A clergyman who has a knowledge of the medical profession and of medicine, in speaking of the importance of such teachers, says: "Moreover, from their relation to the sick and suffering, from their habit of analyzing the mental and moral states of their patients, and from the deep, tender sympathy which sincere, God-fearing physicians have for suffering human beings, they are placed in a much closer relation to the people than any other vocation could give them. How many persons have been comforted, strengthened, instructed, and turned to uprightness of life through the kindly ministrations of their physicians!"
And church organizations are languishing for the want of such teachers, and can never thrive in true doctrine and good lives, as they should, without them.
Surely every one can but see of what immense benefit such lecturers would be, especially to the young in our churches. One physician might be employed by and serve several societies, giving to the different societies once or twice a week a lecture in each society, fully illustrated by drawings, plates, stereoscopic and microscopic views, which would attract young and old, and fill our churches to overflowing with those who now attend no church; and the latter, when they found a physician, with the consent of the church, thus clearly pointing out the great evils of life which cause so much suffering, wretchedness, sorrow, and so many premature deaths, and calling young and old, from a religious standpoint, to shun them as sins against God, could but feel that our churches are striving to elevate humanity, and are a great blessing, and that it would be desirable to belong to them, and especially to have their children brought up under the influence of the Church.
Nearly the same could be said in regard to the important services which a second class of teachers of which I am about to speak could render. By the lectures of the two new life would be infused into our churches, and they would stand upon a sure foundation by manifesting love to God and man in our external natural lives, by teaching and leading men to act from spiritual motives, and to be willing to see their evils, and to commence by shunning well-known evils as sins against God. What a glorious day would this open up to our churches and for the elevation of our race through them!
Physicians as teachers in our churches should have for a special work the teaching of truth as to the physical life of man in connection with his spiritual life—the laws of health, the causes of prevailing diseases, deformities, insanities, and premature deaths, together with the methods and the duty of shunning them as sins against God. But there are other evils and questions which require careful consideration in our churches, such as the true relation, according to the laws of justice, mercy, and right, which should exist between men as neighbors, citizens, and Christians; and the clear light of this New Day should be brought down to guide men into a life of peace and harmony and good-will in this wilderness state of the world. Important questions are pressing for a solution, and for a careful consideration, by the religious teachers of our churches, such as the ecclesiastical and civil government best adapted for men of different countries and races, especially for our own country and churches; the relation of capital and labor; the right of single individuals to hold an unlimited amount of real estate, and transmit it to their children; the rights of corporations and of women; and our duties to others in all the relations of life. Fortunately, we have in our churches legal men or lawyers, who, while familiar with the doctrines of the Church, have devoted their lives to the consideration of such questions. It would not be difficult to point out several members of the legal fraternity belonging to our church organizations who would be able to perform a great use to the Church as lecturers and acting as missionaries among those who do not attend church as opportunity may offer. They would enter into a field of usefulness almost altogether beyond the reach and influence of our present ministers. Their advice, their counsel, their discourse, in their legal practice, are channels for the introduction of Christian thought and doctrine otherwise closed. There is one passage in the Writings which indicates this use:—
"And strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die—that hereby is signified; that the things which pertain to the moral life should be vivified, appears from the signification of strengthening, as denoting to vivify the moral life by truths;for truths from the Word vivify that life, which, when it is vivified, is also strengthened, for it then acts as one with the spiritual life." (A. E. 188.)
To meet and vivify the moral life of man with truths from the Word is a use eminently adapted to the position and mind of the legal profession. We need the services of such ministers, especially at this day, when we inherit from the fallen churches of the past an inclination to the love of spiritual and temporal dominion or rule, and the love of money and of vain show without regard to use. The evils that result from the gratification of such perverted affections must be fearlessly exposed, and a call to repentance made, before the injustice, oppression, and wrong which exist all over the world can be materially lessened. Lawyers, by making a special study of the Word in connection with their professional-studies, could not fail to impart much valuable instruction both to the Church and the world.
Christian physicians and lawyers would take hold of men in their present low state, showing them what acts are evil and wrong, and why they are so; and would call on them to repent and stop doing the evil acts which the truth condemns, fully realizing that a man must cease doing evil before he can cease thinking and willing evil; or, in other words, that reformation must commence on the natural plane, and from the highest motives of which the individual at present is susceptible.
It is the duty of our clergy to teach spiritual truths and the spiritual sense of the Word, and to lead men and women to live good lives, in obedience to the Divine commandments, from spiritual and celestial motives. But it is difficult for them to fill the entire field where religious instruction is needed, for we are living in the midst of the most direful evils of life, which must be put away before the New Jerusalem can descend and have an abiding place with men. Evils so terrible as to destroy vast multitudes of men and women of all ages, and even innocent children, all around us, too frequently go unheeded by our clergy and the periodicals under their charge. I know that in this respect there are some noble exceptions among our clergy and editors; but however willing and anxious they may be, it is impossible for one man to possess the knowledge and to impart all the necessary instruction as perfectly as three men thoroughly educated and trained for the different fields for labor could do it.
To recapitulate: The physicians are required to teach and to lead men to obey, from a principle of obedience, the spiritual and natural laws of health and life; the lawyers are required to teach and lead men by spiritual truths to act from a principle of justice, truth, and neighborly love in all their relations with others; our ministers are required to teach and lead men to act from love to the Lord and thence the neighbor, and to do right because it is right, and to administer the ordinances of the Church.
While some church organizations are laboring earnestly for the reform of men and women addicted to evils, and are striving to guard the innocent and young; and while in many of the churches in England they are organizing their temperance societies and "Bands of Hope," many of our organizations are as silent as the grave in regard to these evils. Can our churches prosper without teachers who are able to point out the evils of life which are so destructive to our race, and who are sufficiently free themselves to be able earnestly and consistently to call men to repentance, and to lead them to live orderly lives?
Various denominations of Christians, in sending forth missionaries to distant lands, have, of late years, been sending, among others, some well-educated physicians as missionaries, and have found them very efficient in reaching and influencing the people among whom they labor. May not all take a hint when some of the religious organizations around us are beginning to see the advantages of sending out medical missionaries? If we would reach the Gentiles, or non-church goers, in our midst, should we not follow their example? A vast number of children and young people are growing up in our country, who are more ignorant of the spiritual and natural laws of health and life than many in Gentile lands; many of them rarely read or hear the Sacred Scriptures read, and do not even know the Ten Commandments.
As there is a correspondence between the natural and spiritual causes of disease, so there must be a correspondence between the methods of restraining and curing natural and spiritual diseases.
