Robert Hindmarsh

“ Wheresoever the Lord is truly acknowledged, and his Word received as divine, there is the church: for the essentials of the church are love and faith directed to the Lord; and the Word teaches how man must live, in order to obtain such love and faith from the Lord. But since the Word, as a regular system of divine truths, is in many respects unintelligible without doctrine, it is therefore necessary, that genuine doctrine be drawn from the Word, and so applied as to form a true church. Yet doctrine alone does not constitute the church with man, but a life according to doctrine. ”

“ All liberty has relation to love, consequently to the will, and so to the life of man. Hence whoever acts from liberty, appears to act as from himself; and this appearance is equally the same, whether he do what is good, or what is evil. To do evil freely, is called liberty, but it is indeed no better than slavery, man being in such case a mere slave to his corrupt appetites and passions, that is, to self-love and the love of the world. ”

“ The fire of hell is not, as many have supposed, material fire; for this cannot in any wise affect or torment a spirit; but it is the lust or delight of evil, which consists in envy, hatred, revenge, cruelty, and other deadly passions. For as the heat and genial warmth of heaven is pure disinterested love, and universal benevolence, so infernal fire is the continual burning desire of committing violence, and spreading destruction among others. ”

“ Before that period his will and understanding were perfectly united, and formed only one mind; insomuch that, as soon as ever any love or affection was in motion, it instantly produced it's proper science or thought, the one being inseparable from the other. In that happy age, called by way of eminence the golden age, men needed no external instruction, but obtained all necessary knowledge by an internal influx, like a dictate from heaven. ”

“ A true faith must be founded on the genuine, not the apparent, truths of the Word: and such genuine truths constantly display the divine attributes and perfections in a glory worthy of him, from whom they proceed. A true faith must also, in consequence of it's high origin, and near affinity with the light of heaven itself, be possessed of a superior capacity to unite with charity, than a faith less pure; and for the same reason it must have a still greater tendency to elevate man from the love of evil, and thereby to introduce him into the happiness of eternal life. ”

“ The merit and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ consisted in the various acts of redemption, which he performed while on earth: and as the redemption wrought by him was a work purely divine, as already explained in a former article, any imputation of his merit to a mere creature, to an insignificant worm, must be a thing plainly impossible, and in itself to the last degree absurd. For if redemption cannot be applied or ascribed to any angel or man, any more than the creation and preservation of the universe can, redemption being a kind of second creation ”

“ What has been said of good and truth, may be justly applied in a reversed sense to evil and falsehood. For as every thing in the universe, which exists according to divine order, has relation to good and truth, so every thing, which exists contrary to divine order, has relation to evil and falsehood. And again, as good loves to be united with truth, and truth with good, so evil desires to be united with falsehood, and falsehood with evil. Lastly, as all wisdom and understanding arise from the union of good and truth, so all insanity and folly arise from the union of evil and falsehood. ”

“ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them: and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ”

“ But the life of charity consists in willing and doing good to our neighbour, and in acting on every occasion from a principle of justice and equity, of goodness and truth. In short, a life of charity consists in performing useful services to all around us; and this is the primary and essential constituent of divine worship, while piety is only the secondary and formal part of it. This latter, however, without the former, is dead; and they, who practise it, are generally filled with ideas of their own superior sanctity and merit ”

“ It is not sufficient for a man to confess himself a sinner in general terms, and to acknowledge that from head to foot he is full of evil, deserving of eternal damnation, and therefore unworthy to lift up his eyes to heaven: for this he may do, and yet not select one evil out of all the multitude within him, which he is determined, by divine assistance, to resist, to shun, and to remove from his heart and life. ”

“ As it was impossible for the infinitely pure and naked Divinity, such as it is in itself, to come down among men, without consuming them in an instant, the divine mercy of Jehovah God prompted him to come down in such a way of accommodation, that the full intensity of his glory should be with-held from their eyes, while he presented himself in the world principally as divine truth, veiled or clothed in human nature, from which nevertheless the divine good was not, nor could be, really separate. ”

“ THEY who understand the Word only in it's literal sense, are led to believe, that the creation, which is described in the first and second chapters of Genesis, denotes the creation of the universe, and that God was employed six days in making the heaven, the earth, the sea, with all things which are in them, and at length man in his own image and likeness. But who cannot see, if he ponders deeply on the subject, that the creation of the visible universe is not there meant? ”

