yPltELATE AND PASTOR- 
 
 OR, 
 
 EPISCOPALIANISM 
 
 SWEDEN BO RGIAN ISM. 
 
 Y 
 
 BISHOP BURGESS 
 
 AND \\ 
 
 B. K. BARRETT. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1872.
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In my little work on "Episcopalianism" there occur ex- 
 pressions which must needs sound harsh to those who have not 
 seen the Bishop" s pamphlet. But when it is knmvn that these 
 expressions were copied verbatim from hit " Swedenborg- 
 ianism" and for reasons which the reader will readily un- 
 derstand and appreciate, the aspect of the case is someivhal 
 i hanged. 
 
 I have been informed by friends on whose judgment I rely, 
 that the effect of my little book is uniformly happy when the 
 Bishop' s pamphlet is read in eonnection with it ; and have 
 been urged, therefore, to have the two works bound together. 
 One intelligent brother writes : 
 
 " ll'e have here several copies of your reply to Bishop 
 Burgess, which are circulating among Episcopalians, and 
 are doing good. Some, hwever, think your book rather 
 harsh, except when read along with the Bishop's attack. In 
 such cases, the effect produced is excellent ; but when your 
 book is read by itself the effect is not so good. By all means 
 have the attack added" 
 
 It is letters of this character which have induced me to 
 order the present edition, with the Bishop's pamphlet prefixed. 
 In "Prelate and Pastor" therefore, the reader has both 
 sides, and is left to form his own conclusion. 
 
 B. F. B. 
 WEST PHILADELPHIA, April 9, 1872.
 
 SWEDENBORGIANISM 
 
 BT THE LATE 
 
 BISHOP BURGESS 
 
 PROTESTAXT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOB THE PROMOTION 
 (XT KV ANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 No. 2, BXBLB HOUBB, NEW You*.
 
 SWEDENBORGIANISM. 
 
 EVERY Priest or Presbyter of our Church, 
 at his ordination, was asked, " Will you be 
 ready with all faithfid diligence, to banish 
 and drive away from the Church all erro- 
 neous and strange doctrines, contrary to 
 God's Word?" and every one answered, "I 
 will, the Lord being my helper." This very 
 necessary task is to be discharged, not by 
 force or fraud, even if that were possible, 
 but by argument and persuasion, public and 
 private, and, if need be, by rebuke, denuncia- 
 tion of the error, and exclusion from the 
 Lord's Table. Every Bishop has given at 
 
 his consecration the same promise a second 
 
 (3)
 
 4 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 time, in almost the same words. Those who 
 have placed themselves under these most 
 sacred obligations cannot doubt their general 
 duty, to expose the falsehood of any doctrine 
 by which any of their charge may be liable 
 to be at all endangered, and to warn them 
 against the snare all the more, if they do 
 not perceive it to be a snare. 
 
 But it is at this very point where real dan- 
 ger begins, that some plausible maxims are 
 encountered, which have not been without 
 their weight in the minds even of Christians, 
 who loved both the truth and peace. It is 
 thus said that an opinion, true or false, only 
 gains strength and spreads the more when 
 it is openly opposed. Be silent, it is said, 
 and it will either die away or cease to extend 
 itself beyond its present limits. It is per- 
 fectly plain, however, that reasoning like
 
 Swedenborgianism . 
 
 this is exactly that which may be employed 
 in the case of any disease which has in- 
 creased till it became alarming or fatal. 
 Did you employ medical treatment ? You 
 may be told that the treatment caused the 
 mischief. Did you employ no medical 
 treatment? You may certainly be told, 
 with a much greater appearance of justice, 
 that the mischief proceeded from your neg- 
 lect. I suppose, however, that no father, 
 solicitous for the threatened life of a sick 
 child, would be as much disturbed by the 
 fear that, through timely attention to the 
 complaint, ho might have unintentionally 
 pushed it on, as by the dread that he might 
 have neglected it too long. In the same 
 manner when an error grows up and lives 
 on, it is easy to say, either that it is because 
 it was opposed, or because it was not op-
 
 Swedenborgia n ism. 
 
 posed, by the clergy. They who merely 
 reason from the result are always liable to 
 mistake the way of duty. There cannot bo 
 the smallest doubt that it is right to guard 
 those whom we love, those for whom we are 
 in any degree responsible, against every 
 serious danger which we can foresee ; and 
 this duty is not at all affected by the result. 
 The natural, obvious, and divinely appointed 
 way of checking the progress of error, is, to 
 detect, expose, and refute it by scriptural 
 argument and warning. If at any time it 
 should spread in defiance of such efforts, we 
 may be sure that without them it would 
 have spread more rapidly and more disas- 
 trously. 
 
 There is another objection which comes 
 home to our kindlier feelings. While the 
 error was at a distance, to contend earnestly
 
 Suvedenborgianism. 7 
 
 against it was inoffensive, but was also quite 
 useless. To argue against the Mormon 
 doctrine wounds no one, but is of no profit 
 But when the error approaches and sits 
 down amongst us, it necessarily happens 
 that those on whom it lays its grasp arc our 
 friends and neighbors. We love them, we 
 respect them ; we wish to live in union and 
 concord ; we are not blind to their various 
 merits; and we are all bound together by 
 mutual kindnesses. It is not possible seri- 
 ously to assail the opinions of any without 
 danger of giving pain ; and certainly it is 
 not expedient to condemn them, except 
 when it is to be done with great seriousness. 
 Whatever mode ma}' be adopted, reproof 
 and censure can never be made pleasing. 
 Are we then to forbear ? Woe to us if wo 
 prove fa it hlr>s to our duty for such a cause ;
 
 8 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 if we permit those whom we love to pass 
 unwarned into danger and delusion ! 
 
 I am about, therefore, to speak of the de- 
 lusion which derives its name and origin 
 from the writings of Swedenborg; and to 
 speak of it for the very reason that it is 
 here ; that it has a foothold in our commu- 
 nity ; and that whatever powers of persua- 
 sion it may possess are exercised to beguile 
 the uninstructed and the unstable. For the 
 personal character of several of those by 
 whom this doctrine is professed I entertain 
 a very high degree of respect ; there is none 
 of them, so far as I know, from whom I ever 
 received any unkindness ; and I could wish 
 not to inflict the smallest pain by any words 
 which the truth may require to be uttered. 
 At the same time, there is no room in sub- 
 jects like these for any great influence of
 
 Smedenborgia n ism . 
 
 personal considerations. If that which is 
 termed, but never ought to be termed, " the 
 New Church," if the Church of Swedeuborg 
 be right, the old Church, the Holy Catholic 
 Church, the Church of Christ, is grossly 
 wrong. 
 
 The whole Church of Christ, in all its 
 branches and denominations, is constantly 
 assailed by those who believe in the dpc- 
 trincs of Swedenborg, as if it were wholly in 
 darkness, blind to the truth, and engaged in 
 teaching mighty and mischievous corrup- 
 tions. We are not called to retaliate, except 
 as, from the nature of things, that which 
 thus opposes the Church must be opposite 
 to the truth, and necessarily worthy of con- 
 demnation. But it is not the province of 
 ( 'In istianity to defend its own cause so much 
 as to attack and overthrow, by the arms of
 
 TO Swedenborgianism. 
 
 truth, all which is hostile to the declared will 
 of God our Saviour. We must refuse to 
 stand on the defensive ; we must push error 
 back upon its own ground ; break down its 
 fastnesses, if it has any ; expose its hiding 
 places ; disclose it as it is ; and if it be possi- 
 ble, leave it no disguise through which an 
 honest heart can be deceived. We would 
 destroy the error, that we may rescue the 
 erring. 
 
 I offer no apology, then, for doing that 
 which is my duty ; for attempting to show 
 what Swedenborgianism attempts to be; 
 what delusions it embraces ; and, beyond 
 these delusions, how it contradicts the word 
 of God. Let us only pray that all may be 
 done with that temper which the Holy 
 Ghost sheds abroad in the heart, and that
 
 Swedenborgianism. 1 1 
 
 we all may be enlightened by the truth as it 
 is in Jesus ! 
 
 Swedenborgianism is the name which 
 should be carefully given to the doctrinal 
 and ecclesiastical system of the followers of 
 Swedenborg. There is but one Church of 
 ('In 1st; it embraces all who have received 
 Christian baptism and hold the Christian 
 faith ; there can be no "New Church" in the 
 sense in which that designation is claimed ; 
 as if the ancient and only Church of Christ 
 had been superseded. The title of " the 
 Church of the New Jerusalem," it would be 
 blasphemous to give, if we did it deliberately, 
 to a body which we believe to be of mere 
 human institution, and to be founded in the 
 \\ i K lost perversions of the Scriptures. If any 
 man can suppose the Swedenborgian sect to 
 be the New Jerusalem of the Revelation, he
 
 12 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 of course can give them that name with a 
 good conscience ; but with the holiest, heav- 
 enliest words, the rest of mankind should 
 not dare to trifle. 
 
 Swedenborgianism is simply the system of 
 belief and practice taught by Emanuel 
 Swedenborg. He was a Swedish nobleman, 
 a man of scientific knowledge, and volumi- 
 nous writer, much engaged in speculations 
 on the nature of the soul. When he was 
 fifty-seven years old, which was in the year 
 1745, he conceived that he had intercourse 
 with the world of spirits; and the various 
 thoughts on certain subjects which thence- 
 forth arose in his mind, (and he was a pro- 
 digious dreamer,) he seems honestly to have 
 taken for revelations. He lived till the age 
 of eighty-four, and continued, in his eccen- 
 tric way, to write on till his books were
 
 Swedenborgia n ism . 1 3 
 
 twenty-seven heavy and exceedingly tedious 
 volumes, in striking contrast with the 
 variety, sublimity and beauty of the Holy 
 Scriptures. He did not attempt to found 
 a sect, or to make many proselytes ; he did 
 not pretend to work miracles, nor to pro- 
 1'lu-^y, be}-ond a few slight instances of sup- 
 posed disclosures of things which he could 
 not know through the senses; instances, 
 which, if tnie, were similar to clairvoyance, 
 and to which he attached little importance. 
 Such was the man, grave, moral, learned ; 
 not eminently wise or gifted, or, so far as 
 we know, eminently devout and holy; a 
 speculative enthusiast, a monomaniac, a 
 man whom his contemporaries regarded as 
 of doubtful sanity. A few persons believed 
 his revelations while he lived ; a few have 
 embraced them since ; and although at first
 
 14 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 it seems to have been no part of their design, 
 they have been compelled by consistency to 
 separate themselves from the Christian 
 Church, and form a new communion. It is 
 very small ; embracing at the end of a cen- 
 tury from the time of Swedenborg, in the 
 United States only thirty ministers and 
 about three thousand members; and in 
 Great Britain perhaps as many more. 
 
 Whatever parts of Christian truth may be 
 maintained by this communion just as by all 
 Christians, cannot, of course, be considered 
 as bearing the name of Swedenborgianism. 
 Whatever just thoughts or correct views may 
 be entertained by them, which it needed no 
 prophet to discover, are the common pro- 
 perty of all men. They stand as a sect or 
 communion, through their adherence to 
 Swedenborg as the medium of divine revela-
 
 Swedenborgianism. 1 5 
 
 tions. Here lies, my brethren, a peculiar 
 danger of that system ; one which may make 
 us contemplate it with more pain and dread 
 than some which contain less of truth, or 
 which teach doctrines more remote from the 
 gospel. All sects which name themselves 
 Christian, and nothing more, appeal only to 
 the Scriptures, to human reason, and to the 
 belief of the Church from the beginning- 
 none of them claim any new inspiration. A 
 person may misinterpret the Scriptures, and 
 may be brought to a more correct interpre- 
 tation. A person may reason wrong, and 
 may learn to reason right. A person may 
 mistake the tradition of the Church, or ho 
 may attribute to it less or more authority 
 than it deserves; he may even submit to 
 such a control as that of the Papacy, and 
 yet may shake this off, and come to the
 
 1 6 Sivedenborgianism. 
 
 simple truth through the mere force of that 
 truth as drawn from the Scriptures, or 
 from light reason, or from the Church of 
 primitive times ; for his very submission to 
 the Papacy was sustained by arguments 
 from those sources, however erroneously 
 applied. But the Swedenborgian errs, not 
 because he reads the Scriptures otherwise 
 than rightly ; not because he reasons ill ; 
 not because he has any regard for the au- 
 thority of the Church ; but because he sets 
 Scripture, reason and the Church all aside, 
 and yields up his whole soul submissively 
 to the authority of one blind man. 
 
 I do not think that I go too far in saying 
 that, as a teacher and an authority, Swe- 
 de nborg is placed above all the apostles 
 and prophets, and even above our blessed 
 Saviour. He professes to reveal much more
 
 Swedenborgia n ism. 1 7 
 
 than our Saviour revealed. He claims to 
 make the words of oar Saviour mean what 
 they do not obviously mean, what they ob- 
 viously do not mean, and what no man be- 
 fore him ever dreamed to be their meaning. 
 Ho says that our Saviour did not mean 
 what our Saviour knew every human being, 
 from the very constitution of his nature, 
 must understand Him to mean. He sub- 
 stitutes a new Church for that which our Sa- 
 viour established. I do not at all design to 
 say that either Swedeuborg or his followers 
 ever intended to lower the reverence of men 
 for the Redeemer, or to compare him with 
 any mortal. But so far as our Lord is a 
 guide and a law-giver, they do certainly 
 place the word of Swedenborg in the place 
 of the word of Christ 
 
 Thus, my dear brethren, you perceive 
 2
 
 1 8 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 that Swedenborgianism attempts to be, not 
 a form of Christian it}', but an addition to 
 Christianity, and a substitution for Christi- 
 anity. The Bible, interpreted by common 
 sense, by reason, by the Church, or by 
 individual conscience, is not its rule ; but a 
 certain part of the Bible, interpreted by 
 Swedenborg, and interpreted in a manner 
 so utterly his own, so wild, so destitute of 
 all support, that no person can for a moment 
 credit the interpretation, except because he 
 looks on the interpreter as far more en- 
 lightened than any apostle. It assumes to 
 be, to this extent, a new religion, having a 
 new author. 
 
 Such being the work undertaken by 
 Swedenborgianism, we will next allude to 
 the delusions, which on such authority, it 
 holds and promulgates as truth divine.
 
 Swedenborgianism. 1 9 
 
 Under this head I do not mention thtxt 
 which is directly contradictory to the word 
 of God, but only that which the judgment 
 of all mankind, except those who believe it, 
 pronounces to be as little credible as the 
 dreams of insanity. Of this order are the 
 
 m 
 
 following statements, all taken from the 
 writings of Swedenborg, where they are 
 given as the account of the results of his 
 own visits to the invisible world, or of his 
 conferences with higher spirits. 
 
 That he was admitted into heaven and 
 hell. That all the angels and devils 
 were originally men of the human race. 
 That those who have deviated from the 
 Swedenborgion view of the Trinity, to either 
 side, cannot be admitted into heaven. That 
 those in the Church who have denied the 
 Lord, and acknowledged only the Father,
 
 2O Swedenborgianism. 
 
 are in the other world " deprived of the fa- 
 culty of thinking what is true," " become 
 dumb or speak foolishly," " miss their way," 
 and "their arms hang down and dangle 
 about as if destitute of strength in the 
 joints." That Unitarians or Socinians are 
 there " carried forward a little towards the 
 right," and sent down into the deep. That 
 heaven corresponds in form and divisions 
 with one enormous man. That the Lord 
 appeai-s in heaven as a sun and as a moon. 
 That " in heaven it is never permitted to 
 any one to stand behind another and look 
 at the back of his head." 
 
 That different orders of angels wore gar- 
 ments more or less shining, " but the angels 
 of the inmost heaven are naked." That 
 there are in heaven houses, gardens, temples 
 ami pulpits ; and " if any one stand behind
 
 Swedcnborgia n ism . 2 1 
 
 the pulpit, the preacher is confused." That 
 there being two classes of angels, the celes- 
 tial and the spiritual, "the speech of the 
 former sounds much from the vowels o and 
 , that of the latter from e and t. That the 
 influx of the Lord himself into man is into 
 his forehead and face ; that of the celestial 
 angels into one part of the brain, that of the 
 spiritual angels into another. That anxiety 
 and melancholy in man are caused by cer- 
 tain spirits who take their place in the region 
 of the stomach, " and love things undigested 
 and malignant, such as unwholesome food." 
 That the heathen " come into heaven more 
 easily than Christians at this day." That 
 infants, as soon as they die, are delivered to 
 "angels of the female sex," and taught to 
 speak. That from the world of spirits, into 
 which immediately after death, men go, and
 
 22 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 which is between heaven and hell, there are 
 holes or caverns leading down the abyss, 
 and from these "are exhaled nauseous 
 stenches," which the wicked seek with de- 
 light. That " some who die, when they lie 
 upon the bier, think even in their cold 
 body." 
 
 That Swedenborg himself, while in this 
 life, had experienced the whole passage from 
 this life into another, that he might fully 
 know how it is when men die. That the 
 process of revival in another life begins with 
 the act of angels, who " seem as it were to 
 roll off the coat of the left eye " towards the 
 nose, that the eye may see. That after death 
 men who have loved falsehood, repair to such 
 places as clefts of rocks ; conspirators to dark 
 rooms and corners ; men proud of science to 
 sandy places; men who studied doctrines,
 
 Swedenborgia n ism. 2 3 
 
 but did not live by them, to heaps of stones ; 
 avaricious persons to cells where " swinish 
 filth " is found ; voluptuaries to places full 
 of nncleanness ; adulterers to brothels, and 
 revengeful persons to places full of dead 
 corpses. That all these choose such abodes, 
 and have there their gratification. That 
 Swedenborg saw the great Luther in the 
 world of spirits, not yet admitted to heaven ; 
 informed him of the end of the old church, 
 and the substitution of the new ; and led 
 him over by degrees to this belief, though 
 at first "he became very indignant and 
 stormed." That he saw the pious Melanc- 
 thou in a cold, filthy stone chamber, wrapped 
 up in a bear skin. That he attempted in 
 vain to convert the pious Calvin, who finally 
 went to a cavern under ground, with other 
 Predestinarians, " where they are forced to
 
 24 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 work for their food, and are all enemies to 
 one another." That the pious and zealous 
 Moravians could not abide in heaven, but 
 cast themselves out headlong. That the 
 planet Saturn is the most distant from the 
 sun. That men before the fall did not 
 breathe with their lungs. That various dis- 
 eases with which Swedenborg was afflicted, 
 even such as the toothache, proceeded not 
 from natural causes, but from the influx of 
 evil spirits. That in hell there are such 
 punishments as bruising a sinner in a mor- 
 tar, or grinding him in a mill, his fellow-sin- 
 ners being the executioners. That in 
 heaven the plays of boys and little children 
 are a part of the celestial festivities ; and 
 that all things earthly are repeated there ; 
 houses, chambers, gardens, libraries, books, 
 papers, colleges, museums, all mechanic
 
 Swedenborgia n ism. 2 5 
 
 arts, feasts, food, and wine. That in hell 
 Swedeuborg saw two of the Popes, one hold- 
 ing his feet in a basket full of serpents, and 
 the other sitting upon an ass which was on 
 fire with red serpents creeping at its sides. 
 That he saw David, the man after God's 
 own heart, amongst wicked spirits, himself 
 engaged in most horrid and shocking con- 
 duct. That the inhabitants of the planet 
 Mercury are intellectual, but haughty and 
 excessively loquacious, and choose rather the 
 form of crystalline globes than that of men ; 
 that those of Jupiter live in low wooden 
 houses, sit cross-legged, are devoted to the 
 doctrines of the Swedenborgian Church, 
 and have been sometimes vexed with popish 
 emissaries ; that those of Mars have yellow 
 foreheads and black chins, and wear clothes 
 made of bark ; that those of Saturn do not
 
 26 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 bury their dead, but cover them with boughs 
 of trees. That some of the inhabitants of 
 Venus are giants, while those of the moon 
 are as small as children, and speak, not 
 from the lungs, but from the abdomen, with 
 a voice like thunder. 
 
 Why do we repeat these preposterous 
 tales ? Only that the true character of the 
 delusion naay appear, which must be re- 
 ceived by any who admit the revelations of 
 Swedenborg. You may possibly be told, 
 however, that there is no obligation to re- 
 ceive them ; that he sometimes erred ; that 
 the system does not rest on his authority, 
 but commends itself by its own harmony 
 and beauty. On that supposition it stands 
 on the same level with all speculations ; and 
 this is a day in which many speculations 
 am sent forth more inviting than these ; and
 
 Swedenborgianism. 27 
 
 we must be free to say that neither the sys- 
 tem nor its author display any such superior 
 wisdom as should entitle it to a preference 
 above speculations which our own minds are 
 quite competent to originate in our idlest 
 moments. But no; when the notion that 
 Swedenborg saw heaven and hell is removed, 
 the whole fabric sinks into dust and confu- 
 sion ; and whoever believes that he did seo 
 heaven and hell, must receive his statements 
 of all which he saw there, down to the most 
 grotesque and enormous of his reveries. If 
 there be any who, taking the name of a 
 " New Church," would arrange its doctrines 
 and its practice, without even the guidance 
 of Swedenborg, simply by their own judg- 
 ment and fancy, and in entire freedom from 
 the authority of the old Church and the
 
 ?8 Swedenborg ianism. 
 
 Bible, wherein is that better than simple 
 Deism ? 
 
 But now let us advance to a higher charge 
 than that of delusion, however vast. The 
 doctrines of Swedenborg are not only ab- 
 surd, but directly contradictory to the word 
 of God. They are so, in the broadest mode, 
 by asserting that the language of the Scrip- 
 tures has not its plain, natural, and obvious 
 meaning, but a hidden sense, which no one 
 but Swedenborg ever could interpret; a 
 sense which may put upon them any mean- 
 ing at his pleasure, however foreign to their 
 import ; a sense which often is directly in 
 the face of their very language. Our Lord, 
 for example, has said that it is easier for a 
 camel to go through the eye of a needle 
 than for a rich man to enter into the king- 
 dom of God ; and rich men, from the time
 
 Swedenborgianism. 29 
 
 when our Lord spoke, have remembered 
 His words with move or less profit ; but 
 Swedenborg says that " by a camel is signi 
 fied the principle of knowledge and of sci 
 ence in general, and by the eye of a needle, 
 spiritual truth," that "by the rich are 
 meant those who are in the knowledges of 
 truth and good, and by riches the knowl- 
 edges themselves ;" and after this, I had 
 almost said lucid explanation, that "the 
 rich come into heaven as easily as the 
 poor." Our Saviour says that in heaven 
 they neither marry nor are given in mar- 
 riage ; but Swedonborg says that " there are 
 marriages in heaven as well as on earth," 
 and describes their whole character and ar- 
 rangements. "With such a key as his, with 
 that pretended inward meaning, he may 
 contradict any other words of Scripture as
 
 3O Swedenborgianism. 
 
 readily as these ; for the supposition of such 
 a key is fatal to the supreme authority of 
 the whole. 
 
 He contradicts the word of God, by de- 
 nying the divine authority of the books of 
 the Old Testament, and of all the New ex- 
 cept the four Gospels and the Revelation. 
 "We have to choose between Swedenborg 
 and Paul ; for Swedenborg denies both the 
 doctrine of Paul and his inspiration. After 
 this, it becomes a question of compara- 
 tively little importance whether he may 
 chance on any subject to agree with that 
 Bible of which he gives so much to the 
 winds. The ground of agreement, where he 
 does agree, is not submissive to the Bible. 
 
 He contradicts it by denying the distinc- 
 tion of the three Divine Persons, asserting a 
 Trinity in one Person, and that Person at
 
 Swedenborgianism. 31 
 
 once Christ and the Father ; so that all the 
 words of our Lord respecting the Father 
 and the Son are rendered less than unmean- 
 ing; and all prayer is to be offered, not 
 through Christ to the Father, but to Christ 
 as the Father ; by declaring that the human 
 nature of our Lord was " full of impure and 
 unhallowed principles," like ours ; by deny- 
 ing entirely the atonement and propitiation 
 through the blood of the Lamb of God ; by 
 denying entirely the intercession of our 
 Lord as our great High-priest, and the duty 
 and propriety of offering our prayers in His 
 name ; by denying entirely the great truth, 
 so urged by St Paul, of justification through 
 faith in the Sou of God, which he calls a 
 heresy ; by denying the resurrection of the 
 body, in direct opposition to the words of 
 our Saviour ; and by denying, as directly, the
 
 32 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 second coming of Christ to judge the world, 
 t!ie last judgment having, as they say, taken 
 place one hundred years ago. It is not my 
 present duty to prove these doctrines of the 
 Scriptures. You all know perfectly that 
 they are written there, as plainly as the 
 numbers of the chapters and verses. You 
 all, I trust, believe the Scriptures ; and if 
 the Scriptures, in these respects, are true, 
 Swedenborgianism, in these respects, is 
 false ; and such falsehood must be perilous 
 to the soul which makes it its support. 
 
 The word of God is contradicted, too, by 
 the morals which Swedenborg and Sweden- 
 borgianism have dared to inculcate. They 
 have represented, both in theory and in 
 practice, the road to heaven as broad and 
 eas} r , and requiring little of self-denial and 
 of taking up the cross. They have depre-
 
 Swedenborgianism. 33 
 
 ciatocl thr importance of prayer ; limiting it, 
 at least formerly, in public devotion, to the 
 use of the Lord's Prayer, and very little 
 urging it in private. They have recom- 
 mended those amusements which most 
 tend to divert the mind from serious 
 thoughts and habits, and to create a gene- 
 ral frivolity of character; such as games 
 at cards, billiards, dice, dances, and thea- 
 trical entertainments. They have taught, 
 not only that Polygamy is no sin for the 
 Mahometan, but that he has had his concu- 
 bines as well as his wives in the lower heav- 
 en. Swedenborg himself taught there were 
 causes legitimate, just, real, and sufficient for 
 the practice of concubinage, in certain cases, 
 even amongst Christians. ; and those causes 
 were such as are exceedingly numerous and 
 exceedingly common. He teaches, also, 
 3
 
 34 Stoedenborgianism. 
 
 and recommends, in certain cases, the 
 practice of that very sin, of which the 
 Apostle Paul says, "Let it not be once 
 named among you, as becometh saints." 
 In truth, the writings of Swedenborg linger 
 and expatiate on subjects which we are com- 
 pelled, not merely in the house of God, but 
 in any respectable company, to pass with 
 the faintest allusion. I do not doubt that 
 those who otherwise follow him, blush at 
 those pages; and to many of them they 
 are probably unknown. 
 
 The painful task which I proposed is now 
 performed. I have shown what Sweden- 
 borgianism attempts to be ; then, what is the 
 extent of the delusions which it invokes ; and 
 then, how directly it contradicts and over- 
 throws the word of God. That such a sys- 
 tem should have any attractions for any
 
 Savedenborgia n ism. 3 5 
 
 minds, may seem wonderful, but admits an 
 explanation. It promises to disclose the 
 ecrets of the life to come ; and that is a 
 knowledge which to some is so welcome that 
 they will accept any tale of such wonders 
 without the color of real evidence. 
 
 It softens and smooths down all the more 
 mysterious and difficult doctrines of the 
 Scriptures, professing generally to receive 
 them in name, while it removes their sub- 
 stance, and offering also a key through which 
 any doctrine may be explained away. It 
 presents, in practice, the easiest of all reli- 
 gions ; counselling little more than to wish 
 well to others, and seek your own enjoyment, 
 assured that at death you will pass to the 
 state which you have chosen. It embraces 
 but a small number of persons ; the small- 
 ness of their number and the peculiarity of
 
 36 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 their opinions bind them closely together. 
 It is not a religion for the ignorant, the 
 poor, or the penitent; but it offers suffi- 
 ciently pleasant associations for those who 
 seek in their religion, rather to be pleased 
 than to please God and to walk in the 
 truth. 
 