First: Spiritual diseases or evils are restrained by punishments which, by force, as it were, counteract the inclination to do evil; corresponding to this method we have the Antipathic method of restraining natural diseases, which is one of the prevailing methods; for instance, for constipation cathartics are given, for a diarrhoea astringents, and opiates are given to forcibly relieve or restrain the symptoms of disease. Every one can but see that such remedies for the cure of natural diseases, like punishments for the cure of spiritual diseases or evils, are but palliative; for the reaction, if reaction ensue, is not in the right direction. It is true that a cure sometimes results in spite of the treatment, especially in transient cases, the vital forces restoring health during the temporary restraint of the diseased action; but in many cases the constipation is only aggravated by cathartics, and diarrhoeas are not benefited by astringents; and the evil man often becomes more vicious after punishment.
Second: Spiritual evils are often restrained by exciting one passion to restrain evil acts in another direction; for instance, acquisitiveness and vanity are often excited to restrain evil men from evil acts, which might result from hatred and a desire for revenge, thus calling off the attention from the prevailing evil inclination. Corresponding to this method of restraining spiritual diseases we have the Allopathic method of restraining diseased action in one organ by exciting diseased action in another organ or part, as is done when a cathartic is given for disease of the head or lungs, or when a blister is applied to the skin in case of internal diseased action; thus, as it were, calling off the attention of the vital forces from the diseased structures, and thus palliative relief is often obtained in natural as in spiritual diseases.
Third: Either from afflictions, suffering, disappointments, or from voluntarily hearkening to the truth, a man begins to feel a desire to change his life, and looking to the Lord he repents and resolves to obey the Divine Commandments by shunning evils as sins against God. But when he commences to do this, evil spirits flow into his mind and tempt him to again do evil acts; if the temptations are too strong he falls, but he may fall to rise again; he will either do this by renewing his resolution to overcome the evil inclination, or he will fall to rise no more, and keep on in his old course of life, perhaps worse than before. Thoughts come before actions; if a man, when tempted to do evil, resists the thoughts of doing the evil acts, every one can see that he is striking a blow at the perverted affection through which he has been tempted to do evil; consequently the step toward a cure is far more radical and permanent than it would have been if he had done the evil act.
Children and the young should be taught that to violate the Divine Commandments is a sin against God, and that they should resist their hereditary or acquired inclination to speak wrong words or do evil acts the moment such inclinations are manifested in their thoughts, which is far better than to allow them to move them to do evil acts. The cure of spiritual diseases by the resisting of temptation is a genuine method of cure. Corresponding with this for the treatment of natural diseases, we have their treatment by the use of Homoeopathic remedies. Only spirits of a similar inclination can tempt a man to do an evil act and thus manifest his unsubdued inclination to him, which enables him to see and overcome the inclination by resisting it. So, on the natural plane, it is only a poisonous substance or remedy, which is capable of causing a similar disease to the one existing, which can manifest the disease to the vital forces and thus enable them to react against the disease. But if the dose of the remedy given is too large it will aggravate the disease, as a cathartic dose of a cathartic remedy will aggravate a diarrhoea; but the vital forces may react and overcome the disease, or they may not, and the disease continue even worse than before. It is the reaction of the vital forces that overcomes the diseased action and effects the cure, and not the remedy, any more than it is the evil spirit that tempts man that overcomes his spiritual evils during regeneration. As it is not necessary that the temptation should be so strong as to make a man take the first step toward performing an evil act, to enable him to resist it if he will the moment the inclination is seen in his thoughts, so it is not necessary that a dose of a Homoeopathic remedy should be so strong as to aggravate the natural diseased action in the slightest degree before it can be seen by the vital forces, and a reaction follow. The size of the dose must be determined by experience; but we know that its effects need only to equal the effects of temptations which proceed no further than the thought of doing evil before reaction may follow, therefore we can form no conception of the minuteness of the dose which may be sufficient for a cure to follow.
But if a man would be restored to spiritual health by getting rid of his hereditary and acquired inclinations to do evil, he must acknowledge the Lord, diligently search His Word, and be willing to see and obey His commandments, which are the laws of spiritual health and life, and must be obeyed conscientiously, in intention, thought, word, and deed, if health is to be restored; otherwise, punishment, hope of reward, and temptations can only afford palliative relief at best. So in regard to natural diseases. If a man would be restored to physical health by getting rid of his hereditary and acquired inclinations to diseases, he must recognize that the laws of nature are the laws established for his good by the Lord, and he must diligently study the laws pertaining to health and life, and be willing to see and obey those laws as to sunlight, air, exercise, clothing, and in eating and drinking, etc., if he would be restored to health; otherwise, antipathic, allopathic, and even homoeopathic remedies will prove only palliative at best. If we expect to be well, spiritually or naturally, we must strive to know and obey the laws of health and life.
Temptations by evil spirits permitted and controlled by the Lord for the sake of removing many spiritual evils, and a corresponding action of homoeopathic remedies administered by a skillful hand, for the sake of removing natural diseases, are curative methods which belong to the New Jerusalem Dispensation, now descending from God out of heaven, making all things new—the Church of the future.
Soon after I commenced reading the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, while residing in Detroit, I was invited to attend a social gathering at the residence of one of the members of the congregation of believers in his writings in that city. During the evening, to my astonishment, fermented wine was passed around to the guests, of which quite a number partook. As already stated in the preceding pages, while a young man, through the efficient teachings of Baptist and Congregational clergymen and prominent members of the churches, and the results of drinking which I witnessed, I was providentially enabled to see that to use drinks which endangered health, reason, and life was wrong, and consequently a sin; and with many others I signed a pledge never to drink intoxicating drinks during health. The reader can imagine how I was shocked to see intoxicating wine presented and partaken of among gentlemen and ladies who professed to be receivers and believers in a new revelation of Divine truth from God to man. I immediately saw the clergyman of the society, and asked him if Swedenborg teaches that it is right and proper to drink an intoxicating wine. He replied that he did.
He and members of his society were holding Sunday afternoon meetings for the purpose of reading the writings and discussing such questions as might arise, which meetings I attended. I said to the reverend gentleman that I would like to have this wine question discussed at our next meeting, to which he assented. At that meeting, I brought up the medical and scientific aspects of the question, and endeavored to show that fermented wine was a dangerous poison, it having destroyed vast multitudes of the human race, and that it performed no use when taken into the stomach of healthy men and women; and, consequently, that it is wrong to drink a wine which does so much harm. The clergyman tried to justify its use by quoting certain comparisons which Swedenborg had made between the apparent combat which takes place during fermentation and the combat which ensues during the regeneration of man, and the clearness of resulting wine after fermentation and that of truth in the mind after regeneration, and also of the purity of alcohol after it has been through certain processes, which he named, compared with pure truth.
