NEW JERSEY COLLEGE LIBRARY THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE L O R D. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN OF THE Hon. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. In that day fhail there be One Jehovah, and his name One. ZECH. xiv. 9. THE FIRST AMÉRICAN, FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION. PRINTED AT BOSTON, BY THOMAS HALL: Sold by him, State Street, 670 189 TO THE READER. THE fubje&t inculcated in the following pages refpects the direct worship of, and Living faith in, the Lord, the Redeemer. It is calculated to fubvert the weak and dangerous opinions of the Atheist, Deift, Socinian and Arian, concerning the chriftian Lord, fo prevalent at this day: and to point out what that living angelic chriftian faith is, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. Herein is fhewn from the clearet texts of holy writ, as well as from rational arguments thence deduced, that the Lord Jefus Chrift is the one glorified divine perfon, in whom dwells the fulness of the godhead bodily; who having all power in heaven and in nal life, as well earth, is the alpha, or only giver of eter as omega, or finisher of all falvation in the foul of man, and to whom all chriftians ought to look in ftedfaft faith for affiftance, defence and ftrength, in all the various stages of their regeneration. The true nature of christian redemption is here pointed out, in a brief and intelligible manner: wherein is clearly fhewn, that unless the Lord had come into the world, and affumed a humanity for the accomplishment thereof, and as a mean whereby the infirmities and corruptions of human nature might be further approached and wrought upon, no mortal could have been faved; the enlightened reader will hence alfo be enabled to fee, that the effects of the grand work of redemption, are not confined merely to the people called chriftians, or to this earth only, but extended to all human beings, in all the univerfe of worlds, faving and bleffing all who are faithful to their refpective difpenfations, and thereby acquire a capacity, hereafter to receive and acknowledge HIM, who is "The true light enlightening every man that cometh into the world;" "The way, the truth, and the life." John i. 9. xiv. 6. It cannot be too much lamented, that the generality of men know not whom they worship. They are distracted with variety, and clouded with ignorance. Some know not whether they should worship the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, fometimes addreffing one, and fometimes another, as diftinct beings or perfons. In general, prayer is addreffed to the unknown God. It was not thus, in the firft times of the christian church, before the inundation of wealth and worldly fpirit extinguished the light, when haughty and imperious prelates, of bitter tempers and ambitious views, began to lord it over God's heritage, charity became neglected and difefteemed, and what they called faith, a contention for mere opinions, was the principal thing regarded. Thick darkness then began to overfpread the earth, metaphyfical 3323 1 (RCPPG) 80456 ANNEX A fubtlety was exerted to reconcile impoffibilities, and contented ignorance was to acquiefce in what it could never understand. It was about the fourth century that the abomination of defolation began to ftand in the holy place, until which time chriftians feem in general to have worshipped the one true and living and manifefted God, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as one. This is indeed denied by fome, but a few quotations from the writings of those who immediately fucceeded the Apoftles, may put the matter out of all doubt. Clemens Romanus, who is mentioned by St. Paul, fays, that "we ought to think of Jefus Christ as of God," and urging his example as an inftance of great humility, he fays, "Our Lord Jefus Chrift, who is the fceptre of the majefty of God, came not in the pomp of vain glory and fplendor, although he could have affumed them, but he came in lowlinefs of mind." "Jefus is the defender and helper of our weaknefs; by him the eyes of the heart are opened: Through him our barren and darkened understanding is invigorated and gladdened with his marvellous light." Paftor Hermas fays, "The name of the Son of God is great and immenfe, and the whole world is fupported by him." St. Ignatius, the difciple of St. John, fays, "I glorify Jefus Chrift, the God who thus hath made us wife. He is God cloathed in flesh.-Confider the times, and expect him who is above all time; eternal, invifible, yet for our fakes made vifible," Polycarp fays, that “Jesus Christ suffered for us, that we might live in him; let us therefore imitate his patience, and if we fuffer for his name, let us glorify him." When he was urged by the Roman proconful to deny Chrift, and thus fave his own life, he returned this memorable anfwer; "Eighty and fix years have I now ferved Chrift, and he hath never done me the leaft injury; how then fhall I blafpheme my King, my Saviour?" Athenagoras, the chriftian philofopher at Athens fays, "By the Son of God, and through him, were all things made, the Father and the Son being one; the Son being in the Father, and the Father in the Son, in the unity and power of the fpirit." Juftin Martyr fays, that "He is both Christ and the adorable God." Ignatius fays of Chrift, that being invifible, he took manhood upon him and became vifible; being incomprehenfible, he became comprehenfible, being the word he became man;"" taking on him the perfection of the paternal character, to the end that as we all die in the animal breath, which we derive from Adam, fo we fhall all be made alive by the fpiritual life," Clemens Alexandrinus fays, "Now has appeared to men this word, who alone is both God and man, the caufe of all good to us, by whom being inftructed to live well, we are conducted to eternal life." The Lord himfelf it was wh fpake by Ifaiah, Elijah and the prophets; the tenderly merciful God, defirous of man's falvation, made himself of no reputation." "O man, believe on him, who is man and God put your trust in him who liveth, the God of your worship." On Gen. xxxii. 19, he fays, that God refufed to tell his name, for," he referved his new name for a new and an infant people; and the Lord God was then nameless, not having yet been made a man." On quoting Ifaiah ix. 6, he fays, "O the great God! O the perfect child! The Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son." He makes this folemn addrefs. "We will implore the word, be merciful to thy children, O guiding Father, O Lord, the Son and Father both one. Clemens alío calls Chrift by feveral appellations; among others he fays, "Gather together thy fimple children, King of faints, and fhepherd of rational sheep, that being a choir of peace, the children of Christ, a temperate people, we may with fimplicity fing to him who is alike the mighty child, who is alike the God of peace.' Tertullian fays, "The kingdom and the name of Chrift are extended without limits; he is every where believed in ; he is worshipped in all nations; he reigns every where: he is adored every where; he is every where offered to the acceptance of all; with him is not refpect of perfons; he is King and Judge, God and Lord to all." There is one God the Father, and befides him there is none other, which he who infers, denies not the Son, but another God; for the Són is not another God from the Father." The learned and the amiable Origen fays, "Love the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, with all your heart, and with all your foul, and with all your ftrength." "The word which was in the form of God, defcended to man, that he might be comprehended by man, and. yet without inducing any change of good into evil. He who became the phyfician of fouls, received no infection from the ills he remedied. The word, the immortal God conde fcended to man, who is unable to look upon the light and fplendor of the godhead; he became flesh, fpeaking in a bo--dy, till he who received or heard him thus, being by little and little fublimed by the word, fhould be enabled to behold him in his original form." "All things are fubject to him, in the right of his Majesty and the neceffity of power; in this view he is the Almighty and the univerfal King, but the fecond fpecies of his fovereignty is not by coercion, bute. A 2 |