state, and
call upon him to renounce and abjure that measure of
agency which may pertain to him as an originator or
continuator of the legalized system of wrong which is
brought into question.
It is in our view all important that in urging the
claims of abolitionism upon Southern slaveholders we
should plant ourselves distinctly upon this ground. Our
appeal should be made to the individual rather than to the
community. The community cannot be expected to act
as a community till the component members are indivi
dually convinced of their duty in the premises. The
units are prone to hide themselves in the aggregate, as
did Saul among the " stuff," but when drawn out each
one will scarcely fail to be conscious that on the score of
moral responsibility, he is " from the shoulders and up-

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLmON. 189
wards," at least as high as " any of the people." This
responsibility he can by no means evade ; but in what
particular form it is to be exercised, and under what
special qualifications the slaveholder is to heed the sum
mons to emancipation, will be more fully considered in
what follows. VII.
By the two preceding aphorisms an immediate emancipation of
slaves is so far from being the true remedy of the evil, and a duty im
posed by the Christian religion, that it is a false remedy forbidden by
Ctoistianity. , This surely is very strong language, nor are we by any
means prepared to assent to it without a close inspection
of its purport. Tet, as in nearly every one of the aphor
isms, so in this likewise, we recognize a substratum of
truth which we are not at all disposed to question, but a
truth that needs, in our view, to undergo somewhat of a
process of logical smelting in order to bring out the pure
metal freed from all vicious adherences. It will not, we
presume, be denied that in every case of moral wrong
there is an opposite and corresponding right. If slavery,
i. e., slaveholding, as generally defined and practised, be
in reality a wrong done to the neighbor, then if we can
ascertain the act or conduct which is precisely the re
verse of this, we may doubtless take it for granted that
we have hit upon the requisite right which is the true
remedy for the wrong in question. If a certain disease
is to be cured, and there is a particular medicine which
is a genuine specific for that disease, that surely is the
medicine which should be administered to the patient.
Let us apply this principle in the present case. The two
terms, mancipation (from manu, and capio, taking with
the hand) and e-mancipation, imply ideas directly the
converse of each other, the one denoting the act of re
ducing to bondage, the other the act of freeing from
bondage. Now, surely, if the former term denotes an
act which is intrinsically wrong, and the latter an act
directly contrary to it, and therefore intrinsically right,
17*

190 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
there can be no doubt that emancipation is the true remedy
for its opposite evil, and consequently, that this is precisely
the remedy which Christianity enjoins. Are not the
two things just as obversely opposite to each other as
theft and restitution ; and does Christianity prescribe to
the conscience any other remedy for theft than restitu
tion, accompanied by repentance ?
But the aphorism before us points its censure, not at
emancipation in the abstract, but at immediate emanci
pation ; and this it professes to regard as a false and for
bidden remedy for an incontestable evil. This then be-
becomes the grand question in debate, and we venture
to say that this can never be satisfactorily settled, with
out first settling clearly and distinctly the true idea of
the essence of slavery, and of the essence of emancipa
tion. To this end we remark, that if slavery be admit
ted to be in itself an evil, then there must be incumbent
an immediate duty of some kind in relation to it, for no
evil is to be quietly acquiesced in for a moment. What
is that duty ? What can it be, but the sincere mental
renunciation of the principle which lies at the founda
tion of the system of involuntary slavery, to wit : the
claim of a right of property in a human being, or the
right of converting a man into a chattel. This is the
radical vice — the fundamental falsity — -the central wrong
of the whole system. Upon a strict analysis it is pre
cisely here — in the mental assertion of a false and in
jurious principle — that the essential evil of servitude con
centrates itself It is the laying claim to a right which
is itself a nullity. No such right ever did or could ex
ist. A human being can, by no rightful process, be so
far dehumanized as to sink him to an object of owner
ship and an article of merchandise. The fact that such a
right has been long asserted and exercised, imparts to it
no validitv. It is simply by a legal fiction that such
possession is termed, property, and under that denomina
tion transmitted from father to son. In the nature of the
case the title of subsequent tenure can be no other than
that of original acquisition. The stream cannot rise

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 191
higher than its fountain. The slave captors in Africa
coul^gplead no title to their prey other than that of law
less violence, and a mastery too strong for its victims.
Consequently, what they had not, they could not con
vey. We must be excused for speaking plainly on this
subject, for the scope of our argument requires it. We
are aiming to ascertain the point of duty on a subject
which appeals with pressing ui'gency to the moral in
stincts of the conscientious man, and this point we can
never reach without penetrating the intrinsic merits or
demerits of the theme. Let us, then, be aUowed to say,
that we are for ourselves forced to subscribe to the jus
tice of the sentiments propounded in the following ex
tract from " Dymond's Essays on Morality."
" The distinctions which are made between the origi
nal robbery in Africa, and the purchase, the inheritance,
and the ' breeding' of slaves, do not at all respect the
kind of immorality that attaches to the whole system.
They respect nothing but the degree. The man who
wounds and robs another on the highway, is a more
atrocious offender than he who plunders a hen-roost;
but he is not more h-idy an ofiender, he is not more
certainly a violator of the law. And so with the slave
system. He who drags a wretched man from his family
in Africa, is a more fiagitious transgressor than he who
merely compels the African to labor for his own advan
tage ; but the transgression, the immorality is as real
and certain in the one case as in the other. He who
had no right to steal the African, had none to sell him.
From him who is known to have no right to sell, another
can have no right to buy or to possess. Sale, or gift, or
legacy, imparts no right to me, because the seller, or
giver, or bequeather, had none himself The sufferer
has just as valid a claim to liberty at my hands as at the
hands of the ruffian who first dragged him from his
home. Every hour of every day, the present possessor
is guilty of injustice.* Nor is the case altered with re-
* We would here interpose a qualifying clause. We can accept the pro
position as above stated only with the understanding that the possession is

192 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
spect to those who are born on a 'man's estate. The
parents were never the landholder's property, and <iaere-
fore the child is not. Nay, if the parents had been right
fully slaves, it would not justify me in making slaves of
their children. No man has a right to make a child a
slave but himself."
Can our position then be questioned, that as a title
never possessed can never be transferred, so the slaves of
the South, held as such on no other tenure than that by
which they were made such, cannot be regarded as the
bona fide property of their alleged owners. To a just
casuistry it matters not through how many hands an
usurped possession may have passed, there is no genuine
title created to it in transitu, not even if the original
owner should never appear to prefer his claim. The
ethics of Christianity know of no process of post-legiti
mation which can apply to a case of this kind; and
upon no other basis do we perceive how any professed
defence of slavery can rest. Such a process is all along
assumed by the slaveholder; and here, if we rightly.
conceive, is the very heart and core of the offending
principle in slavery, the sincere acknowledgment and re
nunciation of which is the flrst step in the retroceding
course prescribed by an enlightened conscience. How
much more than such a mental acknowledgment and
renunciation is involved in the moral demands made on
this head, we shall have occasion to consider in the
sequel, but surely nothing less will suffice in the outset.
We cannot but be aware that such an emphatic pre
sentation of the case, in its fundamental aspects, will
scarcely fail to be the reverse of agreeable to our South
ern brethren ; but we are at the same time confident that
held in the same spirit with which it was flrst acquired. We do not predi
cate a continued " injustice," in the case where the present possessor in
wardly repudiates the original act in consequence of which a human being
has been cast upon his hands, and where he is entirely conscious of holding
him, not with a view to self-interest or from the lust of oppressioti but
solely with regard to the best good of the slave himself. It is the nwtivt
which is the all-in-i eeping up the relation.

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 193
our position cannot fairly be controverted, nor do we feel
at liberty to plant ourselves on any lower ground. Our
object is to point the finger, in exact indication, to what
we regard as the spot where the virulence of the disease
is more especially concentrated. Our motive is to contri
bute by friendly suggestion to an effectual cure. We
would be far from acting the unfeeling part of a surgeon
who should lance and probe an ulcer for the sole purpose
of infiicting anguish, or of convincing the patient that his
body was suffering under a dangerous disease. He were
a monster instead of a man if ultimate cure were not
his aim.
We insist the more strenuously on the above position
from the fact, that the consciousness of intending no in
jury or wrong to the slave, which we firmly believe
holds good of those whom toe presume to address, and
the patriarchal and parental relation which such masters
strive to sustain to their bondmen, together with a cer
tain contented and even happy sphere which often pre
vails over a well-ordered plantation, strongly tends to
veil from sight the underlying principles of falsity and
evil which still pertain to the system under the fairest
phases it may assume. Indeed, it requires with us but
a purely ideal sojourn in the parlors, out-houses, and
fields of such of our brethren as will probably read
these pages, where we witness the governing kindness
on the one hand, and the simple, childlike, obedient
affection on the other, to feel the force of an indefinable
spell upon us, disarming us of our prejudices, anAalmost
reconciling us to the " peculiar institution," as securing,
all things considered, the best condition for the benight
ed sons of Africa. We can, at any rate, by a mental
metempsychosis, so far enter into the feelings ofthe bet
ter sort of Southern slave-masters as to realize the strong
sphere of repellency with which they throw off the im
putation of conscious wrong, injury, oppression, and
cruelty that are often indiscriminately urged against
them. For the time being our emotions side with the
men who are so roughly arraigned, and we are disposed

194 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
also to say, " You know nothing of the actual state of
things among us. Come and live with us awhile, and
you will stand corrected in your verdict. You will then
see how harshly you have judged us."
But not thus does our calm, deliberate Christian rea
son decide. We jserceive that we are giving way to a
subtle illusion when we would fain persuade ourselves of
the innocuousness of this relation as ordinarily held. We
cannot hide from ourselves the fact of a stupendous
moral wrong involved in the virtual assertions which
buttress the system as a whole. And as " there is no
sin without a sinner," and the essence of the evil of
slavery lies in the animus with which the relation is
maintained, we cannot but urge the laying aside of that
animus, to wit : the mental affirmation of a right
which God never gave, and man could not. This is the
principal to which everything else is accessory. There
are a thousand adventitious evils and mischiefs which
may or may not characterize the actual working of the
institution, such as the ignorance, the degradation, the
depravity, the licentiousness, the oppression, the cruelty,
and other abominations that are prone to cluster around
the parent stock of servitude. But these are accidental.
The central evil, the essential enormity, which we recog
nize in slavery, is the claim of property in a human be
ing; and this claim we challenge in the name of Jus
tice, Mercy, and Charity. The undelayed renunciation
of this false assumption we urge upon the man of the
New Church who may be expected to heed the appeal
of principles so sacred in his eyes. For, if such be the
essence of slavery, what inference more legitimate than
that the essence of emancipation is directly the reverse,
to wit : the mental renunciation of the claim in question.
The one is the direct counterpart of the other. If the
one is morally interdicted, the other is morally obligatory.
In thus renouncing, abnegating, and disavowing the
fundamental slave axiom, he performs that which is the
essential element of em.ancipation. A mental act of this
nature strikes at the very root of the evil, inasmuch as

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLmON. 195
when sincere it puts an end at once to the traffic in
human beings. A man who honestly renounces the fal
sity under consideration can neither buy nor sell, since
this necessarily supposes the validity of the claim of
property. This assumption we trust wc have shown to
be groundless, and therefore no action can properly be
built upon it which would imply the contrary.
We have reached, then, if we mistake not, by a fair
process, the conclusion that there is an imtnediate duty
in the premises incumbent on the slaveholder ; one too
which involves the very essence of emancipation, and
that without violating any of the established laws of di
vine order, when those laws are rightly apprehended. It
is a duty directly imperative upon the individual irre
spective of any human enactments legitimating the as
serted but unfounded claim of property, for no earthly
statute is authorized to contravene an eternal dictate of
Heaven ; nor may any legislature presume to invade the
province of private conscience, and interpose a veto to
any decision of the soul which is prompted by a supreme
regard to the will of God. All such enactments are of
course null and void in foro conscientim, as in fact is
every ordinance of man which conflicts with the higher
law of divine order.
But while we hold most strenuously to the impera
tive obligation of this duty, as now defined, we reject
the inference which might be drawn from it, that the im-
mediate disruption of all the bonds connecting master
and slave must necessarily ensue. This course, we think,
would be justly liable to the exceptions of our corres
pondent. It would be just such a precipitating of re
sults as the principles of the New Church, based upon
the laws of true order, would forbid, and here it is that
a new field of argument and action opens upon us, where
the dictates of human prudence, under the prompting
of Christian charity, are to be heeded ; and upon this
department of our subject we shall soon be prepared
to enter.

196 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.

VIII.
Hence one may be a slaveholder, and yet be fully exculpated from
any share in the evil, viz : on the conditions specified in No. IV., of
acknowledgment and action pursuant thereto. To deplore slavery
and acquiesce in it, does not excuse.
To what extent, and with what limitations, we accord
with the purport of this aphorism will be easily inferred
from the tenor of our preceding remarks. When it is
affirmed that " one may be a slaveholder, and yet be
fully exculpated from any share in the evil," the conditions
under which alone this position can hold good had need
be very exactly and punctiliously defined. Beyond ques
tion, the moral character ofthe relation of master and ser
vant depends, as we have already more than once observ
ed, upon the animus ofthe master in sustaining it. Our
first article on the subject contains the remark, that there
is an essential difference in the moral character of the re
lation as sustained by one who holds his slaves as bona
fide property, and one who regards them as a trust, pro
videntially thrown upon his hands, and towards which
he is called to discharge a solemn duty in the spirit of
the golden rule of charity, doing to his slaves as he
would be done by in similar circumstances. The dis
tinction of the two cases is all important in the present
connection. It affords the only clew by which we can
determine when it is that " one may be a slaveholder,
and yet be fully exculpated from any share in the evil."
The sole condition, in our opinion, on which this immu
nity from evil can be affirmed is, that he mentally re
nounce the fundamental principle ou which the whole
system rests, and in which the essential evil is involved,
and then follow up this renunciation with the appropriate
course of action. If this is what the author intends by
the " acknowledgment" and " action pursuant thereto,"
specified in the aphorism, we have no great difficulty in
acceding to it. But we should insist that it cover in im
port the entire ground of our previous definitions and
explications, ere we give it our cordial assent, for we

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 197
cannot abate an iota of the stringency of our demand on
the score of the principle to be renounced, as nothing
short of this renunciation will, in our view, absolve the
conscience from all participation in the evil.
The language of the aphorism referred to we will
here repeat : " They have not slavery imputed to them,
who acknowledge it to be an evil, and act for the re
moval of it, socially and politically, according to the laws
of order." We have already conceded the merit of
sound doctrine to this position, and it is because it
affords so fitting a stand-point from which to urge home
the appeal to conscience, that we re-adduce it. Taking
it for granted that the " acknowledgment" in question in
volves no less than the mental abandonment of the pro
perty-claim, our next concern is to ascertain what is the
appropriate action that the laws of charity and order
prescribe in the premises. And here it is, in the answer
to this question, that we stand at the dividing point be
tween ourselves and the mass of anti-slavery men, with
whose ultimate objects we fully sympathize, and whose
logical argument in regard to the fundamental falsity
underlying the system of American slaverj', we deem
absolutely impregnable. While we hold to the duty of
immediate emancipation, as above defined, we should
have abundant qualifications to specify and insist upon
before admitting the duty of immediate manumission to
be equally imperative. We have no doubt that this will
be regarded by many as a virtual abandonment of the
ground we have hitherto maintained ; as a practical nul
lifying of all that we have thus far established, and the
ministering of a comfortable quietus to the conscience
which had perhaps begun to be hopefully disturbed.
Of this every one must form his own opinion. Our con
cern is to follow what we conceive to be the leading of
truth, and for ourselves we have but little fear of the
issue with those who are fully penetrated with the con
viction of the soundness of our main position in regard
to the essential evil of slavery, and of the consequent
duty of the immediate renunciation of that evil. In-
18

198 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
deed, we see so much involved in the mental act enjoined,
that when sincerely put forth we no more hesitate to as
sure ourselves of the right results in the end than we do
of the ripening and gathering of the harvest when the
seed is sown, the soil good, and the "skyey influences"
of sun and rain have been duly contributed. We are
no more certain that true repentance will vrork true re
formation, than we are that this mental state will prompt
its appropriate ultimation. The truth is, the grand point
is gained when the above mentioned act takes place, for
such an act is the negation of the positive wrong in
volved in the system ; and what is "learning to do well,"
but " ceasing to do evil ?" If any course of conduct is
justly denominated evil, and as such comes within the
range ofthe prohibitory precepts of Heaven, what more
obvious than that the very first dutj^ of the delinquent is
to forbear the actual doing of the wrong in question.
In the case before us, the essence of the wrong-doing is
not in the oppression or cruelty which may chance to be
exercised towards the slave, for oppression and cruelty
are exercised where slavery does not exist, but in the as
sertion of a claim which gives one man the absolute and
unlimited control over the person, powers, and posses
sions of another without his consent. This claim is recog-
-nized by the laws of the slave States as a valid right,
while in the eye of the Divine law it is regarded as a
nullity. What then is the demand of the Divine law,
but the cordial aud unreserved giving up of the principle
which constitutes the gravamen of the ofience as viewed
in the light of eternal truth and justice ? In virtue of
this fictitious claim and fancied right, men, women, and
children are bought and sold like any other marketable
commodities, and various wrongs inflicted which would
not be but for the asserted but baseless claim of pro
perty. Now inasmuch as the sincere mental renuncia
tion of this alleged right of ownership lays the axe di
rectly at the root of the evil, and forbids all traffic in
these human chattels, who can fail to perceive that
emancipation has fairly won the day when this point of

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 199
concession has been reached ? Is it possible that this can
be denied without the denial of the truth of the whole
train of our foregoing argument ? And to the most
earnest abolitionist we would put the question, whether
his demand is not virtually complied with when the
nature of the relation is entirely changed, and the ab
horred traffic in human flesh has come to an end ? For
ourselves we perceive, in the mental surrender for which
we plead, so immense an advance upon any thing hither
to accorded to the " genius of universal emancipation ;"
we see in it such a sacriflce made by self-interest to the
force of moral principle, that we cannot flnd it in our
hearts to chide the delay which would take time to
breathe before proceeding to the last act of enfranchise
ment. That this act, however, will be performed, if the
dictate of conscience urging it be clear, we need have no
doubt when the mental stand above described has been
once taken. The one step is a pledge for the other.
But as this is a point requiring the greatest deliberation,
and as we perceive we should ourselves hesitate on the
threshold of m.anumission, so we can easily imagine that
others may labor under the same misgiving.
It will no doubt be objected to our conclusion that it
is " lame and impotent ;" that it leaves things at loose
ends ; that it supplies an opiate to the conscience ; that
it paralyzes action in the premises : that it Avould foster
that delay in the " St. Clares" ofthe South which would
be the means of fixing multitudes of worthy " Uncle
Toms" in hopeless bondage under hard masters. Con
sistency, it will be urged, requires that a precise and de
finite course of procedure should be marked out for
slaveholders to pursue when they are once convinced of
the paramount duty of emancipation. Manumissi n
papers should at once be prepared, and the needed pro
tection in this way secured. Failing this, what evidence
can any man have of the sincerity of his own convic
tions of duty? To this we reply that undoubtedly every
one is solemnly bound to put into outward act his in
ward sense of duty. But every one must still be left, with

200 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
prayer for Divine guidance, to the dictates of his own
mind as to the most fitting mode of compassing the end to
be attained. The decision on this head cannot be made
independent of a thousand circumstances peculiar to the
general system, and to the various individual cases that
may occur under it. Of these, religious slaveholders
themselves are the most competent judges, and it is no
more than just that we should repose so much confidence
in them as to believe that, when convinced of what
justice and right demand, they will act for the best in a
matter in which they have the deepest conceivable inter
est. It is an " aphorism" as true as any we are now
considering, that " where there is a will there is a way,"
and our reasoning proceeds here ujwn the supposition
that there is a will. We may offer friendly suggestions
to our brethren, but it must ever be with the conscious
ness of the inadequacy of our counsel to meet all the
exigencies of the case. The laws, for instance, of most
of the slave States, impose serious obstacles in the way
of manumission, and though these laws are essentially
unjust and iniquitous, and therefore are entitled to have
no moral force upon the conscience, yet they constitute
a fact which cannot be disregarded ; they operate to re
strain the bestowment of freedom very much as a high
wall around an enclosure does to prevent the egress of
prisoners confined within it. They cannot be left out of
view without infiicting penalties and injuries both upon
master and slave. The impediment here is much the
same as that which the slave himself would encounter
were he to ignore, as he is really at liberty to do, his
master's asserted right of ownership in him. If such a
claim be, as we have endeavored to show, an intrinsic
nullity as it concerns the master, it is in fact equally so
as it concerns the slave. If the master is bound to re
nounce this alleged right, the slave, who might have a
similar perception of its moral invalidity, is authorized
to view it in tbe same light. But it would be the height
of folly to act on that conviction. If sufficiently en
lightened, he would say with Paul, " all things are law-

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 201
ful uuto me, but all things are not expedient." As we
should protest against the master's suddenly sunder
ing all the ties between himself and his slave, because
he saw the non-entity of his title, so should we use the
same language to the slave. There is a providential re
lation established between them which the interests of
both parties require should not be at once broken up,
any more than it siiould be sought to be made perpetual.
And here our discussion trenches upon a department
of the subject which looms up to view more and more
largely the nearer we approximate to it. The providen
tial aspects of slavery urge themselves, with great force,
upon the mind of the Newchurchman. " The man,"
says Swedenborg {D. P- 189), "who is made spiritual
by the acknowledgment of God, and wise by the rejec
tion oi his proprium, sees the Divine Providence in the
universal world, and in all and every particular thereof.
If he looks at natural things he sees it ; if he looks at
civil things he sees it ; if he looks at spiritual things he
sees it ; and this as well in the simultaneous as in the
successive order of things — in ends, in causes, in effects,
in uses, in forms, in things great and small ; especially
in the salvation of men." To some of these aspects we
must here allude, aud none the less readily because they
really tell, to a degree, on the side ofthe question which
we are in main opposing. But we profess fealty to
truth, lead where it will. The doctrine of Providence
comes before the man of the New Church in a light pe
culiar to that system of religions verities which he has
embraced. Viewing it as he does, he finds his field of
vision vastly enlarged; and the accumulation of new
facts creates a wider area of induction than is offered to
the range of most other inquirers. To him, for instance,
is made known the fact that the genius of the African
race is more celestial than that of any other people ; and,
strange as it may appear, this single fact is to him the
key by which he solves the enigma of their peculiar des
tiny, whether adverse or auspicious. By most men the
hard lot of this sable race is regarded as a mysteriously
18*

202 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
sovereign dispensation of the divine wisdom ; and when
the epithet sovereign is applied to it, it is supposed, of
course, to be independent of the operation of moral
causes on the part of its subject, to which it can justly be
referred. An end of mercy in the final issue is indeed
recognized, but the inscrutable will of Heaven stands in
stead of all other procuring causes. But the Newchurch
man is instructed by the laws of order, to look upon this
stern allotment, not as arbitrarily or gratuitously in-
fiicted, but as the legitimate effect of an adequate cause,
to be sought iu their own moral conditions and actings,
whether past or present. That cause he is taught to re
cognize in a fearful apostasy, or fall from their primitive
high estate. As the celestial is the highest type of
humanity, a fall from that plane would of course preci
pitate its subjects into the lowest depths of debasement
and wretchedness. In the profound depression and
degradation, therefore, of the negro race, we read the
evidence of a disastrous lapse from a proportionate ele
vation, marked vestiges of which still remain visible to
the naked eye, to say nothing of the testimony which we
derive on this head from Swedenborg's revelations ofthe
African genius in the other life. In their national love
of musical sounds we see a clear indication of the pre
dominance of affection iu their nature, while, in the
characteristic willingness to serve, we perceive a dim
reflex of that spirit, so pre-eminently heavenly, which
prompts every one to bo the least of all and the servant
of all. This process of decline and deterioration has un
doubtedly been going on from a period of the most re
mote antiquity, as is to be inferred from its having, in all
probability, gradually wrought among its sequences a
change of color — an effect to which ages would be requi
site — though the utter absence of all records renders it
impossible to affix anything like definite eras to their
historic developments and transitions. But the grand
fact of their fall, through successive generations, from a
primitive state of celestial innocence "and purity, to one
of degradation and misery, may be rested in as an un
questionable certainty.

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 203
Now it is upon this fact that the Newchurchman per
ceives the grand series of providential dispensations to
wards the colored race to be founded. He sees that they
are of a distinctly retributive character, while, at the
same time, an ulterior end of mercy pervades them
from their commencement to their consummation.
Denying to these dispensations anything of a vindictive
quality, we are still authorized to look upon them as an
illustration of the principle enounced by Solomon : " Be
hold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth ;
mjuch more the wicked and the sinner." With all our
virtuous sympathy towards the oppressed and down
trodden sons of Africa, it is proper ever to remember
that under the divine administration " the curse cause
less does not come," and that their present bitter lot tells
a long story of apostasy, deterioration, cruelty, crime, and
vice of every form. Nothing is gained to the cause of
truth by attempting to wink unwelcome facts out of
sight. Of Africa as of Babylon it must be said that she
is — fallen, fallen ! But unlike Babylon she is not fallen
beyond the hope of recovery. Africa, even in her deso
lation may say : " For we must needs die, and are as
water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up
again ; yet doth God devise means that his banished be
not expelled from him."
We have said that the sufferings of the black man,
as originating in slavery, are providentially retributive.
And on this head we should have a strong assurance,
even if history were silent, that the very form of their
sin could be read in their punishment. But history is
not silent. The evidence is ample that during the lapse
of centuries, the habit of war aud the practice of slavery
have been rife among the savage tribes of the land of
Ham. War alone would seem to have been capable of
rousing their inbred sluggishness to action ; and when
engaged in their perpetually recuriing feuds and forays,
it is notorious that the most infernal cruelties, crowned
by cannibalism, have ever distinguished their conduct
towards their captives. Out of the sixty millions which

204 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
at any given time peopled the continent of Africa it is
computed that forty millions might safely be set down as
the proportion reduced to a state of slavery. And this,
be it remembered, is a state of things which is of no
recent origin, but has been subsisting among them for
many ages. It is a great mistake to imagine that it has
sprung up from the contact of Europeans and the ac
cursed cupidities of the slave trade. It may have been
stimulated from this source, but long before a slave was
exported from the African shore this, with its accompa
niments, was the crying sin of these wretched savages,
and all the more aggravated from the fact of being per
petrated by those who had once refiected most brilliantly
the goods and glories of a celestial caste.
We have no hesitation, therefore, in regarding Ameri
can slavery as a direct, though long-delayed, providential
penalty, visited upon its victims in the way of righteous
reprisal for a similar oppression of which they themselves
have been guilty. Of the principle which is operative in
this allotment, Swedenborg says, "It derives its origin
from the Divine law of doing uuto others as we would that
they should do unto us. This law in heaven is the law
of mutual love or charity, whence there exists what is
opposite in hell, viz., that what any one does to another,
the same is done to himself; not that they who are in
heaven do it, but they who are in hell do it, for the retri
bution of retaliation exists from opposition to that law of
life in heaven." Although it is in hell that this law as
serts itself most conspicuously, yet it is a law that obtains
also in the present life.
It will be of course the grossest perversion to construe
this train of remark into a justification of the agency by
which the negro has been reduced to bondage, notwith
standing it is thus that the ends of heaven are effected.
The Lord "shaves by an hired razor," and neither axe,
saw, nor rod are to boast themselves against Him that
wieldeth them. After making "the Assyrian the rod of
his anger and the staff of his indignation," and giving
him a " charge to take the spoil, and take the prey, and

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 205
to tread down like the mire of the streets," he can still
justly " punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of
Assyria, and the glory of his high looks, for in his heart
he meaneth not so." And the meaning or intention is
what determines the character of acts.
The scope of what we have thus far adduced on this
head is simply to show, that over, beyond, and beneath
all human counsels and aims in this matter, the Lord
has his own penal and yet merciful ends to accomplish,
and that to these ends it is not needful that the man of
the New Church, whether a slaveholder or not, should
be blind. Although, as a general principle, we learn
that man does not manifestly perceive and feel the
operation of the Divine Providence, yet when one's in
terior state is in accordance with the divine will, and he
is thus in sympathy with its ultimate ends, we see not
that he is forbidden to look into those ends, or incapaci
tated from, yielding them an intelligent and cordial co
operation. The great question in fact for a well-princi
pled slaveholder, who is favored with the light of the
New Jerusalem, is to determine how he shall fall in with
the " stream of Providence," as it regards its benignant
ends towards the slave, while at the same time he is to be
perfectly faithful to the monitions of his own personal
conscience, uttering its dicta of absolute right unswerved
by selfish interests.
What shall we say then of the ulterior practical duty
of the slave-master over and beyond the mental disown
ing of the fundamental principle of the system on which
we have hitherto insisted ? For ourselves we see not how
the question is to be answered, except in full view of the
considerations following, some of v/hich we have already
adverted to. Putting them into the form of propositions
they stand substantially thus :
1. The African race having sunk by gradual decline to
the lowest state of degradation, misery, and crime, the
order of the Divine Providence towards them requires
that as they have sown the wind, they should reap the
whirlwind — that in order to their regeneration and spirit-

206 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
ual elevation they should undergo a previous discipline
of vastation which is being wisely accomplished by their
lot of bitter bondage. This fact, however, is to be held
in perfect consistency with the criminality of those who
are the active agents in their oppression.
2. The circumstances of the first origination and of the
subsequent perpetuation of slavery in our country are es
sentially different. When, after the passing away of the
first generation of the enslaved, their descendants are
born into the condition of servitude, and consequently
have no opportunity to know any other, there can be no
doubt that the intensity of the suffering under which they
groan is somewhat abated, as the aggravation of contrast
does not operate. So, on the other hand, the circum
stance of a people being born into the condition of mas
ters, as a hereditary distinction, constitutes a fair ground
of charitable allowance on the score of whatever moral
wrong may be involved in, or grow out of, the relation.
It were scarcely to be expected that those who were born
to this inheritance, when they see the relation existing
everywhere around them, and seldom or never question
ed, should be led to question it themselves apart from
foreign prompting. But when this is done, and the light of
truth is strongly concentrated upon the true character of
the system, the extenuation arising from this source is done
away. When, on the other hand, the conduct of the sons
shows beyond dispute that they approve and appropriate
the deeds of their fathers, they take upon themselves
whatever of criminal responsibility attached to the first
act of fraud, depredation, and oppression, which fixed
the doom of bondage in a foreign clime on the natives of
Negro land. But it is obvious that in numerous cases
the entail would not be cordially accepted, when its gen
uine character came to be understood, and in such cases
the relation of master and slave is as involuntary on the
partof the master as it is on that of the slave. To both
parties it is a compulsory relation, but as it has not been
of their own seeking, the hand of the Divine Providence

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 207
is to be devoutly recognized in it, and co-operation with
the end of that Providence to be diligently studied.
3. The abjectness to which the African race has reduced
itself is such as to involve a degree of imbecility that
makes it almost inevitable that they should fall under the
controlling infiuence of some superior class. It is not
difficult to conceive that this surveillance and predomi
nance might, under proper limitations, be of essential
service to them in the way of moral discipline. But then
those upon whom it devolves are to bear in mind that the
Divine Providence does not intend that this pupilage
should be perpetual, and therefore they are never to lose
sight of the elevation of the black man as an end.
4. There can be nothing required in the duty of eman
cipation which shall supersede the obligation of that pe
culiar guardianship which the incapacity of the Negro
demands. In their present circumstances it is to the in
fluence of slavery, in great lueasure, that that incapacity
is due, and nothing could be more unjust than that those
who have been its authors should take advantage of their
own wrong, and make conscience itself a plea for the
cruel dereliction of their helpless serfs. A debt of jus
tice and of charity is due them. They claim, at the
hands of those who have oppressed and impoverished
them, such indemnity as they can render — the indemnity
of that culture, mental and moral, which shall fit them
for freedom here, and for felicity hereafter.
The tenor of the preceding discussion has, if we mis
take not, paved the way for a more definite enunciation
of what we conceive to be the law of charity in the mat
ter before us. We have seen that there are certain
general considerations suggested by the providential
relations of slavery, which imperatively require to be
taken into the account when the casuistry of the subject
comes in question. We have seen that while there is an
immediate duty of emancipation incumbent upon the
holder of slaves, it is not at the same time the duty of
immediate emancipation, for there is doubtless an im
portant though nice distinction between the two, the na-

208 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
ture of which will be sufficiently obvious from what we
have already said The duty of entering at once upon
the incipiency of an emancipating process we have argued
at length ; and as this duty urges itself upon the indivi
dual in the first instance, we are warranted in pressing
home the appeal to every one who can feel the force of
Christian obligation, to obey the dictates of conscience
wholly irrespective of the co-operation or kindred con
victions of others. He is not in fact at liberty to merge
himself in the community, and await legislative action
before he himself acts. Each 'one is to do that which, if
every other one did, the devoutly desired consummation
would take place. By mentally abnegating the central
falsity and evil of the system, without reference to any
other will than the will of Heaven, he does in effect
" wash his hands in innocency," as far as " the great
transgression" of slavery is concerned. Other men have
their duty to perform as he has his, and they are not to
wait for each other.
But supposing this duty thus far performed — which
we may call the duty of repentance — then the duty of
good works, or of justice, mercy, and equity to the slave,
becomes imperative. And here we would endeavor to
make the slaveholder's case our own. We would put our
soul in his soul's stead, and whatever we clearly see
would be our duty in the supposed case, we are forced
to consider as his duty in the actual case. And having
settled it as our first duty to make a mental renunciation
of the false principle lying at the foundation of the sys
tem, it seems, in the next place, an inevitable inquiry
whether duty would fairly require the making known to
our slaves the change that had taken place in our own
minds, the proclaiming to them that we no longer re
garded them as our property, and the assuring them at
the same time that we should take immediate measures
for setting them legally free. This might seem, at first
blush, to be the only consistent course which a good man
could ixirsue in the premises, and one so obvious that
there could be no room for the least hesitation. But we

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 209
see clearly that we should hesitate, and that we should
have good reasons for hesitating, for we could not feel at
liberty to ignore the resulting consequences of the step.
So far as we are able to judge, no end of true benevolent
use or neighborly love, would be subserved by such an
announcement. We cannot perceive that the master
would thereby be enabled any better to compass the
good of his slave than if he preserved the most rigid
silence as to his interior views aud purposes. Such an
announcement might lead, on the part of the slaves, to
restlessness and insubordination, aud other mischiefs,
while it would do nothing to advance their real interests.
They would of course be informed on this head in due
time, when better prepared for it. Meanwhile the in
terior conviction which we have supposed to have sprung
up in the mind of the slaveholder is not to be without
fruit. Fidelity to acknowledged principles will require
that he should act as well as feel ; and his actions should
be in accordance with his feelings. He is bound to carry
out into ultimation those views of truth and duty which
have become established in his mind, tending to elevate
the slave, and to fit him for that form of freedom which
infinite wisdom designs him to enjoy. He is bound in a
firm, temperate, and dignified manner to exert his influ
ence to bring his fellow-citizens to think and act with
himself on the subject, and to agitate for the repeal of
all those despotic laws which tend to frustrate the ends
of the Divine mercy in regard to the enslaved. He is
called upon to brave reproach, odium, ostracism — every
consequence that may ensue upon the conscientious car
rying out of his principles. Doing this, he in effect ac
quits himself of all evil participation in the system, and
in the Divine estimate will be considered as having
" broken the yoke and let the oppressed go free."
It is clear, however, that the course now indicated is
oue that can never be followed except by those with whom
profound religious principle is paramount. It involves
too much self denial and self-sacrifice to be acted upon
by any others than those who are willing " to lose their
19

210 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
lives that they may save them." We cannot but be sen
sible that such a course requires nothing short of a mar
tyr spirit in those who may ba moved to enter upon it.
And from this fact it must be evident to what a limited
extent the views now advanced will be entertained. But
we are not to " diminish aught" from the stern requisi
tions ofthe moral code to which this subject is amenable.
And we are therefore bound to say, that there is no pos
sibility, under the Divine government, of escaping the
penalties of wrong doing, even though we may ourselves
have had no other than a hereditary relation to the wrong
in question. All evil, and especially that of slaveholding,
is a quick-set hedge which one can neither get into nor
out of without laceration. A man must be willing to
part with his property, aud even to lay down his life, if
needs be, for conscience' sake. Still it is a pleasant coun
tervailing reflection that, in point of fact, this extremity of
sacrifice is often precluded in the hidden workings of the
Divine Providence. An unfeigned willingness meekly
to resign everything from the force of moral principle, is
often accepted by the Divine clemency for the fact, and
the subject of it exempted from the actual privation which
he was led to anticipate. In some mysterious way compen
sative dispensations occur, by which not only is outward
impoverishment repaid by inward riches, but even tem
poral losses are made up by temporal gains. While, there
fore no one can assure himself that he will not actually
be called to suffer the loss of all things, and he is not at
liberty to act on the presumption that he will be spared
the infiiction which he fears, yet he may be spared ; and
the more profound is his humiliation before Heaven, and
the more submissively he kisses the rod, the more reason
is there for the hope of exemption.
We have thus expounded our idea of the true nature
of emancipation as dictated by the laws of charity and of
order. It is a process which supposes the continuance,
for the present, of the external relation between master
and slave, while in its internal essence and spirit it has
undergone an entire transformation, from the fact that

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 211
the central principle on which the system rests is sincere
ly renounced. That the conscientious master does not at
once go the full length of manumission is because of the
condition of mental incapacity which slavery has en
tailed upon its subjects, and of the impediments thrown
in his way by the existing laws of the slave States, to
disregard which would be to subject his bondmen to a
worse lot than to retain them in his service while he was
doing his utmost to effect the removal of these impedi
ments. The slaveholding, if we so term it, which con
tinues during this interval, we cannot regard as a sin
per se. It is a mere temporary duress enforced by the
stress of circumstances, and no more to be censured than
would be the master's retention of his virtually liberated
slaves, when he sees that the sending them forth would
be exposing them unarmed and helpless to prowling
wild beasts, poisonous serpents, or merciless banditti. It
is a purely Providential barrier which interposes itself
between the promptings of his own mind and the com
plete enfranchisement of his bondmen. Our position is,
that the law of charitj'- is satisfied with the procedure
which we have indicated, provided there be no secret,
subtle evasion of the demands of conscience on the
score of protest and agitation aiming at a radical cure
of all the evils of the institution.
Nothing, however, is clearer to us than that the course
we have now suggested would by no means satisfy the ultra
reformer. Ho will be content with nothing short of an
instant rupture of all the bonds that connect master and
slave, leaving out of view the whole train of consequen
ces that may ensue upon the step. With this theory of
abolition we do not sympathize, as it appears to us wholly
to overlook those principles of action which are so em
phatically recognized by the New Church. Acting un
der the influence of those principles, we feel assured that
an eye is to be had to the contingencies of our conduct.
The probable effect of our decision upon the welfare of
the colored man is an element which is to be taken into
the account in determining the duty owed him. We

212 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
are compelled, then, as far as we see, to forego the
countenance and co-operation of this class of men.
Urged on by the controlling power of one grand idea —
that oiimmediate emancipation in every sense ofthe term
— they have no sympathy to throw away upon those who
are lingering far in the rear of their onward rapid course.
So again our line of argument will appear sadly de
fective to all those who would have the great problem of
slavery solved on grounds that apply to all that are in
any way concerned with it. But this is not our drift.
We assume not to say what is the duty of those who do
not at present acknowledge the truths which are para
mount in the estimation of the man of the New Church.
We are not writing for the promiscuous many, but for
the select few. We have all along considered ourselves
as addressing those who were accessible to the appeal of
New Church principles, and who would therefore duly
appreciate any friendly suggestions that might aid them
in their ultimation. We have taken it for granted that
tbe truths which they receive come to them demanding
with an authoritative voice to be ultimated, and that too
without reference to the action of others. He that is
wise is to be wise for himself, and popular precedent will
weigh with him but little. It is with spirits of such a
mould that we consider ourselves as having to do.
" What have we to do to judge them that are without?"
To their own master they stand or fall. We should
never volunteer to grapple with the subject of slavery
on political grounds, and as defended by political men.
Viewed on that side it involves problems too vast and
complicated for our feeble powers. We withdraw from
it as from the vicinity of a volcanic mountain which has
begun to heave and rumble in token of speedy eruption.
To mere worldly and irreligious upholders of the system,
what could we say ? We are aiming to point out the
legitimate operation of certain principles in reference to
those who acknowledge the obligation of these princi
ples. In respect to others, our first object would be of
course to bring them to the knowledge and acknowledg-

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 213
ment of the principles iu question, and when this was
done they would come within the range of our remarks.
But previous to this we have nothing to say of the light
in which they are to regard their duty, though we have
no hesitation to speak in strong terras of their sin.
It is, however, no difficult matter for us to perceive
that even in regard to those whom wo have especially in
view in this discussion, it may be and perhaps will be
suggested, that the policy proposed would be merely a
perpetuating of slavery under the plea of discarding it.
To this we can only say, that for ourselves we regard it
as in a majority of cases the only practicable course to
be pursued consistent with the claims of genuine justice.
It strikes us as the only course which will satisfy the de
mands of conscience on the one hand aud of charity on
the other. Cases indeed there undoubtedly are where a
man, acting in view of all the enactments of tho civil
code, can take his bondmen to a free State, or send them
to Liberia or to Canada. When this can be done, let it
be done. It will be a noble benefaction. But in thou
sands of instances this course cannot be counted upon.
The ability is wanting even where the disposition is pre
sent. A providential hindrance hedges up the way.
What alternative then remains but that the external re
lation be continued for the present, while its internal
character is totally changed in consequence of the men
tal change above described ? To the Newchurchman
the whole subject will come up in the light of a provi
dential ordainment bearing upon his regeneration. He
will safely draw the conclusion that, all things consider
ed, his regeneration will be best promoted in the circum
stances in which he is placed, and that for the same rea
son that of the black man also — which the Lord equally
regards — is under the best auspices in the heritage of
service, not of slavery, where his lot has fallen. On both
sides the aim should be the compassing of the ultimate
ends of the divine benignity in reference to both. To a
right state of mind the relation of master to slave will
be, as we have already intimated, no more voluntary
19*

214 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
than that of slave to master. It will be a compelled re
lation to both parties, and yet both recognizing a special
providence in it, it may be transformed to a blessing to
both ; but in order to this its genius must be transform
ed by the mental process which we have all along made
so prominent.*
No one can be more fully aware than ourselves of the
thousandfold adverse infiuences that must in the slave
States oppose the realizing of the results which all good
men would fain have brought about in respect to this
matter. The institution itself has generated a world of
corrupt sentiment and practice which prevents its true
character being discovered or the true remedy applied.
It has for its supporters thousands of men who are totally
reckless of its moral bearings, and who ply it as a grand
engine for working out their worldly weal, with about
the same unconcern as the California miner does his
crushing machine for extracting gold from quartz. Men
of this stamp, so far as they feel the need of any justi
fication at all of the system which they uphold, and as
they uphold it, are prone to avail themselves of pleas
drawn from fallacious sources, the speciousness of which
not unfrequently avails to impose upon Newchurchmen
themselves. One of these is di'awn from the alleged an
tagonism between the genius of the black aud white
races. The argument embodies itself in the proposition,
that two distinct classes of people, nearly equal in num
bers, and yet unlike in color, manner, haJnts, feelings,
and states of civilization, to such a degree that amalga
mation {by intermarriage) is impossible, cannot dwell to
gether in the same cmnmunity, unless the one be iti sub
jection to the other. The past history of the world does
undoubtedly afford some countenance to this idea, and if
we assume that the same principles of selfishness and the
same worldly passions are ever to bear rule among men,
the position would continue to hold good. But the man

* The hints of our esteemed correspondent on " The E.'cternal Laws of
Order," in the August No. of the Repository, wilt be found extremely per
tinent in this coiinectioD.