But we know that pure alcohol cannot be used as a beverage, and therefore it is certain that these comparisons were simply as to the clearness of fermented wine after fermentation, and the purity of alcohol after being purified; and that they have nothing to do with the inherent quality of these fluids, or their ability to affect man when he drinks them. We had an earnest discussion of the question from our different standpoints, but neither of us was satisfied with the result; and, consequently, we adjourned the discussion of the subject until the next Sabbath afternoon. In the meantime, the clergyman prepared a discourse, which he delivered on Sunday morning, in which he endeavored to show that fermentation was caused by an influx of angels from the highest heaven into the juice of the grape, stirring it up and cleansing it from "inherent impurities." Providentially, during the week, I had obtained a copy of Swedenborg's work on the "Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom," in which he teaches that all poisonous substances which do harm and kill man derive their life from or through hell. When we came together in the afternoon to discuss the question, we were about as far apart as it was possible to be, as the reader can readily see. He took the ground that fermentation was caused by influx from the highest heaven, and I took the ground that it was caused by influx from the lowest hell, and we had an earnest discussion; but he certainly did not satisfy me nor many of his audience, if any, that his position was true. How could he? for there is no doubt but that fermented wine has harmed and killed more of the human race in ages past than any other poison. As a result of that discussion, within my knowledge, fermented wine was never again used at the sociables of that society during my residence in Detroit.
Within perhaps a year after that discussion, I was baptized and united with the Detroit Society of the New Church. When I came to understand, from the writings of Swedenborg, the true signification of water and the ordinance of baptism—that water signified natural truth and that baptism introduced one into the Church, and signified that man is to be regenerated or purified by living a life according to the truth, and that the head represented the man—I did not regard immersion as so important as I had previously, consequently I was baptized by the application of water to the head. There is, I think, no serious objection to any one being baptized by immersion who prefers it. Children should, I think, be baptized into the Church, and be brought up to feel that they belong to the Church, and are expected to live the life of the Church. More and more have I seen the importance of bringing children up under the influence of the Church, where they should be instructed and entertained and thus kept away from bad company.
Swedenborg made no attempt to organize the believers in the revelations made by the Lord through his instrumentality into a separate church organization, and nowhere in his writings does he express the opinion that such a separate organization would ever be needed or desirable. And he apparently expected that the prevailing false doctrines of the churches would, in the increasing light of the New Jerusalem, be seen to be false by the clergy of existing church organizations; and that through them the laity would be enabled to see that they are false, and thus they would be put away, as is manifest in passages which I have quoted elsewhere; also see T. C. R. 784.
When individual men or churches put away false doctrines, they are prepared, if in the good of life, to see and receive the truth; consequently Swedenborg says that although the First Christian Church has come to its end through false doctrines and evils of life, yet it is to revive again through the instrumentality of the newly revealed science of correspondences; consequently it is not to utterly perish, for there is a remnant within its borders.
Then the reader will inquire, "Why was an external New-Church organization ever formed?" We have not to look far to find the reason. First, there was a vast multitude of intelligent men and women who did not belong to any church organization, and when some of them came to see and believe the new doctrines, they naturally desired to be baptized and to join a church organization; but seeing clearly in the light of the new revelations that, according to the Sacred Scriptures, God is one in essence and in person, and that that one God was manifested to man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He made that human form Divine and is henceforth to be worshiped as one God in His Divine Humanity, and that a life according to His sayings and the commandments is essential to salvation, they could not join the prevailing churches, for they could not assent to their creeds.
Second. When, as soon occurred, both clergymen and laymen, belonging to various church organizations, began to read the writings, and to see that the Lord is in very deed now coming in the clouds of heaven, and desired to let the new light shine among their brethren, they found that they were often not free to do so without giving offense; and in not a few instances clergymen found that they were silenced as preachers, and sometimes both clergymen and laymen were expelled, for believing the Heavenly Doctrines instead of the creeds; consequently the receivers of the doctrines of the New Dispensation had no choice but to form a new church organization. But at this day there is a vast change, and I trust that from but a very few if any church organizations would a lay member be expelled for believing in the Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Sacred Scriptures are Divine and plenarily inspired, and that a life according to the Lord's sayings and His Commandments is essential to salvation. Consequently there are thousands of earnest receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem scattered throughout the various churches, gradually leavening, as I trust, the whole lump; and there are clergymen not a few who are gradually beholding, with more or less fullness, the light of this New Day; and as they receive it, large numbers of them are not slow to let the light shine among their fellow-men, as they are prepared to receive it.
The Lord has given to men freedom and reason, and they are responsible for their acts. To whom do a clergyman and members of a church organization owe fealty, to the Lord and His Word and the members of the congregations where they worship, or to a creed and church or a church organization formulated and organized during darker ages of the world and Church? Should men or should they not, when they behold the glorious light of the Lord's Second Coming in the clouds of heaven, stand in their place and proclaim the glad tidings to all who are willing to hear?
Swedenborg, in giving the spiritual sense of the second chapter of theApocalypse, in No. 69 of theApocalypse Revealed, says:—
"This and the following chapter treat of the seven churches, by which are described all those in the Christian Church who have any religion, and out of whom the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, can be formed; and this is formed by those who APPROACH THE LORD ONLY, AND AT THE SAME TIME PERFORM REPENTANCE FROM EVIL WORKS. The rest, who do not approach the Lord alone, from the confirmed negation of the divinity of His humanity, and who do not perform repentance from evil works, are indeed in the Church, but have nothing of the Church in them."
If all clergymen and members of our churches, the moment they begin to see that portions of their creeds are false and injurious in their tendency, instead of trying, by proclaiming the truth among their brethren, to have the false doctrines removed and true doctrines substituted, were to immediately forsake the church organization in which, in the good providence of the Lord, they stand, what hope would there be for the perpetuation of existing churches as Christian organizations at all? The great danger at this day is that false doctrines will be seen faster than true doctrines will be seen to take their place, and thus our churches and members will be left desolate and return to a Gentile state. For instance, if our clergy and intelligent laymen begin to see, as many of them seem to be doing already, that the doctrine of a tri-personal God, instead of a trinity in unity, and the doctrine of the vicarious atonement are contrary to the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures, and unreasonable and inconsistent, and do not at the same time see clearly the scriptural doctrine that God is one in essence and in person, and that in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ that one God was manifested for the purpose of reconciling the world unto Himself, such individuals are almost sure sooner or later to deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Sacred Scriptures are divine and special revelations from God to man, and consequently plenarily inspired.
The doctrines which are false in the prevailing church organizations must go—they are going—from the minds of their members if not from their creeds. Then are these organizations to become Gentile and stand like the remnants of the Ancient Church, which we behold in southern and eastern Asia? I think not; for we are told, as has been already stated in the revelations made by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg, that the science of correspondences was revealed that the Christian Church "may revive and again draw breath from the Lord through heaven." Gentiles received the Lord at His first coming with joy; and so I believe the Gentiles in and out of our church organizations will receive Him now as He comes in the clouds of heaven. In the light manifested in the Sacred Scriptures by the aid of the science of correspondences, every willing and obedient man and woman is able to see that God is one, and that the Lord Jesus Christ, or God in His Divine Humanity, is that one God and the only Being whom men should and whom angels do worship. Then of what unspeakable importance it is that the attention of all clergymen and laymen be speedily called to the writings for the Church of the New Jerusalem which is now descending from God out of heaven!
