Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

appears in his glory. His glory, which Peter, James, and John, beheld on the mount with overwhelming awe and astonishment, it is our privilege steadily to behold, by spiritual vision, in the confidence and adoration of love. It is only in this way, I presume, that the Gospel as first promulgated by the Lord and his apostles, has become, as it were, a new gospel. It never was, and never can be, in reality, old, though in its essence more ancient than creation itself. It is in this way that the Lord, as to the letter, has fulfilled his Word, "Behold I make all things new."

But I must call to mind that you are nearly weary of this subject, and will hasten, therefore, to a conclusion. I hope these general remarks shew that there is but little difference of opinion between J. C. and myself.

may

In the discussion as to the proper name for the New Church, not on our own account, but on account of the world, and especially of the Christian world, I endeavoured to shew that the appellation New Christian Church was calculated to render the New Church odious to Christians in general, and would be very improperly substituted for the designation, New Jerusalem Church. On this part of my former paper, I do not yet see any thing to retract or materially to alter. That such an amalgamation, [the word is J. C.'s, and not in my former paper] if the word can be allowed at all in reference to the foundation and the structure raised upon it, takes place between the Church of the Lord and his apostles, and the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem, is stated by E. S. himself, as quoted in my former paper, (page 176, U. T. 674.)

I do not now need to discuss with J. C., the manner in which the apostles executed their mission in the spiritual world. My argument does not appear to me to be affected by any consideration of it, which was, that the Lord in his merciful providence, in order to accommodate the deeply rooted conviction in the general Christian mind, that the apostles published to the world the true Gospel, and all the essential truths of Christianity: he called them together, as stated in the quotations, and sent them throughout the whole spiritual world, as he had at first sent them through the natural world, to preach the Gospel anew. No doubt the purpose of this was to shew the identity of the church planted by the Lord and his apostles, and the New Church which he was about to establish in the world by his second advent and the descent of the New Jerusalem: though in latter times, there were millions of sincere Christians, from whose eyes those glorious truths of the Gospel, revealed in the New Jerusalem dispensation, had been

concealed by the perversions and falsifications invented and imposed upon them by the false teachers of Christianity.

That all such, in the world of spirits, might be led voluntarily to reject all errors and embrace the true and pure doctrines of Christianity as now revealed in their genuine character, the Lord was pleased to employ, again, for their more ready and full conviction, the apostles who were first sent into the world with the glad tidings of salvation. I really think there can be no serious difference between J. C. and myself upon this subject, if he will look again at the matter advanced in my former paper. I will, therefore, leave it to your readers and himself to draw their own conclusions as to the fairness of my comment; for I do not like to dwell upon a proposition sufficiently demonstrated.

As to the phrase, new Christian heaven, I expressed, in my former paper, the confidence I felt as to its frequent use. At the time of writing, I turned to various portions of the works of E. S., where I thought the phrase was likely to be found, and looked, moreover, in Nicholson's Dictionary, with the result stated. I have since, in looking after other matters, found numerous instances of Swedenborg himself using the phrase: and, therefore, the advocates for the designation, New Christian Church, are entitled to all the sanction afforded by this authority. I still consider the phrase, in itself, to imply the idea of two Christian heavens, an old and a new one, or a former and a latter one. But E. S. has sufficiently protected this phrase from such a construction: and, therefore, if those who prefer the designation New Christian Church, use it in the same sense as E. S. uses the designation new Christian heaven, they will find that no distinction will be pointed out by it, from the former Christian Church; and as its use may excite strong prejudice against the New Church, unnecessarily, as I think I have sufficiently shewn, it had better be discontinued altogether.

I will now direct your attention to a few passages, in which E. S. uses the phrase, new Christian heaven, in order to shew that he only means by it one Christian heaven, or a new heaven distinct from the ancient and most ancient, constituted of all who have been true Christians in the world, from the commencement of Christianity, as well as of all the children of Christians who have died in infancy.

In the Apocalypse Revealed, chap. 14, we find the following, in the first clause of the spiritual sense. Of the NEW CHRISTIAN HEAVEN, described, verses 1-5. E. S. thus comments upon the first verse: "I saw, and, behold a Lamb, &c., signifies the Lord, now in the new

heaven, collected out of those in the Christian churches who have acknowledged the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, and have been in the truth of doctrine, originating in the good of love from him through the Word." The author, after a few other explanations on the subject, proceeds, "The heaven here treated of is the heaven collected out of Christians from the time of the Lord's being in the world, and from such of them as approached the Lord alone, and lived according to his precepts in the Word, by shunning evils as sins against God. This heaven is the new heaven from which the Holy Jerusalem, the New Church upon earth, will descend" (Apoc. chap. 21, ver. 1, 2). "But the heavens which were formed before the Lord's coming, are above it, and are called the ancient heavens; all of which likewise acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth: these heavens communicate with the new heaven by influx" (n. 612). Again; "By, as it were a new song, is signified the celebration and glorification of the Lord in the new Christian heaven; in the present case, particularly, the acknowledgment of him as the God of heaven and earth, which he is acknowledged to be in the ancient heavens: this is implied in the expression 'as it were'; for 'as it were a new song,' signifies as though it were new, when nevertheless it is not new.” That the new heaven mentioned in the Apoc. chap. 21, ver. 1, is a new heaven composed of Christians, and that the former heavens consist of the ancients and most ancient men; also that the Lord is acknowledged in these last heavens to be the God of heaven and earth' (Ibid, 617). These passages will be sufficient to shew that E. S. uses the phrase new Christian heaven, and likewise to shew the sense in which he uses it,-not to designate two or more distinct Christian heavens, but one and the same. In Ibid, n. 623, he calls it the new heaven of Christians; which appears to me the correct designation, if accuracy of language be of any importance in the matter.

