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DE HEMELSCHE LEER

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE DOCTRINE OF GENUINE TRUTH OUT OF THE LATIN WORD REVEALED FROM THE LORD

ORGAN OF THE FIRST DUTCH SOCIETY OF THE' GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

EXTRACTS FROM THE ISSUES AUGUST 1932 TO MARCH 1934 (ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND ENGLISH ORIGINALS)

FIFTH FASCICLE

s-GBAVENHAGE SWEDENBORG GENOOTSCHAP LAAN VAN MEERDERVOORT

229

1934

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LEADING THESES PROPOUNDED IN "DE HEMELSCHE LEER"

1. The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Third Testament of the Word of the Lord. The DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE

   must be applied to the three Testaments alike.

   
   

2. The Latin Word without Doctrine is as a candlestick without light, and those who read the Latin Word without Doctrine, or who do not acquire for themselves a Doctrine from the Latin Word, are in darkness as to all truth (cf. S.S. 50-61).

   
   

3. The genuine Doctrine of the Church is spiritual out of celestial origin, but not out of rational origin. The Lord is that Doctrine itself (cf. A.C. 2496, 2497, 2510 2516 2533, 2859; A.E. 19).

DE HEMELSCHE LEER

EXTRACTS FROM THE ISSUE FOR AUG.-SEPT -19.12

THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD

ADDRESS BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER BEFORE THE NEW CHURCH CLUB, LONDON, JULY 29TH, 1932.

The understanding of the Word ought to be. seen in the Church as a problem of primary importance. For we read that "the Church is out of the Word, and that it is such as is its understanding of the Word" (S.S. 76—79). We even read in the same place that "it is not the Word which makes the Church, but the understanding of it, and that the Church is of such a character as is the understanding of the Word among those who are in the Church. The Word

is the Word according to the understanding of it with man, that is, as it is understood. If it is not understood, the Word is indeed called the Word, but with the man it is not. The Word is the truth according to the understanding of it; for the Word may be not the truth, for it can be falsified.

The Word is spirit and life according to the understanding of it; for the letter without the understanding of it, is dead".

If the question is asked whether this teaching must be applied not only to the Old and to the New Testament but also to the Third Testament, and if this question is answered in the affirmative, it will be seen that this must lead to a conclusion of far-reaching importance. That also the Third Testament may be the object of even intense study while at the same time its genuine meaning is not understood, and that therefore, though in itself it is the Word and it is called the Word, with the man it may not be the Word; and that it may be not the truth because it is falsified; and that it may be a dead letter, lacking spirit and life, does not admit of doubt. For the law that the meaning of a thing may be misunderstood has a universal application. So also the Third Testament as a whole and as to all its particulars may be misunderstood, and

1. REV. ERNST PFEIFFER

   
   

   even by those who are convinced that their understanding of it is true. That mistaken opinions with regard to the significance of the Third Testament and with regard to many of its particular teachings, have played and still play a part in the history of the Church, is evident.

   
   

   Though, if the question is asked in this simple way, it is thus plain that nobody can deny that also the Third Testament may be misunderstood, it is nevertheless the general belief in the Church that there can be no question about the true understanding of it. It is generally believed that the understanding of the Word has been destroyed and lost in the old church, that it has been restored by the Lord Himself in the revelation of the Third Testament, and that thus the true understanding of the Word has there been Divinely given. That this is the general belief appears from the position which is held that the Doctrine of genuine truth can be gathered "by a simple reading of the Writings", and from the statements which during the last years we have repeatedly

   seen made, namely, that "the Doctrines freely yield the spiritual light to the earnest reader", that "Swedenborg was at pains to set forth the arcana of spiritual wisdom with all possible clarity", that "devout men, when they read the rationally ordered language of the Writings, see nothing else than spiritual and angelic truths", that "in the Writings the doctrine of genuine truth, as to many of its particulars, is expounded at length, and with the greatest possible clarity of expression", and accordingly that a man has "a fairly wide knowledge of what is said in the Writings", or that a man is "well informed in their contents". Such statements clearly indicate the established opinion that the Word of the Third Testament is of such a nature that there can be no serious difficulty with regard to its genuine understanding, and that such an understanding is given as soon as a man has gathered a fairly wide knowledge of its letter, so that it may be said that he is well informed in its contents. There is no doubt that these statements have been made in good faith, but it seems evident that this could only happen in a moment when there was no realization of the infinity of the Word, of which it is said that "Nobody, unless he knows the quality of the Word, can conceive with some idea that in the singular things of it

   
   

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   there is an infinity, that is, that it contains innumerable things, which even the Angels cannot exhaust. Everything there can be compared with a seed, that out of the ground can grow up into a great tree and produce an abundance of seeds, out of which there come again similar trees, which together make a garden, and out of the seeds thereof again gardens, and so on to infinity. Such is the Word of the Lord in its singular things" (T.C.R. 290). And such is also the Latin Word. Our concept of the Latin Word remains natural as long as this infinity of it is not seen; and a realization of this infinity is only possible if the difference is seen between the Latin Word as the Word in itself and man's understanding of it. The Latin Word contains all the series and degrees of truth for the Church to all eternity, but man can only come into these truths and see them there in the measure in which his understanding is developed and opened by regeneration

   as to all the degrees of his mind. The excellency of the Third Testament by which it transcends the former Revelations does therefore not lie in this that in it all rational and spiritual truths themselves have Divinely and openly been given so as simply to be taken up by direct cognizance, which, as being contrary to the order of discrete degrees, is entirely impossible; but herein that in it all the seeds of truth have been given in such a way that if they are Divinely received in the soil of the human mind they may there germinate and spring up into a garden of gardens, which is the paradise into which man comes after death.

   
   

   The application of the teaching that "the Word is the Word according to the understanding of it with man" to the Latin Word, leads to a conclusion of great importance. For the understanding of man involves the whole intellectual part of his mind and the intellectual part involves also the voluntary part, and thus it is plain that the teaching involves the whole man. Accordingly it must be said that the Latin Word in itself is indeed the Word, but that as soon as it is received in man it is no longer the Word, unless the reception is in that in man which is of the Lord alone, unless therefore the reception is orderly, genuine, pure, and holy, in one word, Divine. For the Lord with a man can dwell only in what 'is His Own, and the Divine must be in what is Divine (cf.

   A.C. 9338).

   
   

3. REV. ERNST PFEIFFER

   The truth that the Lord can dwell with man only in what is His Own, has been known in the Church from the beginning; but the idea evidently was, that the Divine of the Latin Word in itself could be transferred from outside of man to within man in such a way as to become there the Lord's Own in which He could dwell. For, although also the law that all influx is according to reception in a general way was known, nevertheless it apparently was not realized that such a transfer cannot take place without all the human faculties as to will and understanding in free cooperation being involved, and that thus the Divine of the Latin Word in itself is not sufficient for such a transfer, but that there must be at the same time the Divine from the Lord in the receiving man, which is only possible by his regeneration. For the old proprium of man, which is infernal, cannot receive the Lord; it cannot cooperate with Him; it cannot understand the Word; from which it follows that also the Latin Word is the Word with man only if the reception and understanding of it is from the Lord alone and thus Divine. It is true that also before regeneration there must be the possibility of a certain genuine understanding; for otherwise regeneration could never make a beginning. This understanding is from remains, which also are of the Lord alone.

   
   

   The genuine understanding of the Word is represented by the white horse. From the preceding considerations it may be plain that in the New Church the white horse especially signifies the genuine understanding of the Third Testament. The signification of the white horse is given in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 298, as follows: "By a horse is signified the understanding of the Word, and by the white horse the understanding of truth out of the Word". And in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED, n. 355: "That the white horse signifies the understanding of truth out of the Word, is plain from the signification of horse, being the intellectual, and from the signification of white, in that it is said of truth. The understanding of truth out of the Word

   and its quality with the men of- the Church, is here described by horses. Whether you say that this understanding is described or those who are in it, it is the same; for men, spirits, and Angels are the subjects in which it is". There are two things which may be seen from

   
   

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   these quotations. First: That the white horse, if applied to man, does not mean the Word itself, but man's understanding of the Word. There is indeed a sense in which the white horse signifies the Word itself, namely where it represents the infinite Divine Understanding of the Lord Himself. This is the sense in which the signification of the white horse with regard to the Third Testament thus far has generally been understood. But whereas the Third Testament is the Word itself and since the white horse, if applied to man, signifies the understanding of truth out of the Word, it is plain that it signifies man's genuine understanding of the Third Testament. From the fact that man's understanding of the Third Testament may be not-genuine, and especially from the fact that a not-genuine understanding of the Third Testament has already played such a great part in the history of the New Church as to seriously delay its progress, it appears of what great importance this truth is. Secondly: From the quotation from the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED it appears that the genuine understanding of the Latin Word which is signified by the white horse, and of which it may be said that it is the Lord's with man, perfectly orderly, pure, and holy, and thus Divine, cannot be thought of as something apart from the receiving human mind itself, including all its faculties involved in free cooperation as of itself. For it is said: "Whether you say the understanding of truth out of the Word or those who are in it, it is the same; for men, spirits, and Angels are the subjects in which it is". And in n. 4380 of the ARCANA COELESTIA

   it is said: "Good and truth cannot be predicated without a subject which is man". If seen in this light this indeed appears to be a self-evident truth, and it may be thought that it is unnecessary to state it. But the position has been advanced that the genuine Doctrine of the Church, of which it was admitted that it ought to be distinguished from the Latin Word itself, and which is the same as man's genuine understanding of the truth out of the Latin Word signified by the white horse, is Divine, and even that "in a very real sense it is the Coming of the Lord to the Church and to the individual man of the Church", while at the same time it is held that man's understanding of it is not Divine but always imperfect and mixed with falsities. That this

   
   

5. REV. ERNST PFEIFFER

   
   

   position cannot be maintained because it is in contradiction to itself, is plain from the passage quoted.

   
   

   The fact that the human understanding is involved if it is said that the Latin Word is the Word not only in itself but also with man, is of such great importance that it must enter into every orderly thought regarding the Lord, the Word, the Church, in one word into all things of theology and religion. The teaching that the Latin Word is the Word and the truth only according to man's understanding of it, and that the Latin Word may be not the truth because it can be misunderstood and falsified, plainly involves this truth that the Latin Word is not the Word with man unless man's understanding of it is of the Lord alone and thus Divine. And so also it is true that the Latin Word is spirit and life according to the understanding of it; the Latin Word in itself has indeed its own Spirit and Life, but this is the infinite Spirit and Life of. the Lord Himself.

   This Spirit and Life itself cannot be imparted to any Angel or man. If the Latin Word is to be spirit and life with man, this spirit and life have to be born from the Lord with every individual man from within, which, as to the different degrees of this spirit and life, can only happen by regeneration as to all those degrees. We will come back further on to these different degrees of the spirit of the Latin Word, which involve three different discrete degrees of truth into which the Church will gradually enter. Let me at this place only point out that whereas the Latin Word with man is not the Word unless the understanding of it with man, either from remains or by regeneration, is of the Lord alone, and whereas the whole Word in the respective sense in all its particulars treats of the regeneration of man, it may be said that the first purpose of the whole Word is nothing else than to teach man the laws by which the Latin Word with him may actually become the Word. From this it fully appears what would be the disastrous result of a confirmed denial of the Divine origin and essence of the genuine understanding of the Word, or, what is the same, of the genuine Doctrine of the Church. For there is no regeneration except through the Word, and the Word is not the Word with man except in the measure in which by regeneration it has become so. This may appear as para-

   
   

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   doxical; but the first condition for every progress in regeneration unquestionably is that the Word with man first be the Word; for genuine Doctrine always must precede genuine life. The very

   first genuine understanding, however, before the actual beginning of regeneration, is from remains.

   
   

   The truth is revealed that "all in all things of the Church is from the Lord" and that "the Church is not Church out of the proprium of men, but out of the Divine of the Lord" (A.E. 23). This truth is also given in the following passages: "It is the Divine of the Lord that with man makes the Church; for there is nothing which can be considered to be the Church but that which is the proprium of the Lord" (A.C. 2966). "The Divine things which proceed from the Lord make the Church, and nothing whatever of man" (A.C. 10282). And in n. 215 of the ANGELIC

   WISDOM- CONCERNING THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE we read the explicit words "the Divine things of the Church". The Divine of the Lord in the Church from which the church is Church is described in many places of the APOCALYPSE, where the description of the New Jerusalem is given. The Church of the New Jerusalem. is described as "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" which signifies that "that Church is conjoined with the Lord through the Word" (A.R. 881, 895); it is further described as "the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God", by which is signified that Church with regard to its Doctrine, in which is the good of love and which is holy out of the Divine truths out of the Word, and which is of a celestial origin (cf. A.R. 896). Of this Church it is said that "it has the glory of God", by which is signified that "in it the Word will be understood" (n. 897); of this Church it is said that "its length is as much as the breadth", by which is signified that "good and truth make one in that Church as essence and form" (n. 906); of this Church it is said that "the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal", by which is signified that "all things of it are out of the good of love" (n. 907); of this Church it is said that "its measure is the measure of a man which is that of an Angel", which signifies that "that Church makes one with Heaven" (n. 910); of this Church it is said that "it is pure gold like

   
   

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   auto pure glass" by which is signified that "the all of that Church is the good of love flowing in together with the light out of Heaven from the Lord" (n. 912); of this Church it is said that "there shall not enter into it anything unclean", by which is signified that "nobody who adulterates the goods and falsifies the truths of the Word shall be received in it" (n. 924); of that Church it is further said that "there shall be no curse in it, and the throne of God and of tho Lamb shall be in it, and that His servants shall serve Him", by which is signified that "in it there shall be none separated from the Lord, because the Lord Himself shall rule there, and those who are in truths through the Word from Him and do His commandments. shall be with Him because conjoined"; and further that "they shall see His Face, and His Name shall be in their foreheads", by which is signified that "they will turn themselves to the Lord and the Lord Himself to them, because they are conjoined through love" (n. 938); and it is said that "there shall be no night there and they need no lantern neither light of the sun; for the Lord G-od illustrates them", by which is signified that "in the New Church there will be not any falsity of faith, and that men shall be there in the cognitions regarding God not out of natural lumen which is out of self- intelligence and out of glory arising out of conceit, but they will be in spiritual light out of the Word from the Only Lord" (n. 940).

   
   

   These are remarkable descriptions of the Church of which, by the Sacrament of Baptism, we have become members. It is said that "in it the Word is understood"; that "in it good and truth make one as essence and form", that "all things of it are out of the good of love"; that "it makes

   one with Heaven"; that "the all of it is the good of love flowing in together with the light out of Heaven from the Lord"; that "nothing unclean will be received in it"; that "none in it shall be separated from the Lord but all conjoined with Him"; that "there will be not any falsity of faith in it"; and it is said that, with regard to its Doctrine, "the good of love is in it and that it is holy out of the Divine truths out of the Word, and that it is of a celestial origin". If one compares the state of the visible New Church, the history of which abounds with testimonies to its many

   
   

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   human weaknesses and shortcomings, with these descriptions, one may be in doubt as to their exact significance. Are they applicable in any sense to the actual state of the New Church in the past and in the present, or do they only refer to some ideal state in the far future? And yet we read that here a description is given of "the New Church which after the last Judgment was to exist in the lands" (A.R. ch. XXI, Contents); and that "this Church is called Bride while it

   is being established, and Wife when it is established" (A.R. 896). There can thus be no doubt that the description of those purely Divine qualities actually refers to the historical New Church from its very beginning. It seems, however, that it has never been realized that then the description must refer to things which are called holy and Divine after having passed through actual reception in the minds of the members of the Church, thus to things which are born in the Church. This seems evident from the fact that when it was pointed out for the first time that the genuine Doctrine of the Church is Divine. this position met with an almost general refusal. The idea with regard to these revealed Divine qualities of the New Church always seems to have been that they are to be sought for exclusively in the Divine Revelation itself given to the Church, and by no means in the men themselves which constitute the Church. It is not surprising that this should have been the idea with regard to what is said about the Divine essence of this Church as to its Doctrine, namely, that "the good of love is in it and that it is holy out of the Divine truths out of the Word, and that it is out of a celestial origin"; and thus that "the Word in it is understood", and that "there will be not any falsity of faith in it"; for it is according to order that the Church in its beginning should identify the literal sense of the Revelation given to it with its Doctrine. And so also did the New Church. The words that "in it the Word will be understood" were simply taken to mean that in the "Writings" the "Word" is understood; and similarly the words that "there will be not any falsity of faith in it", that the "Writings" are free of falsities. But the Divine essence which in those descriptions is ascribed to the New Church extends not only to its Doctrine, but to all and everything of it. and it is said of it in the most general

   
   

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   way that "there shall not enter into it anything unclean".

   
   

   If the Church is seen from the Lord it may appear in the form of one Man, which consists of all the members of the Church as to their regenerated celestial and angelic proprium which they have from the Lord (cf. A.C. 252). It is this greater Man, which as to its origin and essence is of the Lord alone and thus Divine, and this Man alone, which before the Lord is called the Church.

   And it is this very real and very actual greater Man which is called the Bride and the Wife of the Lamb, and which is described in those passages quoted from the APOCALYPSE REVEALED. So in ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 253, we read: "Out of the celestial and angelic proprium the Church in the Word is called Woman, and also Wife, Bride, Virgin, Daughter". Though this greater Man, which is the proper Church, .cannot appear before the bodily eyes of man, nevertheless man can form an abstract and rational understanding of

   all its essential qualities. So a concept can be formed concerning what constitutes the soul of that Man, its body, and its spirit. That Man which is the Church proper, and indeed not only if the Church is seen as a whole but also with regard to the individual men, is conceived from the Lord alone (cf. A.C. 1438); and it is conceived in and born from the affection of the Latin Word. Its soul is the genuine love of truth, its body is the good of life in the genuine things of the Church in the natural, and its spirit is the genuine Doctrine proceeding from that soul through that body. It may therefore be evident that only those things with the members of the Church, which belong to its genuine soul, spirit, and body, belong also to the Church proper which is signified by the New Jerusalem. And it is plain that where the affection of the Latin Word as the very and proper Word itself of the New Church is lacking, there that Church proper in man which is to be the Bride and the Wife of the Lord, has not even been born as yet. From this it appears in full light how far beyond the borders of that Holy City which is described in the APOCALYPSE, are those who are confirmed in a ratiocinated denial of the Divine Human as present in the Latin Word. And it is also plain that in a mind where the ruling love is not the love of truth, which in the Church is nothing else than the desire that the Lord and His

   
   

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    Church should become all in all things and that the proprium should be reduced to nothing, in a mind thus which with its heart is engaged in the pursuits of the world, there can be no growth as to those things which make the spirit and the body of the living Church. If the New Church is seen in this way it is no longer difficult to understand why it is said of it that "there shall not enter into it anything unclean", and why it is described in those passages quoted as being of a Divine origin and essence. There will indeed always adhere to the Church the things of the old proprium of the members of the Church, which

    is infernal. But these evils and falsities are altogether extraneous to the texture of those things which constitute the Church proper; just as there always are impurities adhering to the corporeal body, without and within, which nevertheless remain extraneous to its texture, as long as the body is in a healthy state.

    
    

    There is the teaching that "all in all things of the Church is from the Lord" (A.E. 23); there is the teaching that "all influx is according to reception" (A.C. 5118; H.H. 569); and there is the teaching that "good and truth cannot be predicated without a subject which is man" (A.C. 4380; cf. A.E. 355); and if these teachings are seen harmonized together it can be seen that there is no Church unless the Divine of the Lord is also Divinely received by man, as of himself, but nevertheless from the Lord; and then it becomes clear what is meant by the teaching that "the Lord can dwell with man only in what is His Own; for the Divine cannot dwell in what is of man's proprium but only in what is Divine" (A.C. 9338). The realization of this truth opens the way to the greatest and profoundest experience a man can have; it introduces him for the first time into genuine spiritual light, whereby he for the first time begins to see and view the Divine realities of religion not outside himself but within himself, and thus begins to see things not from without but from within; and far from this making him self-conscious and self-satisfied, he is led

    into a realization of his own nothingness and the necessity of regeneration in such a degree as was never possible before. A rather frequent use has of late been made of the words "to see from within"; but nobody can see the Divine things within himself and thus see things from within unless

    
    

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    by virtue of the Divine in him, which must inflow with him from the Lord from within; for it is said that "to see something within one's self is to see out of Heaven" (A.C. 10675).

    
    

    We have said that it is not surprising that the Divine which in those passages quoted from the APOCALYPSE REVEALED is predicated of the New Jerusalem as to its Doctrine, should thus far always have been ascribed exclusively to the Third Testament itself, because it is according to order that the Church in the beginning identifies the literal sense .of the Revelation given to it with its Doctrine. Moreover the Church was strongly confirmed in this belief because the literal sense of its Revelation in several places styles itself "the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem". The Word has been doctrinal in all its Testaments (cf. A.C. 9780). And just as it may be said that the Old Testament was the Doctrine of the Jewish Church, and the New Testament the Doctrine of the Christian Church, so it may be said that the Third Testament is the Doctrine of the New Church. The word Thorah, by which the Jews designated the five books of Moses which they in the strictest sense considered as their Word, in Hebrew means Doctrine.

    The Word is the infinite Doctrine itself from which a Church by the orderly means must draw its own finite Doctrine; and so the Latin Word is the infinite Divine Doctrine itself from which the New Church may draw its own Doctrine to eternity. But the infinite Doctrine itself and the Doctrine of the Church, although they make one, are not identical; just as genuine good and genuine truth, although they cannot exist unless in a celestial marriage they make one, are not identical. The "Marriage of the Lamb" (APOCALYPSE XIX : 7) refers to nothing else than to this celestial marriage of good and truth in the Church; the good being the Lord Himself and the truth being the genuine Doctrine which the Church has made for itself as of itself out of the Latin Word. It is of the greatest importance to realize that the "making of this Doctrine" (cf. A.C.

    10548) does not consist in a simple direct reading or taking cognizance of the Latin Word, but that in it all the human intellectual faculties, including all the different discrete degrees of the rational, are involved. It ought to be evident that a man may "read" the

    
    

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    Latin Word to all eternity without understanding one single genuine truth, of it, if the interior faculties of his understanding have not been formed and opened from the Lord. It is plain that a reference to the teaching that man is enlightened when he reads the Word, is not only meaningless but misleading, if it is not known what "to read" really means, namely "to understand out of illustration, thus to perceive" (A.E. 13).

    
    

    The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the very Word of the Lord. Their true essence cannot be seen unless all and every thing which is revealed concerning the essence of the Word in the

    DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE is

    applied to them. Every effort to prove that the analogy with the other Testaments is not complete, and that the application should be made with differences and with reserves, if interiorly scrutinized will appear to detract from the Latin Testament one or other quality which is essential to the Word and inalienable. "The Latin Word is the Word according to the understanding of it with man, that is, as it is understood. If it is not understood, the Latin Word is indeed called the Word, but with the man it is not. The Latin Word is the truth according to the understanding of it, for the Latin Word may be not the truth, for it can be falsified. The Latin Word is spirit and life according to the understanding of it; for the letter without the understanding of it is dead" (cf. S.S. 76—79). And this truth can be derived from innumerable places in all the books of the Third Testament. A few quotations must here suffice. So we read in n. 1776 of the ARCANA COELESTIA: "The Word of the Lord is a dead letter, but it is vivified from the Lord in the reader according to the faculty of each one; and it becomes living according to the life of his charity and the state of innocence, and this with innumerable variety". In n. 8456 we read: "No truth … of the Word becomes truth with man before it has received life from the Divine". That this Divine is the Divine within man from the Lord is plain. In n. 10703: "It is said light in the external of the Word from its internal, but it is understood light in the external of man from his internal, when he reads it; for the Word does not give light out of itself except before

    
    

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    a. man who is in light from the internal; without this the Word is only a letter"; and finally in n. 10707: "When it is said the internal of the Word, the internal of the Church … is also understood; for the Church is there where the Word is, and it is out of the Word; … hence it is that such as is man's understanding of the Word, such is the Church in him". In these and innumerable similar passages we may see exactly what is meant when the position is advanced that the genuine understanding of the Church and thus the genuine Doctrine must be Divine, namely, that otherwise the Word itself with man is not Divine. It is not the purpose to exalt the proprium of man above the Lord. Just the opposite is the purpose; for if we read that the Word, thus the Latin Word, is a dead letter unless it has become living according to the state of innocence with man, it ought to be plain that without this innocence in man the Latin Word with man is not the Word. Innocence is the inmost of the Divine Human which makes the Heavens and the Church. The Lord alone is Divine; the Lord alone has authority; and the Lord alone is infallible. It would be insane to ascribe the Divine, and authority, and infallibility, to the proprium of man. The teaching is that if the Word is not understood, and if it is not vivified by states of innocence, it is not the Word, and not the truth, and not Divine. It then has no authority and it then cannot be adduced as being infallible. The Latin Word as it is in itself is indeed Divine, but with man its Divinity, its Authority, and its Infallibility are dependent on the presence of the Holy Spirit.

    
    

    The greatest danger which delays the progress of the New Church is the same which destroyed all the previous churches, namely, that the proprium of men should come to nestle and dwell in the letter of the Latin Testament which is not understood, and which thereby is separated from its genuine spirit. Concerning this we read: "The evil [of all churches from the beginning which have perished] was that they do not believe the Lord or the Word, but themselves and their senses" (A.C. 231). A man who bases his life and his religion on a mere direct cognizance of the

    Latin Word, without making for himself a Doctrine according to all his genuine faculties, out of the

    
    

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    life of his charity and the state of his innocence from the Lord (cf. A.C. 1776); or a man who takes the scientifics he has taken up from the letter of the Latin Word for genuine truths before they have received life from the Divine which is within him (cf. A.C. 8456), does not believe the Word but himself and his own senses. It ought to be realized that these things cannot be remedied only by the admission that for the understanding also of the Third Testament there must be illustration from the Lord; for the Word cannot be opened by illustration alone; unless the degrees of the mind are opened, the Latin Word as to its interiors remains closed. It ought also to be realized that the genuine understanding of the Word or the Doctrine of genuine truth cannot justly .be designated by the term "derivative doctrine". For this term involves the idea as if there were any original not-derived doctrine accessible to men, which alone is Divine and which alone should be considered as the true Divine Doctrine of the Church. It is plain that the not-derived Doctrine does exist in the Lord alone, and that it is therefore meaningless to introduce the distinction between not-derived and derived doctrine with man. Before the Word has entered man's understanding it is with him not the Word and all understanding is derived; there is no sense in speaking of an understanding which is not-derived. Neither can the term "interpretative doctrine" be admitted as suitable to designate the essence of the genuine Doctrine of the Church; for this term implies the idea of something which comes in between man and the Word or the Lord, while in reality the essential purpose of Doctrine is that man should come with his own understanding, as of himself, into contact and into conjunction with the very spirit of the Word and thus with the very Lord Himself; and that he should not remain in the unopened scientifics of the Latin Word, in which his proprium may come to dwell so as to form with the very scientifics of the Word something which will come in between him and the Lord and cause a separation. Of such it is said in n. 10641 of the ARCANA COELESTIA that with them there is " seduction in the Word itself".

    
    

    From what has been revealed in the Latin Testament concerning the essence of the Word, the following leading

    
    

15. REV. ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    theses have been formulated: 1. The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Third Testament of the Word of the Lord. The DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE must be applied to the three Testaments alike. 2. The Latin Word without Doctrine is as a candlestick without light, and those who read the Latin Word without Doctrine, or who do not acquire for themselves a Doctrine from the Latin Word, are in darkness as to all truth (cf. S.S. 50—61). 3. The genuine Doctrine of the Church is spiritual out of celestial origin, but not out of rational origin. The Lord is that Doctrine itself (cf. A.C. 2496, 2497, 2510, 2516, 2533, 2859; A.E. 19; and innumerable other places). Time forbids to enter into an analysis of these theses. But they are in themselves sufficient to show that if the genuine

    Doctrine of the Church is claimed to be Divine, this does not mean that the Doctrine of the Church is exalted above the Word. And they also show why the position that "the Writings are the very Doctrine of the Church, Divinely given", proves to be contrary to the teaching of the Latin Word itself, if by this it is meant to say that no Doctrine born in man, ' which is spiritual out of celestial origin, is necessary to see the truth in the Latin Word.

    
    

    On the one side it is a revealed truth that the Word remains in darkness unless there is a genuine Doctrine out of the Word and confirmed by it; on the other side it is also a revealed truth that to make genuine Doctrine is impossible, unless it be drawn out of the letter and confirmed by it.

    The mere fact that the Doctrine must be confirmed by the letter of the Latin Word, is a proof that that Doctrine is not identical with that letter; for there is no sense in saying that the letter of the Word must be confirmed by the letter. And so the exact position the purpose of which is to establish the Divine essence of the genuine Doctrine of the Church may be expressed in the very words of the Latin Word itself, namely: "The Doctrine of the Church out of the sense of the letter and together with it has authority" (ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURE FROM EXPERIENCE, XVIII ).

    
    

    As regards the question whether there are discrete degrees of truth involved in the understanding of the

    
    

16. THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD

    
    

    Latin Word, it ought to be seen that the key of this problem lies essentially in the doctrine concerning the discrete degrees of the human mind. If the actuality of these degrees — which are the exterior natural, the interior natural, the exterior rational, and the interior rational (cf. A.C.

    5145) — is realized, it will appear that the Word in all its Testaments alike, thus also the Third Testament, by direct reading or direct cognizance can only yield truths of the first and second degree which are sensual scientifics and cognitions. If these are genuine they are from the Lord with man; the order according to which they become genuine is described by the journey of Abram in Egypt, and because the innocence of the spiritual childhood of man is the soul of them, they are even called "celestial truths" (A. C. 1402). As long as the Church considers the literal sense of its Word itself as its Doctrine and thus believes that it can gather that Doctrine by a direct reading, that is by the way of sensual cognizance, all its truths, though they are genuine truths, nevertheless are essentially of a natural-rational origin. They belong to the interior natural degree of the mind; and the essence of that which in this state makes the Church in man is obedience to these truths.

    
    

    It is only when the third degree of the mind, the exterior rational, is opened, that the rational begins to play an essential part in. the formation of the Doctrine of the Church. Only then it is realized that the Doctrine must be born in the Church from within; and only then it can be seen that the Word and the Doctrine are two distinct things, while previously they were identified, and the literal sense itself of the Word was seen as the very Doctrine of the Church, and it was thought that the genuine Doctrine of the Church was nothing else than a true understanding of what the Word teaches in that sense. Although the law that the Doctrine must be drawn from the letter of the Latin Word and be confirmed by it, remains true also with regard to the spiritual Doctrine, nevertheless this Doctrine is not the result of direct cognizance alone; it is a revelation by perception from the Lord (cf. A.C. 8694). In .this state for the first time man begins

    to see the Divine things of the Church not outside of himself but within himself (cf. A.C. 10675). The truths

    
    

17. REV. ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    of the Church in this state in the Latin Word are called genuine spiritual truths; they are the genuine natural or external of the very spiritual truths themselves in which are the Angels of the second Heaven. Although these truths are not identical with the truths of the spiritual Angels themselves, because as long as man lives in this world he is not conscious above the natural degree of the mind, nevertheless they are discretely above the truths of the previous state; because the natural degree, though in itself it is continuous, by correspondence with the spiritual and celestial degrees if these are opened, becomes so distinctly divided into degrees that it fully appears as if it were in itself discrete (D.L.W. 256). The spiritual Doctrine is the abstract system of truths concerning the Divine things of the spiritual Church. That it is unlimited and can never be brought to an end, is plain. The Latin Word in every least word in the spiritual sense treats of these concepts of good and truth which make the spiritual New Church. In the spiritual Doctrine all the natural and historical concepts of the letter of the Latin Word have been left behind. There is no relation between the truths of this spiritual Doctrine and those of the natural Doctrine but that of correspondence.

    
    

    It is only when the fourth or inmost degree of the mind, the interior rational, is opened, that man comes into the very rational itself. This is the celestial state of man, and therefore it is said: "A truly rational man is no one but he who is called the celestial man" (A.C. 6240). It is in this state that the celestial Doctrine of the Church is born, and although the law that the Doctrine must be drawn from the letter of the Latin Word and be confirmed by it, remains true also with regard to this inmost degree of Doctrine, nevertheless it is plain that, even much less than the spiritual Doctrine, it is not the result of direct cognizance of the letter. The celestial Doctrine is an immediate revelation by perception from the Lord (cf. A.C. 10270; CANONS: The Holy Spirit 3

    : 2).

    
    

    Time forbids here to enter in detail upon these profound problems. They have been developed as to many essential particulars in the journal of the Church in Holland, which in its English edition is also accessible to the English reader. The main point of the present argument is to show

    
    

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    that the problem whether there are discrete degrees of truth involved in the understanding of the Latin Word, and whether therefore the science of correspondences must be applied to that Word, can only be seen in the light of the doctrine concerning the discrete degrees of the human mind. Essential correspondences are between the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial; and thus between the natural truths in the Church, the spiritual truths in the Church, and the celestial truths in the Church. Natural truths are in generals; spiritual truths are in particulars;

    celestial truths are in singulars. Natural truths are composite truths; spiritual truths are their

    components; and celestial truths are the components of these (cf. A.C. 4154). There is no relation between these degrees of truths but that of correspondence. It is here that the essential application of the science of correspondences lies. If this is realized it becomes plain that the theory that the Lord Himself has raised the truths from degree to degree in the successive Revelations, so that in the Third Testament they are "rational truths", which is the highest degree to which man can attain, will' not suffice to solve the problem of the discrete degrees of truth in the Latin Word. The problem of the relation between the three Testaments is far more intricate than it has there been surmised. The Old Testament was a Revelation of the Human Divine; the New Testament was a Revelation of the Divine Natural of the Divine Human; and the Third Testament is a Revelation of the Divine Rational of the Divine Human. The approach to all the three Testaments is the same, namely in the exterior natural, or in sensual cognizance; for the Word is Divine Truth in lasts, and also in the Third Testament the Divine Truth has been laid down in lasts. "Now it is allowed to enter intellectually" does not mean a direct cognizance of genuine rational truths, of which it is believed that they are there lying open or naked before our eyes; it is an exhortation to the man of the Church that he should suffer himself to be regenerated, whereby the interior degrees of his mind may be opened. and he may be "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white", as it is said of the Bride of the Lamb (Ap. XIX : 8), which signifies that he may be instructed in genuine and pure truths through the Latin Word from the Lord. We

    
    

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    read in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED, n. 1222, that "fine linen signifies truth out of celestial origin"; and in n. 1143: "Truths out of celestial origin are the truths with those who are in love to the Lord". The love to the Lord, and thus the essential love which makes the man of the Church to be a man and to be a Church, is therefore the love for such truths out of celestial origin.

    
    

    SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE LAW OF THE FIRSTBORN

    
    

    ADDRESS BY THE REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN BEFORE THE XXV. BRITISH ASSEMBLY, LONDON, AUGUST 1ST, 1932.

    
    

    In GENESIS there are three stories in which the subject is the right of the firstborn, and in which this right appears to be taken from. the elder son and to be given to the younger brother. These stories treat of the twin brothers Esau and Jacob; the twin brothers Zarah and Pharez, the sons of Judah by Tamar; and Manasseh and Ephraim, sons of Joseph. In each case the subject is the relation of good and truth, or charity and faith, in the natural, and the apparent primacy of truth and the actual primacy of good. In many respects there is a resemblance between the birth of the twin sons of Isaac and Judah, and between the blessing of Esau and Jacob, and Manasseh and Ephraim, so much so that the literal sense of the ARCANA CELESTIA presents the appearance as if the subject considered were the same, and it is only by means of seeing the series of GENESIS as a whole, that the essential difference can become manifest.

    As is well known, the seven days of creation, in the first chapters of GENESIS is a summary of the whole of the Word; thus it is a summary of the whole of the Glorification of the Lord, and therefore of the whole of the regeneration of man, and also of the whole history of the Church.

    This is according to the law that the first of a series is a summary of all that follows. This law is also manifest in the first verse of the Word: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". And it also applies

    
    

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    to the first book of the Word, namely GENESIS; for if the book of GENESIS is seen in a series, it becomes manifest that it treats of the complete Glorification of the Lord, and of the complete regeneration of man. It is according to this series that we will consider the subject.

    
    

    In the inmost sense, as has been said, GENESIS treats of the Glorification of the Lord, from Conception to His Ascension. In the inmost representative sense it treats of the regeneration of the celestial man whose regeneration is a likeness of the Glorification of the Lord; in the interior representative sense it treats of the regeneration of the spiritual man, the regeneration of whom is an image of the Glorification of the Lord. The reason the regeneration of the spiritual man is an image and not a likeness is because the spiritual man is not regenerated as to all the degrees of the mind, and he is therefore not fully a man. In a lower sense it treats of the regeneration of the spiritual natural man.

    
    

    The essential internal sense in relation to man is always in relation to the celestial man, the regeneration of whom is alone an image and likeness of the Glorification of the Lord. This internal sense is at present far in the distance like a mountain-range covered with clouds; nevertheless, of the Divine Mercy of the Lord, certain general, although incomplete outlines begin to become manifest. The Word is written in a Divine series, which series as it is in itself can be seen by the Lord alone, nevertheless there are indefinite

    series which can become visible to men. All genuine spiritual sight of men depends on being in one of these Divine series; if man is not in a Divine series he can see no genuine truth in any of the Testaments of the Word. If these series are not opened by the Lord to the man of the New Church, he remains in the literal sense of the Third Testament, in which case he can have no perception of the infinity of the Latin Word, although he may acknowledge its infinity from the general statements of Doctrine. That this however is not an internal acknowledgment, is evident from the fact that he imagines that he is in the full light of the spiritual Sun in reading the literal sense of the Latin Word, while in fact he is in a cloud and can hardly see that which is too far to touch with the hand.

    
    

    It is asked: But why emphasize the clouds of the literal

    
    

21. REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    sense of the Latin Word and not its Glory? This is not the question. The question is not what man should emphasize, but what is the truth. If man in first reading the Latin Word is in dense clouds,

    it is important that he should know it, lest he become as one of those of whom the Lord said: "If ye were blind ye should have no sin; but now ye say: We see; therefore your sin remaineth", JOHN 9 :41.

    
    

    It is obvious from Doctrine that the Latin Word is infinite and thus contains infinite Wisdom; yet this is contrary to the appearance of a man who is in' its literal sense, for the ideas contained appear to be limited in number, in fact so very limited, that a man who has spent the few years of his life on earth studying them, may easily come into the fantasy that he has a general knowledge of the contents of the Latin Word. Concerning the Word we read: "That such is the infinity of spiritual seed or of the truths of the Word, can be seen from angelic Wisdom, which is all from the Word. This increases in the Angels to eternity, and the wiser they become, the more clearly do they see that wisdom is without end, and perceive that they are only in the outer court, and cannot in the smallest particular attain to the Lord's Divine Wisdom, which they call a great deep. Since then the Word is from this great deep, because it is from the Lord, it is plain that there is a kind of infinity in every part", T.C.R. 290. Swedenborg at the entrance to the palace of Wisdom was told that the requirement for entrance was the acknowledgment that what one knew, compared to what one did not know, was as a drop of water to the ocean, which Swedenborg said he acknowledged more than others.

    
    

    The subject of the ARCANA CELESTIA in the internal sense is the regeneration of man, concerning which we read: "The arcana of regeneration are so innumerable that scarcely a ten- thousandth part of them can be known by the Angels, and those that they do know are what make their intelligence and wisdom", A.C. 5398. What then is known by man? From the above it is evident that the first of wisdom is to acknowledge that what we understand of the Latin Word is as nothing, and that we are in the densest cloud as to all internal and inmost things. But while this may be acknowledged with the mouth, if man has not been given some perception of where the infinite and to man

    
    

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    indefinite regions or deeps of the Word, and especially the Latin Word, lie, in his heart he is apt to revert to the fantasy that he has a general acquaintance with the contents of the Latin Word, and this especially for the reason that such a conception flatters his self-intelligence.

    
    

    Swedenborg was once granted to see the occupied regions of Heaven and the regions still unoccupied, and he saw that those which were occupied were as nothing compared to those as yet unoccupied.

    
    

    It is the internal sense of the Word which makes Heaven; in a spiritual idea the unoccupied regions of the Heavens is the internal of the Word which is yet to be opened and appropriated by Heaven and the Church. It is the purpose of this -paper to give some slight indication as to where certain unoccupied regions lie.

    
    

    In application to the regeneration of man, the first eleven chapters of GENESIS treat of the operation of the Lord before the actual rebirth of man. These chapters are said to be made historicals, while those which follow are real historicals.

    The difference between made historicals and real historicals is that the former are due entirely to influx from within, while the latter are based on experience from without. In relation to man this signifies that before the actual birth of the new man the Lord operates from within, preparing man for regeneration, but that after man is born anew, he cooperates as of himself and apparently from without, although this latter operation is equally the Lord's with man as was the former, as is indicated by the fact that the chapters before and after the eleventh chapter are equally in a Divine series. Before man has been born again he indeed appears to act as of himself, but it is an as of itself not yet in himself, as is clear from children who also have a kind of as of itself, which is not really theirs.

    
    

    In the twelfth chapter commences the story of Abram. Abram in the supreme sense represents the Lord and the states of His Glorification in infancy. Actual regeneration in man does not commence until adult life, wherefore in relation to man, Abram represents the infancy of the new man. For as it is said: "Man must be conceived anew, born anew, and educated anew", thus man of the second birth, or the regenerated man, has. like the man of the first birth.

    
    

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    to pass in an orderly manner through the different ages of life. The man born again is first a spiritual infant, and as such he is held in celestial things from the Lord, but as to his actual life he is entirely in sensual things, the sensual in this story being represented by Lot. The sensual things are particularly the sensual things of the literal sense of the Word. It has been believed in the Church that the Old Testament teaches sensual truth, the New Testament natural truth, and the Third Testament rational truth, and there is indeed a series in which this is true. But in the first state after the rebirth of the man of the New Church, all three Testaments are seen sensually. That the Third Testament is at first seen sensually is evident from the fact that the first things which delight are the external appearances of the spiritual world, which are sensual appearances. Even the inmost statements of Doctrine concerning the Divine Human are at first sensual. For the delight remains in the appearance of the Lord in the Sun of Heaven, and as seen by the external eyes of Angels. thus it is in the sensual; nevertheless in the sensual of the new infancy the celestial is present.

