¦1 ..**

1 i

K52.

FROM THE LIBRARY

OF

JOHN WHITEHEAD
1850-1930
PRESENTED TO
BY HIS HEIRS

\

j4-<Ljt£.

^j

Wesley and Swedenborg.

FRATEKNAL APPEAL

METHODIST MINISTERS, INVITING THEM TO CONSIDER THE
RELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHURCH,

By E. R. KEYES,
PASTOR OF THE FIRST NEW-OHUKCH SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA.

PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1872.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
J. B. UPPJNCOTT & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congresa, at Washington.

Lippincott's Press,
philadelphia.

TO THE READEE.

In soliciting the attention of the Methodist ministry to
the relations of Methodism to the New Church, I but fulfill
what seems to me a duty which I owe to my former com
panions in Christian labor. During the three years which
have elapsed since I severed my ecclesiastical connexion
with Methodism, I have experienced so sensibly the advan
tages which may be derived from the study of that remark
able system of Christian doctrine and spiritual philosophy,
first given to the world in the writings of Emanuel Sweden
borg, that I can do no less than commend this system to all
whose candid attention I can secure. I cherish, too, a pecu
liar regard for the ministry and members of the Methodist
Church. It was in no spirit of unkindness that I withdrew
from their fellowship, but rather with deep regret that, with
my new views of Christian doctrine, I could not consistently
remain "with them. I still hold them, therefore, in grateful
remembrance; and shall ever deem myself a debtor to
Methodism for unspeakable spiritual benefits, as well as for
many genial and generous friends. I know of no more

4 TO THE READER.
suitable way of recognizing these obligations, than to direct
my former associates, if I can, to that precious heritage of
spiritual truth which is found in the writings of the New
Church. The present, moreover, seems a fitting time for such an
eflTort. Methodism is entering upon a new era. Hitherto
the great problems of theology have caused comparatively
little agitation and division within her borders. But the
spirit of free inquiry is rapidly pervading the ranks both of
her ministry and laity; and her beliefs are undergoing a
searching re-examination. Whatever else may result, Meth
odism " cannot become an apostle of the dead past." If, as
Neander says, " we stand on the line between the old world
and a new, about to be called into being by the ever fresh
energy of the Gospel," Methodism will be false to her tra
ditions as a progressive power, and lose her grandest oppor
tunity, if she does not identify herself with the "new world"
of religious thought which is emerging into existence.
E. R. K.
1333 Girard Avenue,
Philadelphia, April 20, 1872.

Wesley and Swedenborg.

ABOUT the middle of the last century the condition of
the Christian world had become such as to excite
alarm in the minds of all intelligent and serious observers.
For a hundred years previous, the school of English Deists
had been waging effectual warfare against the organized
Christianity of the day. Lord Herbert of Cherbury had
written upon the universal religion, or the religion of nature,
and argued its sufiiciency without the Christian revelation.
Thomas Hobbes had sought to resolve religion into a mere
conventional institution, a vested interest of the state. The
Earl of Shaftesbury, though more moderate in his tone, and
respectful toward religion, yet declared his dissent from the
dogmatic Christianity of the times, and was ranked by
churchmen as an enemy of the true faith. Collins asserted
in an able treatise the right of free thinking. Woolston alle
gorized the miracles of the New Testament, and aimed to
undermine the foundations of Christianity. Tindall, Chubb,
Hume and Lord Bolingbroke carried on the relentless
assault against the shattered and trembling fabric of the
traditional theology, and congratulated themselves that the
victory was almost won. On the continent, Voltaire and the
French infidels generally waxed bold and insolent toward
an effete and impotent church ; and in Germany Semler and
Bardht were laying the foundations of the modern system of
Rationalism.

b WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
In the midst of this hostile activity, the Church, though
not wholly idle, was well-nigh powerless. A few trained
and earnest minds maintained her cause, but made no deci
sive impression on the public mind. Even their own testir
mony is conclusive on this point. Watts declared that there
was " a general decay of vital religion in the hearts and lives
of men." Archbishop Seeker says: "Christianity is ridi
culed and railed at with very little reserve, and the teachers
of it without any at all." Bishop Burnett laments, " with
deepest concern," the "imminent ruin hanging over the
Church ;" and Bishop Warburton testifies that " the divine
lyre is almost silenced." Thus the enemies and the friends
of Christianity alike bear witness to the deplorable state into
which it had fallen, and the prospect of its speedy extinction
unless Providence should interpose in its behalf.
At this crisis two remarkable men made their appearance
in Europe; one in England, the other on the continent.
Their names were John Wesley and Emanuel Swedenborg.
Both were sons of eminent clergymen, and very respectably
connected. Both were reared in the bosom of the State
Church in their respective countries, and were thoroughly^
educated. Both were religiously disposed in early life.
Both were accomplished and model gentlemen of the old
regime. Both were men of great mental power and physical
endurance, and enjoyed almost perfect health until ex-treme
old age. Their labors, though diverse, were intimately
related and complementary. Swedenborg was born in 1688,
and died in 1772. Wesley was born in 1703, and died in
1791. They were, therefore, contemporaries in active labor
for about half a century. Both alike appeared for the res
cue and maintenance of the Christian religion. Both were
ready and voluminous writers, and were well versed in the

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 7
literature of ancient as well as modern times. But there
were also marked differences between them. In genius and
temper they were quite unlike. Wesley was severe and
ascetic in his spirit; Swedenborg was free and generous.
Wesley was narrow and intense in his views and feelings ;
Swedenborg wasbroad and discursive in his mental activity.
Wesley was a man of one work, and that work he did
thoroughly and weU; Swedenborg was a man of varied
studies and occupations, and a master in them all. Wesley
devoted his whole life to the work of converting and caring
for the souls of men ; Swedenborg gave the first half of his
active life to public duties in the service of the government
of Sweden, and to scientific, philosophical, and literary
studies, and the latter half to biblical and spiritual investi
gations. In Wesley's mind " there was nothing of the philo
sophic quality," but instead of it a thorough earnestness of pur
pose and an intuitive perception of right practical measures,
which fitted him to " lead and command " men ; Swedenborg
was philosophical, ruminative, and deeply spiritual, but not
adapted to the mastery of men, nor capable of entering into
the excitement and rivalry of political life. Wesley was
highly susceptible to spiritual influences, but lacked the
power to comprehend rightly the strange phenomena, the
wonderful psychical manifestations, that came under his
notice*; Swedenborg was still more open to spiritual influ
ences, and had the self-poise and deep philosophical and
spiritual insight that enabled him to understand spiritual
phenomena and ascertain their laws. Wesley's sphere of
labor was chiefly among the ignorant and poor, over whom
he exercised a beneficent and almost absolute control ; while
Swedenborg's associations were among the influential classes.
Wesley was an evangelist of the Church of England ; and

8 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
Swedenborg professed to be the Lord's servant for the work
of revealing the spiritual sense of the Word, and the grand
realities of the spiritual world. Wesley preached and
wrote for his own times; hence his writings are rapidly
passing out of public notice, and ceasing to be relished even
by those who bear his name : Swedenborg- was very imper
fectly known and appreciated by his contemporaries, and
wrote, not for them, but for the Church in all future ages ; ¦
hence his writings are but slowly coming to the notice of the
public, and are read only by the prepared and thoughtful
few. They will yet command the attention they deserve.
But these remarkable men, though contemporaries and
spending much of their time in London, never met in this
world. Wesley was partially acquainted with Swedenborg's
peculiar views, and wrote a lengthy review of his system.
He utterly failed, however, to grasp the system in its com
pleteness and symmetry, and hence misconceived and per
verted its several parts. What the result might have been had
these two men met and become acquainted with each other,
it is impossible to know, and useless to surmise. We have
proof, however, that they mutually desired a meeting. To
ward the end of February, 1772, both being then in London,
Swedenborg addressed a note to Wesley, stating that he had
been informed in the spiritual world that he (Wesley) had
" a strong desire to converse with him ;" and added that he
should be happy to see him, if he would favor him with a
visit. Wesley frankly admitted to those who were with him
at the time, that he had been strongly impressed with a
desire to see and converse with Swedenborg, but had not
mentioned the desire to any one. He wrote in reply that he
was about to start on a six months' journey, but would wait
upon Swedenborg on his return. The latter answered, that

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 9
the proposed visit would be too late, as he should depart to
the spiritual world on the 29th day of the next month, never
to return. He died on the day designated ; and the inter
view never took place on earth. It was wisely ordered,
doubtless, that they should not meet. Each had his appro
priate work to do ; and it was well that each was left to ful
fill his providential mission, uninfluenced by the other.
Wesley's work, like Swedenborg's, was of momentous im
portance ; and the exigencies of the Church and the world
required that it should be performed as preliminary to that
deeper and wider movement which Swedenborg came to
announce. The mission of Wesley was to revive the dying embers of
spiritual life in the Christian world. His genius and studies
did not fit him for reconstructing its theology. He did not
attempt this. He accepted the theology of the Anglican
Church in its essential features ; and putting it into its sim
plest form, sought to impregnate it with divine life, and
bring it to bear on a corrupt and skeptical age. He
preached with authority and power as a -messenger sent of
God. He aimed to awaken men to repentance and newness
of life. It was not in his thought to propound a new scheme
of divinity, or to build up a new ecclesiastical organization.
His societies were simple associations within the fold of the
Established Church, designed to supplement its work. The
control of these societies naturally fell into Mr. Wesley's
hands ; and he accepted this responsibility as a trust com
mitted to him by the Lord. He did not seek power for its
own sake, Or for any selfish ends.
Dismissing Mr. Wesley, let us now take a survey of the
great religious movement which, in connection with Whit
field, he was instrumental in inauguratmg.

10 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
1. One of its most distinctive elements was the spiritual
power which it infused into the old, familiar doctrines of
religion. No new dogma 'was proclaimed ; but the accepted
Protestant faith, unchanged in verbal statement, seemed all
at once to become big with a new and glorious meaning.
Doctrines long dead and powerless, falling now from the lips
of earnest men, smote upon the hearts of the hearers with
resistless force, as if launched by the hand of the Almighty.
The preacher might be learned, or he might be illiterate ; it
mattered not which ; it was not so much the man, as his
message, that was regarded ; not so much the audible voice,
as the internal, silent power of the divine Spirit that clinched
conviction upon the soul. Men were brought face to face
with God, and all mere moral and prudential motives were
swallowed up in the all-absorbing thought that God's eye
was upon them, and that they must commend themselves to
Him. They had always heard and believed that God was
love; that He was angry with the wicked; that Christ
suffered and died to reconcile his Father to us ; that sinners
might be forgiven through faith in his blood; that being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ ; and that the wrath of God will abide forever
on all who refuse to obey the Gospel. And yet none seemed
to have any conception of the proper force of these decla
rations. These were common-place doctrines which passed
with the mass of nominal Christians unquestioned, and at the
same time unheeded. It was given to the preachers of
Methodism to discern in these statements something^ore
than theological dogmas. For them they contained living
truths, matters of inward personal experience, and were the
very voice of God. Hence it seemed as if a new Gospel had
suddenly burst upon the world. Christ was preached with

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 11
awful authority and power, as a present, loving and almighty
Saviour. He was held up to the gaze of sinners as a being
full of the tenderest human sympathies, and yet as compre
hending in himself all the fullness of the eternal Divinity.
The results that often attended this kind of preaching were
indescribable. They must be experienced in order to be
understood. The essential glories of the day of Pentecost
were frequently repeated, perhaps surpassed.
Among the peculiar experiences which gave to Methodism
this wonderful spiritual power, we may instance the sense of
sin, the assurance of pardon, peace of mind, a spirit of entire
consecration, and the consciousness of union with God in
Christ. These experiences often assumed great distinctness
and vividness. Sin was felt to be an infringement of the
personal majesty of Jehovah, and deserving of his sternest
visitations. The sense of guilt was overpowering. Souls
writhed under it in agony, as if already tossing on the lake
of fire. They felt themselves to be in the hands of an angry
God, and that resistance to his will was utterly hopeless.
They caught with passionate eagerness, therefore, at the idea
of salvation through an almighty and loving Saviour, who had
satisfied the justice of God by his own sufferings and death.
Him they could trust ; and trusting in him, they felt that they
were safe. Yielding themselves up to him in a solemn cove
nant of repentance and obedience, they felt that the love of
God was shed abroad in their hearts, and that the dark
burden of their guilt was all taken away. The moment
of this experience was one of unutterable joy, as when one is
released from sentence of death. Humble, loving gratitude
possessed the soul ; and peace, calm, deep, and measureless,
succeeded to agonizmg fear and repentance. The duty of
an entire consecration of their service to the Lord, was then

12 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
cordially recognized, and undertaken in reliance upon di"vine
help. They felt, too, that a new and infinite source of
strength was opened up within them. They were in con
scious union with God. Divine power seemed to pervade
their souls. They were "strengthened with might by the
Holy Spirit in the inward man."
The preachers of Methodism, possessed of these elements
of spiritual power, gave to the words of Jesus and the dog
mas of theology a significance and eflScacy unprecedented
since the days of the apostles. All classes of society, but
mainly the middle and lower classes at first, hung upon their
lips with wrapt attention, and were swayed by them as a
forest before the wind. Serious theological errors were often
inculcated; but the practical effect of these was generally
neutralized by the sincere and earnest spirit of both preachers
and people, and the many vital truths which they received
and obeyed. Especially were they mighty in the Scriptures,
often wielding particular texts and historical facts with great
skill and resistless power.
2. Another distinctive element in Methodism was the im
portance it attached to a good life. Its doctrine of salvation
by faith only, might in logical strictness have been made an
apology for neglecting the divine precepts ; but practically
the doctrine was not and could not be so interpreted by any
sincere Methodist. Obedience to the truth of God as taught
in the Holy Scriptures was insisted upon quite as strongly
as faith itself; and faith was declared to be dead and worth
less unless expressed and evidenced in good works. Men
were exhorted to repent and do works meet for repentance.
They were also exhorted to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and were charged, on peril of nullifying their faith
and incurring eternal damnation, to keep his command-

