Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-10-03
The Interesting Sermon Of the Gen.
eraI Pastor with which the Re-
cent Session Of the Maryland Assoc
citation In This City Was Closed.

descent or the Hoiy lily A."" 49,.
of Heaven. What, then. Is TINS noiS
City descending from CodY
The history of the world truly written
e. the history not Of the growth and de-
cav Of perishable nature. the rise and ran
Of cities and kingdoms. but the history
~ man in his relation to the eternal IL
"a the history of the successive DIVINE
dIspensations Of the successive relisious
ages or churches in the world. Or these
there are five mentioned In Holy scrip
ture: .os
/ The Most Ancient Church, represented
by Adam.
III. The Ancient Church, symbolicaiiy
known as that OF Noah.
III. The Jewish Church.
". The First Christian Cnurch' anu
finally,
" The promised Church OF the New
Jerusalem. -.
THAT after the Christian Church there
should be another is distinctly foretold:
"Behold. make all things new
saw n new heaven and new eartn-
"And I. John. saw the Holy City New
Jerusalem descending from God out Oh
Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned 'or
her husband; and heard voice out Oh
Heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men,
Thus the New Jerusalem Is not mercy
a predicted state Of glory In the olher
world: it is distinctly a new state OF
spiritual or religious life of men on eartn:
A new dwelling of God with them wnich
all implies new revelation of God 10
men and new relations Of men toward
God. and so a new Church.
WHAT 1T STANDS FOR.
The New Church. then. as the Holy
a. fnA
ton: n fifth spiritual age of the world;
that OF the New Jerusalem 1t does
not stand merely for a little body OF peo-
pie who are living to-day and serving
poorly. according to their ability, in dis
seminatIng a new religious faith In the
world, and endeavoring to embody IL III
their lives, although 1t is their high
PRIVILEGED to aspire to be able to claim TO
be of the Holy City. The Holy city
means a new stand for men to take re-
gardlng religion: a whole new world or
knowledge revealed regarding man ana
nature and the life after death. II means
verify a new heaven and new eartn'
IT ia not a new Bible nor new Sacra-
ments. nor new church order nor polity,
but IL Is a new point of view from which
to regard and appreciate all these things.
When the Lord came in the flesh He said
| He did not come to destroy but TO fulhi
| the law: He did not do away with the
| Old Bible, which was the Old Testament
| He confirmed and established IL by giving
| people a new doctrine regarding 1t,
| new Interpretation of 1t and new APP
| nreciation of it. So the Lord In His
| second coming. which Is His coming now
| in the Spirit and in inaugurating new
| Church. does not do away with the New
| Testament. nor with the externals OF
4 inat to1
| enables men to regard them from new
point of view. The New Church stands,
then. not for abolishing or destroying
| the Scriptures and the Sacramento that
have been given, but for the new interpre-
| tation of these, and higher truer APP
probation of them.
WHAT MAKES 1T NEW.
And low. in what way are they new!
| What Is IL that really makes the newness
of the New Church? We see that the
! term New Church does not mean new
| building Of brick or stone going up 1or
men to worship in. 1t does not any longer
mean that the New Church body or OF
| ganiZation is new or recent in time, as, III
| fact IL Is not any more; the first organi-
| cation I'm this country having been Ell
| footed over a century ago, and parts Oh
our ritual are older than, for instance,
the Prayer-Bool1 OF the American Eplsco-
pal Church. But the term new mas
deeper. a weightier, far holier meaning
than this When the Lord declares, BE-
hold | make all things new what does
He mean? Does He mean something
novel or transient that will soon get ola
THE Psalmist says: Thou sendest forth
Thy spirit; they are created, and Thou
renewest the face OF the EARTH IL IL
|
spirit that Is the soul Of newness-of the
newness that never grows old.
So we see now what spiritual newness
is-it is making alive from the spirit. and
the Lords New Church is the Christian
church born anew--made alive from the
spirit.
Even after the resurrection He gave fhe
disciples that walked with Him TO EN-
maus some idea of the inner meaning
when It is said: "Then opened He theii
understanding that they might under
stand the Scriptures" 1t Is not giving q
new book, then, that will constitute th'
new revelation, but the opening of mems
understanding that they may understand
what Is written in the old book. That th'
second coming Of the Lord Is new reve
lation OF His Word is declared In Reyeia
ton, where In the symbolic picture OF I'M
One upon the White Horse, who Is kint
OF Kings and Lord OF Lords, It is said
His name shall be called the Word o
God" The first coming is, then comin'
of the Word in the flesh and revelation
In the letter; the second coming, o.
| coming anew, must be a coming In al
interior way--a coming In the spirit ant
a revelation Of the spiritual or inne
meaning OF the Word already given. Fo
the Lord comes not to destroy, but 10 fui
H. The newness OF a church must be II
J having a new spiritual light and life; &C
cording to the Apostles word, the iette
killeth: the spirit maketh alive. and tn
New Church Is new because the way J
opened for the whole Christian Churcl
TO enter nationally into the spiritua
meaning OF the Bible and TO UNDERSTAND
the laws of spiritual action, spiritual LIE
and a spiritual world.
STANDS AS INTERPRETER.
The New Church stands to-day amon
the churches not as a sect or part OF any
protestant or Catholic, but as the inter
meter to them all--the gate that lead
them to the spiritual sense: the voice tina
saws: Behold behind the shadows and fig
ures the real God, even the divine hu
manity of Jesus, In that He Is not on
OF three persons. that He Is Himself IN
manifested Father; one God in one divin
nerson. The Athanasian creed Is true
saws swedenborg. II we substitute 10
the trinity Of persons the trinity Of per
son-i. e., the real, essential. necessar
: trinity that constitutes person itself