    
    

    In the next state man is instructed in the scientifics of the Word. Scientifics are a degree of truth more interior than sensual truth; by means of these truths the natural mind is brought into order under ruling principles. This first ordering of the natural mind is described by the story of Abram in Egypt. If the subject being considered is to be understood, there must be some knowledge concerning the natural that is being treated of, for there are many persons in GENESIS which represent the natural, as for example the servant of Abraham, Esau and Jacob, Ephraim and Manasseh, the ten sons of Israel which came to Joseph, and the Pharaoh in the time of Joseph.

    Yet while all these are called the natural, it is evident that there is a very great difference as to the representation of these different persons, and in fact that it is entirely different naturals that are treated of. For example, the natural that is signified by Esau and Jacob is born from the celestial rational represented by Isaac, wherefore previous to the birth of Esau and Jacob, this natural does not exist. Joseph also signifies the rational and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh a natural from the rational. Nevertheless the

24. SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD

    
    

    rational that Joseph represents is an entirely different rational from that which was represented by Isaac. For in the days of Isaac the rational that was represented by Joseph did not as yet exist. The rational represented by Isaac was born from the inmost represented by Abraham, while the rational that was represented by Joseph was born from the spiritual natural represented by Israel, that is, it is a rational raised out of the regenerated spiritual natural. If there is no distinct idea concerning the natural that is being considered, the subject remains in darkness; this is the reason that it is necessary to give certain outlines of GENESIS before entering upon the subject of the contention as to the birth-right. In the Word there are innumerable names which signify the celestial, the spiritual, the natural, the internal, the external, and so forth, and yet there are no. two names which signify exactly the same thing. Again the same name has often many significations, as for example Abram and Abraham have the following significations: Those who are in idolatry, the Lord in His infancy, the Divine itself, the Human of the Lord, the rational, the celestial, the good of the pure intellectory. Isaac represents the spiritual and also the celestial rational. Joseph represents the external of the rational, the celestial of the natural, the celestial of the spiritual, the internal celestial, and the Divine spiritual, besides several other representations. In fact the signification is always according to the series, wherefore a name can never occur twice with exactly the same representation; and a name in any particular place has a different signification according to the series which is being unfolded, which series are infinite, and in relation to man beyond number. Hence it is evident that unless a man is in a Divine series of the Word he can never see anything of the Word in a genuine sense.

    
    

    And as these series in the Word are infinite, it is manifest with what dense clouds the ARCANA CELESTIA is veiled, and that it is only by the Mercy of the Lord that a man can see any genuine internal truth.

    
    

    We will not consider here how the natural-, the spiritual-, and the celestial rational are formed, and how by influx into them the genuine Doctrine is formed. It is, however, important to know that the internal that is represented by Abraham and from which the rational is born, is above the

    
    

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    Heavens, thus above the consciousness of the celestial Heaven and the celestial Church, and that it only becomes manifest to the celestial in the interior or celestial rational represented by Isaac.

    
    

    That the Lord alone thought from intellectual truth, represented by Sarah, is taught in the ARCANA CELESTIA, n. 1904. That the inmost represented by Abraham and Sarah does not come to the perception of man is taught in n. 1940. That this internal is only perceived by man or Angel when it flows into the rational is taught in n. 2093.

    
    

    That the spiritual, or those who are in the exterior rational, are represented by Ishmael, and the celestial, or those who are in the interior rational, are represented by Isaac, is taught in n. 2078 and further in n. 2661, from which the following is quoted: "The Lord did not come into the world to save the celestial but the spiritual. The Most Ancient Church, called man, was celestial.

    … By Isaac is represented the Lord's Divine Rational, and by him are also signified the celestial

    who are called heirs; and by Ishmael is represented the Lord's merely human rational, and by him are also signified the spiritual who are called sons". From the above it is clear that there is no question of the existence of the natural that is represented by Esau and Jacob, before the birth of the celestial rational represented by Isaac, for these are born from this rational. If this is not known by the Church while reading of the inversion of state that takes place when Esau, representing good, becomes the lord of Jacob, representing truth, there is the danger that the Church might fall into the "celestial heresy", which in the past was so destructive of the genuine things of the Church, in spite of the fact that it appeared to be confirmed by many things from the literal sense of the Latin Word. In the natural that exists previous to the natural born from the celestial rational, there can be no such order as that signified by Esau as being the lord of Jacob.

    
    

    Previous to the regeneration of the celestial rational the Lord indeed has His natural in man, and it is in fact by this natural that the truth of the rational is united to the good of the rational, but this natural is the servant of the inmost represented by Abraham, and is called the servant, the elder of his house; see GENESIS, chapter 24. This

    
    

26. SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD

    
    

    natural is the servant of the inmost and does its bidding, wherefore this natural is never attributed to man as his own.

    
    

    Although the natural that is represented by Esau and Jacob is born from the regenerated rational, the natural after this birth must also be regenerated. For at first it is only the internal of the natural that is from the rational; Esau signifies the good of the natural from the rational, and Jacob the truth of the natural from the rational. Although Esau was born first, a dispute arises as to the birth-right, and this for two reasons. First, because there is an appearance that the truth of faith precedes the good of life. And second, because before regeneration truth must be apparently in the first place. The reason truth must be apparently in the first place is because before the will is regenerated, nothing can proceed from it but evil and falsity, wherefore it has to be in apparent subjection to the truth of Doctrine. Nevertheless that even from birth the good of the natural is the first is evident from the fact that no truth can be received with acknowledgment except from delight; wherefore it is the delight or the good of the natural that introduces. But previous to regeneration, this good which introduced the truth does not manifest itself as the good of the natural; and as the only good which manifests itself is not as yet genuine, it sells its birth-right to truth. The birth-right was sold for a mass of pottage, by which is represented a chaotic mass of doctrinal things. All things of the mind must .be ordered by means of good from the Lord which flows in by an internal way. All things which enter from without, from the Word or from the Doctrine of the Church, are in the mind a chaotic mass of doctrinal things, until they have been so ordered from the Lord; and this in spite of the fact that to the man it appears as if he understood the Word and the Doctrine, and thus they appear to be in order in his mind; but this appearance is a fallacy, for truth is nothing but the form of good. Wherefore if it is not good which has ordered the mind the doctrinals with man are not alive and appear in the spiritual world as something material, fibrous, and closed up. Nevertheless a man must have this chaotic mass of doctrinals, for until they are present, there can be no establishment of order in his mind: wherefore Esau must

27. REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    sell his birth-right for this pottage. But he did so, saying: "I am about to die", which signifies that good would rise again and .assume the priority.

    
    

    Since the beginning of the world there has been a dispute as to which has the priority, good or truth, or faith or charity. In the New Church this dispute centered about a belief that is known in the GENERAL CHURCH as the "celestial heresy". Those in this belief, which dominated the thought of the church in New 'England in the past generation, emphasized the oft repeated passages in the Writings that truth is out of good, and therefore that a minister should teach out of his goodness, and they minimized the importance of Doctrine, which minimization they were also able to confirm by passages from the Writings. At the same time they took Divine authority away from the Writings and attributed it to their own goodness, and thus destroyed the essentials of the Church.

    
    

    The ACADEMY rebuked these teachings by showing that good without truth is merely natural, and that if man were not in the truth he could never come into genuine good; at the same time bringing forth the teachings of the Writings concerning themselves, as being the Lord, and the presence of the Lord in the New Church. Thus it was shown that the placing of the authority of the goodness of man superior to the books in which the Lord had made his Second Coming, was profane; thus the genuine New Church was saved from a false doctrine, that, if unchecked, would have destroyed everything genuine. The ACADEMY, however, did not enter into and unfold the genuine meaning of the innumerable passages in the Latin Word which teach that all genuine truth is out of good and that truth is the form of good, and hence that good is the first of the Church and not truth. In fact, by placing the Writings above everything, they appeared to give to the truth of the Writings in the Church the right of primogeniture, and to make good secondary; and indeed this appearance was essential for the salvation of the Church, and led the Church through a necessary and therefore orderly state. But the danger arises that this appearance might be taken for the reality. Because of the perversion that took place in the past, men feared to enter into the passages in the Latin Word which had been perverted. and when any one

    
    

28. SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD

    
    

    touched upon them he was warned of the danger. However the Rev. E. S. Hyatt did treat concerning the subject in one of his sermons in exposition of the text concerning the house built upon a rock and the house built upon the sand, in which he showed that by the sand in the New Church is signified the scientifics or appearances of the literal sense of the Writings, in the mind of the man of the New Church, which if they are not ordered from the Lord by means of good proceeding from Him, are merely sand, and being perverted by the things of man's proprium are not a basis upon which a house can stand in a storm. And that the rock is these same scientifics ordered and united into a one from the Lord by influx of good from within, and that thus in the New Church it is the Writings in the mind of the Church, so ordered by the Lord who alone is the rock, upon which the Church can be founded; and hence that it is the Divine good in the Church that is the primary and never the appearances of truth that a man draws from the literal sense of the Writings.

    The relation of good and truth in the natural and how the order is inverted, is described as follows: "And he said: The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. This signifies that in this case the intellectual part is of truth which is within, but the will part is of good which is without, thus that they are of inverted order. Where good is, there is truth, both

    being necessary in order that there may be anything; but the influx causes the truth therein to be such as it is. The influx takes place in this way: The good of the rational flows into the natural in two ways; through the shortest way into the good itself of the natural, thus immediately; and through the good of the natural into the truth there; this good and this truth is what is represented by Esau and his hunting. The good of the rational also flows into the good of the natural by a way less short, namely through the truth of the rational, and by this influx forms something like good, but it is truth. It is according to order that the good of the rational should flow into the good of the natural, and at the same time into its truth, immediately; and also through the truth of the rational into the good there, thus mediately; and in like manner into the truth of the natural both immediately and mediately; and when this is the case,

    
    

29. REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    then the influx is according to order. Such influx exists with those who have been regenerated; but as before said, there is another influx before they have been regenerated, namely that the good of the rational does not inflow immediately into the good of the natural, but mediately through the truth of the rational, and thus presents something like good in the natural, but which is not genuine good, and consequently not genuine truth; but it is such that inmostly it really has good from the influx through the truth of the rational, but no further", A.C. 3563.

    
    

    It must be noted that the rational that is here signified by Isaac and Rebekah, is the rational that has been formed by the influx of both good and truth through the internal man. As we read: "With man also the first rational is conceived and born through the influx of the internal man into the life of the affection of scientifics of his external man; but his second rational out of the influx of the good and truth from the Lord through the internal man. This second rational he receives from the Lord, when he is being regenerated; for he is then sensible in his rational of what the good and truth of faith are", A.C. 2093. The first rational is formed from the Lord through the good which is above the Heavens (Abraham) as a father and is born out of the affection of the scientifics of the Word, or the scientifics of the Doctrine of the Church, -thus it is formed by the delight of a direct reading, of the text of the Word or of Doctrine, hence it appears as if the truth of the first rational entered from without. But both, the good -and the truth of the second rational enter manifestly from within, for they are born from the good and truth of the internal which is above the Heavens, a good and truth of which the Lord alone was conscious, represented by Abraham and Sarah. If there is not some perception of what this internal rational is, there can be no understanding of the natural born from this rational, nor of the influx into this natural, nor of the inversion of state that takes place in it.

    
    

    The nature of the influx of the good of the rational, signified by Isaac, into the truth of the rational, signified by Rebekah, and from this into the truth of the natural, signified

    by Jacob, and thence into the good of the natural, signified by Esau, previous to regeneration, in which case truth is within and good without, and the

30. SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD

    
    

    nature of the state after regeneration when there is an immediate influx of the good of the rational into the good of the natural and thence into its truth, which influx then becomes primary and the former influx secondary, is a subject which can with difficulty be explained on account of a lack of knowledge. Here we will confine ourselves to certain external illustrations by which some idea of the subject may be had.

    
    

    The most essential rational concept that has been given to the Church was expressed by the words: The Writings are the Word. The good of the rational from which this rational truth came, was the desire to be led by the Lord and not by one's own intelligence; if this love of being led by the Lord and not by self, had not been present in the Church, the Church could never have drawn this Doctrine out of the literal sense of the Latin Word, although when seen, there are many passages in the Latin Word which confirm it. This illustrates the influx of the good of the rational into the truth of the rational, and also the teaching that Doctrine is spiritual out of celestial origin.

    
    

    Again, in the early days of the ACADEMY, from a love of order, especially from a desire that the Lord's Divine order should prevail on earth, it was seen that goods and truths of the New Church in their true order were the means of the salvation of the New Church, and that the New Church was provided from the Lord for the salvation of the world.

    
    

    As in all things there should be a correspondence between the spiritual and the natural, it was seen that there should be a distinctive social life in the New Church and that internal friendship was only possible with those within the Church, for such association alone corresponds to the association of Angels with their goods and truths. This doctrine was put into practice and thus became the good of the natural in the various societies of the Church. Thus there was an influx from the good of the rational into the truth of the rational, and thence into the truth of the natural, and finally into the good of the natural. Bat later this order must be inverted, that is, within it there must be an influx of the good of the rational into the good of the natural, and thence into its truth. In reference to the above illustration, the good of the rational is the love of the orderly arrangement of the goods and truths of the

    
    

31. REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    Church; when this flows immediately into the good of the natural, it takes the form of the love of those who are in similar goods and truths. In this state a perception is given as to the goods and truths in the natural, and it is seen that because a man is called a New Churchman, or because he belongs to an organization of the New Church, he does not necessarily belong to the essential New Church, according to which the essentials of association take place. In. such a case the former influx becomes the external and the immediate influx the internal, and thus an inversion takes place in the natural. But before this inversion can take place in the natural, and good assumes its birth-right, many states must be passed through. These states are represented by Jacob's sojourn with Laban, where he acquired his wives, eleven of his sons, and his herds and flocks. His wives signify the external and the internal affections of truth, his sons the goods and truths of the Church in the natural, which are born from natural truth as a father and out of the affections of internal and of external truth as a mother; the flocks and herds signify the goods and truths of the Church in general which they possessed. Until these are possessed by the truth of

    the natural, or the Doctrine of truth in the natural, represented by Jacob, there can be no question of the inversion of state that is represented by Jacob submitting himself to Esau as his

    servant.

    
    

    When the inversion takes place, there is an influx of truth into the natural from within, from the interior man, which truth man could not observe before. These truths are represented by the four hundred men that came with Esau, see A.C. 4249. These truths are the result of the ordering of the good of the natural from the Lord, see A.C. 9337.

    
    

    When this inversion has taken place, the spiritual man is regenerated; for the natural is then regenerated and receives influx out of the rational, from the Lord. "For when the natural has been regenerated, the things which flow in from the Lord through Heaven, thus through the rational into the natural, are received because they agree. For the natural is nothing but a receptacle of good and truth out of the rational from the Lord. By the natural is meant the external man, and by the rational the internal man". A.C. 4612.

    
    

32. SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD

    
    

    But in the story of GENESIS, as soon as this order has been established, a new disorder arises in the natural, represented by the dreams of Joseph and his consequent rejection by his brothers, see GENESIS chapter 37, and the following chapter which treats of Judah and the women he took. That these two chapters are closely related, is indicated by the opening words: "And it came to pass at this time", see A.C. 4814.

    
    

    Judah in this chapter signifies the evils and falsities in the natural, which are opposed to the celestial. With the regenerated spiritual man all things in man from the inmost to the natural are held in order from the Lord, but with him the evils and falsities opposed to the celestial, although quiescent, have not been conquered; wherefore if man is to become celestial, these evils and falsities must manifest themselves. Thus from the thirty-seventh to the last chapter of GENESIS, in their most essential sense in relation to man, the regeneration of man from being spiritual to becoming celestial, is treated of. As this subject is of such an interior nature, it can with difficulty be illustrated at the present time.

    
    

    It may be noted that from Lot and later from Eliezer of Damascus, through Ishmael to Isaac, there is an ascending series which finally culminates in the recognition of Rebekah as Isaac's wife, in the twenty-sixth chapter of GENESIS. In this series Abram or Abraham, signifying the internal, is the essential which causes the ascent. Then there is a descending series, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which culminates in the regenerated natural from within, Jacob being the son of Isaac, and Isaac the son of Abraham. If man, or the Church, is to become celestial on the basis of this regenerated natural, another ascending series must commence. This series is: Jacob, the natural; Israel, the spiritual from the natural, or the celestial spiritual of the natural, see A.C.

    4570; Benjamin, the spiritual of the celestial, which is intermediate between the internal natural and the external of the rational; Joseph, the celestial of the spiritual, or the external of the rational, see A.C. 4570; and finally Joseph as the internal celestial. In the regenerated celestial man the rational is born in the regenerated natural; Joseph was the son of Jacob, or Israel; while the rational of the spiritual man, Ishmael, is born from the

33. REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    internal represented by Abraham, and is not elevated from a regenerated natural which had been attributed to the man as his own.

    
    

    The celestial of the spiritual then establishes a new order in the natural, Joseph rules over Egypt, and the goods and truths of the Church in the natural submit themselves, Joseph's brethren bow down to Joseph. From the internal celestial, Joseph, are born a new will and understanding in the natural, Ephraim and Manasseh, into which the internal celestial flows, through the spiritual of the natural, Israel, see GENESIS, chapter 48, concerning the blessing of Manasseh and Ephraim by Israel. This last descending series culminates in the genuine will and understanding of the Word, in the natural of the celestial man or Church.

    
    

    In the beginning of the creation of the celestial man from the spiritual, a contention again arises as to which is the firstborn of the natural, good or truth. This is represented by the birth of the twin sons of Judah by Tamar, Zarah and Pharez. The reason this contention again arises is because in every new state, truth again comes apparently in the first place. Zarah, signifying good, opened the womb with his hand, which signifies that the new birth takes place from the power of good, but that nevertheless truth manifests itself first, signified by Pharez coming forth first. Concerning which we read as follows: "Unless there were light from good inwardly in man, he would never be able to see truths so as to acknowledge and believe them", A.C. 4930. When man first reads the Word, particularly the Latin Word, it appears to him as truth. It is only afterwards that a man can come to see that internally the Word is the good which is inwardly in man from the Lord, and that the truths of the Word which are apparently from without by means of the senses, are only genuine truths with the man in so far as they are a form of this good.

    
    

    The final doubt as to which is the firstborn in the natural, good or truth, arises in connection with the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh. In the blessing Joseph, the internal of the celestial, accounts good, signified by Manasseh, as primary; but Israel, the spiritual from the natural, accounts truth, represented by Ephraim, as primary. Due to the influx of the internal of the celestial into the spiritual from

    
    

34. SERIES AND DEGREES IN THE LATIN WORD

    
    

    the natural, Joseph putting his hand on his father's, the spiritual does indeed acknowledge good as primary, but nevertheless Ephraim was given the primary blessing for the reason that truth is more manifest; and also for the reason that even with the celestial man and the celestial Church it is an eternal truth that "The Church is from the Word, and is such as its understanding of the Word", S.S. 76.

    
    

    It is obvious that the foregoing is the briefest outline, and that if the subject were to be opened as to its particulars, it would fill innumerable volumes. It may also appear too difficult for many to comprehend. While it is not necessary that all should enter into the particulars, it is necessary that all should acknowledge that what they know of the contents of the Latin Word is but as a drop compared to the ocean; for it is an acknowledgment of this truth from the heart that introduces a man into the palace of wisdom. To the natural mind this cannot but appear as an

    exaggeration, for it is contrary to the appearance of the literal sense of the Latin Word as seen by men. This truth cannot be acknowledged rationally unless it is acknowledged that the Latin Word has an internal sense which does not appear in the letter, an acknowledgment at which the natural mind tends to rebel. For the following words have a universal application: "How greatly those deny the internal sense of the Word has also been given me to see from such persons in the other life, for when the existence of an internal sense of the Word that does not appear in its

    literal sense, and that treats of love to the Lord and the neighbor, is merely mentioned in their presence, there is perceived not only denial by them, but also aversion and even loathing. This is the primary cause of this denial", A.C. 3427.

    
    

    If it is perceived that a man does not know one ten-thousandth part of a ten-thousandth part of the things in the ARCANA CELESTIA concerning the regeneration of man, and that the internal things concerning the Glorification of the Lord are a thousand times still more deeply hidden,

    it is obvious that the description of the Glorification of the Lord, which is called the celestial sense, as it at first appears to man on the surface of the Latin Word, is only an outermost covering, and that the celestial things themselves as seen by the celestial Angels and also the spiritual things are hidden far within.

    
    

35. A LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. ALFRED ACTON

EXTRACT FROM THE ISSUE FOR JANUARY 1933

The REV. PROF. DR. ALFRED ACTON requests the publication of the following:

To the Editor

of DE HEMELSCHE LEER.

On p. 184 of DE HEMELSCHE LEER for May, 1931, you refer to a letter received from me as saying "that for the acquiring of the internal sense of the Writings, there is . . . no need of 'genuine doctrine and illustration' ". Will you pardon me for saying that you must have misunderstood my letter. I have never thought, still less stated, that genuine doctrine and illustration are not necessary for the interior understanding of the Writings. Indeed, my belief is the exact opposite. It is universally held in the GENERAL CHURCH that what is called the Academy doctrine has been a guiding light in the understanding of the Writings; and that illustration from heaven is necessary, is too obvious to need demonstration.

ALFRED ACTON

DE HEMELSCHE LEER

EXTRACT FROM THE ISSUE FOR AUG.-SEPT. 1933

FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

Extract from the Minutes of the Meeting of Saturday, May 7th, 1932.

The memorandum, calling this meeting together, reads as follows: The address by Bishop George de Charms, The Interior Understanding of the Writings, NEW CHURCH LIFE, November 1931.

The following gentlemen took part in the discussion: Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer, p. 39, Prof. Dr. Charles H. van 0s, p. 53, Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, p. 60, N. J. Vellenga, p. 67, J. P. Verstraate, p. 71, H. D. G. Groeneveld, p. 76.

REV. ERNST PFEIFFER. — The basic principle of DE HEMELSCHE LEER is that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Third Testament of the Word of God, and that THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE is also

the Doctrine concerning the Third Testament, so that the essence of the Third Testament can only be understood in the light of that Doctrine. If the Writings of Swedenborg are the Word or the Sacred Scripture, then this is a self-evident truth; but if that Doctrine cannot; be applied to those Writings, then they are not the Word. It may however become the experience of every affirmative member of the Church, that this application in ever increasing particulars makes clear the true essence of those Writings as the Word.

All attributes ascribed to the Word in THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE are Divine attributes, which in a characteristic way show the Divine essence of the Word above the essence of ordinary books. This especially applies also to this attribute, that the Word in the natural world is clothed in a literal sense, accommodated to the thinking of simple men and of children,

1. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   and to those who "prepare the way or open the door only to the last or natural degree", T.C.R. 34, of which sense it is also said "that it conjoins man with the first Heaven", A.C. 3476. The remark has been made that if the Writings of Swedenborg also contained interior senses, hidden behind the letter, and which by the Church may be brought to light, these Writings would not be the last and crowning Revelation. That this attribute, however, is a Divine attribute and in no way one which belittles the essence of the Word, as is surmised in the remark made, clearly appears from this, "that the Word in the sence of the letter is in its fullness and in its holiness and in its power",

   S.S. 37, and "that the celestial and the spiritual sense of the Word are simultaneously in the

   natural sense of it", S.S. 38, since "in the outermost or last things all interior or higher things are simultaneously", D.P.320. It is not the purpose of the Word to communicate to man directly the discrete degrees of truth; but it has been enjoined upon man as a task, to ascend according to order as if from himself through the letter where Divine Truth is in ultimates, to the interior degrees of truth. This is the task of the Doctrine which must be made in the Church. The Doctrine is the interior truth which can be drawn out of the letter from degree to degree. Thus it is clear that the remark mentioned rests on a confusion of the essence of the three successive literal senses with the essence of the three discrete degrees of truth, natural truth, spiritual truth, and celestial truth, or the natural Doctrine, the spiritual Doctrine, and the celestial Doctrine.

   
   

   It is a fundamental attribute of the Word in all its Testaments, without which the Word would not be the Word, that in the letter all discrete degrees of truth are simultaneously present, and that the natural man therein sees natural truth, the spiritual man spiritual truth, and the celestial man celestial truth. There is in this respect no essential difference between the three Testaments. This also is clearly taught in the Word, for we read: "The man of the Most Ancient and of the Ancient Church, if he lived at this day and would read the Word, would pay no attention to the sense of the letter, which he would account for nothing, but to the internal sense; they are much surprised that any one should perceive the Word

   
   

2. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   otherwise", A.C. 1540, cf. n. 1143. The cause why they would be able to do this is, that they are celestial and spiritual men. For the essence of the discrete degrees of truth lies in the difference between the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial. It is these that make the difference between the three Heavens, and therefore also the difference between the natural man, the spiritual man, and the celestial man. So too, it is clear that the natural man in the New Church, even in the Third Testament is never in a higher discrete degree than in the first; only the spiritual man is in the second degree or in spiritual truth, and only the celestial man is in the third degree or in celestial truth.

   
   

   That from creation It is man's essential end of life successively to come into the discrete degrees of good and truth, cannot be doubted by the man of the Church. For we read: "The human mind, out of which and according to which man is man, is formed into three regions according to three degrees. In the first degree it is celestial, in which are the Angels of the highest Heaven; in the second degree it is spiritual, in which are the Angels of the middle Heaven; and in the third degree it is natural, in which are the Angels of the lowest Heaven. The human mind, organized according to these three degrees, is a receptacle of the Divine influx; but still the Divine flows in only as far as the man prepares the way, or opens the door. If he does this to the highest or celestial degree, he then becomes truly an image of God, and, after death, an Angel of the highest Heaven; but if he prepares the way, or opens the door, only to the middle or spiritual degree, he then indeed becomes an image of God, but not in that perfection, and after death he becomes an Angel of the middle Heaven; but if he only prepares the way, or opens the door, to the ultimate or natural degree, then, if he acknowledges God and worships Him with actual piety, he becomes an image of God in the ultimate degree, and after death he becomes an Angel of the ultimate Heaven", T.C.R. 34. From this description of the difference between the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural man it appears clearly that the coming into existence with man of the three discrete degrees of truth depends on the opening of the three discrete degrees of the mind. This is also con-

3. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   firmed by the fact that the human race from creation until the Coming of the Lord was successively in the discrete degrees of truth, between which there was no relation but that of correspondence, and that therefore they were successively celestial, spiritual, and natural men. From this it clearly appears that the conception of Bishop de Charms that the Lord Himself has raised the truth in the successive Revelations by means of correspondences from degree to degree, so that to the Writings "being addressed to the rational plane of the mind, is given the highest form of speech and writings with which it is possible to invest things Divine and heavenly as with an ultimate clothing", does not touch the essence of the discrete degrees and thus is not sufficient to explain the problem of the discrete degrees of truth in the Third Testament.

   
   

   It is indeed true that in the Old Testament the Divine Truth has been revealed in a form accommodated to the sensual thinking of man, that in the New Testament the Divine Truth has been revealed in a, form accommodated to the natural thinking of man, and that in the Third Testament the Divine Truth has been revealed in a form accommodated to the rational thinking of man, and it is also true that therefore the three literal senses in a certain way stand to each other in a relation of correspondence. But any one can see at once that these correspondences are not those of the essentially discrete degrees of truth into which man, by the opening of the degrees of the mind, may come, namely natural truth, spiritual truth, and celestial truth. For if this were true, then man, simply by direct cognizance of the literal senses of the Three Testaments would come into the respectively discrete degrees of truth, and thus the man who from love of truth reads the Old Testament, would be in natural truth, and the man who from love of truth reads the New Testament, would be in spiritual truth, and the man who from love of truth reads the Third Testament, would be in celestial truth. That this is not so, any one can clearly see.

   
   

   If one wishes to grasp the essence of the discrete degrees of truth into which man, by the opening of the interior degrees of the mind may come, one must see the difference between the series of these discrete degrees and the series

   
   

4. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   of the three literal senses. He who is not able to distinguish between these, will never be able to free himself from the confusion that will entangle him when he wishes to think about these things.

   
   

   It is the marriage of good and truth that makes the three Heavens or the three discrete degrees; good as to essence and truth as to form. The good which makes the first degree is the celestial of the natural degree, the good which makes the second degree is the celestial of the spiritual degree, and the good which makes the third degree is the celestial of the celestial degree or the celestial itself. The truth which makes the first degree is the spiritual of the natural degree or the natural rational, the truth which makes the second degree is the spiritual of the spiritual degree or

   the spiritual rational, and the truth which makes the. third degree is the spiritual of the

   celestial degree or the celestial rational. Here it also appears that the truth of each degree is a Doctrine, spiritual out of celestial origin. The natural rational is the natural Doctrine, in its degree spiritual out of celestial origin; the spiritual rational is the spiritual Doctrine, in its degree spiritual out of celestial origin; and the celestial rational

   is the celestial Doctrine, in its degree spiritual out of celestial origin.

   
   

   It is in the natural as on a basis that the celestial and the spiritual make the discrete degrees. This is the cause why man's natural is threefold, as we read: "It is to be known that man's natural is threefold, rational, natural, and sensual. The rational is the highest there, the sensual is the lowest there, and the natural is the middle", A.E. 1147. The basis for the first or the natural degree is in the sensual, the basis for the second or the spiritual degree is in the natural, and the basis for the third or the celestial degree is in the rational; for the thinking of the natural man moves in the external sensual things; the thinking of the spiritual man moves in that which is within the sensual, namely the natural, this being the order of social life out of charity; and the thinking of the celestial man moves in that which is within the natural, namely the rational, this being the order of truth itself which has relation to the Lord. This is confirmed by the consideration that according to the Word the characteristic essence

   
   

5. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   of the human race before the Coming of the Lord, which was based on the sensual, was of a natural kind, they being only representative Churches; and that the characteristic essence of the man of the Christian Church, which was based on the natural New Testament, was of a spiritual kind; and that the characteristic essence of the man of the New Church, which is based on the rational Third Testament, is of a celestial kind. It may also be confirmed by the express teaching that "a truly rational man is only he who is called the celestial man", A.C. 6240.

   
   

   The essence of the opening of the Word which has been enjoined upon the Church as a task, is to arrive at the interior senses of the Word, the spiritual sense, and the celestial sense, that is, to the discrete degrees of truth. Here lies the use and the application of the science of correspondences. According to Bishop de Charms's conception, however, the purpose of the application of the science of correspondences would be to arrive from one literal sense to the other, from the sensual literal sense to the natural literal sense, and from the natural literal sense to the rational literal sense. That this is not so, clearly appears from the following passage in the Word: "Ultimate goods and truths, or those of the first degree, are such as are contained in the sense of the letter of the Word; for which reason those who remain in this sense and make thence the Doctrine according to which they live, are in ultimate goods and truths. The goods and

   truths which they have drawn out of the sense of the letter of the Word, and which are with them, have in themselves interior goods and truths which are of the spiritual sense of the Word, for they correspond and make one by correspondence", A.E. 375. If Bishop de Charms's conception were correct, then the ultimate goods and truths that are spoken of here would not be in each of the literal senses of the Word, but only in the Old Testament. That the goods and truths of each literal sense belong to the ultimate Heaven appears from the following passages: "The literal sense of the Word unites man with the first Heaven", A.C. 3476, and: "There are three degrees of natural men in the ultimate Heaven; the ultimate ones are the sensual, the highest ones there are the rational", A.E. 1147, and in the same place: "As there are those two degrees, there is also an intermediate

6. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   one, which is called the natural". From this it clearly appears that also the rational literal sense of the Third Testament conjoins man only with the ultimate Heaven, and that therefore also the Third Testament contains a spiritual and a celestial sense, which stand in no relation to the literal sense and to each other but that of correspondence, and which can only be grasped by a spiritual rational or a celestial rational man.

   
   

   The mutual relation of the three literal senses of the Word, such as these have been successively given in the Old, the New, and the Third Testaments, is that of the sensual, the natural, and the rational. In the sensual Old Testament an orderly basis has been given from the Lord for the thinking of the human race in its natural age, for the basis of the thinking of the natural man is in the sensual, and the characteristic attribute of the human race in the Israelitish era, when the Old Testament was given, was the natural. In the natural New Testament an orderly basis has been given from the Lord for the thinking of the human race in its spiritual age, for the basis of the thinking of the spiritual man is in the natural, and the characteristic attribute of the human race in the Christian era, when the New Testament was given, was the spiritual. In the rational Third Testament an orderly basis has been given from the Lord for the thinking of the human race in its celestial age, for the basis of the thinking of the celestial man is in the rational, and the characteristic attribute of the human race in the era of the New Church, now the Third Testament has been given, is the celestial.

   
   

   The sensual, the natural, and the rational letter, in which the Old, the New, and the Third Testaments have successively been given are therefore nothing but Divine bases in lasts for the thinking. For in the letter of the Word the Divine Truth has been laid down in lasts; only in lasts has the Divine Truth its basis, its containant, and its firmament. In these three therefore the essential discrete degrees do not lie; but they lie in the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial, and the truth thereof is the natural rational or the natural Doctrine, the spiritual rational or the spiritual Doctrine, and the celestial rational or the celestial Doctrine.

   
   

   According to Bishop de Charms's conception the science

   
   

7. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   of correspondences does not apply to the Writings of Swedenborg, because "they are the last and crowning Revelation", and because they "with their rational statements of Doctrine appeal to the highest plane in the natural mind which can be addressed directly by a characteristic form of speech or writing". The application of the science of correspondences is thus limited to the three bases of truth in the natural, that is to the translation of the truth from a sensual basis to a natural basis, and from a natural basis to a rational basis. According to this conception the correspondences are seen only in the mutual relation of the three bases, while yet the Word teaches that essential discrete degrees of truth are between natural truth, spiritual truth, and celestial truth. According to Bishop de Charms's conception the application of the science of correspondences lies in the translation of the truth from the form of speech and writing of the

   Old Testament into the form of speech and writing of the New Testament, and from the form of speech and writing of the New Testament into the form of speech and writing of the Writings of Swedenborg, while yet the Word teaches that the science of correspondences which has now been revealed, is one of the means of .arriving at the interior degrees of truth, the

   spiritual truth and the celestial truth. According to Bishop de Charms's conception the application of the science of correspondences is the task of the Lord alone, by the giving of a new Word, namely the New Testament after the Old. Testament, and the Writings of

   Swedenborg after the New Testament; man, however, according to this conception cannot apply the science of correspondences, except just this that after the examples given in those Writings, he may also transfer the things of the Old and of the New Testament that have not been directly unfolded in those Writings, into the form of speech and writing which the truth has in those Writings, while yet the Word teaches that the essential use of the given Word is to enable man to fulfill the essential task of his life, namely "to prepare the way or to open the door" to the interior degrees of his mind, by which he can successively from a dead man become a natural man, a spiritual man, and a celestial man, by which he successively enters into the discrete

   
   

8. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   degrees of truth, between which there exists no relation than that of correspondence. It seems that in Bishop de Charms's conception the essence of the discrete degrees of truth has been entirely lost sight of, since the essential and only application of the science of correspondences that is acknowledged, has reference to the three literal senses, the sensual, the natural, and the rational, and thus the essence of the discrete degrees of truth is placed in the relation of the sensual, the natural, and the rational, which however are only the bases for the thinking.

   
   

   Bishop de Charms indeed says: "We are well aware that correspondences have a broader application than is here implied. We are fully cognizant of the fact that truth seen in the spiritual heaven is discretely removed from that seen in the natural heaven; that truth seen in the celestial heaven is likewise discretely removed from that which is seen in the spiritual heaven; and that between these there is no communication save by correspondences. But to man on earth these differences are purely perceptive". Thus, in order to prove that the Writings of Swedenborg do not contain discrete degrees of truth, reference is here made to the difference between truth with man before and after the departure from this world. According to this conception in the other life the Angels of the various discrete Heavens are indeed in discrete degrees of truth, but men in this life are not, for them the differences of the discrete degrees of truth are "purely perceptive". It is, however, plain that here again two quite different things have been confused. It is indeed true that man only after death can come into the proper spiritual truth itself or into the proper celestial truth itself; but the natural degree of the mind by the opening of the interior degrees is divided, already in this life;· into a series of as it were discrete degrees, D.L.W. 256, of which the truth is the natural rational, the spiritual rational, and the celestial rational respectively, and these are the essential discrete degrees of truth, into which man is to come by the opening of the Word according to the order of correspondences. However, he can only enter therein by regeneration, by the opening of the interior degrees of his mind, and this is what makes the difference between a natural man, a spiritual man, and a celestial

   
   

9. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   man, D.L.W. 256. This therefore is not that which makes the difference between truth with man before and after leaving this world. The real difference between the thinking before and after death is that man, as long as he lives in the natural world, for all his thinking remains bound to and is dependent on an external world, and that only after death he becomes conscious in his internal world, so that as long as he lives in this world he is only conscious in the external of the discrete degrees of truth, and only in the other life does he become conscious in the internal of the discrete degrees, or come into the proper spiritual truth or celestial- truth itself. Nevertheless the discrete degrees of truth are based on an as it were discrete difference in the natural degree, into which man must come even in this life. This appears clearly herefrom that the thinking of the Adamic man was discretely different from the thinking of the Noachic man, and this discretely different from the thinking of the later natural man; and also from this, that in many places of the Word the difference between celestial truth, spiritual truth, and natural truth is clearly expounded; and in many places it is spoken of a celestial Doctrine, a spiritual Doctrine, and a natural Doctrine. It is difficult therefore for us to understand what thought

   Bishop de Charms wished to convey by the words "to man these differences are purely perceptive", for everything that falls into the perception, falls also into the idea of the understanding, and may be clearly expressed. This is also clearly taught in the Word, for we read: "There are three degrees of wisdom with man. These are those which are opened with man according to the conjunction; they are opened according to the love, for love is conjunction itself. But the ascent of the love according to the degrees is not perceived by man except obscurely, but the ascent of the wisdom clearly with those who know and see what wisdom is" D.P. 34; and: "Men do not see the spiritual light except by the perception of the truth", D.L.W. 181. In this place the perception by man of the truth of the discrete degrees is clearly taught. That, however, the proper spiritual and celestial truth in which the Angels are, is entirely above the human understanding, and therefore not perceptive to man, appears from the following passage: "These degrees

   
   

10. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    are opened with man from the Lord according to his life, but not perceptibly or sensibly except after his departure from the world", D.P. 32.

    
    

    Divine Truth also in the Third Testament has been laid down in ultimates according to the order of discrete degrees; any other order according to which Divine Truth may descend to the man who is to be regenerated, does not exist. The Third Testament therefore contains all discrete degrees of the rational, the natural rational in the literal sense, the spiritual rational in the spiritual sense, and the celestial rational in the celestial sense. It is clear that Bishop de Charms in his argument did not take into account these essential discrete degrees of truth, and this

    is the cause why he does not accept the existence of discrete interior senses in the Third Testament, and will only allow of an "interior understanding of the Writings", which "interior understanding" is therefore always limited to the lowest degree, that is the natural rational. All that the Word teaches on the coming into existence of the discrete degrees of the rational, the natural rational, the Spiritual rational, and the celestial rational, in the stories of.

    Ishmael and Isaac, is apparently here lost sight of. That in his argument the spiritual rational and the celestial rational have not been taken into account, yea, that even the true order of the natural rational is not seen, appears clearly from all particulars. So Bishop de Charms, when

    expounding his conception of the use and the function of Doctrine, after having described his conception of the use and the function of enlightenment, says: "In order that the first sight of truth (which has been obtained through enlightenment and that is still immature, and infantile, and has no ground of permanence in the man, so that it may be quickly lost), may remain, and grow, and be appropriated to man as his own, further means (than the enlightenment) are necessary, and these have been provided by the Lord. We are told that those passages in which spiritual truth is clearly seen in a state of illustration must be collected, and arranged in order, that they may be seen together. When this is done, they constitute the doctrine of genuine truth, by which further light may be given, — light capable of penetrating the darker shadows, and of illuminating passages which before could not be under-

    
    

11. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    stood". The discrete degrees of truth are not here spoken of; that above the natural rational there exists a spiritual rational, and above this a celestial rational, is left entirely out of consideration. That in each degree, thus even in the natural degree, a new rational faculty must first be created and formed in the mind, before a man in an orderly way can "collect and arrange in order passages, that they may be seen together", and that enlightenment alone is not sufficient thereto, is evidently not seen. Enlightenment is not the first, but the last in the opening of the Word. The order of the three essential means of opening the Word, as it has thus far been acknowledged in the Church, is the Doctrine of genuine Truth, the science of correspondences, and enlightenment from the Lord (see W. F. PENDLETON, The Science of Exposition, pp. 2—3). This order, though it is essential, has been inverted in Bishop de Charms's argument; enlightenment has there been made the first of the three. Enlightenment which precedes the creation and formation of interior things in the mind may be likened unto the light of the sun falling upon a waste place. For this reason that which in the natural world corresponds to enlightenment is the awakening from sleep, A.C. 5208; and there is a great difference whether a dead man, or a natural man, or a spiritual man, or a celestial man, awakens from sleep. Bishop de Charms calls "the first sight of truth, which is still immature, and infantile, and has no ground of permanence in the man so that it may be quickly lost", "the spiritual truth which

    is clearly seen in a state of illustration". It is clear, however, that in the state there described there can as yet be no question of spiritual truth, for spiritual truth is only in the spiritual rational; yea even at that time there is not yet any question of the genuine natural truth of the natural rational, for man attains this truth only after the wrestling in the first degree described in the 12th chapter of Genesis, by which it is possible to attain a first ground of permanence. If, however, there is as yet no ground of permanence as Bishop de Charms says, then the genuine natural truth has not even yet been attained. The enlightenment which Bishop de Charms there means, has nothing to do with the enlightenment required for the opening of the interior degrees of the Word, and which

    
    

12. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    is possible only after the formation of the rational, but is evidently nothing else than the

    first light which is given to man in the celestial state of infancy as an unmerited advance. From all these particulars it clearly appears that in Bishop de Charms's conception neither the three discrete degrees of truth or of the rational, nor the genuine essence of Doctrine, nor the genuine

    essence of enlightenment are seen, and that therefore the essence of the three things required for the opening of the Word, namely of the Doctrine of genuine Truth, of the science of correspondences, and of enlightenment from the Lord, is lacking.

    
    

    That the Third Testament contains the three discrete degrees of truth, between which there is no relation save that of correspondence, may be elucidated by the following example. It is generally known that the spiritual sense of the Word has reference to truth or to charity, and the celestial sense to good or to the Lord. Nevertheless it is self-evident that also the natural sense contains a complete Doctrine concerning truth and charity and concerning good and the Lord, and that also the spiritual sense contains a complete Doctrine concerning good and the Lord. This is because the spiritual and the celestial are also present in the natural, in the form of the natural rational, in which form the natural man may grasp the Doctrine concerning charity and the Doctrine concerning the Lord, and that the celestial is also present in the spiritual in the form of the spiritual rational, in which form the spiritual man may grasp the Doctrine concerning the Lord.

