Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part V
THE LAST STATES

I. INNOCENCE

"And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased. And said unto Him, Hearest Thou, what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye not read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" (Matthew 21: 15 - 16)

The text reveals the essential state of the Lord's Human after the cleansing of the temple; after He had driven out the money changers, and overturned the seats of them that sold doves. After this purification it is recorded that He would not "suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple," by which was signified that during the state which followed the temptation, no disturbing influx was permitted. Having entered into a state of peace, the period of its duration was to be fulfilled in order that the state of His glorification attained, should be made secure, which would not have been the case if, at that time, an idea receptive of an evil influx had passed through His mind. Such a disturbing influx would have introduced a state of temptation in the midst of the peace which He had achieved. Instead, there was a full allowance of all that was involved in His triumph. This is represented, in part, and indeed as to the inmost part, by the words of our text. That inmost was a state of innocence, signified by the voices of the children in the temple, crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David." Herein was fulfilled the doctrine that as to His Human Essence, the Lord became innocence itself.

The quality of life here expressed by the term, innocence, is Divine, and was that which was inmostly imparted to the Divine Child at and before birth; yet, because of the veiling of hereditary evil, it could be rationally appropriated in like manner as in man's regeneration only after temptations; and, indeed, near the last when the temple of His body was so far purified that Divine innocence could flow down into fitting vessels without falling into strange forms of hereditary perversion. For this reason the voices of the children were not raised in the temple until after the money-changers, and especially the seats of them that sold doves, were cast out, for these seats for the selling of doves signified the things in His Human assumed which, of themselves, were destructive of innocence. With their clearance from the temple of His body, He was prepared for the reception, and as well the living perception of the innocence here signified by the voices of the children raised in the temple. That innocence was a supreme manifestation of the high increase of His Divinity which was now imparted to Him immediately as the supreme gift of the Father to the Son.

With all men innocence is the first and immediate gift of the Lord. It is, therefore, of all blessings, the most enduring and of greatest spiritual value, and therefore, also it is the inmost and soul of every subjoined good. This is why man is first born in a state of entire innocence, which characterizes the child both before birth and for a time thereafter. It is said, for a time thereafter, because the mind of man, as it develops, enters into and is qualified by the sphere of hereditary and acquired evils which are destructive of the first born state, and yet the marvel remains that the inmost soul of man forever abides in this prenatal innocence. Otherwise, the individual would be consumed by evil. His life could not continue. However, only the mind falls away from this primal state; but such a fall is entire, so far as the man is concerned; and this because the mind is the human spirit, or the man himself.

As man is first born in innocence, and as his soul is inmostly sustained therein throughout his life, it is ever possible for his soul to vivify the lower qualities of his mind.

This is the Divine intent, and this would come to pass were it not for man's love of his evils, hereditary and acquired.

By His glorification the Lord opened the way for the descending influx of innocence. He opened this way in Himself as a man born of woman when He cleared the temple of the seats of them that sold doves.

Innocence being the Lord's immediate gift to man, it is clear why the doctrines teach that apart from this primal gift man would not be man. It is therefore the essential human quality, and may, in its true significance, be ascribed only to man. The appearance of it in the lower forms of life - animal life - is superficial and lacking that essential which constitutes man a man, and immortal.

The companion of this innocence is spiritual peace, which also is described as an immediate gift of the Lord, and with it, as well, a certain deep wisdom of life - a wisdom which pertains to life. Moreover, innocence, as the inmost quality, more than anything, carries in itself the image and likeness of God. In innocence, therefore, the Lord may be seen as in an image. Hence the teaching that the Lord can appear only to one who is possessed of this gift, and also that the praise of innocent minds alone is accepted by the Lord. It is by this, therefore, that man returns to God. And so by it the Lord returned to His Father, and specifically by the temptation involved in His clearance of the temple. Therefore it was that after that temptation He heard the voices of children in the temple. This gives warrant for the doctrine that innocence is appropriated to man through temptations; but this appropriation refers to that regenerate innocence which, while appearing as a new thing, yet at heart is one with the primal innocence in which man is born. It is raised, indeed, through temptations, from natural to spiritual or from the first born ignorance to the innocence of wisdom. This last is involved in the first born ignorance, but it is not drawn out thence and appropriated by the mind until knowledges have been acquired, and after man has undergone the discipline of temptations. This appropriation, therefore, is effected by a coming out from the first born ignorance into the light of intelligence, and from the cunning of evil into true spiritual life. In other words, the ignorance of infancy and childhood is but a veil spread over the high wisdom and its innocence which is contained in the original gift of life, and which subsequently comes forth into the mind, as the mind is successively opened by knowledges and discipline.