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 13
ments. Hence they were accused by their Calvinistic oppo
nents of teaching salvation by the merit of works. This
accusation was met by the retort, that Calvinism teaches
salvation by faith only, and thus abrogates the divine law
as a rule of conduct. In truth, neither party was actually
guUty of the charge made by its adversary. Both alike
were careful to obey the divine precepts; and both alike
rejected the idea of merit in such obedience. Both acknow
ledged that, in men, all good and all power to do good is
of and from God ; and that merit is impossible to any crea
ture. The preachers of Methodism were especially earnest
in enforcing repentance, restitution, and external as well as
internal holiness of life. This was often carried to the verge
of asceticism ; but sinners were never left in doubt as to the
absolute importance of renouncing every evil way — in desire
and thought as well as in outward act — if they would be
saved. This inexorable requirement was a word of power.
Its perfect justice was obvious to all. It carried with it also
the implication of a promise that both the love and justice
of God would guarantee the well-being of all who submitted
to its claims.
Closely allied to this element of Methodism, if not sub
stantially identical with it, was its conception of religion as
consisting not in outward rites and ecclesiastical arrange
ments, but in love to God and man. Wesley says : " Meth
odism, so called, is the old religion, the religion of the Bible,
the religion of the primitive Church, the religion of the
Church of England. This old religion is no other than
love, the love of God and of all mankind. . . . Those who
hold it are not bigoted to opinions ; they would hold right
opinions; but they are peculiarly cautious not to rest the
weight of Christianity there." This noble. Christian utter-
2

14 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
ance finds a fitting response in the words of Swedenborg :
" If the members of the Church had made love to the Lord
and charity toward their neighbor the principal point of
faith, doctrinals would then be merely varieties of opinion
concerning the mysteries of faith, which they who are true
Christians would leave to every one to receive according to
his conscience ; while the language of their hearts would be.
He is a true Christian who lives as a Christian, that is, as
the Lord teaches." {Arcana Ccelestia, 1799.) It is due to
Methodism to say, that sentiments such as these have gen
erally met with a cordial response both from her ministers
and people. Bishop Janes says : " It is one of the advan
tages and beauties of the Methodist Episcopal Church, that
there is nothing in her religious faith or education or
polity that embarrasses our fellowship with all who love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. We can commune with
them, work with them, and rejoice with them, just as far as
their catholicity will admit." (^Methodist Quarterly Review,
July, 1869.)
I will not now press the inquiry, " How far has Method
ism remained true to these lofty principles?" or, "Is she
now ready to fellowship ' all who love our Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity?'" I wish only to call attention to the fact
that, according to the testimony of some of her highest
authorities, as well as according to the teachings of one
whom they have been accustomed to regard as far removed
from the true faith, religion, the religion of Christ, the
religion that saves men, consists in love to God, evidenced
by love to man and a life of genuine, practical piety.
Where these elements exist, one is acknowledged to be in a
state of salvation, be his speculative opinions on theological
subjects what they may.

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 15
3. The third distinctive element in Methodism was its Spirit
of Christian philanthropy. It was a message of " good will
to men." Sinners of every grade, every condition in Ufe,
every nationality, were the subjects of its earnest concern.
The true Methodist, whether minister or layman, beUeved
in the priceless value of every human soul ; and felt that no
effort was too costly which might be required to save a soul
from the horrors of the " second death." But there was a
further and perhaps stronger motive which prompted him
to labor for the salvation of his fellow-men. He looked
upon them as the purchase of the Redeemer's blood. They
were regarded as infinitely dear to Him who endured un
utterable agonies, and yielded up his life to rescue them
from hell. In proportion, therefore, as one was inspired
with love to Chris;t, would he desire and seek the salva
tion of those for whom Christ had died. Every sinner
converted was a trophy to be laid at the feet of Jesus, a
star to be set in his diadem ; and no service was believed
to be so acceptable to him as this. Love to Christ and love
to men, became thus to every earnest Methodist an imper
ative warrant for efforts to save souls from death. He
was on fire with consuming zeal ; he was ready to en
counter perils of the way, perils from the elements,
perils from pestUence, perils from hunger and thirst,
perils from raging mobs, and perils from hostile civil and
ecclesiastical powers, in the fulfillment of his high com
mission. Indeed, he delighted to plant the standard of the
Gospel in advanced and exposed positions. He was most
at home on the skirmish line, or on the red front of battle,
face to face with the full strength of the enemy. Method
ism was thus made emphatically a missionary movement.
Like her Lord, she " came, not to call the righteous, but

16 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
sinners to repentance." She was ever pushing into the
regions beyond, where christianizing agencies had never
before penetrated ; and her itinerants were generally the first
ministers of the Gospel that made their appearance in the
frontier settlements on this continent. But nominal Chris
tendom was too limited a field for her enterprise. Her
eager gaze was early fixed on the heathen world. She
coveted these vast possessions for her divine Master ; and so
soon as her resources of men and money would warrant the
undertaking, her missionaries were sent abroad into foreign
fields to tell the story of the Incarnation and the Cross.
Indeed, all existing religious bodies in Europe and in this
country caught inspiration from her enthusiasm, and en
gaged heartUy in practical Christian effort. Bible, Tract,
Sunday-school and Missionary societies sprang into exist
ence, as if the creative effluence from God were going forth
among men. It was an era of great moral and social
changes of the most beneficent character ; and the student
of history who desires to arrive at a true understanding of
the remarkable events which characterized the last half of
the 18th century must make himself famiUar with the rise
and progress of Methodism.
I am aware that the statement here given of the elements
of spiritual power in Methodism, is meagre and imperfect ;
but it is all that my present limits wUl allow. Enough has
been said, however, to show that the Methodist movement
was one of no ordinary character. It evidently marks a new
era in the religious history of the world. It was not a mere
continuation of the Reformation : it was a new Reformation,
sustaining, doubtless, an intimate relation to that inaugurated
by Luther, but differing from it most essentially. Without
Luther's work, Wesley's would have been impossible ; and

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 17
without Wesley's work, Luther's was incomplete, and must
have come to naught. Luther broke the spiritual despotism
of Rome, and exemplified the right of free thought and
private judgment. He restored the Bible to the people, and
taught men how to find access to God without the offices of
the church or priest. His work was mainly theological and
ecclesiastical. The conflict in which he engaged, and in
which he was so successful, was a war of opinions and prin
ciples relating to the externals of the church. Wesley, on
the other hand, concerned himself very little with questions
of this nature. Holding them to be of secondary import
ance, he sought to restore the vital spirit of Christianity.
It was not enough for him that the church was sound in
doctrine, apostolic in its order, and comely in outward form,
while she was yet powerless, cold and dead. He desired to
see her filled with the life and warmth of divine love, active
with holy energy, and beaming with celestial grace. This
was the Reformation which he labored to accomplish, and
lived to see advancing with great power.
But the relations of Methodism are not wholly with the
Reformation, or any past order of events. In the words of
Isaac Taylor :
" Every event, or course of events, that may deserve to be
spoken of as an epoch in religious history, must stand related
to the future as well as to the past. Methodism, the coherent
dependence of which upon the Reformation may be traced,
"wUl, no doubt, be seen also to reappear among those greater
religious movements which are destined next to agitate the
social system. An attempt to predict distinctly those future
movements ought to be reprehended as presumptuous.
Nevertheless, it may be warrantable to pursue an analogy
thus far ; that is to say, while considering the relations of

18 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
Methodism to the Reformation, to consider also, what it is
to which Methodism may have been the proper preliminary,
or to what order of events, yet future, it may seem to point."
— Wesley and Methodism, p. 22.
Methodism is not a finality. It is a great power for good ;
but none "will claim for it perfection, either as a life, a doc
trine or an organization. Its achievements in multiplying
converts, instituting evangelizing and educational agencies,
building church edifices, and providing all the externals of
religion, have been marvelous beyond all precedent in
ancient or modern times; but it has ever been ready to
acknowledge its defects, and to change its -instrumentalities
when new exigencies have arisen. Its spirit is essentially
progressive; and we detract nothing from its true glory
when we speak of it as a preparative and prophecy of better
things to come. The Methodism of the present must pass
away ; but its dissolution wUl be the birth-struggle of a new
and higher Methodism. From "within the vanishing forms
of the old economy there "will burst forth a fuller manifesta
tion of divine light and life. Christianity has never yet dis
played its full power. Its divine beauty has been marred
by the errors and imperfections of men. It has gained in
Methodism its highest known development as a spiritual
power; but all admit that it has not yet reached the mil
lennial day which the Word of God foretells. Shall it be
deemed improbable, however, that Methodism is the imme
diate precursor of that day? May it not be the first phase
of that final and crowning dispensation of divine truth, on
which the hope of the Church has been so long and so
earnestly fixed ?
In suggestmg now the intimate relationship of Methodism
to the New Church foretold in the Apocalypse, I am aware

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG. 19
that I bring into association names and systems which have
generally been regarded as sustaining to each other no pos
sible relation except that of utter antagonism. I encounter
at once the honest prejudices of good men, who look upon
the professed adherents of the New Church as enemies of
evangeUcal religion. I know how difiicult is my task in
attempting even to get the ear of those to whom these words
are addressed. I am impressed with the conviction, never
theless, that some tentative efforts ought to be made toward
securing a better understanding between the adherents of
the New Church and the supporters of the prevalent organ
ized Christianity. It is evident that the efforts of good men
on both sides are, at present, mutually hindered by mutual
misapprehension. Some zealous New Churchmen have ex
cited against themselves and their cause a determined hos
tility, by identifying the New Church with a certain new
ecclesiastical organization, thus denying to all other religious
bodies any claim to a living and valid Christianity ; while
the defenders of the so-called evangelical faith have, in turn,
refused to New Churchmen both ecclesiastical and Christian
fellowship. But there can be no excuse for the further per
petuation of these mutual mistakes and recriminations.
Bigotry and uncharitableness stand rebuked by the genius
of Christianity and the spirit of the new Age ; and it will
not be for lack of opportunities to know each other better, if
the parties to the issue in question continue in a state of
antagonism. I come now to the consideration of that religious Move
ment to which Methodism may be regarded as " the proper
preliminary." I have already intimated that this Movement, greater and

20 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
wider than Methodism itself, is the establishment of a New
Church among men. Methodism may be viewed, moreover,
either as preliminary to this movement, or as the first phase
of the movement itself. Viewed historically, or in its
ecclesiastical developements, it should be held as preliminary
to what is known as the external New Church ; while, viewed
in its origin and most vital elements, it is but the first phase
of New Church life in the world, and therefore an essential
part of the New Church itself.
"WHAT IS THE NEW CHUECH?
In endeavoring to unfold what is meant by the New
Church, it will be necessary to do it in such a way as to
exhibit its proper relations to Methodism. I must give,
therefore, something more than a mere definition of it. I
must speak of its origin and the process of its formation, as
well as of its outward historical developments. I shall
assume, too, the truth of what Swedenborg has told us con
cerning the economy of the spiritual world, at the same time
only asking of those who discredit his claims, that they will
accept his statements as provisional hypotheses merely,
whose value is to be tested, like the theories of science, by
the manner in which they enable us to explain and har
monize the facts with which we have to deal.
There have been several churches or dispensations dur
ing the history of our race, each of which has been dis
tinguished from the others by something peculiar in its
genius and its degree of spiritual life. The men of the
Adamic or Most Ancient Church were in a state of true
order, and offered no resistance, therefore, to the divine in
flux of love and wisdom. They had a clear perception
of the good and the true. Love to God was the ruling

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 21
principle of their life ; and, like the instinct of the animal
creation, led them with unerring certainty to the know
ledge of divine truth. They were in childlike innocence
and simplicity, and were willing to be led by the Lord. But
in process of time, they began to decline from this celestial
state. They asserted their own self-hood, and fell to reason
ing about matters of opinion and faith. Instead of receiv
ing truth from the Lord by open revelation, they sought to
discover and establish it by their own understanding. The
result was a " flood" of evils and falsities, which swept away
the Most Ancient Church. This was succeeded by the
Noetic or Ancient Church, to which an external or written
revelation was given, by means of which men might be
taught what was true, and so be led to a life of charity.
The men of this church, though principled in a lower degree
of spiritual Ufe than the men of the Most Ancient Church,
were yet in the exercise of spiritual perception to such an
extent that they were able to discern clearly the correspond
ence between things natural and things spiritual, and also to
understand the Revelation which was given them in sym
bolical or correspondential language. But the decline went
on. The "fall" was not yet complete. The men of the
Ancient Church, from being spiritual, became natural.
They ceased at last to discern spiritual truth and to be led
by it ; and became immersed in the lusts and errors of the
natui-al mind. The Revelation which God had given, be
came unintelligible to them; and was superseded by the
Hebrew Scriptures.
Thus the Noetic, or spiritual church passed away, and
the Jewish Church was established. This was a purely ex
ternal Church, or, more properly, the representative of a
church, there being in it nothing of genuine spiritual Ufe.