 Its one sole difficulty, my dear brethren, 
 is, it is not true ; it is one vast, utter de- 
 lusion, resting on the speculations and 
 dreams of one who would have been justly 
 deemed a blasphemer, if he had not been a 
 monomaniac. Hard as it is to speak plainly 
 of such subjects with tenderness to feelings 
 which we would not willingly wound, yet, as 
 a Christian pastor and Bishop, who must 
 give an account, I must speak plainly. 
 Those numerous volumes which Sweden- 
 borgianism would substitute for the Bible,
 
 Swcaenborgianism. 37 
 
 far from indicating genius, depth or wisdom, 
 are superficial, absurd and worthless. You 
 may be told that you do uot understuud 
 what you read iu them, and you may suppose 
 ih it there must be more there than you can 
 understand ; but only a little patience is re- 
 quired to see all the meaning which they 
 have, and to see that it has no value. Let 
 me entreat you, then, to withdraw yourselves, 
 and to seek to withdraw all over whom you 
 have influence, from lending any siinction to 
 a system, which, if it could widely prevail, 
 would be most disastrous and fatal to the 
 interests of society, and to the souls of men. 
 There can be no compromise. If there is 
 am thing which you love and revere in the 
 Gospel, or the Church of Christ, it is vir- 
 tually renounced and trodden under foot 
 when that Church is exchanged for a nw
 
 Swedenborgiamsm. 
 
 Church, and that Gospel for another Gos- 
 pel. Remember the words of the Apostle 
 St. Paul in Col. ii. 18, 19, and which, from 
 first to last, are so strikingly applicable to 
 this subject. " Let no man beguile you of 
 your reward in a voluntary humility and 
 worshipping of angels, intruding into those 
 things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed 
 up by his fleshly mind, and not holding 
 the Head, from which all the body by 
 joints and bands having nourishment min- 
 istered, and knit together, iucreaseth with 
 the increase of God." 
 
 Should I address any who have given 
 their confidence to the claims of this found- 
 er of a new religion, I would embrace the 
 opportunity of pleading with them, in the 
 name of their Redeemer. He died for your 
 salvation ; " there is none other name under
 
 Swedenborgiamsm. 39 
 
 heaven given among men, whereby ye must 
 he saved." Forsake Him not for the dreams 
 of u false Christ or false prophet. I say 
 it respectfully, but earnestly, solemnly, en- 
 treatingly, for Jesus' sake. You know not 
 what you do. Much of Christianity you 
 have carried with you into the Swedeu- 
 borgiau school; enough to make some 
 bright examples of benevolence and of 
 patience. The Christian part is excellent ; 
 and for it those individuals shall have 
 our respect, our honor, our esteem, our 
 affection. The Swedenborgian part is all 
 error, delusion and danger. Return to the 
 cross of your Saviour, on which Sweden- 
 borgiauistn refuses to rely. Return to the 
 Church of the living God, which Sweden- 
 borgianistn would fain supplant and over- 
 throw. Return to the holy and blessed
 
 40 Swedenborgianism. 
 
 word of divine truth which Swedenborgian- 
 ism so daringly perverts and so largely re- 
 jects. I know how much I venture in speak- 
 ing as I have spoken ; but there will be 
 hours when the Spirit will touch your 
 hearts, and tell you that dreams cannot do 
 the work of His truth and grace : then listen, 
 and return !
 
 EPISCOPALIANISM 
 
 IN THREE PARTS. 
 
 Bv B. F. BARRETT. 
 
 Audi Alterant Partem, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 J. B. I.IPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1871.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 LIPPIXCOTT'S PRESS, 
 PHILADELPHIA.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 PACK 
 
 EPISCOPAUAXISM IN ITS OWN DRESS 5-75 
 
 PART II. 
 EPISCOPALIANISM IN BORROWED ROBES 75~ I2 9 
 
 PART III. 
 
 EPISCOPALIANISM AT THE CONFESSIONAL 129-180 
 
 3
 
 NOTE. 
 
 A little pamphlet entitled " SWEDENBORGIANISM, 
 by Bishop Burgess, ' ' suggested the preparation and 
 publication of the following pages. The writer 
 has aimed not to copy the Bishop's strange disre- 
 gard of truth and fairness; but in his manner of 
 handling the subject treated, particularly in Part /., 
 he has adhered as closely as circumstances would 
 permit to the example set him in the pamphlet re- 
 ferred to; and in many instances he has used the 
 Bishop* s own language, only varying its application.
 
 EPISCOPALIANISM. 
 
 PART I. 
 EP/SCOPALIANISM IN ITS OWN DRESS. 
 
 EVERY true minister of the Gospel, whether he 
 has or has not bound himself by any formal 
 promise of fidelity at the time of his ordination, 
 feels himself under a moral obligation to be ready, 
 with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive 
 away from the Church, and from the minds of his 
 fellow-men wherever they may be, all erroneous 
 doctrines contrary to God's Word, whether they 
 be old or new, strange or familiar. Fealty to the 
 Master requires him to expose the character and 
 tendency of any system which threatens the spirit- 
 ual progress and welfare of mankind ; and to warn 
 men against the snare all the more, if they do not 
 perceive it to be a snare, or are dazzled by the 
 1 5
 
 6 Episeopalianism 
 
 wealth, numbers, fashioner outward respectability 
 of those who have imbibed the falsehood. 
 
 But it is at this very point where real danger 
 begins, that some plausible maxims are en- 
 countered, which have not been without their 
 weight in the minds even of Christians, who loved 
 both the truth and peace. It is thus said that an 
 opinion, true or false, only gains strength and 
 spreads the more, when it is openly opposed. Be 
 silent, it is said, and it will either die away or 
 cease to extend itself beyond its present limits. 
 It is perfectly plain, however, that reasoning like 
 this is exactly that which may be employed in the 
 case of any disease which has increased till it 
 became alarming or fatal. Did you employ 
 medical treatment ? You may be told that the 
 treatment caused the mischief. Did you employ 
 no medical treatment? You may certainly be 
 told, with a much greater appearance of justice, 
 that the mischief proceeded from your neglect. 
 I suppose, however, that no father, solicitous for 
 the threatened life of a sick child, would be as 
 much disturbed by the fear that, through timely 
 attention to the complaint, he might have unin-
 
 In its Oum Dress. 7 
 
 tentionally pushed it on, as by the dread that he 
 might have neglected it too long. In the same 
 manner when an error grows up and lives on, it is 
 easy to say, either that it is because it was op- 
 posed, or because it was not opposed, by the 
 clergy. They who merely reason from the result 
 are always liable to mistake the way of duty. 
 There cannot be the smallest doubt that it is right 
 to guard those whom we love, those for whom we 
 are in any degree responsible all, indeed, whom 
 it may be in our power to influence against every 
 serious danger which we can foresee ; and this duty 
 is not at all affected by the result. The natural, 
 obvious, and divinely appointed way of checking 
 the progress of error, is, to detect, expose and 
 refute it by rational and scriptural argument and 
 warning. If at any time it should spread in de- 
 fiance of such efforts, we may be sure that without 
 them it would have spread more rapidly and more 
 disastrously. 
 
 There is another objection which comes home 
 to our kindlier feelings. While the error was at 
 a distance, to contend earnestly against it was 
 inoffensive, but was also quite useless. To argue
 
 8 Episcopalianism 
 
 against the Mormon doctrine wounds no one, but 
 is of no profit. But when the error approaches 
 and sits down amongst us, it necessarily happens 
 that those on whom it lays its grasp are our friends 
 and neighbors. We love them, we respect them ; 
 we wish to live in union and concord ; we are not 
 blind to their various merits ; and we are all bound 
 together by mutual kindnesses. It is not possible 
 seriously to assail the opinions of any without 
 danger of giving pain ; and certainly it is not ex- 
 pedient to condemn them, except when it is to be 
 done with great seriousness. Whatever mode may 
 be adopted, reproof and censure can never be 
 made pleasing. Are we then to forbear ? Woe 
 to us if we prove faithless to our duty for such a 
 cause ; if we permit those whom we love to pass 
 unwarned into danger, or to remain in the error 
 they have embraced without an effort to deliver 
 them from it. 
 
 I am about, therefore, to speak of the delusion 
 known as Episcopalianism, its name and origin 
 being derived from that form of ecclesiastical 
 government which was developed in an unen- 
 lightened period of the church ; and to speak of
 
 In its Oum Dress. g 
 
 it for the very reason that it is here ; that it has a 
 foothold in our community; and that whatever 
 powers of persuasion it may possess, are exercised 
 to beguile the careless and unthinking. 
 
 For the personal character of many of those by 
 whom this doctrine is professed, I entertain a very 
 high degree of respect ; there is not one of them 
 so far as I know, from whom I ever received any 
 unkindness; and I could wish not to inflict the 
 smallest pain by any words which the truth may 
 require to be uttered. At the same time, there is 
 no room in subjects like these for any great in- 
 fluence of personal considerations. If that which 
 in our day is termed, but which certainly ought 
 not to be termed "the Holy Catholic Church" 
 if that doctrine and polity known as Episco- 
 palianism, be right, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the uncorrupted Christianity, is grossly 
 wrong. 
 
 All other Christian denominations how re- 
 peatedly and rudely have they been, and are still, 
 assailed by those who have become wedded to 
 Episcopal ianism ! as if all outside the pale of this 
 ism, were necessarily outside of the church of
 
 io Episcopalianism 
 
 Christ. We are not called to retaliate, except as, 
 from the nature of things, that which thus arro- 
 gates to itself peculiar graces, and proudly flaunts 
 its claim to supereminence, must be far from if 
 not opposite to the truth, and justly worthy, 
 therefore, of condemnation. But it is not the 
 province of Christianity to defend its own cause, 
 so much as to attack and overthrow, by the arms 
 of truth, all which is hostile to the declared will 
 of God our Saviour. We must refuse to stand on 
 the defensive ; we must push error back upon its 
 own ground ; break down its fastnesses, if it has 
 any; expose its hiding places; disclose it as it is; 
 and if it be possible, leave it no disguise through 
 which an honest heart can be deceived. We 
 would destroy the error, that we may rescue the 
 erring. 
 
 I offer no apology, then, for doing that which 
 is my duty ; for attempting to show what Episco- 
 palianism is, or claims to be; what delusions it 
 embraces; and, beyond these delusions, how it 
 contradicts the Word of God. Let us only pray 
 that all may be done with that temper which the 
 Holy Spirit sheds abroad in the heart, and that
 
 In its Own Dress. n 
 
 we all may be enlightened by the truth as it is in 
 Jesus. 
 
 Episcopalianism is the name which should be 
 carefully given to the doctrinal and ecclesiastical 
 system acknowledged by that body of people who 
 call themselves ' ' The Protestant Episcopal Church' ' 
 "the Holy Catholic Church"" THE Church, ' ' 
 by way of eminence. There is but one Church 
 of Christ ; it embraces all who believe in the 
 Lord Jesus as their only Redeemer and Saviour, 
 who love Him supremely and their neighbor as 
 themselves, and who follow after Him by a faith- 
 ful and religious observance of his precepts. There 
 is no " holy catholic church" in the sense in which 
 that designation is claimed ; no one organized 
 and visible body of people that can with any pro- 
 priety be called, or can call itself, "THE Church." 
 The title of "the Holy Catholic Church" would 
 be a strange misnomer, indeed something akin 
 to blasphemy if we gave it deliberately to a body 
 which we believe to be of mere human institu- 
 tion, and to be founded in multiplied and gross 
 perversions of the Scripture. If any man can 
 suppose the Episcopalian sect to be the Holy
 
 1 2 Episcopalianism 
 
 Catholic Church, he of course can give it that 
 name with a good conscience; but with such 
 sacred words it would be well for the rest of man- 
 kind not to trifle. 
 
 Whatever parts of Christian truth may be main- 
 tained by this communion, just as by all Chris- 
 tians, cannot, of course,. be considered as properly 
 Episcopalian. Whatever just thoughts or correct 
 views may be entertained by them, are the com- 
 mon property of all in Christian lands. They 
 stand as a sect or communion, through their ad- 
 herence to the Prayer-Book, the Thirty-nine 
 Articles, the dogma of Apostolic Succession, and 
 the traditions and authority of "the church." 
 Here lies, my brethren, a peculiar danger of that 
 system its tendency to encourage its adherents to 
 rest in, or to submit unquestionably to, the decrees 
 of Councils, the conclusions of Bishops, mere 
 human authority in matters of faith, instead of 
 freely exercising their own rational powers, and 
 inquiring each one for himself what the Lord 
 hath spoken, or what is really true. The same 
 tendency is manifest in most of the sects; but 
 (save in the Romish hierarchy, which "the Prot*
 
 In its Own Dress. 13 
 
 estant Episcopal Church ' ' so closely resembles) 
 in a less degree. A person may misinterpret the 
 Scriptures, and may be brought, through the faith- 
 ful exercise of his God-given powers, to a more 
 correct interpretation. He may reason wrong ; 
 but if his thinking and reasoning faculty be devel- 
 oped and strengthened by exercise, he may learn at 
 last to reason right. He may misread or misun- 
 derstand the indications of Providence, and in the 
 end learn wisdom from experience and even from 
 his mistakes and failures. But the Episcopalian 
 errs, not merely because he does not understand 
 the Scriptures ; nor because he reasons ill for he 
 rarely reasons at all on points that " the church" 
 has settled ; but chiefly because, like the Romanist, 
 he accepts what his Priest or Bishop says, or what 
 "the church" has decreed, without questioning; 
 because he exalts the Thirty-nine Articles above 
 reason and Scripture, and yields up his whole soul 
 blindly and submissively to the authority of "the 
 church." 
 
 I do not think that I go too far in saying that, 
 as authorities, the Prayer Book and Thirty-nine 
 Articles are placed above the apostles and prophets, 
 2
 
 14 Episcopalianism 
 
 and really (though, perhaps, unconsciously) above 
 our blessed Saviour. These in several places make 
 the words of the Saviour mean what they obviously 
 do not mean, and what no enlightened and 
 spiritually minded person would ever dream of 
 their meaning. These merely human authorities 
 unreliable and misleading as they are are looked 
 to for matters of belief and doctrine more than 
 the words of the Lord himself; and their teach- 
 ing held to be no less authoritative than that of 
 the Bible. Yet I do not at all design to say that 
 those who drew up the "Articles" or composed 
 the "Liturgy," intended to lower the reverence 
 of men for the Redeemer, or to compare him with 
 any mortal. But said Articles and Liturgy are 
 none the less a hindrance to the progress of the 
 Redeemer's kingdom, or to the diffusion of the 
 true knowledge and life of heaven among the 
 children of men. 
 
 Look at some of the arrogant assumptions and 
 astounding claims of this " Protestant Episcopal 
 Church!" It claims to be "the one, holy, cath- 
 olic, apostolic church;" to possess the exclusive 
 right to induct men into the office of the Chris-
 
 /;/ its Own Dress. 15 
 
 tian ministry, and to bestow on them the authority 
 to administer the Christian ordinances. It claims 
 that its ministers are the only duly accredited 
 ministers of Christ ; and the sacraments adminis- 
 tered by them, the only authorized and valid ones. 
 The ministers of this communion, therefore, hold 
 themselves aloof from other Christian ministers; 
 will not exchange pulpits with them ; will not 
 recognize them as possessing a like authority with 
 themselves to go and preach the gospel, and bap- 
 tize in the name of the Lord. It holds to the 
 duty or desirableness of private confession to 
 priests, and to the ability of its priests on such 
 occasions to absolve the confessor from sin. Says 
 one of its learned and accepted authorities (Rev. 
 Wm. Palmer, A. M., of Oxford): "The practice 
 of private confession to priests, and absolution, 
 she [the Church of England] never abolished. . . . 
 That the church did not mean to abolish confes- 
 sion and absolution (which she even regards as a 
 sort of sacrament) in general, appears from the 
 office of the eucharist, and for the visitation of 
 the sick, then drawn up (1547); and from the 
 power conferred on priests in the ordination
 
 1 6 Episcopalianism 
 
 services." {Treatise on the Church of Christ 
 Appleton's edition, vol. i., p. 477.) What is "the 
 power conferred on priests" here alluded to? Let 
 the ''Book of Common Prayer" used by the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States 
 of America, answer : " The Bishop with the 
 Priests present, shall lay their hands severally 
 upon the head of every one that receiveth the 
 order of Priesthood ; the receivers humbly kneel- 
 ing and the Bishop saying: 'Receive the Holy 
 Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the 
 Church of God, now committed unto thee by the 
 imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost 
 forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose sins thou 
 dost retain, they are retained. ... In the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, Amen.' " 
 
 So blind and presumptuous is this Protestant 
 Episcopal Church ! So unenlightened in regard to 
 things spiritual, as to believe and teach that the 
 Holy Ghost can be committed unto a person by 
 the laying of ordaining hands upon that person's 
 head; and that thereafter, and in consequence of 
 such imposition of hands, that person has power
 
 In its Own Dress. 17 
 
 to forgive or retain whosesoever sins he will ! 
 Does Christianity confer on frail and fallible mor- 
 tals the power thus to bind men to or absolve them 
 from their sins? Or will any body of people who 
 rightly understand Christianity, presume to do it? 
 
 Equally unenlightened is this Church on the 
 great doctrine of man's regeneration, or the new 
 spiritual birth the birth of the soul into the new, 
 even the heavenly life. This is plain from what 
 is enjoined in the Book of Common Prayer con- 
 cerning the baptism of children. After the cross 
 shall have been made upon the child's forehead, 
 says the Prayer-Book, "Then shall the minister 
 say: Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that 
 this child is regenerate, and grafted into the body 
 of Christ's church, let us give thanks unto Al- 
 mighty God for these benefits," etc. "Then 
 shall be said, all kneeling, We yield thee hearty 
 thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased 
 thee to regenerate this infant," etc. 
 
 As //the sublime and life-long work of regener- 
 ation could thus be accomplished in a moment, 
 and simply by a priest's making the sign of the 
 
 cross on the infant's forehead ! What utter igno- 
 2" B
 
 1 8 Episcopalianism 
 
 ranee is here revealed of one of the great and 
 central truths of the Christian religion ! Many 
 of the ministers of the Episcopal Church see 
 clearly enough the falsity of what is here enjoined. 
 But they have no discretion in the case. They 
 must make their consciences bend to the rubric 
 must utter, in a solemn religious service, what 
 they sincerely believe to be a falsehood, or sur- 
 render their credentials and leave the Church. 
 To show how tyrannous is the Prayer Book, and 
 how authoritative and binding its injunctions 
 (even when they are seen to be contrary to the 
 Word of God), a minister was lately suspended 
 from the exercise of his ministerial functions by 
 the Bishop of Illinois, because he omitted, and 
 persisted in omitting, this portion of the baptismal 
 service when christening little children. 
 
 We thus see what Episcopalianism assumes to 
 be and to do. We will not deny it the Christian 
 name so long as it professes to be Christian. But 
 if it be a form of Christianity, it is certainly a 
 much marred and distorted form. The Bible, 
 interpreted in the light of the nineteenth century, 
 by the individual conscience, .or by the reason
 
 In its Own Dress. 19 
 
 and common sense of the people of our times, is 
 not its rule ; but the Bible as understood and in- 
 terpreted in an age considerably darker than ours 
 the Bible with the glosses put upon it by cer- 
 tain ecclesiastical dignitaries in the reign of Ed- 
 ward the Sixth, more than three hundred years 
 ago. Where and what would have been the sci- 
 ence of to-day, if the science of England three 
 centuries ago had been embodied in thirty-nine 
 Articles (more or less), and the students of science 
 had ever since sworn by them, or feared to take 
 one step beyond lest they should Be stigmatised 
 as fools or quacks by the whole scientific frater- 
 nity? Precisely where and what the theology of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church is to-day. There 
 is a science of spiritual as well as of natural things, 
 and we should expect a progressive advance in the 
 one as well as in the other. If the Word of God 
 bears any resemblance to his works, why should 
 there not be a progressive evolution of deeper and 
 still deeper truth from the former as well as from 
 the latter? There is no end to man's progress in 
 knowledge of the works of God ; and are we to 
 suppose that the last step in the understanding or
 
 20 Episcopalianism 
 
 interpretation of his Word was taken more than 
 three hundred years ago? No. It is the order 
 of Heaven that there be continual progress in all 
 kinds of knowledge, religious as well as scientific 
 in the knowledge of God's Word as well as of 
 his works. The antiquity of any doctrine or pol- 
 ity, therefore, is the poorest possible argument in 
 its defence. 
 
 Such being some of the claims and assumptions 
 of Episcopalianism, we will next allude to some 
 of the errors and delusions which it hugs and pro- 
 mulgates as truth divine. Under this head I 
 shall mention things that are directly contradic- 
 tory to the Word of God, and which all unbiased 
 and enlightened minds must declare to be as little 
 credible as the dreams of insanity. And I shall 
 take them all from the Book of Common Prayer, 
 duly ratified by the bishops, clergy and laity of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 States of America, in convention assembled, Octo- 
 ber 1 6, 1789. I begin with that which is or 
 should be the central doctrine in any system of 
 religious belief the doctrine concerning the Di- 
 vine Being or the true Object of worship.
 
 In its Own Dress. 21 
 
 What is the teaching of Episcopalianism on this 
 all-important point? We have the answer in the 
 very first of the Thirty-nine Articles, the first 
 clause of which reads: "There is but one living 
 and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or 
 passions." Now the Bible assures us that eternal 
 life consists in the true knowledge of God and of 
 Jesus Christ the Sent of God. And Bishop Bev- 
 erage says: "It is impossible for any man to serve 
 God that doth not first know Him." But how 
 can we ever know a being that is " without body, 
 parts or passions?" Can we form any concep- 
 tion of such a being ? Can we love or think of 
 him ? Can we love a mere abstraction ? Can we 
 think of that which has no form or body of any 
 kind? What does the mental eye rest upon when 
 we think of nothing? fora thing or being that 
 has no form, is nothing. And such (according 
 to the "Articles") is the Episcopalian's God, 
 " whom to know is life eternal !" 
 
 But very different from this mere abstraction is 
 the God which the Bible tells us of. The God of 
 the Bible has body, parts and passions. For does 
 not the Scripture speak of God's face, eyes, ears,
 
 22 Episcopalianism 
 
 mouth, hand, arm, etc. ? And are not these 
 parts? And do they not clearly imply a whole? 
 that is, a body ? Can we conceive of such parts 
 existing without a body? And does not the Scrip- 
 ture speak, too, of God's love and mercy and com- 
 passion and forgiveness ? And what are these but 
 passions, emotions or affections ? 
 
 The very first sentence, therefore, in the Epis- 
 copalian "Articles of Religion" is as contrary to 
 the express teachings of the Bible as it is to the 
 dictate of reason and common sense. 
 
 This first sentence in the "Articles" clearly 
 denies (by implication, at least) the personality 
 of God ; for personality means that which consti- 
 tutes or pertains to a person. And it is impossi- 
 ble to even conceive of a person who is "without 
 body, parts or passions." Such a person never 
 had and never can have existence no, not even 
 in the airy regions of fancy. And to talk of any 
 such bodiless, partless, passionless being as "liv- 
 ing," or as possessing "power, wisdom and good- 
 ness," is to talk more after the manner of the 
 silly jargon of the Middle Ages, than in the sober 
 and intelligible way of modern times.
 
 /// its Own Dress. 23 
 
 Yet Episcopalianism, strange to say, professes 
 to teach the existence of a personal God. And 
 more than that, it (foes teach the existence of three 
 personal Gods ; for what else can we make of the 
 three Divine Persons of whom the Prayer Book so 
 often speaks, and to whom are assigned such dif- 
 ferent characters and functions? The last sen- 
 tence of its first Article, as if to make amends for 
 its manifest denial of the personality of God in 
 the first sentence, says: "And in unity of this 
 Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, 
 power and eternity, the Father, the Son and the 
 Holy Ghost." And very often in the Prayer 
 Book are these spoken of as three distinct Beings 
 or Gods for whether we say three Divine Per- 
 sons, three Divine Beings, or three Gods, to the 
 popular apprehension it is all the same. Thus in 
 the Catechism "to be learned by every person 
 before he be brought to be confirmed by the 
 Bishop," the candidate is asked: "What dost 
 thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy belief?" 
 To which he is required to answer: "First, I 
 learn to believe in God the Father, who hath 
 made me and all the world. Secondly, in God
 
 24 Episcopalianism 
 
 the Son, who hath redeemed me and all mankind. 
 Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth 
 me and all the people of God." Thus every can- 
 
 9 
 
 didate for admission into the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church is required to solemnly declare his belief 
 in three Divine Persons God the Father, God 
 the Son, and God the Holy Ghost to each of 
 whom a distinct and peculiar function is allotted. 
 And if this be not a declaration of a belief in 
 three Gods, then the language here employed 
 must have been framed more with a view to con- 
 ceal thought than to express it. Moreover, each 
 of these Persons is addressed separately in prayer; 
 and a different petition is addressed to one from 
 that addressed to another, as if it were the office 
 of each to do something different from the other 
 two. And one of them is said to have been be- 
 gotten by another. That is, one Divine Person 
 or God, begotten by another Divine Person or 
 God ! yet each and all alike eternal! The sec- 
 ond of these Persons is represented, too, as very 
 differently disposed toward mankind from the 
 first ; as being seated at the right hand of the first, 
 pleading the cause of us sinners, making interces-
 
 In its Own Dress. 25 
 
 sion for us; and not unfrequently is He spoken 
 
 / 
 
 of as our "advocate with the Father." An advo- 
 cate is one who pleads another's cause before a 
 judge, or some tribunal ; he is not the judge hjm- 
 self. Then think of a being "without body or 
 parts" being seated at the right hand of another^ 
 bodiless and partless being ! for Episcopalianism 
 does not, I presume, mean to teach that one of its 
 Divine Persons has a body and parts, and can sit 
 down at the right hand of another that is without 
 body or parts. 
 
 Is there no confusion here? Why if men were 
 to string together such contradictions yes, such 
 unmitigated nonsense upon any other subject, 
 and gravely propound the medley for the accept- 
 ance of rational and intelligent beings, we should 
 certainly think they had lost their reason or had 
 never had any to lose. Nor does it help the mat- 
 ter at all, but rather adds to the confusion, to 
 teach that these three Divine Persons are one Di- 
 vine Person. You may say and prove that three 
 men are one in thought, feeling, desire and pur- 
 pose ; but so long as they remain three, each with 
 a distinct personality, you are compelled to think 
 
 8
 
 26 Episcopalianism 
 
 of them as three; and however you may compel 
 your lips to say they are one man, no arithmetic 
 has ever yet been found out capable of proving 
 your assertion true. The utterance of your lips 
 will for ever contradict your thought. 
 
 And all this senseless jargon is gravely put forth 
 by the Protestant Episcopal Church for the re- 
 vealed truth of God ! And men and women and 
 little children, every Sunday in the year, and 
 often on other days of the week, are expected to 
 confess their belief in these things in a solemn 
 and reverential manner thereby confirming them- 
 selves more and more in this fundamental falsity, 
 the Tripersonality of God. 
 
 For whether we consult reason or Scripture, 
 the falsity of the dogma is equally apparent. 
 Reason affirms that God is one one in person as 
 well as in essence. And the Bible sustains the 
 verdict of reason. Everywhere in the sacred Vol- 
 ume is God presented to us as one Being one 
 Mind one Entity one Divine Person, and never 
 as three Persons. And this God has come and 
 revealed himself unto men in the one Person of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the manifested Je-
 
 /// its Own Dress. 27 
 
 hovah ; "God with us." He is declared to be 
 "the Word," which was made flesh. He said that 
 the Father dwelt in Him; that He was the Father 
 shown or revealed unto men. "The Father that 
 dwelleth in me, He doeth the works ;" " He that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father;" " I and the 
 Father are one." These are among his own dec- 
 larations. The Father dwelt in Him as the soul 
 of man dwells in his body. Because a man has a 
 body as well as a soul, he is not therefore two per- 
 sons ; and because there is a proceeding energy or 
 activity resulting from the union of soul and body, 
 like the activity of light and heat which emanate 
 from the sun, he is not, therefore, three persons. 
 It is plain to be seen, then, what is the nature of 
 the trinity in God ; for man, the Scripture assures 
 us, was made " in the image of God." But man 
 is not tripcrsonal '; neither is God, according to 
 the teaching of the Bible. The apostle Paul, too, 
 says, that "in Him [i. e. Jesus ChristJ dwelleth 
 all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." There 
 can be, then, no other personal God besides Him. 
 Among the names, too, by which it was foretold 
 that He should be called, are "the Mighty God,"
 
 28 Episcopalianism 
 
 "the Everlasting Father." And when to the be- 
 loved disciple "a door was opened in heaven," 
 what does he see there? The three Divine Per- 
 sons that Episcopal ianism tells us of? By no 
 means. But he beholds the heavenly host bend- 
 ing in adoration before the one Divine Person 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; and he hears the song that 
 bursts from their lips. What was that song ? 
 " Worthy is the LAMB that was slain, to receive 
 power and riches and wisdom and strength and 
 honor and glory and blessing." 
 
