some of the famous men of their own time for examples, and if they did not become as great as these, they might become much greater than they could think of at present. Science is the real gold diggings for them; they need not go to Australia to find it, for they had far richer mines in self-improvement. Their library contained the best works on almost every department of knowledge, and before he would lose such advantages-if he were a youth with narrow means he would turn out and black shoes as the boys did in the streets of Manchester. They must bear in mind that they must not confine themselves to one branch of study. The man who crams himself up into a corner of knowledge always has some peculiar sectarian notions of religion, and he never be comes so useful a man as he ought to be. Aim at becoming a full man. Take two or three branches, and get well versed in them. For himself he selected two, geology and chemistry, and soon obtained a considerable amount of knowledge of what was to be known on these subjects; and this conducted him to the further fact that knowledge is not only a thing conferring power, but it is a most beautiful thing in which the mind can delight. The spirit that loves the truth, and that seeks for truth in the pursuit of knowledge, will find that it becomes encircled by a diadem of pearls of inestimable beauty. A little boy, when he has been able to work out an arithmetical problem, his eyes glisten with pleasure most beautiful to see; and when a young man has passed from one arithmetical science to another, and discovers that every process in numbers is obtained by triangles, the relation of three sides to each other, the square of the base, and the square of the perpendicular, when added together being equal to the square of the hypothenuse, he is delighted with the simplicity and the power of that fact. Trigonometry is based upon the same principle-the rule by which the sun and planets can be measured, and their distances ascertained. When a young man has got to see this, and the relations, the magnificence and grandeur of the universe are opened before him; he stands astonished and delighted, and it becomes in him a thing of beauty and a joy for ever." Take the science of botany, and another rich field is opened before them, giving [Enl. Series.-No. 20, vol. ii.]

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them a knowledge of plants, flowers, and trees, from the little daisy or day'seye, that pearl of beauty-a spangle set in the carpet of nature-up to the majestic trees that grow in troops in the forest. He that knows how to observe, and how to contemplate these things in the light of science, has a mind that soars above, and possesses sources of beauty above all the picture galleries in the world, and has them for nothing. Let him look at the splendour that surrounds him day and night-the sun, moon, and stars, the loveliness of the clouds, assuming the forms of castles and mighty mountains, and above and beyond, the placid majesty of the deep blue sky; and though the lower stratum may be troubled by storms, just as a man may be tossed and agitated by things without, the good man always has the smiling depths sf peace and joy within.

"Around his breast though troubled clouds are spread,

Eternal sunshine settles on his head."

The rev. gentleman continued his address at considerable length, and sat down amidst applause.

LECTURES AT SOUTHPORT, BY The Revs. J. H. SMITHSON AND D. HOWARTH,

A

A portion of the Mansfield gift, amounting to £12. 9s. 2d., being devoted, according to the decision of the last Conference, to missions North of Trent, the Committee appointed by the Conference, determined to have a course of six lectures delivered at Southport, a watering place on the Lancashire coast much frequented in the summer by visitors from all parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Application was accordingly made to Messrs. Howarth and Smithson to deliver the said course. small number of receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines being resident at Southport, a desire had been frequently expressed that a minister should visit them if possible on the Sunday, and collect them together for the purpose of worship and of mutual consociation. This appeared to afford a suitable opportunity of delivering a course of lectures in a locality where the doctrines had never been preached, and where probably the net, "if cast on the right side of the ship," might be spread with (through the Lord's blessing) some hope of success, as various qualities of mind

3 B

are to be met with in these places, amongst whom, after the recreations of the day, a lecture, followed up with a copious distribution of tracts, might awaken feelings of curiosity and interest to hear something new on the important subjects of religious doctrines and of eternal realities. The strangers who might attend, would also, most probably, take the tracts with them to their respective homes, and thus carry the "precious seed" into localities where "good ground," honest and truth-seeking hearts-might be found to receive it.

