Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

which the lower world supplied, with the strict injunction, however, to make all things according to the pattern he had seen. The materials of which Moses constructed the tabernacle consisted partly of the precious things of which the Israelites had spoiled the Egyptians; and these represented the truths of the Word which a corrupt Church had perverted, but which were now, by a righteous judgment, taken from them, and given to those who represented the true Church, by whom they would be applied to the true purpose of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, to glorify the God of Israel.

And this teaches us that, even in the New Church, construction is combined with reconstruction. The New Church is built up of those same materials which entered into the structure of the former Church. Nay, the heaven from which it came down was the New Christian heaven, which had been formed by the Lord out of those who had lived during the first Christian dispensation. So that the New Church owes both its essence and its form to the Church which preceded it, and must therefore be in harmony with it, as it is a development of it. The materials of which the doctrine of the Church

is composed are the truths of the literal sense of the Word.

These truths of the letter of the Word are the stones of the temple, of which our Lord said that not one shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down; they are also the pieces of the Lord's rent garment, which the soldiers at the crucifixion divided among themselves. These are to be re-collected and built up again, as stones into the second temple, which is to be enriched with still more precious adornings than the first, so that the glory of the latter house shall be greater than that of the former (Hag. ii. 9). And they are to be brought together and united, as the pieces of the once complete, but now rent and divided garment of the Son of Man-that outer garment of the Word made flesh, to touch the very border of which, in trustful faith, was to be made whole.

Reconstruction is the restoring of " the principles of the doctrine of Christ" to their original integrity and unity; such as they had in the apostolic age, but which in succeeding times they in a great measure lost. The work of reconstruction is not, however, to be effected by simply taking from each religious system whatever truth it contains, and combining all these scattered fragments of the Lord's rent garment, and forming them again into one flowing robe of truth and right

eousness.

It is a theory of some theologians, as of some philosophers,

that although the whole truth is not to be found in any one school or system, it nevertheless exists scattered throughout them all. Unhappily this is not the case. The truths of the Word and of religion cannot be separated without being injured, or even perverted. Reconstruction, therefore, includes correction. It is here that the new seems to come into conflict with the old, or with those who still adhere to the principles of the doctrine of Christ as they have become corrupted. Yet the doctrines of the New Church differ from others only so far as others differ from the Scriptures. It is true that, while the New Church is in harmony with no one existing system, it has points of agreement with them all. But this is not saying much, since all have points of agreement with each other. The New Church lays claim to something higher. It eliminates from conflicting systems their sectarian errors and peculiarities, and brings their principles, thus purified, into one general harmony. Thus the New Church maintains absolute unity of God without being either Sabellian or Unitarian ; the Trinity without being tripersonal; salvation by faith without being solifidian; and the saving efficacy of good works without being Ebionistic. It is rational without being rationalistic, mystical without being visionary, symbolical without being mythical. It is at once the most spiritual and the most literal, the most abstract and the most concrete, the most ideal and the most matter of fact. By harmonizing elements which are regarded as hostile, and combining principles that have been regarded as opposite, the New Church is in the best sense eclectic, and thus reconstructive. And in this it shows its genuineness, its expansiveness, its catholicity, and its power.

But it is not only by being reconstructive that the New Church restores all things of doctrine to harmony and unity. She possesses a rule of interpretation by which true doctrine is to be drawn from Scripture, and by which truth may, with the utmost certainty, be distinguished from error. Christians generally maintain that doctrine is to be drawn from the Scriptures, understood in their plain grammatical sense. And yet this plain grammatical sense of Scripture has been made to teach as many different dogmas as there are different Churches, so far as they have doctrinal distinctions. This arises from confounding in the plain literal sense of Scripture two things which are perfectly distinct. The Word, even in its literal sense, consists of REAL TRUTHS and of APPARENT TRUTHS. The theology of the present day is a singular mixture of real and of apparent truths. No system