22 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
Its rites and ceremonials when properly observed, however,
served as forms into which a measure of divine influence
could flow, and preserve men in a kind of external morality
and sanctity. But even these forms came at length to be
neglected or desecrated. The Sacred Scriptures as well as
the rites and ceremonies of religion, were practically violated
and trampled under foot by the Jewish people. Humanity
sounded the lowest depths of its degradation, and must have
perished but for the advent of the Lord. By his incarna
tion, glorification and work of redemption. He checked the
downward tendencies of the race, provided for its return to
the heights from which it had fallen, and instituted a new
church on earth as a means to this end. This church was
based upon the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Son of God, and upon a life of obedience to his com
mandments. But no scheme of doctrine, rationally un
folded, was propounded to the first adherents of the Chris
tian church. They were not prepared to receive it. To
them Christianity was more a system of facts, than of
doctrines ; mdre an outward form concealing mysteries, than
a scheme of rational truth. But efforts were soon made
to evolve a system of doctrine from the facts of Christianity.
The result was what might have been expected. A pesti
lent brood of mutually hostile sects and creeds sprung into
existence ; spiritual life was destroyed ; and about the middle
of the last century, according to the testimony of the
writers of that period, Christianity was on the verge of utter
extinction. The New Church, described in the Apocalypse, and now
descending out of heaven from God, was then inaugurated.
This involved, as indeed did the institution of the Noetic and
Christian Churches, a general judgment in the spiritual

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 23
world. During the Christian dispensation, which came to a
close about the middle of the 18th century, those who lived
in well-defined states of good or evil, passed, at death, into
the world of spirits, and thence, after suitable preparation,
into heaven or hell — the good, into the Christian heaven,
and the evil into the corresponding hell. But there were
many who were in a mixed spiritual condition, some being
inwardly evil, but outwardly religious ; and others inwardly
good, but immersed in ignorance, or in false beliefs. These
classes formed themselves into imaginary heavens in the
world of spirits, and accumulated there in immense numbers,
so that the influx of divine love and wisdom, in its descent
through these heavens into the minds of men on earth, was
perverted and changed into evils and falsities. Those who
were inwardly good, but grossly ignorant or mistaken,
remained in their imaginary heaven till they were properly
purified from their ignorance and errors, and were then
received among the angels. But those who, while on earth,
had been inwardly evil, though outwardly moral and re
ligious, remained in this imaginary heaven from age to age,
and became more and more confirmed in their evil states.
They were organized into vast civil and ecclesiastical com
munities, similar to those in which they had lived while on
earth, and by their perpetual influx into the minds of men,
helped to perpetuate all the errors and evils which existed
in nations and churches in this world. They were inspired
from the hells with which they were in close alliance ; and
were encroaching more and more on the ultimate, or lowest
sphere of the Christian heaven. This state of things could
not long continue. The order and peace of the heavens, as
well as the safety of the Church, demanded that this vast
and powerful combination of spirits should be broken up.

24 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
A judgment was therefore executed upon them, not forensic
ally, or after the forms of earthly tribunals, but by a clearei
manifestation of divine truth among the angels, and, througl
them, among the imaginary heavens. The latter beinj
unwilling and unable to receive the truth, or to bear th(
flood of light which was poured upon them, were speedily
dissolved, just as associations of "wicked men here are broker
up by the truth which a free press flashes upon them from
day to day. This illusory heaven thus " departed as a scroll
when it is rolled together ; and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places." Its inhabitants, stripped
of all disguises, and revealed in their inherent vUeness and
deformity, sought refuge from the blaze of divine truth amid
the darkness of hell. The Christian heaven being freed from
their infestations, was elevated into a clearer perception of
divine truth. It was constituted a " new heaven," and fitted
to become the medium through which divine iufluenceg
might flow down into the minds of men, and inaugm-ate a
new state of religion in the world.
This latest general judgment, resulting in the formatior
of a " new heaven and a new earth," or in the Uluminatioii
of the Christian heaven by clearer displays of divine truth
and the institution of a New Church on earth, is also th(
last general judgment. Owing to the fullness and rapic
diffusion of rational and spiritual light among men on eartl
and in the world of spirits as well as in the heavens, botl
men and spirits are more easily judged and classified thai
formerly ; so that now none remaio in the intermediate work
more than twenty or thirty years, and few so long as this
before they pass on to their final abode in heaven or heU
It is impossible, therefore, for the spirits of men to accumu
late in large numbers in that world, or to form powerfii

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 25
combinations for evU purposes. Hence it is that evil combi
nations and corrupt institutions in this world, having no firm
spiritual basis to rest upon, no enduring alliance with kin
dred spiritual organizations in the world of spirits, have,
during the last hundred years, been growing less and less
stable, and been dissolved with far greater ease and rapidity
than in previous centuries.
According to the testimony of Swedenborg, who claims to
have witnessed through open spiritual vision the processes
of the last general judgment, this event occurred ui 1757.
But every such event is preceded by a work of visitation
and exploration. It is no arbitrary, forced and violent
procedure. It is brought about in accordance with the
laws of man's spiritual being. We must presume, there
fore, that the preliminary processes of this event began
some years previous to the' grand consummation. While
the imaginary heavens were yet exulting in their fancied
strength, and threatening more and more boldly the peace
of the angels, reactionary movements were initiated by the
Lord among the latter, and preparations were made for the
overthrow of their enemies. These activities . in heaven, at
first comparatively feeble, and ultimated in efforts isolated and
but partially successful among men, gradually increased in
energy and scope, till the angelic hosts were all astir as if
for some mighty enterprise, and .strange tremblings and
premonitions began to run through the whole imagkiary
heaven*. In other words the simple faith of the apostolic
* In support of the view here advanced concerning an " imagin
ary heaven," I beg leave to call the attention of the reader to the
follo"wing : " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Luke x.
18. "And there "was "war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels, and pre-
3

26 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
church, the faith in which the martyrs died, the faith on
which the Christian heaven was founded, namely, the
acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of
God and the Saviour of men, and the necessity of obedience
to his teachings in order to salvation, was proclaimed with
great clearness and authority throughout the world of
spirits. Those who were not in a state to receive these
truths, fled to their infernal abodes ; while those who were
prepared to welcome this Gospel, were received among the
angels. The result of this dispersion of .the imaginary heavens,
vailed not ; neither was their place found any more in heaven."
Kev. xii. 7, 8. Mr. "Wesley seems to regard the " heaven" men
tioned in this latter passage, as the proper angelic heaven ; and
speaking of the " dragon," he remarks that " his ordinary abode
was in heaven." If heaven were a material world, possibly the
"dragon"' might occasionally be found there — I k^ow not; but that
heaven should be the " ordinary abode" of " that old serpent, called
the Devil and Satan," seems very questionable. Besides, the Scrip
tures inform us that a place of very different character is " prepared
for the devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 41. Heaven is a spiritual
world, where only those can dwell who are in holy states of life ;
hence the " dragon,'' constituted of spirits who were evil and in false
beliefs, though externally moral and religious, could not have been
in the true angelic heaven. He was in an " imaginary heaven,"
organized by himself in the world of spirits. In the process of
judgment he was first cast down from this "heaven" into the
" earth," i. e., into the lower parts of that world. Subsequently an
angel came down from heaven (not from the "heaven" of the
" dragon," surely), and cast him into the " bottomless pit," or hell.
The passage from Luke describes a similar scene which took place
during the judgment which the Lord executed in the world of spirits
while he was on earth. Satan never gains a lodgment in heaven —
the home of the angels.; and within its confines " war" is unknown.

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 27
has been the gradual clarification of the spiritual atmo
sphere of this world, and the progressive emancipation of
human thought from the trammels of custom and authority,
not only in the concerns of religion, but also in matters of
government, philosophy, literature and science. The super
incumbent mass of false and evil spirits which had for ages
rested on the mind of the world, being removed, the thought
of the race, obedient to immanent divine impulses, re
bounded from its state of stupor and feebleness into an
amazing vigor of life. Men began at once to inquire into
the significance and value of hoary customs and incompre
hensible dogmas, and to demand a reason for the faith to
which their assent was required. This was a step in advance
of Luther's work. He proclaimed freedom of thought;
but failed to see that its inevitable correlative is the ration
ality of faith. The new dispensation now in progress
demands the recognition of both these principles. Method
ism, as the first phase of the new Reformation, has recognized
only the former ; but the progress of the movement is
securing the adoption of the latter as well.
But the New Church cannot rest on mere regulative prin
ciples of thought, important as these may be. It must be
founded on defLnite rational truths, drawn from the Word of
God, and invested with divine authority. These, and not
inexplicable mysteries, must constitute it a living, comely,
efficient organism ; for it is only into divine truths received
rationally by the mind, that the New Heavens can descend.
It is only by means of these forms that God and the angels
can enter into spiritual and living conjunction with men.
Our next step must be, therefore, to unfold that system of
doctrinal truth on which the New Church, in its distinctive
character, is founded.

28 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
The first Christian Church, so far as it was a genuine
Church, rested, as already observed, on the acknowledg
ment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and a life
according to his commandments. The acknowledgment of
Jesus as the Son of God involved the doctrine of his
supreme and absolute divinity; and genuine obedience to
his commandments could only spring from true love to
Him, and impUcit trust in Him as a Saviour. But it was
not given to the Christian Church to enter rationally into
the scheme of doctrine which lay infolded in the historical
facts of Christianity. The Gospel preached by the apostles
was one of narrative rather than of dogma ; and of exter
nal, rather than internal truth. It appealed chiefly, there
fore, to the lower degrees of the mind, to natural thought and
sentiment, rather than to rational thought and spiritual per
ception. The spiritual nature was, it is true, often quick
ened in a wonderful manner; and after the close of the
apostolic age, endless efforts were made to construct a
rational system of doctrine; but the higher and purer
forms of Christian experience, depending as they do upon
rational perceptions of spiritual truth, could not be reached ;
and the doctrinal systems invented were mutually antago
nistic, and, in the light of to-day, grossly absurd. Jesus
was rightly received as supremely divine; but he was erro
neously set forth as a person distinct from the Father. He
was properly regarded as the Redeemer of men; but the
process of redemption, and the ethical priaciples involved
in it, were utterly misconceived in the theological systems
which, at an early day, supplanted the simple teachings of
the apostles. In the New Church, on the other hand, the
Gospel proclaimed, while recognizing and harmonizuig the
historical facts of Christianity, presents a system of doctrine

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 29
fairly deduced from these facts, and satisfying all the
demands of enlightened reason.
1. First in importance among the elements of any re
ligion is the doctrine concerning God. This, more than
any other, determines the character of the religion. The
New Church, therefore, solicits the attention of the world to
this point in her faith.
God is one in essence and in person. The uniform lan
guage of inspiration is, " The Lord our God is one Lord."
There is in Him a trinity of essentials, caUed love, wisdom
and their divine proceeding, or operative energy. These
essentials are distinct, but inseparable, and in their neces
sary and eternal union constitute the Divine Personality.
Could they be separated from each other, neither, by itself,
would constitute a person. To disjoin them would be to
destroy the personality of God.' Love is the inmost prin
ciple of the divine nature, and is the root of all moral per
fections. Wisdom is its form ; and is the seat of the divine
ideas, the fountain of all truth. The Holy Spirit is the
divine efiiuence, or operative energy proceeding from the
divine love, through the forms or truths of divine wisdom.
Man, in a finite way, is, therefore, an image and likeness of
God, being in his essential nature an organized spiritual
form. His inmost principle is his will, or affectional
nature. This takes form and receives direction in his
understanding, and operates through it to produce results.
Man, like God, is thus constituted of a trinity of essentials;
namely, "will, understanding and a proceeding sphere of
influence or operative energy; and yet he is but one person.
God may, therefore — ^we may say must, under the laws of
human thought — ^be conceived of as in the human form,
since this is constituted of will and understanding, which are

30 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
the finite correspondences of Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom. 2. The one Divine Being whom we call Jehovah, or God,
became incarnate for the work of human redemption. He
appeared in the world as a natural man, subject to the con
ditions of finite existence. In this historical manifestation
of himself he is called the Lord Jesus Christ. No new
personality was brought into existence by the incarnation ;
but the one eternal Jehovah is the person who is now named
the Lord Jesus Christ. In this one di"vine person, however,
there are successive degrees and forms of life. As in a
single human person there are the spiritual, rational, natural
and corporeal degrees and forms of life, all acting as one
when the lower are properly subordinated to the higher
degrees ; so in the Lord Jesus Christ there were successive
degrees and forms of life, including both the di"vine and the
human. The natural mind and corporeal body were derived
from Mary. Having no human father, the higher degrees
of mind ia hun, instead of being finite and human, were
infinite and divine, being accommodations of the essential
Divinity to the assumed humanity. It is obvious from this
that the term Son can, with strict propriety, be applied only
to the humanity assumed by Jehovah. It is, however,
sometimes used to include the divine truth, since this is the
means by which all manifestations of God, including the
incarnation, are made. It will also be seen that when we
speak of our Lord Jesus Christ, we include in his one
personality, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this case,
the Father signifies the Divine Love ; the Son, the assumed
humanity, or the Divine Truth, which is manifested in and
through the humanity; and the Holy Spirit, the Divine
Effluence proceeding from the assumed and now glorified

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 31
and Divine Human. The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is
the only God of heaven and earth — ^the Creator and Re
deemer of men, and the proper Object of religious worship.
3. The design of the incarnation was the redemption of
the hutnan race. The necessity for this work arose from the
fact that men, by the process of the fall, had become
immersed in naturalism and sensuality, and incapacitated
for receiving the influx of divine truth by interior ways.
The spiritual degree of the mind was closed ; and it became
necessary, in order that men might be instructed and
regenerated, to manifest divine good and truth to them
externally, in such forms as should be most suitable and
effective. The Divine-celestial and Divine-spiritual forms
in which the Divine Truth was given to the men of the
Adamic and Noetic churches, and in which it is received in
the celestial and spiritual heavens, was above the reach of
their sensual minds. Hence Jehovah clothed himself in our
natural humanity, and by the glorification of that humanity,
making it divine to its ultimates, presents his truth in
divine-natural forms adapted to the percipient and recipient
states of natural men. By the reception and practice of
divine truth as presented in the forms and teachings of
Jehovah's natural life on earth, men may become re
generated, and from being merely natural, become spiritual
or celestial. But the work of redemption included more
than this. It consisted also in the temptations, com
bats and victories of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he
made his advent, the world of spirits, inspired by the hells,
was crowdmg not only upon the heavens, but also upon men
on earth. Many were obsessed by evil spirits, and deprived
of reason and moral freedom. They were demoniacs, and
incapable of being regenerated. There was danger, too.

