PRIESTHOOD and THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH Why a Male Priesthood?
ERIK SANDSTROM
2001
Rev.
At present the question of women in the priesthood is being discussed in the General Church. I wish
to address this question, but I think this is best done in the context of what is called the "doctrine of the
church," since the special assignment of the priesthood is to study and teach this doctrine and to lead
thereby in the way of heaven. "[Priests] ought to teach people according to the doctrine of their church
from the Word, and to lead them to live according to it" (NJHD 315).
Among other things I will therefore review this teaching concerning the doctrine of the church, and
this with special attention to the understanding of this doctrine and of the Word itself. From the outset,
however, let me underscore both of the following phrases in NJHD 315: according to the doctrine of
their church and from the Word. When we preach and teach, and people recognize that we do this
according to doctrines generally accepted among us, it is crucial that our people sense the authority of
the Word, and not priestly speculation, in what we say.
298
In this study we will pause at each of the sub-topics below:
That the Divine may be among the people
Moses and Aaron
The understanding of the Word
Addressing the as-from-self
Priestly leadership
The New Church is a city, not a garden
The discipline of doctrine
The innate distinction between male and female minds
A male priesthood
Male and female: The Bride, the Lamb's Wife
That the Divine May Be among the People
In the posthumous work Charity we read about the general good or use in a society or kingdom, and
about the goods of use individuals perform; also about the general use, that it exists from the uses of
individuals, and about individual uses, how these subsist from the general use (see Char. 127). And then
we find eight forms of use, or "goods of use" of which the general good consists. First of these is
"What is Divine among them" (Char. 130).
The particular good of use of the priesthood is to see that the Divine is among the people. And the
priest does "this good of use continually if he looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and honestly,
justly and faithfully does the work of the ministry he is charged with; and he becomes a charity in form.
But he does this good of use . . . when it is the salvation of souls that affects him; and in proportion as
this affects him, truths affect him, because by them he is to lead souls to heaven; and he is leading souls
to heaven by means of truths when he leads them to the Lord" (Char. 160).
To serve so that the Divine may be among the people is a tall order! It is not enough to lead in
worship and to recite doctrine.
299
The Lord is indeed present from without through these means; but His presence from within is through
conscience. In this world His presence from without is a beginning, and it may lead to the formation of
conscience. But in the other life His external presence without the internal is a feared presence. It is so
feared in hell. "If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there." But His presence in conscience is of
an altogether different kind. "If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there" (Ps. 139:8). There are two
kinds of presence.
It follows that the paramount duty of the priest is to lead toward conscience. This, however, is
another way of saying that it is to lead toward cooperation, for obviously no one can allow the Lord to
build a conscience within him without his willing participation and cooperation. "The reciprocal
conjunction of the Lord and the person . . . is effected by cooperation; for the Lord acts, and the person
receives action from the Lord, operating as if from self, indeed of self from the Lord" (TCR 371:6).
Conscience is built by the Lord in cooperation with the person. (In the above and all later quotations,
emphasis is added.)
But the person is not able to cooperate unless he understands the doctrine he is being taught. No
one can apply a quotation to life! He can apply only his understanding of it. Without forming his own
understanding he will act like an automaton, and his action will not become part of him, that is, of his
character.
But there is more. For in our day all of the above takes on a new dimension. We are now given the
internal sense of the Old and New Testaments; the Crowning Revelation is among the people. And here
we note a distinction: revealed doctrine is one thing, and the doctrine of the church is another. The
latter is drawn from the former. The distinction is important. For it is possible to know and remember
many particular revealed doctrines without drawing any conclusions, that is, without understanding
them. The doctrine of the church is revealed doctrine as understood by the church.
And what is it to understand the Heavenly Doctrines? to understand the Writings?
300
It is to see what they are in themselves, and what they are for; it is to see the good in them, to see the
good which is the Divine love of salvation, from which the doctrines descended and took form when
they were written; and to see the good to which they lead, which is the good applied to life.
When the Lord was in the world, Philip requested a favor from Him. "Lord, shew us the Father, and
it is sufficient for us." But he was rebuked for asking. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast
thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Shew us
the Father?" (John 14:8, 9)
Is there a Philip in the Second Advent? Could we fail to see the Lord's love of salvation in the
Writings? to see that all of the doctrines apply to life, and primarily to the life of the mind? For the
spiritual sense applies first to the spirit of man; then there is the application to hands and lips also.
"Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also" (Matt.
23:26). Certainly, the proprium in all of us is slow to really catch on. Yes, it is possible to have the
Writings without seeing the Father in them. And yet having the Writings without seeing salvation in the
doctrines, and without altering one's mental and material life because of them, is a case of knowing
about them without knowing them.
The above, however, is said concerning the individual man or woman. There is also the church
community. In fact, the church comes first. For in the church, if she is living, there is both love to the
Lord and love of the neighbor. Within her arms-within her sphere-there is a knitting together of
neighbors. Besides, the church is more the neighbor than is the individual person.
I think the primary use of the priesthood is to the church community. Within that framework,
individual men and women, or individual couples, may be served as well, according to need. But it is
good for individuals to feel that they are part of the church.
It would follow that the priesthood is to lead to a conscience of the church.
301
And the conscience of the church will be built from the doctrine of the church, that is, from the
Heavenly Doctrines explained to the understanding of the men and women of the church. It is only thus
that the Divine may now return and be among people-His people-interiorly as well as by external
knowledge.
I would note here that all of us priests were ordained into the New Church, not into the General
Church. The General Church is a necessary embodiment, or a "boat to fish from." But by ordination we
were called to be disciples of the Second Coming, so that the Lord's kingdom may return among the
people. This is the call of the priesthood, and a sacred trust. It is a tall order.
Moses and Aaron
Of course anyone, man or woman, can develop an understanding by his or her own reading and
meditation. But for the church to be held together as a community, there must be a common leadership.
Moses was the Divinely appointed supreme leader of Israel. But when he was called while keeping
Jethro's flock in Midian, he prayed not to be sent. He said to God: "Who am I that I should go unto
Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the Children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Ex. 3:11) But the Lord
assured him, revealed His holy name to him, told him of the wonders He would do in Egypt, and even
showed him miracles-the miracle of the rod becoming a serpent and the serpent returning into a rod,
and that of the hand turning leprous and then again becoming sound flesh. Yet Moses still persisted. He
said: "I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue . . . . O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him
whom Thou wilt send." But then "the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said, Is not
Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet
thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him and put words
in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
302
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and he shall be, even he shall be unto thee instead of a
mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God" (Ex. 4:10-16).
So Aaron became a leader too, but under Moses. The priesthood is to be leader, but under the Word,
that is, servants of the Word. The reason for this is that the Word "is slow of speech and of a slow
tongue." This is true even of many parts of the Writings. We have all heard people complaining that
"they are difficult to understand." Again we must distinguish between knowing the doctrines and
understanding the doctrines. People-yes, we priests ourselves-may know the doctrine of discrete
degrees, but if it be asked: Please explain the use of this doctrine, there may be the discovery that it has
not been well understood. It is not enough to know the doctrines. Doctrines are for life. The same, of
course, applies to the Old and New Testaments.
There is to be the Aaron in the New Church as well. Here the threefold Word is Moses, and the
priesthood preaching the doctrine of the church is Aaron. The Lord will teach and lead through both. "I
will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth."
And as for this "doctrine of the church," what is it? With regard to the General Church the doctrine
that is special to it is what is briefly summarized in A Statement of the Order and Organization of the
General Church of the New Jerusalem (updated, August 2000 by the Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss), where we
read: "God is one in Essence and in Person, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that God, in whom is the
Divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit: 'The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the
world to subjugate the hells and glorify His Human. Without this no mortal could have been saved, and
those are saved who believe in Him' (TCR 2). The Old and New Testaments are the Word of God.
Within every word, they have a spiritual sense which speaks throughout of the Lord, His kingdom, and
the way to heaven. The Theological Writings given by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg are also
the Word of God.
303
By means of this new revelation the Lord has established a New Christian Church, which, unlike the
former churches, will not end" (see section "Faith," pp. 2,3).
This, that the Lord will be with both "the mouth of Moses and the mouth of Aaron," is according to
the fourth law of the Divine Providence. It reads: "Man should be led and taught by the Lord from
heaven, by means of the Word, doctrine, and preachings from the Word (illo), and this in all appearance
as if from self" (DP 154). And we may be struck here by the point that it is the Lord who leads and
teaches also by means of preachings. But this is both underscored and explained in the course of the
analysis of this law. We read further: "Man is taught by the Lord by means of the Word, doctrine, and
preachings from the Word, and thus immediately from Him alone" (DP 171). And again: "That this is
done mediately by means of preachings does not take away the immediateness" (DP 172:6).
