INTELLIGENCE FROM THE EAST INDIES.

TO THE EDITOR.

DEAR SIR,-The following interesting communication, lately received here, is of a nature, I am sure, to excite the sympathy and interest of all friends of the New Church. It is truly a 66 cry from the isles." The mind of the writer seems to be in a state of anxious longing for truth. If his longing be gratified, as I doubt not it will be,-and he become a full and intelligent receiver of the doctrines, who can tell what a vast field is about to open for the spread of the glorious truths of the New Dispensation in the wide East? The letter is offered for insertion in the Repository, both as an item of intelligence interesting to the members of the church, and because its insertion, by making known the wants of these new inquirers, may result in their being aided through other channels, in addition to the communication which will be sent from here, in answer. Very truly, yours,

T. O. PRESCOTT. Glasgow, April 18th, 1850.

"To the Pastor of the New Jerusalem

Church, Glasgow.

"Secrole, Benares, Jan. 27th, 1850. "MY DEAR SIR,-Of late I have thought much on the Christian religion, and the more I look into the proofs advanced by your church to prove that her doctrines are consonant to Scripture and reason, the more am I convinced that she is the only true church now in being; and that there are none of the multifarious creeds that have, like baleful weeds, overspread the Christian world, so based on reason and revelation, as the creed of the New Jerusalem Church. It is, however, but recently that I heard of your church, and I know of no one here that has fully espoused your peculiar views of gospel truth. None of your religious publications are procurable here, nor are any of them in circulation. I saw, some months ago, a series of tracts written by the adherents of Swedenborg, and from this series I have learnt all I know relative to your church. I have been in the Bengal army for the last ten years and better, during which time I have been a member of the Baptist Church. I am, however, now very anxious to know more concerning the

New Jerusalem Church, and should feel greatly and perpetually obliged, if you would favour me with an epistolary communication, setting forth, in some measure, the constitution of your church, &c. The little which I have heard respecting her doctrines, has been to me very delightful; and the very thing which I and thousands more have long desired and panted after, your church is in possession of, viz., an infallible mode of elucidating and making perspicuous the many recondite and too long inexplicable portions of the Inspired Oracles. I wish I had some of Swedenborg's theological writings. There are two or three others here that have seen the tracts before alluded to, who are very desirous of knowing more regarding the doctrines treated of and vindicated in the series of tracts.

"But what are we to do? There is nobody here from whom we can get information or advice, and we cannot procure any of your religious publications, or doctrinal or expository writings, unless we send to England, which would unavoidably be attended with an expense which we could not well meet.

"I have given up the thought of ever again belonging to the Baptist Church, and if I don't receive more light on the doctrines taught by your church, it is questionable whether I shall ever unite myself to any body; for since I read the series of tracts, every church (except yours) seems to me to be amply involved in the dense mists and thick darkness of error and superstition.

You

"I trust you will excuse the troublous task I am imposing on you, and I hope you will not deem me incongruous or rude for thus venturing to bring myself to your notice. You and I are perfect strangers, but I hope we are known to God. know better than I do the inestimable value of an immortal soul! And this knowledge, I ween, if nothing else does, will prompt you to afford me all the information I stand in need of, and all the instruction which my present position demands. My mind (and my wife's mind too) has been quite upset, and I don't know what to believe or disbelieve, and am altogether, as I said before, without a friend to direct or instruct me; which circumstance has induced me to write to you, with the hope that you will with alacrity and promptitude respond to my

epistle. I am ignorant of your name, and merely know the locality of your church at Glasgow.

66

'A lengthy epistle, or anything else from you, setting forth your views and the reasons and proofs you adduce for their reception by all, would to me and others be highly acceptable and duly appreciated. Trusting you will reply quickly, and excuse this briefly and hurriedly written letter, I remain, dear Sir,

"Yours in Christian love,
"T. M'GONAGALL.

"Address me as below:
"To Thomas M'Gonagall, School
Master Sergeant, 5th Battalion
Artillery, Secrole, Benares,
Bengal, East Indies."

THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW CHURCH IN THE WEST INDIES.

(From the January number of the American "New Church Repository," edited by Professor Bush.)