 Plainly, then, does Episcopalianism contradict 
 the Bible in its first and fundamental Article of 
 religion. And its teaching on this subject is as 
 contrary to reason as it is to Scripture. And con- 
 tradicting the Bible on a doctrine so central and 
 important as that concerning the Divine Being 
 himself, we should expect to find its teachings 
 equally unenlightened and contrary to Scripture 
 on other subjects. And so indeed we do. Take, 
 for example, its view of man's nature, as seen in 
 its doctrine of the Resurrection. 
 
 The Episcopalian does not know that man is 
 essentially a spirit. He does not know that the
 
 /// ifs Own Dress. 29 
 
 soul is the real man, and that this is a spiritual 
 organism, in the human form, immortal in its 
 nature continuing to live, therefore, in its own 
 appropriate realm (the spiritual world) after the 
 body dies. He does not know that the resurrec- 
 tion means the rising of the man, or the separa- 
 tion of his spirit from the material body immedi- 
 ately after death, and his conscious entrance into 
 the realm above matter; but he thinks it means the 
 resuscitation of the material part the very body 
 laid off at death at some future and (it may be) 
 far distant period. It is the material body that he 
 is taught to think of, when he says, " I believe in 
 the resurrection of the body." One of the 
 ablest expounders of the Episcopalian creed 
 (Bishop Pearson) says: "We can therefore no 
 otherwise expound this article, teaching the resur- 
 rection of the body, than by asserting that the bodies 
 which have lived and died shall live again after 
 death, and that the same flesh which is corrupted 
 shall be restored" (p. 572). And again says the 
 same distinguished expositor: "The same flesh 
 which was separated from the soul at the day of 
 death, shall be united to the soul at the last day."
 
 30 Episcopalianism 
 
 "The same body, not any other, shall be raised 
 to life, which died" {p. 568). 
 
 So then, according to the Episcopalian creed, 
 we are to believe that the identical particles com- 
 posing men's material bodies even after their 
 bodies have been eaten up by worms, fishes, beasts 
 of prey or carrion birds, or borne upon the wings 
 of the wind the wide world over, or incorporated 
 into other men's bodies (as is the case where can- 
 nibalism is practiced) are to be all brought to- 
 gether again in the twinkling of an eye, and new 
 bodies built up from them (which after all are 
 the same old material carcasses) yes, built up, 
 potter fashion, not evolved by any law of growth; 
 yet with their ten thousand delicate fibres and 
 tissues more perfect than ever ! And into these 
 new bodies constructed of the same old materials, 
 are to be introduced (in some way that Episcopa- 
 lianism does not attempt to explain) the souls 
 that have for ages been mourning the loss of their 
 fleshly habitations ! We are to believe that the 
 little infant, who died within twenty-four hours 
 after birth, is to resume that same infantile body, 
 and (I suppose) throughout the endless ages be
 
 In its Own Dress. 31 
 
 carried in the arms and dandled upon the knees of 
 its nurse ! We are to believe that that consump- 
 tive mother, or deformed child, or poor cripple, 
 or the withered and emaciated saint of ninety, is 
 to put on again, or be again thrust into, that same 
 wasted, ghastly and repulsive tabernacle of flesh ! 
 And this, forsooth, is the glorious doctrine of the 
 Resurrection which Episcopalianism has to offer 
 us, as we draw near the gate of death, or as the 
 worn and wasted form of some loved one is laid 
 beneath the sod ! This the doctrine which sober 
 and rational men and women are gravely asked to 
 accept as the revealed truth of God ! Why, if 
 such a doctrine were presented to-day for the first 
 time before any intelligent assembly, it would be 
 flouted as the sheerest drivel and nonsense. 
 
 And here, as on other subjects, Episcopalian- 
 ism contradicts the teaching of Jesus and the 
 apostles, as plainly as it does the intuitions of 
 reason. " Now that the dead," says our Saviour, 
 " are raised [not wilt be raised at some future and 
 remote period], even Moses showed at the bush, 
 when he called the Lord the God of Abraham 
 and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob : for
 
 32 Episcopalianism 
 
 He is not a God of the dead -but of the living ; 
 for to Him all are living." Not only does the 
 Saviour here teach that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 
 are still living, but that they have actually attained 
 unto the resurrection ; for the resurrection was the 
 very question under discussion when he used this 
 language. What presumption, then, for any body 
 of people professing to be the disciples of Christ, 
 to believe or teach any doctrine on this subject 
 different from that taught by the Master himself! 
 
 Then Moses and Elias, centuries after their 
 death, were beheld in vision (in the spiritual 
 world, of course) on the Mount of Transfigura- 
 tion, in the human form, and "talking with 
 Jesus;" showing that they also were not less alive 
 than when living in the flesh that they also had 
 experienced the resurrection. 
 
 And nowhere does the Bible teach any such 
 doctrine of the resurrection as is taught, or sol- 
 emnly declared and confessed, by the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church more than a hundred times a 
 year. How plainly, too, does this Church con- 
 tradict the prince of the apostles on this subject ! 
 "Hut some," savs Paul, "will sav, How are the
 
 In its Own Dress. 33 
 
 dead raised up? and with what body do they 
 come ? Fool ! That which thou sowest is not 
 quickened, except it die. And that which thou 
 sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be," 
 etc. And he concludes his argument with these 
 words: "A natural body is sown; a spiritual 
 body is raised. [This is the correct translation of 
 the original.] There is a natural body and there 
 is a spiritual body." Could anything be plainer? 
 Yet very different is this Apostolic doctrine from 
 that absurd notion taught by the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church. 
 
 Equally unenlightened is this Church in regard 
 to our Saviour's resurrection holding and teach- 
 ing that He rose and ascended into heaven with 
 his material flesh and bones ; and that He still 
 has, and for ever will have, the same material 
 body. "Christ," says Article iv., "did truly rise 
 again from death, and took again his body, with 
 flesh, bones and all things appertaining to the 
 perfection of man's nature [as if the dust of the 
 earth could add anything to the perfection of 
 man's nature !] wherewith he ascended into 
 heaven and there sitteth, until he return to judge 
 C
 
 34 Episcopalianism 
 
 all men at the last day." Then our Lord, now 
 in heaven, has a material body. Then heaven 
 must be a material place. And so a spiritual world 
 is plainly denied by implication, at least and we 
 have nothing left us but gross materialism. 
 
 But see, again, the absurdity of Episcopalian- 
 ism ! the unutterable confusion in which the sys- 
 tem is involved ! For it professes to believe in 
 the Divinity of Christ. It calls him God ; and 
 God, says Article ist, is "without body, parts or 
 passions." Yet in Article iv. it not only teaches 
 that God (one of its Gods, at least) has a body, 
 but a material body the very body that hung 
 upon the cross. Whereas the Bible teaches that 
 "God is a Spirit ;" and that the Son the Human- 
 ity assumed in time was glorified, made all Di- 
 vine even to his flesh and bones. 
 
 Again ; Episcopalianism contradicts the Bible 
 on the great and momentous subject of human 
 salvation. " That we are justified by faith only," 
 says Article xi., " is a most wholesome doctrine, 
 and very full of comfort." To be justified, of 
 course, is to be saved to be made righteous, 
 just, holy, free from evil and sinful proclivities.
 
 /// its Own Dress. 35 
 
 And this, says the "Article," is done "by faith 
 only," that is by merely believing the gospel of 
 Christ. For faith is the assent of the understanding 
 to the truth of what is taught. It is belief. And 
 to teach, as Episcopal ianism does, that we are 
 justified and saved "by faith only" is to betray 
 an utter lack of the true Christian idea of both 
 the nature and way of salvation. And to lack 
 this, is to lack knowledge on a fundamental doc- 
 trine of Christianity. To teach that we are justi- 
 fied and saved by faith only, were the same as to 
 say that a person may be healed of a physical 
 malady by simply believing in the medical know- 
 ledge and skill of his physician, and without fol- 
 lowing his directions or taking his medicine. 
 This is very far from the Scripture doctrine of 
 justification. The heavenly life the life of un- 
 selfish love (and whosoever has this, is surely 
 justified) is developed or built up within the 
 soul, not by faith alone, or by merely beliei'ing in 
 the Lord and his Word, but by believing and 
 doing the truth. Hence we find charity and good 
 works more frequently mentioned and more 
 strongly emphasized in the Bible, as conducive
 
 36 Episcopalianism 
 
 to salvation, than faith. " Not every one that saith 
 unto me, Lord, Lord," says our Saviour, "shall 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that 
 doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." 
 "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 
 doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man," 
 etc. "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
 which is in heaven, the same is my brother and 
 sister and mother." "Ye are my friends if ye 
 do whatsoever I command you." "My reward 
 is with me, to give every man according as his 
 -work shall be." 
 
 Moreover, love is presented clearly in the Bible 
 as paramount to faith. The sum of all that the 
 law and the prophets teach, is declared to be love 
 to the Lord and the neighbor. And one of the 
 apostles assures us that "love is the fulfilling of 
 the law," and another says: "If we love one 
 another, God dwelleth in us." "He that dwell- 
 eth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him." 
 "And this is love, that we walk according to his 
 commandments." And Paul says: "Though I 
 have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 
 and have not charity [love], I am nothing" no
 
 /// its Own Dress. 37 
 
 Christian not justified or saved. "And now 
 abideth faith, hope, charity these three; but the 
 greatest of these is charity." 
 
 So clearly and unmistakably does Episcopa- 
 lianism contradict the teachings of the Bible, 
 when it declares that "we are justified by faith 
 
 But why dwell upon or recite the preposterous 
 dogmas of this church? Only that the true 
 character of the system may appear a system 
 which every one professes to receive who accepts 
 the Thirty-nine Articles. You may possibly be 
 told, however, that there is no obligation to re- 
 ceive all of these Articles; that some of them 
 may not be exactly true ; that Fpiscopalianism 
 does not rest on their authority, but commends 
 itself by its own harmony and beauty. (We 
 doubt if any sane person, not yet blinded by the 
 delusion, would say this.) On that supposition 
 it stands on the same level with all speculations ; 
 and this is a day in which many speculations are 
 sent forth far more inviting than these; and we 
 are free to say that the system does not display 
 any such superior wisdom as should entitle it to 
 
 4
 
 38 Episcopalianism 
 
 a preference above speculations which any ordi- 
 nary mind is quite competent to originate in its 
 idlest moments. But no ; when the authority of 
 the Prayer Book and the Thirty-nine Articles is 
 set aside, the whole fabric sinks into dust and con- 
 fusion. If there be any who, taking the name of 
 Protestant Episcopalians, would shape their doc- 
 trines and practice simply by their own judgment 
 and fancy, and in entire freedom from the author- 
 ity of the Prayer Book and the Articles, wherein 
 is that better than simple Deism ? 
 
 But now let us advance to a higher charge than 
 that of false teaching. The system known as 
 Episcopalianism is not only absurd and contra- 
 dictory to the Word of God, but its doctrines 
 (some of them at least) are derogatory to the cha- 
 racter of our Heavenly Father, and pernicious and 
 degrading in their moral tendency. Take, for ex- 
 ample, Article ii., in which it is said that the Son, 
 " begotten from everlasting (?) of the Father" 
 "truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, 
 to reconcile his Father to us;" or Article xxxi., 
 wherein we read: "The offering of Christ once 
 made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and
 
 /// its Own Drtss. 39 
 
 satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, 
 both original and actual ; and there is none other 
 satisfaction for sin but that alone." Is the Heav- 
 enly Father, then, such a Being as Episcopalian- 
 ism would have us believe? full of anger toward 
 sinners, and needing to be appeased, "propi- 
 tiated," "satisfied," " reconciled to us?" Is He 
 so unpitying and relentless that He will not for- 
 give a sinning creature on the simple condition 
 of repentance, but will have full satisfaction for 
 his violated law from somebody if not from the 
 sinner himself, then from some one else, who 
 freely offers to suffer in his stead? Is He so re- 
 gardless of the rule of justice as to allow an inno- 
 cent one to suffer in lieu of the guilty, and to 
 remit on such condition the threatened punish- 
 ment ? Episcopalian ism answers, Yes. Hear 
 how one of its most learned expositors (Bishop 
 Pearson) explains the creed touching the Articles 
 just cited : 
 
 "The punishment which Christ who is our 
 surety, endured, was a full satisfaction to the will 
 and justice of God . . . Christ, offering himself 
 a sacrifice for sin, giveth that unto God for and
 
 4O Episcopalianism 
 
 instead of the eternal death of man, which is more 
 valuable and acceptable to God than that death 
 could be, and so maketh a sufficient compensation 
 and full satisfaction for the sins of man ; which 
 God accepting becometh reconciled unto us, and 
 for the punishment which Christ endured, taketh 
 off our obligation to eternal punishment." (Ex- 
 position of the Creed, p. 547.) 
 
 Episcopalianism has here introduced an old 
 Pagan doctrine, making God a vengeful Being, 
 yet willing to be placated by blood and suffering. 
 It exhibits the Heavenly Father, not as compas- 
 sionate and forgiving, but severe and exacting ; 
 as unwilling to forgive his erring children simply 
 on their repentance, but insisting that the full 
 penalty of transgression shall be paid if not by 
 the transgressors themselves, then by a substitute 
 who is himself perfectly innocent. It represents 
 Him as capable of being bought off placated 
 by a bloody offering; as willing to accept nothing 
 less than the suffering and death of his own Son. 
 It also represents Him as guilty of the double 
 injustice, first, of allowing an innocent being to 
 suffer the punishment due to transgressors; and
 
 /// its Own Dress. 41 
 
 second, of exacting of these same transgressors a 
 still further penalty unless they believe and repent. 
 Surely the tendency of such a doctrine cannot be 
 otherwise than demoralizing and pernicious. All 
 right ideas of justice are utterly confounded by 
 the view herein presented of the Divine justice. 
 For where is the justice in requiring or permitting 
 a perfectly innocent being to suffer in lieu of the 
 guilty ? Or where is the justice in becoming rec- 
 onciled to the guilty, because an innocent being 
 has paid the penalty which their transgressions 
 merited? 
 
 Then it is a part of this same doctrine, that a 
 person may lead a most wicked life, and finally 
 end his days upon the gallows ; but if, an hour 
 before he meets a felon's doom, he accepts this 
 doctrine believes with all his heart that the blood 
 of Christ has paid the penalty due to his trans- 
 gressions, his sins will all be blotted out, he will 
 become a partaker in the benefits of the great 
 atonement, receive a full pardon for all his trans- 
 gressions, and pass straight from the gallows into 
 the society of the blessed. Can a doctrine which 
 encourages such a belief or justifies such a con-
 
 42 Episcopalianism, 
 
 elusion, and at the same time confounds all our 
 ideas of justice, exert any other than a most per- 
 nicious influence upon the minds and hearts of 
 those who accept it ? 
 
 What utter misconception, too, of the real na- 
 ture of sin, and how it is to be removed and the 
 soul restored to a state of spiritual health and 
 order, does this doctrine disclose ! 
 
 And here we dismiss the Prayer Book and 
 Thirty-nine Articles ; having shown that Episco- 
 palianism, in its teachings upon some of the most 
 vital questions of our religion, is alike repugnant 
 to reason and revelation. And any system whose 
 central ideas are wrong, must be utterly unworthy 
 of respect and confidence when viewed as a 
 whole. But not just yet do we dismiss the subject 
 in hand. 
 
 The huge heap of error which Episcopalianism 
 covers or embodies, has arisen largely from a 
 fundamentally wrong idea of the nature of the 
 written Word, added to an excessive veneration 
 for antiquity and for the opinions of men who 
 lived and wrote in a comparatively dark age. It 
 holds that " the plain, natural and obvious mean-
 
 /// its Own Dress. 43 
 
 ing" of the Bible, is its true and only meaning 
 (See Bishop Burgess' Pamphlet on SWEDENBOR- 
 GIANISM, p. 28) ; or, as one of its learned commen- 
 tators says : "In the Interpretation of Holy Scrip- 
 ture, that sense which is nearest the letter is com- 
 monly the safest." And the idea that the inspired 
 Word contains a deeper meaning than that of 
 the letter even a spiritual sense throughout is 
 flouted. (See the above-named pamphlet?) From this 
 fundamental falsity, what else could be expected 
 to issue but dark and muddy waters ? Episcopa- 
 lianism seems not to recognize the fact that the 
 Lord's words " are spirit and life," and are, there- 
 fore, to be spiritually interpreted. It forgets, too, 
 what the apostle says, " The letter killeth, but 
 the spirit giveth life." It seems not to know that 
 the Bible is a book of divine symbols; and that 
 its richest nutriment richest to souls hungering 
 after truth and righteousness its greatest wealth 
 of meaning lies underneath the letter, or within 
 it as the soul is within the body. It forgets that 
 the Lord spake all things in parables, " and with- 
 out a parable spake He not." It forgets, also, 
 that, in every instance in which He himself ex-
 
 44 Episcopalianism 
 
 plains a parable, He departs entirely from the 
 Episcopalian canon of interpretation, and gives 
 a spiritual meaning to every natural object men- 
 tioned in the parable. Take, for example, his ex- 
 planation of the parable of the sower. He here 
 gives a spiritual meaning to every object men- 
 tioned the seed, the way-side, the stony and 
 thorny places, and the good ground also upon 
 which the seed fell. He explains them all in a 
 spiritual manner, showing them to mean the dif- 
 ferent moral or spiritual states of those to whom 
 heavenly truths are communicated. And the 
 fowls, the sun and the thorns He also uses in a 
 symbolic sense, to denote the false persuasions 
 and evil loves of the natural man, which destroy 
 in various ways (signified by devouring, parching 
 and choking) the principles of heaven before they 
 have become thoroughly rooted in the affections, 
 or have attained a strong and healthy growth. 
 
 So, again, in his explanation of the parable of 
 the tares and the wheat. Nothing here is literally 
 interpreted not a thing. The field, the world, 
 the good seed, the tares, the sowing, the harvest, 
 the reapers, all have a spiritual meaning given
 
 In its Own Dress. 45 
 
 them by the Great Teacher. His words like his 
 works are all symbolic. It is said that He spake 
 all things by parables, and without a parable spake 
 He not. And if He always spoke in parables 
 when He tabernacled in the flesh, or when He 
 spoke through the natural humanity that He as- 
 sumed in time, can we suppose Him to have 
 spoken in any other way when He spoke through 
 other mediums through patriarchs, prophets and 
 apostles? 
 
 Furthermore : after his resurrection, our Lord 
 appeared to two of his disciples on their way to 
 Emrnaus; "and beginning at Moses and all the 
 prophets, He expounded unto them in all the 
 Scriptures the things concerning himself." And 
 when He had vanished from their sight, they said 
 one to another, " Did not our hearts burn within 
 us while He talked with us by the way, and while 
 He opened to us the Scriptures?" And again, 
 after his second appearance to them, it is added : 
 "Then opened He their understanding, that they 
 might understand the Scriptures." Strange lan- 
 guage, indeed, is this and utterly meaningless 
 if the theory of Episcopalianism in regard to the
 
 46 Episcopalianism 
 
 Scriptures be the true one. If there be no other 
 meaning to the Scriptures than that which lies on 
 the surface, or if their plain, obvious, literal sense 
 be their true and only sense, what could the in- 
 spired penman have meant by the Lord's opening 
 the Scriptures to his disciples? or by his " opening 
 their understanding that they might understand 
 the Scriptures?" But when it is known that there 
 is an inner or spiritual sense to the written Word 
 a sense which the unillumined natural understand- 
 ing does not discern then this language becomes 
 intelligible. The Scriptures can be opened because 
 they contain, in addition to their outward and 
 natural sense, an inner and spiritual meaning. A 
 casket may be opened, and its contents be then 
 disclosed ; but however beautiful the casket itself 
 may be, it is as nothing in comparison with the 
 precious jewels deposited within. So, precisely, 
 in regard to the written Word. There is much 
 of truth and beauty in the letter ; but its richest 
 gems, its exhaustless stores of wealth, lie deep 
 within. Mercifully does the Lord conceal the 
 most precious things of his kingdom from the eyes 
 of natural men from the worldly wise and pru-
 
 In its Own Dress. 47 
 
 dent but reveals them always "unto babes;" 
 that is, unto the innocent and humble-minded 
 ones who are willing to receive instruction from 
 and to be led by Him. 
 
 How different, too, from the teaching of Epis- 
 copalianism was that of the apostles on this sub- 
 ject! "Our sufficiency," says Paul, "is of God; 
 who also hath made us able ministers of the New 
 Testament ; not of the Utter, but of the spirit; for 
 the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Again 
 the same great apostle says: "For he is not a Jew 
 who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision 
 which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew who 
 is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the 
 heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter" which 
 passage shows that the apostle recognized an in- 
 ward and spiritual Judaism, and an inward and 
 spiritual circumcision. Again, speaking of the 
 two sons of Abraham, one by the bondmaid, the 
 other by the free woman, he says: "These are 
 the two covenants ;" one of which, he goes on to 
 remark, "answereth to Jerusalem which now is, 
 and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusa- 
 lem which is above is free, which is the mother of
 
 48 Episcopalianism. 
 
 us all." The same apostle also speaks of the 
 journey of the Israelites through the wilderness 
 as though it were replete with spiritual wisdom, 
 and adds: " They did all eat the same spiritual 
 meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink ; 
 for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed 
 them : and that rock was Christ." 
 
 And the early Christian Fathers, those who lived 
 and wrote before Christianity became much cor- 
 rupted, acknowledged a spiritual as well as a nat- 
 ural sense to the Scriptures. "Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ," says Augustine, "intended that those 
 miracles which He wrought on the bodies of men, 
 should also be understood spiritually." "The 
 law of God," says Ignatius, "is spiritual; and 
 they have not the true law who do not take it 
 spiritually." "Whatsoever," says Jerome, "is 
 promised to the Israelites carnally, we show, will 
 at one time or another be fulfilled in us spirit- 
 ually." Says Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch : 
 "By this marriage [of Cana in Galilee] the con- 
 junction of Christ and his Church is to be under- 
 stood." John, Bishop of Jerusalem, says: "He 
 who follows the letter of the Scripture, and re-
 
 In its Oum Dress. 49 
 
 mains exclusively in the valley, cannot see Jesus 
 clothed in white raiment ; but he who follows the 
 Word of God up the mountain, that is, he who 
 ascends to the sublime sense of the Law, to him 
 Jesus is transfigured. So "long as we follow the 
 obscurity of the letter, Moses and Elias do not talk 
 with Jesus ; but if we understand it spiritually, 
 then straightway Moses and Elias, that is, the Law 
 and the Prophets, come and converse with the 
 Gospel." Pamphilius says: "Though these things 
 [in the four Evangelists] have a spiritual meaning, 
 yet the truth of the history being first established, 
 the spiritual sense is to be taken as something over 
 and above." And Origen whom Dr. Mosheim 
 tells us "was a man of vast and uncommon abili- 
 ties, and the greatest luminary of the Christian 
 world that this age [third century] exhibited to 
 view, and whose name will be transmitted with 
 honor through the annals of time as long as learn- 
 ing and genius shall be esteemed among men" 
 Origen, in his fifth Homily on Leviticus, remarks: 
 "As, therefore, a mutual affinity exists between 
 things visible and invisible, earth and heaven, soul 
 and flesh, body and spirit, and of combinations 
 
 5 D
 
 50 Episcopalianisrn 
 
 of these is made up this present world, so also 
 holy Scripture, we may believe, is made up of vis- 
 ible and invisible parts; first, as it were, of a kind 
 of body, that is, of the letter which we see with our 
 eyes ; next, of a soul, that is, of the sense which 
 is discovered within that letter." 
 
 "Such," says a learned English author, "had 
 been the line of interpretation which the Fathers 
 of the first age, by a kind of sacred instinct, 
 adopted from the beginning." But how far the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church of to-day has drifted 
 away from this early teaching, is obvious to every 
 one familiar with the generally accepted theory of 
 that Church in regard to the Scriptures. 
 
 I say, therefore and the reader shall judge 
 whether my words be those of truth and sober- 
 ness that Episcopalianism, in maintaining the 
 "one-sense," or the " plain-and-obvious-mean- 
 ing," theory in regard to the Scriptures, plainly 
 contradicts the teaching of our Lord, of the 
 apostles, and of all the most learned and illus- 
 trious of the early Christian Fathers. And erring 
 so widely upon a point so fundamental as that in 
 regard to the nature of the written Word, and how
 
 /// its Ou'n Dress. 51 
 
 its true meaning is to be elicited, no wonder that 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church of to-day should 
 be in the thick darkness that it is on nearly every 
 subject pertaining to the kingdom of heaven. No 
 wonder that some of its best men, perceiving the 
 darkness, should begin to cry out in the language 
 of the prophet: "We wait for light, but behold 
 obscurity ; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 
 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope 
 as if we had no eyes ; we stumble at noon-day as 
 in the night ; we are in desolate places as dead." 
 One of its ablest ministers, upon whose mind has 
 begun to dawn the glad and gloriows light of 
 the New Morning, says in a recently published 
 work : 
 
 "The 'instrument' by which the Scripture, 
 especially since the Reformation, has been made 
 to mean anything or nothing, is that very rule of 
 ' Criticism,' which, without warrant and at its own 
 pleasure, restricts the infinite spiritual meaning of 
 Scripture to one and that the natural from 
 which, as the facts of Church History prove, have 
 been deduced all kinds of fallacies, and every 
 form of heresy and falsity."
 
 5 2 Episcopalianism 
 
 And the same thoughtful writer, near the close 
 of his book, says again : 
 
 "A crisis has come" "Not only are Creeds 
 and confessions of the Christian Faith, like so 
 many other institutions in the present day, on 
 their trial ; but unhappily, to a serious extent, even 
 Christianity itself. . . . The whole sdbject of 
 Fundamental Theology must, at no distant period, 
 be approached with the utmost frankness on every 
 side. The controversy, in the last resort, will 
 perhaps be found to lie mainly between those who 
 do, and those who do not, believe the WORD OF 
 GOD. . . . The ' dead letter' must give place to 
 the living spirit. Much that has hitherto ap- 
 peared to many as the obvious meaning of Divine 
 Revelation, is destined, in the light of the Word 
 itself, to be subjected to a searching analysis, and 
 shown to be only a fallacious appearance. And 
 the inner, the genuine, sense of Holy Writ will 
 doubtless be eliminated by the aid of just, legiti- 
 mate, and spiritual principles of interpretation; so 
 that heavenly truth may be seen and set forth in 
 clear intellectual light." 
 
 "A crisis has come." Certainly, one would
 
 /// its Oii>n Drfss. 53 
 
 think so, when a high dignitary a RIGHT REV- 
 EREND in the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 has become so immersed in spiritual darkness as 
 to quote, in evidence of Swedenborg's manifest 
 delusion, these words : "The rich come into heaven 
 as easily as the poor." And to show that this 
 teaching "is directly in the face" of what is 
 plainly taught in the Bible, this Bishop quotes the 
 words of our Lord, where He says : " It is easier 
 for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
 than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of 
 God." And as the RT. REV. gentleman saw, as 
 every body else sees, that a camel cannot go 
 through the eye of a needle, so his conclusion, of 
 course, was, that a rich man cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of God. According to this canon of 
 interpretation, a rich man must first part with all 
 his wealth must /iff rally "fit and sell 3\\ that he 
 has, and give to the poor." And this, of course, 
 (according to the theory) would be doing irrepar- 
 able wrong and injury to the i>oor ; for it would 
 make them rich, and thereby exclude them from 
 the kingdom of God. Probably the Bishop, be- 
 fogged by his long and close adherence to the
 
 54 Episeopalianism 
 
 one-obvious-literal-sense theory, was unable to 
 see so far as this; and possibly the "Protestant 
 Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evange- 
 lical Knowledge" who have endorsed his teaching 
 on this subject, are in the same obscuring mist. 
 But strange that neither of the parties should have 
 seen what, according to this literal interpretation 
 of the Scripture, must be the inevitable fate of a 
 very large number of persons in the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church. For in England nearly all 
 the richest men and women (the queen herself 
 included) are members of this church ; and in our 
 own country, it probably contains more wealthy 
 people than any other communion more rich 
 than poor. And the cases in which these rich 
 Churchmen literally go and sell all that they have, 
 and give the proceeds to the poor, are well, I 
 should say, not very numerous. 
 