    Nevertheless it is plain that the spiritual and the celestial Doctrine concerning charity and concerning the Lord, such as they are in the mind of a spiritual or a celestial man differ discretely from the Doctrine concerning charity and concerning the Lord, such as they are in the mind of a natural man; but they correspond to each other, and the natural man cannot grasp any single spiritual or celestial rational idea in. its proper form, but only in the corresponding natural rational form. If one has grasped this true essence of the discrete degrees of truth, one can no longer doubt the existence of a spiritual and a celestial sense in the Third Testament. In Bishop de Charms's argument, however, the existence is not accepted of the discrete degrees of truth, into which man can come by the

    
    

13. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    opening of the interior degrees of the mind, while yet the possibility of a spiritual Church and of a celestial Church depends on the existence of these degrees.

    
    

    The celestial Doctrine and the spiritual Doctrine are described in the

    Word as follows: "The Doctrine of celestial good, which is that of love to the Lord, is the most comprehensive and the most hidden. This Doctrine is contained in the inmost sense of the

    Word; the Doctrine of spiritual good, however, in the internal sense. The Doctrine of spiritual good, which is that of the love towards the neighbor, is also very comprehensive and hidden, but much less than the Doctrine of celestial good. That the Doctrine of love towards the neighbor

    or of charity is very comprehensive, may appear from this that it extends to all and the singular things which man thinks and wills, thus to all that he speaks and does; and also that there does not exist the same charity with the one as with the other, and that the one is not the neighbor in the same way as the other", ON THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS CELESTIAL DOCTRINE,

    107. Any one can see that this description has reference to the essential discrete degrees of truth, which are also contained in the Third Testament, and into which man can only come through regeneration, by the opening of the interior degrees of the mind; that thus, in the Third Testament also the celestial Doctrine is most hidden and the spiritual Doctrine also very hidden. From this description it is also clear that the spiritual Church from the Lord out of the Third Testament will draw the Divine truth that will extend "to all and the singular things which man thinks and wills, thus to all that he speaks and does", and that that Doctrine will extend to an application to individual men, since "there does not exist the same charity with the one as with the other, and the one is not the neighbor in the same way as the other". That this Doctrine can never be

    obtained by direct cognizance alone of the letter of the Third Testament, but that it is dependent on the opening and the formation of the spiritual rational with man, any one who wishes, may clearly see. Since, however, this spiritual Doctrine, and the celestial Doctrine, is nothing else than the spiritual and the celestial sense of the Third Testament, it is clear that the genuine Doctrine of the Church out of

    
    

14. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    the Word is nothing else than the true spirit of the Word, and therefore from the Lord alone, and therefore Divine.

    
    

    PROF. DR. CHARLES H. VAN 0s. — In the article by Bishop de Charms, which forms our subject for to-night, many true thoughts have been expressed in a striking way, and with these thoughts we, I presume, will wholeheartedly agree. If, however, one compares these considerations with those which during the last years have been held in our Society, a contain superficiality strikes us — I cannot think of a better word to convey my impression. The reason of this seems to me the following. While in the article by Bishop de Charms the necessity of progressive enlightenment and a more interior understanding of the Word is granted, the impression is created, with me at any rate, that in this connection he thinks only of a gradual development, thus of a progression along continuous degrees. For our thinking, on the other hand, it has during the last years been a fundamental thesis that, with the progression to a more interior understanding, also transitions according to the discrete degrees take place. In other words we have come to the recognition that with the development of the Church and of the man of the Church there will always again be moments in which a new light breaks through and the truths are seen in an entirely new way. This comes to pass because in the minds of the members of the Church new interior provinces are opened, on which account the Lord can inflow with new interior truths.

    
    

    That thus progressions alternate according to continuous and according to discrete degrees, is a general law in human thinking, which is also clearly represented in the history of science. About the year 1890 the physicists were of the opinion that everything that man can find out about nature was practically known; that further progress would consist only in an ever more accurate study of what in the main was already known. It is generally known that since that time many new discoveries have been made and that our views have been altered in such a way that one may safely say that modern physics differ discretely from those of the second half of the nineteenth century. We speak here only of degrees in the natural; this is, however, a representation of the progress in the thinking of the

    
    

15. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    Church from the natural to the spiritual and the celestial.

    Something else is connected with this. When the members of the Church have arrived at a new insight, they will try to express these views in order to communicate them to others. The others, after having grasped the new truths, will try to clothe them likewise in their own words. In course of time the truths will thus be accommodated to the idea even of the simple members of the Church. Thus the Church as a whole will have advanced in the understanding of truth. And this advance will be of a permanent nature; it will remain, also when those by whom this advance became possible will have departed. Yea, even if for some time such a degree of enlightenment would no longer occur in the Church, the new views would nevertheless continue to exist. From all this it appears that the Church as it were has its own life, to a certain extent independent of the life of its members, although it remains true that the life of the Church is accomplished in the life of its members. If therefore Bishop de Charms says that the spiritual development of the Church is one with that of the members who constitute it, this is only one side of the truth; and just the other side which has here been expounded is of essential importance in connection with the problems now occupying us.

    
    

    This again may be illustrated by means of the history of science. No one will deny that Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians who have ever lived; but at the same time no one will deny that since the days of Archimedes new views of mathematics have been acquired, of which Archimedes did not dream. These views have become common property of all mathematicians, so that they are the property also of those whose power of thinking remains far behind that of Archimedes. We see here how for the rational understanding of a truth a much less degree of enlightenment is required than is necessary for seeing the truth for the first time. From this it also follows that if in the light of history a judgment is expressed on former states' of the Church, this has nothing to do with a judgment on the degree of enlightenment or regeneration of the men who in those former states made the Church. The judgment: "Greek mathematics, as compared with ours, were very imperfect", has nothing to do with the judg-

    
    

16. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    ment: "Archimedes was a very great mathematician".

    
    

    If one does not consider these things, it does not become clear either to what end the Church properly serves. If Bishop de Charms says that the task of the Church properly is only to again and again refer to the Word, the question arises whether for this an organized Church is really required. That the Church is our Mother, that without her no real spiritual life can possibly exist, — these truths in this way are not at all seen.

    
    

    On the other hand it is certainly true that the Word and the Doctrine in the mind of each man of the Church ever again must be seen in their mutual connection; that every member of the Church has the call, by wrestling through these things, to come to his own insight. This, moreover, follows from the preceding; for if the Word were not, always anew, to be read by the members of the Church independently, it would be impossible for new light ever anew to inflow into the Church and this to be led to new states.

    
    

    All this again is clearly represented in the history of the sciences. As long as a science is in its infancy, it will often happen that some one not strictly belonging to the students of that science, makes discoveries which later on appear to be of the greatest value to that science. In the measure, however, in which that science advances, a thing of that kind becomes ever more

    difficult, and with sciences such as mathematics and theoretic physics the probability that such a thing will happen has become exceedingly small. So in the course of time it will become ever more improbable that any one, not partaking of the life of the Church, only by independent reading of the Word, should attain an enlightenment which may be compared with that ruling in the Church.

    
    

    On the other hand, every young student of science is led to convince himself

    of the fundamental truths of science by his own reflections and his own experiments, and every new view that is expressed by one of the leaders is put to the test by his colleagues. Were this ever to cease, it would mean the degeneration of science. So too every member of the Church must ever anew turn to the Word.

    
    

    In the second part of his argument Bishop de Charms explains in what way the Doctrine may be drawn from the letter of the Word. He points out that in the sense of the

    
    

17. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    letter of the Word some things are, as it were, naked, others clothed, and that, in order to arrive at a Doctrine one should begin by collecting those places where truth appears naked. These passages must be arranged in order and brought into mutual connection, and with the help of what is thus acquired one should penetrate more and more into those things which originally were obscure. All this certainly is true, and is abundantly confirmed by statements from the literal sense of the Third Testament. The question, however, should be put as to which things are naked and which clothed. And then the reply is that this depends on the state in which man finds himself. When a new light breaks through, many things that formerly were hidden, are seen, but, conversely, things which formerly seemed clear, appear to hold unsuspected dark depths. Things which first were clothed, thus now become naked, but things which first seemed naked, prove to be clothed. The entire work therefore at every new stage must as it were be done over again from the beginning. Nothing of this appears in Bishop de Charms's argument; one rather gains the impression as if the things which once were naked, remain so.

    
    

    This development very clearly appears in the history of science during the last decades. By the numerous new discoveries and views many obscure things have come to clarity. On the other hand it has, however, been proved that the apparently most simple ideas, such as "point", ''curved line", "simultaneousness", contain in themselves enormous difficulties, and a large part of the work of the present day scientists is devoted just to the study and analysis of these fundamental ideas. So too, in the Church, the most fundamental ideas will have to be examined ever anew.

    
    

    In the third part of his address Bishop de Charms argues that the science of correspondences may be applied only in a very limited measure to the Third Testament. By "application of the science of correspondences" he understands the rendering of a teaching clothed in sensual ideas with the help of moral demands, or with the help of abstract ideas. He thinks, for instance, of the connection between a text from the Old Testament, the explanation thereof in the New Testament, and the explanation in the

    
    

18. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    Third Testament. It is clear that a teaching thus clothed in abstract ideas, cannot again be translated into another form of human language, since there exists no form of human language which might be still further removed from the sensual idea—except perhaps, I woui'd remark, the symbolic language of mathematics and music, which however, at the moment is still far too imperfect for the end here spoken of. This, perhaps, gives us the best approximating idea of the language of the Angels. Apart from such possibilities it is clear that the drawing up of an internal sense, in the way which Bishop de Charms means, finds its logical end in the teachings clothed in abstract concepts of the Third Testament. We would however remark that this is a rather limited conception of the science of correspondences. If, for instance, the Church is seen as a man and thus that which has been communicated concerning the regeneration of man, is applied to the Church, then is this not an application of the science of correspondences? Or if we consider that the Lord reveals Himself in the man of the Church, and that thus all that is revealed concerning the Lord, must be reflected in every individual man? In such instances both the passage subjected to the exegesis, and also the results of the exegesis, are clothed in abstract concepts, and still one may say that by the exegesis a hidden sense has been brought to light.

    Still this is then something which, in itself, remains in the natural; it may show us, however, that the law of correspondences is a universal law, and that if the Church is to come into the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word, the science of correspondences will also have to be applied to the Third Testament.

    
    

    In the fourth part of his address Bishop de Charms speaks of the interpretative

    doctrine, existing in the Church, and of the danger of binding authority being ascribed to this doctrine. Various remarks may here be made. First of all this, that it is a one-sided idea to call the Doctrine of the Church an "interpretative doctrine". From the truth that the Doctrine must be. drawn out of the letter of the Word, and be confirmed by the letter, it in no way follows that the function of the Doctrine consists solely in an interpretation of the letter.

    
    

    The peculiar relation existing here may perhaps again

    
    

19. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    be best elucidated by pointing to analogous relations in the world of science. In the last century there have been, and there are still, many scholars, who see the task of science exclusively in this that facts are collected and brought into mutual connection and thus may serve to explain each other. These men are called positivists, and in analogy with this I would call Bishop de Charms's position, if I understand it correctly, a positivist position. It is difficult, however, to bring the real development of science into agreement with the positivist ideal, in its simplest form at any rate. Let us, by way of example, consider the teaching of electricity, as this

    has been developed by Maxwell. In the teaching of electricity, men are concerned with the powers operating one on the other by objects charged with electricity, or through which there run electric currents. In order to explain these powers it has proved necessary to represent to one's self that in the space between the objects — in the ether as is sometimes said — certain conditions and changes of conditions occur that may be mathematically described. These conditions and changes of conditions cannot be observed, they can only be indirectly indicated by the influence which they exercise on our instruments. We see here how science for the explanation of the phenomena observed is obliged to draw up a teaching about things that cannot

    be perceived. So too in the Church for the explanation of the Word more and more definite ideas will be formed concerning the things which are not directly seen in the exclusively literal sense of the Word.

    
    

    And finally the concepts "authority" and "infallibility", which in connection with the problem of the Doctrine of the Church have been foremost in stirring the minds. Here too it will serve to elucidate if we think of the relations in the world of science. For a right understanding, let us first remark that here, as well as in the former instances, we view science on its favorable side which comes to light if its students limit themselves to subjects which are within the domain of their study. That at all times many scholars have been shortsighted and intolerant, no one will deny; however, as a rule this referred to subjects not belonging to the field of their studies, and in respect of which no kind of authority could be ascribed to them. If,

    
    

20. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    however, we regard science in its own territory we see how here, without any external compelling authority, a certain relation of authority comes into existence as of itself. This reveals itself in the fact that the theses enounced by some are immediately studied in the most serious way, even by those who ultimately are not in agreement with those theses; the sayings of some others, on the contrary, are at once passed by with a shrug of the shoulders. Of course there is the possibility that this common opinion is mistaken, and that theses that were first laughed at, later on appear to be of great importance. The further, however, that science progresses, the smaller the chance that such a thing will happen. And if in some fields of science this chance is already fairly small, how much the smaller then will it not become in the Church, of which we believe that the Lord leads it? And indeed, the true authority of the Doctrine lies in this, that it is spiritual out of celestial origin, and that it is the Lord Himself.

    
    

    At the same time we see that this authority does not exclude the independent investigation and. reflection of others, but, on the contrary, supposes this. And so too, it is in the Church. Only then will the Doctrine of the Church possess actual authority if the members by their own reading and reflection ever again convince themselves of the meaning of that which is stated by the Doctrine.

    
    

    The point of view one takes in respect of the problem of authority and infallibility is intimately connected with the representation one makes for himself of the way of the Church's progress. If one believes that the progress of the Church takes place along continuous degrees, as, according to my impression, is Bishop de Charms's opinion, then the state of the Church, however far it may advance, essentially never differs from the state in the beginning of its development. If the Church, composed of fallible men, in the beginning is fallible, it must be so at all times with regard to each of its doctrines. The testing, ever anew, of each of its statements by the Word then, truly, shall never be allowed to come to an end. This, however, becomes entirely different, as soon as a development according to discrete degrees is accepted. If the Church has advanced to a new state, discretely differing from the preceding one, the development which had been attained in the preceding

    
    

21. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    state, is closed off. The truths acquired in the preceding state and in which the insight obtained in that state has been laid down, have then become the Church's definite possession of which nothing will ever again be altered, and of these truths it may therefore be said that they have been pronounced with authority.

    
    

    This again may be illustrated by the development of science. The laws which Newton formulated as the basis of mechanics, will for ever form the basis for mechanics; the science which takes these laws as its starting point, is therefore infallible. This is not in conflict with the fact that it appears from the investigations of recent) years that, with

    regard to certain phenomena, the laws of Newton must be substituted by others; for the provinces to which these modified laws apply, differ so much from the field for which Newton formulated his laws, that one may here speak of differences according to discrete degrees. So, when the thinking of the Church is elevated to a new province, will the truths that had been found for the preceding province have to be substituted by new ones; but for the province for which they have been found, the truths will continue to apply.

    
    

    REV. THEODORE PITCAIRN. — In the address of Bishop de Charms, one of the essential statements disagreeing with DE HEMELSCHE LEER, reads as follows: "A love of truth … imparts illustration to the spirit. This it does by a direct reading of the text, and this both with the Writings and with the former Scriptures". In connection with a similar statement in a doctrinal class, Bishop de Charms, as a confirmation, refers to n. 1. CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD FROM EXPERIENCE. The word experience

    here on first sight appears to refer to the things which Swedenborg saw and heard with the external spiritual body in the external spiritual world, a number of which are described in this work. If the mind is raised above these external appearances it is evident that the experience refers to the experiencing of the internal things of the Word, that is by experiencing the states of regeneration described in the Word. It is the nature of experience that it can be described, but cannot be transferred from one to another; every man

    
    

22. OF THE SWEDENBOBG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    must experience a thing for himself before he has any living knowledge concerning the experience. If a man has not experienced states of regeneration he cannot have any living knowledge of regeneration, no matter how many scientifics he may have acquired concerning regeneration from the Word. This is taught in the ARCANA CELESTIA, n. 4027, as follows: "The things which have thus far been explained as to the internal sense of the Word, are too interior and thus too arcane to admit of being clearly explained to the understanding. …

    Something of them may be seen in the regeneration of man, because the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord's Glorification. Of regeneration man may have some idea, but not unless he be regenerated; nevertheless it will be an obscure one as long as he lives in the body Those

    however who are not regenerated, cannot possibly have any conception of the subject". As the spiritual sense treats throughout of the regeneration of man, it follows that if man is not regenerated, he "cannot possibly have any idea of the subject" in the internal sense. If men have experienced states of regeneration they can "see inwardly in themselves, and not from others"; such when they read the Word see their experiences described in the Word. and can thus be illustrated by the Lord, hence such can see from experience whether the doctrine accepted by the

    Church is the genuine Doctrine of the Church or not. Those who have not experienced internal states, and "read the Word from the doctrine received from others, are not able to see truths from the light of their own spirit, thus not inwardly in themselves, but outside themselves. For they think that a thing is true because others have seen it, and hence they attend only to what corroborates it", A.E. 190 (see NEW CHURCH LIFE, Nov. 1931, page 651).

    
    

    Not only man individually experiences spiritual states, but also the Church, such states of the Church when genuine are called the days of the Son of Man. Thus we read: "To desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, LUKE XVII : 22, denotes to see one of the states of Divine Truth, which is genuine. The subject here treated of is the end of the church", A.C. 9807. In the early days of the ACADEMY the Church experienced such a state, and in the light of this state they saw that the Writings are the Divine Truth itself.

    
    

23. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    The heading of CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE FROM EXPERIENCE, n. I,

    reads: "The sense of the letter of the Word, in which is the spiritual sense, represented". The description which follows is evidently a representation, and hence obviously belongs to the literal sense of the Word, wherefore it is said: "The sense of the letter of the Word, in which is the spiritual sense, represented. I was given to see great purses, apparently like sacks, in

    which was hidden silver in great abundance; and since these sacks were opened, it seemed as if any one might take from the silver placed therein, yea, steal from it; but near the sack sat two Angels who were guards". As is stated this was a representation of the letter of the Word in which is the spiritual sense. As the Word was opened from the Lord through Swedenborg, it speaks of the sacks being opened, and as by this opening of the Word it appears as if any one might take to himself spiritual truths, it says: "It seemed as if any one might take from the silver placed therein". "In the sacks was hidden silver in great abundance", signifies, that although the Word is opened, still its interiors are hidden. The two Angels who were guards signify "that every one may take thence the cognitions of truth, but that care must be taken lest its interior sense in which is nothing but verities, be falsified". That the "interior sense" of the Word does not here refer to the literal sense of the Latin Word is evident, for it says that every one may take from the Word the cognitions of truth; and the interior truths drawn thence, which are the truths of the Church, were represented by the modest virgins in the next room; for we read: "The modest virgins who were seen in the chamber signified the truths of the Church". Thus the opened sacks in which silver was hidden do not represent the interior truths of the Church, but the Word which, although opened, still contains interior hidden things. It is only in so far as these hidden things have been drawn forth, and in so far as they have become living in the Church, that the truths of the Church are modest virgins, and, when united with the good from the Lord in the Church, become a chaste wife. The chaste wife signifies "the conjunction of truth and good which is everywhere in the Word". That the taking the silver from the sacks requires cooperation on the part of man, and-

    
    

24. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    thus the making of Doctrine, is evident from the warning .against falsification. If truth could be drawn directly from the literal sense of the Third Testament apart from the making of Doctrine, there would be no need for the warning of the danger of falsification, for the falsification of truth is the opposite to the making of genuine Doctrine.

    
    

    While it is now permitted "to enter intellectually into the arcana of faith", this does not mean that the guards have been removed; for the guards are all the more necessary lest interior truth be profaned, which would be done if men could enter into the interior things of the Church by direct reading, apart from the making of Doctrine. If this were possible it would mean that from now on man can come into the interior truths of the Word without cooperation on man's part, an obvious falsity. Bishop de Charms does indeed speak of the importance of the Church making Doctrine; and he says: "We are told that those passages in which spiritual truth is clearly seen in a state of illustration must be collected and arranged in order, that they may be seen together. When this is done, they constitute the doctrine of genuine truth, by which further light may be given", in confirmation of which he quotes: "But the Doctrine must be collected from the Word; and while it is being collected, the man must be in enlightenment from the Lord", A.C. 9424. In the statement of Bishop de Charms the true order is inverted, for he speaks of truths being first clearly seen and then arranged into order; yet before order has been induced, spiritual truths cannot be clearly seen. There are many passages in the Latin Word which speak of the ordering of truths from the Lord in man, and it is stated that truths before they have been ordered from the Lord in man, are not truths but scientifics. But Bishop de Charms appears to teach that a man must see truths clearly in a state of illustration, by

    direct reading, before troths have been collected and arranged into order from the Lord, thus he appears to teach that the disordered mind is to see truth clearly and then bring truths into order. Many places in the Latin Word teach the true order, namely that man must have the things of the Word in his memory, which are made truths with him by being ordered from the Lord; if this takes place, in a certain sense with the simple, who are not

    
    

25. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    acquainted with all the laws of exposition, it nevertheless takes place according to these laws. When truths have been ordered from the Lord, they are not the result of direct reading, but are the result of the ordering from the Lord from within.

    
    

    When truths have been so ordered they take on an entirely new meaning, which has no relationship with their former meaning than that of correspondence. This Bishop de Charms seems to deny, for he says: "The Science of Correspondences is primarily the means by which, from the Old and New Testaments, an internal sense may be drawn forth, far removed from the sense of the letter, yet expressed in the natural to become a new basis for the thought of the church. As such, it cannot be used in connection with the Writings". Yet it was just such a process as Bishop de Charms says cannot be used in connection with the Writings, which has formed the basis of the GENERAL CHURCH, namely the Doctrine that the Writings are the Word. This Doctrine could not have been derived from the literal sense of the Latin Word by direct reading, for it cannot be seen by direct reading in the Latin Word. This Doctrine was due to an ordering from the Lord of the passages from the Latin Word in the mind of the Church, and it is this Doctrine which has been a lamp to the GENERAL CHURCH, and has given it the light which is lacking in the other bodies of the Church. Bishop de Charms does indeed acknowledge that there are discrete degrees of truth in the Church, but he says "there differences are purely

    perceptive", and he implies that as such they cannot be expressed in words as is possible in Heaven. Yet it is obvious that the perception of the Writings as the Word has been expressed in words that have conveyed the perception to others; if this were not possible, how could the Holy Spirit be communicated from man to man? Is not the Doctrine that the Writings are the Word a new Doctrine, due to the orderly exposition of the Latin Word? Yet Bishop de Charms says that the science of correspondences, which is one of the three essentials of exposition, "does not lead to the discovery of new doctrine". The Doctrine that the Writings are the Word, is based on correspondence, for it is based on the fact that every new Church must be based on a new Word, and there is a

    
    

26. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

corresponding relation between the New Church and the Word of the New Church and previous Churches and the Testaments upon which they were based. In fact it is an acknowledged truth in the Church that all things which took place at the First Coming of the Lord correspond to things which take place at the Second Coming of the Lord. By means of this correspondence new truths have been seen and still more will be seen in the Latin Word. How then can Bishop de Charms say that by this means no new doctrine can be discovered?

We read further in the passage quoted "that the place where the sacks were deposited, appeared like a manger in a stable. In the next chamber were seen modest virgins, with a chaste wife". The first chamber signifies the external mind, which sees the Word and particularly the Latin Word as sacks containing silver, while the next chamber signifies the spiritual mind, where the interiors of the Word are seen as modest virgins and as a chaste wife; for "the marriage of the Lord with the Church is the marriage of good and truth in the Word", n. VIII, Heading. That the first chamber represents the natural mind, is evident from its appearing like a stable with

a manger. Concerning which it states: "The manger in the stable where the purses lay, signifies spiritual instruction for the understanding. A manger signifies this, even the one wherein the Lord was laid; for a horse signifies the understanding, hence a manger signifies ifs nourishment". In the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED, n. 706", we read: "Amanger signifies the Doctrine of truth from the Word, from the fact that by horses is signified the understanding of the Word". It needs no demonstration to be able to see that a stable represents something more external than a house or here than the chamber where the modest virgins and the chaste wife were. That the stable represents the first instruction of the understanding of the Church from the Word, is evident from the fact that it was at the beginning of His life on earth that the Lord was in themanger. An inn also signifies a place of instruction of the Church in Doctrine from the Word, see A.E. 375. The inn in which there was no room, signifies the instruction in doctrine from the Word in the Jewish Church and according to the doctrine of the Jewish Church; but whereas this was doctrine falsified, it was non-receptive of the Lord. The Lord being in a manger, signifies the new instruction of the Christian Church from the Word in its beginning apart from the doctrine of the Jewish church. Raising the mind above the historical, the Jewish church signifies all who are in the literal sense of the Word and from it make falsified natural doctrine or traditions. The Christian Church in its true meaning signifies the spiritual, who are instructed anew from the Word apart from the falsifications of the literal sense of the Word. Such instruction is as it were in a stable, but when spiritual truths have become living in the Church, then they are like a virgin and afterwards like a wife in an inner chamber.

Near the chamber were two infants, signifying "the innocence of wisdom in the Word; they were Angels from the third Heaven, who. all appear like infants". Thus is described the celestial sense of the Word, and this sense is said to be represented by Angels from the third Heaven, for the reason that an Angel as to what is truly angelic,

is nothing else but a manifestation of the celestial and spiritual sense of the Word, wherefore .an Angel signifies this sense. And it was said that the two infants "were not to be played with in a childlike manner, but wisely". No explanation of this sentence is given, although it is the very core of the subject. Nor can we unfold it ulteriorly at this time; except to note that "to play", being the natural expression of the innocence of ignorance signifies the innocence of wisdom here in relation .to the Word. And as in the celestial sense of the Word and in the Doctrine of that sense resides the conjugial of the Lord and the Church, play is spoken of in this connection in HEAVEN AND HELL, n. 281, where it is said: "Hence there is a play as of infancy in conjugial love". Play is a contrast to work; in this connection it may be noted that there are six days of labor or work followed by a day of rest or play, in which the Lord leads man in the innocence of wisdom as a little child; then is man in the sense of the Word signified by the two infants, who were to be played with wisely.

This first number of the work CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE contains a complete description of the Word, and includes infinite particulars; what is given here is indeed very little, yet it is sufficient to show that the

1. OF THE SWKDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   number could have been better quoted to show how arcane the Third Testament is, rather than to show that one comes into illustration by a direct reading of the text. True, the number does to a degree explain itself, and thus gives the Church a valuable assistance; nevertheless a careful consideration makes it obvious that the explanations are of a similar nature as the explanation of the parables given to His apostles by the Lord when on earth, and that the interiors, although explained, still lie hidden, like hidden silver in opened sacks, which it appears as if one can take, but which it is impossible to do unless one is prepared.

   
   

   N. J. VELLENGA. — Bishop de Charms's address gives me occasion to speak of the following two points: 1. That the science of correspondences in the Old and the New Testament is said to differ from that in the Third Testament. 2. That the Doctrine of the Church is said to be only an interpretative doctrine.

   
   

   With reference to the first point: Bishop de Charms establishes a difference between the correspondences of the Old and the New Testament on the one hand and those of the Writings of Swedenborgon the other hand. A difference that he sees a. in the characteristic form in which the Writings of Swedenborg have been written, b. in the nonexistence of a complete analogy between the three Scriptures, and c. in the fact that those Writings are the last and crowning Revelation. By "characteristic form" Bishop de Charms understands the sensual metaphors of the Old Testament, the moral teaching of the New Testament, and the rational statements of the Writings of Swedenborg. According to him the first and the second category are now said to lend themselves to a more elevated means of expression, but the last category no longer.

   The relation between the three Testaments is however, quite a different one. From the history of the New Church it has become clear of what essential nature was the teaching that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Word. It is this same teaching which now again runs the danger of being jeopardized in the GENERAL CHURCH itself, which indeed previously used to strive for it. That this is so appears for example from the remark "we would prefer not to speak of the 'letter' of the

   
   

2. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   Writings, because this term implies another 'internal sense' which does not exist". But what then are we to think of the entire Fourth Chapter of THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION which treats of nothing else than of the literal, the spiritual, and the celestial sense of the Word? Is the Word there then not the Third Testament? When in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION the Word is spoken of, no distinction is made between the various Testaments. If therefore the Third Testament is the Word, everything therein written is also applicable to itself. This could scarcely be otherwise. Now this view they are willing to accept but with "a discriminating sense of the differences involved in the rational ultimates through which this Final Revelation has been made". Those differences, in the way they are elucidated find, however, no support in the Word., and to my mind consist only in the comprehensible aversion from accepting in their entirety the consequences of the teaching "the Third. Testament is the Word". This aversion lies in the proprium of man who does not wish to lose himself before the Divine things. If it is written that the Word — and there is only one Word — is Divine in the letter and that in it are contained spiritual and celestial things, then it is clear that the consequences thereof should be accepted.

   
   

   In the history of the New Church it will clearly appear with what wrestlings the Third Testament will come to be fully acknowledged, an example of the circumstance that the sluggishness of the human race in general is so enormous because of its tenacious clinging to the proprium. As long as it is accepted that the proprium of man in some way or other should have part in the truth which man has received into his understanding, this is an impediment for the truth to come into its rights. The "human element" seen otherwise than as a vessel of truth is an obstacle for the influx of truth, to become of man. The knowledge that the Divine influx is from firsts to lasts, of itself brings with it the acknowledgment that the Third Testament, in its last, in its letter, contains all degrees of truth. All laws concerning degrees and correspondences are applicable to the whole and to each particular, to each sentence, each word. However could every title and jot of the Third Testament, the law of the Lord, be fulfilled, if this were

   
   

3. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   not so? So also the Third Testament in. its literal sense speaks first to the natural degree of the present day man, with the possibility of its spiritual and celestial degrees being opened. Once these are opened, only them. the Old and the New Testaments come to the full value of their contents. Yea, the Third Testament is even the condition for the fullfilment of the promise that the Old and the New Testaments in every title and jot will come to their right.

   It is clear that if the Word is thus seen there is a perfect application of all the laws concerning degrees and correspondences to all parts of the Word without any reserve. Reserve in that sense can only be made by man's proprium, which corresponds to hell and therefore believes it can of itself contribute to or take a-way something from the Divinity of that Word. The human clement lies only in the fact that man too is a last, into which all those Divine things should be admitted in order to be able to come to fullfilment. Beyond this, man has no power whatsoever to see truth. On the other hand, that faculty goes so far that it may come into correspondence, also for men on earth, with the Angels even of the highest Heaven. In any other way it would not be possible for a man ever to become an Angel of the highest Heaven.

   
   

   To say that the Third Testament is the Word, and not to accept the consequences thereof, is equal to a denial. To say and to believe that the Third Testament is the Word, without being willing to accept this in its particulars, is a negation of the whole. Now as soon as even an as yet only general conclusion of that basic thesis is laid before the man of the New Church, there is a conflict ever anew. The general conclusion which is here referred to is that the Doctrine of the Church may elucidate the Third Testament in the letter, so that the Church may acquire the spiritual sense which lies hidden. It is thus required of the New Church that it will no longer stare itself blind on the fact that the Israelites and the Christians no longer knew what correspondence is and that their doctrine is false, but it is required that we shall acknowledge the laws of correspondence equally in the letter of the Third Testament and draw a Doctrine there from, and that we do not, like the Israelites and the Christians, cling to that letter with our proprium. In other words, for our times, the Third

   
   

4. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   Testament is the all comprehensive Divine Truth in lasts written in a perfect Divine style and absolutely holy in the letter. The law of correspondence thus in the Third Testament applies to all sensual, natural, and rational things that are set forth therein, without exception.

   
   

   With regard to the second point: The Doctrine of the Church can never be separated from the Word, no more than the spiritual and celestial senses can be separated there from. This is the meaning of the words that the Doctrine must be drawn out of the letter, and confirmed by it. That Doctrine is requisite for this very reason that the particular influences of persons be not applied to their own profit: the Doctrine of the Church is the corrective means for a possible falsification of the Word by the individual.

   
   

   The Doctrine' of the Church must never be identified with the doctrine of one man; a distinction that in the .opposition to that Doctrine is not in any way made. Especially it should not be lost sight of that it is a Doctrine of the Church, not a Doctrine of the individual. The distinction between these is made clear in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, n. 194. What is there said is very characteristic of the expression "interpretative doctrine". It appears there from that "interpretative doctrine' 'is nothing but an ecclesiastical teaching from one person, but no Doctrine of the Church. That interpretative or ecclesiastical teaching belongs to the natural degree, the Doctrine of the Church to the interior degrees. The difference is as between a natural man and a spiritual or a celestial man.

   
   

   Only in the Church is it possible to form a Doctrine which is spiritual out of celestial origin; the individual would always at a given moment remain stuck in an ecclesiastical or interpretative

   doctrine, if he were not fed by the Doctrine and the life of the Church. From the number referred to, it appears that a distinction is made between the spiritual sense-of the Word and the literal or ecclesiastical sense, obtained by any one studying and explaining the Word with the purpose of confirming one or other "dogma of the Church. This explanation has nothing to do with the spiritual sense which is the end of the Doctrine of the Church. From the same number it also appears that just because the letter of the Word contains a spiritual

   
   

5. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   sense, that letter is written in pure correspondences. It also says clearly in the same work, n. 195, that men on earth may be in correspondence with one of the three celestial kingdoms, and it is just the task of the Doctrine of the Church, to open the correspondences of the various Heavens, to give life to them, and to maintain them. Without this possibility the Word would remain a dead letter and could not come to life. There would be no possibility of growth, except only in the breadth, since the letter corresponds to the lowest Heaven.

   
   

   The Doctrine of the Church will be given in natural language, without any other power than that of truth, because it is drawn out of the letter of the Word according to order, and because it is spiritual out of celestial origin. That language is not of a Divine style as the language of the Word; nevertheless its purity of expression as far as possible is based on the terms of the Word, as it itself is.

   
   

   Without the Doctrine neither the man nor the Church will be able to check whether the Word is read "with reverence, with a sincere desire to learn the truth", as Bishop de Charms expresses himself. Nevertheless the Doctrine is never to be identified with the Word.

   
   

   From the above it results that the acceptance of the teaching that the Word is completely involved in the Third Testament, brings with it the acceptance of the consequences thereof. Namely, that within the letter it has a spiritual and celestial contents and that the Church should apply itself by means of the Doctrine, by means of the science of correspondences, and on the strength of enlightenment from the Lord, to grasp the internal of the Word and to bring it to life.

   
   

   J. P. VERSTRAATE. — The explanation of the negative attitude which Bishop de Charms in his address has adopted as regards the new conceptions which have been expounded in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, may be found if the laws governing the difference between the discrete degrees are taken into account. It is remarkable how in this address the influence of these laws may be noted.

   
   

   The letter of the Third Testament contains all the discrete degrees of truth, and it therefore has a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial sense. These senses are the three discrete

   
   

6. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   degrees of the Doctrine of the Church. The Doctrine of the Church has its basis and sanction in the literal sense. Thence the literal sense itself may as it were be distinguished into three literal senses, which are all directed towards, and as a body make one whole with, the three degrees of the Doctrine to which they respectively belong. This relation clearly comes to the fore by the fact that when there is no acknowledgment of the teaching that "The Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture applies to the Writings of Swedenborg", which thesis belongs to the spiritual degree of the Doctrine of the Church, there can be no acknowledgment either of the literal statements in the Third Testament which are the basis and sanction of this thesis. It is the same as it was formerly with the Israelitish Church. The Lord, at the time of His Coming in the flesh was not acknowledged and accepted, and thence the New Testament could have no signification for them and all the descriptions and prophecies in the Old Testament, which had reference to the Lord, could not be seen by them. And likewise, in the Christian Church, where there is no acknowledgment and acceptance of the Second Coming, the Third Testament cannot be seen, nor for this reason the clear statements in the New Testament which have reference to the Second Coming. When the truth has become clear to us that the DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE must without reserve be applied also to the Writings of Swedenborg, then we see that this truth is confirmed as it were on every page of those Writings. For him, however, who adopts a negative attitude it is impossible to see all these confirmations.

   
   

   In Bishop de Charms's address there are the following statements: "This it does by a direct reading of the text"; "This is done by no conscious process of interpretation"; "When this is done, they constitute the doctrine of genuine truth"; "The Writings are indeed the Word; but the analogy between them and the former Scriptures is not complete"; "Who at this day, when celestial perception has been replaced by a conscience, often spurious, is able to distinguish, even in himself, that which is from the Lord and that which enters from other sources?"

   
   

   These are statements which all cover a separate field, but they all have this in common that they are clear

   
   

7. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   
   

   evidence of the characteristic of the natural state. This state, taken by itself, is entirely according to order, and the laws governing it will, also in the future, not lose their power. Into the most distant future man will have to be regenerated, and the first states cannot but be natural. Also to the New Church as a whole this law applies, and the first states of the New Church are likewise natural.

   
   

   By the birth of the truth that there is a difference between the Word and the Doctrine out of the Word, a change has come about by which the New Church may now enter into the spiritual state. The New Church as a whole may now receive the disposal over entirely new faculties, which in the preceding state were not yet opened. It will be for the Church as if it were introduced into quite another world. This is founded on the fact that as a whole will the Church be able to come into communication with the spiritual Heaven, where indeed other food is taken, where the thinking is different, where other work is done, and the enjoyments are different from those in the preceding state, where, in general, communication only with the natural Heaven was possible.

   The result of this is that in man it will be possible for as it were entirely new faculties to become active which will bring into existence affections and thoughts of quite a different nature. In the measure that new spiritual faculties make themselves more and more felt, the difference between these and the natural faculties is ever more clearly demonstrated and man learns to keenly distinguish between what lives in him from the Lord and what has entered from a foreign source. Man then begins to see in the literal sense of the Word a spiritual sense, from. which in his spiritual thinking ideas and representations are formed which are as real and conceivable to him as in the case of his natural thinking and representations. In this way he begins to see that indeed the spiritual sense differs from the natural sense and that this is so with every truth of the Word.

   
   

   The progress of the Church as a whole in regeneration is dependent on the opening of the interior things of the Word, for every progress in regeneration must be received as an idea of thought in the spiritual thinking. Regeneration is one with the Doctrine of genuine truth which is the

   
   

8. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

   
   

   spiritual sense of the Word. With this is also connected the process of temptation, for the entering into the spiritual sense of the Word and the conception and birth of the good and truth of which the Doctrine of genuine truth consists, is dependent on victories in the conflict of temptation. And how can this strife lie carried on if it is not possible to keenly distinguish between what is from the Lord and what is from hell? That the difference between the activity of the natural and the spiritual faculties may be perceived by man, is confirmed by the Latin Word, where it treats of the difference between natural and spiritual loves. It is there said that it is difficult to indicate what the difference really is, but that those who are in spiritual loves may know what the difference is, but that this is not the case with those who are only in natural loves.

   
   

   That by the spiritual sense the truths of the Word which apparently have no relation to the actual life of man, do indeed for each man come to apply to his daily life, may become clear by the following example. In HEAVEN AND HELL it is recounted what happens to the man who leaves the natural world. These events are described even to the particulars of the perception and the thoughts. So far in the Church this, fact was only thought of in relation to the death of a man. By the opening of the spiritual sense these things will also obtain actual signification for each man of the Church during his life on earth. The spiritual sense describes what each man must pass through when the spiritual degree is being opened. This applies for each natural truth in which the spiritual sense is born. In the spiritual degree man disposes over the faculty to draw himself up from the natural things as if from himself. It is, however, the Lord alone who does this. The fears and afflictions which arise in man when it becomes evident to him that for him too the time has come to leave the natural body, and which are worse according as the man is more attached to the natural things, play a large part also in the process of regeneration. For man then perceives much more keenly that the natural things with their charms and lusts must be put off and this putting off takes place by means of temptations. In the measure in which man

   is more attached to these natural things and places his life

   
   

9. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

   in them, the spiritual fears and afflictions are much more intense.

   
   

   From the address it clearly appears that the Doctrine of genuine truth is identified with the literal sense of the Word. In the natural state of the Church there is the appearance as if this were so. It is not possible in this state for the reality of the relation of the Doctrine of the Church to the Word to be seen, nor for the relation of the Doctrine of the Church to the individual doctrines or interpretative doctrines, as they are called in the address. There is however, a great difference between the truths of the Doctrine of the Church and those of the literal sense of the Word. In the well-known number 9025 of the ARCANA COELESTIA this is literally said. Thus one may note that in many addresses entire pages are filled only with literal quotations because in this state not only must the confirmations be from the letter of the Word, but also is the Doctrine of genuine truth itself identified with the letter. Those places in the letter that are accounted as Doctrine, are the places that are called naked, and there is in the natural state indeed an appearance as if these truths are related to other truths as spiritual truths to natural truths.

   However, the face and the hands by which these naked truths are meant, just like the covered body, belong to the natural or exterior man, if the Word is seen as a man, so that in reality there exists no essential difference between both categories of truth.

   
   

   The revelation of the Divine Human on which the Christian Church is based, for that Church meant a different basis from that of the Israelitish Church. That the Christian Church has a more interior degree of the Word as basis, which differed from the basis of the Israelitish

   Church appears from Peter's confession in Matth. XVI : 16: "Thou art the Christ, the Son ' of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him: Blessed art thou, Simon, BarJona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell. shall not prevail against it". This confession of Peter in respect to the New Church signifies that now in the New Church there is a faith that the Third Testament not only is a complete Word, but that

   
   

10. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    
    

    this Testament is the proper Word and the foundation for the New Church. This faith has became possible by and is based on the truth that the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture without reserve applies to the Writings of Swedenborg. That this truth is not of men, but that it is a Divine truth, appears from the words: "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven". That this faith signifies an entirely new foundation for the New Church appears from these words: "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build My church".

    
    

    H. D. G. GROENEVELD. — In the address of Bishop de Charms to the British Assembly in 1931 we read: "The Writings are the very Doctrine of the Church, Divinely given".

