ThenewchurchrepositoryvolI

Index

ORIGINAL PAPERS, See.

Arouss (Editor’s) . -

Authority in Matters of Faith -

Arons, so erroneous Translation in the

Association, Mass., Resolution of, respecting Miracles •

Baptism, Question of, Considered ...

“ “ Reconsidered ...

“ “ a few more Thoughts on

Bread, Correspondence of, in the Holy Supper - .

Brotherly Lore .....

Bushnell, Rev. Or., Notice of his Discourse at Cambridge

Cabell's Letter to Dr. Pond ....

Cskulus, the ----- -

Calvin and his Preaching ....

Charges of Misrepresentation Considered Controversy, present State of the ...

Creation, the Laws of

Death not always painful - ...

Degrees, Continuous and Discrete -

Dippel, Account of, by Swedenborg and Jung Stilling

Draidism, the, of Ancient Britain ... 67,131,

Dnty of New Churchmen to attend Public Worship

“ *• as to dealing controversially with Assailant:

Forms, Doctrine of - Fourierism and the New Church

Pao>.

- 444 130

• 544 674

- 742 572

- 360 509

- 183 418

. 352

- 208, 255

• 501

- 877 195, 323, 387

German Convention of N. C„ Address of

lews, future Destiny of -

Letters to a Trinitarian - 54,110, Letter from Dr. Tafel " from Rev. J. P. Stuart “ on Trust In Divine Providence " from London Correspondent - “ from Rev. Geo. Field “ remarkable, of St. Augnstine “ from a new Receiver

Ministry, Living and Deo eased, of the N. C.

Berfeotlonist, Letters to a Ihilosophy and Religion Unionism and Gnosticism, Influence of.

Trinity

Poetry and Analogy - Pond, Rev. Dr., notice of his Letter ■" “ his Letter and Mr. Cabell’s Reply

451, 515 - 529, 594

364 . 256 255

441 . 489

“6 • 317 in moulding the Doo trine of the iv

Index.

Prescott, Rev. T. 0., Visit of, to Ireland ... - - 639

“ notice of bis Leoture ...... 480

Princeton Review (the) on Swedenborgianism ... 581, 820

Proceedings of the General Convention ..... 490

“ of Ohio Association ..... 897

Reason and Authority - ...

Report of the Michigan Association on Missionary Duties, dec.

Sacred Scripture (the) -

Shakers and Shakerism, a few words about -

Supematuralism -

Swedenborg, a Plea for his Intercourse with the Spiritual 'World “ his “ Invitation to the New Church”

“ on a Republic - - - - .

“ Extracts ftom'Spirltual Diary 61, 123, 171, 313, 483,

“ Extracts from “ Canons” -

“ Miscellaneous Extracts from, 153, 207, 222, 304,

“ Testimony to, as a Man of Science -

“ Abcount of Dippcl -

“ on the French People -

“ Adversaria, notice of

“ Posthumous Tracts -

“ and London Athenmum - - - -

“ Account of his Manuscripts -

“ and Fourier - - - ...

- 163 385

- 9, 78

573 257 20, 77 368

- 376 570, 630,

604, 760

- 432 387, 476, 741

- 641 377

03 • 449

185 129, 321

Tafel, Dr., Extract from a Letter of ..... 634

Telescope, Lord Rosse’s, Visit to ..... 500

Truth, what is it ? From Swedenborg’s Point of View ... 142

Wallace’s Discoveries in Vision ...... 384

Wilks’, Rev. Thos., Sermon before the Convention ... 683

BOOKS NOTICED.