 And where, I wonder if this rule of interpreta- 
 tion be accepted will some of the RIGHT REVER- 
 ENDS themselves be found in the day of judgment ? 
 
 See what absurd notions have been accepted 
 and clung to as the truth of God, and confirmed 
 by the professed expounders of the Word, because
 
 In its Own Dress. 55 
 
 of this erroneous theory that the Scripture has but 
 one sense, and that the plain, obvious, literal sense ! 
 It is from accepting and adhering to this theory, 
 that so many have been led to believe that God is 
 really the angry, vengeful, jealous, vindictive 
 Being that He is sometimes represented in the let- 
 ter of the Word; that He is fickle and changeable 
 sometimes repenting like a poor fallible mortal, 
 grieving that He should have done as He did ; 
 that the material universe, with its myriad suns and 
 planets, was created in six days of twenty-four 
 hours each ; and that, at the end of the week, the 
 Creator literally rested from his labor, as a tired 
 mechanic rests when his week's work is done ; 
 that He placed the first human pair in the midst 
 of a beautiful garden, wherein was one tree laden 
 with tempting fruit which they were forbidden, 
 on pain of death, to taste or touch ; that a ser- 
 j>ent, endued with extraordinary powers of per- 
 suasion, once caught the ear of Eve and induced 
 her to pluck and eat that forbidden fruit ; that 
 she then persuaded Adam to do likewise, and he 
 ate with her; that both of them, contrary to the 
 divine promise (for death was promised as the
 
 5 6 Episeopalianism 
 
 penalty of disobedience) were thereupon driven 
 out of the garden, and permitted to live and bring 
 forth children, who, with the countless millions 
 that should come after them, were to bear the 
 tremendous weight of God's curse ; that natural 
 death followed as a consequence of Adam's and 
 Eve's disobedience, and that their sin was imputed 
 to all their posterity ; that the Lord was sorry He 
 ever made man, and therefore, like a poor, short- 
 sighted mortal who commits some blunder that 
 he is ashamed of, resolved on the destruction of 
 the whole human race excepting Noah and his 
 family ; that He directed this latter to build an 
 ark three hundred cubits long by fifty broad, which 
 he did ; that He prompted ftuo (male and female) 
 of all land animals beasts, birds and reptiles 
 to seek shelter in that ark from the destroying 
 flood ; that He gave these creatures -just two of 
 every kind a foreknowledge of what was about 
 to take place, causing them to see and know, be- 
 fore the rain commenced, that this ark would be 
 their place of refuge ; that He took away from 
 wolves, hyenas, hawks and crocodiles all their 
 native ferocity, and made them suddenly as kind
 
 In its Own Dress. 57 
 
 and gentle toward each other as sucking lambs ; 
 that, with their natures thus transformed, He sent 
 them marching two by two into that wonderful ship 
 l>efore the windows of heaven were opened or the 
 storm commenced ; that they remained there, 
 pent up within an enclosure five hundred feet by 
 ninety with food for them all sufficient to last 
 one hundred and fifty days a loving, peaceful, 
 happy family, not a sheep nor a dove molested by 
 wolf or hawk ! 
 
 Nor is this all no, nor a hundredth part of 
 the absurd and impossible things which the literal 
 "one-sense" theory, sanctioned and upheld by 
 Episcopalianism, requires us to believe, or else 
 deny to the Scriptures any proper divine inspira- 
 tion, and cast them aside as belonging to the rub- 
 bish of a by-gone age. 
 
 And what is the consequence? Precisely what 
 we might expect. A covert and wide-spread and 
 deep-seated skepticism is being fostered in the 
 bosom of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Dis- 
 honesty and hypocrisy are produced in many, who 
 have sense enough to see the errors and absurd- 
 ities embraced in the system, but not independence
 
 58 Episcopalianism 
 
 or moral stamina enough to openly avow their 
 honest convictions. Some of its illustrious schol- 
 ars and teachers are drifting into Arianism and 
 naturalism and Deism ; beginning to doubt and 
 openly deny the proper Divinity of the Saviour, 
 and the Divinity and inspiration of the Sacred 
 Scripture. And many are seeking to conceal their 
 lack of an intelligent, earnest, living faith, by in- 
 creased attention to outward forms and ceremonies 
 by millinery and posturing and chorister-boys, 
 and other shows far more befitting the spectacular 
 devices and doings of the play-house than the 
 solemn services of the sanctuary. To quote here 
 a few passages by way of illustration. 
 
 "In some places of our Prayer Book," says 
 Bishop Colenso, " especially in the Litany, there 
 are words of prayer addressed to Christ himself. 
 . . . And there are two collects in which the same 
 phenomenon occurs, etc. . . . But the whole spirit 
 of the Prayer Book is against the practice. There 
 
 are a hundred and eighty collects and prayers alto- 
 
 
 
 gether, and of this whole number two only (or it 
 may be three) have this peculiarity." 
 
 And Rev. Thomas Murray Gorman, a clergy-
 
 /// its Own Dress. 59 
 
 man of the Church of England, remarking on 
 the foregoing paragraph, says: "A sufficient ac- 
 quaintance with this subject and with the collat- 
 eral questions which it involves, leaves no room 
 for doubting that, according to the sense in which 
 the Prayer Book is commonly understood and taught, 
 the Bishop is triumphant as against his adversaries 
 generally. ... It may be asked why, in common 
 opinion, a practical Arianism and Socinianism are 
 said to prevail to a large extent among both the 
 clergy and laity of the English Church? And 
 why is it possible, in a Church professing to be 
 Primitive and Catholic, that Arian and Socinian 
 tenets on this cardinal point [addressing prayer 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ] can be almost openly 
 avowed to an extent so alarming? What, it may 
 be asked, is to check the progress of this new 
 movement avowedly directed against the supreme 
 adoration of our Ixjrd ? These are the questions 
 which it has now become a necessity for the Eng- 
 lish Church to answer plainly and categorically. 
 They invoke a theological discussion in which 
 \V( stern Christendom is deeply concerned." 
 The same writer again says: "The very errors
 
 60 Episcopalianism 
 
 and falsities promulgated in the name of Chris- 
 tianity, are among the most formidable obstacles 
 to its true reception and advancement. They 
 have unhappily excited in many, otherwise favor- 
 ably disposed minds, a violent revulsion against 
 every form of Christian belief. They have pro- 
 duced, to an extent which may justly be called 
 alarming, their natural fruits skepticism, indif- 
 ferentism, atheism. It has thus come to pass in 
 these days of boasted civilization and enlighten- 
 ment, that in a certain very real and awful sense, 
 the Divine Truth once for all given to man the 
 Revealed Word of God may be said to be cru- 
 cified afresh, and put to an open shame, between 
 the twin robbers, Superstition and Infidelity." 
 ( The Athanasian Creed and Modern Thought, pp. 
 59, 60.) 
 
 "There is," says the author of " New Affinities 
 of Faith," "an extensive loosening of belief in the 
 'schemes of salvation,' which Protestant Churches 
 are constructed to administer ; an uneasiness in 
 preachers, who cannot enforce them without con- 
 sciously refining them away, and in hearers to 
 whom they bring no real conviction ; [a ] a mu-
 
 In its Oit/M Dress. 6 1 
 
 tual understanding to lower the standard of re- 
 ligious veracity, and not ask too much sincerity in 
 profession or in prayer (!). It is no longer an in- 
 sult to a clergyman's honor, but rather a compli- 
 ment to his intelligence, [JO^*] to suspect him of 
 saying one thing and believing another; while the 
 layman who need say nothing, uses a right of ret- 
 icence which no earnest conviction ever claimed." 
 p. 8. 
 
 Dr. Arnold says: "I do not believe the dam- 
 natory clauses in the Athanasian Creed, under any 
 qualification given of them, except such as substi- 
 tute for them propositions of a wholly different cha- 
 racter." Life and Correspondence, Vol. II., p. 
 
 1*5- 
 
 Prof. Jowett, in his Essay "On the Interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture," says: "In mathematics, when 
 a step is wrong we pull the house down until we 
 reach the point at which the error is discovered. 
 Hut in theology it is otherwise ; there the tendency- 
 has been [and we might say, is still] to conceal the 
 ttnsoundness of the foundation under the fairness 
 and loftiness of the superstructure." p. 342. 
 
 And, treating of inspiration, this writer says in
 
 62 Episcopalianism 
 
 the same Essay: "Nor for any of the higher or 
 supernatural views of inspiration is there any foun- 
 dation in the Gospels or Epistles." (Ibid., p. 345.) 
 "Interpret the Scripture like any other book. . . . 
 Scripture has one meaning the meaning which it 
 had to the mind of the Prophet or Evangelist 
 who first uttered or wrote, to the hearers or read- 
 ers who first received it" (p. 377, '8); and, of 
 course (according to this writer), is no more in- 
 spired than the" writings of Milton or Shakespeare, 
 and therefore no more worthy to be called "the 
 Word of God." The first hearers or readers of 
 the Scripture comprehended its full meaning saw 
 therein all that the race is ever to see, or that God 
 ever intended to teach through this instrument- 
 ality ! 
 
 Rev. F. W. Robertson, a distinguished clergy- 
 man of the Church of England, writes to a friend 
 in 1853 : " It is really time now, after eighteen 
 centuries, that we should get some better concep- 
 tion than we have of what Christianity is. If we 
 could but comprehend the manifested Life of God, 
 ... we might have some chance of agreement. 
 As it is, I suppose we shall go on biting and de-
 
 In its Own Dress. 63 
 
 vouring one another, and thinking alas for the 
 mockery ! that we have realized a Kingdom of 
 God upon earth. To understand the Life and 
 Spirit of Christ, appears to me to be the only 
 chance of remedy." Life and Letters, Vol. II., 
 p. 185. 
 
 Again the same writer, with characteristic frank- 
 ness, speaks thus of the Episcopalian belief in Tri- 
 personality : 
 
 "A person can believe in a fact or a being 
 whose nature he cannot comprehend, as, for in- 
 stance, in God, or in vegetation, or life; but no 
 one can believe a proposition the terms of which 
 are unknown to him. For example, ' Three per- 
 sons are one God.' Unless he knows what 'per- 
 son ' means, he cannot believe that, because he 
 attaches no meaning whatever, or else a false one, 
 to the assertion. And it is preposterous to say he 
 must believe it as a mystery, because the Church 
 says it ; for all that he does in that case, is to 
 suspend his judgment on a subject of which he 
 knows nothing, and to say : ' The Church knows 
 all about it, but I have not the smallest conception
 
 64 Episcopalianism 
 
 what it is she knows." (Ibid., p. 198.) And 
 this writer himself a loyal son of the Church ! 
 
 Again, as indicating in some measure the de- 
 gree in which religious liberty is understood and 
 encouraged in the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 Mr. Robertson says : 
 
 "Well, I suppose God will punish us, if in no 
 other way, by banishing from us all noble spirits, 
 like Newman and Manning in one direction, and 
 men like Kingsley in another, leaving us to flounder 
 in the mud of commonplace, unable to rise or 
 sink above the dead level. Day by day my hopes 
 are sinking. We dare not say the things we feel. 
 Who can? Who possibly may, when 'Records,' 
 'Guardians,' brother ministers, and lay hearers, 
 are ready at every turn to call out ' Heterodoxy' ? 
 It is bondage more than Roman." Ib., p. 14. 
 
 And it would be easy to fill a volume with ex- 
 tracts like the foregoing. 
 
 "When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination 
 of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, 
 stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him 
 understand) : Then let them which be in Judea 
 flee into the mountains : Let him who is on the
 
 In its Own Dress. 65 
 
 housetop not come down to take anything out of 
 his house : Neither let him who is in the field re- 
 turn back to take his clothes." 
 
 As Episcopalian ism denies a spiritual sense to 
 the Scripture so plainly taught by the Lord and 
 his apostles, and as it contradicts the true Bible 
 doctrine of the Resurrection, so, consistently 
 enough, it flouts the idea of a spiritual world, and 
 the possibility, of course, of a person's being in- 
 tromitted into that world while dwelling in the 
 flesh. The very first of the alleged "delusions" 
 of Swedenborgianism instanced by Bishop Bur- 
 gess, whose pamphlet I have already referred to, 
 is, that Swedenborg claimed to have had his spir- 
 itual senses opened, and to have been thereby 
 admitted consciously into the spiritual world to 
 have seen heaven and hell, and held open inter- 
 course with the denizens of each. (I will say, in 
 passing, that any tolerably smart infidel, taking 
 the Bible and handling it in the manner that this 
 Bishop has handled the writings of Swedenborg, 
 could make the sacred Volume appear quite as 
 ridiculous and unworthy of confidence as he has 
 made the writings of the illumined Swede appear
 
 66 Episcopalianism 
 
 probably much more so.) But our RT. REV. 
 friend probably did not see how he was discredit- 
 ing the sacred Volume itself when he was flouting 
 Swedenborg's claim of having been intromitted 
 into the spiritual world. For not only does the 
 Bible often speak of a heaven of angels and a 
 hell of devils, but repeatedly does it tell us of 
 their having been seen by persons in the flesh. 
 Did not John see myriads of angels when a door 
 was opened to him in heaven? Did not the 
 women see angels when they stooped down and 
 looked into the sepulchre clothed, too, " in shin- 
 ing garments?" Did not the Judean shepherds 
 also see "a multitude of the heavenly host," and 
 hear their voices, at the time of our Lord's ad- 
 vent? Did not Gideon, Manoah, Abraham, and 
 other Scripture personages, see and converse with 
 angels ? Does not Paul tell us that, on one occa- 
 sion, he was "caught up to the third heaven," 
 where also he heard unutterable words ? Was the 
 apostle caught up bodily ? and did he hear those 
 unutterable words with his natural ears in the 
 upper regions of our atmosphere ? And were those 
 who spoke them in the same regions of natural
 
 In its Oum Dress. 67 
 
 space? Bishop Burgess and Episcopalianism, I 
 suppose, would answer, "Yes." 
 
 And does not the Bible tell us how one is per- 
 mitted to view the persons and things of the spir- 
 itual world ? that is, by the opening of the spir- 
 itual eyes, just as Swedenborg says was the case 
 with himself. Let the reader turn to 2 Kings, 6th 
 chapter and iyth verse, and ask himself what 
 realm it was, the natural or spiritual, in which 
 the servant of Elisha beheld the "horses and 
 chariots of fire" round about his master; and 
 what sort of eyes those were which were so sud- 
 denly "opened" in him in answer to the proph- 
 et's prayer. 
 
 But I need not multiply proofs on this point. 
 The Bible abounds in them. And if there was a 
 spiritual world inhabited by spirits and angels 
 two thousand or five thousand years ago, the con- 
 clusion is irresistible that there is such a world 
 still. And if man onff had spiritual senses which 
 could be opened during his life on earth, we may 
 conclude that he has such senses still. And if 
 these senses were ever opened in a single indivi- 
 dual under the Old Economy, that is proof that
 
 68 Episcopalianism 
 
 they may be opened again at any time when the 
 Lord sees occasion for it. And whoever, be he 
 Bishop or layman, ridicules such alleged phenom- 
 ena of more recent times, or cites them as evi- 
 dence in themselves of delusion or madness, has 
 no real faith in the Word of God ; and if with 
 his lips he accepts and honors the Word, in his 
 heart he rejects and despises it. 
 
 Bishop Burgess scouts the idea of anything like 
 a "New Church;" and in this he is sustained by 
 the " Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promo- 
 tion of Evangelical Knowledge," and I presume 
 by most if not all of the Bishops in his Church. 
 But not a few distinguished men in this Church 
 have thought differently, as I may have occasion 
 to show hereafter. 
 
 No New Church to be expected? What says 
 the infallible Teacher the "Alpha and Omega, 
 the Beginning and the End ?" Hear Him. "Be- 
 hold I make all things new. And he said unto 
 me, Write : for these words are true and faithful." 
 Is it of natural or spiritual things that the Lord is 
 here speaking? Is it of things pertaining to the 
 church matters of doctrine and of man's im-
 
 In its Ouw Dress. 69 
 
 mortal life or of things pertaining to this out- 
 ward material universe ? 
 
 Already has this Divine prophecy begun to be 
 fulfilled. Already has the Lord begun to make 
 all things new in his church on earth. He has 
 come " in the clouds of heaven " as He promised; 
 come with the power and great glory of the spiritual 
 sense of his Word, breaking through the old dark- 
 ness the dim obscurity of the letter enlighten- 
 ing the eyes and gladdening the hearts of all who 
 are willing to receive Him. He has, through his 
 own chosen servant, revealed the nature of his 
 written Word, the true meaning of inspiration, 
 the laws of a Divine composition, the laws of our 
 inner spiritual life which are all contained in the 
 inner or spiritual sense of the 'Scripture now laid 
 open. He has given us to see wherein lies the 
 proper Divinity of the Word, and how and why 
 it is the Word of God, and therefore infinite in 
 wisdom unfathomable in its depth of meaning 
 replete with instruction for angels as well as men. 
 He has shown us that, spiritually interpreted ac- 
 cording to the canon now revealed, the Scripture 
 is in perfect harmony with itself, with enlightened
 
 70 Episcopalianism 
 
 reason, with the known laws of the human soul, 
 and with all the accepted and well-established facts 
 of science. He has lifted the veil from the great 
 Hereafter, and disclosed the grand realities of the 
 Spiritual World; has shown us the true meaning 
 of the Resurrection, the time and nature of the 
 last Judgment, and the nature of both Heaven and 
 Hell. And more than all and better than all, He 
 has revealed, as never before, the proper Object 
 and real nature of true worship has revealed 
 HIMSELF, his own unspeakable love and wis- 
 dom, in the ONE PERSON of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 But the Protestant Episcopal Church treats 
 this revelation of new and glorious truth with 
 scorn and contumely. It treats it just as the Jew- 
 ish priests and elders treated our Lord at his first 
 advent. " Now the chief priests and elders and 
 all the council sought false witness against Jesus, 
 to put him to death ; but found none : yea, 
 though many false witnesses came, yet found 
 they none. . . . And the high priest rent his 
 clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy. . . . 
 Trfen did they spit in his face and buffeted him ;
 
 In its Own Dress. 71 
 
 and others smote him with the palms of their 
 hands." The precious truths which the Lord has 
 mercifully revealed through Swedenborg truths 
 given to dispel the darkness that has so long 
 enveloped the church, to enlighten and bless the 
 souls of men, to unfold within them a nobler life, 
 and so hasten the time when the Father's will 
 shall be done on earth as it is done in heaven 
 these priceless truths Bishop Burgess calls "the 
 speculations of one who would have been justly 
 deemed a blasphemer, if he had not been a mono- 
 maniac." And the "Protestant Episcopal So- 
 ciety" endorse the false testimony, as though it 
 were the truth. And other Bishops, instead of 
 counseling those under their charge to give heed 
 to the words of the Lord: "Watch, therefore, 
 for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come;" 
 instead of encouraging them to faithfully and prayer- 
 fully examine, each one for himself, what claims to 
 be a new revelation the promised second appear- 
 ing of the Lord are ready rather to plat the crown 
 of thorns and put it upon his head, and to join in 
 the multitude's frantic cry, " Let him be crucified." 
 They warn both ministers and people not to read
 
 7 2 Episcopalianism 
 
 the writings of Swedenborg, which they call he- 
 retical- and foolish, and dangerous to the welfare 
 of human souls. They do all in their power to 
 impress people with the belief that he was a lunatic 
 or an impostor, and his teachings unworthy the 
 attention of serious minds. And so whatever 
 influence the Protestant Episcopal Church is able 
 to wield, is exerted not to encourage but to stifle 
 free investigation of theological questions ; not to 
 help forward but to hinder the progress of truth 
 which the Lord has been pleased to reveal for the 
 instruction and welfare of humanity. Painful as 
 these things are to those who know and love the 
 truth of heaven, there is comfort in the reflection 
 that the opponents and vilifiers and hinderers of 
 this truth, are usually quite ignorant of the work 
 they are engaged in. So was it with the persecu- 
 tors and crucifiers of the Word incarnate. Hence 
 that memorable prayer: "Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do. ' ' 
 
 The disagreeable part of my task is now per- 
 formed. I have shown what Episcopalianism is 
 have exhibited some of its absurd pretensions 
 have pointed out some of its errors and delusions,
 
 In its Own Dress. 73 
 
 and shown how directly it contradicts the Word 
 of God. I have spoken plainly, feeling it a duty 
 to do so, even at the risk of wounding the feelings 
 of some whom I highly esteem. Numerous volumes 
 have been written in justification and defence of 
 Episcopalianism ; but these, so far from indicating 
 genius, depth or wisdom, are for the most part 
 superficial, absurd and worthless full of dry 
 husks and chaff, instead of palatable and nutritious 
 food for the soul. 
 
 I will not deny that many have carried with 
 them into the Episcopalian school much of Chris- 
 tianity enough to make some bright examples 
 of benevolence and patience. The Christian part 
 is excellent ; and for it those individuals shall 
 have my respect, honor, esteem and affection. 
 The Episcopalian part is all error, delusion and 
 danger. 
 
 Should these pages fall into the hands of any 
 who have given their confidence to the claims of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, and who, dazzled 
 by its age, wealth and numbers, are disposed to 
 look with suspicion if not contempt upon every- 
 thing in religion that has not upon it the mark of 
 
 T
 
 74 Episcopalianism. 
 
 antiquity, or that lacks the approval of great num- 
 bers, I would ask them to consider how new was 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ eighteen hundred years 
 ago, and how few of the rich and powerful of 
 those times looked with any favor upon the claims 
 or teachings of the man of Nazareth. I would 
 ask them, further, not to lay aside this work 
 (especially if they have read Bishop Burgess' 
 pamphlet on Swedenborgianism) until they shall 
 have read Part II., and examined carefully the 
 nature and texture of those borrowed robes.
 
 PART II. 
 EP1SCOPALIANISM IN BORROWED ROBES. 
 
 WE have seen what Episcopalianism is when 
 judged by its own standards, or decked in its own 
 apparel. On all the vital points of Christian 
 doctrine, it contradicts alike the testimony of 
 Scripture, the conclusions of reason, and the in- 
 tuitions of the enlightened conscience. But lat- 
 terly it has begun to borrow other robes the 
 beautiful garments of the New Jerusalem. Decked 
 in these, its appearance is very different from what 
 it is when seen in its own seedy and ragged attire. 
 
 Spite of the warnings and threatenings of 
 Bishops and Priests, spite of the misunderstand- 
 ings and misrepresentations of Swedenborg and 
 his teachings with which the air is full, spite of 
 the known and relentless opposition of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church to any new religious 
 
 truth, there are not a few in that very church 
 
 7.
 
 7 6 Episcopalianism 
 
 whose souls are beginning to be cheered and 
 gladdened by the light of the New Dispensation. 
 Several of its ministers are reading and some of 
 them are teaching the doctrines of the New 
 Church, to the great joy of their respective con- 
 gregations who find in their teachings abundant 
 spiritual nourishment. Of course they do this 
 covertly, without the knowledge or permission of 
 their Bishops, possibly in disregard of their ordi- 
 nation vows. So was it at the first advent. 
 " Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear 
 of the yews." 
 
 A few extracts from recently published works 
 by ministers of the Episcopal Church, will illus- 
 trate my meaning, and confirm the truth of what 
 I say. 
 
 Rev. T. M. Gorman, in a work of rare interest 
 and ability on "The Athanasian Creed and 
 Modern Thought," although he nowhere makes 
 mention of Swedenborg, shows that he is not only 
 familiar with his teachings, but cordially accepts 
 all his fundamental doctrines ; and sees and feels, 
 too, the necessity of a new system of theology 
 widely different from Episcopalianism. He says:
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 77 
 
 " A blind and unconscious repetition of doctrinal 
 summaries must inevitably tend to deaden the 
 higher moral sense, and becloud the intellectual 
 vision with which man has been endowed for the 
 perception of things spiritual and heavenly. This 
 is too plain to need proof. When, on the other 
 hand, expositions of the Christian Faith embody- 
 ing genuine spiritual truths from the Living Word, 
 are presented in such a form that the intellect is 
 able to grasp their meaning ; . . . such exposi- 
 tions may be compared to the hem of the Lord's 
 glorious garment of Divine Light : and when 
 touched, if one may so say, by the hand of 
 a living and intelligent faith, spiritual yea, 
 Divine virtue goes out from them. For them 
 there is a harmony of faith and reason. Truth is 
 seen in its own heavenly radiance. There is, in 
 some sort, an actual communion with heaven, the 
 native abode of all Truth. 
 
 ' If the teaching of the Church is to be be- 
 lieved and practiced, it must be shown, on proper 
 and sufficient evidence, to be true intrinsically 
 reasonable, in the highest and purest sense. No 
 appeals, however subtle and eloquent, to a blind
 
 78 Episcopalianism 
 
 and unreasoning faith, will much longer suffice to 
 prop up the crumbling superstitions of past ages. 
 The old arguments and persuasives which once 
 sufficed to establish and perpetuate popular re- 
 ligious convictions, have no longer any influence 
 on the great mass of intelligent men. We breathe 
 an entirely new scientific, moral, intellectual, and 
 religious atmosphere. New and unexpected lights 
 have broken in upon the human mind, filling it 
 with wonder and delight. The true character of 
 numberless phantoms of the imagination, which 
 in every region of human research had held un- 
 disputed sway as real existences, has now been 
 laid bare. A blind faith in the supernatural is no 
 longer possible. The numerous and wonderful 
 revelations of science have, so to speak, furnished 
 new eyes to the understanding, and cleared the 
 intellectual horizon far and wide. . . . 
 
 "The time is approaching when a complete re- 
 adjustment of current theological views will be, to 
 some extent, possible. For many a century the 
 teaching of the Churches has been, on the highest 
 subjects of human thought, miserably in disaccord 
 with reason and fact.
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 79 
 
 "It is clear that the Christian faith must now 
 be maintained and spread by new arguments and 
 new expositions of its first principles. The old 
 modes of defence, like the old conceptions, are 
 fast becoming obsolete. Once more as in the old 
 time, the dead must be left to bury their dead. 
 An entirely new effort must be made by all who 
 love truth in sincerity, to welcome its advent from 
 every quarter and in every form. 
 
 "The path of sound theological opinion in the 
 Church is beset by two obstacles of giant magni- 
 tude. There is, on the one hand, a desolating 
 Tritheism, and the phantasms to which it neces- 
 sarily gives origin ; and on the other a naturalistic 
 Atheism, the subtle poison of which induces on 
 the mind into which it finds an entrance, stupefac- 
 tion and torpor touching things intellectual and 
 spiritual. The remains of Christian truth and life 
 in the Church, can be saved only by the revindi- 
 cation and reassertion in a form adapted to the 
 new state of thought of the foundation doctrine 
 of her worship, A DIVINE TRINITY IN THE ONE 
 LIVING AND TRUE GOD." pp. 109-113. 
 
 And what is this Trinity as held and taught by
 
 8o Episcopalianism 
 
 Mr. Gorman? Very different from that com- 
 monly received and taught in the Church of Eng- 
 land, but precisely that taught by Swedenborg 
 throughout his writings. The author states it 
 thus: 
 
 "The three general Essentials of every man, 
 are soul, body and the united working of both. 
 In like manner in the ONE GOD there are three 
 and only three general Essentials ; Father, Son 
 and Holy Spirit" (p. 135); meaning, clearly, 
 that the Divine Trinity finds its image and best 
 illustration in man's soul, body, and their united 
 working these being the three general Essentials 
 of every individual. 
 