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 215
of the New Church is taught to recognize a transform
ing power in the truths of the dispensation now being
ushered in, which will eventually so change the internal
states of men, as to nullify the force of precedents and
make the past no longer a model of the future. We do
not indeed anticipate any such millennium as shall obli
terate national distinctions and fuse the genius of differ
ent races into one common type, but we look for such a
moulding infiuence from the operative laws of charity,
such a harmonizing of social interests, that native repug
nances, though not extinguished, shall yet be so re
gulated and subordinated as to conduce to the greater
perfection of the grand social man. Every portion of
that extended spiritual corporeity will then perform its
distinct function in perfect accordance with every other
portion, and as there will then be servile uses necessary,
so there will be those who have a native love of those
uses, and will perform them as cheerfully as the occu
pants of a higher plane perform theirs. If we rightly
read the African genius there is in it a servile element, a
something which prompts them to occupy a menial
sphere, and renders them more happy aud contented in
that sphere than in any other. We do not of course re
cognize in this fact a warrant for their reduction to a
state of slavery, but we do perceive in it a ground for
the voluntary adoption hereafter oi service as the perma
nent sphere of their use. All that is needed is for them
to have an intelligent view of the truths of heaven and
of the principles of the Divine Order, and to yield a
hearty concurrence therewith ; for the law of that order
is that every one should follow his promptings and adap
tations in the discharge of his peculiar functions. Every
function that is demanded by the exigencies of the social
body is in itself honorable, and the language of the ajpos-
tle is in this relation pre-eminently pertinent.
" For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the mem
bers of that one body, being many are one body ; so also is Christ.
For the body is not one member but many. If the foot shall say. Be
cause I am not the hand, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of

216 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
the body ? And if the ear shall say. Because I am not the eye, I am
not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body ? If the whole body
were an eye, where were the hearing 1 if the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling ? But now hath God set the members every one of
them in the body, as it has pleased him. And if they were all one
member, where were the body 1 But now they are many members, yet
but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need
of thee ; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay,
much more, those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble,
are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be
less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our
uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely
parts have no need ; but God hath tempered the body together, having
given more abundant honor to that part which lacked : that there
should be no schism in the body ; but that the members should have
the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all
the members sufl'er with it ; or one member be honored, all the mem
bers rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in
particular." The perfection of society is when all this is understood
and acted upon freely by all its members. When thus
acted upon on a large scale in our country, we see not
why there is not scope for the colored race to bring into
play their characteristic proclivities, forming an integral
but relatively subordinate part ofthe social man, at once
without compulsion and without reproach. There is cer
tainly truth in what is said by one of the interlocutors in
" Uncle Tom," that "if there is rough work to be done,
there must be rough hands to do it," and if there are
such hands, and they love to do such work, why should
they not do it ? Why should not this be the self-selected
sphere of their operation, in which all their innate ten
dencies shall be developed without conflict with any other
member of the social commune to which they belong?
And may we not reasonably suppose that in this way the
moral affinity shall overpower the national antipathy of
which we are treating?
Upon one other specious plea, originating from this
source, we will dwell for a moment. It is not unfrequently
maintained that the slavery obtaining in the American
Union is countenanced by the Scriptures, and precedents

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLI'nON. 217
are sought with avidity in the example of Abraham and
other patriarchs. To the argument, as urged on this
ground by the advocates of the system, we shall not at
tempt to reply. Mr. Barnes and others, by the most
luminous expositions, have shown its fallacy, in our esti
mation, beyond all dispute. But when a New Church
man has recourse to Holy Writ for a justification of the
system, we are vastly puzzled to know how to take him.
Admitting as he does, the spiritual sense of the Word,
and consequently of these ancient histories, why does he
here set aside that sense, and build his authority upon
that of the letter ? Is there not something like double
dealing here ? Is there not a voice like Jacob's while the
hands have the feel of Esau's ? Can we consistently play
back and forth between the sense of the letter and the
sense of the spirit to serve a turn in this matter ? If we
can do it here, can we not by parity of reasoning do it
also in the case of polygamy and ofthe Canaanitish wars ?
Are we prepared then to appear to be so recreant to our
avowed principles as to entrench ourselves behind the
breast- work of the letter, when on every other subject we
should plant ourselves upon the purport of the spirit ?
We have not, it will be observed, appealed at all to the
authority of the Scriptures in the foregoing discussion ;
and the reason why we have not done so is, that the
principles on which the great question is to be decided
are j)rinciples inlaid in the constitution and the intui
tions of the human miud, and may thus be termed a prior
authority to that of the written Word, though still ac
cordant with its true interior teaching. It would have
been idle for us to have cited any thing but the moral
and precei^tive passages which apply to the case, and
these are all summed up in the grand golden precept of
doing to others as we would that they should do to us.
So far as our suggestions have been in accordance with
this rule, we have in fact built our plea upon the author
ity of the Word all along throughout the whole course of
the discussion, and from this source we deem ourselves
abundantly confirmed in our main position as to the duty

218 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
of the conscientious slaveholder, to wit, that he should
mentally but sincerely renounce the evil and the falses of
the institution, while at the same time he shall not con
sider himself exonerated from the present charge of his
freedmen, but shall perform towards them the duties in
volved in the outward relation.
If it be objected that the law knows no such casuistical
abstractions, but regards all as slaves who are not formally
freed, and that consequently the death of such an eman
cipator would leave his servants exposed to the terrors of
the auction mart, we can only reply, but if he sincerely
does that which he thinks to be right and best under the
circumstances, he is not required to burden his mind with
a dread of consequences. He has discharged his respon
sibility according to the fullest light he possessed, and he
may safely leave the issues with Him who is competent
to govern them. So also in view of the possibility that
his children or heirs may not share in his convictions or
carry out his wishes after his decease. He is bound dur
ing his lifetime to do all in his power to impress upon
them his own sense of the law of neighborly love, and to
acquaint them with his desires, and then calmly leave the
event to Providence.
Having now accomplished all that we aimed at, in the
outset, in our own discussion, and waving any further
comment, we resign our space to the remaining Aphor
isms of our correspondent, (A. E. F.)
IX.
It results that the thing properly imputable to the South in regard
to slavery is, that it has not yet originated any associated and political
action aiming at the speedy removal of its more crying abuses, aud
the ultimate abolition of all ownership of man by man.
X.
The movement called abolition has a good and holy element in it ;
it being presumably a result, together with many other efforts towards
reform, ofthe last judgment. Slavery like every other evil has a principle
of aggression with it, whereby it tends, of its own nature, to extend
itself territorially, and to be aggravated within its old bounds ; the

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 219
providential end of abolition is to hold this tendency in check, and to
remove slavery itself eventually. XI.
This good element, which may be named " humanity," is alloyed by
an evil one which may be called " impatience," which produces various
falses, but principally the dogma that the immediate emancipation of
all slaves is required by the precepts of the Christian religion.

XII.
That the dogma is false, may appear by the following considerations.
(a.) Society in any State where slavery exists is in a certain order.
{b.j This order is induced upon it by the action of the Divine Prov
idence itself, according to the moral elements which are found in it, or,
in other words according to the character of its various classes.
(c.) This order, though not good in itself if the elements are evil in
whole or in part, is the best possible, the subject considered. Thus
the order which obtains in any of the hells, though the opposite of
heavenly order, yet is induced by the Lord, and is the result of his
presence. (d.) Where one class, therefore, is ignorant, vicious, improvident,
and submissive, and another is intelligent, proud, imperious, and fond
of wealth, the relations of master and slave are permitted by the Divine
Providence to exist for the welfare of both.
(e.) To change this order for one in itself better (i. e. to abolish the
relation of master and slave), without a change in the moral elements
from which it results (i. e. without producing in the ruling class a
sense of justice, equity, and fraternity, and in the subject class, intelli
gence, providence, and probity) , is to destroy Divine Order. To ad
vocate the change any farther or faster than as this preparation is made
beforehand is, in that degree, to maintain falses which molest Divine
Order. (/.) The preparation must necessarily be slow and gradual. This is
plain, whether we regard the internal change of sentiment which is to
be brought about, or the means, such as the truer preaching of the
Gospel, the wider diffusion of knowledge, provision of the means of
education, &c., by which it is to be effected. These six considerations
show, it is hoped, that the dogma of immediate abolition is false.
XIII.
If it is false that immediate abolition is the duty of the South, then the
South is justified, to the extent in which this false reigns in the aboli
tion movement, in opposing it with zeal, because, to that extent, it
acta in unison with Divine Order, and for self-preservation.

220 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.

XIV.
The abolition movement weakens itself by taking ground which
has right and reason in some degree against it, and would strengthen
itself by tempering its impatience, and giving up its demand of imme
diate abolition as a duty required by the precepts of religion.
XV.
This it will gradually be brought to do, because all public movements
good in their principle, advance by certain stages, becoming less crude
and more rational by time and experience. It will hereby pervade the
community more generally, and though less violent, have more real
power against the evil it opposes. XVI.
It may be apparent, if the above principles are true, what is every
man's duty towards abolition. It may be stated under the following
heads :
(1) Never to deny the divine element in it under pretence of the
falses connected with the movement ; on the contrary, to acknowledge
what is good and true in it, and to favor and act with it to that ex
tent. (2) To bring it, as far as possible, more in accordance with the laws
of Divine Order by opposing what is violent about it, and remonstrat
ing with what is false.

APPENDIX.
As we had anticipated in the outset, the foregoing discussion produced a
very unmistakable sensation among our Southern subscribers. Letters from
that quarter soon began to pour in, remonstrating with the writer for
broaching so unpalatable a subject, and in some eases ordering the imme
diate discontinuance of the Repository. Th^se latter cases, however, were
comparatively few, and we are happy also to state, that some of the warm
est testimonies of approbation elicited by the articles came from the South.
Of these we published numerous extracts in our pages at the time, as we
did also those of another tone, of which we have concluded to insert in this
connexion one of the best specimens, together with our reply. It comes
from the pen of a distinguished and much respected N. C. brother, in one
of the Southern states. As the discussion proceeded, the extreme sensi
tiveness which it encountered in the beginning appeared gradually to die

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 221
away, and in the end nearly every name which had been withdrawn was
again restored to our subscription list. In view, however, of the spirit
evinced in several of these communications, we ventured at the time to ex
press ourselves in the following language : — " We cannot but suggest to our
Southern friends, that the fact that the sphere of slavery generates such a
spirit of intolerance, betrays beyond question the intrinsic evil that inheres
in it. Can any further evidence be needed that there must be a baleful
element in the institution, when the very mild and moderate tone of our
articles has not failed to give so much offence and provoke so much censure
among those from whom a gentle response were reasonably expected ? Di
vesting ourselves to the utmost of all undue selfish regards, and sitting
calmly in judgment on our own essays on the subject, we are utterly unable
to see that we have advanced anything to which a candid mind can take
exceptions. In the exercise of a cool aud dispassionate spirit, without vi
tuperation or ill blood, we have endeavored to pronounce an honest and im
partial judgment on the moral aspects of slavery. What is there in this
that can justly subject the writer to a sinister construction ? If he is
" thrice strongly armed who hath his quarrel just," surely his panoply must
be weak indeed who quarrels only with the arguments urged against slavery.
And in the present case this intolerance is still more inexcusable from the
fact, that the teachings of the New Church do tend in a most remarkable
manner to correct the extravagances of the reform spirit and to bring out
to view those aspects of the subject which tell most powerfully on the side
of the slaveholder. Confident at least we are that but for the light thrown
on the subject by the revelations of the New Church, we should never have
felt the force, or even, as we may say, have got upon the track, of those ex
tenuating pleas which we have freely cited in behalf of those who find
themselves compelled by the circumstances of their lot to participate iu the
responsibilities of a relation from which they would gladly recede if they
knew how consistently to do it. It is sincerely to be hoped that due
weight may be given to these considerations, and that no restraint be im
posed upon the freest discussion of the subject within the church, for we
can assure our Southern friends that nothing will tend so effectually to con
vert Northern abolitionists to whatever ia true and tenable in their positions
as the study aud the agitation of the subject on genuine New Church
grounds.'' We should use the same language now.
M  , April 12, 1852.
Mt Dear Sib : — I take the liberty of expressing to you the pain
which I feel, arising from the broaching of the Slavery question in the
20

222 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
Repository. If I may do so without offijnce, (as none is certainly in
tended,) I would enter my solemn but respectful remonstrance against
the continuance of the discussion. " Cui bono ?" At the North and
West and East, your argument, however able (and I am quite sure it
will be able,) can do no good, because not needed ; all, without perhaps
a solitary exception, are already in accord with you upon the abstract
question. At the South your audience is not in a state of mind to
appreciate or even hear, with patience, the discussion. In this remark
I do not intend to concede or deny any position assumed in your open
ing commentaries upon the " Aphorisms," for the reason that I do not
desire to join issue with you. The subject has been discussed in every
form and aspect, and, if possible, the parties to the debate are as wide
apart as when they began. You will excuse me, if I express my
doubt whether, with your great ability and learning, you will produce
anything new. The country has just passed through a crisis of in
tense excitement on the slavery question, and the Southern States are
yet writhing under the chargin and humiliation of having been robbed
in the name of philanthrophy, and under the forms of legislation, of a
just participation in our territorial possessions. It is true, by large
majorities, they have accepted the compromise measures ; but it has
been under sullen, significant, and fearful protests. The fury of the
tempest has passed from the bosom of the deep, but its waters are yet
agitated to its lowest caverns. Now, in all candor, I appeal to your
enlightened judgment to decide whether this be a propitious time to
broach a subject so delicate ? It must be obvious that you are not
speaking to the North — it is not her people that you mainly desire to en
lighten ; for, as before observed, they are with you already. It is the
Southern slaveholder that you would reach ; it is to his judgment, rea
son, and conscience that you would present your appeal. But you
come to him when he is stung by the remembrance of recent wrongs,
when he is exasperated by what he regards an attempt by those, whose
business it is not, to intermeddle with his domestic rights, peace, and
security. Before such an auditory, can you expect to be heard ? Sir,
the argument of an angel would be as impotent as the wailings of an
infant against the fury of a tornado.
But let me not do injustice to your position. Tho spirit of your re
marks is good — your motive above suspicion, and you propose, as a
New Churchman to speak to New Churchmen. You are most
guarded in avoiding the political aspect ; you seem designedly to with
hold all sympathy (I believe you have none) with the fanaticism of
abolitionism ; and you wish to argue the question calmly and dispas
sionately upon New Church grounds. I appreciate the position you
take, and individually I can say, that thus far I detect nothing in your
remarks in the least offensive. But still, pardon my candor if I ex
press the belief that the discussion will do infinite mischief to the
cause of the _ New Church in the South. In this section the number
of receivers is small, they are scattered and isolated ; if they avow
their doctrines they are sneered at and denounced as having embraced

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 223
one among the most absurd isms of the day. Now in addition to all
this, can it be possible that it is the design of a Good Providence,
that they shall be classsJ with abolitionism ? You may repudiate
abolition a? earnestly as ymi plea-ic, yoa may disavow it in behalf of
the New Church, you mciy enter your solemn protest against all politi
cal interference with the subject, and yet I must tell you, that the dis
cussion which you have begun will as certainly identify the' New
Church with the odium of that despicable ism, in the Southern
estimation — just as certainly as you prosecute it. Now, do you
wish to place your Southern brethren in such a position ? Is
it not a, wrong to the New Church to do so ? These are pointed
questions, but they cover no insinuations or reflections. They are
prompted by feelings of great kindness and respect for you, and deep
solicitude for the spread ofthe Heavenly Doctrines.
Perhaps I may add strength to the above remarks, if I tell you,
that, so far as relates to the New Church in the South, your position
is both comniauduig aud peculiar. I mean no flattery ; but you are
highly respected in that section of the country for distinguished talent
and learning, as well as honesty of purpose and conscientious research.
You are regarded as a true exponent of New Church sentiment, doc
trine and policy. Your Southern brethren look to you as an able
champion, and lean on you in times of conflict and difficulty. All this
is true- Now, connect it with the exceeding sensitiveness of the South
ern mind, — the isolated condition of your brethren, the weakness ofthe
New Church, the thousand other prejudices against which she has to
contend, and then decide whether it is just to yourself and just to
Southern receivers, gravely, at this crisis to promulgate anti-slavery as
the genius, spirit, tendency of the New Church, aye, and duty of New
Churchmen. Allow me to say, that I think you assume a fearful re
sponsibility, in thus occasioning new perils and new trials to the hopes
and toils of your scattered brethren in the South.
Of course you will reply to all this, that the South will have no
right to place such a construction, that it will be unfair to identify
the New Church with abolition upon such a ground. This may be
true. But it will not avert the mischief. This raises the question of
expediency. Then, I would ask, is it inconsistent with the spirit and
doctrines of the New Church, sometimes to consult expediency ? Your
views on the question of slavery may be sound ; it may be that you
can sustain them by argument, but does duty imperatively demand
that you should promulgate tham now ? Is it not lawful, even under
New Church light, to withhold them for her sake ? Has she not diffi
culties enough already on hand ? Can they all be dispatched at once ?
If not, and they arc to ba encountered one by one, why may not this
be deferred till she gets m^re strength, and her policy and spirit shall
bo better understood ?
You so? that the view I take is purely practical. Wc must take
the world as it is. G.id himself consulted this great principle iu giv
ing- his revelation. He suited it to man as he was, natural, as he is,

224 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
somewhat spiritual, and as he shall be, celestial. Now, without ques
tioning the correctness of your opinion, as to the genius of tie New
Church, in reference to slavery, (for my aim is to arrest rather than
provoke a needless discussion,) I would ask if it is not equally wise
and lawful for her to approach man as he is — buried in sensualism —
and deal with the existing state of things in the best, most prudent
and expedient way, in order to elevate the race to the spiritual
plane? Now without expressing any opinion on the abstract question, my
view of slavery is simply this. The relation of master and slave has laeen
permitted of Providence in all ages. I can see that Southern slavery is
most wise and benevolent, indicating the only probable means by which
the African race can ever be civilized and christianized. The work is
actually in progress, but is greatly retarded by the exceeding kind
ness of our Northern friends, who feel very anxious to render some
assistance to the Lord in effecting his providential purposes. It may
be that the Southern slaveholder is derelict in duty — does not do
enough. It is quite certain that the Northern so-called philanthropist
attempts too much. Then, the position of good sense is just this : the
Lord will do all things right ; He will work out the ends designed by
slavery. It concerns us, not the North. If we fail in duty, we are
responsible. We do know a little about relative duties, our social in
terests, our domestic security ; and we have some idea of accountabili
ty for our dealings towards our slaves. But all this is ignored by the
North, and we arc classed with pirates and robbers. If they would
only let us alone, how much good sense they would exhibit !
But you think the New Church has a mission to perform on this
subject. Yes, and so think Northern Presbyterians and Methodists
and Baptists in reference to their several sects. And they all base
their opinions upon the abstract question- They all begin very moder
ately, very gently ; offering advice and argument and brotherly sym
pathy. But you know that they have long since degenerated into the
veriest fanaticism, in both discussion and operation. Now, if the
New Church enters the field, where is the guaranty that she will not
run into similar folly and extravagance ? It does seem to me, that the
New Church, above all others, should confide the whole subject to
Providence, and trust to the enlightening and elevating tendency of
her doctrines.
Southern slavery is destined to i un a long career j'et. It is a
means to a great end — the ultimate elevation of the African race.
Man cannot, if he would, abolish it suddenly. It is upon us ; it is
ours to do our duty to the slave, care for his wants, provide for his
comforts, secure him the benefits of religion, open to his mind the
lofty themes of immortality. This the New Church inculcates by her
spirit and doctrines, in my judgment, more forcibly than the Old. At
present, our negroes cannot be educated. Our safety forbids it. But
why ? Because abolition will tamper with them, and poison their
minds, and make them dissatisfied. This blessing is denied them for

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 225
this reason, and this only. It was not prohibited by law, in most of
the slave States, until the abolition agitation began. Now, I am not
disposed to abate a jot from our obligations. They are obvious ; they
press upon us ; we are bound to do our duty to them as slaves. If we
do it, we are free from sin ; if we do it, then the Lord will take care of
results, aud as soon as they are fitted for liberty, he will provide the
means. Freedom noia would be to them the greatest calamity. They
could not exist among us. They would be exterminated by a war
between the races. The benevolent and philanthropic North will not
receive them. They cannot be transported ; it would exhaust the en
tire resources of the country. How then ? We are brought back
again to the ground of common sense. Let the slaveholder perform
with fidelity, his duty to them as slaves, and then confide their future des
tination to the developments of a wise and good Providence ; and let
these duties be performed with a spirit of entire and perfect subordination
to the indications of Providence.
Now, my dear sir, if you are content to rest the subject upon that
ground, I think you will see that your " aphorisms" and comments are
unnecessary, calculated to do no good, but much mischief And if to
this you will connect the confidence, that we of the South are daily
considering the subject in all its aspects, that there is inteUigence
enough among us to know our duty, and honesty enough to do it, if
we can be allowed to do it in our own way, without the dictation of
those whom it does not concern ; and the additional conlidence of the
elevating and enlightening tendency of the New Dispensation, you
need have no misgivings. Slavery will work out its destiny under the
guidance of a kind and beneficent Providence. What that destination
may be is among the arcana of tho future. But if I were to indulge
a conjecture, I would suggest the possibility, that our slaves following
the tide of time and events, may yet find a home in South America, where
climate and soil suit them ; where color does no affect caste in the so
cial organization, and where they may have a system of government
and laws adapted to their grade of civilization, whatever it may then
be. Very respectfully and sincerely.
Your obedient servant. H. V. J.

KEPLY.
The above communication, penned in so admirable a
spirit, and teeming with sentiments of the kindest per
sonal regard, while at the same time earnest and firm in
deprecating results which the writer thinks sure to fol
low, have come home to us with the force of a most
powerful appeal. We shoidd be utterly at a loss to know
how to be ever on good terms with ourselves again, were
20*

226 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
we to be insensible to the plea which is here urged against
the agitation of the subject of Slavery in our pages. The
fact is we feel it to our heart's core. Not only from the
writer of the foregoing letter, but from our N. C. bre
thren at the South generally, have we received so many
and such signal tokens of warm fraternal sympathy and
regard, that the idea of saying or doing anything that
shall give them pain falls upon us like a bar of ice. May
we not ask of them the justice to believe, that nothing
short of the most imperious sense of duty could have
prompted the expression of views that we could not but
know would be more or less unacceptable in the quarter
for which they were mainly intended ? Indeed, if we were
to refer to the feelings of the rr.artyr going to the stake,
as a not unfair index of our own in entering upon this
discussion, we should scarcely exceed the soberness of
truth. We have never in our lives been more conscious
of a severe struggle between duty urging on and inclina
tion holding back, than on this occasion. It is only by
reason of a dear-bought victory over the clamorous re
monstrances of a host of opposing considerations that we
have at last brought ourselves to the point of utterance.
We foresaw from the first the probable, the almost in
evitable, issue. We were aware ofthe "revolt of mien,"
of the revulsion of feeling, of the altered voice, of the
weakened sympathy, of the forfeited confidence, of the
tasked charity, which could not fail to ensue. Heaven
knows what an effort it has cost us to come to a decision
which would necessarily put all these things at stake.
But the effort has been made ; the decision has been
achieved. If now we say that the end was too clearly anticipated
from the beginning, to allow of retrogression after hav
ing taken the first step forward, we should be happy
could we persuade our Southern friends to believe that
our persistence in the deprecated course is not the effect
of mere waywardness, or of an undervaluing of the foj-ce
of their arguments, but of an immoveable conviction that
a spiritual use is to be performed, from which we do not

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 227
feel at liberty to shrink. The assurance is wrought in
the very depths of our soul that the best weal of the New
Church demands the discussion of the subject, and that
too at an early period in her history, as such a course
now may preclude disastrous agitation at a future day.
We do not indeed assume that precisely the views which
we may broach are those that will be eventually rested
in ; but the expression of our sentiments may pave the
way for the final establishment of the truth on this head ;
and if there be a special responsibility in broaching the
theme, that responsibility we venture to assume. That
in the accomplishment of our purpose, some of the ap
parently evil effects above predicted may incidentally
follow we think not unlikely ; but even the positive as
surance of this does not strike us as a sufiicient reason
for desisting, since nothing is plainer to our perception
than that truth spoken in love can never really injure
any cause or interest which it is designed to prmnote.
The mischief is done by an angry and malign spirit,
prompting unqualified condemnation, and urging reform,
reckless of the laws of divine order. Of such a spirit we
venture to acquit ourselves ; and so far as we are free
from this, so lar we not only claim indulgence in the
utterance of our sentiments, but have also the utmost
confidence that no really bad results will follow. We
assume that we are addressing a select and limited pub
lic. We are not throwing promiscuously abroad incen
diary and irritating views ; but offering calm suggestions
to sober minds, to professed receivers of the teachings of
the New Church, in which we find an ample warrant for
the step we have taken.
Among the principles of this system of doctrine no
thing is more clearly enunciated than that evils must be
shunned as sins before any good, that is really good, can
be done. The following propositions constitute several
of the heads of Swedenborg's little treatise entitled, " The
N. J. Doctrine of Life." — " That all religion has relation
to life, and the life of religion is to do good — that no one
can do good, which is really good, from himself — that so
far as man shuns evils as sins, so far he does what is

228 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.

&

^ood, not from himself, but from the Lord — that the
good things which a man wills and does, before he shuns
evils as sins, are not good — that the pious things which
a man thinks and speaks, before he shuns evils, are not
pious — that so far as any one shuns evils as sins, so far
he loves truths — that the decalogue teaches what evils
are sins — that it is not possible for any one to shun evils
as sins, so that he may hold them inwardly in aversion,
except by combats against them," &c.
Again, on this subject he remarks, " Who cannot
see that the Lord cannot fiow-in from heaven with
man, and teach him and lead him before his evils are
removed, for they withstand, repel, pervert, and suffo
cate the truths and goods of heaven, which urgently
press, powerfully apply, and endeavor to fiow-in from
above : for evils are infernal and goods are celestial,
and all that is infernal burns with hatred against all that
is celestial. Hence now it is evident, that before the
Lord can flow-in from heaven with heaven, and form
man to the image of heaven, the evils must necessarily
be removed which reside heaped up together in the na
tural man. Now, whereas it is the primary thing that
evils be removed before man can be taught and led by
the Lord, the reason is manifest why, in eight precepts
ofthe decalogue, the evil works are recounted which are
not to be done, but not the good works which are to be
done : good does not exist together with evil, nor does it
exist before evils are removed, the way net being opened
from heaven into man until this is done ; for man is as
a black sea, the waters whereof are to be removed on
either side before the Lord in a cloud aud in fire can
cause the sons of Israel to pass through." — A. E. 969.
These are positions which will not be doubted by New
churchmen ; and the only question is, whether there be
an evil in slavery which comes iuto the category of evils
that are to be shunned as sins. And on this head we do
not see how we can be mistaken in regarding it in this light,
for the confession, though not universal, is yet very gene
ral even among slaveholders themselves, that the institu-

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 229
tion is an evil which it were better to have aboHshed,
provided the attempt to do this did not occasion, all
things considered, a still greater evil. We venture, then,
to take this admission as an admission made in earnest,
and under the promptings of charity jDresume to give
vent to such sentiments as the subject in its various rela
tions suggests. They are uttered under the strong impres
sion that the true development of the New Church life
may be retarded by the non-removal of an evil prevail
ing among those who cordially receive the truths of the
Church, and who, but for this evil, would abound in the
noblest exemplifications of the transforming power of
these truths. Even granting that we may be in fact mis
taken in this impression, yet we can see no offence in
this matter worthy of censure ; nor is it altogether char
acteristic of a consciously upright and unassailable moral
state to be thus sensitive and restive in view of a candid
investigation. The confidence which belongs to a good
cause will be little likely to be disturbed by the interro
gation to which that cause may be submitted by the
charitable and well disposed.
Still we are well aware of the force with which the
question is put : — Why broach the topic now, when exa
cerbated feeling closes the mind against all counsel or
monition, however well intended, and when too the New
Church at the South, in the feebleness of its incipiency,
is but poorly able to bear the brunt of obloquy which
the assertion of such principles, in its name, is calculated
to draw upon it ? Shall we frankly say, in reply to this,
that we embrace the present opportunity because, in all
probability, it will be the only one of which we can avail
ourselves for the purpose. As this may strike our readers
as an enigmatical intimation, we explain ourselves by
announcing that we see no prospect, from present ap
pearances, that we shall be able to carry on the Reposi
tory after the present year. The complaints of the con
troversial character of the work are so numerous, and
the calls for a change of tone in this respect so urgent,
that we are satisfied that, without a comjjlete metamor-

230 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
I)hosis iu this particular, we can never satisfy the N. 0.
public to such an extent as to make it any object, pecu
niarily, to continue the publication, especially if the pro
ceeds of the journal are to constitute our main depend
ence for support. We have become entirely satisfied
that it is out of our power to conduct a periodical devoted
to the cause of the N. C, without a very considerable in
fusion of the controversial element. In a word, we think
that, under any circumstances, the same general features
which have hitherto marked the N. C. Repository would
still adhere to it, for they seem to be dictated by the na
tural progress of the Church in connection with the spirit
of the age. It is clear, however, that this character of
the journal is not acceptable to the mass of receivers in
our country — those upon whom its support must neces
sarily depend — and therefore we see no, alternative but
to retire from the field in which we have hitherto endea
vored to accomplish some use. Add to this that the pre
sent discussion itself — as we have foreseen from the
beginning — will inevitably have the effect, whether
deservedly or not, to thin the ranks of our subscribers,
as it is palpable that our Southern friends, with their
views of expediency on this subject, cannot, as a body,
lend their countenance or patronage to a periodical which
takes the ground that we are constrained to do ; and the
subduction of the Southern names from our list would
leave the remainder, even if controversy did not alienate
them, too " feeble a folk" to sustain the enterprise.
It is under these circumstances that we have concluded
to open the discussion in behalf of which we are now
offering our plea. We are confident that through no
other accessible organ could we utter the sentiments
which we hold on this theme, and which yet we are
inwardly constrained to utter. We have decided, there
fore, while the opportunity is aflbrded, to improve it.
If what we say is entitled to bear weight with it, it
will do so. If not, not ; and in cither case we shall be
content under the consciousness of having meant well,
and the conviction of having declared some truths.

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 231
From this our readers will easily infer that we are not
prepared to take quite so sombre a view of consequences
as seems to force itself upon the minds of the writers
above. We do not think it " vain to speak of motives"
as being powerless " to regulate or control results ^" nor
do we admit that the present is by any means a state of
things in which " the argument of an angel would be as
impotent as the wailings of an infant against the fury of
a tornado." We are forced to put this to the account of
a certain tendency to exaggeration, incident to impulsive
and fervid natures, especially when kindled by a strong
sense of wrong. We, however, do not propose to address
an audience composed of such materials. We make our
appeal to Newchurchmen, and we do not recognize in
Newchurchmen a liability to fall into a state in which
rational argument, prompted by pure motives, shall so
utterly fail of courteous entertainment. We can, indeed,
make all suitable allowance for the irritation and excite
ment engendered by stirring political crises, but the in
junction, " In patience possess ye your sculs," we may
presume will not lose its authority with those whose inner
ear we would fain gain to our remarks. We cannot, in
fact, well conceive a proper state of mind in v\ hich the
still small voice of truth and charity shall not, with a
true man of the New Church, make itself heard above
the din and turbulence of party strife, or the clamors of
otherwise excited passion. If our suggestions shall be
taken home by each reader to himself, and their possible
or probable effects upon others be lost sight of, we might
hope, with much confidence, that the deprecated result
would not be at all so disastrous as the vivid pencil of
our friends is inclined to paint it. The objections urged
on this score would be more apropos if we had entered
upon a course or a crusade of iudiscriminate propagand-
ism, which is as far as possible from our intention. We
have an audience of our own, and our drift is to say to
each one. How do you regard the sentiments which we
advance? We do not ask what effect you think they
will have on others. Our conference is solely with you.

232 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
There is another misapprehension in the above letter
which we would here correct. The writer remarks, " At
the North and West and East your argument, however
able, can do no good, because not needed — all, without
perhaps a solitary exception, are already in accord with
you upon the abstract question." Alas, would that tbey
were ! The intimation, we are sorry to say, is far enough
from the truth, judging at least from the results of our
own observation. The verbal concession, indeed, that
slavery is intrinsically an evil, is very easily, as it is very
generally, made — as it is also in thousands of instances at
the South ; but we find, on a little closer interrogation,
that the concession is of no practical moment, inasmuch
as it is also very widely held in the same quarters that
there is no prospect of getting rid of it for some genera
tions to come ; and that our duty as Christians is to sub
mit to it as a mysterious but wise and beneficent dispen
sation of the Divine Providence, designed for the ultimate
good of all parties concerned, but more especially of the
African race. So far as our acquaintance extends, this
is the prevailing sentiment of Newchurchmen in every
part of our land. We know not that we have ever
conversed w^ith half a dozen individuals of that Church
who did not occupy this ground — who apparently felt
the least painful solicitude in view of the existence of the
institution — and who would not cordially side with the
protesting purport of the above letter, and wonder at the
temerity of the discussion which this letter so kindly but
so pointedly rebukes. This appears to be the general
posture of the New Church mind in this country ; and as
we regard it as a species of practical fatalism, we cannot
of course but aim to break it up, wherever our feeble
voice may penetrate. On this point, we are conscious,
to our regret, of standing very much alone — not indeed
in the belief that the evil in question is under the aus
pices of the Divine Providence, and will be overruled to
the final weal of the colored race, but in regard to the
course of action which the true principles of charity dic
tate under the circumstances. The following passage in

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 233
another letter we have received on the subject defines, if
we mistake not, the general position of the New Church
on this subject : " I do not think that our mission re
quired this. It has nothing to do with the institutions,
civil or political, of this world. It is to preach love to
God and love to our neighbor, and to avoid all cause of
offence. Hitherto — and we of the South felt proud that
it was so — the Church has refrained from touching this
delicate and much vexed question. It has left it to the
direction of a wise and merciful Providence, trusting
that, if evil, it would in the course of time yield to good."
This paragraph brings to view the question of a principle
of transcendant importance in its bearings upon New
Church life. We are constrained to take ground direct
ly the opposite of that of the writer. We believe the
New Church can never be fully faithful to its mission
without entering into direct collision with every form of
evil that exists among men. We have no faith in mere
abstract and general deprecations or denunciations of
what is contrary to absolute truth and good. There must
be a hand-to-hand encounter, a direct looking in the face,
an emphatic specification, a stern arraignment at the
bar of eternal right, of every form of wrong, whether in
civil, political, or social spheres. This indeed is to be
done in the spirit of genuine charity, but it is to be done.
Pulpit and press we hold to be recreant to their function,
if they content themselves with merely vague moral in
junctions, and refuse to follow men into the minutest
ramifications of- their wordly callings aud relations,
whether public or private, and insisting upon the rigid
ultimation in life of every principle of religion which
they hold, or ought to hold, in theory. Politicians may
talk of the wisdom of " a masterly inactivity," but it
is sadly out of place in the men of the Lord's church. It
is, in our view, a very great fallacy to expect that needed
reforms will take care of and accomplish themselves, and
that the simple preaching of love to the Lord, and love
to the neighbor, will renovate society, without the posi
tive putting the finger upon the diseased parts of the
21

234 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLmoN.
body politic, and actually grappling with the crooked
things that are to be made straight, and the rough places
that are to be made smooth.
These are the views which we are compelled to enter
tain, on the general subject of which the present is a par
ticular department. And so believing, we come directly
up abreast of the theme, and in all honesty and earnest
ness impart our convictions to our brethren. We may
fail to secure a tolerant audience, but if so, we shall be
careful so to order our speech as not to give any just
occasion to censure, crimination, or rejection on the part
of those addressed. If, then, without occasion, they take
exceptions to our plea, we shall still feel mentally at ease,
and under no necessity, like the restless Roman, to bor
row a neighbor's pillow, because we cannot extract re
pose from our own.
One of our correspondents intimates that we shall pro
bably be unable to advance anything new on the subject.
Of this, we can give, indeed, no assurance ; it is truth
rather than novelty that we aim at ; but we cherish still
a strong persuasion that at least our mode of conducting
the argument will be new. The sequel will disclose that
without in the least compromising the great essential
principle for which we contend, we at the same time
make discriminations, qualifications, reservations, which
have been hitherto unknown in the controversy, and
which v/ill strike our Southern readers with the more
force, .I'asmuch as they have never supposed it possible
that the demands of a stringent abolitionism could possi
bly consist with moderation of tone, or such concessions
to the force of circumstances as they will find in our
treatment of the theme. We can easily conceive, how
ever, that with multitudes these traits shall not redeem
the discussion from obloquy ; but we can hardly antici
pate this reception with those whom we purpose to reach.
Should it be so, we shall regret it much for their sakes,
but none for our own.
A word as to the charge of unwarranted intefferenc*.
"The position of good sense is just this : The Lord will

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 23-5
do all things right ; He will work out the ends designed
by slavery. It concerns us — not the North. If we fail
in duty we are responsible." " Southern members of
the New Church have refiected on this subject for them-
selves-^they have formed their own opinions — they en
tertain these opinions conscientiously — they are able to
defend them by sound arguments. The question is a
Southern and not a Northern question. Ton have no
slaves at the North. The responsibility J'rests with the
slaveholders of the South, and any attempt to agitate this
matter by our Northern brethren, seems to us an unjus
tifiable interference with our own concerns." It would
be somewhat hazardous, we think, to this position, to
submit it to a very rigid examination. There can be no
" unjustifiable interference" in this matter, unless it in
volves, in some way, an infraction of the laws of charity.
The simple assumption of pointing out to another an ap
prehended evil, of which, from the power of circum
stances, he may not be duly aware, is no breach of
charity, provided it be done in a spirit of meekness, and
with the truest regard to the spiritual interests of the
party concerned. " It is never allowable," says Sweden
borg, " for one man to judge of another as to the quality
of his spiritual life, for the Lord alone knows this ; yet it
is allowable for every one to judge of another's quality
as to moral and civil life, for this is of concern to society."
The operation of this principle is independent of geogra
phical limits. The laws of Christian brotherhood ignore
all local relations, as spiritual things lie without the con
ditions of space. Wherever there is occasion for the
exercise of Christian ofiices to a brother or a neighbor,
there is the warrant for it, and there is a violence done
to the spirit of charity to visit the good act with censure.
The fact is, no one who is in earnest in the work of re
generation desires to be let alone of those who can in any
way contribute to his spiritual advancement, whether by
pointing out his evils, or helping him to put them away.
All that he requires is, that the ofiice rendered shall be
one of sincerity and kindness, as well as of fidelity — the

236 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.
product of unfeigned neighborly love. True, a man is
liable to be mistaken in his judgment of what is really
evil on the part of the neighbor, and he is bound to guard,
with the utmost care, against rashness of decision in pro
nouncing upon the moral, civil, or social life of the neigh
bor ; but when he has pondered it with all the delibera
tion and candor in his power, and yet is unable to avoid
the conclusion that a jjositive evil exists, he is most un
questionably at liberty to state his impression fairly and
emphatically, and provided the statement is made with
out wrath or bitterness, without personal regards, but
purely from the love of goodness and truth, it is a posi
tive offence against charity to resent such a course as the
officious intermeddling of " a busy-body in other men's
matters." The very prompting to put this sinister aspect
upon it is itself an evil, whatever may be the case in the
original instance, and perhaps the inference is not wholly
unfair that the evil of condemnation in this case is a
proof of the evil of life in question ; for otherwise why
should the attempted conscientious discharge of a duty
of charity provoke an ill construction and a denial of all
right of judgment in the premises ? May there not be
a Christian duty of charity founded upon the precept,
" Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor ; and not
suffer sin upon him," where the true force ofthe original
term is to convince or convict of wrongs by reasoning or
argument ; or, as the Greek has it, " Thou shalt con
vincingly or demonstratively reprove thy neighbor."
The general import of the precept is, " Thou shalt not
suffer thy neighbor to go on in sin by neglecting to in
form him of it ; thou shalt not leave him under the evil
of sin unreproved." We here repeat our admission, that
a man designing to act on this injunction may mistake
in his judgment of the facts in the case; but we insist
that no territorial or political considerations can justly
bring this conduct under the charge of " unjustifiable
interference." It is a charge that we are surprised to see
brought by a Newchurchman, as it cannot at all stand
the test of even a slight cross-questioning.

APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION. 23Y
We might here advert to another consideration, in
which we find an ample warrant for the so-called inter
meddling of which our correspondent complains. The
slavery question does concern the North as well as the
South, inasmuch as it is recognized in the Constitution of
our common country ; and so far as the enacted laws ofthe
land can avail to nationalize the system, they do it, thus
creating in some sense a general participation on the
part of every state and every citizen in the Union, in
whatever evil may adhere to it. May we not, in these
circumstances, discuss the moral character of a system,
which in our eyes is fraught with multitudinous evils, by
which we deem ourselves oppressed, and which we would
invoke the co-operation of our Southern brethren to re
move, if possible, from off the bosom of our beloved
country ? But upon this head we will not now enlarge,
as it trenches upon the political aspects of the question,
which we design to avoid. Our brethren, however, can
perhaps conceive how exceeding strange must appear to
us the virtual intimation that we have no right to discuss
or agitate the subject. We fear that Northern men
generally will be very slow to learn the indicated lesson
of submission on this score. Certainly a mind thorough
ly imbued with the spirit of the New Church will find in
itself a signal incapacity to bow in silence to such a
behest. But we have already said more than we intended at
the outset of our reply. What Shakspeare terms " the
intellect of the letter" is doubtless too plain to be misun
derstood. We feel in our heart of hearts the piercing of
the pang which attends the consciousness of the alienated
respect, esteem, and confidence of our Southern brethren.
We do not forego them because we think lightly of them.
Nor in fact do we feel that in the sight of Heaven we
have given or shall give any sufficient reason for the
estrangement. We have the inward assurance that we
are at this moment as genuinely worthy their kind and
affectionate sentiments as we ever were, since a common
faith brought us into fraternal relations. We have done
21*

238 APHORISMS ON SLAVERY AND ABOLniON.
them no wrong ; we have done the truth no wrong ; we
have done the spirit of charity no wrong. But we can
not be ignorant that the peculiar sensitiveness of the
Southern temperament cannot well brook the inquest
which we propose to institute on the moral character of
slavery. Even the begun process of regeneration does
not at once lift them so far above the natural ^ prejudices
by which they are surrounded that they can look with
tolerance upon the free questioning of a system which is
inwrought into the very frame-worli of their society, and
the touching of which is touching the apple of their eye.
For ourselves, under the consciousness of meaning no ill,
and of simply discharging a Christian duty, we should be
most happy to remain in the possession of their good
graces ; but if fidelity to our sacred convictions enforce
the sacrifice, it must be made. Between the claims of
truth and the demands of friendship v/e cannot waver.
Though it be like cutting off a right hand, or plucking
out a right eye, we must e'en submit to the sundering
of soul which adherence to apprehended right draws
after it. We shall look upon it as one of the severe but
inevitable trials which our own regeneration involves —
grieved, indeed, that the ntcessity of it should exist, but
happy in the refiection that no moral obliquity on our
part, and no real ground of offence, has been its procur
ing cause.

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
[N. 0. Repository, July to December, 1852.]
1. — The Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse ; being an Explanation of
Modern Mysteries. By Andrew Jackson Davis. New York : Fow
lers & Wells. 1851.
2. — The Great Harmonia. Vol. III. The Seer. By Andrew Jack
son Davis. Boston : Mussey. 1852.
3. — History of the strange Sounds or Rappings, heard in Eochester
and Western New York, and usually called the Mysterious Noises,
which are supposed by many to be the Communications from the
Spiritual World ; together with all the Explanation that can as yet
be given of the Matter. Rochester : D. M. Dewey. 1850.
4. — The Signs of the Times ; comprising a History of the Spirit Rap
pings in Cincinnati and other Places ; with Notes of Clairvoyant
Eevealments. By Wm. T. Coggshall. Cincinnati : Bagley &
Freeman. 1851.
5. — Elements of Spiritual Philosophy ; being an Exposition of Interior
Principles. Written by Spirits of the Sixth Circle ; R. P. Am
bler, Medium. New York : E. P. Ambler. 1852.
6. — Familiar Spirits, aud Spiritual Manifestations ; being a Series of
Articles by E. P. Supposed Dr. Enoch Pond, Professor in the
Bangor Theological Seminary. Together with a Reply, by Veri-
philos Credens. Boston : Bela Marsh. 1852.
7. — Voices from the Spirit World ; being Communications from
many Spirits, by the hand of Isaac Post, Medium. Rochester :
1852.
8. — Light from the Spirit World ; comprising a series of Articles on
the condition of Spirits, and Development of Mind in the rudimental
and second Spheres. Being written whoUy by the control of Spirits,
without Volition or Will by the Medium, or any Thought or Care
in regard to the Matter presented by his Hand. C. Hammond,
Medium. Eochester: 1852.
9. — The Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine, and others, to the Seventh Cir
cle in the Spirit World. Rev. Charles Hammond, Medium. Eoches
ter: Dewey. 1852.
10. — Lectures on Spiritualism ; being a Series of Lectures on the
Phenomena and Philosophy of Development, Individualism, Spirit,

240 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
Immortality, Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, Spiritual Manifestations,
Christianity, and Progress. By J. Tiffany. Cleveland, Ohio. 1852.
11. — Philosophy of Modern Miracles, or the Eelations of Spiritual
Causes to Physical Effects ; with especial reference to the Develop
ments at Bridgeport, Conn., and elsewhere. By a " Dweller in the
Temple." New York. 1850.
12. — An Exposition and Explanation of the Modern Manifestations ;
comprising the Rappings, Movements, Writing Mediums, and vari
ous other Phenomena connected therewith ; with extracts from dif
ferent writers, of remarkable Instances of Presentiment, Prophesy
ing, Visions, Clairvoyance, &c. &c. By Benjamin Franklin Cooley,
the great Psychologist, and Independent Clairvoyant. Springfield,
Mass. 1852.
13. — Spiritual Philosopher (subsequently the Spirit World), devoted
to the Exposition of Nature, Physical, Spiritual, and Divine, and to
communications from the Spirit World. A weekly paper, edited by
La Roy Sunderland. Boston. 1850-1. (Discontinued.)
14. — The Shekinah ; a Quarterly Review, devoted to the Emancipation
of Mind ; the Elucidation of Vital, Mental, and Spiritual Pheno
mena, and the Progress of Man. Conducted by S. B. Brittan.
Nos. 1, 2, 3. Bridgeport. Conn. 1852.
15. — The Spirit Messenger ; a Semi-monthly Magazine, devoted to
Spiritual Science, the Elucidation of Truth, and the Progress of
Mind. Edited by the Spirits of the Si.xth Circle ; R. P. Ambler,
Medium. Springfield, Mass., and New York. 1851-2.
16. — Spiritual Telegraph ; devoted to the Illustration of Spiritual In
tercourse. Published weekly by Charles Partridge. New York.
1852.
17. — The Crisis ; devoted to building up the Lord's Church in true
Life, Doctrine, and Order. A semi-monthly paper, edited by Rev.
Henry Weller. Laporte, Ind. 1852.
18. — Disclosures from the Interior, and Superior Care for Mortals. A
semi-monthly paper, dictated by Apostles, Prophets, and other
Spirits. Auburn, N. Y. 1851.
19. — Spiritual and Moral Instructor. Semi-monthly. Auburn, N. Y.
1851. (Discontinued.)
20. — History of the Origin of All Things, including the History of
Man, from his Creation to his Finality, but not to his End. Writ
ten by God's holy Spirits, through an earthly Medium, L M. Ar
nold, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Printed at his expense, published by
direction of the Spirits, and, in God's will, submitted to a holy and
searching Criticism from every earnest Seeker after Truth. For
sale by all Booksellers who desire to forward the Work of God's Re
demption of man from Ignorance, Fear, and torturing Doubt.
Amen. In the year of God's grace, 1852.

PSEUDO- SPIEirUALISM. 241
21. — Observations on the Theological Mystery ; the Harmonial Philo
sophy, and Spirit Rappings ; with an Appendix concerning Free-
Masonry. By the Author of " Millennial Institutions and the Seventh
Seal." Hartford, Conn. 1851.
22. — Open Intercourse with the Spiritual World ; its Dangers, and the
Cautions which they naturally suggest. By B. F. Barrett. Boston.
1845.
23. — A History ofthe recent Developments in Spiritual Manifestations
in the city of Philadelphia ; by a Member of the first Circle, insti
tuted in the month of October, 1850. Philadelphia : G. S. Harris.
1851.
24. — Spiritual Instructions, received at one of the Circles formed in
Philadelphia for the purpose of investigating the Philosophy of
Spiritual Intercourse. Published for the benefit ofthe Harmonial
Benevolent Association. Philadelphia : A. Comfort. 1852.
25. — Spiritual Experience of Mrs. Lorin P. Piatt, of Newtown, Conn.,
with Spiritual Impressions annexed. Written while subjected to the
Influence of a Circle of Spirits, with directions to publish to the
World. New Haven : H. B. Benham. 1852.
26. — Mental Alchemy : A Treatise on the Mind, Nervous System,
Psychology, Magnetism, Mesmerism, and Diseases. In twelve chap
ters. By B. Brovm Williams, M. D. New York : Fowlers &
Wells. 1852.
27. — The Approaching Crisis ; being a review of Dr. Bushnell's recent
Lectures on Supernaturalism. By Andrew Jackson Davis. New
York : Redfield, and others. 1852.
28. — An Exposition of the Views respecting the principal Facts,
Causes, and Peculiarities involved in Spirit Manifestations ; together
with interesting Phenomena, Statements, and Communications. By
Adin Ballou. Boston : B. Marsh. 1852.
29. — Philosophy of Mysterious Agents, Human and Mundane ; or the
Dynamic Laws and Eelations of Man ; embracing the Natural Phi
losophy of Phenomena, styled " Spiritual Manifestations." By E. C.
Rogers. In Five Numbers. No. I. Boston : Redding & Co.
1852. It will surprise us if a large portion of our readers is
not surprised at the above array of works recently accu
mulated in the department of Spiritualism so called.
They cannot well but wonder that a new literature, if
not a new science, has sprung into being with those
singular physical developments that, within a few years,
have so startled the repose of a sensuous scepticism, by
bringing the world of s^jirits into close proximity with

242 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
the world of matter. It is mainly with the view of mak
ing our readers acquainted with the fact of these numer
ous issues of the press, bearing upon the so-termed spirit
ual manifestations, that we have cited the above long
roll of titles. We have no design of a formal review, or
a specific account of the contents of any of them. They
are of various value, from zero upwards and downwards.
Admitting the authenticity of the narratives, it would be
difficult to conceive anything more intrinsically trifiing
and insipid than the communications professedly derived
from many of these tenants of the higher spheres. If
such a thing as " spiritual twaddle" could be predicated
or imagined of the spiritual world, we should have no
farther to seek for the appropriate term by which to
characterize a large portion of these ghostly utterances.
Of others of them we should be bound in justice to give
a somewhat more favorable character. But of none of
them can we say that they are of any special importance
to any ; while to the man of the New Church, they are,
the very best of them, mere lisping, babbling, and badin
age. That oracles of more moment are sometimes ut
tered in private circles we are inclined to believe ; but
taking the published documents as a specimen, we can
say of them little else than that " it needed no ghost to
tell us that."
The subject, however, with all its abatements, is one
of curious interest, and worthy the reflections and re
marks which we purpose to bestow upon it. It is one
which is pressing itself upon the attention of the pubhc
with great urgency at the present time, aud from its bor
dering so closely upon the domain of the New Church,
comes very legitimately within its survey. We are
aware that there is in many quarters a strong impression
that the man of the New Church is to keep himself en
tirely aloof from all contact with these phenomena; that
he cannot approach them even for the purpose of inves-
tigation, without contracting a soil upon the purity of
his spirit, or giving countenance to magical and diaboli
cal proceedings ; and that, therefore, our true motto is.

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 243
"Touch not, taste not, handle not." " O my soul, come
not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine
honor, be not thou united." For ourselves, however, we
are but little troubled with scruples on this head. We
recognize an astounding marvel in these spiritual mani
festations, amply deserving the study of every enlight
ened mind. Nor do we know anything in the dritt of
the New Church teachings which would forbid the exa
mination of natural or supernatural phenomena, because
we might thereby stumble a weak brother or sister. It
is only by becoming thoroughly acquainted with the
manifestations in all their phases that we shall be best
enabled to detect and expose their falsities and evils.
To one who has paid much attention to the subject, no
thing is more obvious than that Swedenborg figures
largely in the alleged communications from the world of
spirits. He is often referred to as a highly advanced
spirit, sojourning in some of the supernal spheres, and a
great master in all the mysteries of spirit-lore, but still
so presented to view, as greatly to mislead those who
have been hitherto strangers to his true character and
his real mission. The mirror by which he is refiected in
these revelations is one of such a waving and rugged
surface that the image is awfully distorted. So far then
as it is proper to correct erroneous impressions on this
score, in behalf of the interests of the New Church, so far
we think it incumbent on the advocate of our truths to
acquaint himself with the phases of this singular demon
stration. In like manner, if anything of a confirmatory
character is to be drawn from this source, we know of
thing to prevent our drawing it. It is from motives of
this nature that we have given considerable attention to
the subject, not as a pupil sitting at the feet of rapping
Gamaliels, but as a judge deciding upon the evidence
and bearing of a peculiar order of physical facts. Our
present object is to state in brief some of the results of
our inquisition ; and
1. We have become satisfied of the reality of the
phenomena ; that is to say, that they are not the product

244 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
of fraud, collusion, legerdemain, or human contrivance
of any kind. We are convinced that they are of a veri
tably preternatural origin. No theory of slight-of hand
or siight-of-foot will account for all the facts which are
daily and hourly occurring in nearly every part of the
country. To say nothing of the rigid scrutiny to which
the whole matter has been subjected in the presence of
the most intelligent and competent committees ; nothing
of the vast multiplication of mediums over the land, of
many of whom the suspicion of trickery could not for
a moment be entertained; what more incredible than
that little children, in some cases, of not more than two
or three years of age, should become parties to a stupen
dous scheme of deception, extended and ramified in a
thousand directions, from one end of the Union to the
other ? What, again, shall be thought of the fact of
which we are personally cognizant, that communications
have been made in the Hebrew, Arabic, Sanscrit, and
other languages ; and that, too, under circumstances
which absolutely forbid the supposition of any other than
supernatural agency ? We regard it, in fact, as entirely
impossible to evade the proof that there are certain or
ganizations or temperaments which enable those that
possess them to become mediums of intelligent inter
course between the natural and spiritual planes of exist
ence, and that such intercourse is daily being had in
hundreds of circles formed for the purpose among all
classes of the community.
2. The fact of these manifestations is in itself a very
wonderful fact. We speak more especially of the table-
knocking or table-tipping phenomena. Those attending
the writing mediums are less impressive, as it is easier
to refer them, in part at least, to a merely natural origin.
One cannot be quite sure that the mind of the medium
does not govern the responses. But to sit with a com
pany around a table, and to have an undoubting assur
ance that there is an invisible power producing the mys
terious sounds or motions, and to have the clearest evi
dence also of intelligence as well as power — to put inter-

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 245
rogations, and have them distinctly and pertinently
answered by a presence veiled from mortal view — to
have the signal call for the alphabet given, and sentence
after sentence slowly spelt out, indicating a perfect know
ledge of the conversation going on in the circle, and in
terposing pertinent remarks, counsels, cautions, denials,
qualifications, confirmations, informations, as the case
may require, and yet the senses taking no cognizance of
any persons speaking besides those who you are sure do
not speak — all this, it must be confessed, is marvellous
exceedingly when compared with the hitherto established
course ot human experience. We know, indeed, that
this mode of manifestation by the rapping, or rocking, or
removal of tables, not only stumbles faith, but provokes
ridicule, with the mass of worldly men, as something
utterly beneath the dignity ofthe dwellers ofthe spiritual
spheres. Even those who ordinarily evince but precious
little solicitude as to 'the estimate which may be formed
of spirits, of their occupation, enjoyments, or ruling
springs of action, become exceedingly jealous of their
good repute and worthy proceedings when such a mode
of physical agency is attributed to them. They seem to
think it as much beneath their dignity to move tables, as
it was deemed unbecoming to the chosen twelve in the
primitive Christian church to " serve tables." But it is
certainly a very appropriate inquiry whether, supposing
that a physical demonstration of any kind were to be
made, what more convenient or satisfactory method
could be adopted for the purpose. If such demonstra
tions be made in a house, and not out of doors, it would
seem that smne articles of furniture would be brought
into requisition, and we think it would be difficult to
suggest anything more suitable for the nonce than
tables. The great fact to be established in the matter is
the fact that spirits do really communicate with men on
earth. The intrinsic nature of the oracles uttered is
something of less moment. They may be true or false,
but the great point is whether they are at all. There is
no species of information to be derived from the supernal
22

246 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
abodes of so much importance to the world as the bare
fact that spirits do andean communicate; and this fact
could not well be established by any other than evidence
addressed to the outward senses, especially with a world
immersed in sensuous thought. The chosen mode, there
fore, is probably as t\ppropriate as any that could be
adopted, considering the prevalent states of those for
whom they are providentially designed.
So far as the simple modus operandi of the agency is
concerned in producing the mysterious sounds, and act
ing upon material substances, we are forced to admit that
it is difficult to find anything in the writings of Sweden
borg which aftbrds an adequate solution of the problem.
It appears to be a form of spiritual agency with which
he was not made acquainted, and which may possibly be
at this day as great a novelty in the world of spirits as
in our own. But, however this may be, it is certain, we
think, that in the other departiuent of the manifesta
tions, the intelligence that receives and responds to the
various interrogatories proposed, the New Church does
shed a flood of light upon the subject. It acquaints us
with the fact that the world unseen is peopled with my
riads of spirits, who, being in fallacies and talsities them
selves, cannot for this reason be reliable mediums of
truth to others. Not that every thing which emanates
from them is necessarily evil and false, for there is evi
dently a mixture of the good and the true in their com
munications ; but what we would say is, that their reports
and responses cannot be relied upon, just as we would
say of a mendacious man, in this world, that though he
might sometimes tell the truth, yet still he was not a re
liable man. So of these " rapping spirits;" though some
times true, they very frequently give information that is
utterly delusive and false, and he who confides in them
is sadly in danger of being grievously misled.
Now the Newchurchman by being forewarned is fore
armed on this head. He has been instructed in the fiict,
not only that we are every moment surrounded by and
embosomed in the midst of countless thousands of intel-

PSEUDO-SPIRirUALlSM. 247
ligent beings, but that these beings having all passed
from the earth into the spiritual sphere, are there dis
tinguished by the dominant character which they bore
in the body, and that consequently in proportion to the
degree of falsity and evil that had obtained ascendency
during their earthly sojourn is the prevalence of the
same principles in the sphere to which they were now
transferred. Such a man, therefore, will be on his guard
against giving heed to these alleged oracles from the
other world. " In vain is the net spread in sight of any
bird." Although he is willing to admit the fact of the
opening of some kind of intercourse at the present day
between the outer and the inner spheres, yet he will not
commit himself to the information thence derived, be
cause he is taught to believe that falsity is the rule and
truth the exception in all such communications. View
ed in the light of the New Church, these so called
" manifestations" assume a character very different from
that in which they would be apt to be regarded by
minds less instructed in the laws and workings of the
spiritual world. The intelligent man of the New Dis
pensation, while he concedes the spiritual origin of these
revelations — spiritual, we mean, as contradistinguished
from physical — cannot yet but tremble at the results
which may flow from them. The danger in his estimate,
arises from the likelihood of their being made an oracle
for the information of mankind on the great truths per
taining to the other world, and a guide to duty and ac
tion in this. The thing is so astounding — it is a phenome
non so far superior, at first blush, to the tame revelation
recorded in a book — it carries with it an air so imposing
and authentic, that we cannot wonder that, with the
worldly aud the sensual, it should have a tendency to
supersede all other modes of revelation, and to throw the
Divine Word, with all its sacred dicta and hallowed as
sociations, iuto the background. If such a one obtains
;t response from a spirit relative to any important point
proposed, what more natural than that he should rest in
it as conclusive, notwithstanding it should, perchance, go

248 PSEUDO- SPIRITUALISM.
directly counter to Holy Writ. Will he not be prone to
say, " I have a higher authority than that of any written
record. I have a voice direct from the spirit-world itself
Is not this the head-quarters of truth ? Do I need any
other Urim and Thummim than this ? The Bible and
Swedenborg may do for those who are aware of no
brighter light ; but they belong to another and a by
gone or by-going Dispensation. A new era is being
ushered in. A ' purer ray serene' is beaming from the
inner heavenly sanctuary upon the outer earthly court,
and I, for one, am prepared to rejoice in its coming —
the coming of a day which shall dispel the brooding
shadows of the long night that has preceded."
This is the danger which we apprehend — and it is one
which calls for wise words of counsel from all those who
have been taught in some good measure to discriminate
between the spirit of truth aud the spirit of error — the
two spirits that are now abroad in the earth. The need
ed antidote to the bane, we are persuaded, is to be found
in the disclosures of the New Church, and in them alone.
The man of that church is upon a plane from which he
can look down upon the whole field of development be
low. Judged himself by nothing inferior, he judges all
by virtue of his position. As, therefore, he is for the
most part exempt from the perils that are imminent over
others, so he has but little personal interest in any abnor
mal manifestations of this nature ; for what has he to
gain by them ? As to new information from the spiritual
world, new light cast upon its lacts and laws, he smiles
at the idea of accessions to his knowledge from this
source. And as to the general claims and assumptions
of the New Church, he sees quite as little ground for in
debtedness as in anything else. He needs no confirma
tion from this source of tlie truths of the New dispensa
tion, or of the mission of its herald. Suppose ever so
emphatic a response to assure him that Swedenborg was
a faithful legate of heaven, and that all that he has pro
mulgated in the name of the Lord is true. What then?
How rauch would this add to his j^resent convictions on

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 249
this score ? Does he not believe all this already, and
upon much higher authority — that of rational and moral
evidence ? Is he not conscious that his faith is founded
upon principles inlaid in the very ground-work of his be
ing? But suppose, on the other hand, the rapping re
sponse should deny this, and declare that Swedenborg
had merely given forth the vagaries of his own brain as
celestial verities ? Would this have any effect upon
him ? Would he not at once pronounce it a lie, and ad
judge that spirit to hell, the abode of lies, and of the
father of lies ? And suppose that rappings as loud as
the seven thunders of the Apocalypse should be heard
in confirmation of the denial, would he not still brand it
as an infernal falsity ?
It is not then, we repeat, the man of the New Church
who is likely to be harmed, as he certainly will not be
benefited, by this form of spiritual manifestation. It is
another class entirely who bid fair to become victims to
delusions from this source — a class composed of those
who are addicted to a so-called spiritualism, which might
as well be termed marvel-raongering, and who are yet so
little principled iu genuine truth as to be unable to dis
criminate between what bears the stamp of heaven, and
what is marked with the impress of the pit. Such per
sons encountering au order of phenomena so novel, so
strange, and yet sustained by such an overwhelming
array of proof, are easily led to yield to them an un
bounded credence. The developments come in such
plausive guise, they urge and insinuate themselves with
such a mightjr power of persuasion, that nothing is more
natural than that the natural man should be taken cap
tive by them. The resisting force in his mind is not
adequate to stem the torrent of subtle infiuences which
from this quarter pour themselves in upon him.
For this reason we are compelled, therefore, to regard
this whole order of phenomena as likely to prove the oc
casion of one of the most solemn and momentous trials or
probations that has ever befallen the human race ; and
as the thing bids fair to spread and to engulf the credu-
22*

250 PSEUDO-SPIRTTUALISM.
lity of thousands, we cannot but apply to all such as
keep aloof from the peril, the words of the Lord to the
Church of Philadelphia : — " Because thou has kept the
word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour
of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to
try them that dwell upon the earth." Nor is it a sug
gestion of slight import in this connexion that in matters
of this kind where men abandon themselves to those
lights which " lead to bewilder and dazzle to blind," the
Lord himself may " choose their delusions," or, in other
words, so order the issues of His Providence that those
who are prompted to forsake His guidance shall be borne
onward in a stream of phantasies wearing so much the
garb of truth that they shall be " snared and taken, and
shall fall backward." A judicial lot shall be theirs.
" Hear the just law, the judgment of the skies ;
He that hates truth shaft be the dupe of lies,
And he that wiff be cheated to the last.
Delusions strong as hell shall hold him fast."
This is in strict accordance with the tenor of the Holy
Word as communicated to the Prophet Ezekiel :
" And the word of the" Lord came unto me saying. Son of man, these
men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block
of their iniquity before their face ; should I be inquired of at all by
them ? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them. Thus saith the
Lord God : Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols
in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his
face, and cometh to the prophet ; J the Lord will answer him that cometh
according to the multitude of his idols ; that I may take the house of
Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me
through their idols."
Idols, in the spiritual sense, are false doctrines or pre
conceived notions derived from man's self-intelligence,
and we have here the fearful intimation that according
to these pre-adopted falsities will be the responses palm
ed upon him.
There is, therefore, but one point of view in which the
New Churchman can look with complacency upon these

PSEUDO SPIRITUALISM. 261
abnormal outbreaks from the world of spirits — and that
is as affording a species of proof of the existence of a
peopled world of intelligence by which we are constant
ly surrounded, that shall stimulate curiosity to explore
the writings ofthe New Church, and thus open a door of
entrance to its sublime truths and its genuine goods. It
is in the New Church alone that we see an ark of safety
to the poor souls that are otherwise in danger of being
swallowed up in the floods and maelstroms of delusion
that are now yawning for victims.
In the admission above made, of the reality of the
phenomena embraced under the general head of " spirit
manifestations" — in conceding that they are not the pro
duct of fraud, collusion, legerdemain, or human contri
vance of any kind — that they are of a veritable preter
natural (we do not say supernatural) origin ; we do not
consider ourselves as precluded from admitting, at the
same time, that some of these phenomena are intrinsical
ly susceptible of solution on merely natural principles.
As the forms of these manifestations exhibit a vast
variety, it is certainly possible that some of them may
be due to causes short of spiritual agency, or, in other
words, short of the agency of disembodied spirits.
There may be laws of man's physical or psychical econo
my, or of both combined, of which we have been hither
to ignorant, capable of producing some of the effects that
are witnessed in these developments. There may be,
for ought we know, unconscious emanations and opera
tions of the hidden dynamics of our being that have all
the semblance of effects produced by the conscious voli
tion of an intelligent spirit. This, we say, may be the
fact, although we are not aware that any adequate proof
has been adduced that it is so, and we have ourselves
witnessed numerous experiments that could not, by any
possibility, be accounted for on this hypothesis. But
even granting it to be true, it is a question whether it
does not involve principles and powers in solving the
phenomena which tax credulity quite as much as their
reference to purely spiritual agents. The unconscious

252 PSEUDO-SI'IRITUALISM.
projection of electrical currents from the brain of suffi
cient force to move heavy tables, and to move them too,
in such a waj^, as to respond negatively or affirmatively,
to questions proposed, many of them mental questions,
is certainly a phenomenon that staggers the conception
about as much as the direct reference of the effects to
the action of spirits that have left the flesh. Yet if any
one imagines that he saves the credit of his philosophy
by this mode of explanation, and finds the ground of the
facts sufficiently covered by it, we at least shall not dis
turb him in the easy-chair repose of his theory.
But it is not a solution that satisfies us. We are dis
posed, or rather forced, to fall back on the theory of in
telligent spiritual agency exerted by dwellers within the
veil, through peculiar human organizations, upon materi
al substances in the natural world. Still, no one who
receives the teachings of the New Church will believe
that such effects are produced by spirits without the in
termediation of certain latent powers by which the
spiritual acts upon the natural world. On this head the
language of Swedenborg is very express :
" Man derives to himself, /?o;;! the inmost principles of nature, a me
dium between what is spiritual and what is natural  Here
by also spirits and angels can be adjoined and conjoined to the
human race ; for there is conjunction, and where there is conjunction,
there must be also a medium ; that there is such a medium the angels
know, but whereas it is from the inmost principles of nature, and the
expressions of all languages are from its ultimates, it can only be des
cribed by things abstract." — Concern. Div, Wis. VIII.
These " inmost principles of nature" are undoubtedly
such imponderables as electricity, magnetism, the Odic
force of Heichenbach, &c., without which we have no
reason to suppose that spirits ever attempt to operate
upon matter. We have probably an allusion to the same
subtle elements in the following paragraphs :
" Every man after death puts off the natural, which he had from the
mother, and retains the spiritual, which he had from the father, together
with a kind of border (or circumambient accretion) from the purest
things of nature, around it ; but this border, with those who come into
heaven, is below, and the spiritual above, but that border with those

psEUDO-SPiRrruALisM. 253
who come into hell, is above and the spiritual below. Thence it is
that a man-angel speaks from heaven, thus what is good and true ; but
that a man-devil speaks from hell, while from his heart, and, as it were,
from heaven, while from his mouth ; he does this abroad, but that at
home."— r. C.2?. 103.
" The natural mind of man consists both of spiritual and natural sub
stances ; from its spiritual substances, thought is produced, but not
from its natural substances, the latter "substances recede, when a man
dies, but not the spiritual substances ; hence, the same mind, after
death, when a man becomes a spirit or angel, remains in a form like
what it had in the world. The natural substances of that mind, which,
as has been said, recede by death, constitute the cutaneous covering of
the spiritual body of spirits and angels ; by means of this covering,
which is taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies subsist ;
for the natural is the ultimate continent ; hence, there is no spirit or
angel, who was not born a man." — D. L, ^ W. 257.
From these extracts it appears that spirits in the other
life are still connected by a subtle bond with the natural
world, and it is a fair inference that it is by means of
this connecting medium that the physical effects mani
fested in so many quarters at the present day are pro
duced. As to the precise mode in which the effects take
place, it may not be possible for us at present to deter
mine it, nor can we, perhaps, fully assure ourselves that
it is not a comparatively recent discovery with spirits
themselves. It will be observed, however, that in fhe passage from
the T. C. B. there is something peculiarly significant in
what is said of the relative position or seat of these
"natural substances" in the good and the evil. In the
former they are below, i. e., subjected and subordinate
to the spiritual, while in the latter the order is reversed,
and evil spirits in consequence have more facility in
coming in contact with the natural sphere than have the
good. It seems also to be implied that on this account
whatever comiuunications are made by spirits of this
class have externally the guise of truth, while, at the
same time, the prompting source within is in association
with hell. We are not entirely certain of having rightly
construed this passage, but our impression is strong that.

254 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
duly apprehended, it discloses some very important in
formation bearing upon the subject before us. On this
subject our object now is to state, in continuance, the re
sult of our investigations, and we accordingly remark :
3. That these alleged spiritual communications not
only do not impart any important truth, but they
abound with the grossest falsities. We should perhaps
do injustice to the " circles," and their invisible presi
dents, to say that the staple of their communications was
made up of positive errors, for the main material, as far
as we have observed, consists of little more than a vein of
vapid truisms, or a kind of sentimental moralizing, with a
marvellously scanty infusion of new ideas, and with next
to no element at all of spiritual power or even attraction.
But, beside this, we do find every now and then the peering
forth of direct and palpable falsities, which, however,
are not so easy of detection, except to one conversant
with the revelations vouchsafed to the man of the New
Church. Of this class are tho representations almost in
variably made respecting Swedenborg and his revela
tions. With scarcely an exception that has ever come
to our knowledge, they speak substantially the language
of the following extract, professing to be a communica
tion from his spirit through a medium in which " he re
cognizes a reflecting mirror of his inmost thoughts."
'¦' I wish to say to the world that the writings which were published
while I was yet an inhabitant of earth, contain many important errors,
while they reveal much important truth ; that the beauties of the
celestial world were unknown to my imprisoned spirit as they are now
presented to my view ; that the sweetness and purity which pervade
all the glorious maiisious of eternal life, were entirely unappreciated by
the writer of many books ; that the grandeur and sublimity of the ex
panding heavens — the happiness and reSnement which are breathed in
to the deepest heart of the soul — the brightness and attraction which
call the spirit ever onward and upward, wore wholly lost to the dark
ened mind which once gropi\l amid the shadows of theological error.
But in the transition which has taken place in my position, and the
transformation which has passed over my entire being, are the in
fluences which have introduced me to a loftier eminence of spiritual
life — a nobler expansion of the interior vision, and a more truthful
conception of celestial realities. Hence I am now prepared to speak

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 255
of those things at present, which I could not have comprehended while
in the body ; and hence I now discover the use, the benefit, aud the
blessing of spiritual manifestations as I could not have done in my
connection with the earthly form.
" The spirit wishes to say that he is pleased to unfold to the world
the knowledge which he has obtained, and that he can assure the in
dividuals whom he may address, that the revealments which are now
made by him are reliable in the most literal sense. He has seen that
the world has looked at the manifestations of spiritual presence with
emotions of blind and almost stupid wonderment : that it has regard
ed every occurrence of this character as necessarily opposed to the
established laws of Nature and utterly inconsistent with the revela
tions of former ages ; that the beauty of spiritual truth has thus been
overlooked and despised in the uncontrolled devotion to human creeds,
and that the blessings which such truth is adapted to bring to the
earth-bound soul have been disregarded and rejected. In this dark
and repelling atmosphere, where doubt, and, fear, and ignorance are
constantly making their gloom felt by the soul, I would introduce some
small portion of spiritual light that the eyes of the spirit may not be
entirely destitute of that soothing and invigorating element which it so
really needs." — Spirit Messenger, Feb., 1852.
" If thou art he, alas, how fallen !" To say nothing of
the absurd intimation that the brightuess and attraction
of heaven were wholly lost to his darkened mind while
"groping amid the shadows of theological error" — that
is, during his abode on earth — how ridiculous the idea
that the vigorous aud massive sense of the great hiero-
phant should ever lapse down to such puling mawkish-
ness as we read in this paragraph. If a counterfeit
presentment is to be recognized in the case, the per
sonation is a miserable failure, and the spirits above
must have a very ]ooor opinion ofthe discernment ofthe
spirits on the earth to suppose that they could be misled
by such abortive mimicr3^
The following excerpt from the vision of Judge Ed
monds, published in the Shekinah (No. III.) comes into
the same category. After relating the appearance to
him of Wm. Penn and Sir Isaac Newton, he pro
ceeds :
" Swedenborg then appeared and said to me that in his revelations
of what he had seen, he was right and truthful and to be relied upon,
but not in the theory which he had built upon them ; and especially

256 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
he mentioned his doctrine of correspondences, and his attempt to recon
cile his revelations with the popular religion of his day. And he said,
as the Bible contained many important and valuable truths, yet being
written in and for an unprogressing age, it contained errors and imper
fections ; so his theological writings contained many valuable truths,_ as
well as some errors, produced by his desire to reconcile the truths which
were unfolded to him with the prevailing theology of his age. He
bade us beware of his errors, to receive as true his revelations, but
discard his theories, and instead of them to appeal to our own under
standings for the inferences to be drawn from the truths he had de
veloped." We should feel for ourselves great difficulty to con
dense into the same compass the same amount of false
statement — due to the spirits of course, if they uttered
it — which we encounter in these few lines. In the first
place, the distinction here adverted to between Sweden
borg's " revelations" and his " theories" is totally gratuit
ous and groundless. He has built no theories upon his
asserted facts. He does not deal in theories. The mis
sion intrusted to him was of a nature to forbid the intro
duction of any speculations of his own. What Judge
Edmonds would call " theories," are among the authori
tative announcements which he makes of the laws and
principles that prevail in the Lord's universe, and he
states them as facts and not as inferences. Again, it is
impossible that he should have said anything that would
imply the unsoundness of his doctrine of correspondences
in any respect, for this is the grand theme of his revela
tions, which the Judge says we are to receive. The doc
trine of correspondences is the discovery to the world of
the relation subsisting between the natural and the
spiritual sjjheres, and without this discovery, Sweden
borg's revelations might as well not have been. If
Judge E. had been at all adequately acquainted with
Swedenborg's works he would have been able at once to
brand such an insinuation as an outrageous falsity.
Once more, it is a falsity equally gross that Swedenborg
sought to reconcile his revelations with the popular the
ology of his age. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Never was there a more emphatic repudiation, a

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 257
more point-blank disclaimer, of an erroneous system of
dogmas than he has proclaimed to all generations of
men. Let any intelligent man accjuaint himself with
what Swedenborg has taught on the doctrines of the
Trinity, the Incarnation, Kedemption, Eegeneration, the
Word, Faith, Charity, Good Works, Freewill, Eepent-
ance. Heaven and Hell, Baptism, the Lord's Supper,
&c., and then pronounce whether he was a man " to
trim his way to seek love " — whether he has any where
shown a temporizing and conciliating policy, as if desir
ous to keep in favor with the ruling theology, while at
the same time he was consciously uttering truths which
went directly to overthrow the entire system of the old
schools. We have high respect for Judge E. in his
judicial capacity, and we should like to have his keen
power of analysis brought to bear from the bench upon
such a tissue of fallacies as seems to have been imposed
upon him in this visionary fabrication.
We have cited the above as specimens of their class.
Ex hoc disce omnes, and their name is legion. These
wonderful revelators from the " sixth circle" downwards,
are perpetually prating of the errors of Swedenborg's
writings, and yet they take good care never to specify or
hint what they are, so that the charge can be directly
and distinctly met. It would seem beyond question that
these communicating spirits, as a general fact, have some
special reasons for dealing in disparaging insinuations in
regard to Swedenborg, while at the same time, as if not
to shock too severely the estimate in which they know
he is held, they interlard their discourses with patron
ising compliments which would create an impression that
he is still, with all his faults, a Magnus Apollo to them
also, as he is to many that are, as they say, "yet in the
form." But it is not simply the person of Swedenborg which
many of their report;s misrepresent ; his doctrines also
are discredited, as far as can be done by the inculcation
of doctrines directly the reverse of his.
Among the most striking phenomena connected with
23

358 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
the spirit manifestations is the linguistic writing of
which some engraved specimens are to be seen in the
"Shekinah" edited by Mr. Brittan. Sentences and
paragraphs in Hebrew, Arabic, Sanscrit were mysteri
ously penned on paper, parchment, books, and even
upon the walls of the room in which the medium lodged.
The history of this curious aflair will be more in
teresting from the annexed correspondence respecting it,
consisting of a letter from E. P. Fowler, the medium,
and of one from ourself, written in compliance with a re
quest from Mr. Brittan the Editor of the Shekinah. As
the manuscript was submitted to our inspection, we had
no objection to state the mattei's of fact which had come
to our knowledge. We assume thereby no patronage of
the marvel, which we choose to let stand or fall by its
own merits.
Editor of the Shekinah :
Deae Sie : — In pursuance of your request to communicate the
facts of my experience, which relate to the origin of the writings, I
submit the following ijrief statement : Ou the night of the 21st of
November, 1851, while sleeping alone in the third story of the house,
I was awakened about one o'clock, by sounds of footsteps iu my room.
Looking up, I saw five men, some of them dressed in ancient costume,
walking about and conversing together. Some of them spoke with me,
and among other things told me not to be frightened, that they would
not harm ms, &o. I attempted to rise, however, to go down stairs,
but found that my limbs were paralyzed. These strange visitants re
mained with me about three hours, and finally disappeared while going
toward a window, and when within about two feet of it. They did not
open the window. During the succeeding night, and at about the same
hour, I was again awakened in a similar manner, and saw several per
sons in my room. Some of those who were there on the previous
night were present with others whom I had never seen before. One
of them had what appeared to be a box about eighteen inches
square, and some nine inches high ; it seemed to contain electrical
apparatus. They placed the box on the table, and then electrical
emanations, like currents of light of difi'erent colors, were seen issuing
from the box. One of the company placed a piece of paper, pen and
ink on the lid of this box. The luminous currents now centered
around the pen, which was immediately taken up and dipped in the
ink, and without the application of any other force or instrument, so
far as I could perceive, the pen was made to move across the paper

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 269
and a communication was made which I have since learned was in the
Hebrew language. This information I received from Prof. Bush, to
whom the writings were submitted for translation, and whose letter ad
dressed to you will accompany this statement. Soon after three
o'clock, my companions left me as they had done the previous night,
taking the box with them. During the time they were in my apart
ment, I was in possession of my natural senses, and not only sawt/jem,
but the furniture in the room, by means of the illumination which
their presence caused ; and I also heard the clock strike, and carriages
passing iu tho street.
I have since witnessed many similar occurrences in which writing,
said to be in the Hebrew, Arabic, Bengalee, and other languages, have,
in like manner, been executed in my room. I only speak of the facts
as disclosed to my senses : of the several languages referred to I know
nothing. Yours truly, E. P. P.
New- York, March 26, 1852.