The Rev. J. H. Smithson repaired to Southport on Saturday, July 7th, and immediately caused it to be announced to the friends, that he intended on the next day, being Sunday, to hold a meeting at the house of a friend, who kindly offered her principal apartment for the purpose, that we might assemble for the worship of the Lord and for edification in the Truths of His Word. Twenty-seven persons, including some visitors, who, although strangers to the doctrines of the New Church, had expressed a wish to be present, joined us on the occasion. The service from the Liturgy was read, and a sermon from Hosea ii. 18 was preached. At the conclusion the minister announced, that in the evening another service would be held, when the Holy Supper would be administered to such as felt disposed to join us in the Holy Communion. On this occasion seventeen persons met together, including the visitors mentioned above, who also expressed a wish to join us in the Communion, which was felt by all present to be a feast of mutual good will and charity one to another. A discourse was afterwards delivered on the meaning of eating the Lord's "Flesh and drinking His Blood." (John vi.)

On the Monday, the day advertised for the first lecture, preparations were made to meet the public, and to arrange for the distribution of tracts. The course delivered by the Rev. J. H. Smithson was

I. "The Lord Jesus Christ, the One Person of the Godhead, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and who is the only Object of Worship."

II. "The True Nature of God's Word and the mode of its Interpretation, by which all Infidel objection can be refuted."

III. "How is the Sinner justified before God, or, How is man saved"?

The room hired for the purpose was not the most eligible; the entrance was not good; nevertheless, as it was the only room that could be procured it would be useless to complain. As the lectures advanced, the audiences improved. After the first lecture a minister present requested permission to speak a few words, not in a controversial spirit, but merely to shew that the recturer differed widely in his belief from the common orthodoxy of which three Persons in the Trinity is the basis. There were two positions which the speaker advanced in maintaining the doctrine of three Persons. The first was the voice from heaven at the baptism of the Lord, which he declared was the Father's voice, proving that the Father and the Son were two separate Persons according to the common belief. The second was involved in the passage;-" God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," &c., which evidently implied, that there is one Person who sent, or gave, and another who was sent, and that consequently there must, in this case, be two Persons. And then the speaker said that "although this was a mystery that could not be understood, yet we were bound to believe it as a fact." He also said that Jesus, as to His Humanity, could not be divine and omnipresent, for it is not in the nature of a body to be present in more than one place at a time. In reply to these statements the lecturer said, the Lord Himself had declared, that "no man hath at any time heard the Father's voice," (John v. 37.) therefore it must be a mistake to suppose that the voice at the baptism was the Father's, it being a revelation from heaven, and a consequent declaration that the Lord's Humanity is divine. As to the difference between the sender and the sent when predicated of God, it is evident, that it is of another kind than that which is involved in a merely natural idea, as that of a king sending an ambassador; this is evident from the Lord's declaration,- "He that seeth me seeth him that sent me." The fact is, the first ideas which a child has on reading the Scriptures are grounded in appearances, and are similar to those which constitute modern orthodoxy, socalled; for the apostle says, "When I

was a child I thought as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things," &c.; but as we become men, and especially when we become teachers in the church, we ought to put away the ideas of our childhood (excusable indeed in a child), or ideas founded in appearances of Truth, and adopt ideas worthy of our rational manhood,-ideas founded in genuine Truth; for we are commanded "not to judge according to the appearance, but to judge a righteous or just judgment." What the Lord spake of the Father and the Son, He spake in proverbs; (John xvi. 25.) but no one ever thinks of taking a proverb in its merely literal sense. As to the speaker's statement about the mysteryof the Trinity being above the powers of our understanding to comprehend, this is true as to the Trinity of three Persons forming one God, but it is not true as to the Trinity of three Essentials being one God; this is a mystery which can be understood, and of which the Lord says to his disciples, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," of which no doubt the mystery of the Trinity is the greatest. Thus the common belief that the Trinity is a mystery which cannot be understood is directly opposed to the Lord's statement that the mysteries of heaven can be understood. In respect to the Lord, as to His Divine Humanity not being omnipresent, this is refuted by the sim. ple declaration which the Lord makes when He says-" Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." This he certainly says in respect to Himself in His Humanity. This objection evidently proves, that the common belief does not involve the divinity of the Lord's Humanity, but that it inculcates the idea that the Lord's Humanity is like the humanity of another man, and consequently not divine and omnipresent; but with this belief the very foundation stone of a genuine Christianity is rejected.

After this reply, the tracts were distributed, which the audience readily accepted.