 And in another part of his book, he says in 
 reply to one who had virtually confessed that 
 "the mysterious and adorable doctrine of the 
 Holy Trinity," is not a doctrine to be compre- 
 hended or explained : 
 
 "To admit, in an age like the present, even by 
 implication, that the Church possesses no intelli- 
 gible doctrine of the Divine Trinity, is virtually 
 to surrender the first principles of the Faith to the 
 enemy. The sooner the rulers of the Church be-
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 81 
 
 come fully alive to the extreme importance of this 
 plain fact, the better and happier will it ultimately 
 be for all concerned." p. 106. 
 
 And who, according to this writer, is "the 
 one living and true God?" Here is his own an- 
 swer: 
 
 "Jesus Christ alone is God and man, that is 
 to say, GOD-MAN, or a DIVINE-HUMAN PERSON." 
 
 P- *35- 
 
 Again, he says : 
 
 "At the head of all doctrines stands one which 
 good and true Christians of all Communions 
 acknowledge implicitly in every act of obedience 
 and love to God their Saviour, but which as yet 
 is little known among theologians from any clear, 
 definite and rational idea viz.: that the glorified 
 Human Form, in which our Lord Jesus Christ 
 now reigns as God over all, blessed for ever, is 
 DIVINE not merely human and finite as com- 
 monly supposed, but in all the fullness of meaning 
 of the terms, DIVINE and INFINITE. This truth 
 ought to be the primary doctrine of all Christian 
 Churches." p. 100. , 
 
 And many times in this same work does he
 
 82 Episcopalianism 
 
 speak of Jesus Christ as the DIVINE MAN, and the 
 only proper Object of worship, saying in one 
 place, "Although he be Divine and Human in one 
 DIVINE HUMAN form that is, GOD-MAN ; yet he 
 is not two beings or 'persons,' but one Christ, or 
 Messiah, in One Divine Person." p. 148. And 
 he reckons it as " the chief of all doctrines" and 
 the very foundation of the Christian Church, 
 " that JEHOVAH, the Being of beings, is to be wor- 
 shiped in his Humanity, that is, in the GOD- 
 MAN, the Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 p. 154. Again he speaks of "the supreme Divin- 
 ity of our Lord Jesus Christ" as "an essential 
 principle of the Christian faith, wanting which a 
 Church is a Church only in name." p. 18. The 
 very doctrine distinctly taught by Swedenborg 
 over and over again, and by no one previous to 
 his time ; and its fundamental importance is in- 
 sisted on by Mr. Gorman after the precise fashion 
 of the great Swede. 
 
 Furthermore, Swedenborg tells us why it was 
 necessary that God should assume our natural 
 humanity, and what was accomplished by it, and 
 why He could be tempted when on earth, and
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 83 
 
 how the process of glorification went on. And 
 every student of his writings will recognize a 
 striking similarity the precise idea and almost 
 the very language between his teachings on this 
 subject, and the following from Mr. Gorman's 
 book: 
 
 "This victory over the powers of spiritual 
 darkness, this glorification of his human Essence 
 and Form, was effected by means of temptations, 
 the mysterious and dread character of which was 
 revealed to man only in part, under the veil of 
 the letter temptations which he endured in that 
 infirm humanity derived from the virgin mother. 
 This alone could be tempted. The Divinity, as 
 such, cannot be tempted in any wise. These 
 temptations were overcome, by successive steps, 
 continually unto the end. THE PASSION or THE 
 CROSS was the last and direst temptation ; but it 
 was also the full, perfect and eternal victory." 
 p. 163. 
 
 This writer favors the honest efforts of earnest 
 and good men " to render the common confession 
 of Christian belief, and the rule of Christian life, 
 as brief, simple and comprehensive as possible,
 
 84 Episcopalianism 
 
 consistently with conserving the very essentials of 
 Christianity." And he adds: 
 
 "These essentials maybe said to be three in 
 number : ist, A belief in the SUPREME DIVINITY 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2d, A belief, in some 
 real and bonafide sense, in the INSPIRATION of the 
 Word of God. 3d, A belief that LOVE TO THE 
 
 LORD AND LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR, COnsti- 
 
 tute the essence and life of the church in the 
 mind of man in other words, the kingdom of 
 heaven within him." 
 
 And the following is what Swedenborg says : 
 "There are three essentials of the Church, an 
 acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord, an 
 acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, 
 and the life which is called charity. Every man's 
 faith is conformable to his life, that is, his charity. 
 From the Word he knows what his life ought to 
 be, and from the Lord he has reformation and 
 salvation. If these three had been held as the 
 essentials of the Church, intellectual dissensions 
 would not have divided it, but would only have 
 varied it, as the light varies colors in beautiful 
 objects, and as a variety of jewels constitutes the
 
 /* Borrowed Robes. 85 
 
 beauty of a kingly crown." Divine Providence, 
 n. 259. 
 
 Again, speaking of what he terms "the irra- 
 tional dogma of 'Salvation by faith alone,' Mr. 
 Gorman says : 
 
 "The leaders in most of the Protestant sects, 
 in establishing this dogma, destroyed, as far as 
 it was possible, a principal foundation of the 
 Christian Religion, by separating Faith from 
 Charity; when nevertheless it is a most certain 
 truth*of the Christian Religion, that no genuine 
 living faith can possibly exist when serrated from 
 charity. Faith separate from charity is no faith ; 
 for charity is the life, soul and essence of faith." 
 Preface, p. xvii. 
 
 The very same doctrine, again, that we find in 
 Swedenborg repeated more than a hundred times, 
 and often in nearly the same words employed by 
 this writer. 
 
 The innumerable falsities, too, which have cor- 
 rupted Christianity and darkened the church, this 
 writer traces to precisely the same source as does 
 Swedenborg viz.: to a misunderstanding and 
 falsification of the written Word. He says :
 
 86 Episcopalianism 
 
 " Misinterpretations and perversions of the let- 
 ter of Holy Scripture, arising from the commonly 
 received canons of Biblical interpretation, have 
 gradually and insensibly led to the adoption of 
 most erroneous and absurd views concerning the 
 Divine essence and character of the one living 
 and true God. To a similar source may be traced 
 numberless other whimsical notions and pernicious 
 persuasions, originating in human pride and ambi- 
 tion, plainly contradicting the teaching of Scrip- 
 ture, and at variance with the dictates of sound 
 reason." Ibid., pp. 9, 10. 
 
 Mr. Gorman is in perfect accord also with 
 Swedenborg in his view of the nature, and right 
 method of interpreting the Scripture. Hear 
 him: 
 
 " Holy Scripture cannot be rightly interpreted 
 apart from a previous admission, in general terms 
 at least, of its Divine origin and spiritual inner 
 meaning. ' ' 
 
 "The Scripture has in general two meanings 
 at least one natural or literal, the other spiritual; 
 with this difference, however, between them 
 that the spiritual is the genuine and unchangeable
 
 /// Borrowed Robes. 87 
 
 meaning, which is clothed by the natural." pp. 
 40, 44. 
 
 Again : 
 
 ' ' The ' remonstrances ' of those who advocate 
 'one and only one meaning,' are, in Divine Prov- 
 idence, destined to be for ever unavailing. The 
 letter without the spirit the ' original meaning ' 
 real or supposed, without the spiritual and living 
 sense is like a body without a soul. . . . The 
 time will come to some extent has already come 
 when students of the Divine Word will search 
 its pages neither for astronomy, geology, nor any 
 other natural or mere worldly science ; but for 
 that which alone it was by infinite Wisdom pro- 
 vided to teach for all ages the spiritual truths 
 which pertain to man's regenerate life, and the 
 eternal laws by which the Lord's Kingdom is 
 governed in heaven and on earth. The time is 
 at hand, when an attempt to impose on the free 
 study of the Word, the carnal and blinding bond- 
 age of 'the letter that killeth, 1 will be regarded 
 as the offspring of either hallucination or wicked- 
 ness." pp. 138, 139. 
 
 In respect to the Church and Church Unity,
 
 88 Episcopalianism 
 
 as well as the nature of true internal worship, 
 see again how entirely Mr. Gorman agrees with 
 Swedenborg expressing himself in almost the 
 very same language : 
 
 " The Lord's Kingdom on earth, in other words 
 his Church, must, from the circumstances of the 
 case, exist in various external forms; and have 
 diverse conceptions of Revealed Truth. Although 
 each separate religious communion professes to 
 derive its tenets from Holy Scripture, and indi- 
 viduals, even in the same Christian Society, differ 
 widely in their opinions ; still all this need be no 
 barrier to Church Unity, provided Christians be 
 at one in willing and doing what is good and right. 
 . . . The notion of Papal Unity, and every imi- 
 tation of it in the Reformed Churches or else- 
 where, is not only chimerical, but also tends 
 necessarily to the violation of Christian truth and 
 charity." 
 
 " There is a mere outward formal worship ; and 
 there is also an inner worship ' in spirit and in 
 truth.' The votaries of the former are hypo- 
 crites; and in the Divine sight such worship is 
 vile and abominable. Those who cultivate the
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 89 
 
 latter, are children of God ; and are to be found 
 in every form of Christianity nay, even among 
 the Heathen. Who these are individually, and to 
 which class they truly belong, is certainly known 
 only to Him who knows what is in man." pp. 99, 
 100. 
 
 And Swedenborg says and more than fifty 
 times does he repeat the same in substance : 
 
 "In respect to the Ixml's Kingdom on earth, 
 that is, in respect to his Church, the case is this : 
 that, since it derives its doctrines from the literal 
 sense of the Word, it must needs be various and 
 diverse in respect to doctrines, one society pro- 
 fessing one thing to be a truth of faith because it 
 is so said in the Word, and another society pro- 
 fessing another thing for the same reason ; and so 
 on. Consequently the Lord's Church will differ 
 in different places; and this difference will exist, 
 not only between large societies or general bodies 
 of the Church, but sometimes between individuals 
 in each society. Nevertheless a difference in the 
 doctrines of faith is no reason why the Church 
 should not be one, provided there be unanimity
 
 90 Episcopalianism 
 
 in willing what is good and doing what is good. ' ' 
 Arcana Coelestia, n. 3451. 
 
 Again, he says : 
 
 "Worship is both internal and external " "If 
 love and faith are not inwardly in prayers and 
 adoration, there is no soul or life in these latter, 
 but only a certain external like that of flatterers 
 and pretenders, who, we know, are not pleasing 
 even to a wise man in the world. To do according 
 to the Lord 's precepts, is the way to worship Him 
 truly; yea, this is true love and true faith." Ibid., 
 n. 10, 143. 
 
 And speaking of the Church, this same writer 
 says: "It is everywhere, both in those kingdoms 
 where the [Christian] church is, and out of them, 
 where the life is formed according to the precepts 
 of charity." Ibid., n. 8152. And elsewhere and 
 often does he say that " no one but the Lord 
 alone knows the internal states of men," or who 
 belong to his true church. 
 
 And so Mr. Gorman, throughout his book, 
 when he gives us his own views, shows that he 
 fully accepts Swedenborg's doctrine on the several 
 subjects herein discussed ; and that he knows
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 91 
 
 they are not the views commonly held and taught 
 in the Church of which he is a recognized min- 
 ister. Yet they are views which intelligent people 
 who are not much confirmed in falsities, readily 
 receive. This is plain from the author's Preface, 
 in which he tells us that "the leading points" in 
 the work from which I have quoted, were pre- 
 sented in a discourse that he delivered on two sep- 
 arate occasions. And he adds : 
 
 "The method adopted on both occasions, of 
 treating a most difficult and almost totally ne- 
 glected part of our Divine Service, called forth 
 numerous and unexpected expressions of cordial 
 approval from intelligent and earnest-minded pa- 
 rishioners who happened to be present, and also a 
 strongly expressed desire to see the discourse in 
 print. The writer, for obvious reasons, hesitated 
 as to the propriety of complying with this solicit- 
 ation ; but the perusal of a debate on the same 
 subject, which recently took place in the Upper 
 House of Convocation for the Province of Can- 
 terbury a Report of which wa published in the 
 leading Church newspapers removed at once all 
 scruples in the matter. It was then, apparently
 
 92 Episcopalianism 
 
 for the first time, publicly declared by authority, 
 that the explanation of the Creed was an open 
 question. ' ' 
 
 The doctrinal teachings of Swedenborg are at 
 once so reasonable and Scriptural, that (provided 
 the seer's name is withheld) the people always re- 
 ceive them with great delight. So was it at the 
 Lord's first advent. "The common people heard 
 Him gladly." 
 
 Another interesting work is before me called 
 "Words in Season;" published in this country 
 about a year ago, and written (as the title-page 
 shows) by a clergyman of the Church of England, 
 Henry B. Browning, A.M., Rector of St. George 
 with St. Paul, Stamford, England. It is an un- 
 usually popular work for one of its class; is hav- 
 ing a wide circulation, and is read with delight 
 by the best people in every Christian denomina- 
 tion ; and none, perhaps, have read it with more 
 delight than Episcopalians themselves. It con- 
 sists of forty chapters, wherein is discussed in a 
 plain and familiar manner every important doc- 
 trine of the Christian religion. The writer's 
 views are presented on probably more than a hun-
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 93 
 
 dred distinct religious topics ; and while he never 
 mentions the name of Swedenborg, nor alludes to 
 him in any way, he is in complete accord with him 
 on every subject, but by no means in agreement with 
 the Thirty-nine Articles. The most pronounced 
 New Churchman would not ask for a book more 
 unexceptionable in both its doctrines and spirit, 
 or more completely in harmony with Swedenborg's 
 teachings, than "Words in Season." I find no 
 fault with the author, but commend him rather, 
 for not placing any ear-mark upon his book. How 
 many of his brethren in the ministry would have 
 ever read it, had he informed them in the outset 
 that they were herein to be treated to a dish of 
 Swcdenborgianism pure and simple? Far better 
 to do as he did present the simple truth, and 
 show its agreement with reason and Scripture ; 
 and leave the reader to find out for himself the 
 source from or the channel through which it came. 
 The mention of the name of Swedenborg would 
 probably have frightened many an Episcopalian 
 away from the rich repast. 
 
 I will add here a number of e\tracts from this 
 work, that the reader may see how different it is
 
 94 Episcopalianism 
 
 from the teaching of the Thirty-nine Articles. 
 Call it Episcopalianism if you will ; but certainly 
 it is not the old-fashioned kind. It is Episcopa- 
 lianism transfigured : Episcopalianism not in her 
 old and tattered garments, but in the new and 
 comely robes woven in the looms of heaven. I 
 shall give the extracts without comments. 
 
 HOW TO THINK OF GOD. 
 
 " Whenever, therefore, we would think of God, 
 we should think of Him in the glorified Person 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This will 
 give definiteness to our ideas of Him. Many 
 think of God as of an infinitely diffused substance 
 without form. Thus the thought of God is dis- 
 sipated, like the sight of the eye when one looks 
 upon the boundless universe. All this vagueness 
 is removed when we think of God as a Divine 
 Man, infinite in Love, Wisdom and Power, and 
 present by his life-giving effluence in all creatures 
 and all things. The deep desire of every earnest 
 soul is to know God * Show us the Father and it 
 sufficeth us.' And to the soul so yearning to 
 know God, the Saviour answers, as He answered
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 95 
 
 Philip : ' Have I been so long time with you, 
 and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father.' John xiv. 
 8, 9. The attempt to think of God as He is in 
 the infinite abysses of his own nature, must ever 
 be futile. The mind becomes confused in the 
 effort to soar so far above the necessary limitations 
 of human thought. But in Jesus, ' God manifest 
 in the flesh,' we have a revelation of God exactly 
 suited to our wants. The vagueness of belief in 
 God, which prior to the incarnation was inevi- 
 table, is now abolished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 'God in Christ' is so brought down to our spir- 
 itual state, that He can be a subject of rational 
 thought and an object of rational love. The in- 
 carnation was such an accommodation of God to 
 our condition as to bring Him within the limita- 
 tions of human thought and affection. It was the 
 most wonderful of all Divine accommodations to 
 man's state. To know Christ is to know God, 
 and to love Christ is to love God ; not God afar 
 off in the infinitude of his Divine nature, incom- 
 prehensible by human thought ; not God as an 
 abstract idea taking shape in the necessary anthro-
 
 96 Episcopalianism 
 
 pomorphism of our own minds; but God incar- 
 nate 'Immanuel, God with us.' 
 
 "To angels in heaven as well as to men on earth, 
 God, who in Himself is invisible, is manifested 
 in Christ. They think of God and see Him as a 
 Divine Man, who created them in his own image 
 and likeness, and who Himself descended into 
 the natural and material plane of his creation, 
 and was manifest in the flesh." pp. 203, 204. 
 
 THE GLORIFICA TION OF CHRIST. 
 
 "The great fundamental doctrine of the New 
 Testament is this : In order to redeem and save 
 mankind, God took upon Himself a human nature 
 which was born of the virgin Mary; through 
 victories in temptation, this human nature became 
 more and more fully one with the Divine nature ; 
 until, perfected through sufferings, it was filled 
 with all the fullness of the Godhead, and exalted 
 far above all heavens to be the everlasting medium 
 of Divine influences to angels and men. 
 
 "This process, by which the human nature of 
 Christ was made one with the Divine which dwelt 
 within it, is termed the glorification of Christ. It 
 consisted in the opening of his human capacities,
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 97 
 
 by the continuous removal of all inherited condi- 
 tions that could limit or resist the influx of the 
 Divine life ; and in the continuous descent of the 
 fullness of the Godhead from the inmost even to 
 the ultimates of the perfected humanity, until the 
 human consciousness became altogether one with 
 the Divine. The real operator was God working 
 within the human nature in which He was in- 
 carnate ; for Jesus received continually from the 
 Divine Father who dwelt in Him, the power both 
 to will and to do." p. 239. 
 
 THE NEED OF COD'S ADVENT. 
 
 "At the time when the Lord appeared on earth, 
 ' the enemy had come in like a flood;' the powers 
 of hell had risen to such a height that moral free- 
 dom was wellnigh lost. Life from God, coming 
 to man through false and evil media, was per- 
 verted. The hereditary propensities of mankind, 
 entailed through so many sinful generations, were 
 becoming increasingly corrupt and increasingly 
 powerful. To rescue man, God needed to bow 
 the heavens and come down. To encounter the 
 enemies of man, He needed to hide Himself, to 
 veil his Divinity in man's nature, to be Immanuel, 
 o
 
 98 Episcopalianistn 
 
 God with us; so that the Everlasting Father might 
 also become the Prince of peace." p. 157. 
 
 WHAT IS IT TO LOVE GOD? 
 
 "Love to God, in its highest spiritual signifi- 
 cance, is love to God for his Divine perfections 
 the love of what God is. We are to love God, 
 not merely for his benefits toward us, but for his 
 own sake for the sake of those loveworthy quali- 
 ties which constitute his Divine character. Hence 
 genuine love to God is the love of goodness and 
 truth; for these in their essence and origin are 
 Himself. Whoever loves goodness and truth loves 
 God ; and he loves God just in the degree and 
 manner in which he loves goodness and truth. 
 And the command to love God above all things 
 is equivalent to this that man's love for what is 
 good and true must be the great controlling prin- 
 ciple of his life. 
 
 "Love to God, in this sense, has a necessary 
 tendency to conform us to the image of God. 
 True love, based on appreciation of character, is 
 imitative ; it seeks to resemble its object. Love 
 is the most formative thing in the world, the most 
 powerful in removing what is uncongenial to its
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 99 
 
 nature, and in assimilating all things to itself. By 
 loving goodness we^increase in goodness; by lov- 
 ing wisdom we increase in wisdom ; by loving 
 holiness we increase in holiness ; by loving these 
 as qualities in God, we become like God." p. 233. 
 
 THE INFLUENT LIFE OF GOD ITS LAW. 
 
 "The Lord Himself is continually in the desire 
 and endeavor to communicate to man the life of 
 his own love. The actual communication of this 
 life is limited, not by the Lord's willingness to 
 impart, but by man's capacity to receive. It is a 
 law of man's nature that he is receptive of good 
 affections from the Lord only so far as their oppo- 
 sites are removed. The Lord alone is able to re- 
 move man's evil loves ; but He can do this only 
 so far as man in freedom resists them in himself, 
 and abstains from evil actions as sins against the 
 Lord. In proportion, then, as a man from this 
 motive mortifies his selfish and worldly loves, ever 
 looking to the Lord for help, the love of God 
 and the neighbor will be shed abroad in his heart 
 and be manifested in his words and deeds." p. 
 237-
 
 ioo Episcopalianism 
 
 THE CONDITION OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 "Love is richest in joy when we seek to mani- 
 fest it in deeds of love. Happiness, whether here 
 or in heaven, is found in the effort to make others 
 happy. The law of delight is the law of use of 
 doing good to others. By bringing us into the 
 good and orderly state of tenderness, mercy, 
 charity, the Lord brings us into blessedness. 
 Hence the doing of good works is immediately 
 as well as prospectively profitable unto men. 
 
 " It is true, however, that in the beginning of 
 the regenerate life, obedience springs from a sense 
 of duty rather than from inclination. We have 
 to restrain ourselves from doing wrong, and to 
 compel ourselves to do right. The reason of this 
 is the obedience of faith precedes the obedience of 
 loi>e. But doing good from a sense of duty is the 
 first step toward doing good from the love of 
 goodness. The habit of obeying the Lord from 
 the desire to be and to do good, opens the soul to 
 a Divine influx which will gradually change the 
 character of our motives. The obedience which 
 at first seemed hard, will, when the love of good- 
 ness becomes our ruling principle of action, be
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 101 
 
 found a joyous service. We enter into harmony 
 with the Lord, and find that ' his commandments 
 are not grievous,' and that ' in keeping of them 
 there is great reward.' " p. 172. 
 
 PR A YER. 
 
 " Prayer is not needed to inform the omniscient 
 Lord of our wants ; ' for your Father knoweth 
 what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.' 
 Matt. v. 8. Neither can it avail to change the 
 purpose of the All-wise, or to make the All-loving 
 more gracious and willing to bless than He 'was 
 before. But though prayer does not effect any 
 change in the Lord, yet it does effect a most im- 
 portant change in man. In true prayer the face 
 of man's spirit is turned toward the Lord, and 
 the mind and heart of the petitioner are opened 
 to receive from the Lord the blessings adapted to 
 his state. 
 
 "Besides making us receptive of grace which 
 the Lord is ever willing to bestow, there is in 
 prayer itself a reflex benefit. We are the better 
 for our prayers, not only through them as a means 
 of receiving blessings from the Ix>rd, but by them 
 on account of their own influence upon ourselves.
 
 i o 2 Episcopalianism 
 
 This benefit is twofold. First : because true 
 prayer reacts upon ourselves in confirming and 
 increasing tKose spiritual graces which are exer- 
 cised in prayer and find expression in its words. 
 Second : because in true prayer we hold commu- 
 nion with God, and the effect of such communion 
 is to conform us to the Divine image. It is an 
 invariable principle operating with the certainty 
 of cause and effect, that man by worshiping be- 
 comes assimilated to the object of his worship. 
 
 " Prayer will be ineffectual without practice un- 
 less accompanied by our own endeavors to realize 
 the blessings for which we pray. By prayer we 
 seek from the Lord grace to overcome falsity and 
 evil, and to grow in knowledge and in goodness. 
 It is a means of grace, and must not be mistaken 
 for the end. Of what use is it to pray for pa- 
 tience, if we do not try to curb our impatience? 
 to pray for purity, if we continue to indulge in 
 uncleanness? to pray for charity, if we foster 
 unkindness and neglect to do charitable deeds? 
 Prayer for Christian graces -will be ineffectual, 
 unless at the same time we resist all evil as sin 
 against the Lord. While a man from this
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 103 
 
 motive strives against evil, prayer is a most 
 efficacious means of attaining Divine help. It 
 brings the soul into a state of humility, of 
 self-distrust, of constant looking to the Lord 
 for strength and guidance." pp. 207-209. 
 
 rRE/'AKA TlOff FOR I/EA VEN. 
 
 "We become fitted to enjoy heaven by learning 
 to delight in heavenly things. The process by 
 which this preparation is effected is regeneration. 
 It consists in the reception of heavenly love and 
 wisdom from the Lord ; in the formation in man 
 of a truly heavenly character, so that all the aspi- 
 rations and delights of the soul shall become 
 heavenly. Heaven would only l>e a place of 
 misery to those who felt no joy in heavenly de- 
 lights. Indeed it is easy to conceive that, to those 
 who are destitute of truth and goodness and con- 
 firmed in falsity and evil, heaven would be even 
 more painful and horrible than hell. To the 
 drunkard, the licentious, the covetous, the re- 
 vengeful, the society of the temperate, pure, gen- 
 erous, and merciful is ever a source of discomfort 
 and even pain. They desire even here to flee 
 from such, and to associate with their like
 
 1 04 Episcopalianism 
 
 Death, which is merely the putting off of the 
 material body, makes no change in a man's ruling 
 loves. How needful then it is that we should be 
 made ' meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
 the saints in light.' " p. 119. 
 
 THE TRUE WORSHIP. 
 
 "The joys of the redeemed in heaven do not 
 consist merely in vocal praises of the Most High. 
 Every act they perform is, indeed, an act of wor- 
 ship and adoration; because everything they do 
 is prompted by love to God, is directed by wis- 
 dom from God, and is done for the honor and 
 glory of God. True worship, either in heaven 
 or on earth, does not consist in vocal prayer and 
 praise alone. We worship the Lord most worthily 
 when we delight in doing his will. Our life is a 
 life of praise when we live to the honor and glory 
 of the Giver of all good gifts, who operates with- 
 in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 
 Whatever be the nature of the service we may 
 there have to perform, there can be no question 
 that every use and function will enhance our hap- 
 piness and deepen our gratitude and love to the 
 Lord. Heavenly light will enable us the better
 
 In Borrmved Robes. 105 
 
 to understand the ways of our Creator and Sa- 
 viour ; heavenly love will fill our ever-enlarging 
 affections ; heavenly uses will employ our ever- 
 increasing powers. The Lord's joy will then be 
 in us, and our joy will be full. However actively 
 engaged in heavenly ministrations, the service of 
 the Lord will be perfect freedom ; our work will 
 l>e truly rest, because truly delightful to our souls." 
 pp. 60, 61. 
 
 THE LAH' OF GROWTH ASD HAPPINESS. 
 
 " The pur]x>se for which our talents are entrusted 
 to us, is that we may be made mediums of blessing 
 to others ; and the good Ixml has so ordered, that 
 our endeavors to be of use to others react upon our- 
 seh'es. The Ix>rd is a true economist in all his 
 works. He so orders everything that it shall sub- 
 serve many purposes. The soul that does good to 
 others, grows in goodness. He that is a medium 
 of blessing to others, is himself blessed thereby. 
 Hence selfishness is folly as well as sin ; for while 
 it prevents our doing good to others, in the same 
 degree it prevents our doing good to ourselves. 
 
 " In regard to spiritual gifts, the more we com- 
 municate, the more we shall receive. Tht law of
 
 io6 Episcopalianism 
 
 increase is the law of use. The Saviour teaches 
 this great law in these words : ' Give, and it shall 
 be given unto you ; good measure, pressed down, 
 shaken together, and running over, shall men 
 give into your bosom. For with the same measure 
 that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you 
 again." Luke vi. 38. This Divine law rules in 
 regard to spiritual things, both on earth and in 
 heaven. We must minister because we have re- 
 ceived ; and we must minister that we may receive 
 more abundantly. In ministering to others we 
 enter into the true order of our life. Our life 
 comes from God, who is the universal Giver. It 
 must therefore impel us to give ; it must prompt 
 us to words of help and deeds of use. If we are 
 not conscious of this impulse, it is because our 
 life, although received from God, has become per- 
 verted in our reception of it. The more it retains 
 of the character of its Divine original, the more 
 must it impel us to act in a God-like way, and 
 give. The Saviour's greatness and oneness with 
 God was shown in this, among many other things, 
 that He came "not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister." He was the greatest of all, because
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 107 
 
 He was the servant of all. In seeking to resemble 
 Him, we enter into harmony with the Divine pur- 
 pose, which is that all may be blessed, and that 
 they may realize their own blessedness in seeking to 
 bless each other. 
 