Obviously, this is not to be taken as giving Divine authority to our preachings! But how is it to be
taken? I think the central point is that no one is taught anything so as to receive it in his understanding
and assimilate it in his life except by the light of heaven. This light is from heaven's sun, and this sun is
the first proceeding from the Lord Himself. The light is Divine truth, and the heat within the light is
Divine good. The Arcana Coelestia widens our concept of it. We read: "The Divine truth proceeding
from the Divine good is the veriest reality and the veriest essential of the universe, and it is this that
makes and creates" (AC 5272:2, 8861:2, 9327:2). It gives light, but since life, or the Divine good, is in
it, it therefore also creates.
This light in our day is from the Lord's Glorified Human. "When the Lord was in the world," we
read, "He was the Divine truth itself, and afterwards when He was glorified He became the Divine
good, and thenceforth all Divine truth proceeds from Him. This Divine truth is light to the angels,
which light is also that which illuminates our internal sight, which is that of the understanding . . . .
304
This shows what is meant in John by all things having been created through the Word (1:1-3); for truth
Divine is the veriest essential, and is the only substantial through which all things are" (AC 8861). "In
Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4).
The burden of all this when it comes to understanding the fourth law of Providence is that while we
can read the Word in the light of the sun of the sky, we cannot truly understand the Word-any part of
the threefold Word-except in the light of heaven.
Therefore, if priests preach from the Word and draw their understanding especially from the internal
sense as laid open in the Writings, then the message received by the men and women of the church is
open to the light of heaven. Thus they are taught by the Lord alone.
Aaron is indispensable in the New Church. The New Church priesthood is a Divine institution (see
NJHD 311-319; Char. 130, 131, 134-139; Can. Holy Spirit:IV; Cor. 17). It is called "to teach the people
according the doctrine of their church from the Word, and to lead them to live according to it." And it is
to guard the sacraments, "the two gates to eternal life" (TCR 721).
The Understanding of the Word
I have already drawn attention to the difference between knowledge and understanding. We now
need to put this difference into the context of the New Church maxim, that "now it is allowable to enter
intellectually into the arcana of faith" (TCR 508). This invitation and challenge, which I believe
amounts to a command, is marking a new era in religious thought.
The Writings themselves say as much. After observing that the Roman Catholics have taken the
Word out of the hands of the laity (which was the case at the time the Writings were published), and
that the Protestants have asserted that the understanding is to be kept under obedience to their faith, the
above number says: "But in the New Church it is the reverse.
305
Here one is allowed to enter with the understanding and to penetrate into all the secrets of [faith], and
also to confirm these by the Word. The reason is that its doctrinals are truths continuous from the Lord,
laid open by means of the Word, and confirmations of them by rational things cause the understanding
to be increasingly opened above, and thus to be elevated into the light in which the angels of heaven
are. And that light in its essence is truth, and in this light the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of
heaven and earth shines in its glory" (TCR 508; see AE 950:2e).
The reason I said that the Nunc licet maxim amounts to a command is especially because of the
statement in AC 3310:4: " . . . [S]piritual truths, which are called doctrinal things, are still more interior
commandments." The Nunc licet thus becomes the gate into a new religious era in the world, the gate
of enlightened understanding. There is a call in the New Church, and a spiritual duty, to engage the
understanding in all matters of faith and religion-in fact, into all worldly matters as well. The revelation
of the arcana of faith makes it possible, and the simultaneous scientific advances in the realm of natural
arcana widens the scope to embrace both worlds.
How essential this matter is is seen in The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture: "It is not the Word
which makes the Church, but the understanding of it . . . . If the Word is not understood, the Word is
indeed called the Word, but with the man it is not. The Word is truth according to the understanding of
it; for the Word may be not truth, for it can be falsified" (SS 76, 77; cf. TCR 245).
And if all this sounds like intellectualism, we have this: "The Word is spirit and life according to the
understanding of it . . . . Since man has truth and life according to his understanding of the Word,
according to that he also has faith and love; for truth is of faith and love is of life" (SS 77). The
Apocalypse Explained makes it still more explicit: "No one sees [the truths of the Word] unless he is in
the good of love to the Lord and in the good of love toward the neighbor. Those who are not see truths
here and there, but do not understand them.
306
They have a perception and idea wholly different from that which pertains to the truths considered in
themselves. Although, therefore, they see or know truths, still truths are not truths with them, but
falsities" (AE 365:4).