The two subsequent lectures, by the Rev. J. H. Smithson, were attended by about the same number, and were heard with evident interest and satisfaction. The lecturer announced the interesting

subjects of the three following lectures by the Rev. D. Howarth, to be delivered during the next week, on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The subjects were as follow:-I. What is Heaven? What are the joys of Heaven? II. What is Hell? Will the torments of Hell endure for ever? III. What is the great Gulf which is between Abraham and the Rich Man? These very interesting and solemn questions were likely to attract and awaken more than ordinary interest. The room was well filled each time with attentive auditors; and from the able and interesting manner in which these great subjects were treated, the audience seemed much impressed; and we trust that a spirit of inquiry as to the New Church and its doctrines has been awakened in the minds of those who heard these lectures.

NEW CHURCH NEWSPAPERS.

To the Editor.

Dear Sir, I think it is due to justice that the remarks respecting the projected New Church newspapers, &c., in Mr. Hodson's last Quarterly Circular should be corrected, as they are apt to prejudice the public against the papers without reason.

To condemn the Penny Times before it is born, from its prospectus merely, is, to say the least of it, premature. If the prospectus is "poor and meagre in style," and wanting in that "life and spirit necessary for a newspaper," is that any reason why the paper itself should be similar? How does Mr. H. know but that the editor will secure the most fertile and vigorous talent the church contains? Besides, it is unnecessary to the purpose to be served by a prospectus that it should be written in a wordy, laudatory, or grandiloquent manner (a style of writing to which the terms "life and spirit" in literature are too often applicable). All that is required is a plain statement of the proposed paper, and this we have in the prospectus of the Penny Times.

All the Quarterly says of the other proposed paper, viz., The London Swedenborgian Christian Messenger and New Church Intelligencer Newspaper; Journal of the Present, and Herald of the Future, is that it is a very "ominous and repulsive" title. Now, where is the charity in and the necessity for these

epithets? If the title is wordy, it is as much as it is-and that can easily be altered; to me it is neither ominous nor repulsive, but I rejoice at the prospect of such additions to the Church literature. Ominous it may appear to Mr. Hodson, because he may fear (as the last clause of his remarks rather goes to prove he does fear) that the works he and others at present print and publish may lose sale through the new ones. If such is his opinion, it appears to me a mistaken one. The more the New Church is known-and who will deny that newspapers are the very means for communicating this knowledge?-the greater will be the demand for its collateral publications. Besides, I will venture to assert that those who can afford to buy the works and periodicals at present published, buy also a weekly newspaper of some sort, and why not a New Church newspaper? If this title is to be called "repulsive," I cannot see but that most New Church publications having similar titles belong also to the same category.

I again ask, what motive is there for these uncalled-for remarks? Is it be cause Mr. H. is not the projector, and will not be the publisher of these papers?

Under the head of the New Church Tract Society again. He takes exception to the little work called "Obstinate Jack," saying, "It is hardly worthy its foster-parentage." That it is worthy, your readers have only to turn to the September 1851 "Intellectual Repository" to convince themselves. There the book is reviewed most favourably by a gentleman well known for enunciating truthful opinions. "Its object," says Mr. H., "is to illustrate a phrenological bump called firmness," in which I see nothing to blame. But as its author is a phrenologist as well as a New Churchman, Mr. H., in the turn of his sentence, gives a side fling at that characteristic. That the little book is written with a New Church object, and that exclusively, it only requires reading to prove. There is not a part of it but has its text from New Church doctrine, else would the Tract Society not have incorporated it into their stock. It treats of the origin of good and evil dispositions and words from the "Arcana Coelestia"-of Providential permission from the "Divine Providence" of the New Church law

of marriage from the "Conjugial Love" and views life as a battle, from the New Church doctrine of Regeneration. Obstinacy, whether treated phrenologically or otherwise, if viewed faithfully and truly by a New Churchman, cannot fail to be treated in a New Church way.

I will only say in conclusion, that such a mode of condemnation will never do Mr. Hodson any good, but much harm; nor is it right that he should be permitted to mis-state, misconstrue, or depreciate his brethrens' proceedings or writings, without the error of such a course being pointed out to him. It hardly accords with the "Golden rule" by which it is the duty of every New Churchman especially to measure his every thought, word, and deed. I remain, &c.,

The writer of the article on Swedenborg in the "Biographical Magazine," presents his compliments to the Editor of the "Intellectual Repository," and is glad to find that so competent a judge declares, in the number for February, that that article is, on the whole, "impartial" and "correct."

