Why I am a New Churchman

Introduction

The members of the New Church are often asked to give the reasons for their faith. Why are you a New Churchman ? What is your belief? How do your doctrines differ from those of other churches ? Do you believe in the Bible as the Word of God? In the Divinity of Jesus Christ ? You take the writings of Swedenborg instead of the Bible, do you not? These and many other questions of a similar character, showing entire ignorance or a total misconception of the position and principles of the New Church, are often asked. When the interest is more than an idle curiosity, a concise statement of our doctrines and the reasons for accepting them are requested.

This little work has been written in answer to this demand. The writer has given it a somewhat personal form, though not from any personal motives, in the hope that it might be more

iii

INTRODUCTION.

interesting than a dry doctrinal statement. He has endeavored to present the motives which led him from the common faith of the orthodox churches, and the reasons that have had an irresistible influence in inducing him to accept the doctrines of the New Church.

He has touched only the most important subjects, and has been compelled to treat them in the briefest manner, to keep the work within the smallest limits compatible with the purpose for which it was written. He has been able, in many instances, to do but little more than give a concise statement of a doctrine, and a few hints of the reasons which confirm it, when a thousand particulars could have been adduced which throw light upon it and show its relations to other well-known principles, making of the whole a coherent and harmonious system.

The book is more a suggestion than a complete treatise; but a suggestion, it is hoped, that points to the writings of the New Church, and to the "Word and the works of the Lord, in which every principle, doctrine, and fact is clearly revealed. The author has tried to keep within the lines of general truths and leave them to testify in

INTRODUCTION.

V their own behalf, rather than to appeal to the opinions of men, believing that it is only in its own light that the truth can he clearly seen. " In Thy light shall we see light."

It is with the hope that this little treatise may give some help in answering questions and correcting misconceptions concerning the New Church and removing groundless prejudices against it, that it has been written. It may also be useful in encouraging those who are becoming interested in the new truths to persevere in the study of them, with the assurance that the more they know of them the more confirmed they will become in the certainty that they are the laws of spiritual life.

It' these hopes of service are realized, the friends of the New Church can extend the use of the book by keeping copies of it to hand to those who are inquiring with any interest concerning the truths of the new faith.

With these suggestions the little book is commended to the members of the New Church, and to all who desire to gain a clear and certain knowledge of the Lord, of their own spiritual nature, and of the laws of spiritual life by which vi

INTRODUCTION..

alone they can attain their highest and most substantial good. With the sincere prayer that the truths set forth in the reasons, " Why I am a New Churchman," may be of as much service to others as they have been to the author, he commends the little book to all who are seeking for light and rest.

WHY I AM A NEW CHURCHMAN.

A NEW STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINES OF CHRISTI- ANITY DEMANDED.

There has never been a time in the history of Christianity when there was so loud a call for a clear and positive statement of the essential principles of religion as the present. It is the demand of a deep-felt and honest want. It does not originate in hostility to a pure, spiritual Christianity. It is a hunger and thirst of the soul "for hearing the words of the Lord;" for doctrines derived from the whole of Sacred Scripture, doctrines which are in strict accordance with natural laws, satisfactory to enlightened reason, and conducive to the harmonious and continuous development of man's spiritual faculties and the attainment of his highest natural and spiritual good. It is a desire for a knowledge of God and of man's spiritual nature and destiny that the doctrines of religion as

8 A NEW STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINES generally taught do not and cannot Batisfy. It is not limited to a few exceptional cases. It pervades the churches and the world, the clergy as well as the laity. It is in the air. It is a presence and power moving the hearts and the intellects of men and women in all conditions of life.

NEW TESTS OP DOCTRINE AND INSPIRATION.

The first effect of such a power must he a disturbance of old and cherished beliefs. It calls them up for a rehearing, and demands a rational answer to new questions and the means of satisfying new wants. There is abundant evidence that some new and pervading power is operating upon the minds of the Christian world. Every doctrine of Christianity is subjected to the keenest scrutiny. The vast resources of historical and scientific knowledge are brought to bear upon it by minds thoroughly equipped with every weapon of offence and defence and skilled in all the arts of criticism and dialectics. The Sacred Scriptures, the source of Christian doctrine, have been examined in the light of history and science, phi-

OF CHRISTIANITY DEMANDED.

losophy, and reason, with results that, to say the least, have greatly modified the opinions concerning their Divine authenticity and the absolute truth of the doctrines derived from them.

EFFECT OF THE NEW KNOWLEDGE.

The inevitable result lias been the weakening of confidence in the complete and final truth of the doctrines of Christianity as they have been taught and generally accepted. There is a prevalent feeling in the churches of every name, and especially in those which contain the greatest number of intelligent people, that the doctrines embodied in the creeds of Christendom do not meet the wants of the present time. They do not remove honest doubts; they do not give the people who accept them strength to bear the burdens of labor and sorrow, and light to guide them in the intricate and perplexing paths of duty; and they fail to provide them with the means of continual advancement into new knowledge concerning their most important interests. They are not taught in the distinct affirmative and emphatic manner they formerly were. They are not taught so much as the

10 A NEW STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINES words of the Lord as human opinions, and, in many cases, as opinions ahout which the teachers themselves have grave douhts. The prophets speak in a weak and uncertain voice, and there is a growing disposition in the people to question the truth of their teachings. The shepherds give an uncertain call ; the people are bewildered and hesitate to follow them.

THE REVISION OF CREEDS NO REMEDY.

Some doctrines have become obsolete, or are so far out of harmony with the spirit of the age that they are allowed to lie dormant. Others are supposed to need important modifications. In answer to this demand theologians are discussing the necessity of revising their creeds and forms of worship to adapt them to the wants of the growing intelligence of the people. But it is justly feared by many that such a movement will be attended with extreme danger to the whole system of doctrine ; that when a beginning is made no one can tell where it will end. The most fearless propose only some modification in the terms of expression ; a softening of the tone, keeping some of the hardest points in abeyance

OF CHRISTIANITY DEMANDED.

1 1 and bringing those which are more in accordance with the humane and rational spirit of the times into greater prominence. ~No one proposes a now garment, hut only some patches to mend the rents or conceal the defects of the old. But the new wine of spiritual truth, which is fermenting in so many minds, creating discontent with the old, and awakening an irrepressible desire for larger and clearer knowledge of the Lord, the principles of |iis government, and the methods of accomplishing His purposes, cannot be preserved in the old bottles. Every attempt to do it will fail. Those who expect any permanent relief from such partial and temporary means will be disappointed.

THE ORIGIN AND DIRECTION OP THIS MOVEMENT.

The religious world is in a transition state. The movement is towards a new and more central position from winch to regard all questions relating to man's spiritual nature and- destiny, towards a new and a distinctly higher and clearer knowledge of God, of man, of their relations to each other; of the spiritual world and the means by which man is to attain supreme happiness,

12 A NEW STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINES the end for which lie was created. The power that is brooding over the hearts and intellects of the Christian world, awakening them to new life and moving them to new activity, is not a local, superficial, and temporary influence. It has its origin in the Lord, and springs up from the inmost deeps of man's nature. It is the dawning of a new day of spiritual knowledge and life. It is a new coming of the Lord in the power and glory of new truth to fulfil His promises, to perform His purposes of love to men and answer the prayer He taught His people to offer that " His kingdom may come and His w ill be done on the earth as it is in the heavens."

It is with the purpose and hope of contributing my mite to allay the fears of those who can see nothing in the decay of old beliefs, and the strenuous demands for a rational knowledge of spiritual truth, but danger to religion and all that is good and true in human life, and of showing in clear light to those who are famishing with hunger for the bread which gives life and satisfies ever)' want of the affections, and to those fainting with thirst for the living water which the Lord freely offers to all, where they can find

OF CHRISTIANITY DEMANDED. 13 the good and the truth that will satisfy all their wants, and how they can gain new life for their affections and new light for the illumination of their understandings, — it is with this hope and purpose that I offer the following reasons —

WHY I AM A NEW CHURCHMAN.

Having passed through the most important phases of belief and unbelief, in the transition from the old and common belief of the Christian world to an entirely new and distinct faith upon all questions relating to man's spiritual nature and relations to the Lord, — a faith which is orthodox, evangelical, and catholic in the strictest and largest meaning of the terms, and which satisfies all the wants of my reason, understanding, and affections ; in a word, all the wants of my spiritual nature, — it seemed to me that a plain statement of the doctrines which I now hold without the shadow of a doubt and with every faculty of my mind, and my reasons for accepting them as the guide of my life and the basis of my hopes of eternal happiness, might be of service to others; of warning if, in their judgment, I have gone dangerously astray ; of 2

14 NEGATIVE GROUNDS FOR CHANGE OF FAITH.

encouragement, aid, and hope in attaining the same or greater light and deeper rest, if they are found to accord with the Word of the Lord, with enlightened reason, and to be helpful to a truer and purer life.