The burden of this teaching-this new era of religion-is that now, in our day (in fact, ever since the
fall of the Most Ancient Church) no one comes into spiritual life except through the understanding. The
will-the voluntary proprium-is by heredity corrupt. There is no appeal to it. It cannot be changed; it can
only be exchanged, namely, for a new will to be created by the Lord in the intellectual proprium (see
AC 1023). This is the proprium that is reconstructed by means of truth-indeed, reconstructed even in
the interior organics of the brain (see AC 4326:3, cf. 8250)-so that a receptacle can be opened up for a
new will, the potential new will that is latent and waiting in the storehouse of remains.
The truths of the Writings are particularly and immediately engaged in this reforming and
regenerative process. Another teaching in the Apocalypse Explained virtually says so: "At the end [of
the Jewish Church] , which was when the Lord came into the world . . . [the Lord] revealed interior
Divine truths, which were to be for the use of a new church about to be established by Him and that did
serve that church. For like reasons the Word has been opened interiorly at this day, and still more
interior Divine truths have been revealed therefrom for the use of a new church that will be called the
New Jerusalem" (AE 948:2).
These still more interior truths are the truths revealed to the New Church and the truths of its
doctrine (see AR 917). They are the very streets of the New Jerusalem, the city of gold. If properly
understood, these truths are forms of good, indeed, forms of the good of love (ibid.), which good is the
gold of the city and of its streets.
The As-from-Self
The doctrine of the as-from-self (sicut a se) is unique to the New Church.
307
I think it is often not well understood. Sometimes it is taken to mean an illusion. We seem to be doing
the thing, but this is an illusion: it's really the Lord who is doing it.
This misconception was subtly nourished even in our former Liturgy (the 1966 edition), where the
"Faith of the New Heaven and of the New Church" from the True Christian Religion n. 3, is in part
mistranslated. It renders the fifth point of the Faith thus: "These [goods] should be done by man as if by
himself; but it should be believed that they are done by the Lord in man and through man." But this is
what they are not! not done by the Lord; nor does the original Latin say so. The original is quod sint a
Domino, which means "that they are from the Lord," not that they are "done" by Him. (We should note
that in the new Liturgy the translation is correct: " . . . that they are from the Lord in the person and by
means of the person.")
Our deeds are at best imperfect (even if/when heavenly in essence); sometimes they are foolish. In
either case we do them. The Lord should not be blamed for their imperfection, still less for their folly.
If heavenly, they are indeed from Him. The light by which we act, and the power (inspiration) by which
we act, are from the Lord alone. We have neither any light nor any power of our own. We pray for both:
Give me light, give me strength. We are receptacles; our receptacles are organic. And if the Lord
answers, it is by influx. It is explained to us that the Lord acts in the person and into him, but not
through him. There is a crucial difference between "in and into" on the one hand, and "through" on the
other.
The whole philosophy of the as-from-self, which we must not fail to understand well, is wonderfully
and comprehensively set forth in the True Christian Religion in the chapter on the Holy Spirit. First,
there is the lead doctrine about the Lord and the Father: "The Lord operates of Himself from the Father
(ex Se a Patre), and not the reverse" (i.e. not the Father through Him).
Then in the following number the concept is applied to people. First the matter is illustrated by
means of the apostles.
308
They received the Holy Spirit, and then they went forth spreading the Gospel by speaking and writings;
"and they did this of themselves from the Lord. For Peter taught and wrote in one manner, James in
another, John in another, and Paul in another: each according to his own intelligence. The Lord filled
them all with His Spirit, but each took of it a portion according to the quality of his perception, and
they exercised it according to the quality of their ability" (TCR 154). And angels speak and act "with an
infinite variety, yet each speaks of himself from the Lord" (Ibid.).
And then the philosophy itself: "The Word of the Lord is like an ocean, a flowerbed, or a garden.
When the Word is in any degree of fullness in a person's internal, then the person speaks and acts of
himself from the Word, and not the Word through him. It is similar with the Lord, because He is the
Word, that is, He is the Divine Truth and the Divine Good therein. The Lord out of Himself, or out of
the Word, acts in the person and into him, but not through him, for the person acts and speaks freely
from the Lord when he does so from the Word" (TCR 154:5).
Later, the same work gives us a succinct formula that says it all: "[The person] operates as from self,
yea of self from the Lord" (TCR 371:6). The equation is: as from-of, from.
