THE
NEWCANAAN

My\z95 Ea5

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

ALBERT. H CHILDS
YALE '61

MEMORIAL COLLECTION

THE NEW CANAAN

OR

The Golden Age Restored

CHIEFLY DRAWN FROM THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE
FIRST SEVEN CHAPTER OF THE
BOOK OF JOSHUA

B. EDMISTON

PASTOR OF THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW CHURCH OF RIVERSIDE,
CALIFORNIA

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY THE
SWEDENBORG PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
1903

COPYBIGHT, 1903,
BY
BBRKY EDMISTON.

EA5

preface.

All the churches which have existed upon the earth
are brought to view in the Bible in chronological order,
and their several qualities are represented by Abraham
and his posterity. Thus the spiritual history of our
race is written in the language of symbols, much more
accurately than would have been possible to write
it in any human language. Four distinct churches,
apart from various minor branches, have come and
gone, and the fifth and last is now in its formative
state, and will soon be fully organized and receive the
influx of life which is peculiar to a Celestial Church.
The fall of our race was fully consummated at the
time of the First Advent, and at once the work of
restoration began, and the upward trend of the church
with great clearness was represented by the Exodus,
and the journey under Moses through the wilderness.
In that journey the First Dispensation of the Christian
Church is most accurately brought to view. Indeed,
practically all Christian people have recognized the
representation. That church ran its devious course,
and was consummated about the middle of the seven
teenth century. Then with the Second Coming of
the Lord, the opening of the internal sense of the
Word, and the giving of the "Heavenly Doctrines"

PREFACE.

began the formation of the Lord's New and Ever
lasting Church.
Of the former churches the history is already written,
but of this coming church we have prophecy rather
than history to guide us. Joshua the divinely com
missioned Leader in conducting the hosts of Israel
across the Jordan, and in taking possession of the
promised land, with all the marvelous incidents con
nected therewith, brings the heavenly church to
view in a light which enraptures the humble disciple
of the Lord. So clear and beautiful is this repre
sentation of prophecy, that the state brought to view
is fairer than that of the literal Canaan "flowing with
milk and honey." Truly its contemplation filleth the
devout heart, in which abideth faith, with the joys
of the Celestial realm. This bright and inspiring
picture of the coming church, has long cheered the
writer on in the study of the internal sense of the
book of Joshua, making the tedious labor a feast
of joy.
Being convinced that great prophetic enunciations,
of infinite importance to the church at the present
time, are contained within the literal history of the
passage of the IsraeUtes over the Jordan, and into
the promised land, the chief purpose of this little
book is to make that representative meaning as clear
as possible. In accordance with this object, the salient
points in the first seven chapters of Joshua are touched
upon in a somewhat connected manner, passing over
much the larger part of the text. And if the disciple

PREFACE.

of the Lord in his Second Coming, can find a tithe
of the sweetness and heavenly joy which the labor
has brought into the author's own heart and life, he
will be abundantly repaid.
The necessity of quoting from the writings of
Swedenborg so frequently, and of using the technical
style peculiar to New Church literature, is regretted.
But as the author is writing chiefly for New Church
people, it seems imperative to show that he is not only
in sympathy with those writings, but also that his
views are in harmony with them throughout. He
would further say that he is wholly indebted to those
writings for the key to the spiritual sense of the
Word, which key, however, he is conscious of being
able to use, only in a clumsy manner.
B. Edmiston,
Pastor of the New Church Society of Riverside, California.
January 4, 1903.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE I. The Representative Church and People,
II. Two, Distinct Churches, .
III. Joshua and Swedenborg,
IV. Preparing Victuals,
V. Ordered to the Front,
VI. Spying the Land, .
VII. On to the Jordan, . .
VIII. Following the Aek,
IX. The Two Pillars,
X. Regeneration by Love,
XI. The Coming Church,
XII. The Celebration,
XIII. The Fruit of the Land,
XIV. The Manna Ceased,
XV. The Fall op Jericho,
XVI. The Sin of Achan and Its Removal

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I.
THE REPRESENTATIVE CHURCH AND PEOPLE.

The relation of the Hebrew Race to the written and
unwritten history of the human family is unique.
Placed in the mi'ddle ground between the Golden Age
of the past and that of the future, by representation it
reaches back to the First Man, and forward till the
Grand Man of earth receives the crown of gold which
shall never crumble. By inspired history and equally
inspired representations, it makes known the qualities
of the ancient churches, thus reveaUng what has been.
And by representatives and direct prophecies, it pene
trates the future till the curse is lifted, and our race
stands in the innocence of childhood, and the wisdom
of age.
The falling away of the Primitive Church from its
early integrity, broke the chain of orderly human life,
and led the race into the valley of the shadow of death.
And the Divine plan for restoring the fallen race required
that a peculiar people should be placed in the midst of
the valley. An external race was needed, from which in
ternal, spiritual life had departed, which could serve
the double purpose of representing a church, and of re
ceiving and sacredly guarding such revelations as might
be made from time to time. And a further, and most
1 1

TSE NEW CANAAN.

sacred use to be served by this representative of a church,
was that in its midst, when the race had reached its
lowest point, the world's Redeemer might be born, and
the upward trend of the race begin.
The representative mission of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and the children of Israel as a nation, is wonder
ful, and the more carefully it is considered, the greater
becomes the wonder, and the feelings of awe inspired
in the reverent mind. It is seen to unrpll as a panorama,
all the changing states of the church, and of the world
of mankind, past, present, and future. And it reveals
the mysteries of the God-head, of the incarnation, and
of the great redemption wrought out for the world, all
that men or angels may hope to comprehend.
With a deep consciousness of his own inadequacy
for the task, and with an earnest prayer for guidance
and help, the author would simply essay to open, as
light may be given, some of the good news, which has
been to him "as cold water to a thirsty soul," touch
ing the incoming Celestial Church, represented and
described with great clearness in the book of Joshua,
particularly in the first seven chapters. He is moved
to this undertaking because he sees truths here which
he is confident many hungry souls will rejoice to know,
and will be the better for knowing.
As a preparation for understanding the representative
meaning of the book of Joshua, it seems necessary
to give a brief synopsis of the general representation of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as of the children of
Israel. Swedenborg tells us that by these three patri-

THE REPRESENTATIVE CHURCH AND PEOPLE. 3
archs, in the supreme sense, the Lord is represented.
(A. C. 6497. ) From the same source, in various places
we learn that they also represent the church. In A. C.
1965, it is said: "Abraham represented the celestial
church, the celestial man, and likewise the celestial
principle itself." And it is clear that while representing
the universal celestial church, which is everywhere essen
tially the same, he particularly represents the Most An
cient Church. At the beginning of the fiftieth chapter
of Genesis, Swedenborg says, in the contents, that after
the celestial church perished, "a Spiritual Church was
established by the Lord (clearly the Ancient or Noachic
Church), and that in its place, only the representative
of a church was established among the posterity of
Jacob." In short, the Most Ancient Church perished,
and in its place the Ancient Church was raised up, which
in the course of time, also perished, and then the repre
sentative of a church, which means the Israehtes, was
raised up, and led out of Egypt by Moses, and wandered
in the wilderness forty years, when Joshua was made
leader, and conducted them into Canaan.
Then it is with this representative of a church, the
children of Israel, that we are chiefly concerned in this
work. The great lesson is in the spiritual and heav
enly things which were represented by the journey from
Egypt to Canaan, particularly by the incidents con
nected with the passage from the wilderness into the
promised land under the leadership of Joshua. Getting
ready to cross the Jordan, bringing the host into march
ing order, the dividing of the waters that they might

4

THE NEW CANAAN.

pass over dry shod — all these movements have an im
portant and most interesting meaning. The encamp
ment at Gilgal, the renewal of the rite of circum
cision, the celebration of the Passover, the manna ceasing
to fall, and the fruit of the land becoming their all-
sufficient food supply, finally the taking of Jericho,
and the occupancy of the land, the destruction of the
people and all their effects, representing the subjugation
of all the rebellious proAdnces of the world, under the
great redemption wrought out by the Incarnate Lord,
and the full restoration of the fallen race to its primitive
state, as in the days of old, before sin entered into the
world. But the Israelites, of whom this representative of a
church was constituted, were external and natural men
above any other nation, and could only represent a true
and'internal church by external rites and natural things,
that is their rites and ceremonies had nothing spiritual
in them, merely signifying and representing internal
and spiritual things. Illustrative of this, it may be
stated, as we are informed in the Writings, that the
bones of Joseph which were carried up to Canaan by
the Israelites, represented the spiritually dead state of
this people. They represented their religion. There
was the cold and dry form, but no vitahty. As the
mummy of Joseph was to the hving Joseph, in the
prime of manhood, so were the externals of the IsraeUt-
ish church to a true and living church.
But as guided by the inspired Moses the Israelites
could represent and personify a true church by their

THE REPRESENTATIVE CHURCH AND PEOPLE. 5
wilderness journey, and as led across the Jordan by
Joshua, and into the promised land, they most accurately
represented the raising up of the incoming Celestial
Church which is to be the crown of all the churches, and to
continue forever. In the providence of the Lord, it was
so ordered that their external condition exactly served
the representative purpose. Their state of bondage
while in Egypt, accurately represented the conditions
of the natural man while in bondage to his evil nature.
Escaping from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, by being
led through the Red Sea, brings to view the transition
from a natural to a spiritual state, that is to the begin
ning of true spiritual life. Then the journey through the
wilderness, signifies the progress of spiritual regenera
tion, and particularly represents the first dispensation of
the Christian Church. And in like manner, the com
pletion of that journey under Joshua, the crossing of the
Jordan and taking possession of the land represent the
incoming Celestial Church, and the representation is
marvelous, as we shall see.
This representative mission, was the special use the
IsraeUtes were to perform, in the Divine plan for re
storing the fallen race to primitive conditions.
We have a clear statement in the Writings, explain
ing why the Israehtes, who had no internal spiritual
life, were chosen to represent the churches. In A. C. 6692
it is said : ' ' Lest therefore the representatives and signif-
icatives should be any longer turned into things magical
the Israelitish people were selected, that the representa
tives and significatives of the church might be restored

THE NEW CANAAN.

amongst them; which people were such that they could
not thence fabricate anything magical, inasmuch as they
were altogether in externals, and had no belief in the exis
tence of any internal principle, still less any spiritual prin
ciple. With people of such a character, magic cannot exist,
as it existed among the Egyptians. ' '
Now as we have seen, the Ancient Spiritual Church
came to its end, and the representation of it ceased about
the time of Joseph's death, and the Israelitish repre
sentative of a church was raised up to take its place.
But although the Ancient Church no longer had a place
in the natural world, a general or final judgment could
not be executed upon its people, in the world of spirits,
till after the coming of the Lord into the world. Hence
teeming myriads of them were collected in what is called
the lower earth, remaining in essentially the same spir
itual state as while they were in the world, for the removal
from them of that which was false and evil could not be
effected till the work of redemption was actually accom-
phshed by the Lord. In the Writings, in many places it
is stated that the Lord came to redeem those of the Spirit
ual Church. This redemption included those who were
bound at the time the Lord was in the world, and also
those of the New Spiritual Church which He was about to
establish. The redemption of those of the latter church
from the bondage of sin, became actual with individuals,
as they sought it, by complying with the necessary condi
tions. But it is not necessary to our present purpose to dis
cuss further the liberation of those of the Spiritual

THE REPRESENTATIVE CHURCH AND PEOPLE. 7
Church. Any one who so desires, may find the subject
set forth in clear fight, in A. C. 6854, and various other
places. The statements made in regard to the Ancient
Spiritual Church are simply designed to prepare the way
for seeing that the Israelites in Egypt, after the death of
Joseph, and the Pharaoh who knew him, in all the affiic-
tions they suffered, represented the state of those in the
lower earth, as it is termed in the spiritual world. And in
deUvering the children of Israel from the cruel power of
Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and in Moses leading them
out through the Red Sea, the redemption by the Lord of
the great multitude of suffering spirits, who had long
been crying, "How long, 0 Lord, how long?" is im
pressively represented. And it is well to remember that
this representation on the part of the Israelites, guided as
it was by the Lord, was also in the character of a distinct
prophecy, which was literally fulfilled when the Lord was
in the world, about fifteen hundred years later. After
His resurrection, it is said by an Apostle, He went and
preached unto the spirits in prison, Uberating them, and
lifting them up, and of them He formed a New Spiritual
heaven which was to be their home, and which was to
constitute the internal of the First Christian Church.
With this thought distinctly in the mind, it will be easy
for those who long for the coming of the New Church in
its fuU state of life, to see that other representations,
made under the Divine guidance, by this representative
people, either have been or in due course of time will be
fulfilled in every particular, leaving no rational ground
for doubt, as they are definite prophecies, as well as

THE NEW CANAAN.

representatives. Indeed almost every prophecy in the
Word is expressed by representatives. And all these
representatives which describe future states of the church
will with unfailing certainty be fulfilled.
About the time of the exodus, the representation of
the children of Israel was changed. They ceased to re
present those of the Ancient Church in the lower earth,
and began to represent a New Spiritual Church which had
not yet been raised up, and could not take its place in
the world, till after the advent of the Lord. But this
change in the representation was not abrupt, but came in
gradually, as the real change from one dispensation to
another always comes. For in the consummation of one
church, and the raising up of a new one to take its place,
there is always an intermediate state, ' ' the time of the
end, ' ' partaking of the characteristics of both, the con
summated church, and the one just springing into life.
In this particular case, the beginning of this intermediate
state, was when Moses was called to make preparation
to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And its end came,
when having crossed the Red Sea, and from the east
ern shore witnessed the overthrow of Pharaoh and the
Egyptians, Moses brought the Israelites from the sea,
and led them out into the wilderness of Shur.
But during this time of the end, the representation
of the old, and of the new, intermingled, or overlapped,
just as the dispensations did. The former continued
till after the escape of the Israelites, and the latter,
representing the beginning of the New Spiritual Church,
began when Moses first appeared on the scene, that

THE REPRESENTATIVE CHURCH AND PEOPLE. 9
is after he was called by the Lord. Hence during
this intermediate period, the representation was in
part double, though the things represented were easily
distinguished. The oppression endured by the im
prisoned spirits, in the lower earth, still continued, and
was represented by the cruel oppression of the Israelites
by their Egyptian task masters. And by the same op
pression inflicted upon the Israelites, is represented the
suffering endured by the awakened natural man, when
he sets out in the regenerate life, as represented by the
journey through the wilderness. Thus the afflictions
of those who were detained in the lower earth, and of
those still in the flesh who are seeking deliverance from
the bondage to sin, are represented. And while leading
out those imprisoned spirits, through the hells, repre
sented by the Red Sea, was a most real transaction, it is
just as real an occurrence when the repentant sinner in the
natural world, is set free from the thralldom of sin.
It has seemed necessary to make these particular state
ments in regard to the Exodus, that confusion may be
avoided, in forming an opinion in regard to the repre
sentation of the Israelites in the wilderness journey.
After crossing the Red Sea, they represented a Spiritual
Church which was to be formed by the Lord after His
coming into the world, known as the Church of the
First Advent, or the Apostohc Church.
The Lord's redemptive work while in the world, in
opening the way for the salvation of the people of the
Spiritual Church, was intimately connected with the
people of the Ancient or Noachic Church. These, as we

10

THE NEW CANAAN.

have seen, could not be liberated till the incarnation and
glorification of the Lord were accomplished; and men in
the natural world could not be redeemed, that is, brought
into states of actual liberty, till those imprisoned spirits
were set free and organized by the Lord into a new spir
itual heaven, through which the Christian Church might
have free and orderly influx. These two churches, as
we are informed in the Writings, as to their internals
"were precisely similar," though differing widely as
to externals. (A. C. 1083.)
Fifty days after the crucifixion, when all things in the
spiritual world were fully ordinated, and when the dis
ciples in the natural world, were brought into a recep
tive and expectant state, the flood gates of the new
spiritual heaven were, if I may so speak, lifted, and the
full and mighty influx came, filhng the house where they
were sitting, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
This was the inauguration of the Apostolic Church, in
its appointed station, when for the first time it mani
fested the true power of an internal church, expressing
itself through its externals, which alone constitutes a
living church.
And, kind reader, a similar inauguration, and or
derly influx from the Lord, through the New Heavens,
organized after the Last Judgment, awaits the New and
incoming church, when all things are ready. And the
Bridegroom will come just when the Bride, the Church
of the New Jerusalem, has made herself ready.

n.
TWO DISTINCT CHURCHES. THE CELESTIAL AND
THE SPIRITUAL.

The different and even conflicting opinions enter
tained among those who are somewhat acquainted with
the writings of Swedenborg, on first thought have a
peculiar and rather depressing influence upon the
thoughtful New Churchman. And yet, after due delib
eration, we are led to see that this condition is only what
we might expect in view of the great diversity of mental
and spiritual states among the readers of New Church
Hterature. Undoubtedly an important factor in the
existing conditions is that comparatively few of our
people have ever given the writings a careful and sys
tematic reading, and a smaller number still have made
them a study. And of those who have given much
thought to them, many have carried certain con
victions into their investigations, unconsciously im
bibed from their environments, which never came
from the writings, though perhaps having a very con
siderable influence in the formation of their opinions.
Then, as Swedenborg iterates and reiterates, the spiritual
states of men have almost everything to do with the ac
ceptance or rejection of truth, we may see that differ
ences in various directions are inevitable.
11

12 THE NEW CANAAN.
And perhaps on no other point touching the doctrines,
do greater differences of opinion exist, than in regard to
the New Jerusalem, and the time and manner of its de
scent. As this treatise will have much to say both
in regard to the Celestial and Spiritual Church, it seems
well in the outset to make a few plain statements in re
gard to them, and the existing differences between them.
Among readers of the writings of Swedenborg, it is well
understood that the Spiritual Church was the result of
what we may term an accident, rather than a normal
growth. Had the antediluvians continued in their in
tegrity, it is clear that there would never have been a
Spiritual Church. But the poison of sin crept like a steal
thy serpent into the garden, and they fell. They began
to think of themselves, to take delight in sensual things,
and to look to, and trust their own self-derived intelligence,
and to conclude that they were growing wise, and were
able to take care of themselves. Thus gradually, through
a long course of years, they fell away from the Lord, lost
their love for Him and for one another, till finally as we
read in the Bible, ' ' Every imagination of the thoughts of
their heart was only evil continually," so evil indeed
that they brought a great deluge of falsity and evil
upon themselves, and multitudes literally perished and
passed out of the earth life. A. C. 660, 806, 563. But a
small remnant by the merciful providence of the Lord,
were protected from total ruin. True their integrity of
will was destroyed, so that they could not longer be re
generated by love, or good in the will, as in the unfallen
state. But the merciful Lord who had said to the ser-

TWO DISTINCT CHURCHES. 13
pent which beguiled the woman, ' ' I will put enmity be
tween thee and the woman and between thy seed and her
seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel, ' ' had made provision in advance to meet this terri
ble crisis, and to keep the race from total ruin, till the
work of redemption could be accomplished. In His prov
idence He had caused the truth principles which were
received by the Adamic people before they fell from their
integrity to be committed to writing, and sacredly pre
served for this great emergency. And though the Noachic
people had destroyed the will or love of good, and the
way had been closed against influx from the Lord by an
internal way, lest they should fall into a worse state, they
now had this revelation of truth to guide them. And
taking this truth, and shaping their life according to it,
a new will was formed in the intellectual part. In other
words, by means of the truth, conscience or the sense of
right was formed, according to which the conduct of
life should be regulated. And obeying the conscience,
which enabled them to judge between right and wrong,
the new will was gradually formed, though in a lower
degree, enabling them to secure the good of truth, that
is the good of the Spiritual Church.
But this church raised up after the flood, after grow
ing and spreading over large portions of the earth, grad
ually fell into decay, and as stated in the former chapter,
about the time of the death of Joseph, came to its end,
when of the Israelites the mere representation of a church
was raised up by means of which some knowledge of di
vine things might be kept ahve till the coming of the

14 THE NEW CANAAN.

Lord. And when the Lord came and wrought out re
demption for the world, the upward progress of the race
began. A new Spiritual Church was inaugurated, which
though on the same plane as the Noachic Church, had the
advantage of that church, in the revelation contained in
the scriptures of the New Testament. This new revela
tion, including the coming and glorification of the Lord,
contains the seed truths from which a new Christian
Church is now being raised up, which when fully inau
gurated will be on a plane of life, a discrete degree above
the former Christian Church, that is it will be distinctly
celestial in type. And although it will be in the same de
gree as the Adamic Church, it. will excel that church and
all preceding churches, as it is distinctly stated in the
Writings, in many places, that it is to be the crown of all
the churches which have existed upon the earth, and to
continue forever. It is not to be a mere raising up of the'
Apostohc Church, as we sometimes hear, with truer doc
trines. That would simply repeat the painful experi
ence of the former church, and in the course of a century
or two, would come to its end in utter desolation. The
Spiritual Church with doctrines handed down from the
Most Ancient Church, tried to five, but fell into utter ruin.
Then as the Christian Church, with truth and doctrines
given by the Lord in person, only lived for a few centuries
when it fell into decay, and was finally consummated a
century and a half ago, clearly something more is needed
than new doctrines. A new infusion of life from the
Lord into the will, revivifying it, and opening anew the
closed gate of influx is required, and nothing less than this

TWO DISTINCT CHURCHES. 15
will serve the purpose. The Spiritual Church, whatever
doctrines it may hold, as long as it exists, must remain a
very imperfect church, even in its best states. In it the
highest and crowning degree of the soul remains closed.
The spiritual man is and must, from the inherent fimita-
tions of his nature, remain a fractional man. The cor
respondent or representative of a spiritual Church is a
concubine, while that of the Celestial Church is a wife.
(See A. C. 3246.) And as we are further taught that the
true conjugial principle can only exist with one wife, and
not with a concubine, is it not beyond question that the
relation of the Spiritual Church to the Lord, is imperfect
and must ever remain so. Then it must appear that the
Spiritual Church being in a lower degree, and having no
influx from the Lord by the old internal way, through the
will, can never constitute a full church, nor become the
crowning church, the New Jerusalem, the Lamb 's wife.
But, beyond doubt, a remnant from it has been prepared
by the Lord, with some measure of soundness of will, out
of which He will build up a New Celestial Church.
Then what are some of the essential characteristics of
the Celestial Church? The Most Ancient, or Adamic
Church was Celestial or heavenly, this name being used
simply to express the quafity of the people. They were
indeed a heavenly people. The church with them was
in the very form and order of the heavens, and most in
timately connected with them. The angelic heavens
were the internal of the church upon earth, sustaining a
relation to it very similar to that of the soul to the body.
The heavens then as now were composed of angels, while

16 THE NEW CANAAN.
the people of the church, were by the orderly process of
regeneration, or spiritual creation, growing into angel
hood, and when the process was completed, without dis
ease or pain, the material covering, the body, was laid off
as an outgrown garment, which could be of no further ser
vice to the real man, and he was raised up into the
spiritual world, with opened spiritual senses, and took
his true place in the heaven of angels, and among his own
spiritual kindred and friends. And the people of the
celestial church upon the earth, were governed by the
same heavenly principles and laws of hfe, as those al
ready in the heavens, only they were in crude material
bodies, and on a less developed plane of life, being still of
the Lord 's kingdom upon the earth, and in the ultimate
of fife, passing through the process of education and
development in everything good and true, for their
heavenly home above, for the design in creation is a
heaven out of the human race.
And the people of the church in its unfallen state
lived together in the utmost peace and harmony. Good
will, gentleness, kindness, and love everywhere pre
vailed. They were as one great happy family. The
Lord was their Father, and they were brethren and sisters
imited in the sweetest and tenderest friendship and love.
Then the demon of self-love, of envy, hatred, maUce,
love of mammon, greedy, grasping after the riches of this
world, was unknown. There was then no mad rush after
the treasures which moth and rust doth corrupt, and
which thieves break through and steal, no pushing the
weak out of the way, or crowding them to the wall, by

TWO DISTINCT CHURCHES. 17
the strong and unscrupulous, and then with heartless
cruelty appropriating their possessions to their own use.
All this was then unknown and unthought of, and had
even the shadow of it crosssed their peaceful minds, with
a shudder they would have turned from it, and fled to
the Lord for protection from such atrocities. They were
innocent as prattling children, and vied with each other
in performing kindly services, each for all and all for each.
And whispers have come down through the ages, that
Jehovah their God and Father, sometimes in the cool of
the day, walked with them, and talked with them, giving
wise and loving counsel, that they might continue in this
blessed state.
Then the golden age, or the Adamic Church, may be
taken as the universal type of a fully developed, normal
church, as it was built up in all its beauty and complete
ness before the -waywardness of man interposed, and
made the great redemption a necessity. In the Adamic
Church aU the degrees of life were open, and in a state of
heavenly order and activity. And indeed the inquiry is
pertinent, why was man created with these three degrees
of life, if they were not intended for use? And again, if the
great redemption wrought out by the Lord were adequate
to liberate men from the thralldom of sin, and to save
them from perdition, is not the same power adequate to
the task of liberating and raising up into soundness the
ruined will of the spiritual man?
The Spiritual Church proper, that is the church whose
orderly channel of influx was closed in the days of Noah,
so that its source of truth became external, through the
2

18 THE NEW CANAAN.
bodily senses, and thence into the understanding, instead
of the wiU, was clearly caused by a disorderly lapse or
freak, on man's part, inducing abnormal conditions
from which there could be no escape by any other method
than that employed by the Lord in His great mercy. We
are taught in many places in the Writings of the Lord 's
servant, Swedenborg, that the Lord came for the specific
purpose of redeeming the spiritual man and church, and
if so is it not clear that his redemption includes the re
storation of the fallen church to a state of soundness of
will which makes its condition secure for all coming time?
Nothing less than this can fulfill the promises oft re
peated in the Bible. Indeed more than this is im
plied, as a well rounded maturity is a more per
fect state, and more to be desired, than infantile
innocence and perfection, however attractive and
beautiful. And is it not questioning the power and
efficacy of the redemption wrought out by the Lord,
in His assumed Humanity, to say that a full return
of the human race to the Adamic state, with aU the
treasures of wisdom, and strength of character acquired
by the bitter lessons through ages of sorrow, may not
be reafized? To say so, would be in effect to claim
that the creative plan was defeated, and that the
redemption was inadequate to meet the requirements of
the fallen race. This would leave the world of mankind
in a crippled condition, with no hope of improvement,
and would seem to say that the Infinite Creator had
been surprised by the fall, and had no means of averting
the calamity. But in the light of the opened Word, I

TWO DISTINCT CHURCHES. 19
think no New Churchman would be willing to take such
a position. The evidence as drawn from the Bible and the Writ
ings explaining its internal sense, seems to make it clear
beyond question, that the Spiritual Church was raised
up, not as a finality, but as a temporary expedient to
fill the gap in the history of our race, from the fall till re
demption could be wrought out by the incarnation and
glorification of the Lord, and thus the way prepared for
the final and complete restoration of the world to its
primitive and normal state.
But the spiritual church had in itself no elements of
vitahty and progress. It was incapable of expansion and
growth on heavenly fines, because it had placed itself
outside the line of normal creative and regenerative in
flux. Furthermore, true growth could only be secured by
the introduction into a new and higher degree. That
will indeed take place, but it will lift the church out of the
Spiritual and into the Celestial degree of life. But the
Spiritual Church could serve the temporary purpose of its
existence, which was to pave the way for the coming of
the Lord to effect its own redemption, and to restore the
world to spiritual order. For as Isaiah says: "They
shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former
desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations. " Isa. 61, 4. That is
the Spiritual Church could prepare the way for the re-
establishment of the Celestial Church in heavenly order,
and in a measure of perfection and fullness, which could

20 THE NEW CANAAN.
not be realized in the Most Ancient Church, else it would
never have fallen.
And when in the fullness of time the Lord came, assum
ing our humanity, and perfecting the work of redemption,
he began to prepare the way for the restoration of our
race to its normal state. But it was a stupendous work,
and could not be accomplished in a day. Indeed many
centuries had to coijie and go, before the restored and
crowning church could be inaugurated with its former in
flux, through the wiU. The ^reat work which had to be
accomplished was to prepare ground in which celestial
seed could grow. The old ruined will was to be re
stored, and brought into such a measure of soundness
that the old channels of influx, which were closed in
the days of Noah, might be re-opened. This work has
been steadily advancing ever since the beginning of the
Christian era. And the celestial harvest now growing,
will soon ripen as in the days of old, and the curse will be
fifted, and rapidly sin and sorrow will disappear from the
earth. The process by means of which the Lord 's re
demptive and re-creative work has been steadily ad
vancing ever since the beginning of the Christian Church,
in preparing the remnant out of which the New Celestial
Church will be inaugurated, is represented in clear light,
and in great fullness, as we shall see in the history of the
conquest and occupancy of Canaan, under Joshua.
But it is not claimed that this restoration will be
effected in any very sudden or externally miraculous
manner. This would be contrary to aU we know of the
Divine method of accomplishing the great ends in view

TWO DISTINCT CHURCHES. 21
in creation and redemption. But it is claimed that this
full restoration to the original state, is included in the
redemptive plan. And it is further claimed that means
adequate to the end in view, have long been silently, but
steadily at work, and that the preparation of the remnant
out of which the Crown of all churches is to be inaugu
rated is almost completed. It is also claimed that this
is distinctly taught in the representatives of the Word, in
a manner so conclusive that the careful and unbiased stu
dent of the internal sense cannot fail to see it.
One further explanatory statement before closing this
chapter. When the term Spiritual Church is used,
the closed church, that signified by shutting Noah in
the Ark is meant. In other words, the people whose
will was destroyed in the days of Noah are meant. This
includes particularly the Ancient Church, and the Apos
tohc Church. These two in quality were "precisely
similar" (A. C. 1083), though differing widely in ex
ternals. The terms spiritual. Spiritual Church, spiritual
man, and spiritual kingdom, &c., are so often used in the
writings, and with such various modifications of mean
ing, that this specific statement seems necessary to pre
vent confusion of thought, and misunderstanding of the
meaning intended.

m.
JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG-THE TYPE AND
THE ANTITYPE.

