The Penn's Grove record., 1908-05-22
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. JOHN c. AGER.
Theme: Casting Out Evil Spirits.

Brooklyn, N. YIN the Church o.
the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian)
the pastor, the Rev. John Curtis Ager
preached Sunday morning on Cast
ing Out Evil Spirits" a sermon sug
gested by the Emmanuel Movement
The text was from Matthew 1877:
And He called unto Him His twelve
, disciples and gave them authorit.
over rxclean spirits to cast them out,
Mr.. Ager said:
The Lords twelve disciples were
exceptional disciples only in the sense
that they were types of representa-
tives of discipleship. That is, the
outward duties and powers and privi'
leges which the Lord conferred upon
these twelve men were divine types OF
symbols of the spiritual duties and
powers and privileges hat are con.
ferred upon all true disciples of the
Lord. So this power or authority
over unclean spirits to cast them out
every true disciple of the Lord pos.
sesses in the measur of his disciple.
ship, that is, in the measure in which
ne has come into The true order oil
his life.
This great.truth lies at the founda-
ton of certain lines of thought that
are attracting much attention at the
present time. These concern them
selves mainly with mans deliverance
from physical evils, or diseases, with
only an obscure recognition Of the
fact that physical evils are mainly
the effects or results of spiritual evils.
But the next step, that the spiritual
evils that beset us are caused by our
utilization with evil spirits, as these
words plainly imply, is regarded as
an absurd superstition.
For modern Christian thought
gives the least possible space and con-
%sideration to the supernatural. 1t has
eve found any place in its thinking
for an actual spiritual world, which is
the endless abode of all who have
passed out of this world through the
gate of death. 1t has even less re-
spect for the idea that those who have
passed out of this world, wheverer
they may be, have any vital connec-
ton with our experiences here.
This attitude of mind is most plain
ly out of harmony with the apparent
teaching Of the Gospels, which every
NDO1O tdhC lOI SIdulGu lie GAlSlGEC6
of spiritual beings, good and evil,
who hold most intimate relations to
men on the earth. So this aspect of
the Gospel teaching is something that
needs to be explained away, and the
attempts to do this are numerous and
various.
TO the new church, on the other
hand, this is a vital truth, both as a
fundamental philosophical principle
and as a practical doctrine.
A century and a half ago Sweden
borg set forth with great fullness a
truth that recent philosophy has been
making a good deal of, the truth of
the solidarity of the human race.
Protestant theology rested on pure in
dividualism. But the truth that hui
manity as a whole is a one, a vital
and organic entity, has now come to
be clearly seen and its significance
recognized. Most thinkers, however,
confne this truth to the present popu-
lation of this earth, while Sweden
borg makes it include all humanity,
the population of all worlds, includ-
ing the spiritual world. He teaches,
furthermore, that this universal or
ganism is in the human form that is,
is a human organism, as all it's parts
and constituents are. In this organ
ism each individual soul has it's place
and function, like the cells and fibres
OF the human body, each one vitality
related to every other. But while 1t
is true that no individual soul or
spirit could exist if cut off from every
other sou or spirit, yet every human
soul is a separate individual, with
complete %capability of determining
the character CT it's own life for itself.
Another doctrine to which Sweden
borg gives a unique Importance is the
doctrine of influx.
Every individual soul in it's true
order is a finite image of the infinite,
and is therefore made up of number
less functions and powers and parts,
from highest to lowest. Into this
complex organism the divine life flows
in an %unceasing stream. Modern
psychology teaches that our con-
seriousness V only a part of this
mental organism, the part that lies
next to our bodily sensations, and
therefore the lowest or outermost
part. And as consciousness is an es-
sential element of all choices and de-
examinations, and it is by choices and
determinations that character is de-
termined, so it is only this lower or
outer conscious region of our life into
which spiritual disorder or evil can
enter.
All these regions of the human
soul, from highest to lowest, are
merely organic vessels or receptive
ties, and are living only by virtue of
the %unceasing inflow of life into them.
Into the highest or inmost region of
the soul the divine life flows directly
from the Lord. This region lies
above or within all human and an
gelic consciousness, and forms the
eternal connection between the in
Unite and eternal life and the finite
life, ensuring to the human sou it's
endless existence. Into all the re-
gions of the soul below this highest
or lnmost two streams of life flow,
n inwardly from the Lord, one out
wardly from other finite souls. And
it is this latter interf1ow of life from
soul to soul that binds all finite souls
into a single organism, the universal
man.
Thus the life of man is in no sense
and in no respect s~elf-derived. The
human soul is nothing but an organic
vessel; and it is made alive solely by
what flows into it. And this inflow
ing life enters the soul in two ways,
one directly from the Lord, the other
mediately through other souls. And
this is true of all the activities of
life, and especially of its two chief
activities, thought and feeling.
The capacities of the human soul
may be grouped under two heads,
namely, intellectual and emotional.
Life flowing into the intellectual ca
pacities produces thought; flowing
into the emotional capacities it pro-
duces feeling and willing, and all
thought and feeling and willing in
man are SO produced. Thus our
thought and feeling are not, as they
appear to be, self-derived. They are
the product of these two streams of
life that flow into us INCREASINGLY, one
directly from the Lord, the other me-