After practicing medicine for ten or twelve years, and on accepting the chair of "Theory and Practice of Medicine" tendered by the Western Homoeopathic College at Cleveland, Ohio, I commenced, as it were, the study of the practical department of my profession anew, in order to prepare myself for filling the chair profitably to the students and creditably to myself. While preparing forgiving lectures, and especially in after years while away from my active medical practice at Detroit, giving a course of lectures at Cleveland every winter, I began to study and investigate in my leisure hours the causes of diseases. Step by step I pursued my investigations, until I became satisfied that most of the deformities, diseases, and insanity which exist have been caused by the violation of the physical and spiritual laws of our being which could have been avoided in the past, and which can and must be in the future, if our race is to be restored to a state of healthy, symmetrical, and noble manhood. Consequently I came to the conclusion that it is far more important that men, women, and children should be taught the laws of health and to understand the causes of the prevailing deformities and diseases, and how to shun them, than it was for them and their children to get sick, deformed, and suffer, and often to pay their hard-earned money to doctors for the uncertain chance of being cured—in fact, that "an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure."
As a result of my investigations I wrote a series of articles for theDetroit Tribuneon the bad habits which cause diseases, insanity, and deformity; and, as opportunity offered, I gave lectures upon such subjects; and finally I wrote a work entitled the "Avoidable Causes of Disease," of 348 pages, of which I printed several editions, the first of which was in 1859, and furnished to different publishers, and advertised to a limited extent; after that it was published for several years by Messrs. Mason Brothers, of New York; after which it came into my hands again. I also wrote a pamphlet of 48 pages on "Marriage and its Violations," which, for a time, was bound separately, but afterward was bound with the "Avoidable Causes of Disease." In all, eleven editions of the work have been printed; the last edition was printed by Messrs Boericke & Tafel, of Philadelphia, who will probably publish any future editions which may be demanded.
I soon found, what my publishers found after me, and other writers and their publishers have found, that it does not pay to advertise books which contain the greatest amount of practical and useful information which is calculated to benefit readers, especially if they call in question the bad habits and evils of life in which so many people indulge; consequently, feeling that a work treating of diseases and their cure, in which I could advertise my first work and call special attention to it, would sell more readily, I wrote a book of 404 pages, entitled "Family Homoeopathy," in which I took great pains to carefully describe in few words the various diseases, and gave as definite and positive instruction as was practicable to guide laymen, so that harmless homoeopathic remedies might take the place of drastic drugs and injurious domestic remedies, which are so frequently used when it is thought not necessary to call a physician, or before his arrival when called. At the end of this volume I inserted a carefully prepared table of the contents of the "Avoidable Causes of Disease," occupying three pages, and referred not unfrequently to that work when treating of various diseases.
With but very slight efforts, and no advertising on my part, "Family Homoeopathy" sold very well—principally through the different homoeopathic pharmacies in our country; and this increased the sale of "The Avoidable Causes of Disease" very materially, as I expected it would. Seventeen editions of "Family Homoeopathy" have been printed and sold, the last edition by Dr. E. R. Ellis, of Detroit, Michigan, who will continue to print and supply applicants as wanted.
As I continued my investigation into the causes of disease, and especially as I read the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, I began to see more and more clearly that diseases, to a large extent at least, have a spiritual origin, and that the great obstacles to the removal of their causes lie in the false doctrines of Christian churches. When selfish men who were leaders in the churches desired to exercise their love of rule in spiritual and natural things and to exercise despotic power, when they desired to reduce other men to slavery and to hold them as slaves, or when they desired to gratify other perverted passions and sensual appetites, they all went to the Bible and strove to justify their conduct from its pages, with the expectation of reaching heaven at last; for this purpose it required the invention of special doctrines, and these they taught to their children, and thus the Word of God was made of no effect by the traditions and doctrines of men.
Unfortunately for the Protestant Church, early in its history, instead of "If ye would enter into life, keep the commandments," there was substituted the doctrine of justification by faith alone; which led men, especially the young, to hope that by getting religion and having faith, they could at any time escape the legitimate penalties which are attached by the Lord to evil doing. No young man, religiously brought up, expects to go to hell; but he intends to repent and be converted before he dies; he often thinks he will "sow his wild oats" first, instead of earnestly and faithfully striving to keep the Divine commandments from his youth up. Evil thinking and doing develop an infernal life within him, which often gradually gains strength until he is ruled by his perverted appetites and passions; and day by day his ability to regain his freedom grows less.
When the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church began to teach men that the punishment which rightly inheres to the doing of evil can be escaped by confessing to the priest, doing penance, and receiving absolution, and that every Catholic priest has from the Lord the power to forgive sins and to grant indulgences, then the hope of escaping the penalties of sin by something short of keeping the Divine Law in everyday life was held out to the young of the Catholic laity, similar to that which the doctrine of faith alone offered to the young of the Protestant world; and the results have been similar. We know, however, that among religious teachers there are many to-day in all of the various sects of Christians who have put away, or are gradually putting away, or materially modifying, the perverted doctrines of the past. As an illustration of the changes which are taking place, I clip the following from an English paper, recently received:—
"The Rev. T. Vincent Tymms, the new Principal of Rawdon College, preaching to his late congregation at Clapham, said:—
"'From the first day I stood in this pulpit until now, I have desired to tear away from every heart that obscuring veil of pagan thought which first attributes a wrathful justice to the Father and a tender mercy to CHRIST, and then represents the Son as dying to soothe the anger and satisfy the relentless demands of the Father. Such unholy and revolting ideas are the leaven of heathenism, not the unleavened bread of Christian truth.'
"This is from the first of 'Three Farewell Sermons,' published by Messrs.James Clarke & Co., Fleet Street, E. C."
More and more, as time progressed, I began to realize that there was very little chance for any radical improvement of our race until the false doctrines which have come down to us from the dark ages were put away; and knowing that in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg we have a new revelation from the Lord, even the truths of his Second Coming in the clouds of heaven, which are destined to make all things new by leading men back to a life of obedience to the Divine commandments; and, furthermore, believing the most important missionary field to-day in the world to be among the clergy of our country, I wrote an "Address to the Clergy" of 24 pages. This Address I sent to over 50,000 clergymen. A few years before I wrote that Address, the late Mr. L. C. Iungerich, of Philadelphia, through the book publishing firm of J. B. Lippincott & Co., of that city, had offered to clergymen who would order and send the stamps to pay the postage, Swedenborg's "True Christian Religion," and afterward he added the "Apocalypse Revealed;" and the New Church Tract Society added to the above works "Heaven and Hell,"—all to be sent free to clergymen on receipt of postage. Several thousand copies of the above works had been sent when I wrote and sent out my Address. Upon the second page of the cover of my tract was a notice of the above-named gift books; and my aim was to hastily call the attention of clergymen to them, and to give them some idea of the claims of Swedenborg's writings to their attention, and to encourage them to send for and to read the books thus providentially within their reach. As a result of receiving the Address, thousands of clergymen sent for and obtained one or more of the above books.