Chalmers ’Posthumous Works ...... 383

Channing’s Memoirs • - - - - - - - 502

Constitutions and Canons of the Apostles . * - - .65

Lord’s Theological and Literary Journal ..... 446 “ Review of the Rev. E. B. Elliott’s Horm Apocalyptic® * - 177

Morell’s Historical and Critical View of Philosophy, ... 176

Neander’s Life of Christ ....... 382

Noble’s Lectures on the True Christian Religion - * * - 66

“ Sermons on the Divine Law ..... 440

Prescott’s Sermons ....... 447

Swedenborg’s Adversaria, vol. I. - - - - - 63

“ Divine Personality, Incarnation, and Glorifloation of the Lord 505

Wilks’, Rev. Thos., Report on the Trine in the Ministry ... 128

POETRY.

Humility, Lines suggested by a Persian Fable .... 439 The Guatdian Angel - ... . . - - 319

The Early Called ........ 381

THE

AND

MONTHLY REVIEW.

EDITOR'S ADDRESS.

Tax proposed publication of a periodical devoted to the interests of any department of the Christian Church seems naturally to call for a statement of the grounds and reasons of the undertaking.

The purpose in the present case has originated in a conviction, shared by many intelligent New Churchmen, that the present aspects of the canse which they have so deeply at heart demand a new organ of communication with themselves and with the world. This conviction is not uttered in disparagement of any work of the kind hitherto or at present existing as a stated vehicle of New Church sentiments and views. Several such have already been established and the issue continued for a longer or shorter time, but at the present moment a single journal only of this character exists in our country. We refer to the “New Jerusalem Magazine,’’ published at Boston. This work has ever been judiciously conducted, and its original plan adhered to with so much unity of execution as to entitle it to the praise of a discreet and well sustained consistency from the outset. It has been the repository of numerous essays of permanent value as elucidations of the truths and principles of the New Church, and still continues to perform an important service in the sphere which it occupies. But its circulation has ever been limited, though its use, we are persuaded, is not to be measured by the extent of its subscription-list, as the proprietors have adopted a liberal policy in regard to its diffusion.

The progress of the Church, or of the principles which constitute the Church, have developed new exigencies, and however well adapted VOL. l 1

Editor’s Address.

the Boston Magazine might have been to the circumstances in which it originated, it cannot, we think, be doubted that, at this day, there exists the necessity for a Periodical of wider scope and more varied character to meet the demands of the times. A few years since an acquaintance with Swedenborg’s writings was almost wholly confined to New Church societies, and the sole incitement, which New Church writers felt, to literary effort, lay in the wants of this restricted circle. To elucidate the received doctrines of the Church, and to make them still more level to the ordinary understanding ; to exhibit the doctrine of life in all its bearings upon the individual conscience, and to enforce the practical obligation of its precepts — these seemed almost the only functions which New Church pens were called upon to perform. The benefits which we ourselves and the Church at large have thus derived from the labors of men who are honored wherever they are known, we cordially acknowledge. Such services will always be in requisition in the Church, and we should be Sony not to contemplate a special provision for them in the plan of our Journal.

But other labors than these are now also called for — labors that shall respond to the moral demands made by those who have no present ecclesiastical sympathy with the Church, but only the sympathy that stands in the desire to learn, and a degree of preparation to acknowledge, the same exalted truths. The writings of Swedenborg are beginning to be widely diffused without the limit* of New Church societies, and scarcely a week passes but we see in the popular journals proof of the deepening hold they are taking of the public attention. A manifest curiosity concerning them is aroused — a curiosity so marked and ominous as recently to have elicited two several works from distinguished Old Church theologians with a view to its extinction. The name of Swedenborg is no longer an offence to the popular ear — lectures expository of his philosophy and his theology meet almost every where numerous and respectful auditories — growing assemblages wait upon the services of our sanctuaries without the fear of exposing themselves to the peril of a contagious insanity — while tracts and other publications designed to set forth the doctrines of the New Jerusalem are with multitudes eagerly sought for. Without being un. duly elated or made over-sanguine by these encouraging signs, we still cannot but feel that this altered state of the public mind calls for a corresponding change in New Church effort, and invites a publication adapted especially to inquiring spirits, one which shall aim to satisfy their thirst of further knowledge, and smooth their pathway to the courts of heavenly Truth.