 "We must, however, communicate to others for 
 their sakes, and not merely to serve our own ends. 
 While it is true that they who give are enriched, 
 that they who teach learn, that they who help 
 grow strong, that they who bless are blessed ; yet 
 if in giving we only think of our prospective 
 gain, if in blessing we only think of the richer 
 blessing we shall receive, the apparently unselfish 
 act is really a deed of the most refined and in- 
 tense selfishness. The selfish motive vitiates the 
 efficacy of the seemingly unselfish act. By the 
 universal law of reaction, that very act only tends 
 to confirm our own selfishness. The love of use, 
 and not the love of self, should be the leading 
 motive in all we do." pp. 181-183. 
 
 SPIRITUAL LIBERTY. 
 
 " Life from God is so imparted that it seems to 
 us as if it were independently our own. This is 
 the case with natural life, and it is the case also
 
 io8 Episcopalianism 
 
 with spiritual life. While in very truth ' it is 
 God that worketh in us both to will and to do,' 
 yet it seems to us that both the will and the power 
 to do are our own. The Lord thereby secures to 
 man a spiritual individuality in the good that he 
 does ; He thus preserves in him spiritual liberty 
 at the same time that He imparts to him spiritual 
 good. The new nature which prompts the Chris- 
 tian to do good, seems to him as truly his own, as 
 did his former merely natural life. The prompt- 
 ings of the new heart and the right spirit seem to 
 him as fully the spontaneous impulses of his own 
 will, as did the prior promptings of his tinregen- 
 erate mind. Thus faith in the Lord as the Source 
 of spiritual life, does not interfere with man's 
 liberty. The angels who realize with fullest con- 
 viction that they live only by influx of life from 
 the Lord, are conscious of the most perfect free- 
 dom." p. 177. 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF ANGELIC LIFE. 
 
 "Love, wisdom, and use are the elements of 
 angelic life. In heaven, where the laws of Divine 
 order are perfectly obeyed, love and wisdom re- 
 ceived continually from the Lord, are ultimated
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 109 
 
 or find their embodiment in use. We may know 
 but little of what are the employments of angels ; 
 but of this we may be sure that for those of his 
 creatures whom God fills with love, He provides 
 others that may be loved ; and for those whom 
 He endows with superior wisdom, He provides 
 others that may be taught. Wisdom is infinite 
 only in God. In all created intelligences wisdom 
 can exist only in a relative degree, as more or less. 
 That the Lord should make the wiser angels me- 
 diums of instruction to the less wise, does not 
 lower our conception of the felicity and perfect- 
 ness of heaven. Surely it may be thought that 
 new-coming spirits fresh from earth, must need 
 and may profit from the loving instruction of 
 their elder brethren of the skies. The felicity 
 of heaven, it may well be believed, does not con- 
 sist merely in the reception of 'the manifold 
 grace of God' by each angel for himself, but 
 also in ' ministering the same one to another, 
 as good stewards' thereof. The delight of the 
 natural man is to get; the delight of the spiritual 
 man is to give. The truly beneficent man is the 
 
 happiest man." p. 184. 
 10
 
 no Episcopalianism 
 
 ANGELS-AND THE LAW OF THEIR FELLOWSHIP 
 WITH MEN. 
 
 "One thing our experience may teach us: 
 whenever we are actively engaged in the uses of 
 charity, from the love of doing good, we are most 
 richly and consciously blessed. The reason is, 
 that we are thereby brought into association with 
 those angels of the Lord's kingdom who are in the 
 love of similar uses ; and those angels are made 
 to us mediums of blessings from the Lord by im- 
 parting to us of their affections and delights. 
 Thus by the law of spiritual affinity, which draws 
 together those who are animated by similar affec- 
 tions, the angels, though unseen, associate with us 
 and fit us for the higher uses of the eternal world. 
 In this way they are 'ministering spirits, sent 
 forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of 
 salvation.' Heb. i. 4." pp. 184, 185. 
 
 GOD'S PURPOSE IN CREATION. 
 
 " The moving cause of creation was the Divine 
 Love. The Lord did not create the universe for 
 his own sake, but because He desired the exist- 
 ence of beings in his own image and likeness 
 whom He might make happy from Himself.
 
 In Borrowed Robes. in 
 
 Hence the ultimate Divine purpose in creation, 
 is the formation of a heaven out of the human 
 race. Thus earth rightly regarded, is the semi- 
 nary of heaven the scene in which man begins 
 to exist, and in which he may develop an angelic 
 character to fit him for the higher uses and the 
 more exalted felicities of the eternal world." pp. 
 245, 246. 
 
 DISCRETE DEGREES IN CREATION. 
 
 "All things are Divine in their origin, because 
 they are produced from God by God ; but the 
 very act of putting them forth//w /fimsf/f, makes 
 them cease to be continuous with God, and there- 
 fore makes them not Divine. There are three 
 discrete degrees of substance viz. : the Divine, 
 the Spiritual, and the Natural ; the substance of 
 God himself, the substance of the souls of men 
 and of the spiritual world, and the substance of 
 the natural universe and of all things therein. In 
 the order of creation, the natural was discreted 
 from the spiritual, and the spiritual from the Divine. 
 The Divine can act upon or into the spiritual ; and 
 the spiritual can act upon or into the natural ; but 
 by no process of transmutation or refinement can
 
 ii2 Episcopalianism 
 
 the natural become the spiritual, or the spiritual 
 become the Divine. By this doctrine of discrete 
 degrees of substance we avoid the fundamental 
 error of Pantheism, while adopting the great truth 
 which it so imperfectly expresses. The Creator 
 is not confounded with the creation, for the sub- 
 stance of the universe is not continuous from God. 
 Yet God is truly the original and all-pervading 
 life animating the spiritual degree of substance, 
 which is the indwelling and actuating principle 
 of all material things." pp. 246, 247. 
 
 A SPIRITUAL AND A NA TURAL WORLD. 
 
 "God is the Great First Cause of all things 
 that exist. The spiritual world exists in the natural 
 as a cause in its effect. The spiritual world is a 
 world of mediate causes acting in the natural 
 world, but deriving all its power from the Great 
 First Cause, from whom it originated and by whom 
 it continually subsists. Matter itself, the ultimate 
 created substance, is dead and inert ; and all 
 forces by which its inertia is overcome, and all 
 the active properties which it seems to possess, 
 have a spiritual origin. All natural objects exist 
 from and arc actuated by corresponding spiritual
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 113 
 
 essences, to which they stand related as the body of 
 a man to his soul. Hence all things in the animal, 
 vegetable and mineral kingdoms of nature have 
 their antitypes in the spiritual world, substantial 
 spiritual entities corresponding in all particulars 
 of organization with their material types." p. 247. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THINGS NOXIOUS. 
 
 "This doctrine of influx from the spiritual world 
 accounts for the existence of inverted or disor- 
 derly creations in the material universe. None 
 of the noxious things that exist on this earth were 
 created by the Lord in the beginning, but they 
 are all from hell. For, by the law of spiritual 
 causation, the affections and thoughts of the in- 
 habitants of the spiritual world give birth to cor- 
 responding spiritual creations, which form the 
 objects and scenery round about them. It is 
 through the operation of this beneficent law, that 
 the members of each heavenly society are sur- 
 rounded by the beautiful and useful objects (spir- 
 itual, of course) in the animal, vegetable, and 
 mineral kingdoms, which are in harmony with 
 their mental and moral states. But the same law 
 of spiritual causation prevails equally in hell,
 
 ii4 Episcopalianism 
 
 where, consequently, the inhabitants of each in- 
 fernal society see their falsities and evils projected 
 into corresponding external objects, which are 
 inversions of the orderly creations of the heav- 
 enly world. These spiritual inversions, flowing 
 into the world of nature, become embodied in 
 material substance and originate the various types 
 of animals, vegetables, and minerals injurious to 
 man." p. 248. 
 
 DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 
 
 11 Man in this world is a dual being; consisting 
 of a spiritual and immortal part his soul ; and 
 of a natural and mortal part his body. The 
 
 soul is the real man, that for a while is tabernacled 
 
 \ 
 
 in the flesh. It is the soul which hears, sees, feels, 
 thinks, desires, speaks, and acts. The body is no 
 more than a marvelous material organism which 
 lives from the soul, in which the soul dwells, and 
 by which the soul remains in the natural world, 
 and takes part in its concerns. 
 
 "When man is said to die, it is only the body 
 which really dies. The reason is, that the body 
 is no longer suited to be a dwelling-place for the 
 soul. The marvelous and mysterious links which
 
 /// Borrowed Robes. 115 
 
 previously united the soul to the body are broken. 
 The soul takes its flight from the body ; and as its 
 life departs, the body dies. The body being dead, 
 truly means that the soul has left it. Now that 
 its life is gone, the body, subject to the wonderful 
 processes of natural chemistry, will waste away, de- 
 compose and mingle with the dust. 'Ashes to 
 ashes, dust to dust,' is, therefore, properly said 
 when the body is placed in the grave. 
 
 "But the real man, the soul, is not destroyed 
 by quitting the body. It remains a living, think- 
 ing, loving, conscious being, and dwells in the 
 spiritual world. If the man has been good, pious, 
 and holy, if he has believed in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ and has striven to keep his holy command- 
 ments, he will, like Lazarus, be 'carried by an- 
 gels into Abraham's bosom ;' that is, he will go to 
 heaven. He will enter into and dwell in the 
 heavenly mansions about which Jesus spake when 
 He said : 'In my father's house are many man- 
 sions : if it were not so, I would have told you. 
 I go to prepare a place for you.' John xiv. 2. 
 He will join the Church triumphant, the ' innu- 
 merable company of angels' 'the general assem-
 
 n6 Episcopalianism 
 
 bly and Church of the first born which are written 
 in heaven ' ' the spirits of just men made perfect.' 
 Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
 
 "In that state of happiness the man is as truly 
 a man as when he dwelt on earth. He is now a spir- 
 itual man, possessing a spiritual body, dwelling in 
 the spiritual world. The soul, when separated from 
 the material body, is in the human form. Hence 
 when Moses appeared to Peter, James, and John, 
 ministering to the Lord in the mount of transfigura- 
 tion, although his material body ' the earthly house- 
 of this tabernacle' was dissolved, having been 
 buried ' in a valley in the land of Moab, over against 
 Bethpeor' (Deut. xxiv. 6), more than fourteen 
 hundred years before, yet Moses was still in the 
 human form. By death man ceases not to be 
 human. We may be sure that he possesses in the 
 other life all that is essential to his existence as a 
 man memory, consciousness, intelligence, and 
 affection, in a spiritual body adapted to the spir- 
 itual world. In the case of those who have been 
 truly members of the Lord's Church, servants 
 and disciples of the Saviour, there can be no 
 question that their faculties are purified and ex-
 
 In Borrowed Robts. 117 
 
 alted far beyond any perfection attainable on 
 earth. Their capacity for joy is enlarged ; the 
 joys they experience are beyond all comparison 
 higher and holier ; and of the increase of their 
 blessedness there shall be no end." pp. 58-60. 
 
 THE JUDGMENT AFTER DEA TH. 
 
 "The judgment after death is not merely a 
 judicial act by which every one is at once as- 
 signed his final abode, but it is a process of ex- 
 ploration and development by which the exteriors 
 of the spirit are gradually brought into agreement 
 with its interiors; by which the genuine internal 
 character is brought forth to view ; until the 
 Lord's words are fully verified in each individual 
 case : ' There is nothing covered that shall not be 
 m'f aled ; neither hid that shall not be known* 
 Luke xii. 2. The design of the judgment is thus 
 to bring the externals of human character into 
 exact conformity or correspondence with the inner 
 life; to abolish all artificial, assumed, and merely 
 apparent distinctions among men ; and to estab- 
 lish on the basis of internal and spiritual realities 
 the conditions under which they will thenceforth
 
 n8 Episcopalianism 
 
 exist, and the associates with whom they will 
 thenceforth consort. 
 
 ' ' The Lord is truly the Author of this judg- 
 ment; God is 'the Judge of all.' The means by 
 which this judgment is effected, is an influx into 
 the soul of the light of Divine Truth from the 
 Lord, impelling every one to think, speak, and act 
 under the influence of his ruling love, and thus 
 revealing both to himself and others the true qual- 
 ity of his life. In this world every man is able 
 more or less to conceal his real character, and in 
 his words and actions to assume an exterior con- 
 formable to the laws of social order by which 
 society is governed and preserved. The power 
 of hiding from others our interior thoughts and 
 feelings during our probation here, is a merciful 
 arrangement of Divine Providence ; for it not 
 only enables us to form a basis of natural goodness 
 on which may be built the spiritual superstructure 
 of a heavenly character, but it likewise permits 
 the associations of this life to proceed in an ex- 
 ternal way of peace which would otherwise be 
 impossible. If the light of Divine Truth from 
 the Lord so shone into the minds of men in this
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 119 
 
 world as to impel every one by word and deed to 
 disclose his inner thoughts and feelings to his fel- 
 low-men, abolishing thereby all those merely ex- 
 ternal restraints, courtesies, and attachments which 
 now subsist, society would be dislocated. A new 
 distribution of mankind would immediately ensue; 
 those only who resembled each other in internal 
 character would associate ; the good would have 
 fellowship only with the good, and the evil only 
 with the evil. In such case, instead of being as 
 now a mixed state a sort of common ground or 
 mutual meeting-place where both the good and 
 the evil can come into contact and maintain social 
 and amicable intercourse with each other, the 
 world would become a theatre where all the good 
 were assembled inone place a heaven; and all 
 the wicked in another place a hell" pp. 228, 
 229. 
 
 ~ /tELL-A.\'D ITS PUMSHMEffTS. 
 
 11 There is no contradiction to the harmony of 
 the Divine attributes in the fact that Divine Justice 
 provides for the punishment of sin. It is the 
 highest mercy to punish the sinner whom nothing 
 but punishment could restrain from wickedness.
 
 I2O Episcopalianism 
 
 The more certainly that wickedness is disorder 
 and that disorder is productive of misery, the more 
 certainly that obedience is order and that order is 
 productive of happiness the more certainly true 
 it is that mercy must seem cruel to be kind. 
 Punishment is not an end of itself; it is but a 
 means to an end ; and that end is altogether mer- 
 ciful. Punishment -which is merely vindictive and 
 without merciful ends in view, has no place in the 
 Divine government. 
 
 " Even the punishments of hell are no exception 
 to the operation of the Divine Mercy. The notion 
 of hell as a place of arbitrary punishment eternally 
 inflicted by an implacable Deity for past acts of 
 wickedness committed during the sinner's life on 
 earth however apparently supported by the letter 
 of Scripture is utterly untenable. There is in- 
 deed punishment in hell ; but it is such punish- 
 ment for present acts of wickedness as is repK&ssive 
 and restraining only, and thus altogether merciful. 
 God sends no one to hell ; but all who go down 
 to that world of death, go there of their own 
 choice, drawn to their associates in evil by the 
 attraction of their ruling loves. Those passages
 
 In Bornnveii Robes. \ 2 1 
 
 of Scripture which, in the literal sense, seem to 
 assert that God commands the wicked to be cast 
 into outer darkness and the tormenting flame, are 
 accommodations of language to the natural ideas 
 of men. In so far as it is a law of Divine order 
 that in the other world, as indeed in this, men 
 shall desire and strive to be with their like, and 
 shall seek for and prefer to abide with such in 
 that sense Ciod commands the consequence in in- 
 stituting the law. But the law is merciful, both in 
 its purpose and in its o|>eration ; for by virtue of 
 this law all the associations of heaven afc formed; 
 and even in the associations of hell the lost spirit 
 is less miserable than he would IK- in heaven. The 
 suffering of the infernals is a dread reality, the 
 necessary consequence of their disorderly and evil 
 state: but the Divine mercy is present even in 
 hell, ojxTating through the inevitable law by 
 which evil punishes itself, to restrain them from 
 the excess of evil which would aggravate their 
 misery. Fear of punishment is the only restrain- 
 ing motive in beings confirmed in evil; and the 
 Divine mercy ever seeking to limit the raging of 
 their lusts, and thus to save them from increase 
 n
 
 122 Episcopalianism 
 
 of suffering, uses that motive as the only means to 
 this beneficent end." pp. 223, 224. 
 
 APPARENT TRUTHS IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 " There are two classes of statements in the 
 letter of the Word those in which the truth is 
 openly and absolutely expressed : and those which 
 convey the truth, not as it is absolutely, but as it 
 appears to the minds of men in a low moral and 
 intellectual state. We may conveniently style the 
 former genuine and the latter apparent truths. 
 The necessity and advantage of this distinction 
 will be seen in applying it to the descriptions in 
 the Word of the moral character of God. 
 
 " The purpose of the existence in the Bible of 
 apparent truths in relation to God, is clear viz. : 
 to reach minds in a low moral and intellectual 
 condition, who can think of God in no other way. 
 Although the understanding may be elevated 
 above the will, so that we can see the excellence 
 we have not realized in ourselves, yet all men, 
 more or less, picture to themselves a God in their 
 own image ; so that, in this sense it is true : ' With 
 the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful ; 
 with an upright man Thou wilt show Thyself up-
 
 /// Borrowed Robes. 123 
 
 right ; with the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure ; 
 and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself 
 froward.' Ps. xviii. 25, 26. Only so far as the 
 Divine characteristics are revealed in us, can they 
 be spiritually discerned. While others may have 
 a si>eculative knowledge of the Di vine perfect ions, 
 only the loving can really know God in his Divine 
 love, only the wise can know Him in his Divine 
 wisdom, only the holy can know Him in his 
 Divine holiness. As men grow up into the Divine 
 image and likeness, in the same proportion their 
 Inceptions of the Divine nature deepen and be- 
 come exalted. To the wicked God appears what 
 He really is not terrible, jealous, full of wrath ; 
 while to the good He appears what He really is 
 altogether loving, gracious, full of compassion, 
 the Divine Father, whose love is deeper and more 
 tender than that of a woman for her first-born. 
 Being born again, they sec the kingdom of God ; 
 being pure in heart, they see God ; being lifted 
 into heavenly light, they recognize their Father in 
 heaven. By accommodating the verbal revelation 
 of Himself to the states and capacities of men, 
 God has provided a means by which all may be
 
 124 Episcopalianism 
 
 reached, and by which all may be enabled to be- 
 lieve. The lower view will give place to the 
 higher as men, through faithfulness to the light 
 they have, become more and more receptive of the 
 higher." pp. 113-115. 
 
 APPARENT TRUTHS IN NATURE. 
 
 "In the book of Nature as well as of Revela- 
 tion, we are compelled to distinguish between 
 genuine and apparent truths ; and in the sun, 
 which is a symbol of the Lord, we have a very 
 close analogy strikingly illustrative of the subject 
 before us. The sun, which is gloriously refulgent 
 in an unclouded sky, appears red and lowering 
 when obscured by fog ; but there is no change in 
 the sun itself. It is thus with the unchangeable 
 God under the different aspects in which he ap- 
 pears to men. Seen through the clear spiritual 
 atmosphere of love and truth, God is love, immu- 
 table love ; seen through the fog and mist of evil, 
 He appears to be angry, wrathful, at enmity with 
 man. When man changes in his spiritual condi- 
 tion, and from his changed condition thinks of 
 the Lord, it seems to him as though the Lord had 
 changed. To conclude from appearances that the
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 135 
 
 Lord changes, is as great a fallacy as to conclude 
 from appearances that the sun moves round the 
 earth. The absolute truth is that the sun in 
 respect to the earth is stationary; the sun only 
 appears to move, and the real change is in the 
 earth itself which seems to be so immovable. 
 The sun changes not; the Lord changes not. 
 The sun seems to change, waxing and waning in 
 brightness and in heat ; now coming nearer, then 
 retiring farther from us; now effulgent in the 
 noontide, then altogether gone in the obscurity of 
 night. Got!, in like manner, seems to change ; 
 now shedding forth light and love, then frowning 
 and angry ; now very near to our souls, then far 
 removed from us ; now causing the soul's noontide 
 of love and glory, then leaving the soul to mourn 
 his absence during its dark cold night. The 
 change of the earth's place and position is the real 
 cause of the apparent changes of the sun ; and 
 variation in man's spiritual condition is the real 
 cause of changes which seem to take place in 
 God. God is unchangeable ; the changes take 
 place in us. He has hung his unchanging image 
 in the natural firmament to be -an unalterable 
 11 *
 
 ia6 Episcopalianism 
 
 witness to his universal operation, to be the very 
 analogue of the light and heat, the truth and good- 
 ness, which He continually pours out on all man- 
 kind. The appearance of change in the sun does 
 no injury to him who believes that the appearance 
 is a reality. The time may come when the reality 
 will be known and the appearance will be ex- 
 plained. So the apparent truths of the Bible in 
 relation to God, if the highest of which the mind 
 is capable, do no injury to him who believes 
 them. They only become hurtful when he who 
 has once believed them, is thereby confirmed in 
 his rejection of the higher truths." pp. 215-17. 
 
 And much more might be quoted from this 
 precious book, similar in character to the fore- 
 going. But it is needless to multiply quotations. 
 For obvious reasons which I need not mention, I 
 have already quoted liberally. I have shown, by 
 brief extracts, what this writer's views are on 
 more than twenty different topics some of them 
 vital, and all of them important and interesting 
 religious questions. I have never seen nor held 
 any correspondence with the author ; but I know
 
 In Borrowed Robes. 127 
 
 from this book, that though he be a recognized 
 minister of the Episcopal Church he is not only 
 familiar with the writings of Swedenborg, but an 
 intelligent and cordial receiver of his teachings. 
 Who cannot see that the views in the foregoing 
 extracts are totally different from those commonly 
 taught in the Protestant Episcopal Church, or to 
 be found in any of its accepted authorities? You 
 may search the entire religious literature of this 
 Church back to the days of the apostles, and you 
 shall nowhere meet with any such views. Yet 
 every one of them arc to be found distinctly set 
 forth in the writings of Swedenborg. 
 
 Possibly the reader may not be able to accept 
 for truth everything taught in these extracts. If 
 he is much confirmed in any of the old theologies, 
 he cannot. Hut of this I am certain, that every in- 
 telligent and candid mind, when assured that these 
 extracts are all in exact agreement with the teach- 
 ings of Swedenborg and give a corrert idea of the 
 general spirit and scoj>e of his writings, will dc- 
 cide that he was as far removed from cither a 
 "blasphemer" or a "monomaniac," as light is 
 from darkness or heaven from hell. I am sure
 
 128 Episcopalianism 
 
 that, when his theological system is characterized 
 as "one vast, utter delusion, resting on the spec- 
 ulations and dreams of one who would have been 
 justly deemed a blasphemer if he had not been a 
 monomaniac," the spontaneous verdict of every 
 such mind will be, that the man who wrote this, 
 RIGHT REVEREND though he be styled, wrote from 
 prejudice or ignorance, or possibly from both of 
 these combined. 
 
 It is the highest testimony that an Episcopal 
 minister could give to the truth and importance 
 of Swedenborg's doctrinal teachings, to publish 
 so many of them as Mr. Browning has in this de- 
 lightful volume, but with no allusion whatever to 
 the great Swede or his writings. Call the con- 
 tents of this book Episcopalianism if you will; it 
 matters little under what name God's truth is 
 preached, so it be spread broadcast among the 
 people. But it certainly is a very different sort 
 of Episcopalianism from that presented in the 
 Thirty-nine Articles. It is Episcopalianism ar- 
 rayed in the "fine linen, and silk, and broidered 
 work" of the New Jerusalem EPISCOPALIANISM 
 
 IN BORROWED ROBES.
 
 PART III. 
 EPISCOPAL IAXISM AT THE CONFESSIONAL. 
 
 SINCE the time that Swedenborg wrote, a num- 
 ber of Episcopal ministers have read his works, 
 and have frankly confessed that they never found 
 in Episcopalian ism or elsewhere such light and 
 comfort and peace .and joy as they had found in 
 his writings. Some of these have separated them- 
 selves formally from the Episcopal Church, and 
 joined the^new organization commonly called 
 "the New Church." Others have thought they 
 <ould l>e more useful by remaining in their old 
 ecclesiastical connection, and have done so, 
 preaching there the Word of God as unfolded by 
 Swedenborg's spiritual exegesis. 
 
 One of the most distinguished of these non-sep- 
 aratists was Rev. John Clowes, who was the be- 
 loved Rector of St. John's Church, Manchester, 
 I 129
 
 1 30 Episcopalianism 
 
 (England), for nearly sixty-two years; and for 
 more than fifty of these years, a diligent student 
 of and a firm believer in the spiritual teachings of 
 Swedenborg. As some evidence of the saintly 
 character of Mr. Clowes, and of the esteem in 
 which he was held by his parishioners, we are told 
 that a Marble Tablet was, by resolution, placed in 
 the church not long after his decease, which, be- 
 sides six figures in bas-relief, beautifully executed 
 in marble, contained the following inscription : 
 
 Saerro to % gltmorg of 
 THE REVEREND JOHN CLOWES, M. A. 
 
 , RECTOR OF THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. JOHN'S 
 
 (HIS FIRST AND ONLY CURB OF SOULS) 
 DURING THH EXTRAORDINARY TERM 
 
 OF SIXTY-TWO YEARS. 
 HE WAS BORN 3IST OCT., 1743, AND DIED ZgTH MAY, 1831. 
 
 HE WAS A SAINT 
 
 IN WHOM THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WAS EXPRESSED 
 "BY PURENESS, BY KNOWLEDGE, BY LONG-SUFFERING. BY KINDNESS, 
 
 BY THE HOLY GHOST, BY LOVE UNFEIGNED." 
 
 AS A LEARNED SCHOLAR, A FINISHED GENTLEMAN, A LUMINOUS 
 WRITER, AN IMPRESSIVE PREACHER, A VIGILANT PASTOR, A SPIRITUAL 
 
 MORALIST, AND A PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN DIVINE, 
 
 HE GAVE REAL EVIDENCE THAT "GODLINESS HATH THE 
 
 PROMISE OF THE LIFE THAT NOW IS, AND OF 
 
 THAT WHICH IS TO COME." 
 
 HE PASSED THROUGH THIS EARTH IN JOY AND THANKSGIVING, 
 EXPERIENCING, TO HIS GREAT BLESSEDNESS, EVEN TO THE END, 
 
 THAT "THE PATH OF THE JUST is AS SHINING LIGHT, WHICH 
 
 SHINETH MORE AND MORE UNTO THE PERFECT DAY." 
 
 THE ABOVE MONUMENT WAS ERECTED 
 
 AT THE EXPENSE OF HIS PARISHIONERS AND FRIENDS, 
 
 TO TESTIFY THEIR LOVE OF THE MAN, AND TO RECORD IN THIS 
 
 CHURCH THE FAITHFULNESS OF HIS MINISTRY.
 
 At the Confessional. 131 
 
 Among the obituary notices of him which ap- 
 peared in the English papers at the time of his 
 death, was one in the Manchester Courier, from 
 which the following is an extract : 
 
 - In zeal, in tenderness, in piety, in wis- 
 dom, in activity, in usefulness ; as a friend, a 
 counselor, a pastor, a spiritual father, and an ex- 
 emplary pattern of all holy living, Mr. Clowes' 
 superior was not to be found; it would be difficult 
 to name his equal. 
 
 "lie was a scholar, a philosopher, a finished 
 gentleman, a luminous writer, an impressive 
 preacher, a practical Christian divine. 
 
 "In him the elements of an originally happy 
 nature were sweetly blended ; tempered and richly 
 adorned by an abundant portion of the spirit of 
 divine grace; holiness had attained great heights 
 first principles had gone on unto perfection. 
 
 " - In recording the excellence of this ven- 
 erable man and truly apostolic minister, it may be 
 allowed to mark, as prominent features of a cha- 
 racter in which all was lovely, his child-like sim- 
 plicity, his singleness of heart, the elevation of 
 his devotion, the cheerfulness of his piety, the
 
 132 Episcopalianism 
 
 beauty of his holiness, the charity of his zeal, his 
 bright imagination, his lively fancy, the ease of 
 his seriousness, the innocence of his mirth, the 
 purity of his exuberant joy. 
 
 " He was admirable in all the faculties and 
 powers of an enlightened mind ; but the charm 
 by which he won and ruled the hearts of all was 
 that grace in man which is the nearest image on 
 earth of a holy and merciful God, the boundless 
 benevolence of a truly catholic spirit. 
 