„ THE FIRST STEP.

The question why I am a New Churchman has a negative as well as a positive aspect. A rational answer requires the cause which impelled me to give up the prevalent faith of what is claimed to he evangelical Christianity and seek for something else. The reasons can be stated in a few words. I could not believe the doctrine that was commonly held and taught concerning the nature of heaven and hell, and the purely arbitrary manner in which the righteous and wicked were separated and adjudged, the one to eternal happiness, the other to eternal misery. I could not believe that the happiness of heaven consisted in eternal worship or that the torments of hell were caused by the stings of remorse or constant burning. It seemed to me to be contrary to man's nature to be satisfied with the eternal monotony of song, and impos-

DESPAIR OF FINDING THE TRUTH. 15 sible for a spiritual being to be tormented with material fire, or for a being whose conscience was scared to be excruciated with the pangs of remorse. I could not believe that the Lord would ever exclude any person from heaven who desired to live there, or that a corrupt and wicked man could find his happiness in the employment of the heavenly inhabitants. The whole system seemed to me to be contrary to the character of God and the nature of man.

THE SECOND STEP.

Doubts having been raised about the truth of one doctrine, they led to the examination of other doctrines and doubts about their truth. I did not doubt because I desired to do so. On the contrary, I clung to every point of the old faith with the greatest tenacity. I clung like a drowning man to the last plank, until I was torn from it, or it failed me and I sunk into the depths of despair. I have no language that is adequate to express the darkness and horror and agony of the state I lived in, if it could be called living, I'm' years. One hope alone sustained me. I did not doubt the existence, the

16 JOY AT THE DAWNING LIGHT.

wisdom and goodness of God. It was as impossible for me to do that as it was to believe the representation of His character and conduct towards men as expressed in the doctrines of the prevalent churches. While I had an undoubted conviction that these doctrines were not true, I had no hope of finding any others, and I settled down to the duties and necessities of life with the purpose of faithfully doing my work and awaiting whatever the future might have in store for me.

A RAY OF LIGHT.

In this state of darkness and negation, the doctrines of the New Church found me, as it seemed to me then, by the merest accident, but as I have since learned to know and believe, by the Providence and infinite mercy of the Lord. They came at first as a ray of light which excited interest and attention. Whether it was a solitary ray that gave a little light on one special subject and was limited to that, or a star that was to usher in a new morning and a new day, I did not know. But it was precious in itself, and I rejoiced in it. It exactly satisfied one of my wants, and awakened sufficient in-

JOY AT THE DAWNING LIGHT.

terest to lead me to follow it. It was a grain of gold in a bed of sand, which suggested a vein of precious ore in the mountains. As T followed the stream in whose current it had been borne down to the place where it was deposited, I saw increasing evidence that it came from a rich and inexhaustible source. To change the figure, the light constantly inci eased. It was not a solitary ray. It came from a central sun. Special truths harmonized and threw light upon one another. Each one was seen to be a part of a rational and ordered system. Confidence was increased and the way of progress become assured. Mysteries with regard to man's spiritual nature, which had been involved in impenetrable darkness, began to give up their secrete. Problems which I had supposed to be beyond the reach of the human mind to solve, began to yield to the power of the new truths and assume rational forms. The darkness that brooded over the chaos of conflicting opinions was gradually dispersed; the illusions and fallacious appearances with which the natural mind invests and perverts the form and nature of spiritual truth were gradually b 2*

18 SPIRITUAL LAW, THE DIVINE METHOD.

dispelled. I could truly say, " "Whereas I was blind, now I see."

PRESENCE AND IMMUTABILITY OF SPIRITUAL LAW.