As to the "errors" noticed the writer can only say-

1. That the Editor of the Intellectual Repository must be well aware that etymologically and properly the words Deist and Theist are precisely identical in meaning, and that the shade of difference in their present acceptation is simply the result of usage. Swedenborg is a believer in God-one Godtherefore a Deist. The other meaning attached to the word Deist-a disbeliever in revelation-is not applicable to Swedenborg, except, indeed, as he believed (according to the apprehension of most people) in excess, and rendered nugatory the Scripture revelation by putting it at the bidding of his own.

2. Mr. Wilkinson is the authority for what is said of the Apocalypse Revealed. Vide his life of Swedenborg, p. 150. The words, indeed, are partly cited.

3. The same is the authority again for what is said of the lost condition. of Paul. Mr. W. says that the reader that would peruse the Diarium would learn of very strange things in the invisible world; "of strange punishments and

new criminalities; of fathomless pools of evil; of goodness detected in those that history condemns; and of the mask of excellence quite fallen away from some of her brightest exemplars; of Paul and David amongst the lost, and Mahomet a Christian convert," &c. Ibid, p. 145.

The writer, in conclusion, would say that he would, in all cases, carefully avoid misrepresentation, especially so when a man so great, laborious, and worthy as Emanuel Swedenborg is the subject of his remarks.

[If all writers in our Periodical literature were as candid and as impartial as the above, the cause of Truth would flourish much better in the world. We must, however, state it as our opinion, that, when a writer undertakes to give an extensive biographical account of an author, he should, by all means, devote some time to the study of his works and become familiar with their leading principles.]

DANGERS OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. (From the Speech of the Rev. Mr. Barratt at the Anniversary of the Swedenborg Printing Society, New York.)

The speaker then spoke of modern spiritualism as follows:

"There is another and very different class of people in our country-a class already large and rapidly increasing, who stand in imminent need of this revelation. I refer to those who style themselves Spiritualists, some of whom are to be found in nearly every city, town, and hamlet in our land; and among them are people of every trade, rank, and profession in life. They are Spiritualists only so far as this, that they have become convinced, by the phenomena they have witnessed, that the spiritual world is a reality, and that the spirits of the departed live in close proximity to men. But of the laws of that world, or of its relation to this world, or the real character of the spirits with whom they communicate,-of the essential nature of heaven or of hell, of all this they are for the most part profoundly ignorant, and being ignorant, they are ready to believe whatever the spirits tell them, supposing that it must be true, because it comes from the spiritual world. Thus they seek unto those who have familiar spirits,' and give more diligent heed to the wizards

that peep and mutter,' than they do even to the words of Holy Writ. Hence the imminent and dreadful danger in which these people stand, and the mischiefs which result from their implicit surrender of themselves to the guidance of the spirits. Hence the countless extravagances, follies, and sins, into which many of them are daily led; the domestic altar is invaded; the peace of families destroyed; free love,' as it is called, inculcated; wives separated from their husbands and husbands from their wives; some driven to insanity, some to suicide, and some to deeds too abominable to be mentioned before a public audience. And all this, under the direction of a class of subtle and malignant spirits, who, nevertheless, profess to be animated by the most philanthropic motives.

"Now, this new Revelation which the Lord has made through his own chosen servant, Swedenborg, is precisely what is needed to guard people against the danger of those spiritual manifestations. For this Revelation unfolds the laws of the spiritual world, exposes the falsehood, craft, and deception of certain evil spirits, and points out the consequent danger of any direct and open intercourse with the inhabitants of that world; for their true character and motives it is impossible for men in their ordinary states to detect."

CORRECTIONS IN THE TRANSLATIONS OF SWEDENBORG.

Your notice of corrections in the translation of Swedenborg, in the May No. of the Repository, induces me to call your attention to No. 9534 A. C., in which it is stated that all who are in hell "receive the Divine Good." No doubt receive is here a misprint for reject, and it is a pity that such an error should have been allowed to pass through more than one edition. But it appears to me that the paragraph is not otherwise very clear, and that in any new edition of the work it might be revised with advantage.

R.

[In Swedenborg's Latin the reading is recipiunt, but this is no doubt a misprint for rejiciunt; on referring to Dr. Tafel's new edition of the Latin original we accordingly find that the misprint is corrected. Our readers will do well to correct it in their copies. We understand that the Swedenborg Society in