Mr. Beittan— Dear Sir : In compliance with your request, I will
ingly make a statement respecting the several communications in He
brew, Arabic, Bengalee, &o., which have been submitted to my in
spection. In doing so you of course understand that I speak merely
as the witness of certain facts, aud not as the partisan advocate of any
theory by which these and similar facts may be attempted to be ac
counted for.
The first of these manuscripts was iu Hebrew, containing a few
verses from the last chapter of the Prophet Daniel. This was correct
ly written, with the exception of several apparently arbitrary omissions,
and one rather violent transposition of a word from an upper to a
lower line. The next was from the book of Joel (Ch. ii. 23-27,) and
was also correctly written, with one or two trifiing errors, of such a
nature, however, as would be very unlikely to be made either by one
who understood the language, or by one who should undertake to
transcribe the passage mechanically from Hebrew.
The other specimens were in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Bengalee
languages, to which I may add a paragraph in French, written
underneath the Bengalee, and apparently a translation of it. As
this was from Joel ii. 28, 29, it could easily be verified by re
currence to a Bengalee version of the Scriptures in the library of
the American Bible Society. The sentences in the Arabic character
were also ascertained to be mostly translations of a few verses from the
Arabic portion of the Scriptures. Oue of them, however, I am in
formed, was alleged by the spirits to be a quotation or translation of
some lines from Pope. But how this is to be understood I know not.
The style of the manuscript is very peculiar. Whoever were the
penmen, the act of writing seems to have been preceded by some pre
liminary flourishes of a very singular and zigzag appearance, com-

260 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
mencing at or near the top of the page, and connecting with the first
word of the script. In the case of one of the Arabic extracts, there
were traces over the paper, which indicated that the pen for some rea
son was not raised during the writing ; besides which the lines run
diagonally across the sheet, and were followed by an imperfect sentence
in English, terminating in the Arabic word signifying end. Alto
gether the specimens are of an extraordinary character, such as I can
not well convey by any verbal description.
As to the origin of the documents, I am not yet prepared to express
an opinion. They come proximately from the hands of Mr. E. P.
Fowler, a young gentleman with whom I had previously no acquaint
ance, but who, since I have become acquainted with him, does not at
all impress me as one who would knowingly practice deception on
others, however he might by possibility be imposed upon himself. He
certainly has no knowledge of the above languages, nor do I think it
likely that he is leagued in collusion with any one who has. A man
who is versed in these ancient and oriental tongues, would be, I think,
but little prone to lend himself as a party to a pitiful scheme of im
posture. It must, indeed, be admitted to be possible that Mr. Fowler
may himself have copied the extracts from printed books, but I can
only say for myself that, from internal evidence, and from a multitude
of collateral circumstances, I am perfectly satisfied that he never did
it. But my conviction on this score will, of course, have very little
weight with others, which, however, is a point of small conse
quence with me. In like manner, I am equally confident that he,
though the medium on the occasion, had, consciously, nothing to do
with a Hebrew communication which was spelled out to me in the pre
sence of a circle of very respectable gentlemen, not one of whom, be
side myself, had any knowledge of that language. In the present case
the only alternative solution that occurs to me is, that it was either
an unconscious feat of somnambulism, or that it was the veritable
work of spirits, effected by some spiritual-natural dynamics in the man
ner he describes. Which is most probable, or what is more probable
than either, your readers must decide for themselves.
Very respectfully yours, &c., G. Bush.
New-Yokk, March 27, 1852.
Now it must be admitted that this is a most extraor
dinary occurrence, view it how we may. It is marvel
lous if the writing was effected by spirits — marvellous if
by young Fowler while in a somnabulic state — and mar
vellous not a little if executed by him in a waking and
conscious state, inasmuch as his tastes, habits, pursuits,
are all entirely foreign to oriental studies ; and the follow
ing letter recently published in the " Spiritual Telegraph"

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 261
contains statements which go to render that supposition
extremely incredible.
S. B. Beittan — Dear Sir: I have been solicited by a mutual friend
to send you a concise statement of my experience, as connected with
some mysterious writings which have occurred in my room, a fac
simile of one of which appeared in No. 9 of the Spiritual Telegraph.
I comply with the request, though in contrariety to my inclinations,
which would prompt me to shrinli from any publicity.
The original paper containing the autographs I found upon my
table, about three o'clock one afternoon on my return from business ;
the paper used being a sheet of drawing-paper, which was incidentally
left on my table, and which I am sure was blank when I left my room
in the forenoon. The succeeding autographical manuscript, a repre
sentation of which was published, was executed iu my room on a
piece of parchment, left on my table, by direction of the spirits, for
that purpose. This was written on during the night, while I was in
my room asleep. I would add that many of the signatures on the
parchment were entirely strange to me, having never seen them
before. I have also had several specimens of various oriental languages,
written in my room, ou paper, which I could identify as my own,
though the languages were unknown to me. These have been written
on, both when I have been in my room, and when I have been absent.
Several of the languages referred to I had never seen prior to my ac
quaintance with them through these mystical mauuscripts, and of
course did not know what they were, until I had submitted them to a
linguist, who read them with facility.
The first one which I received was, as I am informed through the
kindness of Professor Bush, a quotation from the Old Testament, writ
ten in Hebrew. The execution of this occurred about three o'clock
in the afternoon, soon after I had returned from my business. I was
alone in my room, when, through the sounds which then occurred in
my presence, I was requested to leave the room for the space of five
minutes, during which interval they — " spirits" — promised an attempt
to write. I obeyed their request, and went into a room below, where
sat my sister. I told her what had transpired, and at the expiration
of five minutes we both ascended to my room. Instead of finding, as
we had conjectured we should, some directions written in English, we
discovered this Hebrew quotation, the ink on the paper being still un-
absorbed, although after experiments proved that the ink of a hand
heavier than that in which the Hebrew was written, would, on the
same kind of paper, invariably dry in from two to three minutes'
time. That these writings have not been imposed upon me, I know, be
cause I have seen some of them written. I have seen them written in
the day time as well as in the night ; and that I was in no " abnormal
23*

262 psEUDo-spiRrruALisM.
magnetic state," I infer from the fact that my consciousness of the cir
cumstances of outward life remained unimpaired. The ringing of fire-
bells, moving of engines, the tolling of the bells at the ferry, the pad
dling of the boat's wheels, and various other noises common to the
city, were no less distinctly heard than at other times.
That these writings were not perpetrated by myself I have many
strong proofe. First : I had never seen any specimens of the languages
in which most of the manuscripts were written, and even to the present
date, I have seen no other specimens of one or two of the languages
used. Second : That power which has communicated to us in our cir
cle, through the rappings and lifting of tables, professes to have per
formed this writing also.
That these rappings and lifting are not the results of an " abnormal
magnetic state," I have reason to suppose from the fact that manifesta
tions have been made in our circle in the light, palpable to the various
senses of all present, which by far surpassed in point of power the
capability of any one in the circle. But if this, too, with all the rest,
is but a fancy, a dream, then is my whole life but a dream — a very
real dream — and not altogether poetical in its course.
Had I time and disposition, I might relate facts sufficient to fill a
volume in relation to this matter, the majority of which would favor
none other than the spiritual theory ; but as I am no literary charac
ter, I will here leave the matter to the numerous others who are, and
whose facts are doubtless as much to the point as my own.
Yours truly, E. P. Fowler.
New-Yoek, Aug., 1852.
In this connection we may introduce from the same
paper the following extract from an extended statement
of facts relative to these occurrences, bearing the signa
tures of the resjoected gentlemen composing the circle,
to the truth of which, as far as we are concerned, we
can bear decided testimony. We were not a member of
the circle, but attended simply on invitation to that effect
purporting to come from the spirits themselves.
" During the session on the 19th of January, 1852, the spirits signi
fied their desire to make a communication in Hebrew. Mr. Partridge
asked who should call the alphabet, and received tlie answer, ' the only
one present wiio understands it — Geoege Bush.' Professor Bush
thereupon proceeded to repeat the Hebrew alphabet, and a communica
tion in that language was received."
In addition to the above we may remark that we have
in our possession an octagon-shaped pitcher, of Liverpool

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 263
ware, the outside of which is covered with Arabic and
Hebrew words, written according to Mr. Fowler's state
ment while he was asleep at night. It was filled with
water, a boquet of flowers put into it, and in the evening
placed upon the table of his apartment by his sister,
and that with no other design than marks a thousand
little acts of female taste and courtesy. In the morning
the flat compartments of the pitcher were written over
crosswise in the characters above mentioned. The
legend, however, is not composed of sentences making a
coherent sense, but apparently of detached words or
combinations of letters, some of them more than once
repeated. The Hebrew for God occurs, as also the
phrase in the second Psalm, translated — They have
talcen counsel together. There is also our own name —
Ibsh, lebush,for Bush, in the Hebrew character.
Our object in adverting to these facts is, to state some
of the grounds on which we are constrained t© yield an
undoubting credence to the reality and preternatural
origin of these singular manifestations. To multitudes
of our readers we have no doubt this will be the last
solution they would ever think of giving to the facts in
question, and their incredulity on this head we have no
disposition to disturb. It cannot be expected that they
should feel the force of the evidence that weighs with
us, neither can they say that they should not have felt
it, as we have, under the same circumstances; that is to
say, they are not prepared, on good grounds, to declare
our conclusions on the subject unwarranted or unsound.
They cannot say but that they would have adopted the
same conclusion from the same premises.
But we go the extent of our concessions when we ad
mit the reality of the phenomena in the sense above de
fined. In an estimate of the intrinsic character of the
communications made, and of the practical bearing of
the whole affair, we differ in toto from most of those who
have devoted themselves to the culture of this form of
spiritualism so called. Our reasons for this we purpose
to give in what follows.

264 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
It may not be at once obvious with what propriety
our present beading is retained after the concessions we
have already made as to the reality and the spiritual
origin of the phenomena in question. Pseudo-Spiritual
ism denotes a spiritualism that is false, and it may be
asked how this epithet can apply to an order of occur
rences admitted to be from a veritable spiritual source ? It
would doubtless be less easy to show the congruity of the
appellation with the facts on any other ground than on
that of the New Church. Guided by the light of that
church, we learn that true spiritualism does not consist
in dealing with spiritual things as contradistinguished
from natural or physical, but in the opening of the spirit
ual degree of the mind, and in a course of life, thought,
and aflection accordant with its principles and dictates.
It is indeed to be admitted that the term spiritual not
unfrequently occurs in the former sense, especially when
used interchangeably with substantial as distinguished
from material. In this sense a man after death is not a
natural, but a spiritual man, though still perfectly organ
ized, and having a marked resemblance to the natural
man of the flesh. But with men in the natural world
translated spirits have no open or sensible communication.
They see no longer those of the natural, but those of the
spiritual world, and " the reason," says our illumined au
thor, " why they now see the latter, and not the former, is
because they are no longer natural men, but spiritual or
substantial ; and a spiritual or substantial mau sees a spirit
ual or substantial man, as a natural or material man sees
a natural or material man, but not vice versa, on account
of the difference between what is substantial and what is
material." — C. L. 31. In another connexion he makes
the following distinction : " The reason why such repre
sentatives exist in the spiritual world, is because in that
world there are spiritual things interior and exterior : in
terior spiritual things are those that relate to affection, and
to thought thence derived, or to the intelligence of truth
and the wisdom of good ; and exterior spiritual things are so
created by the Lord, that they may clothe or invest interior
spiritual things, and when these are clothed or invested,

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 265
then there exists such forms as are in the natural world,
in which, therefore, interior spiritual things ultimately
terminate, and in which they ultimatly exist." — A. E.
582. Here it is clear that the term spiritual is applied to
denote the substances existing in the spiritual world, in
and through which, as representatives and corresponden
ces, interior spiritual principles of thought and affection
manifest themselves. This exterior spirituality is of
course of a much lower grade then the interior with
which it is contrasted.
Now it is in the latter sense — the sense of interior —
that the term is dominantly used in the writings of our
author ; and as our aim is to present a New Church es
timate of tho general subject, we shall not scruple to
q^uote freely whatever may subserve that end. Nothing
is more obvious than that the devotees of these manifes
tations claim to be spiritualists par excellence and our
purpose is to submit these claims to the test. We shall
perhaps find reason in the end to doubt whether those
pretensions have any adequate ground to rest upon ;
which is but saying, in other words, that the application
of the term pseudo, false, in this connection, will fully
justify itself in the result. The following paragraphs
will be seen to be to the point.
" What the spiritual is in respect to the natural, is further to be told
in a few words, because the most of those who are in the Christian
world, are ignorant what the spiritual is, insomuch that when they hear
the expression, they hesitate, and say with themselves that no one knows
what spiritual means. The spiritual with man is, in its essence, the
very affection of good and truth for the sake of good and truth, and not
for the sake of self ; also the affection of what is just and equitable for
the sake of what is just and equitable, and not for the sake of self;
when man from these feels in himself delight and pleasantness, and still
more if he feels satisfaction and blessedness, this with him is spiritual,
which does not come from the natural world, but from the spiritual, or
from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord. This then, is the
spiritual which, when it reigns with man, affects, and, as it were, tinges
everything which he thinks, which he wills and which he acts, and
causes that the things thought, and from the will acted, partake of the
spiritual, until they also at length become spiritual with him, when he
passes out of the natural world into the spiritual. In a word, the affec-

266 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
tion of charity and faith, that is, of good and truth, with the delight and
pleasantness and still more the satisfaction and blessedness thence, which
are felt interiorly with man, and make him a truly Christian man, is
the spiritual. That most people in the Christian world are ignorant
what is meant by the spiritual, is because they make faith the essential
of the church, and not charity : hence, inasmuch as those few, who are
solicitous about faith, think little, if anything, concerning charity, and
know little, if anything, what charity is, there is no knowledge, neither
is there perception of the affection which is of charity, and he who is
not in the affection of charity, cannot in any wise know what is spiritual ;
so it is especially at this day, when scarcely any one has charity, because
it is the last time of the Church. But it is to be known, that the spirit
ual in the common [or general] sense, signifies the affection both of
good and of truth whence heaven is called the spiritual world, and the
internal sense of the Word the spiritual sense ; but specifically what
is of the affection of good is called celestial ; and what is of the affection
of truth is called spiritual."— ^. C, 5639.
" It may be expedient briefly to explain hov/ the case is with good
in which are truths ; he who knows the formation of good from truths,
knows the veriest arcana of heaven, for he knows the arcana of the for
mation of man anew, that is, of the formation of heaven or the Lord's
kingdom with him : all christian good, or spiritual good hath in it the
truths of faith, for the quality of that good is from the truths which
are of faith ; the good which hath not its quality from the truths of
faith, is not christian good, but is natural good, which doth not give
eternal life ; the reason is, because natural good hath in it only natural
life, which life is not unlike the life of beasts, for they also are in good
when they are tame ; but beasts cannot receive spiritual life ; hence it is
evident that spiritual life is only acquired by the truths of faith. This
life, viz., spiritual life, is first acquired by knowing the truths which are
of faith, afterwards by acknowledging them, and at length by believing
them ; when they are only known, they are then as it were in the door,
when they are acknowledged they are then in the outer court, but when
they are believed they are then in the bed-chamber, thus they go from
the exteriors towards the interiors successively ; in the interior man is
the good, which continually flows in from the Lord, and there conjoins
itself with truths, and makes them to be faith, and next to be charity ;
this good attracts truths to itself, for it is a desire to them, that by
them it may procure to itself a quality, and thereby exist." — A. C. 8772.
" The man who is principled in spiritual good, is a moral man, and
a civil man ; and the man who is not principled in spiritual good is
neither a moral nor a civil man, but only appears to be so ; though he
appears to be so both to himself and also to others. The reason why a
man who is not spiritual, can still think, and thence discourse rationally,
like a spiritual man, is, because the understanding of man is capable
of being elevated into the light of heaven, which is truth, and of seeing

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 267
by that light ; but it is possible for the will of man not to be elevated
in like manner into the heat of heaven, which is love, and act under its
influence. Hence it is that truth and love do not make a one with
man, unless it be spiritual : hence also it is that man can exercise his
faculty of speech ; this likewise forms a ground of distinction between
man and beast. It is owing to tho understanding being capable of
elevation to heaven without an elevation of the will at the same time
that man has the capacity of being reformed, and of becoming spiritual :
but he never is reformed and rendered spiritual until the will is elevated
also. By virtue of this faculty, enjoyed by the understanding above
that of the will, man is capable of thinking rationally, and thence of dis
coursing rationally, like one that is spiritual, whatsoever be his nature
and quality, even though he be principled in evil : nevertheless, it does
not hence follow that he is rational ; and the reason is because the un
derstanding does not lead the v/ill, but the will the understanding, the
latter only teaching and pointing out the way : and so long as the will
is not, with the understanding, in heaven, the man is not spiritual, and
consequently not rational : for when he is left to his own will, or to his
own love, then he rejects the rational conclusions of his understanding
concerning God, concerning heaven, and concerning eternal life ; and
assumes in their place such conclusions as are in agreement with the
love ofhis will, and calls them rational." — Doc. of Life, 14, 15.
" From these considerations it results, that there does not appertain
to man the smallest portion of truth, only so far as he is principled in
good ; consequently not the smallest poriiion of faith, only so far as it
is-conjoined with life. There may be such a thing as thought, respect
ing the truth of some particular proposition, in the understanding ; but
there cannot be acknowledgment amounting to faith, unless there be
consent in the will. Thus do faith and life go hand in hand. Hence,
then, it is evident, that so far as any one shuns evils as sins, so far he
has faith, and is spiritual." — Ib. 52.
From all this we can hardly fail to perceive what is im
plied by one's being a truly spiritual man. He is one
who is imbued with genuine truths, and those truths he
is continually intent upon reducing to life, which is in
effect converting them into good. The simple belief that
there is a spiritual world, the abode of spirits disembodied
of clay, and that they are enabled, through physical agen
cies to communicate with the inhabitants of earth, does
by no means necessarily constitute a genuine spirituality
in any one. So far from this, it is rather a peculiar phasis
of naturalism, for the mere knowledge of spiritual exist
ence, however profound its arcana, does not of itself as-

268 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
cend higher than the nattn-al degree. Nor do we feel
disposed to qualify this language in view of the fact
that many of this school take a decided stand against the
materialism and sensualism ofthe age, contrasting it with
the more elevated and sublimated tone of their own sen
timents. For in all this there may still be no more than
the workings ofthe natural man.
Undoubtedly a charge of some seriousness is involved in
this position, and it is incumbent upon us to make it good
by a direct appeal to the uttered oracles which pass current
in the school of the soi disant spiritualists ofthe present
day. From a tolerably familiar acquaintance with the
issues of the press referring themselves to this origin, we
are satisfied that, as a general fact, they are utterly wide
of the truth on a variety of points which the Newchurch
man is taught to regard as all important among the ele
ments which go to constitute a genuine spirituality. It
will, we trust, be distinctly understood that in uttering
ourselves on the subject under consideration our stand
point is that of the Church of the New Jerusalem. We
take for granted the entire truth of its revelations, and
cherish not the least scruple in making them the standard
by which everything of a professedly spiritual nature is
to be tried. We foresee of course, that this will be charg
ed as a gratuitous assumption — that the demand will be
superciliously made, what grounds we have for yielding
such implicit deference to the authority of Swedenborg
— that palpable insinuations of bigotry and sectarianism
will be thrown out — but all this moves us not. We are
not penning a controversial article. We are not urging
the claims of a rival revelation. We are not seeking to
make converts of those whose delusions we are aiming to
expose. We know too well the strength of that self-deriv
ed intelligence which fortifies them against doubt, to sup
pose that our position will gain the slightest respect in
their minds. In fact we do not write for them. We do
not expect them to read our strictures, and therefore
pay no attention to their foreseen objections. We
write for those who sympathise with us in a perfect

PSEUDO-SPIRnUALISM. 269
assurance of the solidity of the ground on which we
stand — who know, on this head, what no others can know
who have not shared their investigations. We would
fain present to them, if possible, the data on which an
adequate judgment is to be formed of a remarkable class
of facts and a deplorable train of consequences which are
widely passing under their eyes. Our researches may
have put documents and deductions in our way which
have never occurred to them, and which they would still
value. It is their behoof that we consult in the discussion.
We would furnish them with materials for forming an en
lightened judgment themselves, and at the same time ena
ble them to withstand the tendency of the times to mix up
these strange phenomena with the teachings and tidings
of the New Dispensation, as if every species of spiritual
or psychical abnormalism were to find a home in its
bosom. Let this, then, be our apology, or rather our rea
son, for the positive tone which speaks out in the whole
drift of our remarks. We are addressing those who do
not require that we should be perpetually laying down or
laying open the foundations of our faith.
1. At the head of all the falsities which emanate from
this source, is the denial of our Lord's true and essential
divinity. With scarcely an exception that has come to
our knowledge, the genuine doctrine of the incarnation is
denied or ignored, and Christ is represented as merely a
noble specimen of humanity, the delicim generis humani,
the appointed medium through whom some impres
sive ideas of the divine perfections might be most effect
ually conveyed. The view, at the highest, is simply hu
manitarian. An exalted and model manhood is the ne
plus ultra of its ascription to Him whom the Christian is
taught to recognize as the veritable Jehovah tabernacling
for a season in human fiesh, and then dissolving again,
so to speak, into the essential Godhead, so that he now
exists solely in his Divine Human nature, no longer sep
arated from the Father. How vast the contrast between
this and the Christology of the so-styled spiritualists \^1
be evident from the following extracts from their pubK-
24

270 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
cations. It will be borne in mind, we trust, that we are
giving the ipsissima verba of the spirits through their
chosen mediums.
" It was this profound interest and intense excitement among the peo
ple which gave birth to the idea that Christ was a super-human and
divine personage, and which originally produced the present prevailing
opinion that he was, in a strict and literal sense, the Son of God.
Spirits perceive the true relation which this remarkable individual
sustained to the human race, and they see that he was in every sense a
MAN — a man more perfect, more harmoniously constituted, and more
richly endowed than others, but still a human being. They perceive
the mission which this person was selected to perform on earth, and
they see that he was chosen and employed as a great medium for the
illustration of spiritual power and the transmission of spiritual truth.
They perceive, also, the true agency by which the miraculous works,
which astonished tho people, were performed, aud they see that in every
instance of superhuman power — in every work which the people could
not reconcile with established laws, there dwelt the superintending and
ever active energy of the angel-world. Thus were all the miracles
which Christ performed during his residence in the body to be at
tributed to the direct and special influence, not of God, but of spirit
ual beings wlio lingered ever near to minister through him to the
spiritual wants of man ; and in the whole life and ministry of this in
dividual, may the children of men read the evidences of heavenly
power and the interposition of angelic spirits, which have been already,
and will be in a still higher degree, manifested to the present age." —
Spirit Mascnger, p. 94.
" Jesus Christ came into the world to be a savior of sinners. He
was not God manifested in the flesh, neither was he the son of God in
a literal sense, but by adoption and grace ; and in that sense he was
indeed the beloved Son of God. But the question may arise in your
mind, how can he be a savior of sinners if you look on him in that
light ? We will try to explain in a few words to you what the mean-
inapf savior is. St. James in his epistle says, that he that converteth
a|Kner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and
liiae a multitude of sins. And can you call that man any thing else
but a savior, who is willing to give up every comfort and become a
gazing stock, and meet the scorn and reproach, and the contempt and
sneers of a gainsaying world, and who is willing even to be persecuted
to death if he can only persuade sinners to forsake their evil ways and
turn to God. We would refer you to the history of by-gone ages. Do
you not read in the Bible that God raised up saviors and sent them
among the Jews ? And in every age of the world has not God raised
u^. men whose only object was to save souls? And is not he who
devotes his time, his talents, and his all to the salvation of his fellow

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 271
man, a savior ? Was not Noah, the preacher of righteousness, a
savior ? Did he not try, year after year, with tears and entreaties,
to persuade his fellow-men to turn to God? And many are now high
in glory whom he was instrumental of saving. And did not .lonah
prove himself to be a savior to Nineveh, when the city of Nineveh
was devoted to destruction, unless they listened to the warning voice of
the prophet." — Creation of the World and Life of Christ, dictated by
the Spirit of Wilbraham, p. 40.
" At the appointed time Christ was born ; but he was not begotten by
the Holy Ghost, neither did the power of the Highest overshadow her,
only as it overshadows all who walk before him with a perfect heart.
He was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. The account that is
given of the conception of Christ in the New Testament is blasphem
ous ; and then to teach men that it is the word of God is a sin of no
small magnitude. Is it a small matter to throw such insults on the
God of spotless purity ? Is it nothing to throw such insults on the
glorious character of the beneficent Creator of mankind ? As spirits
who seek your good, we beseech you to grope in darkness no longer,
but open your eyes to the truth. It would be no interest to glorified
spirits to deceive you. If you could see with what willingness they
leave their bright abodes of unutterable glory, and descend to earth
amidst its filth and corruption, in order that its inhabitants may be de
livered from the cruel bondage of error and superstition, and in order
that the glorious character of God may be rightly understood, you
would at once banish all your fears." — Id, p. 45.
" You need not persuade yourself that Christ possessed something
that it is impossible for you to possess, for if you do you are mistaken ;
for Christ was nothing more than a man. If your life was in accord
ance with the doctrines he taught, you might enjoy the same blessings,
If you denied youi-self in the same manner that he did, and fasted, and
prayed, and mourned, and wept, and exerted yourself as he did. In
short, if you possessed the heartfelt piety and disinterested benevolence
that he possessed, you might work mu-acles the same as he did, for God
is the same in all ages of the world. Christ was enabled to work his
miracles through the power of the spirit of his heavenly Father. It
was not because he was God manifest in the flesh, or because he was
begotten by the Holy Ghost. No, it was because he led a life of spot
less purity from the cradle to the grave. He was spotless, innocent,
and pure, and free from every stain." — Id. p. 67.
These extracts are mostly from a work which bears on
its title that it is " to be read as for eternity," but what
special claim it has to this solemn style of reading may
be inferred from the fact, that it is said to be composed

272 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
" by the spirits of Swedenborg, Wilbraham, Stuart, and
Lovell." We are well aware that multitudes of those
who think highly of the "manifestations" would by no
means subscribe to the bald blasphemies which stand
forth on nearly every page of this work, nor do we intend
to impute them to all the school, but we are confident we
do them no wrong in the assertion that, as a general fact,
the tenet of the Lord's essential divinity is decidedly re
pudiated in their ranks. Now that the prevalent denial
on this head is inconsistent with a genuine spiritualism is
evident from what follows :
" The reason why by the name of the Lord in the Word is primari
ly understood the acknowledgment of the Divine in his Human
Principle, is, because all things of love and faith are thence derived ;
for the divine goods which are of love, and the divine truths which are
of faith, proceed from no other source than from the Lord alone ; and
those things cannot flow into man, unless he thinks of the Divine Prin
ciple of the Lord at the same time that he thinks of his Human ; nor
ia his Divine Principle separate from the Human, but is in the Human.
I can assert from all my experience concerning the spiritual world, that
no one is principled in the goods of love, and the truths of faith, but
he who thinks of the Divine Principle of the Lord in union with his
Human, as also that no one is spiritual, or an angel, but he who had
been grounded in that thought and acknowledgment while in the world.
Man ought to be conjoined to the Divine Principle in his faith and
love, in order that he may be saved, and all conjunction is with the
Lord ; and to be conjoined only to his Human Principle, and not at
the same time to his Divine, is not conjunction, for the Divine Princi
ple saves, but not the human without the Divine." — A. E- 135.
Abundant intimations to the same effect might be cited
from the same source, which, although they will be of
little weight with those whom they mostly concern, will
not fail to be decisive with the man of the church. He
cannot begin to conceive of a truly spiritual man who
stumbles at this stumbling-stone of the absolute and
essential Deityship of the Lord the Saviour.
9. An utterly disparaging estimate, if not a contemptu
ous rejection of the Divine Word, as communicated in
the Sacred Scriptures, is another distinctive mark of the
school in question. Taking, for the most part, their cue
from Davis, the grand Coryphaeus and mystagogue in

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 273
the lengthening line of Seers and Mediums, they look
upon nature as the only authoritative revelation.* Upon
* We give in this connexion an extr.i,ct from Mr. Ai'nold, of Poughkeep
sie, purporting to come from "God's high and holy spirit, Jesus Christ,
formerly of Nazareth," and whom a recent writer in the " Shekinah" digni
fies with the denomination SC " Joshua the Seer, commonly known as
Jesus of Nazareth ;" forasmuch aa " Joshua" in Hebrew is rendered
"Jesus" iu Greek, while the aim of the writer, in taking away the peculiari
ty of the title, is to degrade him to the level of mere ordinary humanity. It
will be seen from the extract that 'a very grave rebuke is read out to poor,
Davis and that he is decidedly put upon hia penitentialg. As the spirit that
rules inDavisiam is directly at variance with the apirit that rulea iu Arnoldism,
we will not hazard our neutrality by undertaking t o act the umpire between
them. We may, however, hint a fear that there is too much ground for the
spirita' intimation of a backsliding in Davis.
"I called myself John, in the beginning of thia chapter, not because that
was my name in the body, but because my servant John, acted for me in
writing the Book of Revelation, and united with me in explaining now,
what then he did not fully understand. Besides, he ia a high son of God,
being in the Sixth circle, of the Sixth aphere. He ia a noble apirit, who
delighta to aerve God, and who did reveal himself to my clairvoyant apirit,
Davia, when he was submiaaive to the directiona he received aa a clairvoy
ant, and waa content to follow theni, without ambition or sordid desires.
But hia unity with him ceased, when Davia left the control of himself to
men of other motives, and it can never be renewed whilst he continues in
hia present state of rebellion. It is true, that I permit him to write many
trutha, and that I allow spirits in the firat, second, and third apheres to in
fluence, or direct him, but they are not allowed to declare, even all they
know of me, to him ; because he rebels against my authority, and seeks to
elevate wiadom above love, and will above action. The only way for him
to become a truthful medium, ia to return to the aubjection he was first in
to the Divine John ; and he can only do that by returning to the state from
which he departed when he left my servant, Livingaton'a, management.
Because, in that management, he wns kept in aubjection to the interior,
and holy directions he received in hia clairvoyant and uuconacious atate.
Whereas, since, he has been used in the will of those around him, until he
was permitted to use himaelf in hia own wiU. Hia impreasions have been
overruled to be a benefit, and a foundation for belief to many. They have
been ao guided aa to be the means of releasing many from bondage to tra
dition, and from worship of idols of flesh ; which men have delighted to wor
ship, ever since the foundation ofthe error, or heresy, which waa laid in the
apostolic timea, referred to ia my relation through John the Divine. Thia
will aurprise many who have almost begun to worship Davia, and others,
who have honored him aa a guide. Many spiritual believers, too, will say,
how can it be that he ia wrong, when so many apirita have by outward
declarations, through rappings, and writings, aaaerted that hia works were
in the main, true; and, that believers or inquirers should read them.
This waa because the works of Davis lead the mmd to repoae on itself, and
24*

274 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
this string the faithful are perpetually harping. The all-
sufficiency of the light of nature to meet the religious
yearnings and aspirations of the soul is a point of most
confident assertion, and whatever is deficient here is
made up in the direct communications from the supernal
spheres, which, as emanating from the fountain-head of
truth, are of course entitled to serve a supersedeas upon
the old worn-out and by-gone teachings of Moses and
the Prophets, of Christ and the Apostles. The ordinary
style of descanting upon this subject may be seen from
the following specimen :
" For long ages in the past, mankind have received the Bible with
the most profound and solemn reverence. They have looked upon it
as a book which is intrinsically holy, every word and sentence of which
are the result of a direct influx from the Divine Mind, and therefore
authoritative in the most literal and unlimited sense. So far has this
reverence for the Bible extended, that individuals whose reason and
judgment were not sufficiently blinded to receive all its teachings, have
been denominated infidels and heretics, and have been treated as the
vilest sinners, by those whose faith in the writings of this book has
rendered them professedly holy. The Bible has thus been made
the standard, immoveable and fixed, for all thought and action, with
reference to subjects of morals or religion. This ha.s been regarded as
the book which God has given to the world as an expression of his will,
and as a revelation of the destiny which he has designed for his crea
tures. In this, it has been supposed, is contained the records of truth
which are unmarred and unsullied by any admixture of earthly error,
and have their original source in the great vortex of life and love,
which exists in the inconceivable depths of space. According to the pro
found, but bigoted emotions of tlie religionists in reference to this book,
the minister of the temple has made this a basis for the delivery of
lengthy sermons and tedious prayers ; and in correspondence with the
disencumber it of prejudice, and leave it in a fit state to receive further re
velation. It ia a great step gained, when the mind, in the body, is prepared
to receive with favor, higher and further revelation. Thia ia the proper effect
of Davia' book ; and I can assure all that no believer in the Bible, as
founded on revelation, has ever been led out of that belief, by anything that
Davia haa written ; no believer in the efficacy of prayer has ever ceased to
beheve in it, or refrained from it, because he has declared it cannot move
or affect the Deity." — History of the Origin of AU Things, p. 63.
We suapect the spirit haa rather too charitable an opinion ofthe work m
question on this latter score. At any rate, if it has not produced the effect
asserted, it ia owing to no lack of tendency in his volume to do it.

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 275
commands which are enjoined, the people attend to the external forma
of worship, communion, and baptism, as the means of saving their souls
from hell. The superstitions which belong to the past have thus been
brought into the sphere of the present age, and the mass are willing to
be bound and crushed by those burdening chains which have been
placed upon the minds and hearts of all past generations." — Ambler's
Spiritual Teacher, p. 39.
" As a consequence of this view of the subject which has been gra
dually fastened upon the human mind, the Bible has been set up as
an authority ; it has been appealed to as a true and reliable standard
of thought on all subjects which pertain to the interests of man — and
has been leaned upon as an infallible statement of truth which requires
the most implicit and unreasoning confidence, in view of the most ter
rible penalty which is attached to a want of faith in its divine origin."
—Id- p. 41.
" The reverence for the Bible which has been the ruling sentiment
of human hearts — which has cramped and restricted all the free and
noble faculties of the soul, has had its sway upon the earth for ages
past, and it is now time that this should be removed for the introduc
tion of a principle which is more worthy of the dignity of man, and
more consonant with the design of God. It has been seen by the in
habitants of the Spirit-world, that the authority of the Bible has been
the chief and prominent source of all bigotry and superstition ; it has
been seen that this has been the prolific fountain of all the sects and
creeds which have cast their darkening shadow upon the face of humani
ty ; it has been seen that this is the primary cause of all the narrow-
mindedness, all the contraction of thought, and all the blind devotion
to human systems of faith, which have been, and are still, conspicuous
features of the world's history." — Id- p. 42.
" What has been tha real effect of the authority with which this
book has been endowed ? The spirits have seen this infiuence and this
effect, and they will answer the inquiry which they have made. They
have seen that, through the devotion which has been paid to the sup
posed word of God, the reason of man has been left unexercised and
unexpanded : they have seen that, from this cause, all the most exalted
powers of the soul have remained weak and unimproved ; and they
have seen that in consequence of a rigid adherence to the standard
presented in the popular oracles of faith, the soul has been restricted
to the narrow limits of creeds which bear no assimilation with the all-
expanding truths of the Universe, and no relation to the bright reali
ties of Heaven. Thus the influence and effect which have flowed from
the authority of the Bible have been of the most deleterious charac
ter, tending to degrade rather than to elevate, to confine rather than
to expand, and to crush and destroy rather than to ennoble and save."
—Id- pp. 43, 44.

276 PSEUDO-SPmiTUALISM.
Having by this summary process put an extinguisher
on the Bible as a veritable and authoritative revelation
from God, the "spirits" proceed, in the plentitude of
their condescension, to point, as with index-finger, to
that truer, purer, more reliable revelation which forms
the theme of so much eulogy and glorification on the
part of their earthly disciples.
" But there is a revelation of the Divine Mind — there is a word of
God, which is superior to all that finite minds can impart or conceive ;
and this is a revelation which must be regarded with the reverence
which is true and just ; it is a revelation which will call forth the in
herent energies of the soul in the direction of its Divine Author. The
revelation to which the spirits here refer, is the Creation which has
been introduced into being through the action of the Supreme Intelli
gence ;— it is the Universe which is the natural and untranslated
expression of the Infinite Mind. No rational individual can doubt
that this is the real and infallible production of the Deity ; and no
mind which will exercise the powers of which it is possessed, can be
disposed to deny that the scriptures of earth and heaven are the only
true and direct revelation which has ever been given to his intelligent
children."— W. p. 51.
The apotheosis of nature is here complete. The Uni
verse and its Author are made to change places, and the
Bible goes into abeyance foi-ever. Its pages may an
swer for lining trunks aud bandboxes, but as a vehicle of
heavenly truth they are of no further account.
How remote is this from the estimate which the man
of the New Church is taught to form of the written
Word will be apparent from the following paragraphs :

" The Lord is present and in conjunction with man through the
Word, seeing that the Lord is the Word, and, as it were, converses in
it with man, because the Lord is Divine Truth itself, and the Word is
Divine Truth also. From hence it plainly appears that the Lord is
present with man, and in conjunction with him, according to his under
standing of the Word : for according to it, man has truth, and from
thence faith, and also love, and thence life." — D- C, S. S. 78.
" All science and doctrine of good and truth is derived from the
Word. The natural man may indeed know, and also perceive, what is
good and true, but only natural and civil good and truth ; he cannot
know what spiritual good and truth is, for the knowledge of this can
only come from revelation, or from the Word." — A- C. 3768.