We say that the mind is opened by knowledges, but this is an appearance. The real power which opens the interiors of the human mind is this primal gift of life in its innocency. This vivifies all good of lower degree, and, like a soul, it empowers every human faculty. This is expressed in the definite doctrine that by a transflux from the Lord, innocence forms the interiors of infants. It does so readily in the beginning of life because of the tenderness of the receiving vessels, which yield to every heavenly impress and easily receive that which is designed to become the ground of a rational faith and the basis of celestial perception. It is in this that infancy bears a likeness to the Golden Age - an age when the soul's guidance was the only mode of life. Then, indeed, man was truly human, and his mind was the seat of heaven into which Divine gifts could inflow and meet with no resistance. He that is sensitive to any touch of this primal influx is so affected thereby as not to seem in any part his own master, but becomes, by virtue of that touch, a vessel of entire obedience. In this case no solicitude for things to come, or for those that are past, afflicts him. Instead, there is an inmost content, and a peaceful realization that the Lord, by His presence, brings all that is profitable and of true service to man. This ascription to the Lord, the Father of love and mercy, can be made only by the innocent, and one who makes it in innocency, cares not to understand, but only to will and do under Divine guidance. This is wisdom in its height. It is love acting in its own light.

Clearly, nothing of evil can enter where innocence dwells; nor can temptation afflict, for it is secure in itself, and where it is, no harm can befall. By its presence evils are removed, and the man is lifted up and out of his instinctive self-care and self-concern into the living sphere of the Lord's Kingdom - into that sphere called conjugial, wherein every good mates with its respondent truth. This sphere is the embodiment of the Lord's Providence for man. It is the spring of all fertility, spiritual and natural.

How deep then, and wide, is that primal innocence which flows forth from the Lord, and which we first see in children as ignorance. But this ignorance of children, in itself, is not that innocence, but is only a clouding of it. The true innocence of childhood is something besides and other. It is the inner content which shines out through the ignorance, and in so doing gives promise of a wisdom which is beyond all knowledge. Ignorance is but the first, and for a time the only possible veil of that innocent wisdom which is a manifestation of the living presence of the Lord in a man. Because of this the child, in the language of Scriptural correspondence, represents the innocence of wisdom. For this reason it was that after the Lord's temptation, after His purification of the temple and the glorification of the temple of His body, He heard the voices of children crying in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," in sign that He, as to His Human, was now one with the Divine, and was become Innocence itself.

Following the acquisition of this state, the Lord again recognized the presence of a tempting suggestion. According to the text, the chief priests and the scribes were "sore displeased" because of the song of the children, and they said unto Him, "Hearest Thou, what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yea; have ye not read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" Concerning this we have the following from the Writings: "By praise being perfected out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, is signified that praise cannot come to the Lord by any other way than by innocence, since by this alone is effected all communication and all influx, consequently, all access. Hence it is that the Lord saith, 'Except ye be converted, and become as children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens.'" (A. C. 5236)  And again, this: "Unless charity from affection of the heart be in (works) they are not the works of charity. Hence it is that innocence must interiorly appertain to all who are in heaven." (A. C. 5608)  Innocence is, indeed, the inmost of all things, and as such, the regenerate quality of it with an angel determines his situation in heaven. It is also the supreme good with men, and as such it affords the highest ideal of the Lord and His Divinity. Therefore, it is only in and through innocent things that the Lord reveals Himself to man, and in these alone is man seen by the Lord, and through them alone may praise ascend from man to Him. As such praise ascends, it is heard by the Lord as the voice of a child. This is, indeed, perfected praise. It cannot in any way be feigned. It is, of all things, most genuine. There is no self-consciousness in it. It is childlike in its spontaneity; yet it is the product of spiritual experience. It comes from a rounding of life and a return to primitive beginnings, but with no loss of the fruits of a life that has been lived in the fear and worship of the Lord.