In accordance with the request of several of our friends, I proceed to give a brief statement of some incidents which have occurred during my late visit to the Danish West India Islands, relative to the promulgation of the heavenly doctrines, chiefly by means of an extensive distribution of tracts.

Having become acquainted with Mr. J. J. C, who is secretary and chief manager of the St. Thomas Insurance Company, I was invited to visit his house, where resided also his three sisters. I introduced the subject of the doctrines of Swedenborg, which attracted considerable attention and discussion, and even opposition, as all the family were warmly attached to the Church of England. They had also been all liberally educated in the first schools in England. After frequent visits to this family, and repeated discussions of the doctrines, their opposition gradually gave way. The doctrine of Correspondences, and of the spiritual sense of the Word, which form so prominent a part in the New Theology, were the first things admitted by my friend C-, although his sisters were not, as yet, enabled clearly to perceive them.

Soon after this, I left St. Thomas for Martinique, and, while there, was much pleased by the receipt of a letter from him, announcing, in terms of thankfulness to the Lord, the change which had taken place in his theological views, and that he had reason to think that a similar

change was progressing in the minds of his sisters, who, he said, he was glad to observe were reading the writings of Swedenborg with the greatest interest. On my return to St. Thomas, about four months afterwards, I was delighted to find that all the family, except one, had become full receivers of the New Church verities; they would no longer tell me, in the cold phraseology of those who have not yet looked beyond the surface, that they liked some things in the writings very well, but there were other things they could not agree with. It pleased the Lord so to open their understandings, that they were enabled to see, in the light of truth, the beautiful order, harmony, and arrangement of the entire system of E. S.'s Theology combined with his Philosophy.

As I had providentially been the instrument employed in calling their first attention thereto, they received me with the most cordial marks of esteem, and declared that the happiest event of their life was that which gave them the knowledge and perception of the great truths of the New Dispensation. I was overwhelmed with their expressions of gratitude to me, while they expressed their thankfulness to the Lord for having bestowed upon them such great heavenly riches, as far surpassed all worldly wealth and grandeur. As an instance of the warmth of Mr. C's gratitude, I may mention, that upon my requesting of him to take charge of part of my baggage, until my return to St Thomas, he replied, "You can command us in everything; all is at your disposal; we are all your children."

The father of this worthy family (who is a widower) was at first much shocked at the change which had taken place in the religious views of his children. He rebuked them for leaving the religion of their forefathers (for which they had been such strong advocates), and told them they might as well turn Methodists, as become Swedenborgians; but he was at length induced to listen to their reading of the works, and by degrees was as completely changed as they had been, by the power of spiritual truth. Now he spends much of his time in distributing New Church tracts.

A change so great in the views of a whole family, who had contributed largely to the support of the episcopal minister, did not long escape his notice. Several energetic but unavailing discussions took place between him and them, each with

the hope of changing the opinions of the other, when the minister, finding that others of his congregation were also somewhat affected by what he was induced to consider as a heresy, made it a subject for his pulpit, and delivered three consecutive discourses, warning his hearers against all visionary doctrines, and particularly denying the spiritual sense of the Word, and allirming that "the plain and obvious literal sense 99 was that alone which could be admitted in the orthodox church.

It may not be amiss to mention, that on the day of my departure from St. Thomas, Mr. C― strongly urged me to endea vour to persuade some New Church Minister to pay him a visit; on my replying that no one would be likely to come unless he were an invalid, he replied "Any one who would come, should be at no expense whatever, as his house should be his home."

In St.Thomas there are fifteen or twenty persons who are more or less receivers of the doctrines. About six months before I left St. Thomas, I gave to a young man there (who was s compositor in the printing office) about a dozen tracts for his own reading, as he said he had heard of the New Church, and wished to know what the doctrines were. On my return from Santa Cruz, three months after, I was glad to learn that he had become a full and ardent receiver, and applied to me for more tracts, saying he had lent out the others, with a prospect of good success. I supplied him liberally with such as he had not yet received.