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 277
" Without the Word no one would have any knowledge of God, or of
Heaven, or Hell, or of a life after death, and much less of the Lord.
But there are persons who insist, and confirm themselves in the opinion
that man, without the Word, might know the existence of a God, and
likewise of heaven and hell, with other points which the Word teaches,
and who by that means, derogate from the authority and holiness of
the Word, if not with their mouth, yet in their heart ; and it would
not be proper to reason with such persons from the Word, but from
the natural light of reason, for they do not believe the Word but
themselves." He then institutes a course of powerful argument
founded upon the dictates of natural reason, going to
show the absolute necessity of a written revelation to
impart any just knowledge of spiritual and divine things.
See the Treatise entitled " The Doctrine of the N'. J.
concerning the Sacred Scriptures" 115. In the same
vein are the following passages from other portions of
the writings.
" By not cursing God is signified not to blaspheme Truth Divine,
and by not execrating the prince is signified not to blaspheme the doc
trine of truth. Truth Divine is the Word, and the doctrine of the
Church is truth thence derived. It is allowed briefiy to say how the
case is with the blasphemation of Truth Divine. Truth Divine is the
Word and is doctrine derived from the Word ; they who deny these
things in heart, blaspheme, although with the mouth they praise the
Word and preach it. In the denial lies concealed the blasphemy,
which also bursts forth when they are left to themselves and think,
especially in the other life, for their hearts speak, things external
being removed. They who blaspheme or deny the Word, are incapa
ble of receiving anything of the truth and good of faith, for the
Word teaches that the Lord is, that heaven and hell are, that there is
a life after death, that faith and charity are, and several other things,
which without the Word or revelation would not be at all known ;
wherefore they who deny the Word, are incapable of receiving any
thing which the Word teaches, for when they read it or hear it, a ne
gative principle occurs, which either extinguishes truth, or turns it
into what is false. Wherefore with the man of the Church the first of
all principles is to believe the Word, and this is the primary principle
with him who is in the truth of faith and the good of charity ; but with
those who are in the evils of self-love and the love of the world, the
primary principle is not to believe the Word, for they reject it in
stantly when they think about it, and they also blaspheme it. If a
man saw how great blasphemies against the Word appertain to those
who are in the evils of the above loves, and what is the quality of

278 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
those blasphemies, he would be struck with horror : the man himself,
during his abode in the world, does not know it, because they lie con
cealed behind the ideas of the active thought, which passes off into
speech with men ; nevertheless they are revealed in the other life, and
appear dreadful."— .4. C- 9222.
So in the exposition of the Apocalypse where it is said
of the New Jerusalem that it had no need of the light
of the sun or the moon, but that the glory of God doth
lighten it, it is said that,
" This signifies that the men of that church will not be principled
in self-love and self-derived intelligence, and thence in natural light
alone, but in spiritual light, by virtue of the Divine Truth of the
Word derived from the Lord alone." — A. 7?. 919.
By the glory of God is signified the Word in its divine light. By its
light is signified the Divine Truth therein, for this is meant by light in
the Word."— ^. R- 897.
This, then, is the light by which the men of the New
Church are to walk, and they at least may be expected
to rate at its true value that deceitful and sophistical
lumen,
" Which leads to bewilder, aud dazzles to blind."
Assuredly no one can adopt those specious rationalistic
fallacies, of which we have given such striking specimens
above, without turning his back upon the splendor of the
Celestial City, and plunging himself into the darkness,
mists, and mazes of a philosophy as remote from truth as
is hell from heaven. Indeed, the tendency of this self-
vaunting naturalism, in its contemptuous estimate of re
velation, is clearly depicted in what is said of the lot of
its votaries in the other life.
" There are some who, in the life of the body, had despised the
Word, and some who, by a ludicrous application of Scripture phrases
in common discourse, had abused it ; some, too, who had imagined the
Word to be of no consequence but to keep the vulgar in awe ; some
who had blasphemed the Word, and some who had profaned it. The
lot of these in the other life is miserable ; of every one according to the
quality and degree of his contempt, derision, blasphemy, and profana-

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 279
tion, For the Word is esteemed so holy in the heavens, that it is, as
it were, heaven to those that dwell there ; wherefore, as in the other
life, there is a communion of the thoughts of all, it is not possible for
such spirits to be in company with the angels, but they are separated."
—A. C. 1878.
This of course will be scouted as idle babbling by all
those who pay homage to the more reliable rapping, tip
ping, and writing communications vouchsafed in modern
times to mortals ; but those for whom we are inditing
these suggestions will read it with other eyes. " He that
hath a dream let him tell a dream ; but he that hath my
word, let him declare mv word." " What is the chaff to
the wheat ?"
We had proposed, at the onset, to prosecute the sub
ject before us under a variety of other heads, showing up
the falsities of the Spiritual School — the New Philosophy
— the Harmonial Brotherhood — or whatever else it may
be called — as it respects the Eternity of the Hells, the
Doctrine of Progression, and several other items which
figure largely in the general system. But we find to our
regret that such inroads on our available space have been
already made that we must of necessity forego our ori
ginal plan, as we are unwilling to carry over any series
of articles to the next volume, which we would com
mence with " clean papers." Some few remarks on the
general theme will conclude the whole.
Our admission of the truth of the phenomenon, i. e.,
the truth of its spiritual origin, has been very explicit.
We know not how to question the evidence that spirits
do in fact communicate sensibly with men, nor would
we detract aught from the magnitude of the marvel.
Indeed, we esteem it as petr eminence the most astound
ing event of the present era. We regard it as altogether
worthy the attention and investigation of every intelli
gent mind, provided such minds shall not prefer, as no
doubt many in the New Church will, to take the main
facts upon testimony, and not trouble themselves with a
scrutiny which can add little or nothing to their present
convictions. While the laws of psychology prepare them

280 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
to admit substantially the great averments on this head,
the laws of order, as they apprehend them, put a veto
upon their being enrolled even into a committee of in
quiry relative to the fact, or the mode of the manifesta
tions. With this estimate of the matter, we are strongly
inclined to side, notwithstanding we have embraced
every convenient opportunity to investigate thoroughly
the phenomena for ourselves. We have, through the
courtesy of friends, witnessed it under the most auspi
cious circumstances, and in its most favorable phases.
Many ofthe communications to which we have listened
have been of a very interesting character, and none have
given token of being prompted by a decidedly evil or
malign class of spirits. On the contrary, their enuncia
tions have for the most part savored of kindness, benevo
lence, bienfeasance, and, as far as we could judge, truth.
But then we have never allowed ourselves to interrogate
them relative to religious doctrines. We could not bring
ourselves to do in act what would imply that we admitted
for a moment the existence of any higher standard of
truth than we had always recourse to in the revelations
of the Word and of the New Church. Whatever their
response on this head, it would have no appreciable
effect upon our prior convictions. If it agreed with them,
it would not strengthen our assurance ; if it confiicted
with them, it would not weaken it. What motive, then,
could we have for consulting such an oracle on such a
subject ? " To the law and to the testimony ; if they
speak not according to this word, there is no light in
them." And here it is that we put our finger upon the peccant
point of the whole system of pseudo-spiritualism. The
devotees of the Rappings, as a general fact, have no ex
perience of such scruples as we have now alluded to.
When these ultra-mundane responses rush in like a fiood,
there seems to be no Spirit of the Lord to lift up a stan
dard against them. They are received, for the most part,
as valid oracles — as the voice of truth from its inner
sanctuary — and the result is that they are suffered to

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 28l
supersede every other form of revelation, and carry away
the faith captive to their most anti-christian dicta. It is
this effect that we are more especially prompted to de
plore in connection with the " manifestations." It is not
that the " spirits" discourse nothing but falsities, for they
do doubtless say many isolated good and true things ;
but it is the fearful ascendancy which they are allowed
to gain over the minds of their votaries, and which goes
sofar to neutralize all the better results that might other
wise follow from a marvel so astounding to the natural
and the worldly mind as the fact of intercourse being
actually opened between the visible and the invisible
s]3heres. It is mournful to think of simple and well-dis
posed souls being so grievously deluded by the claim to a
pure and elevated spiritualism, when in fact the very first
rudiments of such a spiritualism are wanting. Look over
the multitudinous array of " peeping" and " muttering"
pamphlets, professing to be laden with the burdens ofthe
supernal spheres, and where do you find, amidst all their
canting exhortations to " harmony," and a certain species
of goodishness, the utterance of one single remark that
goes to lay open the intrinsic nature of good, to show its
distinction from, and yet its relation to, truth, or one
gleam of light thrown upon the process of regeneration ?
For ourselves we have sought it in vain, as also in vain a
circle where this was felt to be any particular desidera
tum. Instead of the vigorous and life-stirring dogmas of
the New Dispensation which instruct men precisely in
what they need, and how and where to obtain it, we are
treated from this source with page after page ctd nauseam
ofthe most puling and maudlin sentimentalism, of which
the following are fair specimens.
" From the Spirit of a Mother to her Son. — My Deab Son, — If you
want to progress you must let your mind dwell upon the beauties of
nature, and of the spirit home. The contemplation of the works of the
Almighty fills the mind with high and lofty thoughts, well suited to an
immortal being of his creation. The spirit home is full of happiness ;
all are happy. None of God's creatures are doomed to be miserable,
but to enjoy all the happiness they are capable of doing. This is espe
cially the case with man. While he is on the earth he has to endure some
25

¦282 PSEUDO-SPIRTTUALISM.
trouble and pain, but this is only for a short season, and during that
time it is intermingled with a much greater proportion of happiness.
After the mortal body is cast off, all misery and pain are cast off too.
After this transition takes place, the spirit is introduced into a deligh1>
ful home, surrounded by sweet and soothing influences, and is drawn
up into communion with those that are more developed, and conse
quently higher in the spirit-home than they. It is thus taught and
developed by the most pleasant means, and progresses from circle to
circle. All progress— none remain where they enter — all have the
same chance there. There are no drawbacks, no temptations to lure
them from the right path — progression is sure and easy. Now let your
mind dwell on these truths, and expand our influence, and you will en
joy much more pure happiness than you have ever yet enjoyed." — Hist-
of Rec. Develop- in Philadelphia, p. 64.
" To a Gentleman from his Brother- — My Dear Bkothek, — Your
mind was so favorably inclined when you came in that you had not
much difficulty in believing that you were surrounded by dear and be
loved friends, who were anxious to communicate with you, and unfold
to you new truths. Did mankind only know the beauty and harmony
of the spirit home, they would not allow their minds to dwell so much
on the things of the earth, but lift them up in holy contemplation of
that lovely place. You cannot conceive of its beauties, much less of
the infinite and lovely character of its Divine Creator. Man has de
based him, and brought him lower than himself, by giving attributes to
an infinite degree that should not be possessed in a finite degree. Let
not your mind look upon him in this light, but in a far higher and
more glorious one. You can form no idea of our happiness ; words
cannot express it. This glorious destiny is prepared for all men with
out exception ; none are to be excluded, all shall be happy. Those
who do not develop themselves while on earth, must see that they have
not treasured their time as they should have done before. They must
enter a lower circle than they need otherwise have done, and be pro
perly taught and developed by those more advanced. Now will you
not pay attention to these words, and prepare yourself for an abode in
the higher circle immediately upon leaving the earth. Done." — Id. p.
65. " From the Spirit of a Sister in answer to the question, ' Is she dead ?'
—No, I am not dead, but live in a more glorious life. 0 1 we are all
happy in the spirit home. My dear sister, I am happy to have an op
portunity to communicate with you. I have long wished to manifest
myself to you, but your condition has not been such as to permit such
sweet communion with you. Your idea of the spirit after it leaves ita
tenement of clay is wrong ; such is the fact with most people. Mor
tals, with their unassisted mental perceptions, cannot understand about
the existence ofthe spirit after it bursts itsfirison door and soars away
in immortal life. Did you understand the laws of progression that
govern th* development of the immortal spirit, you would live, while

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 283
on earth, so as to develope all the higher and holier attributes of the
mind. Our mission is to teach mankind this, among other important
lessons, concerning their life in a physical and spiritual existence. Man
lives for a high and noble purpose. He was created in the image of
God — his spirit is an emanation from God. God is with man : though
he tramples all that is good beneath him for a time, yet the good within
him at times will triumph over his carnal nature. None are so far lost
in wrong doing but they will be developed in a slow degree, if but lit
tle in life, the more to be developed in the spirit home. Your cold
selfish forms, your cold sectarianism, hinders your progress in spiritual
development, and is the cause of much wrongdoing among men. God
is love — love one another, cultivate harmonious relations among you,
and you will reap a rich reward in the- peace and happiness that will
increase among you. Dear sister, think of what I communicate to you,
and do not reject it because it is new to you. It is in accordance with
the laws which God in his wisdom has established for the more rapid
progress of the human family towards a higher spiritual condition.
Done."— Jrf. p. 66.
Whole volumes of such sickly stuff' as this have doubt
less been indited within the last three years, and the
same staple bids fair, from present omens,' to be stretched
out to the " crack of doom." If any one would see it in
its perfection, let him consult the " Spiritual Messenger"
of P. P. Ambler, whose pages are a model on the score
of diluted inanity. Ecce signum.
" Love is the chosen and effectual purifier of man ; — it is that which
reaches down to the deep source of action, and clears the fountain from
which the streams go forth. In vain has the Church hurled its anathe
mas upon the sinner ; in vain has it robed the destiny of man in a veil
of blackness, and made wild terror the instrument of repentance ; for
with all the thunders of almighty ire, with all the picturings of dark
despair, the saint and sinner sleep alike, and smile in mockery at the
tragic scene. The world now needs a more gentle ministry. It needs
to be warmed and subdued by that attractive infiuence which shines in
the sun and lights the stars. It needs to feel in its heart the power of
that celestial love, which is the angel ofthe Supreme Divinity. Think
not that such a principle as this is weak — that it cannot reach to the
sinful, the degraded, and the lost. It is in this world of sin that Love
has its work to do. Far away over the wastes of human life — down
among the hiding-places of the guilty — far down where the tear of
human sympathy is seldom shed, shall its blessed power extend ; and
wherever the fallen victims of crime may dwell — wherever the strug
gling soul may strive with the tempter — wherever the chains of habit
have bound aud burdened the heart — wherever sin, and guilt, and
wretchedness exist — where tears have fiowed and sighs are breathed,

284 PSEuno-spiRrruALisM.
there shall it perform its mission. Yes ; it shall go forth where no
other power can reach, gaining its silent victories in a sanctuary where
sword and flame may never enter. Lo ! the accents of love are breathed,
and the poor wanderer, whose heart has been long chilled with indiffer
ence, turns and smiles ; those accents come again to the tempted, and even
while raising the cup of death to his lips, the trembling hand is stayed,
and a noble purpose is born within his heart ; and then, once more,
that voice of love falls upon the ear of the criminal — it speaks to him
who has heard before but the sound of scorn — to him who has been
deserted, despised, and hardened in his sin ; and behold ! there, in those
clanking chains, and amid the dungeon's gloom, that strong heart is
melted, and he weeps. Oh ! sweet angel of Love ! thou art the chosen
minister of Heaven — thy breathing tones find their echo in the inmost
heart, where the image of God can never be effaced." — Spirit Messen
ger, p. 155.
If it were not profane to suppose that among the nu
merous upper and nether " spheres" of which these rap
ping " revealments" (vocable most uncouth !) speak,
there were a Boarding School Misses' sphere, we should
have no farther to seek for the source of the inspiration
of scores of paragraphs like the above.
On tho whole, it can hardly fail, we think, to be ap
parent to a Newchurchman that we have in these unique
and marvellous manifestations an order of phenomena
with which he can cherish but precious little sympathy,
except by proving recreant to principles which, as a
Newchurchman, he cannot but regard as immovable as
the pillars ofthe universe. He may, if he pleases, inves
tigate the facts as he would any other class of scientifics,
in order to pronounce a more intelligent judgment upon
the subject, should his opinion be demanded. To this he
will often find himself exhorted. " Investigate — open
the mind to evidence — be loyal to truth." Well, and
suppose he has investigated, aud that his mind is fully
made up — suppose that he admits freely the supernatural
character of the marvel. What then ? What more has
he to do with it ? What uses can it subserve to him ?
He may never himself have received or witnessed a false
communication ; but judging the tree by its fruits, what
conclusion can he reach but that, be the spirits good or
bad, the emanations which come forth from them are not,

PSEUDO'SPIHITUALISM. 285
as a general fact, entitled to credit. In the department
of natural things he cannot repose confidence in their
statements any farther than as they are confirmed by
other evidence drawn from other sources. In the region
of spiritual matters, what light can they aftord him of
any value which he has not already ? Would he set
their credibility above that of the illuminated seer of the
New Church? When he finds, tor instance, these ghost
ly revelators saying from the other world, as they usuab
ly do, that they saw their lifeless bodies reposing on
their beds, surrounded by weeping triciids, and that, too,
in a few moments after their dissolution, how much will
this weigh against the positive declaration of Sweden
borg, that the spiritual can take no direct and immediate
cognizance of the material, any more than the material
does of the spiritual — that there must be some interven
ing medium, psychologically adapted, through whose
eyes the objects of earth can be seen ? What, moreover,
can he think of the reliability of coinmuuications which
so generally — we do not say universall)' — ^lead the "cir
cles" to deny the supreme divinity of Jesus, to reject the
Bible-Word as the grand authoritative embodiment of
Divine Truth, to scout the eternity, not to say, in many
cases, the existence of the hells, to ignore the necessity of
regeneration, and to inculcate a system of ethics which
makes little or no account of the relations of genuine
charity to genuine truth? That these are actually the
characteristics of the spiritualism — if we may use the
misnomer — which we are now subjecting to review —
that its whole literature is leavened with them — it is im
possible to deny. That exceptional cases occur we are
free to admit ; but that we have not libelled the system
and the " circles" we have the strongest assurance. And
now what were whole ship-loads of such trash compared
with the one single paragraph from the luminous pen of
Swedenborg which we here insert?
" In what degree a mediate revelation, which is effected by means of the
Word, is preferable to an immediate revelation, which is effected by means
of spirits. — It is generally believed that man might be more enhghtened,
25*

286 PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.
and become more wise, if an immediate revelation was granted him by
means of converse with spirits and angels ; but the reverse is the case.
Illustration by means of the Word is effected by an interior way,
whereas, illustration by means of an immediate revelation, is effected by
an exterior way. The interior way is by the will into the understand
ing, the exterior way is by the hearing into the understanding. Man,
by means of the Word, is illustrated by the Lord, in proportion as his
will is in good ; but man by hearing may be instructed, and, as it were,
illustrated, although his will is in evil, and what enters into the under
standing in a man, whose will is in evil, is not within the man but
without him, and is only in his memory and not in his life, and what is
without man and not in his life, is gradually separated, if not before,
nevertheless after death ; for the will, which is in evil, either casts it
out or suffocates it, or falsifies and profanes it ; for the will constitutes
the life of man, and continually acts upon the understanding, and re
gards as extraneous what is derived into the understanding from the
memory. On the contrary, the understanding does not act on the will,
but it only teaches in what manner the will should act : wherefore if a
man knew from heaven whatever is known to the angels, or if he knew
whatever is contained in the Word, and moreover all that is contained
in the doctrines of the church, which the fathers have written and
councils declared, and his will remains in evil, nevertheless, after death,
such a man would be regarded as one who knows nothing, because he
does not will what he knows ; and whereas evil hates truth in this case,
the man himself casts out truths, and in the room thereof adopts such
falses as are in agreement with the evil of his will. Moreover permis
sion is not granted to any spirit nor to any angel to teach any man on
this earth in divine truths, but the Lord himself teaches every one by
means of the Word, and the man is taught in proportion as he receives
good from the Lord in his will, and he receives good in the same pro
portion as he fiees evils as sins ; every man also is in a society of spirits
as to his affections, and as to his thoughts thence derived, in which so
ciety his mind is, as it were, present with them : wherefore spirits speak
ing with man, speak from his affections, and according to them.
" A man cannot converse with other spirits unless the societies in
which he is be first removed, which cannot be done except by a refor
mation of his will ; because every man is in society with spirits who
are ia the same religion with himself, wherefore, when the spirits con
verse with him, they confirm whatever a man has made a part of his
religion ; consequently, enthusiastic spirits confirm whatever is of en
thusiasm with man ; Quaker spirits confirm whatever is of Quakerism ;
Moravian spirits whatever is of Moravianism, and so forth. Hence
proceed confirmations of the false which can never be extirpated.
From this it appears, that mediate revelation, which is effected by
means of the Word, is preferable to immediate revelation, which is
effected by means of spirits. As to what regards myself, it was not
allowed to take anything from the dictate of any spirit, or from the dic
tate of any angel, but from the dictate of the Lord alone."— Con. Sac.
Scrip, from Experience, p. 11.

PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM. 287
We have now completed our task, and know not that
we shall ever have occasion to revert to it. We are well
aware that our views on the subject will impinge some
what gratingly upon the theories and the feelings of
several personal friends whom we are truly sorry to
offend, if offence does indeed come of it. Our remarks
will undoubtedly savor to them of a narrowness of spirit,
of a " sectarian bigotry," from which they had hoped us
fairly quit. From such we must bespeak all the charity
they may have it in their power to bestow. We trust
they will perceive that our object is simply to expose
what we conscientiously regard as a pernicious system of
pseudo-spiritualism. We have endeavored to strip it of
its specious disguises, and by presenting it in contrast
with a spiritualism which is pure and true — which is
from the Lord, and leads to the Lord — to persuade the
man of the New Church to abjure all fellowship with it,
and to fall back upon those surer oracles which were
graciously designed as " a lamp to our feet and a guide
to our path."

THE LAW AND THE TESTIMONY versus THE FAMILIAR SPIRITS
AND THE WIZARDS.
[N. 0. Eepository, February, 1863.]
" And when they shall say unto you. Seek unto them that
have familiar spieits, and unto wizards that peep, and that
MUTTEK : SHOULD NOT A PEOPLE SEEK UNTO THEIR GOD ? FOR THE LIV
ING TO THE DEAD ?
" To THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY : IF THEY SPEAK NOT ACCORD
ING TO THIS WORD, IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO LIGHT IN THEM." — Is
viii. 19, 20.
Events transpiring at this day, and which will readily
suggest themselves to the reader, render the juxtaposi
tion of things in these two verses quite remarkable. The
bane and the antidote are here presented side by side.

288 PSEUDO-SPIRITUAUBM.
The "Law and the Testimony," or the truth of the Divine
Revelation is distinctly made the standard by which
every pretended supernatural communication is to be
tried. If it be not in accordance with these, it gives evi
dence at once of being a product of darkness, aud not an
emanation of light. The word, however, here rendered
" light" is peculiar. It is the more appropriate term for
morning, as it is for the most part translated. In thia
sense the implication is, that those who have recourse to
these forbidden oracles have never yet hailed the morn
ing dawn of the New Dispensation in the afiflux of its en
lightening beams. The language is plainly that of a
pointed rebuke to those who would forego the infallible
source of all wisdom and truth for the vain and lying
divinations of necromancers and paltering " mediums"
between the living and the dead. "For the living to the
dead?" That is, shall consultation be had in behalf of
the living to the dead ? by which we may properly un
derstand that the spiritually living in this life are not to
have recourse to the spiritually dead in the other life ;
from which the inference is not difficult to be drawn,
that the spirits who communicate on these occasions have
their interiors closed, which is spiritual death. If they
were open, they would have something to say about
genuine good and genuine truth,and their inter-relations,
for these are the peculium of the spiritual mind ; but we
have sought in vain for any distinct recognition of these
principles in all the spirit-lore that has come under our
observation. Spirits whose interiors are opened could
never speak lightly or disparagingly of the Divine Word,
the grand repository of Truth, and yet nothing is more
evident than the fact of a general — we do not say uni
versal — repudiation of Holy Writ by these rapping, writ
ing, and speaking spirits, and their devotees.

SLEEP.
[N. C. Eepos., Feb. and Marcb, 1865.]
" So he giveth his beloved sleep." — Psalm cxxvii. 2.
The first emotions excited by these words of the
Psalmist would naturally be those of the Christian,
rather than of the philosopher or naturalist. They ad
dress themselves with peculiar pertinence and power to
that state of mind which gratefully recognizes the divine
benefaction in the unchanging ordinance of day and
night, and the alternate seasons of activity and repose,
which cheer while they checker the scenes of sublunary
life. There is something, to a devout frame of spirit in
sinking sweetly into sleep and awaking from it vigorous
and refreshed, that brings more vividly to mind the di
vine protection than perhaps anything else that occurs
in the round of our daily experience. The state of sleep
is one of such utter helplessness and dependence, that if
ever we are prompted to lift our souls in thankful ac
knowledgment of the tutelary care of Providence, it is
when we open our eyes in the morning upon the light of
returning day, aud think of the love which kept unsleep
ing and protecting vigils over us while buried in uncon
scious slumbers. Under such impressions, we read a
double significance in the language of the Psalmist, " I
laid me down and slept ; I awaked, for the Lord sus
tained me." " I will both lay me down in peace and
sleep ; for thou. Lord, only makest me to dwell in safe
ty." And in another place, " The Lord will not suffer
thy foot to be moved ; he that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither
slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keej^er ; the Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not

290 SLEEP.
smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil ; he shall preserve thy
soul." Such is tho view that simple-hearted piety takes of this
and similar texts, and we cannot of course deny that the
devout emotions awakened are altogether appropriate
and conducive to the nourishment of the religious prin
ciple. It is always pleasant to witness a state of mind
which appreciates common blessings — which finds matter
for ever-growing admiration and praise in the most
familiar objects that minister to our comfort — which, in
a word, is ever receiving iiew affections from old sources.
But the type of piety prevalent in the greater portion of
Christendom shrinks from advancing further than this.
It fears the damaging of truly spiritual interests by pene
trating too deeply into the interior nature and rationale of
things. It is fearful of the explorations of science in the
field of faith. It would not have one go down with a
lighted torch to the foundations of the temple of its Jeru
salem, even if it were certain of finding there a mine of
gold or diamonds. What, it asks, has scientific or philo
sophic truth to do with the sentiment of the devout soul ?
Can we look into the arcana of creation without descend
ing somewhat from that hallowed height of feeling which
brings us into the closest communion with the Divine ?
Is there not danger of contracting a certain degree of
secularity, or profanity, in our religious frames, by per
mitting the thoughts to expatiate over the field of
science, and to study deeply into the relation of cause
and effect ?
To all this the man of the New Church has a ready
answer. He is prepared at once to affirm, that from the
intimate relation between the two grand principles of Love
and Wisdom it is impossible that the deepest researches
of intellect can beany detriment to the purest emotions of
piety. As everything natural refers itself to spiritual
causes, we are conducted by physical phenomena to the
very region of spirituality, and in this region the actings
of the mind must be intelligent, yet who can question
that they are devout?

SLEEP. 291
In investigating the nature of Sleep, as a marvellous
and mysterious feature of our human economy, we are
treading emphatically upon New Church ground ; for
our system, as is well known to every receiver, makes
much ofthe animal and mental structure of man, and is
moreover ever fain to push physiology into the sphere
of psychology, and to connect theology with both
wherever it can be done. We shall see as we proceed,
that nothing offers a finer field for this than sleep ; and
the mode of treatment to be pursued is one that will be
sought in vain in the mass of writers on physiology, as
they are very sure, for the most part, to be smitten,
whenever they approach the borders of the spiritual,
with what we may term a kind of psychophobia — or
shuddering dread of anything that transcends the pre
cincts of the purely natural. Profoundly grateful would
we be that the very genius of the New Church is the re
cognition of all natural truth as the outbirth of spiritual,
and the impossibility of rightly viewing them apart from
each other. We are passing continually back and forth
between two worlds when we are unfolding the philoso
phy of the New Church.
In attempting to develop the physiology of sleep, it
is important to advert to the distinction between the
voluntary and the involuntary functions of our economy,
and the two great ruling organs, the cerebrum and the
cerebellum, upon which, for the most part, they respect
ively depend. The former or the voluntary functions,
are under what we may term the more especial supervi
sion and control of the cerebrum, or the frontal portion of
the brain, and the latter, the involuntary, ofthe cerebel
lum, or posterior part of the brain. On this head we
are enabled to confirm the inductions of science by the
revelations vouchsafed to the great authority of the New
Church. " Sense in general, or general sense, is distinguished into voluntary
and involuntary ; voluntary sense is proper to the cerebrum, but in
voluntary sense is proper to the cerebellum ; these two general senses
are conjoined with man, but still distinct ; the fibres which issue

292 SLEEP.
forth from the cerebrum exhibit in general the voluntary sense,
and the fibres which issue from the cerebellum exhibit in general the
involuntary sense ; the fibres of this double origin conjoin themselves
in the two appendixes which are called the medulla oblongata and the
medulla spinalis, and pass through them into the body, and form to
gether its members, viscera, and organs. Those which gird about the
body, as the muscles and skin, and also the organs of the senses, re
ceive for the most part fibres from the cerebrum ; hence man has sense
and hence motion according to his will ; but the parts which are with
in that girding or enclosure, and are called the viscera of the body,
receive fibres from the cerebellum ; hence man has no sense thereof,
neither are those parts under the disposal of the will. From these
considerations it may in some degree appear, what sense in general is,
or the general voluntary sense, and the general involuntary sense. It
is moreover to be observed, that there must needs be a general in order
that there may be any particular, and that what is particular can in no
wise exist and subsist without what is general ; and indeed that it
subsists iu what is general ; and that everything particular is circum
stanced according to the quality and according to the state of what is
general ; this is the case also with sense appertaining to man, and like
wise with motion." — A- C- 4325.
The waking state is constituted by the waking condi
tion of the cerebrum and all that depends upon it, as
this holds the voluntary principle in a kind of erectness
or tension over the whole body. This is done by means
of a continual supply of the nervofis fluid, of which the
brain is doubtless the grand depository and almoner, and
so long as this element is supplied, the tension of the
muscles and fibres continues. The effect is that the
structures generally, especially the brain and the' lungs,
are maintained in a state of comparative uprightness
and rigor, so that the interstices and fissures are kept di
vided and open, affording a free, unobstructed passage
or channel between them. They are preserved in a state
opposite to that of relaxation or collapse. During sleep,
on the other hand, these interstitial apertures are in a
measure closed and almost obliterated by the approxima
tion of their parietes, or walls, the two conditions being
somewhat fairly represented by a number of sacks, first
filled and then empty. The collapse of the cerebrum it
self causes a corresponding collapse in the lungs, and
the bringing nearer together of the loosened vesicles, or

SLEEP. 293
air-cells, obstructs the free passage of the breath, and
thus occasions stertor, or snoring. For the same reason,
as the foldings of the brain lose their tension and be
come comparatively flaccid, there is a kind of stupidity
or dullness for a short time after one awakes, and it is
only after several acts of yawning and stretching that
the structures acquire the requisite degree of tenseness,
bracing, or rigidity to enable them to act with efficiency
under the control of the will. The string must be tight
ened in order to speed the arrow powerfully and rapidly
from the bow. Yawning and stretching seem to aid the
process of tension.
We may regard it then as unquestionable that the
waking from sleep is the waking of the cerebrum to the
active discharge of its controlling or superintendent
functions, the sphere of which is the voluntary muscular
movements. How it is that the cerebrum is enabled to
minister the medium of this increased activity to the
nerves and muscles, we shall consider by and by ; but I
here repeat the remark, that the cerebrum holds the
reins of the voluntary system throughout the day, during
which it infuses a corresponding wakefulness and anima
tion to every part of the body, thus holding all the or
gans that are under its control in readiness to execute
on the instant its slightest command.
During the night and the season of sleep, this order
of things is reversed. The cerebrum is no longer domi
nant, but yields up the empire of the whole economy to
the cerebellum, whose province it is to govern the in
voluntary motions, as those of the lungs, and the various
secreting and assimilating processes which are constant
ly going on, as well when we sleep as when we wake.
" I have been instructed," says Swedenborg, " that the
cerebellum is awake during sleep, when the cerebrum is
asleep." — A. C 1997. So also in the " Animal King
dom," written before his illumination, he says : " The
cerebrum rules in the day time, and excites itself at will
to general and particular animations. The cerebellum,
on the other hand, takes up the reins at night, and
26

294 SLEEP.
obliges tne cerebrum itself and the two medullaj to fol
low its own reciprocal acts of animation." There is this
remarkable difference in the operation of the two depart
ments. The voluntary motions are subject to fatigue,
and need to be recruited and reinforced by fresh supplies
ofthe proper stimulus, while the involuntary appear never
to tire, but keep on from infancy to old age, in one cease
less round of action. Continual exercise exhausts the
energies of the voluntary system, and in order that the
wearied functions may be again excited, stronger stimu
lants must be employed, or they must be refreshed by
repose. This refreshment is actually afforded by the
operation of the cerebellum during sleep; as this organ
has for its office to repair the damages, to make up for
the wear and tear which tho body sustains under the
action of the cerebrum during the labors of the previ
ous day.
But the question will naturally be proposed, how it is
that the cerebellum should be able to continue its func
tions without exhaustion, and as a living fountain to
pour forth the vital infiuence which goes incessantly to
renovate the impaired vigor of the system. This ques
tion cannot be answered without having recourse to the
central doctrine of influx from the Divine Head-spring
of life. That all life is by influx from the Lord into
adapted receptacles, is a fundamental tenet of the New
Church, and it is so, simply because it is the dictate of
all right reason and all divine revelation. This truth,
however, is no more certain than that in man are two re
ceptacles of life from the Lord ; viz., the will and the
understanding, or the love and the intellect. But that
the cerebrum is more appropriately the seat of the
understanding, and the cerebellum of the will, we are
taught by Swedenborg in express terms. "For be it
observed," says he, in the treatise on Influx (n. 11,) "that
the seat of the understanding is in the cerebrum, or fore
part of the head, but that of the will is the cerebel
lum, or the hinder part." Taking this then as established,
the whole tenor of our doctrine concerning influx leads

SLI3E1'. 296
to the position, that the more immediate flowing-in of
the divine love, which is the essential element of life, is
into the cerebellum, the seat of affection, rather than
into the cerebrum, the seat of thought. On this head
we are happy to be tible to fortify our position by an
authority which is beyond cpiestion with the major part
of those for whom we write.
" ' And rturned to soc tho voice that spake with me.' — That there
by is signified the understanding enlightened, may appear in some de
gree from what was said above, n. 55, in the explication of what is signifi
ed by John's hearing a voice behind him. It is evident that these words
contain an arcanum which cannot be known, till it is understood how
the divine influx from heaven enters the mind of man, for it was from
influx that John heard the voice behind him, and that afterwards, be
ing turned to see the voice, he saw the things which followed. The
divine influx from heaven is into the will of man, and through it into
his understanding. Influx into the will is into the occiput, because
into the cerebellum, and hence it advances towards the fore part into
the cerebrum, where the understanding has its seat, and when it comes
by that way into tho understanding, it then also comes into the sight,
for man sees from his understanding. That such is the process of in
flux, has been taught me by much experience. Whether we say influx
into the will, or into the love, is the same thing, since the will is the
receptacle of love ; it is also the same whether we say influx into the
understanding or into faith, inasmuch as the understanding is the re
ceptacle of faith."— •^. E. 61.
The love-principle, we are clearly taught, is the very
ground-element of life — it is the foundatio'n, the esse, of
being — and in every created existence stands in imme-
'liate connection with the infinite and eternal fountain of
life in the Deity. Why then should it not be a perennial
reservoir for those interior vital influences which every
moment sustain the involuntary functions both of the
animal and vegetable worlds ? Here then, we conceive,
is the reason why the cerebellum never tires and never
sleeps. It is because, as Swedenborg beautifully ex
presses it, " Lovis NEVER SLEEPS." This is not only rheto
rically, but philosophically or ontologically true. As
love is the essence of life, it can no more sleep than life
can be intermitted and yet still be life. It is eternally
awake from its very nature. It is only the intellect that

296 SLEEP.
sleeps, which is the external to the love, as the form is
external to the essence.
With this view before us, we are prepared to answer
the question as to the real seat of the conscious Ego or I
— the essential personality of the intelligent being. It
is not primarily in the intellectual principle, notwith
standing that the unconsciousness of sleep falls upon that
principle, and it might seem that that was the elemental
person — the real Ego — which loses its consciousness in
sleep. But the fact is, there is a latent or interior con
sciousness, even in the profoundest sleep. A person
asleep is not like a person dead. He has all the while
an obscure consciousness that he is alive, and this con
sciousness must be referred to that principle which is the
innermost substratum of his being; and that is his love,
and not his understanding — his affection, and not his
thought. In the waking state tbe two portions of the brain act,
in a great degree, conjointly with each other, as they are
united, in their descent into the body, in the Medulla
Oblongata and the Spinal Marrow, from which the
nerves of sensation and motion spread themselves in
every direction. The waking consciousness, therefore, of
ourselves attaches to the whole fabric of our being when
everything is in full play and at the height of its ac
tivity. In this state it is hardly possible to be aware of
the importance of that part of tho economy which is
termed involuntary and which is governed by the cere
bellum. We term it involuntary, which literally implies
the absence of will, but in truth there is an interior will
within this involuntary, just as there is an interior per
ception within the grosser understanding, and just as
there is an influx from the celestial into the spiritual
heaven. And the operation of this inner will, all uncon
scious as the intellect ordinarily is of it, is infinitely
more perfect in the exquisite ends which it accomplishes
than the volition of the understanding. Look at the
phenomena of Instinct which flow from this source in the
lower animals. Contemplate the achievements of the

SLEEP. 297
bee and the beaver. See if anything in the proudest
monuments of human reason and skill can compare with
the products of their wondrous elaboration. In all this
we behold the working of that science which is proper to
affection, for all animals are embodied affections. Look
also at the feats of somnambulists, with what amazing tact
will they manage their limbs in climbing or walking over
perilous places, when their judgment is asleep and they
are solely under the government of tho interior will as
ruled by the cerebellum. Look again at the mysterious
working of the involuntary organs of the body, prompt
ed by the same interior power. And here I will cite the
language of Swedenborg, the physiologist, on this head.
The passage is from the Animal Kingdo'm, where he is
describing the office of the lacteals : " Every fibre carries
with it the animus or affections of its parent cerebrum
or cerebellum, consequently different kinds of love,
desire, hatred, and loathing, longings and antipathies,
and all their ever various states. Tiio mesenteric fibres,
animated by the brains, are what command and cause
the delicate mouths of tho lacteals to seize with avidity
whatever things are desired, and to reject with loathing
whatever are disliked ; and to open their little mouths,
apply their little lips, and to drink with willingness in
proportion to the intensity of the desire; or to corru
gate, retract, and close their orifices, in proportion to the
intensity of the loathing; for at the first approach, con
tact, or salute of any chyle or juice, whether desired or
abhorred, they suddenly change their state." Can all
these exquisite processes be carried on without intelli
gence? But what intelligence is it? The intellect of
the cerebrum ^knows nothing of it — has nothing to do
with it? It is the hidden wisdom of the affection or
love-principle, the province of the cerebellum, whose act
ings are termed involuntary wholly with reference to the
volitive determinations of the understanding, but which
in reality involve the operations of a will as interior to
the mere intellect as the soul is to the body.
If, then, the influx of the Divine love is more especi-
26*

298 SLEEP.
ally into the recipient human love, and this influx takes
place during sleep, it may be fairly submitted as a ques
tion, whether the renovation of the system — the life and
tone imparted to it — in the hours of repose be not owing
mainly to this source. Nothing is more clearly taught
by the teacher of the New Church, than that a man's
love is the " fire of his life," that the vital heat of every
human being is his life's love ; and as this love manifests
itself by heat, and heat is intimately related to the elec
tric or galvanic element which seems to be that that acts
upon the nerves, it may perhaps be reasonablj' suggest
ed that this added nocturnal influx is one great means of
furnishing to the cerebrum that measure of vital energy
which is requisite to stimulate the organs of voluntary
motion into their full activity. One thing, I think we
may pronounce as certain— that every one's ruling love
is more vivid and stirring in the earlier hours of
the day. With what spirit and alacrity does the mer
chant, the mechanic, and the profession.tl man enter
upon the labors of the day in the morning compared
with the lassitude and dullness of the evening. But this,
it will perhaps be said, is owing to the refreshment of
sleep during the night, v hich has wound up the spring
of action that had run down in tho day time. Granting
this to be the case, still we ask, how does sleep accom
plish this ? What is the cause and the process ? This
is the very question I am considering. We all admit
that there is a heightened activity of the ruling love
after sleep. Is this an effect of tho repaired energies of
nature, or a cause ? I would venture to maintain, on
the ground of the New Church philosophy, that the
nervous and muscular vigor which follows sleep is owing
to the Divine vital influx into the love-principlo during
the night season. Certain it is, the increased supply of
nervous influence must come from some source. Grant
that it may be somewhat accumulated from the atmos
pheric auras by which we are surrounded, yet will this
so adequately account for the effect as the supposition of
a more copious inflowing of that life from the infinite

SLEEP. 299
fountain which comes in connection with the heat of
love, that celestial element that opens closed vessels and
pours a vivifying current over the nervous organization ?
That there is something peculiarly benignant, salutary,
and sanatory in this infiux during sleep, may be inferred
from the fact of its healing and restoring effects in dis
ease. Nothing is better known than the genial and
health-restoring power of sleep upon many forms of dis
ease. The aim of the physician in prescribing medicine
is often in the first instance not to act directly upon the
disease, but upon the system in such a way as to induce
sleep. When sleep is procured and the cerebrum goes
into abeyance, then the cerebellum is awake and busy
in its restorative and invigorating processes. This is the
true family physician — always at hand — and always
ready to do his work without fee or reward. And so
effective is this agency of the cerebellum that frequent
ly no other remedy is needed than its own kindly action.
Now as this action of the cerebellum must be an effect
of some superior cause, I would ask whether in view of
the Divine benevolence, there is anything more proba
ble than that it is due to the bland and healing potency
of that divine medicanien which comes in the train of
the infiuent life and love of the Lord ? Men may satis
fy themselves with saying that this is a law of nature —
a law of the animal economy — and smile the smile of
pity and contempt at every endeavor to penetrate deeper
into the essential causes of things, but this does not satis
fy the enlightened man of the New Church. He is
taught that there is no impiety and no impossibility in
lifting the veil and looking in upon the hidden dynamics
of the spiritual and celestial worlds as they fiow into
and permeate and actuate the natural world. Resting as
they do in the firm assurance that all derived and de
pendent life in the universe is momentarily sustained by
infiux from its Divine Author, they cannot shrink from
any fair inference from this fundamental doctrine, and
they know nothing of complimenting the Creator out of
his own dominions under the pretence that he may pro-

300 SLEEP.
perly leave its affairs to be administered by the agency
of certain vicegerent laws, instead of allowing himself to
be perplexed with what Cudworth terms " the infinite
negotiosity" that must oppress his intelligence.
Having thus endeavored to develope in some measure
the laws of the animal economy on which the more pal
pable phenomena of sleep depend ; having laid open to
some extent, the several functions of the cerebrum and
cerebellum in carrying on the various processes which
mark the two diverse conditions of sleeping and waking;
having shown that the voluntary movements of the sj'S-
tem are governed by the cerebrum and the involuntary
by the cerebellum — the one prevailing during the day,
the other during the night ; having taken occasion also
to remark that on the principles laid down by Sweden
borg we are taught to believe that the infiux of the Divine
Love or Life is more especially into the cerebellum as re
presenting the emotional or affection principle of our na
ture, and that from this source really flows that supply of
vital stimulus which goes to sustain the action of the an
terior brain and its various dependences during the wak
ing and working hours of clay — it now remains to pursue
the subject to some of its ulterior results, embracing
among other things the phenomena of dreams. But be
fore I come to this point there are one or two important
items to be disposed of; and first, I observe that paramount
question in regard to sleep is, what becomes of the intel
ligence during the sleeping state ? To say that it is dor
mant — that it is in a state of abeyance — merely states a
fact without affording a solution. The grand property of
the intellect is thought, and we seem to have an instinc
tive perception that thought in its very nature is always
active, and incapable of sleep. The idea of mind which
doesnot incessantly think, strikes us like the idea of light
which does not shine, or of fire which does not burn. We
cannot well think of light ceasing to shine in any other
way than of being completely extinguished. So of
thought which ceases to think. Must it not suffer ex
tinction ? Here then is the problem. We have reason to-

SLEEP. 301
suppose, on the one hand, that the mind is essentially ac
tive, and on the other, that the function of conscious or
voluntary thought is actually suspended during our sleep
ing moments. How is this to be accounted for ? In other
words, what is the precise psychological state ofthe under
standing in sleep ? We may describe the state ofthe brain
in that condition with the utmost accuracy, and say that it
loses its tension — its erect state — that it suffers a kind of
relaxation or collapse, but this does not explain the mental
phenomena in the case. The mind does not collapse, for it
is not composed of substance to which that term can prop
erly be applied. Again, then, we put the question, in what
state is the understanding or intelligence during sleep ? It
is certainly some way in abeyance. What has happened
to it ? What has become of it ? It does not act through the
medium of the senses. You may raise the eye-lids of a
sleeping person and present any object before the eye,
and it is not seen. There is no more vision than there is
at a window, when there is no eye there to look out. A per
son standing at a window will see a procession passing
by in the street, but if he withdraws from the window
or the room to the rear of the house, the spectacle of
course is not seen. The seeing power or agent has retired
— he is not there. When a man is awake his spirit may
be said to be at the window of his house. It takes cog
nizance of the external world through the avenues of
sight, hearing, smell, &c. It is alive and alert ; it is pre
sent at its outposts. But in sleep it is the reverse. The
windows and the doors are there and it may be are open.
But the tenant is apparently not there, and it is a fair
question, what has become of him? Is he not really ab
sent ? In other words, do not the voluntary powers of in
telligence and action retire from their usual seat, the an
terior region of the brain, and gather themselves into
some more interior recess of the body ? What that hid
den apartment is I shall soon suggest ; meanwhile I offer
the conjecture that in sleep the life of the intellect is tem
porarily merged in that of the affections. This we sub
mit as the true solution of the problem of sleep. The

302

SLEEP.

understanding sinks conjugially into the bosom of the
will during that mysterious syncope of its functions. As
the tender brood at night gather themselves under the
wing of the mother bird, so the thoughts collect them
selves under the panoply of the inward life of love. Or
as the numerous passengers on board a fioating palace on
one of our great western rivers, after roving over the
boat and promenading the deck during the day, retreat
at the hour of rest to their dormitories in the lower ca
bin, so the busy powers of the understanding, which
have traversed the fields of creation or the walks of busi
ness during the day, descend at night into the depths ofthe
soul, beyond the range of the exterior consciousness, and
there seek the refreshing tranquillity of that hallowed
inner chamber which is the resort of celestial visitants,
and where all the choicer things of the spirit are stored
up. And as all the complicated machinery that propels
the boat is constantly at work while the passengers court
repose in their berths, so the understanding sinks into its
sleep, if we may so term it, while all the vital enginery
of the body is in unceasing operation.
But the inquiry here urges itself, if the understanding-
retires, during sleep, from the cerebrum, whither does it
retire? Is there any other brain in the body which will
hospitably entertain it as a guest during the night? We
are aware of the difficulty of conveying correct ideas of
spiritual functions by applying to them terms appropriate
to material subjects. There is perhaps somewhat incon
gruous to the nature of the mind in speaking of its trans
location from one portion ofthe body to another, and yet
it is a well known fact, there is a great nervous centre,
termed the Solar Plexus, sometimes termed a second
brain, situated in the immediate vicinity ofthe stomach,
and to which, in certain conditions, the seat of sensation
is undoubtedly transferred. It is well known that in the
mesmeric sleep what is termed the pit ofthe stomach be
comes, as it were, the substitute of the brain, and persons
in that condition will assure us that they both see and
hear from that region. There is, to all aiDpearance, for

