Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-04-04
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It Is
and what IL is Rot.
From the Independent

The popular ignorance and prejudice
concerning the doctrines of what its dis
ciples call the " New Church, T" but what I
is far more generally known by the /
name of its eminent founder, as the /
Swedenborgian Church, afford a curious
illustration of the "Odium theologicum." /
Few persons who have not made them
the subject of special study know at all |
what those>doctrines are. Even the well |
informed clergymen have sometimes a
vague notion that they are "spirtualis-
tic" or q" infdel," or unitarian :" and |
g Swedenborgianism" and free love-"
and socialism" are most singularly in
termixed in the minds of a good many
people who ought to be better informed
concerning the character of a denomina.
ton which is really characterized by
nothing more than the excellent lives
and pure characters of most of its ad-
herents. So far from being amenable
to the charge of immortality, the
theology of Swedenborgianism insists
with great strenuousness upon interior
purity of heart. So far from being
Unitarian, it recognizes in Jesus, the
only one living and true God, the In
finite and Divine Spirit, not united with
human nature, but simply taber-
nacled in a human body. So far from
being " infdel, the Swedenborgians pay
to the writtenWo ord a reverence Only less
than that paid by the ancient Jews to
his sacred scriptures. So far from be-
ing spiritualistic," they denounce
spiritualism with vigor intensified by
their mystical faith, of dealing with
evil spirits, the very sin punishable with
death under the Mosaic code. Sweden
borgianism is the very antipodes of Ra-
tionalism. The one recognizes reason
as the supreme arbiter in religion; the
other founds religious beliefs on faith.
The Nationalist ideality and marvellous
ness are almost wholly wanting in the
Swedenborgian they predominant. The
Rationalists are critics; the SwedenbOr-
gians are men of Imagination. In the
Rationalist number among them a large
proportion of the scientists to the
standard of Swedenborg flock quantitie;
of poets. artists, musicians. His church
- composed of men of refined and eul
!; tured tastes, rather than skeptical ol
vigorous understandings. To the one
, religion is a science; to the other I
2 poem.
Whoever desires to understand modern
theology, and the elements which hay'
! contributed to its formation, has need t.
study the writings of Emanuel Sweden
borg. Whatever minister desires to un
derstand modern religious thought Il
his own congregation must know some
. thing of Swedenborgianism, though h
has not a SwedenbOrgian in his parish
/ 1t is not likely he will ever become
| convert to the new church. 1t is no
4 probable he will ever have to war
others against it. But he needs non
i the less to be acquainted both with II
! truths and its errors. In the former b
! will find much from which he can oh
. tain useful instruction. In the latter b
will find much which he strives in val
to comprehend.
% To our thought, the best work fC
Y such Investigations Is DNeueupOIS gan
: True Christian Religion" 1t is
% Swedenborgianism what Calvin's " Ii
+, stitute" are to Calvinism. 1t affords IL
IF entire theology of the New Church
- an authentic and authoritative form. [
59 course he who desires to familiarize hin
y self with that theology will investiga
4 special doctrines further in speei
of treatises. But he who desires simply
4 have in a comprehensive form Il
n general teachings of Swedenborg h
70 them in these two handsome volume
81 They are far better for the student thf
is any more modern treatises by subseque
writers. For, though SwedenbOrg h
ID many enthusiastic followers, he has pr
he duced no original thinkers. We ha'
m found very little value in the works
n his disciples, save that they transiat
As into modern phraseOlogy the thoug
ba of their leader. To gather the
al thoughts from the library of volumes
o gave to the world, requires painsta
sv ing study that few but his disciples ha
m N patience to give. But every catho
be theologian who desires to trace theolo!
40 to its source, and to aequaint hims'
IA with the teachings of other church
ad than his own, should, if his mea
of enables him to do so, make room for Il
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