the doctrines of the New Church. She was also one of those who well knew that a society cannot prosper in its heavenly usefulness to mankind, unless each and all of its members take an active part in their own peculiar sphere and operation of life, in performing those uses which tend to promote the extension of the truth, and the effective usefulness and prosperity of the society to which they belong. Thus for many years she was an active member of the ladies' association in promoting uses connected with the society, both in the Sunday school and in the tract and missionary institution. Her removal was unexpected and sudden. We sympathize with her pious and amiable husband in his trying bereavement; but we must be resigned to an all-merciful Providence, who, in all His dispensations, however dark the valley may be in which they are experienced, ever contemplates eternal ends-the everlasting good and happiness of his people. On the 30th October, departed this life, Mr. Faulkner, of London, aged sixtyfour years, one of the most distinguished artists of his country. By none has the solemn event been more acutely felt than by the Rev. S. Noble, an intimate and mutual attachment having existed between them for many years. Our departed friend, previous to his becoming a member of the Cross-street society, was attached to the Methodists, but could never understand, or inwardly digest, certain doctrines commonly taught by their preachers, such as "justification by faith alone," "imputed righteousness," &c. About twenty-six years ago, being on a visit at Manchester, Mr. F. providentially came in contact with the late Rev. Mr. Jones (professionally), and entered into a friendly conversation with him on the doctrines taught in the New Church, from which conversation he received his first impressions of the truth, which, by subsequently reading the writings of the Church, gradually ripened into sober conviction and rational confirmation. About twenty-five years ago he attached himself to the New Church, and became associated with the Cross-street society, of which he was a most worthy and useful member, as is testified by all who knew him. His gratuitous services for many years as an organist in that church, and with no common degree of proficiency, has been highly appreciated by the congregation assembling in that place of worship. By his active exertions a subscription was carried out, and donations raised, to the amount of £200. for the purchase of a new organ, the one now used at Cross-street, an instrument of great musical power, and capable of producing the finest tones, with the most delightful harmony of sweet sounds. To this he also liberally subscribed. The more immediate origin of the complaint of the deceased, was a severe cold taken on his return home from a long journey, which affected and at length produced inflammation of the lungs, followed by the rupture of a blood vessel which brought on extreme debility; and finally, a total prostration of physical health and strength. Change of locality and every other expedient which medical men could suggest as beneficial, was resorted to without any permanent advantage. In this weak and uncertain state of health, he lingered many months, and suffered much, but patiently. At length the complaint returned with redoubled violence; and the last paroxysm, in which a copious discharge from the lungs was emitted, terminated his existence in this world of nature. In a state of exhaustion he reclined backwards in his chair, and in a few minutes closed his eyes in death as in a sleep. And it may be added, that in a corresponding composed state of spirit he departed, and has entered the eternal world with the renewed energies of a' renovated mind, like a strong man refreshed on awaking out of sleep. He has exchanged the music of earth for the choruses of heaven, the rapturous songs of 'an innumerable company of angels." 66 "There ever wilt thou rest, Admired, beloved-their brother and their guest. See yon immortal towers their gates unfold, With rubies flaming, and no earthly gold. There joys, before unknown, thy steps invite Bliss without care, and morn without a night." A funeral discourse on the event was delivered at Cross-strect by the assistant minister. J. C. Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester. His Theory of the Starry Heavens, both visible and invisible, wonderfully confirmed by the two Herschels, Mädler, Humboldt, Bessel, Lagrange, Mossotti, and others. [Continued from page 19.] CASE II. Translatory Motion of the Stars along the Milky Way. OUR former article had a special reference to the structure of the sidereal heavens, and the theoretical discovery of the situation therein of our solar system. We also endeavoured to explain, that so far as appearances go, this situation and structure agree with geometrical principles on the part of Swedenborg, and with perspective on the part of Herschel. In this article we shall endeavour to show that both geometry, dynamics, and perspective verify this structure, also the position of our solar system therein, and of Swedenborg's theory of the translation of all its starry constituents along the stream of the milky way. Two centuries ago, astronomers everywhere believed the stars maintained the same invariable positions and relative distances from each other, excepting five stars only; the former were therefore termed fixed stars, and the latter planets or wanderers. They were so called, because they were seen invariably wandering and wending their way amongst the stars of the zodiac; therefore, constantly shifting their position. The difference in their nature, from the fixed stars, was discovered from their orbital fluxion round the sun. After the telescope was invented, and applied to astronomical purposes, observers became suspicious, N. S. No. 122.-VOL. XI. D throwing out hints that even some of the fixed stars had a proper motion of their own, though almost imperceptible. They had observed their periodic variability-the regular recurrence of the same phenomenon in the same times, and with the same star; and this singular fact gradually but strongly impressed them with the belief, that the mysterious cause lay deeply hid, either in the axillary or else in the orbital motion of the star itself, or of some dark intervening body. The phenomenon consisted in the regular periodical increase and diminution of lustre. The resolute determination of astronomers to test these conjectures, led to the actual observation of a translatory or local motion of certain stars, and ultimately of the whole starry heaven. Dr. Halley, Lemonnier, Cassini, Goodricke, Mayer, La Lande, Argelander, Pond, Herschel, Bradley, Michell, Lambert, and others, by their theoretical suggestions, computations, and discoveries, gradually prepared the mind for those grander revelations which, under the name of sidereal astronomy, are, without doubt, the mightiest wonders ever beheld by the eye of man, and their discovery the mightiest achievement of his genius. The particular