“ It is supposed by many, that the divine providence is only universal, or has respect only to the great and general affairs of the world, and of human society; and that particular or minute circumstances, as if unworthy of the notice of the Supreme Being, are left to the prudence and regulation of man. Wherefore, when they see the wicked raised to honours, wealth, and various kinds of worldly success, in preference to the good, they say in their hearts, that this would not be the case, if there were a divine providence in all the minute occurrences of life. ”

“ The work of redemption did not, as is too generally supposed, consist in the Son's offering himself as a sacrifice in the room of mankind, with a view to appease the wrath of the Father, to satisfy his vindictive justice, and thereby to atone for the sins of the world: for in the first place, there is no such odious passion as wrath in the Divine Being, nor is he possessed of any such attribute as vindictive justice; and in the next place, it is contrary to every principle of justice, both human and divine, that the innocent should suffer for the crimes of the guilty. ”

“ These considerations sufficiently prove, that the doctrine of the New Church, respecting the last judgment and the second advent of the Lord, is perfectly consistent with the Word of God; while all those systems, which suppose the destruction of the universe as the necessary consequence of that event, can be considered in no other light, than as so many idle dreams, and dreadful chimeras, calculated to frighten mankind, and to inspire them with no one useful or rational sentiment, but on the contrary with dismal expectation and useless alarm. ”

“ The garden itself, called also paradise, denotes the wisdom and intelligence of the man or men thus created anew, and made celestial: the trees pleasant to the sight, and good for food, denote their interior perceptions of truth and good: the tree of lives in the midst of the garden, denotes their love and wisdom derived solely from the Lord their Creator: and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, denotes faith or science capable of being derived from themselves, or from their own sensual principle, in an external way, contrary to divine order ”

“ To form a just conception of what is understood by man's being an organ of life, both as to his internal and his external form, it will be sufficient to advert to the eye, the ear, the tongue, and the other organs of sense in the body. When the light of the sun flows in the eye, which is an organized form receptive of it, a certain change or modification is effected in it's different membranes, humours, vessels, and nerves, and natural sight is produced, not as a thing separate from the substance of the eye, but as it's proper function and exercise. ”

“ Let no one, therefore, either on account of the apparent novelty of some of the sentiments above stated, or the obscurity and weakness of the instruments made use of to publish them to the world, treat with contempt what may not at first be clearly understood: for it is confirmed by universal experience, that many things, which have been disapproved of, and even rejected, at one time, have at another, and in a different state of mind, been acknowledged and cordially embraced as the very truth of heaven. ”

“ In the internal it is full of glory, and exhibits such a display of the divine wisdom and love, as cannot be equalled by any other production: while in the external it is like a cloud intercepting the beams of celestial light, and at the same time defending it's interior contents from the wanton eye of curiosity, and from the danger of profanation. It is on this account that the coming of the Lord in his Word, to open and reveal it's spiritual sense, to minds capable of discerning it, is said to be a coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ”

“ At the same time he formed new heavens above, and a new earth below, that is, a new church both in the spiritual and in the natural world, wherein, according to prophecy, should dwell righteousness and peace. Thus, by virtue of his Divinity operating in and by his Humanity, he delivered mankind from the overwhelming power of evil, reduced to order all things in heaven, and laid the foundation of a new spiritual church on earth. This process, begun in divine mercy, and conducted by divine power, constituted the true nature of redemption. ”

“ To effect this great end, the one God, Jehovah himself, in the fulness of time descended, and, according to the principles of his own divine order, assumed a human essence and form by incarnation; in and by which form, as a medium suited to the states and perceptions of his creatures, he might not only become visible to them, but might also gradually introduce among them, from the fountain of pure divinity within that medium, such a measure of his divine influence as would tend to remove the impending destruction from their heads, and at length raise them to a state of final happiness. ”

“ In short, it is almost universally believed, that the divine omnipotence is regulated by no laws whatever, but that it can accomplish any thing or everything that can be proposed, however absurd or contradictory in itself; consequently that salvation may be effected on the part of God, without any regard to the freedom and rationality of man, or the necessity of his co-operation in appropriating to himself those principles of spiritual life, which, when so received, can alone prepare him for a state of future happiness. ”

