NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH or NEW CHURCH, the community founded by the followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg (q.v.). Swedenborg himself took no steps to found a church, but having given a new interpretation of Scripture, it was inevitable that those who accepted his doctrine should separate themselves and organize a society in accordance therewith. Those who re ceived them fully during Swedenborg's lifetime were few and scattered, but courageously undertook the task of dissemination, and gave themselves to translating and distributing their mas ter's writings. Two Anglican clergymen were conspicuous in this work: Thomas Hartley (d. 1784), rector of Winwick, and John Clowes (1743-1831), vicar of St. John's, Manchester. Hartley translated Heaven and Hell (1778) and True Christian Religion (I78i); Clowes, who taught New Church doctrine in the existing churches and was opposed to the forming of new organizations, translated 17 volumes, including the Arcana Coelestia, and pub lished over 5o volumes of exposition and defence. Through his influence Lancashire became the stronghold of the Swedenborgians.
The first organised congregation of Swedenborgians met in a church in Great Eastcheap in January 1788; and in April 1789 a General Conference of British Swedenborgians was held in Great Eastcheap Church, followed by another and by the publication of a journal, the New Jerusalem Magazine, in 179o. In the prov inces the first church was at Birmingham (1791), followed by one at Manchester and another at Liverpool (1793). The Accrington church, the largest in Great Britain, was founded in 18o2. Many of the early converts to the New Church were among the most fervent advocates of the abolition of slavery, one was the medical officer of the first batch of convicts sent to Botany Bay.
In 1815 the Conference took up the question of home mis sionary work, and its agents were able to found many branches of the church. In 1813 the Manchester and Salford (now the North of England) Missionary Society was founded, chiefly to provide preachers for the smaller churches in its area; in 1857 a National Missionary Institution was founded and endowed, to which most of the local ones have been affiliated. Other denominational agencies have been concerned with the printing and circulation of Swedenborgian literature, a training college for the ministry (founded in 1852), and a Ministers' Aid Fund (1854), and an Orphanage (1881). The constitution of the New Church is of the Independent Congregational type; the Conference may advise and counsel, but cannot compel the obedience of the societies.
Returns for 1928 showed 7o societies with about 6,30o members.
The New Church in Europe.—In Sweden the Philanthropic Exegetic Society was formed by C. F. Nordenskiold in 1786 to collect documents about Swedenborg and to publish his writings. The introduction of alchemy and mesmerism led to its dissolution in 1789, but its work was continued by the society "Pro fide et charitate," which existed from 1796 to 182o. For many years the works of Swedenborg and his followers were proscribed, and re ceivers of his writings fined or deprived of office, but in 1866, when religious liberty had made progress, the cause was again taken up; in 1875 the society of "Confessors of the New Church" was formed in Stockholm, and propaganda has been carried on in most of the towns of Sweden, as also in Norway and Denmark. In Germany the great name is that of Immanuel Tafel (d. 1863), librarian of Tubingen, who not only edited, translated and pub lished, but in 1848 founded a "Union of the New Church in Ger many and Switzerland" which held quarterly meetings. In Swit zerland, on the contrary, there is an organized body of the New Church. In France about 1838 J. F. E. Le Boys de Guays began his masterly translation of all Swedenborg's theological works; and nearly every European country hds some known adherents.
In America.—About 1784 James Glen, a London Scot, de livered lectures in Philadelphia and Boston and circulated some of Swedenborg's works. Francis Bailey, state printer of Pennsyl vania, was attracted by them and became active in their promulga tion. During the next ten years a number of prominent men gave their support to the teaching, which spread inland and southward.
In Australia, etc.—The formation of societies in Australia began at Adelaide in 1844. Melbourne and Sydney followed in 1854, Brisbane in 1865. New Zealand has a church at Auckland (1883). Mission churches have been established in Japan, the Philippine Islands and British Guiana; and in 1910 David W. Mooki organ ized a Church for the natives of South Africa.
See L. P. Mercer, The New Jerusalem in the World's Religious Con gresses of 1893; Minutes of the General Conference of the New Church (annual) ; Journal of the Annual Session of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America.