32 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
that the infernals would multiply such conquests, and thus
throw society into utter anarchy, and destroy mankind from
the face of the earth.
To avert this result, Jehovah entered himself as a natural
man into human society, and became a living factor ia
human history on the earthly plane. He assumed a finite
human organism, infected with all the hereditary evU ten
dencies of the race, and therefore capable of being directly
assaulted by the whole power of the hells and of wicked
men. In the sphere of this natural humanity he met all
the temptations of evil and falsity from earth and hell. He
combated and vanquished them by the power of his divine
truth brought down to the natural degree. This process
of temptation, combat and victory, was what caused the
agonies of Jesus in the garden and on the cross. It was the
means, too, by which a judgment was executed in the world
of spirits, and by which also the hells were turned back
from their encroachments, and reduced to order and subjec
tion. Demoniacal possessions thenceforth became less and
less feasible and frequent. By means of this process of
temptation and victory, moreover, all hereditary evil was
expelled from the humanity of the Lord, and it was made
divine. By the work of redemption, therefore, men were
relieved of the oppressive domination of the hells, and
restored to a state of moral freedom. They were rendered
capable of freely choosing between good and evil, truth and
falsity, heaven and hell. The way was thus prepared for
their regeneration.
4. This view of the process of redemption and atonement,
not only shows us how " God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself;" but also enables us to see how men are
now "justified freely by his grace through the redemption

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 33
which is in (or by) Christ Jesus," and regenerated unto a
new and holy life. The grace and truth by which we are
enabled to become just and right in the sight of God, reach
us through the mediumship of the humanity which He
assumed, and as the result of the redemption which He ac
complished by means of that humanity. They come to us
as his free gift, not as something purchased from Him by
the expiatory or substitutional sufferings of a second divine
person. In the process of justification, therefore, there is no trans
fer of another's merits to us, or imputation of our guilt to a
suffering substitute; but simply an acknowledgment and
cordial, trustful acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as our
God and Savioui*. We recognize Him as the source of all
good, and truth, and life ; and gratefully own our absolute
and momentary dependence on Him for all the good and
truth there is in us, and all the good we are enabled to do.
Wherever this acknowledgment exists, and is evidenced by
sincere obedience to the divine commandments, there the
work of justification takes place, and Christ is realized as a
Saviour from sin. One is made just and right in the sight
of God, and that, not on the ground of his own antecedent
merits, or of any forensic proceeding, but by the operation
of the Holy Spirit in him, and his free concurrence in the
Spirit's work. Justification is but another name for this
rightening of the soul, or its re-creation in the image and
likeness of God.
Stripped of all forensic and physical analogies, which, in
relation to this subject, are misleading and false, if taken in
their literal force, the process of the soul's salvation from
sin, may be conceived of as included wholly either in the work
of justification, regeneration, or sanctification ; and any

34 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
attempt to divide the process into well-defined successive
stages, designated by these theological terms, must originate
either in a misconception of the nature of the process, or in
an erroneous idea of the true force of these terms. The
terms justification, regeneration and sanctification serve
merely to indicate different aspects of one and the same
work, or the same work viewed ui different relations.
Viewed in its relation to the divine law, the work of salva
tion is called justification; viewed in its relation to the
development of a new life in the soul, it is called regenera
tion ; and viewed in its relation to one's spiritual state, it is
called sanctification. But perfect justification implies perfect
regeneration and sanctification ; perfect regeneration implies
perfect justification and sanctification ; and perfect sanctifi
cation implies perfect justification and regeneration. Either
work involves both of the others. And whether the process
of salvation be regarded as a work of justification, regenera
tion, or sanctification, it is effected, in all cases, in precisely
one and the same way, namely, by the cordial and trustftil
acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as the source of all
spiritual good, and by a life of sincere obedience to His
commandments. 5. The New Church propounds also a new interpretation
of the Scripture teaching concerning the resurrection. Man
is regarded as a spiritual being, beginning existence in, and
temporarily clothed with a material body, but capable of
living on as a real man, in perfect human form, after the
material body is laid aside. As a spiritual being, he is not
a simple, unorganized substance, but a perfectly organized
man, with spiritual members, organs, and fiinctions corre
sponding in most respects with those of his natural body ;
and as there are different kinds of material substance which

WHAT IS THE NEW CHUECH? 35
enter into man's natural body, so there are different kinds
of spiritual substance, which enter into his spiritual organ
ism, and nourish and strengthen its several parts. Man's
natural body, moreover, takes its human shape and beauti-
fiil symmetry from the indwelling soul ; and loses it when
the soul, or real man departs. Man's resurrection is his
withdrawal from the material body, which takes place im
mediately after death. What we, judging from natural
sight, call death, the angels, judging from spiritual sight,
call resurrection. The real man, properly speaking, does
not die at all ; but lives right on. The natural body dies,
and is laid aside never again to be resumed ; but the spirit,
which is the real man, is raised up at once into a new life —
generally on the third day after apparent death. The
resurrection of the natural body is never spoken of in the
Scriptures, but only the resurrection of the " dead ;'' that is,
of persons who have died, or passed out of this natural life.
"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the
bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a
God of the dead, but of the living." (Luke xx. 37-8.)
These patriarchs had died and experienced the resurrection,
and were then, in the Saviour's day, living persons; and this
is instanced by Him to show that the dead are raised — raised
up when the body is laid down; not that their material
bodies will be raised some thousands of years hence.
Paul also teaches the same doctrine, showing that, as the
germ infolded in the body of a seed, throws off its cover
ing and is developed into a plant or stalk bearing fruit, so
the soul, at death, throws off the natural body, rises a
spiritual and glorious body, and enters upon a spiritual and
immortal life. For "there is a natural body, and there is a

S6 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
spiritual body," and the natural body, having served its
purpose as a means by which the spirit could gain the
development requisite to fit it for entering into self-conscious,
personal existence in the spiritual world, can be laid aside,
never more to be resumed, without impairing the powers and
functions of the real man ; just as the chrysalid in which the
butterfly is formed, having served its use, is cast away never
to be re-occupied by its liberated and beautified possessor.
Sad, indeed, would it be to think that the bright and happy
immortals who now exult in the enlargement and joy of a
spiritual state of existence, must, at some future day, re-enter
a material organism, and become again subject to the dis
abilities of a physical existence, and the limitations of time
and space.
6. The world into which men are ushered at death is a
spiritual and not a material world. Having no longer
any physical senses, they are incapable of discerning mate
rial objects and earthly scenes; just as now, before our
spiritual senses are opened, we are unable to discern the
objects and scenery of the spiritual world. That world,
moreover, being spiritual, and not subject to the conditions
of time and space, cannot be conceived of as locaUy distant
from the earth where we now dwell. No journey through
space is required in order to reach it. As to our spiritual
nature we are in it already, not consciously, it is true, but
really; and could our spiritual senses be opened, as were
those of the Hebrew prophets, John the revelator, and
Swedenborg, we should see at once that we are now in that
world, and in society with spiritual beings. That world,
too, is no cloud-land, or ethereal realm, where the inhabitants
float in the air eternally, but a real, substantial world-—
more so, indeed, than this world ; for spirit is substance.

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 37
There is material substance, and there is spiritual sub
stance, each possessing its distinctive properties. The earth
is composed of the former, and the spiritual world, of the
latter. Our natural bodies are composed of material sub
stance : our spiritual bodies, of spiritual substance. Spirit
is more real and substantial than matter, in like manner as
causes are more real and substantial than effects ; and things
sustaining, than things sustained. To the perceptions of
angels the spiritual world, spiritual objects and spiritual beings
are as discernible and tangible as material things are to our
natural senses. Hence the angels, or glorified spirits of men,
(for all the angels and all devils were once men on this or some
other earth), walk on solid ground, though it is spiritual ; and
see, stretching away in the seeming distance, landscapes of
surpassing beauty ; and dwell in mansions which excel in
magnificence all that the natural mind has ever imagined.
The spiritual world embraces the three heavens, the three
corresponding hells, and Hades, or the world of spirits,
which is intermediate between the heavens and the hells.
The three heavens correspond to the three degrees of the
human mind ; and the three hells are the inversion and per
version of these degrees. In the highest or celestial heaven,
love is supreme ; in the second or spiritual heaven, truth
leading to good is paramount ; and in the first or natural
heaven, law leading to obedience and peace, prevails.
Hades is the first receptacle of souls after death. It is here
that the judgment takes place, and that men are prepared
for admission to some heavenly society, or stripped of all
disguises, and discovered to be fit only for the society of
devils. It is not a probationary state, where real inward
character can be changed, but a world where the inward
character formed here, can be developed and brought clearly

38 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
to "view. This is the process of judgment ; and when it is
completed upon any individual, he voluntarily betakes him
self, if evil, to his 0"wn hell ; and, if good, he is conducted .
by angels to his congenial heaven. Each finds his place in
a heavenly or infernal society perfectly suited to his own
character, or interior quality of life. The evil suffer pun
ishments, not from God, but from their infernal associates,
whenever they infringe on the rights of others; but the
most deplorable feature of their lot in hell, is the degrada
tion of being which they experience as the result of sin.
Yet the Divine Mercy is ever over them, and is continually
in the effort to mitigate their miseries and restrain their
evils. But their regeneration is impossible. They undergo
an external reformation as the result of the punishments
inflicted upon them ; and are withheld by fear from outward
evil acts, just as certain animals may be controlled by fear
of the lash, while their real nature remains unchanged.
But conscience being utterly extinct in lost souls, they can
never be led to genuine repentance. They remain forever
self-degraded and imbruted in their dark and foul abodes.
7. The doctrine of the divine inspiration and supreme
authority of the Sacred Scriptures, also occupies a very im
portant place in the theological system of the New Church.
Some of the books of the received canon, are, however,
accredited with a higher degree of inspiration and authority
than others. These are the books of Moses, Joshua, Judges,
Samuel, Kings, the Psalms, all the prophets, the foui
Gospels, and the Apocalypse. The remainder are regarded
with great respect as sacred writings, valuable for the
historical facts which they record, and also for their religious
and ethical teachings ; but not inspired in the highest sense,
nor in all points infaUible. The former are pre-eminently

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 39
the Word of God, dictated by Him through angels to men,
and written in language strictly correspondential. Thus
the letter of the Word is the natural form which divine
truth takes when brought down to the apprehension of the
natural mind. It contains, moreover, an internal or spiritual
sense, which is involved in the literal sense as the cause is
involved in its effect, or the soul in the body. This sense
cannot be apprehended by the natural mind ; but is only dis
cerned by the spiritual mind. As there are different degrees
of perceptive power and kno"wing capacity in the human
mind, which are opened successively in those who are
being regenerated and intellectually developed, so the divine
ideas, in their descent from God through the heavens, take
on successively lower and adapted forms of expression.
Thus for every degree of knowing capacity, there is a cor
responding degree of the knowable.
There is, therefore, in the written Word of God, form
within form ; sense within sense ; truth within truth ; and
each lower is the exact correspondence of some higher truth.
Practically, we speak only of the internal sense and the
literal sense. The angels are in the former ; men are mainly
in the latter. The internal sense was but very partially
opened to the first Christian Church, the true key to it
having been lost. But it is now being opened, the key to it
having been restored through Emanuel Swedenborg. This
sense is rational and harmonious throughout. It enables us,
also, to reconcile the apparent discrepancies of the literal
sense. There are, however, portions of the Word which were never
intended to be understood literally at all, but only as sym-
boUcal or allegorical forms of divine truth. The first eleven
chapters of Genesis and nearly the whole of the Apocalypse

40 , WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
are of this character. Their truth and intended meaning lie
almost wholly in the internal sense. A large part of the
prophetical writings is of the same character. Much of the
Word of God has, therefore, remained till recently sealed
and unintelligible to men. This is especially true of the
Apocalypse. And yet so open and rational is the literal
sense in many parts of the Word, that they who follow it are
regenerated and saved. In other words, the spiritual sense
often appears upon the very surface of the letter, so that he
who will may read and understand it. But no coherent and
rational system of doctrine has ever been constructed by
those who recognize only the literal sense of the Scriptures.
The letter of the Word yields rational doctrine only when
interpreted in the light of the spiritual sense. The spiritual
sense, though unattainable by man's unaided reason, yet
illuminates it, and is seen to be in harmony with it. It
challenges the strictest scrutiny of reason, and satisfies all its
demands. The New Church, therefore, asks no assent to
mysteries, but only to rational truths. There are, it is true,
mysteries in God and in nature ; but they are not for us. They
are not matters of faith. They are simply matters of which
we are ignorant; and knowing nothing about them, we
beUeve nothing about them. We have rational evidence
that God is ; hence we believe this fact. But the mode of
his existence is a mystery ; and we believe nothing about it.
We have sufficient evidence that the blade of grass grows ;
but how it grows we know not ; hence we affirm nothing and
believe nothing concerning it. The mode of its growth is to
us, not a matter of faith, but of ignorance. So of our whole
scheme of doctrine. It is made up, not of mysteries, but of
rational spiritual truths. It rests on rational evidence, at
the same time that it bears the impress of divine authority.

