The Portland daily press., 1880-11-15
PULPIT AND PLATFORM.
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.

NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.
The Rev. j. X. Smyth delivered a lecture
| last evening on 'The real nature of the Scrip
tures," John vi. 63,) being the first of a series
of lectures to be given in this church. Mr.
Smyth began his lecture by showing the inn
| portance of the subject, affirming that ac
cording US the Bible should be shown to be
divine or not, SO would Christianity either
stand or fall Either the Bible, said the
preacher, and with it the revelation of three
great things; the existence of a personal God
Immortality and the sure knowledge of the
divine requirements as the foundation of duty
or else infdelity or atheism in whose tor
tuous trails there follows the grim fury Fate,
or the restless phantom Doubt
In considering the true nature of the Scrip
lures, the following propositions were affirm ed
and emphasized:
IF the Bible is what it is claimed to be,
namely, the Word of God it must be reye-
ation of Gods thoughts and wishes.
2-If the Bible is the revelation of God g
thoughts and wishes, it cannot be intended to
be simply the history of nation (e. &. the
Jews) nor can it be intended to furnish lessons
IN science, unless our conception of God leads
rs to regard Him as historian or scientist
which of cou SO it does not.
3-If then, such things are met with, they
must be types or images of divine lessons lying
hidden within them, else they fall from the
plane of divine to that of human compost
ton.
4.-The thoughts and wishes of any person
partake of the quality and character OF tn per-
son. God, being holy and divine, His thoughts
and wishes must be holy and divine, and the
Bible if 1t be His word-must be in some
way the revelation of holy and divine tru this
a "A
5-In order to communicate intelligibly
with a person, we must adapt ourselves to the
plane of thought aud mode of expression of
chat person. With regard to the Bible, God
is the speaker, man the hearer; therefore
he Bible must be Gods thought expressed in
mans language and addressed to his finite and
largely imperfect mind. Outwardly, then,
there may be impertections, Inaccuracies yea
even immoralites remembering the carnal
mindedness of the people through whom the
Bible was written) whereas inwardiy are beau
tiful spiritual thoughts and lessons which may
be disclosed by correct interpretation.
1.-THE Bible, being divinely intended for
all the nations of the earth, it was necessary
that 1t should be written in such form as to
convey Ineligible lessons TO ALL The Ian
guage of Symbols affirmed the lecturer, and
fhat language alone, made this possible Ma
ttre is the worlds great book. Her trees,
mountains, valleys, rocks, streams, clouds and
skies are letters of a common alphabet EN-
can convey divine lessons in every quarter of
The globe. The form of narrative, too, is one
which is universally employed and understood
How, then, was the Bible written? This is
the New Church answer: God desired to re-
veal Himself to all mankind and for all time.
This He could only do in mans language and
by employing forms of expression that would
oe comprehensive to all. Spiritual truth
could best be expressed under the drapery of
natural images. The Jews being best fitted
Tor this work, We're divinely chosen. From
time TO time some of their number were select
ed ana caused to contribute portion of the
Scriptures under inspiration. This inspira-
ton consisted in the mind of the writer being
hiled by Gods spirit. During the short period
OF inspiration the mind was completely under
the divine control The will of the writer was
rendered perfectly passive, aud the mind then
lent itself to the divine will without resistance.
From the ideas, forms of expression which
were found in the mind of the scribe, such
only were chosen as would, at the same time,
accurately embody great spiritual lessons,
which God was seeking to communicate. Such
portions OF Jewish history, and such portions
alone. as would accurately describe or picture
out important spiritual truths were selected
and written. So, that while the historical mar
fatiyes which we have of the Jews are literally
true. they We're maize to serve double pur-
pose, by being the precise image, as we'll of
great spiritual truths So, that, in the Bible
We have, as 1t were, two records-one, the rec
ord of actual history, prophecy and SO forth,
and which was mans contribution, so to speak,
and the other a record of Gods thoughts and
wishes, everywhere holy and divine in their
to be read in the picture suggested
by the literal narrative.
fne New church then believes the Bible to
have double meaning throughout. She be-
lieves that the litera. narratives and outward
contained in it were selected and
written because in every case they were seen
~ bp tn ha
truths of spiritual character which it was His
object to reveal. Abundant testimony from
the Scriptures was brought forward i'll support
Of this position. For example, P5. xxxviii.
begius with the words: "Give ear, o my
people to my law; incline your ears to the
words of my mouth. will open my mouth in
a parable; will utter dark sayings of DID," and
then follows an abridgnent of me history of
he lsraelites, from their departure out of
Egypt to the reign of David, thus showing
conclusively that the Israeiitish hist Dry as re-
Corded In the Bible does really contain a para
ooic or symbolic meaning. Many other in
stances aud passages were cited, including the
sayings of Christ and also the apostles.
But the New church does more than affirm
that the Bible has spiritual or internal mean
ing. She is prepared to apply this principle
to any portion of the Scriptures and show
what the spiritual meaning really is. Sweden
borg applied the laws oil Interpretation, which
are accepted in the New church, to three
books OF the Bible, besides a great number of
miscellaneous passages, and as a result, a con-
sistent spi itual meaning has been unfolded in
every verse of Genesis, Exodus and Revela.
tion. Since his day, however, teachers in the
church have applied the same laws of inter-
probation to many portions of the Bible that
ne did not, and in every instance, beautiful
and rational thought or spiritual lesson is
evolved. The key never fails to unlock, and
we OF the New church believe, therefore, that
IL must be the right key. In view of these
it is most unjust accusation which
is sometimes made, that the New church
does not believe in the divinity OF the Bible.
Bearer to no people on this earth, said the
preacher is the bible than to us; 1t is to us the
Book of Books! On it we base our faith. On
it we rest our dearest hopes. No other book
can ever take it's place. God is its author
a LII mn G md f1ra.