:
be done by one man or by many men, involves the belief that the Church is in evil,
or under no internal bond, and that it cannot be held together unless it be held by
external means. Is it not better therefore to have no external bonds, in order that
the Church may be free to disperse if it be in evil, or that it may be held together by
internal bonds, if it be in good? (107)
The Church seems to have lost its internal bond with regard to whether
priests must be male. Is it necessary that the understanding of the priesthood
be held together by external means? Perhaps a new internal bond would form
around our priesthood if we were to ordain women as well as men. On the
other hand, there is the fear that the Church would be in evil if we were to
ordain women as ministers.
Pendleton continues:
A Church, to be spiritual, must be under the laws of the spiritual world, and not
under the laws of the natural world, or laws like those in the natural world; and it
is a law of the spiritual world that the removal of external bonds causes a breaking
up and dispersion of the evil, and a more close drawing together of the good; this is
because there is no internal bond with the evil as with the good. (Arcana Coelestia
1944, 5002) External bonds are removed in the other world because man is not free
until he is held only by internal bonds. (Ibid. 6207)
Perhaps removing the external bond of the policy that women are not
allowed to be priests could lead to a more close drawing together of the good
in our church. If it is indeed evil for women to be priests, it would prove itself
so. In either case, is it not better to hold freedom as our core guiding principle
rather than fear?
The teaching is that the LORD rules the Church by internal bonds when there is
charity, but by external bonds when charity is extinguished. (Arcana Coelestia 1011)
The internal bonds are the truths of faith and of conscience; external bonds are laws
and penalties. External bonds are for those who have no internal bond; and to place
an external bond on the Church is a negative act that involves the assumption or
fear that there is in the Church no internal bond.
External bonds are for the civil state, but the bonds of civil government should
not be introduced into the government of the Church; for the Church is the
LORD’S heaven upon the earth; it must therefore be under heavenly law, and the
bond of heavenly law. Let the bond of the civil law come in where the civil law is
approached, and let external bonds be applied where disorder confessedly exists,
but do not place external bonds on the Church for fear that disorder may exist; to
make fear the motive of action is to distrust Providence; to implant fear and distrust
in the inmost of the government and working of the Church is to inflict a paralysis
on its spiritual activities…If any movement in the Church is of the LORD, He will
protect and save that which is His own, nor does He need the help of man.
No external bond should be placed upon any member or official or part of the
Church; a bond so placed is a bond placed upon the whole Church. You cannot
bind a part without binding the whole. You cannot bind another without binding
167