A chief incitement to our undertaking is undoubtedly to be found in the extraordinary advance which is making in the sphere of the Sciences — an advance which, by necessitating a corresponding elevation of religious faith, seems likely ere long to exhaust the Old Church

Editor’s Address.

of all cordial and rational allegiance to its spiritual authorities. The varied walks of physical science are daily unfolding such marvels of order and goodness in the natural creation, as to beget an irresistible conviction of the prevalence of a like order and goodness in the spiritual creation, while the irrepressible yearnings of the philosophic mind incessantly sigh for access to that sphere of causes which has hitherto been precluded it. The Old Church does next to nothing to enlighten or guide this nascent sentiment : she even denies the spiritual creation to be a proper object of thought or knowledge, and consequently frowns upon every attempt to communicate its sublime lore, to her children. Has the Divine Providence then left this urgent want uncared for 1 Is it for Faith simply to believe in and to guess at a spiritual world without the rational intelligence of its verities, or any clear perception of the law which connects the natural with the spiritual, and thus sanctifies Science by wedding it with Religion ? Every enlightened New Churchman will unhesitatingly answer, No, because he is firmly persuaded that the interior sense of Scripture, as unfolded by its science of correspondences, proclaims an order in the spiritual creation unspeakably more grand and impressive than any sensible order can be, and that nothing more is requisite to the perception of the harmony which reigns between the spheres of nature and spirit, than a mind studious of truth from the love of its underlying good. Disclaiming, however, for ourselves any peculiar ability to connect the higher facts of science with the spiritual truths of'which they are representative, we profess simply to stand in the forecourt of the magnificent temple of knowledge which is now opening to the human intellect, and though not unvisited by occasional gleams of the central effulgence, yet we by no means boast of any complete illumination. It is as disciples rather than as teachers that we present ourselves — disciples of truth in every sphere, because we believe it to be in all alike one and divine. But it shall be our endeavor, with all our strength, whether great or little, to annul the divorce which has taken place between science and religion, by displaying the rational correspondence which unites the truth of both. In order to do this worthily we should doubtless need an ampler space than we can now promise ourselves, but always to do it as well as our means allow, will be a leading object of our Journal.

The grand purpose of our projected enterprise is to furnish a repository of all the most valuable exposition, discussion, and information which can be concentrated in its pages. Without surrendering the right of judgment as to the suitableness of the matter presented to the general aim and objects of the work, we would still fain impress upon it a character of freedom and liberality. The interchange of opposite opinions, when conducted in the spirit of charity, can scarcely be termed controversy, at least in the offensive sense of the term, and

Editor's Address.

so long as variant views of doctrine are entertained by minds equally intent upon the attainment of truth, we know no sound reason for refusing a hearing to both sides of debateable topics, provided ever that the disputants shun a resort to harsh personalities and indecorous crimination of motive. The Editor will in no case deem himself responsible for the sentiments advanced by correspondents, although it is to be expected that the tenor of all communications will be in accordance with the general plan and scope of the work. If the positions of any writer are assailed, he is to be supposed competent to defend them, and upon him will it rest.

A prominent department of the Journal will be given to Reviews, more or less extensive, of such issues of the press as shall be especially entitled to the attention of New Churchmen. In the conduct of this department we shall aim to divest ourselves of all that prejudice or favoritism which would prevent the exercise of an impartial censor ship of the various works that may come under our notice.

We deem it also expedient that some portion of our pages should be devoted to the exegesis or critical explanation of the Sacred Text, especially with a view to discover how far a light may be cast upon the spiritual sense by a careful study of the literal. In the accomplishment of this object we shall of necessity have recourse to the inspired originals, and as occasion may offer shall propound amended versions of passages deemed to be erroneously rendered.