As I advanced in the knowledge of the new truths, I saw that the laws of spiritual life originate in the Divine nature ; that they are the methods by which infinite wisdom carries into effect the purposes of infinite love, and consequently that they must inhere in the nature of spiritual substances and forces, be intimately related, essentially connected, and immutable in their nature and modes of action. I saw that God cannot act from ignorance, or caprice, or anger, or in an arbitrary way like a human autocrat. So I began to look for order in the appearances of disorder, for an unalterable, steady, and consistent purpose by the wisest means, where human life appears upon the surface to be the subject of chance and caprice. I found it, at first imperfectly and faintly, but with constantly increasing clearness and assurance, until now.it is as impossible for me to doubt the new truths as it was formerly to believe the old. They are demonstrated as clearly

IN WHAT SENSE CAN A TRUTH BE NEW? 19 as any problem in mathematics. They differ from natural science in this : While they carry the same conviction of certainty that they are the laws of the Divine order on the spiritual plane of the creation, illustrating and confirming light constantly increases as we advance in the knowledge of them. They are " the path of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

This is my own experience after a somewhat diligent study of the doctrines of the New Church for more than forty years. I believe it is the experience of every one who has given them a patient and honest examination. This is one ceason why I am a New Churchman and why I cannot be anything else. But this reason may commend itself more forcibly to others when I enter into particulars and set forth as clearly and concisely as I am able what these new truths are? and what grounds we have for calling them new.

IN AVHAT SENSE ARE THEY NEW ?

It seems to be somewhat important to answer this question before entering upon an exposition

20 IN WHAT SENSE CAN A TRUTH BE NEWf of the particular doctrines of the New Church, in order to remove prejudice and avoid misconceptions. There is an old maxim that " The true is not new, and the new is not true." This maxim is sometimes quoted as a reason for not investigating a new religious doctrine. There is a sense in which it is true. There is a sense in which no truth natural as well as spiritual can he new. A truth must exist before it can be discovered. The truth that all bodies attract one another, existed before Newton discovered the universality of the law of gravitation. The same is the fact in every discovery of science. The truths of geology, astronomy, botany, and of every science, have existed since the creation. They have their origin in the Divine nature. No finite mind can create a truth. In this sense the true is not new.

But while truths cannot be new in themselves, in the sense that they never existed until known, they may be and are new to man when he first discovers them. It is in this sense that we constantly speak of learning new truths. In this sense every truth is new to us when we first learn it. This is the fact with regard to the

IX WHAT SENSE CAX A TRUTH HE NEW? 21 truths of natural science as certainly as in relation to the truths of spiritual science. It is in this sense that we regard the principles and doctrines of the New Church as new. They were new to me, and they will he new to every one who receives them.

The idea that no new knowledge concerning God, and man's spiritual nature and destiny is possihle, is contrary to all known laws of the human mind and of human progress. There Avas a time when the doctrines of Christianity as they have heen formulated and generally accepted, were new to men. It is only within a few years that the truths of natural science have been discovered. They are new to the human mind. Is it not absurd to suppose that man reached the limits of spiritual and Divine truth centuries ago, and that there can be no new knowledge of God and man ? Is it not one of His last declarations in the Sacred Scriptures, "Behold I make all things new"? The most solemn and oft-repeated promise the Lord has made to men cannot be fulfilled without new knowledge on all questions relating to Himself, to man, and his spiritual nature and destiny.

22 IN WHAT SENSE CAN A TRUTH BE NEW?

The Lord has promised it, trie history of the raee illustrates it, and the nature of man demands it. We have, therefore, every reason to expect it.

A NEW DOCTRINE NOT NECESSARILY TRUE.

But doctrines may be new and not true. It is not the novelty of the doctrines of the New Church that commends them to my mind and wins its acceptance. The mere fact that they are new is no reason for believing them. It is rather against them. " No man having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith the old is better." New theories and opinions on many of the essential doctrines of Christianity are frequently presented. The multiplication of sects is caused by them ; many of them attract more or less attention, and then give place to other theories which have no basis in the Divine order. The doctrines of the New Church are not new in the sense of being merely novel.

HOW THE NEW DOCTRINES DIFFER FROM THE OLD.

Nor are they new in the sense that there was no saving knowledge of God among men before

IN WHAT SENSE CAN A TRUTH BE NEW? 23 day were revealed to him. The Lord lias never left man without some knowledge of His existence and of the essential means of salvation. The new truths " do not come to destroy the law or the prophets, hut to fulfil them." They clear away the traditions of men and the glosses -with which genuine truths have heen invested, that their essential forms and ground in the nature of God and the nature of man may he seen. They are new in the sense that all discoveries in the nature and laws of the material world are new. They differ from the old as science differs from isolated facts ; as theories formed from the appearances of nature to the senses differ from the principles that are hased on the essential relations of one suhstance to another. Science does not destroy facts. It makes a new use of them. It does not even destroy the appearances of the senses. The stars appeared to the eye of Newton like gems of light, as they appear to the savage and the animal. They can appear in no other form to the material eye. Science only destroys the illusions and false theories which men form from the appearances of nature when they mistake them for truths. The same prin-

A NEW ATTITUDE OF MINDciple holds in the laws of spirit. The spirit does not destroy the letter. It illuminates it as the sun the cloud.

THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT.

It is well known that those who are governed by a true scientific spirit spare no labor to see things as they actually exist in nature. They do not seek to put their theories into nature and compel her to conform to them. On the contrary, they try to discover her order and to hear her speak in her own language. They go to nature as honest disciples with watchful eyes and docile minds to learn the qualities of her substance? and the modes of her action. This attitude of the scientific mind has brought men into friendly relations with the laws of the Lord's order and His methods of accomplishing His purposes. Their minds are open to the reception of truth, and the Lord can reveal to them the secrets of His methods and teach them how to make the awful forces of wind and rain, of heat and electricity, the servants of their will. It is due to this new method of investigating nature that more progress has been made in the knowledge of the

A NEW POINT OF VIEW.

forces and (anilities of the material world during the last century than in all the previous ages of man.

A NEW AND HIGHER POINT OF VIEW.

It is iu this sense that the New Church is new. It regards every question relating to the Lord, to man, and their relations to each other from a new and a more interior point of view. It accepts as an axiom that the laws according to which the Lord creates and regulates the forces of the spiritual universe, are as immutable in their nature as natural laws ; that it is as impossible for man to change them as it is to annul the law of attraction or change the nature of light and heat. Man cannot dictate how the mind shall be organized. He cannot change the nature of goodness and truth ; he cannot teach infinite wisdom; he cannot force his opinions and theories into the nature of God or the constitution of the human mind. His true attitude is as a disciple, desiring to be instructed, to learn what the laws of the Lord in the spiritual plane of being are, and to obey them. He must keep his mind open to the reception of truth ; he must desire to know what is true ; and not what will

B 3

A NEW KIND OF KNOWLEDGE.

confirm his theories and preconceived notions. He must demand the authority of the truth itself. This is the attitude of the mind to the Sacred Scriptures and to the Lord Himself which the new doctrines teach and tend to secure.

A NEW KIND OF KNOWLEDGE.

The result is the same in spiritual as in natural things. It has led not only to new knowledge of the Lord and of man, but also to a new and higher kind of knowledge. It has led from isolated facts to related and ordered knowledge : it has lifted the mind to a higher and more interior point of view. From this point of view Ave can see the laws of the Divine wisdom on the spiritual plane of existence as they are, and not as they appear in the guise of natural forms. This is a new and distinct step in spiritual knowledge. It introduces the mind into a new world, where it becomes illuminated with a new and more interior light. It is a step in spiritual light like that from the tallow dip to the electric arc ; from star-light to the sun. The change from the old to the new is not simply the rejection of the old, but the attainment of something

THE NEW IDEA OF GOD.

better. It is the fulfilment of the prophecy : •• For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. I will also make thy officers peace and thine exactors righteousness."

But this general view of the newness and trueness of the doctrines of the New Church and the grounds for their acceptance will appear more clearly in the light of some examples. I cannot enter minutely into the particulars of all the doctrines of the New Church. To do this would require volumes. I can only present some of the fundamental ones; and if I do not succeed by a statement of them in giving good reason for being a New Churchman, a fuller exposition of the doctrines would be of no use. I proceed therefore to state as concisely as possible what these new doctrines teach concerning some of the fundamental principles of Christianity.

THE IDEA OP GOD THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF RELIGION.

The central doctrine of every religion is the one which teaches us the nature of God and His relations to men. God is the centre of creation,

THE NEW IDEA OF GOD.

and our ideas of Him are central to all our conceptions of life. They enter into every form of human thought and give quality and direction to all human purposes and actions. It is, therefore, of essential importance that our knowledge of Him should he true, distinct, and adequate to every want of the soul. Ignorance of His nature, and misconceptions of His character and relations to men, are everywhere revealed in the Sacred Scriptures as the cause of all error, evil, sorrow, and spiritual death; while "to know Him aright," He Himself declares, " is life everlasting."