    
    

    In the Writings the Lord has accomplished His Second Coming. They are therefore the Divine Human of the Lord on earth; they are the Word of the Lord as Third Testament. This Testament contains all spiritual and celestial truths. The words of the literal sense such as they appear to man are only significatives of these truths, for the truths themselves are outside of space and time, since they are in the Divine Human of the Lord. It is now allowed the human race to enter

    with the understanding into the spiritual and celestial truths. This entering should therefore essentially take place in the height and not in the breadth, that is to say, the entering into the Third Testament must essentially take place by the seeing of the things of the literal sense outside of space and time, and riot by the gathering of the things of the literal sense, such as they appear to man. The taking cognizance in the breadth will be dependent on the entering into the height, for the taking cognizance in the breadth which, by the books of the Third Testament being definite in volume, seems to be limited, will, by the entering into the height, prove to be possible ever more and more. That the seeing of the things of the literal sense must take place outside of space and time has been revealed to us in the ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM, n. 51: "But do not, I

    entreat you, confound your ideas with time and with space, for as far as time and

    
    

11. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    space are in your ideas when you read what follows, you

    •will not understand it; for the Divine is not in time and space".

    
    

    Infinite are the spiritual and celestial truths hidden within the literal sense of the Third Testament, thus the spiritual and celestial truths that are present outside of space and time, for the Lord by His Coming on earth has made His Human Divine, and thus infinite. Since; as is known, the Third Testament is a revelation of the rational and the human begins in the inmost of the rational, by the Second Coming of the Lord in the Third Testament the esse of the Doctrine is with the human race on earth. In this esse of the Doctrine the Lord, however, has no power if this esse of the Doctrine has not an existere of the Doctrine. By the existere of the Doctrine the Lord can save man from evils and falsities. If the esse of the Doctrine were to have power, the entire human race in one moment would come to the acknowledgment of the Divine Human of the Lord and thus of the Lord as the Creator of Heaven and earth. In order that the esse of the Doctrine might also exist, the Lord at His Second Coming has established & new Church. It is in the Church alone that the esse of the Doctrine exists and where thus the Lord is present as the Doctrine of the Church. It is for this reason that the Church is holy. All things of life therefore must be directed according to the things of the Church, for if these things make the inmost of our lives, the Lord dwells in us. The Church in essence is not a congregation of persons, but the existere of the esse of the Doctrine, of which all things from the first to the last are connected and make one man by the presence of the Divine Human of the Lord. Every man of the Church has been allotted his place and therefore his function in that man. This man, or the Church, has his life from the Lord when the Doctrine of the Church is the existere of the esse of the Doctrine and thus the Lord's presence on earth. With respect to the Church we read in the ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 10125: "For the Lord does not dwell in anything of the man's and Angel's own, but in His own with them; hence it is that when the Church and Heaven is spoken of, the Divine of the Lord with those who are there is meant". In n. 10151: "Hence it is plain

    
    

12. FROM THE TRANSACTIONS

    that the Divine of the Lord makes the Church, as it makes Heaven". And m n. 10282: "It is said abstractly from person because the Divine things which proceed from the Lord make the Church and nothing at all of man. They flow in with man indeed, but still they do not become man's, but are the Lord's with man".

    
    

    The Third Testament therefore, as appears from the above, is the esse of the Doctrine and the Doctrine of the Church is the existere of the Doctrine. The genuine Doctrine of the Church will always be one with the Third Testament, as body and soul are one man. Since the Third Testament as the esse of the Doctrine is infinite, the Doctrine of the Church as the existere of the Doctrine will be capable of development to eternity. For this reason the New Church is the Crown of the Churches and will endure to eternity.

    
    

    The esse is not anything if it does not exist, while the existere is not anything if it is not out of the esse; cf. T.C.R. n. 21. The Divine authority of the esse of the Doctrine or of the Third Testament therefore lies in the existere of the Doctrine or in the Doctrine of the Church, while the Divine authority of the existere of the Doctrine or of the Doctrine of the Church is out of the esse of the Doctrine or out of the Third Testament. In this connection there come to us the words of the Lord in the Gospel of John: "The Father and I are one, the Father is in Me, and I in the Father; Father, all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; he that seeth Me seeth the Father"; see

    T.C.R. n. 112. All Divine authority of the Third Testament and of the Doctrine of the Church is therefore the Lord's alone. There is no Divine authority either in the literal sense of the Third Testament or in the literal sense of the Doctrine of the Church, since such a Divine authority would take away from man the free choice.

    
    

    If we regard the Third Testament itself as the Doctrine of the Church, then we see only the esse of the Doctrine and not the existere of the Doctrine. This is the case when with man the esse has not yet obtained its existere. This may be elucidated by the conjunction of the Lord with the human race before His Coming on earth, thus before the assumption of His Human. When the Lord then revealed Himself in this world, He did so through an

    
    

13. OF THE SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

    
    

    Angel whom He filled with His Divinity; see NINE QUESTIONS. When, however, the esse of the Doctrine obtains its existere, we are soon placed before the choice whether or not to accept this existere. An acceptance of the existere of the Doctrine at once brings us into a wrestling with the natural man, which wrestling after an actual victory over the evils and falsities, always brings us redemption; while with a non-acceptance the existere of the Doctrine would be brought to the esse of the Doctrine, from which, by the devotion to it, redemption is then expected. The acceptance of the existere of the Doctrine brings us to the acknowledgment of the Divine Human of the Lord and to the acknowledgment of the Third Testament as the Word of the Lord, while the nonacceptance would bring us to the acknowledgment of a Son from the eternal. The truths of the literal sense of the Third Testament would, on account of an enlightenment when reading that Testament, be acknowledged as the essential for life. The Second Coming of the Lord would be regarded as an active redemption.

    
    

    If we regard the Doctrine of the Church as the essential then we see only the existere of the Doctrine and not the esse of the Doctrine. The existere is the entrance to the esse. This appears from the sixth verse of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John: "No man cometh unto the

    Father, but through Me", and from ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD FROM EXPERIENCE, chapter XXI: "No one can see the spiritual sense except from the Doctrine of genuine truth". The Doctrine of the Church must lead man to the Third Testament, since that Testament is the esse of the Doctrine of all spiritual and celestial things. Without the acknowledgment of that Testament as the esse of the Doctrine. there can be no existere of the spiritual and celestial things with man, since the existere is out of the esse. The acceptance of the esse of the Doctrine brings us to the acknowledgment of the Third Testament as the Divine Human of the Lord and thus as the Word of the Lord, whereas by non-acceptance the esse of the Doctrine would be taken away from the existere of the Doctrine, which would lead to a denial of the Divine Human of the Lord and thus to a denial of the Coming of the Father Himself

    
    

14. SWEDENBORG GEZELSCHAP

on earth. The Third Testament is then indeed acknowledged as a Divine revelation given to Emanuel Swedenborg, but the Divine revelation is seen as a substitution as it were for the esse of the Doctrine. The existere of the Doctrine is then directed exclusively to the human. The improvement of natural society is regarded as the sole essential.

The esse of the Doctrine or the Third Testament obtains its existere in the Doctrine of the Church, but only when with the reading of that Testament there is enlightenment; while the Doctrine of the Church by the wrestling through the natural enters into the things outside of space and time and finally finds the esse of the Doctrine in the celestial and spiritual things hidden within the literal sense of the Third Testament. The Doctrine of the Church comes out of the Third Testament and returns to the spiritual and celestial things of that Testament. To us occur the words of the 28th verse of the 16th chapter of the Gospel of John: "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father". Then the Doctrine of the Church is one with the Third Testament, as existere and esse, or as body and soul. Then the Doctrine of the Church is Divine and of the Lord alone. Then the words of the literal sense of the Third Testament open as flower buds, and we can understand what is

written in the posthumous sketch ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH: "When the BRIEF EXPOSITION was published the angelic 'Heaven, from the east to the west, from the south to the north, appeared of a purple color, with the most beautiful flowers".

DE HEMELSCHE LEER

EXTRACT FROM THE ISSUE FOR OCTOBER 1933

THAT THE LORD ALONE IS HEAVEN

ADDRESS BY THE REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN BEFORE THE FIRST DUTCH SOCIETY, THE HAGUE, NINETEENTH OF JUNE 1933.

The subject which is engaging the thought of the Church at this time is particularly the nature of the Lord's proprium with man, and that it is the Lord's Divine Proprium which makes Heaven and the Chuich and nothing of the proprium of Angel or man which is evil. We are taught in the Word that "the Lord is the all in all things of Heaven and of the Church", and as He is the all in all things of Heaven and of the Church, He is the 'all in all things of an Angel and of a man, in so far as an Angel is in the angelic and in so far as a man is of the Church. This subject is treated of in particular in THE ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND

CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM, under the heading: That the Angels are in the Lord, and the Lord in them; and, because the Angels are recipients, that the Lord alone is Heaven,

n. 113—118.

The number first treats of the apparent separation of the Lord and Heaven, for it states that: "The Lord is in the Sun above the Heavens, and through His presence in heat and light, He is in the Heavens". But that this separation is an appearance is stated as follows: "Although the Lord is in Heaven in that manner, still He is there as He is in Himself. For, as was demonstrated just above, n. 108—112, the distance between the Sun and Heaven is not distance but an appearance of distance. And because the distance is only an appearance it follows that the Lord Himself is in Heaven, for He is in the love and wisdom of the Angels of Heaven". Here we have a paradox. It is taught that an Angel could no more approach the Sun of Heaven without being consumed by its ardor, than a man could ap-

1. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

   
   

   proach the sun of the world, and nevertheless that it is but an appearance that there is such a separation, for the Lord is omnipresent. If the mind be raised above the idea of space and its appearances, it can be seen that the apparent distance spoken of here does not refer essentially to the external appearance of distance in the spiritual world, but to the state of Heaven; namely that on the one hand the existence of Heaven and the as of itself life of Heaven, is due to the fact that they see the Lord infinitely above themselves and on the other hand that they acknowledge that the Lord is the all in all things of their love and wisdom, and consequently that their love and wisdom is not theirs but the Lord's. In this connection it may be noted that as the Angels increase in wisdom, on the one hand they acknowledge more fully the Lord's presence, and that all their love and wisdom is the Lord's, while on the other they see more clearly the infinite distance between the Lord and themselves. This may be illustrated by the fact that it is only the learned who realize the great distance to the sun of the natural world, and apart from the science of astronomy no one could imagine that the sun is hundreds of times as far away as the moon, for such knowledge is contrary to the appearance.

   
   

   This appearance and reality of the distance of the sun and moon represent the difference in state between those who are in the appearance that they can enter into the spiritual sense of the Word by direct cognizance, and those who see that the Lord as the internal sense is as it were infinitely above the appearances a man comes into by direct cognizance of the literal sense of the Latin Word. Note that the distance to the moon also cannot be realized apart from astronomy, which illustrates how unaware of spiritual distances are those who remain in the mere appearance of the letter of the Word including the Third Testament.

   While the as of itself life and thus the reciprocal of Angels and men depends on the very real appearance of spiritual distance, nevertheless that this is an appearance is manifested from the Word and from Doctrine thence, for we read in n. 114: "That the Lord is not only in Heaven, but also that He is Heaven itself, is because love and wisdom make the Angel, and these two are the Lord's with the Angels; hence it follows that the Lord is Heaven. For

   
   

2. THAT THE LORD ALONE IS HEAVEN

   
   

   the Angels are not Angels from their proprium; their proprium is altogether like man's proprium, which is evil The proprinm is only removed, and in so far as it is removed, in so far

   they receive love and wisdom, that is the Lord in themselves. Any one can see, if only he elevates his understanding somewhat, that the Lord cannot dwell with the Angels excepting in His Own, that is in His Proprium, which is Love and Wisdom; and not at all in the proprium of the Angels, which is evil. Hence it is that in so far as evil is removed in so far the Lord is in them, and in so far they are Angels. The angelic itself of Angels is the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. This Divine is called angelic while it is in the Angels. Hence again it is plain, that the Angels are Angels from the Lord, and not from themselves; consequently Heaven also". From the above it is manifest that the love and wisdom of men a.nd Angels is pure, because it is Divine and is the Lord's and consequently cannot be commingled with anything

   of their proprium, which is evil, for if there were commingling, profanation would ensue. At times what is of the Lord and what is of man may not be distinguished by man, but Providence continually leads towards making this distinction visible to Angels and men.

   
   

   Although love and wisdom are the Lord's, in order that there may be a reciprocal they must appear to be man's; apart from this appearance no conjunction is possible. Thus we read in n. 115:' "The Angel does not perceive otherwise than that he is in love and wisdom from himself, in like manner with man, and hence as if love and wisdom are his and his own. Unless he so perceived, there would not be any conjunction; thus the Lord would not be in him, nor he in the Lord. Nor can .it be possible for the Lord to be in any Angel and man, unless he in whom the Lord 'is with love and wisdom, perceives these as his." And in n. 116: "But how this is brought about, that an Angel perceives and feels as his own, and thus receives and retains, that which is not his own — for as was said above an Angel

   is not an Angel from his own, but from those things which are with him from the Lord — shall now be said. The case in itself is thus. With every Angel there is liberty and rationality; these two are with him to the end that he may be receptible of love and wisdom from the

   
   

3. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

   
   

   Lord. Yet both these, the liberty as well as the rationality are not his, but the Lord's with him. But because these two are intimately conjoined to his life, so intimately that they may be said to be in joined upon his life, -they therefore appear as his propria". The faculties of liberty and rationality being the Lord's and not man's, are Divine. The faculties of liberty and rationality are the faculties of receiving truth and good from the Lord; hence it follows that both the good and truth which inflow and also the faculties which receive are the Lord's and not man's, and hence that

   good and truth after reception are the Lord's alone. The evil have the faculties in potentiality but not the use of the faculties; wherefore with them there is not good and truth, but only will, speech, and act, in a lower degree than liberty itself and rationality itself. These faculties which, as is said, are the Lord's, are conjoined and injoined upon man's life so closely that what belongs to the Lord appears as if man's, yea as if they were his propria, that is as if they were properly his. This appearance causes the reciprocal between the Lord and man and hence conjunction; but it only causes conjunction in so far as it is acknowledged that good and truth and the faculties of receiving them, are the Lord's, for we read: "And yet in so far as any Angel believes that love and wisdom are in him, and thus claims them to himself as his own, in so far the angelic is not in him, and therefore in so far there is no conjunction with the Lord", n. 116. The good and truth here spoken of are not the inflowing good and truth before reception, but that good and truth which appear as his proprium, because belonging to the rationality and liberty which are the Lord's with him.

   
   

   The number continues: "For he is not in the truth: and because the truth makes one with the light of Heaven, in so far he cannot be in Heaven, for from this ground he denies that he lives from the Lord, and believes that he lives from himself, consequently that he has a Divine essence". It has been thought that DE HEMELSCHE LEER implies that man has a Divine essence, but deeper reflection will manifest the truth that the reverse is the case, and that in so far as man denies that the good and truth which appear as his own are the Lord's, so far he attributes to himself a Divine essence, even though he may deny it,

   
   

4. THAT THE LORD ALONE IS HEAVEN

   
   

   and may even think that he does not do so. That this is so. may be seen from the following.

   
   

   The quotations above make it evident that it is the same thing to believe that good and truth are one's own or to believe that one lives from one's self; for all genuine life is the life of good and truth. Good and truth flow in with everyone, both good and evil; it is the reception which causes them to be spiritual life in a man. If man could receive them from something properly his own. he would receive them from a life which was his own, for what is dead cannot receive good and truth; to have life which is one's own is to have a Divine essence, as quoted above. To state the matter differently: If it is denied that good and truth after reception are Divine, thus making them man's and not the Lord's, a life of good and truth is attributed to man which is not the Lord's.

   But, as stated in the above quotation, to attribute a life of good and truth to man, really would mean that man had a Divine essence. On the other hand in so far as it is acknowledged that all the good which one does and the truth which one thinks are the Lord's alone and hence Divine, it results in an internal acknowledgment that the Lord alone has a Divine essence, and that hence all good and truth are His, and only as if it were man's. This is involved in the continuation of the number which reads: "From these things it may appear that an Angel has a reciprocal for the sake of conjunction with the Lord; but that the reciprocal considered in its faculty is not his but the Lord's. Hence it is, if he abuses that reciprocal from which he perceives and feels as his own what is the Lord's, which is done by appropriating it to himself, that he falls down from the angelic".

   
   

   Note that no one can perceive and feel as his own "good and truth and their life before they are received, nor can he appropriate them to himself. Hence it is evident that the warning is as to the danger of appropriating the good and truth which have been received and which are felt as one's

   own. This is done by denying their Divinity, for to deny their Divinity is to deny that they are the Lord's and not man's. That the Divine Love and Wisdom are the Divine love

   and wisdom in man, thus after reception, is clearly taught in number 114, quoted above,

   
   

5. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

namely: "The angelic itself is the Divine Love and Wisdom. This Divine is called the angelic while it is in the Angels"; further: "They receive love and wisdom, that is the Lord, in themselves", and further: "The Lord cannot dwell with Angels excepting in His own, that is in His Proprium, which is love and wisdom". Hence it is manifest that the Word clearly teaches that love and wisdom in man after reception are wholly the Lord's and not man's, and are therefore Divine.

DE HEMELSCHE LEER

EXTRACTS FROM THE ISSUE FOR NOVEMBER 1933

PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

ADDRESS BY THE REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK BEFORE THE XXVI BRITISH ASSEMBLY, LONDON, AUGUST 7TH, 1933, AND BEFORE THE FIRST DUTCH SOCIETY, THE HAGUE,

JULY 30TH, 1933.

When life makes the Church, and not doctrine separated from life, the Church is one; but when doctrine makes the Church, there are many, A.C. 8152.

The attitude of mind that the members of a Church take toward the Divine revelation on which they base their belief decides the doctrinal thought within the Church. Differences in doctrinal thought divide; therefore the divisions or sects in a Church are the consequences or results of different attitudes of mind among the members regarding the character, nature, and qualities of the Revelation of Divine Truth from which they draw their doctrines.

In the New Church the differences in the doctrinal thought, and there from resulting divisions existing within it, arise from different attitudes of mind taken toward the Theological Writings of Swedenborg.

The view the majority of New Churchmen have taken concerning these Writings is represented by the thought and activity of the CONVENTION in America and the CONFERENCE in Great

Britain. In some respects it is rather vague and includes some diversity of thought, but it may be truly said that the estimation of the Writings, or the attitude of mind from which they are generally regarded within these bodies, is, that they are a Divinely inspired explanation or commentary of the Old and New Testaments, which alone are the Word. The view is that, as the servant of the Lord, Swedenborg's spiritual senses were opened and that he thereby was introduced into the spiritual world. What he there heard, saw, and experienced, made it possible for the Lord to reveal to him the true spiritual teaching or the doctrine representatively revealed in the Word, that is, the Old and New Testaments, when he read them. His Writings are

1. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

   
   

   therefore those of a Divinely inspired instructor, through whom men are taught the true meaning of the Word; and the doctrines made known there to men can be seen in and confirmed by the literal sense of the Old and New Testaments which alone are the Word.

   
   

   Such has been the attitude toward the Writings among the majority of New Churchmen, and still is. But a time came when a new attitude of mind toward the Writings arose, an attitude that had been voiced by individuals here and there at different times without much visible effect, but which now gained in strength, and finally resulted in the formation of the ACADEMY and subsequently, in the organization of the GENERAL .CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

   
   

   The attitude to the Writings most common in the GENERAL CHURCH today has been .clearly and concisely set forth by Dr. Alfred Acton in his address, The crucial point in the Dutch position, published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, May 1933. As his view seems to have the support of the Bishops and teachers at the center of the Church in the United States, I will quote from him. He says: "An examination of the Writings will show that, save in those cases where it shines out clearly in the letter, the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments, which is the same as the doctrine of the New Church, is not set forth on the authority of plain statements of the Scriptures, or even confirmed thereby, save in a most general way, but rests solely on the authority of a new and immediate revelation". And again: "However great might have been the development of doctrine in the Christian Church, the internal sense of the Word as now revealed could never have been given, save by an immediate revelation, a new Word, to whose teaching men could point as the source of their doctrine".

   
   

   "That the doctrines of the New Church must be drawn from the Writings and not from the Old and New Testaments", Dr. Acton states in the very beginning of his address, "has long been taught in the Church, and is widely acknowledged; nay, even before it was taught in so many words, it was practically acknowledged; for all controversies in the Church have been concerned with the interpretation of what is stated in the Writings, and not in the Old and New Testaments".

   
   

2. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

   We note that according to this the main difference between the CONVENTION and CONFERENCE position on the one side and that of the ACADEMY, also commonly held in the GENERAL CHURCH on the other, is that the latter regards the Writings as their own authority, being a new immediate revelation from the Lord.

   
   

   Both agree in regarding the Writings as the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments, but whereas the first regards the letter of the Old and New Testaments as the Divine authority by which the doctrines revealed in the Writings should be confirmed, the latter holds that the Writings have Divine authority in themselves, that the truth of the teaching given in them rests on that Divine authority itself and -not on the plain statements of the Old and New Testaments; and that they for this reason are a new Word.

   
   

   Dr. Acton says: "When we .come to the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments, that is to say, to the doctrines peculiar to and distinctive of the New Church, we find that these could be given only by an immediate revelation. And, therefore, of these doctrines we read:

   'I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrines of the New Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone when reading the Word', T.C.R. 779. These doctrines are not given us on the authority of the Old and New Testaments; nor are they confirmed by the plain statements of those Testaments". But, although the Writings, being an immediate revelation from the Lord, are regarded as, and by Dr. Acton called, a new Word, that new Word according to him has no internal sense itself; it is the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments stated in plain words to men on earth in the form of doctrine.

   
   

   About this Dr. Acton says: "The Writings are a revelation in which the spiritual sense, the Divine teaching, is unveiled, not here and there, but everywhere. This is the only basis on which can rest the claim that they are the last and crowning revelation". And again: "I cannot admit that the Writings have an internal sense, in the sense meant by the Dutch school; for this would mean the expectation of a new revelation, and meanwhile darkness with respect to the internal sense".

   
   

3. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

   
   

   Of late years another attitude toward the Writings has been taken by members of the GENERAL CHURCH in Holland and elsewhere, with a different line of doctrinal thinking resulting from it. This new attitude is not in opposition to that which gave rise to the GENERAL CHURCH, but a further development of it, an opening up of the idea that the Writings are the Word. The doctrinal thoughts resulting from it have been published in a magazine called DE HEMELSCHE LEER, printed at The Hague, and have become known as the Hague position, or the Dutch school, and the addresses by Dr. Acton, Rev. H. L. Odhner and the Bishops G. de Charms and N. D. Pendleton, published in the May number of NEW CHURCH LIFE, are all directed against the doctrinal position of the Dutch school.

   
   

   The new attitude toward the Writings has been caused by reflection on what the last immediate revelation from the Lord, the new Word, tells us about the manner and order in which the Word of the Lord is given to men on earth. The teaching of the new Word concerning the Divine order in which the Word is given to men is, shortly stated, this: Divine Truth proceeds from the Lord who is Truth itself and the inmost Soul and Life of the Heavens, but above the consciousness of Angels and men and therefore appears to be above the Heavens. As the infinite Divine Truth proceeds it is accommodated to the receptive power of the Angels who constitute the different

   Heavens. In other words, the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord takes on different appearances according to the different degrees of love and wisdom from the Lord with the Angels. These different degrees, or appearances of truth, in the different Heavens, the new Word calls celestial, spiritual, and natural. There is no relation between them except by correspondence.

   
   

   In the literal or external sense of the Word, through which the Divine Truth can come to the knowledge of men on earth, the celestial and spiritual senses are laid down in representations accommodated to the comprehension of men in the world. This is the teaching of the new Word, given in plain words accommodated to the rational mind .of men in such a way that if they will, they may get knowledge of the order in which the Word proceeds, and of the nature and qualities that characterize its external

   
   

4. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

   
   

   form with men. In confirmation I will quote from N.J.H.D. 252, where we read: "As the Word is a revelation from the Divine, it is Divine in the whole and in every particular; for what is from the Divine cannot be otherwise. That which is from the Divine comes down through the Heavens even to man; and is therefore in the Heavens adapted to the wisdom of Angels who are there, and on earth it is adapted to the comprehension of men who are there. For this reason there is in the Word an internal sense, which is spiritual for Angels, and an external sense which is natural for men. By this means there is conjunction of Heaven with man through the Word". In S.S. 6 it says: "From the Lord proceed the Celestial, the Spiritual, and the Natural, one after another. That is called celestial which proceeds from the Divine Love, and it is Divine Good. That is called spiritual which proceeds from the Divine Wisdom, and it is Divine Truth. The natural is from them both and is their complex in the ultimate. The Divine that descends from the Lord to

   human beings descends through these three degrees, and when it has descended it contains these three degrees in itself. Such is the case with everything Divine; therefore when it is in its ultimate degree, it is in its fullness. Such is the Word; in its ultimate sense this is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in the inmost it is celestial; and in every sense it is Divine". One more quotation will serve for the confirmation of the teaching stated. See A.E. 1066«: "Because the Divine Truth which is the Word in its descent into the world from the Lord, has passed through the three Heavens, therefore it has become accommodated to every Heaven, and lastly also to men in the world. It is from this that in the Word there are four senses, one outside the other from the highest Heaven even to the world; or one within the other from the world even to the highest Heaven. Those four senses are called the celestial, the spiritual, the natural from the celestial and spiritual, and the merely natural. This being for the w6rld, that for the ultimate Heaven, the spiritual for the second Heaven, and the celestial for the third. These four senses differ much from each other, so that when one is beside the other they are not recognized [as to their relation], but still they make one when one follows the other. For one follows the other as the effect from its

   
   

5. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

   cause, and as what is posterior from what is prior. Therefore, as the effect represents the cause and corresponds to the cause, so does the posterior sense to the prior. Hence. it is that all four senses make one by correspondences".

   
   

   Some members of the GENERAL CHURCH have reflected on this teaching and have come to see that the conception of the Writings as the Word of the Lord hitherto held in the GENERAL CHURCH is inadequate. If the Writings are the Word, then what is there said in plain words concerning the character and quality of the Word, and the relation of the Doctrine of the Church to the Word, must apply to the Writings themselves equally with the Old and New Testaments; or they are not the Word, and then the attitude of mind towards them taken by the CONVENTION and CONFERENCE is the only logical one.

   
   

   Interior perception that the Writings are the Word of the Lord to men, His last external revelation of Divine Truth, is abundantly confirmed by reflecting on what the new Word reveals about itself and the mission of the Lord's servant, his preparation and Divine guidance, through whom the Divine, Celestial, and Spiritual truths of the Lord and the Heavens were given their ultimate, or natural external form.

   
   

   In this way a new attitude of mind toward the Writings as the Word has come about and been established with some. When these men study the new Word, they find that plain statements of doctrine found in the new Word, when applied to that Word itself, have a different meaning than before seen, when they were thought of as applying only to the Old and New Testaments.

   
   

   We are repeatedly taught that the sense of the letter of the Word cannot be understood without Doctrine. From the many plain statements in the new Word to this effect, I will quote A.C.

   10324, where we read: "The Word in the letter cannot be apprehended except by means of Doctrine drawn from the Word by one who is enlightened. For the sense of the letter of the Word is accommodated to the apprehension of even simple men. Wherefore they need Doctrine from the Word for a lamp".

   
   

   When those who have accepted the new attitude of mind toward the Writings, regarding them as the new and final Word, having all the characteristics and qualities there

   
   

6. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

   
   

   revealed as belonging to the Word, read these words in A.C. 10324, they convey to them in plain language a truth that is completely hidden to those who do not accept the new attitude.

   
   

   To the last named the expressions "the Word in the letter", or "the sense of the letter of the Word", apply only to the Old and New Testaments, while to those with the new attitude they apply equally to the new Word, for within the sense of the letter of the new Word there is also a spiritual, a celestial, and a Divine sense, conjoined by correspondence.

   
   

   To the ones the words "one who is enlightened" apply only to Emanuel Swedenborg, who under the guidance of the Lord has drawn the Doctrine of the New Church from the Old and New Testaments, which Doctrine is the same as their spiritual sense. To the others the words, "one who is enlightened", apply to any regenerating man whose faith rests on the revelation of the Lord in the new Word, and whose internal is open to influx from the Heavens.

   To the ones this truth is hidden by their understanding of the sense of the letter. To the understanding of the others this truth is plainly stated in the very letter of the new Word. When they read A.C. 10400 in connection with the words just quoted from n. 10324, they find their understanding confirmed in the following plain doctrinal teaching: "The Doctrine that should be for a lamp is that which the internal sense teaches, thus it is the internal sense itself, which in some measure lies open to every one, . . . who is in the external from the internal, that is, whose internal man is open. For Heaven, which is in the internal sense of the Word, flows in with such a man, when he reads the Word, enlightens him, and gives him perception and thus teaches him".

   
   

   In a word, the new attitude of mind towards the Writings as the Word enables us to see truths plainly stated in the letter of the new Word, truths that before were hidden or heavily veiled, and that will remain hidden to those who from their understanding of the new Word think the new attitude untenable or indefensible, and therefore oppose it. The opposition seems in fact to prevent them from understanding what is meant by those who in the magazine DE HEMELSCHE LEER have tried to express some of the doctrinal thoughts resulting from the new attitude and the

   
   

7. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

   
   

   perception, that this attitude has become a basis for, and has opened minds to.

   
   

   All the addresses by the opponents published in NEW CHURCH LIFE for May, 1933, show a lack of understanding not only of what is said in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, but also of what was said by the Revs. Pfeiffer and Pitcairn in their addresses on the same occasion. This lack of understanding is caused by a refutation of the new attitude of mind toward the Writings, which does not allow them to follow the reasoning based on that new attitude, and results in a presentation of what the Dutch school means, which in general is incorrect.

   
   

   I will therefore endeavor to give as clear a presentation of the basic doctrinal thought in the Dutch school, as I possibly can in a few words. The Dutch school, holding that the Writings are the Word of the Lord in the full and true sense that they themselves describe as belonging to the Word, says that in its ultimate or literal sense the new Word is natural, in its spiritual sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost it is celestial; and in. every sense it is Divine, as declared in so many plain words in S.S. 6.

   
   

   The ultimate or literal sense is natural, but Divine natural. The Divine Human of the Lord is fully and infinitely present with men in that natural sense, and through that the Divine power creates the Church and the Heavens. It is accommodated to the comprehension of natural men, so that even evil men may understand the doctrines there plainly stated if they will. But there is in the Word an external and an internal natural. The external natural sense everyone may learn by reading or by instruction. The internal natural sense is gradually opened to those who from love of truth follow the teaching given in the letter, and their understanding becomes more interior as their natural man is regenerating and they thereby are associated interiorly with the Angels of the first Heaven. But it is still natural, and the doctrine they draw from the Word is the same as their interior natural understanding of the literal sense given them through influx from the first or natural Heaven.

   The thought I have tried to express in these words is plainly stated in A.C. 9025, where we read: "Such things as are from the literal sense of the Word are called

   
   

8. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

   
   

   scientific truths, and differ from the truths of faith which are of the Doctrine of the Church; for the latter arise from the former by explication. Hence also it is that the Doctrines of the

   Church in many things recede from the literal sense of the Word. It is to be known that the true Doctrine of the Church is that which is here called the internal sense; for in the internal sense there are truths such as those with the Angels in Heaven".

   
   

   This plain statement applies to all three degrees of truth in the Word, in the Church and in the Heavens. There are in the external sense of the new Word internal truths revealed, from which a regenerating man can draw true doctrine agreeing with the doctrine in the first or natural Heaven, because corresponding with it. But the Doctrine of genuine truth that corresponds to, and agrees with the Divine truth in the second or spiritual Heaven, spiritual from celestial origin, is to the understanding of the natural man, whose spiritual degree is not opened, hidden or deeply veiled by the literal sense. Nevertheless, the rational of a regenerating man is being prepared to receive the influx from the spiritual Heaven. By this his spiritual degree is opened, and when this is the case he sees genuine truths in spiritual light, and is given a new understanding which sees these truths, before hidden, now plainly stated in the letter of the new Word.

   
   

   The genuine truths of the Doctrine of the Church can in this way one .by one be opened by such men and by them be expressed in natural words, the meaning of which can be comprehended by others, if they will, and seen to be plainly taught in the letter itself. "For the Word in its ultimate form is like a man clothed with a garment, who is nevertheless naked as to his face and hands.

   And where the Word is thus naked, there its goods and truths appear naked, as in Heaven, 'thus such as they are in the spiritual sense. Wherefore it is possible that from the literal sense of the Word the Doctrine of genuine good and genuine truth may be seen by those who are enlightened from the Lord, and may be confirmed by those who are not so enlightened", A.E. 778.

   
   

   In both cases the interior natural Doctrine corresponding to the Doctrine in the first Heaven, and the genuine spiritual Doctrine corresponding to the Doctrine of the

   
   

9. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

   
   

   second Heaven, drawn by men from the new Word, is the same as their understanding of the Word; but in the one case the understanding is from the light in the lowest Heaven, in the other it is from the light in the second Heaven, and there is no relation between them except that of correspondence.

   
   

   In either case the Doctrine is drawn from the Word by regenerating men. This is plainly stated in A.C. 2762 where we read: "The Doctrine of faith is the same as the understanding of the Word as to interior things, or the internal sense"; in n. 2776: "The light of Heaven from the Lord's

   Divine Human can reach only those who live in the good of faith, that is, in charity"; in n. 9382: "They who are illuminated apprehend the Word as to its interior things, wherefore they make for themselves Doctrine from the Word, to which they apply the sense of the letter"; in

   A.E. n. 941, Continuation.: "When the spiritual internal is opened, and communication is given by that means with Heaven, and conjunction with the Lord, then a man is enlightened. He is enlightened especially when he reads the Word, because the Lord is in the Word, and the Word is Divine Truth, and Divine Truth is light to the Angels. Man is enlightened in the rational, for this is directly subject to the spiritual internal, and takes the light over from Heaven, and transmits it into the natural purified from evil, filling it with the cognitions of truth and good, and also adapting to these the sciences which are from the world for confirmation and agreement. Hence a man has a rational, and hence also an understanding. He who believes that man has a rational and an understanding before his natural is purified from evils, is deceived. For it belongs to the understanding to see the truths of the Church from the light of Heaven; and the light of Heaven flows in with no others. As the understanding is perfected, so the falsities of religion and ignorance, and the fallacies, are dispersed".

   
   

   Dr. Acton says: "I cannot admit that the Writings have an internal sense, in the sense meant by the Dutch school; for this would mean the expectation of a new revelation, and meanwhile darkness in respect to that internal sense". This is of course consistent with the view that the Writings are the spiritual sense of the Old and New Testaments,

   
   

10. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

    
    

    or rather the teaching or doctrine of the spiritual sense

    of the Old and New Testaments and therefore the Doctrine of the New Church, but it is hardly consistent with the idea that the Writings are a new Word. Doctrine is from the Word, or, expressed in other words, the Word is the source from which the Church must draw doctrine.

    When Dr. Acton and those who think with him, or have the same attitude of mind towards the Writings, say that the Writings are "a new Word to whose teaching men can point as the source of their doctrine", they mean that the Writings are the Doctrine of the Church revealed in plain words, and that the doctrine drawn from them by men is nothing but the expression they give to their personal understanding of the Doctrine of the Church revealed by the Lord in plain words; but there is nothing in that attitude that explains why the Doctrine given us ;Is plain words becomes a new Word; for the plain words in which the Doctrine of the New Church is given, can, according to that view, have no internal sense other than that which appears to men's understanding as they are instructed by others, or themselves study the revealed Doctrine trying to get a right understanding of the plain words that reveal it.

    
    

    Those who have the new attitude of mind towards the Writings find in the plain words of the Writings abundant reasons for, and explanations of, the fact that the Writings are both the infinite Doctrine of the Church and the Word of the Lord, a Word that has a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial sense, which all are Divine; and that the revealed Doctrine is the Word from which the Church, or men of the Church, can draw spiritual Doctrine when they reach a state of regeneration that makes it possible for them to commune with Angels in the spiritual Heaven, and celestial Doctrine when they are able to commune with Angels in the highest Heaven.

    
    

    The explanation, as we see it, is this: The internal sense in the Old and New Testaments is transformed and given us as doctrinal teaching expressed in natural ideas and words in the

    Writings by the Lord through His servant Swedenborg. The Doctrine, revealed in the external or literal sense of the Writings corresponds to the internal and agrees with it as a body with its soul. So also the

    
    

11. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

    
    

    Doctrine of genuine truth, or the Doctrine of the Church, as it is formed out of the letter of the Word, is not the same as the spiritual sense of the Word, as Dr. Acton said, but is from it and agrees with it as the body with its soul. This is plainly stated in several places; see H.D.N.J. 7; S.S. 25, and many others.

    
    

    In the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming spiritual and celestial truths are revealed in natural statements of doctrine which represent them to men. On the basis of the teaching in the new Word the progress and perfection of the Church and the Heavens shall go on for ever, because it contains within the external the infinite truths of the Lord's Divine Human, therefore all the Divine truths that are the Heavens, and make, sustain, and perfect them to eternity.

    
    

    When it is said that the Church hitherto has been in a natural state, what is meant is simply that the interior natural understanding of the Divine Word and its Doctrine common in the Church has been from, and corresponding to, the Divine Truth in the first or natural Heavens. But as the Church is to become spiritual and celestial as it in regeneration is associated with the spiritual and celestial Heavens, it will receive influx from them, and thus in spiritual and celestial light see truths in the natural sense of the Word never before seen, and see them plainly, stated in its very words.

    
    

    Until men of the Church are prepared to receive influx from the spiritual Heavens and so be taught by the Angels there, the Church will, as Dr. Acton says, be in darkness with respect to the interior sense of the new Word; and it should expect and gladly welcome such individual revelation to men of genuine truths from the spiritual sense of the Word which is in the higher Heavens, when these truths are confirmed by and seen plainly stated in the letter of the new Word.

    
    

    Dr. Acton, and those who agreeing with him "cannot admit that the Writings have an internal sense in the sense the Dutch school means", will necessarily understand the plain words of Doctrine in the new Word in a different way from those whose perception has brought about the new attitude of mind towards the Writings as the Word.

    
    

    When we read the plain teaching in A.C. 2531: "How

    
    

12. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

    
    

    the case is with the Doctrine of faith, that it is spiritual out of celestial origin, it is to be known that it is Truth Divine out of Good Divine", we apply this teaching not only to the new Word, out of which men draw their Doctrine of faith, but to the Doctrine of faith the Church gets from the

    spiritual sense of the new Word, and sees confirmed in the plain words of its literal sense. We are justified in this according to A.C. 2762: "The Doctrine of faith is the same as the understanding of the Word as to interior things, or the internal sense". When they read the same words they understand them to apply only to the Heavenly Doctrine revealed by the Lord in the natural words of the Writings, as they understand them and they find fault or are indignant with us for applying them in any other way.

    
    

    From what has been said on both sides, I think it ought to be quite plain that the divergence in doctrinal thought, that has shown itself to exist in the GENERAL CHURCH in late years, has been caused by, or is the result of, the new attitude of mind towards the Writings that has been taken by some of its members in The Hague and elsewhere. In the discussions of these divergences at Bryn Athyn last spring, this was recognized by the Bishop of 'the Church, the Right Rev. N. D. Pendleton, when he said that 'the representatives of the two different lines of thought speak different languages, in that they, using the same words, mean different things.

    
    

    Most of those who have accepted the new attitude of mind towards the Writings, have formerly shared the views set forth by Dr. Acton and others in the addresses directed against the new lines of thought, and we can therefore understand their reasoning, which is consistent with their attitude towards the Writings as the Word. But their negative position to the new attitude seems thus far to have prevented them from entering into or understanding the reasoning that is a necessary consequence of the new attitude.

    
    

    The address of the Right Rev. George de Charms shows most clearly that he sees that the new attitude toward the Writings is the cause of the difference in doctrinal thought that has arisen in the Church. As a matter of fact he has been the first one to use the phrase "the attitude toward

    
    

13. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

    
    

    the Writings", which yon have heard me use so often in this paper. He points to the fact that the ACADEMY is an attitude of mind toward the Writings, and he says that the new thoughts "involve" a complete destruction of that attitude and, therefore, presumably of the ACADEMY.

    
    

    He also seems to identify the GENERAL CHURCH with the attitude toward the Writings that the Academy position was based on at its formation. For he says: "After long and careful study, I have become fully convinced that the teachings contained in this new magazine involve a subtle but a deadly attack upon the General Church. They involve the complete destruction of that attitude towards the Writings which we have known as the 'Academy'. We believe that if those teachings are to be accepted, it should be done with a full realization of that fact". The last sentence appeals to the loyalty of his hearers to the GENERAL CHURCH and the ACADEMY, now when they are subjected to a "subtle but a deadly attack". • Later he quotes from DE HEMELSCHE LEER the following: "The comparison of the transition from the state of the Church where the literal sense of the Word itself is considered as the Doctrine, to the state where the Doctrine is seen as spiritual out of a celestial origin, with the transition from the geocentric to the heliocentric system of the universe, is based on actual correspondence The

    essence of the thinking in the spiritual state is the spiritual rational; this rational for the first time sees the spiritual causes, or the essence of truth, and henceforward all thinking no longer follows the letter, but the letter follows the thinking". Having made this quotation Bishop de Charms continues: "It is evident from this quotation that, if the teachings contained in DE HEMELSCHE

    LEER are true, then do we stand at a very crucial .point in the history of our Church. If they are accepted, the entire system of spiritual thought which has been known as the 'Academy' must go the way of the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, to be superseded by a system diametrically opposite to it. The Academy, as to its essence and its soul, is nothing but an attitude of mind toward the Writing?, — an attitude which it is now the purpose of DE HEMELSCHE LEER to change completely. This is the real issue with which we are faced".

    
    

    Bishop de Charms's conception of the new attitude toward

    
    

14. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

    
    

    the Writings is that it is inimical and destructive of the attitude which brought about the ACADEMY and the GENERAL CHURCH. This we cannot see. We regard it as a development of the ACADEMY attitude, as a further opening up of the perception that the Writings are the Word of the Lord. Instead of destroying, it will perfect the first ACADEMY attitude.