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 41
And the most satisfying and indubitable proof of its divine
authority, is its perfect rationality.
8. Closely allied to the doctrine of the inspiration of the
Scriptures and the existence of the internal sense, is that of
the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his first
coming he manifested divine truth in its natural forms in
the facts of his earthly Ufe and in the words he spake.
" The Word was made of flesh ;" that is, it took on the forms
of an ordinary human life, the better to adapt itself to the
states of gross and sensual men. It cannot be necessary for
the Lord to come again in this manner. He is not so poor
in expedients that He needs to repeat himself. His second
coming must be, not to the natural, but to the spiritual per
ceptions of men. It must be a revelation of his spiritual,
not of his natural body ; and of divine truth in its spiritual,
not in its natural forms. His second coining must be effected,
therefore, by the opening of the rational and spiritual per
ceptions of men to discern the spiritual sense of the Word,
or the inward nature and spiritual glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The literal sense of the Word is compared to
"clouds" which obscure the light of the sun; and as the
light of the sun breaks through the clouds, or they disperse
and vanish away, allowing the full splendor of the sun to
shine upon us ; so the effulgent spiritual sense of the Word
is now breaking through the clouds of the Uteral sense, and
enUghtenmg the minds of men. Hence it is written, "Thy
strength, 0 Lord, is in the clouds." " Clouds and darkness
are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the
habitation of his throne." "Behold he cometh with clouds,
and every eye shall see him." " They shall see the Son of
Man commg in the clouds of heaven." In these and similar
passages "clouds" are the symbols of the literal sense of the
4»

42 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
Word of God. The Lord comes in the clouds of heaven,
therefore, when the light of the internal sense breaks forth
from the literal sense. This is the second coming of the
Lord ; and it is now going on. It has been in progress for
more than a hundred years. It was this that effected the
last judgment in the world of spirits in 1757; and inaugu
rated the grandest religious movement ever witnessed upon
earth. This movement, of which Methodism has been the
initial stage, but which in its full unfolding is to be recog
nized as a New Dispensation of divine truth, is destined to
sweep on, till all nations shall become the kingdoms of our
Lord and his Christ. The divine purpose, "Behold I make
all things new," is every year realizing a glorious fulfillment.
A new state of the human mind in reference to religion ; a
state characterized by freedom, rationality, spirituality, and
advancing charity and intelligence — all of which are essen
tials of the genuine New Church — everywhere prevails, and
is revolutionizing the theology and ecclesiastical institutions
of the world.
9. Finally, the New Church inculcates the paramount
importance of a life of charity. Love to God and love to
man, evidenced by obedience to the divine commandments
and devotion to the practical uses of life, are cardinal prin
ciples of the true Christian religion, and take precedence of
all dogmatic teachings. Charity which finds expression in
the relief of the poor, the sick and the suffering, is not to be
neglected ; but the life of genuine charity comprehends more
than this; it consists also in the faithful performance of
our several uses as artisans, tradesmen, professionaP men,
public officers, husbands and wives, parents and children,
friends and neighbors. He who performs well some use by
which he earns an honest livelihood, thereby benefits society ;

WHAT IS THE NEW CHURCH? 43
and, provided he acts from a religious motive, undergoes a
gradual process of regeneration. Swedenborg says :
" Charity extends itself much more widely than to the
poor and indigent ; it also consists in doing what is right in
every work, and our duty in every office. If a judge does
justice for the sake of justice, he exercises charity ; if he
punishes the guilty and absolves the innocent, he exercises
charity, for thus he consults the welfare of his fellow-cit
izens and of his country. The priest who teaches truth, and
leads to good, for the sake of truth and good, exercises
charity. But he who does such things for the sake of self
and the world, does not exercise charity, because he does
not love his neighbor, but himself." {The Heavenly Doc
trines, u. 10.)
In presenting this summary of the doctrines of the New
Church, I have said nothing of the beautiful and profound
system of philosophy which underlies them all, and which
discovers to us more clearly their perfect rationality. My
present limits do not allow me to give even a digest of this
system ; and I must content myself by referring those who
desire to acquaint themselves with it, to Swedenborg himself,
especially to his treatise on the " Divine Love and Wisdom."
I am aware, too, that many things which I have said will
appear obscure and, perhaps, irrational in consequence of
the brevity which I have been compelled to study. The
New Church reader will readily understand, moreover, that,
on every point of doctrine which I have presented, I have
been under the necessity of suppressing a multitude of
thoughts which crowded upon me for utterance, and of
selecting only a few where all seemed equally important.
The meager statements which I have given, however, may
serve as finger-points to the wonderful theological and

44 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
philosophical system to which I invite the attention of all
thoughtful minds.
From the doctrinal statement I have given, it wUl readily
appear that a new ecclesiastical organization may properly
enough be established upon it ; and that such an organiza
tion may, without any offensive or exclusive assumptions, be
styled a New Church. It should be borne in mind, however,
that all existing religious bodies, in so far as they are
recipients and organs of genuine spiritual life from the
Lord, are of the New Dispensation, and imbued with its
genius and spirit. They are all being made new ; and are
destined, we beUeve, not to be consummated and destroyed^
but to be filled and transformed more and more with the life
and light of the New Jerusalem.
swedenborg's relation to the new CHUECH.
Here the inquiry will naturally arise. What relation does
Emanuel Swedenborg sustain to the New Church ? In reply
it should be observed at the outset, that he did not pretend
to found or authorize a new ecclesiastical organization. We
have no evidence that he expected or wished that any new
religious body would or should be established on the basis
of the doctrines he propounded. Speaking of the state of
the church hereafter, he says :
" It wUl be similar, indeed,'' in the outward form, but dis
similar in the inward. To outward appearance divided
churches wQl exist as heretofore; their doctrines will be
taught as heretofore ; and the same religions as now will
exist among the GentUes. But henceforth the man of the
church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters
of faith, that is, on spiritual things which relate to heaven,

swedenborg's RELATION TO THE NEW CHURCH. 45
because spiritual liberty has been restored to him." {Last
Judgment, n. 73.)
The New Church which he proclaimed, therefore, was not
external and ecclesiastical, but internal and spiritual. He
doubtless believed that the theology of existing churches
would undergo great modifications as the result of this "free
state of thinking ;" but he seems to have had no thought of
becoming the leader of a sect. And very many who now
receive his views, would willingly remain in or attach them
selves to some one of the old religious bodies, were they
allowed to do so, and subjected to no disabilities for their
peculiar beliefs. Swedenborg's sentiments were catholic and
generous. He hoped that all the churches might be filled
with a purer life, receive more rational and spiritual views of
divine truth, and cultivate a broader and more practical
charity. For this end he believed that he was raised up ;
and for this end he labored. He did not profess, however,
•to give us a new Bible to supersede the old one. He aimed
to make the old one more intelligible, by unfolding its long
hidden treasures of wisdom ; and giving us the key to the
true interpretation of those portions of it which had hitherto
baffled the skill of biblical students. He sought to give to
the world a rational statement of the doctrines of Christian
ity, and to furnish a satisfactory solution of those vital ques
tions relating to God, the soul and the future life, which, for
a century past, have so deeply agitated the minds of men.
His writings, therefore, are a new revelation, or unfolding
of divine truth — truth already contained in the Sacred Scrip
tures, but undiscerned by men. He has also disclosed to us
many important laws and facts relating to the economy of
the spiritual world; and we accept these disclosures, not
merely on his authority, but mainly on the ground of their

46 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
conformity to the teachings of Scripture; the verdict of rea
son, the testimony of experience, and the known Ig,ws of
man's spiritual being.
The question now properly arises. Why should it be
thought strange that God should raise up and qualify Swed
enborg as the herald of a New Dispensation of divine truth?
Is it because of anything exceptionable in his previous
character? If so, might not a careful scrutiny into the
early life of Paul, David, and the Hebrew prophets, bring
to light facts which would invalidate their claims as messen
gers of God? But Swedenborg does not claim to have been
called to this high office on account of any personal merit in
himself. It was necessary that some one should be chosen,
and the divine choice fell upon him. We have, however,
the amplest evidence of his fitness for this great mission.
His moral and intellectual powers were of the highest order;
and his attainments in science, philosophy, and general
learning were unsurpassed by any mind of the 18th century.
Surely it will not be alleged that these qualifications were
any disadvantage to Mm in the work of giving to the world
a rational system of religious truth. No such qualifications
existed in the ancient prophets; nor were they needed.
Their mission was to receive divine truth as dictated to them
by the Lord through the ministry of angels, and reduce it to
writing. Often they were but amanuenses, or unconscious
agents in this work. It was not given to them to enter
rationally into the communications they received. But
Swedenborg was required to unfold the interior significance
of these divine communications, and place them in rational
light. His work was thus more difficult than that of the
prophets. It was necessary, therefore, not only that he
should be divinely called, and spiritually regenerated and

swedenborg's RELATION TO THE NEW CHUECH. 47
illumined; but also intellectually educated, instructed and
developed in a pre-eminent degree.
It is objected, however, that his visions of the spiritual
world are incredible, and throw suspicion upon his whole
system. This objection can scarcely be insisted on by any
one who receives the Bible as a divine revelation ; for this
contains narrations of the same character. Elisha and his
servant were in open vision of the spiritual world, when
they saw " the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire."
Paul was in the same state when he beheld the wonders of
the "third heaven," and heard things which it was not pos
sible for him to utter. John had experience of open spiritual
vision when the wonderful scenes described in the Apoca
lypse passed before him. And all men, as spiritual beings,
possess spiritual senses, which, if opened in this world, enable
them to discern objects and scenes in the spiritual world, at
the same time that, with their natural senses, they discern
natural objects and the scenery of the natural world. There
is nothing particularly remarkable, therefore, in the assump
tion of Swedenborg, that he was, during the last twenty-
seven years of his life, while in the exercise of his holy office,
endowed with open spiritual vision. The claim will not seem
extravagant to one who understands that the spirit within
us is the real man, possessed of every essential human organ
and function. Especially will it not seem unreasonable,
when we consider that the end for which this endowment was
granted was, that he might be thereby fitted for the fulfill
ment of his mission.
But it is assumed by some that the canon of Revelation
was completed with the Apocalypse ; and that no divmely
authorized and plenarily inspired communications of truth
have since been made, and that none can be made. Admit-

48 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
ting that this opinion, which, as generally held, rests on the
false interpretation ,of a single text of Scripture, is true, it
does not invalidate the claim of Swedenborg, or lessen the
value of anything he has written.. It may never be neces
sary, probably never will be, for the Lord to add another
volume to the present Word, which ends with the Apocalypse.
The Word of God is distinguished from all other writings
by this circumstance : that it contains within the meaning
of the letter, an internal sense which proceeds by orderly
gradations up to what is absolutely divine. Swedenborg's
writings do not profess to be written in this style. It is not
pretended that they possess an internal sense. They simply
claim to record the rational perceptions of divine truth
which the Lord enabled him to gain while reading the
Word, and to narrate the scenes which he witnessed in the
spiritual world. And the value which his writings possess
above those of other great and good men in modern times,
consists in the fact of his divine call as the herald of a New
Dispensation, and his superior illumination and preparation
as a teacher of divine truth.
It is also worthy of observation, that the state of religious
thought about the middle of the last century, was such as
to render the advent of a divinely authorized expounder of
Christian doctrine, desirable. For fifteen hundred years
men had been endeavoring to construct a coherent and
rational system of Christian doctrine, but in vain. What
one generation of creed builders elaborated with great care,
and pronounced the very essence of divine truth, the next
generation would demolish or remodel, and in turn declare
its work perfect. The garments of Jesus were thus divided.
The literal teachings of the Word were arrayed against

swedenborg's relation TO THE NEW CHURCH. 49
each other ; while the seamless vesture of the Son of Man,
the harmonious and coherent spiritual sense of the Word,
was unrecognized. Christianity was losing its power, and,
among cultivated minds, falling into contempt, through the
multiplication of absurd and contradictory dogmas. The
Bible was assailed on all sides by its enemies, as false in its
history and pernicious in its moral tendency. Its friends,
too, confessed themselves unable to offer a rational solution
of its many enigmas and apparent mcongruities. Owing,
too, to the quickening of scientific thought and the progress
of biblical criticism, these incongruities were becoming
more conspicuous and insuperable every year. Dr. Bur
nett in his Sacred Theory of the Earth remarks (I quote
from Barrett'^ Lectures, page 66):
" But some divine person may appear before the second
coming of our Saviour, as these (Elias and John the
Baptist) before his first coming ; and by giving a new light
and life to the Christian doctrine, may dissipate the mists of
error, and abolish all those little controversies amongst good
men, and the divisions and animosities that spring from
them ; enlarging their spirits by greater discoveries, and
uniting them all in the bonds of love and charity."
Mr. Benson, in his Hulsean Lectures, says :
" Darkness is upon the face of the prophetic creation, and
the spirit of God must move, ere it can be broken and dis
persed ; and we must either wait for some inspired interpreter
to unravel its intricacy, or sit down in contented expecta
tion for that period of blessedness, in which the difficulties
of Christianity shall be swaUowed up in the glory of the
Second Coming of the Lord, as the seeming inconsistencies
of the Jewish scheme, were illummated by the brightness
of his first." 5