The children of Israel in their journey through the
wilderness, on the way to Canaan, among Christian peo
ple, have generally been recognized as representing the
Christian Church, on the way from earth to the heavenly
Canaan. The writings of Swedenborg while recognizing
this general significance of the journey as true, show con
clusively that the progress of one dispensation of the
church, to another and higher one, is distinctly repre
sented. And these writings further show that the ter
mination of this journey in the miraculous crossing of
the Jordan, represents the end of one dispensation and
the beginning of a new and higher one.
When Moses led the Israelites to the camp near
the Jordan, and, by Divine command, commissioned
Joshua to lead them across the river, into the promised
land, it is clear that a distinctly new state of the church .
is represented. Let us inquire then for the representa
tion of Joshua the leader, appointed by the Lord 's com
mand. In his official position as leader of Israel, as we
are informed in the writings of the Swedish seer, Joshua
represents truth combatting. That is he represents
truth from the Lord, through His Word, fighting against
22

JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG. 23
the falses and evils of the consummated church, and
overcoming them. Then in the hght of the open Word,
we need not go far to find the divinely commissioned
Leader, who was represented by Joshua, and who sus
tains a relation to the incoming New Church correspond
ing to that which Joshua sustained to Israel in crossing
the Jordan, and destroying the old inhabitants, and
taking possession of Canaan.
Swedenborg, the antitype of Joshua, in like manner
was specially called by the Lord, and commissioned
to open for the church and the world, the internal
sense of the Bible. In this new revelation of the divine
truth from the Word,- we may see the angel with drawn
sword, who presented himself to Joshua as the Cap
tain of the host of the Lord, that is he was the Angel of
the Lord, and represented the Lord. Let us carefully
note the representative force of the language used. It
is said Joshua was by Jericho. In a good sense, as the
name is here used, Jericho signifies instruction. He
lifted up his eyes, and looked, signifying that he was in a
receptive, and inquiring state of mind, and wanted to
know the truth. And to one in such a state, the truth
always presents itself, or rather is presented by the Lord.
Hence when he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold there
stood a man over against him. We may read it thus.
He lifted up the eyes of his understanding to spiritual
and'heavenly things, and looked. He was in an earnest
and inquiring state of mind, and voluntarily put forth
effort that he might see and know, and looking, he saw
the man who had placed himself there on purpose that

24 THE NEW CANAAN.
Joshua might see him. The man, that is the angel of the
Lord, represents the truth of the Word, whose services
are offered, to lead Israel, or the people who were repre
sented by Israel, in the war against falsity and evil. He
held in his hand a drawn sword, which signifies the truth
of the Bible, now opened or revealed. The hand that
grasps the sword signifies power — ^the power of these
truths, thus revealed, and ready for use in the great war
against falsity and evil. It is not cold and hard truth as
held merely in the understanding. It is living truth,
' ' quick and powerful. " It is truth filled wth life, which
is love in an intensely active state, and combatting every
foe of God and man.
Now seeing and understanding this representative les
son, so simple, so beautiful, and in the light of what we
know of the great Seer, so unmistakably setting forth his
call, which was not less miraculous than that of Joshua,
and taking into consideration his prompt obedience, and
his enlightenment, who can fail to see him in his true
character, as servant of the Lord, and the herald of a new
age? Joshua by representation was truth combatting.
In that capacity he led Israel to unfailing victory in
every case while they were obedient to his command, and
kept themselves from transgression. He and the host of
Israel were commanded to destroy the cities of the land,
and their evil inhabitants, who represented the false doc
trines and evils of life of the consummated church. And
the Joshua of the New Church, the antitype of the
former, was called to open the truth which had lain
concealed within the letter of the Word for

JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG. 25
making it available for the remnant preserved from
the consummated Christian Church, out of which
a New Church was to be raised up. Taking this
drawn sword, the heavenly truths revealed from the
Word for their use, those represented by Joshua and
the Israelities, are to be instrumental in scattering
the false doctrines and evils which have grown up iu
the church of the first Advent. Every false doctrine
may be aptly represented as a city with walls constructed
by taking truths from the Word, so falsified as to seem
to support the false doctrine it is made to defend.
In this way the true doctrines of the former church
were utterly falsified. The devastation and consumma
tion of the former church were fully accomplished about
the middle of the eighteenth century. All the fruitful
fields of the Apostolic Church were laid waste, and utter
ruin prevailed over all, save the little remnant which was
to constitute the nucleus from which the New Church was
to be inaugurated.
About this time Swedenborg was called and illumin
ated for his great work, and began to publish to the world
the doctrines for the New Church, all drawn from the
Word, and confirmed by its literal sense, and at the same
time to unfold its inner sense for the use of all coming
ages. Volume after volume was published and sent out,
as truth combatting to destroy the prevailing false doc
trines, and to uncover the dire evils in society which
threatened the total extermination of our race.
But it does not come within our present purpose to
dweU particularly upon the conflict which this newly re-

26 THE NEW CANAAN.
vealed truth has introduced into the Christian world, and
is conducting with marked success at the present time.
The special object in view is simply to call attention to
the parallel between Joshua the representative and Swe
denborg the represented, as evidence clear and conclu
sive, that the part of the Word included in this history
of Joshua, in its representative and prophetic significa
tion, has relation directly to the passing away of the
first Christian Church, and the introduction of the New
Church, which is very fully described in the Apocalypse
as the heavenly city, the bride, and the Lamb's wife.
The ministers and people of the New Church have gen
erally seemed to view the apocalyptic revelation of John
as the altogether adequate description of the coming
church and age. And indeed it is the only available de
scription which has been fully interpreted by Swedenborg.
But it treats chiefly of the last general judgment effected
upon the Christian Church in the spiritual world, and the
mere preparation for the introduction of the New Church
upon earth. But as to the church, apart from this
bright and beautiful description of the descent of the
heavenly city, the Apocalypse is silent. Doubtless this
was all that the New Church in its introductory state
required, or could be benefited by understanding. Hence
the revelation of John, doubtless covered the entire
ground required by the church in its preparatory
stages — all that could be of service before its full inau
guration, and the same may be said of the explanations
of Swedenborg. The church did not need an explana
tion of states so far in the future as to be of no present

JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG. 27
advantage, and they were not given in this part of the
Word, which entered into the minute particulars in re
gard to the Last Judgment in the spiritual world, and the
rapidly changing states of the church on earth, but sim
ply referred to the descent of the Heavenly City, without
entering into particulars in regard to the order of its
growth. I think it may be truthfully said that the
Apocalypse treats exclusively of the period of time
termed the time of the end. This period covers the
interval, beginning with the first active movements in
the spiritual world in preparation for the Last Judgment,
and closes, not with the descent of the Heavenly City,
which is the doctrines for the New Church, but with the
inauguration of the crown of the churches, in its ap
pointed station. See A. R. 547 and 562. That inau
guration is the filling of these heavenly doctrines, as
received and held in the understanding of those constitut
ing the prepared "remnant," with the copious influx of
Celestial love from the Lord — the doctrines and love, all
from the Lord, joined in the indissoluble union of good
and truth in the life. This is the marriage of the Lord
and his church, and is the church restored in receptive
souls, to the original and normal state of celestial life.
And here is the point where this intermediate state, the
time of the end and the beginning, closes with the full in
auguration of the glorious church which shall endure for
ever ; and this is as far as the Apocalyptic visions of John
open the states of the coming church ; and this Ls as far as
the New Church in this introductory and doctrinal state
needed instruction. But it is certain that further and

28 THE NEW CANAAN.
fuller states of growth, and of extension from the pres
ent Christian centers, throughout the whole inhabitable
world, are definitely set forth by the prophets ia many
places — and most distinctly m the internal sense of the
historical book of Joshua. And indeed we may safely
say that there are exhaustless mines of Divine Truth,
covered up under the sjonbols of the letter, which will
be opened to the world just as fast and fully as they
are needed, but no faster.
Then the inquiry may arise, "If there are mines of
truth concealed beneath the letter of the Word, why did
ftot Swedenborg open them all, that the whole world
might see the heavenly treasures they contain?" The
answer is simple. The Word is Infinite. The divinely
constructed symbols of the written Word — the Bible, are
channels through which Divine Truth from the Eternal
Word flows down to men m exhaustless fullness, to
supply every possible need, according to every one's re
ceptivity. To suppose any man or angel to see and
be able to open to men all the truths of the internal
sense, would be to make that man's or that angel's
knowledge of the Word equal to that of the Divine Mind,
a thought not to be entertained for a moment, for the
internal sense of the Written Word is the Eternal and
Ever Living Word, to be approached with trembling
reverence and awe.
The Lord has made new revelations of truth, from
time to time, as the world has needed them, and has been
able and willing to receive them. And when he has had
a message to deliver. He has always had a prepared mes-

JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG. 29
senger ready and able to deliver it. Thus when the first
dispensation of the Christian Church was consummated,
and the time for the last Judgment in the spiritual
world, and for the raising up of a new dispensation, was
at hand. He had a servant fully prepared to deliver the
great message to the church and the world. That ser
vant — Swedenborg — shaving been specially raised up and
prepared for that particular mission, was ready at once to
enter upon it. He proclaimed the coming of the Lord to
establish a New Church. He gave the internal sense con
nectedly, of the first two books of Moses, and of the
Apocalypse, as received from the Lord, while he was
reading the Word. He also proclaimed the doctrines as
given by the Lord for the use of the New Church about
to be established. And that he might accomplish this
work, the key which opens the internal sense of the
Word was discovered to him, and through him, handed
down to the church, as a means of access to the hidden
meaning for all coming time. And using this key
which opens the secret treasures of the Word, the Lord 's
servants may and will open just such truths as are
needed from time to time as the years and centuries
move on. For in the upward trend of the church,
beyond question, there will be times when new truths
will be required for the uses of the expanding church,
which could neither have been received nor used at an
earlier time. And truth in infinite fullness is stored
up in the Word, and when needed, the Lord will always
have men who can use the key which unlocks His
treasure house.

80 THE NEW CANAAN.
In accordance with the principles just stated, we
now assure the reader that a full revelation of the
growth and development of the New Church, on all
celestial lines, is made in the internal sense of the
plain literal history, as it stands in the book of Joshua,
which may be seen by any one who has made himself
famihar with the representative meaning. But in this
history the last Judgment which is so minutely de
scribed in the Apocalypse, is only lightly touched upon.
And Swedenborg makes only a few very brief explana
tions of the book of Joshua, except in one place, the
turning back of the waters of the Jordan, where the
-explanation is at some length.
But it must be evident to any one who gives careful
attention to the representative meaning of this historical
book, that when Swedenborg wrote, the time had not
come when its explanation was needed, as it treats
principally of the developing states of the New Celestial
Church after it has reached "its appointed station"
referred to in A. R. 547 and 562. But it now seems
clear that these widely separated parts of the Word
should be studied together, if one would gain a clear and
comprehensive view of the introduction and development
of the crowning church, from its incipient stages till it
is rounded out into the fully developed kingdom of the
Lord. And it is well to bear in mind the fact that
neither individual men, nor the church as a body, can
understand the nature of a distinctivel)'' new movement,
which marks an upward step, or degree, into a higher
plane, till that discrete step is about to be taken, and

JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG. 31
the border of that new state is being approached. The
natural man cannot understand the spiritual man, and
the thoughts and experiences peculiar to spiritual hfe,
and fike Nicodemus, says "How can these things be? "
Neither can the Spiritual man or the Spiritual church,
understand the Celestial man and church. And in
view of human fimitations in this respect, men being
able to comprehend only the things peculiar to their
own plane of hfe, and those pecufiar to lower planes,
through which they have passed, is it strange that
great obscurity should exist in the church of to-day
which is still on the distinctively Spiritual plane, in
regard to the coining Celestial Church, and that much
skepticism should exist as to the possibihty of the
world's ever attaining true celestial conditions?
Swedenborg teaches that each advent of the Lord
to estabfish a new church, is attended by conditions
similar to those prevailing at any former advent. That
is, there is always a judgment* upon the former church,
and a new revelation of truth, made for the church
about to be organized. At the first advent of the
Lord, the new revelation of truth made for the Christian
Church, was on a higher plane or in a higher degree,
than the revelation of the Law, made by Moses for the
IsraeUtes as a people. Hence the sayings of the Lord
as addressed to the Jews, were enigmas as the rule,
not at all understood by them. The gospels are full
of evidence that the Lord's own disciples, who were
under His personal instructions for three years, had no
adequate conception of His kingdom, or of the spiritual

32 THE NEW CANAAN.
truth He taught, at the time. Even after His resur
rection we hear the bewildered disciples say, "Lord
wilt thou at this time, restore again the kingdom to
Israel? " Though the Lord in plainest language had told
them, time and again, that His kingdom was not of
this world, but within them, yet they understood Him
not. The thought of a Uteral kingdom so occupied
their minds, that there was no room for any conception
of a kingdom within them. But when the promised
Spirit of Truth came, and they were endowed with
power from on high, — ^that is, when they received the
special influx of Spiritual life, which was to characterize
the Christian Church, and to clothe the disciples with
spiritual power, — then for the first, they understood,
for they felt within their own souls, the pulsing life of
the promised kingdom. In other words, a new degree
of life was consciously opened within them, and they
were able to understand the words which the Lord
had spoken to them, and* were at once ready to go forth
in obedience to the Divine commission they had re
ceived, preaching the gospel to every creature. But
prior to their reception of the Holy Spirit, they were
not to blame because they were unable to understand
the Lord's words. It was impossible for them to
understand things which belonged in a world into which
they had not yet been born.
And the condition of the disciples of the Lord in
His Second Advent is similar. The heavenly truths
opened from the Word, for the church which was
about to come, were on the spiritual plane, and

JOSHUA AND SWEDENBORG. 33
addressed to spiritual men. But that this spiritual
truth was to be wedded to celestial love, or good in
a higher degree, in the formation of the New and crown
ing church, seems to have been very generally over
looked by the receivers of the new doctrines. As the
early disciples were familiar with the natural, and
loved it, and could not take in the meaning of the Lord's
words relative to a spiritual kingdom within them, so
the disciples of the Lord in His Second Advent, under
stand what a spiritual kingdom is, and the language
peculiar to it. But having in their minds only a per
ception of Spiritual truth, and of a spiritual church,
with its elaborate externals, and loving these things
with which they had always been famiUar, they very
naturally thought of such external forms of organiza
tion, and worship, with the true doctrines as formu
lated by Swedenborg as constituting the veritable New
Jerusalem. But after all, its essential characteristics
are those of the spiritual church, simply having new
and true doctrines, instead of those of the consum
mated church. The manna, representing the good of
the Spiritual church, still falls, and is our principal
food. But when the morrow comes, then "The manna
shall cease, and the old corn .of the land, unleavened
cakes, and parched corn, in the self same day" shall
become our daily food. Then the church shall come
"To its appointed station, that is till it exists as has
been provided that it should."

PREPARING VICTUALS. JOHN WESLEY.

After the death of Moses, with the beginning of
Joshua's leadership, the Israelites entered upon a dis
tinctively new representation. From the beginning of
the journey, through all the forty years in the wilder
ness, they represented the Spiritual Church. But the
representation having come to the end of that church,
they at once began a distinctively new representation.
First they represented the transition from the old to
the new, including the judgment upon the consummated
church, as represented by the Jordan overflowing all
its banks in time of harvest. Then they represented
the beginning and progress of a new church, in the
higher celestial degree of life. That this new represen
tation takes place is shown beyond doubt in the char
acteristics ascribed to the people, which are clearly
of the celestial order, that is, represent celestial things.
Conclusive evidence of this will be shown further on.
When Joshua took command, he instructed the
officers of the people to pass through the host and
command them to prepare victuals, as within three
days they were to pass over the Jordan and take pos
session of the promised land.
The term victuals UteraUy means prepared food —
34

PREPARING VICTUALS. 35
food made ready for eating. This order was given
because they were in three days to pass over into
Canaan. The three days before starting signify a fuU
state of preparation for passing through the judgment,
and for receiving the New truths which would guide
them into the New Church. This command as to its
representative meaning, and as addressed to the Israel
ites, signifies the preparation of the remnant preserved
from the apostohc church, out of which the formation
of the New Christian church is to begin. To prepare
victuals, means to come into states of good, such as
are required as a preparation for receiving the new
revelation of truth, as opened in the spiritual sense of
the Word. This preparation as an introduction has
been necessary at the beginning of every new dis
pensation. John the Baptist came to prepare the remnant from
the Jewish Church, out of which the Christian Church
was to be raised up and prepared to receive the higher
revelation of truth made by the Lord in person. John
came teaching no new doctrines, simply the truths of
Judaism, and exhorting the people to repent and to
bring forth fruits mete for repentance, that was to
bring into their lives the highest good with which they
were acquainted, which was the good of the Jewish
Church. This was all that was required of them to
prepare the way of the Lord, and for the introduction of
Christianity. And it is worthy of note that the Lord's
disciples were mostly if not aU chosen from the ranks
of John's disciples. And we may conclude that they

36 THE NEW CANAAN.
were such of John's disciples as had brought forth fruits
mete for repentance. They had prepared victuals —
states of genuine Jewish good, and were ready to have
the water of natural truth changed into the wine of
spiritual truth.
And when the state of the Christian Church is con
sidered, about the middle of the eighteenth century,
at the time Swedenborg began to write the Arcana
Coelestia, the importance of this preparatory work,
accompUshed by the great revival of spiritual Chris
tianity, imder the leadership of John Wesley, as rep
resented by the preparation of victuals, just before
crossing the Jordan, cannot be overestimated. To
say that the church was -dead, fails to convey any
adequate idea of the extent of its deadness. An ex
amination into its manifest condition, as to particulars,
alone could reveal its utter desolation. But space will
not admit of such examination here. I must content
myself with a very few statements, and that without
giving historical quotations.
AU church history of the times referred to, as far as
I have seen, agrees in the statement that the church
as a body was utterly dead, not merely in the sense
of apathy as to spiritual things, but corruption and
vice of every kind prevailed among all classes to an
astounding extent. Exceptions there were, which alone
constituted the preserving salt. Otherwise no remnant
could have been preserved, and prepared, out of which
to raise up the New Church. Even the clergy as the
rule were not only devoid of true piety, and spirituaUty,

PREPARING VICTUALS. 37
but in many cases were openly profUgate, much more
given to drinking, swearing, and fox hunting, than to
the study of the Word, and the performance of the
duties connected with their holy office. Among the
masses very few even possessed a copy of the Bible, or
received any life instruction from its sacred pages, or
from any other source. In short, at the time John
Wesley began his distinctively revival work, no such
thing was known in Christendom as a Bible society to
spread the Word, a missionary society to send out the
gospel minister, a Sunday school to instruct the young,
or a prayer meeting to keep ahve the spirit of devotion
in the church. Now what could Swedenborg with his
voluminous writings have done towards promulgating
the true doctrines of the Word, and introducing the
church of the Second Advent, while these conditions
prevaUed? What could the ablest exponents of the
New Church in England have done, had they by some
mistake been sent out among the people to raise
up true Christianity, instead of John Wesley and his
coadjutors? The very thought of such an effort is
absurd. No, John must first come, crying repent ye
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and bring forth
therefore fruits mete for repentance. And now also
the ax is laid unto the root of the tree; therefore every
tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down
and cast into the fire. The necessity for these pre
paratory dispensations, to awaken the people into the
full and active life of the former dispensation, as a
preparation for receiving the doctrines and hfe of the

38 THE NEW CANAAN.
New Church is so fuUy set forth in the Word, that aU
doubtless are ready to admit it. Victuals must be pro
vided. States of good adequate to the occasion, and
fully up to the standard of the former church, in its
best days, alone can prepare the people for so great a
change. Joshua communicated this command to the officers
of the people, saying " pass through the host, and com
mand the people, saying prepare you Adctuals, for within
three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go to
possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you
to possess it." Marvelous indeed is the accuracy with
which these few words in the letter, represent this
preparatory work. To those acquainted with it, the
whole history of the movement at once stands in bold
outUne, when the representative meaning is seen. And
in such clear light does it stand, that there is no rational
ground for doubt. In the Uteral command, the officers
of the people were to go through the host — ^the great
multitude of people- — and by word give the order. There
must have been a large number of these officers to com
municate the order to all the three million people sup
posed to be in the camp. How accurately these officers
represent the early Wesleyan movement with its Uttle
army of itinerants, in ceaseless motion, penetrating
the darkest lanes, the most forbidding slums, and byways
in the city, and visiting the remotest rural hamlet in
all the land. And wherever they went, they left
an active force of under officers, local preachers,
exhorters, class-leaders and stewards. By these the

PREPARING VICTUALS. 39
work was kept alive, multitudes heard the simple
story of the gospel, and hundreds were awakened
to a vivid sense of their lost condition, repented, were
converted, and at once took up their cross and began
to follow the Lord in the regeneration. Whole
communities, seeming to be given over to all manner
of evil doing, and utterly unconcerned in regard to all
spiritual things, were often entirely revolutionized,
many of them becoming upright and God-fearing men
and women.
Now these awakened multitudes were not, as they
supposed, instantaneously regenerated. That would be
contrary to all Divine order, and utterly impossible.
But many of them were soundly converted to God,
and at once entered upon the true regenerate life,
carefuUy shunning sin, and striving to discharge faith
fully the duties of the Christian life. They had no
great store of truth in their memory, and even the
little they had, was largely only apparent truth, as
drawn from the letter of the Word, but it was often so
filled with love to God and man, that they developed
most noble Christian lives.
It has often been objected by those who have
some knowledge of the new truth which has been
opened to the world, that Wesley and his coadjutors
were rooted and grounded in the falses of the con
summated church. But this view is the result of im
perfect knowledge of these men and their work. That
they assented, in a passive way, to the old doctrines
which had been handed down to them through dark

40 ^ THE NEW CANAAN.
centuries, is true. But it is clear that they were
not called by the Lord to teach new truth, but rather
to apply the small amount of practical and vital truth,
which had come to them through the benighted state
of the church, to the conscience, thus calUng the careless
people to repentance. That they did this faithfully,
and most successfully, need not be repeated. And it
should be understood that at the time the Wesleyan
movement began, a few years before Swedenborg began
to write, the old doctrines were not in controversy,
were not questions then exciting investigation. These
men concerned themselves only with the simple prac
tical questions of vital Christianity. And, never more
earnestly and persistingly did a New Church minister
urge the necessity of shunning sin and Uving up to one's
highest convictions, than did these early reformers.
Mr. Wesley while seeming to assent to the deadly
falsity of salvation by faith alone, virtually denied it,
and destroyed its evil effects, by asserting that faith
must be accompanied by good works, or a good life,
else it becomes of no avail. But he and his foUowers
taught clearly and forcibly the essential principles in
volved in the Doctrine of Life, as taught by Swedenborg.
But cold doctrinal teaching was entirely out of the Une
of work they were called to do. Their mission was to
provide "victuals," not water nor wine. In other
words, to awaken the people to the consciousness that
they were sinners, and to the necessity of forsaking sin
and leading good Uves, was their divinely appointed
work. This was the essential pre-requisite to the re-

PREPARING VICTUALS. 41
ception of the higher forms of truth required for the
coming church. The instruction in truth was to come
later, after the way had been prepared for its reception.
The great Providential use which was served by the
Wesleyan movement is clearly indicated by the fact
that the early receivers of the doctrines taught by
Swedenborg, were largely disciples of Wesley, or at
least had come under the influence of the great revival
of Christianity originating with him. And the same
may be said of the early New Church ministers in
England, who were active in the organization of the
church, as well as in proclaiming the gospel of the
Second Advent. They were largely called from among
the disciples of Wesley, as the Lord's disciples were
chosen from among the disciples of John.
To the efficiency of this preparatory work, I am con
strained to bear personal testimony. I was raised a
Methodist. I was not taught much doctrine, but was
taught by precept and example the duty of reading
the Bible, and of daily pra}dng to the Lord for help
to overcome my evils, and to live a true Christian life,
which to me meant being saved from secret sins, as
well as from overt or outward sins. I was also taught
to seek and expect a change of heart, and to receive
an internal witness of the Spirit, or consciousness that
I was born from above. And in great mercy I was
permitted to realize these expectations. When about
twenty-five years old, I became a Methodist itinerant.
After five or six years, I began to feel a great defect of
truth, not only as a means of teaching others, but for

42 THE NEW CANAAN.
my own personal needs. I was parched with spiritual
thirst, but knew not where to find the waters of Ufe,
such as I needed. At this point, I met that good
man, Rev. Abial Silver. He taught me where to look
for Uving water. He gave me a few books. I read
them with intense delight, and took in the doctrines of
the New Jerusalem, freely as the parched earth takes
in the copious rain. I saw that they were true, and
after nearly forty years have come and gone, and
after I have given them much careful study and thought,
I still see them to be true. And now I look back to
the time of my reading and accepting the doctrines with
profound gratitude; and for this easy and delightful
reception of the teachings of the Lord, through his
servant Swedenborg, I am indebted to the "victuals"
which were provided under my early Methodist teach
ings, and home surroundings. And what, under the
Lord, has been done for me, I am sure has been done
for thousands of others, now in the heavens above, or
else in the church on the earth.
In this connection it should be borne in mind
that both in England and in the United States, many
were quickened into newness of Ufe by the Wesleyan
movement who never became personally connected
with that body, but took up the same line of work in
the church with which they happened to be in connec
tion. Till within the last fifty years, as far as I have
been able to learn, the great majority of ministers who
served the church so faithfully, and were instrumental
in doing so much good, received the spiritual impulse

PREPARING VICTUALS. 43
which called them into the whitened fields, either
directly or indirectly from this same preparatory in
fluence, sent out by the Lord to prepare the way for
His coming. And among the active and successful
ministers, in the work in this country at the present
time, a considerable number came from the ministry of
the Methodist Church.
But the introduction of the doctrines of the New
Church is a slow and tedious process, and consequently
this preparatory work has been continued side by side
with the active promulgation of New Church truth.
Much of it is being done continually by the various
churches around us, while now and then, specially
endowed and prepared men are doing it, perhaps as
effectuaUy as it was done by Mr. Wesley himself. As
an illustration I would call attention to the work of
the late Mr. Moody. His mission in many respects was
very muck Uke that of Mr. Wesley. The same crude
doctrines were adhered to, but they were overshadowed
and largely hidden from sight by the veritable living
gospel, filled with the vitalizing Spirit of Truth, which,
even as infilUng very imperfect doctrinal formulas,
has a thousand times more power than even the lucid
truth forms of the New Church, when given forth cold
as icicles, and left to fall into snow-covered ground,
where it is impossible for the seed to grow and yield a
fruitful harvest.

Y.
THE REUBENITES, THE GADITES, AND THE HALF
TRIBE OF MANASSEH. ORDERED TO THE
FRONT BY JOSHUA.

After the command had been given for the people to
prepare victuals, and be ready to cross over the Jordan
within three days, Joshua charged the Reubenites, the
Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, to remember
the promise they had made to Moses when they received
their inheritance, that they with all the mighty men of
valor would pass before their brethren, and help them
until the Lord gave them rest. In view of their repre
sentation, this was a most important arrangement.
The Reubenites in this case denote faith in the
standing, the Gadites signify the good of Ufe, or use,
and Manasseh represents spiritual good in the natural,
or the new will principle in the natural (A. C. 5351).
This language in regard to Manasseh, indicates that in
the state here represented, the new will is brought
down into the natural man, and has become the ruling
principle in the external man and life. To bring down
the internal spiritual into the natural man, ultimating
it in all the activities of Ufe on this lowest plane, is the
essential and practical work of regeneration. Jesus
saith: " He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
44

ORDERED TO THE FRONT. 45
feet, but is clean every whit" (John 13, 10). The
representation of Manasseh contains important instruc
tion, that is it signifies the removal of both hereditary
and actual evil. But this will be considered in another
place. These three tribes, when considered together, represent
essentially the same thing as the three disciples, Peter,
James and John, who always accompanied the Lord
when he was out among the multitudes, heaUng the
sick, giving sight to the bUnd, and raising up the dead.
Peter represented faith, or truth originating in good,
James represented charity or love, and John the works
of charity, that is love in act. These three represent
the essentials of the church, and there can be no church
when either one is wanting. And as the Lord required
their presence, that is, faith, love, and good works among
His disciples in order that He might carry on His
work of saving men and building up His church, so it
was essential that those who represented the Lord, in
passing over the Jordan, should be present and active.
These leaders, or essentials, must fill their true place,
standing firm at the post of duty, or all the host would
be scattered, and failure would be the result. These
mighty men of valor must lead. With the forty thou
sand armed for battle, they must march in the front,
inspiring confidence in all the host, as well as spreading
terror in the ranks of the enemy.- And the supremacy
and majesty, and I may say Omnipotence of these
cardinal Christian principles, could not have been more
accurately and impressively dramatized than when the

46 THE NEW CANAAN.
mighty men of valor from these three tribes placed
themselves at the head of aU the great multitude, saying
unto Joshua, "all that thou commandest us we will
do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we wiU go."
Now the natural man can stand firm and assume a
defiant attitude when he knows that he is stronger and
better equipped than his enemy. He may even be
eager to exhibit his valor in marching upon his enemy
and opening the battle. But here we find men standing
firm and obedient to every order, without any of the
grounds of assurance which the natural man seeks.
They are about to attempt to cross the Jordan, a rapid
stream, out of its banks and spreading over all the low
lands, which to the man without faith, seems to threaten
death to any one who should attempt to cross it. And
just beyond, probably in plain sight, is Jericho, a city
with high and strong walls, inclosing and protecting a
great multitude, who stand ready to defend their city
and homes. And still a Uttle way beyond, stand
numerous strong cities, with great armies ready to hurl
back the invader. And these three companies, repre
senting faith in God, love to men and active good works
in behalf of all the world, stand undaunted, nor hesi
tate to pledge obedience — absolute obedience to every
command. Truly the exhibition is sublime', and shows
that these cardinal principles of the Lord's kingdom,
firmly held, and faithfully practiced, lead the man and
the church unto the serene heights where no power of
falsity and evil can molest. From such manifestations
of imquestioning faith in God, and love for aU that is

ORDERED TO THE FRONT. 47
pure and good, expressed in loving deeds for others,
evil spirits and devils flee away in utmost consterna
tion, and hid.e in the caverns of darkness.
This is the faith and spirit needed by the Christian
Israel, which is now being marshalled, and provided
with victuals — states of good in the hfe, and thus made
ready to move on, and to take possession of the Celestial
Canaan, which is as definitely promised as was the old
Canaan to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to the
children of Israel, and as certain to be reaUzed in the
near future. All the existing conditions point with
unerring certainty to the consummation of the old
selfish and inhuman state of society now prevaiUng aU
over Christendom, and to the introduction of true
Christianity, first in the remnant prepared by the
Lord for the purpose, which is now concealed amid
the spiritual wastes and desolations everywhere pre
vailing, but which wiU Une up for the forward move
ment, when the time comes, and touched by the new
influx now pressing down, but restrained till all things
are ready, wfll march in sofid phalanx through the
Jordan of falsity and evil, and rapidly make the conquest
of the land.
The prepared remnant, now invisible and unknown,
when the New influx from the Lord through the old
channels is restored, will move rapidly forward, acquiring
new power and momentum as the celestial influx passes
down from the internal centers through the re-opened
and re-vivified soul to the ultimate life^ and thus out
into the world. And multitudes among the existing

48 THE NEW CANAAN.
churches, and from the agnostic outside world, in
whom some remains may be foimd, will gladly fall
into line, swelling the numbers, and increasing the power
of the heavenly movement. The great mammon-wor
shiping and atheistic multitude wiU look on in blank
amazement, utterly bewildered by a movement which
to them is incomprehensible. For a time they will
stand aghast, and then judging from the manifestations
of human nature in the past, they wiU oppose, and in
every possible way try to check, the movement, but in
vain. Now the natiu-al Canaan was taken by the IsraeUtes
not by their extraordinary bravery and skill in war on
the natural plane, but simply by wisdom inspired in
their leader to guide every movement, and by the
manifest influx of supernatural power, which in harmony
with their obedience, came upon them, flowing into
every orderly movement, and giving them complete
success. The representatives of the IsraeUtes, when they were
obedient to the commands received, were filled with
power against their enemies, and even over natural
things which stood in the way. This power over material
things was wonderfully exhibited on various occasions
on the journey from Egypt to Canaan. The waters of
the Red Sea divided, giving them a safe passage to the
other shore. Then they returned to their place, over
whelming Pharaoh and the Egyptians. When they came
to the bitter waters of Marah, which they could not
drink, the wood of a certain tree healed the waters, and

ORDERED TO THE FRONT. 49
they drank and were satisfied. When they hungered
for flesh, quail in great abundance fell in the camp in
the evening, and manna in the morning. When the
Amalekites made battle against them Moses' hands
were held up, and Israel prevailed. When the host
was parched with thirst at Horeb, the smitten rock
gave forth water in abundance. And thus through all
the journey, while they were obedient to the Lord's
commands, even external nature was made to minister
to their needs, and to stand for their defence in the hour
of danger. And thus it was after taking the land.
While obedient to the Lord, they reaped abundant
harvests, and had prosperity in all their borders. It
was thus through all the four hundred years while they
were under the Judges. They enjoyed an ideal state
of peace and plenty and worldly prosperity, the promised
reward of obedience.
Then if obedience on their part brought victory in
war, and peace and natural prosperity, which was
aU that had been promised, or that they desired, is it
too much for the Christian Israel, seeking spiritual
blessings, heavenly quaUties of character, purity from
all the defilements of sin, the restoration of the will
to soundness, and to have all the faculties of the soul
brought into such order as to respond at once to every
heavenly impulse — is it too much to expect with the
confidence of Uttle children, full deliverance from the
powers of darkness, and the realization of every desired
heavenly good? Would the task be more difficult, or
would it require a more extraordinary manifestation of
4

50 THE NEW CANAAN.
power on the part of the Lord, to lead the humble and
receptive heart into heavenly order, and to make the
Ufe even here in the natural world to correspond with
the activities of the angels in heaven, than it did to
work out all these miracles of deliverance for the Israel
ites on the natural plane? And is not the representa
tion on the natural plane, of these richer and higher
spiritual blessings, a direct and unquestionable prophecy
and promise, that all the corresponding blessings on
the spiritual plane, shall as certainly and as fully be
fulfilled? This supposition is scriptural beyond all
reasonable doubt, and it is in harmony with the views
freely expressed in the writings of the church. Sweden
borg tells us of two or three persons in his day, when
the church was in its lowest state, who were so fully
regenerated in this Ufe that they were raised up into
heaven immediately after death. And if men could be
so regenerated in his time, surely now, after the influence
of the New Heavens, which constitute the internal of
the church, have been actively at work for a century
and a half, the way must be open.
But the churches of the present day, not omitting
the New Church, are essentially like the IsraeUtes of
old. There is almost a total defect of faith. Anything
which the natural rationality cannot clearly see and
demonstrate is at once rejected by many. The plain
enunciations of the Word cannot be trusted, unless
backed by some outside testimony, coming through
the senses. Many in the churches who hold that the
Bible is true in a general way, when the great power

ORDERED TO THE FRONT. 51
and far-reaching efficacy of the gospel is proclaimed,
as being able to save even from all sin, and to lead the
man of the church, and the church at large, back into
states of true celestial life, and that it is intended to
secure the entire restoration of our race to primitive
conditions as in the Adamic age, at once shake their
heads in denial, or at least in doubt as to the gospels
having any such far-reaching power. The people of
the Christian Church, as we find them to-day, with
few exceptions, take the same position insisted upon
by the Israelites in the midst of the wilderness. When
the twelve spies sent out by Moses, to search the land
and report returned, they said to Moses, "We came
unto the land whither thou sendest us, and surely it
floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it
[exhibiting the great cluster, and other fruits they
brought back. with them], nevertheless the people be
strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled
and very great; and moreover we saw the children of
Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the
south ; the Hittites, and the Jebusites and the Amorites
dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by
the sea, and by the coast of Jordan." "And Caleb
stilled the people before Moses, and said, let us go up
at once and possess it; for we are well able to over
come it." But the ten said: "We be not able to go up
against the people, for they are stronger than we,"
and the multitude was ready to stone Caleb and Joshua.
And because of their own unbelief, they were con
demned to wander in the wilderness for forty years.

52 THE NEW CANAAN.
and till all who came out from Egypt, twenty years old
and older, were dead. And yet this people, now so
destitute of faith in the Lord, only a little over a year
before, were led out of Egypt, and through the Red
Sea by the strong arm of the Lord. And the promise
that they should inherit the land had been repeated
over and over. But even the distant view of danger
paralyzed their faith, and as a consequence they feU in
the wilderness.
And the same cowardly shrinking from the straight
path of duty, was repeated all along down the Christian
age, just as represented by the Israelites, to the time
of its consummation one hundred and fifty years ago,
save the few Calebs and Joshuas, who stood firm in
the way of duty, regardless of bitter persecution. And
now we who live in this intermediate period, the time
of the end, possessing vastly fuller light and better
opportunities than did the early Christians, are repeat
ing the same astounding mistake, of utter unbelief in
the promises of the Word, which we cannot gainsay,
and as well of unbelief in the plain teachings of the
writings given for our use, which constantly point to
the Old Canaan, now in the hands of aUens, as the true
home of the church, whose fruitful fields and genial
clime beckon us on, notwithstanding our long winter
of cheerless unbelief.
Then dear reader, " Let us at once go up and possess
the land, for we are well able." Assuredly the promise
of the Celestial church and life, stand out so clear and
full, and with such warmth and vitaUty, as it comes

ORDERED TO THE FRONT. 53
from the Lord through His Word, that we need not
hesitate longer. For the consecrated and pure life,
inspired by love to God and to man, in which the evil
loves of the self-life have been subdued and removed
outside of the circle of the active life, is the great theme
of the Holy Word from first to last. We are clearly
called to a state of heart purity. There is no evading
this truth. And may the Lord forbid that we should
try to evade it. The Word by precept and promise
brings this state before us, and with trembUng tender
ness, urges us to move forward and enter upon it.
Hear what the Lord in person says: "Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect." Now it would seem clear
that deliverance from the evils, from all the evils of
our fallen nature, and purity of heart, and uprightness of
conduct, are distinctly set forth in the Word, as ends
demanding earnest effort on our part. As we have seen
the letter of the Word teaches it, and in the internal
sense holiness to the Lord is the great theme in all its
parts. And the difference of opinion among believers
seems to originate in the views held by some that we may
not hope to attain it in this life, and must patiently wait
till we pass out of the body, and into the other life. But
on what ground we may hope for purity in the future life,
if it may not be attained during the life in the world,
is a point which seems difficult to explain. WiU there
be a new gospel, a fuller redemption, and an easier way

54 THE NEW CANAAN.
of finding deliverance from our evils? Clearly we must
set this down as a delusion, without even the shadow
of truth in it. But a candid and critical examination
of our hearts will doubtless convince us, that our want
of faith in this particular, originates in the fact that
the will of the self-life is not subordinated to the will
of the internal man. In other words, it originates in
an aversion to laying down the Ufe of self-love, and is
really an effort to excuse ourselves for our imfaithful-
ness to the Lord, by pleading inability to Uve as He
requires us to live. It is on our part, a cowardly turning
aside from the plain, though straight way the Lord has
marked out for us. The great trouble seems to be a
catering to the spirit of the world, and pleading the
delusive hope that we can find our place in the heavens
without laying down our Ufe, and foUowing the Lord.
We say to ourselves, so we but keep the commandments,
that is so we refrain from literally breaking those which
begin with "thou shalt not, " that all shaU be weU with
us. But do we not understand that we may do this —
that we may be blameless as to overt violations, and
yet our hearts be as a cage of unclean birds? And
wherein is this external obedience to the commandments
different from that required of the Jews ? At best it is
only moral good. We are to keep the commandments
in a different way from this mere refraining from out
ward deeds of evil. The Christian, especially the
Christian of the New Dispensation, can keep the com
mandments, only by loving the Lord with aU the heart,
mind and strength, and his neighbor as himself. It is

ORDERED TO THE FRONT. 55
something which reaches the hidden motives and pur
poses of the heart. No mere negative, outside work
wiU answer the purpose. But that is not all. We
have the Ught of truth in the greatest abundance, and
in consenting to rest satisfied with this external obedi
ence, we are sinning against Ught and knowledge, and
if we persist in it, hard vnll be the account we must
give. For what purpose was the Word brought down
to men, telUng them in plain language how to Uve, how
to shun and overcome evil, if this may not be done
here and now, enabling them to come into states of
heavenly purity? And why was the internal sense of
the Word opened, and the key to its heavenly treas
ures committed to us, if we can make no practical
use of them, in rising into states of true heavenly Ufe,
which is taking possession of the spiritual Canaan, into
which the Lord for long ages, has been in constant
effort to lead our race? In all the wonderful and myste
rious leadings of the Divine Providence, as manifested
in shaping the destinies of men and nations, and amidst
all the sufferings and tears and groans of our race, the
central aU-embracing purpose, never for a moment
lost sight of, has been to lead the reluctant people back,
not merely to wander in the wilderness of spiritual
regeneration, but rather into the long promised Canaan,
to dwell on the peaceful mountains, where of old, dwelt
the Adamic people in the paradise of God.
Since the Lord has led his people on through the
wilderness of spiritual conffict and doubt, till the
bright vision of the old Canaan begins to appear, who

56 THE NEW CANAAN.
can doubt His intention to still lead them on, till, like
the prodigal, they find themselves at the old home
where peace and plenty abound?