The basic doctrine is the same as in Divine Love and Wisdom n. 1: "Love is the life of the person."
"Love" here is the ruling love (see 143); this is the life of the acts and speech which go out from that
love. Life itself flows into this love, and gives it power to act and speak in freedom, thus by free choice.
Divine life, which in itself is infinite, flows into this love; and human life, which is altogether finite,
flows out of it. And, as always, the influx is adapted to the efflux.
This human love, therefore, is the seat itself of the as-from-self. His love is the essential person; the
essential as-from-self is the person.
Now the reason this doctrine is an integral part of a review of priestly uses is that it is the as-fromself we are addressing (or should address) in all our teachings and in all help offered to the people of
the church.
309
People are not automatons, not blind followers-or if they are, then the church is not in them. There is a
dignity to the as-from-self. It should be approached with respect. If people's understanding is
addressed, their as-of-self is addressed; for the only love that matters is within their understanding.
Priestly Leadership
Priests are governors of the church. The church cannot be held together without a government to
which general consent is given. But New Church priests govern/lead free and intelligent people- or
people who honestly strive to be such (again, if not, the church is not in them). Each one proudly,
perhaps also humbly, governs his or her own life as-from-self.
But we are all, priests and laity alike, burdened with an inborn proprium. We are born with
inclinations to "evils of every kind" (not "born into evils," but with inclinations to them-TCR 521:2).
Therefore order is to be maintained, sometimes imposed. Normally this is maintained through counsel
and instruction. At times there should also be encouragements and discouragements (see NJHD 312, cf.
AC 2768:e). Useful contributions are properly recognized, disorderly conduct constrained.
The general principle is perhaps suggested by the rule of "the fish and fishing." Charity is better
expressed by teaching the needy how to fish. Giving him the fish should be done only when there is an
emergency. In a similar way, the priest should tell people "what to do" only when there is no time to
"show them how to fish."
The New Church Is a City, not a Garden
The Lord's New Church itself comes down from God out of heaven. And the General Church is
established to serve this church and work for its spread among the nations.
This New Church is a city; it is not a garden.
310
No doubt there will be many gardens within her walls, but the lives of men and women will be
governed according to the order of a city. There are streets there, and every street is a doctrine, "the
truth of the doctrine of the church" (AR 917). These streets are for communication, and they guide the
men and women walking in them. The streets are doctrines.
These doctrines have the force of commandments. Sure, they are not in the language of "Thou shalt
not," but they tell their readers that "good before repentance is not good, nor before repentance is
charity charity" (Char. 207). They also tell us that a person ought to examine himself, and as from
himself remove his sins by repentance, and that unless he does remove them he remains in them, and
that "whosoever remains in them cannot be saved" (TCR 520). Are not these teachings
commandments? Are not all the doctrines commandments, though all of them at the same time full of
Divine love and mercy? This, they say, is what heaven is like: live that way, and you will have heaven
within you. And this is hell: live in similar lusts, denials, etc., and you make your bed there. This is the
spiritual sense of the Word, the sense that lays open the states of the mind; form your mind accordingly,
and the Lord through the spiritual sense will give it a new birth. To quote again: "Spiritual truths, which
are called doctrinal things, are still more interior commandments" (AC 3310:4). I think the Writings
throughout are interior commandments. A memorable relation in SD 5540 gives a strong emphasis to
this point.
All of this makes the church a spiritual form-a spiritual church. And I think the New Church in its
formative stages is a spiritual (not yet a celestial) church. It is to be led by truth, not by perception. It is
not a garden. Perception in matters of religion ceased with the Most Ancient Church, and conscience
took over. "By 'Jehovah speaking,' the most ancient people signified perception . . . . This perception
could continue no longer than while love was the principal. When love to the Lord ceased, and
consequently love toward the neighbor, perception perished . . . .
311
But when faith became separated from love, as in the people after the flood, and charity was given
through faith, then conscience succeeded" (AC 371).
From the Ancient Church on, therefore including the New Church, there is no innate perception as
to doctrine and life with anyone, either man or woman. The perception attributed to women is a
perception of the state of men, particularly the wife's perception of the state-the affections-of her
husband. In matters of doctrine and life, perception carries no authority. Doctrine does.
In our day the Writings are the supreme means whereby the Lord forms a conscience in men
and women. This is the spiritual way of life, the way of the New Church, the mode of the City. Into this
mode a new will can be built by the Lord. This will is the gold of the City.