He begged me also to lend him some larger work on the doctrines, and I presented him with Barrett's Lectures. Three months after, just before my departure, he applied to me for a further supply of tracts, stating that he had lent them all out, and, said he, "I am sure I have made six converts for you, and am pretty sure of two others." He further observed that the new converts disliked any longer to attend the place of their former worship (Lutheran Church), and that they and some others, about a dozen, met together at a private house every Sunday, to talk over the doctrines, and to hear him read one of Barrett's Lectures. You will probably be surprised when I tell you, that this young man and his converts are all coloured persons, who are many of them well educated, and good moral people, and by no means so degraded a race in the West Indies as they are in the United

States. But the term coloured there does not include blacks, as it does here. Blacks, or negroes, are generally uneducated, and I do not know of one that has any knowledge of the New Church doctrines, though I know of about thirty coloured receivers in St. Thomas and Santa Cruz, which includes the greater part of them, say about thirty-five. In Santa Cruz the receivers number about forty-five, of whom about one-half are coloured, and they mostly reside in the town of Bassin or Christianstead, which is the capital of the island. One of the white receivers is a minister of the Established Church (Lutheran); another is the collector of the customhouse, and two others are eminent physicians. Several are employed in the government offices. One is the American Consul, Mr. D. R—, formerly an extensive merchant of New York.

Among the most remarkable cases in Santa Cruz, was that of Miss J. B——, a very exemplary, pious, and well informed person, to whom I gave a number of the most important tracts, and afterwards presented to her the work on Heaven and Hell, which she highly esteemed.

*

*

In Santa Cruz I met with the Rev. J. M. Pease, employed as minister of the Bethel Church, by the "American Seaman's Friend Society." I gave him a number of tracts, with which he appeared to be much pleased; and as he expressed a desire to read some of E. S.'s own writings, I gave him a copy of the Apocalypse Revealed, and one of the N. J. and H. D., also Goyder's Key to Knowledge, which he promised to read on the passage from St. Thomas to New York, to which place he was on the point of starting. To the Rev. Mr. Moore, of the Episcopal Church at Santa Cruz, I also gave a number of tracts, and some of E. S.'s works, in which he appeared to take great interest. Mr. F. C. Beckett, of Santa Cruz, had loaned to him some tracts which I had given to another gentleman for distribution, among them one on the Trinity, which he acknowledged enabled him to understand the true doctrine of the unity of the Godhead. I had a conversation with him on this doctrine-on the Atonement, Correspondences, &c., which having excited in him a great desire to become more fully acquainted with the doctrines, particularly correspondences, I presented him with Noble's Appeal, Dictionary of Correspondences, and Goyder's Key to Knowledge, and I never knew any person read with

more avidity, or more quickly appreciate the great truths he had acquired; and no one could be more anxious to impart to others the spiritual riches which had fallen to his lot; he went among all his friends and neighbours, letting them know that he had found the lost piece of silver-showing it to them, and calling upon them to rejoice with him, "that he had found that which was lost."

I gave also some tracts to a Mrs. H-, of Santa Cruz, who appeared to be in a very receptive state-one tract in particular (a London Tract), on "The Life after Death," seemed to be greatly valued by her. In speaking to another lady on the subject, she said that I had given her some N. C. Tracts, which explained the doctrines of Christianity in so clear and satisfactory a manner, that she had never before seen anything like them-particularly one on the "Life after Death," was most delightful: "Oh!" she said, "if you were to read that, you'd want to die!"

Just before leaving St. Thomas, I met with a gentleman recently from one of the English W. I. Islands, to whom I gave some tracts and a copy of the "Documents," with which he was much delighted, saying that he had refused to attend any of the places of worship of the different denominations of the Old Church, finding nothing satisfactory in their doctrines or worship. Previously I met with a portrait painter and his wife, who had been some time from England; they were nominally Episcopalians, but, not satisfied with such contradictory doctrines, received with the utmost delight the various tracts I gave them, which they read with avidity, and as fast as they read, admitted the great truths inculcated; the Trinity was the first, then The Atonement, The Life after Death, The Second Coming, The Spiritual Sense of the Word, and the Doctrine of Correspondences-all were fully admitted and esteemed as the essential truths of the Lord's second coming.