The plan we contemplate will necessarily involve the consideration of the prominent theological dogmas of the Old Church, whether Papal or Protestant, and the attempt to hold up their apprehended errors and fallacies in contrast with the celestial certainties that mark the system of the New ‘Jerusalem as unfolded in the writings of its appointed herald. But in doing this we shall aim to preserve the spirit of meekness and the laws of candor, and to abstain from all distortion and caricature in the exhibition of religious doctrines which, however erroneous in our view, are still held with honest conviction and”regarded with devout reverence by their adherents. Opportunity however will be freely given to all those who shall, in a fchristian spirit, be. disposed to question or canvass any of the leading doctrines of the New Church, ■or to array against them, on the ground of reason or Scripture, the coun ter tenets of the prevailing theology. In such cases we shall of course Teserve to ourselveq the right of reply, as our sole object in the proffer is to elicit truth by the attrition of argument.

In the more miscellaneous province of the Journal we shall make it an object to chronicle all the important events of the passing times that may have a bearing on the fortunes or interests of the Church — to notice the movement of ecclesiastical bodies in the connection — to record such documents and reports as may subserve the future history .of the Church — and to incorporate such information in Science, Lite-

Editor's Address.

ratine, and Ait, as may tend to confirm and illustrate the principles that distinguish the system we profess to have received.

Such is a general outline or programme of the work which we propose to issue. Various other items will doubtless enter the details, which will be suggested by experience whenever the undertaking has got fairly under way. It is impossible to anticipate in the outset all the aspects which the work may assume in its progress. But the ideal of the enterprise, we flatter ourselves, will meet the general views of the friends of the New Church, and if we may venture to count upon the available talent which we know to exist among the members of the church, we shall have little hesitation in promising to our readers and patrons a publication in some degree worthy of the cause it is designed to represent, and of the countenance we invoke for it.

It is obvious that the materiel of such a work as we here announce can only be supplied by the joint contributions of those who may be atonce both qualified and disposed to enlist in its support. These, for the present, must be free-will offerings, as the resources of the publication, being but scanty in the outset, do not enable us to hold out the prospect of pecuniary recompence. It will still be our object, however, to stimulate aid by this incentive whenever the proceeds of the work will warrant it. Meantime, we have no doubt that there is abundant ability in the Church to sustain our labors, if that ability is but conpled with such a degree of interest in the undertaking as we may reasonably presume uponfirom those who have given in their adhesion to truths of the New Church. We are, therefore, emboldened to appeal to all those who can co-operate with our enterprise, freely and fraternally to doit. We venture to commend it to their auspices as an enterprise entitled to an interest proportioned to that which they feel in the grand system itself to which they have become devoted. If their present views are dear to them, and if they are intrinsically calculated to be equally precious to others, why should they not be deeply stirred to their dissemination ? To minds of different orders, and of different habitudes of thought, the philosophical or theological principles of the Church will naturally present themselves under different aspects, while still a substantial unity reigns throughout, and this diversity of view maybe easily made to redound to the spiritual benefit of others. We earnestly invoke, therefore, in behalf of the sacred cause to which we are pledged, under the most solemn assurance that it is the tbuth of god, die sympathy and succor of our brethren in the faith, in order to an effective presentation of the grand system of doctrine and life vouchsafed to the world in these latter days. As it is the felicity of the New Church to possess a revelation of the grand doctrines of the Word so clear as to preclude all debate respecting fundamentals, there is nothing, we conceive, in the minor points of difference, here and there occurring . among receivers, which ought to operate as a bar to a united expres

Editor's Address.

sion of sentiment upon the cardinal topics ; and it is these especially that we wish to propound to the consideration of all seriously reflecting minds. As we have every confldence that the grand positions we have been led to assume will stand the strictest test both of Scripture and reason — that every tenet we have embraced is defensible on the ground of logical argument, as well as responsive to the voice of our higher moral intuitions — we deem it proper to plant around them every legitimate form of munition, and while we do not aim to make our movement directly aggressive against the errors of the prevailing faith, yet as in spiritual things the negation of evil is the presence of good, so the confutation of falsity is the establishment of truth, and truth established is the invasion of darkness by the approach of light. Virtually then our labors may be considered as aggressive, and in this we can hardly doubt that we are fulfilling the counsels of the Divine Providence in regard to the mission of the Church of the New Jerusalem, which can only become the “crown of all other Churches" by the dispersion of their evils and falses and the appropriation of their goods and truths. In this work it is surely an honor and a blessedness to be engaged, a full conviction of which would leave little to be effected by our own solicitations, however urgent.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.