50 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
Mr. Pearson, in his Prophetical Character of the Apoc
alypse, remarks :
" From considering the peculiar character of these pro
phecies, we may derive reasonable ground for believing that
God would vouchsafe some future revelation of his will, in
which the indistinct parts of them would be more completely
cleared up."
Mr. Myers, in his " Conciones Basilicse,'' says :
"What we desire is a Newtonian theory of prophecy,
which shall explain them all. And why should we not look
forward to some theological Newton, who may be permitted
to throw the light of chastened reason on the firmament of
prophecy, and be hailed as a divinely sent teacher of the
church in the mysteries of the future ? Surely, one chief
means of disciplining the mind, and preparing the way for
such an expounder of holy things, is a strong conviction
that, on the whole, previous expounders have failed."
Thus have some of the leading minds of the Christian
church unconsciously borne witness to the reasonableness of
the claim which we make for Swedenborg. It needs but a
careful study of his writings to satisfy one that he meets, in
the amplest manner, the requirements of these writers. He
, has given " a new light and life '' — the light of reason and
the life of truth — to Christian doctrine. If not an " in
spired interpreter," in the fullest sense, he is a divinely
illumined interpreter, who has thrown a flood of light
upon the realm of prophecy, especially upon the Apocalypse,
and brought order out of apparently inextricable confusion
in numerous passages of the Word of God.
What Newton did for science, Swedenborg has done for
theology : he has announced and demonstrated the most im
portant laws of the spiritual universe, and those principles

swedenborg's relation to the new CHUECH. 51
of biblical interpretation, which enable the student of
theology to deduce consistent and rational doctrines from the
letter of the Divine Word ; just as the student of nature
deduces sound conclusions from natural phenomena by the
application of true principles of science.
Before leaving this part of my subject, it is proper that
I should give Swedenborg's own statement concerning his
call to this sacred office. In 1771, a year before his death,
in answer to a letter from the Landgrave of Hesse-Darm
stadt, he writes :
" The Lord our Saviour had foretold that he would come
again into the world, and that he would establish there a
New Church. He has given this prediction in the Apoc
alypse (21st and 22d chaps.), and also in several places in the
Evangelists. But as He cannot come again into the world
in person, it was necessary that He should do it by means
of a man, who should not only receive the doctrine of this
New Church in his understanding, but also publish it by
printing : and as the Lord had prepared me for this office
from my infancy. He has manifested himself in person
before me, his servant, and sent me to fill it. This took
place in the year 1743. He afterwards opened the sight of
my spirit, and thus introduced me into the spiritual world,
and granted me to see the heavens and many of their
wonders, and also the hells, and to speak with angels and
spirits, and this continually for twenty-seven years. I de
clare in all truth that such is the fact. This favor of the
Lord in regard to me, has only taken place for the sake of
the New Church which I have mentioned above, the doctrine
of which is contained in my writings."
This statement may be dismissed with a shrug and a sneer ;
but the candor, sincerity, and intelligence of him who makes

52 WESLEY AND SWEDENBOEG.
it, remain to confront the skeptic. Swedenborg was too
honest a man to attempt to deceive us ; too intelligent and
wise to be easily deceived ; and too calm, dignified, and con
sistent in all his writings, to be charged with insanity.

relations op METHODISM TO THE NEW CHUECH.
We are prepared now to consider intelligently the rela
tions of Methodism to the New Church. And, first, it will
be observed that these two systems synchronize in their
origin. While the processes preliminary to the last general
judgment were taking place in the spiritual world, and the
Lord was preparing a spiritual basis for the New Church
which He was about to establish on earth, there appeared in
this world, as the result of these movements, the new and
remarkable development of religious activity called Method
ism. While Swedenborg was undergoing, during the first
half of the 18th century, a work of discipline, instruction
and spiritual regeneration, designed to fit him as the Lord's
instrument for conveying to men the doctrines of the NeW
Dispensation, Whitfield and the Wesleys were qualifying
themselves for the Christian ministry, and initiating more
earnest and successful methods of evangelizing effort. While
Methodism was assuming organic form in the classes and
societies raised up by John Wesley, and gaining its first
wonderful triumphs under the field preaching of its great
apostles, Swedenborg was gradually coming into the clear
and open spiritual vision requisite to fit him for the high
office to which the Lord had called him ; and events of the
most momentous character were hastening to a crisis in the
spiritual world. In 1757 the judgment process was com
pleted. The imaginary heavens were dispersed; and the

RELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHURCH. 53
new heavens were organized and prepared for the transmis
sion of the light and life of the New Age to men.
Following closely upon this consummation was an exhi
bition of unprecedented power in the great Methodist ref
ormation. " The year 1760 was signalized by a more extra
ordinary religious interest than had hitherto prevaUed among
the Methodist societies. Here began, says Wesley, 'that
glorious work of sanctification which had been nearly at
a stand for twenty years.' .... It continued to advance
for several years. In 1762 he remarks that his brother had
some years before said to him that the day of the Methodist
Pentecost had not fully come ; but he doubted not it would,
and that then they should hear of persons sanctified as fre
quently as they had thus far heard of them justified. ' It
was now fully come,' adds Wesley. His journal for suc
cessive years records the spread of this higher Christian ex
perience, and its salutary effects on all the interests of his
societies." — Stevens' History of Methodism. Vol. I., page 402.
Thus the events which took place in the spiritual world
in connection with the formation of the New Church, find
their counterpart in the successive stages of the Methodist
movement ; and are revealed in them, as causes are revealed
in their effects.
The. characteristics of Methodism, moreover, are such as
would naturally attend the first developments of the New
Dispensation. The paramount object of this Dispensation is
to establish the true doctrine concernmg the Lord Jesus
Christ by identifying him as the supreme and only God.
And although Methodism has failed to grasp the whole truth
on this subject, yet it has magnified the name of Jesus, as
no party in the church had ever done before, and thus pre
pared the way for the full recognition of his supreme and
5 «

54 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
absolute Divinity. In the spiritual consciousness of Meth
odism, the Lord Jesus Christ has occupied a higher place,
and shone with a more resplendent light, than in any pre
vious state of the Church. Practically, therefore, in nu
merous instances, his divine-human form has fully absorbed
the attention of the worshipper, and caused him to forget,
for the time at least, the other persons of his supposititious
trinity. It was scarcely to be expected that the doctrine of
the underived and sole divinity of Jesus would at once sup
plant the traditional dogma of three divine persons. Though
the true doctrine upon this subject was, at the very outset,
propounded in the writings of the New Church, yet its de
velopment in the consciousness of Christendom, has neces
sarily been gradual. There is but a step, however, between
the Christ of Methodism and the Christ of the New Jeru
salem ; and yet this step is one of vast theoretical and prac
tical significance.
The office of Methodism as introductory to the New
Church, is further seen in its doctrine of a free salvation
available to all. It is thus identified unmistakably with
the new age of Christian progress. It harmonizes with it
also in the stress which it lays on good works both as
necessary to be observed in the search after God, and also
as the condition of continued acceptance with Him. It has
taught, moreover, quite as clearly as the specific New
Church itself, that " a deed or work, in itself considered, is
nothing but an effect which derives its soul and life from
the wiU and thought ; and that such as are the will and
thought which produce a deed or work, such also is the
deed or work." It has, however, betrayed its character
as a transitional movement by holding in connection with
this doctrine, ethical and theological priaciples utterly in-

RELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHUECH. 55
congruous with it ; as when it teaches the doctrine of justifi
cation by faith only, and speaks of our best services as
needing to be covered and supplemented by the merits of
Christ in order to be made acceptable to God.
In like manner, the active and marvelous spiritual ex
periences of Methodism, in the awakening, conversion,
regeneration and illumination of souls, are such as ought
to be looked for in the opening stages of New Church
life. The influx of mightier spiritual forces into the
minds of men, would not at once revolutionize the ter
minology and formulas of religious experience. The first
effect would naturally be rather to intensify the style of
Christian experience already prevalent. The communities
in the Spiritual world through which this influx must
descend, and by which it must be modified, would be at first
composed largely of minds that had been educated and
fashioned under the old forms of Christian thought. Hence
the early experiences of Methodism would not be separated
by any wide chasm from the better forms of experience
already known in the church. They would differ mainly in
intensity at first, and only change as new and more rational
views of divine truth should come to prevail.
Among the fruits of this intensified form of Christian
experience, may be noted the aggressive evangelical agencies
that sprang into existence toward the close of the eighteenth,
and during the earlier decades of the nineteenth century.
None will question the indebtedness of the world to the
phUanthropic spirit of Methodism, as diffused abroad in all
the churches, for these schemes of Christian propagandism.
It is equally evident that they are such as the inauguration
of a new, broad, and rational view of Christianity would
summon into existence. But it has also been the aim of

56 WESLEY AND SWEDENBOEG.
Methodism to exalt spiritual above ecclesiastical Christianity.
It has reasserted with great emphasis the declaration of
Jesus, " The kingdom of God is within you." It has denied
the divine authority of any particular forms of church
order ; and holds all, its own included, subject to the rule of
expediency. Whatever churchly forms may seem to promise
the best results, are held to be lawful. Christianity is
spiritual life ; and all the externals of the Lord's kingdom,
must be made subservient to the development of this life in
the hearts of men. In this particular, too, Methodism pre
sents a very important phase of the New Church.
But as I have already intimated, Methodism combines
with many rare excellencies, some glaring errors ; some of
the worst falsities of the traditional theology and some of
the worst evils of a sensuous style of piety, with many of
the best elements of New Church doctrine and life. It
illustrates the truth of the saying, that the present is ever
under a mortgage to the past. Methodism is Christianity
in transition from the first Christian, to the New Jerusalem
Dispensation. It must needs, therefore, exhibit both imper
fectly. It must bring into the New Age, some of the defects
of the consummated Age ; just as it introduces into the latter
some of the elements of the former. But though it is a
mediatorial system, it is yet a progressive one. It is
Uquidating the mortgage which the error-blind past left
upon it ; and will execute a lighter mortgage upon the future
than any previous generation has left upon the estate of
humanity. It will further illustrate the relations of Methodism to the
New Church to observe, that the main elements of power in
it, have been distinctive New Church elements. The influx
which has given it life, has come from the new heavens.

EELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHUECH. 57
Its most effective ideas are in harmony with the new scheme
of doctrine. The infinite love of God to men; Christ as
the manifestation of this love; the absolute divinity of
Jesus ; his benignity toward sinful men ; the imperative
demand for sincere repentance and trust in Christ as a con
dition of pardon ; the necessity of good works ; the doctrine
of moral freedom and responsibility; the probationary
character of the present life ; the divine authority of the
Sacred Scriptures; the duty of immediate and entire sub
mission to the will of God ; and the doctrine of immortality
in weal or woe, according to the character formed here ; —
these are the ideas with which the ministers of Methodism
have gained their victories ; and these ideas have been most
effective when presented most in harmony with the general
scheme of New Church doctrine. The introduction of such
discordant ideas as the literal wrath of God, the divine
tripersonality, the vicarious atonement, the imputation of
Christ's merits to the believing soul, and the doctrine of
salvation by faith alone, has but served to confuse the mind
of the inquirer, and postpone or vitiate the process of
spiritual recovery.
The Methodist Quarterly Review, Jan., 1869, page 159,

" Our impression is that less reliance on the constant
preaching of hell-fire has, with exceptions, always been one
of the differences of Methodism from Calvinism. Dr.
Clarke on 2 Cor. v. 11, reprobates the 'constant declama
tion on hell and perdition.' Rev. Thomas Vasey, of the
British Conference, speaking of the conversion at Newcastle
of ' some of the worst specimens of humanity,' says : ' Now,
with him it was a maxim not to preach hell and damnation
to such people, but always take the most encouraging

58 WESLEY AND SWEDE.VBOEG.
view of the subjects, such as the love of God, the power
of the Holy Ghost, the possibility of getting saved and
elevated.' We heard a leading Methodist revivalist, a few
years since, remark, ' that a few evenings previous he had
put a check upon the flow of penitent feeling by preaching
too much of a terror sermon.' In this respect, as in a great
many others, we suspect that Methodism has anticipated the
age." When, therefore, I am told that the wonderful success of
Methodism in securing the regeneration of men, is an attes
tation of the truth of its doctrines, I answer, yes : it is a
proof of the truth of some of its doctrines. Such results
cannot be effected by unmixed error. But so far as many
points of Methodist theology are concerned, success has been
achieved, not by them, but in spite of them, and by the
glorious truths held in connection with them. It is also
worthy of remark that the successes of Methodism have
been achieved mainly in the work of converting and train
ing souls; and this, by the faithful application of the
simpler truths of the Gospel. We rejoice that Methodism
has done this work so well. In real importance it over
shadows all other work, and challenges the co-operation of
angels as well as men.
But there is work of a different kind which also sustains
a vital relation to the progress and final triumph of the
Lord's kingdom. I refer to the work of furnishing a
rational Solution of the difficult problems of educated
religious thought. These problems have hitherto given
comparatively little trouble to the class of minds with which
Methodism has had to deal. But a new era of its history is
dawning. Its people are taking rank among the most cul
tivated and enlightened in the community. Its ministers

RELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHURCH. 59
are becoming eminent for learning as well as piety. Both
ministers and people will soon be called to grapple with
issues more difficult than those which have hitherto engaged
their attention. Men are everywhere questioning tradi
tionary dogmas, and becoming more and more restive under
teaching that inculcates the duty of a blind, unreasoning
faith. Methodism, like all other forms of organized Chris
tianity, must be prepared to offer a rational exposition of its
faith and of the authority and meaning of the Word of
God. In the words of Isaac Taylor :
" The past Methodism took to itself the belief which it
found ; but the coming Methodism must derive its belief
anew from Scripture, by bringing to bear upon this difficult
subject a reformed principle of biblical interpretation." —
Wesley and Methodism. Page 289.
In this higher range of religious thought many of the
ministers of Methodism are quite at home ; and verge closely,
on some points, toward the teachings of the New Church.
But loyalty to their theological and ecclesiastical system
renders it impossible for them to pursue their inquiries and
announce their conclusions in perfect freedom.
There seems little hope, therefore, that Methodism will
soon be able to enter the field successfully against the adver
saries who now assail the bulwarks of revealed religion. By
its very organic law, and by a provision which cannot be
repealed, its Articles of Religion are made unchangeable.
No advantage can hereafter be taken of any "reformed
principle of biblical interpretation," unless it shall lead to
conclusions in harmony with its present creed. And yet it
is quite certain that any scheme of Christian belief, which
shall satisfy all the just demands of rational thought, will
require a reconstruction of all the traditional creeds of Chris-

