Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/18

12 themselves. It is not, therefore, the doctrines of the New Church which excite their ridicule, but that grotesque caricature of them which they have received from others who have never taken pains to examine them, and therefore know not whereof they affirm.

Let it be said, here at the outset, that these doctrines are all contained in the Sacred Scripture, however the carnal mind may fail to see them there. They are taught in that higher sense of Scripture which is above the natural man's discerning; for "the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 13.) But they are clearly discernible by the spiritually-minded and unprejudiced, and their truth may be confirmed even by the letter of Scripture.

They are called "heavenly doctrines," because they are believed and taught in heaven, and are sure to conduct to heaven all those who receive and live according to them. And since they are all contained in the heavenly sense of the Divine Word, and are that sense brought down or laid open to rational comprehension, therefore they are regarded by those who accept them, as a New