In 631, 66 new Christian heaven" occurs twice, and some distinctions are pointed out as to their formation from those of the church of the Reformed, and those of the Roman Catholic Religion.

Many particulars of the Christian heaven, occur in Ibid, n. 876. "In this new Christian heaven, are all those who from the first establishment of the Christian Church worshiped the Lord, and lived according to his commandments. In that heaven, likewise, are all the infants or little children 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 according to his commandments in the decalogue.

I hope thus much will suffice to shew my oversight as to the use of the phrase new Christian heaven, and at the same time to shew that there is but one. In like manner I contend that though the New Jerusalem is a New Church, there is but one Christian Church, from the Lord's first advent to eternity; and that if the phrase New Christian Church is allowable, it is not thence to be concluded that there have been, properly speaking, two Christian churches; but that by the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, the genuine Christian Church is restored to its newness and vigour, and is infinitely more developed than at its commencement or in any intermediate period.

I am fully convinced that the genuine New Church has nothing sectarian in its composition, and that those who incline to give it such an aspect to the world, deviate, so far, from its genuine principles. I consider E. S. to have been one of the most unsectarian characters the world has yet produced, and at the same time a man of the most inflexible principles, from which no temptation could induce him to

swerve.

That beautiful specimen of his conduct, at nearly the termination of his worldly career, [if the account be true, of which I think we can scarcely doubt,] given in your last number, pages 229-233, of his receiving the Holy Supper by the administration of a Swedish clergyman, proves how fully his free spirit could partake of the essentials of true religion, independently of mis-constructed formularies through which they might be administered.

Yet the other parts of this most interesting letter, shew that he was far from being an insensible or an indifferent witness of those perversions of genuine Christianity, which were prevalent in the worship and teaching of the Christian Church, in all its then externals. Notwithstanding all this perversion, he assured the clergyman that he would gladly take the sacrament with him, in order to shew the connexion and union between the church in heaven and the church on earth! In the minds of the sincere and simple Christians, there was still the Christian Church, whose members were in connexion with the Christian heaven, and, though ignorant of the influence of the New Jerusalem, were, no doubt, in some degree, its happy subjects, and viewed by the Lord as members of his New Church. Let us rejoice, that we in England have the happy privilege to be indeed, and in the externals of worship, members of the Lord's New Church; but let us not, on this account, be, in any shape, bigots, exclusives, or sectarians. I am, gentlemen, yours, truly, AN OLD MEMBER.

June 11, 1842.

THE REMNANT FOUND, &c.

SHEWING THAT THE JEWS OF DAGISTAN, ON THE CASPIAN SEA, ARE THE REMNANT OF THE TEN TRIBES. BY THE REV.

JACOB SAMUEL.

LONDON, 1841.

To the Editors of the Intellectual Repository.

GENTLEMEN,

As every statement of the enlightened Swedenborg is true, we must believe that there is still preserved in Tartary the more ancient Word of God, and that, in all probability, it will some day be discovered. In relation to this more ancient Word, I considered some of the following extracts from Mr. Samuel's work might prove generally interesting to the New Church. The remnant found is certainly a most interesting and ancient people; and their freedom from hatred to Christians and the New Testament, is a very pleasing feature in their character. They inhabit the country west of the Caspian, while Tartary is on the opposite shore. What the "Poems and Allegories" they possess may be, time perhaps will unfold. I have also extracted Mr. Samuel's ideas on the Millenium, as interesting to the New Church, as from his national partiality he might naturally be supposed to be inclined to lean to the literal fulfilment of the prophecies.

[blocks in formation]

“Of the nature of the Millenium, I shall simply state my opinion that it is mystical; yet it is assured by Scripture. Undoubtedly it will be a golden age, when justice, charity, and faith shall hold undivided sway, and when the governor shall be Christ Jesus the Messiah." (P. 19.)

"But now a clearer dawn breaks upon the religious horizon; there are prognostications that the ruling power of the Almighty is in more immediate action, the kingdom of heaven is more sensibly at hand, that the Millenium may be expected with more proximate certainty than in the long centuries that have elapsed since John and the Great Saviour, of whom he was the harbinger, proclaimed the kingdom.'" (P. 20.)

"If the remnant of the ten tribes (see 2 Kings chap. 18, ver. 11) is to be found any where, the Jews of Dagistan, Kakhete, Imiriti, Gooriel, and Mingrelia, including the whole of ancient Cotchei, are these." (P. 40.)

"At the feast of weeks, the elders begin with a loud voice to sing, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;' when all the people

« AnteriorContinuar »