    
    

    But, Bishop de Charms does not like it. He thinks it

    is wrong and that it has no support in the Writings themselves. How far his loyalty to the attitude which, as he says, is the essence and soul of the ACADEMY, and therefore of the GENERAL CHURCH which he indentifies with that attitude, has prompted his opposition to the new attitude, no one can know, but it is quite evident that he appeals to that loyalty in others; and, as it seems to me, judging from what he says in his address, it has prevented him from understanding the meaning of those who have the new attitude of mind and have written in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. His presentation of the teachings contained in that magazine, shows at any rate that he has not understood them. It would make this paper entirely too long if I were to enter into particulars to prove this. But any intelligent man who with an unprejudiced mind will read Bishop de Charms's address and compare it with the remarks of Rev. Pfeiffer in the discussion of it will understand what I mean. I will only mention here one point in his presentation of what is taught in DE HEMELSCHE LEER that shows such a misunderstanding, and which he, like Dr. Acton, makes much of. He says: "Certainly the idea of the Writings which is presented in DE HEMELSCHE LEER is entirely different from our own. The ostensible purpose of the new doctrine is to exalt the Writings, and to reveal a Divinity and an Infinity in them which has never been seen before. Yet, in order that they may be so considered, not as a sun, but as an earth, they must first be reduced to a dead letter. The living internal, the spirit, cannot arise in or through that letter, but must enter the mind from another source. Great emphasis must be placed upon the idea that the Writings are an ultimate completely opaque.

    They are dark and cryptic. In them the light of heaven is not 'revealed', but 'reveiled'. Not the least of spiritual light can possibly enter

    
    

15. REVEREND ALBERT BJORCK

    
    

    the mind from them, for this would involve a 'physical influx', such as the Writings declare to be impossible. It was indeed a fatal error of the ACADEMY to suppose that light could come from them. Only after the Writings have been reduced to a dead letter, from which no light can come, can the eyes of the Church be turned from them in search of light from another source. Only then

    can we be induced to look within ourselves, to our own soul as the sun, or as the medium through which the light must be received".

    
    

    Now, I claim that this shows a complete misunderstanding of what DE HEMELSCHE LEER teaches, and therefore is a misinterpretation of what the Hague position stands for. Even when I was opposed to some of the new doctrinal thoughts published in the magazine, I could not see that meaning in what has been said there.

    
    

    To those who have the new attitude toward the Writings as the Word of the Lord to His New Church, the Lord in that Word is the Sun. The Lord in His infinite Divine Human, speaks in and through the new Word to men and guides men to heavenly light and life. But the ultimate or natural form of the Word is a cloud by which the inner Glory of the Lord is tempered to the state of the natural man, so that his understanding, or natural rational, can by its plain words see and be guided to the heavenly light and life in the first Heaven, which is spiritual-natural or celestial- natural, that is, a natural that partakes of the qualities of the truly spiritual or celestial by correspondence, but which is as discretely distinct from them, as the first Heaven is distinct from the higher.

    
    

    By regeneration of the natural degree of the mind a spiritual rational is begotten and grows in man, receiving influx from the second Heaven. The light from that Heaven is then shed on the teaching of the letter of the Word; it pierces the cloud, the literal sense of the Word then no longer hides the Glory of the Lord, but becomes a mirror, so that man sees the Glory of the Lord in it. Then the ideas from the interior sense of the Word which make the second Heaven, and are that Heaven, are seen by man's spiritual rational plainly stated in the ultimate natural words of the Word. The ultimate sense of the Word, which

    is the Divine Natural of the Lord, then gives Divine

    
    

16. PLAIN STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE

    
    

    sanction and authority to the truths seen in the light from that higher Heaven, and they become to the man of the Church the Doctrine of the Church, spiritual out of celestial origin.

    
    

    THE LORD'S OWN WITH MAN

    
    

    BY THE REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN.

    
    

    It has been repeatedly stated that DE HEMELSCHE LEER teaches that man is Divine. This statement by itself is totally misleading, for there is but one sense in which it can be said that man is Divine, a sense clearly taught in the Latin Word, but a sense in which the word Man is used in a special meaning which is entirely different from the usual meaning. It is only when Man is used with the meaning defined in the following number that he may be said to be Divine: "In the Most Ancient Church, with the members of which the Lord conversed face to face, the

    Lord appeared as a Man; concerning which much may be related, but the time has not yet arrived. On this account they called no one Man but the Lord Himself, and the things which were of Him; neither did they call themselves men but only those things in themselves, as all the good of love and all the truth of faith, which they perceived they had from the Lord", A. C. 49.

    
    

    That the goods of love and the truths of faith which are from the Lord with man, and which are essentially Man, are Divine even in the natural mind, is taught as follows: "In the present chapter in the internal sense the subject is the natural, and how the Lord made it Divine in Himself. Esau is the good thereof and Jacob the truth. For when the Lord was in the world He made His whole Human Divine in Himself, both the interior Human which is the rational, and the exterior Human which is the natural, and also the very corporeal; and this according to the Divine Order, according to which the Lord also makes man new or regenerates him. And therefore in the representative sense the regeneration of man as to his natural is also here treated of, in which sense Esau is the good of the natural, and Jacob the truth thereof, and yet both Divine, because all the good and truth in one who is regenerate are from the Lord", A. C. 3490.

    
    

17. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    In the above number the infinite difference between the Lord and man is evident. This difference consists not only in this, that the good and truth in the Lord was infinitely above the good and truth with man; but also in this that Good and Truth with the Lord was in and from Himself, and was therefore intrinsically in Him and was His Own or His Proprium. While man has no good or truth which is in and from himself, that is intrinsically in him, for man's proprium, that is what is his own, is nothing but evil and falsity, wherefore all good and truth which are with man as if they were his own are from the Lord, yea from His Proprium.

    Wherefore we read that "Angels are withheld from their proprium, .and are kept in the Lord's Proprium which is Good Itself", H.H. 591. Because the Lord made His Proprium Divine -from Himself therefore He said of the Father: "All Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine", JOHN 17 : 10; while it is said of man that "the Divine can be with man, but not in his proprium; for the proprium of man is nothing but evil; and therefore he who ascribes what is Divine to himself as his own profanes it. What is Divine is exquisitely separated by the .Lord from the proprium of man, and is elevated above it and never immersed in it", A.R. 758. Hence we read: "For the Lord is not conjoined with the proprium of man, but with His Own with him. The Lord removes the proprium of man, and gives from His Own and dwells in it", A.E. 291.

    
    

    Another difference between the Lord and man is involved in A.C. 3490, quoted above, namely that the Lord made the very corporeal in Himself Divine, while with man the corporeal is not regenerated.

    
    

    As the Most Ancient Church called only the Lord and the good and truth with them from the Lord "Man", with the fall of that Church this truth was profaned into the idea that they themselves as men were Divine, and therefore like gods. This profanation is described as follows: "There were Nephilim in the land in those days; and' especially after the sons of God went in unto the daughters of man, and they bare to them, the same became mighty men, who were of old, men of renown. This signifies that they became Nephilim when they had immersed the doctrinals of faith in their cupidities", A.C. 582. Concerning these perversions we are told that they were of a more

18. THE LORD S OWN WITH MAN

    
    

    interior nature than any that have existed in the world since, and for this reason that they were a perversion of celestial troth. While the New Church will not be able to see celestial truth proper until it returns into the celestial state, and therefore will, before that time, not be able to have an interior idea concerning the perversions spoken of, we can nevertheless see certain of their truths and their perversions as in an image.

    
    

    It was a remnant of this perversion that passed down through the Indian religiosities and passed into Europe by means of Theosophy. As a result of this influence it is believed by many that man is Divine and has as his soul a spark of the Divine, which idea involves that man has something intrinsically Divine within him. In the history of the New Church related falsities have arisen and have seduced certain of its members. On account of these perversions a fear is aroused when the Divine with man is spoken of, yet while seeing the danger from the possibility of the perversion of a truth, we must not let this deter us from acknowledging the truth. A genuine truth always has the effect of bringing man into a state of humility before the Lord, while its perversion into a falsity has the effect of exalting man in the pride of his own conceit. If it is acknowledged from the heart that man is nothing but evil and falsity, and therefore that the Lord cannot dwell in anything proper to man, but that He can dwell only in His Own with man, that is in His own goods and truths with man, which being the Lord's are Divine, man is brought into a state of humility in which he realizes his dependence on the Lord, not only in general, but in everything of his life. Whether it is said that goods and truths with man are the Lord's and not man's own, or whether it is said that they are Divine, it is the same thing, wherefore it is just to the extent that a man acknowledges that the goods and truths with him are Divine, that he can come into genuine humility. On the other hand to the extent that a man believes that

    the good and truth with him are not Divine, to the same extent he denies that they are the Lord's, and to the same extent man comes into the pride of his own intelligence.

    
    

    The object of regeneration is to remove the things of man's proprium. In so far as these are removed man is in

    
    

19. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    the Lord's Proprinm, for we read: "The internal man of the Angels . . . in so far as their proprial things do not hinder, is the Lord", A.C. 1745; and again: "This is the celestial proprium, which in itself is of the Lord alone appropriated to those who are in good and thence in truth", A.C. 3813. It is the nature of man's proprium to wish to have goods and truths as its own, and as none but Nephilim dare to claim the Divine as their own, therefore with others it is of the proprium to deny that goods and truths with them are Divine, in order that they may believe that in some sense the goods and truths with them are theirs.

    
    

    While the goods and truths with man from the Lord are Divine, they are not the Infinite Divine as they were with the Lord after Glorification. Concerning the Divine truth which constitutes the wisdom, intelligence, and science of Angels and men we read as follows: "Divine truth in its

    descent proceeds according to degrees, from the highest or inmost to the lowest or ultimate. Divine Truth in the highest degree is such as is the Divine that proceeds most nearly from the Lord, thus such as is the Divine Truth above the Heavens; and as this is infinite, it cannot come to the perception of any Angel. But Divine Truth of the first degree is that which comes to the perception of the Angels of the inmost or third Heaven, and is called celestial Divine Truth; from this is the wisdom of those Angels. Divine Truth of the second degree is that which comes to the perception of the Angels of the middle or second Heaven and constitutes their wisdom and intelligence, and is called spiritual Divine Truth. Divine Truth of the third degree is that which comes to the perception of the Angels of the lowest Heaven and constitutes their intelligence and science, and is called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural Divine Truth. But Divine Truth of the fourth degree is that which comes to the perception of the men of the Church who are living in the world, and constitutes their intelligence and science; this is called natural Divine Truth, and its lowest is called sensual Divine Truth", A.E. 627.

    
    

    That the Divine Truths which constitute the wisdom, intelligence, and science of Angels and men, refer to truths when received and not to truths before reception, is taught as follows: "The Lord is nothing but Divine Good; that

    
    

20. THE LORD'S OWN WITH MAN

"which proceeds from His Divine Good and inflows into Heaven, in the celestial kingdom is called the Divine celestial, and in the spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual; thus the Divine spiritual and the Divine celestial are so called relatively to receptions", A.C. 6417. See also A.E. 496, where, speaking of Divine Love celestial and Divine Love spiritual, it says: "But the Lord's Divine love in the Heavens is called celestial and spiritual merely from the reception of it by the Angels". Further concerning the reception of good and truth with man, as being the Lord's with him, we read as follows: "The Lord cannot love and dwell with man unless He is received; . .. to enter to any one, and remain, with whom there is no reception is impossible. As the reception and the reciprocal in man are from the Lord, He says abide in Me and I in you", Doc. LIFE, 102. And again: "The Father in the Heavens flows in equally with the evil and the good. but the reception of it must be on man's part, yet not on man's part as from man, but as if from man, for the ability to receive truth is given to man continually, and it flows in to the extent that man removes the evils that oppose, and does this also from the ability which is continually given; the ability appears to be man's although it is the Lord's", A.E. 644. Hence when it states in the number quoted at the commencement of this paper that "they did not call themselves men, but only those things in themselves — as all the good of love and all the truth of faith — which they perceived they had from the Lord", the reference is not to the goods and truths which flow in with the good and evil alike, but to substantial forms of good and truth which were created and are continually preserved in them from the Lord, and which are the actual "sons of God" as distinguished from what is called in the number "they themselves", see A.C. 2022, 2023.

It is indeed profane to say that man is Divine, unless by the word Man is understood solely what is from the Lord, who is the only Man.

DE HEMELSCHE LEER

EXTRACTS FROM THE ISSUE FOR DECEMBER 1933

MATTHEW XXIII : 37-39

ADDRESS BY H. D. G. GROENEVELD AT THE SOCIAL SUPPER OF OCTOBER 29TH, 1933.

0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under the wing's, and ye would not!

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

For I say unto you: Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.

MATTHEW XXIII : 37-39.

Jerusalem represents the Church where the Word is, and in particular the Church where the Writings are accepted as the Divine Doctrine or the Word, and more singularly the Church where the Doctrine of the Church is seen as spiritual out of celestial origin. The mentioning twice of the word Jerusalem indicates the things of the celestial kingdom and the things of the spiritual kingdom or the things of the good and the things of the truth of the Doctrine. From the words , one hears the deep sorrow arising from the love for the Church, and especially for the Church where the Doctrine of the Church is seen as spiritual out of celestial origin, and they implore retreat and repentance. The Prophets signify the doctrinal things of the Word, and being sent indicates the human things in which the doctrinal things are present and by which they come to the outside. To kill has reference to the will, and to stone to the understanding. Thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, thus signifies that the Church, where the Doctrine of the Church is seen as spiritual out of celestial origin, destroys with the will and combats with the understanding the doctrinal things of the Word which in the human things come to the outside and which thereby are clearly shown.

1. H. D. G. GROENEVELD

   
   

   It is the evil of the will that deprives the essential or the internal of the doctrinal things of life, and it is the falsity of the understanding that with the hardness of natural reasoning directs itself against the external or the body of the doctrinal things.

   Man has two faculties which are the Lord's with him, namely the faculty of freedom or that of the will and the faculty of rationality or that of the understanding. By these, man has life as if from himself. Since man with regard to the human things is born into evil, he therefore in the natural has an evil will. Evil charms him, and in it he feels his freedom. Every infringement upon his will is an attack on his freedom. As long therefore as no regeneration of the will has taken place, whereby man comes into what is actually free from the Lord, the freedom of evil

   is regarded as freedom itself. Every restriction from outside of the evil of the will brings a feeling of compulsion and thus a deprivation of life as from one's self. The compelling of the evil of the will therefore ought to be done by the man himself with the help of the understanding; for which reason the Lord, "for the sake of regeneration, has separated the will and the understanding in man. Man, from the faculty of rationality given to him, which is the Lord's, by his understanding can receive into himself the truths of the Word and of the Doctrine of the Church, and in that light discern the evil of his will. He then, as from himself, should strive against the evil of his will. This is the true strife of life which every man has to carry on, if he wishes to enter into the Lord's Kingdom. Every reception with the understanding should, however, take place for the exclusive end of learning to. know the evils of the will and to combat them. In this also lies the essential of Baptism, because man then confesses that the Lord is the Creator of Heaven and earth and acknowledges that evil must be shunned as sin against the Lord. In every reception with the understanding for any other end, for instance of the gathering of knowledge only for the sake of knowing the things, the essential for conjunction with the Lord is lacking. In such a reception the understanding does elevate itself above the will, but since the essential for conjunction is lacking, the understanding remains in the service of the evil will. The evil

   
   

2. MATTHEW XXIII : 37-39

   
   

   of the will then uses the scientifics acquired by the understanding as means to combat in the natural the essential things of life. Thus they have the appearance of truths, but since the essential for conjunction is lacking, they are as lifeless things. These are the stones by which the body of the doctrinal things has now been wounded to the quick.

   
   

   By receiving with the understanding the truths of the Word and of the Doctrine of the Church, man is indeed willing to be in conjunction with the body of the Church, but he desires no conjunction of the body of the Church with him. As long as the will is not on the way of regeneration, man suffers no interference with the affairs of his will, since he desires no interference with his freedom in the human things, bound as he is to the lusts of the evil of his will, while it is just the will that is on the way of regeneration that desires the conjunction of the body of the Church with him, in order that they be one in the Divine Human of the Lord. The evil will does not desire to breathe with the heart of the Church and therefore does not seek charity in the spiritual things but in the natural things. It does desire conjunction with the Divine things but not with the human things from the Lord, as a consequence of which it does desire the Doctrine but not the life, while yet the Doctrine is the Lord's, who is Life itself, and has only life for end. The man who desires no conjunction of the body of the Church with the human things, does not accept the cleansing of the human things and therefore not regeneration. He does acknowledge the Father but not the Son and consequently not the Lord as the Creator of Heaven and earth. Innumerable are the excuses when the conjunction of the body of the Church with the human things is at issue. All the excuses find their origin in the love of self and the love of the world, that is in the affections and thoughts of the man in the human things. It is the natural body

   which alone is of essential significance to him and not the spiritual body. All things of the natural body, however, should be directed to and made subservient to the things of the spiritual body. Here lies the strife of life for man and not in the things of the natural body, while it is just there that the fight is carried on and considered of essential importance. Not to acknowledge the possibility of deliverance of the

   
   

3. H. D. G. GROENEVELD

   
   

   human things is not to acknowledge the Glorification of the Lord and therefore not to acknowledge that the Son is one with the Father.

   
   

   For the conjunction with the body of the Church and thus with the Divine 'Human of the Lord, no excuse can apply on the strength of things of the natural body, whatever those things may be. It is thus not of essential importance whether one takes up the truths of the Word and of the Doctrine of the Church, if one does not have 'for an end the conjunction with the body of the Church and thus with the Divine Human of the Lord. In the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel by Luke the excuses, and indeed the three degrees thereof, are described. We read in verses 15 to 20 as follows: "And when one of them that sat with Him heard these things, he said unto Him: Blessed is he that eateth bread in the Kingdom of God. Then said He unto him; A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time to say unto them that were bidden: Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee, have me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come".

   
   

   The 15th verse describes to us the man who takes up the truths of the Word and of the Doctrine of the Church and rejoices in them because they give him the food of the real things of life and thus of the Divine Human of the Lord. That this, however, is not sufficient, appears from the 16th verse, where the invitation is spoken of to partake of a great supper, by which is indicated the conjunction of the body of the Church or the Divine Human of the Lord with the human things. That it is just the conjunction with the human things that is at issue appears also from the servant being sent.

   
   

   The first excuse is: "I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it". To buy a piece of ground signifies with the understanding to come into the possession of a Doctrine out of the Word in the natural. To go and see signifies to remove one's self and to further

   
   

4. MATTHEW XXIII : 37-39

   
   

   investigate with the understanding. The first excuse is thus expressed by the man who with his understanding has come into the possession of a Doctrine out of the Word in the natural and removes himself from the body of the Church, in order to investigate that Doctrine with his thinking only. He will only pass on to the shunning of evil and the application of the truths in his

   life, if he has certainty and confirmation of the truths of the Doctrine. Since thus the essential is lacking there is no will for the conjunction of the human things with the body of the Church. The excuse in its essence comes from the man who sees life only in the entering of the thinking into the problems of life. The understanding and not the will is regarded as the essential of man. The shunning of evil as sin against the Lord and thus the purification of the human things is not seen as of direct importance, since the elevation and thus the salvation of the human race is expected only from the understanding. That the understanding in the actual things of life is dependent only on the conjunction of the human things with the body of the Church, is felt as a limitation and thus as a deprivation of the freedom of the understanding, since the understanding is considered capable by its faculty, of bringing the man anywhere, thus also outside of the body of the Church, into the possession of the actual things of life. In the desire for wisdom the will or the love for conjunction, and thus the actual conjugial is lacking.

   
   

   The second excuse is :"l have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them". An ox signifies the natural good and five yoke of oxen signifies few goods and truths of the natural good. To prove means, if possible, to apply them to life. The second excuse is therefore uttered by the man who with his understanding has come into the possession of few goods and truths of natural good and removes himself from the body of the Church in order, if possible, to apply them to life, in order to practice charity and to do uses so-called. Here therefore, the will is active; not the will however for conjunction of the human things with the body of the Church, but the hidden will of the proprium, for not the spiritual life, but only the natural life is considered as of essential importance.

   
   

5. H. D. G. GROENEVELD

   
   

   The third excuse is: "I have married a wife". A wife signifies love in the most exterior or the sensual things, in this instance the love of self and the love for the world. To be married signifies to be conjoined. The third, excuse therefore is uttered by the man who is conjoined with the love of self and the love of the world in the most exterior or the sensual things, thus by the man with whom the evil of the will is active. Here the will alone comes to the fore, for which reason also the reply follows that he cannot come. According to the natural signification of the words many have felt in life the bond where the wife is the ruling one in the conjunction, but an unfolding in the spiritual sense would show every one how he is riveted to the evil of his will and that by that evil he is in conjunction with his deepest hells. The evil of the will is always conjoined with the most exterior or the sensual things. It there shows itself in an innocence, gentleness, and beauty, with so much cunningness and craftiness that on the outside it has the appearance of being innocence, gentleness, and beauty itself. It brings such a charm that man cannot think otherwise but that therein lies the actual life. In these things is the power and thus the might of the will.

   Man becomes powerless and cannot maintain himself against this song of the sirens, unless he clings to the principles, that for him are irrefutable, of truth out of the Word and the Doctrine of the Church, or above it hears the song of the Angels concerning the conjunction of truth and good in the Divine Human of the Lord, or the truly conjugial love. from these things also the charity of man springs forth. The not-favoring of these things is seen as a lack of a feeling for the needs of the neighbor. All charity is directed towards the most exterior or the sensual things, because it can only express itself in these, and also considers only these things as of essential importance. In this way man clothes himself with an appearance of charity, since the evil of the will and thus the love of self is present therein. This love oppresses and encompasses the neighbor, and thus deprives him of his freedom. All affections and thoughts of man must be

   directed to his conjunction with the body of the Church or the Divine Human of the Lord. The charity proceeding from the heart of the Church views only the actual human things from the Lord. Man there-

   
   

6. MATTHEW XXIII: 37-39

   
   

   fore should get loose from his conjunction with the most exterior or the sensual things. He must not, however, despise the sensual things, for the Lord has given these things to man to possess them as from himself, and therein to have a life of joy and blessedness into the eternal. The joy and blessedness therefore does not consist in the possession of the sensual things in themselves, but in the use or soul thereof, that is in the Divine Human of the Lord. The evil of the will is bound fast to all things of the life of man in the natural world. The words "I have married a wife", therefore interiorly contain the things that are the actual cause of the killing and stoning of the doctrinal things of the body of the Church.

   
   

   "How often would I have gathered thy children", signifies that in the truths which have been given to the Church where the Doctrine of the Church is seen as spiritual out of celestial

   origin, the Lord was always present with the effort of gathering the human things into the body of the Church. "Even as a hen gathereth her chickens under the wings", signifies that there was the effort of the Lord, because in the essential or internal of the doctrinal things in the natural, the warmth or love is present to gather the human things under the power and thus the protection of truth in the external or the body of the doctrinal things. "And ye would not", signifies that there was no retreat and repentance, and thus no affection of being taken up into the body of the Church. "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate", signifies that the Church and the man of the Church with the understanding shall acknowledge that evil remains in the will. "For I say unto you: ye shall not see me henceforth", signifies that it is an irrefutable truth that nothing more of the things of the Divine Human of the Lord shall come into the light of the thinking of the Church and of the man of the Church; "till ye shall say: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord", signifies until the Church or the man of the Church shall acknowledge from the heart or from the will that it is just in the human things which flow forth from the truths of the Word and the Doctrine of the Church, which truths essentially are no other than the actual human things wherein the reception must take place of good and truth from the Lord, if conjunction with the

   
   

7. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

   
   

   body of the Church is to be possible and thus with the Divine Human of the Lord.

   
   

   

   
   

   JACOB AND RACHEL

   A SERMON BY THE REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN. *

   
   

   And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.

   
   

   GEN. XXIX : II.

   
   

   The signification of Jacob kissing Rachel, and his weeping, is given in the ARCANA COELESTIA as follows:

   
   

   "3800. And Jacob kissed Rachel; that this signifies love towards interior truths, is evident from the signification of kissing as being unition and conjunction from affection, consequently love, because regarded in itself love is unition and conjunction from affection; and from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth. Hence it is evident that by Jacob kissing Rachel, is signified love towards interior truths.

   
   

   "3801. And he lifted up his voice and wept; that this signifies the ardor of love, is evident from the signification of lifting up the 7'01Ce and weeping, as being the ardor of love; for weeping is of sorrow, and also of love, and is the highest degree of each of them".

   
   

   There is nothing more important to the man of the Church than to know what is meant by the affection of interior truth and to know how to pursue it. Jacob, we read, labored twice seven years to win Rachel, and it seemed but a few days for the love he bore her. If we are to become a spiritual Church, the New Jerusalem, in fact as well as in name, we must serve with ardor twice seven years to win the affection of interior truth. If we do not win this affection of truth, We cannot win spiritual or celestial good; for the reason that a man's truth qualifies his good. This idea is expressed in the ARCANA as follows: "Good does not become the good which is called the good of charity until truths are implanted in it, and such as are the truths that are implanted in it, such does the good become. For this reason the good of one person, although it

   
   

   * This sermon was sent ns by Mr. Pitcairn with the remark: "Written 5 or 6 years ago" (Ed )

   
   

8. JACOB AND RACHEL

   
   

   may appear precisely similar to that of another, yet is not the same". Let us first consider what the affection of interior troth is not.

   First it is not curiosity about interior truths. Curiosity is a quality of the normal mind before regeneration. It may be a means of leading a man to spiritual truth; but it must be dropped and left behind before a man can come into the affection of truth. Just as the love of the sex is said to be like the matrix of a precious stone in which conjugial love, like a jewel, may be formed, so curiosity may be a matrix in which the affection of truth may grow, but the matrix must be destroyed before the jewel can appear. The Angels are not curious.

   Neither is the affection of truth the love of understanding interior truth. This love, like curiosity, is innate in many men. The love of understanding is a natural love; it is something for which a man does not necessarily have to strive. A man may love to understand truth, even to understand interior truth for many reasons. This love may give him a certain mental satisfaction; it may give a sense of elation to his natural conceit, or it may come from more ulterior motives. Like curiosity, it may be instrumental in leading man towards the affection of truth, but in itself, it is a natural love, and does not necessarily introduce man to the spiritual affection of truth.

   
   

   The affection of interior truth, represented by Rachel, is a state of mind in which a man is affected by interior truth, when he is moved by a feeling of delight and love on beholding it; when he sees interior truth in all the beauty of its form, exceeding beautiful to behold, so that from the .love he feels towards it, he will gladly serve twice seven years to possess it as his own. To have the affection of interior truth is the same as to be deeply moved at its presence, to be moved as a young man is moved on beholding a virgin of exceeding great beauty, whom he loves. In the days of our fathers they at times actually wept for joy at seeing the beauty of the heavenly arcana.

   
   

   We live in a day and age when the cold intellect and the animal passions are worshipped. Really deep affections are apt to be despised and called sentimental. We of the New Church are ever in danger of being affected by this

   
   

9. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

   
   

   point of view. If a man were to lift up his voice and weep on hearing a profound spiritual truth, this sceptical generation could scarcely believe in his genuineness.

   
   

   In the early days of the ACADEMY, Jacob indeed rolled the stone from the well's mouth. The well is the Word. It was the recognition of the Lord in the Writings of the New Church that rolled the stone from the well's mouth. And immediately after this act, Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept, this is, the members of the Church were profoundly moved at the beauty of internal truth, which they then beheld.

   
   

   But what of our generation? Our fathers planted the seeds; these seeds have grown. There is considerable interest in the Doctrines of the Church. Discussion of its teachings are not infrequent. There is a certain willingness and desire to work ?or the Church. But this is not all that is necessary. These things by themselves do not denote the affection of interior truth, the power of being deeply moved at its presence. In a way our generation has a more difficult task before it in acquiring this affection than did our fathers. There is little merit in a man loving a beautiful maiden on beholding her. It was the fourteen years of willing service that Jacob served that won him his reward. I-f a man has been brought up in the presence of interior truth, if he has 'known it many years and still loves it, and is still moved at its presence, then there is reason for rejoicing. But this kind of love does not come without labor and earnest serving.

   
   

   We must serve the Church; we must do its work, for in serving the Church we serve the Lord. But like Mary, we must choose the better part. The part of Martha by itself is not sufficient. We must sit at the Lord's feet and hear His Word. We must strive to hear it with great delight. How often the reading of the Writings seems tedious. How difficult it is to read them with a delight that surpasses all other delights. When we read that Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and

   they seemed as a few days for the love that he bore her, this ideal seems impossible; yet it is an ideal which we must all pursue. It is the object which the Church must ever keep in mind in its education and in all its teaching.

   
   

   There is possibly no better illustration of the nature

   
   

10. JACOB AND RACHEL

    
    

    of the affection of truth than that which we find in the Prologue of Swedenborg's ANIMAL KINGDOM, where we read: "To rightly constituted minds, truths are not only pleasing, but also ineffably delightful, containing in them, as it were, the charms of all the loves and graces".

    
    

    "Whenever a truth shines forth, the mind exalts and rejoices".

    
    

    "Above all, it behooves the mind to be pure and regard universal ends, as the happiness of the human race and thereby the Glory of God. Truth is then infused into our mind from Heaven, whence as from its proper fountain, it all emanates. Plato used frequently to say, — so the philosopher relates, — that when his soul was engaged in contemplation, he seemed to enjoy the supreme good, and incredible delight; that he was in a manner fixed in astonishment, acknowledging himself as part of a higher world; at length wearied, he relapsed into Fantasy, and became sorrowful. Again the soul, as it were freed from the body, ascends, and is

    enlightened". Swedenborg concludes: "But this may appear like a mere fable to those who have not experienced it", thereby implying that h6 himself had been in such a state. Swedenborg's love was always the affection of internal truth, represented by Rachel; but like Jacob, after seven years of service, he found himself married to Leah, the affection of external truth. If in this state while writing the ANIMAL KINGDOM he valued the affection of truth so highly, finding in

    it an ineffable delight, we can well imagine what intense delight he must have sustained when the spiritual sense of the Word was opened to him, and he beheld Rachel in all her beauty.

    
    

    But how are we to win this affection of internal truth? Truths we can learn; truths we can teach to our children; but the affection of truth we can neither learn nor teach. The affection of internal truth must grow in the mind.. We are, however, able to hinder or aid its growth.

    
    

    Some of the hindrances Swedenborg mentions in the Prologue of the ANIMAL KINGDOM. To quote: "The way to the principles of truth involves an innate love of truth, an eager desire of exploring it, a delight in finding it; also the ability to recall the mind from the senses, from the lusts of the body, the enticements of the world and

    
    

11. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

    
    

    its cares, all which are distracting forces, and of keeping it on its own higher sphere".

    
    

    Every man has a certain amount of what we might call psychic energy, or energy of the soul. If this energy is applied in one direction it detracts from the energy that can be applied in another

    direction. As this energy is applied, so is the mind formed. The scientist who applies all his energy to acquiring facts, loses the power to see truth; the man who applies all his mental energies to achieving success, loses the ability to be affected by truth. With nearly all men their mental energy is divided into various channels. If a man is to become spiritual, a reasonable amount of life force must be used for meditating on spiritual things; if a man is not willing to give a part of his very life for this purpose, there is no hope of his acquiring the affection of spiritual truth.

    
    

    Success in modern life requires mental energy; preparation for life in the world requires mental activity. The great danger is that we will use up this vital stream in the things of this world; that we will not save sufficient for quiet meditation to enable the spiritual mind to grow; and that 'in our school system we will over develop the scientific and practical mind so that the spiritual mind becomes dwarfed. But some may ask, did not Swedenborg have an enormous amount of scientific learning; did he not know nearly all the facts of his time? True, but this was part of Swedenborg's work; besides which, with Swedenborg, facts were merely a means to a spiritual end. The search for the soul, the knowledge and the praise of God were the ever active motives in his mind. Nothing which did not reveal some spiritual law interested him. He seemed to scarcely turn his face a moment from beholding God. His eyes were continually on God as the soul and life of His creation. If he beheld the human body with his earthly eyes, his mind saw the soul and the life of the soul, namely God.

    
    

    Swedenborg's whole life was centered upon acquiring the affection of internal truth. When therefore this truth was revealed to him, he rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

    
    

    On the other hand, we are apt to pursue unorganized dead knowledge with such energy that the affection of internal truth has no chance to grow; added to which, our

    
    

12. JACOB AND RACHEL

    
    

    life in society is want to grow so complicated that internal thought becomes as a small voice that is drowned in the noises of the day.

    
    

    We all have a love for the Church, implanted in many of ns from childhood, but if we give expression to this love, we are, may be, too apt to give it all in the way that we are accustomed to live in the world, namely externally, forgetting the better part of Mary who sat at the feet of the Lord.

    
    

    When we go to classes or attend Church, our minds are often distracted from the main purpose by pondering over problems, by reasoning in ourselves about this and that, instead of giving all our attention to beholding the Divine Truth in its beauty, in marvelling at the comeliness of Rachel.

    
    

    Reasoning about spiritual truth, and discussion, has its place, but if it is over-indulged, it destroys the perception of truth, and finally the affection of internal truth. Reason is a God-given means of learning truth, but if we reason too much, if we do not see the truth, and seeing love it, but continue ever to reason about it, then does reason become a destroying fire. If we over- emphasize reason so that we wish to know the reason of everything instead of delighting in what

    God has revealed in the nature of His creation, we can destroy innocence, and with innocence the Church.

    
    

    To train youths in external loyalty to the Church is not so difficult as might be imagined. To impress upon them the importance of keeping the Ten Commandments in their external form can be accomplished in most cases, but to aid the growth in them of the internal affection of truth which gives spiritual life to the keeping of the Commandments, is indeed a difficult task, but still an all-important one. Without this affection a man is relatively dead, even though he may be admitted to the lower regions of Heaven after death. Spiritual life must characterize the New Church, and spiritual life is a manifestation of the affection of internal truth. If we have this affection. we are spiritually living. All good must have this affection as its foundation.

    Preparation for the implantation of this affection is therefore of paramount importance, and it is the duty of every minister and teacher to reflect and meditate on what will best conduce to this end.

    
    

13. REVEREND THEODORE PITCAIRN

The ACADEMY recognized from the beginning that spiritual truth and good are the neighbor, and that charity in its essence looks towards these. This was their first love. Let us ever heed the warning of the Church of Ephesus, that we lose not our first love. And if we do, that we repent and do the first works, lest He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, come quickly, and remove our candlestick out of its place. Amen.

123

DE HEMELSCHE LEER

EXTRACT FORM THE ISSUE FOR JAN.-MARCH1934.

THE ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1933

THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

A REPLY BY THE REV. ERNST PFEIFFER.

The Word of the Third Testament contains much teaching on the difference between the Word and the Doctrine of truth existing in the Church out of the Word. The essence of the .new doctrinal position which has been advanced in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, is that that teaching applies also to the Third Testament itself. It is therefore a fundamental principle of the new position that the Word itself teaches the reality and the importance of that difference; and it has been pointed out from the beginning that a concept which cannot be confirmed by the very letter of the Word cannot be maintained. So the issue for July 1930 of DE HEMELSCHE LEER contains the following statement: "The Doctrine of the Church in order to establish its authority, will never refer to its own literal sense, but always exclusively to the literal sense of the Word itself". First Fascicle, p. 121, and in order to show that this principle has governed our thought even at the time of the first appearance of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, I wish to quote the following passage from a letter of April 18th 1930 from the present writer to the Bishop: "May I take this opportunity to emphasize that it is the very basis of our thought that the letter of the Word is the one only source and foundation of all truth, and that a concept which cannot manifestly be shown to have its origin in the letter of the Word and which cannot be confirmed by the letter of the Word, must be rejected as untenable".

To one who has come to see that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Third Testament of the Word of the Lord, the Word in a new letter, the Divine Truth revealed in lasts for the rational mind, and who at the same time

1. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

   
   

   realizes the difference between the Word and the Doctrine of truth existing in the Church out of the Word, these Writings in fact begin to teach and to confirm those theses in every singular statement. It then becomes plain that the three discrete degrees of truth into which man can come by the opening of the three degrees of the mind, are the natural rational, the spiritual rational, and the celestial rational; that these three degrees of truth in the letter of the Latin Word are all together, according to the teaching "that the celestial and the spiritual senses of the Word are simultaneously in the natural sense of it", S.S. 38, since "in the outermost or last things all interior or higher things are simultaneously", D.P. 230; but that the letter to man yields just that degree of truth which belongs to the degree of the mind which by regeneration with him has been opened. This is meant by the teaching that the Doctrine must be drawn out of the letter; for the Doctrine is the genuine truth existing in the Church, and there are three discrete degrees of genuine truth which can be drawn out of the letter, where all degrees are together in lasts. In DE HEMELSCHE LEER hundreds of passages have been quoted to confirm the truth of the necessity of applying those laws to the Third Testament. All these confirmatory quotations, however, have made no impression upon those who are opposed to the new position. But this is not surprising if one is beforehand confirmed in the negative, for it is a law that a truth cannot be seen if a negative attitude is taken. On the other hand to one who is affirmative the testimony of the Latin Word to the truth of this view becomes overwhelming practically in every single statement.

   
   

   May I be allowed to illustrate this with the experience of a fellow-minister who has accepted the position. In a letter of July 25th 1933 to the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn the Rev. Elmo C. Acton says: "The truth of the position as presented in DE HEMELSCHE LEER becomes clearer and clearer every day, and is seen confirmed on every page of the Writings". The same writer in a letter to the Rev. Albert Bjorck says: "The Word is the final court of appeal in discovering the

   truth of any doctrine drawn by the Church, but when the Doctrine in this way has been seen to be true, then the Word in the letter must be read in the

   
   

2. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

   
   

   light of the Doctrine, and unless it is so read the Word is a closed book, and the spiritual sense for ever remains hidden and buried in the letter. The authority always rests in the letter". And

   another minister, the Rev. Hendrik W. Boef, in a letter of July 12th 1933 writes: "I am convinced now of the truth of the theses in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. To me they are simply the teachings of the Writings. I have been astonished at the abundance of passages in the Writings which, in their literal sense, teach those truths. If I should deny them, I feel that I would deny the Writings themselves".

   
   

   For still further confirmation that this is the experience of all those who are not obscured by misunderstanding but who really have grasped the essence of the issue, may I be allowed to quote here also the testimony of the Reverend Albert Bjorck. His ultimate experience ensuing from the correspondence between him and us, which was published in the Fourth Fascicle, is already known. He then, under the date of October 29th 1932, wrote: "But I can also claim that I have made efforts to understand your position, and . -. with the understanding has also come the conviction that your position is in agreement with the teaching of the Third Testament. This is of course what matters", Fourth Fascicle, p. 141. And in a letter of March 5th 1933, Mr. Bjorck writes: "I am more than ever convinced of the truth of your position, and see everything said in the Latin Testament in a new light streaming out from the position you hold". The Reverend Theodore Pitcairn, in a letter of March 18th 1930, expressed his first experience in the following words: "I have pondered the things which you have presented and have come to feel that the position you have taken is true. With this realization has come a wonderful new light; in fact it has thrown a new light on everything".

   
   

   While on the one hand we must maintain that the actual position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER as to all its essential concepts is drawn out of and confirmed by the very letter of the Latin Word, on the other hand we readily admit that the position which has been ascribed to DE HEMELSCHE LEER in the Bishop's address certainly could not have been so drawn and confirmed. When we, including the Reverend Theodore Pitcairn and the other ministers

   
   

3. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

   
   

   who have understood the principles involved, were listening to the Bishop's presentation, we stood aghast at what we heard. Truly, it was difficult to believe our ears, and I cannot help solemnly declaring that practically every single statement of that address ascribes to us ideas which are the very opposite of what we actually hold. The position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER may be summarized in the three leading theses which have been prefixed to the third and fourth of the English fascicles and which read as follows:

   1. The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Third Testament of the Word of the Lord. The DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE

      must be applied to the three Testaments alike.

      
      

   2. The Latin Word without Doctrine is as a candlestick without light, and those who read the Latin Word without Doctrine, or who do not acquire for themselves a Doctrine from the Latin Word, are in darkness as to all truth, cf. S.S. 50—61.

      
      

   3. The genuine Doctrine of the Church is spiritual out of celestial origin, but not out of rational origin. The Lord is that Doctrine itself, cf. A.C. 2496, 2497, 2510, 2516, 2533, 2859; A.E. 19.

      
      

      These theses present the true aspect of our faith, but they have found no consideration in the Bishop's address, the essence of which is a repetition of the arguments which in the history of the New Church very justly have been brought forward against the absurdities of celestialism. That the Bishop should not have seen the immense difference, namely that celestialism is a result of the negation of the Word, while the above quoted theses are in fullness drawn out of and confirmed by the very letter of the Word, is difficult for us to understand. The end of celestialism is that the proprium may rule, but the end of these theses is that the Word outside of man may also become the Word within man, in order that, the proprium being removed by regeneration, the Lord may rule.

      
      

      After an introduction in which the Bishop expresses the idea that a Church which has the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg should not have a stated creed, and that therefore the GENERAL CHURCH has never authorized a formal statement of its belief, to which are added some remarks

      
      

4. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

   
   

   on the concept of the Writings of Swedenborg as the Word, as it existed in the ACADEMY and in the GENERAL CHURCH, the Bishop says: "A new doctrine has developed within the borders of the General Church which calls itself the 'Doctrine of the Church' ", p. 268. A little further on, in the same page, the Bishop says: "As it is given, the New Doctrine so far is purely spiritual. It has come down from heaven", etc. And in a similar style the address is full of remarks, the tendency of which is to bring the thought concerning the teaching on the essence of the Doctrine drawn by the Church out of its Word, which has been brought forward in DE HEMELSCHE LEER in an abstract way from the very Word itself, on the external plane of specific statements of Doctrine which for this very reason could not be understood. The quotations made by the Bishop are confined to a few pages of the First Fascicle, to which a direct reference is given only in the case of pp. 78—80. It is in that very place where the following passages occur: "Also in the New Church a distinction must be made between the Divine Doctrine itself and the Doctrine of the New Church or the Doctrine of Genuine Truth, that is, the genuine rational, spiritual and celestial truths, which the Church gradually acquires by the orderly opening of the literal sense of the Writings. The Church cannot possibly interiorly understand the Writings, unless it form

   for itself according to order a Doctrine which shall show it the way", p. 76—77. Is it not evident from this quotation that our problem was an abstract one, which concerns the Doctrine wherever and by whomsoever it is drawn?

   The Bishop on p. 268 says: "This Doctrine teaches that the Writings, because of their accommodation to worldly ideas and language, are heavily sealed, … and that, because of this sealing or veiling, the Writings must themselves be opened by means of a correspondential resolution of their direct meaning". This presentation does not even touch the reasons for our belief in the application of the science of correspondences to the Latin Word, reasons which have been fully developed and demonstrated m DE HEMELSCHE LEER, and which indeed have been the main subject of my address on the first day of the Council meetings. These reasons are that in the letter of the Third

   
   

5. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

   
   

   Testament all discrete degrees of the rational, the celestial rational, the spiritual rational, and the natural rational, are together. This is the real reason why we believe in discrete senses in the Latin Word.

