THE GATES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
By The Rev. Dr. R. L. Tafel

"On the east, three gates; on the north, three gates; on the south, three gates; and on the west, three gates."  REV. 21:13.

There are many ways into the Church, that is, into the Lord's kingdom on earth.  In fact, there are as many ways as there are individuals born in this world.  For every person in this world is the creature of his own thought, which springs from his native love or affection.  Whether a man by the thought which springs from his love is led to the Lord, and thus to the Lord's kingdom, or whether by his thought he is led away from the Lord, this of course depends upon the man himself.  But if he follows the Lord into His kingdom, even into the Holy City, New Jerusalem, then the Lord by the man's affection leads him in either by the east or the west, by the south or the north of the New Jerusalem; and by this is meant that although every man is his own particular affection, and thus has his own particular character, this indefinite number of characters, in the eyes of the Lord, is yet distinguished into four fundamental varieties, which are represented by the east and the west, the south and the north.

Every man in this world, therefore, who suffers himself to be regenerated by the Lord, and thus who has chosen to follow the Lord in the path of regeneration, enters into the Lord's kingdom either on the east or on the west, on the south or on the north.

And the indefinite number of human souls who approach the Lord's kingdom from either of these four quarters, are represented by the three gates, concerning which we learn that there are three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.  For by the number three, as well as by the number twelve, in the language of correspondences, are meant all; and in the present case, all the possible varieties of human characters which enter into the Lord's kingdom, the New Jerusalem.

Among those who are brought up in the Lord's outward New Church on earth, the idea prevails to a great extent, as if there is only one way of getting into the Lord's New Church, namely, by joining as a member one of the Societies of the Lord's outward New Church on earth, and by participating in its public worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only God of heaven and earth.

It is no doubt an immense advantage for those who acknowledge and worship the Lord at heart to worship Him also outwardly by the words and deeds of their bodies.  For the internal worship of the soul is thus brought down into the ultimate basis of their bodies; and there the internal worship of the soul grows in strength and in power, and is able to withstand the concentrated power of the hells.  On this account also we learn that the strength and power of the internal sense of the Divine Word dwells in its external or literal sense.  And it is in the literal sense of the Divine Word also that the Lord dwells with man in this world, and protects him against the assaults of evil spirits.

As the power of the Divine Word dwells in its letter, therefore also we learn that the Holy City, New Jerusalem, is surrounded by a wall; and by the wall of the New Jerusalem is meant the literal sense of the Word of God in the minds of its members.  And there are also meant thereby those representative acts of worship which are introduced into the Lord's external Church on earth, by virtue of their being commanded in the literal sense of the New Testament.  We mean here the sacraments of Baptism and of the Holy Supper.

These sacraments are bulwarks which the Lord has planted in the wall which encompasses the internal, spiritual Church in the minds of the members of the Lord's Church on earth.

They are a Divine means by which a man from the sensual things of the body may be raised into the spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, and thus of the Lord's Church on earth.

As the letter or the literal sense of the Divine Word has no power unless the spiritual sense dwells within it, so also is the case with the sacraments in the Lord's Church on earth; they are powerless, unless those spiritual principles to which they correspond are brought down into them; unless, therefore, the waters of regeneration be added to the water of baptism, and unless the spiritual good and the spiritual truth represented by the bread and wine in the Holy Supper be established in the man's interior, that is, in his soul.

We see, therefore, that the letter of the Divine Word, and the observance of the sacraments of the Church, by themselves do not constitute the Lord's kingdom, the Church in a man's soul; nor do they introduce the man into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.  They protect the Church and impart invincible power to it when the Church is once established, but they do not constitute the Church.

In order that a man may enter into the New Jerusalem, and that he may have the New Jerusalem established in his soul, he must not only have the wall of the letter of the Word and of the sacraments of the Church established within him, but in the wall also there must be gates; and by the gates are meant the rich store of the knowledge of good and truth which is derived by a study of the Divine Word.

And this knowledge must not only lie stored up in a man's memory, and thus serve the purposes of conversation and discussion, but this knowledge must be raised with man into the power of truth.  Knowledge is said to acquire in man the power of truth when he does not receive it on trust from others, but when, inspired by the love of truth, he sees it to be true in the light of the truth wherewith the Lord illuminates the rational minds of all.  But in order that a man may see a knowledge of the truth in the light of the truth, he must humble into the very dust the pride of his own intelligence, and must acknowledge the Lord as the only source of good and truth.

On this account it is that we read that over each gate of the New Jerusalem there was an angel.  For when the member of the Church acknowledges the Lord as the only source of truth, and when in all spiritual matters he is willing to be taught by the revelation which the Lord has made for the benefit of His Church on earth, and by it alone, then his knowledge of good and truth is sanctified, and then an angel is said to dwell over the gate of the New Jerusalem in his mind.

And yet this sanctified knowledge of the truth in the mind of the member of the Church, when it dwells there alone, does not admit him by the gate into the city.  In order that he may walk through the golden streets of the city, he must first purge his soul of everything evil in the Lord's sight; for we read, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worked) abomination, or maketh a lie."

The Church of the New Jerusalem is not a matter of the intellect only, but even much more a matter of the heart. The intellect generally runs far ahead of the heart; and when we see intellectually the glories and beauties of the New Jerusalem, we are often inclined to imagine that we are, as to our very will-faculty, in the midst of the Holy City.

In the heart of the Holy City dwells the heavenly love of uses, the charity which has no respect to self, but looks to the good of the whole, to the welfare of the Lord's New Church on earth.