of religion could exist without a basis of real truths; but real truths may be so combined with apparent truths as to render them almost of none effect. No Christian system could exist without the acknowledgment of the unity of God and the love of God, His justice and mercy and forgiveness. All these are real truths, and are found in every Christian creed. But along with these other dogmas are held, which at best are but apparent truths, that virtually set them aside. A trinity of Divine persons is inconsistent with absolute unity, anger is inconsistent with perfect love, the imputation of sin and righteousness is inconsistent with true justice, and purchased pardon is inconsistent with mercy and forgiveness. Thus the warp of the dogmatic web consists of real truths and its woof of apparent truths, and they are so woven together that it is impossible to separate them without destroying the whole fabric. Let us attend for a moment to this important distinction. The real truths of Scripture are those which speak of Divine and spiritual things as they really are; its apparent truths are those which speak of them as they appear to be. In this respect the Book of Revelation is like the book of creation, and may receive illustration from it. The apparent immobility of the earth and the motion of the heavenly bodies is a case in point. Here the appearance is the very reverse of the reality. In Scripture there are instances of a similar difference between the apparent and the real. And necessarily so. The human mind cannot at first grasp Divine and spiritual subjects as they really are. The child must think as a child; the simple must think in simplicity. And unless the truths of religion were adapted to their states of mental apprehension, they could exert no beneficial influence either on their hearts or lives. It is for a wise purpose, therefore, that the Scriptures express their high, and even their highest truths according to the appearance as well as the reality. The highest truths of Scripture are those which relate to God; and more, perhaps, in relation to Him, as being farthest removed from human apprehension, than to any other object of human thought, is the distinction of real and apparent truth observable. The real truths of Scripture respecting God are those which speak of Him as He is in Himself, or in His own nature; its apparent truths are those which speak of Him as He appears to imperfect and sinful men. Those are real truths which declare that the Lord our God is one Lord, that He is Love, that His tender mercies are over all His works; that His compassions fail not; that in Him there is no variableness neither shadow of turning; that He desires not the death of a sinner, but rather that all

should turn from their wickedness and live. Those are apparent truths which speak as if there were more Gods, or, as commonly expressed, more Persons than one, which speak of Him as angry, wrathful, jealous, taking vengeance upon His enemies, and punishing men seven times for their sins. When the Scriptures speak of the Lord coming down to see what men are doing, and of His repenting that He had made man, and being grieved at His heart, every one beyond the age or the conceptions of childhood knows that they express not actual, but apparent truths; and yet intelligent and educated men can believe in the actuality of Divine anger, because the Scriptures speak of it, although anger is as inconsistent with the nature of an infinitely perfect Being as grief and repentance. By not discriminating between these two classes of truths, opposite and contradictory doctrines may be, and have been, drawn from the same Divine Revelation. Almost all religious errors have arisen from adopting and confirming apparent truths as real or genuine truths. From this have come, besides the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead, imputed sin and vicarious sacrifice, partial election and irresistible grace, immediate mercy and instantaneous salvation, the resurrection of the body and the end of the world.

The discovery of real as distinguished from apparent truth has produced as great and as beneficial a change in theology, as thẻ discovery of the real as distinguished from the apparent truth respecting the motion of the sun and stars has effected in astronomy. Swedenborg has been called the spiritual Columbus. It would be still more correct to call him the spiritual Copernicus. Columbus enlarged our geography; Copernicus gave us a new system of astronomy, raising us from a sensual to a rational conception of the order of the universe. What Copernicus did for the natural universe, Swedenborg did for the spiritual. So far as regards men's conceptions of the subject, he has done for the spiritual universe what Copernicus did for the physical in this wise; he has introduced simplicity where there was complexity, order where there was confusion, harmony where there was discord; and has enabled men to see in Divine Revelation a consistency and beauty, a wisdom and power hitherto unperceived and unknown.

This construction and reconstruction of the principles of Christianity is what is meant in the Revelation by the creation of the new earth. These are the fundamental principles of the Church on earth. There are but two universal principles of religion-love to God and love to man. On these hang all the law and the prophets, therefore all the

Doctrines of the Church. All doctrine has therefore relation to these, and finds its practical realization in them.

If these constitute the whole of religion, what use then for any other doctrine? This use. We cannot love God and our neighbour unless we know who and what God is, and who and what our neighbour is, and know what it is truly to love them. There is no true knowledge of God but in Christ. In Him God was manifested, both in His person and in His character. Jesus Christ is God. In Him dwelleth

all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. All the angels of God worship Him. And at His name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. In Jesus Christ the Christian has an Object whom he can love supremely with the best and highest affections of his heart. But to love the Lord we must love His will. commandments, as He Himself has explained them, as being the laws Love to the Lord is the highest human

His will is expressed in His

of motive as well as of action. motive; and love to man from love to the Lord is the highest human virtue. But love to man from love to the Lord is the love of what is from the Lord in man. To love our neighbour truly, we must love him for his good; and to love him for his good, we must love the good that is in him. Every human being stands to us in the relation of neighbour, and has a claim upon our charity; but true charity consists in so loving our neighbour and acting towards him as to do him the greatest possible amount of real good.

(To be continued.)

EDITOR.

FROM BEYROUT TO BETHLEHEM:

BEING REMINISCENCES OF A RECENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOLY LAND.

By C. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., etc.

V. SEA OF GALILEE.

A SOAKING night did not do us any harm under our canvas; and although I surprised a large land-crab in the act of crawling up the side of my tent, they did not disturb us. It was a threatening morning when we looked again upon the marshy plain of Uleh and the glistening triangular Lake of Merom. Our rice-field, where we had slept, was sodden enough; but rice at all events enjoys plenty of

« AnteriorContinuar »