When I commenced sending the above-named Address to the clergy, I resolved to devote one-tenth of my income to the work of spreading a knowledge of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem and of an orderly life among my fellow-men. I can truly say, and will say for the encouragement of others, that as I have given I have received; for never had I prospered financially as I have since that resolution was made and lived up to. After having secured a competency for myself and family I did not stop at one-tenth of my income.
The result of sending the Address was so satisfactory that I wrote and compiled a work of 260 pages, entitled, "Skepticism and Divine Revelation," with the intention of sending it to the clergy. My aim was to present a hasty view of the application of the science of correspondences in the interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis, and some other parts of the Word, and to meet the arguments of skeptics, and thus to show that the Sacred Scriptures are Divine revelations from God to man, and plenarily inspired, consequently differing as much from the words of man as God's works do from the works of man. In that work the attention of the reader is called to the creation of the world, the creation of man and woman, Eve, the Garden of Eden, its trees and river, the fall of man, the serpent, Cain and Abel, the flood, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the flood of waters, the Ark, the Tower of Babel, Sun worship and idolatry, spiritualism, the little reliance to be placed upon communications from spirits, and why. Next, the doctrines of the New Jerusalem—God, the Incarnation, the Divine Trinity, sacrificial worship, the Cross, a true and heavenly life, the end of the world and Second Coming of the Lord, the resurrection, state of infants in the other life, the state and condition of the Heathen and Gentiles in another life, the New Jerusalem—the Church of the Future—the Crown of all Churches, the Divine promise to those who receive the New Jerusalem at the Lord's Second Coming as revealed through Emanuel Swedenborg.
Such were the subjects discussed in the light of the revelations made by the Lord's chosen servant. My aim was to produce the best work I could. Consequently, when I found in the writings of others passages, or even whole sections, in which the ideas that I desired to present were as well or better conveyed than I thought I could present them, I selected them, giving the writers credit for the same, and the sixteenth and twenty-third chapters were written at my request by the Rev. William B. Hayden, who assisted me materially in seeing the work through the press. About one-half of the matter in the volume was selected from other writers.
I commenced to send this work in editions of 10,000 to the clergy of our country, and when I had sent about 50,000, I had the "Address to the Clergy" printed and bound with it, and both were sent to the Catholic clergy, to whom the Address had not previously been sent. From that time both works have been printed and bound in one volume. About 65,000 of the above works, containing a notice of the gift books, named in preceding pages, on the second page of the cover, have been sent to the clergy of America, about 10,000 have been sent to physicians, and as many more have been circulated among laymen. The sending of this book to the clergy immensely increased the orders for the gift books.
The above works have been translated into the German language, and about 48,000 copies sent to German-speaking clergymen in Germany and other parts of Europe, and in our own country. They have been translated into the Swedish language, and about 6000 copies have been sent to the clergy of Sweden and Norway and circulated among the laity; and they have been translated into Italian, and 10,000 sent to and circulated in Italy. And more recently they have been translated into French, and 20,000 printed which are now being sent to the clergy of France and the French-speaking clergy of other European countries, and of our own country.
Then, I have aided materially in sending other works to the clergy of our country, either explaining or containing the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, upon the second page of the covers of which will be found a notice of the gift books offered to clergymen. I aided with money the Swedenborg Publishing Association in sending Rev. Mr. Ravlin's "Progressive Thoughts on Great Subjects" to all the clergy of our country whose names could be had; and, later, I have aided the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society in sending, first, "The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrines;" second, "The Doctrine of the Lord;" third, "The Doctrine of Life"—all three Swedenborg's own works—to all the clergy in our country whose names could be readily obtained; in all 82,500. So that almost every clergyman in our country has had an opportunity to acquire some knowledge of the doctrines and revelations made by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg for the benefit of men in this new age—doctrines very different from those formulated in the creeds of bygone centuries—and thousands of our clergy are beginning to realize, that we must return to the rational and plain doctrines taught in the Sacred Scriptures, and summed up by the Lord when on earth in the Two Great Commandments, Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy might and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself, and that we must commence the new life by repentance, or by being willing to see our evils and to shun them as sins against God.
As a result of the efforts made by others and myself to make known to the clergy the offer of the gift books, 32,831 clergymen have sent for and obtained "The True Christian Religion," 30,887 have obtained "Heaven and Hell," and 25,522 have obtained "The Apocalypse Revealed," according to the report of the Trustees of the Iungerich fund (May, 1891).
For several years after I joined the Church I paid little attention to the subject of communion wine. But at last an article appeared in a New-Church paper, in which the writer claimed that fermented wine was a good and useful article to be used as a beverage, and he tried to justify its use by the teachings of the Church. Such views were so contrary to what I regarded as true, that I immediately commenced a more careful and critical examination of the writings of Swedenborg, to ascertain what is taught therein as to wine. I soon found that he distinctly recognized two kinds of wine, as does the Bible: one kind unfermented, a good and nourishing fluid to which he always gives a good signification when its use is not abused; and the other kind, known by its effects on man when he drinks it to be fermented, to which he has never given a good signification when it is clear from the context that reference is had to fermented wine. And I will here say that my opponents in the Church have done precisely what the advocates of slavery, intoxicating drinks, and skeptics have done in their appeals to the Bible to sustain their views. They find here and there a comparison and passage which, by placing their own construction upon them, they think will justify their views, while they totally ignore a large number of passages which most clearly and positively teach a totally different doctrine; and they ignore scientific facts, the well known effects of drinking fermented wine, and the testimony of ancient writers whenever such testimony does not accord with their own views. Thus they uphold the use of the drunkard's cup as a beverage and even as a sacramental wine; and within my knowledge more than one poor man in our Church who was struggling to reform his life has been led back by partaking of it to drunkenness.
A distinguished clergyman said in a letter to the writer:—
"I can never forget the experience already related to you when Mr. ——, my wife's brother-in-law, a gentleman of classical education, had become a sober man through my efforts and received the heavenly doctrines … Then came the Lord's Supper and we had fermented California wine. I handed him the cup, he drank, and after church he fled to some place where wine could be had, came home late in the evening drunk, and continued drinking for three months, until he died one evening after being brought home beastly drunk. Unfermented wine is no seducer, and had Mr. —— been given such in the Sacrament, he might be living, a sober man, to-day. Your books on the 'Wine Question' deserve, therefore, all that you have done and expended under the Lord's guidance for their publication and circulation, and God only knows how much good they will yet have to do."
Another clergyman wrote:—
"I was called to officiate at the funeral of a child. The parents—who were non-professors of religion—became much interested in the New Church. I furnished them suitable reading matter and visited them occasionally. Within a year they united with our Society. The man had formerly been a drinking man, but had ceased entirely. They were regular attendants on our church services. He was a mechanic. His well-behaved life restored public confidence in him, and he soon found constant employment at his trade. After about two years he felt a desire to take the Lord's Supper. I did not dissuade him; for, as he had abstained so long and faithfully, I felt sure he would continue. He presented himself with the communicants. Upon receiving the cup he took a sip and moved to return the cup to me; but suddenly, the old appetite being touched by the alcoholic spark, he returned the cup to his lips—it was about two-thirds full-and nearly drained it, as though urged on by demons. Poor man! Realizing what he had done, and evidently feeling disgraced, he at once arose and left the temple. From that time he returned to drink, and I have been unable to regain sufficient influence over him to effect his return to our services.