 " This admirable person enjoyed in a singular 
 degree through life, the respect and affection of 
 all by whom he was known ; but in an especial 
 manner, the veneration of his own flock, over 
 which (and it was his first and only cure of souls) 
 he was, by God's providence, the shepherd for the 
 very unusual term of nearly sixty-two years." 
 
 And this estimable man and much beloved Rec- 
 tor, was an affectionate receiver of the spiritual 
 doctrines and philosophy of Swedenborg for more 
 than fifty years. He taught them openly from his 
 pulpit as the genuine doctrines of Christianity. 
 He wrote many letters about them to his friends. 
 He conversed and lectured on them upon all
 
 At the Confessional. 133 
 
 suitable occasions. Probably no other man ever 
 did so much as he toward propagating these doc- 
 trines. Besides translating from the Latin eighteen 
 volumes of Swedcnborg's works, he wrote and 
 published more than forty works of his own (in- 
 cluding pamphlets) in explanation and defence of 
 the New Theology. 
 
 Of course he met with much opposition and 
 bitter persecution. At one time there were three 
 clergymen in his neighborhood, who held regular 
 weekly meetings for the purpose of crushing " the 
 growing heresy." The most unfounded rumors 
 respecting Swedenborg and his doctrines, and the 
 most bitter and scurrilous invectives, emanated 
 from this source almost daily. Nor were his per- 
 secutors content with employing their tongues 
 only ; they had recourse to their pens. They 
 wrote and published a pamphlet in which they 
 endeavored to prove that the writings of Sweden- 
 borg were opposed to religion and common sense. 
 Mr. Clowes at once replied to this pamphlet. 
 They next appealed to the Right Rev. Dr. Porteus, 
 then Bishop of the Diocese, preferring, in a formal 
 manner, the four following charges against Mr. 
 12
 
 134 Episcopalianism 
 
 Clowes: ist, that he denied the Trinity ; ad, that 
 he denied the Atonement ; 3d, that he went about 
 the country endeavoring to propagate the New 
 Doctrines ; 4th, that he had/m'<z/<? meetings at his 
 own house for the same purpose. Mr. Clowes was 
 accordingly summoned to appear before the Bishop 
 to answer to these charges. He appeared and an- 
 swered in a manner, it is said, quite satisfactory 
 to the Bishop, who is reported to have said after- 
 ward, that he "wished there were many more 
 John Clowes in his diocese." This damped the 
 ardor of his persecutors ; and from that time he 
 was permitted to preach and publish his own sen- 
 timents without further molestation. But the re- 
 sult might have been otherwise, had not the Bishop 
 himself been favorably disposed toward the New 
 Theology. 
 
 Mr. Clowes began to read Swedenborg with in- 
 terest in the fourth year after he accepted the rec- 
 torship of St. John's Church. " The True Chris- 
 tian Religion" was the first work he read; and 
 the following is his own account of the effect it 
 produced upon him : 
 
 "It is impossible for any language to express
 
 At tht Confessional. 135 
 
 the full effect wrought in my mind by the penisal 
 of this wonderful book. Suffice it, therefore, to 
 observe, that, in proceeding from the chapter on 
 the Creator and on Creation to the succeeding 
 chapters it seemed as if a continually increasing 
 blaze of new and recreating light was poured forth 
 on the delighted understanding, opening it to the 
 contemplation of the most sublime mysteries of 
 wisdom, and convincing it of the being of a God, 
 of the existence of an eternal world, of the interior 
 sanctities of the Holy Scripture, of the true nature 
 of Creation, Redemption, and Regeneration, in a 
 manner and degree, and with a force of satisfac- 
 tory evidence, in which those interesting subjects 
 had never been viewed before. The mind was no 
 longer perplexed about the proj>er Object of its 
 worship. All difficulties and doubts were removed 
 resjxxting the Sacred Scripture, or Word of God, 
 through the bright, and heretofore unseen, mani- 
 festation of their spiritual and interior contents, by 
 virtue of which discovery apparent inconsistencies 
 vanished, apparent contradictions were recon- 
 ciled ; and what before seemed trivial and nuga- 
 tory, assumed a new and interesting aspect; whilst
 
 136 Episcopalianism 
 
 the whole volume of Revelation was seen to be 
 full of sanctity, of wisdom, and of love from its 
 divine Author, and also to be in perpetual con- 
 nection with that Author, who is its inmost soul 
 its essential spirit and life. ' ' 
 
 And during the remainder of his life (nearly 
 sixty years) he was a diligent student and faithful 
 teacher of the Doctrines of Heaven as taught by 
 Swedenborg, or unfolded in the internal sense of 
 the Word. To cite again his own words : 
 
 "No sooner had I finished the perusal of the 
 Tnie Christian Religion, than the treatise on 
 Heaven and Hell, the Arcana Ccelestia, the Apoc- 
 alypse Revealed, the Angelic Wisdom concerning 
 the Divine Love and Wisdom, and also concern- 
 ing the Divine Providence, the Delights of Wis- 
 dom concerning Conjugial Love, etc., with other 
 minor works by the same author, were successively 
 read, or rather devoured, and as constantly ex- 
 cited wonder, delight, and edification. At the 
 same time a strong and ardent desire was enkin- 
 dled to put others in possession of the same sources 
 of heavenly intelligence." 
 
 Here we have the confession of one of the purest
 
 At the Confessional. 137 
 
 and best of men that ever lived, and one who was 
 capable of judging between the Old and the New 
 Theology or between the doctrines taught by the 
 Anglican Church and those taught by Sweden- 
 borg ; the confession of an ordained minister in 
 the Episcopal Church. He knew Episcopalian- 
 ism from beginning to end. He had been fa- 
 miliar with its doctrines from childhood ; had 
 studied and preached them for several years. 
 He understood equally well, too, the doctrines 
 and philosophy of the New Church as unfolded in 
 the writings of Swedenborg ; for he had made 
 himself thoroughly acquainted with these by long 
 and patient study. And what is his confession? 
 Why, that " Episcopalianism" as compared with 
 " Swedenborgianism," is as darkness to light is 
 delusive and superficial and empty and unsatisfy- 
 ing. And in respect to the great doctrines of 
 Christianity the doctrines concerning God, the 
 Sacred Scripture, the Spiritual World, Creation, 
 Redemption, Regeneration, etc. he confesses 
 that the perusal of Swcdenborg's True Christian 
 Religion had opened his mind to the contempla- 
 tion of sublime mysteries of wisdom " in a man-
 
 138 Episcopalianism 
 
 ner and degree, and with a force of satisfactory 
 evidence, in which those interesting subjects had 
 never been viewed before. ' ' 
 
 And before his death this saintly man wrote an 
 "AFFECTIONATE ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY," urg- 
 ing them for their own sakes as well as for the 
 sake of the Lord's kingdom on earth, to give the 
 writings of Swedenborg a patient and prayerful 
 examination. His appeal to his brother ministers 
 is so affectionate and earnest, and the request he 
 makes is so reasonable, that I offer no apology for 
 introducing liberal extracts from it here. He 
 writes : 
 
 "REV. BRETHREN, Deeply impressed with 
 veneration for your sacred character as minis- 
 ters of the truth, and with as real a concern 
 for the interests of that truth of which you are 
 the ministers, I feel myself induced by many 
 powerful and pressing motives, to call your at- 
 tention for a moment to a few considerations 
 respecting the theological writings of Emanuel 
 Swedenborg, so far as the contents of those writ- 
 ings appear to me more immediately to affect
 
 At the Confessional. 139 
 
 the duties imposed on you by your holy func- 
 tions and high station. 
 
 " You are in a peculiar sense the Ministers of 
 God, entrysled with the oracles of his Word, and 
 commissioned to read, to meditate upon, to un- 
 derstand, to preach and explain, the laws of the 
 eternal wisdom therein contained. From you the 
 people receive the interpretation of those laws, 
 and their understanding of them must needs, in a 
 great measure, depend on yours. If the light which 
 is in you be darkness, the light which is in the 
 people will most probably be darkness also ; but 
 if your bodies be full of light, it may then be rea- 
 sonably expected that those of the people will be 
 likewise full of light. The state, therefore, of re- 
 ligious knowledge in the land, will ever take its 
 standard from you, and of consequence, whatso- 
 ever is connected with religious knowledge has a 
 peculiar claim upon your attention, and you must 
 necessarily feel yourselves bound by every motive 
 of duty and good conscience to take cognizance 
 thereof in the fear of God, and out of due regard 
 to the interests of that truth with which you are 
 more especially entrusted. . . .
 
 140 Episcopalianism 
 
 "The theological writings in question are con- 
 fessedly of a religious kind, treating on religious 
 subjects; and containing various and interesting 
 explications of the WORD OF GOD, which is the 
 divine fountain and foundation of all religion. 
 Much wonderful, and hitherto hidden, informa- 
 tion respecting religion, is brought to light in 
 them. Various religious errors are detected and 
 exposed, various religious truths too are mani- 
 fested, recommended and confirmed. The minis- 
 ters of religion, therefore, must needs feel them- 
 selves particularly interested in, and in duty 
 bound to a careful and candid examination of, 
 these writings, and of the ground and reasonable- 
 ness of those high titles by which they are an- 
 nounced to the public. 
 
 "And as such examination implies at least pe- 
 rusal, serious attention, candor and impartiality 
 of judgment, the exercise of these virtues will also 
 be expected from you. To condemn, therefore, 
 or approve blindly; to suffer your judgment to be 
 influenced by popular prejudice, or to be deter- 
 mined by the sentiments of others rather than by 
 your own ; to be deterred from engaging in a de-
 
 At the Confessional. 141 
 
 liberate and equitable inquiry, because you have 
 heard the author vilified, and his works stigma- 
 tized by those who perhaps never read them, o> 
 who have an interest in condemning them ; all this 
 would be criminal in you, and expose you to the 
 censure of all wise and discerning men, and espe- 
 cially of your own consciences at that hour when 
 you appear in private before the Maker of hearts 
 and the Inspector of secret purposes. 
 
 "Let it be supposed for a moment, that you 
 had lived in Judea at the time when the incarnate 
 Word appeared there to give light to them who sat 
 in darkness ; and that your names at this interest- 
 ing period had been enrolled in the Jewish priest- 
 hood : It is very plain that under these circum- 
 stances your duty would have called you to form 
 a judgment of that wonderful person, his preten- 
 sions and his doctrine. But in forming this judg- 
 ment, would you have thought it sufficient to 
 hearken only to the voice of the multitude? Some 
 said he is a good man, and that never man spake 
 like him ; others said nay, but he deceiveth the peo- 
 ple ; he has a devil and is mad, why hear ye him f 
 The voice of the multitude, therefore, was divided,
 
 142 Episcopalianism 
 
 and might have led you right or led you wrong, 
 according as you received your report from this or 
 that quarter. But would you have thought it safe, 
 or prudent, or conscientious, or becoming your 
 characters as members of the Sanhedrim, entrusted 
 with the oracles of God and the interpretation of 
 prophecy and the instruction of the people, and 
 peculiarly called at that period of time to discover 
 the marks of Messiahship, to detect false pretend- 
 ers, and point out the true Christ would you, I 
 say, have thought it safe and equitable under these 
 circumstances, to see with another's eyes, and hear 
 with another's ears, instead of using your own? 
 Would you not rather have thought it your duty, 
 and have made it your business, to see and hear 
 the wonderful man yourselves? to examine his 
 doctrines and pretensions impartially? to acquaint 
 yourselves with the tenor of his life and conversa- 
 tion ? to remove from your own hearts every un- 
 reasonable suspicion, jealousy, or prejudice, which 
 might pervert your judgment? in short, so to con- 
 sult, by sincerity and purity of intention, the di- 
 vine will and wisdom in yourselves, that you might
 
 At the Confessional. 143 
 
 know of the doctrine whether it were of God, or 
 whether the speaker spake of himself? 
 
 " But methinks I hear you urge, as a final and 
 unanswerable argument against acceding to the 
 testimony of Swedenborg, that the dispensation 
 of grace and truth in Jesus Christ, when he be- 
 came incarnate here on earth, is the last and 
 crowning dispensation which God hath to offer 
 unto mankind ; that it is all-complete and all- 
 sufficient for every purpose of salvation, being the 
 end of the law and the prophets, and containing 
 so full and perfect a revelation of the will of the 
 Creator to his creatures, as to sui>ersede the 
 necessity of any further dispensation ; conse- 
 quently no further dispensation is to be expected, 
 and nothing is required of the ministers of the 
 gospel but to believe in and preach Jesus Christ 
 and obedience to his commandments, which will 
 be abundantly comj)etent to secure every possible 
 blessing both to themselves and the people com- 
 mitted to their care. It is granted : The dispen- 
 sation of grace and truth in Jesus Christ is as you
 
 1 44 Episcopalianism 
 
 represent it, all-complete and all-sufficient ; and it 
 will assuredly be well with you and with your 
 people, and you can want no other dispensation to 
 secure your eternal happiness, if Jesus Christ be 
 preached, and his commandments obeyed. But 
 let me ask, is this the case ? 
 
 "In the first place, is Jesus Christ preached? 
 Do you believe on him yourselves as the ONE ONLY 
 LORD AND GOD of Heaven and Earth, and do 
 you teach your people so to believe on him ? Do 
 you acknowledge the FATHER and the SON to be 
 one in Him, as he Himself hath taught? and that 
 of consequence He is the manifested Jehovah, the 
 sole Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator of man ? 
 Or rather, have not some among you entirely 
 rejected this your God, by denying his Divinity? 
 And have not others divided this one only Lord 
 and God into three, making one God of the 
 Father, another of the Son, and another of the 
 Holy Ghost ? Do not you regard JESUS CHRIST 
 either as a mere creature, or as a Divine Person 
 separate from, and subordinate to, the Father? 
 Do not you regard the Holy Ghost as a Person 
 separate from both, assigning to each separately
 
 At the Confessional. 145 
 
 distinct attributes and offices? Is not your idea 
 of God become thus altogether confused and per- 
 plexed, so that you know not to what or to whom 
 to direct your worship, sometimes addressing 
 yourselves to the Father, sometimes to the Son, 
 and sometimes to the Holy Ghost ; but never to 
 Jesus Christ alone as the one only God, in whose 
 divine person the sacred Trinity of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost is contained? And is not 
 this confusion and perplexity in your ideas of 
 Jesus Christ, manifested by want of power in 
 your public preaching and ministry? 
 
 " I repeat it, therefore, again ; be these writings 
 true or false; be their authority well or ill-founded ; 
 be they from the Father of Lights, or from the 
 father of lies, it is your office and duty, as 
 ministers of the truth, to examine well into the 
 nature of their evidence, and the degree of 
 credibility which is due to them. You cannot 
 possibly excuse yourselves from the discharge of 
 this duty. A regard to truth and the interests of 
 religion demands it of you ; and you are bound to 
 
 greater caution herein, inasmuch as the judgment 
 IS K
 
 1 46 Episcopalianism 
 
 -you form will not affect yourselves only, but will 
 affect also the people committed to your care ; so 
 that the salvation of thousands may possibly de- 
 pend upon your decision in this interesting case. 
 If Swedenborg, therefore, be a heaven-taught 
 scribe, your own consciences will dictate to you in 
 a more powerful language than that of any human 
 words, how you ought to hear what he teaches ; 
 and not only hear him yourselves, but also make 
 his doctrines known to others, as far as ability is 
 given. And if he be a. false teacher and deceiver, 
 you are still equally bound to discover and make 
 known the fallacy and deceitfulness by which he 
 hath already begun to impose upon thousands, 
 that so the error may be nipped in the bud. 
 
 "Many prejudices, it must be acknowledged, 
 arising from a variety of sources, at present stand 
 in the way to oppose in your minds the testimony 
 of the honorable author here presented before you. 
 But, let me ask, what teacher of truth, whether 
 ancient or modern, religious or philosophical, 
 hath not prejudice opposed ? The prophets of old, 
 you well know, were each of them in their turn, 
 violently assaulted by prejudice. The God of
 
 At the Confessional. 147 
 
 Truth Himself, when manifested in the flesh, did 
 not escape prejudice. His most venerable follow- 
 ers in all ages, after the example of their Divine 
 Master, have had to combat with the same un- 
 reasonable adversary, prejudice. Prejudice, too, 
 has had the boldness to oppose the conclusions 
 of a sound philosophy, as well as of a sound 
 theology; and you need not be informed that, 
 had the voice of prejudice prevailed, the brightest 
 discoveries of the most able philosopher that ever 
 contemplated the works of the God of nature, had 
 still laid buried in obscurity. 
 
 "I wish only further to observe on the subject, 
 that it is impossible for you to read many pages of 
 the writings in question, seriously, and in a Chris- 
 tian spirit, without discovering some things of 
 importance, which must needs affect every well- 
 disjx)sed mind. You will sec, for example, the 
 Divinity of the Christian Redeemer, and his one- 
 ness with the Father, principally insisted upon, 
 and demonstrated with such a power of solid 
 proof, deduced from the Sacred Scriptures in 
 general, as will supply the most effectual antidote
 
 148 Episcopalianism 
 
 against the poisonous tenets of modern Arianism 
 and Socinianism. You will see, also, the sacred 
 doctrine of the HOLY TRINITY explained and 
 elucidated in a manner so simple and yet sublime, 
 so agreeable to the Word of God and at the same 
 time so consonant to sound reason, so satisfactory 
 to the understanding and so edifying to the life, 
 that you will wonder how so much darkness could 
 ever prevail in the world respecting so bright and 
 clear a truth ; but will wonder still more, that now 
 the truth is discovered in its brightness, all man- 
 kind do not immediately assent to and rejoice in 
 it. You will see, likewise, the sanctity of t lie Holy 
 Scriptures taught and explained, and the hidden 
 wisdom thereof opened and brought to light by 
 the doctrine of correspondences, with such a full- 
 ness of conviction as will at the same time both 
 greatly astonish and edify you, while it supplies 
 an internal evidence of the Divinity of the sacred 
 Word, and particularly of the Apocalyptic part of 
 it, infinitely surpassing, yet not overturning but 
 confirming, all its external evidence. 
 
 "You will see, further, the purest, plainest, and 
 most consistent doctrine of life presented to your
 
 At the Confessional. 149 
 
 view, and contrasted with those impure, dark, and 
 inconsistent tenets which are at this day so fre- 
 quently taught and circulated under the venerable 
 name of Christian precepts. And here you will 
 be surprised to find every evil of life, and every 
 error of doctrine, detected and described, which 
 in these latter times threaten the very existence of 
 religion in the kingdoms of the earth, and cause 
 so much serious alarm in the minds of many Chris- 
 tians who look further than the mere skin and com- 
 plexion of the Church to form a judgment of the 
 soundness of its constitution. You will see, also, 
 pointed out, the root whence such anti-Christian 
 evils and errors have sprung how they have all 
 originated in mistaken ideas of the Divine Being, 
 his nature and mode of existence and operation, 
 and in the consequent separation of the three es- 
 sentials of Christian life and salvation, viz. : char- 
 ity, faith, and good works. And while you lament 
 the unhappy causes and consequences of such an 
 unscriptural and irrational theology which you will 
 here see figuratively depicted under the significa- 
 live images of Dragon, Beast, false Prophet, and 
 
 the great IWiore, mentioned in the Revelation, you 
 
 1.1
 
 150 Episcopalianism 
 
 will not fail to rejoice in the prospect of an order 
 of pure truth and doctrine about to be manifested 
 from Heaven to mankind, signified and repre- 
 sented by the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of Heaven, whereby all false, 
 perverted principles of faith and life will be dissi- 
 pated in such pure minds as are meet for its recep- 
 tion ; and the understanding be enlightened, the 
 will purified, and the life restored to the order of 
 heaven, a near and blessed conjunction will again 
 take place between the Creator and his creatures, 
 predicted and described in these words : ' The 
 tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell 
 with them, and they shall be his people, and God 
 himself shall be with them their God. ' 
 
 "But after all, it is not the testimony of fact and 
 experience uniting their evidence with that of our 
 author's interpretation of prophecy; neither is it 
 the brightness and power of divine truth discover- 
 able in such interpretation ; nor yet the consist- 
 ency, the harmony, the clearness, the edifying 
 tendency of every page of his Theological Writ- 
 ings, which will of themselves lead to conviction,
 
 At the Confessional. 151 
 
 and beget a full persuasion of the author's faithful 
 testimony in your minds or in the minds of others. 
 To produce this happy effect, it is necessary that 
 the reader's understanding be previously prepared, 
 by a meet disposition, for the reception of truth; 
 without which preparation the truth itself, let it be 
 ever so much confirmed, must needs appear untrue, 
 and the more so in proportion to the unprepared 
 state of the mind and temper, agreeable to the 
 declaration of the TRUTH ITSELF, ' He who doeth 
 evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest 
 his deeds should be reproved. ' 
 
 " If this consideration is permitted to have its 
 due influence, it will doubtless lead you, and every 
 reader of the writings in question, to attend well 
 to the spirit and disposition in which you read, 
 from a prudent and profitable suspicion that some- 
 thing may l>e wrong in the state of the person's 
 mind who reads, as well as in the matter of the 
 book which he reads; and that it is not always the 
 fault of an author that his works are not generally 
 received and approved. You will, therefore, 
 begin, like pure lovers of the truth, before you 
 read, to remove from your hearts all those unrea-
 
 152 Episcopalianism 
 
 sonable prejudices and partialities which might 
 tend to blind your eyes and pervert your judg- 
 ments. You will recollect our Lord's words 
 where he saith, 1 1 thank the e, O Father, Lord of 
 Heaven and Earth, because thou hast hid these 
 things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed 
 them unto babes ;' and with these words in your 
 remembrance, you will see the expediency of put- 
 ting away from you all that mere worldly wisdom 
 and prudence which they condemn as tending to 
 hide the things of God, and the equal necessity 
 of cherishing that child-like and simple temper of 
 mind to which alone the things of God ever have 
 been and ever will be made manifest. You will 
 be taught, also, by the same divine words, in your 
 examination of truth, not to place an ill-grounded 
 dependence on any attainments of mere human 
 science, or any natural talents or intellectual abili- 
 ties you may possess; knowing that such advan- 
 tages, unless under the guidance of a humble 
 and teachable spirit, have, in all ages of the 
 Church, excited the bitterest persecution against 
 the truth of God, insomuch that when this Truth 
 appeared on earth in Person, the cry of Crucify
 
 At the Confessional. 153 
 
 //////, crucify him, was principally at the instigation 
 of learned critics, deep-read scholars, admired 
 orators, inquisitive philosophers, and especially 
 of what were deemed at the time able expositors 
 of the Divine Oracles. You will be further cau- 
 tioned by the above words, in your examination 
 of truth, against that servile attachment to great 
 names, and the influence of human authorities, 
 which is ever suggesting the old question, Have 
 any of the rulers beliei'ed on him ? And remem- 
 bering that rulers may be deceived, and have been 
 deceived, as well as other j)eople, yea, and are 
 frequently more exposed to deception, as being 
 more exposed to the temptations arising from an 
 overweening conceit of their own wisdom and pru- 
 dence, you will assert the freedom of thinking and 
 judging for yourselves in that which so essentially 
 concerns yourselves; and will be bold, in the pur- 
 suit of truth, not only to oppose all motives of 
 worldly interest and honor, but even the most 
 respectable powers and authorities amongst men, 
 whensoever they stand in competition with the 
 higher power and authority of that wisdom which 
 is from above.
 
 154 Episcopalianism 
 
 " Commending you to the guidance of this wis- 
 dom in all things, and sincerely wishing you in pos- 
 session of all its comforts, I remain, with all possi- 
 ble veneration for your sacred office and character, 
 " Your affectionate Brother and Fellow-laborer in 
 
 the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, to whom be Glory 
 
 and Dominion in all Ages, 
 
 "JOHN CLOWES." 
 
 Such is the unbiased testimony of a minister 
 of the .Church of England, to the truth and value 
 of Swedenborg's writings; the testimony, too, 
 not of an ignorant or prejudiced man, but of one 
 who had acquainted himself with these writings 
 by patient and thorough study of them, who was 
 declared to be " an exemplary pattern of all holy 
 living," having, we are assured, "enjoyed in a 
 singular degree through life the respect and affec- 
 tion of all who knew him." Such the confession 
 of a singularly wise and good man, as to the rela- 
 tive truth and beauty of that system of theology 
 contained in the writings of Swedenborg, and that 
 commonly taught and accepted by the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church.
 
 At the Confessional. 155 
 
 Similar confessions have been made by other 
 ministers of the Church of England, who have 
 read Swedenborg with sufficient care and candor 
 to be able to form a correct judgment of his 
 writings. 
 
 I have already referred to Rev. Mr. Gorman, 
 whose recent work on " The Athanasian Creed," 
 gives abundant evidence not only of his familiarity 
 with the writings of Swedenborg, but of his cor- 
 dial acceptance of their teachings on every essen- 
 tial point of Christian doctrine. Listen to the 
 following confessions of this writer, in addition to 
 those already quoted : 
 
 " From the time of the Council of Nice to the 
 present hour, the Church, in a doctrinal point of 
 view, has reeled to and fro like a drunken man 
 between one or the other of the Protean modi- 
 fications of Tritheism and Arianism." The Atha- 
 nasian Creed and Modern Thought. Preface, 
 p. xx. 
 
 The time here alluded to, is the very point 
 >\-here Swedenborg says the corruptions and de- 
 cline of the Christian church commenced, and 
 in consequence of the great fundamental falsity
 
 156 Episcopalianism 
 
 decreed by the Council of Bishops then assembled. 
 To cite his own language : 
 
 " In order to overthrow the pernicious error of 
 Arius, it was framed, decided upon and ratified by 
 the members of that Council [to wit : of Nice, 
 assembled A.D., 325] that three Divine Persons, 
 Father, Son and Holy Ghost, existed from eter- 
 nity, to each of whom belonged personality, exist- 
 ence and subsistence, in and of Himself. . . . 
 From that time numerous abominable heresies 
 respecting God and the person of Christ began 
 to spring up, and Antichrists began to lift up their 
 heads, to divide God into three Persons, and the 
 Lord the Saviour into two, and so to destroy the 
 temple built by the Lord through the Apostles ; 
 and this until not one stone was left upon another 
 that was not thrown down, according to the Lord's 
 words in Matthew xxiv. 2, where by the temple 
 is meant not alone that at Jerusalem, but also the 
 church, the consummation or end of which is 
 treated of in that whole chapter." True Christian 
 Religion, n. 174. 
 
 Again, says Mr. Gorman : 
 
 " There is [in the Church] on the one hand a
 
 At the Confessional. 157 
 
 desolating Tritheism, and the phantasms to which 
 it necessarily gives origin ; and on the other a 
 naturalistic Atheism, the subtle poison of which 
 induces on the mind into which it finds an en- 
 trance, stupefaction and torpor touching things 
 intellectual and spiritual." p. 113. 
 
 And again, protesting against the commonly- 
 received doctrine of Tripersonality as taught and 
 accepted in the Church of England, he says: 
 
 "The Father is/ not out of the Lord. The 
 Ix>rd and the Father are thus ONE BEING, there- 
 fore, ONE PERSON, in the strict and proper sense 
 of the term. The so-called 'hypostatic union* of 
 two 'natures' is a human scholastic figment, which 
 has no authority from God's Word ; but on the 
 contrary, in so far as theologians have succeed- 
 ed in explaining what they mean by it, is mani- 
 festly repugnant to Holy Scripture and right rea- 
 son. 
 
 " It is to be noted, moreover, that the idea of 
 three distinct 'Persons' constituting the Divine 
 Being (as commonly understood), and the idea 
 of one God, cannot possibly co-exist in the same 
 
 mind. The one of necessity expels the other. 
 u
 
 158 Episcopalianism 
 
 If the lips confess one, the mind is nevertheless 
 thinking of three. . . . 
 
 "The quarter whence danger to the welfare of 
 Christianity is most to be apprehended, the spe- 
 cial form of deadly error which now threatens the 
 Church of England, is that which pertains to this 
 doctrine of the Lord's Divine-Human Person. . . . 
 Events are rapidly hastening the solemn public 
 discussion of the Arian or Socinian hypothesis. 
 Is the Church prepared to enter upon a work so 
 arduous and momentous ? 
 
