true relation between things spiritual and things natural, between that inner life of the soul which is to endure to eternity, and that outer life of the body in which we dwell here for a time. Most especially and cordially do we concur with Mr. Field, in the belief to which he alludes in his preface, as differing materially from that entertained by some of his friends :

"This belief is, that the progress of regeneration is marked by a state inwardly, and therefore really, of increasing peace and joy, however different it may appear outwardly. * * *I do not deny heroism, but I say that it appears heroism from the world's side only; viewed from the side of God, it is the perfection of joy; and I couple this with the assertion, that the increasing power of regarding beroism from God's side, is the measure of our progress in regeneration."

These are noble words; and that they are not less true than noble, could scarcely, we should have supposed, admit of debate among those who are followers, in spirit and in truth, of Him who wills" mercy and not sacrifice." For whatever apparent external sacrifice His service may entail, still, viewed according to His will in it, as we shall experience the workings of that will, if we but patiently follow on to do and know it, there is no sacrifice possible to any human being of aught worthy of retention. All we can sacrifice, all from which obedience to the Lord can part us, is that which would poison our peace, or prove a stumbling-block in our upward path; and all that we seem to sacrifice, which is capable of increasing our joy and peace, purifying our hearts, and strengthening our hands, both for the life here and life hereafter, we shall ere long discover that we more truly than ever possess, more interiorly than ever enjoy. And to all who in the chequered course of life have learned, or are learning, gratefully to recognise this truth, we can most cordially recommend these seven Sermons, of which it is a constantly pervading sentiment.

The first two, entitled respectively-"Trust in the Lord" and "The Lord's Sheep," are, we think, our especial favourites, perhaps because they were the first we read, when separately published, previous to the appearance of the little volume now before us. How beautifully they inculcate, from the very heart of the writer, that child-like love for and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one gracious Father, Saviour, and Regenerator, which is the very life of His New Church, and the true living spirituality of this seemingly dead material universe when rightly understood, we could scarcely show without longer extracts than it might be expedient to make from a book which deserves to be perused entire; but some brief quotations we cannot deny ourselves :

'Oh, sorrow! truly I will rejoice in sorrow! Oh, suffering! I will cherish you as my most dear friend, because you have brought me into His presence; because

you have taught me to identify Him who rules the stars of heaven, the sun and moon, and all the planets, who is the unfathomable mystery of nature, with the meek and gentle Saviour, the pattern Man who bids us sit at His feet, and tells us He is the door to the sheep-fold, by which all must enter." (Sermon I., p. 11.) "We must become little children, and lean on His hand only,―be led by Him. Our business in the world is not to accumulate wealth, which in fact we never do accumulate for all things of this world 'moth and rust do corrupt, and thieves break through and steal.' Our business here is to live out the life of goodness

and truth." (Ibid., p. 5.)

"He holds the keys of life and death; and if we open our hearts to His presence, we shall be born out of death into life. These words have a meaning the most intense. They signify that all our own slow, dull movements shall be quickened with the Life Itself out of which the universe was created; *** and that through us this life will flow out into the world to bless all mankind. We shall then have our eyes opened, and see that beneath the surface of all material things, spreads the great animating power of the Divine Man. Stocks and stones will breathe for us. In a higher sense than the poet dreamed, we shall find 'tongues in trees, books in the running brook, sermons in stones, and good in everything.'" (Ibid. pp. 9, 10.)

In the second Sermon, after a demonstration (which must carry comfort and joy, we would fain hope, to the saddest and most desolate of faithful pilgrims) that none of the Lord's sheep are, or can be, spiritually, wifeless, childless, or homeless, we find this beautiful passage:

"How wonderful are the Lord's ways to us! and how gently He leads us! With such slow hesitation we at first yield ourselves to Him, so nerving ourselves and waiting the result with such trembling, that were not His tenderness and love as infinite as He is Himself, He must needs cast us off from His fatherly love altogether. And then how sure is the result! How it belies all our fears! Instead of calling forth our powers of endurance, it gratifies our deepest and truest affections. It is the service of the devil that calls for heroism; the service of our God calls for trust and abandonment to Him alone; all after that is gratification and joy,—an endless sunshine,—a peace that passes all understanding." (Sermon II., pp. 15, 16.)

What Christian's experience but must avouch the truth of these touching words; and if all with us be not yet joy, and sunshine, and perfect peace, why is it, but because our trust, our self-abandonment to the Lord's love, is not perfect either?

Three Sermons then follow on the Progress of Regeneration, entitled "Unrest," "The Wilderness," and "The Holy Land;" and though they may not, to our taste, quite equal the two former, we can yet cordially accept their general views and teaching, which is pervaded by the same trustful spirit,―ascribing the unrest, the sorrow to which man is born "as the sparks fly upward," to the higher, heavenly capacities of his nature, urging him from the slavery of earthly things, to attain

the peace and freedom which are his spiritual birthright, but to attain which, he must forsake natural delights as an end; though, passing through the Wilderness which life, without these, at the first appears to him, he will find them restored to him in ten-fold perfection in the Sabbath-rest of his Holy Land. "The Wilderness," and "The Holy Land," appear to us, however, the least striking in merit of the little collection; and one or two expressions there are which we would wish to see altered, because they trench upon that Pantheism which Mr. Field earnestly and, we are sure, honestly disclaims. Such an expression occurs in "The Holy Land," where it is said of the Deity, that—

"He allows His presence to be so twisted and marred by man, as to show Himself forth in the form of noxious serpents." (p. 13.)