YI.
THE TWO MEN SENT BY JOSHUA TO SPY OUT
THE LAND.

The immediate object in sending the two men to
search the land, was to gain such knowledge in regard
to it, and in regard to the inhabitants, as might be
of practical service in its conquest. In war it is
always important to know the strength of the enemy,
and if the country is to be invaded, an accurate
knowledge of its geography is important. And not
withstanding the miraculous power of Jehovah had
been exercised all along the journey, as the safety
and comfort of the people required, it was neverthe
less the clear duty of Joshua and all the under offi
cers, to be just as careful, as though by their own
wisdom and power, they were to destroy the Canaan
ites, and take possession of the land. By obedience
to the Lord and co-operation with Him, they were to
win success.
But in all these movements the Lord had a far-
reaching purpose, utterly unknown to the Israelites.
Guided by His wisdom, and made victorious by His
power, every step they took in crossing over into the
land, and subduing their enemies, represented the
progress of a war and conquest, wide as the universe
57

58 THE NEW CANAAN.
in its influence. Nothing less than the subjugation
of the kingdoms of this world, and the estabUshment
of that kingdom for which we are taught to pray, is
represented and involved. And the exploration of the
land by the two men, teaches a most important fact
relative to the incoming church, which makes clear
the wise provision the Lord has made for its extension
into the different regions of the earth.
But I can only consider this exceedingly instructive
chapter of the Word, far enough to draw out some
small part of the Tepresentative meaning of the two
men sent out by Joshua to spy out the land of Canaan,
and also the representative meaning of Rahab the
harlot, and her kindly service in secreting them, and
enabUng them to escape the officers of Jericho.
Those acquainted with the writings of Swedenborg,
understand that at the end of every dispensation of
the church, in preparation for the judgment then about
to be executed upon the former church, a critical and
thorough exploration of those upon whom the Last
Judgment is about to come, is made, in order that the
way may be prepared for the introduction of the New
dispensation then to be raised up. This exploration
is in the interest of such persons as may be able to pass
through the judgment, and to enter the Church then
about to be formed. Its object is to secretly impress
upon the minds of the people the essentials of the church,
and to bring home to them the necessity of incorporating
those essentials into the life. It is a caU to prompt
decision of purpose and action, yet so quietly made

SPYING THE LAND. 59
as not to interfere in the least with individual free
dom. It whispers to the inner consciousness, in the
language of Joshua, " Choose you this day whom you will
serve." The exploration and judgment which pass upon men
prior to entering a new dispensation, are essentially the
same as that which takes place after death, in preparing
for the final home. It is a critical discrimination be
tween the true and the false, and the good and the evil,
and if we are in the love of good and truth, it calls for
the prompt appUcation of every good and true principle
to the life. Essentially the same judgment passes upon
every one who is being regenerated, though there seems
to be a special and more urgent call, when preparing
to enter a new church, in a higher degree.
The men sent to secretly spy out the land, signify
Divine Truth, either directly or indirectly from the
Word. Two, the number of men sent out, signify the
conjunction of good and truth, or the truth filled with
love. In a former chapter it was shown that Sweden
borg was the antitype of Joshua. Joshua is truth
combatting, and represents the opening of the truths
of the Word, given for the New Christian Church.
Joshua, the type, sent the two men over into Canaan
to make a critical examination as to the state of the
church,,and Swedenborg, the antitype, more than three
thousand years later, did that which was accurately
represented by Joshua, in sending over the two men.
That is he sent out Divine Truth from the Word in
great fullness to explore the consummated Christian

60 THE NEW CANAAN.
Church, and to prepare the remnant in it, which could
be preserved for the formation of the New Christian
Church. His message filUng more than a score of large
octavo volumes was sent out into the midst of the
desolated church, to secretly search out its real quaUties,
— so secretly that not even the few readers knew whence
it came. But these volumes were magazines filled with
"truth combatting" to be used in the war against
falsity and evil, which had devastated the church and
brought the darkness of a starless night over all Christen
dom. The campaign was planned by Divine Wisdom,
and executed by the power of "truth combatting."
But the conflict of truth against falsity and evil, was
waged so quietly — so secretly, we may say — that even
after it had been progressing in the very centers of
Christendom for a full century, few had any knowledge
of what was being done, or suspected that their cherished
and venerated doctrinal strongholds were being un
dermined and would soon topple in hopeless ruin.
But in the mean time the few Uttle circles of readers
and receivers of the New doctrines had considerably
increased, and in a small way began to attract atten
tion, and to create some alarm among the adherents
of the old doctrines, who made various futile efforts to
check the spread of the New Truth. But in addition
to the regular methods of teaching the triith given for
the New Church, under various Providential disguises,
it found ways to steal into the strongholds of falsity
and evil in just such forms as were best suited to find
a lodgment now and then, in a prepared mind. In

SPYING THE LAND. 61
this way a knowledge of the new truth, with some
measure of clearness came to many Uterary men and
women, and they at once began to introduce fragments
of it into their books, reUgious and secular, and prose
and poetry, also into magazine articles, and newspapers,
and indeed into whatever they wrote. For one having
the genuine truth in his own mind, is in a manner
compelled to express it, if he expresses himself at all.
And the readers were pleased, and the demand for such
Uterature increased, and is increasing to this day, till
now, scarcely a book or paper can be read without
finding many traces of the secret work of the spies.
And every new truth which falls into the affections of
some needy soul, is a substantial gain, a real victory
over falsity and evil, though it may make Uttle show
at the time. For as the sun at daybreak begins to
send forth into the dark world broken fragments of
light, little by little the darkness recedes, and the light
increases, and in an hour the clear light of day has
come. And in this change from darkness to light, every
broken ray of Ught has been helpful, has performed its
own Uttle part. Just so it is with the light of truth, as
it goes forth into the dark cities where falsity and evil
dwell. There is some despised Rahab to receive a few
tiny rays, and to hide them from devouring falsity
under the stalks of flax which she has spread in order
on the roof of her house; that is the simple external
truths which she has learned, and made her guide,
though imperfect and scant, nevertheless guard the
inmost affection for truth and good from harm. And

62 THE NEW CANAAN.
when the danger from destructive falsities has passed,
she lets down the new truths she has received into her
affections and protected, by a cord through the window,
signifying the rational mind, outside the wall which
protects falsity and evil and guides them to the moun
tains of love, where they may be secure till the three
days are accompUshed which make the state full, when
they may safely go forth on every mission of use.
But not only has the new truth been steadily passing
out in helpful measure to the most obscure corners of
Christendom, in the literature of the day, it has also
exerted an influence, perhaps even greater, through the
pulpits of the Protestant Churches. "Truth com
batting" has come unsought to almost all ministers of
the gospel, and has been received in some measure by
very many, and given to their people according to their
Ught, doubtless in many cases, in the very best way
to avoid awakening prejudices, and to meet with favor
from such as are in states of good. Thus the truth is
permeating all the churches, and finding a lodging place
wherever there is a little good in the inmost parts to
receive it, and to protect it from harm. And there can
be no doubt that tens of thousands, scattered through
all the churches, and outside of them all, have received
enough of the new truth to set them to thinking, and
to examining themselves, and to setting up new stand
ards of Ufe. And by the multitudes who are in states
of simple good, the real truth is almost universally re
ceived as to all the practical duties of the everyday
Ufe. And all such are coming to see that future des-

SPYING THE LAND. 63
tiny is not determined by the doctrinal standard, but
by inmost loves, and the real quaUties of Ufe. And
all this change has been brought about by the secret
work of the new truth in exploring his spiritual state,
under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth detecting
lurking falsities and evils, and putting them away. AU
these are preserved remnants from the consummated
church, and are being prepared to cross over the Jordan
into the New Celestial Canaan, which is the Lord's
kingdom established upon the earth.
But what is the representation of Rahab, and of her
hiding the two men in the fiax on the roof of her house,
and thus in securing their escape from the officers of
Jericho? Rahab clearly represents the remnant of a
church which had fallen into decay, and probably into
almost all forms of falsity and evil, while yet, covered
over by external corruptions, there remained a few
seed principles from the fallen Adamic Church, which
under the new and changed condition, the Lord was
about to call into life. A harlot signifies a perverted
and faUen church. And Rahab being an inhabitant of
Canaan, which represents the celestial church, and which
was the center and home of the Most Ancient Church,
had doubtless descended from that church. There is
direct evidence that there were remnants from the
Most Ancient Church in Canaan at the time the Israelites
took possession of it, as we are informed in the Arcana
Coelestia, 4447. It is said: "The remains of the Most
Ancient Church, which was celestial, were still in the
land of Canaan, especially among those who were caUed

64 THE NEW CANAAN.
Hittites and Hivites." Also we find evidence in the
Word as interpreted by Swedenborg, that the Shec-
hemites, whom two of Jacob's sons slew, were descended
from that church. We are further told that : "The New
Church is planted in Central Africa, among those who
Uve a good life according to the best of their knowledge,
and worship God under a human form." (C. S. L. 114.)
It seems certain that these were not of the Spiritual
Church, and therefore must have been of celestial
origin. May we not confidently expect that when the New
Church comes into its "appointed station," that is
into the fuU Ufe and power of the Celestial Church, as
enUghtened from the Word, and as largely developed
on the natural and scientific planes, while at the same
time receiving the copious influx from the Lord, through
the restored will, that all the gentiles of celestial origin,
will speedily come into the full life of the Celestial
Church, and in the language of Isaiah, " They shaU
build the old wastes, they shall raise- up the former des
olations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations."
While Rahab represents the church in ruins, as re
ceiving the two men who were secretly spying out the
land, she represents the covered over and hidden good
which still exists in the celestial remnants which have
come down the ages to the present time. She repre
sents all the milUons of earth, into whatever land
they may have drifted, who have a Ungering spark of
genuine love, handed down from the days of old. And

SPYING THE LAND. 65
her action in concealing and protecting the two men
indicates the readiness with which these remnants wiU
receive the Lord, and spring up into a genuine church
of love, when all things are ready. The two men
signify the special infiuences which the Lord will send
out to the celestial remnants when the time for the
great ingathering has fuUy come. They will perhaps
be largeh' on the internal plane, as were those by means
of which the New Church was planted in Central Africa,
as related by Swedenborg. Nevertheless a sufficient
basis of truth from the Word, on the external plane,
will be required to give stabiUty to the movement.
The influx from the Lord through the internal man,
must find suitable truths in the external mind, to
serve as receiving vessels, else it will be dissipated.
The two pillars Joshua built, one in the midst of the
Jordan, and the other at Gilgal, of stones taken from
the Jordan, clearly indicate the necessity of sound
doctrinal principles, drawn from the Uteral sense of
the Word, to give stabiUty, and to serve as a fitting
basis for the descending internal church in ultimates.
Rahab did not desert the two men when endangered
by the officers of Jericho. She took them up to the
roof of the house, signifying what is inmost and highest,
and hid them with stalks of flax which she had laid in
order there. The stalks of flax in the Word signify its
Uteral or most external truths, all she had. The two
men representing the new and higher truths given for
the New Church, were covered up and completely
hidden from sight, that the officers of Jericho — ^the
5

66 THE NEW CANAAN.
leading principles of falsity and evil, might not profane
and destroy them. But as those remnants are mostly
ignorant of the written Word, the flax signifies the
simple truth principles which have been received as
truth, from any source. The flax was laid in order,
that is the truth principles were arranged for use in
guiding the life. And the stalks of flax, though but
few, were sufficient to protect the internal Divine
principles which had been implanted by the Lord.
And not only so, but when the immediate danger of
being profaned and destroyed had passed, Rahab let
them down by a cord, or rope, through the window,
"saying, get you to the mountains, and hide yourselves
three days, until the pursuers be returned; and after
wards may ye go your way." Rahab here, as before,
represents the remnant which has been preserved
from the Most Ancient Church. The roof of the house
where the men were hid is the inmost will or life, which
has been preserved in some measure of good. The twd
men are the truth principles, which either directly or
indirectly have found way to this remnant, from the
new revelation of truth, given for the incoming dispensa
tion of the church, into the little soundness remaining
in the wiU. The cord by which they were let down
signifies a remnant of good in the wiU, united with
the new truth received. Letting them down through
the window, and outside the walls of Jericho, signifies
letting the truth received by the wiU, or united with
love, down through the understanding, or the rational
mind into the eternal Ufe, with its varied activities.

SPYING THE LAND. 67
DweUing in the mountains three days, is abiding in a
state of good, till the union with the newly received
truth is made perfect, which gives immunity from
assaulting falsity, and preparation for all the external
duties of life.
But as few in the New Church seem to have given
much attention to the radical difference between the
two churches, the Celestial and the Spiritual, it may be
weU to restate this difference from the writings. In A.
C. 5113, it is said: "It is to be noted that in the Word,
where the Spiritual Church is treated of, its inteUectual
principle is also treated of throughout, because it is
the intellectual which with the man of that church, is
regenerated and made a church. There are in general
two churches, the Celestial and the Spiritual; the Ce
lestial Church has place with the man who is capable of
being regenerated, or made a church as to the wUl;
whereas the Spiritual Church has place with the man
who, as we said, is capable of being regenerated only as
to the intellectual part. The Most Ancient Church
which was before the flood, was Celestial, because with
those who were of that church, there was somewhat en
tire in the wiU-part; but the Ancient Church, which
was after the flood was spiritual, because with those
who were of that church, there was not anything entire
in the will-part, but in the inteUectual part." Again in
A. C. 2669, it is said : ' ' The Celestial are those of whom
the Lord thus speaks: 'He caUeth His own sheep by
their name, and leadeth them forth, and when he hath
led forth His own sheep, He goeth before them and the

68 THE NEW CANAAN.
sheep follow Him because they know His voice. ' But
the Spiritual are those of whom He thus speaks; and
other'sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring with Me, and they shall hear My voice, and
they shaU become one flock and one shepherd. " (John
10, 3.) In this last quotation from the writings, we
not only have the essentiaUy different characteristics of
the two churches brought to view, but the Lord Him
self tells us that they shall become one flock — ^that is
one church. " Them also I must bring with me [that is
the spiritual], and they shaU hear My voice, and they
shall become one flock, and one Shepherd, " clearly shows
that He proposes to bring the Spiritual into the same
state as the Celestial, that is to make them Celestial, and
thus unite in one the long-separated Churches.
In closing this chapter, I wish to remind the reader
of the fact that the children of Israel while journeying
through the wilderness under Moses, represented a
spiritual church, which was the First Dispensation of
the Christian Church, and also of the further fact, that
under the leadership of Joshua, in crossing the Jordan,
and in taking possession of Canaan, they represented
the transition from the first Christian Church to the
New Christian Church, the grandest and best of all,
which is to crown the ages, and endure forever. Then
¦with these facts in mind, we may see that Rahab and
her house, being preserved when Jericho feU, and con
tinuing to dwell in the land, with the IsraeUtes, rep
resent the remnant of a celestial church to be brought
in and united with the remnant from the first Christian

SPYING THE LAND. 69
Church in the formation of the New Christian Church,
— ^the final church upon earth. As Rahab and her
people had no connection with the IsraeUtes in the
wilderness, while they represented a spiritual church,
but became connected with them at the very time
when they entered Canaan and began to represent the
coming Celestial Church it seems clear that a people
entirely apart from the Christian Church, a people who
have never had any connection with Christianity, is
represented. It wiU be a people doubtless who have
for long ages been in deep ignorance, and to a greater or
less extent in the external falsities and evils of some
pagan reUgion, but stiU who have through all this
retained in the inmost center of life, hidden away out
of sight of all save the AU-Seeing Eye, a smaU remnant
of good, of soundness in the wiU-part, handed do-wn
from the First Church. Thus in the final consumma
tion of the decayed and decaying ages, and in the final
ingathering of the Lord's people, the First and the Last
shaU be brought together in the One Universal Church
in which the Lord in His Glorified Humanity, shall
dwell in the midst of His people forever.

TIL.
JOSHUA LEADS THE HOSTS TO THE JORDAN.

The representation of the IsraeUtes at this point
brings the Christian Church to what may be considered
the dividing line between the First Dispensation and
the Second. Here the distinctively Spiritual Church,
in which there was no soundness of will, is left behind,
and the New Christian Church, which is to be Celestial,
is about to take its rise. In this church, there wUl be
some soundness of will from its beginning, enough to
give the distinctively celestial type, and to make the
regeneration of the will possible, and thus to open the
original and normal way of influx, from the Lord
through the internal way which was closed in the days
of Noah. However as has been already stated, the
termination of one dispensation to make room for
another, in external manifestations in the world, is
never abrupt. There is always an intermediate state
in which the Old and the New mingle. The one cUngs
to the traditions and life of the past, while the other
persistently urges the claims of the new, saying "Let
the dead bury their dead."
It may be well here to refer to the beginning of this
transitional period, as represented by the children of
Israel, which was with the death of Miriam, soon fol-
70

ON TO THE JORDAN. 71
lowed by the death of Aaron. Miriam represented the
good of truth, that is the good of the Spiritual Church.
And Aaron, apart from the priesthood, represents the
truth of the same church. Death and burial in the
Word, in a good sense, represent resurrection and life,
that is being raised up into a new and higher life.
Then the death of Miriam and Aaron, respectively
representing the good and truth of the Spiritual Church,
is the first indication of the coining change in the church
from the Spiritual to the Celestial. The death of these
two prominent representatives, brings to view the
state of the Spiritual Church, when good and truth on
the part of those among whom the New Church is to
be raised up, have reached the fuU state pecuUar to that
dispensation, in its best days, and they begin to feel
earnest aspirations for a new and higher life, the old
state no longer satisf3dng their desires.
This preparation for passing into the New Dispensa
tion was made as we have seen, by the great revival
of Apostohc faith and Ufe under Wesley and his co
adjutors. In that movement, notwithstanding its Umi-
tations and defects, there was an earnest outreaching
after the true celestial life, under the name of Entire
Sanctification. But the defect of truth was too great
for its satisfactory reaUzation. New truth was first to
be received from the Word to guide the way into that
life, and as a defense against the lurking falsities handed
down from the dark past.
Hence the old state of faith and life was no longer
able to satisfy the aspirations of the man of the church,

72 THE NEW CANAAN.
and it died and it was buried, that is the affections
and thoughts left this state behind, and began to reach
out eagerly for some new state, which should be adequate
to satisfy the newly inspired desires for a higher and
better Ufe. And if Israel is not permitted to march
straight through Edom into the promised land, on the
king's highway, and at once to possess the goodly land,
they resolve to make the circuit around that country,
so pleasant to the natural man. And it is while making
this laborious march that they pass through the country
infested with fiery serpents. Thus it ever is. When
the good and truth of the Spiritual Church no longer
satisfy and we resolve at any cost to find the higher
Ufe of the Celestial Church, the heU of evil passion and
lust within, of whose existence we had probably been
ignorant, is uncapped as it were, and the venomous ser
pents of the evil proprium, or self-Ufe, creep forth, and
we are stricken with terror, and cry to the Lord for
help. Then we are led to look upon the Lifted up
and Glorified One, and live.
But in the forward movements of the church, after
the dividing Une between the two dispensations has
been crossed, the old rapidly recedes, and every effort
to infuse new life into it is futile, while the new advances
with ever increasing pace, till it has reached its "ap
pointed station," and received the fuU influx of life
and power peculiar to its mature state.
The Jordan, the Uteral line of separation between the
journey of the Israelites through the wilderness, and
their promised inheritance, represents the point of

ON TO THE JORDAN. 73
separation between the consummated Apostohc Church,
and the Church of the Second Advent, which is to be
the final church of earth, and will endure forever. At
the time Joshua led the host of Israel through the
Jordan, it was out of its banks, flooding the lowlands,
seeming to the people to present an insuperable barrier
against further progress. It was the time of harvest,
the time for gathering the good grain into the barn,
and for separating the tares from the wheat, and binding
them in bundles to burn. This represented the judg
ment upon the consummated church, which prepared
the way for the coming of the Lord, and the establish
ment of His church and kingdom. The overflowing
flood of angry waters which seemed to challenge the
further progress of Joshua and the children of Israel,
represents essentially the same thing as, "The great
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, which
stood before the woman which was ready to be de-
Uvered, to devour her child as soon as it was born."
That is the waters of the Jordan spread from hill to hill
filled with mud, and the strong current rushing down
towards the Dead Sea, impressively represent the ac
cumulated falsities and evils of the devastated church,
which, a century and a haff ago, threatened to ex
terminate our race, and were only turned back upon
themselves, and the race saved from impending de
struction, by the spoken Word, and the Omnipotence
of the Lord in His Glorified Humanity.
But I deem it unnecessary to dwell upon the Last
Judgment which was executed upon the vast multitudes.

74 THE NEW CANAAN.
collected from Christendom in the spiritual world, in
the year 1757. This judgment is so fully set forth in
the Apocalypse, as opened and explained by the Swedish
Seer, to say nothing of many other parts of the Word,
that there seems no occasion for occupying such familiar
ground. There is, however, one direction in which it
would seem that something profitable to the church in
its present state and at the present time, may be said.
That is, while the Last Judgment as described by
Swedenborg as effected in the spiritual world, is famiUar
to the people of the church generally, there is one phase
of the subject, to which few in the church seem to have
given much thought, though it appears to be of grave
importance at the present time, as affecting the Christian
world. The Last Judgment as effected in the spiritual world
was by means of the truths of the Word. Thus indeed
aU judgment is effected, whether in the spiritual world
or in the natural. Jesus said: "The Word that I have
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."
And the judgment process, whether on a single indi
vidual or on the church, is essentially the same. In
the clear light of truth, every false and evil thing is
uncovered, and appears just as it is. To hide from
it, or to break its effect by deception is impossible.
With those who are in the love of good, as far as the
separation of that which is false and evil is concerned,
the process of judgment and of regeneration is the same.
The judgment upon those who are constantly passing
into the world of spirits after death, is similar to that

ON TO THE JORDAN. 75
now taking place with those in the natural world, only
the state of men in the present Ufe is as sleep when
compared with their state after death. Hence the
judgment of truth with those still in the flesh is much
slower, though it is now rapidly increasing under the
new faciUties for acquiring truth. And one who has
followed the Lord in the regeneration till the natural
or external man is brought into full correspondence with
the internal spiritual man, has already passed through
the judgment, and at death passes immediately, or
nearly so, into his final home in the heavens. This
indeed is the true order of life, and in the coming church
in its mature state, will doubtless become the common
rule. Then we may readily see that the influence of
the Last Judgment on those who were in the love of
good, accomplished essentiaUy the same thing that the
judgment, or regeneration, now accompUshes for those
who in the present Ufe, pass into confirmed states, as
to good and truth. In both cases the preparation foi
heaven is accompUshed. And it may further be said
that one whose inmost love is evil, in passing through
this judgment, that is in rejecting the good and the
true, and confirming himself in his e"vil state, is here
and now prepared for his home in the hells, and passes
there soon after the death of the body.
Then if the judgment which is being effected at the
present time upon multitudes in the natural world,
is by means of the same truths from the Word, which
were active in the Last Judgment in the spiritual
world, are not the judgment influences now so mani-

76 THE NEW CANAAN.
festly in the world, really a continuation of the former,
brought down to the ultimate plane, which is really
the place, where from the beginning, it was intended
that men by the help of the Lord, should prepare
themselves for Ufe in heaven.
The immediate design in the Last Judgment in 1757,
was to restore all things to order in the spiritual world,
and to prepare the way for the organization of the
New Christian Heaven, which was to constitute the
internal of the New Church on earth, and the medium
through which it could be organized and built up in
the world. Is it not clear that the same judgment
truths must be actively at work among men in the
world, in preparing the way for the estabUshment of
the New Church upon earth? We are told in the
writings that the falses and evils of the former church
must first be removed from the minds of men, before it
is possible for the new truth to find general acceptance.
And how are they to be removed, unless by a critical
judgment, that is a careful discrimination in the new
Ught which has been let into the world, between the
false and the true? And this discrimination must
descend to particulars. Whatever of truth and good
may be found intermingled with the old, must be care
fully separated, and gathered up as a precious remnant,
to be filled with life from the Lord, and incorporated
into the new, "that nothing be lost." It is to be
feared that we as a church have sustained loss by
faiUng to observe these conditions with sufficient care.
We have mistaken the states, as to good and truth of

ON TO THE JORDAN. 77
many who have continued with the denominations
around us. We have taken the descriptions of the
dead church about the middle of the seventeenth
century, by Swedenborg, as expressing the true condi
tions now prevaiUng, overlooking the fact that the
Lord in His providence has been raising up and pre
paring a remnant of faithful souls, among whom a
degree of true spirituality has been preserved, or rather
raised up since Swedenborg 's time, and admirably pre
pared for receiving the truth and life of the real New
Church, when the ingathering season has fully come.
The revival of earnest and vital Christianity, which
was caUed into life by the descending influx from the
New Heavens, and assisted by an army of faithful
workers on the external plane, called into life and
activity a goodly number, who were in states of simple
good, and glad to return to the active and faithful
Ufe peculiar to the Christian Church in its primitive
state. Many of these disciples were brought into deep
interior experiences of the presence and saving power
of the Lord, such as were common in Apostolic times.
Limited in their knowledge of truth, and crippled by
many falsities of doctrine, they nevertheless had the
essentials of a true Christian Ufe, and were experienced
in the workings of that spirit so distinctly promised
to the disciples for all coming time. What they termed
experimental reUgion, was a Uving verity to them,
which the plausible sophistries of unregenerate natural
men could never shake. And I am constrained to say
that the defect of this conscious, realizing sense of the

78 THE NEW CANAAN.
Lord's presence, supping with the humble disciple,
fully explains the lack of spiritual power among our
people. And it also makes entirely clear the cause of
our slow growth, as a church, — a cause which none of
our writers have seemed to see. But there is reason
to hope that better things await us in the near future.
Our doctrinal and intellectual state, in view of our
environment, has seemed necessary in preparing the
way for the new influx of heavenly Ufe, for the same
reason that it was necessary for the early disciples
to tarry in Jerusalem till they received the baptism of
the Holy Ghost. The new truths given for the New
Church are the vessels into which the influx of celestial
life must flow, and these vessels must be provided in
abundance, that the life may be full in all parts.
We have now seen that the Judgment of Divine
Truth has long been in active operation on the mental
and spiritual plane, in separating the false from the
true, and the evil from the good. What then will be
the final result of this Judgment on the existing institu
tions of our Christian ci-viUzation? While it does not
come within the plan of this Uttle work to discuss
particulars in regard to the present needs of society,
a few statements touching the operation of universal
principles may be in place and useful.
The Last Judgment upon the collected myriads in
the spiritual world, who had organized what Sweden
borg calls "fictitious heavens," when fully completed,
utterly broke up, and swept away those evil organiza
tions, leaving not a vestige of them remaining. And

ON TO THE JORDAN. 79
as the judgment now progressing among men has the
same end in view, that is to prepare the way for the
formation of the New Church, and the establishment
of the Lord's kingdom upon the earth, it would seem
certain that the same general conditions will prevail.
That is as this judgment advances, every thing contrary
to the Lord's kingdom must be rooted out, and forever
pass away. AU things false and evil, in church and in
state, standing, as they do, opposed to the pure and
heavenly principles annoimced in the Bible, must be
given up and removed. But it is difficult for us to
reaUze these things. When the search-light of truth
reveals unpleasant things, we are inclined to turn
away from them, saying to ourselves, as things have
been in the past, and now are, so shall they continue
to be. Nevertheless, it were better for us to make up
our minds that the judgment light which now penetrates
every nook and corner of Christendom, will continue
to shine, till the true state of every institution, ecclesi
astical, civil and social, is made manifest, and if found
contrary to the law of justice and right between man
and man, will be removed out of the way. For the
Lord Himseff through John in the Apocalypse says:
"The former things are passed away, behold I make
all things New." And the same thing is taught by
representation, in the instructions given to Joshua, to
utterly destroy the old inhabitants of the land of Canaan,
and every thing pertaining to them. The old order of
society, the old cities, and all civil and religious insti
tutions, were to pass away, and the Israelites, beginning

80 THE NEW CANAAN.
at the foundation, were to build up a new order of
society, modeled in every particular after the instruc
tions given by the Lord. Nothing of the old corrupt
and idolatrous conditions was permitted to remain to
tempt the Israelites to disobedience. And in the in
coming New Church, which is to inaugurate the final
form of redeemed society, in which righteousness shall
prevail, the conditions cannot be less strict. And as
every thoughtful man is obliged to admit, the condi
tions now prevailing throughout Christendom, in every
order of society, partake far more largely of the kingdom
of darkness, than of the pure and just and peaceable
kingdom of the Lord. And although it is true that
there has been an encouraging development on the Unes
of the kingdom of righteousness in many directions,
yet the true Israelites who are active and earnest and
persistent in this direction, are all hedged in by false
conditions, and crippled in all their efforts to bring in
a better order of things, and beyond doubt the kingdom
of darkness is dominant in almost every department
of society, both in public and in private. But this
state of affairs cannot long continue. The judgment
of Divine Truth, inflexible and persistent, moves on.
Already the moral sense of all the true and upright,
long outraged, is becoming aroused, and the deep and
dark corruption, now so prevalent, must and wiU be
swept away. The exploration of the spies is being vig
orously prosecuted, and the hidden works of darkness
are being uncovered and exposed in the clear Ught of
truth.

ON TO THE JORDAN. 81
And this judgment cannot cease till all things in both
church and State are brought into perfect correspond
ence with the internal things of the Lord 's church and
kingdom. The external must be made a true ultimate
of the internal, that the heavenly influx may be full and
perfect from the center to the circumference, carrying
full and joyful life to every part. This wiU all be accom
pUshed under the guiding providence of the Lord, but
just how we may be unable to clearly see tfll the time
comes. But we are told in the Writings that when the
wicked go beyond certain limits they bring punish
ment upon themselves. Hence we have no reason to
fear that the abnormal development of wickedness now
so manifest will long continue. The boundary will
soon be reached, and it will be turned back upon itself,
as the waters of the flooded Jordan, that the righteous
may safely pass through. And the Une of separation
between the good and the evil, according to real quaUties
of character, has been distinctly drawn by the explora
tions made under the guidance of the Lord, as repre
sented by the two men sent out by Joshua for that pur
pose. And the active tendency and certain result of
this exploration, is for those on either side, to bring out
their respective quaUties of Ufe, with increasing rapidity
and distinctness in the external conduct of Ufe. Those
who are evil as to their inmost life, are throwing off the
external disguises under which they have concealed their
evils, and openly and boldly plunging into great enor
mities. And, on the other hand, those who have taken
their station on the Lord's right hand, are receiving
6

82 THE NEW CANAAN.
an ever increasing influx of heavenly life from the Lord,
and are rapidly being prepared for the introduction of
the church in its appointed station. The very same in
flux of Ufe from the Lord which is hastening His church
on to its mature state, is by the evil being perverted,
and just as rapidly hastening their class on towards the
full and fearful consummation of evil, now near at hand.
Thus the two classes are rapidly growing apart, in sym
pathy and in the outer life. And to the careless ob
server, it would seem that the evil class is developing m
numbers, and rapidly gaining a controlling influence in
every direction, in the affairs of men. And in regard to
all the external activities, and overshadowing business
operations, particularly in the political and social move
ments of the nations and peoples, it is only too true.
This class of men, moved only by love of self and the
world, push themselves to the front, and win popular
favor by plausible professions of interest in the welfare
of the people, and thus gain a controlUng influence.
While, on the other hand, those who are inspired only by
love to the Lord and the neighbor, being clothed with
humiUty, generally have little inclination to push them
selves, choosing rather some lowly station, and accepting
important public duties, only when earnestly called to
the front by others.
But I want to emphasize the fact, as I believe it to be,
that those who are Uving the true Christian life, being
strictly upright and just in all their relations with others,
are growing in true spirituality, and consequently in
influence in every direction tending to advance the

ON TO THE JORDAN. 83
Lord 's kingdom among men. A remnant, composed of a
goodly number, is being prepared by the Lord, to come
to the front, when they hear the bugle call to move for
ward, as did the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-
tribe of Manasseh, under Joshua. And as these forty
thousand mighty men of valor, signifying a large but in
definite number of Christian warriors, who have passed
through a full state of spiritual temptation, march to the
front, a great host, ' ' a mixed multitude, ' ' less active and
conspicuous, -will take courage, and fall into Une ready
for duty. That is, there are great multitudes of men
and women, who have not been distinguished as Chris
tians, who nevertheless are inmostly rooted and grounded
in good — in love to the Lord and the neighbor, who are
only waiting for true environments, and to hear the real
gospel call, to respond for active ser-vice. Thus the New
Christian Church when brought into a state to receive the
baptism of the Spirit, will set out for the conquest of the
world to the Lord, with the number added to the Apos
tolic Church, on the day of Pentecost, many times in
creased, and more fully endued with power from on high.
Then the world 's great jubilee will be celebrated, and the
triumphant hosts of the New Heaven will draw near,
and mingle their songs and their joys, with the songs of
the redeemed sons of earth.
But what of the multitudes who seem to gather
strength in evil, with every passing year, which they
freely use to obstruct principles of truth and justice?
Turning to the writings of Swedenborg we read:
"Wherefore in the present case, to come down to see.