AC 1023 shows the way to the celestial state: "When man's voluntary had become wholly corrupt,
the Lord miraculously separated his intellectual proprium (proprium intellectuale) from that corrupt
voluntary proprium (proprium voluntarium), and in his intellectual proprium He formed a new will
which is conscience, and into the conscience insinuated charity, and into the charity innocence, and
thus conjoined Himself with man, or what is the same, made a covenant with him." That charity and
that innocence are the new celestial. I think this is what the Writings elsewhere call "the celestial of the
spiritual." Thus in the New Jerusalem "the covenant of the bow" can become the covenant of the
golden city.
The Discipline of Doctrine
AC 3310:4 alone, already cited, implies the discipline of doctrine. Doctrine is formative. Consider:
At birth every person has a soul and a body, but no mind. Rudiments of a will and understanding are
formed in the mother's womb, but as yet there is no actual will, nor an actual understanding. These
await the opening of the lungs. "The Lord conjoins Himself to man in the womb of the mother from his
first conception, and forms man . . . .
312
[There is] one receptacle for the will of the future man, and another for his understanding; and yet
nothing whatever of his will or of his understanding is present in the formation" (Div. Wis. III:2, 5).
But once the person is born, the formation of his will and understanding, i.e. his mind, begins. He is
now conscious, and there are the beginnings of deliberate choices. Cooperation, i.e. the as-of-self,
requires an active will, even if only the tender beginnings of one.
So the child is taught things. He could not know without being taught. And this process continues
through all the stages of mental growth, until he reaches maturity. At this point he is conceived anew,
for when and as he reaches rational maturity, he is able to choose between living by truth learned, or by
the hunch of self. If he chooses the former, his state of reformation begins, and after his mind has been
sufficiently reformed he is allowed, in Providence, to sustain temptations, through which he is led into
states of regeneration.
In all this, truths are formative. Remember, the new will cannot be built by the Lord except into a
form prepared by truth.
Now the Heavenly Doctrines, and from these also all truths that can now be seen in the Old and
New Testaments, are the formative truths. We must understand that earlier books of the Word are closed
books until reopened by the Writings. We read in explanation of the words in Matthew 24:26, "If
therefore they shall say unto you, behold He is in the desert, go not forth; behold He is in the inner
chambers, believe it not": "Moreover, as the Word spoken by the Lord contains innumerable things
within it, and as 'desert' or 'wilderness' is a word of wide signification, for all that is called a
'wilderness' which is not cultivated and inhabited, and all interior things are called 'inner chambers,'
therefore by a 'desert' is also signified the Word of the Old Testament, because this is regarded as
abrogated; and by 'inner chambers' the Word of the New Testament, because this teaches interior things,
or those which concern the internal man" (AC 3900:8).
313
"Behold I make all things new!" is the Lord's triumphant cry in His second advent. This first of all
means the Word. And without this renewal there is no salvation.
There are two essentials of religion and life: the acknowledgment of one God, and repentance of
life. "But at this day, instead of the acknowledgment of one God there is an acknowledgment of three,
and instead of repentance of life there is repentance of the mouth alone 'that one is a sinner,' and these
two produce no conjunction. Unless, therefore, the New Church arise, which acknowledges these two
essentials and lives according to them, no one can be saved (AR 9).
The Lord in His second advent expects obedience to the Heavenly Doctrines and, from them, to the
doctrine of the church. This is what leads to the freedom of the regenerate person.
The words of the first advent are echoed in the second: "The truth shall make you free."
Male and Female Minds: the Innate Distinction
This truth also comprehends the Divine order with regard to the two sexes. That order can be seen as
most beautiful, and it will be gratefully acknowledged in the freedom of an enlightened understanding.
The truth is that men and women are created differently, as to soul, mind, and body; and it is because of
this difference, or distinction, that there can be conjunctiveness between the total male and the total
female (see CL 179, 33; cf. DLW 56).
The distinction is defined in a comprehensive statement in the beginning of CL 33: "A male is born
intellect-oriented, and a female is born will-oriented; or in other words, a male is born with an affection
for knowing, understanding, and becoming wise, while a female is born with a love for joining herself
with that affection in the male."
It is tragic that this, and many similar teachings, has been seen as making woman inferior to man. It
does mean that the man in human development is prior, but not that he is superior.