“ To acknowledge a God, and to live in conformity to his will, according to the dictates of conscience, bring heaven into the human mind, and therefore must qualify the man so living, whatever be his name, his country, or his creed, for the enjoyment of future happiness. Now it is well known, that many of the Heathens lead as moral lives as Christians, and that many of them excel professing Christians in this particular. But morality may be practised either with a view to meet the divine approbation, or to gain the applause of men. ”

“ The end of creation is the formation of an angelic heaven out of the human race, which; as an image of the Creator, may bear some respect to his infinity, his immensity, and his eternity. But this respect to infinity, immensity, and eternity, would cease, were the habitable earth to be destroyed at the day of the last judgment: for then by a period being put to the procreations of mankind, the extent of heaven, together with the number of it's inhabitants, would be limited. ”

“ All personal honour is the honour of wisdom, and of the fear of the Lord.
Priests ought to instruct the people, and to lead them by truths to the good of life: but they must not on any account attempt compulsion in matters of faith, because no one can be compelled to believe contrary to what he thinks in his heart to be true. Every person ought to be allowed the peaceable enjoyment of his religious opinions, howsoever they may differ from those of the priest, on this condition, that he maintains them quietly and peaceably. ”

“ It is the goodly pearl of inestimable value, to obtain which every thing else ought to be sold, every spurious idea of the Lord for ever abolished from the mind. It is a treasure in the heart, and a jewel in the mouth. ”

“ MAN, when formed into the image and likeness of his Creator, was in the just and full exercise of two original faculties, called rationality and liberty. By rationality is meant the faculty of understanding what is true and false, also what is good and evil: and by liberty is meant the faculty of thinking, willing, and acting, in a state of perfect freedom. These two faculties were implanted in man at his creation ”

“ THE remission or forgiveness of sins is not, as generally supposed, an arbitrarious act of mercy, in consideration of any satisfaction or atonement made for man by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, and of faith therein: neither are sins wiped or washed away, as filth is by water: for they remain with man, even after he has commenced the regenerate life, and can never be wholly extirpated. But the remission of sins, according to the true sense in which the expression is used in the Sacred Scriptures, means the gradual removal of evils by the Lord, after repentance of heart and life. ”

“ But the true christian religion, above all others, is capable of producing this effect; because, being derived immediately from the God of heaven, whose adorable name it carries on it's front, it contains a full display of his divine person, attributes, and perfections; and lays down, in the clearest and plainest manner, those rules of life, which, if attended to in sincerity and faithfulness, according to the light received, cannot fail to qualify for the full enjoyment of everlasting bliss. ”

“ As a further illustration of the true nature of good works, or a good life, it may be remarked, that in the external acts of a man are contained, to a certain degree, all the powers and energies of his body; and these again are put into motion by a concurrence, to a certain degree, of all the powers and energies of his mind, whether they belong to the province of the will, or to that of the understanding. The affection or love first excites the thought ”

“ The Gentiles are men, as well as they who are called Christians: indeed they form a very great proportion of the human race; and it cannot be imputed to them as a crime, that tidings of redemption never reached their ears. They have the same capacity of understanding what is true, and of willing what is good, as Christians have, consequently the same capacity of conjunction with heaven. ”

“ Yet the mere knowledge of these things, with many others relating to the Lord, to the church, to heaven, and to eternal life, does not of itself constitute a saving faith: for so long as truths remain only in the understanding, as subjects of thought and science, they do not carry with them the power of salvation; but when they are embraced by the affections of the heart, and enter into the actions of the life, they then constitute a true and saving faith, being at the same time accompanied with a firm trust and confidence in the divine mercy and protection of the Lord. ”

“ FAITH in general may be defined a belief in the truths of divine revelation, and that whosoever liveth well, and believeth aright, will be saved by the Lord. It therefore implies a knowledge concerning the Lord, his descent from heaven, his birth in the world, his miraculous works, his temptations, trials, and sufferings, even to the passion of the cross, together with his successive victories over the powers of darkness, and finally his resurrection, and ascension into heaven. ”