Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/117

Rh tendency will not be denied. And under this New Dispensation, it is believed that a New Christian Church is to be built up, which will ultimately be like a city set upon a hill, that cannot be hid;—a Church which will be filled with all sweet and gentle charities, conspicuous for all wise and philanthropic deeds, crowned with all noble and heavenly graces, "beautiful as a bride adorned for her husband." This New Church is shadowed forth in the Apocalypse under the image of the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. It is to be a truly catholic church, for its spirit is the all-embracing spirit of God's Word. Its platform is broad as the foundation of the angelic heavens. The divinity of the Lord, the divinity of the Word, and the necessity of a life according to the commandments—these are its fundamentals. Its essential and ruling spirit is love to the Lord and the neighbor; and therefore it excludes from its communion and fellowship none who exhibit this spirit.

Such is the character of the Apocalyptic New Jerusalem, the blessed result and crowning glory of the Second Coming. Such the Church whose foundations are "all manner of precious stones," having Jesus Christ himself for "the head of the corner." Such the Church, in whose early dawn it is believed we are even now living; whose