314
That he is born intellect-oriented also means that he is born a form of truth, and similarly that woman,
being will-oriented, is born a form of good, as the Writings sometimes put it. And truth has to be first in
time. It has to both discover and pave the way to good. In terms of the Old Testament, Jacob has to
have the birthright over Esau. But truth is not confirmed, not established-does not mean anything- until
it is received by the woman and is turned by her into use. It is she who bears the child, spiritually as
well as naturally.
It is tragic that many times the church has not seemed willing to accept CL 63 and 125. CL 63 says:
"The church is formed by the Lord in the man, and through the man in his wife. And after it has been
formed in the two together, the church is complete." And CL 125 repeats the point, and then also makes
it a matter of emphasis that order demands that thus it must be. We read: "The man with his
understanding acquires the truth that the church teaches, and the wife acquires it from the man. But if
the reverse takes place, it is not according to order."
Why the emphasis? And why the order? Because after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, good
could no longer lead in the way of heaven. The will, and with it the perceptive element in the
understanding, had forsaken the Tree of Life-the worship of God -and instead the proprial lusts of man
and woman had exalted themselves and turned themselves into a court of judgment. The tree of
knowledge now occupied the center of the garden (see Gen. 3:3). And the innate perception in matters
of religion was destroyed (cf. AC 1023).
And so the Lord drove both Adam and Eve out of Eden and placed cherubim at its entrance "to keep
the way of the Tree of Life" (which tree does not return in the Word until seen again in the city New
Jerusalem).
Now a new covenant was struck-the covenant of the bow in the cloud, the rainbow of truth. The
change was miraculous; it affected even the organic substances of the brain which are the seats of
mental processes. There was no longer perception in spiritual matters.
315
Conscience took the place of perception, and conscience is formed from truths, i.e. from the waters in
the bow.
This change is succinctly but at the same time comprehensively described in AC 1023 and following
numbers. Essentially, the change was a transfer of the field of regeneration from the voluntary
proprium (proprium voluntarium) to the intellectual proprium (proprium intellectuale). And this
change, long in process, is to come into its true fulfillment in the Church of the New Jerusalem, for in
this church, for the first time there is the open invitation "to enter intellectually into the arcana of faith"
(TCR 508).
Here men are to lead, and women to confirm. Truth is not confirmed until it is turned into use, that
is, into love to the neighbor. To this end, men are given an ability to raise their understanding into the
light of heaven, even before regeneration; and women are granted the ability to raise their affections
into the warmth of heaven. From this his elevation, the man can see rationally, that is, objectively.
Woman is by nature subjective. He is sight, she is touch (cf. CL 168). But by elevating her affections
into the warmth of heaven, she is able to perceive and secretly guide the affections of the man. This is
her particular wisdom, and there is nothing equal to it with man (see CL 166-168; 208:4).
But this must be added: by virtue of the nature of her peception, the woman is able to conjoin
herself with the rational wisdom of the man from within. This means that she can see what he sees.
Only, he had first to discover the truth, so that he might bring it to her, for her to add warmth to the
light and so prevent the truth from being merely theoretical and making it also living. Who then has the
greater influence in establishing the church? You might as well ask, Which of the two organs in the
breast-the lungs or the heart-is the more important?
In a decadent world, tossed by tumultuous waves in the aftermath of the last judgment, the above
order is not seen, and by many not willed to be seen.
316
For some inscrutable reason, light seems to be more important than warmth-probably because modernday hearts are cold (as indeed the Lord foresaw would be the case; see Matt. 24:12). So women,
suppressing their innate nature, try to be like men. They contort their inner self, learning to act the part.
And men, bewildered, stumble here and there, trying to find their footing. So women lose their
femininity, and men their manliness. Marriage suffers, the home suffers, and the church suffers.
But yes! the play-acting can be learned. The Writings note as much. We read: "Many people believe
that women can perform the duties of men if only they are introduced into them from early age in the
way that boys are. However, women can be introduced into the exercise of these duties, but not into the
judgment on which the proper performance of these duties inwardly depends . . . . Neither can men
enter into the duties appropriate to women, because they cannot enter into the affections of women,
which are completely different from the affections of men" (CL 175). The passage then adds that
because of the above difference, therefore the following decree was issued for the Children of Israel:
"A woman shall not have on the garment of a man, nor a man the garment of a woman, for it is an
abomination" (Ibid.; Deut. 22:5).
The New Church should be able to see this.