84 THE NEW CANAAN.
signifies judgment. Judgment is spoken of as taking
place when evil is brought to its height, or as it is ex
pressed in the Word, when it has come to its consumma
tion, or when iniquity is consummated. The case herein
is this. AU evil has its boundaries, or limits, as far as it
is permitted to go: but when it is carried beyond these
limits, the guilty party runs into the punishment of evil,
and this both in general and particular cases. The
punishment of evil is what is then caUed judgment.
And as it appears at first as though the Lord did not see
or notice the existence of evil, for when man does evil
¦with impunity, he supposes that the Lord does not re
gard it; but when he comes to suffer punishment, he
then first thinks that the Lord sees him, yea that the
Lord punishes him, therefore it is said, according to such
appearance, that Jehovah came down to see." A. C.
1311, 1857, and other places.
By this and many sirnilar passages, it seems that in
the natural world, as in the spiritual world, e^vil when
carried beyond the prescribed limits, runs into punish
ment. Hence this judgment upon the church, executed
by the same truths of the Word, as was that in the spir
itual world, though moving much slower in accordance
with the sluggish faculties of man in the flesh, ¦wiU never
theless advance steadily, and with ever increasing mo
mentum, till it has achieved results throughout Christen
dom, similar to those effected by the judgment in the
spiritual world, and it will be inexorable in its operations,
suffering no e-vil to escape its searching light. It wUl
penetrate every city, to^wn and rural hamlet, ¦with fault-

ON TO THE JORDAN. 85
less discrimination laying bare the true state of the
whole people. It wiU uncover and caU into active hfe
states of good in all who inmostly love the Lord and the
neighbor, and, as well, wiU call into the life the real
states of those who reject the Lord and the gospel offer
of salvation from sin and death. And this exploration
of the indi'vidual states of the people, ¦wiU result in a
further separation in the Church, between the true and
the false, and the good and the evQ. AU hypocrisy will
be unmasked and exposed, and, on the other hand, aU
that is true and good ¦will be taken at its o^wn intrinsic
value. It will draw together in distinct societies the
incorrigibly e-vil, on the one hand, and, on the other the
true and the good. All men ¦will be compeUed to Une up
according to their real principles. Deadly hatred wUl
be manifested by the evil towards the true Christian, and
¦will probably break out in open -violence, and this will
hasten the flnal result, which ¦will be the separation of
the e-vil from the good, perhaps in a maimer correspond
ing to that which occurred in the judgment in the spir
itual world.
And notwithstanding the prevalent thought seems
to be that the world of mankind is to continue, as
at present peopling both the heavens and the hells,
it would seem clear that when a class of men become
hopelessly corrupt and incorrigible, as in several
instances recorded in the Bible and in the writings,
mercy would seem to require their removal from the
natural world, when the judgment is fully consummated,
and the glorious church which is to crown the ages, is

86 THE NEW CANAAN.
here, ready ¦with open arms to receive every -wilUng
soul, and thus put a stop to the propagation of an evil
race, whose ine-vitable destiny, if continued, is to people
the hells.

Tin.
THE HOSTS OF ISRAEL FOLLOW THE ARK.

In foUo-wing the representation of the children of
Israel under the leadership of Moses, we flnd Uttle upon
which the Christian mind of the twentieth century can
dwell ¦with pleasure. Almost the entire representation
is of the backsUdings and imperfections of a stiff-necked
people, the contemplations of which affords pleasure
only in the promise it gives of better things when the
Lord shall come to build his church anew. But in fol
lowing the representation of the same people under the
leadership of Joshua, the conditions are reversed, and we
find a long series of representations which bring to -view
scenes as bright as ever gladdened the heart of man in
the golden age of the past. The new representation
gives promise of a deathless age, in which the highest
aspirations of men shall be realized. Indeed, so bright,
so fuU of promise, and so triumphant is the state of our
race, as representatively and propheticaUy brought to
¦view, as to stagger the faith, and bUnd the ¦vision of the
men of to-day, save the few little ones to whom the
mysteries of the kingdom are revealed in the Word.
And of all the prophetic enunciations of the Bible,
touching the future of our race, none are more replete
¦with promise than that which we now approach, the
87

THE NEW CANAAN.

turning back upon themselves, the waters of the Jordan,
and the safe passage of the host of Israel under Joshua.
As we have frequently stated, the Israelites under
Joshua, in being led out of the ¦wilderness, and across
the Jordan, and into the peaceful possession of the prom
ised land, represent the transition of the church and
world from the state of unrest and bitter strife which
has characterized the entire human race ever since
Noah was shut in the ark to continue tUl the lost state
is restored, and the universal reign of peace and good-
¦wiU becomes world-^wide and perfect.
But lest the character of this change should be mis
understood by the reader, let me again state, as is clearly
represented in the history itself, that it ¦will not be a
sudden and startUng change, regardless of the laws of
the Di-vine Order, Ufting the world at once into a perfect
state. It simply turns back the flood of falsity and evil,
that the fallen race may return to the lost state of in
tegrity, and that the long closed channel of influx from
the Lord, through an internal way into, and through the
will, may be restored. The process, to those who are
passing through it, will seem too slow, and wiU sometimes
severely test the patience and faith of those watching for,
and longing for the glorious consummation. But it will
be reaUzed just as soon and fast as the church can be pre
pared for it. This change -will prepare the way for the
process of regeneration to advance steadily and rapidly,
according to the Di-vine and original order for regenera
tion in the individual man, and in the composite man —
universal society. And after the new state is inau-

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 89
gurated as represented by the tribes of Israel, as they
quietly settle down in their respective lots, not only
will there be rapid growth in the church proper, that
is in the church where the word is, but all the great
outlying regions of the earth, will rapidly come into
order. Truly "He [the Lord] shall not fail nor be
discouraged till He hath set judgment in the earth;
and the isles of the sea shall wait His law" (Isa.
42, 4). But this rapid and triumphant coming of the
Lord's kingdom, is brought to view in Isaiah 11, 12,
in language so clear that none but the bUnd can fail
to see it, even in the letter. "And it shall come to
pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again
the second time, to recover the remnant of His people
which shaU be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and
from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from
Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Islands of the
Sea. Aiid He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and
shaU assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together
the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the
earth." Thus we may see that in this new state, there -wiU be
those in every stage of development in the regenerative
process. But love and the ¦wiU of good ¦wiU be dominant
throughout the church, while the understanding and
Di-vine Truth wiU be called into vigorous action, inspired
by love to the Lord and the neighbor. It wiU not then
be Uke rowing up stream against a strong current, as it
has been in the closing dispensation. It wiU be a steady
and normal growth in things good and true.

90 THE NEW CANAAN.
Under the leadership of Moses, the representation of
Israel was of the first Christian Church, which in its best
states was imperfect and unsatisfactory. It was never
intended as a finality, but only to prepare the way for
the true Christian Church which was to follow. And in
the change of leaders from Moses to Joshua, the repre
sentation of the Israelites was entirely changed, and they
began to represent a distinctively New Church, in a
higher degree of life, though at first only in its early and
imperfect beginnings. But the New Church which we
now consider, though at first imperfect, and with almost
everything to learn both as to theory and practice, is
nevertheless radically different from the one we leave be
hind. It is to be a celestial church, that is of the celes
tial type or genus, which however does not mean that
aU in it are perfect, or even in an advanced stage of re
generation, but that they have some integrity of will,
and are receiving influx from the Lord by the restored
internal way, and are making true and rapid progress.
Now it should be understood that all men are born
natural, and it foUows that there will always be per
sons in this church passing through the different stages
of regeneration, as they did in the Most Ancient Church.
(See Gen. 1st.)
Swedenborg states that the will of the man of the An
cient Church formed in the days of Noah, was totally
destroyed, and separated from the intellectual part.
Thus the only medium of influx from the Lord, by "an
internal way, ' ' was closed, and his salvation was possible
only by approaching him through the external man.

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 91
Hence it was for the redemption of this closed man or
church, that the "Lord bowed the heavens and came
down. ' '
But while the will was totally destroyed in a large
part of the human family, particularly in the white race,
among those of whom the Apostohc Church was princi
pally established, we further learn from the same source,
that various remnants of the Most Ancient Church were
preserved in different parts of the world, as was shown
in a former Chapter. The preparation for this change
from the Spiritual Church to the Celestial, is the great
work which under the Divine guidance, has been car
ried on with tireless energy and patience, ever since
the beginning of the Christian era, indeed, taking a
broad view of the subject, ever since the fall. This has
largely consisted in providing a little remnant of sound
ness in the will, and thus preparing the way for the re-
establishment of the influx from the Lord, by the in
ternal way, that is directly into the remnant of good
prepared in the will, and thence through the rationality,
into the external man and life. Wlien this opening
by the intellectual way has been effected by the Lord,
in the man and in the church, or as far as it is effected,
the celestial type is restored, and regeneration advances
imder the sweet constraints of love, rather than under
the mandates of law.
In A. C. 4581, it is said: "They who are brought to
good through an internal way are in the good of love;
but they who are brought through an external way, are
in the good of faith; the men of the Celestial Church,

92 THE NEW CANAAN.
like the angels of the inmost or third heaven, are in the
good of love ; but the men of the Spiritual Church, like
the angels of the middle or second heaven, are in the
good of faith; hence the former is called the celestial good,
but the latter spiritual. The difference is the same as
between willing well from a principle of good-wiU, and
¦wilUng well from good understanding." — ^The restora
tion of the will, will be considered in a chapter devoted
to that subject.
In considering the significance of crossing the Jordan,
it should be borne in mind that the land of Canaan was
the seat or home of the Most Ancient Church, and for
that reason, as the writings tell us, it has in a good sense,
always represented the Celestial Church. Then it ap
pears evident that by the people 's being led over the Jor
dan and into possession of Canaan, the change from the
Spiritual to the Celestial Church is represented. And the
history of the entrance, as contained in the third chapter
of Joshua, in its internal sense, fills the thoughtful mind
with astonishment and awe^ and leaves no doubt but
that the change in the church here represented, has a
world-^wide significance. But interesting and instructive
as every sentence is, I must pass over all the introductory
part, prior to the history of the dividing waters, save to
touch Ughtly upon two or three essential statements,
which have a direct bearing on our main subject, the
representation of the coming Celestial Church, and its
endless duration.
When the state of preparation for crossing the Jordan,
indicated by the three days was full, the officers went

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 93
through the host, and commanded the people, "Say
ing when ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God, and the priests, the Le-vites bearing it, then
ye shall remove from your place and go after it. ' ' The
ark and the Law inclosed in it, represent the Lord as the
Divine Truth. (A. E. 700.) The lesson in brief is this :
when one state in the development of the regenerate
Ufe is made full, and the truth points out the way to a
new and higher state, and kindles in the affection an
ardent desire to attain to it, then we are to move on
whithersoever the Ark leads, but not in a precipitate or
inconsiderate manner, but only as by careful examin
ation, we clearly see the way, for, as the Word tells us,
we have not before passed that way. Every new state
in the regenerate life brings new experiences, and
there is much to learn if we would move forward safely
and pleasantly. Inconsiderate and hasty movements
might prove disastrous. We are to keep a certain dis
tance from the Ark, and to move as it moves. We are
to carefully examine and estimate the quality of our
Uves, as to good and truth. The instruction here
given, is adapted to any church, when it has filled the
measure of life on our plane, or in one degree, and is
ready to set out in search of a still higher and better
state. As guided by the ark of the covenant, that is by
the Divine Truth, the church, or the man of the church is
to move steadily forward. It is to follow the ark at a
safe distance, that every step of the way may be seen
and examined in advance.
And the people before they can be prepared to pass

94 THE NEW CANAAN.
over into the Celestial Canaan, must sanctify them
selves. This includes the putting away of every evil
thing, ¦with the definite purpose to be obedient to the
Lord at all times and to be led by Him. This sanctifi
cation of the will does not permit of compromises, a
whole offering is required. And as a reason for the
sanctification it is said, " for tomorrrow the Lord will do
wonders among you." Tomorrow signifies to eternity.
And it is clearly the church upon earth that is referred
to, and that is being represented. Forever, as applied
to a church upon earth, can only mean the New Dis
pensation of the Christian Church, not in a sectarian,
but universal sense, for the true New Church wiU in
clude all whose internal spirit and life are derived
from the Lord, through the New Heavens. This true
and broad and universal church, as we are repeatedly
told in the Word and in the ¦writings, is to be the crown
of all the churches, that is the highest and the best.
In the Arcana Coelestia, 3727, it is said : ' ' Inasmuch
as altars were representative of all the good of worship,
and the Jewish church was instituted that it might re
present the Celestial Church, which acknowledged no
other truth than what was grounded in good, which is
called celestial truth, for it was not willing in the least
to separate truth from good, insomuch that it was not
willing to name anything of faith or truth unless it
thought concerning good and this by virtue of good."
The IsraeUtes in the wilderness, where they received
the law, and where the rituals of the Jewish Church
were promulgated, represented the Spiritual Church,

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 95
but when they passed into Canaan, they began to re
present the Celestial Church, as we have just seen.
Then it is clearly in the Church of the New Jerusalem,
now being formed, among her happy people, that the
Lord will do wonders, the sweetest and best of which is
that He will dwell among them, and in them, they
being His people, and He being their God. This is
enough. The most fertile imagination can picture
no higher good, no fuller joy. For where our Glorified
Redeemer dwells, sin and sorrow can never come.
One other important lesson, as well as cheering prom
ise demands our attention before we consider the
dividing waters, and the safe crossing of the Israelites
into Canaan. The priests, in obedience to the command
of Joshua, took up the ark of the covenant and went
before the people. Then the Lord said unto Joshua,
" This day wiU I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all
Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses,
so will I be with thee." As has been frequently stated,
Joshua signifies truth combatting, that is truth vitalized
by being filled with the fire of heavenly love, some
thing as water in a boiler becomes a tremendous power,
when fire is applied to it, and it is changed into steam.
It was when the priests took up the ark and began
to move, that the quickening influx of heavenly love,
filled the truth vessels, and the conditions being thus
met, the miraculous power descended, dividing the
waters an'd giving Israel a triumphant passage into the
promised land. By this we are taught that when the
New Church comes into the state of faith and dutiful

96 THE NEW CANAAN.
obedience represented, that is when the people sanctify
themselves, by putting away their e'vils, and by freely
falling into line, to be led by the Lord, when the truth
filled with love, inspires in them great desires to rise up
at once, and cross the river and possess the land, then
the dark waters will be turned back, and a safe passage
opened to the land of promise.
But before this movement can get under headway,
there must be a recognition of the great leading truth
principle, given for this purpose, not only in these
wonderful representative prophecies, so replete with
information even in regard to every particular, but also
in the equally clear and definite instructions given by
the prophets in many places, and above all, by the
statements of the Lord in person, and through John
in the Isle of Patmos. There needs to be an earnest
and a careful investigation of all these most helpful
scriptures, which shed floods of Ught upon this great
question of the Celestial Church, fraught with tre
mendous importance to the church of to-day. And we
need the great truth reiterated, that the Reubenites,
the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, mighty
men of faith, must lead the way, and inspire with
confidence and courage all the Israel of God. The
strange delusion which has blinded the eyes of the
people, that there is no better state for the church, that
it is simply to continue as at present forever, at least
for ages which may not be numbered, on the same low
plane of life, — I say this delusion, these dark waters of
falsity must be turned back to the abyss whence they

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 97
came, and the Israel of God must have faith, and prove
themselves men of heroic courage, not hesitating and
doubting Thomases, ready to skulk when duty says
move forward.
In the movements of the priests with the ark, as
they advance towards the Jordan and into it, a state
of human life is represented in which every department
of the man, from the inmost — ^the heavens of the mind,
to the ultimate things of life 'in the natural man, is
filled with the power of love united with its own truth,
and expressing itself in heavenly deeds. The priests
bore up the ark on their shoulders, which represent all
their power, while their feet rested upon the ground,
thus representing the whole man, as filled with the
power of Divine Truth, as united with heavenly love.
Without this power, this indwelling life of the Lord,
representatively filUng both priests and people, the
priests setting their feet in the brim of the water, would
have had no power to stay the flood, and to open a
safe passage through them.
But before we can take in the wonderful meaning of
the di-viding waters, we must understand what was
represented by the Jordan, at the time this miracle
was -wrought. Canaan as the home of the Most An
cient Church, as has been before stated, represented the
people of the Golden Age. But the people of that
church, forsook the Lord, and feU into the most de
plorable states of falsity and evil. And the inhabi
tants of Canaan, for long ages had been gross idolaters,
given to all manner of evil, and turning the land into a

98 THE NEW CANAAN.
spiritual waste. At the time of which we now write, so
deep had become the corruption, that the Lord saw
that it would be a mercy to them to permit their re
moval from the earth, as they had fallen into such
states that there was no hope of reformation. Hence
while they dwelt in the land it represented the opposite
of heaven, that is the land from its e^vfl inhabitants
represented hell. And the waters of the Jordan
through which the land must be entered, represented
those e^vil waters, which received into the life, lead
inevitably to the hells. But the IsraeUtes could enter
their promised inheritance only by crossing the Jordan.
And so the church in its present wilderness state, can
be re-established in its old celestial inheritance, only
by passing over this Jordan whose waters are deadly
falsities. Hence in the formation of the Representa
tive Church in the land of Canaan, the representation
could only be made full, by leading the IsraeUtes
across the Jordan, by the miraculous power of the
Lord di^viding the waters, and then leading them safely
through and into their possession. Thus the power of
the Lord over all falsity and evil, in the great redemption
He wrought out for our race, is brought to view in this
representative act, in a most impressive manner. And
what is most wonderful, these overflo^wing waters of
falsity and e-vil, were not only di-vided to let the people,
there and then pass safely through, but the waters
which came down from above, stood, and rose up a heap,
it is said, very far from the city Adam, that is beside
Zaretan ; and those that came down towards the sea of

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 99
the plain, the Salt Sea, failed and were cut off. Thus
we are taught that these deadly waters were roUed back,
never to return, and by the great event here drama
tized, we are taught that when this great transitional
period, this crossing over or through the dark waters,
which have long flooded the world, in this dread har-
\'est time of sin and death is completed, that then God
shall ¦wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shaU be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shaU there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. (Rev. 21, 4.)
The di"vided waters of the Jordan represent all the
false doctrines which men have formed for themselves
since the fall, and far removed are they indeed, from
the simple and beautiful doctrines of celestial love
and innocence, as held by the Adamic people in the
days of old.
But at the mere threshold of the internal meaning
of this marvelous historical incident, I pause ! I beUeve
the time will come when the man of the new Celes
tial Church ¦wUl go down into the deep waters con
cealed beneath these surface expressions, and bring up
shining pearls of Celestial truth which ¦wiU cause the
angels of the heavens, and the men of the church in
aU worlds, to unite in loud acclaims of praise to Him
who reigns in His glorified Humanity over a conquered
and loyal universe. And perchance trembUng and dis
tant ¦vibrations may pass down, down, into the dark
world beneath, and touch some responsive chord in
the hearts of the lost, causing them to listen, to look

100 THE NEW CANAAN.
up, inspiring new desires, and even awakening faith that
may be able to pass out of the dark, into the light of
some humble and loyal ser-vice — ^mark you, I do not
say that these things can, or will happen, but if they
should, who in all the wide universe, unless it be some
human monster in the shades of night, would say
nay? We will leave the question -with the All Wise,
All Good, and All Merciful One, and wait, kno-wing that
He -wUl do more and better by every creature of
His hand, than we could desire or think, or ask.
This miracle of turning back the waters of the flooded
Jordan, -viewed even on the natural plane, assumes a
stupendous grandeur, which the human mind can
scarcely grasp. It is said: " For the Jordan overfloweth
all his banks all the time of harvest. " When we remem
ber that the Jordan is a rapid mountain stream, and
that it was already overflowing aU the lowland, the
mass of waters which would collect would be enormous,
unless controlled by the same miraculous power which
turned -them back. Writers who have studied the sub
ject, teU us that the IsraeUtes, numbering probably
about three milUons, could not have crossed the Jordan
in less than three days. And during all this time,
the waters of the overflo^wing river were turned back.
And now, in the time represented, as the Lord's people
obediently move forward, these evil waters are cut off,
and turned back. As the Lord's power produced these
results on the material plane, so in the restoration of
the church to its lost heritage the power of the Lord

FOLLOWING THE ARK. 101
in His glorifled Humamty, will turn back the tide of
evil, and open a safe passage for every faithful soul.
The waters which flowed down toward the sea of
the plain were cut off. This Salt Sea represents the
same as the Red Sea, that is hell. The plain bordering
on the sea represents the e"vils of the natural man, as
when imder the immediate and destructive falsities
which flow out from the hells. The state brought to
view, is that of the natural man when under the domi
nant influence of falsity and e-vil, with no restraining
influx from the Lord, through the internal way, to
turn them back. But now these e^vil waters are cut
off as the hosts of the Christian Israel cross that which
is represented by the Jordan, and they cease to flow
into the minds of men. And as the miraculous power
of the Lord produced these marvelous results in the
world of matter, so in the state represented, the restora
tion of the church to its last heritage, the Canaan
of Celestial love and life, as particularly represented
in the New Jerusalem, descending from God out of
heaven, the omnipotence of the Lord in his glorified
Humamty, will roll back the tide of falsity and evil,
which now in these judgment times, floods the world,
by His o^wn power, and dry up, or seal up those evil
waters that they may curse the earth no more.

IX.
THE TWO PILLARS.

In passing over into Canaan as a body, the Israelites
represent the change of the church from the Spiritual
to the Celestial, which change has been a gradual and
somewhat slow process, largely by means of an im
proved heredity, which in some particulars will be set
forth, from the ¦writings of the church, in another place.
And crossing the Jordan also represents, in a general
way, the process of regeneration in the indi^vidual, by
means of which one of the celestial type passes into a
fully developed celestial life. This individual process
in the outset, has the benefit of the improved heredity
secured for the church as a body, ¦with all the advantages
secured from abundant remains of good and truth,
stored up in infancy and youth, and may be carried
forward so successfully as to reach the blessed sabbath
state, in the present life, and even long before its close.
The glorification of the Lord is a type of man's regenera
tion, and that work in the Lord was accomplished
when he was about thirty-three years old. And as man
is regenerated wholly by the power of the Lord, it seems
clear that this work, the antitype of the Lord's glorifica
tion, does not necessarily require more natural time.
In other words, man being ¦willing, the Lord can accom-
102

THE TWO PILLARS. 103
plish in him the work of regeneration, in a time no
longer than was required in His own glorification. As,
e-vidence that the Lord's glorification is a type of man's
regeneration, I quote from the Arcana Coelestia, No.
7166: "For the glorification of the Lord is an ensample
or type of the regeneration of man." Again in A. C.
4353: "But as the regeneration of man is an image of
the Lord's glorification, therefore also, the regeneration
of man is at the same time treated of in the internal
sense; and whereas regeneration may fall into man's
idea, but not the Lord's glorification, it is allo-wable to
illustrate the latter by the former."
The first conspicuous representative lesson brought
to -view after passing over the river, is in connection
with the two pillars which were built by the Lord's
command, one in the midst of the river, and the other
at Gilgal, where they first camped. Twelve men were
chosen, a man from each tribe, each of whom was to
take a stone on his shoulder, from the midst of the
river, where the priests stood, and carry it to the first
place of encampment. Then Joshua built a pillar of
twelve stones in the midst of the river, and afterwards
he built another, of the twelve stones carried to the
camp at Gilgal. The twelve stones in both cases
represent the truths of the Word as fundamental prin
ciples, or rather as formulated in true doctrines, as
guides and way-marks, leading into the heavenly
Church, and showing how the rich treasures of the
kingdom may be secured. Or more specifically, the
pillars built by Joshua represent the great doctrinal

104 THE NEW CANAAN.
truths of the Word as given by the Lord to Swedenborg,
every one of which was drawn from the Word, and built
up and joined together in the pillars, strong as Gibraltar,
which will stand through all coming ages, as memorials
and guides, for all the Lord's people.
In the church after reaching a mature state, there
¦wiU be marvelous truth perceptions flowing into the
minds of men, such as are not now dreamed of, even
by men of great intellectual and spiritual insight. This
will all be in the line of the providence and order of the
Lord. But there must be safeguards against receiving
falsity as truth, and against mistaking the real import
of fractional truth perceptions. There must be a con
stant appeal to the law and the testimony. And these
pillars of di-vine truth, established from the Word in
its letter, built of twelve stones, that is embracing aU
fundamental truth as revealed by the Lord for the use
of men in the natural -world, as testing principles accord
ing to which aU truth may be judged, and arranged in
order. Now it may be said that it is, enough merely to appeal
to the Word in its letter, and test ever3rthing by it,
¦without any formulated doctrine. But that is just
what the Christian world has claimed to do for two
thousand years, and the result is manifest to all. The
letter of the Word, by even good and intelligent men
is interpreted according to the doctrinal principles they
recognize. But in these pillars, as built by one who
was called and specially Uluminated by the Lord for
that very purpose, guided in every step taken, and to

THE TWO PILLARS. 105
every conclusion reached, by the Lord Himseff, the
universal truth, as revealed to men in the letter of the
Word, is arranged, and brought together in these
twelve stones, systemized, and built up in concise
and exact form, to which appeal may be made in every
emergency, and which gives forth no uncertain sound.
The waters of the Jordan in a good sense represent
the truths of the church universal, that is the truths of
the Word. And the stones from the river as built up
into a pUlar, by Joshua, represent all the truths of the
Word, brought into compact and simple doctrinal
statements, as a memorial and guide for aU people, in
all coming ages, and teach that by means of these truths,
all falsity and e^vil may be turned away from the church,
and as well from the humblest indi'vidual who has made
"his defense the munitions of rocks." The pillar in the
river stands as a memorial for all coining generations,
that the power of the Word is in its letter, as filled with
spirit and Ufe from the Lord, and that it will turn back
every falsity and e-vU from the faithful, and give perfect
immunity from harm. And this memorial -will stand
long after the dark shadow of the world's terrible
experience lesson ¦with falsity and evil has passed
forever away. It will stand in the Jordan, where the
floods of falsity were long wont to flow, but, now in the
waters of the river of life, which flow do^wn from the
mount of God, and fill to the brim the old channel, as
in the days of Adam, long after all the Canaan of earth
has become a paradise, where dwell securely celestial
people, amid peace and plenty, for the sound of devastat-

106 THE NEW CANAAN.
ing war shall no more be heard among the kingdoms of
earth. And in distant ages, when the heavens shall
descend to the earth as the internal soul and Ufe of
the perfected Church, and express themselves corre-
spondentially on the natural plane, when the chUdren,
the innocent but wise people of those happy tinjes,
see these pillars, the rough stones which represent the
letter of the Word, standing as the defense against
forms of falsity and evil, long since passed away from
earth, and almost forgotten, they will listen with bated
breath to the story of sin and death in by-gone ages,
and reverently bow their heads as they turn to the
commandments, so solemn, so stern, and say "aU that
the Lord hath spoken, we will hear and do. "
But why were two pillars built, each of twelve stones,
one in the Jordan, and the other at Gilgal on the dry
land? The pillars, apart from the places where they
stood, represented the same thing, that is all the truths
of the church, as drawn from the Word in doctrinal
and practical forms; and in a broader sense, the letter
of the Word set up as a memorial to be observed for
ever. But by the two pillars, the one planted in the
river, and the other at Gilgal, the first resting place in
the land, essentially different uses of the truths of the
Word are represented. The one built in the river, and
first built, has relation particularly to the power of
Divine Truth, as a protection against falsity and evil.
But the second has relation rather to doing good, that
is to the practical use of the truth in ultimates, as foun
dation stones on which all the structure of a heavenly

THE TWO PILLARS. 107
Ufe must rest. The stones of the second pillar were
taken from the same place in the river as those of the
first, that is from the place where the priests stood, who
bore up the ark of the Covenant, representing the foun
dation on which all the goods and truth of the Church,
and as well the foundation on which the heavens rest,
and. must forever rest.
The twelve stones were by command carried, one on
the shoulder of each representative man, chosen from
their respective tribes. Now the shoulder represents the
full power of the man. It is that part of his body on
which he can bear the heaviest burden. Hence, carry
ing the stone on the shoulder teaches that those who are
caUed to enter upon the work of laying the fundamental
principles of the heavenly church, should do honest and
thorough work. For to get a sure foundation laid in the
life is well worth an earnest effort. And this pillar
must be built up in every one in whom the church is to
be formed, and it requires-all the twelve stones. Each
stone represents an essential truth principle, which
branches out into a multitude of lesser and subordinate
truths. And each of these has a particular use to
serve, a mission of its own to fill. The importance of
all these foundation stones finding a place in the life of
each one, and in the active life of the church as a com
posite body, must be apparent, and cannot be over
estimated, for the essential qualities of the life will be
determined by the foundation. By the truths repre
sented by these two pillars, one is not only restrained
and protected from ¦wrong doing, he is also urged for-

108 THE NEW CANAAN.
ward in right doing. And when ¦with love to the Lord,
and love to the neighbor, as active principles ¦within us,
and with our affections kindled into a flame of heavenly
zeal, and urging us out into active uses, they show us
that our love and zeal should not go forth on an aimless
mission as one that beateth the air, but that they should
ever be guided by the twelve cardinal principles which
branch out from the stone pillars, and touch the life at
every point. They teach us that love alone, without
its own truth, is vapid, and will be barren of permanent
good results. Every form of heavenly love works by
means of truth. Love creates the acti^vity, the power,
and the inspiration, but truth must guide and con
serve that power if it is made effective. Truth is the
form and external clothing of good. And it is not only
the form as expressive in outward deeds, it may also
be termed an external membrane which envelops and
protects good, and holds it together in true form. And
by means of these truth principles as contained in the
letter of the Word, good or love is held in its true rela
tion to all the acti^vities of life. The truth arranges
plans and guides all the movements of the heavenly
life, so as to make them harmonious, and to work out
the best possible results without loss or friction.
The Celestial Church — the church of love, -wiU need and
wUl have vastly more truth than it were possible for a
spiritual church to have. Love prepares the way for
truth, and draws it by spiritual aflanity, or heavenly
attraction to itself, and then fills it with its own vitaUty.
And not only so, love enlarges the capacity to receive

THE TWO PILLARS. 1€9
immensely, and brings all the powers of the under
standing into a fuUer and more active Ufe. Indeed it
is the active principle in all heavenly Ufe, and as it flows
in directly from the Lord, it is the only Ufe of the soul.
It is to the intellectual part, what the fire under the
boiler of a steam engine is to the power and movements
of the machine.
In the Word we read : ' ' Forever, O Lord, Thy Word
is estabUshed in the heavens. ' ' And when the times
and states represented by crossing the Jordan and tak
ing possession of Canaan have fully come, it wUl then
be said: "Forever, 0 Lord, thy word is established
upon the earth." And here we may see the difference
there will be between the Celestial Church of old, and
the coming Celestial Church, which shall endure forever.
In the Adamic Church men were in love to God, and in
mutual love, and their interiors were open, so that they
not only received consciously an influx of life from the
Lord, but many of them, perhaps most of them, were
what the world now calls seers, that is, having internal
respiration in connection with the angels of heaven,
their spiritual senses were opened more or less to the
wonders of the heavens, as the bodily senses are opened
to the things of the natural world, by natural respira-
ation. But while largely developed on the spiritual or
internal plane, in all pure, innocent and heavenly
affections, on the natural plane, outside their spiritual
consciousness, they were scarcely developed at all,
being much like children in all external knowledge.
The natural rationality which is formed by means of

110 THE NEW CANAAN.
scientifics, that is by a knowledge of external things
derived through the bodily senses, remained ahnost
entirely undeveloped. And indeed, -with the wonders
of the spiritual world open to them, it is not strange
that they took Uttle interest in those external things
which seem so important to men in this materiaUstic
age. And their knowledge of heavenly things could only
be brought down to the plane of the external life in the
world, and made stable, by their being made famiUar
with the things of the external natural world, and with
weU established truth principle, such as are repre
sented by the piUars which Joshua set up. In this de
fective knowledge of the outside world, and of the
things pertaining to the life that now is, lay their weak
ness, whUe in the estabUshment of these granite piUars
of ultimate truth in the incoming church, may be found
its Herculean strength and eternal safety. The people
of the Most Ancient Church, on the earthly plane, being
much Uke innocent, but uninstructed children, were not
able to meet the cunning of e^vil men and de-vils, and as
a consequence of this inexperience, sin was introduced
into the world, with aU its deadly consequences, and they
feU. And so great was the faU, that every imagination
of the thoughts of their heart was only e-vil continually.
But through the great redemption ¦wrought out by
the Lord in His assumed Humanity, the prodigal race
has been led back, almost to the Father's house, and is
being rapidly prepared to come into the blessed state
of the Most Ancient Church, with the added strength
and wisdom resulting from the great experience of the

THE TWO PILLARS. Ill
bitter past. Through the mercy of the Lord, the
truths of the Word are expressed in the language
familiar to men, and wiU stand for all coming ages, as
the pUlars built by Joshua, as a perpetual guarantee of
immunity from the falses and e-vils, representatively
turned back in the waters of the Jordan, and as a
promise of endless expansion in the church, of every
thing good and true. In the incoming Age, as the
people pass into true celestial conditions, and the influx
from the Lord by an internal way is established, then
the Word in ultimates, established on the natural plane,
with its internal senses rising by discrete degrees, or
steps, ¦will constitute the ladder Jacob saw, resting
upon the earth, while its top reached to heaven, the
angels ascending and descending on it. The Lord stood
above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham
thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon
thou Uest [Canaan representing the Celestial Church]
to thee I will give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed
shaU be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north
and to the south, and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all
the famiUes of the earth be blessed." In these words,
even in the letter, a marvelously beautiful prophecy of
the growth and progress of the coming church is clearly
outlined, while in the spiritual sense its expansion to
the proportions of a world-wide heavenly church is
portrayed. It is well for New Church people to re
member that the literal truths of the Word, received
into the natural mind, are open vessels into which the

112 THE NEW CANAAN.
higher forms, and fuller expressions of truth may
flow. Instead of feeUng indifference toward the Uteral
truths of the Word, they should be garnered in the mind
as treasures of priceless value, for if these vessels are
wanting, there can be Uttle or no reception of the higher
forms and degrees of truth.
WhUe there is reason to beUeve that the incoming age
will be one of intuitive perception of truth, it is never
theless true, that the state of perception, ¦will be accord
ing to one's state as to good, and as to truth received
from the Word, by means of which aU influent truth
may be tested, and brought into permanent form, and
thus incorporated into the spiritual body. With the
pillar of truth received from the Word, and bmlt up
in the daily life, that is loved and cherished, whatever
truth from the higher planes may be helpful in the life
in the world, and in developing the higher faculties of
the soul, ¦will flow into the mind from the Lord, from
time to time, as the uses of life require. But these per
ceptions need to be constantly tested by the Uteral
truths of the Word, and held in harmony there^with.
Indeed every true perception is only an expansion from
the literal sense, and rightly appUed ¦will harmonize with
its ultimate on the external plane. Hence only such
truths ¦will flow into the mind, and be received, as
harmonize with the fundamental principles received
from the Word into the life.
Thus these truth pillars built of stones, taken from
the Word, wUl ever stand as bulwarks against such
plausible falsities as the serpent nature insinuated into

THE TWO PILLARS. 113
the infantile mind of our race, thus turning paradise
into a wUderness. The twelve stones, taken from the
Jordan, representatively constitute the foundation of
the church, and as well the foundation of the angelic
heavens. They are the same as the twelve foundations
of the walls of the New Jerusalem, in which the names
of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were inscribed.
And these foundations on which the church rests, built
of the rough stones of the letter, are nevertheless not
uncomely, for they are garnished with all manner of
precious stones. Indeed these great fundamental truths
of the Word in its literal sense, as the New Heavens
rest down upon them, and in them, become translucent,
twelve manner of stones most precious. For the truth,
as received in its higher forms by the angels of heaven,
flows down through the heavens, into the opened mind
of the man of the Celestial Church, carrying light in all
needed fuUness to the outermost circumference of his
being. But it is well for us to remember that the pillar buUt
at Gilgal is only established by living the truth repre
sented. The ground where the feet of the priests rested,
while bearing up the ark, signifles celestial good, brought
down into the ultimate life in the natural world. The
stones taken up are truths grounded in good in the life.
They are the truths received from the Word, taken up
and laid on the shoulder, and borne to the first encamp
ment, or resting place, and there laid down. Bearing
them on the shoulder is earnestly and faithfully meeting
all the common duties of life, patiently bearing the heat
8

114 THE NEW CANAAN.
and burden of the day tUl the aUotted task is accom
plished, and then quietly laying the burden do^wn, and
entering into rest. In other words, the plain truths
relative to Ufe in the world are to be carefiflly observed
tUl they are made one ¦with the Ufe, and thus cease to
be a burden, and then the "reproach of Egypt is rolled
off." The life in Egypt is a Ufe of bondage to sin. It
is an onerous ser-vitude, and is indeed a reproach to
any one, since the way to Uberty has been opened to
every servant of sin. The Lord says: "And ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . .
And if the Son therefore shaU make you free, ye shall
be free indeed! " One has only to foUow the truth, to
obey it daily, to bear every burden it lays upon him,
faithfully tiU it ceases to be a burden, when he finds
rest and freedom. These symboUc stones are borne on
the shoulder, when the truths they represent are in
teriorly loved, and appUed faithfuUy to aU the internal,
hidden motives and purposes, as weU as to the external
conduct of life. Thus held and used the reproach of
ser-vitude passes away, and we receive the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry "Abba, Father. " (Romans 8.)

