George Henry Dole

“ The natural body must have bread and water from the earth to sustain it. The spirit must have bread and water from the spiritual world to sustain it. The "bread which cometh down from God out of heaven and giveth life unto the world," is love, from which alone we can have real life in our spirits. The water which the Lord gives that becomes "a well of water springing up into everlasting life," is truth from the Lord, which not only quenches the thirst for knowledge, but also like water washes from defiling evils and makes the heart pure. ”

“ The woman clothed with the sun, is the Church clothed with the love of God as its habit. The moon under her feet is the Church established upon truth derived from love. The crown of twelve stars is the Church possessed of all spiritual truths as the regal principle. Continuing, the man child to be born is the Church pregnant with manly principles of life, or in other words, because God is a man, the man child is a complete system of divine, human doctrine. The dragon standing before the woman to destroy the child, is the world of sin. ”

“ The proclamation of the Second Coming of the Lord through the opening of His Word, the salvation of mankind through the power of the Lord in truth intellectually wielded, the presence of God face to face with man in the tabernacle of His Word, a heretofore unknown sanctity of His love in the heart, make the New Church different internally from any former church, and oblige it to have its distinct, external organization and form, similar outwardly to former churches, but internally different, from the quality of its faith and life that is to be developed and extended. ”

“ Again, we have conceived of the natural world with its sun shining upon it as the very picture of the spiritual world with the Lord shining upon it with love and wisdom. Now think of the natural universe as the external clothing of the spiritual world and sustained by it part for part, and the basis of the law of correspondence will be laid. For the natural world and its particular forms are but material clothing of corresponding spiritual forms or forces from which they exist. ”

“ In nature there is a sun that sends out heat and light. All nature is sustained by the sun. In the spiritual world there is a sun also. From it comes heat and light, and all life in the spiritual world is sustained by it. But in the spiritual world the Lord is the sun. The heat that flows from it is love; its light is truths So it is written, "The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof." ”

“ On the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars were created. The sun is God's love that then is felt in power. The moon is faith derived from that love as the moon derives its light from the sun. The stars are heavenly truths. The fourth state of regeneration is when love, faith, and heavenly truths are set in the firmament of the mind to shed their heat and light down upon the earth of man's nature. ”

“ The long journey to the Holy Land is our experience in life's battle against allurements and evils. The Hivites, Amorites, Hittites, and hostile tribes, stand for the specific evils and falsities in man which respectively dominated them. The wilderness is spiritual barrenness and discouragement, the failure of water and bread, is dearth of truth and love in the mind and heart. ”

“ In the full revelation of the nature of heaven and hell, the wisdom and the love of God, the destiny of man and of the nature of the Heavenly Father, new motives for spiritual living are awakened, and all spiritual thirst and hunger can be satiated at living fountains of water. ”

“ He pictures it as a woman half clad, clinging to a cross, looking up in agony to a heaven of black, lightning-riven clouds, with a few rays of light breaking through, and at her feet is the storm-beaten, threatening sea. We know that in this picture the woman clinging to the cross and gazing upward is temptation. ”

“ A Church primarily is a form of goodness and truth from the Lord in the lives of men. When a new dispensation occurs, a new form of good and truth is revealed. This truth and good from the Lord constitute a Church. To preserve and propagate a new form of truth and good, it is necessary that there be some who receive that truth and good, and keep it distinct from the former forms of faith. There are essential to a Church, therefore, new revelation of divine truth and good, and a body of men and women who receive them, stand for them, and teach them. ”

“ For this growth the New Church stands, and commends for its accomplishment the daily reading of the Word, the Writings of the New Dispensation, and the government of the individual life in accordance thereto. The Church assures all who will do so, that their faith will be illumined until doubt turns into mental sight and an unknown and unconceived blessing of divine joy will be given, which is as "the days of heaven upon the earth." ”