"Another man in my Society formerly drank to excess. I dare not encourage him to come to the communion. A majority of our members favor intoxicating wine for the Lord's Supper. How they can do so after witnessing its dreadful effects, I cannot understand. But the light is spreading, and may the Lord hasten the full day."
O Lord! how long? how long shall such evils continue in our churches?
Of course I replied to the article in the New-Church paper alluded to above, and others replied to me, and I to them in return; but it was not long before notice was given that the discussion would cease, and that with three unanswered articles against me in one number of the paper, and that in a paper edited by a clergyman, and published by the General Body of the Church. Well, looking for the welfare of the Church and its members which I loved, I could not stand still and see such false and dangerous views boldly and dogmatically proclaimed in the most extensively circulated periodical of the Church without doing my best to counteract them. Consequently I wrote a reply in a tract form, and sent it to every New-Churchman whose name I could obtain. This was but the beginning. An article appeared in another periodical of the Church to which I was allowed to reply; but the discussion was soon closed, and I was given no chance to reply to the last communication, and a reserved communication which was published afterward. Finding that there was no chance to present the temperance side of the wine question fairly before the readers of these two periodicals, I was led to write several pamphlets in reply to such articles as appeared in favor of the use of fermented wine, in which I endeavored to present fully and fairly, generally in the language of its advocates, their views of the question, and I endeavored to answer them in the light afforded by the Sacred Scriptures, the writings of the Church, ancient history, science, and well-known facts as to the manufacture and preservation of unfermented and fermented wines in all ages.
Several pamphlets were published in reply to the advocates for the use of fermented wine in our New-Church periodicals in the course of five or six years, of which about 10,000 of each were printed and sent to all Newchurchmen whose names I was able to obtain in this country, England, and elsewhere, hoping to reach as far as possible the readers of the writings of my opponents and others. The following are the names of the pamphlets written, printed, and sent, viz: "Pure Wine, Fermented Wine, and Other Alcoholic Drinks," published in 1880; "The Wine Question in the Light of the New Dispensation," in 1882; "Reply to the Academy's Review," in 1883; "Intoxicants, Prohibition, and our New-Church Periodicals," 1885, to which was added "Deterioration of the Puritan Stock," 1884; making in all, with index, 736 pages.
Finally, I had printed an edition of all of the above pamphlets from the plates, and bound in cloth, of which I sent a copy to all New-Church ministers in the world whose names I could get, and to some others.
My controversy with the clergy on the wine question led me to fear that there were other evils gradually creeping into the Church organization which should be exposed, and against which both laymen and clergymen should be warned; therefore, I wrote a tract entitled, "The New Church: its Ministry, Laity, and Ordinances, with an Appendix on Intoxicants and Our New-Church Periodicals," published and sent out in 1886, the latter part to answer some articles which had recently appeared in the Church papers. This tract was sent to about 10,000 or 11,000 Newchurchmen.
Then I wrote and compiled and condensed from my previous writings, including "The Avoidable Causes of Disease," a work of 511 pages, fully presenting the wine question in all its aspects, and the use of tobacco and opium, and the bad habits of women, faulty methods of rearing children, etc., etc., of which in paper covers I sent out over 10,000 to my New-Church brethren, and about 40,000 copies I sent to clergymen of various denominations.
In the year 1883 my attention was seriously called to the signs of deterioration of the Puritan stock in New England, especially in Massachusetts, my native State, where it was shown that in six years, ending in 1881, the deaths among the native population fully equaled, if they did not exceed, the births; whereas, among the people of foreign birth, the births exceeded the deaths by over 87,000. And I found, on visiting my native town in Western Massachusetts, and the school district where I attended, where we used to have about thirty scholars in the winter and twenty in the summer, when I was a boy, and although there are but two families less residing there now than when I was a boy, and all native Americans, still I found that they had but eight or nine scholars during the winter, and not enough to keep up a school in summer.
As a result of my inquiries I wrote a work of 52 pages, calling attention to the spiritual and natural causes of such decline of the native stock, and especially to the bad habits and false ideas of men and women which have produced it. This pamphlet I entitled, "Deterioration of the Puritan Stock, and its Causes," and printed 140,000 copies, which I sent to all the clergymen and physicians in our country whose names I could get, regarding them as the teachers and leaders of the people, and largely responsible for the existence of at least some of the prevailing evils of life.
Within the last few years pamphlets have been written by prominent clergymen of some of the prevailing denominations advocating the use of fermented wine, especially for sacramental purposes, in strong language, and claiming that it is a good and useful fluid. This seemed to aid and comfort distillers, brewers, and saloonists very much. At last one appeared entitled "Communion Wine," in which the advocates for the use of the "Fruit of the Vine," or pure unfermented wine, were assailed in no very gentle language. Several thousand of this pamphlet were sent by a Rev. Doctor of Divinity to clergymen, with a special request from him, to at least some of them, that they should read them and give him their opinion as to its merits. About 285 clergymen responded, most of them in favor of the views contained in the pamphlet, but 22 most decidedly opposed. The arguments in favor of fermented wine were based upon assumptions which were entirely groundless, and which have again and again been exposed. I could but feel that the time had come when a concise statement of the truth upon the wine question should be written and placed in the hands of every clergyman in our country; and as, in the controversy extending over several years, I had had occasion to examine the wine question in all of its various aspects, and to read whatever I could find written on both sides of the question, and had had suggestions from, and the cooperation of, some of the most distinguished scholars upon this question in this country and England, I felt that it was my duty to write a reply, which I did, of 38 pages, which was printed in connection with a short article on "The Holy Supper is Representative," by Mr. J. R. Hoffer, editor of the Mount JoyHerald, Mount Joy, Pa. Of this pamphlet over 80,000 were sent by Mr. Hoffer to clergymen in the United States. And of my reply alone, in a tract form, which is based upon the letter of the Sacred Scriptures—the testimony of ancient writers and science—about 50,000 copies have been printed and distributed by Mr. J. N. Stearns, 58 Reade Street, New York, who keeps a supply on hand to fill all orders.
The last pamphlet before this one which I have written is one recently published by "The Swedenborg Publishing Association," of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., entitled "The Essential Points of the Wine Question Carefully Examined," which, with an Addendum of 6 pages by W. J. Parsons, son of the late Professor Theophilus Parsons, contained 70 pages. This pamphlet was written for Newchurchmen and based upon the Sacred Scriptures as unfolded by the Science of Correspondences revealed through Swedenborg. This pamphlet was sent only to 10,000 Newchurchmen.