fact, leading to these splendid results, was the discovery of the sun's translatory motion amongst the stars. This striking fact, first distinctly observed by Sir W. Herschel, has now received instrumental demonstration. The perfection of our astronomical instruments of measurement, the admirable exactitude and extreme nicety with which they can be used, on account of considerable improvements in the art of observing, have enabled us to reduce our advance towards remote stars, in the opposite region of the heavens, to visual perceptibility, like an approximation towards remote objects in apparent motion on a distant shore. As stated in our former article, Bessel, the Konigsberg astronomer, has solved the grand problem of stellar remoteness. His investigations were made upon the star 61 Cygni in the wing of the Swan; they commenced in the year 1834, and were completed in 1838; and, during the whole of this period, he ordinarily took observations sixteen times every night. At length the long-sought for desideratum-the determination of the annular parallax of a star, was complete. He gives it = 0".3136, or somewhat less than one-third of a second,* which places this star at the astonishing distance from us of 657,700 times the radius of the earth's orbit, or nearly 624 billions of miles. The distance is obtained *Bessel. Schum. Jahrb. 1839, s. 47; and Schum. 401, 402, where the probable mean error is given Heavens, p. 80. Astron. Nachr., bd. xviii., s. 0.0141; also Dick's Sidereal as follows:-When the angle or parallax is secured, the distance of the star is then determined by an easy process in trigonometry, thus: : Radius: sine of the angle: : diameter of the earth's orbit : distance of the star. The parallaxes and distances of 35 stars, ascertained by M. Peters, and of two other stars, have been most satisfactorily completed within the last few years. The measurements by Maclear, Meadows, and Henderson, of the double star in Centauri,* were completed in 1840, with a probable mean error of only 0".0640, and those by Professor Struve in 1842.† From these distinct and perfectly independent measurements, it appears there is now the possibility of actually measuring the velocity and direction of our solar system amongst the stars, and of the stars in their progressions along the milky way. Bessel informs us, that from his measurement of the relative velocity of our solar system and the star 61 Cygni, after allowing each its proper motion, there will be a velocity, for our planetary system in space, of nearly 3 millions of miles in one day (3,336,000), which is rather more than double the earth's velocity in its orbit in the same time, or about 2,316 miles per minute. The direction in which the system is moving is also mathematically defined. We have given its velocity, we will now give its direction in the sidereal heavens. From a comparison of Professor Struve's measurements with the admirable and exact researches of Argelander, we have the mean direction of the sun's motion = 259° 9′ R. A. + 34° 36′ Decl. The calculations of Sir W. Herschel, and of four of the most eminent astronomers, concur in establishing this direction from the stars of the northern hemisphere; and it has further been confirmed by the researches of Galloway, who came to the same conclusion from the proper motions of the stars in the southern hemisphere. The parallaxes of 35 stars, ascertained by M. Peters, give the same direction. We are, therefore, moving in a direction towards a point in the constellation of Hercules. To these proofs we may add one of our own, equally as decisive as the foregoing, and grounded on our situation in the sidereal stratum, as explained in our former article. We are located nearer to the southern side of the milky ring than to the northern, or, as Herschel states it, we are nearer to the constellation of the Cross than to the point * Maclear, Results from 1839 to 1840, Trans. Astron. Soc., vol. xii., p. 370; also Henderson and Lieut. Meadows, Monthly Notices, 1842, vol. v., p. 223. + Struve. Bulletin of Acad. of St. Petersburgh, 1842, t. x. No. 9, pp. 137-139. Argelander. Schum. Astron. No. 363-4,398; also his Treatise, On the Proper Motion of the Solar System, 1837, s. 43. diametrically opposite." Our system being, therefore, just in the act of streaming from the internal edge of the starry ring, into the empty space within the ring, must move in a tangent to the milky circle, drawn from the point in the internal edge of the ring from which it is now departing. This clearly must be the case from the known laws of curvilinear motion. Granting these data, if we start from the point of deflection, or the constellation of the Cross, and from thence draw a tangent to the revolving circle of the milky zone through its interior, then, on a slight inspection we shall discover, that the tangent cannot be directed otherwise than towards the northern hemisphere, and, by tracing it to the point of intersection in that hemisphere, it will be seen to pass direct through the constellation Hercules. If, therefore, the solar system be deflected within the starry ring (in the manner supposed by astronomers, or inflected, as affirmed by Swedenborg, in the form of a stream from the galaxy), from the Cross, it must pass, as we have described, nearly along the line of the tangent towards Hercules. Now this proof is simple, and the result, compared with those previously given, must be regarded as a remarkable coincidence. Possibly the reader will here be inclined to ask-Of what use are these measurements of parallaxes and distances of stars, and of the velocity and direction of our solar system? What have they to do with the Principia of Swedenborg, or the wonderful confirmation of his theoretical discoveries? We reply, They are introduced in order first to establish the fact, that astronomers do not simply conjecture a translatory motion of all the stars of the galaxy, including our solar system, but rather, have established the idea on the more certain ground of actual measurement, and thereby have obtained an approximate knowledge of the distances, volumes, and translatory velocities and directions in space, of many of the stars in the milky way, including our solar system. We deemed it essentially necessary to do this, on the ground that our confirmations of Swedenborg's theoretical discoveries are not drawn from the opinions of men merely, but from the established truths of physical science. Our object is to confirm the Principia by known matters of fact. Having, therefore, shown the astronomical grounds for believing in a translatory motion of all the stars of the visible heaven along the galaxy, we have now a clear way by which to proceed, in order to present a satisfactory confirmation of Swedenborg's Theory of the Magnetic Course of the Sidereal Heavens. In the year 1733 this theory was given to the world. At that time the translatory motion of the fixed stars had not been conjectured: the idea of a proper motion belonging to the solar system had, however, |