Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/3



The following pages have been written with the hope that they may be of some little use in extending a knowledge of the Heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem. The writer himself having but recently become acquainted with those doctrines, cannot reasonably suppose that he has written, or would be able to write anything, which could enlighten or instruct those who, for many years have been engaged in the study of the heavenly truths. Having but just entered the outer porch of the, he would be poorly prepared to guide those who have already penetrated into its inner halls. But he has ventured to cherish the hope that, while thus standing in the outer porch, he might be of some little use in pointing out the way to that vast and constantly increasing multitude, who having become bewildered and lost in the dark mazes of the Old Church Theology, at length behold the faint glimmerings of the light of the New Jerusalem, and like the lost traveller, are gladly directing their steps towards it, but without knowing from what source the light emanates. As small boats are in some places much more serviceable than large ones, being able to penetrate where large ones cannot enter, so the writer, who presents the lower and more external forms of truth, may perform a necessary and important use, and one which could not be so easily performed by one who has become familiar with truth in its deeper and more internal forms. The labors of each class of writers are useful in their places, and are equally necessary in leading the human mind onward in its search after truth.

The doctrines of the New Church are but just beginning to be presented to the public mind at large, and though