Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-09-25
Fr0N sue fITTIHId UCN.
Emanuel = WcdenbOrg.

ucnO0rB. IL WIS PTcpaIeu W distinguished
Eirginian Of that persuasion:
From the Virginia lndrx.J
Emanuel = Wcdenbor..
The obscurity which has surrounded the
name of one Of the most remarkable men the
world has produced, is beginning to be removed
and every intelligent person is now supposed to
have heard something about him. His ac'
quircmcntS were of the highest order, inso'
much that Emerson, who makes him one Of his
Representative Men, says he possessed more
learning than whole colleges Of professors
lie made discoveries in astronomy, the most
abStrusc of the sciences. which were only an
nounccd by llcrschrll, Strcure and the
modern astronomers, half Il century or more
after his death. The tranSlat0ry motion Of the
stars, and the position Of our solar system in
the sidereal Heavens, may be cited AS inStan-
ceS.
But it is with his system of Christian The,
olocy that the name of Swcdcnborg is indlS.
soIuhlv connected AMI Us il is believed that
there is a growing desire among rejecting men
to obtain n more definite knowledge "t his
teachings, the writer of these preliminary re.
marks ventures to express the hope That a
snare. column may he found in the Index
for the insertion of the subioincd tractate on
49,
the
DOCTRINES OF THE NEw CHURCH.
The Doctrines of the New Church, in their
most general form, are the following:
/. God is one, in whom there is 4 Divine
Trinity. and this one God Is the Lord ard sa'
viour Jesus Christ.
,. Saving Faith is to believe in Him.
;. Evils are To be Stunned, rs SINS against
the Lord.
!, Good is to be done, because it is OF the
Lord.
). Man must act in freedom, rs y from HIM
self but must know and acknowledge that ali
his goodness and truth, life and power are
derived constantly from the Lord.
These several points will now be briefly cX-
planned.
|. Tile Trinity in tie Lord. The iunda-
mental doctrine OF the New Church, that God
is one, in essence and in person, and that the
Lord Jesus Christ is this God. The Lord Je-
srs is the only Divine Person, the only Divine
Bcing-n0t merely one among three persons,
hut the Oniy one. He is God manifest in the
flesh, the Everlasting Father, as to his Divinity;
| the Son of God as to his Humanity. and the
Holy Spirit as to his Proceeding Influence
lie is the snly fountain of good; the Way, the
Truth and the Life. He has ail power IN
Heaven and upon earth. lie is the Lord. He
is the only proper object Of worship for the
Trinity Of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which
is the iullneSS of the Godhead. dwellS bodily
in Him. lie is the image Of the invisible God.
To know Him is to know the Father. To see
lin, is to see the Father. 10 believe i'll Him,
Is to believe in the Father. TO worship Him,
is TO worship the Father. For He and the
| Father are one; one Divine Person, as soul and
body are one man.
H.. 7He nOrk If Redemption. The Lord
was manifested in the flesh, the, he might re-
deem and save the human race. lie came, that
he might save the people from their sins: that
he mi.ht overcome the powers OF hell. and de-
liver mankind from the captivity Of evil. lie
came not into the world thai he might appeaSc
an angry God, for he is himself the only God,
and God Is Love. He came not 10 reconcile
the Father 10 u.s.: for he is himself tic Ever
lasting Father, and the Prince Of Peace. He
calme to reconcile rs Ia himSrif,
: Moreover, the Lord became incarnate, that
he might reveal the truth, and establish upon
Garth the kingdom Of heavenly truth. He de-
c~larcS, 80 this end WAS born, and for this
! cause came into the world to bear witness to
the truth He came To open the eyes OF the
spiritually blind, by revealing himself as the
light Of the world; To raise the spiritually dead,
by revealing himself as the Resurrection and
the Life. He anne to seek and to save that
which was lost, to call the prodigal human
race to repentance, to inluSe new life into their
hearts, and new light into their minds.
In the work of redemption, the Lord assumed
orr nature in its fallen stale. lie encountered
and Subducd the powers Of hell, through the
medium Of his Humanity. He was tempted in
all points as we are; and by means Of tcrnpta-
tiunS, and victories over them, he g~loriiied his
Humanity, and made it divine. And i'll this
Divine Humanity dwcllS all the ~fullness of the
Cioihrad. BY this we have access TO the lnii-
mite Divinity. This is the New and Living |
Way. Hence we may know the Import Of the
Lords words, mo man can come unto the
Father but by me-"
III. Repehtunre and Kfmission. Man inhe-
rils inclinations 10 all kinds Of evil; and when
he voluntarily commits anything that he knows
TO be All evil, he sins against the Lord. Eepen-
lance is for Il man to examine himself, TO know
his sins. to confess them before the Lord, aud
thus to begin n new life. Sins arc RENTED and
removed, when the man shuns them because
they arc against the Lord and lead TO hell, and
when he begins TO live anew. When we con.
fr>s and torsakc our sins, the lord is faithful and
just to forgive Us Or sins. Hence, without re-
prnIancc there Is no rcmiSSion; and without re-
mission Ut sins there is no salvation.
". Regeneration Regeneration is Il pro-
~grcssivc work. 1t begins in the first acts Of
repentance, CONTINUES through the present life,
and is perfected externally. For, in heaven, The
redeemed go on forever, increasing IN wisdom
and love, and rising to higher states Of happi-
hess. But unless "a man be born again he
cannot see the kingdom Of God" Rcgcnera.
ton is this new birth, mot Of blood, nor Of the
will Of the flesh, nor Of will Of man, but Of
God" In regeneration the love Of self and the
world is inatir /" give place To the love of the
Lord and the ~neishbor; and thus the natural
man is made spiritual. THIS great work is
effected by the Lord aiunc-by means of the
divine truth, when acknowledged and obeyed.
Thus, in regeneration, man is not passive, but
active. While the Lord implants good, man
must shun evil. While the Lord presents truth,
man must receive it, and must rcnouncc the
opposite ialsity. While the Lord inlrscs the
love of the Divine and heaven, man must for.
sake the love Of self and the world.
V. Frctd"m nmd Eationality. All mcu are
continually endowed, by the Lord, with free
will and nationality, hence arc capable Of being
rcgencratcd. But all who go to heaven must
br led there t." .frr.dom accordihg 10 r,ason."
By mcans Of nationality, man has the ability to
decide between right and wrony, truth and
~falSity; and by mcaIIs Of free will he has the
ability To turn 10 the Lord, and lie led to hca-
ven, Or to turn away from thcLnrd, and dc.
Scrid To hell.
VI. Charity, .jaM nnd g"oi m"rks. Man
is not saved by faith alone, by charity alone,
nor by works alone; but by the union of the
three. lie must have truth in the unlcrs tand-
Ing, which is faith love in the will, which is
charity and these must he united in useful
acts, which are good works. Faith without
charity it not living, but dead; charity without
faith is not spiritual, but only Natural, and
both charity and faith, without good works, are
only ideal entities, having no permanent cxls.
tcncr, because not grounded III Il useful life.