The Portland daily press., 1880-12-06
PULPIT AND PLATFORM.
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.

| 'The Second Coming of Christ" The too lii
eral Interpretation of certain Scripture pas
| sages has led many to look for the re-appear.
ance of Christ in the flesh, the event to be at
| tended by great physical comm otions. This
| belief has been entertained since the time OF
the apostles, but all predictions as to the exact
| time of Christ's re-appearance, have signally
| failed of fulflment. On examining the prorh.
ecies as to the time of Christs return to the
earth, we find it stated, more than once, that
this was to fake place while that generation te
which the apostles belonged still lived. But
certainly the catastrophes which were to pre-.
cede Christ's appearance in clouds, as for ex
| ample, the darkening OF the sun and moon and
the falling to earth of the stars, have never oc,
Cured. Yet, according to strict interpreta.
| ton OF the prophecies, these things should
| have taken place during, at least, the frs,
century If the predictions in regard to the
time of ChriSt's second coming cannot be tax.
en- literally, can we conclude that the manner
OF his coming-namely in clouds-is 10 be un-
derstood literally as meaning the clouds of our
sky? 1t is to be noticed that Christ, Himself,
declared the coming of his kingdom to be
without observation And why? Because.
as He said, His kingdom is not of this world.
Besides, it is said that the signs which are to
foretell His coming are ''signs of heaven''-not
of earth.
foretold Christ's first advent were all literally
fulfilled, 50. will it be with those prophecies
which fofVtell His second advent. But is this
a correct assertion? Several of the prophecies
predicted that Christ at His coming. would
re-establish David's kingdom. But this was
never literally done. SO, too, Daniel prophe-
sled a great flood Malachi declared that the
earth would burn as an oven; and Isaiah said
that the mountains would be made low and the
valleys exalted. These things certainly did not
occur in any outward way, and it is only as we
regard them as typical of commotions to occur
in the great mind-world, that we can claim
their fulfilmeut.
The declaration, that at Christ's second COM
ing, the sun and moon would be darkened, and
that the stars would tall from heaven, is found
TO be very ancient prophecy. The prophet
Joel Qv:15) made q prediction almost identical
with this in regard to Christ's first advent, and
we find that it was employed still earlier by
/ Isaiah, in predicting the destruction of Baby
Ion (xiii:l0), and by Ezekiel, in foretelling the
doom OF Egypt (xxxii:7) Yet history gives us
no intimation of the actual occurrence of any
such startling events. These predictions were
employed hguratively, as denotiug the ex-
tlncti N or observation of the three great prin-
cipes in the mental heavens, namely, love, or
the sun. which gives life by its heat; faith, or
the moon, which should shine in the night of
temptation and trial. and heavenly knowl-
edges, or the far-off stars so countless in num-
Der.
The New Church, then, believes til 1t Christ's
second coming is to be spiritual in its character.
The Messiah accomplished the work to re
done in the flesh. He is to come now in the
spirit. The Clouds therefore, in which He is
to come must be typical of something spiritual
Moses and David both speak OF the Divine Be-
ing as residing in the clouds, but this cannot
lave reference to the clouds in our sky. These
do IL
lection of watery particles, and water because
OF Its cleansing properties represents truth the
great purifier of the mind. Thus we speak of
q persons thirsting for knowledge, twhen
knowledge or truth is typical evidently of
water, and it is in this tguratlve sense that the
prophet exclaims: "Ho every one that thirs-
teth come ye to the waters Spiritual clouds
must. then, be a collection Of spiritual truths
or knowledges IN some form. We do not have
TO look lar for such a collection of spiritual
TRUTH The Bible, which is the divine reposi-
tory OF sacred truth, is evidently the great
cloud IN which Christ is to come It was of
these clouds that the psalmist was really sing
ing when he said that the Lords truth and
falthIulness reached into the clouds, that ellis
strength was i'll the Clouds" that "He maketh
the clouds His chariot and it is from these
clouds that He raineth down Righteousness .
And how is He to come in these clouds? BY
revealing the power and glory contained with
in the Bible, which is to be done by disclosing
It's spiritual, interior meaning. For it is 10 be
remembered that according to the New Church
the Bible has an interior meaning which is
most holy and divine, and whenever this inte-
rlor sense Is disclosed so that we Can see some
thing OF its shining, the Lord may be said to
nave indeed come in the clouds with power
and great glory"
The New Church believes then. that the
second coming of the Lord is not His outward
appearance in material clouds, but the revela-
tion OF Himself in the spiritual sense of His
holy word. 1t is the revelation of new spiritu-
al truth. And this is in accordance with that
significant declaration of His to the disciples
previous to His death :-"I have vet many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now. Howbet when the Spirit of
tiuth is come He will guide you into all TRUTH
And as the symbolic meaning of the Scriptures
has been made known, therefore the New
Church claims that aaoU is the time of the
second coming.
This view of the second coming is not unrea-
sonabe. For il revelation is progressive, as
rev VIII deny 1t is, it is not unreasonable to be-
lieve that fuller and higher views of religion
shall from time to time be granted to mankind
Nor is 1t unreasonable to believe that noic, in
this new age, when mems minds have been
awakened as they never were before; when
truth IS SO abundant, and when the reason, un-
lettered, is pushing its inquiries with bold
ness never before witnessed in any age of the
world, that now the Lord is fulfilling His
es'o 70 ihoOCu OolUlIlS ssSdtu Dy SenQfnS
into the world that promised comforter which
is the Spirit of Truth
The concluding portion of the lecture was
taken up in tracing the history of the Christ
ian church and in showing how the great Pro-
testant Reformation, which liberated mems
minds and brought out the Bible, prepared the
way for fuller revelation of the Divine Being
which was done through the instrumentality
OF Swedenborg. He was permitted to disclose
the laws by which the Scriptures are to be in
terpreted. The Bible need not therefore be
any longer q sealed book. The New A ge has
dawned and there are signs of general ad-
vancement. The barriers have been removed
and the currents Of a new life are commerc-
ing to stream in upon the minds of men from
the heavens The second coming is actually
taking place; the opening up of the Scriptures
is the event itself; the New Church in its Or
ganized capacity is its herald.
STATE STREET CHURCH
Rev. L. Y. Hicks, the pastor yesterday
preached an instructing sermon
based upon the 43d verse Of the 10th Psalm:
"Whoso is wise and will observe these things.
even they shall understand the loving kind
ness of the Lords
There was no evening service, this congre-
cation uniting with Others in listening to the
address of Rev. Dr. John 0. Means on africa
as Missionary Field,'' at Plymouth church.
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA