the Gentiles, and not to Christendom for a general reception of the truths the Lord has sent me to teach."

Such a letter, we think, Swedenborg would have written had he been of S. M. W's mind. He thought differently, and therefore he wrote as we have seen.

Again, Springer, the Swedish Consul in London, visited Swedenborg two or three weeks before his death, and asked him when he believed that the New Church would be manifested. Observe Swedenborg's reply:

"No mortal can declare the time; no, not even the celestial angels: it is known solely to God. Read the Revelations xxi. 2, and Zechariah xiv. 9, and you will find that it is not to be doubted, but that the New Jerusalem mentioned in the Apocalypse, which denotes a new and purer state of the Christian Church than has hitherto existed, will manifest itself to all the earth."

Here Swedenborg is speaking within a week or two of his departure for the eternal world. If it was his opinion that "the church would be first fully established among the Gentiles," would he have spoken thus ? I think it must be evident to every candid reader that in his latter days Swedenborg entertained no such idea as S. M. W. would impute to him. His impression of doubt as to the time of the manifestation of the New Church is very intelligible, when we keep in mind the following passage:

"I have not as yet described the manner in which the Lord, after the Last Judgment, reduced to order all things in heaven and hell. This I have not as yet described, since the reduction of the heavens and the hells to order is not yet accomplished, but has continued in its process since the day of the Last Judgment until now, and still continues; nevertheless, if it be desired, it shall be made public after the completion of this work."-T. C. R. 123. Date, 1771, a year before Swedenborg's death.

If we could but understand the nature and effects of this reduction of heaven and hell to order, which Swedenborg did not live to describe, our knowledge of the future of the New Church would be much greater. The great changes on earth which the past seventy years have witnessed, testify to corresponding changes in the inner world. And where have these principally taken place? Where has the Lord's work, in making all things new, been principally observed? Why, in Christendom. Going no further than the book of documents from which I have been quoting, I observe you, Mr. Editor, in the introductory observations to that volume, say,—

"For a long period, which does not seem yet to have entirely closed, the judgments of heaven have been abroad in the earth, in a more distinguished and more universal manner than has marked any former age since the establishment

of the Christian Church. The whole political and moral aspect of almost every country on the face of the globe, and particularly of every country where Christians have had influence, has been surprisingly transformed; and even the human mind itself, throughout, as far as it is known, the great families of man, has undergone a most conspicuous change."

But what necessity is there for quoting such a passage? Does it not echo simply the universal opinion of the New Church? At our Swedenborg, missionary, and social meetings, what has for year after year been the theme of rejoicing, but the gradual removal of falses from the old church, and the influx of truth from the New Heavens? What have been the speeches made on such occasions but glorifications over this great fact, evidenced in a thousand ways in literature, in science, in theology, in social progress? But are we henceforth to confess we have made a mistake in so speaking? To what cause are we henceforth to assign the marked progress, evident to all eyes, in whatever is good and true, particularly in every country where Christians have had influence"? Are we to take up in future S. M. W.'s language, and mourn over ruined Christendom, and if we seek any hope or any joy, seek it in the lands of the Gentiles? To such complexion must all things come if we forsake the trust which has hitherto inspired us in all our work, and given us nerve to withstand many discouragements, and achieve whatever things worthy we have accomplished.

66

S. M. W. is pleased to assert that my saying, that "the churches previous to the New, were best at their beginnings, is not correct, and that the want of analogy which the Editor of the New Churchman assumes to exist between the rise of the New Church and that of past churches, it a palpable mistake." All this is easy to say, but S. M. W. will find it very hard to prove. Let us hear what Swedenborg says about the churches of the past, in their beginnings :—

"When a church is first raised up and established by the Lord, it exists in the beginning in a state of purity, and the members then love each other as brethren; as is known from what is recorded of the primitive Christian Church after the Lord's coming. All the members of the church at that time lived one amongst another as brethren, and also called each other brethren, and mutually loved each other; but in process of time charity diminished, and at length vanished away; and as charity vanished, evils succeeded, and with evils falsities also insinuated themselves, whence arose schisms and heresies."-A. C. 1834.

"As to what concerns the first church, which was called Noah, it was as a parent of the succeeding ones, and, as is usual with churches in their beginnings, it was more pure and unspotted. But this church also, as is usual with other churches, in process of time began to fall away, owing principally to this circumstance, that several of its members began to affect self worship, in order thereby to be distinguished above the rest."-4. C. 1327.

"All churches, in their infancy, worship the Lord from a principle of love, and love their neighbour from the heart. But in process of time, churches remove themselves from these two precepts, and turn aside from the good of love and charity to those things which are said to be of faith, thus from life to doctrine, and so far as they do this the Word is closed."-A. C. 3773.

"With respect to churches the case is as follows: in the beginning charity is held as fundamental, every one in this case loves another as a brother, and is affected from a principle of good for the Lord's kingdom, and above all things for the Lord; but in process of time charity begins to grow cold and to become none."-A. C. 2910.

Such quotations might be increased to a great length; but enough has been quoted to prove that Swedenborg teaches that "the churches of the past were best in their beginnings." If any mistake is made Swedenborg made it and not the editor of the New Churchman.

It is on these grounds that I firmly maintain that there is no manner of analogy between the New Church and the churches of the past, and that he who thinks of the New Church from such analogy will be led into endless mistakes and confusion. The four churches which have existed from creation, Swedenborg beautifully compares (T. C. R. 762) to the passage of the grand Man-the human race-from infancy to youth, manhood, and old age, and then death and immortality. The New Church is represented by man's eternal life in the heavens. New Church is the eternal church, ever ascending in wisdom, strength, and loveliness. Hence to compare it with the miserable past is impossible. It is like trying to think of growth from decay, of life from death, of good from evil, of light from darkness.

