other doctrines which grew out of it, and depend upon it, must be wrong likewise: but if our view of this be right, then all the doctrines will be right which are in harmony with it. Let us, therefore, pray the Lord for open minds and a good understanding, while we endeavor to learn from His Word the truth upon this subject.
But first we will briefly state what has been revealed for the New Church, called the New Jerusalem, in relation to it. The doctrines of the New Church teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is really Divine; — that he is the Supreme and only God, and therefore the only proper Object of religious worship. They teach that in his Divine Person dwelleth all of the Divine Trinity, or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just as heat, light, and their proceeding operation dwell in, and together form, one sun; or as will, understanding and action, or soul, body and operation, exist together and form one man.[1] Thus they teach that Jesus Christ is the
- ↑ It may be well to inform the reader here, that the doctrines of the New Church as announced by Swedenborg, do not teach a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, but of essential divine principles or attributes. This Trinity consists of the Divine Love, which is the all-begetting principle, and is therefore called the Father; the Divine Wisdom or Word, which is the medium through which this Love manifests itself, and operates its beneficent effects, and which is called the Son; and the Divine Power, which is the proceeding operation or holy influence of Love and Wisdom, and is therefore called the Holy Spirit, This Trinity is well illustrated by the heat, light, and their proceeding operation with the natural sun; for the heat of the sun corresponds to the divine love, the light to the divine wisdom, and their emanation and operation to the proceeding operation and constant activity of love and wisdom from the Lord. It is also illustrated by the will, understanding, and their united action with man. Hence the reason why it is said in Genesis that “God made man in his men image; How could this be said, if God were tri-personal, as is commonly believed and taught? By knowing, therefore, what are the three essentials in man, we are able to understand the nature of the Divine Trinity, because man was made in the image and likeness of God.It deserves to be well remembered that the Scripture no where teaches that there are three persons in the Godhead. This is a human invention. And if it be thought that the mention of the three names, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in close connection with each other, is sufficient to warrant such a conclusion, then why should we not, by parity of reasoning, conclude that there are many more persons? For we find many different names applied to the Deity in the Old Testament. Thus He is called Jehovah, Jehovah God, Lord Jehovih, Jehovah Zebaoth, God, Lord, Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Shaddai, Jah, King of Israel, Holy One of Israel &c. But who ever imagined that different persons were referred to by these different names? (See this subject explained more at length in the volume of Lectures by the Author p. 252 — 290.)
