MAGAZINE No. 33, SEPTEMBER 1884. Address from the General Conference of the New Church, assembled at The Rational Faculties and their Relations to Theology.-No. II. Spiritual The Life and Increase of the New Church in general, and of New Church The New Church Conference Religious and Social Progress BOOK NOTICES. PAGE 425 428 436 442 454 462 Trust. Poetry The Testimony of Jesus; or, Plain Proofs from the Old and New Testa- The Attitude of Modern Christendom towards Christ. A Lecture by 462 463 Origin and Transmission of Evil. A Lecture by James Frederick Buss 463 Published for the General Conference of the New Church PRICE SIXPENCE. mere enrolment in its external membership, it falls far short of the Divine purpose in the institution of the Church. The Church is instituted as a means of promulgating the truths which belong to the kingdom of heaven, and of promoting the salvation of the people. If it fail in these purposes, it fails utterly. The Church is "the city of truth." This is pre-eminently the case in the Church to which it is our privilege to belong. It is one of the most marked promises of the Lord, "I will come again." The prophecies relating to the Second Coming of the Lord are among the clearest utterances of the Lord's teaching. The promise is to us and to our children. It cannot be overlooked, and no mistaken interpretation can prevent its fulfilment. This promise, we are now well assured, is in course of fulfilment. The Lord is truly making His Second Advent. He comes not in the clouds of the natural firmament, but in the clouds of the letter of the Word. He comes to unveil the glories of the heavenly wisdom which is in the Word, and to reveal Himself in His Divine Humanity as in very truth "the Sun of Righteousness." And He comes by this revelation of Himself and of the truths which are from Him by the Word, to restore the Church and to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. It is our privilege to have knowledge of this important truth respecting the Second Coming of the Lord, and this privilege involves important duties. Genuine truth leads to goodness, and by its success in forming the character is to be estimated the quality of the truth in any man's possession. It is possible to have extensive knowledge of the truth, and yet to be far from possessing the truth itself. Knowledge is of the intellect, and is acquired by external application through the senses. Truth is of the will, and enters from the Lord by the internal faculties of the mind. It is of the Spirit of God communing with our spirit. It is light from the Lord, the light of love, entering interiorly the knowledges we have acquired from without, disclosing their secret treasures of wisdom, and thrilling the soul with the secret vibrations of the hidden life of beneficence and love, which is stored in all true knowledge, and is the end to which it aspires. Genuine truth, then, is the expression and manifestation of pure affection. Its spirit is love, its form. is wisdom, and its purpose is the regeneration of the souls of men, and their conjunction with the Lord, who is the Truth itself. The constant aim of every true member of the Church should be to attain this "truth in the inward parts "--to have it, not merely as a mental acquisition, but as a living power, chastening and purifying the will and filling the life with usefulness and beauty. The possession of the truth places its recipient under an obligation to extend the knowledge of it to others. No man liveth to himself. Every one exerts an influence beneficent or otherwise upon others. The possessor of the truth should seek to extend the influence of the truth. And he should employ for this purpose the means which the Church, or more truly the Lord through the Church, provides for this purpose. Foremost among these means are the Writings of our great Author, which we should carefully study and diligently distribute. Next are the periodical and other publications of the Church, which should have our support, and into the uses of which we should seek to enter. The New Church can never be indifferent to the diffusion of its literature, which is one of the great means of promoting its establishment in the world. The New Church is an internal Church. It is rooted and grounded in the perception and love of the good and the true. But it is also an external Church, having a distinct organization, and appealing to its members to sustain and to enter heartily into the uses of this organization. The Church is the Lord's body, and as there are in the animal body many organs and many distinct functions, so there are in the body of the Church many distinct and varied uses. All cannot occupy the same place, or enter into the same individual use, but all can take part in some of the uses of the Church. These uses attain their efficiency and perfection when they are combined and co-ordinated with each other. It is pleasant and flattering to our self-love to be independent of others. It promotes a spirit of piety and brotherly love, and leads to gentleness, meekness, and brotherly kindness, to co-operate with others in the advancement of truth and righteousness in the world. The New Church as an externally organized body, is entering on her second century. During the century that has passed, the Church has been involved in frequent controversy and driven to a careful study of its doctrines. Its members have been compelled to contend for the faith, and therefore the progress of the Church has been chiefly of an intellectual character. The Church has not wanted members whose lives have been distinguished by the gentleness of true Christian kindness and the purity of Christian love, but the dominant character has been intellectual. Has not the time arrived when, without neglecting the intellectual study of the doctrines, an intenser effort may be made to cultivate in the Church the spirit of piety and the active duties of Christian charity. We need a closer unity of the brethren, and a more earnest co-operation in good works. Our public worship should be more steadily and punctually attended. We should cultivate more diligently the love of worship and delight in the services of the Church. In this manner will her members prepare themselves to enter more fully into the interior life of the Church, and to more effectually promote its solid progress. On behalf of the General Conference, I am, my beloved brethren, your friend and brother, RICHARD STORRY. THE RATIONAL FACULTIES AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THEOLOGY. No. II. SPIRITUAL REASON, ITS ORIGIN AND CAPACITIES. BEFORE entering upon the consideration of "Spiritual Reason, its Origin and Capacities," permit me to say a word or two on the New Church principle of interpreting the Scriptures. To such as are not well acquainted with this principle, New Church interpretations may appear arbitrary, and some may think that we can make the Bible say anything we like by treating it thus. But this is not the case. Our law of interpretation, which we call "the Science of Correspondences," is really most harmonious and consistent. No one can form a fair opinion unless he has tried it for himself, just as only those who have studied Egyptian hieroglyphics, and have proved them to have the same meaning wherever occurring, can pronounce the science to be true. I never yet met a man who had made a careful examination of the Bible by the aid of this Science of Correspondences, who failed to reach the conviction that it was true. I am treating an important branch of Christian psychology, as interpreted by the spiritual meaning of a historical portion of the Word, and for three reasons: First, because it is sometimes thought that we only interpret difficult passages which do not seem to have any sense in them, and I wish to remove that impression by showing that a true history which all can understand is just as full of spiritual truth as the most difficult portions of the Word; second, I want to show that the Old Testament is no dead book for Christians, because it contains their own spiritual history; and third, I desire to help to realize what noble faculties are those of reason, and how we can rightly use them. I am aware that the subject is an interior one, and that we need to think to understand it, but I believe one great reason why the Churches have so little influence with thoughtful people is because they give too little food for thought. If we will think industriously, and mentally grasp these truths, I feel sure we shall be interested as well as benefited. In our last article we came to the conclusion that the natural reason was represented by Ishmael. We saw that his mother represented the affection for knowledge, because she was an Egyptian woman,-women representing affections since they are eminently affectionate, and Egypt knowledges, because it was such a wonderful place for knowledge. The ability to understand natural things we also saw was the offspring of this love of knowledge. And because this natural reason cannot understand anything beyond nature, that Ishmael lived in the wilderness and was married to an Egyptian woman. Now the question arises, If this natural reason which is first developed be so utterly unable to grasp anything beyond its own domain, how are we to understand anything relating to God or heaven? It is quite plain that to do this we must have another rational faculty, and this second or spiritual reason is what we propose now to consider. And as here we come into the region of religious belief, it will be advisable to think for a moment what it is upon which all belief rests. It cannot rest, absolutely, upon proof. We may think that we believe because we have proved, but in so |