The Radical Reformation Tradition: Anabaptists, English Separatists ...

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116 Divergent Riversof the evils which come from hell, and faith in the Lord, bring aboutregeneration.53Swedenborg believed that regeneration is signified in heaven by white and purpleclothing. He concluded his treatment of baptism with experiences of his heavenlyconversations or revelations.Swedenborg spoke of a New Church, but he did not found a New Church. Thosewho met to read and discuss his writings called themselves 'The TheosophicalSociety' .54 Some of those who were persuaded by his writings, such as John Clowes,Rector of St John's Church, Deansgate, Manchester, believed that they should remainwithin their own churches and by preaching let the New Church truth permeate. Otherssuch as James and Robert Hindmarsh, who were Methodists, believed that aseparate,visible New Church should be founded, and did so. James Hindmarsh had been aschoolmaster at Kingswood School and was commissioned by John Wesley as a laypreacher. His son Robert was a printer living in London, and was printer to the King.In 1787 the 'separation' group met, and after Communion James Hindmarsh baptizedfive others, including Robert, into the New Church. Robert Hindmarsh recorded:Tuesday, 31 July 1787, met at No. 6, in the Poultry, at Wright's.Those present participated in acelebration of the Holy Supper at which JamesHindmarsh was selected by lot to officiate. After Holy Supper, Robert Hindmarshwas called, and the Faith of the New Haven and New Church, from EmanuelSwedenborg's Universal Theology, being read to hirn, he was questioned whetherhe firmly believed the same, and was desirous of being Baptised into that Faith.On his answering in the affirmative, he was marked with the sign of the Cross onhis Forehead and Breast, and baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son,and of the Holy Ghost. 55It is interesting that the signing is the one outlined by Swedenborg from his experienceof the Swedish Lutheran baptismal rite.James Hindmarsh became the first minister of the New Church in Great East Cheapin January 1788, but later the congregation chose Robert as first ordained priest ofthe New Church. Robert then ordained his father James and Samuel Smith. In April1789 the first General Conference was held. Resolution XXII of the first GeneralConference stated:Resolved Unanimously: That it is the Opinion of this Conference, that as Baptismin the Old Church is a Baptism into the Faith ofThree Gods ... so Baptism in theNew Church, being a Baptism into the Faith of the One God ... is highly necessary,inasmuch as the Person baptized thereby takes upon hirn the Badge and Professionof genuine Christianity, and is at the same time inserted among Christians in theSpiritual World.53 Ibid., p. 726.54 See Duckworth, A Branching Tree, pp. 48-9. It has no connection with the Theosophical Societyfounded by Madame Blavatsky in 1875.55 Robert Hindmarsh, The Rise and Progress of Ehe New Jerusalem Church, Hodson & Son, London,1861, p. 58.
Some New Churches ofthe 18th and 19th Centuries117It is therefore recommended to aB who desire to become Members of the NewJerusalem Church, to be baptized, both themselves and their Children, in the Faithof that Church; and in case [hey have already been baptized in the faith of the OldChurch, to be re-baptized in the Faith of the New. S6Whether to insist on rebaptism, or simply to encourage it but not insist upon it, wasa subject of discussion at a number of succeeding General Conferences, and the latterbecame the practice.The tradition al triune formula was not questioned, but rather the understanding inthe 'Old Church' of three persons of God, which sounded like 'the Faith of ThreeGods' Y We also note that at the Third General Conference of 1791, ministerial dresswas suggested, consisting of a purple cassock with gold cord and a white surplice,two of the colours Swedenborg linked with the regenerate in Heaven.The Minutes of the Second General Conference of April 1790 refer to 'the Formsfor the Administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper', which were read, correctedand passed unanimously. Indeed, The Liturgy ofthe New Church signijied by the Newlerusalem in the Revelation was printed by Robert Hindmarsh in 1790, with apparentlythree editions. a fourth in 1791, and a fifth in 1797 for use at Cross Street, HattonGarden, where Hindmarsh's congregation had relocated. However, when The Liturgyofthe Lord's New Church, (signijied by the New lerusalem in the Revelation)formedupon the plan ofthat ofthe Church ofEngland (Manchester, 1793) and The Order ofWorship of the Society of the New Church (signijied by the New lerusalem in theRevelation) Meeting in Red Cross Street, near Barbican (London, 1794), are comparedwith one another and with Hindmarsh' s rites, it appears that in the 1790s the rites werefluid and the text was not uniform. This may be direct1y reiated to the fact that therewas for a while a split between Hindmarsh and other London ministers. 58The baptismal rite in the 1790 third edition ofHindmarsh's work began with a rubricdirecting that a basin of water is placed on the table, and the minister begins with theLord's Prayer. An exordium followed wh ich unfolded the three uses of baptismoutlined in Swedenborg's The True Christian Religion, including a reference toguardian angels. It concluded thus:Now, whereas these three Uses follow each other in Order, and join with eachother in the ultimate or last Use, and consequently in the Idea of Angels coheretogether as one, therefore whensoever Baptism is performed, or read in the Word,or named, the Angels who are present do not understand Baptism, butRegeneration. Wherefore by these Words of the Lord, 'Whosoever believeth, andis baptized, shall be saved,' is understood by the Angels in Heaven, that whosoeveracknowledgeth the Lord, and is regenerated, will be saved. Be it known thereforeto every Christian, that whosoever doth not believe on the Lord, and keep his56 I am indebted to the Revd Norman Ryder for the extracts from the General Conference minutes.57 For the late seventeenth and eighteenth-cenlury (mis)underslanding of the c1assical Trinitarian term'person', see Philip Dixon, Nice und Hot Disputes. The Doctrine ofthe Trinity in the Seventeenth Century,Continuum, New York, 2003.58 See Duckworth, ABranching Tree, for details.
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