The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-15
THE LORDS FOES.
Who and What Are To Be Hated with a
Perfect Hatred by Christian People.
Sermon preached at the New Church Chapel by Rev.

And am not grieved with those that rise up
against Thee2 I hate them with a perfect
hatred. count them mine enemles.-Psalm
cxxxix, 81, %.
There some passages in the Old Testament
Scriptures which seem difficult to reconcile with
the teachings of the Gospels. In the latter
are commanded "Love your enemies, bless them
That curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you
and prosecute you" Matt. V, 44.) 1t seems, at
first, hard to believe that these gentle precepts
could come from the same source as our text, or
as some other passages like this following, in
which the Psalmist speaks of his enemies:
when he is judged let him be condemned
and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be
few and let another take his office Let his
children be tatherless and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds and
beg. Let them seek their bread also out of their
desolate places. Let there be none to
extend mercy to him. neither let there be any to
favor his fatheress children. Let his posterity
be cut off Let the iniGui OF his
fathers be remembered and let not the sin Of
his mother be blOtted ont "a AS he clothed
himself with cursing with garment, SO let 1t
come into his bowels like water, and like oil
into his bones" FPS elk, 7-19) With much more
to the same effect
The Lord with truth said to his disciples, Eye
have heard that it was said to them of old time:
Thou shalt love they neghbor and hate
thine enemy" more complete and thorough
hatred than is depicted in some parts of the
book of Psalms it is difficult conceive.
A reconciliation of the O.d Testament dspen-
sation with that OF the New, of Jewish law with
Christian precept, becomes apparently even
more difficult when we are now told in the new
est and latest revelation that the book of Psalms
is a OroDhaeV yhnur Of at nd ann-
fiicts which our Lord himself was to undergo;
that every. joy therein expressed He was to
feel; that every therein portrayed He
was TO suffer; that every prayer therein recorded
he was to pray. This, also, we may infer from
His own gospel words: "These are the words
which spake unto you, while yet with
you. that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses and on the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me-" duke
xiv, 4
Did the Lord Jesus Christ, then, have enemies
toward whom he had feelings such as are de-
scrbed in text and the other passages
quotedF Could He who was "meek and lowly of
neart," from whom we commanded to learn
these virtues, utter such prayers against those
who are hostile to HIMSELF Could He whose
life was of long suffering endurance, OF in-
finite compassion and love- VINO, when In the
hands of his cruel murderers, could pray,
they dU!' could He say there were any whom He
hated with perfect hatred2
For there is much implied in the word hate.
1t is the opposite of love. Love implies attrac-
ton, the desire to be near its ohjecr, 70 protect
to support, to bless. Hate implies repulson,
aversion TO the presence of its object, except
with a purpose to attack, to injure, and, II pos
sible, to destroy! Had the Lord Jesus Christ.
the ''Prince of Peace" such enemies2 And
ought we who follow Him in the regeneration
TO recognize such enemies as ours To hate them
with perfect hatred, TO hight against them
that light against HINT"
To tine Christian who accepts only the literal
sense of the word of God, here must lie para
dox, indeed, "a contradiction 1rreconeilable, ex
cept on the supposiiOn that the New Testament
was intended entirely to supersede the old,
whose statutes and whose judgments and
whose preeepts by the other forever set
aside. Indeed, this conclusion seems even now
forcing itself upon those VINO tenacioUsly cling
to the letter and persist in ignoring the spirit OF
the earlier portions of divine revelation. We
near nowadays, from even the Christian pulpit,
calls for an amended Bible, expurgated
edition of the older Testament, its present
form being unfit for the perusal of the pure, the
innocent and the young. such calls, however
altogether ignore the Lords own declaration:
''Think not that I am come to destroy the law
OF the prophets; am not come TO destroy, but
to fulfill Fer 1 say unto you, one j0C or one
little shall in no wise pass from the law till all
be fulfilled" Matt. V, 18) All has not yet been
fulfilled, and many OF lite precious promises are
now only beginning of fnfillment: Therefore,
we must believe that the holy word must abide
in its integrity so long as there are human eyes
TO read it, or SO long as there are human souls
TO save. moreover, III buo F6NtldtlOn Oh DHe
spiritual sense, the Lord has thoroughly vindi-
Gated His word, and has told us who these enc
mics whom His soul hateth," and whom
we are commanded to hate with perfect ha-
tred even to their utter discomfortuTe and de-
strrctiOn-foes who. unless we destroy them, or
permit Him destroy for us, will without fail,
destroy us, or lead us captive far from the arms
OF His love, and deprive MS forever OF that eter
nal life which He desires TO impart. He has
told lis what enemies they are against whom we
are hidden to say, "DO not hate them, Lord,
that hate Thee4 And am rot grieved with them
that rise up against Theef hate them with n
perfect hatred count them mine enemies
Who, then, these enemies OF the Lord and
ourselves2 Evil spirits, you will say; the devil,
the arch enemy of souls. Scripture tells us
plainly that lie ever seeks to destroy us, to lead
us astray. Yes, the devil, (Which is only col
iectiye name for all devils for all the souls of
the LOST, Is the Lords enemy, The devils
tempted Him in the wilderness. Against them
He waged a lifelong warfare from the manger
to the cross. 1t was evil spirits filing the
world of spirits, for whose judgment He came
in the flesh: evil spirits who urged on all His 'hu-
foes; evil spirits who beset and led astray
His chosen disciples; evil spirits who oosessed
the bodies aud possessed the souls of men,
whom He came to redeem and save. These are
the Lords enemies. The devil, whose kingdom
He came to destroy, is the Lords enemy. The
hells which still exist are His foes But these
He does not hate. Far less does He hate them
with a perfect hatred. They His creatures
all, who, like men and angels, mOmentarly de-
rive life from Him; lost creatures to be sure,
lost TO all the influences OF His goodness and
His truth; but then, He does not hate them.
Among the many truths which stamp the rev.
alatlons of the New Church as divine, this truth
is conspicuous: that the Lord does not hate the
souls OF the lost; that He loves and pites and
ever feels yearning mercy towards the worst
devils the most malignant Satans: That He pun
ishes none, casts no one into hell, hut follows
them ALL all His lost children, with His love,
ever seeking to mitigate their misery and re-
lieve their woe. Believing these things. breth-
rem, we must go further and deeper than even
the souls of the lost TO fad the enemies of the
Lord, the foes whom He "hates with perfect
hatred"
The revelations OF the New Church teach US
that The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the creator
ana only God Is love Itself and wisdom Itself.
That these two not merely abstract princl-
Dles but tine universal essence and existence
which pervade all creation. Flowing into the
material plane of being. they form sun,
moon, stars, the earth, and all things