X.
THE RITE OF CIRCUMCISION RENEWED AT
GILGAL.-REGENERATION BY LOVE.

Ha-ving foUowed in outline the representative sig
nification of the Israelites under the leadership of
Joshua across the Jordan, when the distinctive repre
sentation of the Celestial Church begins, it is now
our pleasant task to note some of the progressive steps
in the formation of the Church.
The Hebrew race, as we have before seen, were from
the call of Abraham to the Advent of the Lord, by
Di^vine appointment, a representative people. They
occupied a middle ground between the Ancient and de
scending Churches of the Old World, and the renascent
churches, beginning with the Advent of the Lord, and
extending to the universal and crowning churcH of
the New Age. In the historical events as recorded
in the Word, connected ¦with Abraham and his posterity,
every state of the universal church is represented,
including its apparent deaths and resurrections, from
the rise of the Most Ancient Church, tiU the New
Jerusalem is fully established upon the earth.
In the wilderness imder Moses, the children of Israel
represented the Spiritual Church, that is the church
raised up in the days of Noah, after the ¦will had been
115

116 THE NEW CANAAN.
totally destroyed, and miraculously separated from
the intellectual part by the Lord. (A. C. 2053 and
many other places.) This church and the Christian
Church, as to internal quaUties, were essentially the
same. In A. C. 1083 we read: "The internals of the
Christian Church were precisely similar to those of the
Ancient Church, but other externals, as the sacraments,
succeeded to their sacrifices, &c., and had a like reference
to the Lord, and thus again, internals and externals
form together one church. The Ancient Church did
not differ in the least from the Christian Church inter
nally, but only externally." These two churches,
which as we have just read from the ¦writings, were
precisely aUke, were the only churches of the Spiritual
type, -with closed interiors, which have existed, or ever
will exist upon, the earth, and they as to interiors were
one. Both of them have had their minor branches, but
all these have maintained the distinctive spiritual type.
But when the pecuUar people entered Canaan they
ceased to represent the Spiritual Church, and began
to represent the Celestial Church. And from this
starting point in Canaan, the symbols used in the
Word, in their early history, especially in describing
their conquests, partook largely of distinctively Celestial
characteristics. That is such symbols were used as
minutely described a Celestial Church and people,
but would not be applicable to the Spiritual Church.
Their new representation after entering into the land,
is of the coming New Church, as described by John
in the Apocalypse.

REGENERATION BY LOVE. 117
The Celestial Church, that is the church of the dis
tinctively celestial type, ha-ving some measure of sound
ness in the will, even though it be very little, and
recei-ving influx from the Lord by "an internal way,"
is the only full and normal type of a church, and is
fundamentally different from the Spiritual Church.
The man of this church, to use Swedenborg 's own lan
guage, "is regenerated by love, " that is he is regenerated
as to the will part, and receives influx into the remnant
of good, or celestial seed, remaining in the will part,
though it be but very little. But the man of the
Spiritual Church has no remaining soundness of will,
nor is it possible for him to receive influx by an internal
way, as that was closed up by the Lord, in great mercy,
otherwise he would have perished inevitably, as did
the antedUuvians. His salvation was made possible
only by the incarnation of the Lord. He receives truth
through the external, which truth, after being collected
in the memory, may be caUed up as he needs it in
his Ufe, if he chooses to use it. And if he repents,
and the work of regeneration begins, he receives influx
from the Lord, into his intellectual part, as it were
by a side door, a discrete degree below the old will,
into which the man of the Celestial Church receives
influx from the Lord, and instead of the destroyed
will being purified and regenerated, a new will is formed
in the intellectual part, a discrete degree below the old
wUl, by the truth received from without, into the under-
"standing. Hence the man of the Spiritual Church has
two active degrees of Ufe only, the will proper, or the

118 THE NEW CANAAN.
love degree, remaining permanently closed. It is im
portant to have the distinction between these two
churches definitely fixed in the mind, as it is otherwise
impossible to have clear and true thoughts in regard
to them. This distinction is clearly set forth in A. C.
2069, near the end, and reads thus: "For the influx of
the Lord's Di-vine Good can 'only have place -with the
celestial man, because it flows into his ¦will part, as
-with the Most Ancient Church; whereas the influx of
the Lord's Di-vine Truth has place -with the spiritual
man, because it flows only into his intellectual part,
which in the spiritual man is separated from his wiU
part, (No. 2053 at the end,) or which is the same thing,
the influx of celestial good has place with the celestial
man, and that of spiritual good -with the spiritual
man; wherefore the Lord appears to the celestial
angels as a sun, but to the spiritual as a moon." This
quotation, as well as many others of similar import,
should be critically studied by the student who would
have a clear understanding of the fundamental difference
between the two churches. Scores of other passages
in the writings teach the same things, but my Umit
will not permit of extended quotations.
But it may be weU to note here that the people
to whom the Word was given, and among whom the
Lord came, as well as the nations or races among
which Christianity has become dominant, were practi-
caUy aU of the spiritual type, the old wiU ha-ving been
destroyed. We read in the Arcana Coelestia that: "The Lord

REGENERA TION BY LOVE. 119
came into the world, not to save the celestial, but
the spiritual." (A. C. 2661.) Hence He came to the
spiritual in person, wrought out redemption in their
midst, and gave the Word to them, but made no imme
diate and direct effort to reach the Celestial, as the
Spiritual must first be brought under the influence
of the gospel, and restored to their lost heritage. And
Swedenborg often writes of the Christian world and
of the Spiritual Church and people as though there
were none else to consider. But to the careful student
of his ¦writings, it is made certain that he did not hold
this -view, nor teach it. On the contrary, he directly
declares in various places, that remnants of the Most
Ancient Church have continued to exist in considerable
numbers, even in the same coimtries -with those of the
Spiritual type or genus. But reference has been made
touching this point, and e"vidence from the ¦writings cited
elsewhere, to estabUsh its truth.
At the time Swedenborg ¦wrote, a century and a half
ago, he ¦wrote as though those of the Spiritual Church
were much more numerous than those of the Celestial
Church. He said those of the Spiritual Church were
"several," while those of the "Celestial Church were
few." But it is beUeved that a great change in this
direction has taken place, since the last Judgment was
effected in the Spiritual world, about the middle of
the eighteenth century. — But more of this further on.
To one who is somewhat familiar ¦with the general
trend of thought, as expressed in the periodical Uterature
of the New Church, it seems that many of our people

120 THE NEW CANAAN.
have no conception of the radically different process
of regeneration, respectively in these distinct and unlike
churches. The Spiritual man with his totally destroyed
will, is constantly referred to as if he were all, while
Uttle if anything has been said in regard to regeneration
by love. But the time is near, indeed is already here,
when a clear understanding of the subject -wiU be
required by those who minister to the people in holy
things, to meet the diverse needs of the people.
There seems to be a common misconception of the
characteristics of the Celestial Church, which needs
to be mentioned in this connection. The fully re
generated Celestial Man, who has already reached
the Sabbath state, and in whom all conflict has ceased,
is taken as the type of the church. But as is clearly
set forth by Swedenborg in explaining the first and
second chapters of Genesis, there are necessarily six
days preceding the Sabbath, through which there is
more or less conflict, and much disorder. But we are
not to think of the Celestial Church as composed alto
gether of men and women who are like sinless and
perfect angels, in all heavenly characteristics. All are
born natural, but -with the capacity to be gradually
regenerated, and brought into true manhood, and
finally to become angels. But it should be understood
that angel-hood is the result of gro^wth, and can be
attained in no other way. First remains, or celestial
seeds are planted in the infantile mind^ which through
childhood and early-youth are being increased, and as
the age and state become sufficiently advanced for

REGENERATION BY LOVE. 121
regeneration proper to begin, an influx of love from
the Lord flows in by an internal way, quickening the
stored remains into active life, and the process of
creating the man anew begins, and as he co-operates
with the Lord, it steadUy advances, his states of disorder
gradually pass away, his natural appetites and passions,
which may be termed his animal nature, are curbed
and brought under control, but not -without conflict
and persistent effort, while constantly looking to the
Lord for complete ¦victory over everything inconsistent
with life among the angels in heaven. This seems
clearly to be the order of the development of the man
of the Most Ancient Church. And in its gradual decline,
evils of life grew up in the church, so that men were
regenerated with increasing difficulty, till they became
so corrupt that vast multitudes perished, even as to
the natural life. But this church was to the last, of
the distinct celestial type, receiving influx directly into
the wiU, till it was totally destroyed, and those out
of whom the ancient Spiritual Church was organized
were regenerated by the formation of a new will in
the intellectual part. It is said in A. C. 2053 that:
The Lord miraculously separated the intellectual part
of man from his ¦wiU part. This separation and closing
up of the internal way of influx, prepared the way for
the formation of the Spiritual Church, which could
receive truth only through the external natural man.
After the explanation just given as to what is meant
by the Celestial Church, as described by Swedenborg,
the reader will understand that it is not claimed that

122 THE NEW CANAAN.
the Israelites immediately after crossing over into
Canaan, represented the fully developed and mature
New Christian Church, which is to be the highest
and the best that ever has been, or ever will be upon
the earth. But it is claimed that the preparatory
stages of instruction and gro^wth, and of becoming
familiar ¦with the great doctrinal system of truth, on
which the church of the future is to rest, are represented
with marvelous accuracy, and further it is claimed
that the development of the true celestial Ufe of indi-
¦vidual men and women, from the inmost centers of
the individual soul, and also of the church, as the Grand
or Composite man of earth, in their earlier stages,
are most clearly represented, even at the camp at
Gilgal. And it is claimed that these events, even in
their smallest particulars, are representative, or symboUc
prophecies, the fuffiUment of which, even at the pres
ent time is sufficiently advanced to identify beyond
peradventure, if critically examined by unbiased and
competent New Churchmen. But it is enough for our
present purpose, to show that the general trend of
events as recorded, after crossing the Jordan, is such
as to represent the regeneration of the Celestial man,
and the active development of the church at large
in making preparation for its inauguration into its
"appointed station,'^ so distinctly- referred to by Swe
denborg in A. R. 547 and 562.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the cluster of
events here recorded, seeming in the letter to have
taken place in a few days, or a few weeks after crossing

REGENERATION BY LOVE. 123
the Jordan, in their representative fulflUment, stretch
out over years and even centuries. The encampment
at Gilgal is the first mentioned. It was in the east
border of Jericho. In a good sense as here used, Jericho,
situated near the Jordan, and in the border of the
land, signifies instruction in the truths which introduce
those referred to, into the church, which is here repre
sented by the land of Canaan, which church is clearly
the New Christian Church — ^that is the New Jerusalem.
The East denotes love to the Lord and love to the
neighbor. (A. C. 5215.) To encamp signifies to arrange
according to heavenly order. (A. C. 4236.) The valley
or plain of the Jordan, in which Jericho was located,'
signifies the external or natural man — ^that department
of his nature which is active in the life in this world.
In this department all e^vil is located, both hereditary,
and that resulting from evil in the life. And the work
of regeneration, in brief, is the reduction of this outer
pro'vince of man's nature to a state of heavenly order
and bringing it into correspondence with the internal,
the heavens of the mind, so that the influx of life from
the Lord may flow freely into the inmost parts, and
then just as freely into the lower department of his
nature, till the ultimates of his life in the world are
so transformed as to receive and express the heavenly
Ufe perfectly, which is the Divine petition answered —
"Thy will be done on earth, as in heaven. "
In all the earUer stages of regeneration, the natural
man resists and opposes the internal heavenly life.
The work of regeneration is to remove this contrariety.

124 THE NEW CANAAN.
and to bring the external into harmony with the internal.
It is causing the " brethren to dwell together in unity, "—
thus bringing the kingdom of heaven down to earth,
which is indeed "good and pleasant." The encamp
ment in the east border of Jericho, and the various
incidents connected ¦with it, signifies the progressing
states of regeneration. It is from the low plane of
the natural man and life, looking eastward from Jericho,
the place of instruction, where one becomes indoc
trinated in the heavenly truths revealed for the New
and Crowning Church, and where he strives by using
these truths, to have everything in his life brought
into heavenly order. It is the advancing state of
regeneration, and all symbols used indicate clearly
that it is the regeneration of the celestial man and
church. It was necessary for the Israelites, before beginning
the active conquest of the land, to bring themselves
into the exact order prescribed by the Lord. They
were now entering upon their Di-vinely appointed
mission, as the representatives of the Lord's final.
Celestial Church. True, before crossing the Jordan,
while in their wilderness journey, they represented the
first dispensation of the Christian Church, which was
of the Spiritual type, and they represented it so per
fectly, that Christian people have almost universally
understood the representation, even without having
direct knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word.
But after crossing* the Jordan, and encamping in the
land, their representation changed — ^that is they began

REGENERATION BY LOVE. 125
to represent the New Christian Church, which is to
be of the Celestial type or genus. Hence in their
ceremonial rites, as well as in the conquests of the
land, they were to observe and do those things which
would correspond to, and represent the life principles
and acti-vities of a true Celestial Church, governed in
aU things by love to the Lord, such love as manifests
itself in love to the neighbor. On account of this
representative mission which they were to fill, it was
necessary for them at the outset to renew the rite of
circumcision, which signifies regeneration by love,
which is the regeneration of the celestial man. As
evidence of this I quote from A. C. 1025, as follows:
"Circumcision represented regeneration by love, as is
clearly explained by Moses : ' Jehovah God will circum
cise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah
thy God, with all thy heart, and -with all thy soul,
that thou mayest Uve.' "• From these words it appears
that circumcision in the internal sense, and this is the
signification wherever it is mentioned, denotes love
and charity and a Ufe grounded therein. Various
other quotations might be given. The rite of circum
cision was not practised after leaving Egypt till they
were encamped at Gilgal after crossing the Jordan.
But being about to begin Ufe in Canaan, which life
was to represent the New Jerusalem dispensation, they
were required to renew the observance of this rite,
and the Passover and the various rituals of the cere
monial law given by Moses for their observance after
entering the promised land, because aU these things

126 THE NEW CANAAN.
were Di-vinely arranged symbols, representing the pure
and heavenly states of life which were to characterize
the final church in its return to primitive conditions,
as they existed in the days of old. Literally obser-ving
all these rites and ceremonies, and keeping the com-
mandrnents in their relation to the outward Ufe, was
all the children of Israel were required to do that they
might enjoy natural prosperity, and find help in the
wars they were entering upon. And this conquest of
the land, as we follow it historicaUy, sets forth in
clear light the corresponding preparation the New
Christian Church is making, and the interior spiritual
things it must cultivate and sacredly observe, in coming
into the true life of the New Christian Church. And
in this state, preparatory to the last and triumphant
war against the old e-vil inhabitants — ^the falses and
e-vils now seeming so strong and so securely fortified—
the one thing indispensable to success is the circum
cision of the heart. Should we fail in that, we would
be routed and turned back, as was Israel by the sin
of Achan. Indeed we would flee when no man pursues.
And again the New Christian Church must pass through
a state of careful instruction. The people of the church
must have a clear and distinct insight into the funda
mental doctrines given for their instruction. Nor is
it enough for the minister or pubUc teacher to wisely
instruct the people, showing what is required to make
good citizens in the Lord's kingdom upon the earth,
but also the people must labor to secure instruction for
themselves. They need to carefuUy study the Word,

REGENERATION BY LOVE. 127
in the Ught of the doctrines given for that very purpose.
Not indeed that it is necessary or possible for the
masses to make a .critical study of the voluminous
writings of the church, but all may and should gain
such knowledge of them as to constitute a safe doc
trinal guide according to which the Word may be
profitably and understandingly studied. Though the
representative age of the world has passed, and men
are now called to bring into the life the things repre
sented, yet these old representatives, given to the
world by the Lord, through Abraham and his posterity,
and garnered in the holy Word in its literal sense, will
afford instruction, and inexhaustible stores of wisdom
for the coming ages of the world.
But the rites and ceremonies of the New Jerusalem
age are to have relation to the inside of the cup and
platter. That is the holy and heavenly thing or state,
itself, before only represented, is now to flow out
from the purified heart, and express itseff in heavenly
deeds in the Ufe. These sacrifices and rituals of the
incoming church may be acceptably rendered only in
the circumcision of the heart, and the offering up
daily of the lamb of innocence, and the dove of pure
and heavenly thoughts and affections for the purifica
tion of the life. " For Thou desirest not sacrifice, else I
would give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and
a contrite heart, 0 God Thou wilt not despise. " (Psalm
51.)

XL
THE RESTORATION OF THE WILL TO SOUND
NESS, IN PREPARATION FOR THE
COMING CHURCH.

One of the most difficult lessons, as well as one of
the most important which the people of the New
Church have yet to learn, is that the new conditions
which confront the Church, and must be met, are
radically different from those to which the church has.
been accustomed in the past dispensation, or indeed
to those which have confronted any former dispensa
tion. In the coming church, in all its departments,
both internal and external, all things are UteraUy to
be made new. But the tendency to conservatism in
the human mind is always great, and radical changes
in the modes of thinking, and particularly in the external
acti"vities of Ufe, are brought about -with difficulty,
and require time and patience on the part of leaders
of thought. And these characteristics are perhaps as
distinctly marked among us as a people, as they ever
have been amongst any other people in the midst of
any new mental or social revolution which has wrought
great changes. With us while recei-ving new doctrines,
radically different from those of the past dispensation,
we have failed to see that our new truth forms, must
128

THE COMING CHURCH. 129
necessarily produce corresponding and equaUy great
changes in all our external activities, relating to our civil,
social and reUgious life in the world.
But our extreme conservatism has all along placed
us in the anomalous attitude of trying to conform our
church Ufe, our usages in pubUc worship, and even
the measure of our faith, and of our attainments,
in the regenerate Ufe, to the standard maintained by
the Ungering remnants of the former dispensation.
And in some quarters amongst us there is even an
active tendency towards medieval ritualism, while
there is a manifest aversion to making anything new
except our doctrines. The thought that the opening
of the Word, and the gi"ving of the new doctrines for
the New Age, is designed really to lead the church
into the enjoyment of aU the privileges of the Most
Ancient Church, and into a state as high and heavenly
as that enjoyed in the days of old, is entirely foreign
to the common thought of our people. And there
seems to be a great defect of faith in regard to the
Lord's abUity to raise up again a heavenly church
amongst men, •with an open internal way of influx
from Him, as before the flood. The prevaiUng thought
seems to correspond exactly -with the majority report
of the twelve spies whom Moses sent to spy out the
land. They admitted that it was indeed a goodly
land, but they had no faith in the Lord's ability to
give it to them. On the same Une now, when the
doctrine of the celestial church is presented, than
which none is more distinctly set forth in the Writings
9

130 THE NEW CANAAN.
of the church, it is objected that since such only are
celestial as have some soundness of •will, it must be
impossible. It is assumed that all now U^ving are
¦without any of the requisite soundness of ¦wiU, and
that although the Lord could and did in the days of
Noah, when all were ready to perish, miraculously
separate the intellectual part from the will, and pro-vide
a way that the Spiritual man, with his destroyed wiU,
might be regenerated as to the intellectual part, and
thus saved, nevertheless it is too much to beUeve that
the Lord in the great redemption could and did make
provision for this very thing — the restoration of the
ruined -wiU, thus pro-viding for the raising up of the
former desolations and for building anew His Church
from its very foundations.
Assuming this negative position is in effect to say
that the Lord was defeated in His purpose in creating
men, that they might people the heavens, and that
He is either unable or unwilUng in the redemptive
scheme, to break the shackles from the captive race,
and to admit all back into then lost heritage, who
are -wilUng to leave their s^wine feeding, and to arise
and return, saying, "Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy
to be caUed thy son, but make me as one of thy hired
servants only" — ^that is, make me a spiritual man, for
I am not worthy to become a celestial man. But the
Father only embraced him, and kissed him, and put
the ring upon his hand, and shoes upon his feet, and
restored him fuUy to his lost home and heirship. Then

THE COMING CHURCH. 131
is the symbol of the Father's love over-drawn and
greater than the love itself, as expressed in the Glorified
Humanity of the Omnipotent Redeemer?
In regard to the restoration of the will to such a
measure of soundness that the internal way of influx
from the Lord may be opened, we need not be in
doubt, as the opened Word affords abundant evidence
of this. True, the writings^ as far as I know, do not
in so many words declare that the will of those who
are to constitute the remnant out of which the New
Church shall be inaugurated, shall be restored by
the pro-vidence and power of the Lord, yet the great
truth is taught -with clearness and force which I think
wiU con^vince any one who is inmostly hungering and
thirsting after righteousness.
The difficulty hitherto seems to have been, that in
our search after the truth given for the New Church,
we have been skimming over the surface, confining
our research to the mere external shell of the doctrines,
ha^ving little love for the interior truth, beneath the
surface, and consequently little ability to discover it.
We have so occupied ourselves -with mere externals
of the church — the skin and bones — that we have failed
to find the real meat, and the warm life blood, save
to a very Umited extent. But I fancy we are not so
much to blame for this. It was just so with the early
disciples of the Lord. After being -with Him, and
taught by Him, for three full years, they had no real
conception of the church he came to build up. They
thought it was to be an earthly kingdom on the throne

132 THE NEW CANAAN.
of Da-vid. Of course they were blind and duU, and
wholly occupied with the things of this world, but
the Lord only gently chided them for their dullness
and their unbeUef. He knew that they could only
understand external things. Hence, after gi-ving them
the great commission: "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature," He said: "But
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem [the doctrines of the
Church] until ye be endued with power from on high,"
or till all their truth vessels were filled ¦with love. But
the baptism with the Holy Ghost gave them power
over e-vil and falsity, and opened their eyes to the
true nature of the Lord's kingdom, for the first. And
there is perhaps the same excuse for us, the Lord's
disciples in His Second Advent. When He chides us
on account of our unbeUef, it is only that we may be
prepared to receive Him.
We are repeatedly informed by Swedenborg that the
man of the Celestial Church has more or less soundness
of will, and an internal way of influx from the Lord
into his will. Indeed these are the distinctive and
essential characteristics of the Celestial man. Let the
will be destroyed, and the internal way of influx closed,
and he loses the very quaUties which constitute the
Celestial man. If the Most Ancient Church which
was celestial, and the Ancient Church which was
spiritual, successively fell into ruin and perished, so
that neither Celestial nor Spiritual men remained on
the earth, but only such as were natural; if at
this time, the Lord prophetically announced to one of

THE COMING CHURCH. 133
— -
these natural men, that his posterity in future genera
tions, should be restored to the same state as the people
of the Most Ancient Church before the fall, would not
this be the fuU equivalent in meaning to stating plainly
that his posterity in their final condition should be re
stored to soundness of will, and should have the old inter
nal way of influx re-opened? There can be but one an
swer. And this is what UteraUy happened to Joseph,
just before his father, Israel, breathed his last. The
prophetic annunciation reads: "And God shaU be with
you, and bring you again into the land of your fathers. "
In the ¦writings we read: "That hereby is signified to
the state of each ancient church. It is said to the state
of each ancient church, because the sons of Israel,
and their posterity, as well as they who were of the
ancient churches, represented the Lord's celestial and
sphitual kingdom." A. C. 6304.
Now these statements and many others to the same
effect, clearly show that in the restoration of the fallen
race, under the great redemption ¦wrought out by the
Incarnate Lord, first a church or state of Ufe coiye-
sponding to the Ancient Church should be raised up.
This prophecy has been perfectly fulfilled in the first
dispensation of the Christian Church. We read in
A. C. 1083 that: "The internals of the Christian Church
were precisely similar to those of the Ancient Church."
The externals only were different. This was the first
step in the return to the "land" — ^the state of the
Ancient Church— after the flood. To complete the
fulfiUment of Israel's prophecy, after many centuries

134 THE NEW CANAAN.
and more generations, it was raised to the state of the
Most Ancient Church.
WiU the reader kindly take particular notice that
these statements in regard to the re-estabUshment of
the states of the Most Ancient Church, as of old, are
from the Word as interpreted by the Di'vinely Ulumi
nated Seer of the New Church? And as one who has
faith in the interpretation of this prophecy made by
Israel to Joseph, cannot doubt but that it is to return
to the Celestial state, this alone is proof that the
Lord has ample means pro-vided, and now in active
operation, to bring about the restoration of soundness
of ¦will to the remnant, out of which the cro^wn of the
churches is to be inaugurated.
But that this important teaching of the Word, as
interpreted by the writings, may be established
by at least two or three unimpeachable ¦witnesses, I
will quote once more from the ¦writings. In A. C.
2669, in explaining the difference between the Celestial
and the Spiritual, it is said: "The Celestial are those
of whom the Lord thus speaks: 'He caUeth His own
sheep by their name, and leadeth them forth, and
when he hath led forth his own sheep, he goeth before
them, and the sheep follow Him, because they know
his voice,' but the Spiritual are those of whom He
thus speaks, ' and other sheep I have which are not of
this fold, them also must I bring with Me, and they
shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock
and one Shepherd.' " Now it would seem difficult for
language more clearly to teach that the Celestial Church

THE NEW CHURCH. 135

is the full and normal type, and that the Spiritual
Church was never designed to be a permanent Church
but only to continue till the Gospel scheme in aU its
parts, is fuUy wrought out. In the final consum
mation He will bring the "other sheep" not of the
Celestial fold, with Him, and they shall become one
flock and one Shepherd. It wiU be observed here that
the Lord represents his sheep as being in two distinct
flocks, the Celestial feeding in one pasture, and the
Spiritual in another. Now the Lord is always present
with the Celestial. His tabernacle is in the midst of
them, for He constantly descends by influx into their
inmost Ufe, and His presence is never ¦withdrawn from
them. But the other sheep, the Spiritual, as to their
conscious life, and their real state, are in another place
or state, seemingly more distant from the Good Shep
herd, and the true fold. But the Lord says of these
other sheep: "I must bring them ¦with Me, and they
shaU become one flock and one Shepherd." Now the
plain literal meaning of these words is, that He purposes
to bring the other sheep, the Spiritual, then in a different
fold, up to the flock with which he was immediately
present, and to unite the two in one fold. He was
with the Celestial, as we have just read from the ¦writings,
and was about to bring the Spiritual up to the same
state, that all might be together in one flock, and
certainly in the same general state.
Before proceeding to show that the process of restoring
the wiU has, under the auspices of the Lord, been
making progress ever since the beginning of the Christian

136 THE NEW CANAAN.
era, lest the nature of this soundness, as it is termed
in the writings, should be misunderstood, and a false
-view taken of it, I want to explain that man has no
independent, real good in his self-life, nor ever did
have. It is really the Lord's good, which he uses as
his own, and which seems to him, in his natural con
sciousness, as his own, but which nevertheless is whoUy
the Lord's, and is acknowledged to be whoUy His.
The real truth touching the nature of this "soxmdness"
or "integrity" of will, is stated ¦with great clearness
in the Arcana Coelestia, in No. 633. It is said: "With
every celestial man, and with every angel, even the
most celestial, his proprium is nothing but what is
false and evil; for it is a kno-wn thing that the heavens
are not pure before the Lord, aind that all good, and
all truth, are of the Lord. But in proportion as a man
and angel, is in a capacity of being perfected, so by
the di"vine mercy of the Lord he is perfected, and as
it were, receives the understanding of truth, ,and the
will of good; but that he possesses them is only an
appearance. Every one is capable of being perfected,
and consequently of recei^ving this gift of the Lord's
mercy, according to his actual life, modified by the
inherited e-vU implanted in him from his parents."
From these statements from the Writings, soundness
of ¦will seems to be simply an open state in which the
man receives into his will, without resistance, the good
flowing in from the Lord, and freely co-operates with
Him in developing and perfecting everything good and
true. The Lord works ¦within, by his inflowing love

THE COMING CHURCH. 137
both to ¦wiU and to do. Indeed He really does all the
work, while the man freely consents, and co-operates
as of himself, in it. But in the man with the closed
and ruined ¦wUl, the e-vil self-Ufe or proprium closes
the channel of influx through the internal man, into
the wiU, and thence through the rationaUty, into the
external man.
Let us now inquire how the ruined ¦wiU of the man
of the Spiritual Church, may be so far changed as to
have something sound, to receive the influx from the
Lord by an internal way? Heredity undoubtedly plays
a very important part by pro-viding the foundation on
which true integrity may be built up. It is clearly
taught in the Writings, that children inherit an aptitude
for, and a tendency to such states of good as their
parents had developed in their o^wn lives, and that
this process may be continued, indefinitely, each suc
ceeding generation recei"ving a better heredity, and
rising into a higher state as to integrity, or soundness
of wiU. And while it is not claimed that there is a
direct, thus saith the Lord, nor even a direct, thus
saith Swedenborg, to prove that this restoration to
soundness of ¦will, is under the auspices of the Lord,
being accomplished, it is asserted that the equivalent
of such declaration may be found by any careful student,
both in the Word, and in the Writings. Bearing directly
on this point, I quote from A. C. 3469, as foUows: " For
the good into which man is born, is derived to him
from his parents, either father or mother; for whatever
principle parents have contracted by frequent use and

138 THE NEW CANAAN.
habit, or have become tinctured with by actual Ufe,
so as to render it famiUar, till it has the appearance
of being natural, this is derived do^wn to their chUdren,
and becomes hereditary. When parents have Uved in'
the good of the love of good, and in so U-ving have
perceived their proper deUght and blessedness, supposing
them to conceive children, in such a state of Ufe, the
children thence receive an incUnation to similar good.
Where parents also have Uved in the good of the love
of truth . . . and in so U'ving have perceived their
proper deUght and blessedness, supposing them to con
ceive children in such a state of Ufe, the children thence
receive an incUnation to similar good." The con
cluding part of this number shows that the same prin
ciple appUes to those in the love and practice of e^vil,
in an inverse order. Their children inherit a tendency
to the same e-vil Ufe. This principle distinctly asserted
in the Writings, -with inexorable logic, brings to -view
the end which awaits the incorrigibly evil class, when
the consummation of all good in themselves is reaUzed.
But we now turn our thoughts to the brighter side.
From the foregoing it may be seen that both with
the good and the e-vil, the stream of heredity as it
flows down the centuries, as the rule, grows deeper
and stronger, and -will so continue till the final con
summation of the Spiritual Church upon the earthy
as it was consummated in the spiritual world, in the
Last Judgment in 1757. It is well known that the
heredity received from parents who were truly good
in heart and Ufe, has passed down several centuries,

THE COMING CHURCH. 139
manifesting in the later generations the same charac
teristics, greatly increased in strength. Swedenborg
refers to the Israelites as a striking illustration of this
principle. And other races and nations, were we as
familiar 'with their history, would probably afford just
as conclusive e'vidence. But an improved heredity
can only be found in those nations where true and
'vital Christianity has long existed, and even there,
only in those famiUes where practical Christianity
has been the common order for generations, and thus
ingrained in the race. But that a better heredity has
been developed, and is now being developed, under
the influence of true personal spirituaUty — religion in
the heart, and in the Ufe — I think cannot be questioned
by one who has given the subject serious and careful
thought. Touching this point, I am constrained to make a
statement, drawn from information deemed entirely
reUable. Having long been interested in this Une of
inquiry, I have given considerable attention to the
subject. And it so happens that I have been able
to trace back the history of two or three famiUes, which
have rapidly increased, and become quite numerous
through five or six generations, the ancestors as far
back as known, having been noted for Christian integrity,
and uprightness of character. And the members of
those famiUes, which are now -widely distributed, have
followed in the same exemplary course of Ufe, sho'wing
from childhood marked tendencies to a true Christian
life. And in each generation there have been indi'viduals