The reader may reasonably inquire what results have followed all the efforts which I have made to call the attention of the clergy and laity of the New Church, and the clergy of other churches, to the importance of using as a communion wine, the genuine "Fruit of the Vine" as the Lord has organized, ripened, and sweetened it in the grape, instead of a leavened or fermented wine, which, when used as a beverage, causes disease, drunkenness, insanity, and death, in innumerable instances, among the clergy and laity of our churches, and enslaves their children often before their rational faculties are fully developed. I am happy to say that to-day there are quite a number of New-Church clergymen, in this country and England, and a large number of laymen, who, after a careful examination of the subject, are satisfied that the good wine of the Word and the Writings, and the only wine suitable for use as a Communion wine, is always the fruit of the vine, and never fermented wine. Many of these clergymen and church members have not always thought thus, and did not when I commenced writing upon the subject.
At the Annual Meetings of the General Convention of the New Church, when unfermented as well as fermented wine has been permitted to be used, and full notice has been given, nearly or quite one-third of the members present have deliberately partaken of unfermented wine.
I am satisfied, from what I have seen and heard, that one of the most useful works which the Lord has enabled me to do was the writing and sending the reply to "Communion Wine" to over 80,000 clergymen. The clergy of the prevailing organizations are not so difficult to reach upon this subject as are a majority of those of the New Church, for they have not confirmed themselves in favor of fermented wine from the writings for the New Dispensation. It is one thing to see new truths when they are revealed, but it is another step to be willing to see that those truths condemn falses in which we have strongly confirmed ourselves, or evil habits in which we delight, and to avoid confirming ourselves in falses, and to avoid striving to justify evils. To do the latter means to endure and resist temptations, and to engage in a warfare until the old man with his deeds is put off.
The New Church is descending from God out of heaven, and as it progresses, fermented wine is disappearing from the Communion tables of Christian Churches.
"The new wine," says Swedenborg, "is the Divine Truth of the New Testament, and thus of the New Church." (A. R. 316.)
The new wine for the New Christian Church is unfermented wine, pure as it comes from the hands of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the fruit of the vine, and not a leavened wine. And when men return to its exclusive use, multitudes now enslaved, diseased, and insane from leavened wine will be set free, cured and restored to their right mind by the Great Physician—by the inflowing life from Him through this physical representative of His blood.
The New Church is not a new sect or organization, but a new faith and a renewed life resulting from a revelation of Divine Truth, made by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg, for the benefit of all sects and all men, that the Christian Church may "revive again" and be reunited in the bonds of Charity, by worshiping the one God whose name is one—even the Lord Jesus Christ—and by striving to live a life according to His commandments.
I again appeal to you, as Christian men, to lay aside prejudice and preconceived ideas, if you are troubled with any that have come down to you from darker ages, and to patiently examine the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
If you desire and are prepared to read with open eyes and a willing heart, you can but see that the fig-tree is putting forth its leaves, and that we are living in the dawning light and warmth of a new summer. Look at the radical changes which have taken place within the last one hundred and thirty-five years, and are taking place to-day with increasing rapidity, in every department of science, arts, mechanics, medicine, and even in the religious sentiments of the people and in theology, and in civil and ecclesiastical governments, and you may rest assured, that as certain as the Word of the Lord is true, so sure it is that we are now seeing but the beginning of the changes which are yet to be witnessed; for the sure word of prophecy is, "Behold, I make all things new"—New Heavens and a New Earth—old things are to pass away, and we can see that they are passing away.
Swedenborg assures us that he was permitted by the Lord to witness the Last Judgment in 1757, which, like all general judgments, took place in the spiritual world. The Lord when on earth declared, "Now is the judgment of this world, now is the prince of this world cast out." Swedenborg tells us that between the Lord's first coming and His second coming vast societies were organized in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, from among those who were not fully prepared for either heaven or hell; and they were associated with those of like affections and persuasions in this world. As the First Christian Church became gradually perverted by false doctrines and evils of life, and as its members increased in the spiritual world, their influence was more and more felt among the religious societies in this world, interfering with the inflowing of good and truth from the Lord and His Word into the minds of men, and threatening their ability to see and obey the truth. The judgment consisted in a new influx of Divine truth into such societies, the effects of which were such that those who were really good were received into heaven, and those who were evil joined their like in hell, glad to escape from the new inflowing of heavenly light and life. In this way they were separated from men on the earth and human freedom reestablished. The effects of that judgment are to-day gradually being manifested here on earth.
Swedenborg tells us that he witnessed the downfall of Babylon the great in the spiritual world. By Babylon is meant those who are in the love of spiritual dominion over the souls of men. And also he witnessed the casting down of the Dragon. By the Dragon is meant those who are in the doctrine of salvation by faith and ceremonials alone.
As the above vast organizations in the spiritual world were then removed from contact with men, I will let Swedenborg speak of some of the results which followed that judgment in the spiritual world, and of those which are following and which must follow in the Church on earth.
"After the Last Judgment (in 1757) a new heaven was formed from among Christians, only from those, however, who acknowledged the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth, and also repented in the world of their evil works. From this heaven the New Church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, descends, and will continue to descend…. And the New Church on earth makes one with the New Heaven." (Preface to A.R.)
"In this new Christian heaven are all those who, from the first formation of the Christian Church, worshiped the Lord and lived according to His commandments in the Word, and were therefore in charity and faith from the Lord through the Word." (A.R. 876.)
Swedenborg tells us that "the slavery and captivity in which the man of the Church was formerly" were removed by the Last Judgment; so that "he can now, from restored liberty, more easily perceive interior truths if he has a desire for them." (L.J. 74.) And again he tells us that, as a result of the Last Judgment, the people of Christendom "would be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, that is, on spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual liberty has been restored to them" (L.J. 73); and that consequently "the state of the world and of the Church before the Last Judgment," compared with what it was, or was to be after, "was as evening and night compared with morning and day." (Contin. L. J.)
Now can we not all see that the very changes anticipated in the above quotations are rapidly taking place in the Christian world all around us? Men and women are beginning to cease to be willing to be led blindly by clergymen and creeds, with their understandings under subjection to dogma. Many of our clergy, we see, are not willing to be thus led. Swedenborg tells us that in this New Dispensation men are to be led in freedom according to reason, and that professing to believe doctrines which they neither understand nor perceive to be true is of very little use to men.
As false doctrines are passing away, is it not of vast moment that true and rational doctrines should take their place, that our houses and churches be not left desolate? Somewhat extensively among the clergy, and far more extensively among scientists and intelligent people, is the Divine origin of the Sacred Scriptures being called in question. In the writings of Swedenborg, as has already been stated, you will find this question clearly and distinctly settled, for you are there shown that they are written according to the law of correspondence between natural and spiritual things, and therefore that they contain a connected spiritual sense which causes them to differ from all merely human writings, and demonstrates their Divine origin to all who are willing to examine and to see the truth. The day is not far distant when, in the Christian Church, the Sacred Scriptures will be reverenced as they have never been before; for the coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven, or in the literal sense of the Word, is with power and great glory.