“ The earth herself is a book having her history written upon the pages of her strata more fully than pen can tell. Man can search out for himself the history of the earth's formation. God makes revelation of such things as man can not find out for himself by searching. Though the letter of the Word contains the words of man in the form of allegory, parable, history, song, prophecy, and fact, it is from beginning to end a Divine parable reflecting through its letter spiritual things.
"In the beginning" is the commencement of man's regeneration, for the Word treats of spiritual things. ”

“ Therefore now the Second Coming is made by new revelation of truth, opening fully the Word, wherein is all truth. The world has its well-ordered governments, guaranteeing justice, liberty, and freedom of conscience, and is beginning to desire for practical purposes a knowledge of internal and heavenly law. This is the essential basis for a spiritual kingdom, which the New Church is to proclaim and to be. ”

“ In reality there is but one kind of Church growth that is to be cared for, or that is possible, and that is the growth of the character and spirit, the wisdom and love of the Lord Jesus in the minds and hearts of men. ”

“ The Lord alone does this as He sees that man can be kept in the life of heavenly enlightenment to the end, which depends upon the quality of affection for truth.
The growth of the New Church, though slow, will be sure and permanent. For its increase is not from masses of people moved by persuasion, excitement or emotion to accept a statement of faith, but from the calm and resolute judgment made through enlightened reason and the insight into truth that comes from a love of its good. ”

“ The growth of the New Church will be slow, because its growth is not accomplished merely by the addition of numbers, but by the development of spiritual thought, affection and life. Nor can the efforts of man alone extend it, for its healthy increase is founded upon the opening of the mind to comprehend intellectually the things of heaven and God. ”

“ The creation of light is the spirit of God first wakening man to the consciousness of heavenly things, which light is spiritual. The first day is the first step in regeneration, the first awakening to the knowledge of the existence of heavenly things. ”

“ Then when these luminaries are set in the heaven of man's nature to rule in his day states and night states, truths become vivified and he delights in them. Such truths are typified by the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air, and by all that the waters brought forth. This is the fifth state of regeneration. ”

“ In the full revelation of truth, there is now at hand and accessible to the final Church every doctrine and truth of doctrine, rationally and satisfactorily explained. Every provision is now made in this Church for the enlightenment, regeneration and salvation of mankind. ”

“ Other Churches have come and gone, but the New Church is the final Church. It will never pass away or be superseded because unto it there is the revelation of all truth which gives access to all life. ”

“ The Holy Land where David subdued the enemies of Israel, and Solomon reigned in glory, is our redemption when we have gained the victory over our spiritual enemies and are come into the glory of the promised kingdom of the Lord. ”

“ This, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together and let the dry land appear," is when man collects knowledge of heavenly things, his character being yet unproductive as dry land. In this state he sees his needs, and commences to think and act religiously. The things that then first come into his character, such as thoughts of right, good actions, and repentance, are the grass, the herbs, and the tree yielding fruits of repentance. ”

“ These highest forms of animal life typify the affections or living things in man. The sixth state of regeneration is when the affections are of faith and animated with love from the Lord.
Then when man has gained dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea and every creeping thing, which are words for corresponding mental things, or natural affections and thoughts, it is the seventh day or holy sabbath of the spirit. ”

“ A new church depends upon a new heaven which must be formed in the spiritual world to act as the soul of the New Church upon the earth.
Heaven is so related to the earth that as the Church in heaven increases by the addition of regenerating people passing from the earth, the Church upon earth will grow. ”

“ He divides "the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament" when man distinguishes between what is of the world and what is of heaven. This is the second day or second step in the creation of a spiritual man. ”

“ To this end the New Church is organizing, educating its ministers, forming societies, instituting schools and colleges, and endeavoring to teach, to live, and to form the life according to the truths of the New Dispensation of Heavenly Revelation. ”

“ This necessitates the organization of an external body having its ministry who teach, its societies for worship and the cultivation in liberty of its distinctive life, and all the offices of use appertaining to an organized Church. ”