   
   

   The Bishop adds: "And this by and with the indispensable aid of the New Doctrine, which is now for the first time born into the church". Our reference to the teaching of the Word itself, namely, that the Word without Doctrine is not understood, and that there are three means to open the Word, namely the science of correspondences, the Doctrine of genuine truth, and illustration from the Lord, is here again brought on the purely external plane

   of specific statements of Doctrine. Every man must for himself make Doctrine; only if he has made it himself, can he enter into the interiors of the Word. Simply to accept Doctrine which has been made by others, would never help him to raise his mind above the natural. We are surprised that this our real meaning should not spring forth before the reader from every page we have published.

   
   

   The expression that "the Doctrine has been born with us", which occurs in two or three places in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, and which apparently has so greatly aroused the indignation of our opponents, has entirely been misunderstood. This expression with us came into use as a result of our experience of one or two years, when the concept that the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture should be applied to the three Testaments alike, which was first conceived as a new seed of truth, still deeply hidden and difficult to grasp, had at last taken such visible and tangible form, being seen confirmed on every page of the Word, that then it could be said to have been born. That there is such a difference between a concept first being conceived and later being born, can be plain from the teaching of the Word. When it is born it has become self evident and indispensable in use, with those with whom it is born.

   
   

   It seems that the Bishop has developed his argument exclusively under the impression which he has received from the statement which has indeed been made in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, namely, that unless this new truth be seen of the necessity of applying the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture fully to the Third Testament, the

   
   

6. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

   Church would remain only in the natural sense of that Testament. The fact that this new concept was first conceived and born with us, seems to have so entirely engaged his thoughts, that he could not see the essential thing involved, namely that every man must make his Doctrine for himself. So, it seems to us, the Bishop has come to the unjust charge that we claim that we now have made the Doctrine for all, a Doctrine which everybody simply has to accept, while in truth our position is just the opposite, namely that in so far as a man accepts a Doctrine made not by himself but by anyone else, he cannot enter into the interiors of the Word.

   
   

   But as to the fact that it has indeed been said in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, that unless this new truth of the necessity of applying the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture to the Third Testament be seen, the Church cannot see the interior senses of that Testament, this either is a Divine truth or it is not. The only thing which matters therefore would have been to prove that it is not true. But not even an attempt has been made to disprove the reasons which have been given, First Fascicle pp. 38—43, 82—95, 127—131; Third Fascicle, pp. 86—108. Is the view that if the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Word, their true essence can only be seen in the light of what has been revealed about the essence of the Word, in itself so absurd that it does not even need disproving? What is gained by raising the question of human superiority? If it is a Divine truth, it is not our truth but the Lord's.

   
   

   The Bishop adds: "Once born, this 'Doctrine', we are told, will live and grow throughout the unending ages". If the difference is seen between the Word, which is infinite, and the Doctrine existing in the Church out of that Word, it is self-evident that the New Church will increasingly draw its genuine Doctrine out of the Third Testament. The statement of this simple truth which has been advanced in DE HEMELSCHE LEER in a purely abstract way, cf. Second Fascicle, p. 152, is here turned into a meaning which is entirely foreign to our thought and whereby its real contents remain unseen.

   
   

   The Bishop adds: "But/being in itself purely spiritual and Divine, it must, even like the Writings, be expressed in natural ideas and language, in order that it may be of

   
   

7. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

   
   

   service to the church. This, of necessity, forces upon the New Doctrine a heavy veiling which, it is indicated, will not be lifted until the advent of a promised Celestial Doctrine, which will sooner or later be on the way, if it be not now at hand". The subject is the three discrete degrees of truth, the natural rational, the spiritual rational, and the celestial rational. That the spiritual Doctrine of the Church, which is the spiritual rational, cannot be seen in its own proper form by the natural rational man, and that the celestial Doctrine of the Church, which is the celestial rational, cannot be seen in its own proper form by the spiritual man and the natural man, but only in a corresponding spiritual rational or natural rational form, again is a simple and self-evident truth, which can only be denied by one who denies the three discrete degrees of truth. It is evident that if the spiritual Doctrine in its own essence is hidden before the natural man, the celestial Doctrine will be even more hidden. There is of course no relation at all between the celestial Doctrine and the lifting of the veiling of the spiritual Doctrine. That the celestial Doctrine is most hidden and the spiritual Doctrine also very hidden is explicitly taught in the Latin Word, N.J.C.D. 107. This is the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER with regard to the relation of the three discrete degrees of Doctrine. The celestial Doctrine is even far more hidden, than the spiritual Doctrine. Compare with this the idea which the Bishop here ascribes to us,

   namely "that the veiling of the spiritual Doctrine will be lifted with the advent of the celestial Doctrine". We are at a loss to explain how the Bishop could even say "that this has been indicated". Note further the remark "if it be not now at hand", for which not the least occasion can be found in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. No statement has there been made with regard to the time in which the celestial Church will take its rise; except that it has been said that this "lies in a far distant future", Third Fascicle p. 43, again the very opposite of what is suggested in the Bishop's words.

   
   

   Further on, page 268, the Bishop ascribes to us the assertion that the belief in the GENERAL CHURCH on the subject of the Writings being the Word "was defensively made, and as such it was a self-made doctrine". Certainly we do not doubt for one moment that it is from mis-

   
   

8. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

   
   

   understanding that the Bishop has been induced to

   such a serious misinterpretation. From the beginning and throughout we have emphasized that the belief in the Writings as the Word, such as it has been the very soul of the ACADEMY and of the GENERAL CHURCH, was a genuine, and therefore Divine, Doctrine of the Church. In the very first article published in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, First Fascicle, pp. 8—9, this has been indicated in the words: "An example of the true Doctrine of the Church are the PRINCIPLES OF THE ACADEMY". In later articles it has been shown and elucidated that if the correspondence is seen of the history of the New Church with the history of the human race, it appears that the belief of the ACADEMY and the GENERAL CHURCH in the Writings as the Word, corresponds to the Coming of the Lord on earth, Third Fascicle, p. 6; Fourth Fascicle, p.

   18. From the latter passage we quote: "The essence of the next state of the New Church, which corresponds to the Coming and Sensual Presence of the Lord on earth, lies in this that the Church begins to see and to acknowledge that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Word itself for the New Church". How then could it be ascribed to us that we consider this belief as a self- made doctrine, while we see it as a Coming of the Lord? Our real point on p. 78 of the First Fascicle to which the Bishop evidently refers, is that any. "Doctrine concerning the Third Testament" which is a different doctrine from the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE must be a self-made doctrine; and then two actual cases of such self-made doctrine are there pointed out, namely the view "that the sense of the letter of the Writings is the spiritual sense itself", and the view that because "the Writings were a revelation in a clothing of rational truths, there was no occasion for the application of the means which in the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture have been given for the opening of the literal sense of the Word". Certainly the faith of the ACADEMY and of the GENERAL CHURCH in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg as the Word of the Lord, which was from the Holy Spirit and which even can be seen as a Coming of the Lord, cannot be identified with these two fallacies of the natural mind, which involve a neglect of the law that a

   
   

9. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

   Revelation of Truth, or the Word, cannot be given unless it be given in lasts, and of the law that there are three discrete degrees of the rational accessible to man, two views therefore which are in evident opposition to the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE. These two fallacies are later ideas, and the fact that they have become especially prevalent at the present time, is the only reason why we have pointed to them. On the other hand it certainly cannot be said that the original faith of the ACADEMY and the GENERAL CHURCH in the Writings was in opposition to the DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE; we have never entertained such a thought and so too we have never entertained the thought that that faith was based upon or the result of a self- made doctrine. From this it follows that the words of the Bishop occurring in the same place, namely that "the belief in the General Church on this subject was defensively made", involve the same misunderstanding. What we consider the motive which led to the faith of the GENERAL CHURCH may be seen on p. 15 of the Fourth Fascicle, namely the perseverance in the combat against the proprium, and the affection of truth, which has led to a Coming of the Lord. We have never entertained the thought that the faith of the GENERAL CHURCH has been defensively made, nor have we ever expressed it.

   
   

   What confusion must arise from such a misunderstanding is illustrated by the further words which the Bishop adds: "Yet to this one 'self-made' doctrine the General Church owes 'all its prosperity up to the present time', and all its 'internal life' ". The statement of DE HEMELSCHE LEER is that the Church owes its prosperity up to the present time to the Divine truth that the Writings of Swedenborg are the Word, -which has been given it from the Holy Spirit; nothing whatever is said which could justify the conclusion that the Church owes its prosperity to the above mentioned self-made fallacies.

   
   

   The same confusion is manifest in the words which follow a little further on, p. 269: "None the less, as indicated, this 'self-made' doctrine was sufficiently rational in form to receive the New Doctrine". The thought which is here under consideration is that of the progress from the general perception that the Writings of Swedenborg are

   
   

10. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    the Word to the clear realization in particulars that the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE is the only possible Doctrine concerning the Third Testament. Even by those who are unable to see this thought, it should be admitted as a most important possibility, and worthy of serious consideration. That those fallacies of the natural mind, namely that the letter of the Writings of Swedenborg is the spiritual sense itself, and that the rational does not admit of discrete degrees and thus of correspondences, are not rational at all, and could therefore, if confirmed, never receive a truly rational vision of the essence of the Latin Word, is plain.

    
    

    The same confusion occurs again at the bottom of that page (269) in the words: "The New Doctrine takes but the one golden possession of the General Church, namely, the 'self-made' 'cognition' that the Writings are the Word, which, because of the motive which entered into its making, did not, in spiritual verity, belong to the General Church".

    
    

    That, however, the faith of the ACADEMY and of the GENERAL CHURCH was the result rather of a genuine general perception that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Word,

    than of a realization of the rational principles involved, could not have been proven in a more conclusive way than has been done by the quotation from the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH in the introduction to the Bishop's address. All the details of that quotation plainly show this. We note especially the statement: "Nor are the Writings equal to the Sacred Scripture", to which the Bishop adds the comment: "That is, not equal in the sanctity and power of their ultimates. Certainly the editor did not mean that they were not equally Divine", pp.

    266— 267. To any one who realizes the truth "that the Divine Truth in the sense of the letter of the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power", S.S. 37—49, Heading, and especially the significance of the passage: "The spiritual sense and the celestial sense are not the Word without the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter. for they are as spirit and life without a body", n. 39, the argument that though the Writings of Swedenborg "are not equal to the Word in the sanctity and power of their ultimates" nevertheless they are not "not equally Divine", must plainly appear to be in contradiction with the

    
    

11. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    teaching of the Word; for in the measure one restricts the holiness of the letter of the Writings of Emannel Swedenborg, one also restricts their Divinity. The words "that they were not an enlargement of the volume of parables, types and correspondences", p. 266, clearly indicate that it was not seen that essential correspondences are between the discrete degrees of truth, and in the rational Third Testament, therefore, between the natural rational, the spiritual rational, and the celestial rational.

    
    

    It is a universal law that a truth must come to a Church first as a general celestial perception, and that only in the course of a long process, which is compared with the growth of man from infancy to old age, can the Church come into the full rational possession of that truth. This does not belittle in the least the first states with which it necessarily ha8 to begin and the states through which it necessarily had to pass. We therefore regret the interpretation which the Bishop gives to our thought in the next following words, on p. 269: "The church made some advance, but it was an 'unmerited advance', like that of a child". This presentation cannot but create with those who do not understand the principles involved an impression which is altogether contrary to the spirit of our thought. But quite apart from this, the sense in which the word advance has been-used by us, is misunderstood. It has not been used in the sense of progress but in the sense of a preliminary advance of goods and truths to be fully acquired later on. That the truth with the Church as long as it is in the outward or descending development, which comprises the ages of infancy, boyhood, and adolescence, cannot be called truly rational, and that in these states the truth is as itwere an unmerited advance, is a simple truth clearly taught and described in the Word. It is only with the beginning of the inward return or ascending development, which comprises the ages of early manhood, manhood, and old age, .that the Church enters into the genuine rational, and indeed during early manhood into the natural rational, during manhood into the spiritual rational, and during old age into the celestial rational. Not only every Church as a whole must pass through this development, but even every single concept of a new truth in the Church. And so also the concept of the Writings of Swedenborg as the

12. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    Word must pass through this development. These laws are the orderly means for the Church, offered by the Word itself, of the understanding of which it necessarily must avail itself, to gain a comprehension of the past and of the possibilities of the future.

    
    

    May I be allowed here to suggest that the fact of the faith of the ACADEMY having been rather a general celestial perception than a rationally developed concept, also explains the disinclination of the Church towards a stated creed. Not the fact that they made creeds in the first Christian church was wrong, but that their creeds were false. So the first stated creed of that Church, the APOSTOLIC CREED, often is referred to in the Third Testament as a document of Divine truth. Has the APOSTOLIC CREED not been given in Providence, and of necessity, and from the Holy Spirit? And certainly the necessity was not only because the Lord foresaw the coming false creeds, as might be suggested, but because no Church can ever continue to exist without making creeds; for it is one of its essential tasks to make Doctrine. A Creed or Credo simply means a Faith. Faith is defined in the Word as "the internal acknowledgment of truth", and it is said that the faith is perfected with the increase of truths, for in the genuine faith of a man all the multiplicity of the truths he acknowledges internally, is orderly arranged in order together as in fascicles. A Church, even though it has a Word, if it has no Creed, has no Faith. The reason is because the Word without Doctrine is not understood, and those who read the Word without Doctrine which they have made for themselves from the Holy Spirit, remain in darkness as to all truth of the Word, however often and extensively they may read it. So, for instance, the Word in

    A.E. 119 speaks of "those who believe that they are in the cognitions of good and truth because they have the Word, and yet they are not". A false doctrine, and thus a false creed, is made out of the proprium, but a true Doctrine, and thus a true Creed, is made from the Holy Spirit. There can really be no doubt that this must apply also to the New Church and the Third Testament which has been given it as its Word. The fact that the Word for the New Church in the statements of the letter itself is so evidently rational, has for a long time kept the Church from seeing the necessity of the full appli-

    
    

13. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    cation of this law. But there are three discrete degrees of the rational, and even the lowest degree, which is that of the natural rational, with man is not genuine unless it is both out of the Word and from the Holy Spirit. That which distinguishes and divides the different bodies in the New Church, is not the Writings of Swedenborg, but the differing understandings of those Writings, or the differing doctrines which have been developed, that is, the differing creeds. Whether a Church is willing or ready to state it "in a fixed formula" or not, it cannot help having a creed. If- it had no creed, it would have no faith, and it would be no Church. That the Church should have a creed and that it should also state and teach it, is not in disagreement with the teaching "that the government and dominion over the Church is a predicate of the Word alone", and that the Church should "not confide in any council, but trust in the Word of the Lord, which is above all councils", p. 265, for it is not the Word which makes the Church but the understanding of the Word. It is true indeed that the Word alone should govern the Church, but the Word cannot possibly do this except from the Holy Spirit. Outside of the Holy Spirit the understanding of the Word is false. If the Church is governed by an understanding of the Word which is not from the

    Holy Spirit, an understanding which in reality is not the Lord's, while it is given the Church to feel it and to act from it as if it were its own — an understanding therefore which is not Divine

    — it is not governed by the Word but by the proprium of man. It is a vain claim of the Church to say that the Writings of Swedenborg themselves as the Divinely given Word are its Doctrine and its Creed, for this would involve that the Church in itself is God Himself. The Writings of Swedenborg indeed will more and more become the Doctrine of the Church, but only in the measure they have Divinely been received. While giving the understanding such a great power, the Word itself has provided a sufficient safeguard that the Church should not, fall a prey to the proprium of man. For we are taught that the Doctrine of the Church must be confirmed by the letter of the Word, and specifically: "That the Doctrine of the Church, unless collected and confirmed out of the sense of the letter of the Word, has no power, … but the Doctrine out of the sense of the letter, and together with

    
    

14. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    it", ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURE FROM EXPERIENCE, XVIII. While, therefore, the

    New Church also will be bound to make and to continually develop its Creed and to state it, it must at the same time have the basis for its Creed in the letter of the Latin Word, and it must not expect any one to accept it unless it is plainly seen to be confirmed in the very letter. And so we believe that the thought of the Writings being the Word may very justly be called a Creed or Credo of the GENERAL CHURCH, and as such it ha-s been stated in so many words innumerable times at every possible occasion, officially and not officially. We, therefore, cannot help feeling that the denial that the faith of the ACADEMY and the GENERAL CHURCH in the Writings of Swedenborg as the -Word of God. is their stated Creed, would not do justice to the fact that the existence of these bodies is due to the presence of the Holy Spirit. That, however, it was refused to give to the PRINCIPLES OF THE ACADEMY as a whole the aspect of a creed, is quite another matter, and easily to be understood. For the PRINCIPLES OF THE ACADEMY also contain elements which may prove perishable, being perhaps rather the subject of historical contingencies, than of fundamental and remaining issues. That the Creed of a Church in its first states, which correspond to the ages of infancy, boyhood, adolescence, and early manhood, should be very primitive and undeveloped, is also clear, for the making of Doctrine is essentially the task of the age of manhood.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "We see, then, that this 'Doctrine', as presented, is complete in its own spiritual verity. It is sustained from within and above. By virtue of this, its high endowment, it is commissioned . . . to extract from the Writings their internal sense", pp. 269—270. The real point here again is that every man must make for himself Doctrine, and that if he makes it not out of his proprium but from the Holy Spirit, he thereby can come into the internal degrees of truth contained in the Latin Word, first into the genuine natural rational, then into the spiritual rational, and at last even into the celestial rational. That every member of the Church is so commissioned can be clear from n. 10584 of the ARCANA COELESTIA, which has been quoted several times in DE HEMELSCHE LEER: "Those are said to see the back parts of Jehovah and not His face.

    
    

15. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    who believe and adore the Word, but only its external which is the sense of the letter, and do not penetrate more interiorly, as do those who have been enlightened, and who make for themselves Doctrine oat of the Word". It certainly is greatly to be regretted that the Bishop should present these new principles of truth, which are taken out of the Word itself, and which are concerned with the regeneration and enlightenment of every individual member of the Church, as if they were a merely human claim. There is nothing unusual or astonishing in the idea that the man of the New Church is commissioned to extract, by the orderly means given, the internal sense from the Old and the New Testaments; and if it is seen that the Third Testament contains the three discrete degrees of the rational, it is not any more unusual or astonishing that the man of the New Church is also commissioned to do the same with regard to the Third Testament. It is a misinterpretation to make it appear as if the realization of this possibility and necessity were an exceptional and amazing claim, amounting to the giving of a new revelation comparable with the giving of a new Word. This again is the very opposite of what we actually have brought forward. If the principles involved are understood, it will be plain that the endeavor to enter into the interior degrees of the Third Testament is an orderly thing, laid upon every member of the Church by the Lord Himself as a vital task.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "And, in so doing, repeat the mode employed by the Writings in drawing the internal sense out of the former Testaments". It has been said in DE HEMELSCHE LEER that "the Word of the Latin Testament is an infinite unfolding of truth, but the Doctrine is only a finite unfolding of truth", First Fascicle, p. 120. A comparison is here made between the Word and the Doctrine drawn by man out of the Word. It can be plain again that with that Doctrine the Doctrine is meant which every man must draw. It can also be plain that there is a correspondence between the way in which the Word is given and the way in which Doctrine is given, just as there is a correspondence between the Glorification of the Lord and the regeneration of man. But it certainly cannot be said that man must "repeat the mode employed by the Writings". These words are entirely foreign to our thought. "The

    
    

16. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    mode employed by the Writings" is an infinite mode which no man can understand. The mode to be employed by- man to enter into the interiors of the Word, is given in the DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE; it is that mode which we have in mind, namely the science of correspondences, the Doctrine of genuine truth, and illustration from the Lord.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "In this work the New Doctrine is confronted with conditions in the letter of the Writings not unlike those which the Writings met in interpreting the former Scriptures". Here again it can be clear that DE HEMELSCHE LEER has not been concerned with "conditions with which 'the New Doctrine' is confronted", but its concern was to understand and point out in the light of the teaching given in the Latin Word the conditions with which every member of the Church is confronted, who wishes to enter into the discrete degrees of truth in that Word. — It is the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER that it is contrary to the rational understanding to speak of "the Writings interpreting the former Scriptures"; this cannot be the language of those who see that the Writings of Swedenborg are a new Word, the revelation of the Rational of the Divine Human. To call this revelation, which followed the revelation of the Natural of the Divine Human given in the New Testament, an interpretation, must appear inappropriate to any one who understands the principles involved. This is rather the language of those who deny that the Writings are a new Word, but consider them to be a commentary on the

    Word. Similarly it is not according to reason to call an interpretation, the Doctrines of the interior discrete degrees of truth contained in the Third Testament, into which every member of the Church should endeavor to enter. That the term "interpretative doctrine" used for the Doctrine of the Church, as well as the term 'derivative doctrine", is a misnomer, has been pointed out in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, fifth Fascicle, p. 17.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "That is, there are teachings in the direct sense of the Writings which confirm the New Doctrine, and those which do not. Those which directly confirm are said to be 'open', and those which do not must be resolved by a correspondential interpretation to bring out

    their inner concordance with the teaching of the New

    
    

17. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    Doctrine. Note here that correspondences always yield to the doctrine which guides them". We are at a loss to explain how the Bishop could come to this amazing statement. The subject is the teaching of the Latin Word that the Doctrine must be drawn out of the letter and confirmed by it. In the first place it must here be said again that the subject discussed in DE HEMELSCHE LEER is not "the New Doctrine" but the Doctrine which every man must himself draw out of the letter. In the sense of the letter all the discrete degrees of truth are contained together as in lasts. To the celestial man all the direct teachings of the letter are open even as to their celestial contents, and to the spiritual man all the direct teachings of the letter are open as to their spiritual contents. But to the natural man all the direct teachings of the letter are closed as to their spiritual and celestial contents. The process of the unfolding of the discrete 'degrees of truth in the

    letter of the Latin Word has been described in DE HEMELSCHE LEER in many details. It is too complex to be repeated here. But it is evident that nothing of what has been said about this subject has been understood by our opponents. To draw Doctrine out of the letter is the same thing as to open the letter as to the discrete degrees of truth; if this is done according to order, that is. if man in making the Doctrine does not consult his own rational but follows the genuine rational which is spiritual out of celestial origin, whereby the man comes into the true Spirit of the Word, it will appear that the whole letter in its direct teachings does confirm such a genuine Doctrine. The revealed order according to which the Church can be sure to come into its genuine Doctrine, and the revealed safeguards against the dangers of a false doctrine, are the essential subject of DE HEMELSCHE LEER; and it is essential to its position that the Doctrine should be confirmed by the direct statements of the literal sense, and never by the spiritual sense. This is the teaching of the Word, and it is the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, declared in many places in a direct and intelligible way. The use of the words "those which directly confirm are said to be 'open'," etc. creates the impression that the statement ascribed to us is based on actual quotation, while nothing whatever of this kind has been said; this statement

    
    

18. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    again is the exact opposite of our position. Never has it been in. our thought and never has it been said that teachings in the direct sense of the Writings which do not confirm ths Doctrine "must be resolved by a correspondential interpretation to bring out their inner concordance with

    its teaching". If the teaching of the Latin Word on the order of the making of Doctrine out of the Word is understood, it can be seen that we have never given an occasion for the warning "that correspondences always yield to the doctrine which guides them". It is just to point out this danger that DE HEMELSCHE LEER has brought forward the teaching out of the Word that also the Latin Word without genuine Doctrine is not understood, and that those who do not from the Holy Spirit for themselves make Doctrine, remain in darkness as to all truth contained in that Word.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "We observe further that since the New Doctrine is in itself of Divine origin, Essence, and Authority, it (to quote) is 'the only and indispensable basis for imparting the Holy Spirit, and that without this Doctrine the Writings remain a dead letter, and the interior degrees of the mind remain closed' (DE HEMELSCHE LEER, First Fascicle, p. 80)". The Bishop here combines an actual but only partial quotation with his own words, whereby the meaning is utterly changed. That the Bishop must have misunderstood the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER here becomes fully evident. The full quotation begins with the words: "The Doctrine of the Church is the only and indispensable basis for the imparting of the Holy Spirit", etc; the Bishop, however, uses the words: "The New Doctrine is 'the only and indispensable basis for imparting the Holy Spirit'," etc; in other words the Bishop ascribes to us the claim that our doctrinal position is the only and indispensable basis for imparting the Holy Spirit. Never has such a thought been in our minds, and never has it been expressed. It has been brought forth in DE HEMELSCHE LEER out of the Latin Word, that just as with the Lord the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Divine Rational — the Holy Spirit according to LUKE I : 35 having existed before there was a Natural Human of the Lord — so with man the essential dwelling place of the Holy Spirit is the interior or celestial rational,

    
    

19. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    while the lower degrees of the rational, being in the natural, namely the spiritual rational and the natural rational, receive only an unconscious influx of the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why only a celestial man is in the continuous realization of the presence of the Lord, and therefore in the essential love of the Lord. And since the genuine rational is the same as the genuine Doctrine of the Church, namely, the interior or celestial rational the same as the celestial Doctrine, the exterior or spiritual rational the same as the spiritual Doctrine, and the interior natural or the natural rational the same as the natural Doctrine which. is the same as the sense of the letter of the Word, it can be plainly seen that the Doctrine of the Church is indeed the indispensable basis for imparting the Holy Spirit. This Doctrine, however, is not the doctrine which a man has received from others, but the Doctrine which he has made himself. This has been developed in clear and the simplest possible language in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, First Fascicle, pp. 38-43; 82-95; 127-131: see especially p. 40. I do not believe that at present it could be presented in a more simple and more intelligible way, and yet it is evident that this new and all-important truth, which is plainly taught in the Latin Word, has remained entirely beyond the grasp of our opponents. With every man the discrete degrees of the genuine rational are the basis for the Holy Spirit. Instead of entering upon a consideration of this truth, which thus far has been deeply hidden, although it is plainly stated in the very letter, our presentation of it is turned into such an enormity as that we should have claimed that our Doctrine is the basis for the Holy Spirit. The same applies to the rest of the quoted passage, namely, "that without this Doctrine the Writings remain a dead letter, and the interior degrees of the mind remain closed". The real meaning of this is also very simple and can be plain. The Writings are opened and vivified in the first degree,

    when the first degree of the rational, the genuine natural rational, has been formed; they are opened and vivified in the second degree, when the second degree of the rational, the spiritual rational, has been formed; and they are opened and vivified in the third degree, when the third degree of the rational, the celestial rational, has been formed. And similarly it can be plain that if the discrete degrees of the

    
    

20. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    rational are not formed, the interior degrees of the mind remain closed. "That the Word of the Lord is a dead letter, but that it is vivified from the Lord in the reader according to the faculty of each one", is literally taught, A.C. 1776, cf. MEMORABILIA 1877: "The Word of the Lord in itself is dead, toy it is only a letter; but in the reader it is vivified from the Lord, according to the faculty to understand and to perceive of each one, given from the Lord; thus it is living according to the life of the man who reads". How heavily veiled and how deeply hidden in the Third Testament are the spiritual rational and the celestial rational arcana which are accessible to man, may here clearly be seen. For this Testament appears so rational, so self-explanatory, and so living, that many at first hearing, with indignation reject the idea that also the Latin Word "is a dead letter but that it is vivified from the Lord in the reader according to the faculty of each one". But once the reality of the three discrete degrees of the rational is seen, it becomes self-evident that this teaching applies to the three Testaments alike.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "The importance of this announcement is manifest, and to none is of more immediate concern than to the members of the General Church, whose primitive conception of the Writings as the Word was as a mother to the New Doctrine. The proponents of this 'Doctrine' have noted this fact in saying (to quote), In the measure in which the Church will now acknowledge the Divine origin, the Divine Essence, and the Divine Authority of its genuine doctrine, acquired as from itself, it will, from its state of infancy be introduced into its adult state, with its genuine rational, spiritual and celestial things'. (DE HEMELSCHE LEER, First Fascicle, p. 80)". Although the quotation is given in full, and its meaning can be clear, here again the 'appearance is created as if with the words "its genuine doctrine" the doctrinal position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER were meant, while the words clearly indicate that all genuine doctrine is meant which the Church will acquire as from itself. This fact is sufficient to prove that the concepts involved which have been brought forward in DE HEMELSCHE LEER out of the Word itself, have not been understood. They have been pointed out in great detail in DE HEMELSCHE LEER;

    
    

21. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    we must here confine ourselves to a few remarks. If the Word is Divine in its natural rational sense, it is of course also Divine in its spiritual rational sense and in its celestial rational sense, for it is Divine throughout. That the Church in its orderly first states, which are natural and correspond to the ages of 'infancy, boyhood, adolescence, and early manhood, cannot but believe that the Word itself is the Doctrine of the Church, and that the spiritual state, which is that of its

    manhood, is characterized by the making of Doctrine, has been proven with a great number of quotations from the Word.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "Here also there can be no argument, save to say that if this be so or not depends upon the verity or non-verity of the two prior announcements or enunciations, — first, that the General Church has been in a purely natural state, and second, that the New Doctrine is the result of an opening of the spiritual degree of the mind in the church, i.e., somewhere therein". It is not feasible and it cannot be expected that we should here repeat the many passages which have been quoted in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, to show that the Church in its natural state cannot but identify the Word with its Doctrine, and that the literal sense of the Word unites man with the ultimate Heaven. It is only in its spiritual state, which corresponds to the age of manhood, that it can consciously enter upon making as of itself its Doctrine out of the Word.

    These are abstract problems of truth, plainly taught in the very letter of the Latin Word, and as such they have been. treated in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. Never has it been said in DE HEMELSCHE LEER "that the GENERAL CHURCH has been in a purely natural state"; this again is an incorrect quotation. The Bishop evidently refers to a statement on page 9 of the First Fascicle, which reads: "The concept … that the Writings of Swedenborg are … that Doctrine of the Church itself, … has up to the present kept the Church as a whole in a purely natural state". We did not think at all of the GENERAL CHURCH when we wrote that passage, but of the history of the New Church as a whole, which as every Church has to go through all the ages of a man, involving a progress from a natural through a spiritual to a celestial state. And since the natural state,

    
    

22. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    according to the teaching of the Word, is characterized by the fact that the Church then takes its Word to be its Doctrine, not being aware of the difference between the Word and the Doctrine existing in the Church out of the Word, it is an orderly and inevitable conclusion that a Church to which such a description applies, is, as to the basis for its thought, in a purely natural state. It should be evident, however, that this in no way implies a personal judgment; for in every state of a Church as a whole there may be natural men, spiritual men, and celestial men. Nor does DE HEMELSCHE LEER contain an "announcement or enunciation … that the New Doctrine is the result of an opening of the spiritual degree of the mind". DE HEMELSCHE LEER has advanced the position that the letter of the Third Testament contains all the discrete degrees of the rational, and that the natural man is in its natural rational sense, the spiritual man in its

    spiritual rational sense, and the celestial man in its celestial rational sense. These interior senses must be drawn out of the letter and confirmed by it. The interior senses once being confirmed by the letter can be seen to be true by all who are willing to see; for the discretely more interior rational concepts then take a corresponding form in the discretely more exterior rational thoughts. The exegesis of the letter as to the interior senses is a most important task laid upon the Church by the Lord Himself. If then an endeavor is made of such an exegesis, and that which is believed to be an interior sense is brought before the Church, the only orderly thing for the Church to do is to go to the Word and see whether it is true. If it is not true it will be possible to point it out; the proof that it is not in agreement with the Word is the only orderly means for the invalidation of a pretended interior truth; but it is in itself a disorderly thing to raise the question of the regeneration of the exponents, for in doing so, that which should be considered as an abstract problem of truth is made a purely personal thing. Any thought

    of person at once brings obscurity upon the truths involved. It can therefore be clear that

    the question whether the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, including its conclusions with regard to the historical development of the Church, is true or not, depends exclusively upon

    
    

23. THE BISHOP S ADDRESS

    
    

    the verity or non-verity of its fundamental thesis, of which it firmly believes that it is the teaching of the Word itself, namely that the DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE is the only source of light in which the essence of the Word given to the New Church and the essence of the Doctrine drawn by the Church out of that Word can be seen.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "If these two claims are true, any protestation will be futile. If they are not true, or if it is not of order that doctrine should be verified on the assumption that the spiritual mind is open, then all the charm of the close reasoning of the New Doctrine will vanish, along with its verity. But in this question of factual truth or non-truth, the New Doctrine is not under the necessity of proving its judgments. It rests secure within itself. Therefore, it offers no proof of either of its two fundamental claims, i.e., by any outward evidence, but rests content with the simple assertion of them", pp. 270—271. Nothing could be more contrary to the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER than what is here ascribed to it. There can be no other explanation for these unfounded charges than a complete misunderstanding of what has been said. How such a misunderstanding could be possible we cannot explain. But it is evident that nothing of the teachings on the difference between the Word and the Doctrine existing in the Church out of the Word, which have been brought forward out of the Word itself, has been understood. This is a fact beyond a doubt, and we cannot help stating it. No statement whatever has been made in DE HEMELSCHE LEER and advanced as a truth unless it was shown to be confirmed by many quotations from the Word. Many times we have emphasized the truth that the Church in order to establish its Doctrine may never point to its own statements but exclusively to the literal sense of the Word. How then could we be charged with the claim that our position "should be verified on the assumption that the spiritual mind is open"? The question whether the Church as a whole has been in a natural state, in the sense in which this has been meant by us, can only be ascertained by genuine Doctrine drawn out of the Word. And certainly it is given to the Church to understand the states of development through which it has gone in the past. If this were not given to the Church, it could not

    
    

24. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    possibly distinguish between a genuine Church and a deviated church, between a genuine Heaven and an imaginary heaven. Many pages have been filled in DE HEMELSCHE LEER with a wealth of detailed reasons, confirmed by many quotations from the Word, to show the general line of development of the Church according to the ages of a man, see Third Fascicle, pp. 3—8; 86—108; Fourth Fascicle, pp. 3—23. No effort whatever has been made in all that has been said by our opponents to enter upon a consideration of these reasons and to ascertain from the Word whether they are true or not. And yet, if they are true, it is a genuine Doctrine of the Church, and according to it, it has become clear that indeed the Church as a whole prior to the realization of the difference between its Word and its Doctrine out of that Word, was, as to the basis of its

    thought, in a natural state. If it can be shown that these reasons are false, then indeed the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER, together with its conclusions with regard to the state of the Church in the past, must fall. But it does not fall by the simple assertion that the Church has not been in a natural state. This question, as said above, can only be ascertained by a consideration of the rational problems, the revealed teaching, and the historical facts, involved. We cannot help saying, therefore, that the case is exactly turned around; for in reality we have furnished an overwhelming wealth of proofs of outward evidence .taken out of the literal teaching of the Word and from the history of the Church, to which our opponents seem to have paid not the least attention, while they rest content with the simple assertion that the Church has not been in a natural state.

    
    

    Moreover, as stated before, the meaning of the words that the Church as a whole has been in a purely natural state, has been misunderstood. They have been understood to apply to the GENERAL CHURCH in a way which aroused such an indignation that the real meaning could not possibly be seen. The bitterness and sarcastic spirit which are so characteristic of many of the articles and speeches made against DE HEMELSCHE LEER, are evidently due to this indignation. The idea that the Church as a whole is in a purely natural state as long as it identifies its Word with its Doctrine, is taken from the Word itself, and there is here no reason for indignation, since it is according to order

    
    

25. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    that the Church as a whole should pass through a natural state before it can enter into its spiritual state. Moreover this statement contains no judgment whatever with regard to the regeneration of the individual members of the Church, since in all states of the Church, as in all Churches, and even with the gentiles, the individual can be regenerated even to the inmost degree.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "In this, as in what follows, the 'Doctrine' speaks as with a Divine voice, as if from the Holy Spirit, or as the first and so far the only authentic manifestation within the church of the promised 'illustratio loquens' ". The teaching of the Word is that "the Word in the letter cannot be grasped except by Doctrine out of the Word made by one who is enlightened", A.C.

    10324; and "that the genuine truth which shall be of the Doctrine, in the sense of the letter of the Word, does not appear to others than those who are in enlightenment from the Lord", T.C.R.

    231. From this teaching it follows that whatever truth a man sees in the letter of the Third Testament with him must have been from enlightenment. It is impossible to see the genuine truth in the Third Testament which shall be of the Doctrine, without enlightenment, that is, without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Here again many have thought that the truth in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg is so manifest, and that they are so self explanatory, that the above teaching does not apply to them, but only to the Old and the New Testaments. DE HEMELSCHE LEER does not contain one single statement to justify the charge that it claims to present the first case of illustration. It is a matter of course that all genuine truth which ever has been seen in the Third Testament was seen from illustration.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "Yet the 'Doctrine', as it is delivered, comes to us on its practical side as a method of exegesis applied to the Writings. As such it will not, of course, open the spiritual degree of the mind of anyone. That is reserved for the regenerate only. The method, therefore, is external, but the truth it would reveal is internal, and belongs only to the spiritual degree of the

    mind". The method described in DE HEMELSCHE LEER by which to come to the interior senses of the Word, which are the genuine Doctrine of the Church, is the application of the

    
    

26. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    three revealed means, namely the science of correspondence, the Doctrine of genuine truth, and illustration from the Lord. This method can also be seen involved in the signification of the words experience and text, of which the one refers to a wrestling through the natural, and the other, which means weaving, to the spiritual out of the celestial, being the result of the accomplished wrestling. All these concepts have been drawn out of the letter of the Word and have been confirmed by many quotations, see First Fascicle, pp. 104-117. This method, therefore, intends to bring about the mutual conjunction between the internal and the external, from which it follows that essentially it is an internal and not an external method, just the opposite, therefore, of what the Bishop says. It is just this method which is the orderly way for the opening of the interior degrees of the mind; again the very opposite of the Bishop's words: "As such it will not, of course, open the spiritual degree of the mind". That "the internal sense, which is called glory, cannot be comprehended by man, unless he is regenerated, and then enlightened", is literally taught, A.C. 8106. And that the interior degrees of the rational are seen only by those who are regenerated: "This second rational man receives from the Lord, when he is being regenerated; for he is then sensible in his rational of what is the good and truth of faith",

    A.C. 2093.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "It is interesting to note that this 'Doctrine' places certain limits upon itself, in that it 'will never extend beyond the influx of truth out of good with man' ". The subject of the passage from which this quotation is taken, First Fascicle, p. 121, is again not "this 'Doctrine' ", but the difference between the Word and the genuine Doctrine existing at any time in the Church out of the Word. It is not "this 'Doctrine' " which has placed "certain limits upon itself", but the Word itself has placed such limits upon all Doctrine in the Church. Many quotations have been given from which this truth can be seen sufficiently confirmed. We must confine ourselves here to the following two: "The internal sense, which is called glory, cannot be comprehended by man unless he is regenerated and then enlightened", A.C. 8106; and: "No truth is possible with man unless he is in good", A.C. 10194. See also n. 5997: "Doctrine is out of spiritual good".

    
    

27. THE BISHOPS ADDRESS

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Yet this appears to be sufficient"; the exact opposite of what has been said in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, and indeed on the very same page from which the quotation is taken: "But the Doctrine of the Church in order to establish its authority, will never refer to its own literal sense, but always exclusively to the literal sense of the Word itself", First Fascicle, p. 121.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Since the 'Doctrine' in question is the only doctrine by which the heavens themselves can be built up". The teaching here involved is that man must be regenerated during his life in the natural world and that the Church is the seminary of the Heavens. The quotation,

    taken again from the same page 121 of the First Fascicle, reads in full: "It is only the Doctrine of Genuine Truth by which the Heavens themselves can be built up; for, even as the spiritual and celestial with man can only be built up on the basis of the natural, so too in general the Heavens can only be built up on the basis of the Church. As, however, it is not the Word which makes the Church, but the understanding of the Word, it is evident that the Heavens cannot be built up by anything else than by the Doctrine of Genuine Truth". It can be clear that only a complete failure to understand this truth could have caused the appalling misinterpretation that we should have claimed that "the 'Doctrine' in question is the only doctrine 'by which the heavens can be built up' ".

    
    

    The Bishop further develops an argument against the concept of DE HEMELSCHE LEER of the difference between the Son of God as the Word, and the Son of man as the faith of the Church. The Bishop says: "We may here note that while the Son of man signifies the 'faith of the church', it is also revealed in the Writings that the Son of man signifies the Word. But as the

    Son of man is both the faith of the church and the Word, it may well be concluded that the Son of man as the Word was just that which was given to be and become the faith of the church; and since we believe the Writings are the Word, so may we hold that they were given to be and become the faith of the church". It is indeed true that the Third Testament was given to become more and more the faith of the New Church; but this is possible only in the measure it is received in the Church from the Holy Spirit. Therefore we

    
    

28. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    read: "The Divine, proceeding, which is called .the Holy Spirit, is in the proper sense the Holy Word, and there the Divine troth", CANONS, The Holy Spirit, Universalia VI. And of the Son of Man we read: "That to him who speaks a word against the Son of Man it is forgiven, is because it is forgiven him who denies that this or that is the Divine troth oat of the Word in the Church, if only he believes, that the Divine truths are in the Word and oat of the Word. The Son of Man is the Divine truth out of the Word in the Church; and this cannot be seen by all", CANONS, The Holy Spirit, 5 :9. We read in the Word that it is characteristic of the natural or external Church, to identify the letter of the Word with the Doctrine of the Church, A.C. 9025, 9424, 104(X), 10584, and many other places. There is no realization in this state of the law that the Word cannot be transferred from outside of man to within man except from the Holy Spirit; nor of the law that good and truth do not exist unless in a subject which is man; nor of the law that all influx is according to reception. That the signification of the Son of Man as the Word refers to a different series from that of the Son of man as the faith of the Church, is not seen. The first series refers to the Glorification of the Lord, the second to the regeneration of the Church.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "But the New Doctrine, while it claims to be not the Word, yet it insists that it is the 'faith of the church', and the one only true doctrine, which, when it is truly seen to be such, then also its seeming limits must be removed, and this for the reason that since that 'Doctrine' is to continue throughout unending ages, it 'must be seen to be Infinite, and so a state of the Divine Human' ". We are not aware of .any place in DE HEMELSCHE LEER where it is insisted that our Doctrine is the "faith of the church"; this is altogether contrary to our thought; but since the Bishop does not indicate a place, we do not know to what he refers. The subject of DE HEMELSCHE LEER is the Doctrine existing in the Church out of the Word. That the genuine faith of the Church is spiritual out of celestial origin cannot be denied, for it is clearly taught that faith is charity in form. "The all of the Church with man is out of the Divine Human of the Lord; for the all of love and of faith, which make the Church,

29. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    proceeds out of the Divine Human of the Lord", A.E. 151. "All wisdom and intelligence which Angels and men have, is not theirs but the Lord's with them; this is also known in the Church, for it is known that all good which is of love, and all truth which is of faith, is from God, and nothing from man", A.E. 152. In n. 9954 of the ARCANA COELESTIA it speaks of "the interior things which are of faith and love from the Lord and to Him, thus which are Divine", and in n.