SLEEP. 303
the time, a transfer of the sensorium from the brain to
this inferior province of the body, and it is hither, as we
incline to believe, that the intelligence betakes itself, as to
a dormitory, during the hours of repose. I am well
aware that a somewhat minute knowledge of anatomy is
needed to do full justice to this suggestion; but as the
fact is unquestionable that there is an apparent recession
of the understanding from its ordinary tenement, is it in-
didging unduly the spirit of hypothesis to suggest that it
travels downward along the nervous pathway of the
Medulla Oblongata, and having reached its goal pernoc-
tates there in the solar sanctum of the thorax ?
Shall this be accounted a mere vagaiy of fancy — a
theory as idle as many of the phantasms which play
through the mind when subdued by the opiate.s of Mor
pheus? Look at the analogies of nature. Do not the
juices of plants sink during the night towards the roots
and rise again in the morning? How is it else that the
morning glory closes its petals in the night season and
opens them to the solar beams in the morning ? The ve
getative life which retired downwards daring the night
rises up again as the light of day greets it.
How easy, then, how fair and legitimate the inference,
that the intellectual department of our being vvi'^hdraws
itself inwardly during sleep and enters into conjunction
with the more latent life of the will or affection, and thus
brings itself more fully within the range of that influx
of the Divine Life and Love which comes especially in
contact with the inner essential element of existence,
which is the affection. It is there or thence, if we mis
take not, that the wearied powers of thought obtain the
renewal of their activity, and this is communicated to
the brain ; so that instead of the brain's being refreshed
and invigorated by sleep and imparting this vigor to the
mind, the process is directly the reverse ; it is the reno
vation of the mental powers acquired during their so
journ in the sanctuary of the affections, that imparts new
vigor and activity to the brain ; for every one acquainted
with the true doctrine of influx knows that its inflow is

304 SLEEP.
not from the natural to the spiritual, but from the spirit
ual to the natural. As it is not then the brain which
quickens the intellect in the morning, but the intellect
which gives tone to the brain, how does the intellect ac
quire this new stock of vitality but from the new supply of
influx which it receives while thus indrawn into closer
communion with the interior life presided over by the
regency of the cerebellum ?
we have here then, if we mistake not, a very impor
tant solution of one of the most striking phenomena of
sleep; and although we do not find it enunciated in so
many words by Swedenborg, yet it is fully authorized, as
we conceive, by what he does teach respecting the doc
trine of infiux. It is a clear deduction from very clear
premises abounding in his writings. We may accord
ingly see in this view another analogy between Sleep and
Death. In death, Swedenborg informs us, " the vital
substances are separated from the man, in whatever part
they are, even if they were enclosed in a thousand intricate
windings." So in sleep, the image of death, the per
meating thought is drawn in from all its ramifications
through the anterior brain into the interior life of the soul,
and then is raised up again into a kind of spiritual resur
rection. Such then we suppose to be the true philosophy as it
relates to the mental faculties. It is a retiring, or with
drawing, or indrawing, of the external man into the in
ternal. The suspension of thought is rather apparent
than real. It is somewhat like the sun, which appears to
set, but really does not. The understanding, in that mys
terious pause of its conscious activity, merely enters, for
the time, into closer conjunction with the will, just as we
might suppose the blood of the lungs to be drawn into
the heart. Look again at the subject by the light of
analogy. Is not the endeared intercourse and domiciliary
cohabitation of married partners an ultimate of interior
principles, and what are these principles but Love and
Wisdom, or Will and Understanding? And how much
short of a direct sanction to this idea is the following

SLEEP. 305
paragraph from the treatise on the " Divine Love and
Wisdom" (n. 402):
" That love or the will prepares a house or bridal apartment, for a
future spouse, which is wisdom or tlie understanding. In the created
universe and all its parts, there is a marriage of good and truth, and
this, because good is of love and truth is of wisdom, and these two are
in the Lord, by whom all things were created. How this marriage
exists in man may be seen, as in a glass, in the conjunction of the heart
with the lungs ; for the heart corresponds to love or good, and the
lungs to wisdom or truth. From that conjunction it may be seen, how
love or the will, betroths to it wisdom or the understanding, and after
wards takes it to wife, or marries it : love betroths wisdom, in that it
prepares a house or bridal apartment for wisdom, and it takes wisdom
to wife, in that it conjoins it to itself by affections, and then operates
wisdom with it in that house. That it is so cannot be fully described,
except in spiritual language, because love and wisdom, and the will
and understanding, are spiritual things, which indeed may be set forth
in natural language, but only obscurely to the perception, because of
the want of knowledge of the nature of love and wisdom, and also of
the affections of good, and of the affections of wisdom, which are
affections of truth. But yet the nature of the betrothing and mar
riage of love and wisdom, or of the will and understanding, may be
seen by the parallelism that exists by virtue of their correspondence
with the heart and lungs. It is the same with the latter as with the
former ; so much so, that there is no difference, except that one is
spiritual and the other natural. From the heart, therefore, and the
lungs, it is evident, that the heart first forms the lungs, and afterwards
conjoins itself to them ; it forms the lungs in the foetus, and conjoins
itself to them after birth : this the heart does in its house, the breast,
where their dwelling-place is, separated from the rest of the body by a
partition, called the diaphragm, and by a membrane enclosing them,
called the pleura. It is the same with love and wisdom, or with the
will and understanding."
In accordance with this analogy, what more rational
than that this spiritual conjugial pair should more espe
cially abide together when the shades of night preclude
the activity of the understanding from putting itself forth
in the sphere of the outer world. And so, to resume
again the comparison of the sun, the understanding may
be said to be in the morning " as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong man to run
a race." This race he runs in the active businesses and
duties of the day.
27

306 SLEEP.
Taking now for granted the truth of what Swedenborg
teaches respecting the two great constituents of our na
ture, and their inter-relation with each other, we can no
doubt perceive that the more perfectly they can act to
gether, the higher is the psychological state of the being.
The man is then more in the state of a disembodied spirit,
and the more perfect are the mental processes that often
take place during one's sleeping hours. Consequently
all his faculties are heightened greatly above the natural
plane of their operation. Every process is carried on
with a clearness and vividness and rapidity, of which we
ordinarily have no conception. All the mental powers
are quickened, acuminated, and intensified to an astonish
ing degree, so that in that state one can perceive more in
one minute than he could utter by the lips in many
hours. Now in regard to the affections and the intellect, while
we do not say that they ever act in entire separation from
each other, for this is just as impossible as that the heart
and lungs should act separately from each other, we yet
maintain that there is such a thing as a more intimate
conjunction than ordinary of these two distinguishing
principles, and that this takes place in sleepy the conse
quence of which is a more than usually exalted state of
the inner man — more vivid conceptions — more luminous
perceptions — and in fine a more sublimated and spiritual
state of the soul. Especially are we taught to believe
that the understanding by coming into the interior life
of the will comes into the sphere of the interior memory.
In this memory are treasured up all the more sacred
archives of a man's moral history. And only think
what an accumulation is there of indestructible materi
als lodged in this inner repository of the spirit, from
which not one item perishes to all eternity. This is the
book of every man's life which is hereafter to be opened,
and out of which he is to be judged.
Taking this as a fact for granted, that there is this
deeper and more internal memory in every man we
shall be able, I think, to account for a well-known psy-

SLEEP. 307
chological fact in regard to the sensations of drowning
persons. No fact is better established than that in the
crisis of suffocation there is a wonderful waking up of
the memory, so that oftentimes the entire train of one's
history even from early childhood, is vividly recalled in
its minutest items. Now the question is, how is this fact
to be accounted for ? Let us see if we cannot reach the
solution by tracing the process physiologically. In the
first place, the stomach is filled with water, and by the
atmospherical air being excluded respiration is extin
guished, and when a man ceases to respire he ceases to
think, according to the common laws of thought ; for
Swedenborg has shown that the action of the lungs has
just as much relation to the power of the thought as
that of the heart has to the exercise of affection, the
heart corresponding to the love, and the lungs to the
understanding. The lungs, then, ceasing to act, the
power of thought and sensation recedes from the cere
brum, and retreats inwardly to the will, and there coming
in contact, so to speak, with the central love or life, every
perception becomes vivid and the internal memory
awakes, and so heightened is the activity of every power,
and so amazingly rapid every movement of the mind, that
a whole life seems to be arrayed before one as in a moment
At the same time, persons in these circumstances gene
rally say they experience no pain when in the midst of
their revived recollections. The reason is doubtless the
same as that which prevents us from feeling bodily sen
sations in our sleep. The sentient power is departed
from the brain with the thinking power, and as in the
case of plenary magnetism all the outer senses and the
nervous sensibility are in abeyance. But they feel great
pain in being brought to, because the power of sensation
is then returning to the brain.
The state of drowning, then, we perceive is strikingly
analogous, in several respects, to the state of sleep, and
I adduce it in this connection solely in order to illustrate
and confirm my main position in regard to the actual
state of the intellect during sleep as having retired from

308 SLEEP.
the outer to the inner chambers of the soul, and there
having merged and conjoined itself with the more in
terior and essential principles of life. One can hardly
refuse to admit that it rests upon something more stable
than mere hypothesis. We see here the testimony of
positive facts, and if any theory will fully and adequate
ly account for the facts involved in it, why is it not en
titled to take its place, as a genuine scientific induction ?
But we proceed to some ulterior phases of the general
subject with a view to certain important results.
The state of sleep is not properly of the body. In
deed, what is there of the body that really sleeps ? Are
not all its functions going on as usual ? Does not the
heart beat ? Do not the lungs heave ? Does not the
stomach and the digestive apparatus keep in active
operation during the night as well as the day ? There is
doubtless some degree of relaxation in some of the
structures, but this does not amount to sleep. The body
sleeps only in death. What is it, ^;hen, that does sleep ?
We have already seen that the most interior principles
of our being, the affections and emotions, ruled by the
cerebellum, do not sleep. Here, then, we have the most
interior and the most exterior portions of our nature ex
empt from the operation of this mysterious law. It is
some middle principle — something that is interior to the
body and yet exterior to the inmost mind — which feels the
touch of the leaden sceptre of Somnus. Now that there
is an external to the inmost of every man, spirit, and
angel, is among the most emphatic teachings of the
revelations of the New Church. To this external or
physical principle the senses by which we are related
to the outward world, belong ; and the senses, we know,
are especially sealed up in sleep. But if this external,
which is not the body, may sleep in the body, what
suflBcient reason can be given why it should not sleep
out of the body ? That is to say, in other words, that
spirits are equally subject to the law of sleep as man ?
This would no doubt strike one at first blush as a very
strange and astounding announcement ; but think of the

SLEEP. 309
grounds of it. A spirit certainly has an internal and
an external, and as it is the external which sleeps in this
world, why should it not sleep also in the next ? The
psychical powers even of an angel cannot remain forever
strung up to the highest pitch of activity without some
remission. There must be alternate seasons of action
and repose. Why not then of sleeping and waking?
And what can reasonably be objected to the statement
of Swedenborg that follows ?
" Certain souls, fresh arrived from the world, who desire to see the
glory of the Lord, before they are in such a state as to be capable of
beholding it, are cast, as to their exterior senses and inferior faculties,
into a kind of sweet sleep, and then their interior senses and faculties
are raised into an extraordinary degree of wakefulness, and thus they
are let into the glory of heaven. But as soon as wakefulness is re
stored to the exterior senses and faculties, they return to their former
state."— ^. C. 1982.
We have here an important clue as to the true rationale
of dreams. The external of a spirit is laid asleep and
then his internal is developed, and comes into converse
with celestial things. There is the waking up of a more
intei'ior man, which then enjoys mere interior senses.
So in the sleep of a man's external there is a similar
waking up of interior perceptions, by which we hold con
verse with the objects and scenery of the spiritual world.
It matters not that we call this the working of the ima
gination in sleep. We affix, for the most part, but very
little definite meaning to the word imagination. It ex
presses our ignorance rather than our knowledge. It is
simply the name of a mental phenomenon of the true
nature of which we have ordinarily but little conception.
What we know is, that we are conscious of beholding
objects as distinctly as in our waking state, and yet it is
with an eye wholly different from the outward or natu
ral eye ; and sounds are heard with another than the
natural ear. It is true, indeed, that the objects seen
and heard are within ourselves, and yet they are appar
ently projected outwardly and are objectively beheld.
See, then, in this a proof irresistible, that there are in-
27*

310 SLEEP.
ward and spiritual senses, and that the shaking off of
this mortal coil leaves the man a perfectly organized be
ing, endowed with perceptive powers completely adapt
ed to the objects with which he is there surrounded. As
the senses there are spiritual, the objects are spiritual, and
yet substantial ; for to say that an eye, whether natural or
spiritual, sees anything that is not a substance, is to say
that it sees nothing. What, then, are the phenomena of
dreaming, but a standing and living demonstration of
the truth of another life, and a nightly recurring speci
men of the mode of existence in that life ? Shall we
not recognize in this, then, another moral end of the or
dinance of sleep ? It is to naturaliz^ us beforehand to
citizenship in another country, in which we are ere long
to take up our abode. It is to afford us preliminary
glimpses of that world which is soon to open upon us
with all that is blissful or baleful, according as we have
treasured up within ourselves the material which shall
develop itself in the beatific surroundings of the angels
or the hideous environments of the infernals. Yiewed
in this light, our sleep introduces us into the true world
of reality and stability. We here awake into the land of
dreams and shadows. The two states, to an intelligent
apprehension, change their character. In the image of
death we find the true theatre of life. It is only in the
world around us that we -spalk in a vain show — intoxi
cating our senses with a wild phantasmagoria, except
just so far as the life and joy and honor and glory of the
spirit-world is the end of action, affection, acquisition,
and thought.
But to return to the topic of the sleeping of spirits in
the other life. Recent souls, it appears, or souls recent
ly transferred to the spirit-world, have their external or
lower faculties cast into a deep sleep, and, in that con
dition, an influx is received into their interior minds, re
vealing to them the glories of heaven. How does
this differ from dreaming ? But are not these views of
heavenly glory insinuated by angels and the superior
orders of spiritual beings ? Swedenborg teaches that, as

SLEEP. 311
one class of spirits is flowing into the minds of men on
earth, so others of higher, that is more interior, genius
flow into them: and if a dream be produced in the
mind of a spirit by another higher spirit flowing in, it
surely is not difiicult to conceive that a dream may be
excited by a spirit of the spiritual world in the mind of
one who is yet abiding in the flesh. We may, then, for
the present, set it down as a sound conclusion, that
dreams are, at least sometimes, produced by the action
of minds in another world, put forth upon minds in this
world. As the spiritual part of man's nature is more
fully developed in that state ; as his interiors are then
comparatively opened, spirits and angels have more
sensible access to the soul in dreams than at other times,
and this we are given to understand is one reason why
such peculiar guardianship is exercised over man in his
sleep to keep away the infestations of evil spirits. The
state of sleep is a state of peculiar exposure to malign
influences emanating from the other world, of which we
are sufijciently advised in the following extracts. " Evil
spirits have the greatest and most burning desire to in
fest and assault man during sleep ; but he is then par
ticularly under the Lord's keeping ; for love never
sleeps. The spirits who infest are miserably punished."
Again he says, " I have been instructed that there is a
necessity that man should sleep in safety, for otherwise
the human race would perish."
This state of sleep, therefore, is one that calls for a
special tutelage on the part of Infinite Love towards his
dependent children. He accordingly takes them in
that state into his own immediate care and keeping.
As a fond parent who wakes and watches over a sleep
ing child that is in any circumstances of peril, while
lying defenceless in its cradle, so the Lord sets, as it
were, a double guard around his children while buried
in repose, thus enabling us to see a new emphasis in the
words of the Psalmist, " so He giveth his beloved sleep."
It would seem as if the Divine Cerebellum, keeping its
everlasting vigils, was incessantly doing that for the

312 SLEEP.
moral universe in this respect which the human cerebel
lum is doing for the human economy, while its needful
slumbers hold its self-protective powers in abeyance.
How strikingly is this tutelary care set forth in the fol
lowing paragraph :
" The angelic spirits who dwell on the confines of the paradisiacal
abodes, are they who insinuate delightful dreams ; to whom is also
allotted the office of watching over certain men during sleep, to pre
vent the infestations of evil spirits. This office they discharge with
the utmost delight, insomuch that there is an emulation amongst them
who shall approach ; and they love to excite in man the joys and de
lights which they observe in his affection and temper. These angelic
spirits are of those who, in the life of the body, delighted and loved, by
every means and endeavor, to render the life of others happy. They be
long to the province ofthe cerebellum, because the cerebellum, as I have
learnt, is in a wakeful state during sleep, when the cerebrum is asleep.
The men of the Most Ancient Church had thence their dreams, with a
perception of what they signified ; from whom, in a great measure,
came the representatives and significatives of the ancients, under which
things of a deep and hidden nature were conveyed." — A. C. 1977.
The gratitude inspired by this reflection upon the pecu
liar sanctity pertaining to the state of sleep, and of the
guards with which it is fenced around by the Lord's protect
ing providence, is wrought into a more lively glow in view
of the tender care exercised over sleeping infancy. The
physical necessity which requires for infants more sleep
than is needed by adults, delightfully merges into a spirit
ual prerogative, that we can scarcely appreciate as it de
serves. Infants are the special subjects of the influx of
heaven through the celestial angels, and it is through the
gateway ofthe cerebellum that these heavenly visitors
enter, and breathe the affections of innocence which so
often light up their little faces with a radiance that amounts
almost to a transfiguration. No figure of speech, but a
sober and actual verity do we recognize in the saying that
finds vogue in the humbler walks of life, that the sleeping
smile of an infant betokens the whisper of angels. " It has
been told me," says Swedenborg, " from heaven, that
infants are particularly under the auspices of the Lord,
and that their influx is from the inmost heaven, where
there is a state of innocence, and that the influx passes

SLEEP. 313
through their interiors, and that in passing through, it
affects them by innocence, and that hence innocence is
exhibited in their faces and gestures."
Finally, how precious the consideration, that this pro
tecting aegis is spread before and over all his human family
without exception. That refreshment and invigoration of
which I have spoken, is imparted to all men without dis
tinction of character. As the determining power of the
will is quiescent during sleep, and men cannot, of set
purpose, prevent or mal-appropriate the influent divine
good, so there is no doubt a benign influence thus exerted
which goes to moderate and restrain the wickedness of
wicked men, while at the same time there is no infringe
ment of their essential freedom. How interesting the
thought ! How endearing this view of the divine benefi
cence ! That the infinitely good and gracious Lord should
reserve to himself this mode of access to the hearts of the
children of men, even the most reckless and abandoned,
and should gently distil upon them a dew of heaven tend
ing to soften the obduracy of impenitence, and check
the impetuous career of evil so far as it can be done
without detriment to free agency, which is a jewel too
sacred to be touched even by the Divine Donor himself
We may not, it is true, see this influence resulting in
regeneration, which requires the co-operation of the whole
man with all his powers, yet there is no doubt that the
state of sleep does contribute more or less to the ameliora
tion and improvement of their state, and that they are at
any rate prevented from falling into such depths of iniqui
ty and degradation as they are inclined to when their evil
and infernal proprium is in full play.
Let us, then, bow in ever deepening and adoring ac
knowledgment of those infinite treasures of wisdom and
goodness which are being continually poured out upon the
children of men both sleeping and waking. Their afflu
ence is not more exhaustless than their effluence is un
ceasing, and we have only to submit our souls to their
transforming power to be enabled to say, " I will both lay
me down and sleep, for thou only makest me to dwell in
safety."

THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM REFERABLE SOLELY TO
A DIVINE ORIGIN.
[N. C. Kepos., April to July, 1865.]
In the estimate formed of a Pevelation professing to
have emanated from the Lord of the Universe, there are
always difficulties to be met and objections to be over
come arising from the force 'of inveterate prejudices,
connected with our former traditional or educational be
lief So long as the bonds of ancestral dogmas are upon
us, and the cherished reminiscences of childhood and
youth consecrate the creeds imbibed at that early period,
it is only with the utmost effort that we can so far eman
cipate our minds from the influence of these causes as
to bestow a candid consideration upon any system of
doctrines claiming to be of divine origin, when its teach
ings come in conflict with our pre-established forms of
faith. It is evermore a rare achievement by which we
ascend beyond the ordinary plane of thought, and take
an intelligent or charitable survey of the religious do
main occupied by another sect. But this, difficult as it
is, is easier than to conceive the possibility of an entire
ly nezv dispensation of religious truth — the ushering in
a positively new era of spiritual knowledge. Our religious
tenets become mental fixtures, and we know not how
to remove them, or how to remove ourselves from them.
We are both incapacitated and intimidated from extend
ing our range of research beyond the limits within
which it has been usually conflned ; and if we are
tempted to venture out where we have never been be
fore — if we are prompted in our intellectual voyaging to
cast the plummet in unknown depths, or to double
strange headlands and promontories in our course — we
seem to experience a repetition of the fabled lot of
Vasco de Gama, who, when doubling the Cape of Good
Hope, on his way to the Indies, was met according to

THE N. 0. SYSTEM REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 315
the poetic fancy of Camoens by an appalling, weird, and
gigantic form that arose from the bosom of the ocean,
and awfully beckoned back the adventurous navigator,
who had dared to transgress the boundaries of prior dis
covery. So the Genius of Tradition may be conceived
as rising in terrific aspect, and frowning down every as
piration that would prompt to a breaking away from her
dominion and traversing other and unknown regions.
But our main position is, that nothing is more difficult
than to conceive rightly of, and estimate fairly, a form
of religious truth very diverse from that in which we
have been trained, and which has received the sanction
of past generations as well as of the present. There are
a thousand infiuences at work to withhold the individual
from outstripping the collective mind of the age.
It may, however, be remarked, that the same causes
which prevent one from appreciating a system of doc
trines entirely new, operate also to prevent such a sys
tem being originated in the first instance. There is, in
the necessity ofthe case, a certain limitation ofthe human
powers. They cannot rise indefinitely high above the
surrounding level. Mad. de Stael remarks that the de
gree to which any one, however highly gifted, can sur
pass the standard of his age, may usually be measured
beforehand, not precisely, perhaps, but approxiiuately.
So in the matter of a code of religious doctrines and
revelations promulgated at any particular era, and bear
ing on its front the imprint of an alleged divine origin.
One mode of bringing such a claim to the test is to esti
mate the degree of its advancement beyond the measure
of the times in which it appears. If it goes far beyond
all that could reasonably have been anticipated under
the circumstances, we can scarcely resist the conviction
that such disclosures are to be referred to something
higher than human sagacity, wisdom, or cunning. For
certain it is, as a general fact, that all great minds are
exponents rather of their own than of future ages, and
that they are tethered more or less to a fixed circumfer
ence in revolving about their centre. It is so in science,

316 THE NEW CHUROH SYSTEM
where the boundaries are enlarged, not by the majestic
stride of an individual mind, but by successive acces
sions, one pushing a little ahead of his predecessor, and
another a little ahead of him, and so on, till the whole
present field has been gradually won.
It is by such a test that we earnestly desire the doc
trines of the New Church to be tried. We who have
carefully pondered the distinguishing character of that
system, do not hesitate to hold it up as contain
ing features which can be accounted for only on the
ground of their absolute truth. They constitute, in our
judgment, a problem which no theory of human ingenui
ty can solve ; and the reason why we rest so confidently
in this belief is, that the system surpasses so utterly and
entirely everything that could have been rationally ex
pected of the human mind in the age which gave it
birth. To us, accordingly, the idea of its having been
the product merely of the unassisted intellect of man, is
no less extravagant than that of the earth we inhabit
having been the product of human potency and elabora
tion. But this, we are aware, is the expression of a bare
opinion, or rather conviction, which it were vain to hope
would establish itself in other minds without the support
of adequate evidence. We ai'e bound in fairness to ad
duce corroborating testimony in behalf of our position
on this head, and such proof we now propose to offer, re
garding it, of course, as a settled point, that if it be
shown that the New Church system is beyond the reach
of man's ability to devise, we thereby inforce the infer
ence that it owes its origin to a Divine source. In taking
this method of discussing the subject, we naturally fur
nish an answer to the question. What reason have we to
believe that Emanuel Swedenborg was invested with a
divine commission ? Every one will be able to judge for
himself, from the data afforded, how far to yield his cre
dence to the claims asserted.
And it is especially on this head that satisfaction is
craved by the somewhat inquisitive public mind of the

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 317
day. That which stumbles multitudes of honest in
quirers is this laying claim, by Swedenborg, to a divine
revelation — this coming before the world in the eigh
teenth century in the character of a prophet or seer.
Would he but lay aside his claim on this score, and take
his stand on the same platform with Luther, and Calvin,
and Wesley, and Edwards, aud Dwight, and propound
his doctrines as his, hundreds would no doubt give him
a hearing forthwith. But he is summarily put without
the pale of reverent regard by the fact of his assump
tion on this score, which amounts, it is said, to a virtual
denial that the Canon of Scripture is closed, thus out
raging the universal sentiment of Christendom. It is
therefore evidently of the utmost importance that this
point should be established — that the credentials of a
mission, an embassy, from Heaven — should be made out
in his behalf.
Still we do not suppose that the most logical and un
impeachable course of argument on this head will neces
sarily of itself command the assent of the intellect.
For it is one of the peculiar and distinguishing traits
and teachings of the system, that the reception of truth
is dependent upon the state of the affections rather than
of the perceptions of the intellect. Apart from them,
we have no assurance of the triumph of truth over the
falsities which it has to encounter. And this feature of
it we may reckon among the evidences of the heavenly
origin of the doctrine, that it puts the prospect and the
probability of its own reception, not upon the degree of
evidence which it carries to the understanding, but upon
the previous state of the affections as to the love of good
ness and the love of truth. Would this have been the
case with a system devised by the wit of man, and de
pending not upon divine influx, but upon human intelli
gence for reception ?
But this consideration is comparatively weak and
trifling when placed by the side of others to which we
design to advert. And here let us say in the outset. that
the system of religious truth set forth by Swedenborg,
28

318 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
dioe^ prof ess, at least, to be a fulfilment of Scripture pro
phecy. It assumes to be a substantiating or realizing
in actni of the symbolic shadows of the sacred oracles,
under which were announced the glorious things that
were to be ministered to the children of men in the lat
ter day. Now the question is, whether this is well
founded or not. Is the system of doctrine and life which
Swedenborg has promulgated, in deed and in truth the
very system which was predicted by prophets and psalm
ists, or is it a mere suppositious affair — a fabrication —
a changeling system surreptitiously introduced and sub
stituted in place of .the genuine? It is known to those
that are somewhat conversant with the history of theolo
gical opinion, particularly in its polemical aspects, that
a certain class of deistical writers, of whom Anthony
Collins was the head, took the position that Jesus of
Nazareth was not the true Messiah announced in the
Jewish Scriptures, but that being of a shrewd and
aspiring genius, he went to work to adapt himself to the
scope of all the inspired predictions, types, and ceremo
nies, and that by means of a transcendent astuteness and
unwearied assiduity, he actually succeeded in palming
upon a portion of his countrymen the strong persuasion
that he was indeed the veritable personage predicted in
their sacred books, and who was to conduct the nation
of Israel to the height of their promised renown. And
not only so, but that owing to the operation of causes deep
laid in the ground-work of human nature, and by a re
markable train of providential circumstances, the belief
has been perpetuated among a vast body of the race to
the present day ; while at the same time it was all a fal
lacy — a " counterfeit presentment" of the bona fide per
sonage intended by the inditing spirit to whose inspira
tion the Scriptures are referable.
Now it is by a procedure somewhat analogous to this,
that Swedenborg may be supposed to have brought for
ward his peculiar scheme of a New Church, and foisted
it into the place of that which was legitimately to have
been expected. And certainly, on the supposition that

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 319
his voluminous writings are not true, but are merely an
immense congeries of falsities, it must be admitted that
something like this was his aim, and that to this end
all his almost superhuman labors with the pen were
directed. But refiect for a moment on what is involved in this
hypothesis. He finds, on opening the sacred page, that
the Lord through his prophet declares or announces,
" Behold, I make all things new y" and again, " I saw a
new heaven and a 7iew earth ; for the first heaven and
the first earth had passed away." These annunciations
are to be in some way fulfilled, and he resolves to exco
gitate and publish a system of doctrines and life, which
shall as nearly as possible correspond with the purport of
these sublime declarations. You will observe that it
must be a system which is properly to be denominated
new ; one in which all things are to be new — a com
plete renovation and transformation being involved in
the announcement. Now to say nothing of the stupend
ous presumption of thus attempting, notwithstanding his
intrinsic littleness,- weakness, and insignificance, to carry
into completion the divine counsels — to say nothing of
the daring impiety of thus virtually putting a forged docu
ment beneath a genuine seal, which the known devout
and exemplary character of the man would utterly for
bid — what would be the probability, left to himself, of
making out a system which would be complete, coherent,
and consistent, from beginning to end, and that too ex
tending, as it does, through thousands and thousands of
pages? Would not the advanced progress of such a
scheme often forget its beginning, and the most glaring
discrepancies between the different parts occur ? Is it
conceivable that any human mind, relying solely on its
own resources, should have constructed a system which
would bear the searching inquest of all our minds, and
should challenge, in fact, their strictest ordeal ? Tet
this is what Swedenborg has done. He has professed to
realize a prophetic ideal of a church and a kingdom,
and boldly calls upon the world to compare the an-

320 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
nouncement with the alleged fulfilment. He points to
the mould given from heaven, and then to the statue
which he has run in it, and demands whether the corres
pondence be not perfect. We say, indeed, that it is, and
that, too, because both mould and statue are in fact
from the same hand, as we hold that Swedenborg thought
and wrote under a divine guidance ; but the case is put
to those who at present deny him such a supernal dicta
tion, but regard him as simply acting out his own im
pulses, and giving to the world not a genuine, but a
spurious revelation.
Now we would fain have this matter viewed in its ap
propriate light, and then let every one judge for himself,
whether he can rationally attribute such a body of doc
trine and revelation to a merely human origin. Tou
will observe that an entirely neio dispensation was to be
announced and ushered in, and we can form some ade
quate idea of what would be requisite in order to accom
plish such an august result. A complete change was to
be wrought in men's ideas of sacred things. Ail the old
and long established forms of thought on religious
themes were to be remodelled, and yet the inspired
Word was to remain as ever the grand depository of Di
vine truth and the criterion of all doctrine. The old-
ness of the letter was to be preserved in perfect consis
tency with a developed newness of spirit. How could
this be unless a deeper and more interior meaning were
developed from it ; and how, again, could this be done,
unless an underlying law were discovered which should
redeem the interpretation from the charge of arbitrary
and fanciful ? And here it is that we encounter the
grand problem to be solved ? How is this law of inter
pretation to be discovered ? Where shall the intellect
be found competent to elicit from the written revelation
a sense wliich shall be the basis of a 7iew dispensation —
an order of things answering to the high strains of pro
phecy bearing upon the glory of the Lord's coming
Kingdom ? We say without hesitation that such a dis
covery would be, to human wit or wisdom, simply im
possible. To be convinced of this, we have but to re-

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 321
mind ourselves of what the law actually is. It is the
law of the relation of the spiritual and the natural
worlds — the former as the world of causes, the lat
ter as the world of effects. We can appreciate it now
that it is made known, and can see how utterly it would
have transcended the utmost reach of man's unaided
powers. How was the mystery of the spiritual world to
be laid open, except by a species of translation thither
on the part of the revealer ? An actual intromission into
that sphere of existence was imperatively requisite if
its sublime arcana were to be developed, and that, too,
not merely to blazon its momentous facts and phenome
na, but more especially to bring back from that unex
plored region the key to the interpretation of the inter
nal sense of the Word. This accordingly forms a pro
minent feature of the function which Swedenborg claims
. for himself, as a divinely commissioned messenger from
heaven. On this head he speaks himself as follows :
" That the AVord in the letter is written by appearances and corres
pondences, and that, therefore, there is in every part of it a spiritual
sense, in which the truth is in its light, and the sense of the letter in
the shade, was shown in the chapter concerning the Sacred Scbip-
TUBE. Lest, therefore, the man of the New Church, like the man of
the old church, should wander iu the shade, in which the sense of the
letter of the Word is, especially concerning heaven and hell, and
concerning his life after death, and here concerning the coming of the
Lord, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and thus
to let me into the spiritual world, and not only to give me to speak with
spirits and angels, and with relations and frieuds, but with king's and
princes, who have departed from the natural world, but also to see the
stupendous things of heaven, and the miserable things of hell ; and
thus that man does not live in some un'iiiiown place of the earth, nor
fly about blind and dumb in fhi air, or in empty space ; but that he
lives as a, man in a substantial body, in a much more perfect state, if
he comes among the blessed, than before, when he lived in the material
body. Therefore, lest man should become more deeply grounded in
the opinion concerning the destruction of the visible heaven and habi
table earth, and thus concerning the spiritual world, from ignorance,
which is the source of naturalism, and then, at the same time, atheism,
which, at this day, among the learned, has begun to take root in the
interior rational mind, should, like a mortification in the fiesh, spread
itself around more widely, even into his external mind, from which he
speaks, it has been enjoined upon me by the Lord, to promulgate some
28*

322 THE NEW OHDRCH SYSTEM
of the things seen and heard, both concerning Heaven and Hell,
and concerning the Last Judgment, and also to explain the Ap(>
CALTPSE, where the coming of the Lord, and the former heaven, and
the new heaven and the holy Jerusalem, are treated of ; from which,
when read and understood, any one may see what is meant there by the
coming of the Lord, and by the new heaven, and by the new Jerusa
lem."— T. C. R.
All this we can now see to have been an absolutely
necessary step in the accomplishment of the ends of the
Divine Wisdom in the establishing of a New Church in
the world, and we have each to judge for ourselves of the
probability of any sane, sober, and intelligent man's
claiming such a prerogative for himself- — especially a
man of cool, reflective temperament like Swedenborg.
We can only judge rightly on this score by giving due
consideration to the obstacles standing in the way of
such an assertion. He could not but be aware of the
strength of the impression throughout all classes of
Christendom, that the Sacred Canon is closed, and that
no farther discoveries from the interior, such as were
made to the prophets, were any longer to be anticipated.
He could not be insensible to the fact that with the great
mass of Christians such a pretence would be fatal to his
pretensions, as it would go counter to a first principle
rooted and grounded in the religious mind of the age,
and would therefore bar out completely all title to ex
amination. Tet m the face of all this the herald of the New Dis
pensation lays claim, in the most explicit manner, to di
rect revelations, and even more than intimates that it was
indispensably necessary, according to the principles of
order, that the Second Coming of the Lord should be
effected through the instrumentality of a man divinely
qualified and endowed for the work. Hear his testimony
to this effect.
" That this Coming is effected, in tlie first instance, through the in-
strumentalityofarnan divinely quahfied' and endowed for ttis sacred
office— Smee the Lord cannot manifest Himself in person, as has been
i°Iui . Kp^'^'pif "\^'' ^l ^^ f°^-^*<"d th^t He would come and
establish a Isew Church, which is the Kew Jerusalem, it follows that

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 323
he is to do it by means of a man, who is able not only to receive the
doctrines of this church with his understanding, but also to publish
them by the press. That the Lord has manifested Himself before me,
his servant, and sent me on this office, and that, after this, he opened
the sight of my spirit, and thus let me into the spiritual world, and
gave me to see the heavens and the hells, and also to speak with angels
and spirits, and this now continually for many years, I testify in
truth ; and also that, from the first day of that call, I have not received
anything which pertains to the doctrines of that church from any
angel, but from the Lord alone, while I read the Word." — T- C. R.
779. " In your gracious letter, you ask, how I attained to be in society
with angels and spirits, and whether that privilege can be communicat
ed from one person to another. Deign, then, to receive favorably this
answer. The Lord our Saviour had foretold that He would come
again into the world, and that he would establish there a New Church.
He has given this prediction in the Apocalypse, xxi. and xxii., and
also in several places in the Evangelists. But as he cannot come again
into the world in person, it was necessary that he should do it by means
of a man, who should not only receive the doctrine of this New Church
in his understanding, but also publish it by printing ; and as the Lord
had prepared me for this office from my infancy. He has manifested
himself before me, His servant, and sent me to fill it. This took place
in the year 1743. He afterwards opened the sight of my spirit, and
thus introduced me into the spiritual world, and granted me to see
the heavens and many of their wonders, and also the hells, and to speak
with angels and spirits, and this continually for twenty-seven years. 1
declare in all truth that such is the fact. This favor of the Lord, in
regard to me, has only taken place for the sake of the New Church
wliich I have mentioned above, the doctrine of which is contained in
my writings." — Documents, p- 138.
The especial point of consideration here is, the antece
dent improbability of such a stupendous claim being
made by a sensible man in the face of all that prejudice
and incredulity which it would be sure to encounter.
To think of a frail worm of the dust lifting up its little
ness to the height of an asserted participation in the
Second Advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ !
To think that a mortal man should presume to predicate
of himself a necessary instrumentality in the accom
plishment of such an event ! What, on the first an
nouncement, could strike us as a more astounding absur
dity and impiety combined ? Should we not as soon

324 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM ^.,— -tj
expect that his agency would have been claimed to be a
necessary condition on the original creation of the uni
verse? Tet this is the claim which the Swedish Seer
unhesitatingly advances before the world ! This claim
and its dependencies constitute the hinge on which the
whole of the present argument turns. We maintain
that the leading doctrines and disclosures of the system,
though rational and credible in themselves when once
fairly apprehended, are so utterly remote from all that
could have been expected a priori to enter into the
range of any man's thought, who should have set him
self to the work of fabricating a spurious code of reli
gious faith, that the problem becomes vastly greater by
referring them to a human than to a divine origin. Of
this the world is to form its judgment upon the some
what fuller presentation of the data.
Our object thus far has been mainly to define our
general position. We have ventured to affirm that the
New Church system, viewed as a whole, exhibits fea
tures of so marked and unique a character — so utterly
alien from any thing that could have been reasonably
expected at the time and under the circumstances in
which it appeared — as to compel the belief that it has
originated in a superhuman source. The facts in the
case baffle every other mode of solution. This, however,
is not a position to be palmed upon any one without proof.
It behoves us to assign the grounds on which it rests. In
so doing we must of necessity study brevity, as our limits
are those of a lecture, and not of a treatise. As the
character mainly predicated of the teachings of Sweden
borg is that oi newness, we have accordingly in this sys
tem, I. A new doctrine of the Lord and the Trinity, in
which the dogma oi three persons is discarded, and three
divine principles acknowledged instead. The Father is
recognized m the Son and not out of him, while the
Holy Spirit is the proceeding energy and operative
agency of both the Father and the Son. In this triad of
principles the name Father denotes the divine Love, Son

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 325
the divine Wisdom, and Holy Spirit the divine Efl&-
ciency in operation and act. These three essentials in
the divine nature constitute one Person, and that Person
the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and only Jehovah. The
Hebrew term Jehovah is represented in English by the
equivalent title Lord, and whenever the Newchurchman
employs this title, it conveys to his mind the idea couched
under the Old Testament term Jehovah. In the accom
plishment of man's redemption this Divine Being, de
nominated Jehovah, became incarnate, and consequently
visible, whereas, prior to that event, he had been invisi
ble. We do not of course say that the inmost esse of the
Deity, or the Love principle, became visible, for this is
impossible; but as we say of a man that he is visible as
a whole, though the soul which constitutes his essence is
beyond the reach of the senses, so we say of Jehovah
that he became visible in the incarnation, notwith
standing the Divine Love or the Father was inwardly
and invisibly latent in the humanity of the Son. On
this basis of the sole and supreme divinity of Jesus
Christ we are taught to fix our regards on Him as the
true object of worship, and therefore in the utterance of
the Lord's prayer, for instance, we think of no Father in
heaven separate from the Lord, who said of himself, " he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father;" nor do we em
ploy any formula indicating that our prayers are offered
to any Divine Father out of the Son for the sake of the
Son out of the Father. The invocation of blessings for
Christ's sake is utterly unknown in the New Church, be
cause we cannot by possibility so separate the Father
from the Son as to render such language appropriate to
the subject. We are indeed taught to supplicate favors
in Chrisfs name, with the promise that whatsoever we
thus ask shall be accorded to us, yet in the Word by
natne is signified quality, and to ask in the name of
Jesus is to ask under a realizing sense of the fact that he
is in himself the supreme and only Jehovah, and there
fore both able and willing to bestow, without the prompt
ing of an intercessor, every needed blessing.

