The Liturgy of the New Church, Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation: Together with the Forms for the Administration of Baptism and the Holy Supper: and a Catechism for the Use of the New Church. Also, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, by the Rev. Mr. Joseph Proud, Minister of the New Church

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by Emanuel Swedenborg and Joseph Proud

The Liturgy of the New Church
Title not held by The Wolf Law Library
at the College of William & Mary.
  
Author Emanuel Swedenborg and Joseph Proud
Editor
Translator
Published Baltimore: Samuel and John Adams
Date 1792
Edition Fourth
Language English
Volumes volume set
Pages xxi, 342
Desc. Duodecimo (17 cm)

The Reverend Joseph Proud (1745 – 1826), a Baptist minister in England, converted to Swedenborgianism in 1788 and continued preaching for the New Church in Birm­ing­ham, Man­ches­ter, and Lon­don. In 1790 he published a book of original hymns which went through six editions; many of his compositions are still used in Swe­den­bor­gi­an ser­vic­es.[1][2] Officially ordained in the Swedenborgian church in 1791, his career centered primarily in Birmingham where he died in 1826.[3]

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 – 1772) was a Swedish scientist and theologian. In the year 1719, his family was ennobled by the Swedish queen, and the family name changed from Swedberg to Swedenborg.[4] Following a prolific career in the natural sciences and engineering, Swedenborg began having religious visions. Modern scientists postulate that these episodes were the product of epileptic seizures.[5] Nonetheless, while he was always a spiritual person, these visions elicited a crisis which drove Swedenborg into a more mystical phase. During the last 28 years of his life, Swedenborg published 18 works on Christian theology, believing that Christ had appointed him to reform Christianity.[6]

Swedenborg was a divisive figure. While he undeniably possessed scientific prowess, he was only "grudgingly" recognized by the scientific world.[7] This could be because Swedenborg’s scientific thought cannot cleanly be separated from his mysticism.[8] Even those who respected elements of his scientific work often believed he was "otherwise a harmless lunatic."[9] Swedenborg’s religious work was also polarizing. He preached a theory of scripture that emphasized the senses and the hidden messages within biblical texts.[10] His ideas were entirely unique for his time.[11] Yet, while many categorize his contributions as eccentric and abnormal, Swedenborg's influence is found within the works of many respected intellectuals, including Balzac and Baudelaire.[12] Thus, while Swedenborg is recognized as "a central figure in the Western esoteric tradition; he was also crucial to much mainstream Western culture as well."[13]

The Liturgy of the New Church' is credited to both Proud and Swedenborg. The book notes that "The Doctrines contained in the following form of prayer are the Doctrines of the New Church, being taken from the Theological Writings of the Hon. Emanuel Swedenborgh […]".[14] The book contains liturgical instructions, calendars with suggested scriptural readings, and prayers, along with Proud’s commentary on Swedenborgian theology. Proud pays particular attention to the apparent differences in how the New Church and the "Old Church" understand the Trinity. He explains that in the New Church, "God is One both in Essence and in Person, in whom is a Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit".[15] In contrast, Proud argues that the "Old Church" claims to recognize a singular God, but actually treats the Trinity like three separate godheads.[16] This discrepancy between doctrine and practice means, to Proud, that "[...] it is plain, that the Faith of the present or Old Church assumes two Faces, the one internal, and the other external."[17] Proud highlights this perceived difference between the Swedenborgians the traditional Catholic and Protestant religions as evidence of the New Church’s superior integrity and theological prowess.

Notably, a passage in "The Liturgy" includes specific reference to the spread of Swedenborgian ideology in the United States. It reads "[…] may the glorious Truths of the Heavenly Kingdom, at this Day revealed by Means of thy Servant EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, [...] find an ample Reception in the Hearts of all Men. Particularly we pray for the Establishment of thy New Church in these United States."[18] The inclusion of this prayer in Proud’s liturgical structure sheds a light onto why George Wythe may have been interested in Swedenborgian theology.

Whether he was being praised or attacked, Swedenborg was often talked about in early America.[19] A person with an interest in American culture and state-building, such as Wythe, would have reason to study and understand Swedenborg’s ideas. Other famous Virginians, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, either spoke of Swedenborg in their writings or engaged directly with bonified Swedenborgians.[20] As early America navigated the apparent gulf between enlightenment rationality and Christianity, Swedenborg offered an example of a negotiation between these two frameworks of thought.[21] Swedenborg’s name was thus an arena for cultural negotiations as the American political and cultural identity was being officially formed, and any reader who had an express personal interest in the formation of American political and cultural identity would have a reason to pursue an understanding of the Swedenborg debate.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

