which, and in which alone, supreme Divinity dwells and is manifested, as a man's soul dwells in his own body, and is manifested through that. Thus "the Lamb" becomes the only object of Christian adoration and wor- ship, as he declares to John in Revelation, " I am He who is, and who was, and who is to come, the .AJmighty." He alone is worshipiied by angels.
The Lord's glorification being thus a real incarnation, the Divinity coming down into the flesh is the grand archetype of the Christian's regeneration and sanctifica- tion, and the procuring means by which it is wrought out. "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth." It is ours to " follow" him " in the regeneration," and " overcome even as" he "overcame." F^om those states of tempta- tion, resistance to the influences of hell, combat, and victory in himself, he gives the Holy Spirit, which is a powerful spiritual infiuence, flowing from his own exer- cise of love, power, and will in similar states; aiding, strengthening, and healing the faithfid believer in his states of trial, temptation, and combat. He took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. " For that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." He " was in all points tempted like as ire are, yet without sin." Thus he took on our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Thus he sacrificed himself day by day ; his whole life was a sacrificial offering for our sakes, and by his stripes we are healed. Such was the work of reconciliation or atonement.
By this process of glorification he effected also the work of redemption, which was a purely divine work, consisting of a subjugation of the powers of hell, repre- sented and embodied in hosts of personal wicked spirits or demons, which held mankind in spiritual bondage, and, without relief, would have uttcrh' destroyed them. He executed a judgment in the world of spirits, casting down Satan and his crew. The passion of the cross was the last great temptation which he as greatest Prophet endured, and which comidcted the work of his own glorification and of the subjugation of the powers of hell, so as to keep them in subjection to his humanity forever, to the perpetual liberation of mankiud.
5. The Bible. — The plenary inspiration of Holy Script- ure is maintained in a supereminent sense. The Lord is believed to be immanently present in his Word by his Spirit. A clear distinction is made between the two kinds or modes of inspiration, the mediate and the immediate, or between that which is dictated or spoken to the prophet and that which is given by influx (in- fused) ; thus, in the Old Testament, between " the Word of the Lord" and the " Kethubim" of the Jewish Church. The whole " prophetic Word" is held to have been spoken by a living voice from on high, and con- tains every^vhere within it a spiritual, heavenly, or true Christian sense. The whole " Word," while it is true, literal history, is at the same time what the apostle calls the history of Sarah and Hagar, viz. a divine " al- legory ;" in which lessons of heavenly wisdom are con- stantly taught under a veil of natural thought and im- agery. The law of this figurative or symbolical mode of expression is simple, according to the universal anal- ogy of nature, expressed by the apostle, " the invisible things of the Creator are seen in the things that are made," and is called the "law of correspondences." Many applications of this law are so obvious that the Church in all ages has understood portions of the Word according to it. In this system it is applied to the whole " Word," and its universality and uniformity maintained by an extensive citation of texts. The term " prophetic" is here used in its widest sense, in- cluding the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Sam- uel, Kings, Psalms, and all the prophets. The writers had "open vision," having immediate communication with heaven. The letter is sometimes expressed ac- cording to apparent truths, or the appearances of truth, while the spiritual sense is alwaj-s according to genu-
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH 16 NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH
ine truth. To the remaining books, ner.rly coincident with the " Kethubim" of tlie Jews, a similar style and meaning is imputed to that generally held among Christians, their entire meaning is conveyed in their plain, grammatical sense. A similar distinction is car- ried forward into the New Testament. The four Gos- pels and the Kevelation are held to be pre-eminently "the Word of the Lord," and to contain "a wheel within a wheel," a spiritual meaning within the letter; while the ajiostolical writings, penned by •' men tilled with the Holy Spirit" and communicating with heaven, yet do so less immediately than the others, and convey all their meaning in the letter.
6. The iJlriiit Government The providence of the
Lord is his government of the world, exercised from love and guided by infallible wisdom ; most scrupu- lously preserving man's freedom in everj-thing, while directing all affairs to the greatest possible good. Eter- nal ends are constantly kei)t in view by the Lord, tem- poral things being regarded only as they may be made subservient to the interests of the soul. The divine in- spection and operation descend to the minutest particu- lars of every man's life, the object being to regenerate every one who in freedom will allow himself to be re- generated, and so to bring him to heaven at last, if pos- sible.