ARTICLE I.

THE SACRED SCRIPTURE.— No. 1*

“I envy” says that great philosopher, Sir Humphrey Davy, " do quality of the mind or intellect in others ; not genius, power, wit, or fancy. But if I could choose what would be most delightful, and I believe most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing. For it makes life a discipline of goodness, creates new hopes when all earthly hopes vanish, and throws over the decay and destruction of existence, the most gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity; makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder of ascent to paradise ; and, far above all combinations of earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of palms and amaranths, the gardens of the blest, the security of everlastingjoys, where the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair.”

“A firm religious belief.” — Who that is wise would not prefer this to every other blessing ? And on what can a firm religions belief rest, but on THE WORD OF GOD ? And how can it rest on this foundation — calmly, peacefully, and firmly — unless we are firmly convinced that the written Word is divine— is God’s Word and not man’s — and that we rightly understand its meaning ? So far as we are in doubt on either of these points, just so far must our religious faith waver. Are there no doubts on these points ? — doubts not only in the minds of the irreligious, but in the minds of professedly religious men?

I read some time ago an article upon the Sacred Scripture in one of the ablest religious periodicals of our country,! in which the writer, himself a clergyman in external connection with the Old Church, has the following remarks:

‘‘No one, who is accustomed to regard with much attention

* The present article is part of a Lecture introductory to a series of Lectures on ths Sacred Scripture, delivered some time since in this city. The sequel will appear in our next number, t The Christian Examiner for Jan. 1844.

the history and tendency of religious opinions, can fail of being convinced, that the question [concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures] is soon to become the most absorbing question of Christian Theology. The minds of men are in that position in reference to this subject, which cannot long be maintained. They must move one way or the other. They must attain to some sort of consistency, either by believing less, or by believing more. The authority of the Scriptures, and especially those of the Old Testament, must either become higher and stronger, or be reduced almost to nothing. It is vain to imagine that with the present secret or open scepticism, or at least vague and unsettled notions, with which they are regarded, even by many who are defenders of a special revelation, they can be read and taught in our churches, schools, and families, as books sui generis , so as to command much of real reverence for themselves.”

“ For ourselves,” continues this writer, “ we are at no loss in deciding as to which direction opinions will ultimately tend. We are satisfied that the Scriptures are to open out their revelations with new light and beauty.upon the human mind.”

It is obvious that this writer had caught some gleams of the truth. It is most undoubtedly true, as he says, that the question concerning the Sacred Scripture or Word of God, involving that of its supreme divinity, the nature and extent of its inspiration, the laws of its composition, the principle according to which its true meaning is to be elicited, is soon to become the question in Christian Theology. For it is the question of questions. And it is not only true, as this writer affirms, that the minds of men cannot long maintain their present position in reference to the Scripture — that they must move either one way or the other — but it is true that they are already moving, some in one direction and some in another. One class — and this by far the largest it is to be feared — are coming to believe less and less, and another class to believe more and more.