A 1792 letter from Robert Carter to George Wythe is reprinted in an article by John Whitehead in a Swedenborgian newsletter, the New-Church Messenger (Chicago) from 1917, "The Early History of the New Church in America, VIII." In the letter, dated October 11, 1792, Carter states he is sending Wythe four volumes of Swedenborg's writings: Nine Queries Concerning the Trinity (1786, or 1790), A Short Account of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg and His Theological Writings, by Robert Hindmarsh (1792), The Liturgy of the New Church Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation (1792), and the first volume of True Christian Religion, published in Philadelphia by Francis Bailey, 1789. Carter also mentions Swedenborg's A Treatise Concerning Heaven and Hell (London: W. Chalklen, 1789) being sold by a local merchant in Richmond:[22]

Under a particular Influence I present to you the following Books, viz., the first vol. of the True Christian Religion, 9 Questions concerning the Trinity proposed to E. S. by the Rev. Thos. Hartley, also, His Answers. A short account of the honorable E. S. and His Theological Writings, and the Liturgy of the New Jerusalem Church. The Liturgy is a Production arising from the Baron's Writings; for Societies are established in several of the most principal towns in Great Britain, styled members of the New Jerusalem Church, which was foretold was to be by the Lord, by the Prophet Daniel and the Evangelist John in the Revelation.

It is said that many copies of a Treatise on Heaven and Hell by E. S. were imported by a merchant of Richmond Town, which work communicates much comfort to Believers.

Wythe replied in October, 1792, thanking Carter for the books and stating, he wished "I had power to remunerate your beneficence by sending books to you which would do to you no less good than those handed to me by Mr. Dawson ought in your opinion to do to me."[23] Swedenborg's works do not appear in Thomas Jefferson's inventory of books received from Wythe's estate after his death in 1806. Wythe may not have kept the four books gifted from Carter, giving them away or otherwise disposing of them. To date, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to locate a copy of The Liturgy of the New Church.

See also

References

External Links

  1. ↑ Alexander Gordon, "Proud, Joseph." The Dictionary Of National Biography, Sidney Lee, ed. (London: Smith, Elder, 1896), 422-423.
  2. ↑ Hymns and Spiritual Songs: For the Use of the Lord's New Church, Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation (London: Printed and sold by R. Hindmarsh, 1790).
  3. ↑ Lineham, Peter J. "Proud, Joseph (1745–1826)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 3 Oct. 2025.
  4. ↑ Elizabeth Foote-Smith and Timothy J. Smith, "Emanuel Swedenborg," Epilepsia 37, no. 2 (1996): 211.
  5. ↑ Foote-Smith and Smith, "Emanuel Swedenborg," 212.
  6. ↑ Alexander James Grieve, "Swedenborg, Emanuel." Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 26, Hugh Chisholm, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911), 221-223.
  7. ↑ O.B. Frothingham, "Swedenborg," The North American Review 134, no. 307, (1882): 600.
  8. ↑ Frothingham, "Swedenborg," 601.
  9. ↑ Frothingham, "Swedenborg," 601.
  10. ↑ Frothingham, "Swedenborg," 605.
  11. ↑ Frothingham, "Swedenborg," 604.
  12. ↑ Gary Lachman, Swedenborg: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas (Penguin, 2012), xvii.
  13. ↑ Lachman, Swedenborg, xvii.
  14. ↑ Joseph Proud and Emanuel Swedenborg, The Liturgy of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation. Together with the forms for the administration of baptism and the Holy Supper: and a catechism for the use of the New Church. Also, hymns and spiritual songs (Baltimore: Samuel and John Adams, 1792), iii.
  15. ↑ Proud and Swedenborg, The Liturgy of the New Church, iv.
  16. ↑ Proud and Swedenborg, The Liturgy of the New Church, vi-vii.
  17. ↑ Proud and Swedenborg, The Liturgy of the New Church, vii.
  18. ↑ Proud and Swedenborg, The Liturgy of the New Church, 37.
  19. ↑ Sahalie Saecker Hashim, "Swedenborg in the Early American Republic: Popular and Intellectual Responses to the Doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg, 1784-1817" (PhD diss., University of Texas Dallas, 2020), 3.
  20. ↑ Hashim, "Swedenborg," 3.
  21. ↑ Hashim, "Swedenborg," 10-11.
  22. ↑ Robert Carter to George Wythe, October 11, 1792. Reprinted in John Whitehead, "The Early History of the New Church in America, VIII," New-Church Messenger (Chicago) 112, no. 10 (March 17, 1917), 186-187.
  23. ↑ George Wythe to Robert Carter, October 17, 1792, in Library & Archives, Maine Historical Society.
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