60 WESLEY AND SWEDENBOEG.
tendom. And if the great Methodistic movement is to
sweep on until it shall occupy the higher as well as the lower
planes of religious thought, and vanquish the present forms
of unbelief, as it has immorality, sensuality, and all forms of
practical irreligion in the past, it must be liberated from ex
isting restraints, and allow its best minds to enter upon a
thorough re-examination of its doctrinal symbols. It must
elaborate for itself, or accept from others, a faith that shall
satisfy the most enlightened reason, as well as harmonize
with a true interpretation of the Word of God. In effecting
this work, Methodism will identify itself as a branch of the
Lord's New Church. Failing to do this, it will evince its
incompetency for its sublime mission, and give place to other
agencies more imbued with the spirit of the New Dispen
sation. The relations of Methodism to the New Church are also
seen in the fact that it has purified the religious feeling of
the world, clarified the spiritual perceptions of men, and
opened the way for the influx of higher forms of divine truth
and the cultivation of advanced states of Christian experi
ence. It was well that Methodism approached the masses
with the lower and more sensuous forms of Christian truth.
Their feelings were thus aroused and their lives reformed,
as they could not have been by more phUosophical state
ments of the same truths. But the inevitable result of this
kind of teaching, and, indeed, the only result that could in
any case have been secured in the class of minds with which
Methodism at first had to deal, was the creation of a highly
emotional religion. The preaching, praying, exhorting and
singing were calculated to play upon the sensuous nature,
and produce a spiritual-natural, rather than a purely spirit
ual state of experience. This was often extremely vivid and

EELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHUECH. 61
powerful; and enabled its subjects to maintain a life of
piety, and die in holy triumph. It was a great advance
upon the previous state of the Church. It supplied the
requisite basis, too, for a still better condition of spiritual
life. It prepared men to receive divine truth in rational
form, and thus to realize a more purely spiritual experience.
But in order that spiritual experience, in its best forms,
may be developed, there must be a clearer and more rational
presentation of the truths of religion than Methodism has
been able to make. Those states of spiritual life which are
proper to the New Dispensation, and which are approx
imated in the riper experiences of Methodism, are not nour
ished by sensuous truths. They can only be sustained by
spiritual truths, shining in rational Ught. They involve,
too, the opening of the spiritual degree of the mind, which
can only be effected by the previous regeneration and illu
mination of the natural and rational degrees. While, there
fore, Methodism has lifted the general mind of the church
up from the natural to the spiritual-natural sphere of re
ligious life ; and, by the partial reception of rational spiritual
truths, has made an approximation to the higher states of
spiritual experience, it has proved itself inadequate to the
further perfecting of its work. It has raised the Lazarus of
a dead church, and removed his burial robes ; but it lacks
the wisdom to instruct him in the varied duties and privi
leges of his resurrection state. Hence when souls pass from
the elementary into the advanced states of regenerate life,
they soon discover the incongruity that exists between the
theoretical teachings of Methodism, and the deliverances of
their own consciousness. They feel the need, and dimly
discern the existence, of a spiritual philosophy widely dif
ferent from that which they have been taught ; and much

62 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
of their subsequent life is then spent in the vain endeavor to
reconcile their experiences with their doctrines.
WhUe, therefore, we hail John Wesley as the Lord's in
strument for the reformation of the vicious and degraded,
and the restoration of spiritual life to a dead church, and
as the John Baptist of the New Dispensation ; we welcome
Emanuel Swedenborg as the wise and benignant teacher
sent of God to instruct the renovated church in the doctrines
of a pure and rational Christianity. And if Wesley was
necessary to Swedenborg, it is equally true that Swedenborg
was necessary to Wesley. Their labors were mutually com
plementary ; and yet, as often happens in the progress of
reformatory movements, the. pioneer and he who carried on
the work to its completion, lived and labored without con
scious co-operation, and in comparative ignorance of each
other's mission. Wesley's distinctive work is nearly finished :
Swedenborg's is but just begun. Wesley's writings are no
longer relished as formerly even among Methodists, and are
scarcely known in the literary world : Swedenborg's are
read more and more widely every year, and by the best
thinkers of the age. Wesley has ceased to exercise any
appreciable influence on the theology of the world : Sweden
borg is a rising power that is everywhere revolutionizing or
greatly modifying the creeds of Christendom. Thus the
involuntary testimony of Wesley to Swedenborg is "He
must increase, but I must decrease." The Methodism of
to-day is not the Methodism of thirty years ago. It has
undergone a remarkable change. The Methodism of Wesley
and the fathers, with its fiery zeal, its rude displays of
power, its vivid experiences, its bold simplicity, its rigid
ndes, its technical piety, has passed away; and a new
Methodism, wanting the impress of Wesley's mind, and

EELATIONS OF METHODISM TO THE NEW CHURCH. 63
shaped more nearly after the pattern of the New Church,
has taken its place.
It is eminently fitting, therefore, that there should be
kindly relations between the adherents of Methodism and
the men of the New Church. Nothing but unreasoning
prejudice and needless misconception of each other's provi
dential mission, have thus far prevented fraternal intercourse
between them. Both parties have, perhaps, been equally in
fault. Wiser counsels must ultimately prevaU ; and all who
acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus, must stand shoulder to
shoulder in the advancement of his kingdom. If, indeed,
we are living under a New Dispensation, all Christian people,
and all of every religion who are in a life of genuine charity,
are more or less fully in the Lord's New Church, and
entitled to its name and fellowship. There are New Church
men in all the churches; and -there are Old Churchmen in
all the churches, even in the organized or visible New
Church, if men are to be classified according to their genius
and state. But our obligation to promote the union of the
members of Christ's body, rests upon the further considera
tion that each is necessary to the other. Methodism needs
the "reformed principles of biblical interpretation," the
rational doctrines, and the divine philosophy of the New
Church ; while the New Church needs the Christ conscious
ness, the living experience, the deep earnestness, and the
practical wisdom of Methodism. The combination of these
characteristic elements would constitute a power before
which no opposition could stand. Thus far there has been
perhaps a reasonable excuse for the want of a reformed
theology in Methodism, and a partial apology for the want
of religious earnestness and activity in the New Church ;
but it cannot be necessary that each should perpetuate its

64 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
defects. With the progress of the New Dispensation there
must come a mingling of these kindred streams of influence,
symbolized by Methodism and the New Church, that in
their union each may supply what the other lacks. In
this way only can each fulfil its appointed mission.
As to Methodism, its first and most urgent need is. a know
ledge of the true doctrine concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Christ of Christendom has hitherto been shorn of much
of his strength by the erroneous estimates which his pro
fessed adherents have put upon him. To some he has been
but an ordinary man; to others, a superhuman but still
finite being; and to others, but an equal partner in the
godhead, or one of three co-equal divine persons. Millions
of jubilant souls have sung,
" All hail the power of Jesus' name I
Let angels prostrate fall :
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown him Lord of all ;"
but nowhere except among the professed adherents of the
New Church have these stirring words been understood in
their proper force. To others who have sung them, the
Lordship of Jesus has been subordinate, or joint, and not
exclusive. Let Christians understand that Jesus is Jehovah,
the Mighty God and Everlasting Father, as well as the
Prince of peace, and they will give to this inspiring song
such an emphasis and such a fullness of devotional feeling,
as have never yet been realized. It will be like the bursting
forth of the noon-day sun through dense and darkening
clouds. And if dim rays of truth from a misapprehended
Christ have so illumined and gladdened the minds of his
followers, and ushered in the dawn of the millennial glory,

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 65
we may surely hope that the general acknowledgment of his
majestic claims as the supreme and only God manifest in
human form, wUl introduce the cloudless splendor of the
New Jerusalem. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.
It will doubtless be objected to the design of this appeal,
that no comparison can be instituted and no relation exist
between a body so great and powerful as Methodism, and a
body so dissimilar in its form, and so small and feeble as the
visible New Church. This objection seems well taken. The
ecclesiastical body called the New Church, if judged by the
number of its members and the time it has had for growth,
is scarcely entitled to be mentioned in connection with Meth
odism, and is but a humiliating comment on the New Dis
pensation. I do not wish to be understood as claiming any
special relationship between things so obviously different.
The intelligent Methodist would, moreover, find just ground
of offense in the attempt to make the numerous and influ
ential body of which he is a member a mere appendage or
satellite of a religious body which is so small that its exist
ence is actually unknown to thousands of his ovm people.
It would be to him, and to me also, like instituting a com
parison between a mountain and a molehill. But the atten
tive reader must have observed that I make no comparison
and claim no special relation between Methodism and the
visible organization called the New Church. I have pre
sented Methodism as the first phase of New Church life in
the world ; the first tidal wave of that mighty movement of
humanity, which may properly be called the New Dispen
sation of divine grace and truth. And the New Church is
the totality of this great movement, distinguished from aU
6 *

66 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
those foreign and incongruous elements which appear in
Methodism and other popular forms of organized Chris
tianity. The New Church, therefore, in its proper character
as an internal and spiritual body, organized by the Lord
alone, is found in all religious associations, and is constituted
of all who acknowledge the Lord and are in a life of charity.
In this character the New Church is simply the Lord's
church, and is the sun around which all ecclesiastical bodies
must revolve. But in its stUl more specific character as
composed of those who have entered rationally into the
Christian faith, and now receive the distinctive doctrines of
the New Dispensation more or less fully, the New Church
may count its adherents by tens, perhaps hundreds, of thou
sands. There are found in all the churches, and outside of
all the churches, those who hold its views concerning the
spiritual world, the resurrection, the nature and process of
regeneration, the doctrine of atonement, and the sole divinity
of Jesus Christ. It is not for me to explain how persons
can hold these views and yet maintain relations which would
seem to imply the endorsement of creeds in which antagonis
tic views have always been supposed to be expressed. But
that they receive the essential elements of the new theology
is certain ; and their continuance in their old relations may
doubtless be taken as evidence of the growing laxity of ortho
dox belief, and of a tacit understanding in the churches that
a rigid adherence to formal creed statements, shall no longer
be insisted on. And no ecclesiastical body can feel itself
humUiated by being brought into comparison with this
already numerous and rapidly-growing class of minds, unless
indeed their superior intelligence and broader, diviner
charity may cause its attainments to appear smaU, and
show much of its fancied gold to be but dross.

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 67
But even the visible organization, known as the New
Church, small as it is, is not a power to be despised. As an
agency for publishing the doctrines of the' New Dispensa
tion, it is performing a most important use. By means of
books, tracts, periodicals, lectures, and sermons it is leaven
ing the mind of Christendom with a purer and more rational
faith. The literature and philosophy, as well as the theology
of the world, give abundant evidence of its success in
revolutionizing the state of the human mind. It stands at
the fountain head of theological and educated thought, and
is pouring into it the healing waters of the river of life.
The Presbyterian and Index, published at Columbia, S. C,
says, in a recent issue :
" There was a time, not long past, when perhaps it was
proper enough to laugh at the pretended revelations of this
mystic abomination. But really, Swedenborgianism has
come to be a serious evU of no contemptible magnitude. It
has left its fogs, and thrust itself upon the view as a sub
stantial foe. It is now a hard-working, faithful, progressive
ally of modern infidelity ; and is' all the mightier because of
its loud boasts as a promoter of God's glory. Our readers,
many of them, would be equally surprised and alarmed, did
they know how widespread within our own ecclesiastical
bounds is the poisoning atmosphere of this hair-brained
philosophy." We are thankful for such testimony as this from an
avowed antagonist. We have evidence, too, that the leaders
of religious thought in aU the churches, are verging steadUy
toward the "mystic abomination, of Swedenborgianism,"
and are finding in it that which saves them from infidelity,
and binds them more firmly than ever to the Lord Jesus
Christ and to the inspired Word of God.