A Male Priesthood
There is the revealed doctrine of the New Jerusalem. In this and through this "all things are made
new." And there is also the doctrine of the church. This doctrine requires a priesthood. The revealed
doctrine is Moses. And there must also be Aaron.
This priesthood is to analyze the revealed doctrine, compare passages, and explain to the
understanding how the Writings are to be lived.
Remember that the New Church is a city, not a garden. We are concerned with structure, order,
spiritual discipline, primarily self-discipline. We are not dealing with perceptive feelings with regard to
faith and life.
317
Perception before regeneration is not reliable; it leads astray. The Tree of Life is now to be found only
in the city (see Rev. 22:2); and the city can be built only in the intellectual proprium. Perception can
indeed be insinuated into that new proprium, for innocence can. But this perception is of the regenerate,
and it does not teach; it worships and humbly serves. There will be no innate perception in matters of
doctrine and life in the New Church. The New Church is not a garden, not an Eden.
This calls for a male priesthood, for the male is born intellect-oriented, to be a form of truth. The
female is born will-oriented. Truth must have priority (not superiority) in forming the church, even as
Jacob, though not the firstborn, must have priority over Esau until he is ready, with great flocks and
herds, for the return into Canaan. It is at that point Esau is acknowledged (see Gen. 33:8). The
priesthood must lead to the good of truth, which is Christian good itself. It is a good formed by truth,
the order of truth, the discipline of truth. And let the women bend it into use, confirm it in life, make
alive the good of truth.
And let me add here that the priesthood began after the fall of the Most Ancient Church. There was
no organized priesthood with the most ancients, even as there is not in the celestial heaven. And
throughout the Old Testament priests are male, so in the New Testament, and so in the Writings. The
word "priestess" does not occur in any of the three forms of revelation. The order of the priesthood was
not needed in the Most Ancient Church, because in that church the will was not corrupt.
Male and Female: the Bride, the Lamb's Wife
Men and women together are the Bride and the Wife! Such is the startling teaching by a wise man at
a wedding in heaven. The bridegroom and bride entered the festive hall, the bride escorted by six
young women; and after the bridegroom and bride had been declared husband and wife, and after
festivities, they departed, "followed to the doorway by the six young women."
318
Then some newcomers who had been invited asked of the wise man, "Why did you men not stand
beside the bridegroom, now the husband, as the six bridesmaids stood beside the bride, now the wife?"
At which the answer was given: "The reason is that on this day we are counted among the maidens, and
the number six symbolizes all people and completeness." Being again asked, the wise man added:
"Maidens symbolize the church, and the church is made up of both sexes. Therefore we too are
maidens in terms of the church." In confirmation of this concept he referred to Rev. 14:4. (See CL 21.)
I wish the church would pay more full attention to teachings in CL 63 and 125 than appears to be the
case. These numbers show that the leadership of the male in matters of doctrine does not establish the
church. Only when received by the female is the church established with both. We read: "The church is
formed by the Lord in the man, and through the man in his wife. And after it has been formed in the
two together, the church is complete, for then a full conjunction of good and truth takes place, and the
conjunction of good and truth is the church" (CL 63). Again: "A husband does not represent the Lord
and his wife the church, because husbands and their wives both together form the church" (CL 125).
These doctrines employ the terms "husband" and "wife" because the context is conjugial love. But
that the same general relationship applies to all men and all women, married or unmarried, can be seen
in the context of the Gorand Man, the Maximus Homo. This homo is composed of men
and women from the universal human race. It comprises both heaven and earth, that is, the church in
both worlds. It is the Lord's bride and wife (see SS 17). Men and women together, coming into this
homo by regeneration, are the bride and wife.
The world in our day is in a spiritual turmoil. We, in our time, experience the aftermath of the Last
Judgment in the world of spirits two hundred and fifty years ago.
319
We are surrounded by dead or dying churches-churches that do not worship the Lord God the Savior
Jesus Christ, and that do not teach or lead to repentance of life. In the midst of this the New Church is
small, and struggling, and weak.
But still the Lord of creation and of salvation is "making all things new." He has opened His Word,
and He has enabled all men and women to see in the light of heaven's sun.
And the church is growing in the spiritual world; the New Heaven is growing. What is needed in the
world is the cultivation of the intellectual faculty so that the truths of the Word can be understood; and
following this, committing to the life of charity from faith (see AE 732).
The Lord on His white horse leads; and a host on white horses, as yet small, is following. He goes
forth, "conquering and to conquer" (Rev. 6:2). As He said: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).