326 THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
Such then is the view presented in the revelations of
the New Church ofthe high theme ofthe Divine nature
— a view of which the theology of Christendom, as eni-
bodied in the symbols with which Swedenborg was fami
liar, had never dreamed. It had indeed coniBSsed a di
vine as well as a human nature in the person of Jesus,
but the relation of the two was simply that of adjunc
tion, which leaves the problem unsolved, how he could
be essentially divine, especially in the assumption that
he possessed a finite human soul as the inmost element
of his being. If the Divinity were simply adjoined to
the Humanity, we consider it impossible to answer the
question why lie might not have had a human father as
well as a human mother. On the ground of Sweden
borg's teaching all diflSculty on this score vanishes at
once. From supernatural illumination he informs us
that the soul in all cases is from the father, and the body
and the external man from the mother. " Who does
not know that the child has the soul and life from the
father, and that the body is from the soul? What there
fore is said more plainly than that the Lord had his soul
and life from Jehovah God ; and because the Divine
cannot be divided, that the Divine itself was his soul and
life ?" The true and absolute Divinity of Jesus Christ
can be maintained upon no other basis than this. Here
we see the true and only God " manifested in the flesh"
— not God merely adjoined to the soul and body of a
human being like ourselves, but God actually incarnated
in a tenement of flesh and blood, the materials of which
were assumed in the womb of the virgin. Thus consti
tuted, our Lord, instead of being a stationary personage,
subject to no change of internal state, entered from the
outset upon a mysterious process of gloriflcation, the
type of our own regeneration, which resulted flnally in
the complete putting away of the infirm humanity
derived from the mother, and the assumption of a Divine
Humanity, in which light he is for ever to be contem
plated by his believing people.
Thus differs the new doctrine of Swedenborg from the

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 327
old doctrine of Christendom on this grand truth of re
velation. According to the established or Athanasian
tenet, " the idea," says our author, " is clear that the
Lord has a Divine principle and a Human, or that the
Lord is God and man ; but the idea is obscure that the
Divine-principle ofthe Lord is in the Human as the soul
is in the body." And again, " With respect to the union
of the Lord's Divine Essence with his Human, and of the
Human with the Divine, this infinitely transcends man's
conjunction: for the Lord's internal was Jehovah Him
self, consequently, life itself: whereas man's internal is
not the Lord, nor, consequently life, but a recipient of
life. The Lord had union with Jehovah ; but man has
not union with the Lord, but conjunction."
A proper estimate of this view of the cardinal doctrine
of revelation can only be found by contrasting it with
the tripersonal tenet which was so generally prevalent
at and prior to Swedenborg's day. Can any candid mind
fail to be struck with the amazing difference between
the two ? Does he not perceive in the new elucidation
evidence of more than human insight ? Was the pro
found intellect even of Swedenborg capable, by its own
powers, of thus penetrating the heart of this " great mys
tery of godliness," and laying it so clearly open to human
intelligence ? If not, what inference remains but that he
has revealed to the world what was specially and exclu
sively revealed to him ?
II. Flowing by legitimate sequence from the above new
doctrine of the Lord and the Trinity, we have also in this
system a new doctrine of Atonement — a doctrine out of
which the vicarious element is totally eliminated, wjiile
all its placating and reconciling virtue remains in full
force, though developed from a higher ground. The
common tenet, as is well known, is founded upon the
idea that justice demands satisfaction for a violated law,
and that such a satisfaction has been rendered by the
second person of the Trinity to the first. Now, to say
nothing of the incongruity of supposing that while all the
persons are of equal power, rank, and glory, a satisfac-

328 THE NEW CHURCn SYSTEM
tion should be required to be made any more by the Son
to the Father than by the Father to the Son, the teach
ing of the New Church is, that no divine law is ever
broken but that satisfaction follows of course; for the
satisfaction of every law is either in the obedience of its
subjects, or in the self-infiicted penalty sure to visit the
transgressor. The law of order in the moral as well as in
the physical universe is such that every violation pun
ishes itself, if not immediately, yet eventuall}'. The
work of atonement, therefore, was not to expiate past
offences, but to restore to man the lost capacity of right
eousness by which he could be" reinstated in vital con
junction with the Lord. It was a process by which the
apostate and alienated heart of man was to be brought
back to at-one-ment with God. This end could only be
effected through his liberation from the powers of hell,
which obtained a fatal dominion over him, and this
again could not be accomplished except by the Lord's
coming into the conditions of humanity, and on that
plane contending with and triumphing over man's infer
nal enemies.
It may indeed be asked why this result could not be
effected by a simple act of omnipotence, as he of course
holds all hell at his beck. Our reply to this is drawn
from one of the distinguishing features of Swedenborg's
revelations, and it goes to magnify immensely all prior
conceptions of the Divine wisdom and benignity in prac
tically working out the problem of human redemption.
These infernal adversaries, who had reduced the race to
direful bondage, were really men, or the spirits of men,
for of such only do heaven and hell consist. The inhabi
tants of heaven are indeed called angels, and those of the
hells devils, but in either case they belong to the ranks
of humanity, and the Most High will never cease to deal
with them as such. That is to say, he will never cease
to have respect to that moral nature with which they are
endowed, nor act towards them in such a manner as to
suspend their free-will. Even while engaged in acting
against them, he will put due honor upon their prerogar

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 329
tive ; he will not lose sight ofhis own image and likeness
impressed upon them at creation. He will not deal with
them as passive subjects of his infinite power, but as ac
tive agents possessed of ability to resist, if they choose,
or to succumb to his sovereignty. Now let any one con
ceive, if he can, any possible mode by which mau could
have been delivered from this infernal thraldom, consis
tent with his own freedom and that of his captors and
oppressors, except by the Lord's assuming human nature
and thus, in infinite condescension, putting himself, as
we may say, upon a par with his adversaries. How else
could he fight against them and overcome them without
at the same time crushing and annihilating them as free
agents ? But on this head let us hear our author himself.
He first defines the nature of that redemption which was
to be accomplished in behalf of man :
" It may be proper first to state the true nature and meaning of re
demption. To redeem signifies to deliver from damnation, to rescue
from eternal death, to snatch out of hell, and to pluck out of the hands
of the devil those that were led captive and bound. This was effected
by the Lord when he reduced the hells to subjection. Men could not
otherwise have been saved, because the spiritual world and the natural
have such a connection with each other, that they are incapable of
separation, particularly with respect to men's interiors, which are called
their souls and minds, and which, if good, are connected with the souls
and minds of angels, but if evil, with the souls and minds of infernal
spirits. Such is the nature of this union that, if angels and spirits were
to be removed from a man, he would instantly fall down dead like a
stock or a stone. Hence may be seen a reason why redemption took
place in the spiritual world ; and why heaven and hell were first to be
regulated before the church on earth could be established." — T- C. R.
118. He then goes on to show that this was a work purely
divine, and could not possibly have been effected but by
God incarnate :
" The reason why it was necessary for God to become incarnate, that
is, to be made man, in order to effect redemption, is, because Jehovah
God, such as he is in his infinite essence, cannot approach unto hell,
much less enter it, being iu that essence in purest and first principles ;
therefore Jehovah God being such in himself, if he had only breathed
on tlie inhabitants of hell, he would have deprived them instantly of
29

330 THE NEW CnURCn SYSTEM
life ; for he said to Moses, who was desirous of seeing him, ' Thou
canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and live' (Exod.
xxxiii. 20) ; and if Moses could not see him, much less could the infer
nal spirits, who, being in the lowest degi-ee natural, are in last and
grossest principles, and thus in such as are most remote from God ;
consequently unless Jehovah God had assumed the Humanity, and thus
clothed himself with a body, which is in last or ultimate principles, it
would have been vain to have attempted anything like redemption.
For who can attack an enemy unless he approach towards him, and be
furnished with arms for the battle ? Or who can disperse and destroy
dragons, hydras, and basilisks in the wilderness, unless he cover his
body with a coat of mail, and his head with a helmet, and be armed
with a spear in his hand ? Or who can catch whales in the sea with
out a ship, and the necessary tackle for the purpose ? By these, and
such like comparisons, the combat which the omnipotent God waged
with the hells may in some sort be illustrated, though by uo means per
fectly represented. In this combat he could not possibly have engaged,
unless he had first put on the Humanity. But it is to be observed, that
the combat which the Lord waged with the hells was not an oral com
bat, as between reasoners and disputers, for here such kind of warfare
would have had no effect ; but it was a spiritual combat, or the com
bat of divine truth from divine good."
" That Jehovah God could not have been thus active and operative,
except by his Humanity, may be illustrated by various comparisons ;
as, for example, it is impossible for persons that are invisible to each
other to unite in salutation or conversation : angels or spirits cannot
join hands, or engage in discourse with a man, even though they should
stand just beside his person and before his face ; and the soul of any
one cannot converse and negotiate business with another except by
means of his body. The sun cannot enter with its light and heat into
any man, beast, or vegetable, unless it first enter into the air, and act
by that as a conveying medium ; in like manner also that heat and
light cannot enter into fish but by the medium of water ; for it is neces
sary it should act by means of the element in which the subject of its
operation dwells. In short, one thing must be accommodated to
another before there can be any communication between them, or any
operation of either contrariety or concord." — T. C. R. 124, 125.
This is indeed our author's expose of the true doctrine
of Kedemption rather than that of Atonement, techni
cally so termed, but every one knows that from their
close interrelation with each other, it is impossible to
treat them separately. Atonement, that is at-one-ment,
is properly the normal effect and issue of Eedemption ;
but it is notorious that the essence of atonement has been
for ages regarded as concentrated in the passion of the

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 331
cross, and the material blood shed upon Calvary deemed
the very element of expiation in behalf of those to whom
it was applied by imputation. According to this view,
redemption itself becomes identical with atonement, as
it is held that by this sacrificial offering of himself in our
stead, as our substitute, we are bought off, i. e. ransomed
or redeemed, not from the dominion of hell, but from the
penal wrath of the Father. This involves of course the
position that under an infinitely righteous government,
the innocent may be substituted for the guilty, provided
only it be done with the substitute's own consent. Now
we beg to exhibit, in contrast with this, the view taught
in the writings of our author embodying what he declares
to be a divinely authoritative exposition of the truth on
the point in question. We give it in his own language
instead of ours, because we wish to conciliate attention
to his works by affording specimens of what they
contain. " The passion of the cross was not redemption, but the last tempta
tion which the Lord endured as the Grand Prophet, and it was the
means of the glorification of his humanity, that is of the union with the
divinity ofhis Father."— T. C. R- 126.
" It is a fundamental error of the Church to believe the passion of
the cross to be redemption itself; and this error, together with that
relating to three divine persons from eternity, has perverted the whole
church, so that nothing spiritual is left remaining in it. What doc
trine more abounds in the books of the orthodox at this day, or what
is more zealously taught and insisted on in the schools of divinity, or
more constantly preached and cried up in the pulpit, than this, that God
the Father, being full of wrath against mankind, not only separated
them from himself, but also sentenced them to universal damnation,
and thus excommunicated them from his favor ; but because he was
gracious and merciful, that he persuaded or excited his Son to descend,
and take upon himself the determined curse, and so to expiate the
wrath ofhis Father ; and that thus, and no otherwise, could the Father be
prevailed upon to look again with an eye of mercy on mankind. Like
wise that this was effected by the Son, who, in taking upon himself the
curse pronounced against men, suffered himself to be scourged by the
Jews, to be spit upon, and lastly to be crucified as the accursed of God
(Deut. xxi. 23) ; and that by this means the Father was appeased,
and, out of love towards his Son, cancelled the sentence of damnation
yet only in favor of those for whom the Son should intercede, who was

332 IHE NEW CHUROH SYSTEM
thus to be a perpetual Mediator in the presence of the Father ? These
and similar doctrines are at this day sounded forth from the pulpit, and
re-echoed from the walls of the temple, as an echo from a wood, and the
ears of all present are filled with it. But who that has his reason en
lightened, and is restored to health by the Word, cannot see that God
is mercy and clemency itself, because he is love itself, and goodness it
self, and that these constitute his essence ; and consequently that it is a
contradiction to say that mercy itself, or goodness itself, can behold a
man with an angry eye, and sentence him to damnation, and still abide
in his own divine essence ? Such dispositions are never ascribed to a
good man or an angel of heaven, but only to a wicked man and a spirit
of hell ; it is therefore blasphemy to ascribe them to God. But if we
inquire into the cause of tms false judgment, we shall flnd it to be this,
that men have mistaken the passion of the cross for redemption itself;
hence have flowed those opinions, as falses flow in a continued series
from one false principle ; or as from a cask of vinegar nothing but vine
gar can come forth ; or as from an insane mind, we can expect nothing
but insanity."— r. C. R. 132.
" That this idea concerning redemption, and concerning God, per
vades the faith which prevails at this day throughout all Christendom, '
is an acknowledged truth ; for that faith requires men to pray to God
the Father that he would remit their sins for the sake of the cross and
blood of his Son, and to God the Son, that he would pray and inter
cede for them, and to God the Holy Ghost, that he would justify and
sanctify them ; and what is all this but to supplicate three distinct
Gods one after another ? And, in such a case, how can the notion
which the mind forms of the divine government differ from that of an
aristocratical or hierarchical government ? or from that of the trium
virate which once existed at Rome, if only instead of triumvirate it be
called a triumpersonate ?" — T. C. R. 133.
In the above extracts the prevailing falsities pertain
ing to the doctrine of the Atonement are clearly traced
up to false views of the doctrine of the Trinity, in which
the tripersonal theory necessitates the conclusion that the
whole virtue of the Lord's redemption-work was concen
trated in his ignominious death on the cross, the saving
benefits of which are secured to believers by an act of
imputation. In what follows we have a view of the prac
tical effect of this system of theology which cannot but
commend itself with great force to refiecting minds.
" Redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct things,
which ought by no means to be confounded together, and the Lord, by
both, assumed the power of regenerating and saving mankind, as was

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 333
shown in the chapter on Redemption. From the prevailing faith of
the present church, that the passion of the cross constitutes the sum
and substance of redemption, have arisen legions of horrible falsities
respecting God, faith, charity, and other subjects connected in a regu
lar chain with those three, and dependent on them ; as for instance res
pecting God, that he passed sentence of commendation on all the human
race, and was willing to be brought back to mercy, in consequence of
that condemnation being laid on his Son, or taken by the Son upon
himself, and that only those are saved who are gifted with the merit of
Christ either by the Divine foreknowledge or predestination. This
fallacy has given rise also to another tenet of that faith, that all who
are gifted with that faith are instantly regenerated without any regard
to their own co-operation ; yea, that they are thus delivered from the
curse of the law, being no longer under the law, but under grace ; and
this notwithstanding the Lord's declaration that he would not take
away one jot or tittle ofthe law (Matt. v. 18, 19 ; Luke xvi. 17) ; and
his command to his disciples to preach repentance for the remission of
sins (Luke xxiv. 47 ; Mark vi. 12)."
" Consult your reason, and tell me what sort of creatures, in your
judgment, men would become, supposing the faith of the present church
to continue, which teaches that they were redeemed solely by the pas
sion of the cross, and that those who are gifted with the Lord's merit
are not under the curse of the law ; and further, that this faith, al
though a man is altogether ignorant whether it be in him or not, remits
sins and regenerates, and that his co-operation in its act, that is, while
it is given and enters into him, would defile it, and make salvation
void ; for by this he would mix his own merit with Christ's. Consult,
I say, your reason, and tell me whether, upon this supposition, the
whole Word, which insists principally on regeneration by a spiritual
washing from evils, and by exercises of charity, must not of necessity
be rejected ? And then of what use is the decalogue, which is the be
ginning of reformation, or what purpose can it serve but to be applied
by a cook as so much waste paper to wrap up his confectionery ? In
such a case, what is religion but a kind of lamentable cry on a man's
part that he is a sinner, joined with supplication to God the Father to
have mercy on him for the sake of his Son's sufferings? And what is -
this but a religion of the lips only, proceeding from the lungs, without
anything of act or deed in it proceeding from the heart ? And what
then is redemption but a papal indulgence ? or what more than the
whipping of one monk for the offences of the whole monastery, as is no
uncommon practice? Supposing this faith alone to regenerate a man,
while repentance and charity contribute nothing, what is the internal
man, which is his spirit that lives after death, but like a city on fire,
the rubbish of which forms the external ? or like cultivated ground or
a meadow laid waste by caterpillars and locusts ? Such a man appears
in the sight of angels just like a person who cherishes a serpent in his
bosom, while he covers it with his garment to prevent its being seen ;
29*

334 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
or like one who sleeps as a sheep in company with a wolf; or like a
person who lies down to rest under an elegant coverlet ia a shirt woven
of spider's webs. And in such case, what is a life after death, when
all, according to the differences of their advancement in the regenera
tion, are to be arranged in heaven, or according to the differences of
their rejection of regeneration, in hell, but a merely carnal life, thus
like that of a fish or a crab?"— T. C. R- 581, 582.
From all this the inference cannot well fail to be drawn,
that the essence of Atonement, according to the new de
velopments vouchsafed to Swedenborg, lies not in any
vicarious satisfaction made by the blood of Christ to the
demands of injured justice, but in that pacification which
results from the triumphs of the Lord's conjoint Divinity
and humanity over the infernal hosts who held man's
moral nature in bondage, and thus enabling him to be
saved by a life of righteousness, the fruit of regeneration.
" In order to remove hell, and so to avert the impending
damnation, the Lord came into the world, and did re
move and subdue it, and thus opened heaven, so that he
might afterwards be present with man on earth, and
such as live accm-ding to his commandments, and might
consequently regenerate them; for those who are regene
rated are saved. The tloctrine, therefore, which the
Church maintains, that unless the Lord had come into
the world, no one could have been saved, is to be under
stood in this sense, that unless he had come into the
world no one could have been regenerated." In the mat
ter of salvation everything hinges upon life ; a new life
is itself the essence of salvation, and the grand object of
the incarnation, and therefore the quintessence of atone
ment, is the restoration to man of the capability of a re-
new^ed spiritual life, which had been lost by his lapsing
under the disastrous power of the spirits of evil.
The first question, undoubtedly, that occurs here is,
whether the doctrine is true, or in other words, whether
it is scriptural. On this head we appeal to the leading
scope of Scripture, and especially the drift of our Lord's
own teachings. Now that the doctrine is made known,
we hold it to be the most obvious and legitimate sense of
revelation ; and, at the same time, we maintain that the

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 335
Church had for centuries sunk so deep in the abyss of
spiritual blindness, that it actually required just such an
illumination as that claimed by Swedenborg to unfold
the genuine truth on this head, that is, to develope the
real sense of Scripture. How could the true nature of
redemption have been unfolded, except by means of a
discovery of the relation of the spiritual to the natural
world ? And how could this discovery have been made
but by the opening of the spiritual senses, as in the case
of the illustrious Seer of the New Church? Tet who
would have thought of claiming this, if the prerogative
had not been real ?
in. A new doctrine of Regeneration stands forth conspi
cuous in Swedenborg's disclosures. As in every other
system, so in this, the nature of Regeneration sustains a
close relation to the doctrines taught respecting the
Trinity and the Atonement. When the divine essence
is conceived of under the tripersonal aspect, and the doc
trine of Atonement is simply that of penal satisfaction to
justice, then the idea of regeneration resolves itself into
an act of sovereignty by which the saving benefits of the
Atonement are applied to particular persons, who, for
inscrutable reasons in the Divine mind, are selected to be
the objects of this favor. On this view, regeneration is
set forth as a process purely miraculous, and referable
directly and exclusively to the sovereign will and power
of Omnipotence. Closely analyzed, it will be found to
amount to an act of spiritual creation, strikingly analo
gous to natural creation, which, it is assumed, was a
creation out of nothing. Accordingly as the material
universe is supposed to have sprung instantaneously into
being by virtue of the simple fiat of Jehovah, so by a
similar procedure, the soul dead in trespasses and sins is
instantaneously created anew, and endowed with spiritual
life. There is a direct and sudden infusion of a new
principle of life, where there was nothing but the deepest
death before. This change, we have said, is according
to the prevalent doctrine instantaneous, for its abettors
hold that there is no medium between life and death ; if

336 E THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
a soul is at one moment spiritually dead, and the next is
spiritually alive, the change must of course have been
instantaneous. And not only so ; it is a part of the
same theory that the process is complete at once. Re
generation is a new birth, and the idea of a regeneration
which is not complete at the time of its occurrence, is as
incongruous, in the view of the old theology, as is that
of a child but half born. If born at all, is it not wholly
born ? And so, if the soul be quickened into newness
of life, can we conceive of its being left by the Divine
Regenerator in a state of semi-vitality ? Such, then, is
the current theory of regeneration. The subject is pas
sive in the act of being regenerated, though he is sup
posed to pass through certain exercises, and to perform
certain duties both before and after the event. The pro
cess is regarded as the great turning-point in the moral
history of those who experience it, and as the doctrine of
the saints' final perseverance affords every security that
there will be no fatal lapse afterwards, therefore all
anxiety on that score is precluded, and the great aim of
pastors and teachers is to get the pilgrims fairly into the
wicket-gate, making comparatively little account of the
subsequent journey to the Heavenly City. This, they
seem to think, notwithstanding all its hardships and
perils, will in some way take care of itself It is not
denied, of course, that there is a duty of Sanctification,
which is formally inculcated from the sacred desk and in
the manuals of piety, but it is preached in such a com
paratively cold and unimpassioned manner, as proves it
to hold but a secondary place, as viewed by the side of
the great and paramount work of Regeneration. For
the truth of this statement we appeal to the dominant
style of pulpit discourses every where, especially among
the Revivalists, who make it their great aim to get their
hearers soundly converted, trusting to covenant grace to
keep them so.
What now is the contrary and contrasted view on this
theme taught in the New Church ? In the first place,
Regeneration in this system is a gradual and orderly

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 337
work, entirely remote from anything abnormal, arbitrary, ,
or miraculous. It is, on the contrary, just as orderly as
the opening of a flower or the growth of a tree. Man is
constituted with the potency of the opening of a series of
successive degrees in his mind, to wit, the natural, the
spiritual, and the celestial. That is to say, when these
degrees are opened at all, they are opened in this order.
But it does not follow that they are all actually opened
in all men, which is the same as to say that all men are
not regenerated, for thousands and millions there are who
never get beyond the natural degree — the degree into
which all men are born — the degree which is opened to
the world with its interests, cares, pursuits, pleasures,
ambitions, honors, glories, and gauds. This is the ele
ment of the natural man ; he is open and receptive to all
the influences and delights which come upon him from
this source. They are congenial to him, and he desires
nothing higher or better. To objects and interests con
nected with the spiritual world and a heavenly life, his
mind is hermetically closed. The external world ad
dresses his external nature, and with that he is content.
Under these circumstances, we may say that his designed
development — that for which he was originally created
— is arrested. He is like a plant that buds, but never
blossoms or bears fruit. Remaining in this state, or
upon this plane, he fails to reach the maturity of his be
ing, for this no one ever reaches without becoming the
subject of Regeneration.
But how is this work accomplished, and in what res
pects do the teachings of the New Church approve them
selves of a higher character than those to which we have
adverted ? The reply to this query involves one of the
most striking developments of the New Dispensation.
It affords a satisfactory solution of a grand problem in
theology, to wit, the conjoint agency of God and man
in the work of man's restoration to spiritual life. The
necessity of this process rests obviously upon the fact
that man's ruling love, which determines his character
and his destiny, is in his unregenerate state evil and not

338 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
good. It flows forth in the direction of the world and of
hell, and not of heaven. It is indispensable that the
quality of this love should be changed, but it cannot be
changed by a simple act of the will. The fixed bent of
the soul, corroborated by long years of habit, can never
be altered by a bare volition to that effect, however vigor
ously exerted. Still there is something which can be
done. As the moral character, at any given period of a
man's history, is the result of the accumulations of his
previous life — of a countless series of repetitions of parti
cular acts— so it is only by a cessation of these acts that
a ^contrary predominant cast of character can ever be
acquired . Repeated outward acts of evil engender more
and more an inward love of the evil. If this love is ever
to be abated, the outward acts which had formed it must
be abstained from. " Where no fuel is the fire goeth
out." Man has the power of self-compulsion by which
he can withhold himself from the performance of any
given act. The devotee of the intoxicating bowl can re
frain from drinking, though he cannot by an act of will,
nor by one act of abstinence, extinguish the appetite.
But one act of abstinence does something, however little,
towards effecting this result in the end, and every act of
this kind is not merely the negation of so much evil, but
the actual presence of the opposite good, for the Divine
influx is ever pressing for admission into the minds of
men, and gains entrance in proportion as obstructions
are removed. Evil states and habits constitute these
obstructions, and so far as they are put away, the con
trary goods take their place. How explicit is our author's
testimony on this head may be seen from the following
paragraph, showing how the spiritual mind is opened :
" The spiritual mind is primarily opened by man's abstaining from
doing evils, because they are contrary to the divine precepts in the
Word ; if man abstains from evils from any other fear than this, that
mind is not opened. The reasons why the spiritual mind is thereby
opened and not otherwise are these : First, that evils must first be re
moved with man, before communication and conjunction can be given
hun with heaven, for evils, which are all in the natural man, keep
heaven shut, which notwithstanding must be opened, inasmuch aa

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 339
otherwise man remains natural. The second reason is, because the
Word is from the Lord, and consequently the Lord is in the Word, in
somuch that He is the Word, for the Word is divine truth, all which
is from the Lord ; hence it follows, that he who abstains from doing
evils, because they are contrary to the divine precepts in the Word, ab
stains from them by influence from the Lord. The third reason is, that
in proportion as evils are removed, in the same proportion goods enter ;
that this is the case, man may see from natural lumen alone, for lasci-
viousness being removed, chastity enters ; intemperance being removed,
temperance enters ; deceit being removed, sincerity enters ; hatred and
the delight of revenge being removed, love and the delight of love and
friendship enters ; and so in other cases ; and the reason of this is, be
cause the Lord enters, and with the Lord, heaven, in proportion as man
abstains from doing evils from the Word, because he then abstains
from them by infiuence from the Lord." — A- E- 790.
In every case, therefore, where a man by self-compul
sion shuns evils as sins, there is an infusion of divine
power into the soul, so that the next act of self-denial
becomes easier than the former, and so on in increasing
ratio as he persists in abstaining from actual evils of
every kind. The consequence is, that as the force of the
habit becomes weakened, the corresponding love from
which flow the external actions, is weakened in the same
proportion, till at length an opposite love is established
in the soul, the result of which is an opposite life. This
is regeneration. Man is active in the process by com
pelling himself to refrain from the habitual acts which
bar out the Divine influx ; and the Lord is active by
that influx, when admitted, in subduing the workings of
the natural man, and turning the current of thought and
affection more and more in a heavenward channel. Thus
the spiritual and celestial degrees of the mind are suc
cessively opened, angelic associations established, and
final conjunction with the Lord, the essence of a heaven
ly life, effected.
The work in its commencement is exceedingly feeble,
resembling the first obscure dawnings of the morning
light, which are almost too faint to be perceived. But
it becomes more and more perceptible as the divine life
flows in, and becomes more operative in its control over
the evil elements within, and their manifestation with-

340 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
out, just as the light of the sun waxes brighter and
brighter to the perfect day.
During all this process the understanding takes the
lead, and by its power of elevating itself above the level
of the will-principle, dictates the course to be pursued
by the depraved natural principle in withholding itself
from its chosen delights. If the understanding were
merged in the will, as is the case both with those who
are confirmed in good and those who are confirmed in
evil, this process would be impossible ; but it has been
ordered of the divine mercy since the fall, that these
faculties should be separated, and the understanding
made capable of acting, in the first instance, in disjunc
tion from the will, in order that regeneration wrought in
freedom and rationality might be possible. And for
ourselves we are' satisfied that this idea of the designed
separation of the two grand principles of our being for
such an end would never have entered the human mind
had it not been suggested from above. But while truth
in the operations of the intellect holds the ascendency at
the commencement, and in the earlier stages of regene
ration, as leading to good, yet subsequently this order is
reversed, good gains the upper hand, and truth is attained
as the normal product or outbirth of good. Thus it is
that " the good man is satisfied from himself." He has
in his devout affection a never-failing spring of truth, for
good is warming the seminal principle of all truth. In
proof of this let the spiritual-minded man appeal to his
own experience. As he advances in the christian life, is
he not conscious of wearying in great measure of exter
nal acquisitions of knowledge ? Does he not find himself
instinctively turning inward, and seeking satisfaction in
what arises from within the domain of his own bosom ?
Tet where has this idea ever been advanced before? It
is peculiar to the New Church, aud the New Church
finds its recorded commencement in the writings of Swe
denborg. IV. The system announced by Swedenborg presentsan
entirely new view of the nature and relations of Charity

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 341
and Faith in the economy of salvation. This view is
based upon the psychological distinction between Love
and Intellect, or Will and Understanding, in which the
Love or Will principle is the fundamental ground of be
ing, and the generating source of all thought. Love, in
fact, is an essence and not a quality. It is the very in
most element of existence, and is to intellect what heat
is to light. Charity is the term applied to Love when
its object is more especially the neighbor rather than the
Lord, and Faith is the product of Love or Charity, as it
comes more properly within the category of the Intellect.
Still a genuine faith cannot exist except as it is rooted in
the good of charity, which is in fact the essential life of
faith. That a contrary impression exists widely in the
christian world — an impression, to wit, that charity is the
fruit of faith — is beyond a doubt ; and that this idea has
led to immeasurable mischief in the church is equally
past question. Had the truth been known upon the in
trinsic nature, and the relative offices of Love and Faith,
the case would have been far different. The pernicious
dogma of salvation by faith alone would scarcely have
been broached to the world. The true doctrine on this
subject is, we conceive, clearly taught- in the following
paragraph, which is replete with a philosophy that the
schools have never reached : —
" That all things of heaven and of the church are from the good of
love, and that the good of love is from the Lord, cannot be seen, and
therefore it cannot be known, unless it be demonstrated. The reason
why it is not known in consequence of its not being seen, is, because
good does not enter into the thought of man like truth, for truth is
seen in thought, inasmuch as it is from the light of heaven, but good is
only felt, because it is from the heat of heaven, and it rarely happens
that any one, while reflecting upon what he thinks, attends to what he
feels, but only to what he sees ; this is the reason why the learned have
attributed every thing to thought and not to affection ; and why the
church has attributed every thing to faith, and not to love, when, never
theless, the truth, which at this day in the church is said to be of faith,
or is called faith, is only the form of good which is of love. Now since
man does not see good in his thought, for good, as was observed, is
only felt, and is felt under various species of delight ; and since man
does not attend to the things which he feels in thought, but to those
30

342 THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
which he sees there, therefore he calls all that good which he feels de
lightful, and he feels evil as delightful, this being ingenerate or inherent in
him by birth, and proceeding from the love of self and the world, this is
the reason why it is not known that the good of love is the all of heaven
and the church, and that this in man is only from the Lord, and that
it does not flow from the Lord into any but such as shun evils and the
delights thereof as sins. This is what is to be understood by the Lord's
words, that the law and the prophets hang upon these two command
ments, ' Thou shalt love God above all things, and thy neighbor as thy
self (Matt. xxii. 35-38)-; and I can aver, that there does not exist a
grain of truth, which in itself is truth in man, except so far as it pro
ceeds from the good of love from the Lord, and therefore neither is
there a grain of faith, which in itself is faith — that is, a living, saving,
and spiritual faith, except so far as it proceeds from charity, which is
from the Lord. Inasmuch as the good of love is the all of heaven and
the church, therefore the universal heaven and the universal church are
arranged by the Lord according to the affections of love, and not ac
cording to anything of thought separated from them ; for thought is
affection in form, just as speech is sound in form." — A. E. 1217.
This view of the intrinsic relation of Goodness and
Truth, or Love and Intellect, prepares us for understand
ing more clearly and admitting more readily the truth of
the general proposition, that Charity produces Faith in
stead of Faith Charity.
" That spiritual love, which is charity, produces faith, may appear
from this circumstance only, that man after death, who is then called a
spirit, is nothing else but affection, which is of love, and that his
thought is thence derived, wherefore the universal angelic heaven is
arranged into societies according to the varieties of affections, and
every one in heaven, in whatever society he may be, thinks from his
own affection ; hence then it is that affection, which is love, produces
faith, and the faith is according to the quality of the affection ; for
faith is nothing else but to think that a thing is so in verity : by affec
tion is meant love in its continuity. But man in the world at this day
is ignorant that his thought is from affection and according to it, and
the reason is, because he sees his thought, but not his affection, and
whereas thought is his affection in a visible form, therefore he knows
no otherwise than that the whole mind of man is thought ; the case
was otherwise formerly with the ancients, where the churches were,
who, inasmuch as they knew that love produces all things of thought,
therefore made charity, which is the affection of knowing truths, of un
derstanding them, likewise of willing them, and thereby becoming wise,
the principle medium of salvation; and inasmuch as that afection
makes one with faith, therefore they were unacquainted with the term
faith. From these considerations it may not only appear how faith is

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 343
formed with man, but also that faith can never produce charity, but
that charity, which is spiritual love, forms it to a resemblance of itself,
and therein presents an image of itself, and that hence it is that the
quality of faith is known from charity and its goods, which are good
works, as the quality of a tree is known from its fruit : by the tree,
however, is not understood faith, but the man as to his life, by the
leaves thereof are signified truths whereby is faith, and by the fruits
thereof are signified goods of life, which are goods of charity. Besides
these there are innumerable other arcana respecting the formation of
faith by charity from the Lord ; but still the Lord alone operates all
those arcana, whilst man is ignorant thereof ; all the operation which
is necessary on the part of man, is to learn truths from the Word, and
to live according to them." — A. E. 790.
To the same purpose speaks the same high authority
in the ensuing passage :
" Inasmuch as in the preceding articles the existence of faith from
charity is treated of, it shall also be briefiy explained which is prior
and which posterior. It has been shown that charity produces faith as
good produces truth, and as affection produces thought, likewise as
fire produces light, wherefore it is speaking altogether contrary to or
der, and inversely, to say that faith produces charity, or the goods
thereof, which are called good works. But it is to be observed that
charity, which in its essence is the affection of knowing, of understand
ing, of willing, and of doing truth, does not come into any perception
of man, before it has formed itself in the thought, which is from the
understanding, for then it presents itself under some form or appearance,
by virtue whereof it appears before the interior sight : for thought that
a thing is so in verity, is called faith : hence it may appear that charity
is actually prior and faith posterior, as good is actually prior and truth
posterior, or as the producing principle is essentially prior to the pro
duct, and as essence is prior to existence ; for charity is from the Lord,
and is also first formed in the spiritual mind, but whereas charity does
not appear to man before it is faith, therefore it may be said, that faith
is not in man before it is made charity in form ; wherefore concerning
the existence of charity and faith with man, it may be said that they
both exist at the same moment ; for although charity produces faith,
still, inasmuch as they make one, one can never be given separate from
the other, so far as comes to man's perception, neither-as to degree nor
as to quality." — A. E. 795.
The above enunciation of the relation of Charity and
Faith is all-important in its bearings upon the accredited
doctrine of Justification by Faith alone. Nothing is
more notorious than the prominence given in Protestant
Christendom to this tenet. According to it the simple

344 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
act accepting and appropriating the atoning merits of
Christ is that which concentrates within itself thejusti-
fying virtue of faith, and from this act every admixture
of charity or good works is to be carefully excluded, lest
in some way a latent element of merit should insinuate
itself, and thus detract from the all-perfect merits of the
Saviour. True, indeed, this fact of the exclusion of
Charity from all consideration in the process of justifica
tion will for the most part be denied by the advocates of
the scheme, for the reason that certain invented methods
of conjoining faith and works have been adopted in the
ology, whereby the deadly wound inflicted upon the
truth by the doctrinal separation of these principles is
ostensibly healed. The repeated mention in the Word
of works, of life, of loving and doing, goes so emphati
cally against the idea of resting the whole result upon a
bare act of faith, that the asserters of the doctrine feel
themselves under a kind of involuntary constraint to
give them some place in the scheme which they have
devised. But it is not intelligently done, as a searching
logical inquest will show. They pay an unconscious tri
bute to truth, by acknowledging that some provision is
to be made for the operations of charity in the process
of justification, yet you find it impossible to discover
precisely where it comes in. The promise made to the
ear is broken to the heart, for it is palpable that in the
formal enunciation of the doctrine. Charity and its works
are utterly excluded from all participation in the act.
On this head we insert a paragraph from our " Reply to
Dr. Woods," published some years since. The Dr. had
charged Swedenborg with misrepresenting the doctrine
of Luther and the Reformers in regard to the tenet we
are now considering : " I cannot but ask how Sweden
borg has misrepresented the doctrine, and if he has, what
is the doctrine which is to be considered as adopted by
the Protestant churches ? I wish to know whether they
adhere to the Augsburg Confession, the Formula Oon-
cordim, which teaches that good works, which are said
freely and spontaneously to follow faith, and are called

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 345
the fruits of faith, have no real connection with faith, and
accordingly do not contribute at all to salvation. Is it
your belief that these works are merely signs and mani
festations of a justifying faith, but not entering at all
into its essence and efficacy ? I can truly say that I am
exceedingly anxious for light on this point, for in no de
partment of Protestant Theology, excepting perhaps that
of the Trinity, do I find myself so beset with mystery and
confusion as in regard to the fundamental principle of a
sinner's justification. On the one hand, it is ascribed to
faith to the exclusion of works, or of the moral element
from which good works proceed ; on the other, it is said
it must not be a dead faith, or a faith not productive of
such works. But a dead faith is not properly any faith
at all, and no one supposes that a man can be justified
without a faith that is alive. What is it then that consti
tutes the life of faith — such a faith as actually produces
justification ? Is it not love or charity, and is not this
element to be taken into account in the justifying func
tion of faith ? Is not its exclusion like ascribing a moral
character to an act of the body with which the soul has
nothing to do ? What is a mere intellectual belief of the
truth, however strong and confident, which is not per
vaded and vitalized by the affection of love ? And what
a strange anomaly must it be in the divine proceedings
to account a man just in the absence of the only princi
ple which can make him just? — to insist upon a faith
which can only be a living because a loving faith, and
yet exclude from consideration the very love which is its
life?" It will be seen from the tenor of what we have now
spread before our readers, that the teaching of Sweden
borg on the doctrine of Faith and Charity, in their mu
tual relations to each other, is immeasurably in advance
of any thing propounded to the world by its theological
oracles, inasmuch as they are founded upon a psycholo
gical or ontological necessity growing out of the very
elements of our being. Love is the inmost essence of
life, while intellect is the form of its manifestation. As
30*

346 THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
faith comes primarily into the category of the intellect,
though still as an element of salvation inseparable from
charity or love, so it must be in its own nature posterior
to love and its works, and not their parent, as the creed
of Christendom for the most part maintains. Let the
candid judge of dogmas pronounce upon the two oppos
ing views, and then let him say whether he deems the
developments of Swedenborg on this score as coming
within the reach of man's unaided ability. Was such an
enucleation of the inner structure of our being to have
been rationally anticipated a priori as the basis of the
true doctrine ? And is not the fact of its having been
done by human agency a proof that it has been dictated
by a super-human authority ?
Beside the doctrinal department of Swedenborg's
writings, there is another portion usually known as the
Memorabilia, or Memorable Belations, the scope of
which is to unfold the leading phenomena and laws of
the spiritual world. Into this world he claims to have
been admitted by a peculiar kind of intromission, to
which we may properly give the name of extacy or
trance, a state similar to that of the ancient prophets
when favored with visions and revelations of God, ex
cept that in Swedenborg's case, the rational faculty, in
stead of being in the least suspended, was all along
sustained in the full exercise of its highest functions,
and he was enabled to describe on the natural plane
what was, at the very time, transpiring on the spirit
ual. This fact distinguished Swedenborg's spiritual
experience from that of all the seers and spiritual illu
mined who had preceded him. We do not learn, in re
gard to any of them, that they were empowered, as he
was, to be thus in the natural and the spiritual world at
one and the same time.
In the enjoyment of this prerogative, he has poured a
fiood of light on the mysteries of trans-sepulchral life.
He has disclosed to us a state of existence appropriate
to spirits disenthralled from clay, and yet so related, in a
thousand points, to the terrestrial life that we perceive the

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 347
same great fundamental laws of being obtaining in both
worlds, and are therefore furnished in what we know of
the present, with a criterion by which to judge of the
alleged facts of the future. On this class of statements
we are called to pronounce judgment, and the verdict
we may pronounce upon them will reflect itself upon
the whole system of which they form a part. The force
of the evidence drawn from this source depends upon the
fact, that many of the relations are of a character in
trinsically rational and probable, and at the same time
apparently so strange and anomalous, so remote from all
ideas previously entertained on the subject, that we are
here also shut up to the belief of a divine suggestion.
We are free to appeal to the intelligence of all considerate
men, whether they deem it at all probable, that the fol
lowing professed revelations would ever have been made
had they not been true ;' that is, would they ever have oc
curred to any mind so imbued with traditionary dogmas
and impressions as even Swedenborg's must inevitably
have been, in the circumstances in which he was placed.
Examples in point are very numerous ; we adduce a few
of the most striking.
I. The formation of a new heaven. AVhat enunciation
could be uttered more at variance with all preconceived
ideas than this ? Is not heaven universally looked upon
as the very type of permanence ? Should we not a pri
ori as soon look for a change in the unchangeable Jeho
vah himself, as for any new phase in the heaven in which
he dwells, and which is made heaven by his immutable
presence ? Tet this is among the disclosures of the
New Church system, where also the grounds of it are
exhibited. " ' And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,' signifies that a new
heaven was formed out of Christians by the Lord, which at this day
is called the Christian heaven, where they are who had worshipped the
Lord and lived according to his commandments in the Word, who
therefore have charity and faith ; in which heaven also are all the in
fants of Christians. By a new heaven and a new earth, is not meant

348 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
a natural heaven visible to the eye, nor a natural earth inhabited by
men, but a spiritual heaven is meant and an earth belonging to that
heaven where angels are ; that such a heaven and an earth belonging
to it is meant, every one sees and acknowledges, if he can only be ab
stracted a little from ideas purely natural and material when he reads the
Word. That an angelic heaven is meant is evident, because it is said
in the next verse, that he saw the city holy Jerusalem coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,
by which is not meant any Jerusalem that came down, but a church,
and the church upon earth comes down from the Lord out of the an
gelic heaven, because the angels of heaven and men of the earth, in
all things relating to the church, make one. Hence it may be seen,
how naturally and materially they have thought and do think, who
from these words and those which follow in the same verse have fabri
cated a notion that the world is to be destroyed, and that there will be
a new creation of all things. This new heaven is sometimes treated of
above in the Apocalypse, especially in chap. xiv. and xv. ; it is called
the Christian heaven, because it is distinct from the ancient heavens,
which were composed of men of the Church before the Lord's coming ;
these ancient heavens are above the Christian heaven : for the heavens
are like expanses, one above another ; it is the same with each par
ticular heaven ; for each heaven by itself is distinguished into three
heavens, an inmost or third, a middle or second, and a lowest or first,
and so it is with this new heaven ; I have seen them and conversed
with them. In this new Christian heaven are all those who, from the
first establishment of the Christian Church, worshipped the Lord, and
lived according to His commandments in the Word, and who thereby
were in charity and at the same time in faith from the Lord through
the Word, consequently who were not in a dead faith but in a living faith.
In that heaven likewise are all the infants of Christians, because they
have been brought up by angels in those two essentials of the church,
which consist in acknowledging the Lord to be the God of heaven and
earth, and in leading a life conformable to His commandments in the
decalogue."—^. E. 1285.
" It is written in the Revelation, ' I saw a new heaven and a new
earth :• for the former heaven and the former earth were passed away.
And I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband' (xxi. 1, 2).
The like also is written in Isaiah : ' Behold, I create a new heaven and
a new earth : be ye glad and rejoice for ever ; for behold I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy' (Ixv. 1*7, 18) . It has been
shown abeady in this chapter, that a new heaven is at this day form
ing by the Lord, of such Christians as acknowledged him in the world,
and were able after their departure out of the world, to acknowledge
him to be the God of heaven and earth, according to his own words in
Matt, xxviii. 18."— T. C. R. 781.