140 THE NEW CANAAN.
whose Uves and general characteristics were of the
distinctively celestial type, as described by Swedenborg.
And this is in Une 'with the quotation just read: "The
children conceived in such a state, thence receive an
incUnation to similar good." And does not a marked
inclination to such a life carry in itself convincing
e'vidence that in good heredity, and the pre-natal
influences brought to bear by celestial angels sent
out for that purpose, the seeds of integrity and sound
ness are planted in the vdU. If so, even though
only a few Uttle germs are placed in the wiU, they 'will
open the internal way of influx from the Lord, and He
can then take care of the work Himself. Is not
this 'view in harmony with the general trend of the
Bible, as it certainly is with the teachings of Sweden
borg? As it is in harmony 'with the Word, and
the Writings, it certainly is with enUghtened reason.
Indeed does not the old and hard thought, that
the normal influx from the Lord must forever remain
shut out from the human -will, lea^ving the wound
made by the faU to remain unhealed in aU the coming
ages of the human race, dishonor God, and detract
from the glory of the great redemption, wrought out
by Himself, in His Humanity? If the object in
creation and in redemption is a heaven from the
Human Race, is it not the only reasonable supposition
that the Lord would begin at the fountain head of
e-vil — ^the ruined wiU, and by redemptive power and
wisdom restore it, that His own life-giving influx might
reach the very center of Ufe, and working from that

THE COMING CHURCH. 141
center down and out, restore the whole man to sound
ness, as in the time of Adam?
But in working out His beneficent purposes among
men, the Lord ever works according to His own laws
of order. To short-sighted men His operations often
seem to work slowly, and many centuries may come
and go before men are able to read the design. Thus
the Church of the First Advent shows compara
tively Uttle ¦visible progress towards the restoration of
the race, 'viewed from an external human stand-point.
But in the opening of Di'vine Truth for the New Dis
pensation, it is beginning to appear that in the ceaseless
workings of the Di'vine plan, constant progress has
been made in the essential and fundamental work of
restoring the breach, and building up the wastes and
desolations of many generations, and that soon this
shaU be made fully manifest to all who have spiritual
discernment, as the church comes into "its appointed
station." Before concluding this chapter, I want to call attention
to one statement in the Scriptures which teaches posi
tively that hereditary e'vil -will pass entirely away from
the church and the world. After describing the blessed
state of the church of the latter day, the prophet
Zechariah says: "And in that day there shall be no
more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. "
(14, 21.) The Canaanite signifies hereditary e'vil.
And since the Canaanite was no longer in the house
of the Lord, it follows that the e'vil heredity which
destroyed the will, and closed the internal way of

142 THE NEW CANAAN.
influx, had finally passed away, lea'ving men in their
primitive state. At just what stage of the churches'
development this work 'will be fully accompUshed,
is not for us to definitely know beforehand. But as
the restoration of the 'wiU to soundness, is the means
used to prepare the Church for the change from the
Spiritual to the Celestial, it would seem that it would
be acconipUshed, relatively speaking, when the distinct
transition is made. That is the e-vU heredity 'wiU
largely cease when the Spiritual Church — ^the Church
with the ruined 'will — ceases to exist. But it may be
necessary, again, to remark that at the end of one
dispensation, and the beginmng of another, there is
always an intermediate period, between the two, in
which there is a mingling of the characteristics of
the Old and the New. This is manifestly the present
state of the Church. The Spiritual stiU linger 'with the
New Celestial Church, now being formed. But when
it reaches its mature state, and is prepared to perform
all the functions of a celestial church, it 'will be inau
gurated by recei'ving the inflo'wing Ufe pecuUar to a
mature celestial church. But it should be noted that
the inauguration of the incoming church, will begin
in the center of true Christianity, and from these
centers extend into other regions, as fast as the pre
paratory work is sufficiently advanced. Hence this
distinct change cannot take place simultaneously over
the Christian world, but only as different countries
and peoples complete the preparatory stages. And yet,
that part of the work which comes 'within the range

THE COMING CHURCH. 143
of human observation, will doubtless advance with
greatly accelerated speed when the Church in its full
state has its beginning. This will be the second
Pentecost, which means the same thing as the marriage
of the Lamb and the Bride, or the conjunction of the
Lord with His Church. And when this union is con
summated, the Celestial Church proper will begin. For
the descending City became the Bride, the Lamb's
wife. And it is clear that it is the Celestial Church,
for its relation to the Lord is represented by the true
wife, and this relation could never take place between
the Lord and the Spiritual Church, for the concubine
represents that church, and not the 'wife. (A. C. 3246.)
But while the process of restoring the 'will to sound
ness, •with the true Israel, has been making progress,
by recei'ving an. improved heredity from true Christian
parents, generation after generation, just the opposite
has taken place 'with those famiUes which have lived
in e'vil for generations.
If further e-vidence is needed to show the prepara
tion of the church for passing into its primitive state
of integrity of will, it may be found taught by repre
sentation, in the fact that circumcision, which had not
been practiced while journeying through the wilderness,
was again by Di'vine command practiced immediately
after crossing the Jordan. Now all Christian people
recognize the fact that the Israelites, on the journey
from Egypt to Canaan, represent the Apostolic Church.
Their wanderings over thirsty deserts, experiencing
many hardships and privations, for forty years, most

144 THE NEW CANAAN.
accurately represent the states of trial, temptation,
and warfare through which the first dispensation of
the Christian Church has passed. Then in this fact
we find the reason for the cessation of the rite of cir
cumcision while they were passing through the wilder
ness. Circumcision, as we have shown from the writings,
represents regeneration by love, that is regeneration
in the Celestial Church. But while in the wilderness,
they represented the Spiritual man and Church, con
sequently had they observed this rite, it would have
defeated the representative design of the journey.
Spiritual regeneration was represented by the various
washings observed by the IsraeUtes, and the repre
sentative force of all these was centered in water bap
tism, and handed down to the First Christian Church.
But when the Israelites, under Joshua, crossed over
the Jordan, they began to represent the New Church,
which is to be of the Celestial type, and the crowning
church of the ages. Hence circumcision, which was to
represent regeneration in the New Celestial Church,
was by Divine command renewed. And aU the males
born in the wilderness while the Spiritual Church was
being represented, were circumcised at the first stopping
place. And these children, born in the 'wilderness, and
constituting the remnant preserved from those who
had represented the Spiritual Church, now took upon
themselves the sign peculiar to the Celestial Church,
which they were to represent, after entering Canaan.
And in Uke maimer, the children raised up in the First
Christian Church, who received from their Christian

THE COMING CHURCH. 145
parents an improved and constantly improving heredity,
thus securing some integrity of wiU, after crossing the
line separating the Christian Church from the incoming
Celestial Church, on receiving the new infiux peculiar
to the New Celestial Church, pass gradually into the
very states of life represented by the circumcision of
those who were born in the wilderness, and circumcised
in the camp at Gilgal.
We are thus clearly taught that under the auspices
of the Lord, by an improved heredity, accompanied,
perhaps, by pre-natal influences brought to bear by
Celestial angels, they are prepared to enter upon a
new and higher state of life than was possible to their
ancestors. It seems beyond question that the renewal
of the rite of circumcision at this particular time,
represents the Divine plan for the transition from
the Spiritual to the New Celestial Church. The repre
sentatives used clearly express this change, and as
we are taught in the Writings, that everything in
connection with this representative people has a par
ticular meaning, we may not lightly lay aside so impor
tant a transaction, and so carefully stated, as the
circumcision of the males at the camp at Gilgal.

10

XII.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE PASSOVER AT GILGAL.

The feast of the Passover, as we are informed in
the Arcana Coelestia, particularly in opening the tweUth
chapter of Exodus, signifies the celebration of the Lord
on account of the liberation of the people of the Spiritual
Church, from damnation, which Uberation is effected
by regeneration.
By the Spiritual Church, as related to the Passover,
both the church formed in the days of Noah and the
Apostolic Church are meant, and the Je'wish Church
was of the same type, that is the 'will was totally de
stroyed, but it never became spiritual, remaining on
the natural plane through all its history. Swedenborg
says of these churches: "The internals of the Christian
Church were precisely similar to those of the Ancient
Church, but other externals. . . The Ancient Church
did not then differ in the least from the Christian
Church internally, but only externaUy." (A. C. 1083.)
These were both closed churches, that is, they had
no influx from the Lord by an internal way into
the 'will. The one was the Spiritual Church decUning
into the natural, as among the Jews, while the other
was the Spiritual Church as raised from the natural,
that is from the Jews, and others on the same natural
146

THE CELEBRATION. 147
plane of Ufe. It was to redeem and save the people
of these two churches, so designated, but in reaUty
constituting one church as to life and quality, that
the Lord came into the world. And the deUverance
of the Spiritual man, as represented in these two
churches, from damnation, is most particularly and
accurately represented by the Passover. But to
different departments or di'visions of the Spiritual
Church, the Passover had different meanings, as 'viewed
from their different stand-points. To the Israelites,
at the time of its institution, it simply meant their
deUverance from the natural bondage into which they
had fallen in Egypt. They saw this and nothing more,
for they had no knowledge of the great representative
mission they were called to fill. Representations re
ferring to the past and to the future, were aUke un
known to them. And as they were incapable of spiritual
thought, by no method could they have been led to
see the real meaning. This fact in itself, is conclusive
e'vidence that the Passover when instituted, and when
celebrated at Gilgal, was designed for other people
and other ages — people who could be taught to read
its mystic meaning, and to reap the benefits therefrom.
And it is clear that no people in the world were able
to read its meaning till the internal sense of the Word
was opened by Swedenborg. We have evidence here
that may not be questioned that the wonderful lessons
of 'wisdom contained in this Divinely constructed sym
bol, are for the people of the incoming dispensation,
as none else have been able to interpret its meaning.

148 THE NEW CANAAN.
Its prophetic enunciations have relation to the present
and the near future, and are speciaUy for those of
the New Church. The internal e'vidence of this is too
full to admit of doubt.
But the Passover, as it relates to those from the
Ancient Church who were detained in the lower earth,
tiU after the Lord's resurrection, represented their
deUverance from their cruel persecutions and infesta
tions of the hells, and their triumphant exaltation of
the New heaven which the Lord had pro'vided for
them. Then again as it relates to the first dispensa
tion of the Christian Church, the Passover represented
not only those who by regeneration came into that
church, but it further represented the final redemption,
and deUverance of those of the closed internals, as
a body representing a large part of our race, from the
e'vil inheritance and en'vironments which have held
them in cruel bondage to sin and Satan, and which
have kept the internal way of infiux closed, so that
it has been impossible for them to come into the state
of a fuU and perfect church. It represents not only
this final deUverance, but also in great fullness the
transition from the First Christian Church to the
incoming New Church.
And in each case the Passover not only represents
deUverance from the e'vils which were oppressing the
people, but it also represented the elevation to a new
and higher degree of life. To those imprisoned in the
lower earth it represented their liberation, and their
elevation to heaven. To the IsraeUtes it meant de-

THE CELEBRATION. 149
Uverance from Egyptian bondage, and the ability to
set out on the journey to the promised land in freedom.
And in its final representation it means the liberation
of the Christian Church on earth, from all the oppres
sion and deprivations and persecutions and martyrdoms
which have followed its stormy course down the cen
turies. It means all this and more. It means the
preparation by the Lord, of a remnant which can be
raised up into a New Celestial Church which shall
crown the ages and last forever. In a word, it means
the fuU restoration of the church to its unfallen and
normal state, as in the Golden Age of the past, and
the passing away, not all at once, but surely of the
curse, and the final estabUshment of the Lord's kingdom
upon the earth.
The celebration of the Passover at GUgal, has par
ticular reference to this final consummation. It came
just at the time when the IsraeUtes, whose special
mission was to represent the churches, had completed
the representation of the First Christian Church, and
were just beginning to represent the Church of the
Second Advent. Coming at the time it did, and under
circumstances which unmistakably represent the End
and the Beginning — the passing away of the Spiritual
Church, and the beginning of the Celestial Church,
there can be no mistake in the signification.
As related to the IsraeUtes, it came between their
wilderness journey from Egypt, and their actual occu
pancy of the land as their own possession. In the
journey to Canaan, aU recognize the representation

150 THE NEW CANAAN.
of the Christian Church. And in their taking the
land, and dwelUng in it, they represent the new and
final state of the church, which is the Lord's kingdom
established upon the earth.
But this brief, general statement of the signification
of the Passover is insufficient to give an adequate idea
of the fullness of meaning which it contains, when aU
its Uttle particulars are examined. Let us then inquire
more definitely for its representation, when the various
particulars involved are more fully considered. While
we carefully examine the symbol as a whole, let us
note the distinct parts which enter into it, that we
may more accurately read its meaning, for it certainly
represents the grandest and the most stupendous
event, or rather series of events, which the universe
of God has ever -witnessed. Thus examined, I think
no competent student of the internal sense of the
Word, -wiU fail to see that in this celebration of the
Passover, at this particular juncture, in the mis
sion of the Lord's chosen representative people,
a great crisis in human affairs is brought to 'view,
which should make every heart which is loyal to the
Lord and His church leap 'with joy, and 'with re
newed hope and courage labor for the final consum
mation. Thus examined, I think we wUl see that this
celebration of the Passover, on the Canaan side of
the Jordan, just after the waters which flooded all the
lowland, representing the falsities and e'vUs which have
long inundated the world of mankind, were by the
Omnipotent Lord turned back upon themselves, no

THE CELEBRATION. 151
more to deluge the world, has a marvelous reach of
meaning, opening to the world the final consummation
of the reign of sin and sorrow, and the glorious intro
duction of the New Dispensation which shall have no
end. The preparation for the Passover, and everything
in connection 'with it, as .most clearly explained in
the Arcana Coelestia, in opening the internal sense of
the twelfth chapter of Exodus, distinctly indicates the
nature of the event represented. After describing the
requirements in regard to the Paschal Lamb, and ex
plaining the meaning, it is said: "This is the state of
the initiation of the interiors, that is of preparation
to receive the influx of good and truth from the Lord. "
(A. C. 7831.)
From the tenth day of the month till the fourteenth,
when the Passover was kept, the Paschal Lamb was
to be secluded, signifying the implantation of remains,
and the beginning of the true interior spiritual Ufe.
In other words, it is when the remains which the
Lord has stored in the mind are quickened into actual
Ufe by the Holy Spirit. Swedenborg in explaining the
phrase, "In the tenth of this month," says: "That
hereby is signified the state of the initiation of the
interiors, appears from the signification of the tenth
day, as denoting the state of the interiors, for by day
is signified state, and by ten are signified remains,
that is, truths and goods stored up by the Lord in
man's interiors; and whereas remains are in the inte
riors, and man by them is prepared and initiated to

152 THE NEW CANAAN.
receive good and truth from the Lord; therefore by
the tenth day is here signified a state of initiation of
the interiors: that man by remains is regenerated,
consequently is initiated to receive the influx of good
and truth from the Lord. , . . This state of the
initiation of the interiors, was from the tenth of that
month, even to the fourteenth day thereof, 'within
which days the paschal cattle were to be in keeping;
by the paschal cattle is signified the good of innocence,
which is the inmost good, thus that this inmost, with
the interiors in which it is, in the meantime should
be secluded and withheld from such things as defile;
that is preparation to receive the influx of good and
truth from the Lord. " (A. C. 7831.)
The above seems to teach clearly that in the process
of regeneration as here represented, by remains stored
up in the interiors by the Lord, man is prepared and
initiated to receive good and truth, and thus the work
advances towards states of true innocence. Now " inno
cence is the primary principle in the Lord's kingdom."
(A. C. 3994.) There are three degrees of innocence.
"A lamb denotes innocence of the inmost degree, a
kid innocence of the second degree, and a calf innocence
of the third, or ultimate degree." (A. E. 314.) Then
the Paschal Lamb which was to be secluded and 'with
held from such things as defile, represents a state of
"innocence of the inmost degree," which is the state
of preparation to receive the influx of good and truth,
on the fourteenth day, that is in the final celebration
when the state is full. And "a state is called fuU

THE CELEBRATION. 153
when the good is such that there is not anything
wanting for receiving the influx of innocence. " As we
have seen, the Paschal Lamb signifies innocence of the
inmost degree, and in the regeneration and formation
of the New Celestial Church, this state must be made
full before it can be inaugurated in its appointed sta
tion, and receive the full infiux of heavenly love and
innocence. But representatively, on the fourteenth day
of the month, the state was full, and the copious influx
was received from the Lord. Then grasping the repre
sentative meaning of all these things, the inquiry arises,
can anything else be here represented than the in
auguration of the New Christian Church, which is to
be celestial, and to continue forever? Now the Passover
in connection with each of the particular events repre
sented, indicates an orderly process, with a specific
beginning, or a definitely marked starting point, fol
lowed by advancing states of progress, in the prescribed
order, till complete.
DeUvering the children of Israel from Egyptian
bondage, though in itself only a natural event, repre
sented most accurately the process by which one
passes from a purely natural state, into one of initiation,
in some measure, into true spirituaUty. He is thus
delivered from abject bondage to the e'vils peculiar to
the natural man, and on the East shore of the Red
Sea, is set in the way which leads to the promised
Canaan of celestial Ufe. But the whole journey through
the wilderness, with aU its rough and bitter experiences,
lies before him, and must be completed before it is

154 THE NEW CANAAN.
possible for him to enter the promised land, where
perpetual peace and plenty abound.
But enough has been said to indicate the Une on
which the process of regeneration must advance, both
in the individual man, and in the church at large,
for the process is the same in both cases. As the Lord
came to redeem and save the man of the Spiritual
church, whose will of good was totally destroyed, and
in whom the internal way of influx was closed, so also
he came to redeem and save the Spiritual Church as
a composite body, from the consequences of the de
stroyed ¦will, and to open the original way of influx
by an internal way. It is to be deUvered from aU
the e^vils incurred by the fall, and to be exalted to
all the pri-vileges and blessings of the unfallen church.
For the Spiritual Church is not to remain a fractional
church to all eternity, turning out fractional men and
women, to people the heavens, instead of those who
are built into the likeness of the Lord. The Word
itself, and the writings of the church, and as certainly
the dictates of the rational mind, when set free from
the shackles which men have imposed upon it, aU
unite as one voice, in proclaiming the full redemption
of our race, and its restoration to the Adamic state
of integrity, with the enlarged vision of truth, and
increased strength of character, resulting from the hard
lessons of the past.
And it is of this final deUverance of the Spiritual
Church, as represented by the preserved remnant
from the Christian Church, now passing away, that

THE CELEBRATION. 155
the Passover as celebrated at Gilgal, most eloquently
speaks to all who are able to understand the language.
It may be useful to give expression to one further
thought in this connection relative to the celebration
of the Passover. The IsraeUtes, after crossing the
Jordan, encamped in Gilgal in the East border of
Jericho, as we are informed in the fourth chapter of
Joshua. The East signifies a state of good, the very
same state of good which was represented by all the
people preparing 'victuals, in obedience to the command
of Joshua, just before they crossed the Jordan. We
are taught in many places in the Writings, that a state
of good, that is lo-ving and doing good, is the only
foundation for recei'ving the truth. The Lord says : " If
any man will do his 'will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself."
(John 7, 17.) And this state of good, signified by the
camp being estabUshed in the East border of Jericho,
is the essential preparation for those who are to be
of the Lord's New Church, in order that they may
receive the doctrines of the church, when they learn
what they are. And in accordance 'with this weU-
estabUshed principle that a state of good is necessary
as a preparation for recei'ving truth, in the fifth chapter
of Joshua, it is said, "And the children of Israel en
camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the four
teenth day of the month at even, in the plains of
Jericho." In the first text quoted, we learn that by
a state of good they were prepared to receive instruc
tion, and in this last quoted text, we learn that they

156 THE NEW CANAAN.
were led into a state of doctrinal instruction. In this
case the camp is described as being in the plains of
Jericho. In a good sense, as here used, Jericho signifies
an early state, or the beginning of a first or new state.
More specifically, it signifies a state of instruction
peculiar to the beginning of a church, and which is to
prepare the way for its mature and fully developed
state. The camp was in the plains of Jericho. Plains
signify good and truth in the natural nian or mind.
And we read in the writings that plains signify: "the
all of doctrine " ; that is a comprehensive knowledge of
the doctrines of the church held in the understanding.
And encamping signifies arranging the whole people
in heavenly order, each tribe and family in its own
proper place. Or in relation to the regeneration of
an individual man, it means the control and subordina
tion of all the principles of good and truth which have
been received, in an orderly manner in his mind, that
they may be ready for use when needed.
Then from this hasty glance at the representative
meaning of all these particulars, when considered
together, we have a most remarkable symboUc and
prophetic description of the times in which we now
Uve. We have the real state of the New Church as
it now is, and of that upon which it is about to enter,
so clearly described that nothing is lacking to make
it fuller and more perfect than any li'ving man has
ever been able to picture. Its external deUneation is
clear and full, and its internal construction, to one

THE CELEBRATION. 157
who is able to read its mystic meaning, carries clear
demonstration of its Di'vine origin.
But to avoid a misconception which has caused
much confusion of thought in the New Church, it may
be definitely stated that if these beautiful symbols of
the Word, which as read in the connected series of
the internal and representative sense, can have but
one meaning, the New Church as yet is simply in its
state of initiation and preparation for receiving the
New influx from the Lord, which when the preparatory
work is completed, will fill the waiting disciples with
the joyful life of the mature New Church. That part
of the church which has passed beyond the natural,
in the regenerate life, is stiU on the spiritual plane,
with much labor gathering the manna of spiritual
good — ^the good of truth. But we are distinctly told
that after the celebration of the Passover, the manna
ceased to fall, and they began to eat the fruit of the
land. Now it seems that the majority of those who have
accepted the doctrines of the New Church are Uving
under the impression that the mere intellectual ac
knowledgment of the doctrine introduces one into the
Heavenly City. Hence the prevalent thought is that
the church will continue on the same plane of life^
with more or less improvement in those things which
constitute a true church, and a very slow gro'wth in
numbers, as the years and generations of men come
and go, but that we have the real New Church now^
about as we are to have it in the future. These

158 THE NEW CANAAN.
utterly inadequate views of the glorious church of the
Second Advent, hold the eyes, and paralyze the faith
of the people, just as the eyes of the Lord's disciples,
nineteen hundred years ago, were closed by superficial
and materialistic conceptions of His kingdom, supposing
that it was to be on the throne in the Old Jerusalem.
But taking into consideration the natural state of the
people, there is nothing surprising, or that need dis
courage us in all this. Indeed it is just what was to
be expected under the circumstances. The disciples of
the Lord, when the promised Spirit of Truth came,
and they discovered how mistaken they had been,
joyfully received the heavenly influx, and with burning
zeal went to work to build up the Lord's church and
kingdom. And thus it will be again. Every true
disciple of the Lord in His Second Advent, who has
been paralyzed by these inadequate and false -views,
will have a joyful surprise, and will marvel that he did
not see it all before.
The Passover is a di-vinely constructed symbol most
accurately representing the states of the church now
coming in, including all human institutions, not, how
ever as organized from without by external forces, as
in the past, which have no vital connection with the
body, but rather as formed by internal heavenly force
which push out to the surface, in effort to express
their own real quaUties in the active uses in the outward
life. As the life principle in a graiij of corn, planted
in good ground, sends up a stalk in harmony -with
its own nature, and then develops the ear, and matures

THE CELEBRATION. 159
the grain tiU ready for the garner; so the church uni
versal when it is restored to its normal state, and
receives its own proper influx from the Lord, by the
original internal way, 'wiU from 'within, send out that
heavenly Ufe, through orderly channels, into ultimate
forms* or fruits, corresponding to its inherent quaUties,
and thus fulfill the design in creation and redemption.
But the thought as yet, in the early dawn of the
New Age, is of the same external forms, the same
rituals, or perhaps as made more elaborate and pleasing
to the natural senses of men, and of the same general
conditions throughout all departments of human
society. There 'will still be the great extremes,
of more than kingly, wealth and luxury, and power
over the multitudes, on the one hand, while, on
the other hand, the poverty and squalor and wretch
edness, now so painfully manifest everywhere, especially
in our great cities, where the larger half of the population
have a painful struggle for existence, from one end
of the year to the other, all of which comes naturally
and inevitably from our unequal business methods,
which amount to a warfare of the strong and unscrupu
lous against the weak, relentless as death, even where
there is no dishonest intent, perforce of the e^vil system,
which does -violence to every principle of neighborly
love, and of justice between man and man, thus vir
tually rejecting every true and heavenly principle from
our common life.
But this thought, with all the inequalities resulting
from it, is wholly wrong, and when the new state of

160 THE NEW CANAAN.
the church, so fully represented by the Passover has
come in, the entire current of affairs will be revolu
tionized. The internal life of love flowing down from
the Lord, with more than Pentecostal power, will find
its way out into the external Ufe by many channels,
now choked with rubbish and out of use, and soon
the Lord's kingdom of righteousness shaU be estabUshed
from the rivers to the ends of the earth.

XIII.
AFTER CELEBRATING THE PASSOVER, THE
ISRAELITES BEGIN TO EAT THE FRUIT
OF THE LAND.

If it is true, as has been stated in former chapters,
that Abraham and his posterity have represented every
church which has existed, or ever will exist upon the
earth, even to the smallest particulars, it must be
e-vident that the continuous stream of representative
history, or prophecy, will clearly mark the rise and
faU of the churches, just as they have occurred or
wiU occur. In that case, when the measure of one
dispensation has been made full, and it- comes to its
end, the representatives will clearly mark the consum
mation, and just as clearly mark the rise of its successor.
That is, in the transition from the Spiritual Church
to the Celestial Church by which it is followed, as
in the present case, the symbols used indicate that
change so distinctly that it cannot be mistaken. In
the journey through the ¦wilderness, under the leader
ship of Moses, the representation beyond question is
of the First Christian Church, which was Spiritual,
as to internals, "precisely similar to the Ancient
Church." Then after the death of Moses, under
Joshua, till the Passover was celebrated, the period
11 161

162 THE NEW CANAAN.
in which the change from the Spiritual to the Celestial
is brought to ¦view, we find a mixed state in which
the symbols sometimes refer to the Spiritual Church,
while in other places they as distinctly indicate the
Celestial Church, because both the Spiritual and the
Celestial are present in the transitional state of the
church represented, the Spiritual gradually passing
out, and the Celestial as gradually coming in. And
to secure the instructive lessons, representatively
taught, we need to keep the distinctive representation
of these two classes of symbols in mind. In the present
case we need to note the gradual disappearance of
those peculiar to the Spiritual Church, as those belonging
to the Celestial Church come in.
And -with the celebration of the Passover, the final
end of the Spiritual Church is definitely brought to
¦view, and the beginning in its true state of Ufe, of the
New Celestial Church.
After this celebration of the Passover, we leave
behind the representation of the Spiritual Church in
a connected way. And in following the thread of
the internal sense, we find a marvelously beautiful
description of that church which is to be the crown
of all the churches, as it comes into its state of power,
overthrowing all the old cities of the land, that is,
destroying the false doctrines and e'vils, which have
long poisoned the spiritual atmosphere, and devastated
the church. These must first be removed, then the
church can grow and prosper. Then this being done,
the representation of the IsraeUtes, after celebrating

THE FRUIT OF THE LAND. 163
the Passover, is of the New Christian Church, as it
enters fairly upon its appointed mission, and begins
to bear the _ fruits of the Celestial Church. That
the representation might be perfect, it was necessary
in obser'ving their ceremonial rites, as well as in the
conquest of the land, they should carefully do those
things which would represent the life and acti'vities of
a true Celestial Church, which is governed by supreme
love to the Lord, and which always manifests itself in
love to the neighbor in all the relations of life. Indeed
love to the Lord can manifest itself in no other way,
than in practical love and good will to the neighbor.
The Lord says: "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto Me." It was because
they were to represent a true Celestial Church, that
they were required at the outset to renew the rite
of circumcision, signifying regeneration by love, which
is the regeneration of the Celestial man.
This preparation for the conquest of the land, as
we follow it historically, sets forth in clear Ught, the
corresponding preparation which the New Christian
Church must make, that it may take its true place
in the world. It has already crossed the dividing line
between the first and second dispensations of the
Christian Church, as represented by Israel's crossing
the Jordan. And it is now passing through the state
of preparation for the conquest of the kingdoms of
the world, preparatory to the establishment of the
Lord's kingdom in every land, and the universal reign

164 THE NEW CANAAN.
of peace. And the one thing indispensable in this
work, is the circumcision of the heart. Without this
we will be routed all along the Une.
Let us now notice some of the fruits, pecuUar to
a celestial church, which by representation are brought
to view in this connection. In the fifth chapter of
Joshua, just after the statements in regard to keeping
the Passover, it is said: "And they did eat of the old
corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover,
unleavened cakes, and parched corn, in the self-same
day." These represent the states of good, which the
incoming New Church will produce, and by means of
which the life of its people will be built up, and developed
in all things good and true. Let us notice particularly
the signification of the old corn of the land, the un
leavened cakes, and the parched corn.
Corn in the symboUsms of the Bible, when no quaU-
fying word is used, means any kind of grain. And it
may represent any form of good, according to the
subject under consideration. But when a particular
kind of corn is mentioned, as wheat or barley, or corn
of the land of Canaan, or parched corn, a specific kind
of good is invariably represented. And this clearly
indicates the characteristics of the church which is
being considered. Then the old corn of the Land,
that is of Canaan, e-vidently signifies celestial good —
the good which was common in the Most Ancient
Church, which had its home in Canaan. And when the
qualifying word old is used in the prophetic writings,
as the rule celestial things are meant. Thus " old waste

THE FRUIT OF THE LAND. 165
places," "the days of old," and kindred terms which
frequently occur in the prophets, signify the celestial
things of the golden age. Then the term old as quali
fying corn, the corn of the land of Canaan, clearly
brings before the mind celestial good, as it existed
in the infantile race, in its state of simple, unadulterated
innocence and heavenly love. And the old corn of
the land which the children of Israel did eat, signifies
that the New Church, which is here represented, shall
come into similar states of good, and shall partake
of the same beautiful innocence, and heavenly quaUties,
which characterized those of the olden time, when God
walked in the garden, and talked with his little children.
Oh, those olden times, before the shadows of sin and
death fell across the path of human life ! How pathetic,
how sweet, and yet how sad the emotions which are
stirred into Ufe, as the returning image of a beautiful
dream of the night, half forgotten, but lovely still!
Let us beUeve that such images of the golden past
come back to the sorrowing heart, as bright prophecies
of the return of our race to its normal state. For surely
every death has its resurrection, every decaying age
has its renaissance, and we shall yet see our race, even
here upon the earth, made into the very image of the
heavens, with the last blot of sin wiped away.
But if the old corn of the land signifies these beautiful
celestial states, called up from the slumbering ages of
the past, when bitter strife, and wearing toil were
unknown, is it not a sure and blessed prophecy of

166 THE NEW CANAAN.
another golden age for our world, which, "after the
morrow, " shall come to crown the ages.
After the Passover, the children of Israel ate of the
old corn of the land, unleavened cakes and parched
corn, representing the various states of good which
shaU be developed in the coming Celestial Church, and
which shall last forever, for the morrow signifies forever.
The unleavened cakes signify very much the same as
the old corn of the land, in a general way, though
the signification seems higher. The term unleavened,
as a descriptive word, expresses purity, that is absolute
freedom from contamination. And "cake" as here
used means the good of celestial love. The two words
coming together, then signify not only the absence of
evil and falsity, but celestial love which has been
entirely separated from any admixture of such natural
loves, as while not in themselves positively evil, have
nevertheless, something crass or earthly adhering to
them. The Israelites were not permitted to use leaven in
any form in the feast of the Passover, because of its
evil signification. To have used it would have been
to bring together the symbols of good and evil, and
would have signified profanation. The unleavened
bread which was used represented uncontaminated celes
tial good, such as characterized the people of the Most
Ancient Church, after they had reached the Sabbath
state in the process of regeneration. It is remarkable
that in this verse everything mentioned has some
distinct celestial representation. The unleavened bread

THE FRUIT OF THE LAND. 167
used, is termed cakes, signifying the good of celestial
love. And in addition to unleavened cakes, they ate
"parched corn." This again signifies celestial good,
but it is somewhat different from the other. Parched
corn is specially prepared for food, by being taken
through a process with fire. The fire separates from
it the crudeness peculiar to uncooked food, and brings
it into the best state for easy digestion and assimilation.
Fire is a tremendously active force, and nature's most
effective purifier. It penetrates every part of the body
exposed to its action, leaving nothing untouched. And
in the realm of spirit, love is the correspondent of fire
in the natural world. Love, or heavenly fire, purifies
man as a spiritual being, when he submits himself to
its influence, as natural fire purifies material substances,
that is love penetrates and purifies his affections and
motives, and all the inner acti'vities of his being, causing
them to harmonize with his highest ideal of what is
good and right. The constant influx of love from the
Lord, by an open internal way, into the celestial man,
purifies and vivifies his life, enabling him to throw
off every impure thing. In other words, love on the
spiritual plane, acts upon and affects spiritual substances,
much as natural fire affects material substances. Then
by parched corn, we may conclude that celestial good
of the highest order is represented. It is the product
of heavenly love in an intense state of action. It is
the product of love of a higher order even than was
known in the days of old, as it is the result of a higher
development of intelligence and wisdom, as drawn from

168 THE NEW CANAAN.
the experience of the ages, than could be reaUzed in
the infancy of the race. And celestial love, as united
with the dearly bought -wisdom and experience of the
ages, as it goes forth to bless the world, to Uft up the
lowly and down-trodden, to break every band, and to
throw open the prison doors, and let the oppressed
go free, will be clothed 'with a practical power, and
efficiency, which could not be approached in the morning
of creation. Indeed the work of bringing the human
race, as a whole, up to the Di'vine ideal, as 'viewed from
a true stand-point, has steadily advanced, and wiU
continue to advance till fully realized. It is inspired
by such love activity and intensity, as to take no note
of self, and as to seek nothing for self, but all for the
neighbor and the brother. And with such fire of love
kindled, how quickly the crooked places will be made
straight, and the rough places made smooth throughout
the Christian world! It will consume the. monster
self-love, it will remove unjust distinctions, and equaUze
all the necessary burdens of life. And, kind reader,
this fire is about to be kindled, and in the language
of the Lord, "what will I if it be already kindled?"
Now the old corn, the unleavened cakes, and the
parched corn, and indeed all the fruits of the land,
which the Israelites ate, after the Passover, when the
manna ceased to fall, as described in the Word, clearly
represented the fruits of a celestial church, and that
church means the coming New Church, as must appear
certain to any one who accepts the representative sig
nification as given in the W^ritings. These fruits men-

THE FRUIT OF THE LAND. 169
tioned were UteraUy grown in the land of Canaan,
and that land always signifies the Celestial Church,
when used to represent the church upon the earth.
True, Canaan is sometimes used to signify heaven,
but even in that case the representation is essentially
the same, as the Celestial Church upon the earth is
simply the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, extending
its peaceful sway do-wn to the earth, and ultimating
itself on the natural plane, among men still in the
flesh. The only difference between the two, is that
the heaven of angels is in the inmost or highest degree
of Ufe; the material part, and the external natural
mind having been put off at death, that is their common
everyday Ufe, in the celestial heavens, is in the inmost
degree of love. And when the influx of Ufe from the
Lord descends into the angels of that heaven, at
the same time and in the same manner it flows into
the highest degree of those men and women who, by
regeneration, have passed into the Sabbath state, and
thus have become truly celestial, as to their inmost life.
They receive the same influx as the celestial angels,
because they, as to their inmost life, are in the same
degree and state -with them. But as they are still
in the body, and performing their active uses among
men m the natural world, instead of ultimating their
heavenly life among the brotherhood of angels, in
uses suitable to those angels and that heaven, the
influx of love passes down through the understanding,
and out into the natural Ufe, till it pleases the Lord
to set them free from the tabernacle of clay. Then,

170 THE NEW CANAAN.
still recei'ving the same heavenly influx from the Lord
into their inmost life, it 'will, in accordance 'with the
laws of heavenly order, pass out into the common
uses of their society, through their particular use
as indi'vidual members of that society. As long as
they remain in the body, their proper work wUl be in
the natural world, subject to the same laws of use
as other men, that is performing the use for which
they are best fitted in view of their talent and environ
ment. While it is true that their conscious Ufe is
not in the celestial heavens, nor in the inmost degree,
it is nevertheless true that their Sabbath state is free
from the temptations and the bitterness which in an
earlier state beset their way, and they have peace
and rest, and joyfully await their translation to the
heavens, when the Lord says, "It is enough, come up
higher." Thus it appears that those who by regeneration have
entered into this Sabbath state, are moved by the
very same heavenly love which inspires the angels,
and shapes their conduct in the heavens, but with
the men of the church, it expresses itseff in the acti'vities
of the Ufe in the world. That is, in everything they
'will and do, they are inspired by love to the Lord,
and by pure disinterested love to their neighbors.
Their Ufe is sacredly consecrated to the uses of the
Lord's kingdom among men on the earth. And the
only way men can express their love to the Lord is
by doing good to the Lord's children, the neighbor,
the brother, the sister, as circumstance may require.