My friend Mr. V. K- and myself. conjointly ordered from Mr. Clapp, of Boston, 100 dozen of the London, Manchester, and Boston Tracts, together with some smaller works of E. S., which were nearly all distributed in little better than a year in St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. Mr. K. and Mr. C. were indefatigable in spreading a knowledge of the truth, and more particularly in St. Thomas.

Two of the principal supporters of the New Church doctrines in Santa Cruz have

recently departed to the spiritual world, viz., Mr. A. C. Birch and Judge C. Kierulff, whose loss has been severely felt by the receivers of the heavenly doctrines there. The former of these brethren, five or six years ago, distributed gratuitously about six hundred tracts, and kept the principal works for sale, which may be considered as the commencement of the New Church in that island, although Mr. K. was, I believe, the first to introduce the doctrines into either of the islands above mentioned. His deceased brother, C. K., was also strenuous in his endeavours to disseminate the doctrines. At his house, in June, 1845, was held the first public meeting ever convened in Santa Cruz for the worship of JehovahJesus. The receivers amounted to eleven persons, including myself, upon which occasion I was called upon to read a sermon and conduct the service, which was in accordance with the New Church Liturgy of the English Conference.

E. B.

PROPOSAL RESPECTING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE HOLY SUpper.

TO THE EDITOR.

DEAR SIR,-I have for a long time been of opinion that the time and manner of dispensing the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the New Church might be improved, and be the means of materially increasing the uses of that most holy portion of our services. At present, I believe, it is administered in most, if not in all the societies, after the morning service. This seems to be one of the forms which we have slavishly copied from the Church of England; and as in that church it has become a form attended to merely as a duty, without which your faith cannot be seen as complete, and thus has become devoid of that living use which it was intended by our Lord it should be productive of, I am afraid that the same dead formality has been introduced into the New Church, and is one of the causes of the very cool state of the church at the present time.

I would therefore suggest for the consideration of the members, that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper should not be administered as a mere appendage to the morning services, but that it should be made a distinct service either in the afternoon or evening; that it should be peculiarly a meeting of the

form societies and individuals that there is no necessity for their continuing subscriptions for the benefit of any particular individual, as the whole is now merged into the "Fund for the Relief of Incapacitated Ministers and the Widows of Ministers," as may be seen by the present list of contributions.*

4th. That this meeting do, at its next meeting in May, consider and prepare, for the guidance of the Conference, a series of recommendations in reference to the distribution of the fund.

The meeting was then adjourned until the 15th of May.

Treasurer.

Mr. Thomas F. Salter, 24, Aldgate within, London.

Committee.

Mr. Henry Butter, 48, Cloudesley terrace, Islington.

"George Chambers, 22, St. Dunstan's hill, City.

"Saml. Dean,The Gothic, Kentish Town. "Alfred Essex, 22, Crawford-street. "Richard Mosley, Hornsey-road. "William Prowse, 48, Cheapside. "Thomas Watson, secretary, 4, Highbury orescent, Islington.

NOTICE. HYMN TUNES P. M. - An eminent professor of music-a warm recipient of the New Church doctrines, who is anxious that the societies of the New Church should possess suitable tunes for the various peculiar metres with which our admirable Hymn Book abounds; hereby offers to supply gratuitously such as may be required, on application by letter, addressed "O. S. C., care of Mr. Sheldon, chemist, Vauxhall Road, Liverpool."

THE TWENTY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW CHURCH MISSIONARY AND TRACT SOCIETY is fixed to be held at the Church in Argyle Square, London, on Wednesday, May the 8th. The Rev. A. Clissold has kindly consented to take the chair, at seven o'clock precisely. Tea and coffee will be provided in the school-room at half-past five o'clock; tickets for which (one shilling each) may be had of any

*Extract from Letter from the Bath Society.

"The plan carried into effect by the London societies, as stated in the March number of the 'Intellectual Repository,' is the only satisfactory way that money ought to be given to an individual. * * * I intended to suggest, through the medium of the Intellectual Repository' for April, that a committee be appointed in London, to carry the above into effect; but I was pleased to find that others had taken up the subject before me."