    34 of the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED we read: "Every truth which is a truth is Divine", From these and innumerable similar passages it follows that all genuine faith and all genuine truths of faith are the Lord's and thus Divine. This also follows from the fact that all genuine truths are drawn out of the Word and belong to the Word. "All the Divine things which are called the spiritual things of the Church, are out of the Word", D.P. 230. That the genuine things from the Lord received by man, in themselves are infinite, is also plainly taught: "The proprial things of the Lord are all infinite and eternal, thus without time, consequently without limit and without end; those things which thence are as it were the proprial things of man, are likewise infinite and eternal; but nothing of them is of man, but they are of the only Lord with him", D.P. 219. That these infinite as it were proprial things of man involve the reception is literally taught: "Man is in the eternal and the infinite not only by influx thence, but also by reception", A.C. 5114.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "We submit that states are predicated, not of the Infinite, but only of that which is founded in and on limits". It is indeed true that states are not predicated of the Divine Human as it is in itself or in its Esse. This is taught for instance in n. 3998 of the ARCANA COELESTIA: "With the Lord there are no states, but everything there is eternal and infinite", cf.

    n. 6983. But on the other hand there are many places which speak of Divine states with regard to the things in the Heavens and in the Church which are from the Existere of the Divine

    Human, or, what is the same, of the Divine, proceeding. The reason is that it is not possible to conceive of the Divine, proceeding, apart from adjunction to the finite. Of this Existere of the Divine Human we read in n. 3938 of the ARCANA: "The Lord as to both Essences is Jehovah. Existere is predicated

    
    

30. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    also of the Lord, but only when He was in the world, and there took on the Divine Esse; but since He has become the Divine Esse, Existere can no longer be predicated of Him, except as a certain Proceeding from Him. What proceeds from Him, is what appears as Existere in Him, but it is not in Him, but it is from Him, and makes that men, spirits, and Angels, exist, that is, live. Existere with man, spirit, and Angel, is to live; and his living is eternal felicity". From this it plainly appears that the essential existere of man does not lie in his being a finite creature, of which, of course, it can never be said that it is Divine, but in his living, that is, in his eternal felicity, which is of the Lord alone, and of which it therefore must be said that it is Divine, for it is from the Existere of the Divine Human, and it is of the Heavens which are the Body of Christ, cf. T.C.R. .608. That the Divine is predicated of the states of man can be confirmed from the following quotations: "Those who are in the love to the Lord and in innocence .thence are above others in peace because in the Lord; their state is called Divine celestial", A.C. 8665. And in n.

    9952 it speaks of "a state of the Divine Good in the spiritual Kingdom", and of "a state of the Divine Truth in the spiritual Kingdom". In general we read: "State is said of love, of life, of wisdom . . . in general of good and truth", D.L.W. 7. That all love which is love, all life which is life, all wisdom which is wisdom, all good which is good, and all truth which is truth, are of the Holy Spirit, and thus Divine, may be known in the Church. See for instance A.E. 24 where we read: "Every truth which is a truth is Divine". These passages prove beyond the possibility of a doubt that the Divine is predicated of states of Angels and men after the reception, and that the view that the inflowing Divine qualified by reception and appropriation is no longer Divine, is contrary to the teaching of the very letter of the Word. That "man can appropriate to himself the Divine" is taught in A.C. 5514. Of this Divine, received and appropriated, we read: "This Divine is called the angelic while it is in the Angels", D.L.W. 114. "In Heaven everything is Divine", MEMORABILIA 5811. "God is the all of Heaven, so much so that whether you say Heaven or God, it is the same. The Divine things which make that the angels are Angels, out of which is Heaven, taken together

    
    

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    are God", A.E. 1096. Clearly the "Divine things" here spoken of are the result of a Divine Nexus with the finite; for it is not possible to speak of the absolute Divine in itself as "the Divine things taken together".

    
    

    We consider that a failure to understand the true purport of the saying of JOB XV: 15: "The Heavens are not pure in His sight", has prevented many from seeing the truth of this more interior and therefore more essential teaching: "God is the all of Heaven, so much so that whether you say Heaven or God, it is the same", A.E. 1096; and: "In Heaven everything is Divine", MEMORABILIA 5811. That with the "not pure" there is not meant anything whatever within the celestial marriage of good and truth which is Heaven, thus not anything of the celestial proprium, but the fact that the old proprium is never extinguished but only removed, appears from n. 868 of the ARCANA: "Man although he is regenerated, is nothing but evil and falsity, … wherefore also it is said in the Word, that Heaven is not pure". This plainly teaches that the reason for that saying in JOB is not that there should be in Heaven anything not pure, but the reason is that man altogether, even though regenerated, is nothing but evil and falsity. The celestial marriage, or the celestial proprium, which is Heaven, is altogether pure and Divine; for "in Heaven everything is Divine", MEMORABILIA 5811; but there is always something non- pure adjoined or subjoined. But that which is thus adjoined or subjoined is not something impure but something non-pure, and even that is not in Heaven but always extraneous to Heaven. That it is not something impure but something non-pure and that it is only adjoined or subjoined and never conjoined, thus essentially outside of Heaven, is literally taught in n. 146 of CONJUGIAL LOVE: "It should be known that there is no conjugial love altogether chaste or pure with men, nor with Angels; there is yet something non-chaste or non-pure which adjoins and subjoins itself to it. But this is out of another nature than that out of which is the unchaste. For with them the chaste is above and the non-chaste beneath; and there is interposed by the Lord as it were a door with a pivot, which is opened by determination; and care is taken that it may not stand open, lest the one pass over in the other and they should be commingled". Just exactly

    
    

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    as it is true that the Divine is never conjoined with man, but only adjoined to man, so it is true that the non-pure things are never conjoined with man but only adjoined and subjoined to man. That of man to which the Divine is adjoined is the finite substances of which man consists; that of man to which the non-pure things are adjoined is his celestial proprium, which is given him to feel as if it were his own, but which in reality is of the Lord alone. That that of man to which the Divine is adjoined, in the most general sense is the finite substances of which man consists, may be seen from the following quotation: "All those wonderful things are out of God; but the forms with which they are clothed, are out of the matters of the earth; out of these are the vegetables, and in its order, men. Therefore it is said of man, That he was created out of the ground, and that he. is dust of the earth, and that the soul of lives was inspired, GEN. II : 7. From which it is plain that the Divine does not belong to man, but is adjoined to him", D.L.W. 60. But in a more interior sense that of man to which the Divine is adjoined is all truth with him which is not yet of good. This may be seen from the following quotation: "Adjunction is predicated of the communication of the truth of the natural with the good of the rational; but conjunction, of the communication of the good of the natural with the good of the rational; for there is a parallelism between the Lord and man as to the celestial things which are of good, but not as to the spiritual things which are of truth" A.C. 3514. — How the adjunction of the non-pure to the celestial proprium is effected and how conjunction with the non-pure and especially with the impure is avoided, is described in n. 436 of CONJUGIAL LOVE: "Those two spheres (namely that of conjugial love and that of scortatory love) meet each other in both worlds, but they do not conjoin themselves. In the spiritual world those spheres meet each other in the world of spirits,

    because this is intermediate between Heaven and hell; but in the natural world they meet each other in the rational plane with man, which is also intermediate between Heaven and hell. For into it inflows from above the marriage of good and truth, and there inflows into it from beneath the marriage of evil and falsity That those two spheres do not conjoin themselves is because

    they are opposite. The inter-

    
    

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    mediate interstice that they make is on the one side out of evil not of falsity and out of falsity not of evil, and on the other side out of good not of truth and out of truth not of good, which two can indeed come in contact with each other but nevertheless not conjoin themselves". Since regeneration even with the Angels goes on to eternity, there is with them a continuous birth of goods which at first are not of truth and of truths which are not of good, which goods and truths can enter into the celestial marriage, that is, into Heaven proper, only in the measure regeneration with regard to them is accomplished. For this reason there is with the Angels a continual arising of something which, though it is not impure, nevertheless is non-pure. These non-pure things are all truths which are not yet of good, and all goods which are not yet of truth, which is in agreement with the law just mentioned above, namely, that that of man to which the Divine is adjoined, in a more interior sense is all truth with him which is not yet of good, cf. A.C. 3514. The same applies also to all good which is not yet of truth. This is the interior aspect of the law that man, before he is in love truly conjugial, is in the love of the sex, which though it is not impure, nevertheless is non-pure; and of the law that the chaste is not predicated of "a virgin but of a wife who turns away from adultery", DE CONJUGIO, 5. With that sphere even the Angels remain in contact; therefore there is always something non-pure which is adjoined or subjoined, but conjunction is always avoided. But with that which is impure there is not even contact.

    We also believe that still another misunderstanding has kept many from seeing that the Heavens proper are pure, and that in the Heavens everything is Divine. We refer to the understanding of such a number as 694 of THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION: "Every Angel as every man thinks truth and does good as from himself, and this, according to the state of the Angel, is mixed and not pure". The purpose of this teaching evidently is to show that Good itself and Truth itself are only in the Lord, such as He is in Himself. Even the highest Angels are not in Truth itself but in appearances of truth. With this relation in view, it is true indeed that only in the Lord Himself, such as He is in Himself, is there Good itself and Truth itself. But that

    
    

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    nevertheless good and truth with Angels are Divine, is taught in the following quotation: "But these things are not so in the Lord, for all in Him is Divine Good, but not Divine Truth. But

    Divine Truth is Divine Good appearing in Heaven before the Angels and on earth before men, and although it is an appearing, still it is Divine Truth". A.C. 3712. Compared with Good itself and Truth itself, as they are in the Lord in Himself, good and truth with Angels and men are mixed and not pure, for "the Divine itself of the Lord is far above His Divine in Heaven", H.H. 118, c.f.A.C. 7270, 8760; and the Divine, proceeding, cannot exist apart from an adjunction to the finite; but compared with evil and falsity, they are not mixed and they are pure. The most convincing example of Divine truths which are "mixed and not pure" is that of the truths of the letter of the Word. For the letter is accommodated to the natural understanding of man, and it is therefore written according to appearances "according to the state of man"; but nevertheless the truths of the letter are Divine. And if the truths of the letter of the Third Testament are Divine, the truths of its spiritual and its celestial senses, 6f course, also are Divine. And yet it is just the celestial man who in singulars realizes that his truths out of the Word are mot pure Divine Truth as it is in itself, but only genuine appearances of truth. Therefore we read: "Things purely Divine are such that if they were to be applied and ascribed to man he would instantly die, and like a stick of wood thrown into the naked sun, would be so consumed that scarcely a sparkle would be left of him; wherefore the Lord approaches Angels and men with His Divine by a light tempered and moderated to the faculty and quality of each one, thus by that which is made adequate and accommodated; similarly by heat", T.C.R. 641; this light and heat tempered and moderated is the Divine, proceeding. From this it may be seen that the truths and goods of Angels and men, which are the truths and goods of the Word, are not purely Divine things in the absolute sense, and yet they are Divine; and as to their relation to falsity and evil they are purely Divine, for in this respect they are absolutely pure. It is therefore quite plain that there are degrees of the Divine, and even degrees of purity of the Divine. The Divine in its pro-

    
    

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    ceeding through the degrees of creation is less and less purely Divine, being adjoined to a finite more and more finited. Therefore we read: "The Divine itself of the Lord is far above His Divine in Heaven", H.H. 118. The Divine, proceeding, is the most pure in the spiritual Sun, which

    is "the proximate Divine, proceeding", ANGELIC IDEA CONCERNING CREATION; and yet this Divine is not the purely Divine which is in the Lord Himself. It is less pure in the radiant

    belts around the spiritual Sun, cf. A.C. 7270, than in the spiritual Sun itself; it is less pure in the succeeding auras than in the radiant belts; it is less pure in the Heaven of the Human Internals, cf. A.C. 1999, than in those auras; it is less pure in the Heavens of the Angels than in the Heaven of the Human Internals; it is less pure in the lower Heavens than in the higher Heavens; and it is less pure with men in the world than it is in the Heavens; and yet throughout it is Divine, for throughout it is the Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom, proceeding. What it actually is in the Heaven of the Human Internals and above, no Angel or man can ever know, but in the Heavens and with men it is "the good of love and the truth of faith", H.H. 7. "The all of faith and love is from Him, and what is from Him is also He Himself, for it is His Divine, proceeding, which is called the Spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit", A.E. 84. From this it may also be seen that if it were true what our opponents hold, namely, that the truths of genuine Doctrine born in. the mind cannot be Divine because man is a finite recipient of life, this would do away with the Divinity of the truths of the Word itself. For although the Word is Divinely given and dictated, nevertheless the truths of the Word are never the purely Divine Truth, but, being accommodated to the understanding of Angels and men, they are always adjoined to the finite; they are never purely Divine, but in this sense they are mixed and not pure.

    
    

    The Bishop further on, in the same paragraph, adds: "Clearly there is here a confusion of thought. That which is seen as immortal should not be seen to be Infinite. Human souls are immortal". The subject is not the human soul merely seen as a finite and created recipient of life, of which, of course, it has never been said that it is infinite. The subject is the genuine Doctrine of the-

    
    

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    Church, which is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the human mind. Here it may plainly be seen how the issue has entirely been lost sight of in bringing in the teaching that the finite never is Divine, which in itself is a verity, but which in connection with our problem is irrelevant. For the problem is concerned with the truths of faith, which are of the Divine, proceeding, and the Divine proceeds through the finite, cf. D.P. 219: "The infinite cannot proceed from the finite; . . . and yet the infinite can proceed from the finite, yet not from the finite but from the infinite through it". Instead of facing the real problem, namely, that the Third Testament contains the three discrete degrees of the rational and therefore the Doctrine of the natural Church, the Doctrine of the spiritual Church, and the Doctrine of the celestial Church, all to be drawn out of that Word by man as from himself and nevertheless all Divine, the Rev. Hugo LJ. Odhner in his address, pp. 238—250, went to great trouble to prove that the finite never is Divine, a truth which to us is and always was self-evident. It may be plain to anyone who realizes the essence of the issue that this whole address is entirely beside the point. If in DE HEMELSCHE LEER it has been said that in the case of the soul, and the celestial proprium, and in other similar cases, there is an application of the term Divine to that which is finite and created, we have never lost sight of the fact that in all these cases there is adjoined to the Divine, proceeding, the finite, which seen ill itself as a mere finite created receptacle is not Divine. Yet that which is called the Divine, proceeding, is always the Divine Love and Wisdom together with the adjoined finite. "That heat . . . and that light … together with the auras … are called the Divine, proceeding", A.E. 726. Therefore we read that "the Divine itself of the Lord is far above His Divine in Heaven";

    H.H. 118; from which it is plain that a distinction must be made between the two and that they are not identical. But we will treat of thismore in detail in the sequel where it will be shown that the human soul, being of the Heaven of the Human Internals, is of the Lord alone, because it is

    of the Divine, proceeding; and that also the celestial proprium is of the Divine, proceeding. It is contrary to the teaching of the Word to consider "the new proprium of man", p. 238, as a mere

    
    

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    corpuscular compound of finite substances, although, it is true that it cannot be conceived of apart from adjunction to the finite; for the essential celestial proprium consists of the genuine affections and thoughts of good and truth — resulting from the Divine, proceeding through the finite — which thereby also become of the Divine, proceeding, as we read: "The Divine proceeding from the Lord is the good of love and the truth of faith", H.JEL 7. That the good of love and the truth of faith of Angels and men, compared with Good and Truth in the Lord Himself may be called finite, is plain; for love and faith of Angels and men are not in the same sense infinite, as the Love and Wisdom itself of the Lord. And yet they are not finite in the sense of a created corpuscular compound. Therefore we read: "The proprial things of the Lord are all infinite and eternal, … those things which thence are as the proprial things of man, are likewise infinite and eternal; but nothing thereof is of man, but they are of the only Lord with him", D.P.

    219. That there is a degree of Divine Truth which is called infinite in contradistinction to the lower degrees of Divine truth may be seen in the following passage: "Divine Truth in the highest degree is such as is the Divine which proximately proceeds from 'the Lord, thus such as is the Divine Truth above the Heavens; this, because it is infinite, cannot come to the perception of any Angel", A.E. 627; and then follows an enumeration of the lower degrees of Divine truth, which come to the perception of the Angels of the different Heavens and of men.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "The New Doctrine quotes, for its sustainment, the teaching of the Writings that it is not the Word, but the understanding of the Word, that makes the church. We agree that the understanding is the instrumental cause of the church being what it is at any given time". If man's own understanding ever were the instrumental cause of the Church, there could never be a genuine Church; for man's own understanding as to spiritual things is utterly blind.

    Therefore we read: "Man believes that he has a will of good, but he is entirely mistaken; if he does good, it is not out of his will, but out of a new will, which is the Lord's, thus it is out of the Lord; hence also if he thinks and speaks truth, it is out of a new under-

    
    

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    standing, which is thence, and thus also out of the Lord; for the regenerated is an altogether new man formed from the Lord, and therefore he is also said to be created anew", A.C. 928.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "But it is also true that the Word is ever making and remaking the understanding of man". It is true that the progress of Doctrine in one sense can be seen as a continuous purification. But this refers to the fact that no new truth can ever be acquired without wrestling with the evils and falsities which are opposed to it. But once a genuine truth has been acquired, it will always remain a genuine Divine truth. It indeed contains infinite particulars and singulars which are capable of a continued opening to eternity. But that it thus contains

    infinite unopened particulars and singulars, does not make it not Divine; just as a seed or a

    germ of a living organism is not less orderly than the developed organism itself, and just as a bud on a plant is not less orderly than the full-grown plant itself.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "If it be answered that the understanding with the regenerate man is remade by truth out of good with man, we may ask, Just what is meant by this truth out of good"? Truth out of good with man, of course, is not the cause of the new understanding but the result of it. As long as the new understanding is not made and formed from 'the Lord, truth with man is not of good, but man then is in the wrestling with his proprium in the light of truth in order that also with him truth may become of good. It is thus clear that it is not truth out of good with man that remakes the understanding, but regeneration from the Lord which is accomplished by the shunning of evils as sin.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Herein there is a notable difference in the point of view. The real question is, What is the source of the doctrine of the church? Is it truth out of good with the regenerate, or is the Word of God the immediate source"? Genuine truth out of good is of course not a source of Doctrine, but genuine truth out of good is Doctrine; for Doctrine is spiritual out of celestial origin. The Doctrine of th6 Church has two sources, both equally essential. The mediate source is the letter of the Word, for the Doctrine must be drawn out of the letter;

    
    

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    but the immediate source is the Spirit of the Word, which

    .is the Holy Spirit; for without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to draw genuine Doctrine out of the Word. "The Divine, proceeding, which is called the Holy Spirit, is in the proper sense the Holy Word, and there the Divine truth", CANONS, The Holy Spirit, Universalia, VI.

    
    

    If the Bishop had said that we hold that genuine truth out of good which has been acquired on the basis of the letter of the Word, is the Doctrine, that would indeed have been in agreement with the position which we actually hold; but the idea that truth out of good is the source of the Doctrine, is contrary to our position; for we have never deviated from the truth that the Word alone is the source of Doctrine. Therefore we have always maintained that every member of the Church must go to the Word tosee whether the Doctrine of the Church is true. That truth out of good is Doctrine, is literally taught in n. 5997 of the ARCANA: "Spiritual good is more than Doctrine, Doctrine is out of that good". Here we have a literal confirmation that genuine Doctrine is truth out of spiritual good, which is the same as that it is spiritual out of celestial origin. At the same time it can here be seen in the very letter how unfounded is the idea that the teaching of the 12th, 20th, and 26th chapters of the ARCANA on the Divine origin of genuine Doctrine refers only to the Glorification of the Lord and not to the regeneration of man, cf. N. CH. LIFE, p. 199.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Doctrine is knowledge from the Word, — knowledge taken from that Word which is external to, or outside of, the mind of man". The teaching of the Word is that Doctrine is spiritual out of celestial origin, while knowledge taken from the Word which is external, or outside of, the mind of man, is mere science. Knowledge taken up from without is not even cognition, and much less is it Doctrine. "All the scientific with man is natural, because it

    is in his natural man, even the scientific concerning spiritual and celestial things", A.C. 4967. "The scientifics into which the things of faith and charity can be applied are very many, such as

    all the scientifics of the Church, … all the scientifics which are true, about correspondences, about representatives, about significatives, about influx, about order, about intelligence

    
    

40. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    and wisdom, about affections, yea all truths of interior and exterior nature, both visible and invisible, because these correspond to spiritual truths", A.C. 5213. "By scientific truth is meant every scientific by which spiritual truth is confirmed, and it has life out of spiritual good. For, through scientifics, man can be wise or be insane. He is wise through scientifics when by them he confirms the truths and goods of the Church, which are spiritual truths and goods, and he

    is insane through scientifics when by them he weakens and refutes the truths and goods of the Church. All intelligence and wisdom are out of truths which are out of Heaven", A.E. 507.

    That man in his thought may be insane through the scientifics taken from the Third Testament can be seen from the fact that there are those who quote from it to confirm that it is not the Word. "Scientifics are the first things which must be learned; for they are those things out of which truths must be concluded, and in which truths then must be terminated. Afterwards progress is made to more interior things", A.C. 5901. "The more interiorly the thought goes, the more it removes itself from the scientifics. . . – From this it can be manifest that the scientifics are of service to man to form.the understanding, but that when the understanding is formed, they then form an ultimate plane, in which man does no longer think, but above it", A.C. 5874. "Scientifics and doctrinal things are distinct from each other in this, that out of scientifics

    are doctrinal things", A.C. 3052. "Doctrinal things are conclusions from scientifics, for there flows in through the rational as it were a dictate that this is true and this not true", A.C. 3057. From this it becomes plainly evident that Doctrine involves conclusion and the influx through a genuine rational, and cannot possibly be simply knowledge from without. That this conclusion must be from the Holy Spirit is also plain, for it is the rational which concludes, and

    man's own rational in spiritual things is utterly blind. For we read: "He who believes that man has a rational and an understanding before his natural is purified from evils, is mistaken; for the understanding is to see the truths of the Church out of the light of Heaven, and the light of Heaven does not inflow with another one", A.E. 941. The genuine rational

    
    

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    from the Holy Spirit exists in three discrete degrees; the genuine natural rational from which is the natural Doctrine, the spiritual rational from which is the spiritual Doctrine, and the celestial rational from which is the celestial Doctrine. "Out of scientifics afterwards may be learned and comprehended truths still more interior, which are called doctrinal things", A.C. 3309. "That they have their doctrinal things out of the Word does not make them to be Divine truths; for out of the sense of the letter of the Word any doctrinal whatever may be hatched, but not so if the

    doctrinal is formed out of the internal sense", A.C. 7233. That this applies to the Third Testament is evident in view of the innumerable heresies which in the history of the New Church have been hatched out of its literal sense. The fact that the very literal statements of the Third Testament are so rational and doctrinal has prevented the Church in the beginning from seeing clearly that the law of the interrelation between scientifics, cognitions, and doctrinals, applies to that Testament

    in the same way as to the Old and the New Testaments. This is true even with regard to the first degree of truth which is the literal sense; and if the three discrete degrees of the rational are realized, this becomes entirely plain. From all this it clearly follows that the view that Doctrine is "knowledge taken from that Word which is external to, or outside of, the mind of man", is contrary to the teaching of the Word, if it is not seen that Doctrine must at thesame time be from the Holy Spirit. The position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER is: "There is no genuine Doctrine with man unless with him it is spiritual out of celestial origin; that is, unless with him it is genuine truth out of genuine good". The opposite position is: "Doctrine is knowledge from the Word which is outside of the mind of man". The literal teaching of the Word is: "Spiritual good is more than Doctrine, Doctrine is out of that good", A.C. 5997; and: "All knowledge with man is natural, . . . even the knowledge concerning spiritual and celestial things", A.C. 4967.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "That which descends from the soul of man never becomes light in the mind until it falls into such knowledge". Nowhere in DE HEMELSCHE LEER has it been said that truth comes to man by a mere influx from the soul. But the truths of interior Doctrine do not

    
    

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    arise by influx from the soul merely into knowledge taken up from the Word from without. The bases for interior Doctrine arc the opened truths of the Word in the interior as it were discrete degrees of the regenerated natural mind. If those degrees are not formed no genuine Doctrine

    is possible, however great be the amount of knowledge from the Word from without. If this is understood it becomes clear that nevertheless all instruction in truth is by the way of the soul and never merely by the taking up of knowledge from without, according to the following literal teaching: "Every one is instructed out of Heaven, that is, through Heaven from the Lord, concerning such things as are of eternal life; thus through the way of his life, which is through the way of his .soul and heart", A.E.107.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Hence the imperative need of the Word external to the human mind, — a Word Divinely formed, and authoritative, and, as such, the source of all knowledge of those Divine things which carry the power of molding and remolding the understanding of man"

    pp. 272—273. Nowhere in DE HEMELSCHE LEER has it been said that the Word external to the human mind is not an imperative need. On the contrary this is our fundamental thought, and it has been shown that the Third Testament primarily, and not the Old and the New Testaments, is that Word for the New Church. All the Doctrine of the New Church is out of that Word alone. But it has been shown at the same time, that this Word with the man of the Church is not the Word, but it remains without him, except in the measure as it is received from the Holy Spirit. No authority whatever can be with the Word except it be at the same time from the Holy Spirit. For the letter of the Third Testament can be abused for the proprial ends of man, and then the authority of the Word is abused. The Lord alone has authority, and He has authority with man in the measure in which the truths of the Word are received from the Holy Spirit. No knowledge whatever, even of the things from the Word, carries any power of molding and remolding the understanding of man, unless it is living from the Holy Spirit. That all Doctrine and all authority of the Word is dependent on the state of man is described in. 177 of The True Christian Religion: "Out of the faith of

43. THE BISHOP S ADDRESS

    
    

    any Church flows forth not only all its worship but also all the dogmatic of it; thus it may be said that such as is its faith such is its doctrine The faith of the Church respecting God is like the

    soul of the body, and the doctrinal things are like its members; and, moreover, the faith in God is as a queen, and the dogmatic things are like the officers of her court; and as these all hang upon the mouth of the queen, so the dogmatic things upon the utterance of faith. Solely out of that faith can it be seen how the Word is understood in the Church of it. For the faith in applies to itself and draws to itself, as if by cords, whatever things it can. If the faith is false it plays the harlot with every truth therein, and perverts and falsifies it, and makes

    man in spiritual things insane; but if the faith is true, then the whole Word favors, and the God of the Word, who is the Lord God the Savior, infuses light, and breathes upon it with His Divine assent, and makes man to be wise". Does it here not appear in full light that it is not possible to say that the Writings of Swedenborg are the faith of the New Church, if it is not at the game time realized that this must be from the Holy Spirit?

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "We know, indeed, that the state of the church is according to the state and quality of the understanding of the Word. We know also that this understanding is of vital importance", p. 273. The teaching "that it is not the Word which makes the Church but the understanding of the Word", S.S. 76-79, as a literal statement of the Word, is indeed known in the Church, but if this teaching is not seen together with the other teaching that man by regeneration receives a new will and a new understanding which are the Lord's alone with him, the essential signification of it cannot be seen. Nothing whatever in the Church can be of vital importance but what is from the Divine Human of the Lord, for "the all of the Church is from the Lord, and indeed from His Divine Human, for out of this all good of love and truth of faith which make the Church proceed", A.E. 96. "The all of the Church with man is out of the Divine Human of the Lord; for the all of love and of faith, which make the Church, proceeds out of the Divine Human of the Lord", A.E. 151. "The all of faith and of love is from Him, and what is

    
    

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    from Him is also He Himself, for it is His Divine, proceeding, which is called the Spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit. And because the Lord is in it, and it is He Himself, therefore it is said that they shall remain in the Lord, by which is understood in faith and love in Him from Him", A.E. 84-. Is it not evident in view of such explicit teaching that the inflowing Divine even after reception and appropriation is still Divine? Plainly "the all of love and of faith" involves reception; there is no sense in speaking of faith above the Heavens or above the mind of man; and, moreover, the distinction is often made in the Word between the Divine above the Heavens and the Divine within the Heavens and between the Divine above man and the Divine in man; and in n. 118 of HEAVEN AND HELL, footnote, we read: "The Divine itself of the Lord is far above His Divine in Heaven". That the Divine can be communicated to man and appropriated to him so that he feels it within himself as if it were his own, whereby conjunction with the Lord and man's eternal felicity is effected, is the one and only end of all creation. Therefore we read: "(It is a law of Order, which is called a law of the Divine Providence), that man feels and perceives and thence knows not otherwise than that life is in him, thus that he thinks and wills out of himself, and thence speaks and does out of himself; but that he nevertheless acknowledges

    and believes that the truths which he thinks and speaks, and the goods which he wills and does, are out of God; thus as out of himself", A.E. 1136; to this, in the following n. 1138, is added the explanation: "If it were not out of a law of the Divine Providence that man should feel and perceive as if life and the all of it were in him, and that he should only acknowledge that good and truth are not out of him but out of the Lord, then nothing would be imputed to man, neither good nor truth, thus neither love nor faith". The number, which should be read in full, closes with the words: "Such is the union of the Lord with man and of the man with the Lord by love".

    
    

    The essential problem here involved is the problem of the Divine Nexus or the Divine Mediation whereby the conjunction of man with the infinite God is possible, and that of the Divine, proceeding, in which the conjunction has become

    
    

45. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    actual, since "the Divine, proceeding from the Lord, is the good of love and the truth of faith",

    H.H. 7. The Divine, proceeding, being the good of love and the truth of faith. is appropriated to man by reception. That the Nexus is Divine is a verity well known in the Church. The same is true of the Divine, proceeding, however far it may proceed; for it proceeds by many degrees of accommodation, but always remains Divine. But that also the reception is Divine, since it also is of the Divine, proceeding, is not so well known in the Church, although it is plainly evident from reason and from the literal teaching of the Word. The Divine, proceeding, in all its degrees, involves a conjunction and an adjunction; for in the Divine, proceeding, Divine Good is always conjoined with Divine Truth, and to speak of the Divine, proceeding, apart from adjunction to the finite, is not possible; for the Divine proceeds through the finite: "The infinite cannot proceed from the finite; … and yet the infinite can proceed from the finite, yet not from the finite but from the infinite through it", D.P. 219. In the Divine, proceeding, both a conjunction of good and truth and an adjunction to the finite are always involved. Good and truth, such as they proceed from the Lord, are conjoined; but such as they are at first received by man, they are not conjoined. They are, however, conjoined again by regeneration, and as they are conjoined they are again of the Divine, proceeding. "Conjoined they proceed from God, and conjoined they are in Heaven, and therefore they must be conjoined in the Church", T.C.R. 398. In the measure in which there is conjunction of good and truth in the mind, man is conjoined with God, for by that conjunction he is taken up in the Divine, proceeding. But in the measure man is in truth not yet of good, and also as far as he is seen as a finite and created receptacle, the Divine is only adjoined to man. The reception of the Divine, proceeding, however, is never according to adjunction, but according to conjunction, as we read: "Reception_

    is according to conjunction", A.E. 118. But all conjunction is of love, and it is of the Divine, proceeding, as we read: "These two, charity and faith, are called media, because they conjoin man with the Lord", T.C.R. 576. But since reception is according to conjunction, and conjunction is of love, and thus Divine, it plainly follows that also

    
    

46. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    reception is Divine. This is confirmed by the following quotations: "Reception and the reciprocal in man are from the Lord", LIFE 102. "Reception must be from man, although not thus from man that it is from man, but as if from him", A.E. 644. Reception, therefore, plainly is Divine.

    
    

    The problem seems to have been obscured with many by a confusion of the element of reception, which always is of the Divine, proceeding, derived from the Divine Nexus where the very first reception is effected, with the receptacle which is of man as a finite creature. The receptacle, if seen as finite and created, and, if seen as truth not yet of good, indeed is not Divine, but the reception is the Existere of the Divine Human. This is the miracle of the Divine Nexus, the Divine Mediation, which we cannot fathom with our understanding since it involves the Infinite. But it is a truth of Revelation that just as Life is Divine, so also the reception of Life is Divine; although the receptacle, if seen as finite and created, and if seen as truth not yet of good, is not Divine. There is, however, a sense in which the Divine is predicated even of a receptacle, namely when for the sake of accommodation in a lower degree it has been taken up in the Divine, proceeding. For to the Divine, proceeding, from its first beginning there is always adjoined the finite, in forms successively more and more finited, and the Divine Love and Wisdom together with these forms are called the Divine, proceeding. "That heat which in its essence is love, and that light which in its essence is wisdom, … together with the auras, are called the Divine, proceeding", A.E. 726. That the substances of the spiritual auras in themselves are finite substances, is known, for even the spiritual sun, which is above the auras "is not the Lord Himself, but His Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, proceeding", D.L.W. 86, which involves even there an adjunction to the finite, without which the spiritual sun would be resolved into the Infinite itself. Therefore we read: "As the things which constitute the Sun

    of the spiritual world are from the Lord, and not the Lord, they thus are not life in itself, but they are deprived of life in itself", D.L.W. 294. That the Divine, proceeding, always involves an adjunction to the finite, and that the Divine

    
    

47. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    Love and Wisdom together with this adjoined finite is called the Divine, proceeding, can here plainly be seen. For the spiritual Sun is called "the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom proceeding", D.L.W. 86, and yet it is said that the things which constitute that Sun "are deprived of life in itself", n. 294. This is even more strikingly demonstrated in no. 7270 of the ARCANA: "The Truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord, being out of the infinite Divine itself, cannot possibly be received by any living substance which is finite, thus not by any Angel; and therefore the Lord created successive things by which as media the Divine truth that proceeds immediately can be communicated. But the first successive out of this is too full of the Divine than that it could as yet be received by any living substance which is finite, thus by any Angel; and therefore the Lord created still another successive through which the Divine Truth immediately proceeding might be receptible in part; this successive is the Truth Divine which is in Heaven. The first two are above the Heavens, and are as it were radiant belts of flame which encompass the Sun, which is the Lord". The Truth Divine is here even called a successive which has been created. On the other hand, of the spiritual Sun, it is here said that it is the Lord. That the proceeding of the Divine through the successive auras involves just as many degrees of reception, may be plain. That the term receptacle is predicated of what evidently is of the Divine, proceeding, can be seen from the following quotations: "That the Divine of the Lord in Heaven is love, is because love is the receptacle of all things of Heaven, which are peace, intelligence, wisdom, and felicity", H.H. 18. "Innocence is the receptacle of the truth of faith and of the good

    of love", H.H. 330. "The only receptacle of good is truth", H.H. 371. That all love, all innocence, all truth, are of the Divine, proceeding, is known. But that all these things do not exist without a subject which is man, is also known, from which it follows that there must be involved an adjunction to the finite. This is the reason why they are called a receptacle, and yet they are Divine, for they are of the Divine, proceeding.

    
    

    But the problem in the mind of many seems to have been even more obscured by the wav in which they have brought

    
    

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    in the subject of the limbus. The limbus is not man, just as the natural body is not man. The limbus, just as the natural body, is below man. The substances of the limbus are taken from the natural world, but "the natural mind of man consists out of spiritual substances and at the same time out of natural substances; the thinking is out of the spiritual substances not out of the natural substances". D.L.W. 257. The reception of life, therefore, evidently is not in the natural substances, thus not in the limbus, but in the spiritual substances. It is a fallacy of natural thought to say that man as a vessel of life is the limbus. Affection and thought, which are the man, are not out of the passive natural substances, thus not out of the limbus, but out of the active ' spiritual substances of the natural mind. The consciousness of man is not out of the limbus, but out of the spiritual substances • within it. Both the esse and the existere of man are far above the limbus. And yet even the spiritual substances are not the essential man, but the reception of life which is of the Divine, proceeding, is the essential man. For the spiritual substances also are finite substances recipient of life, while the essential man is not the receptacle, if seen as finite and created, but the reception. Concerning the spiritual substances we read: "The finite things out of which is the spirit of man are spiritual substances", T.C.R. 470; but concerning the esse and the existere of man we read: "There are two things which make man, namely, Esse and Existere; the Esse of man is nothing else than the receiving of the eternal that proceeds from the Lord; for men, spirits, and Angels are nothing but recipients or receiving forms of the life from the Lord. It is the reception of life of which Existere is predicated. Man believes that he is, when yet he is not out of himself, but exists as before said. Esse is only in the Lord, and this is called JEHOVAH, but of the ESSE which is Jehovah are all things which appear as if they were. But the Esse of the Lord or Jehovah can never be communicated to anyone; solely to the Human of the Lord. This has become the Divine Esse, that is, Jehovah. The Lord as to both Essences is Jehovah. Existere is predicated also of the Lord, but only when He was in the world, and there put on the Divine Esse. But since He has become the Divine Esse, Existere can no longer be predicated of Him, except

    
    

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    as a certain Proceeding from Him. What proceeds from Him, is what appears as Existere in Him; but it is not in Him, but it is from Him, and makes that men, spirits, and Angels exist, that is, live. Existere with man, spirit, and Angel, is to live, and his living is eternal felicity", A.C.

    3938. It was the Rev. Albert Bjorck who first pointed to this foundation passage. Here the Esse

    and the Existere of man, thus the whole of man, are clearly described. Life itself is the Esse of the Divine Human, but the reception of life, which is the esse of man is the Existere of the Divine Human. This follows plainly from the teaching of this passage; for it is said that "the esse of man is the receiving of the eternal that proceeds from the Lord", but that Esse is only in the Lord, and that it is the reception of life of which Existere is predicated. This Existere is therefore the Existere of the Divine Human. And further on it is actually said that apart from this, Existere cannot be predicated of the Divine Human, since this has become the Divine Esse or Jehovah. That the words "It is the reception of life of which Existere is predicated" refer to the Existere of the Divine Human and not to the existere of man, can also be seen from the fact that the existere of man at the end of the quotation is said to be living, that is, eternal felicity. This existere of man is from the Existere of the Divine Human which is the esse of man or the reception of life; for the existere of man is from the esse of man. But if it is asked what then this esse and existere actually are, the answer is that the internal man is the esse of man, and the external man is the existere of man. Of the internal man it is indeed revealed that he is of the Lord alone with man, and the external man after regeneration is indeed nothing else than living, or eternal felicity, from the internal man. Here

    it becomes also clearly evident that all reception is Divine. There are many degrees of Divine reception from the Divine Nexus down to the Heaven of the Human Internals, cf. A.G. 1999, and thence to the internal man, which again is a degree below; the reception in the external man again is thence derived. This derived reception is the existere of man, which is living, or eternal felicity. This indeed appears to. be of man, but since in its entirety it is from the esse of man which is the Existere of the

    
    

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    Divine Human, it also is of the Lord alone and only as it were of man. This is the reason why all things of love and faith, which are the living of man, or his eternal felicity, are said to be from the Lord alone, and the Lord's alone, yea, the Lord Himself. Apart from the esse of man, that is, apart from the Heavens and the Internal of the Church — for the internal man is Heaven — the Divine Human has no Existere, that is, it does not exist. The Divine Human IS in the Divine Itself, for it is Jehovah; but the Divine Human EXISTS in the esse of man and since the esse of man is the Existere of the Divine Human, it cannot but be Divine; and this is not difficult to understand, for it is the internal man which is of the Lord alone, and it is not a receptacle of life but the reception of life; it is the Existere of the Divine Human; and it is of the Divine, proceeding, and indeed through spiritual substances which are active and not through natural substances which are passive. But the existere of man is from the Divine Human, and it is living, love and faith, or eternal felicity. That this also is Divine is also not difficult to understand; for it is only as it were of man but in reality of the Lord alone; and it also is not a receptacle of life but the reception of life; it is the Body of the Lord, and it also is of the Divine,

    proceeding, and indeed through spiritual substances which are active and not through natural substances which are passive. This Divine, proceeding, which is man's living and eternal felicity, is called specifically the Body of the Lord, as in the following quotations: "The Church makes the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Life of that Body", T.C.R. 608; and: "What else is conjunction with the Lord but to be among those who are in His Body? And those make His Body who believe in Him and do His will", T.C.R. 725. From the latter quotation it appears again that the essential man, of whom it is said that he makes the Body of the Lord, is, of course, not the receptacle seen as finite and created, but conjunction and reception thence, which both are of the Divine, proceeding. The receptacle, seen as finite and created, indeed always

    is adjoined. Man is regenerated as far as that which

    belongs to the receptacle as finite and created, is created anew, so that it is a thing MADE, according to

    
    

51. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    the saying in the Gospel by JOHN I : 3. Moreover it is plainly taught that the all of love and faith is of the Lord alone, yea, that "it is He Himself", A.E. 84, and that it therefore is Divine. Although the Divine, proceeding, is "successively diminished by infinite circumvolutions, until, tempered and accommodated, it reaches the Angels", DIVINE LOVE III, because "the Divine Love, such as it is in the Lord, cannot be received by any Angel,

    for it would consume them", ibidem, nevertheless it remains Divine; it has become as it were finite, but it still is infinite. "The proprial things of the Lord are all infinite and eternal, … those things which thence are as the proprial things of man, are likewise infinite and eternal; but nothing of them is of man, but they are of the only Lord with him", D.P. 219. From this it now may be seen in full light that all that is truly human in man, both as to esse and as to existere in reality is of the Lord alone. For this reason in the Most Ancient Church they called no one Man except the Lord alone and the things which are of Him, "neither did they call themselves men, but only those things which they perceived to have out of the Lord, as all the good of love and all the truth of faith", A.C. 49.

