new church life: jan uary / february 201 4
to distribute in the Ohio Territory.
So convinced was Hester Barclay of the efficacy of the Writings, and their
potential broad-based appeal at that time, she assumed that our dating system
would be based on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, as it was for the First
Advent. Therefore, her tombstone, in Bedford, Pennsylvania, reads: “Here lies
the body of Hester Barclay, Who changed her mode of existence, Early in the
morning on the first day of the week, February 28, 1796-40” – marking the
Second Coming from 1756.
Hester’s fellow traveler, Judge John Young, was instrumental in founding
a New Church congregation on the North Side of Pittsburgh in Allegheny
City. Because that New Church congregation existed, several Swedenborgian
families from Scotland immigrated to Pittsburgh. These families included the
Carnegie family and the Morrison sisters: Annie Aitken, Katherine Hogan
and Margaret Carnegie. Katherine Hogan shared True Christian Religion with
Alexander Pitcairn, who shared it with his brothers Robert and John Sr. John,
his wife and seven children, were all baptized by the Rev. David Powell soon
after their discovery of the New Church in Allegheny City.
If there were no Hester Barclay to share the teachings of the New Church so
eagerly, there may never have been a General Church, a Bryn Athyn Cathedral,
and an Academy – or the publication of New Church Life.
When I go to Church, I am not seeking a scholarly dissertation on some
very fine doctrinal point which will challenge my intellect. Like the two
travelers on the road to Emmaus who encountered the Lord after He had risen,
when the Scriptures are opened to me, I want my heart to burn.
To those who cannot fathom hearing a woman speak to them about the
Scriptures, I ask, have you heard any of the women in question speak recently?
If not, I highly recommend it. It may change your opinion. It sure changed
mine.
Al Lindsay is a lawyer in Sarver, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his
wife, Trish (Waddell). He is a member of the Sower’s Chapel, the New
Church congregation in adjacent Freeport, and has been a member of
the General Church Board of Directors.
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