The

The history of the past can give us no conception of states of society behind which are orderly heavens, and subdued hells. It can tell us nothing of states in which the world of spirits was kept clear, and those who left earth were sent to their places in heaven or hell shortly after death. It can give us no idea of any society which ever existed where natural science was so studied, or where the revealed truths of the Word found the basis they now find in the natural mind, as in these times I could run over numberless circumstances which are true of these times, and which will be true of the future, to which history can supply no analogues. The human race is now ascending, the world has now commenced its eternal life, the shades and delusions of the past are one by one being removed and rejected, the Lord is indeed "making all things new." Perhaps I am unduly impatient, but to me there is nothing which appears so thoroughly absurd as a New Churchman attempting to draw auguries of the future from the past. If we have any living faith at all in the truths revealed by the Lord to us

by Swedenborg, we must know that since the Lord through His glorified Humanity took unto Himself His great power and reduced the universe to order, the old progress of things has been reversed, and, as we see, things now move upward unto Him, and not as hitherto, downward to death and to hell.

S. M. W. gets himself into all his trouble for want of a proper 66 each understanding of the passage in the Coronis which states that church had four successive states or periods, spoken of in the Word by morning, day, evening, and night." From this passage he seems to infer that the noon, or some time subsequent to the morning, was the best time of the church. But he forgets the correspondence of the state called morning in the Word.

"Morning corresponds to a state of love in brightness; noon to a state of wisdom in brightness; evening to a state of wisdom in obscurity; and night to a state of no love and wisdom."-H. and H. 155.

*

*

"The first state of the church is called morning in the Word, the second state mid-day, the third evening, and the fourth or last night. The first state of the church is likewise a state of infancy, thus also of innocence, consequently of love to the Lord. * Morning signifies the first state of the church, and also a state of love."-A. C. 10,134. "When the angels are in a state of love, then it is morning to them, and then the Lord appears as the rising sun; when they are in a state of light, then it is mid-day to them."-A. C. 10,135.

From many passages, such as these, which might be cited, it is evident the statement in the Coronis that "each church had four successive states or periods, spoken of in the Word by morning, day, evening, and night," has only to be explainad, to afford a clenching confirmation of the statements made throughout the whole writings of Swedenborg, to the effect that "the churches previous to the New were best in their beginnings."

One thing I cannot understand in S. M. W. is the stress he lays upon all the good things Swedenborg says about the Gentiles, forgetful all the while of the many praises he lavishes on the great peoples of Christendom. For instance

"It is very perceivable, from observations made in the spiritual world, that there is a twofold theology taught amongst the English,- -one grounded in their doctrine of faith, and the other in the doctrine of charity. The former is received by those who are initiated into the sacerdotal office, and the latter by many of the laity, particularly by the inhabitants of Scotland and its borders. With these the Solifidians are afraid to engage in dispute, because they combat them both from the Word and from reason."-T. C. R. 812.

"With respect to the people of England, the better sort among them are in the centre of all Christians. They are kind in relieving each other's neces

sities, and love sincerity."-T. C. R. 807-8.

In the Con. of the Last Judgment he repeats all that is said here, and talks of "the noble English nation."

The Germans are also spoken of as a noble nation. (See T. C. R. 814.) Of France he speaks as

"The noble French nation. They acknowledge the Word to be divinely inspired. The Lord will convince them by the Word, that He is to be approached as to His humanity, because it is divine." A. R. 740-745.

I do not know anywhere that Swedenborg speaks of the Gentiles in such high terms as he speaks of these European peoples. When he writes of the English, the Scottish, the French, and the German nations as noble, we may be sure it was in no spirit of flattery, but in sober earnestness and truth. If it had ever entered into his mind that their position in the world was to be changed,-that instead of forming the centre of spiritual intelligence, they were in the future to depart to the circumference, and some distant Gentile nation to take their place,— can we for a moment suppose he would have suppressed so great a truth. And if England, and France, and Germany, could be spoken of as noble by the Lord's servant, in the middle of last century, have not their deeds and their progress in goodness and intelligence, since that time, doubly entitled and confirmed them in the right to the epithet"noble"?

Even the Africans, of whom S. M. W. makes so much, are only said to excel all other gentiles, not Christians.* The best of them have but communication with Christians in the middle point of the spiritual world, and to whom they are adjoined. It is true that in Christendom there exists the worst evils and the direst falses, but do not these terrible abuses indicate capacity for proportionate use?

Having now reviewed the whole of S. M. W.'s statements in relation to the establishment of the New Church, I might add a few words regarding the relation of the old Christian church to the new, showing why the removal of falses from the old is necessarily connected with the growth of the new, and how the same Apostles who spread abroad on earth the glorious tidings of the Lord's first coming are employed in the spiritual world "to preach the Gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigneth, whose kingdom shall endure for ever and ever." (T. C. R., 791.)

That certain Africans excelled all Christians in intelligence respecting Conjugial Love, which is the inmost love of Heaven, see C. L. 113, 114.-ED.

+ "Such among the Gentiles as in the world have worshipped God under a human form, and have lived a life of charity according to their religion, are conjoined to Christians in heaven, for they acknowledge the Lord more than the rest. The most intelligent of them are from Africa."-L. J. 57. See also H. D. 2, 3.-EDITOR.