    
    

    There is the Divine in itself and there is the Divine, proceeding. There are several degrees of the Divine, proceeding, above the Heavens, and there is the Divine, proceeding, in the

    Heavens. Therefore we read: "The Divine itself of the Lord is far above His Divine in Heaven",

    H.H. 118. The Divine of the Lord in Heaven and in the Church is called the celestial and the 'spiritual. The celestial and the spiritual things of Heaven and of the Church are Divine. This can be confirmed by innumerable quotations out of the Word; the following few must here suffice: "All the Divine things which are called the spiritual things of the Church, are out of the Word",

    D.P. 230. "The Divine with those who have faith in Him, is love and charity", A. 2023. "The Divine things which are called the spiritual things of the Church", T.C.R. 480.. "The Divine things which are the truths and goods of the Church", T.C.R. 400". "No one in the Heavens has any power except the only Lord; therefore the Angels are powers, or are powerful, in the measure they accept from the Lord; and they accept in the measure in which they

    
    

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    are in Divine good united to Divine truth; for this is the Lord in Heaven. From this it is clear that the Lord alone is powerful, and never anyone in Heaven except from the Lord. The cause is that the Divine of the Lord is the all in all things there", A.E. 43. "The Divine which makes the highest Heaven is called the Divine celestial; but the Divine which makes the middle Heaven is called the Divine spiritual; and the Divine which makes the ultimate Heaven is called the Divine natural out of the spiritual and the celestial", A.E. 69. "This Divine is called the angelic while it is in the Angels", D.L.W. 114. "The Lord is nothing but Divine Good; what proceeds out of His Divine Good, and inflows into Heaven, in His Celestial kingdom is called the Divine Celestial,

    and in His spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual; it is thus said Divine spiritual and Divine celestial respective to the receptions", A.C. 6417. And specifically: "The spiritual is called the Divine, proceeding, and it is the Divine Truth in Heaven", A.E. 189. From these quotations it is clear that the spiritual and celestial things of Heaven and of the Church are Divine. When during one of the discussions I spoke about these Divine things, which man by regeneration begins to see within himself as if they were his own, the Rev. Dr. Alfred Acton said: "What you have described is usually called the celestial and the spiritual. What advantage do you propose to yourself by calling it Divine instead of celestial and spiritual?", p. 252. If the Word itself says that the celestial and spiritual things of man are Divine, the great importance of realizing this is self-evident. Indeed no one can deny that the celestial and the spiritual is of the

    Divine, proceeding. If it is admitted that the genuine things which man has from the Lord are celestial and spiritual things, then the whole position which we defend is admitted. For the essence of it is that genuine Doctrine with man is spiritual out of celestial origin. But it is just this very thing which is denied by our opponents. They admit no other Divine Doctrine with man except knowledge from without. Doctrine arrived at on the basis of the letter by conclusion of the genuine natural rational, or the spiritual rational, or the celestial rational, however confirmed by the letter, they call interpretative or derived doctrine, and they call it human doctrine which is not

    
    

53. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    Divine. To draw Doctrine out of the Word to them never means anything else than to read the direct statements of the Word; while in reality it means to draw forth the interior senses from the letter. And yet the remark of Dr. Acton plainly creates the impression that he admits that the genuine things which man has from the Lord, are celestial and spiritual things. But celestial and spiritual things are not only from the Lord, they are the Lord's; yea they are the Lord Himself.

    
    

    The spiritual and celestial things which are of the Divine, proceeding, and which make man to be a man, cannot come into existence except by regeneration. The essential of regeneration is that good and truth with man be united, as we read: "To regenerate man is to unite good and truth with him, or love and wisdom, as they are united in the Divine that proceeds from the Lord",

    D.P. 58. This union of good and truth with man depends on the mutual conjunction of the internal and the external man so that they make one. There are innumerable places in the Word in which this conjunction and this oneness are described; for instance: "This signifies those of the Church with whom the internal and the external, or the spiritual and the natural man, make one", A.E. 150; arid: "As the Lord glorified His Human, so He regenerates man; that is, as He united His Divine to the Human, and the Human to the Divine, so He conjoins the internal to the external and the external to the internal with man", A.E. 178. When during one of the discussions I spoke of this conjunction and the thence ensuing oneness of the internal and the external with man, the Bishop said: "That oneness we regard as the error involved. There is no such thing, in any man or angel of heaven, as the oneness of the vessel with the influx entering into it, and that distinction should be continually made. Oneness of the vessel with the influx can be used in one case only, i.e., in the Lord's glorification, the vessel became absolutely one with the Divine inflowing. This is not so with any man or angel", p. 254. Nowhere in DE HEMELSCHE LEER and never in the discussion have we said anything contrary to the truth that only with the Lord the external became Life itself, and that man also after regeneration remains only a created form receptive of life. This is an entirely different issue,

54. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    altogether foreign to the problem here involved. Although man remains a form receptive of life, nevertheless by regeneration the external and the internal are so conjoined that they make one. This is confirmed by the quoted passages, especially where it literally says: "This signifies those of the Church with whom the internal and the external, or the spiritual and the natural man, make one", A.E. 150. When in reply to the Bishop's remark I pointed this out, I said after a detailed explanation: "The external conjoined with the internal so that they make one. Of course, the vessel is not Divine", p. 254. To this the Bishop replied: "Nevertheless we return to the original idea, which is that the vessel is not Divine", a plain proof that the Bishop's thought was engaged with a subject entirely different from the subject I was speaking of, since he simply repeated the very thing which I myself so strongly emphasized. DE HEMELSCHE LEER contains no single statement contrary to the truth that man is not life, but only a form recipient of life; the oneness involved in our argument is that of the internal and the external, with the regenerated man. This oneness is plainly taught in the Word. And yet the Bishop says: "That oneness we regard as the error involved".

    
    

    In his address on The Proprium, pp. 216—231, the Rev. Theodore Pitcairm arrayed an overwhelming wealth of passages from the -Word which confirm these truths. In the discussion,

    pp. 231—232, the Rev. Dr. Alfred Acton said: "Now it is true that the Lord adjoins Himself only to that which is His Own in man. It is also true that the proprium of man is evil. The same was true of the first man. It was not active evil in the sense that it waged war, but it was evil because it was a receptacle, and a receptacle tends constantly to fall, or to fail. Our body is a receptacle of life; yet the body itself tends constantly to die It is in this way that the proprium of even the

    first man was evil, because its innate tendency was to fall away, to fall to the earth". From these words it may be clearly seen that the essential element of reception is looked for in the purely natural and even corporeal substances of man, while the teaching of the Word is that the essential element of reception is in the Divine Nexus, or in the Divine Mediation, and finally in the Divine, proceeding,

    
    

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    which is the Existere of the Divine Human of the Lord. It may also be seen that the essential man is looked for in his being a finite receptacle of life, while the teaching of the Word is that the essential man is the reception of life, the esse of it, which is the Existere of the Divine Human, being the internal man, and the existere of it, which is from the Existere of the Divine Human, being the external man, that is, man's living, or his eternal felicity, cf. A.C. 3938. It may also be seen that the proprium of man is seen in his being a finite receptacle, while in reality it again is reception; with the regenerate, with whom it is called the celestial proprium, which is of the Lord alone, it is the genuine reception as o/ one's self of the inflowing Divine, which reception is man's living, that is, his eternal felicity; with the evil, with whom it is called the infernal or man's own proprium, it is the reception from one's self of the influx from hell, which reception is the evil man's living, that is, his eternal infelicity. To what that concept must lead may here also be seen in that it is said that the proprium of even the first man was evil, which means

    nothing less than that man was created with an evil proprium, that thus the origin of evil is inherent in the order of creation. The restriction that it was not active evil does not improve the argument; for it was not evil at all; for it is a fundamental verity that the origin of evil is not to be found in the fact that man is a finite creature, but that the first man in his free choice fell away and longed for a proprium, not willing to be led by the Lord. From the words of GENESIS: "And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold it was very good"',1:31, and from the teaching of the second chapter of the ARCANA that man with the beginning of the fall began to long for a proprium, it may be seen that the first man had no evil proprium at all. For the evil proprium of man does not lie in the fact that his mind consists of finite substances, but in the fact that from free choice man turns away from the Lord, whereby goods and truths are perverted, fn no sense whatever can it be said that the proprium of the first man was evil, for the origin of evil is in the fall, and the human race might have gone through its ages without a fall. Therefore we read: "It was asked. Whence then it hell? They said, Out of the freedom

    
    

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    of man, without which man would not be man", ANGELIC IDEA CONCERNING CREATION. In looking for the origin of evil to the fact that man is not life but a receptacle of life, instead of looking for the origin of evil to man's free choice, evil could never be imputed to man, but would have to be imputed to the order of creation. But quite apart from this, it may be seen from the teaching of revelation that the element of reception can never be found in the passive natural substances of the mind, but that the first element of human reception is in the Heaven of the Human Internals, the second element of human reception in the internal man, which both are of the Divine, proceeding, and the latter specifically is the Existere of the Divine Human of the Lord, and that the third element of human reception is the as of one's self reception in the external man, which reception is only as it were of man, but in reality also of the Divine, proceeding. If the element of reception in itself would involve the tendency to fall away, then the existence of a Heaven of the Human Internals, to which belong the souls even of the devils in hell, would not be possible. Moreover from the fact that Dr. Acton says: "It is true that the Lord adjoins Himself only to that which is His Own in man", it is clear that the essential purport of the teaching on the celestial proprium has escaped his attention. For according to the teaching of the Word, just the opposite of what he says is true. The Lord adjoins Himself to man, but He conjoins Himself, yea, he unites, A.E. 1138, Himself only with that which is His Own in man.

    That to which the Lord adjoins Himself, however, is not the evil proprium of man, but those finite, spiritual substances which constitute man as a form recipient of life, and, in a more interior relation, truth with man which is not yet of good; but that with which the Lord conjoins Himself, which is His Own in man, is man's celestial proprium. From the revealed teaching concerning the esse and the existere of man, as

    it is given in the quoted n. 3938 of the ARCANA COELESTIA, it thus becomes evident that the failure to understand the reality of the celestial proprium, which is of the Lord alone and by which "the union of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord", A.E. 1138, is effected, is due to the fact that one looks for the essential

    
    

57. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    man in his being a receptacle of life, while both his esse and his existere are a reception of life, and to the fact that one looks for the element of reception in the passive and therefore dead natural substances of the limbus, while the essential element of reception is revealed to be the esse of man, which is the Existere of the Divine Human, which is the internal man, and from which is the reception in the external man, which is the existere of man, that is, his living, or his eternal felicity, which consists in his genuine affections and thoughts, which are all out of the active and therefore living spiritual substances of his mind. These genuine affections and thoughts are of the Body of Christ, the goods of the affections of the Flesh of it and the truths of the thoughts of the Blood of it. "Man's spiritual body is nothing else than the affection of man in human form, such as it also appears in after death", H.H. 521.

    
    

    From all these things it follows that the Divine things of Heaven and of the Church necessarily involve reception and appropriation, which are possible only in a new will and a new understanding, which are of the Lord alone. If, therefore, it is said that the understanding is of vital importance, we cannot agree, if by this understanding man's own understanding is meant. The only thing vital with regard to this understanding is that it should be entirely removed, and that man should receive a new understanding which is only as it were his, but in reality of the Divine, proceeding, of the Lord. Of the new understanding of man we read: "Man believes that he has a will of good, but he is entirely mistaken; if he does good, it is not out of his will, but out of a new will, which is the Lord's, thus it is out of the Lord; hence also if he thinks and speaks truth, it is out of a new understanding, which is thence, and thus also out of the Lord; for the regenerated is an altogether new man formed from the Lord, and therefore he is also said to be created anew", A.C. 928. Here it is plainly taught that if man thinks and speaks truth it is out of a new understanding which is out of a •new will which is the Lord's. "He who believes that man has a rational and an understanding before his natural is purified from evils, is mistaken; for the understanding is to see the truths of the Church out of the light of Heaven, and the light of Heaven does not inflow with another

    
    

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    one", A.E. 941. "And {/" you are willing to believe it, man also by this is made new; not only in that a new will is given him, and a new understanding, but also a new body for his spirit; the prior ones are indeed not abolished, but they are removed so that they do not appear; and new ones are created in the regenerated as in a womb, by love and wisdom, which are the Lord",

    D.W. IV. "All men, however many there are, have no other seed than something filthy and infernal, in which and out of which is their proprium; . . . wherefore, unless they receive a new seed, and a new proprium, that is, a new will, and a new understanding, from the Lord, they cannot be otherwise than accursed to hell", A.C. 1438. It is here that we see the crucial point of the issue. On the occasion of the meeting of February 3rd, I had expressed this in the Words: "Is the Doctrine of the Church the Third Testament understood, or is it the Third Testament not understood"? To this the Bishop replied: "I object to that, because it is not a question of whether the Doctrines are understood or not. The fundamental question is: 'What is the Doctrine of the Church'? We are going to take it for granted that the Doctrines can be understood", p. 262. From these words it is plainly evident that it is not seen what is the essence of the real issue. For the Bishop even objects that we should state the real issue. The teaching is that "if man thinks or speaks truth, it is out of a new understanding, which is out of a new will which is the Lord's, and thus out of the Lord", A.C. 928; and: "He who believes that man has an understanding before his natural is purified from evils, is mistaken", A.E. 941. If it then is true

    that man cannot possibly understand the Doctrines contained in the Latin Word unless he has

    a new understanding which is the Lord's alone, it can never be said that we can take it for granted that the Doctrines can be understood. To say this is a clear proof not only that the essence of the issue is not realized, but also that the plain literal statements of truth which have been quoted are not accepted. It is not without significance that the teaching of n. IV of THE DIVINE WISDOM, which has been quoted above, is introduced with the words, "If you are willing to believe it"; for man from himself is never willing to believe these truths. From the given

    
    

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    quotations it may now be clear that the understanding of the regenerate man is indeed the Lord's with man. This is the plain and literal teaching of the Word. This expression is thus not "foreign to the Writings, and meaningless", as Dr. Acton expressed himself, p. 258; and also the remark the Bishop made with regard to it, p. 187, we believe must be due to a misunderstanding. It is a literal quotation from the Latin Word. It is, of course, not the infinite Wisdom itself of the Lord; everyone may see that that is not meant.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "We know that the true process of understanding is to read the Word from the Word, or to read the Writings from their own teaching". There is no other way to read the Word from the Word than to read the the letter of the Word from the spirit of the Word, and this is the same as to read the Word in the light of Doctrine out of the Word, for "the Word in the letter cannot be apprehended except by Doctrine out of the Word, made by one who is enlightened",

    A.C. 10324. To read the Word simply from the letter of the Word cannot possibly bring a true process of understanding. "The Word in the letter without illustration is not understood, and illustration is either spiritual or natural; spiritual illustration is given only with those who are spiritual, which are those who are in the good of love and charity and thence in truths; but mere natural illustration with those who are natural", A.E. 176.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "And we rely upon the Writings just because we know that they did not proceed from truth out of good with man, but from the Lord alone, through the Divinely prepared, Divinely guarded, and Divinely inspired mind of Swedenborg". The Doctrine of the Church does not proceed from truth out of good, but it is truth out of good. "The Doctrine is out of spiritual good", A.C. 5997. It is true that man may rely upon the Word alone. Nothing whatever has been said contrary to this truth in DE HEMELSCHE LEER. But-it is also true that Doctrine may not be identified with knowledge from the Word. It is true that the Writings of Swedenborg are from the Lord alone, but genuine Doctrine is also from the Lord alone. The fact that the genuine Doctrine out of the Word existing in the Church is truth out of good with man, is not contrary to the fact that it also is from the Lord alone; what

    
    

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    would regeneration be if the regenerate mind, in making'

    Doctrine, were not also Divinely prepared, Divinely guarded, and Divinely inspired? This, therefore, is not the difference between the giving of the Word from the Lord and the making of

    Doctrine from the Lord out of the given Word. In the measure as Doctrine is not truth out of good with man, the Word remains outside of man, and with the man then it is not the Word. Our opponents hold that he who has the letter of the Word has the Doctrine of the Church, for they "take it for granted that the Doctrines can be understood". The teaching of the Word is that the Word without the making of Doctrine is not understood. The Bishop during one 'of the discussions said: "The language of the General Church has always been that the Writings are the Doctrine of the Church. They claim to be such, and they put themselves forth as such. You

    have a totally different point of view, and consequently you use a different language. Whenever you speak, you mean one thing, and we another, by the same expression", p. 187. Does it not plainly appear from these words that it is not realized that all that the Word teaches about the making of Doctrine, in the New Church essentially must apply to the Word given to that Church, which is the Latin Word. It is thought that if man only has knowledge from that Word he has the Doctrine of the Church. Plainly the Word given to the Church is identified with the Doctrine,

    of the Church. Does it not also plainly appear from these words that the opponents of our position never entered with their thought into our argument, that is, into the meaning which the expressions have in our position. They simply give to every expression their own meaning, which explains the fact of all the endless misunderstandings and misinterpretations which so completely have obscured the issue that all and everything which has been advanced against the new position proved to be beside the point. Truly, we may say that not one single statement has been brought forward from the Word, with which we were not familiar and which has not been taken into account in our argument. Plainly the case is this that the advocates of the new position may have a fair view of both positions, since the old position is the one which they themselves have held before. But it is not possible to have a fair view of the

    
    

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    new position unless one is willing to enter without prejudice into the real meaning of the new concepts which have been advanced.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Also we know that the Writings thus given are accommodated to the understanding, and even the natural understanding of men". This is the very reason why in their letter they contain the three degrees of the rational together, and why the letter must he opened if man is to see the interior degrees of truth. Moreover, in admitting that "the Writings are accommodated even to the natural understanding of man", it ought to be plain, that the Divine is indeed predicated even of that which has been accommodated to the finite. And if the natural sense which is seen by the natural rational is admitted to be Divine, then, of course, also the spiritual sense, which is seen by the spiritual rational, and the celestial sense which is seen by the celestial rational, are Divine. In the letter of the Third Testament these discrete degrees of truth are simultaneously present.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "All New Churchmen pray

    that a spiritual understanding may be given them". The essential point here is that the Third Testament contains the three discrete degrees of the rational together, and that the New Church in its full development will contain the celestial Church, the spiritual Church, and the natural Church together.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "But as to whether the interior degrees of their minds are opened by regeneration they know not, as long as this life lasts. And this of mercy, because of the dangers

    which arise Hence the warning in the Writings, that an opening of the interior degrees of the

    mind is not perceived or sensed by man until after his departure out of the world (D.P. 32). This gives us pause when we encounter the claim that the spiritual degree of the mind is now opened in the church for the first time, and is prepared to speak with Authority to the, church. It is my belief that this 'degree has been, to a greater or less extent, opened in the church from its beginning, with some more. and with others less". The statement of DE HEMELSCHE LEER that the Church as a whole has been in a natural state, refers to the basis of its thought. This has nothing to do with the opening of the

    
    

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    interior degrees of the mind. In every general state of the Church there are natural men, spiritual men, and celestial men. Even in the Jewish Church there were natural men, spiritual men, and celestial men, and even with the Gentiles there are natural men, spiritual men, and celestial men. We therefore fully agree that from the beginning of the New Church there were those with whom the interior degrees were opened. This thought has repeatedly been expressed in DE HEMELSCHE LEER, to quote: "In all these successive states of the New Church, however, from the beginning, the proper and essential state of the New Church itself is present. The proper state itself of the New Church is its celestial state, the old age of the human race, in which the celestial seed of its truth, the celestial Doctrine, is conceived as an immediate revelation from the Lord. All truths that are essentially new and belong essentially to the New .Church, from

    the beginning were of such a celestial origin", FOURTH FASCICLE, p. 22, cf. THIRD FASCICLE, p. 7. From this quotation it may be seen that it is even essential to our position to recognize the opening of the interior degrees with some of the members of the New Church from the very beginning. — Nor is the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER at variance with the teaching of the Word, "that man, as long as he lives in the world, does not know anything of the opening of the discrete degrees", D.L.W. 238, D.P. 32; on the contrary much attention has been given to the subject of the difference between the consciousness of man in the discrete degrees before and after death, cf. Fourth Fascicle, p. 40, and many other places. Many times it has been pointed out that man in this world is conscious only in the external or the natural of the discrete degrees. And since the natural degree viewed in itself is continuous, it may be understood that then the degrees are not opened perceptibly or sensibly to him. But this does not take away the fact that the natural degree by the opening of the interior degrees is divided into three as it were discrete degrees, which are the three discrete degrees of the rational, into which man can consciously come; just as the Adamic man consciously was in the interior rational, the Noachic man consciously in the exterior rational, and the Hebrew man consciously in the interior natural. Therefore we read:

    
    

63. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    "There are three degrees of wisdom with man. The ascent of love according to the degrees is

    not perceived by man except obscurely, but the ascent of wisdom clearly with those who know and see what wisdom is", D.P. 34; and: "Men do not see the spiritual light except by the perception of truth", D.L.W. 181; and: "This second rational man receives from the Lord when

    he is being regenerated, for he then senses in his rational what is the good and truth of faith", A.C. 2093. In these places the perception by man of the discrete degrees of truth is plainly taught, and as a matter of fact this has thus far generally been acknowledged. The objection here made against the recognition of discrete degrees of the rational accessible to man clearly proves that the essence of the discrete degrees of truth is not seen. Nowhere in DE HEMELSCHE LEER can one "encounter the claim that the spiritual degree of the mind is now opened"; never has such a thought been in our minds; it is altogether disorderly to raise this question. The only question is whether the three discrete degrees of rational truth are actually present in the letter of the Third Testament, and whether man can advance from one degree to the other. That the internal sense of the Word is not only for the Angels but also for men, and that the exposition of the internal sense is one of the chief duties of the Church, has always been acknowledged, cf. W.

    F. PENDLETON, Topics from the Writings, pp. 202—203. It makes, of course, no difference that at first it was not realized that this law applies to the letter of the Third Testament itself.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "We realize, indeed, the vital importance of the states of mind in which the Word is read, and the importance of those interpretations of the Word through which the Word is seen. But in this relation of the mind of man to the Word of God, the mind does not so transcend that it can lay down an everlasting doctrine before unknown", pp. 273—274. We must repeat here that nothing is of vital importance in the Church except that which is from the Divine Human of the Lord. Nothing but falsities and fallacies can be seen in the Word through interpretations originating in man's own mind. There is nothing transcendent in man's own mind; the Holy Spirit alone can show to man the interior degrees of rational truth

    
    

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    contained in the letter of the Third Testament, and even the genuine sense of the merely natural degree.

    
    

    The Bishop in the next paragraph continues: "The Lord's message is to be seen in His Word alone. There only may the true Holy Spirit be found". DE HEMELSCHE LEER contains no single statement contrary to this truth. But the basis for the Holy Spirit in the human mind is in the discrete degrees of the genuine rational, which are opened by regeneration.

    
    

    The Bishop in the next paragraph continues: "The position of the General Church is as it ever has been, — that the Writings, as the Word, are the true and everlasting Doctrine of the New Church, and that no Doctrine modified by the understanding of man should be imposed as of binding authority, or of credal force". The Writings, "as the Word", without Doctrine made by man are not understood; if they are not 'understood, they are not the Doctrine of the Church. All Doctrine taken up in the mind is according to the understanding of the mind. The position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER is exactly expressed in the following quotation: "The Doctrine of the Church unless collected and confirmed out of the sense of the letter of the Word, has no power; .

    . . but the Doctrine out of the sense of the letter, and together with it", ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURE FROM EXPERIENCE XXVIII. It is plainly evident from this passage that the sense of the letter of the Word should not be identified with the Doctrine of the Church. Our position is that the Doctrine drawn out of the letter and together with it has power; the opposite position is that the letter itself is that Doctrine, and that the letter alone has power. That the Word given to the Church must be distinguished from the Doctrine of the Church drawn out of that Word, may be seen also in the following passage: "It shall be briefly told how the case is with

    the support of the Word by Doctrine out of the Word. He who does not know the arcana of Heaven cannot believe otherwise than that the Word is supported without Doctrine thence. For he supposes that the Word in the letter or the literal sense of the Word is the Doctrine itself. . . . But the Doctrine must be collected out of the Word, and while it is being collected the man must be in enlightenment from the Lord. These are they who are enlightened in the Word

    
    

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    when they read it, and they see the truth, and thence make Doctrine for themselves. The Lord

    inflows through Heaven into their understanding; and the Lord then at the same time inflows

    with faith, by means of the cooperation of the new will. From these things it can now be

    plain how the Doctrine of truth and good is given to man from the Lord. That this Doctrine supports the Word in respect to its literal or external sense, is plain to everyone who reflects",

    A.C. 9424. Is it not clear from this passage that the Doctrine made by man which is thus to support the letter of the Latin Word, must necessarily be the Doctrine of genuine truth from the Holy Spirit. And is it not clear that any "interpretative" or "derived" doctrine from man's own understanding can never so support the Word; for all doctrine from man's own understanding consists of nothing but falsities. This quotation speaks of those "who suppose that the letter or the literal sense of the Word is the Doctrine itself", which thus is only an appearance but in reality is not the case. It is the essential characteristic of the position of those who oppose the new position, that they identify the letter or the literal sense of the Latin Word with the Doctrine of the Church.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "No such doctrine should, therefore, be advanced for the acceptance of the church with the claim that it is of Divine origin, Essence, and Authority, on its own recognizance". The position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER is that in the letter of the Third Testament the three degrees of the rational are in lasts together, and that the genuine natural rational draws out of it the Doctrine of the natural Church, the spiritual rational draws out of it the Doctrine of the spiritual Church, and the celestial rational draws out of it the Doctrine of the celestial Church. These discrete degrees of Doctrine cannot possibly be drawn out of the letter except in "a new understanding which is out of the Lord", A.C. 928. This is the actual genuine Doctrine of the Church, and the teaching of the Word is that it is "spiritual out of celestial origin", and that "the Lord is that Doctrine itself", A.C. 2496, 2497, 2510, 2516, 2533, 2859;

    A.E. 19; and innumerable other places. Nevertheless it has from the beginning been a fundamental principle • of our position, that the Doctrine may never be "advanced for the acceptance of the church

    
    

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    on its own recognizance", but that it must refer "exclusively to the literal sense of the Word itself ", First Fascicle, p. 121, cf. pp. 123—125 here above.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "No such doctrine should be delivered to the church with the requisition that it be accepted as proceeding from the Holy Spirit". It is a Divine truth of the Word that all

    genuine Doctrine in the Church is from the Holy Spirit; but never may the Doctrine "be delivered to the church with the requisition that it be accepted as proceeding from the Holy Spirit". Never has this been done by us, and DE HEMELSCHE LEER contains no single statement from which it could be concluded that we ever advocated such a disorderly thing.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "No such doctrine should be insisted upon on the ground that it 'proceeds from truth out of good with man'." Doctrine does not proceed from truth out of good with man. Such a statement as is here given in quotation-marks does not agree with our position. Doctrine is truth out of good, to quote: "Doctrine is out of spiritual good", A.C. 5997. This is simply a matter of fact, revealed in the Word; but on the other hand Doctrine should not be insisted upon 'on this ground. Never has this been done by us.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Every Doctrine will be received which is seen to be of and from the Word, unqualified by any other consideration". This is the exact position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER. Nothing more. A wealth of literal teaching has been brought forth from the Word to confirm the position. All this literal teaching seems to have made no impression upon our opponents; it has not been received and not accepted.

    
    

    The Bishop on the next page (275) continues: "By the doctrine of the church the advocates of the New Doctrine mean that which the Writings call the understanding of the Word, which is now presumed to be a purely spiritual understanding". That the understanding of the Word is the Doctrine of the Church is the literal teaching of the Word: "The White Horse is the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or what is the same, the internal sense of the Word", A.C. 2761; and: "The Doctrine of faith is the same as the understanding of the Word as to the interiors, or the internal sense", A.C. 2762. The Word

    
    

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    of the Third Testament contains the three discrete degrees of Doctrine, the natural Doctrine, the spiritual Doctrine, and the celestial Doctrine. The natural man with his natural understanding in that Word sees a natural Doctrine; the spiritual man with his spiritual understanding in that Word sees a spiritual Doctrine; and the celestial man with his celestial understanding in that Word sees a celestial Doctrine. These are abstract teachings of truth derived from the Word itself. Since the understanding of the Word is the internal sense, A.C. 2762, and the internal sense is the spiritual sense, A.C. 5247, it follows that such an understanding, if it is to be genuine, must be a spiritual understanding.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "But simply note that every understanding of the Word undergoes continual change, and is therefore not only mutable, but is sometimes unreliable". The genuine understanding of the Word, which is signified by the White Horse, A.C. 2761, and which is the Doctrine of faith, A.C. 2762, is from the Lord alone and thus Divine; it is indeed capable of a continued opening to more and more particulars and singulars, .but this does not make it not Divine, see above p. 161. The Heavens themselves are in a continual development and change of state, and yet "in Heaven everything is Divine", MEMORABILIA 5811. Man's own understanding, however, is not only sometimes but always unreliable; all and everything

    it brings forth is false. It seems as if in the Bishop's words the teaching of the Word on the difference between man's own understanding and the new understanding of the regenerate man, which is the Lord's, has not been taken into account.

    The Bishop adds: "In the present state, the members of the General Church will do well to hold to the belief that the Writings are the Word, indeed; but the need is to see that they are the Doctrine of the Church". We believe indeed that the ACADEMY and the GENERAL CHURCH owe their existence to a celestial perception of the truth that the Writings are the Word; but how seriously this truth is endangered at the present time, may be seen from the fact that there are already those who deny that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg refer to themselves in their teaching concerning the letter of the

    
    

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    Word. It was indeed according to order that when that celestial perception first was given, they could not yet see that the Writings of Swedenborg are the Divine Truth in lasts, that is, that they are a new letter of the Word; but this has now been changed entirely since the attention has now been concentrated upon their letter as being the Doctrine of the Church itself. The Doctrine of the Church, however, may not be identified with the Word. The teaching of the Word is: "He who does not know the arcana of Heaven … supposes that the Word in the letter or the literal sense of the Word is the Doctrine itself", A.C. 9424.

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "Every Word ever given to man was designed to be the doctrine of the church. And each successive Word has been increasingly doctrinal in form"; and further on

    the Bishop uses the expression "the Word of Doctrine". The idea evidently is that in the case of the Writings of Swedenborg, these being doctrinal in form more than the previous Testaments, there is so much the more reason to identify the Doctrine of the Church with the Word. But to anyone who reflects upon the laws involved it will appear that just the opposite is true. The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Revelation of the Rational of the Divine Human of the Lord. They have been given for the New Church which more than the previous Churches is to be a rational Church; more than to previous Churches the means have been given to the New Church to make interior Doctrine as from itself; and more heavily than upon previous Churches rests the responsibility upon the New Church for the Doctrine it has to make for itself. Even much less than in the previous Testaments is it possible in the case of the Third Testament to identify the Doctrine of the Church with the Word. So doctrinal and so rational in the very letter is the Third Testament, and so heavily veiled are there the spiritual and celestial degrees of 'truth, that this at first is difficult to see.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Unless we see the Writings as doctrine, and as the Doctrine of the Church, we shall come under some other doctrine and some other dominion". The Word of the Third Testament apart from Doctrine made by man, as from himself but from the Holy Spirit, is not understood. If the understanding is not a new under-

    
    

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    standing which is of the Lord alone, A.C. 928, man remains under the dominion of his proprium, and the Church comes under the dominion of men. Only if the understanding of the Latin Word is from the Holy Spirit, then the Church will be under the rule 'and government of the Lord.

    The Bishop adds: "Certainly, as we receive the Word of Doctrine, our understanding will, in accord with its quality, form doctrine thence, even the doctrine which will serve it as a light to guide. This is a God-given gift to man, and so a human necessity". Here the Bishop says that man's understanding forms the Doctrine which is the light man needs in reading the Word, and that the power to do this is a God-given gift to man and a human necessity. Does here not the difference between the Word and the Doctrine out of the Word plainly appear? And is it not admitted that man must form that Doctrine? But it seems that it is held that man can do this according to the quality of his own understanding. The teaching of the Word is that "if man thinks and speaks truth, it is out of a new understanding, which is out of a new will, and thus out of the Lord", A.C. 928. Are the truths of the Doctrine thus formed by man's understanding genuine truths, that is, are they Divine truths? If they are to be a light to guide, how can they be otherwise than Divine truths? Can there be any genuine light of truth which is not of the Lord alone, and thus Divine? Does it here not plainly appear that the argument which has been advanced against DE HEMELSCHE LEER, namely, that doctrine formed by man can never be Divine, since man is finite and all that is Divine is infinite, is based upon a misunderstanding and confusion of everything involved? Plainly the genuine doctrine man forms for himself out of the Word, which is to serve him as a light to guide, is Divine. In DE HEMELSCHE LEER it has been shown from the teaching of the Word what is the order of the coming into existence of such Doctrine. This order is described in the 12th, 20th, and 26th chapters of GENESIS. And the teaching is that such Doctrine is spiritual out of celestial origin, and that the rational in its coming into existence is not consulted. It is even literally taught that the Lord is that Doctrine itself. This teaching in its application to the order of the forming of genuine Doctrine

    
    

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    by man — the necessity of which is here admitted by the Bishop — is not accepted by oar opponents, cf. NEW CHURCH LIFE, p. 199; it is held that this teaching applies only to the Glorification of the Lord, The fact that man can for himself make genuine Doctrine out of the Word, which he needs as a guiding light to read the Word, is called a God-given gift to man, without any explanation of the laws of the human mind and of regeneration which must be involved. Can this necessity and responsibility to form Doctrine be laid upon an understanding the main characteristic of which is its unreliability, yea more, an understanding of which we know from revelation that with regard to spiritual things it is utterly blind? In reality, however, all the laws of the relation between man and God, in the Word are clearly described; and in the present case specifically the laws of order according to which the genuine natural rational, the spiritual rational, and the celestial rational with man come into existence, namely, in the 12th, 20th and 26th chapters of GENESIS. The teaching of these chapters, we believe, gives a clear explanation of that God given gift to man.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "This necessity brings with it the gravest of responsibilities, for in the formation of derived doctrine the mind of man may take a right or a wrong turning". It has been one of the main subjects of DE HEMELSCHE LEER to bring this responsibility into full light. And what is the right turning and what the wrong turning has been described in the light of the teaching of the Word in great detail. The wrong turning in the Word is described as to the three discrete degrees of truth in the thrice repeated story of a man being in the danger of taking a woman who is the wife of another. The right turning is described in his conquering in that temptation.

    — All Doctrine with man is derived Doctrine. Underived Doctrine with man cannot possibly exist. Underived Doctrine exists in the Lord alone. The Doctrine of the Church can never be otherwise than derived.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "The mind may turn and return to the revealed Word, in faithfulness, or it may turn in and upon itself, and there, in an endless cycle, become entangled with the vision of its own states; so much so as to mistake those states for the universe of truth". If by the turning

    
    

71. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    and returning of the mind to the revealed Word nothing else is meant but direct cognizance of the letter or knowledge taken-from the Word which is outside of the mind of man, then the Doctrine of the Church has not yet come into existence, for knowledge is not Doctrine but mere science.

    For we read: "Scientifics and doctrinal things are distinct from each other in this, that out of scientifics are doctrinal things", A.C. 3052. It is indeed true that everything which is involved in the Doctrine is plainly stated in the Word. But although it is plainly stated, none but the genuine natural rational can see there the natural Doctrine of the Church; none but the spiritual rational can see there the spiritual Doctrine of the Church; and none but the celestial rational can see there the celestial Doctrine of the Church. That a truth is plainly stated and that nevertheless man cannot see it, is a very common thing even in the realm of merely natural thought, as in the field of science and philosophy. How much more must this be the case in spiritual things; and especially with regard to the discrete degrees of the rational which in the letter of the Third Testament are all together. It is indeed "a cumbersome way", as Dr. Acton said, p. 168, which leads to the internal degrees of truth; for it is the way of regeneration, and by the fall the direct way has been closed. There is now no. other way and it involves that man, in wrestling through the natural, must die as to his own proprium, and that he must be born anew, and "receive a new proprium, that is; a new will, and a new understanding, from the Lord", A.C. 1438. The natural man cannot see the spiritual and the celestial truth, however plainly it is stated. It is indeed true that even an evil man can see the truth in the Word which he needs to be in the rational freedom of choice. But he never can see the complex of truth which forms the internal sense which is the Doctrine of the Church. Only the regenerate can see that, as is literally taught: "The internal sense, which is called glory, cannot be comprehended by man, unless he is regenerated and then enlightened", A.C. 8106. That the internal sense is the Doctrine of the Church is taught in the following places: "It should be known that the true Doctrine of the Church is what is here called the internal sense", A.C. 9025; and: "That the servant is the truth of the literal sense of the Word, is because by a servant in

    
    

72. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

    
    

    general are signified the inferior or exterior things, for these are of service to the higher or interior things. Thence by -a servant is signified the natural, for this is of service to the spiritual; consequently the scientific truth which is of the literal sense of the Word; for this is of service to

    the spiritual truth which is of the internal sense; the truth of the internal sense of the Word is the same with the genuine truth of the Doctrine of faith of the Church", A.C. 9034. It becomes plainly evident from this passage that knowledge from without is not the Doctrine; it is the mere "scientific truth which is of the literal sense"; it is the inferior or exterior, natural, truth which ought to be of service to the higher or interior, spiritual, truth. "All the scientific with man is natural, because it is in his natural man, even the scientific concerning spiritual and celestial things", A.C. 4967. It is the very essential characteristic of the New Church that out of its Word it may become truly Man in the fullest sense, a Man such as was the human race in the Golden Age, and even more. Its new understanding of its Word — which is the Third Testament — out of a new will out of the Lord, is described under the representation of the White Horse, A.C.

    2761, and its received and appropriated Doctrine out of that Word, born out of a new rational, is described under the representation of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven. Is it not plain that the intelligence of that Church cannot be said to be mere knowledge from without? "The more interiorly the thought goes, the more it removes itself from the scientifics. , . . From this it can be manifest that the scientifics are of service to man to form the understanding; but that when the understanding is formed, they then form an ultimate plane, in which man does no longer think, but above it", A.C. 5874. It is true indeed that all intelligence begins with knowledge from without, but the full intelligence is dependent on the opening of the discrete degrees of the rational, as it is described in the 12th, 20th, and 26th chapters of GENESIS. If man fulf ills 'the laws there described then his eye will be turned to the Lord and to His Kingdom alone. This is the only way he can be guarded against the danger of becoming "entangled with the vision of his own states".

    
    

    The Bishop continues: "The health of the mind is de-

    
    

73. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

    
    

    pendent upon its outlook, — its outward look to the Word of God as Doctrine, from whence it derives its knowledge of Divine things". All coming into existence of truth with man indeed must begin with the taking cognizance of the scientifics out of the letter of the Word. This truth is a fundamental principle of the position of DE HEMELSCHE LEER. But this is only the very first beginning. The essential health of the mind is dependent upon regeneration, by which alone genuine good and truth can be born and multiplied in the mind.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "Life inflows from within, and meets this knowledge, and then, and not till then, does the light break". DE HEMELSCHE LEER does not contain one statement contrary to the law that an influx from within alone can never bring truth to man. But in a mind where the influx from within meets nothing but knowledge from without, interior Doctrine cannot come into existence. The more man is regenerated the more the influx from within does not meet only knowledge from without, but cognitions and doctrinals which have already been formed.

    
    

    The Bishop adds: "This light of the mind can not be independent of the outer Word of Doctrine". All scientifics of truth must come out of the letter of the Word alone. For the Word is the one and only source of all truth. But the thinking of the mind in making Doctrine, though it is not independent of the letter, nevertheless is far above the scientifics out of the letter. This may be confirmed by the following quotations: "The more interiorly the thought goes, the more it removes itself from the scientifics. From this it can be manifest that the scientifics are of

    service to man to form the understanding, but that when the understanding is formed, they then

    form an ultimate .plane, in which man does no longer think, but above it", A.C. 5874. And: "The elevation which is here signified is from the scientifics to interior things; for when the scientifics have been infilled with truths, man is elevated from the scientifics to interior things; and then the scientifics are to him of service for the ultimate plane of his intuitions. To be elevated to interior things is to think interiorly, and at last as a spirit and as an Angel. For the more interiorly the thinking goes, the more perfect it is because closer to the influx of truth and good from the

    
    

74. A REPLY BY THE REVEREND ERNST PFEIFFER

Lord. That there is interior and exterior thinking, may be seen in n. 5127, 5141", A.C. 6007. And: "The more exterior is the apperception, the more obscure it is; for exterior things are generals respectively, for innumerable interior things in the exterior appear as one", A.C. 5141. Is it not plain that every scientific of the Latin Word so contains innumerable interior things?

And: "They who are in enlightenment are in the light of Heaven as to their internal man; for it is the light of Heaven which enlightens man in the truths and goods of faith. They who are so enlightened grasp the Word as to its interior things; for which reason they make Doctrine for themselves out of the Word, to which they apply the sense of the letter", A.C. 9382.

The remaining paragraphs of the Bishop's address as far as I can see do not contain any further points which have not yet been answered in this reply. We can only hope and pray the Lord that from the foregoing it has now become clear that our position, our motive, and our end, have been misunderstood, and that the charges made against us are unfounded. We solemnly declare our loyalty to the Word as the only source of Doctrine, and as the sole authority. We also declare our loyalty to the GENERAL CHURCH, knowing for sure that we have not made the attack upon it with which we have been charged.

We firmly believe in all sincerity with the full conviction of truth that the essential principles of the new position are confirmed on every page of the Third Testament. Our loyalty — and the Bishop will be the first to admit that above all must be to the Word of the Lord.

1. CONTENTS

   Leading Theses propounded in DE HEMELSCHE LEER 2

   The Understanding of the Word, by Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer 3

   Series and Degrees in the Latin Word, by Rev. Theodore Pitcairn 22

   To the Editor of BE HEMELSCHE LEER, by Rev. Prof. Dr. Alfred Acton 38

   From the Transactions of the Swedenborg Gezelschap. From the Minutes of the Meeting of May 7th~. 1932. Discussion of the Address by Bishop George de Charms, The Interior Understanding of the Writings, NEW CHURCH LIFE, November 1931.

   Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer 39

   Prof. Dr. Charles H. van 0s. 53

   Rev. Theodore Pitcairn 60

   N. J. Vellenga 67

   J. P. Verstraate 71

   H. D. G. Groeneveld 76

   That the Lord Alone is Heaven, by Rev. Theodore Pitcairn. 81

   Plain Statements of Doctrine, by Rev. Albert Bjorck 87

   The Lord's Own with Man, by Rev. Theodore Pitcairn. 103

   Matthew XXIII : 37—39, by H. D. G. Groeneveld 109 Jacob and Rachel, by Rev. Theodore Pitcairn 116

   The Annual Council Meetings 1933. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS. A Reply by Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer 123

   
   

2. DE HEMELSCHE LEER

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