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGUf. 349
" It is agreeable to divine order, that a new heaven be formed before
a new Church on earth ; for the Church is both internal and external,
and the internal church forms a one with the church in heaven, and con
sequently with heaven ; and that the internal must be formed before the
external, and afterwards the external by the internal, is a truth known
and acknowledged by the clergy in the world. In proportion as this
new heaven, which constitutes the internal of the Church in man, in
creases, in the same proportion the New Jerusalem, that is, the New
Church, comes down from that heaven ; so that this cannot be effected
in a moment, but in proportion as the falses of the former church are
removed ; for what is new cannot gain admission where falses have be
fore been implanted, unless those falses be first rooted out ; and this
must first take place among the clergy, and by their means among the
laity ; for the Lord says, ' No man putteth new wine into old bottles,
else the bottles break and the wine runneth out ; but they put new
wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.' — (Matt. ix. 17; Mark
ii. 22 ; Luke v. 37, 38-)"— T. C. R. 784.
From this it appears that the reason of the formation
of this New Heaven was, that it might constitute the in
ternal of a New Church to be established on the earth in
fulfllment of the oracles of prophecy. This supposes a
closer connexion between the spiritual and the natural
worlds than had ever been conceived before — so close,
indeed, that the one is destined to serve as the soul of the
other ; but whether the novelty of the announcement is
sufficient to make it incredible, we leave it to the world
to determine. The inspired predictions mean something;
can a more rational explanation be suggested ?
II. It mustbefelt to be a strange intimation, that men,
or rather men-spirits, of every class, are allowed to make
the experiment whether they can be happy in heaven.
"It is to be observed, that iu the other life heaven is denied to no
oue by the Lord, and that as many as will may be admitted ; (.heaven
consists of societies of angels, who are in the good of love towards the
neighbor and of love to the Lord ;) they are let into the societies of
such when they are let into heaven, but when the sphere of their life,
that is, when the life of their love is not in agreement, in this case
there ensues a confiict, and hence they have torment and dejection.
Thus they are instructed concerning the life of heaven, and concerning
the state of their own Ufe respectively, also concerning this circum
stance, that no one hath heaven merely by being received or let in, as
is the common opinion in the world, and likewise that man, by a life
in the world acquires the capacity of abiding hereafter with those who
are in heaven." — A- C. 8945.

350 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
" Sometimes spirits recently deceased, who interiorly have been evil
durmg their lives in the world, but exteriorly have borrowed an ap
pearance of good by the works which they have done for others for
the sake of self and the world, have complained that they were not ad
mitted into heaven, they having no other opinion of heaven than as of a
place into which they might be admitted by favor. But it was some
times answered them that heaven is denied to no one, and if they were
desirous of it they might be admitted. Some also were admitted to
the heavenly societies which were nearest the entrance, but when they
came thither, by reason ofthe contrariety and repugnance of the life, they
perceived, as was said, an agony and torment, as it were infernal, and
cast themselves down thence, saying afterwards that heaven to them
was hell, and that they had never believed that heaven was such." —
A. C. 4220.
If heaven be a state rather than a place, why should
not this be deemed credible ? What is there in the Di
vine perfections that should forbid to any lost spirit an
experimental proof that his exclusion from bliss was
owing to no arbitrary decree of Omnipotence, but solely
to the incapacity created by the moral status of his own
mind ? Tet who would have ever thought of this had
it not been true ?
III. Of a similar character is the intimation, that even
the righteous who are saved, often suffer severely in the
other world prior to their full elevation to heaven.
" Besides the hells, there are also vastations, concerning which much
is stated in the Word. For man, by reason of actual sins, bring-s with
him into another life innumerable evils and falses, which he accu
mulates and conjoins : and this is the case even with those who have
lived uprightly. Before, then, they can be elevated into heaven, their
evils and falses must be dissipated, and this dissipation is called vasta
tion. There are many kinds of vastations, and the times of vastation
are longer and shorter, some in a very short time being taken up into
heaven, and some immediately after death." — A. C. 698.
" There are many persons, who during their abode in the world,
through simplicity and ignorance, have imbibed falses as to faith, and
have formed a certain species of conscience according to the principles
of their faith, and have not, like others, lived in hatred, revenge, and
adulteries. These in another life, so long as they are principled in
what is false, cannot be introduced into the heavenly societies, lest
they should contaminate them, and therefore they are kept for a cer
tain tune in the lower (Rev. vi. 9 ; vii. i ; x. 5 ; xiii. 11, &c.) earth, in
order that they may put off these false principles. The periods of their

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 351
continuance there are longer or shorter according to the nature of the
falsity, the life which they have thereby contracted, and the principles
which they have confirmed in themselves ; and some of them suffer
severely, but others only in a trifling degree. These states are denomi
nated vastations, and are fi-equently mentioned in the Word. When
the time of vastation is over, they are taken up into heaven, and, being
novitiates, are instructed in the truths of faith by the angels amongst
whom they are received." — A. C. 1106.
The only plausible objection to this statement is one
founded upon the connected dogmas of an instantaneous
and sovereign regeneration, a righteousness imputed by
faith, and a consequent immediate transmission at death
to the heavenly mansions. A virtual response to this
objection will have been read in the tenor of our pre
ceding remarks upon the leading doctrines of the New
Church. To those remarks we have nothing now to
add. IV. Parallel with the above is the declaration, that the
Lord never punishes, never afilicts, never casts into hell
any of his creatures ; neither is he ever angry, wrathful,
or vindictive, inasmuch as these are passions utterly and
eternally repugnant to that infinite love, mercy and be
nignity which form his very essence.
" Such is the equilibrium of all and everything in another life, that
evil punishes itself, so that in evil is the punishment of evil. It is simi
lar in respect to the false, which returns upon him who is principled
therein, hence every one beings punishment and torment on himself
by casting himself into the midst of the diabolical crew, who act as the
executioners. The Lord never sends any one into hell, but is desirous
to bring all out of hell ; still less does he induce torment ; but since
the evil spirit rushes into it himself, the Lord turns all punishment and
torment to some good and use. It would be impossible there should be
any such thing as punishment, unless use was the end aimed at by the
Lord, for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of ends and uses, but the
uses which the infernal spirits are able to promote, are most vile, and
when they are exercised in promoting those uses, they are not in so
great a state of torment ; but on the cessation of such uses, they are
cast again into hell." — A- C. 696.
Swedenborg makes the torments of hell to be the fixed
and inevitable result of the moral laws by which the
universe of creatures is governed, and consequently pre-

352 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
eludes all idea of anything arbitrary in the allotment of
the wicked, or of any positive direct infiiction of wrath
on the part of the Creator. Evil is its own punishment,
and all those expressions which seem to indicate that the
Lord, by his own act, under the prompting of vengeance
or anger, heaps sufferings on the wicked, is merely the
language of ajyparent and not of real truth. " In many
passages in the Word, anger and wrath, yea, fury against
men are attributed to Jehovah, when yet there apper
tains to Jehovah pure love and pure mercy towards
man, aud not the least of anger ; this is said in the
Word from the appearance, for when men are against
the Divine, and hence preclude the infiux of love and
mercy to themselves, they cast themselves into the evil
of punishment and into hell ; this appears as unmerci-
fulness and revenge from the Divine, on account of the
evil which they have done, when yet nothing of the sort
is in the Divine, but it is in the evil itself." — A. C. 8483.
This idea is still more forcibly amplified in the following
passage, where he is speaking of the Lord's " breaking
in pieces his enemies :" " They are called enemies, foes,
and haters, not that the Lord is an enemy to them, or
bears hatred towards them, but because they are haters •
and enemies in opposition to the Divine ; but when they
themselves devastate themselves and cast themselves into
damnation and into hell, it appears as if it comes from
the Divine : this appearance or fallacy is like what be-
fals him who sees the sun every day revolving round our
earth, and hence believes that it is the motion of the sun,
when yet it is the motion of the earth ; and like what
befals him who sins against the laws, and on that ac
count is judged by a king or judge, and is punished, in
that he believes the punishment to come from the king
or judge, when yet it comes from himself, who acts con
trary to the laws ; or like what befals him who casts
himself into water, or into fire, or who runs against a
pointed sword, or against a troop of enemies, in that he
believes that his destruction comes from these sources,
when yet it comes from himself: such is the case with those

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 353
who are iu evil."— J.. C. 8282. The truth, therefore,
finds no fellowship with the idea that the torments of
hell are the direct inflictions of divine wrath. Although
they are like everything else, primarily referable to
Jehovah, yet he interposes no more directly to the ac
complishment of his ends in that world than in the
present. There, as well as here, he works by subordi
nate means and ministries, and no more punishes the
evil than rewards the good, independent of the operation
of established moral and psychical laws of order. Con
sequently the ground appears evident of Swedenborg's
assertion, that God casts no one into hell. The language
which implies this is merely economical. As man is the
cause of his own evil, and as evil is hell so far as it ex
ists, he as voluntarily plunges himself into hell as he does
into evil. " The Lord is so far from bringing men into
hell, that he delivers man from hell, as far as man does
not will and love to be in his own evil. All man's will
and love remains with him after death ; he who wills
and loves evil in the world, the same wills and loves evil
in the other life, and then he no longer suffers himself
to be withdrawn from it. Hence it is that the man who
is in evil is tied to hell, and likewise is actually there as
to his spirit, and after death desires nothing more than to
be where his own evil is : wherefore man after death casts
himself into hell, and not the Lord." — H. &H. 547. It
is not, however, to be inferred from this, that the terrors
of that doom are at all abated on the ground of their
being of the spirit's own procurement.
T. It is a signally n&w intimation that every one with
out exception is kindly received by celestial angels upon
his flrst coming into the spiritual world. The prevailing
idea inculcated by theology has been, that the souls of
the wieked, as soon as they were breathed out of their
earthly tenements, were seized upon by exulting fiends
and plunged forthwith into the pit of hell. Swedenborg
gives us a very different doctrine on this head :
" When the celestial angels are with a resuscitated person, they do
not leave him, because they love every one ; but when the spirit is such
31

354 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
that he can no longer be in company with the celestial angels, he desires
to depart from them. . . . But still the angels do not leave him,
but he dissociates himself from them ; for the angels love every one,
and desire nothing more than to perform kind offices, to instruct, and
to introduce in heaven ; their highest delight consists in that. When
the spirit thus dissociates himself, he is received by good spirits (of a
lower grade than angels), and when he is in their company also, all
kind offices are performed for him : but if his life in the world had
been such that he could not be in the company of the good, then also,
he wishes to remove from them, and this even until he associates him
self with such as aerree altogether with his life in the world, with whom
he finds his own life."— ff. ^ //. 450.
Such is the statement. It remains for the rational
mind to judge whether the munificence of the Divine
mercy, through the affections of the angels, cannot afford
thus to welcome the new comers, whatever their charac
ter, into the world of spirits, leaving it to the workings
of their spiritual aflinities to determine their final allot
ment. Does our author more than merely utter ' the
voice of an obvious philosophy when he affirms it to
be the constant law of the spiritual world that like seeks
its like, the good always being drawn to the society of
the good, and the evil to that of the evil ? The above
statement is merely an exemplification of the above law.
VI. According to Swedenborg's exhibition ofthe nature
of infernal woe, remorse of conscience forms no part of
it. The reason is, that conscience with the wicked in
hell has become extinct. Every one knows that the ten
dency of sin and crime is to blunt and deaden the moral
sense. A pirate feels less and less compunction with
every- murder he commits, till at last he becomes callous
to remorseless stings. As every successive act of vio
lence thus done to the conscience tends, in the present
life, to the destruction of the principle itself, we see
not but that it must finally become extinct in the other.
This is not disproved by the fact that conscience, as is
said, sometimes awakens in this world after being long
dormant, and causes ineffable agony. This is because
the terrific future is not yet fully realized ; for when the
emotion is analyzed, what is termed remorse has as much

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 355
relation to the future as to the past. It is " a certain
fearful looking for of judgment," as well as a painful
and corroding retrospect of deeds of evil done. It is
scarcely possible to conceive of remorse separate from
the fear of punishment, without regarding it as implying
a real sorrow for sin, which cannot of course exist but in
connexion with the workings of a true love to God and
goodness. But no principle of this nature can pertain to
the wicked in hell. Evil is their element, their life, and
how can they feel remorse for wrong when they do not,
in their consciousness, recognize wrong? The very
groundwork of remorse is wanting within them, because
they have utterly extinguished conscience. They know,
of course, that they are not what they are not ; and they
know that they are devils and not angels ; but they can
not feel any regret on this account, inasmuch as they are in
their ruling love, and are borne onwards by its power, so
that they can no more desire a state of soul opposite to
that in which they are, than a body can reverse its motion
on the bosom of the fiowing stream, and float upwards
against the current. As to certain expressions in the
Scriptures usually interpreted to denote the torment of
an anguished conscience in the other life, such as " the
worm that dieth not," " the fire that is not quenched."
&c., they undoubtedly imply misery, but not this pre
cise form of misery, for the sense of the inspired letter,
or even of figures, cannot stand against the absolute truth
of things. We conceive that man's nature is psycholo
gically such that a course of sin gradually destroys the
conscience, and consequently that the sinner must finally
reach the point where he becomes inaccessible to the act
ings of remorse. It is probably seldom that this point
is reached in the present life, but in hell we see not but
it must be, and when it is, remorse must be unknown,
except so far as it is identical with fear.
VII. From what has been said above, the inference is
easily drawn, that hell is not, as the prevalent opinion
holds, a state qf uninterrupted and unmitigated suffer
ing. As heaven is perhaps usually regarded as an end-

356 THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
less extacy of joy, so hell is looked upon as an eternal
paroxysm of anguish — both of which are conditions in
consistent with the collected exercise of thought, and the
free display of character. ' The pains of perdition are
often set forth under representations drawn from the
most excruciating tortures which the body can endure
on earth. They are resembled to the effects of material
fire acting without cessation on the sensibilities of the
corporeal structure. Indeed, as the current views of in
fernal misery are for the most part closely connected
with the belief of the resurrection of the body laid
aside at death, so the sufferings conceived of are virtual
ly physical sufferings wrought up to the highest possible
degree of intensity. But if the torments of the pit are
of this description, how can the soul go forth in the ex
cogitation and commission of that transcendent wicked
ness which is at the same time predicated of the spirits
of hell ? Can a man think whose body is consuming by
a slow fire, or whose joints are breaking on the wheel ?
Is not his whole being concentrated in one intense burn
ing sensation of overwhelming pain? Is this a state
compatible with the machinations of evil ? Can schemes
of iniquity be devised or executed in this condition?
Could the devils in hell carry on their concerted plans of
temptation, of which men are the objects, if they were
at the same time racked and tortured by such ineffable
pangs, and drinking to the dregs the cup of divine
wrath perpetually held to their lips ? The slightest re
flection will evince a confiict between the states of pas
sive suffering, and active iniquity, usually predicated of
the fearful lot of the lost. The one must inevitably
swallow up the other. But surely we must conceive of
hell as a state in which the soul is in a sufficient degree
of freedom to act out its dominant impulses. It is then
in its peculiar and controlling loves, and these loves will
seek expression, and in order to this it must possess a
liberty of action which it is impossible to imagine if it
has never the least intermission from the most agonizing
torture.

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN.] 357
The truth must bo admitted, that the ideas of most
Christians on this subject are singularly gross aud sensu
ous, from being governed so much by the simple import
of the letter oi the Word. Because mention is frequent
ly made oi fire in connection with infernal woes, the be
lief has taken root that something of this nature is the
veritable source of the unknown anguish that torments
the damned. But let the nature of man and the nature
of God be duly pondered, and we shall see the intrinsic
truth of what Swedenborg affirms on this head. The
fire of hell is, in fact, when traced to its primal origin,
the very same principle with that which constitutes the
essential bliss of heaven. It is the outfiowing of the
divine Love of the Lord, but modified and perverted by
the internal quality of the i-ecipient subjects. Our
author speaks thus on the subject :
" Fire, in the supreme sense, signifies the divine love of tbe Lord.
The reason of this signiflcation of fire is, because the Lord from his di
vine love, appears in the angelic heaven as a sun, from which sun heat
and light proceed ; and in the heavens the heat from the Lord as a
sun is the divine truth ; hence it is that fire in the Word signifies the
good of love, and light the truth from good. It is from the corres
pondence of fire and love, that, in common discourse, when speaking of
the affections of love, we use the expressions, to grow warm to be in
flamed, to burn, to grow hot, to be on flre, and others of a like nature.
Moreover, man grows warm from his love, of whatever kind it is, ac
cording to the degree of it." — A. C- 951.
" So far concerning the signification of fire in the Word when it is
attributed to the Lord, and when it is predicated of heaven and the
church. On the other hand, whan fire in the Word is predicated of
the evil and of the hells, it then signifies the love of self and of the
world, and thence every evil affection and cupidity which torments the
wicked after death in hell. The reason of this opposite signification
of fire is, because the divine love when it descends out of heaven, and
falls into the societies where the evil are, is turned into a contrary love,
and thence into various burning concupiscences and cupidities, and
thus into evils of every kind ; and inasmuch as evils carry with them
their own punishments, hence arise their torments. From this conver
sion of the divine love into infernal love with the evil, the hells, where
the love of self and the world, and thence hatreds and revenge, have
rule, appear as in a flaming flre, both within and round about, although
no fire is perceived by the diabolic crev/ who are in them. From these
31*

358 THE NEW CHUROH SYSTEM
loves also the diabolic crew themselves, who are iu such hells, appear
with their faces infiamed and reddening as from fire." — A. E. 504.
This view excludes the gross material conception of
literal fire while it retains all that is calculated to give
force and pungency to the inspired descriptions of infer
nal torment. If that view be rejected, what is that
which is to stand in its place ?
VIII. Passing from the scenery of Hell to that of
Heaven, we meet with the apparently anomalous state
ment, that Heaven is arranged into a countless number
of societies, and that these exist collectively in the form
of a Grand Man. The grand idea involved in this an
nouncement is one which we think would never have oc
curred except to a mind that had been favored with a
supernatural insight into that world which is so replete
with divine wonders. But let us look for a moment at
the rationale of the statement.
It is unquestionable, that in point of fact the members
of every social body do constitute a unity which may
properly be termed human. Every individual has a
certain definite relation to the whole. The action of the
whole is the joint action of all the parts, and the identity
of the whole is the identity of the parts ; and so far as
a man is truly a man, in his individual capacity, so far he
imparts his humanity to the formation of the humanity
of the whole. The case is the same as in that of the
human bodj', in which every thing, even the minutest
particle, conspires to the general function of the whole.
Indeed, the sublime philosophy of Swedenborg presents
this as the great law of all aggregate organized forms in
the universe. They are made up of correspondent
leasts. The tongue is composed of an infinity of little
tongues — the liver of little livers — the stomach of little
stomachs — and so throughout. Thus, too, in crystalliza
tions ; every larger mass, of whatever form, whether
triangular, hexagonal, or cylindrical, is found to be com
posed of countless smaller parts of precisely the same
figure. Let this principle be applied to the constitution of

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DtVINE ORIGIN. 359
heaven. Man is a man rather from his internal than his
external. He is social from his internal attributes still
more than from his external ; and as it is the internal"
part of his being which survives death, he enters the
spiritual world in the full exercise of all the leading pro
perties and propensities of his nature. He finds himself
there, as here, in association. Without losing his indi
viduality, his life is merged in the general life of the
whole, and the very same intellectual laws which go in
the present world to construct a collective unity from
the individual parts, operate there also with equal force.
Moral and mental affinities draw into unison those spirits
whose distinguishing characteristics adapt them to re
present respectively the several grand functions of the
human economy. Those who are dominantly in intelli
gence and wisdom naturally correspond to the head,
those who are in affection to the heart, those who are in
keen perceptions to the senses, and so throughout the
whole extent of the structure. There is obviously no
reason why, if one part of the human system should be
thus represented, the whole should not be. And how
does this differ in essential verity from the teaching of
the Apostle, Eph. iv. 16, "From whom the whole body
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying itself in love." And again. Col. ii. 19,
" Not holding the head, from which all the body by
joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit
together increaseth with the increase of God." Here is
the recognition of the church in the human form, but
certainly not in the human shape. The spiritual idea is
easily attached to the words, and we have only to carry
this idea to the celestial sphere in order to conceive
somewhat correctly of the Grand Man of heaven. It is
a view of the subject which arises necessarily from the
fact that man exists as a man in the other world, and
that by the very law of his being he cannot but exist as
a part of a great whole, and in a definite relation to that

360 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
whole. Every individual man in heaven is to the collec
tive humanity there assembled what every distinct part
or particle of the human body is to the entire corporeity.
As every organized social body in the present world is
inevitably wrought into a human form, in the sense
above explained, so from the same cause the same effect
results in the world of souls. It cannot possibly be
otherwise, unless the distinctive properties of man as
man are destroyed by death ; and he that supposes this,
must of necessity suppose that God makes playthings of
the highest attributes of the highest creature in this sub
lunary sphere. Towards this conceit we have peither
fellowship nor toleration. We believe that God created
man for eternal ends, and that this purpose can only be
attained by preserving inviolate the grand distinguishing
laws of his intellectual and moral nature.
We may presume, then, that a sufficient grou.nd for
the main asserted fact of the present disclosure has been
laid in the considerations above adduced. The universal
heaven exists in the interior form of a Grand Man, be
cause it is composed of a countless multitude of indivi
dual men, each of whom, from the very necessities of
his being, is a constituent part of a stupendous whole,
from the life of which his own cannot by any possibility
be sundered without its instant extinction. The vital
conjunction of every individual spirit with the totality of
spiritual existence, is as indispensable as the vital con
junction of every particle of the human body with the
whole. We may approach to a conviction of this by
the bare effect of imagining ourselves for a moment to
be utterly dissevered from all extraneous being. The
very conception is anguish ; and even the thought of
being but one in the universe with God, though at peace
with him, brings with it a feeling of ineffable diminution
of bliss. What a single drop of water would be with
out the ocean, man would be without a fellow. But
happily such conceptions are gratuitous. The life of
creatures is inter-pendent. Each man is " bound up in
the bundle of life," whether abiding on earth or in hea-

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 361
ven. By the law of reciprocal dependence the humani
ty of each must conspire to the aggregate humanity of
the whole, and for the very same reason that all the
separate parts of our being here go to constitute the in
tegrity of an earthly man, do the separate portions of
the celestial humanity go to constitute the integrity of a
grand celestial man. For the same reason, too, that we
each possess higher and lower faculties here, must the
Grand Man possess them there also. As there is a pro
vince of the head, the heart, the members here, a similar
province in each respect must exist there also ; for the
material structures in this world are the mere outward
elaborations of internal plastic principles, which consti
tute our essential humanity, and which must equally con
stitute it, in its collective form, in another world.
IX. Finally, we may advert to that peculiar feature of
the system which affirms that truth is not necessarily
perceived any more in the other world than it is in this.
The perception of genuine truth is relative to the moral
state of the percipient. Such truth must shine into the
soul by its own light, and the Lord never forces it upon
any one. How common the idea that the soul passes at
death into the region of unclouded light, and that what
men refuse to see and believe in this world they will be
compelled to see and believe in the next. Consequently
all the different classes of religionists are confident each
one that all others will in that world come per force into
their views. The Baptist has no doubt that all will be
Baptists there ; the Presbyterian that all will be Presby
terians ; the Episcopalian, that all will be Episcopalians,
and so of all the rest. The man of the New Church,
on the other hand, is taught directly the reverse. He
has no expectation that all will be Newchurchmen there,
although he is perfectly assured of the truth and divi
nity of the system. He is instructed that a man does not
see what he does not love to see. His love principle
governs the actings of his intellect, and he is taught that
a man may be so immoveably confirmed in evil and fal
sity, as morally to incapacitate him from ever appre-

362 THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
bending the truth. If therefore the stickler for the old
theology of Christendom remains to the last rooted and
grounded in the firm belief of his favorite dogmas, we
cannot give ourselves the consolation of hoping for an
auspicious change in the world to come. As the tree
falleth so it will lie. There are doubtless those — we
trust not a few — whose objections to the New Church
teachings are so superficial and superable, who are so far
in the good of life and the affection of truth that when
the sublime verities ofthe New Dispensation come in full
contact with their intelligence, they will feel the force of
the attraction, and will not fail to embrace them ; for all
pure good is destined in the end to come into conjunc
tion with its appropriate truth. Not so those who are
fixed in the rejection of these doctrines. The paramount
law will assert itself Neither man, spirit, nor angel
will believe one way while his ruling love draws him
another. The love of good is the basis of the perception
of truth, and the love of good cannot consist with that
love of self and that spirit of self-derived intelligence
which prevents a man from allowing the possibility of
advancing to higher conceptions of theological truth
than he has already attained.
We have thus endeavored to specify a number of the
leading characteristic features of Swedenboi-g's teachings,
in order to afford to our readers an opportunity of judg
ing how far it is probable that any human mind, of its
own promptings and from the resources of its own reason
or sagacity, would ever have devised them. Are not
the probabilities a thousand to one against such a sup
position ? That they are views which are altogether for
eign and remote from the ordinary course of thought upon
religious topics — that many of them are of a character
somewhat to outrage, in the first instance, our settled
convictions — will be readily admitted ; and if we were
shut up exclusively to these phases ofthe system we should
no_ doubt reject it at once. But then on the other hand
it is certain that when more closely examined, analyzed,
and scanned, these professed revelations of doctrine and

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 363
fact assume a new aspect and possess themselves of the
approval of the reflecting reason. They stand out before
the mind as more and more worthy the divine source in
which they profess to originate. They therefore leave ns
in the dilemma, that if they were not actually imparted
to Swedenborg by a revelation from heaven, but were
the fruit of his own cogitations, we have the phenomenon
of a genius that soars immeasurably above and beyond
any known standard of human ability. As much as you
take away from his authority as a divine messenger you
place to his account as an unrivalled man, one before
whose transcendent powers all the larger and lesser lights
ofthe intellectual firmament " pale their ineffectual fires,"
like the receding stars before the advancing sun.
And now in view of all that has been offered may we
not justly reverse the tenor of the question which we pro
posed in tbe outset to answer, and put it thus : " What
reasons are there for no< believing that Emanuel Sweden
borg was invested with a divine commission ?" For sure
ly the onus of the argument lies on the side of the doubters
or deniers. What valid plea can any one adduce to just
ify himself in the rejection of a system which comes to
him fortified by such a vast amount of corroborative testi
mony ? Can any one say what is wanting, on the score of
evidence, which shall certify a divine revelation to man ?
Does it not satisfy the head and the heart ? Does it not
come up to the requisitions of a system of which it is said,
" Behold, I make all things new 1"
Is it not so ? Tou go into a New Church place of wor
ship, and how new is everything that accosts your hearing !
The Scriptures exhibit a new character, for no sooner is
the Word opened for exposition, than you are invited to
the consideration not of the letter but of the spirit. Every
thing relative to the text and the applicatiori made of it
is totally unlike that which you will hear in any other
church in Christendom. The very dialect in which the
preacher utters himself is in a measure new, and although
the terms when understood are seen to be altogether ap
propriate and expressive, yet at first blush they strike the

364 THE NEW CHURCH SYSTEM
stranger strangely. He feels that he has, as it were, a
new nomenclature to learn when such terms salute his ears
as ths sensual, the rational, the Dimi/ne, as epithets with
out a substantive ; the heavens and the hells, in the plu
ral ; the proprium, falses, the internal, and the ext&rnal
man, the Lord incessantly instead of iSrod or Christ, the
Word instead of the Bible or the Scriptures, infiux in
stead oiinjkience, and the perpetual recurrence of ^oo^fness
and tvuth, will and understanding, and other like pecu
liarities, which might appear perhaps as affectations, but
which in fact are every one of them justified by a suffi
cient reason when the rationale of their use is inquired into.
All this is but an element in that universal renovation
which characterizes the New Church. The new wine has
to be put into new vessels. The old forms of thought, sus
tained by the old modes of diction, are not adequately
receptive of the new ideas which are flowing down from
heaven in connection with the dispensation of the New
Jerusalem. This feature of the system, together with its profoundly
philosophical character, and the large draft which it makes
upon the reflection of the reader, may easily lead, as it
often has done, to the impression that the doctrines are
not lucid and intelligible to the ordinary mind — that they
are abstruse and obscure, and can never be so brought
down to the level of the common apprehension, as to be
come accessible to the masses ; but that they must, from the
necessity of the case, be confined to the more cultivated
and intellectual classes, or to the wealthy who can com
mand leisure to embark in the study of spiritual or meta
physical arcana. This impression, however, we are obli
ged to set down among other popular errors and delu
sions in regard to the New Church and its accredited
teachings. In point of fact there are no tenets so simple,
so easily grasped, so wholly accommodated to ready re
ception, as those of the New Church when viewed in
their intrinsic nature, and there is some evidence of this
in the fact, that the great majority of past and present
receivers have not been persons of the highest order of

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 365
intellect or of extraordinary mental culture, but rather of
plain, sound, substantial sense, united with a certain
honest, upright, truth-loving spirit, which is evermore the
most favorable soil for the growth of New Church princi
ples. Tet tliese persons have not found it at all a stu
pendous achievement to master the distinguishing doc
trines of Swedenborg.
But apart from this we may remark, that the alleged
difficulty of comprehending the doctrines of the New
Jerusalem, arises not from their intrinsic obscurity, but
from the mass of falsities and fallacies with which the
minds of readers have been lumbered under former teach
ings, and which are so alien from the genuine simplicity
of truth as almost totally to obstruct its entrance. Just
remove the accumulations of theological rubbish which
have formerly occupied the mind, and the pure truth of
heaven, as imparted through the New Church, will find
a comparatively easy access to the understanding, and be
seen to accord most harmoniously with its intuitions and
judgments. And why should it not ? What can be more plain and
simple than its elementary teachings ? The system has
indeed its strong meat for grown men, but it has also its
milk for babes. It has its " fathomless depths where the
elephant can swim, and its shoals where the lamb can
wade." And should not such be the character of a body
of doctrine emanating from heaven ? Is not this the char
acter ofthe sacred Scriptures, embodying an acknowl
edged revelation from Jehovah ? We do not indeed put
the two revelations upon a par, but they may properly
be compared in this particular respect.
Tou say the teachings imparted by Swedenborg are not
easy to be understood — that they are mystical, recondite,
transcendental. Let us bring it to the test. Do you be
lieve there is a real, radical, and all-important difference
between right and wrong ? Certainly, is your reply. Do
you know by conscious perception when you have done
wrong ? Certainly. Do you not feel, in all such cases,
that you might have abstained from doing the acknowl-
32

366 THE NEW OHURCH SYSTEM
edged wrong ? Undoubtedly. Suppose you had abstained
from doing wrong in any given number of cases, do you
not see reason to believe that the contrary habit of doing
right would have been more and more strengthened and
established ? I see no ground to question it. Well, if
good action strengthen good principle, is it not reasonable
to suppose that the more really and deeply any one is prin
cipled in good, the good of affection and of action, the
more clear, distinct, and luminous will be his perceptions
of truth, and the more immersed any one is in evil, the
more prone will he be to adopt falsity instead of truth ?
Of this again I see no ground to doubt. What is more
obvious, then, than the close and indissoluble connection
between goodness and truth, whose interrelations hold
such a conspicuous place in the system? But if any one
can grasp the obvious distinction, and at the same time the
manifold relation, of these two principles, he has obtained
a key to the doctrines of the New Church considered as
a practical system ; and is this so very difficult ? Does
it require any remarkable power of discernment to per
ceive that the will-principle having relation to good is
one thing, and the understanding-principle having rela
tion to truth is another ? And then as to their relation,
does it require the mind of a philosopher to see from the
relation of the two, that just in proportion as one is im
bued with good he will make progress in truth, and that,
on the other hand, as one is enslaved to evil, he will be
sure to adopt falsity instead of truth ? Thus it is that
the sublime philosophy of the New Church will gradually
unfold itself, even to the simple minded, while the learn
ed, the mighty, and the noble of the earth will be sure
to miss its essential meaning, if they do not pass it by witji
a supercilious contempt, as unworthy the notice of liberal
and enhghtened minds.
_ We venture, then, to assure our fellow-men, that the
difficulty complained of in regard to the obscure and in
comprehensible character of the New Church doctrines
is purely imaginary. All that is requisite is that he who
comes to the perusal of the writings should come under

REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN. 367
the prompting of a candid, honest, and truth-loving spirit,
and that he should pursue somewhat of an orderly course
in his reading, by commencing with the works of a more
simple character, and proceeding onward to those that
are more abstruse. One who should open the elements
of Euclid at the 47th Proposition, or at the 3rd Book,
might easily object that it was all jargon to him ; but
let him begin with the axioms, and proceed in an orderly
manner from one step to another through the series of de
monstrations, and he will find it opening before him with
the most delightful lucidness, and conducting him into
the interior recesses of the temple of Geometry. So the
words of the New Dispensation are like the words of wis
dom in Solomon, " plain to him that understandeth and
right to him that findeth knowledge."
We have but a brief word to utter in conclusion. We
have endeavored to set forth, in a feeble way, the claims
of a system of religious doctrine professedly emanating
from the Lord himself, and therefore, if those claims are
well-founded, worthy of all acceptation. We are confi
dent of addressing numbers who cherish the most profound
respect for every word that proceedeth out of the Lord's
mouth, and who would as soon submit to the excision of
a right eye or the amputation of a right hand, as to turn
away from any message that they were assured bore the
signet of the King of kings. To minds of this stamp —
minds pervaded by these sentiments of unfeigned rev
erence for divine oracles, through whatsoever medium
uttered — we would urge the appeal involved in the pre
sent essay. They would not consciously disparage or dis
regard a divine declaration or monition. Is it not possi
ble they may notwithstanding do so, by withholding that
examination which a mission like Swedenborg's deserves
at their hands ? Attestations of a most striking character
will be apparent even to a very superficial inspection. To
one of a more thorough-going and penetrating kind, fea
tures which betoken a divine origin will assuredly discov
er themselves, and how can this but constitute an urgent
claim to investigation ? Suppose the indications of such

368 THE N. C. SYSTEM REFERABLE SOLELY TO A DIVINE ORIGIN.
an origin have not the constraining force of miracles ; sup
pose the divine wisdom draws to the study of these writ
ings with the tender filaments of rational suggestion
rather than with the cord and cable of sensuous demonstra
tion, is that a reason with an ingenuous mind why the at
traction should be unavailing ? Is it not a case where the
bare possibility of rejecting a divine message ought to
inspire the most solicitous anxiety as to the result? And
can we not ideally realize to ourselves the emotions of
intense regret that we should experience upon finding,
among the grave disclosures of the future, that the doc
trines announced to the world by the Swedish Seer were
indeed the very truth of heaven — the theme of angelic pon
dering — the grand hope of a lapsed humanity ? As, then,
we would avoid this pungent regret — as we would be true
to our better instincts — as we would put honor upon what
bears a divine impress — as we would secure to ourselves
the peerless and priceless blessings of a faith which dis
pels doubt — satisfies reason — purifies life — and antedates
heaven, let us bestow a candid and earnest consideration
upon the teachings of the New Jerusalem.

SWEDENBORG AND PAUL.
[K. C. Eepos., April, 1855.]
New York, February 26th, 1855.
Prof. Geo. Bush,
Dear Sir, — How do you reconcile Swedenborg's view of Esau as
denoting the " Good of Life" {A. C. 3300, 3322, 3336), with the 12th
chap, of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, v. 16, where he says : —
" Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one
morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he
found no place of repentance though besought it carefully with tears."
Tours respectfully, A Student op the Bible.
EEMARKS.
A somewhat closer inspection of what Swedenborg
has taught respecting the representative function of Esau,
would doubtless have precluded the above inquiry of
" A Student of the Bible." He would have seen, we
think, that there is no real discrepancy between him and
Paul requiring to be reconciled. Swedenborg's lan
guage, it will be observed, is, that " by Esau is signaled
the good of the natural principle," that is to say, Esau
stands as a representative of the good of the natural
principle, as also of " the good of life, derived from in
flux out of the rational principle ;" and this representa
tive character he could sustain, admitting all that Paul
says of him to be literally true, which of course we do
not deny. The law of representation is thus stated by
Swedenborg :
" It is a general law of representation, that the person or thing
which represents is not at all reflected on, but only that which is repre
sented. As for example : Every king, whosoever he was, whether in
Judah, or in Israel, or even in Egypt and other places, might repre
sent the Lord ; their regal function itself is representative, whence
even the very worst of kings might sustain this representation ; as
Pharaoh, who exalted Joseph over the land of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar

370 SWEDENBORG AND PAUL.
in Babylon (Dan. ii. 37, 38), Saul, and other kings of Judah and of
Israel, of whatsoever character they might be : it was involved in the
very anointing, by virtue of which they were called the anointed of
Jehovah. In like manner all priests, how many soever they were,_ re
presented the Lord ; the priestly office itself being representative,
whence even the wicked and impure could sustain this representation
as well as others ; because, in representatives, the quality of the per
son representing is not at all reflected on." — A- C. 1361.
That this is the light in which both Esau and Jacob
are viewed in this part of the sacred narrative, is ex
pressly asserted by our author in the summing up of
their spiritual history : " In order that the circumstances
related in this chapter concerning Esau and Jacob may
be apprehended as to what they signify in the internal
sense, the thoughts must be removed entirely from the
historical, consequently from the persons of Esau and
Jacob, and instead thereof must be substituted the things
thereby represented, viz., the good of the natural princi
ple and its truth, for names in the internal sense of the
Word, signify nothing else but things. When the good
of the natural principle and its truth are apprehended
instead of Esau and Jacob, it then appears evident how
the case is with respect to man's regeneration by truth
and good, viz., that in the beginning truth apparently has
the priority, and also superiority with him, although good
in reality is prior and superior." — A. C. 3336. From this
it appears that a rich spiritual purport is latent in the
literal narrative, describing the temporary priority and
ascendancy which Jacob gained over Esau. That spirit
ual purport is, that in the process of regeneration, although
good and truth are, like twins, really conceived and born
together, yet there is a struggle between them, and truth
for a season obtains priority and gets the upper hand,
although eventually this order of things is reversed, and
the elder, instead of serving the younger, receives an
acknowledged dominion on the part of the younger.
This is indicated by Isaac's prophetic declaration con
cerning Esau, " Upon thy sword thou shalt live, and shalt
serve thy brother, and it shall come to pass, when thou
shalt have dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off

SWEDENBORG AND PAUL. 371
thy neck" (Gen. xxvii. 40). This is briefly explained as
follows : " It is to be observed that man, before he is re-
fenerated (i. e. in the earlier stages of regeneration),
oes good from a principle of truth, but after he is re
generated, he does good from a principle of good ; or, to
make it more clear, before man is regenerated, he does
good from the understanding, but after he is regenerated,
he does good from the will ; the good, therefore, which
is from the understanding, is not in itself good, but truth,
whereas the good, which is from the will, is good." —
A. a 3295.
Now the purpose for which Paul, in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, alluded to the case of Esau, did not require him
to recognize this interior drift involved in the Mosaic re
cord. His object was to draw an important practical
lesson from the literal recital, which he took as he found
it, neither affirming nor denying an ulterior meaning in
the historian's words. So far as the letter is concerned,
Esau is set before us as an impatient or impulsive per
sonage, who, under the prompting of bodily appetite,
rashly bartered away, for a momentary gratification, an
inestimable blessing, of which he shortly after repented
with unavailing tears ; and this example the apostle
would .hold up in terrorem before the eyes of those
who might be tempted to a like perilous precipi
tancy in throwing away their hopes of eternal life. This
use of the incident was perfectly legitimate, but it mili
tates not at all with that representative or spiritual im
port which Swedenborg ascribes to it. It is by no
means an endorsing of the literal sense as the only sense
of the narrative. In like manner, when he says, in his
Epistle to the Corinthians, "I fear lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simphcity that
is in Christ," we are not authorized to regard his language
as necessitating the interpretation which supposes that a
literal earth-creeping serpent was the real actor in the
transaction recorded. His drift in the reference did not
call upon him to pronounce upon that point. So when

372 SWEDENBORG AND PAUL.
our Lord would warn his disciples of the danger of
apostasy, and for that purpose says to them, " Eemem-
ber Lot's wife," we are not bound to suppose that he
would thereby sanction the idea of her being transform
ed into a literal pillar of salt. The monition to be ad
ministered was very properly deducible from the sense
of the letter alone.
There is, moreover, still less ground for our correspon
dent's intimation of a discrepancy between Swedenborg
and Paul, when we advert to the fact of Esau's repre
sentative character having an opposite scope in certain
other relations, and denoting the evil of lite, or of self-
love, as we are informed it occasionally does. Thus, " In
the Word throughout, mention is made of Esau, and
also of Edom, aud by Esau is signified the good of the
natural principle; but in an opposite sense, Esau
signifies the evil of selflove, before false principles
are so fully adjoined to that love ; and Edom signifies
the evil of that love when those false principles are ad
joined to it. Several names in the Word have an oppo
site sense as has been often shown above, by reason that
what is good and true in the Church, in process of time
degenerates into what is evil and false by various adul
terations." — A. C. 3322. This explains the rationale in
the change of representative import in the same name,
so that a striking analogy between the Esaus of the two
writers is seen to exist. " In an opposite sense, by Esau
and Edom are represented those who turn away from
good, in that they altogether despise truth, and are un
willing that anything of truth should be adjoined, which
is owing principally to self-love, wherefore in an opposite
sense, by Esau and Edom such persons are represented."
— A. C. 3322. Does not this bring the two sufficiently
into parallelism to satisfy the querist ? Is not Esau
enough of a " profane person," as here exhibited in his
representative character, to remove the difficulty in
question? If our reply should fail to satisfy "A Stu
dent of the Bible," we trust we may hear from him

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