THE FRUIT OF THE LAND. 171
and opportunity is afforded; and in a more general
sense, doing good to the public, including one's church
and country, as these are his neighbors which should
receive his love, expressed by constant watchfulness,
and self-sacrificing service, when required.
But the unregenerate natural man, who is not in
some measure imbued with true Christian principle,
that is, one who has no conscience, loves himself, thinlcs
of himself, works for himself, without regard to the
interests of others, and alas for the brother who falls
into his hands, or becomes subject to his power. But
to avoid being misunderstood, it may be well to state
that there are two distinct classes of so-called natural
men, which seem very much aUke to those about them,
while as to real qualities of character they are utterly
unlike. Those of one class, as just described, are desti
tute of conscience, and have no true religious principles,
being actuated only by selfish motives. The other class
of natural men make little pretensions to piety or
religion, but in the general conduct of life, as viewed
from the human stand-point, when placed under cir
cumstances which thoroughly test their principles, and
motives of conduct, are found to be upright, and con
scientious. This latter class has the foundation upon
which the true regenerate life may be built up, at
least to such an extent as will prepare one for the
ultimate heaven, while the former class, which doubtless
includes multitudes of nominal Christians, will steadily
grow more hardened in an utterly selfish and evil
Ufe. The one who is in the way to become regenerated,

172 THE NEW CANAAN.
says of his neighbor, "I must be just to him. I must
take no advantage of him. In my business relations,
I must try to observe the golden rule, doing by him
as I would be done by." And if his neighbor is poor,
and finds it difficult to keep housed and clothed, he
not only expresses sorrow and sympathy, but if he
can find a way to render some kindly assistance, he
is glad to do it. But his conscience not ha'ving become
very active, he is not supposed to trouble himself very
much about the ill lot of his neighbor. He probably
fails to bring home to himself the fact that the conditions
which our ci'vil and social structure imposes upon him
are such that he, and the majority of our people, can
only live by a hard struggle, without being able to
lay up anything for "a rainy day, " however industrious
and frugal they may be. Consequently he does not
feel that it is his duty to carefully inquire into the
false conditions which ever5Tvhere prevail, and makes
no intelligent and persistent effort to remove them.
But the celestial man when he comes, and thank
the Lord he is coming, will not be satisfied to leave
great 'wrongs, - without an earnest effort to remove
them. He will think of all his Father's children, and
say to himself, "What can I do for all those who seem
to have a hard lot, and an unequal struggle with adver
sity? What can I do to help to give the masses a
better chance? Are there great fundamental wrongs
which I have never troubled myself to look into,
that I might help to remove, and the restrictions
and inequalities of opportunity, which now afflict

THE FRUIT OF THE LAND. 173
society, causing great suffering, and placing cruel
burdens upon the weak? Am I permitting an extreme
conservatism to bUnd my eyes so that I fail to take
in the real situation which now confronts the church
and society? No, the Lord being my helper, I will
earnestly try to see my duty, and, without fear or
favor, to do it. Then what steps can I take to help
the ignorant to inform themselves, and to properly
educate their children, that they may be prepared
for intelligent and useful citizenship? If any of them
have fallen into 'vicious habits, ha'ving become intem
perate, or shiftless, what can be done to bring them
into a better state, to make them temperate and indus
trious?" And the celestial man, with his heart filled 'with
heavenly love, does not stop with mere talk. He
sets about the work of inquiring into the underlying
causes, in our social structure, which lead to poverty,
and the e'vils and immoralities fostered thereby. He
does not say to himself, " This business belongs to the
pubUc, it is no concern of mine." On the contrary,
he says, "If the public business is neglected, it is my
special duty to see that the conditions are changed,
and as far as I am able, I will work in season and out
of season to right these wrongs against my brethren."
And thus as the true celestial man comes in and comes
to the front, it will not be long till all these outside
inequalities 'wiU pass away, and the question wiU no
longer be debated as to whether or not Ufe in this
lower world is worth the Uving.

174 THE NEW CANAAN.
And this active, energetic, persistent effort to do
good on the natural plane, and on the spiritual plane,
here a Uttle and there a little, everywhere within the
circle of our influence, is growing the corn of the land
of Canaan, the fruits which the Celestial Church has
always produced, and always will produce. As the
seasons move on in successive order, still greater ab
undance will be realized, and the curse of long stand
ing shall forever pass away. Who that loves God
and man does not long for such a state, and is not
willing with self-sacriflcing energy to work for it? Espe
cially we who have the glorious light of the New Jeru
salem are called upon to throw ourselves into the
world's great harvest, with energy, that we may bring
in our sheaves, and lay them at the Master's feet, that
we may not appear before Him as slothful and unprofit
able servants. Surely there can be no room in the
great whitened fields of the Lord's kingdom of uses
for idlers, till the coming kingdom is ushered in. The
work is pressing, the needs are great, the harvest is
ripe and ready to be gathered in, and saved from the
storms. The old corn of the land, the unleavened
cakes, and the parched corn are needed to strengthen
and build up the heavenly church in this land, where
the scattered remnants of the spiritual Israel have
been drawn together from among all nations, and are
ready to form the great central pro'vince of the coming
Church from which light shall go forth to every land.

XIY.
"THE MANNA CEASED ON THE MORROW AFTER
THEY HAD EATEN OF THE OLD CORN
OF THE LAND."

In the above chapters, particularly in the earUer
ones, the radical difference between the two churches,
the Celestial and the Spiritual, is made prominent,
because it is fundamental, and needs to be constantly
kept in view, at least till the people of the New Church
became famiUar with it. And as this difference seems
to have been overlooked, as the rule, by the collateral
'writers of the church, it seems necessary to refer often
to the specific statements of Swedenborg, touching
this point, that the reader may become famiUar with
them. And as we have now reached the point in the
history of the IsraeUtes, where the distinctly spiritual
type, as the Noachic and the first Christian Churches
were, is about to pass forever away, and as the inspired
history emphasizes this fact, we again turn to the
lucid statements of the Writings.
Just after the history of the Passover, and of their
beginning to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan,
it is said: "And the manna ceased on the morrow
after eating of the old corn of the land; neither had
the chUdren of Israel manna any more, but they" did
175

176 THE NEW CANAAN.
eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. " Now
it is well known to every one acquainted with the
Bible, that manna was the daily bread on which the
IsraeUtes chiefly depended, for natural sustenance,
while in the 'wUderness, representing the Spiritual
Church, specifically the first Christian Church. And
turning to the Writings, we learn that manna signifies
the good of the Spiritual Church, that is the good
which results from obedience to the truths of the
Word. In the language just quoted, we are told that
the manna ceased when they began to eat the fruit
of the land of Canaan. If the manna represented
the good of the Spiritual Church, and if it ceased at
this time when they were beginning to eat the fruit
of Canaan, is it not evident that the Spiritual Church,
as a distinct type, then ceased to exist, and that the
New Celestial Church, whose good is represented by
the fruits of the land of Canaan, now became fuUy
established in the place of the consummated Spiritual
Church? But that we may see clearly that the manna eaten
by the IsraeUtes in the wilderness did represent the
good of the Spiritual Church, entirely distinct from
celestial good, let us turn to the Writings, and read
what is there said. In explaining the words, "This
is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to eat,"
it is said: "that hereby is signified that this is the good
which shall be appropriated, and make their Ufe, in
the supreme sense, that this is the Lord in you, appears
from the signification of bread, as denoting celestial

THE MANNA CEASED. 177
and spiritual good, and in the supreme sense denoting
the Lord, . . . in the present case denoting spiritual
good, that is, the good of the man of the Spiritual
Church, which is the good of truth, inasmuch as this
bread was manna, it follows that by manna is signified
that good. " (A. C. 8464.) In the above we are told
that bread signifies celestial and spiritual good, also
the Lord, but we are further told that in the present
case, when bread stands for the manna which was
given to the IsraeUtes, it denotes spiritual good, "the
good of the man of the Spiritual Church." A Uttle
further down in the same number, we read: "From
singular the things in this passage, it is e'vident that
manna in the spiritual sense is the good of truth, that
is the good of the Spiritual Church. " Again in the same
number: "Manna also denotes the good of truth, which
is given to those who undergo temptation and conquer.
In Revelations: 'He who conquereth, to him will I
give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him
a white stone. ' "
As it is essential in this connection to have the true
signification of the manna which ceased, when the
IsraeUtes began to eat of the fruit of the land, at the
risk of seeming tedious, I must again quote from the
Writings. In A. C. 8521, it is said: "The good of truth
is now described, which is signified by manna, both
what the quaUty of truth therein is and what the
quaUty of good therein is; the quality of truth is
described by its being as coriander seed white, and
the quaUty of good by its being as a cake in honey.
12

178 THE NEW CANAAN.
The good of truth, which is the good pertaining to
those who are of the Lord's Spiritual kingdom, differs
altogether from the good pertaining to those who are
of the Lord's Celestial kingdom; the good of truth
pertaining to those who are of the Spiritual kingdom
is implanted in the inteUectual part, for in that part
is formed by the Lord a new wUl, whereby man wills
to do according to the truth which he had imbibed
from the doctrinals of his church, and when he wUls
and does that truth, it becomes good 'with him, and
is called Spiritual good, and also the good of truth. . . .
From these considerations it is manifest what is the
source and quaUty of the good pertaining to those
-who are of the Lord's Spiritual kingdom. But the
good pertaining to those who are of the Lord's Celestial
Kingdom is not implanted in the intellectual part,
but in the will part; they who are in this good know,
from internal perception, which is from the Lord,
whether a thing be true."
It would seem that the large number of quotations
now given, which directly and in the clearest manner
assert that manna signifies the good of the Spiritual
Church, and the good of truth, are sufficient to con-vince
any one that this is the true meaning of the term.
But I am safe in saying that scores of quotations
might be given just as definite as the above, were it
necessary. Then by representation of the Israelites, while on
their journey through the wilderness, we are taught
that the good which should be reaUzed by the Apostohc

THE MANNA CEASED. 179
Church, would result from obedience to the truth,
and not such as comes from the love or will of good.
But let it be borne in mind that the Israelites as a
people, while on this journey, were not spiritual at
all, but only represented a Spiritual Church. The
natural journey from Egypt to Canaan was so planned
by the Lord as in every particular to represent the
Spiritual journey through which the Christian passes
in washing his robe and making it white in the blood
of the Lamb — ^the Di-vine truth. They were an un-
spiritual people, natural and worldly in all their aspira
tions, and had no conception of the representative
mission they were fUUng under the guiding providence
of the Lord. And through all this representative jour
ney, after passing into the -wilderness, they received
and ate the manna pro'vided by the Lord, and stiU
ate it after crossing into Canaan, till after they began
to receive and eat the fruit of the land, when it ceased,
and it is said: "Neither had the children of Israel
manna any more, but they did eat the fruit of the
land of Canaan that year." Having the better bread,
representing celestial good, they no longer needed the
manna. In the transition from one dispensation of the church
to another, the old and the new overlap or intermingle
for a time, that is some of the fruits or characteristics
of the old dispensation, and some of the new, appear
at the same time, while neither manifests its full Ufe.
Thus it was while the Israelites were in camp at Gilgal.
After Joshua was commissioned to lead the people over

180 THE NEW CANAAN.
the Jordan, and while they received the new fruits of
the land, and the manna ceased, their representation
had been divided between the old and the new. But
from this point in the history, the representation was
entirely of the new. And the representation of this
transitional period very clearly explains the pecuUar
conditions which have prevailed in the Christian world
for the last century and a half. It has indeed been
a mixed state. Through the first haff of this period,
the thoughts and states of life were largely dominated
by the past, with only now and then a clearly marked
expression of the new age, and its new Ufe. But
through the latter half of this period, the conditions
have been reversed. New things have been the order.
They have been cropping out 'with startUng frequency,
and in the most unexpected places. For a time the
new expressed itseff more distinctly in the realm of
thought, showing a constant tendency to break away
from the trammels of tradition and authority, often
verging towards Ucense, and without consideration
overthrowing long estabUshed customs, which seemed
to the conservative essential to the well-being of
society. But the closing years of the nineteenth century
have manifested a change in the development of the
new. The new acti-vities have been more marked on
the plane of the affections, than in the world of thought.
A kindUer and more sympathetic spirit has become
active in some directions, and gives promise of still
greater changes for the better in the near future.
Those who are coming more directly under the infiuence

THE MANNA CEASED. 181
of the New Truth, and who at the same time feel the
warm breath which, as in spring time, is melting away
the cold seffish states of the past, are beginning to
acknowledge the brotherhood of men, and the soUdarity
of the human race. On the part of the true Christian
Israel, an upward trend is manifest, bright with promise
for the future. The circumcision of the heart is making
progress with large numbers, and true celestial fruits
wiU soon begin to multiply around us. But it was
to be expected that through this transitional period,
tiU near its close, the spiritual type would largely
predominate over the celestial type. Among the promi
nent thinkers and writers of the New Church thus
far through this period, the cold, logical, and highly
intellectual type has been the rule. Far be it from me
to enter into any captious criticism of this class. It
has doubtless been thus permitted by the providence
of the Lord, because the nature of the work to be
accomplished requires that type of men, and the time
had not come for the fuller and more spiritual work
of the New Church to be inaugurated. Till a secure
foundation was laid on the doctrinal plane, the tropical
warmth of celestial men would probably have endan
gered the whole movement. But now, with the secure
foundation which has been laid by the extensive reading
of the writings of Swedenborg, when the warm influx
of celestial love, which is to characterize the New
Dispensation, is let in upon the waiting disciple, the
church 'wiU not only be able to stand as an impregnable
fortress against any assaulting falsity, but will also

182 THE NEW CANAAN.
be able to move rapidly forward in the conquest of
the world.
Let us now return to the camp at Gilgal, and through
the representative people, seek fuller instruction in
regard to the present needs and duties of the New
Church. In the particular part of the representative
history which we have been considering, we are in
formed that after the manna ceased, "they did eat
the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." To eat
this fruit is to appropriate the good of the Celestial
Church, or to receive the heavenly influx which now
comes from the Lord by the re-opened internal way,
and to incorporate it into the Ufe, that it may be given
forth to our fellow-men, through the acti'vities of Ufe.
And as has been sho'wn, the land of Canaan signifies
the Celestial Church. However, it has several shades
of meaning, as indeed has almost every representative
used in the Bible. As the home- of the Most Ancient
Church from which it derives its particular representa
tion, the Celestial Church may be considered its first,
and essential representation, and that is clearly the
meaning in the present instance. What are the
fruits of a Celestial Church, as considered in a general
way? To answer in a word, they are love to the Lord,
as expressed in aU the varied acti'vities and uses of
the Ufe in the world, or they are love to God shown
forth in true neighborly love, which is an unselfish
effort to be useful, to render kindly services to all as
far as we have opportunity, and particularly to be
just and upright in all our relations with others. These

THE MANNA CEASED. 183
fruits 'will result in a state of universal good throughout
human society, and cannot fail to give perfect satis
faction to all whose happy lot it may be to participate
in such a state of society.
The IsraeUtes were to eat of the fruits of the land
of Canaan that year. We read in the Arcana (2906) :
"That year signifies an entire time of a state of the
church from beginning to end, or, what is the same
thing, an entire period." Hence that year, signifies
essentially the same thing as "to-morrow, " which means
to eternity, or forever. This language, in its repre
sentative sense, clearly means that when the fruits
of the imperfect Spiritual Church, represented by the
manna, cease, and in place of it, the fruits of the true
celestial state come in, then this happy state shall
last forever. The same great truth, so often reiterated
in the Writings, that the New Church, which is to be
the crown of all the churches, shaU last forever, is
here most distinctly asserted.
It may be useful here to notice that the representa
tions of the coming New Church, as expressed in the
book of Joshua, particularly in the first five or six
chapters, are in part essentiaUy the same as that
contained in the Apocalypse. But in some respects
there is a marked difference, not contradictory, but
rather complemental. The revelation touching the
Last Judgment, and the preparation for the coming
of the Lord to inaugurate His New and Everlasting
Church, as contained in the Apocalypse, is fuller,
entering more into particulars than that in Joshua.

184 THE NEW CANAAN.
In the Apocalypse the General Judgment is particularly
described, in all its different parts, that is as executed
upon the different churches of Christendom. Their
states are so fully laid open as to be readily seen and
understood by one familiar with the explanations of
Swedenborg. But in Joshua there is no elaborate
description of it. It is simply said: "For Jordan over
floweth all his banks, all the time of harvest," the time
of harvest signifying the Judgment. And the chosen
people were led through the di"vided waters, as they
had been led through the Red Sea, on leaving Egypt.
But after they crossed the Jordan, and encamped in
the borders of the land near Jericho, the formation
of the New Church, through all its advancing stages,
is fully described. And the description, though concise,
seems sufficiently full to give an accurate idea of the
coining church. In the internal sense, one acquainted
with the symbols may see the process more clearly
than any word-picture could express it. And this is
the case not onl}^ in its early beginning, but also after
it has entered its mature state, and begun the conquests
of the land, every particular is set forth as to how
the people of the New Church are to overcome and
put away the old false and e'vil things which have
been handed down from the dark past. Particularly
is the great truth emphasized, that the Lord in His own
might, subdues the spiritual foes of his people, while
they have simply to yield obedience to the instruc
tions. And the New Churchman who carefully reads
these instructions, as they stand in the internal sense

THE MANNA CEASED. 185
of the Word, will see at a glance that there is every
reason to trust in the Lord, and to move forward in
the line of duty, with the sweet assurance that all
his inheritance of evil, and all the old falses which
have brought the dark shadows of death across his
pathway, shaU be turned back upon themselves, and
forever disappear from his life, whUe the old channels
of influx shall be re-opened, and in pearly beauty and
freshness, the waters of life shall again flow down from
the mountains to give purity and life to himself and
to every thirsty soul.
But permit me to say that while it is certain that
the New Celestial Church is coming, bringing with it
a greater fuUness of blessings for our race than we
can even imagine, nevertheless to receive its benefits,
we must prepare ourselves for it. Its people are to
be a pecuUar people, utterly separate and distinct from
the world as -^q find it to-day. This is aU so fully
represented by the requirements made of the IsraeUtes
on entering the land, that there is no room for doubt.
With them circumcision was the distinctive mark of
their separateness from the outside world. They were
incapable of being regenerated, and brought into such
states of soul purity and integrity as would in reality
make them a people peculiar for every heavenly virtue,
and for that soul state which is termed hoUness, but
they could submit to those external rites and ceremo
nies which rep/resented the internal and real states
of the heavenly Ufe. Hence, as circumcision, the repre
sentative of regeneration by love, had not been prac-

186 THE NEW CANAAN.
ticed among them while they sojourned in the wilderness
the first preparatory step they were required to take
after crossing the Jordan, and encamping near Jericho,
as we have seen, was to renew that rite, thus impressing
upon the minds of the whole people the fact that they
were to be a pecuUar people, and that their success,
in war and in peace, depended upon their separateness
from the nations around them. And the lesson in all
this which comes to us in a voice of authority, is, that
we must perform the works, and come into the spiritual
states so distinctly represented by the requirements
made of the natural Israel.
This imperative lesson was given for us — ^was espe
cially intended for us, who may in the internal sense,
read the instructions, which no other people have
been able to read, which are just as essential for our
spiritual well-being, as obser'ving them in the letter
was for the well-being of the children of Israel.
By these we are taught that our Ufe and conduct
in the world are to be so distinctly marked, that we
'will be as fully separated, from the non-spiritual men
of the world, as were the Israelites from the old inhabi
tants of the land. Of course the separateness to be
sought is of the spirit — ^the affections, the thoughts,
the motives — in short all the principles according to
which our external acti'vities are to be shaped. We
must be circumcised in heart. The Ufe of the celestial
man, from inmost principles, to the most external
acti'vities, should be clearly marked, as it were by
some mountain elevation, Ufting it above the common

THE MANNA CEASED. 187
level recognized by the easy-going, and mammon-wor
shiping churches of our time. We should carefully
separate ourselves from the lukewarm and formal,
not however by 'withdrawing from our neighbors in
some "holier than thou" spirit, but by the garment
the spirit wears, which should make the distinction
so clear that angels and men, and even devils, may
recognize it at once. The celestial man, eating the
fruits of the land of Canaan, will be robed in meekness,
humility, gentleness and patience. He will put on the
likeness of Christ by following Him in the regeneration.
The Lord says: "If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
foUow Me." (Luke 9, 23.) Again, "He that taketh
not his cross, and foUoweth after me, is not worthy of
Me. " (Matt. 10, 38.) Clearly the disciple is expected
to foUpw the example set by the Lord, while he was
in the flesh. And the disciple who hears what the
Christ that dwelleth in him says, and does as He bids,
is the true disciple. Now we are taught in the Word,
and in the Writings, that the Lord dwells in His people.
"If any man hear My voice, and opens the door, I
wiU come into him, and 'will sup 'with him, and he
with Me." (Rev. 3, 20.) "He that eateth My flesh,
and drinketh My blood, dweUeth in Me, and I in him."
(John 6, 56.) Indeed the whole-hearted disciple —
the celestial man — carries the badge of separateness
from the ungodly world with him wherever he goes.
Even the presence, and the kind and gentle influence
which goes out from him, without a spoken word,

188 THE NEW CANAAN.
are an eloquent proclamation of discipleship, and of
citizenship in the fruitful Canaan, where the Lord
dweUs in the midst of His people.
But let us not deceive ourselves. This regeneration
by love, this circumcision of the heart, will hurt the
natural man. For a time it will make him sick and
sore. But if one is not willing to bear the cross, and
to deny himself, he is not worthy of citizenship in
the Celestial Canaan, for no half-hearted work wiU
answer the purpose. He must cross the river, and, as
the saying goes, burn the bridge behind him. There
is no place here for indecision, or for mental reservation;
no open door left for retreat, when once the battle,
is entered. The word must be onward, till the 'victory
is won, else defeat and failure will be the result.
But among the churches of to-day, including the
New Church, in regard to the possibility of raising up
a true heavenly church, the dominant con-viction is
decidedly negative. This unbeUe'ving and negative
spirit, from whatever it may take its origin, was mani
fested in a most surprising manner by the reception
given Mr. Sheldon's book, "In His Steps," or "What
Would Christ Do?" which has attracted consid
erable attention. And, strangely, several of the criti
cisms by New Church writers, seemed to center
upon the name, "In His Steps," or "What Would
Christ Do?" as though the impUed action or course
of conduct were utterly unreasonable and impossible.
While this was not a New Church book, and it is not
probable that any New Churchman would claim it

THE MANNA CEASED. 189
as such from a doctrinal standpoint, nevertheless its
teachings were the plain, practical and pungent truths
of the gospel, as proclaimed by the Lord while in the
flesh. The writer of the book simply made following
Christ, or true discipleship, to mean to-day, as it ever
has meant, the rigid, unswerving application of our
Lord's plain teachings, in every transaction of the
daily Ufe, without regard to profit or loss on business
Unes, or in social influence. " In His Steps," as every
one must know, simply means following His example.
And "What Would Christ Do? " as is just as evident,
simply means, "What would the Christ dwelling in me,
have me do? " Certainly very appropriate inquiries
for any real disciple to make in all sincerity and earnest
ness, every day of his life. But not all the New Church
periodical writers failed to touch the spirit of the
author of the book. There were some well considered
re'views, that took in the author's meaning and spirit.
And if such reviewers as had nothing but harsh things
to say of the book and its author, had taken the trouble
to consult both the Word and the Writings, they would
have found themselves squarely in opposition to the
teaching of both. I call the attention of the readers
to the Apocalypse Explained, No. 254, which reads
as foUows: "The reason why a comparison is made of
the members of the church 'with the Lord Himself,
when it is said, 'To him that overcometh 'will I grant
to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame,
and am set down with My Father in His throne,' is
because the life of the Lord upon earth was an example

190 THE NEW CANAAN.
according to which the members of the church were to live,
as the Lord Himself also teaches in John: 'For I give
you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them. ' "
(John 13, 15-17 — ItaUcs mine.)

XY.
BEGINNING THE CONQUEST OF THE LAND.-THE
FALL OF JERICHO.

By the cessation of the manna, which had fallen
for the Israelites on the journey through the wUder
ness, the end of the Spiritual Church, that is of the
First Christian Church, is clearly represented. And the
land of Canaan in which they were encamped, and
the fruit of which, from that time forth, they were
to eat, signifled the beginning of the New Jerusalem,
after recei'ving the influx peculiar to that church. But
the state represented at this point in the history was
only its initiation into the distinctive state or condition
peculiar to a church of the celestial type. As a com
posite body, it had been endowed •with an ample store
of remains, including some integrity of will, to constitute
a suitable foundation for the regeneration of the celestial
man, and for the descending New Jerusalem to rest
upon. And now, the preliminary work being accom
plished, the new-old process of regeneration pecuUar
to the Celestial Church, which is by love, and which
in the Word is represented by circumcision, is to
begin. This state corresponds to the youth, well endowed
by birth, carefully educated in aU those departments
191

192 THE NEW CANAAN.
necessary to a well equipped life in the world, and
especially disciplined in the knowledge of the Word,
and the general doctrinal principles of the church,
ha'ving reached such a measure of maturity as to
be able to choose and act for himself, now beginning
to use those fundamental principles, in developing a
true Christian character, firmly resisting every e'vil and
false thing, and, at the same time, calUng into the
uses of an active life everything good and true, and
thus gradually ha'ving the kingdom of heaven built
up and confirmed in his life. But in accompUshing this
great work, he will have many sore conflicts with e'vils
and falsity. He will necessarily pass through the same
conflicts described in the first chapter of Genesis, only
they will probably assume severer forms, as he has
a long train of hereditary e'vils to overcome, which
the man of the Adamic Church did not have. But
standing loyal to duty, he has nothing to fear, for it
is the Lord, the Mighty One of Israel, who conquers
his foes, and gives him the 'victory. And for the obe
dient and faithful soul, -who firmly stands in the way
of duty, the all-conquering power of the Lord wiU
turn back the dark floods of the overflowing river
of death, "and they shall stand upon a heap," and
he shall pass through dry-shod.
It is this man, thus equipped, or this New Celestial
Church, which is to be the cro'wn of all the churches,
beginning to build up the new Ufe, which we are to
follow in the inspired history, from the time the manna
ceased, and the Israelites began to eat of the fruit

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 193
of the land of Canaan. That is this literal history,
which, in divinely arranged symbols, describes with
great clearness and fullness the regeneration and
growth of the New Church, which now stands at the
door, and awaits the tardy welcome of the preserved
remnant, out of which the true Celestial Church is
to be organized, and at once begin the conquest of
the world, on spiritual lines, as the old Israel did on
natural and carnal lines. This little remnant, unknown
to the proud, mammon-worshiping world, has only
to open the door, looking towards the East, when
the King of Glory shall come in, to dwell with his
people and in them, as Himself has promised.
But great apparent obstructions stand in the way
of the forward movements of the people of the true
church, which to large numbers seem insurmountable.
And in the so-called Christian world, multitudes seem
hopelessly immersed in falsity and e-vil, and have no
desire for a Celestial Church or life, indeed are not
wUling to have either. To be let alone in their mammon
worship, is all they ask or desire. And many of the
present generation seem approaching the state of the
antedilu'vians in the days of Noah. There are indeed
great giants in the land, and many sincere but weak
Christians are dismayed. Even the faithful few who
long for the estabUshment of the heavenly church, as
the rule, seem to have lost their grip of living, realizing
faith in the Lord, and the 'vision of the coming church,
which is so vi-vidly described in the Word, and in the
Writings, has become dim, and ceases to give inspiration
13

194 THE NEW CANAAN.
and courage. Corruption in its direst forms so spreads
itself in high places, and in low places, and is becoming
so brazen and defiant, that even the faithful remnant,
which the Lord is raising up, and preparing, as a nucleus
around which He may form and inaugurate His heav
enly church, in many cases seem to have lost faith. The
faithful few are scattered among the ungodly multi
tudes, and honest but doubting Thomas is much in
e'vidence, and has persuaded many that even the
people of the church are so bad that the Lord cannot
raise up his promised church. And, indeed, the true
Christian Israel occupies a position corresponding to
that of the natural Israel before the forward movement
began; or is more accurately indicated by the state
of the Lord's disciples after His resurrection and ascen
sion, but before the coming of the Pentecostal influx,
and enduement with power from on high. And it is
to be expected that only a small number will have
that abiding faith in the Lord, and in His salvation,
which will give courage and assurance, until the new
influx of power from the Lord, begins to touch their
inner consciousness, and thus to make them strong.
Nor is this strange. Take the case of the old Israel
as an illustration. As viewed from the stand-point of
human rationality, 'without the stimulus of faith, the
thought that the children of Israel could level the
great walled cities of Canaan, destroy the inhabitants,
and take possession of the land, and make it their
home, would have seemed unreasoning presumption.
And indeed, without the experience of the Lord's

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 195
power, which they had in their own deliverance from
the Egyptians, by being led safely through the di'vided
sea, and in being guided by the pillar of cloud by day,
and the pillar of fire by night, and in being fed on
manna throughout the journey, as well as in many
other equally great manifestations of the Di'vine pro
tection — without this experience, it would have been
rash and presumptuous in the extreme.
But with the knowledge they had from experience
of the presence and power of the Lord, and of His
constant interposition in their behalf, in every emer
gency, they had from any stand-point abundant reason
for ha'ving faith in Him, and for trusting in his promises,
with unquestioning assurance. And how well founded
was their faith! The Di'vine power, in a marvelous
manner, was brought to bear in their behalf, in every
emergency. Hence when they came to the Jordan,
and found it overflo^wing all its banks, -with the dark
flood representing all the falsity and evil which had
accumulated in the world, they were not dismayed,
and passed through the di'vided waters, on dry groxmd.
But from a natural point of 'view, they certainly seemed
like a very unpromising multitude to lead across the
Jordan into a densely populated country, teeming
with strongly walled and populous cities, with the
purpose of taking the land.
And now the Christian Israel is called to undertake
a corresponding conquest, on the spiritual plane. The
Celestial Canaan, long devastated, and given over to
e'vil, is to be conquered, and the Lord's people re-

196 THE NEW CANAAN.
established in the mountains of Israel. The preparatory
work has been accompUshed. The laws which are to
govern the land have been made known, and drilled
into the people. Definite instructions, clear and full,
touching every point, have been received. And not
only so, the same Mighty One who led ancient Israel,
has promised to lead the Christian Israel safely on,
and into the land, gi"ving the 'victory in every conflict,
on the simple condition of obedience. Every foe is
to be cast out and destroyed. And the Israel of God,
in its different tribal divisions, is to receive each its
own representative allotment, and to settle down on
the peaceful mountains, or in the quiet and well watered
valleys, where the weary shall have rest, and the home
less homes, whUe in all the borders of the land, the
wicked shall cease from troubUng.
But with the fullest and most assuring promises,
how many timidly halt, and seemingly dread to hear
the bugle call, which shall inaugurate the campaign,
and lead to certain 'victory. And yet the e'vidence of
the Christian Israel is not less full and satisfactory,
than was that of the old Israel. Indeed it is so much
fuller and more con'vincing, because it is addressed
to the internal man, and the spiritual rationality,
and is a matter of li'ving experience, which the true
disciple of the Lord, who has faithfully foUowed Him
in the regeneration, can never doubt, as it is a part
of his life experience, and cannot be separated from
himself. He knows in whom he trusts. He has opened
the door of his heart, and the Lord has come in, and

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 197
sups with him, and the communion is sweet and tender,
and all-satisfying. The Lord not only manifests Him
self to him, but He abides with him. It is an estabUshed
relation, which gives him power over e'vil, and power
in aU the active works of a useful Ufe among men.
And this indwelling Spirit of the Lord, is the rightful
heritage of all His true disciples. For "the promise
is to you and your children." And millions have
lived in the experience of that witness of the Spirit,
that inner, but conscious manifestation of the Lord's
presence and sa'ving power, yea millions, in that expe
rience, have joyfully welcomed the martjT's death,
rather than deny the Lord.
But not'withstanding all the manifestations of the
presence of the Lord with His people, and of His saving
power, many earnest Christians have been in a manner
paralyzed. They think the e'vils which infest even
the Lord's true Israel, are so great that we may
not hope to so far get the better of them, as to come
into a state of heavenly order in this Ufe. This results
from a failure to realize that the Lord has all power
in heaven and on earth. It is contemplating the
number and strength of the enemy, while failing to
appropriate to the church of to-day the promises
of the Lord. It is beholding the great walled cities,
and the giants, instead of looking to the Lord and
His might for the 'victory.
The true doctrine of the Word, as expressed by the
Lord, is: "And I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you another comforter, that He may abide with