 "Such a discussion involves a reconsideration 
 of the First Principles of Christian Theology. 
 The success of Socinianism will be, as a matter 
 of course, the utter ruin of the Church. For that 
 hypothesis contradicts the central fact of the con- 
 ception of the Lord's Humanity from the very 
 and essential Divinity itself. It contradicts the 
 philosophical truth, that the body of every man is 
 the effigies of its own proper soul, and of none 
 other. It contradicts the fact of our Lord's resur- 
 rection with his entire body, in a manner different 
 from that of all other men. It leaves out of view 
 what was actually revealed much more what was
 
 'At the Confessional. 159 
 
 invoked in that wondrous revelation on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration, when the Lord's face 
 shone on the opened spiritual eyes of his disciples 
 as with all the splendor of the noonday sun. . . . 
 It is incompatible with obedience to the precept 
 that faith is to be directed to HIM in his Human- 
 ity as its only intelligible object. It denies the 
 truth that He is one with the Father. It knows 
 nothing of his glorification, in a transcendent Di- 
 vine sense. It denies that He possesses all power 
 in heaven and on earth. It altogether ignores the 
 primary truth of all Revelation that in all his re- 
 lations toward man the Lord is essentially Infinite, 
 Eternal, Divine. It thus implies the destruction 
 of all Scriptural spiritual theology. It completely 
 closes the inner understanding; and by so doing, 
 enables those who adopt it thoroughly, 'to read 
 the Bible like any other book ' with an accuracy 
 fatal to all spiritual discernment. 
 
 " This idea, then, of the Lord God and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ as a Divine-Human Person [an idea 
 everywhere prominent in the writings of Sweden- 
 borg], is pre-eminently the noblest, the purest, 
 the most exalted, the most influential for good,
 
 1 60 Episcopalianism 
 
 that the human mind by its highest reach can ever 
 conceive. It conjoins, really and consciously, the 
 Infinite and the finite, the Creator and the crea- 
 ture, as the ray of light connects the eye with the 
 sun. It serves to lift, in part, the veil of that inner 
 world which has been so fully revealed, and yet so 
 dimly discerned in Holy Scripture." pp. 160-162. 
 But does Episcopalianism embrace this idea? 
 Does it anywhere recognize or teach it? 
 
 Another minister of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, Rev. Edwin Paxton Hood, the author 
 of several interesting works, published a book in 
 London not many years ago, entitled "Sweden- 
 borg : A Biography and an Exposition." The 
 work was written purely in the interests of truth 
 and true religion. To a friend (so he tells us in 
 the Preface to this work) who, hearing that he 
 was writing such a book, said to him, "Then of 
 course you are a Swedenborgian," he replies: "I 
 am no more a Swedenborgian than I am a Bun- 
 yanist, a Howeist, a Bernardite, a Franciscan, a 
 Moreist, a Behmenite, or a Lawite. The sayings 
 and thoughts of all great and true men are precious
 
 At the Confessional. 161 
 
 to me ; and I hope I can both receive them and 
 retail them without parting with myself." 
 
 Mr. Hood may, therefore, be regarded as an 
 eminently independent witness in this case. He 
 knows what Episcopalianism is, and could have 
 had no conceivable motive in misrepresenting or 
 disparaging any of its beliefs or teachings. He 
 has also read Swedenborg enough to pretty thor- 
 oughly master his system of spiritual philosophy, 
 or at least to know what he teaches on all doc- 
 trines of vital importance. What says this wit- 
 ness? himself a minister of the Church of Eng- 
 land. I shall give his confessions on a few points 
 only. Hear, first, his testimony to Swedenborg's 
 perfect sanity for Bishop Burgess pronounces 
 him a "monomaniac," and his theological sys- 
 tem, therefore, "one vast, utter delusion." 
 
 " Sanity is the clue exercise of our whole man- 
 hood body, mind, and spirit the frame, the 
 intellect, and the will or affections ; and it is ob- 
 vious that this high sanity can only be in a state 
 where sin, the great disjointer and deranger of 
 humanity sin, which is insanity, is excluded. 
 But if we look at Swedenborg's career, we find all 
 14 L
 
 1 6 2 Episeopalianism 
 
 his life balanced and harmonized. If ever there 
 lived a man who might claim to present to the 
 world a completed being, he was the man." p. 
 162. 
 
 Of the Athanasian Creed as set forth in the 
 Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, 
 Mr. Hood says : 
 
 " The Athanasian Creed is a most astonishing 
 affair. . . . We have ever been amazed at the 
 boundless arrogance the haughty, awful impu- 
 dence of the thing that any man should dare to 
 say on so dark a subject so much more than God 
 himself has said ; should so, from the finite stand- 
 point, close up and moat round the avenues of 
 Infinite mercy and Infinite personality. Truly we 
 may be very tender on such matters, but we can- 
 not read it without a shudder ; it is the embodi- 
 ment of a faith working without love [i. e. faith 
 alone] a faith singing hollow words, rattling like 
 the bones of a skeleton, without a heart. The 
 Athanasian Creed is the feudal keep of Theology; 
 it bristles from all its turrets with cruel spear- 
 points ; every word grins like an opening man- 
 chicolation ; in it God no longer looks like the
 
 At the Confessional. \ 63 
 
 Father Christ no longer looks like the Saviour 
 the Spirit no longer looks like the Comforter; it 
 repels it does not invite like a stern old battle- 
 ment of the Middle Ages; it is lonely and di- 
 vorced from sympathy ; it is so cleverly con- 
 structed that castle of words that it probably 
 contains nothing that any sincere Christian in fact 
 doubts, and yet, perhaps, not one in a million of 
 all the saved could understand it that Athanasian 
 Creed ; and it contains within it dungeons, racks, 
 blocks, and stakes. It is a ruin, however; it has 
 done something to bring indignation on the idea 
 of creeds at all. It is a tower with the drawbridge 
 ever up; claiming to be the wicket gate of Chris- 
 tianity." p. 249. 
 
 Then he comes to some of the central doctrines 
 of Christianity ; and here we have his confession 
 touching both the Old and the New or the Epis- 
 copalian and the Swedenborgian view : 
 
 " But it is now necessary that we direct some 
 attention to those views of the Divine Being and 
 character which more especially belong to the 
 province of Revelation, as unfolded in the pages 
 of Swedenborg. . . . Oh, if men would but form
 
 1 64 Episcopalianism 
 
 their ideas of God from his Word for themselves, 
 rather than on those darkening and blackened 
 glosses by which, from age to age, even the best 
 men have sought to obscure, or, seeking to make 
 clear, have really obscured, the Divine Being. 
 
 "Thus the doctrine of the Trinity has, to our 
 thought, been purposely and intentionally sur- 
 rounded by obscurity. We have been angry with 
 any effort made to roll away the clouds, and to 
 present it as in truth it is in Scripture plain, in- 
 telligible, rational, necessary. . . . 
 
 "Are we Polytheists? At least, are we Trithe- 
 ists? . . . Do Trinitarians think of Three Gods? 
 Is there not in much of our Christian worship as 
 gross a Tripersonality as in Grecian mythology, or 
 in the Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva of Hindoo pagan- 
 ism ? And have we not often noticed that in most 
 of our prayers we do not treat the Personalities as 
 equal ? Our prayer to God the Father, is as to a 
 person quite distinct from and superior to the Son. 
 We do not often in prayer address the Son at all. 
 ... It may be doubted whether we do not often 
 use language we do not understand, when we speak 
 of Christ as ' the gift of God.' When we implore
 
 At the Confessional. 165 
 
 Christ to intercede with the Father for us, we do 
 in these phrases show that we entertain a sense of 
 the inferiority of the second adorable Person ; and 
 it is the inevitable consequence of our teaching 
 that it should be so." p. 251. 
 
 Then he proceeds to give Swedenborg's doc- 
 trine on this subject, with evident satisfaction and 
 approval. 
 
 "Swedenborg devoutly believed in the Doctrine 
 of the Trinity not in three Gods, but in one 
 God. . . . The Lord Jesus Christ is, with the 
 Father and the Spirit, the One only True God. 
 This is Swedenborg's great Faith." pp. 251, 252. 
 
 Again he says : 
 
 " It was Swedenborg's idea of the Trinity, that 
 it existed in one, as the Will, Understanding, and 
 Energy as Cause, Manifestation, and Operation; 
 and this is plain, however difficult any opposite 
 method of interpretation may be. The Unity of 
 the Godhead is a doctrine so dear to Christian 
 minds the Trinity has so often proved a stum- 
 bling-block to young believers, and a ground of 
 contempt to sneering skeptics, that every one 
 must hail a solution that may at once retain the
 
 i66 Episcopalianism 
 
 grandeur and the intention of the mystery, and 
 yet make it more plain to the understanding. We 
 would be the last to reject Revelation on account 
 of its mysteries : . . . but it would be madness to 
 prefer the mystery to the sunlight, when the one 
 streams through the heart and region of the other." 
 
 P- 257- 
 
 Mr. Hood then passes on to another central 
 doctrine of Christianity "the great fact in hu- 
 man history called Regeneration." And the fol- 
 lowing is his confession on the subject : 
 
 "The new birth is the everlasting puzzle, and 
 the occasion of everlasting sneers and contempt to 
 almost all persons who have not known the great 
 change the birth out of Nature and above Na- 
 ture the birth, of which the birth and life of 
 Jesus was a type and an illustration. . . . Sweden- 
 borg maintains the reality of this new birth. It 
 is [as he explains it] just what it is by Jesus Christ 
 declared to be; it is the birth of a new manhood 
 beneath the old ; it is the ingermination of the 
 divine Spirit of all Truth by its Author and Foun- 
 tain ; it is the inflowing of a new life, or life in a 
 new degree and in new manifestation. This is
 
 At the Confessional. 167 
 
 the new birth one of the most clear, beautiful, 
 rational doctrines of our holy faith, in spite of all 
 that superstition has done to encumber it with 
 falsehoods; in spite of all that infidelity has done 
 to bring it into odium, derision and contempt. . . . 
 
 "Regeneration in the sense of our writer, is not 
 a work of faith. Faith may be operative in pro- 
 ducing it; but it alone can no more produce the 
 New Birth, than the solving of a mathematical 
 problem can create a planet ; neither is it merely 
 that change of life which may result from change 
 of ideas and impressions, and from enlarged intel- 
 ligence. . . . Regeneration itself, in the estima- 
 tion of many writers and speakers, is not so much 
 a fact as a shadowy and mythic event in human 
 history. The reality has not been felt as Sweden- 
 denborg felt it, by most writers. It has been the 
 doubtful land of Theologic opinion perpetually 
 insisted on, and yet in few instances comparatively 
 really realized." p. 259. 
 
 And then he quotes, with manifest approval, 
 two or three pages on the subject from Sweden- 
 borg's "True Christian Religion." 
 
 Hear Mr. Hood's testimony in regard also to
 
 1 68 Episcopalianism 
 
 the written Word. He has a chapter on " Sacred 
 Hieroglyphics" which he introduces with a legend 
 called "the mysterious lock," whose "applica- 
 tion" he says, "is obvious." According to the 
 legend, there was once discovered on the plains 
 of Arabia, a Building of colossal size and grand- 
 eur, containing innumerable halls, galleries, and 
 chambers filled with all beautiful and precious 
 things. No one could enter that Building and 
 thread its delightful but intricate mazes, without 
 the Plan which lay in a golden Chest or Ark 
 guarded by a mysterious Lock. And thus the 
 legend ran : 
 
 "What Key would fit those wonderful wards? 
 The Architect alone could give the Key. He had 
 placed the plan and inventory within the golden 
 Ark, reserving thus his own right over his own 
 Building. But the ambition of mankind set to 
 work to construct keys innumerable ; still the lock 
 would not move. One bold and daring race, 
 unable to find the key, sought to break open the 
 Ark ; they hammered on its sacred cornices of 
 gold, from whence indignant lightnings shone 
 and flashed ; they beat upon the lock and sought
 
 At the Confessional. 169 
 
 to prize it, but it would not yield ; and then as a 
 last resource, they sought to steal the golden 
 Chest, boasting that, as they had it in their pos- 
 session, the whole of the Pyramid Palace must be 
 theirs ; and they covered it with their black cloaks 
 and albs, and ran away believing they had it; 
 but to this day unmoved and uninjured it lies in 
 the centre of the Palace, and very amazing indeed 
 it is to see certain of the robber race strutting 
 through the outcourts of the Building, boasting, 
 as they point to its walls, that it is all theirs. . . . 
 
 "Alas for us! We all know the Building we 
 have all walked through many parts of it. But 
 who will find for us the sacred Key? for it is 
 said that when the Key shall be found, and the 
 finder shall walk through the Palace with the Plan, 
 every lamp, self-lighted, will blaze around the 
 splendid rooms ; the gates and pillars of precious 
 stones the Arabesques and Mosaics will inter- 
 fold and flash to and fro like living rainbows. . . . 
 Oh that one would give us the Key !" pp. 367, 
 368. 
 
 And this writer believes that the great Archi- 
 tect has given to Swedenborg the Key to the 
 
 15
 
 1 70 Episcopalianism 
 
 sublime mysteries of the Word to its deep 
 spiritual meaning. He says : 
 
 "The Bible is written from Appearances and 
 from Correspondences. How can the Book be at 
 all understood unless this be considered ? But in 
 order that there may be some attempt at solution, 
 let us attempt the analysis of the doctrine of cer- 
 tain Correspondences. We believe it will be 
 found that, after a little study in reading the Scrip- 
 tures, we shall learn to think not from the expres- 
 sions, but from the hidden significations. Swe- 
 denborg removes the veil ; and truly wonderful it 
 is to find how, by this principle of interpretation, 
 the most opposite passages of the Sacred Book are 
 found to have consistency and coherence; the 
 mind of the Book becomes more plain and clear. 
 As it is, the unenlightened mind is compelled, in 
 'hearing, to hear and not to understand,' and in 
 ' seeing, to see and not perceive. ' What is the 
 greater part of the Sacred Writings to most minds, 
 but a tone a sound without a meaning or a 
 sense?" p. 369. 
 
 "You may denounce Swedenborg as a fanatic, 
 a dreamer, a mystic ; but at any rate you must
 
 At the Confessional. 171 
 
 have his sacred piety and exalted aspirations in 
 some homage, before whom the priest's Breast- 
 plate, ihe Tabernacle in the wilderness, the 
 magnificence of Solomon's Temple, gleam out 
 with meaning as well as lustre, receiving and re- 
 flecting light from the parables of our Lord, the 
 harp of prophecy, and the city of the New Jeru- 
 salem with its twelve manner of stones." p. 382. 
 
 "Why did the Holy Spirit speak to man by 
 images? to perplex, to baffle, to confound? 
 Surely not ; but that the words might be seen to 
 contain, as in an Ark, things more sacred than 
 words alone can reveal." p. 385. 
 
 " Scripture has a literal writing and significa- 
 tion all may read all may understand ; and it is 
 sufficient for the salvation and understanding of 
 all. But there is a hidden writing a name like 
 that upon the ' white stone, 1 ' which none may 
 read but those to whom it is given.' The Saviour 
 in his words and parables declared this ; it is the 
 principle of the old Jewish services; it is the 
 principle of Prophetic Writing; it is adopted by 
 our Lord in his discourses, and evidently indicated 
 in his miracles ; and the canon of Scripture closes
 
 172 Episcopalianism 
 
 with a most wonderful illustration of it. It is a 
 hand-writing we partly know. Why should we 
 not accept any other aid which may yet further 
 elucidate the meaning of a Book which, though 
 it speaks plainly and clearly the words on which 
 depends our eternal life, reserves much for the 
 consolation of those who, with humble hearts, 
 seek ' for the consolation of Israel.' 
 
 "There is a spirit as well as a letter in the 
 Word of Truth. Have we not occasion to fear 
 that our attention has in this age been wholly ab- 
 sorbed in the letter, until we have in fact quite 
 forgotten in many instances the spirit?" p. 384. 
 
 Hear also this writer's confession touching the 
 popular view of the nature of man, of the resur- 
 rection, of the value of what is called psychologi- 
 cal science, and the light that Swedenborg has 
 thrown upon these subjects : 
 
 "No other writer -has so distinctly given the 
 negative to the great delusion that the body is the 
 man. The body is man's house ; all its powers and 
 faculties are but the organs of the soul ; not modes 
 of the soul's operation, but avenues through which 
 it acts, and by which alone it can be apprehended
 
 At the Confessional. 173 
 
 or at all known. This is one of the greatest de- 
 lusions man has to encounter and conquer; the 
 connection of man with his body has to be more 
 clearly known. . . . He allows his senses to 
 impose upon him, and by and by abandons 
 altogether the thought which ought perpetually to 
 be his consolation and his life ; namely, that his 
 personality stands as far and as highly dis- 
 tinguished and apart from his body, as does his 
 body from the house in which for a time /'/ has its 
 abode. It is a comforting idea that our mind is 
 the master and the tenant of the deceased and 
 dying house of mourning and of clay." p. 290. 
 
 " Psychology the doctrine of the spirit is well 
 named ; but often it has happened that the name 
 has been the best part of the study. No range of 
 thought has been more dreary or barren than this; 
 none has been more frequently converted into a 
 mere sciomachy or logomachy ; spirit has had but 
 little to do with the discussion. The professed 
 Psychologists all weary us. Hpw can it be other- 
 wise than so ? They compel us to follow over 
 immense deserts of arid and sandy scientifics the 
 mirage haunting us, and beckoning in the distance
 
 174 Episcopalianism 
 
 a promise of satisfaction. ' Vain wisdom all, and 
 false philosophy !' The mirage fades like a phan- 
 tom ; our spirit finds no rest for the sole of its 
 foot ; 'tis a weary chase through cloud and star- 
 land with Berkeley, through the grim dreary 
 mountain defiles with Hume, through the dry 
 hard streets of every-day life with Reid, through 
 the rainbowed chaos of Fichte and his cotempo- 
 raries ; and rest assuredly meets us nowhere. 
 Truly Psychology, so called, has not introduced 
 us to the spirits ; but it has raised a score of 
 Frankenstein monsters, horrible abortions, who 
 crush us. When we were yet young, our faith was 
 in the Bishop ; he set the spirit free from matter, 
 but we did not see our way through the shapeless 
 universe of which he flung back the doors. We 
 recoiled from a world all ideas ; it was as death- 
 like as a world all matter. Your Psychological 
 sciences are the graves of faith, or the very inns 
 of infidelity. 
 
 "... All the essays on Psychology we ever 
 heard of, never introduced us to one spirit. They 
 were a rotting chrysalis without the butterfly." 
 pp. 300, 301.
 
 At the Confessional. 175 
 
 "But Swedenborg boldly asserts that in every 
 particular the spirit is a man after death as before; 
 a shape cognizable, with emotions and passions, 
 with mental powers and affections. . . . He is the 
 only writer who asserts clearly, so far as we have 
 seen, the nexus between body and soul, distinctly 
 separating and yet conjoining them." pp. 302,303. 
 
 And Mr. Hood closes his chapter on Homology 
 and Psychology with these words : 
 
 " The reader, we trust, will now see the charac- 
 ter of Swedenborg's investigations into the nature 
 of man ; and it will be seen that while his con- 
 ceptions are definite and distinct, they conduct 
 neither to the vagaries of Hegel or Schelling, nor 
 the cold but glittering Pantheism of Fichte, nor 
 the lofty but dizzy opium heights of Kant. Let 
 the reader acquaint himself with his books 
 grounding himself in the doctrines and thorough- 
 ly understanding them he will then stand on a 
 ground from whence he may obtain a knowledge 
 and ample survey of the opinions of other men ; 
 and he will find, we believe, that the confidence 
 and repose felt from these, far transcends that 
 which arises from the faith in any other system
 
 1 76 Episcopalianism 
 
 of mind. It is a faith that recompenses for the 
 digging ; and that is saying more than we dare to 
 say of almost any system that has challenged our 
 homage in modern times." p. 310. 
 
 Other ministers of the Church of England have 
 made similar confessions respecting the darkness 
 and confusion of the old Theology, and furnished 
 similar testimony to the truth and beauty of the 
 New. I will make, however, but one more extract ; 
 and that shall be from a work by Rev. Augustus 
 Clissold, a learned and estimable man who has 
 written some ten or twelve volumes in explanation 
 and defence of the doctrines and philosophy of 
 the New Church. Although an ordained minister 
 in the Episcopal Church, he has not, I under- 
 stand, for several years exercised the clerical func- 
 tion in that Church. 
 
 About thirty years ago the Archbishop of Dub- 
 lin, in his " Essays on some of the peculiarities of 
 the Christian Religion," himself apparently no 
 better informed upon the subject whereof he wrote, 
 than Bishop Burgess or the "Protestant Episcopal 
 Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Know- 
 ledge," said that the system of Swedenborg
 
 At the Confessional, 177 
 
 " furnishes abundant matter of faith and food for 
 curiosity, but has little or no intelligible reference 
 to practice;" and that one who believes the sys- 
 tem is not called upon or expected "to alter either 
 his conduct, his motives, or his moral sentiments, 
 in consequence of such belief." Whereupon Mr. 
 Clissold addressed to the Archbishop an interest- 
 ing Letter upon "The Practical Nature of the 
 Doctrines and alleged Revelations contained in 
 the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg." And near 
 the close of his letter he says : 
 
 " If the kingdom of heaven is to be established 
 within us; if man himself is designed to be a 
 heaven, is it ministering to mere curiosity, is it in- 
 dulging a blind credulity, is it conveying a useless 
 non-practical instruction, to inculcate right ideas 
 of its nature ? Surely to affirm as much, would be 
 to affirm that, to instruct a man in that which he 
 ought to be, which he was intended to be, and for 
 which alone he was brought into the world, is but 
 wasting the time of the teacher and the taught in 
 unprofitable questions. 
 
 " When men have fallen into delusions with re- 
 gard to heaven and hell, when those delusions 
 M
 
 1 78 Episcopalianism 
 
 pass for genuine truth, is it unworthy of the mercy 
 of the Lord to discover these errors by a revela- 
 tion of the nature of the two worlds ? For heaven 
 is good and truth, and hell is evil and the false ; 
 and to reveal the nature of heaven and hell, is but 
 to reveal the nature of good and truth, evil and 
 error. 
 
 "The evidence, therefore, on which we are in- 
 vited to receive the revelations of Swedenborg, 
 with regard to heaven and hell, is an internal 
 evidence; it is that of our moral sense of the 
 nature of good and evil. Now is not this the 
 highest evidence upon which it is possible for us 
 to receive any truth whatever? Mathematical 
 demonstrations are addressed only to the lower 
 powers of reason, but this addresses itself to our 
 whole being ; nevertheless, we are capable of at- 
 taining to this evidence, only in the degree in 
 which we perceive and love that which is good, 
 and hate that which is evil. 
 
 "If then, as Christians, our moral sense of good 
 and evil be derived only from the Word of God ; 
 if we so interpret that Word, as to derive from it 
 entirely new principles of life and conduct; if this
 
 At the Confessional. 179 
 
 new interpretation form the principal revelation 
 of Swedenborg ; and if all his narratives, with re- 
 gard to heaven and hell, be founded on the prin- 
 ciples of good and evil, truth and error, as taught 
 in the Word of God thus interpreted, can any- 
 thing be plainer than that, so far from its being 
 difficult to point out in what respect Swedenborg's 
 pretended revelations require any alteration in our 
 conduct, motives, or moral sentiments, the diffi- 
 culty lies entirely the other way? And if so, 
 what can be more clear than that the whole of the 
 argument in the Essays, as applied to the writ- 
 ings of Swedenborg, is founded upon an entire 
 misapprehension of the nature of his principles?" 
 pp. 207, 208. 
 
 Such are the confessions of some of the purest 
 and best minds yes, intelligent and highly-es- 
 teemed ministers in the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, touching the relative beauty, trustworthi- 
 ness and value of the Old and the New Theology ; 
 or, if you please, of EPISCOPALIANISM on the one 
 hand and SWEDENBORGIANISM on the other. They 
 are all of them competent to testify in this case;
 
 1 80 EpiscopaKanism. 
 
 for they are all well instructed in both the Old 
 and the New, having carefully acquainted them- 
 selves with both systems. And there is certainly 
 no ground for suspecting them of any personal, 
 party, or denominational bias in favor of the New. 
 We have here the honest testimony of enlightened 
 and unprejudiced minds. It is some of the better 
 portion of the Protestant Episcopal Church come 
 to the Confessional. And it is a sign full of 
 promise. It proclaims the dreary winter well- 
 nigh past, and the beautiful spring- or summer- 
 time of the Church coming on apace. 
 
 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When 
 her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, 
 ye know that summer is near. So ye in like man- 
 ner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, 
 know that it is nigh, even at the doors. . . . 
 Watch ye, therefore ; for ye know not when the 
 Master of the house cometh at even, or at mid- 
 night, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: 
 Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. And 
 what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." 
 
 THE END.
 
 VALUABLE PUBLICATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 For sale by all Booksellers, or will be sent hy ///a/7, postage 
 free, on receipt of price. 
 
 TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Containing 
 the entire Theology of the New Church, foretold by 
 the Lord in Dan. vii. 13, 14, and Rev. xxi. I, 2. By 
 EMANUKI. SWEDKXBORG. From the Latin edition of 
 Dr. J. F. I. TAFEL. Translated by R. NUKMAN FOSTER. 
 2 vols. demi 8vo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $5.00. 
 
 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE 
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Hy EMANUKI. SWEDEN- 
 HORG. From the original Latin as edited hy Dr. J. F. I. 
 TAKEL. Translated by R. NORMAN FOSTER. Demi 
 8vo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $2.25. 
 
 HEAVEN AND ITS WONDERS, AND HELL. 
 
 From Things Heard and Seen. By EMANUKI. SWEDEN- 
 HORO. From the Latin edition of Dr. J. F. I. TAKKU 
 Translated by B. F. HARRKTT. Demi 8vo. Extra cloth. 
 $2.50. 
 
 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE 
 DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. Hy EMANUEL 
 SWEDEN KOKO. From the original Lit in as edited by 
 Dr. J. F. I. TAFEU Translated by R. N. FOSTER. Demi 
 Svo. Extra cloth. $2.00. 
 
 WORDS IN SEASON. Hy Rev. H. B. BROWN- 
 
 IM;. i6mo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 LECTURES ON THE NEW DISPENSATION. 
 Hy Rev. H. F. BARRETT. 121110. Cloth. $1.50.
 
 7- B. LIPPINCOTT &> CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 LETTERS ON THE DIVINE TRINITY, ad- 
 dressed to HENRY WARD BEECHER. By Rev. B. F. 
 BARRETT. New and enlarged edition. I2mo. Extra 
 cloth. $1.25. 
 
 LIFE OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, with 
 a Synopsis of his Writings. By W. WHITE. With an 
 Introduction by Rev. B. F. BARRETT. i2mo. Extra 
 cloth. $1.50. 
 
 EMANUEL SWEDENBORG as a Philosopher 
 and a Man of Science. By R. L. TAFEL. Crown 8vo. 
 Extra cloth. $2.25. 
 
 LIFE: Its Nature, Varieties, and Phenomena. 
 By LEO. H. GRINDON, author of " Emblems," "Figu- 
 rative Language," etc. First American edition. i2mo. 
 Extra cloth. $2.25. 
 
 OUR CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. By Dr. WM. 
 H. HOLCOMBE. i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth 
 *i-75- 
 
 THE SEXES: HERE AND HEREAFTER. 
 By Dr. WM. H. HOLCOMBE. i2mo. Tinted paper 
 Extra cloth. $1.50. 
 
 THE OTHER LIFE. By Dr. WM. H. HOL- 
 COMBE. i2mo. Cloth. $1.50. 
 
 TALKS WITH A PHILOSOPHER on the 
 \Vays of God to Man. By the author of " Talks with a 
 Child." i6mo. Cloth. 75 cents. 
 
 DEATH AND LIFE. By MARY G. WARE. 
 161110. Cloth. $1.25. 
 
 THOUGHTS IN MY GARDEN. By MARY 
 G. WARE. i6mo. Cloth. $1.25.

 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FAOLITY 
 
 A 001 008 709 6