But as long as the members of the Lord's outward Church on earth believe that there is only one gate of entrance into the New Jerusalem, and in fact that one gate which from their own narrow circle of vision they see to be the true one; and as long as they do not acknowledge that in accordance with the quarters of the heavens there are four sides to the New Jerusalem, and three gates on each side; as long, therefore, as the freedom of thought and the freedom of investigation of spiritual truth is not the universally prevailing principle in the Lord's New Church on earth, so long the New Church is a Church in name only, and not a Church as to its interior, spiritual quality.

Freedom of thought, however, in the Church at large does not mean that every member of the Church is at full liberty to originate his own imaginary New Jerusalem, around which he may build a wall, and through which he may construct a gate of admission.  But by freedom of thought is meant that every member in the Church respects the freedom of thought of every other member, and his freedom of investigating God's truth as this is revealed in the external and internal senses of the Divine Word.

For only when we acknowledge the one and only God, and the revelation which He has made for the benefit of the members of His Church in the internal and external senses of the Divine Word, can there be a unity of thought in the Lord's New Church, a unity which is based on the oneness of the Lord's truth in His Divine revelation.  But within that oneness which prevails in the Lord's truth, there is infinite room for the thought of every member of the Church to disport itself in freedom; for the Lord's truth is as infinite as the Lord Himself.

Yet in order that the members of the Lord's Church may freely act within the infinite space accorded to them by the Lord's Divine revelation, they must acknowledge the reality of that revelation, and also the Lord in His revelation.  And if they do so, then the gate through which they enter into the city is of one pearl.  And it is of one pearl when everything of their own, everything that defileth, everything that worketh abomination, and every lie is removed from their intellectual, that is, from their doctrinal, Jerusalem; and when all the truths that enter into its composition are derived from the Lord alone in the revelation which He has made in the internal and external senses of the Divine Word.

The New Jerusalem in our souls must be the work of the Divine Architect; and then only shall we be able to see that there are twelve gates to the New Jerusalem, on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

The three gates on the south are for those the sight of whose minds is illuminated by the truths of the spiritual sense of the Divine Word, and whose minds, therefore, are capable of being illuminated by the spiritual light which prevails in the Lord's spiritual, that is, in his second heaven; for in that heaven predominates the spiritual intelligence which in the letter of the Divine Word is represented by the south.

The three gates on the east, however, are for those who are of a celestial disposition, with whom the law is written on their hearts; and who by a perception resulting from the intensity of their love to the Lord, which is communicated to them from the highest heaven, are able to see the interior truths of the Divine Word without "every man teaching any more his neighbour, and every man his brother."

The three gates on the north, on the other hand, are for those who are in the obscurity of the literal sense of the Divine Word, and hence in the mere generals of the doctrines of the spiritual sense; among them also are those who are in the love of the natural sciences, but who ascribe nature to God, and worship Him as the Creator of the universe.  The three gates on the north communicate with the spiritual-natural part of the first heaven.

Finally, the three gates on the west are for those who are in the practical love of doing good, and who are in the love of serving and ministering unto others.  To help and assist others is their great forte, and they are not interested so much in doctrine and in truth.  They are willing to be taught and enlightened by others; but their heart's love consists in doing, and not so much in studying, the Lord's truth.  In the interior light of the truth they are obediences, and as to their spirits they are connected with the celestial-natural part of the first heaven.

Those, then, it appears are able to enter the city of the New Jerusalem on the south who, while in this world, are enjoying the inestimable blessing of the revelation which the Lord at His Second Coming has made for the Church of the New Jerusalem.  These also are able while in this world to become members of the Lord's outward Church of the New Jerusalem.  Yet it does not follow that in their capacity as members of the Lord's New Church on earth, who, as we learn in the A. R. 69, "approach the Lord only, and at the same time actively repent of their evil works,"they should perform the worship of a useful life exclusively among those who are preparing to enter the New Jerusalem through the three gates on the south, and thus among those who join the organizations of the outward New Church on earth.  On the contrary, they may also offer their services to those who are endeavoring to enter the Lord's kingdom of the New Jerusalem on the north and on the west; in other words, they may devote themselves to the remnant of the good who are still scattered through the congregations of the Old Church, or to those who from the desert of the natural sciences are endeavoring to reach the distant Canaan.

The task of accommodating the truths of the New Dispensation to the range of vision of the divines of the Old Church seems to be a thankless task; and so likewise the task of introducing a knowledge of the principles of New Church philosophy to the scholars who cultivate the natural sciences at the present day.  And yet this is a task which has to be done; for the Holy City, New Jerusalem, has gates not only on the south and on the east, but also on the north and on the west.  Only let those who devote themselves to a spread of the knowledge of the New Church among the outward adherents of the Old Church, not imagine that the only gates of the New Jerusalem are on the north and on the west; that therefore, the only proper sphere of usefulness of a New Church man is in the ranks of the Old Church; that it is a mistake, therefore, to start a separate Church organization of the New Jerusalem.

As soon as New Churchmen of this stamp ignore the existence of the three gates of the New Jerusalem on the south, they declare against freedom of thought and action in the New Church, and in their own self-exaltation stray away altogether from the gates of the New Jerusalem.

But if while working for the spiritual good of those who remain outwardly connected with the Old Church, they nevertheless acknowledge as their brethren before God those who are members of the external New Church, then they are New Churchmen indeed, and are imbued with the charity which ought to characterize every true New Churchman. . . .

"And I the apostle John heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

(This is an extract from the memorial sermon given by the Rev. Dr. R. L. Tafel for the Rev. Augustus Clissold, M.A., published in Morning Light, London, December 2, 1882.)