Even now in the dawning light old false doctrines are rapidly passing away. Look! What congregation would be willing to sit quietly and hear the doctrine of infant damnation proclaimed? Who is satisfied with the doctrine of election and predestination as taught but a few years ago? That favorite doctrine of my childhood's days, the vicarious atonement as taught then, is trembling in the balance, for it is being found not to accord with the Word of the Lord, nor does it appeal to human reason. The doctrine of a trinity of Divine Persons will soon follow. How few even now believe in the resurrection of the material body! Our church members are rapidly coming to believe with St. Paul that there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body, and that the spiritual body is raised at death, and that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The doctrine of a literal hell of fire and brimstone, as taught but a few years ago, is rarely taught to-day.
And now, Christian ministers, as these old doctrines are departing, what have you to substitute for them? You know very well that when extreme views are given up, there is great danger that opposite extreme views will be substituted.
Troublesome questions are arising to-day before the clergy and in our churches, which require to be handled with care by intelligent and wise men, if the Lord and His Word are to be reverenced in our churches as they should be, and men are to be led to live heavenly lives.
The question of probation after death is troubling many clergymen and laymen at this day. They see that men and women often leave this world in a very uncertain state of life, so far as they can judge, ill prepared for either heaven or hell; what is to-become of them is the question. Are they all to put away their false doctrines and evils of life and go to heaven, as some believe; or are some of them to go through purgatory and finally, after being purified, to enter heaven, and the rest go to hell, as others believe? Or again, has a man the same chance of choosing and the same ability to choose between truth and falsehood and good and evil, and of shaping his life there, as he has here?
Upon these questions the New Revelations made by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg throw a flood of rational light. They show us that heaven is not a place into which a man can be let as a matter of favor; but that, for a man to enter heaven, heaven must be within him. Heaven consists in loving supremely the Lord and the neighbor, or obedience to the Divine Commandments. Hell consists in loving self, money, vain show, ruling over others without regard to use, or sensual gratifications supremely. Before a man can become a resident of hell, hell must be within him. Men enter the other world in much the same state as they leave this world; death does not change their essential characters. Good angels appointed by the Lord strive to teach heavenly truths to all, and to lead all into heavenly affections and societies who are willing to be led. But as the Lord respects the freedom of all men in this world and compels no man to love Him, his neighbor, or obedience to the Divine Commandments supremely, He compels no man there. The Lord casts no one into hell, but when our material bodies are put off and we appear among the inhabitants of the spiritual world, our thoughts and intentions can be seen more clearly than in this world; consequently the good and evil necessarily separate; and finally every one sooner or later associates with his like, the good forming heavenly societies and the evil, infernal societies.
It is evident that those who are guided in all they think and do by either love of the Lord, the neighbor, or of obeying the Divine Commandments, need no penal laws or punishments. It is equally evident that men who are actuated by the supreme love of self, vain show, or sensual gratifications must be restrained, in that world as in this, by penal laws and punishments. But we are told that the Lord governs the hells as well as the heavens through His angels, and does not permit vindictive or unjust punishments. All punishments in that world are reformatory, or for the purpose of restraining spirits from evil doing, and protecting others, as all punishments should be in this world. The Lord's tender mercies are around all His creatures in that world as well as in this, and He strives to make all happy. Even the evil man is permitted to enjoy his delight so long as he does not interfere with or harm others or himself.
Here in this state of probation good and evil men dwell together in the same society, so that the evil have good instruction and good examples, and every chance for repentance and reformation; but in hell they dwell among their like, and it would seem that they are not so favorably circumstanced for changing their life's love there as in this world. In the world of spirits into which we enter at death, all who are not fully prepared by their lives here for heaven or hell tarry until their characters are fully developed, when each one goes to his own congenial society either in heaven or hell, according to his ruling love.
Swedenborg, so far as he was permitted, describes what he saw in the spiritual world; but he did not claim to be a prophet—the future, he tells us, is known to the Lord alone, not even to the angels. Some of the readers of his writings, from certain passages contained therein, have come to think that the Lord in His loving kindness may yet so change the inhabitants of hell that they may be received into heavenly societies, as some have drawn from the letter of the Sacred Scriptures a similar conclusion; while a majority of readers, in both cases, have come to a different conclusion. But the future is known to the Lord alone, and He is love itself, and in His hands we may safely leave the inhabitants of hell; especially as our belief one way or the other will not change the final destiny of a single individual one iota; therefore it is not a practical question.
We are living in the midst of prevailing evils of life which should command the special attention of every clergyman and every Christian. Even infants and children are dying on all sides, and those that survive are being contaminated often even in our churches by the example of clergymen and prominent members.
But yesterday, as I was speaking to a very intelligent, well-known citizen of New York, he expressed to me the opinion that gambling and a desire to obtain money or valuables without returning a due equivalent, by purchasing lottery or chance tickets and stock gambling, is a greater evil than selling and drinking intoxicating drinks; and he most earnestly blamed many of our clergy and churches for the prevalence of this great evil; for, as is well known, it is at church fairs that the young and even children frequently take their first lessons, enticed thereto by the hope that they may be able to obtain an article of much value for a trifling sum. In this the work of demoralization commences, and leads naturally to gambling for money, betting on games, horse-racing, buying lottery tickets, and stock gambling, stimulated by the hope of making fortunes by risking small amounts, not stopping to think that what they gain, if successful, others must lose who are probably no better able to lose than they are. How much short of stealing is this? Look at the sad results which follow the practice started in so many of our churches—the poverty, the thieving, the failures, the breaches of trust, the disgrace and loss of character, and the poor wretches in prison, and others who merit punishment. Christian ministers, is not this a most fearful evil which you, if guilty of encouraging it, should put away from your own lives and teach your people to shun as a sin against God?
Again, it is the duty of husbands and wives to reproduce their species or to multiply and replenish the earth, and this is the most important use of life. Yet a vast multitude of women, by tight dressing to gratify vanity, impair health and their ability to bear healthy, well-formed children, and even their ability to nurse such as are born to them; and such deformed women walk into and out of our churches as examples to young girls, without one word of admonition. And some church members deliberately shirk the responsibility of rearing families of children, either because it is not fashionable to have large families, or because children would interfere with their selfish or sensual enjoyment; and this is not the worst which could be said of some.
Now, although it is equally the duty of all husbands and wives to multiply and replenish the earth, yet church members who, either for the want of ability or inclination, have no children, and bachelors and maidens who do not marry, will stand idly by and see the husbands and wives, however poor they may be, who are willing to do their duty, take the entire care of their children until they reach adult age; they deliberately leave the entire responsibility upon the parents of caring for and raising the money required for the support of the children, who are to be the men and women of the next generation. Is this right? It is true that public schools have been established, for all feel that it will not be safe for the children, who are to rule our country a few years hence to grow up in ignorance.