The fact, we think, is too palpable to be denied, that reverence for the Sacred Scripture as the Word of God, has been rapidly diminishing for the last half century throughout our country and throughout the professed Christian world. True it is that men continue to call the Bible the Word of God as formerly, and to read it in their families and in their churches. And this is something — far better than the total neglect of it. But how few comparatively will you find, who attach to this title the meaning which it naturally conveys, or which was formerly attached to it I What proportion of the people in almost any Christian community approach the Bible as devoutly now, ana study its pages as diligently, and listen to its teachings as reverently, and plant their footsteps as trustingly on this ROCK OF AGES, as did the Christians in the early age of the Chnrch ? Is the authority of the Scripture as controling and absolute as it once was ? When men read it, or hear it read, do thev hear there the voice of the living God as they once heard it ? Is there the same undoubting and prevailing faith in its divine inspiration, and consequently in its complete infallibility, that there once was? Is there not on the contrary abundant reason for believing, that there exists in the bosom of the great body of the professed Christian Church a vast amount of latent infidelity? Are there not a great many persons who have doubts — serious and honest doubts, which perhaps they seldom if ever express — whether the Scripture be divinely inspired, and whether therefore it be the Word of God in any strict or proper sense ?

We think there cannot be much difference of opinion upon any of these Jpoints among candid, reflecting, and observing men.*

And if, as we think must be admitted by all, the Sacred Scripture is gradually losing its authority, and falling into disrepute with a large and continually increasing class of minds — if honest doubters respecting its divine inspiration are every year multiplying, and scepticism waxing bolder and bolder — it is indeed a calamity of all others the most to be deplored. I know of no calamity that can befal an individual, a community, or a state — I can imagine none — so dreadful as a loss of reverence for the Holy Scripture, or of faith in the infallibility of its teachings. For a loss of this cannot fail to be accompanied or followed by a loss of reverence for God and his laws — a loss of pure religion and virtue — a loss of heavenly desires, heavenly hopes, heavenly aims, and heavenly graces — a loss of that

* Since the above paragraphs were first written, a singular book has been published, entitled “ The Principles of Nature, her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, by and through Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie Seer Clairvoyant”

This book denies in the boldest and most positive manner every thing like inspiration in the Scripture, and treats the Bible in the same manner, and with as little reverence or respect, as it is treated in Paine’s “ Age of Reason.” And not only dees it pronounce the Bible altogether uninspired, but declares “ that the elements and qualities contained in the Bible are positively impure." Yet this book — avowedly infidel as it is respecting the divinity and inspiration of the Scripture — has met with a rapid and almost unprecedented sale. Many who have read it, have openly declared their belief in the truth of its teachings concerning the Scripture as well as concerning other things ; and even some professing Christians, and ministers of the Gospel, have sought to promulgate the doctrines of this book by public Lectures and otherwise, and have manifested a zeal worthy of a better cause. Are not these facts full of mournful significance ? Must not men’s reverence for the Scripture as the Word of God be feeble and ill-founded indeed, when it can be thus easily and suddenly uprooted and destroyed ?

le

The Sacred Scripture. [Jan.

righteousness which alone can exalt an individual or a nation* Hence it is the constant endeavor of the Divine Providence to keep men in some degree of acknowledgment and reverence of the written Word ; for however unintelligent and blind that reverence be, it is still better than none, since while it remains, the Word is a Divine Medium of consociation with the angels and of conjunction with the Lord.

Several causes may be enumerated of that irreverent and sceptical tendency of men’s minds with regard to the Scripture, to which we have adverted. To say nothing of the opposition of the mind of the natural man to the mind or will of God, which is one fruitful cause, we may mention in the first place the exceedingly loose and low views of the nature and extent of inspiration, which have been gaining currency for the last few centuries among Christian teachers and theologians themselves. It is matter of history, to which we shall have occasion to allude hereafter, that since the time of the Reformation there has been a gradual downward progress of opinion in thfe Church respecting the inspiration of the Scripture, until at last it has reached a point so low, that it is extremely difficult in many cases to draw the line between it and no inspiration whatever. When a kind of inspiration comes to be generally attributed to the Scripture, which differs so little from that which is admitted to belong to all other books, that it is difficult for the learned to distinguish between them, is it to be expected that the Scripture can long command for itself a reverence much superior to that which is felt for other books? Men cannot reverence the Scripture as the Word of God, while they are allowed, and even taught, to believe that many human errors, prejudices, passions, and infirmities, are mingled with it