68 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
Considered, therefore, in reference to the number of those
who fully or partially accept its rational scheme of Chris
tian doctrine, and also in reference to the ecclesiastical
organization which assumes its name,, the New Church is a
factor which cannot be safely ignored in forecasting the
probable future of Christianity. Its apparent magnitude is
no true measure of its real efficiency. The heart or brain,
though constituting but a small fraction of the mass of the
human body, is yet ranked as higher in importance than
other portions of greater volume and weight. The govern
ing power in society, even in a pure democracy^ rests practi
cally in the hands of a few. In like manner the New
Church, composed of those who receive more or less fully
the doctrines and the life of the New Dispensation, though
feeble as yet in numbers and resources, and unworthy in
these respects to be compared with Boodhism, Mohammedan
ism, Romanism, or Methodism, whose adherents are num
bered by millions, and whose resources are boundless —
constituting, as it does, the medium through which the
influx of the new heavens is descending into the general
mind of the race — is entitled to pre-eminence above all
mere external or ecclesiastical organizations.
The foregoing remarks are also a substantial answer to
the objection raised against the New Church on account of
the slowness of its growth, as compared with the growth of
Methodism. In so far as Methodism is constituted of dis
tinctive New Church ideas, its growth is the growth of the
New Church, and the very hind of growth which Sweden
borg predicted for it. In the same way the New Church
has been growing in all the existing churches, and growing
in the general community outside of all the churches.
That it has not grown more rapidly as an external organi-

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 69
zation, is doubtless, to some extent, the fault of its adherents.
Their methods may have been injudicious and their aims
mistaken. Their temper may have been too cold, and their
religion too much a matter of theory. They may have held
themselves too much aloof from the earnest practical work
of reforming and saving their fellow men. Be this as it
may, they have increased but slowly. But what I wish now
to note particularly, is, that the distinctive work to be done
by New Churchmen, must needs be done slowly ; while the
distinctive work which Methodism proposes to itself, can
well be done rapidly. Methodism aims to bring men to a
solemn and formal assumption of Christian discipleship ;
and endeavors then to build them up in a life of experi
mental and practical piety. The New Church also seeks
these ends ; but its distinctive mission is to lead men on to a
rational understanding of Christian truth, and to develop in
them a higher and purer spiritual experience than Method
ism, or any form of orthodox Christianity, is able to produce.
It builds not for a century merely, it is doing work prepara
tory to the great church of the future. It is laying firmly
the heavy foundation stones of the New Jerusalem ; and
erecting the massive wall of jasper which shall protect her
against the a.ssaults of her foes. Building thus for all time,
we must needs build slowly. The New Dispensation which
the Lord is now inauguating, is to be the crown and con
summation of all the ages, and last forever. It must,
therefore, rest on divine truths rationally apprehended.
These can never change, or be outgrown or superseded. New
truths supplementary to them, will doubtless be added from
age to age ; but the old foundation stones will never need to
be disturbed. But the instruction of men in rational truth
and the development of the best forms of spiritual expe-

70 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
rience cannot, at this stage of the New Dispensation, be
hastened like the work which Methodism has undertaken.
Revival methods are here of little avail. Indeed, as com
monly practiced, they would be irrelevant and injurious.
True religion rests on principles of true spiritual science ;
and the mastery of these principles is essential in order that
the soul may enter into the higher ranges of Christian life.
We are not discouraged, therefore, by the little apparent
growth which the New Church has realized, either in its
visible or invisible proportions. We know it is growing,
and growing as fast as the conditions of human society wUI
allow. The theological changes of the last hundred years
have been mainly in the direction of the New Church system
of doctrine. Unitarianism and Universalism, whose work
has been mainly a destructive one, have accomplished valu
able results in exposing the errors and absurdities of the
orthodox faith, though they have been unable to provide
any positive and rational system of truth in place of the
errors they have destroyed. They have demonstrated the
Ulogical and unscriptural character of the common dogmas
of the tri-personality of God, the vicarious atonement, the
resurrection of the body, the materialism of the future life,
the vindictiveness of the Almighty, and the common theory
of biblical inspiration and interpretation ; and have thus
opened the way for more rational views on these subjects.
Similar negative results have also been achieved by many
able minds within the fold of reputed orthodoxy. Dr. Bush
nell, Henry Ward Beecher, and others of less note in this
country, together with Robertson, Campbell, Young and
other eminent 'divines in Great Britain, in their divergence
from the so-called evangelical faith, have discarded most of
the dogmas in which it differs from the theology of Sweden-

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 71
borg, and on some points have come into substantial agree
ment with him. It is notorious also, as the New York Ob
server admits (April 4, 1872), " that Christians of various
surnames are sinking the minor differences that divide them,
and exalting the one great name, the only name given under
heaven among men whereby they can be saved, and making
Christ's Church, and Christ's work, and the salvation of
souls more important than the building up of a mere de
nomination." Rev. Ray Palmer, D. D., in the American Presbyterian
Review, two or three years since, bore similar testimony.
He said "that while few or none of the cardmal truths of
the New Testament " (by which he means the cardinal dog
mas of orthodoxy), " are positively doubted or denied, few
or none, on the other hand, are vigorously grasped and un
flinchingly believed." To these doctrines, he says, " but a
faint and faltering assent" is given, "as though the thought
were secretly allowed, that, after all, there may be some un
certainty about these things."
The Christian Advocate, N. Y. (Aug. 19, 1869), said:
" Ours is an era of doubt. Nothing is accepted from the
past as settled. The very foundation of things is carefully
re-examined." The last General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church virtually decided in the appeal case of Rev. S. D.
Simonds, of San Francisco, that one may hold and teach the
views of the New Church concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
and yet remain a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. Simonds having been suspended from the
ministry for one year by the California Conference, on a bill
of charges involving among other things the specification of
"holding and disseminating doctrine contrary to the Articles

72 WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG.
of Religion," was reinstated by the General Conference, in
full view of the fact that he still adhered to the doctrine, for
holding and teaching which he had been suspended. This
doctrine — the doctrine of Swedenborg concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ, which necessarily involves the New Church
view of the atonement — Mr. Simonds is still teaching as a
Local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having,
as he says, " gained the right, from the highest body, for
myself (himself) and for all Methodists, to hold and teach
the grand doctrine of the New Age."
Facts like these are important. They show that the
salient points of the orthodox faith are fading away from
the minds of Christians, and held to be of little, if any, prac
tical value. And these are the points, toOj that have consti
tuted a barrier between New Churchmen and orthodox be
lievers, and stood in the way of New Church progress. I am
justified, therefore, in the conclusion, that the theological
changes to which I have referred, are leading the Christian
world toward the ultimate acceptance of the beautiful and
sublime doctrines of the New Dispensation. To every New
Churchman the contemplation of this event affords a deep
satisfaction. He glories in it, not because it will be the
triumph of one sect over all others, or will secure the general
recognition of Swedenborg's claims ; " but because it will sig
nalize the overthrow of all sectarianism, whether in Old or
New Churchmen ; will unite all hearts in the bonds of fra
ternal love ; and will exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince
of peace, as the " blessed and only Potentate," " King of
kings and Lord of lords."

PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPTNCOTT 6- CO,

Words in Season, A Manual of Instruction^
Comfort and Devotion for Family Reading and Private Use. By
Rev. Henry R. Browning, M. A. i6mo. Toned paper. Extra
cloth. $1.

" Words ill Season is the title of a
peautiful little volume of practical relig
ious counsels of instruction, comfort and
devotion for family reading and private
use. It appears to be truly evangelical,
and \-i be calculated, in style and spirit,
to do the good at which it aims." — Boston
Congregationalist.

" Words in Season, a thoughtful,
sweet-toned manual for family reading and
hours of devotion, prepared by an Eng
lish minister of the Established Church.
Spiritual souls will read it with comfort
and strengthening." — Chicago Advance.
"A very good book." — N. Y. Liberal
Christian.

The Scriptural Doctrine of Hades. Co7nj>rising
an Inquiry into the State of the Righteous and Wicked Dead be
tween Death and the General Judgment, and demonstrating from
the Bible that the Atonement was neither made on the Cross nor
yet in this World. By Rev. George Bartle, D. D., Principal of
Walton College, Liverpool. i2mo. Cloth. jiSl.50.
The New View of HelL By B. F, Barrett, i2mo.

Extra cloth. $1.25.
"A really valuable contribution to the
world's stock of religious ideas 
The book, taken as a whole, is of great
interest." — New York Sun.
" Contains much that is grotesque and
visionary, with much that is profoundly

true, and much that is exceedingly sug
gestive.'* — New Yorh Independent,
"There is not a Christian man or woman
in the world who would not be benefited
by the reading of this book." — Westfield
Neivs Letter.
Our Children in Heaven, By William H, Hoi-
COMBE, M. D., author of "The Sexes," etc. i2mo. Tinted paper.
Extra cloth. $1.75.
" Its sweet pathos and comforting sym- I " It is written in the most devout spirit,
pathy at once warm and interest us." — and will interest even those wlio reject its
Albany Journal. \ doctrines." — Buffalo Express
The Sexes: Here and Hereafter. By William
H. HOLCOMRE, M. D., author of "Our Children in Heaven," etc.
i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.50.
"Whatever one may think of the doc
trines of this book, it would be impossi
ble to deny that it breathes a pure and
elevated spirit, and has many thoughts

which will commend themselves Eympa'-
thetically to the followers of all Chris
tian faiths." — The Independent^ N. Y.

In Both Worlds. By Win. H. Holcomhe, M. D.,
author of " Our Children in Heaven," " The Sexes : Here and
Hereafter," etc., etc. i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.75.

"While likely to prove of the deepest
md most thrilling interest to all whose
minds are elevated above materiality and

the grosser elements of nature, it is in
110 senso irreverent." — Boston Evening
Traveler.

PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT 6- CO.

Talks with a Child on the Beatitudes'. By the
author of "Talks with a Philosopher." i6mo. Fine cloth, 75
cents. Cloth, flexible, 50 cents.

" A volume written in a sweet, devout,
simple and tender spirit, and calculated to
edify the old as well as the young." — Bos
ton Ev. Transcript.

"A charming little volume to place in
the hands of young people." — Boston
yourjial.

Deus Homo : God-Man. By Theofhilus Parsons.
Crown 8vo. Extra cloth, $2.50.
"Perhaps no book has appeared from I stowed more satisfaction upon the reader."
the scholars of the New Church that has — Historical Magazine.
promised more light to the inquirer or be- | ^

Einanuel Swedenborg as a Philosopher and a Man
of Science. By R. L. Tafel. Crown 8vo. Extra cloth, I2.25.

" We Invite our readers to peruse Prof.
Tafel's book. Its reading will acquaint
them with one of the greatest thinkers and

one of. the purest charactSl"s that ever
lived." — .S"^. Louis Paper.

Elements of Character. By Mary G, Ware^
author of " Death and Life," etc. i6mo. Cloth, $1.25.
" This work is entitled to a place among 1 the higher productions of American female
I literature." — Harper's Magazine.

Observations on the Growth of the Mind. By
Sampson Reed. Seventh edition. i6mo. Extra cloth, $1.

" The title of the work expresses its
character. It is an attempt to show how
the *7tind grows, and after defining the es
sential character of the mind the author

points out, in a most interesting and orig
inal manner, the actual development re
quired." — Boston Transcript.

Observations on the Authenticity of the Gospels.
By a Layman. Second edition. i6mo. Extra cloth, |l.

" A work that should be in everybody's
library, and especially ought steps to be
immediately taken to place it in the hands

of every theological student in our land."
— Religioiis Magazine.
"The author writes with vigor and
clearness." — North American Review.

Sermons on the Lords Prayer. By Henry A,
Worcester. 121110. Cloth, I1.25.

PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT Sf CO.
Mistaken; or. The Seeming and the Real. By
Lydia Fuller, izmo. Fine cloth, iSi.50.
Moody Mike; or. The Power of Love. A Christ-
mas Story. By Frank Sewall. Illustrated. i6mo. Extra
cloth, $1.
Talks with a Philosopher on the Ways of God to
Man. By the author of " Talks with a Child on the Beatitudes."
l6mo. Cloth.
Lessons from Daily Life. By Emily E. Hildreth.
izmo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth, If i.
The Other Life. By Dr. W. H. Holcombe, au-
thor of " The Sexes," "In Both Worlds," etc. i2mo. Cloth.
Who -was Stvedenborg? By O. P. Hiller. i6ino.
Paper cover, 25 cents. Cloth, 50 cents.
Letters to a Man of the World. By J. F. E.
Le Bovs des Guays, ex-sous Prefect in Department du cher. Re
vised edition. i6mo. Cloth, S1.50.
Doctrine of Life for the New fcrusaletn; from
the Commandments of the Decalogue. By Emanuel Sweden
borg. 24mo. Extra cloth, gilt, 75 cents.
Heroism. By Horace Field, iimo. Extra cloth,
isi.so.
Thoughts in my Garden. By Mary G. Ware,
author of "Elements of Character," etc. i6mo. Cloth, jSi. 25.
Death and Life. By Mary G. Ware, author of
' " Thoughts in my Garden," etc. i6mo. Cloth, $L25.
Lectures on the New Dispensation signified by the
New Jerusalem ; designed to unfold and elucidate the leading doc
trines of the New Church. By Rev. B. F. Barrett, iznio.
Cloth, JIL50.
Letters on the Divine Trinity, addressed to Henry
Ward Beedier. By Rev. B. F. BAURE'rr. New and enlarged
edition. i2mo. Extra cloth, ^1.25.

PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT &= CO.
The Divine Attributes. Including also the Divine
Trinity. A Treatise on the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and
Correspondence. From the "Apocalypse Explained " of Emanuel
Swedenborg. i2rao. Extra cloth, %i.
[ngelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and
Wisdom. By Emanuel Swedenborg. From the original Latin
as edited by Dr. J. F. I. Tafel. Translated by R. N. Foster. Demi
8vo. Extra cloth, $2.
Heaven and its Wonders, and Hell. From Things
Heard and Seen. By Emanuel Swedenborg. From the Latin
edition of Dr. J. F. L Tafel. Translated by B. F. Barrett. Demi
8vo. Extra cloth, JS2.50.
Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Provi-
dence. By Emanuel Swedenborg. From the original Latin as
edited by Dr. J. F. I. Tafel. Translated by R. Norman Foster.
Demi 8vo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth, JP2.25.
True Christian Religion. Containing the entire
Theology of the New Church, foretold by the Lord in Dan vii. 13
14 and Rev. xxi. I, 2. By Emanuel Swedenborg. From the
Latin edition of Dr. J. F. I. Tafel. Translated by R. Norman Foster.
2 vols, demi Svo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth, $5.
Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg. By
W. White. With Four Steel Plates. Svo. Extra cloth, jSs.
Life of Emanuel Swedenborg, with a Synopsis of
his Writings. By W. White. With an Introduction by Rev. B.
F. Barrett. i2mo. Extra cloth, $1.50.
Life : Its Nature, Varieties and Phenomena.
By Leo H. Grindon, author of " Emblems," " Figurative Lan
guage," etc. First American Edition. i2mo. Extra cloth, (^2.25.

3 9002 08867 5021

9*^ ^ -

imi

v^m«'i! .>«

5 >¦

'¦»is

iktv

ij"

fm

m

.^

my

r'rl. ^ ,'•

*<fe 'v

'jnb

'tl%

:%:

i^-Mo Aim M^^K ' #Mi

/US'

^ ' rfi

'liii'i

V5y

It vM

\^V

•^

RHHi

si, .¦Tf;

>V
M
^f.LU'
¦dv.
i
m
%'
mt?
|ni
&^.
m
• w^l-:
t^h"'!'/ ¦>
ft »
%
ih
M
il:..4i.'^-^t»fe&f&j