Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/109

Rh caution, therefore, to take heed lest we be deceived and accept some false Christ for the true one, is itself proof that the Old doctrine on this subject cannot be the true one. It shows that his coming was not to be in a form addressed to the outward but to the inward sense—to the understanding, or the mental eye. For, in respect to things addressed to the understanding, men are liable to be deceived. They are liable to be imposed upon—often have been—by pretended and spurious revelations. They are liable to accept falsity for truth. Hence the ground and reason for the divine exhortation to "watch" and "take heed" that we be not deceived.

Turning, now, from the Old doctrine which is alike unreasonable and unscriptural, let us see what the New Church teaches on this subject. Briefly stated, it is: That the promised second advent of the Lord, is a new and fuller revelation of Himself and of the great facts and laws of his heavenly kingdom, to the understandings and hearts of men; a new and fuller unfolding of the deep and heavenly meaning of the Word which is from Him and is Himself; a fresh and more powerful influx of his own light and life into all open, receptive and obedient souls, recreating them in his own Divine likeness, and gradually