The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-02-16
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV. DR.. JOHN CURTIS AGER.
Theme: Tabernacle of God.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Sunday morning
the Rev. DR.. John Curtis Ager, pastor
emeritus of the Church of the New
Jerusalem (Swedenborgian), new
professor in Cambridge Theological
School, preached in the pulpit which
he filled for so many years. His sub
icct was THE Tabernacle of God
With Men," The text was from Reeve
lation 21:3: "And I heard a great
voice out of the (new) heaven. say
ing, see, the tabernacle of God with
men, and He will tabernacle with
them, and they will be His peoples,
and He, God with them, will be their
God" DR.. Ager said:
The preceding verses, with n
greater part Of what follows in this
chapter, are a description or What
John saw coming down from Gcd out
of the new heaven. The remainder
of the prophecy tells us what John
heard out of that heaven. John rec
nizes this distinction when He says in
the next chapter, II John am he who
saw and heard these things" This
reflects an important spiritual dis
tinction that is in some measure rec
ogniZed in the common language OF
the world. Seeing a thing mentally
is a purely intellectual act, but hear
ing implies also such a giving heed
to the truth as calls for some response
from the will. So in this prophetic
vision the things John Is said TO have
seen picture those aspects Of the new
truth now coming into the world that
appeal to the understanding, while
the things he heard represent hose
aspects of truth that appeal also to
our emotions and volitions. The new
heaven and the new earth, the holy
city descending from the new heaven
upon the new earth, complete IN all
it's parts, with it's walls and gates and
foundations Of precious stones, Its
streets Of pure gold, and the whole
city as transparent as the purest
glass, and ~resplendent throughout
with a divine light, for the Lamb was
the light Of it-all this is a divine
symbol of that body of divine truth
which will illuminate and fill and
quicken all our intellectual faculties
as fast and as fully as we are pre-
pared to receive it. But the prophecy
appealed both to Johns sight and
Johns hearing to picture the lmpor-
tant truth that man is not a purely
intellectual being, and that he cannot
be made a new creature by any
change, however great or radical, in
his Intelligence alone. The new truth
has not done it's work until 1t has
touched the emotions and has quick
ened and directed the will to hlgher
purposes and reformed the conduct
and filled it with a new spirit. And
this aspect of the truth is especially
pictured in that part of the prophecy
that John heard.
1t is said out of the new heaven
that he saw, John heard a great voice,
which means, not a loud voice, but a
great volume of sound, such sound as
would be fit expression of heavenly
love. And this great voice said, See,
the tabernacle of God with men, and
He will be tabernacled with them,
and they will be His peoples, and He,
God with them, will be their God"
This pictures another aspect of the
new truth that Is now coming into the
world. This truth Is first pictured as
a holy city to indicate how completely
1t would meet and satisfy all the in
tellectual needs of men, a perfect be-
lief for mans mental abiding place
and peace. 1t was pictured as a bride
attired for her marriage to teach that
the requirements of this belief Will
not be satisfied until the life is
brought into harmony and union
with the belief. And now it Is pic
tured as a tabernacle in which God
will tabernacle Himself with men, to
teach that this belief will furnish not
only a most perfect spiritual abiding
place for men, but also an abiding
place for God with men.
To realize the full force OF this
symbol we need to recall thai the tab
arnacle was under the Jewish dispen-
sation.
The Jewish dispensation, as we
know, was a dispensation of types and
symbols. It's sole function was to
symbolic or picture the true church
of the Lord or the true human life on
the earth, and to maintain that repre-
sentation in the world.
Thus it's laws and ceremonies, as
! prescribed by the Lord, were simply
a body of prophetic symbols.
The tabernacle which was built at
Mt. Sinai under divine direction was,
in a sense the centre Of this whole
representative order. Until the tenn
pie took its place it was the centre
and seat of the entire Jewish system
of worship, and for a time the centre
of such civil organization as the Jews
possessed. In itself it was simply a
tent, similar in many respects to the
tents in which the people themselves
lived, and as readily transported from
place to place during their nomad
life. 1t was made after a pattern
shown to Moses in heaven, and every
detail of its construction was typical
of heavenly things. And to the Jew
ish people it was the dwelling place
of the Most High, the tent of the
great unseen captain of the host, by
whom all their movements were di-
rected. His presence and His COM
mands were made known by a pillar
of cloud by day and a pillar of ire by
night, which Eoved forward to guide
the host in it's movements and rested
where the host was to encamp. And
both on the march and in camp this
holy tent was at the centre and was
regarded with 4 reverence and awe it