198 THE NEW CANAAN.
you forever; I will not leave you comfortless; I wiU
come to you. And I will love him and manifest Myself
to him. If a man love me he -will keep my words,
and my Father will love him, and we 'wiU come unto
him, and make our o'wn abode •with him. Peace I
leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Let not
j'our heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. " These
and many other passages in the Word, just as con
clusive, teach the doctrine of the abiding presence of
the Lord •with His people. And the same thing is
just as distinctly taught in the Writings. (See A. C.
92, and many other places.)
But this doctrine falsified and profaned, is the
veritable City of Jericho, which to-day stands •with
towering walls, just before the church, challenging
all progress on lines leading towards the true internal
Celestial Church, which the Lord has promised to
build up. Whether the church beUeves it or not,
the complete ¦victory for the Lord's Christian Israel
is just as sure as was the triumph in the old Canaan.
We all need the lesson drilled into us daily, tiU
we learn to believe it, that of ourselves we have no
power against even the smallest e^vil, and that we can
do nothing towards saving ourselves, or towards weaken
ing our enemies, only to place our cause in the hands
of the Lord, and to have faith in Him, while we earnestly
co-operate with Him, by shunning sin, and discharging
known duties. And indeed nothing else is needed.
But we have first to take Jericho, that is. to overcome
this chronic state of unbeUef, or Uttleness of faith,

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 199
and then the way wUl be clear for the conquest of
the land, if we are true to our trust.
It is said, "now Jericho was straightly shut up,
because of the children of Israel," that is because of
the power of God as manifested through them. "None
went out, and none came in. " We have here a practical
lesson of great importance. Jericho, in a good sense,
signifies instruction in the knowledge of those truths
which lead the receptive mind into the church. Or
Jericho, as it relates to the indi'vidual man, represents
the good and true, if he is in love to the Lord and
the neighbor; but if he is in the love of self and the
world, it represents the false and the e'vil. In this
connection, as standing against the Lord's people, it
signifies what we may term the doctrine of the false
and the evU. It is a denial of the truth that in the
Lord, and in the power of truth as filled with love,
every false and e'vil thing may be cast out. In other
words it denies the possibiUty of U'ving the celestial
Ufe here and now, as did the people of the Most Ancient
Church, saying in effect, "we cannot Uve as the Word
and the doctrines require." It is making the same
claim, and occupying the same ground, as did the
spies sent out by Moses, who after viewing the land
said: "We came unto the land whither thou sentest
us, and surely it floweth 'with milk and honey." But
when Caleb and Joshua said, "Let us go up at once,
and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it,"
the ten unbeUe'ving spies answered, "we be not able
to go up against the people, for they are stronger

200 THE NEW CANAAN.

than we." And thus Israel was turned back into the
wilderness to fill out the forty years of suffering before
they were ready to cross the Jordan. "According unto
thy faith, so be it unto thee," will hold good, both
as touching a true faith and its opposite, the doctrine
of the false, grounded in self-love and e'vil.
But how is this false and e'vil state to be broken
up, that the true work of purification and regeneration
may make progress in the church, and in the indi'vidual
soul? As Jericho was straightly shut up, so that the
e'vil inhabitants could neither pass out nor in, so should
it be 'with the enemies of the soul, which are to be
separated from him who would be saved.
Here again we may find an illustration, by referring
to the operation of a divine law, which leads to good,
if obeyed, while if disobeyed, the result 'will be just
the opposite. If one who is in good and truth, makes
an active effort to be helpful to others, to communicate
freely the good he has received from the Lord, to
them, he will see his labors blessed, and good results
appearing around him, while his own soul has been
strengthened, and he has received more abundantly
from the Lord. And if his outgoing Ufe is free and
copious, the influx from the Lord 'will be full and
joyful. But if one should reverse this order, and shut
up in himself every good impulse which flows in from
the Lord, his o'wn soul would be impoverished. The
law leading to this result is inexorable. If the good
received is not permitted to flow out in good deeds

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 201
to others, the influx is closed by the stagnation within,
and the fountain of life is dried up.
Appljdng this same universal law to the opposite
of good and truth, that is to the operation of falsity
and evil, at once the way becomes apparent for
breaking up the evU state, and preparing the soul
for recei'ving the priceless treasures of heaven. Let
every evil affection, or passion, which struggles to
pass out, and to express itseff in words and deeds,
be stoutly shut up; let every avenue of expression
be cut off, and the gate-way. guarded; let the
Di'vine Commandments be 'vigorously appUed, till the
imprisoned evU ceases the struggle to pass out into
overt deeds, and as it becomes quiescent, it will be
removed from 'the center to the circumference, and
make little further trouble.
In regard to the falsity and e'vil particularly brought
to 'view by the besieged and straightly closed Jericho,
let this thought be so entirely shut in that it can have
no effect upon the Ufe. This may be most effectually
done by turning to the Word, and carefully and believ-
ingly reading such passages as the following: "And
Jesus said unto him, ff thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that beUeveth. " (Mark 9, 23.)
"For verily I say unto you, if ye have faith, as a grain
of mustard seed, ye shaU say unto this mountain,
remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove,
and nothing shall be impossible unto you." (Matt.
17, 20.) "Therefore, I say unto you, what things
soever ye desire when ye pray, beUeve that ye receive

202 THE NEW CANAAN.
them, and ye shall have them. " (Mark 11, 24.) These
texts quoted, are but a few out of many to the same
effect. That we may keep everything false and evil shut
in, we should be watchful and careful, endeavoring to
know our e'vils, and to hedge the way against them.
As the hosts of Israel marched around Jericho, once
every day, and seven times on the Sabbath day, so
persistently and constantly, with watchful care, we
should, as it were, surround every evil thing, that it
may find no open door into an e-vil life. We should
have the purpose formed, not only to so resist every
evil thing as to maintain our integrity, but also to
have the enemy cast out; that our peace and rest
may no more be disturbed. And this first great
'victory over the unbeUe'ving state, represented by
Jericho, once fully gained, makes the way easy to
active further 'victories. For one in this state has
the fixed purpose of will to do right, and refuses to
let any e'vil find its way out into the Ufe, and thus
e'vil spirits are shut out, as they cannot enter a pure
heart. Were it not for inherited or acquired evil
¦within, e'vil spirits would be utterly unable to find
any way of entrance to the human mind. Jericho
would be straightly shut up because of this innocent
and pure state, and evil could neither go out nor enter
in. E'vil spirits cannot bear angelic purity. They can
only enter where evil has entered by heredity or by
evil in the Ufe. The Jericho in us as indi'viduals,
and in the church as a composite body, must be so

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 203
invested, and the evil inhabitants so closely shut in,
that there can be no passing in or out. If e'vil spirits
cannot enter, evil words and deeds cannot pass out.
There may be within a dark inheritance of evil, but
if the gates are shut, as were the gates of Jericho, by
the power of Di'vine Truth, so that no evil deed may
escape into the life, evil spirits will be turned back
at the threshold. It has been said that e'vil, wherever
found, belongs to evil spirits, and that they can come
into their own. As it relates to inherited e'vil, which
is reaUy an active tendency to the evil, this is true
only when one gives tacit consent of 'will. But if on
their approach, he rises up in the name of the Lord,
and shuts to the door against them, saying "thou
shalt not cross my threshold, " they 'will flee from him.
The general law regulating the influx of e'vil into
the actual life is essentially the same as that regulating
the influx of good into the active uses of Ufe, except
that the exciting cause in these radically different
influxes is just the opposite, the one being from below
into the external man, whUe the other is from above,
into the internal man, and thence through the ration
aUty into the external Ufe. But when the soul door
is open to the Lord, and one receives influx by an
internal way, it 'will be fuU and free, or feeble and
obstructed, in exact proportion to the out-flowing
Ufe of good. One can receive freely from the Lord
only as he freely gives out to his neighbors, and to
universal society.
And m accordance 'with the same general law will

204 THE NEW CANAAN.
be the influx of e^vil from the hells. If it is willingly
and freely received, the current •will rapidly grow
stronger, till it controls the whole Ufe. But evil spirits
approach man only through the external mind. They
cannot directly touch the internal man. They work
only on the lower earthly plane. Their chief aim
is to induce men to turn their whole attention to the
Ufe in the world, thus 'withdrawing their thoughts and
affections from heavenly things. And if the way is
opened only a Uttle for e'vil spirits to come in •with
their false persuasions, inherited e-vils •will be excited,
and -will become urgent to express themselves in the
deeds of life. But if there is some measure of resistance,
with the purpose to fight against e'vil, and that purpose
is maintained, even though often temporarily defeated,
the e'vil 'will gradually grow weaker, and 'will finally
pass into a quiescent state, and be removed from the
center of life, to the circumference, from which it is
not likely to be called into active Ufe again.
But there is another important point to be considered
in connection •with the changed state which the incoming
church wUl inaugurate. No careful student of the
two works on the Apocalypse can have failed to note
that the preparatory state of the Church is distinctly
described in many places. In the Apocalypse Re
vealed (533),- it is said: "The reason why the moon
was seen under the woman's feet, is because the church
on earth is understood, which is not as yet conjoined
with the church in the heavens. " And the same thing
is taught in No. 813, of the same work: "By His wife

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 205
making herseff ready, is signified that they who are
to be of the New Church of the Lord, •will be collected,
initiated, and instructed, , and as this is signified by
making herseff ready, therefore it follows that that
¦wife was to be clothed in fine linen, clean and shining,
by which is meant inauguration by instruction. " Thus
it is distinctly taught that there is to be a state of
preparation, on the part of the church, for the marriage
with the Lamb. And when that preparatory work
is accomplished, and the church is reaUy conjoined
to the Lord, by marriage, the appointed station is
reached, and the fuU influx of the perfected church
is received, in which state, by 'virtue of her relation
to the Lord, being conjoined to him, she has absolute
power over falsity and e'vU, unless, by some act of
disobedience, that relation is disturbed, till the evil
is put away, and is represented by the sin of Achan.
The great difference between the church of the
First Advent and that of the Second appears here.
The church of the First Advent was a Spiritual Church,
and was not, and could not be fully conjoined -with
the Lord. Her relation to the Lord is represented
by that of the concubine to her husband. But the
relation of the New Jerusalem, which is to be a Celestial
Church, to the Lord, is represented by the relation
of a true 'wife to her husband. In this case the union
of the church -with the Lord is perfect, and gives fuU
power over e'vil of every kind. This is not only taught
m many places in the Word, but in the history of
the children of Israel, in entering Canaan and taking

206 THE NEW CANAAN.
possession of the land, it is represented so fully as
to leave no room for doubt or uncertainty. The con
quest of the IsraeUtes, and, their 'victories,, bloodless
as far as they were concerned, over the old inhabitants
of the land, who represented the falses and e'vils of
the devastated church, show forth, in clear Ught, the
certainty and ease with which the New Celestial Church,
as conjoined in the Lord, will overcome and put away
all manner of e'vil, since the Lord has all power in
heaven and earth, and it is He, in the church, that
doeth the work.
Would that the people of the New Church might
see the glorious inheritance to which they have fallen
heir, and that they might see the strange infatuation
of unbelief, which holds them as slaves to the deadly
falsity of the consummated church, that it is not
possible for them to keep the Lord's words, and to
Uve heavenly Uves in the world. It seems clear that
when the church of the New Age takes its place as
a distinctively Celestial Church, and when love becomes
the controlUng power in the work of regeneration,
the conditions will be entirely new in every respect.
In the miraculous di'viding of the waters of the
Jordan, to let the IsraeUtes pass, a truth of great
importance is represented, which has a direct bearing
on the question as to the abiUty of the people of the
church to enter into heavenly states of Ufe, by the
freely extended help of the Lord. A short extract
from the writings, explaining this miracle, will set
forth the truth referred to in clear Ught. " For by the

THE FALL OF JERICHO. 207
land of Canaan, into which the sons of Israel were
introduced, is signified the church, and by Jordan
are signified introductory truths, which are those of
the Uteral sense of the Word, for those truths also
first introduce, but by Jordan and the waters thereof,
as taken in the opposite sense, are signified the falses
and evils which were from hell, by reason that the
land of Canaan was then full of idolatrous nations,
by which are signified all kinds of e-vils and falses,
which constitute hell. . . . Wherefore it came to
pass that as soon as the priests bearing the ark, dipped
their feet in the water of Jordan, those waters were
di'vided and went down, and the people passed over
on dry land, and after this was accompUshed the waters
returned; but those same waters now signified intro
ductory truths, . . But when the land of Canaan
was possessed by idolatrous nations, the signification
of places and cities in that land was changed into
the contrary, and hence Jericho then signified the
profanation of truth and good : from these observations
it follows that the city itself signified the doctrine of
the false and the e-vil, which perverted the truths and
goods of the church, and profaned them." (A. E. 700.)
From this teaching it seems clear that the falsities
from hell will be turned back, and instead, the bright
waters of Di'vine Truth, flo'wing do'wn from the mountain
of the Lord, will fill the old channel, where the waters
of falsity and evil flowed in such abundance as to
overflow aU the lowlands, before the Lord, by His
Own Might, turned them back. That is the Truths of

208 THE NEW CANAAN.
the opened Word, set free from the falsities which for
ages, have corrupted them, will flow into the natural
minds of men in as great abundance as before flowed
the waters of death. Thus the church wiU have the
transparent truths of the Word, appeaUng directly
to the rational mind, and to the heart, instead of the
perverted truths of the consummated church. And
into the channel where these pure waters of truth
freely flow, no more can the river of falsity and death
be turned, for its waters have been stayed, and turned
back by the Hand of Omnipotence.
Thus under the new conditions which are being
inaugurated the man of the church is doubly armed
against falsity and e'vil in all their forms. He rationally
sees these abounding truths of the Word, truths suited
to every possible condition and need, and against them
falsity in its most subtile forms is powerless. And
being fully equipped 'with truth suited to every condi
tion, and at the same time open to the Lord by an
internal way of influx, is able to put to ffight every
assaiUng foe. Nor is it strange, as the Writings inform
us, that he condemns his foes, and conquers in every
assault. Indeed the Celestial people, thus equipped,
move on from conquering to conquest, with as vic
torious results as followed the natural Israel. They
are 'victorious not from any inherent 'virtue, but because
they have made the Lord their refuge and strength.
They have admitted Him into their inmost Ufe, and
from this center. He comes down to the circumference,
nerving the people by His own Might, and thus making
them in-vincible.

XYI.
THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL.

The primary object contemplated in writing the
preceding chapters has been to give the representative
signification of the transition of the IsraeUtes from
the wilderness into Canaan, including the transactions
in the camp at Gilgal, the taking of Jericho, and the
sin of Achan. But while the main thread of the repre
sentative sense of this wonderful history, as contained
in the first seven chapters of Joshua, has been kept
in -view, it has nevertheless been found impossible, in
the prescribed Umits, to do more than to lightly touch
upon a few of the more important points. An explana
tion of such texts has been attempted as relate to
the formation of the incoming church, the New Jeru
salem, and serve to make clear the radical difference
between the Spiritual Church, and the Celestial Church,
which receives influx directly from the Lord, "by an
internal way."
In the present chapter it is earnestly desired to
bring to 'view a great danger which imperils the church,
and blocks the way against aU true progress. This
danger is clearly set forth in the history of Achan,
and also how it may be removed, that "Zion may
arise and shine, her Ught ha'ving come."
14 209

2 10 ¦ THE NEW CANAAN.
The Psalmist says: "If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me." That is as much as to
say, "if I indulge e'vil, while in that state, I may not
expect help from the Lord." This principle is clearly
iUustrated in the history of Achan. On account of
his sin, the army of Israel was powerless against Ai,
tiU that sin was put away by his death. In this case,
owing to the representative character of the IsraeUtes,
the entire people are considered as one composite
body, or man. Hence the defeat of all, because of
the sin of one. But now since the representative
church passed away, every man stands or falls for
himself. The individual man, or the church as a
body, that cherishes and practices evil, -will ine'vitably
fail in the Spiritual battle of life, till the e'vil is put
away. The sin of Achan, 'viewed from a natural stand
point, seems to have resulted from a combination of
e'vil influences. Covetousness was probably the most
active factor in the case. When the gold and sUver
and Babylonish garment were seen, he coveted them,
and yielding to the temptation, they were taken and
hid in the earth, in the midst of his tent. And as
every act among the Israelites was representative, they
having been chosen by the Lord, because of their
special adaptation to this representative mission, the
things taken, and the hiding of them, bring to 'view
several collateral e'vils, each of which we may suppose
had some influence in producing the combined effect.
The gold which was taken is called, in the Hebrew,

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS RE3I0VAL. 211
a tongue of gold. -Now the tongue, the instrument of
speech, signifies doctrine. Then the tongue of gold,
in a good sense, would mean the doctrine of good. But
here the tongue of gold is stolen, and means the opposite,
that is perverted good, or the doctrine of good per
verted through some evil and selfish purpose, which
has been concealed. The tongue of gold was wrapped
in the Babylonish garment, which had also been stolen.
It was a goodly garment, doubtless a costly and splendid
one, and represents the external drapery of the church,
particularly such forms and ceremonies as attract and
please the natural man, while seeming to express with
great solemnity the sincere worship of the heart. But
the things represented by this Babylonish garment
are wholly disconnected from the internal, Uving spirit
of worship, as there can be no influx, as we learn in
the Writings, "of things relating to thought, from
without, through the external senses, as it is contrary
to order for the posterior to inflow into the prior."
These externals are made to take the place of worship,
from the internal spiritual man, and thus tend to
satisfy the reUgious instinct, without reaUy ministering
to the soul's spnitual needs. The tongue of gold,
wrapped in this stolen garment, is designed to fiU the
place of true internal good, which comes down from
above into the outer deeds of Ufe. But, alas, the tongue
of gold is also stolen! It is not what it seems to be.
It is not the ultimation of true good in the life. The
apparent good is a counterfeit, just like the outward
covering 'with the stolen garment. Nor is that aU;

212 THE NEW CANAAN.
it is stolen from the Lord, an enormous sin. The gold
and the sUver and the vessels of brass and of iron,
were made sacred to the Lord. They were to be put
into His treasury, and were to be used only in the
ser'vice of His house. But the tongue of gold was
clandestinely taken and appropriated to a selfish pur
pose, an indi'vidual use, in 'violation of a positive com
mand. Hence it became perverted good, that is the
doctrine of good changed into the falsity of e'vil.
The whole meaning and deadly effect of the trans
action is made clearly manifest in the way and place
where the stolen treasures were concealed. They were
hid in the earth, in the midst of Achan 's tent. In a
good sense, a tent signifies celestial good. But a tent
which has been made the receptacle of stolen goods,
its very center being thus used, signifies an external
appearance of goodness which is assumed to hide the
evil within — the real state of the heart and life. These
treasures were buried in the earth, in the midst of
the tent. The earth here is the low and e'vil self-Ufe —
the proprium from which all this chain of e'vils has
Unk after Unk been forged. And as Achan with his stolen
treasures is exposed, we see an effort to copy the
true worship and ser'vices of the Lord, originating in
the seff-hood, a system ha'ving the outward semblance
of true worship, but aU put on by the e'vU loves of
the natural man, for selfish ends.
And here we are brought face to face with a great
danger and evil to which the incoming church m its
formative state is exposed. For the history of Achan

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL. 213
indicates with all the clearness of prophetic enunciation
the tendency which already manifests itself, to look
to external forms and ceremonies — the mere outward
drapery of the church, professedly as a means of con
junction with the Lord and the heavens. There is
an active tendency in this direction, and taking the
external guise of religion, it will unite with other
evU tendencies, and precipitate disastrous results to
the interior life of religion, which 'will require as heroic
treatment, on the spiritual plane, as that of Achan
required on the natural plane. And the disaster,
and set-back represented by Achan 's sin, is prophetically
enunciated by the symbols used, and wiU come to
the church as a great defeat, filUng the minds of the
Lord's people with alarm. But by putting away the
e'vil in deep humiUty and penitence, the church wiU
be restored, and the conquest of the world 'wiU be
carried forward 'with renewed power, for the Lord wiU
ever go forth 'with His people to the battle against
falsity and e'vil, and give the 'victory.
But there is a danger of fearful import to indi'vidual
members of the church, who have been led by the Lord
into true internal states and experiences, if they should
suffer themselves to faU under the aUuring speU of
a beautiful ritual, addressed to the natural senses.
That the descending New Jerusalem is to be an
internal church, and that those who enter its gates,
wiU become internal men and women, doubtless aU
who are to any considerable extent acquainted with
the writing of Swedenborg wiU admit. And if so,

214 THE NEW CANAAN.
it would seem that even in this introductory stage
of the church there must be some who are really internal,
and are being led by the Lord into the interior expe
riences of the celestial Ufe. And if all who are earnestly
seeking to be led by the Lord into a better state of
life 'will turn to the Arcana Ccelestia, and carefully
read and study what is said, beginning with No. 4489, and
continuing to the end. No. 4494, they may be warned
against the great e'vil they would bring upon them
selves, were they to suffer their thoughts and affections
to be fascinated by external ritualism, such as has
been attractive in the consummated church, which
would be to recede from internal things, and to accede
to external things.
Indeed it would be better to carefully study the
internal sense of the entire history of Hamor and
Shechem, as set forth in the Writings.
These men were descendants of the Most Ancient
Church, and the goods and truths of that church still
remained partially with them and their famiUes. We
read that "Hamor and Shechem his son, sinned enor
mously in recei'ving circumcision. . . From these
considerations it may appear what was the difference
between those represented by Hamor and Shechem
(who as being of the remains of the Most Ancient
Church, were in internal things, and not in external),
and between those signified by the sons of Jacob,
who were in external things, and not in internal; and
it may further appear that Hamor and Shechem could
not accede to external things, and accept those which

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL. 216
appertained to the sons of Jacob, 'without closing
their internals, and if these had been closed, they
would have perished eternally. This is the secret
reason why Hamor and Shechem with their famiUes
were slain, which would not otherwise have been per
mitted." Now that the very state of affairs here brought to
'view is represented by the sin of Achan, and its effect
upon the children of Israel, causing them "to turn
their backs before their enemies," seems beyond doubt.
The New Church is to be celestial, and consequently
an internal church. And bringing external, natural
things into their worship, as we have seen, would cause
them to recede from the internal, and to accede to
the external, invol-ving the terrible consequences, as
quoted above.
The theft from the Lord represented by taking the
tongue of gold, signifies attributing good to ourselves.
It is feeUng that we are good, and that we do good,
without remembering that "none is good, save one,
that is God." The real truth is that every desne and
purpose, tending to good in the Ufe, comes down from
the Lord, into the man of the Celestial Church, by
"an internal way," of influx, and into the man of
the Spiritual Church, into his conscience, or into the
truths of the Word, which he has received into his
understanding. In both cases, aU spiritual and heav
enly good comes by influx from the Lord, into the
wiU of the celestial man, but into the conscience or
truth of the spiritual man. Nothing good or true

216 THE NEW CANAAN.
originates with man, or comes in from without through
his senses. And the heavenly influx from the Lord,
becomes genuine good in us, only as by our voluntary
co-operation it is brought out into the external life
in the world, in good deeds and heavenly uses, and
then returned to the Lord in grateful acknowledgment
that all is from Him, and belongs only to Him. It
is easy to learn all this in theory, but very difficult
to reaUy believe it, during all the earlier stages of
the regenerate Ufe. And the difficulty and danger
are much increased by the stolen tongue of gold being
wrapped in the Babylonish garment, that is united
to an external form of worship which is attractive
to the natural man, and which fills his highest ideal
of genuine worship. Under such influences, the silver
which in a good sense signifies spiritual truth, is hidden
under the tongue of gold, wrapped in the Babylonish
garment, in the earth of the proprium, that is the
truth, like the good, is perverted. The truth hidden
there, concealed under the perverted good, and covered
out of sight by the Babylonish garment, is powerless
to act, hence the extreme danger. The way is hidden
and winds in the labyrinths of falsity, 'with little hope
of escape. The tongue of gold, the true doctrine of
good, falsified and perverted, has become a blind
leader of the bUnd, and has a controlUng influence
upon the Ufe. It has become the doctrine of Achan,
and gives a false form and beauty to self-love and
e'vil. It would not be difficult to apply this pungent teach-

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL. 217
ing of the representative sense of this historical incident
to the conditions now prevaiUng among the churches,
and particularly to our own little external Zion, —
conditions which have already effectually blocked all
progress in the expansion of the church in practical
expressions of love and faith in the life. But it is
probably better to simply state the truth, lea'ving those
who are in the love of good to apply it to themselves.
Others who are not in good, even should they see
the truth, wiU feel Uttle inclination to acknowledge
its claims, or to bring it into the Ufe.
The question now arises, what lesson may be learned
from the punishment inflicted upon Achan, and his
sons and daughters, and aU his effects? There is a
far-reaching and most instructive lesson brought to
'view in this history. However, we can only notice
some of the more important points.
Achan, or rather the deeds of Achan, signify in a
general way the profanation, and consequent taking
away of good and truth from the church, and from
the individual. Personally he seems to have been an
unscrupulous man, accurately representing the selfish
and covetous characteristics of the evil proprium.
He was taken to the valley of Achor, a little north
ward from Jericho, and near the border of the land,
and consequently "signifying the external good of the
Celestial Church." (A. C. 10610.) That is, it signifies
the good of the Celestial Church, as manifested in the
external life in the worid. Into this vaUey, repre
senting Ufe in the natural worid, the internal man

218 THE NEW CANAAN.
descends by infiux, that he may express himself in
the common pursuits and business relations of men
on this ultimate plane, that the kingdom of heaven
may be established upon the earth. In this valley is
the particular place where all the outside work in the
process of regeneration should be accomplished, espe
cially that part in which we seem to be working as
of ourselves, yet acknowledging that all the abiUty
comes from the Lord. It is among the rough duties
and hard experiences of life, and yet it is the best place
in all the world, if we are in earnest, to get rid of our
e'vils, and to secure substantial good — treasures in the
heavens. And indeed it is only in the valley of Achor,
among the ordinary affairs of Ufe in the world, that
great achievements are made in the heavenly life. It
is applying the true principles of life, that is the truths
of the Word, to the life in its relations to our feUow-
men, in aU public duties and services, and as weU
in all private uses, that they are incorporated into
the Ufe, and thus made secure to us as an eternal
inheritance in the Ufe to come.
The old thought which long prevailed in the Christian
world, that a high standard of spirituaUty could only
be attained by retiring from the ordinary duties and
pleasures of Ufe in the world, and of ha'ving the thoughts
abstracted from natural things, and constantly directed
to heavenly contemplations, and pious works, is the
opposite of the truth. And yet, seasons devoted to
contemplation, reading the Word, and prayer, are
useful, indeed we may say indispensable, and may

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL. 219

not be neglected without injury and loss. But these
seasons should not come in conflict 'with our regular
business, but should rather come in the early mornino-
and after the regular duties of the day are over, being
to the day and its labors something as the Sabbath is
to the six days of toil. It is weU for us to remember
that faithfulness in the duties of our calUng, as a religious
principle, is the best way to secure a preparation for
heavenly uses in the Ufe to come.
But what has aU this to do 'with stoning Achan in
the valley of Achor? The relation wiU perhaps seem
clear, when it is understood that stoning Achan to
death, by representation brings to -view the highest
and grandest achievements of the regenerating man.
It is said, "All Israel stoned him with stones."
Now Israel here "signifies the spiritual of the celestial
principle in the natural," that is the truth principle
of the Celestial Church, brought down into the natural
mind, and appUed to the duties of life in the world.
The stones used, sigmfy the truths of the Word in
its Uteral sense. But in this stoning of Achan, we
should as far as possible dissociate from our minds
the thought of the man, and understand that the
stoning represents the -vigorous appUcation of the
truths of the Word, to any false and e'vil state into
which one may have fallen, and thus continuing right
along, till the e'vil state represented by Achan 's sin
is broken up and removed. The stoning has reference
primarily to the removal of falsities which are united
with e'vils in the Ufe, or which in some way shield

220 THE NEW CANAAN.
and defend e'vil affections, if not actual e'vils in the
conduct of Ufe. And the stoning unto death, is prin-
cipaUy a work to be done in our own indi'vidual Ufe.
True we may often apply helpful truths to others,
if we do so in love, and with a desire to do them good.
AppUed in any other way or from any other motive, they
will generally do more harm than good. But our chief
work will ever be with ourselves, in applying truth
to remove false and evil things from our own lives.
In this direction we, as individuals, should be active
and determined. The Lord has pro'vided the stones
in great abundance, the literal truths of the Word,
suited to every condition, but we are to cast them.
We should be active and persistent in the effort
to get rid of our e'vils. We should look carefully into
the state of our affections and thoughts, and the inner
motives which move us to action.
The truths of the Word are more than stones
with which we may pelt every false and evil thing.
The Psalmist says, "thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a Ught unto my path." Indeed it is an essential
part of its mission, to shine into the dark places of
Ufe, making manifest the hidden works of e'vil. And
if we would make rapid progress, we should use the
truth as a light to search our hearts by, and as a guide
in all we do. And as in its Ught we see wrong
states of Ufe, active affections and desires, mo'ving to
deeds outside the straight Une of rectitude, or even
seeming to develop in our Uves an unspiritual state,
making us in any measure careless in regard to the

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL. 221

growth of true heavenly qualities, we should at once
apply the stones of truth to that particular e'vil, or
to any imperfect state. We should keep right on
usmg the truth, applying it to the tenderest places,
where it hurts most, and 'with the direct object in
'view of destroying the Ufe of the recognized evil,
and thus freeing ourselves from its infiuence. The
vigorous appUcation of truth in this way, as it
destroys a false and e'vil principle which has been
marring the Ufe, will at once call into Ufe and har
monious action true and heavenly principles, which
could not before express themselves, but which 'will
now fully occupy the place from which the e'vils have
been removed. Thus in true order the flowers and
fruits of the Celestial Canaan 'will appear, and groimd
which has long lain waste, or worse than waste, wiU
abound in good fruits.
Achan was first stoned, and then burned. The ston-
mg, as we have seen, has relation to the persistent and
effective application of the truths of the Bible, in
condemning and remo-ving every false and e'vil thing
from the Ufe. We are told in the Writings that, "To
stone any one, sigmfies to extinguish and demoUsh
falses," when used in a g6od sense. And in this case,
that is clearly the sense in which it is used, as it was
"aU Israel," aU the Lord's people, that stoned Achan.
It signifies the appUcation of genuine truth, tiU the
falses and evils which Achan and his sin represented
were destroyed. And this destruction of the e-vils and
falses which brought the children of Israel into trouble.

222 THE NEW CANAAN.
causing them to turn their backs before their enemies,
was a most thorough work, and carried -with it a far-
reaching significance, which when seen makes the
glorious gospel seem as a new revelation, while the
great redemption, wrought out by the Lord, assumes
a grandeur and completeness which no human language
can express, especially when we consider that the
redemption is from every thing e'vil and false, for the
indi'vidual, and for the race man, as far as it is accepted.
It is said, "and all Israel stoned them 'with stones,
and they raised over him a great heap of stones imto
this day." The great heap signifies the multipUcation
of goods and truths in great abundance, while "by
this day is signified perpetuity, and eternity." Thus
we are taught, not only that the falses and e'vils signified
by Achan shall be forever separated from the church,
and destroyed, for it is the church as a composite
body, the universal church of earth, that is particularly
treated of, but that the abounding and ever increasing
fullness of good and truth shall continue forever.
Now the truth, as considered by itself, is severe and
relentless. It demands of the transgressor the utter
most farthing. It hews to the Une and the plummet.
It judges and condemns without mercy. But when
the truth has done its work, and the culprit stands
before the bar con'victed, then the fire of Di'vine Love
comes in and does its thorough work. Its influence
is gentle and forbearing, and tender even while con
suming the condemned falsity and e'vil. It conquers
e'vil with good. It consumes hate with love. It burns

THE SIN OF ACHAN, AND ITS REMOVAL. 223

out the bitter and haughty spirit with humiUty and
meekness. In the language of Paul, "Love suffereth
long and is kind, love envieth not, love vaunteth not
itself, is not puffed up. " We may weU say with Drum-
mond, "Love is the greatest thing in the world."
Wherever its presence is felt, sin cannot abide. Under
its influence, even the dead body which was stoned
in the valley of Achor, is consumed and disappears.
Its penetrating power is able to dissolve and dissipate
every noxious thing. Indeed there is no other agency
in the universe so perfectly adapted to this work as
the fire of Di'vine Love.
And when we see in the light of truth, the false
and the e'vil in our own lives — ^the Achan which troubles
all the Israel 'within, and directly apply the truth to
the condemned e'vil, then the way is open for such
an influx of love — ^the fire of heaven, to flow into our
souls, and to kindle into such a flame as 'wiU reach
out and consume every e'vil thing, and cause Achan
to pass forever out of our little world. We may rest
assured that e'vil which has been seen and condemned
'wiU be burned out by the flame of heavenly love.
Love to God, love to the neighbor, love to the church,
and love for everything pure and good, actively burning
in the soul, wUl consume even the dross of evil loves,
and base desires. Its penetrating influence wiU leave
nothing untouched in the soul where it abides.
In the incoming church, considered as a composite
body, a unit from many, love is to occupy the first
place. Its power wiU be felt in every heart, and wiU

224 THE NEW CANAAN.
gently lead and control every faculty of the indi^vidual
soul, as it controls the greater body. And with the
influx of heavenly life, again received from the Lord
by "an internal way," •with abounding and ever in
creasing knowledge of Di^vine Truth, as received and
held by the people, the conquest of the Celestial Church
wiU be rapid, and most thorough, as was that of the
old Canaan under Joshua. The word has gone forth,
that the kingdoms- of this world are to become the
kingdoms of the Lord, and His Christ. Then as the
treacherous Achan which troubles Israel is discovered,
aiiid with his sons and daughters, and the Babylonish
garment, and the silver and the tongue of gold, and
indeed all his effects, are burnt •with fire, then, in rapid
succession, all the strongholds of inherited e^vU shall
fall, and all the kingdom shall have peace. Then shall
these words of John the Revelator be fulfilled: "And
I heard as it were the voice of a ^eat multitude,
and as the voice of many wa,ters, and as the voice
of mighty thunderings, saying Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb
is come, and His •wife hath made herseff ready. Amen."

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