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TESTIMONY OF THE CELEBRATED OBERLIN. 119
of God, and to purchase articles of clothing, and implements of use for those
who were destitute, and not able to work for the want of necessary means
:
these facts, I repeat, when considered in connexion with the general exemption
from vice and crime, were striking proofs of something hke that genuine spirit
of Christianity, which has seldom been witnessed upon earth, but which, as the
New Jerusalem Church advances, will not be so great a stranger amongst men.
" From seeing, as explained by Swedenborg, that the Lord’s kingdom is a
kingdom of uses, Oberlin resolved all the exertions and operations of his life
into one element
—
use. He taught his people, that to be useful, and to shun all
evil as sin against the Lord, in being useful, is the truly heavenly life. On this
account, when his flock assembled in the church on the week-day, to hear from
their beloved pastor some instructive and edifying discourse, the females brought
with them their knifting, needlework, and platting, and thus worked with their
hands, whilst their minds were being instructed in various kinds of useful know-
ledge. His discourse on some week-day evening was not exclusively theologi-
cal and religious, although religion was blended with everything he said ; but
it frequently conveyed some eminently practical ideas on the various useful arts
of common life. These useful ideas on the concerns of ordinary life were
always connected with something heavenly, and ascribed to the goodness of
our heavenly Father; in this manner Oberlin connected the concerns of earth
with the realities of heaven, and brought down a celestial influence into the
common duties of life.
" The day after my arrival was the Sabbath, and I anticipated much pleasure
in hearing the venerable pastor address his flock. He preached in French ; his
discourse was characterised by simplicity and warmth. He almost invariably
called Jesus his heavenly Father, which struck many as a peculiarity not com-
mon with Christians in general, but I well knew how he had contracted this habit
of addressmg the object of his supreme love and worship. From the work On
Heaven and Hell, he had clearly seen, that no other is acknowledged throughout
heaven as the Divine Father than the Lord Jesus Christ alone, for ’ he that seeth
him seeth the Father.’ The church was full, and humility and devotion seemed
impressed upon every countenance. He addressed them like a father addressing
his children, and often called them his chers enfants,—his beloved children. He
said he had baptized nearly all of them, and, as infants, had taken them in his
arms ; and they, when the service was over, assembled around him, and called
him papa, inquiring after the health of himself and his family. They also testi-
fied their regard and their gratitude by sending him various presents—the first
flowers of the spring, the first vegetables and fruits of the garden, were present-
ed to the beloved pastor, thus reciprocating the sweetest affections of the mind
by external emblems of gratitude and love. How delightful, 1 thought, it is to
be a pastor, when this sweet spirit of reciprocation exists ! where the minister,
in his anxiety and labor to perform the arduous duties of his ofiice, is soothed
and strengthened, not only by the consciousness, depending on divine mercy
and assistance, of having endeavored to do what he could for the instruction and
salvation of his flock, but by the sweet reciprocation of acknowledgment and
afiection.
" I afterwards was eager to embrace the opportunity of enjoymg some con-
versation with Oberlin on the spiritual sense of the Word. But in this matter
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