A little more exactness of thought would have prevented the intrusion into Mr. Field's generally so beautiful language of a phrase which must jar on our sense of reverence, and of one or two others verging on the same error. It is no doubt true, as the author observes, that "all material things are outgrowths and representatives of some special love and truth of Deity;" but the outgrowth, the representative, is not to be confounded with the thing represented, from which it is separated by a discrete degree, as the effect is from the cause, or the image on the mirror from the face which casts the image. It is not, therefore, the Lord, but the imperfect and distorting reception of the influx of His Divine life (which is love and truth) in the spheres of mind through which that influx is ultimated, that is shown forth in the noxiousness of the serpent; moreover, this Divine influx of life, once received and embodied, in even a perfect finite form, is no more to be confounded with the Lord, or spoken of as Himself, than the idea a sculptor has embodied in a statue is to be confounded with the sculptor. It is indeed from Him, but it is not He.

If we seem to make overmuch of a point of verbal criticism, Mr. Field will do us the justice to believe that it is in no unfriendly spirit, but only to guard the views of spiritual truth in which we so earnestly sympathise with him, from the mistaken imputations which even a word may tend to countenance.

To the two closing Sermons of the series-"Our Father's Kingdom," and "The New Heaven and the New Earth," we can turn with unalloyed satisfaction, as embodying, without any such lapses of expression, most beautiful and encouraging truths, for all who believe with Mr. Field that those who earnestly endeavour to live the life of heaven upon earth will find, even on earth, a foretaste of heaven in their lives. For this, it is indeed necessary to recognise and act upon the truth these sermons so forcibly

impress, that if we would know what real happiness, even real earthly happiness, means, we must cease to make earthly happiness or material advantages our end. We must admit the proposition thus quaintly aud picturesquely laid down :-"That material things are only of value as shoes for the feet of spiritual things;" (Sermon vi., p. 4.) and having admitted, we must not fear to work it out into every act and every aim of our lives. This done, and this doing, we shall find that our Father's kingdom is no distant abode, but may be increasingly realised within and around us here; and that a new heaven and a new earth are within the grasp of all who will but open the door of their hearts and their lives to Him who "stands and knocks," and will, if but man open unto Him, make, now and for ever, "all things new."

Should any doubt this,-question the warrant for such bright hopes, such glowing anticipations of the happiness to be attained in the life of heaven on earth, we can offer no better encouragement, supply no higher sanction, than that quoted by Mr. Field, at the close of the first of this series of Discourses :

"If you sweep round the universe for a promise that shall forestall all wishes; that shall be complete, rounded, perfect as the universe itself,-what other could be found more complete than the promise contained in these words-' Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart'?" (p. 15.)

We have said enough, we feel sure, te awaken the interest in this little volume which may procure for others, who are yet unacquainted with it, a share in the pleasure and edification it has afforded to ourselves; pleasure and edification not derived from any mere intellectual qualifications in the writer,—scholarly acuteness of reasoning and brilliancy of doctrinal exposition we may look for in far greater perfection elsewhere, but from that spirit in it of most Christian love and humility which inspires a sense of true brotherhood with and in all who share and can appreciate it; and if we may close these remarks with the expression of a wish for ourselves and our readers, it is that we may all daily and hourly live and act more and more nearly up to the standard it aims at placing before us. M. C. H.

THOUGHTS IN MY GARDEN. BY MARY G. WARE. Boston: Crosby and Nichols, and William Carter and Brother, 1863.

THIS work is by the talented authoress of "Elements of Character," and those who have read that excellent book will find this volume rich in charming thoughts and useful lessons. "Thoughts in my Garden" is not a book of moral reflections only, but of spiritual correspondences.

The authoress shows that all things in this world are types of things in man, who is a little world,-things good and beautiful in the world being designed to show him what he should cultivate and what he may become, things noxious and unlovely, what he is and what he should remove and avoid. The description of the life of a plant, as analogous to the life of man, is not less truthful than beautiful; and we cannot do better than present the reader with it entire. It is rather long, but would suffer by curtailment :

"The water and the mineral substances which plants take up through their roots out of the earth, correspond to natural truth and goodness. The light and heat which come down to them from the sun, correspond to spiritual truth and goodness. These four aliments, in due proportion, are all essential to the com. plete development of the plant; and if either becomes excessive, or is diminished, so as to lose its proportion with the rest, the plant suffers, and perhaps dies. "The human soul is just as dependent for its regenerate life and growth upon natural and spiritual goodness and truth as the plant is upon the varieties of sustenance it derives from earth and sky.

"Natural truth and goodness guide and support us in all the duties of life that relate to natural things. They make us faithful in the performance of all that relates to the professions, trades, and daily external duties of every kind that belong to life in this world. Spiritual truth and goodness guide and support us in the duties that belong to the internal life, bringing the thoughts and affections into harmony with the Divine Law, so that we not only do our duty, but love to do it; because we feel that, inasmuch as we are faithful in the performance of all the daily charities of life towards our fellow-beings, we are doing them unto the Lord, and so coming day by day nearer to Him.

"A plant may grow quite rankly into foliage under a clouded sky, sustained by a much larger proportion of water and of minerals than of light and heat; but in order to produce blossoms and fruits, which is the essential object of a plant, light and heat must come from above in due proportion to the nutriment its roots suck up from below; while at the same time the plant never requires so large a quantity of what it draws from the earth as when it is lifting its crowning graces of flowers and fruits towards heaven. Herein is involved a very important correspondence, teaching a truth but little understood in the world at large.

"It is quite a common idea that spiritual life lifts us out of and above material and natural life; instead of which, the more spiritualised we become, the better we appreciate the value of the natural life, and the more faithful we become in the discharge of our material duties. A human being can no more rise above the duties of the natural life, than a plant can rise above drawing nutriment through its roots. One who tries to lead a spiritual life apart from the world, and without recognising the social duties, is like a cut flower in a vase of water, which, though it may retain its beauty for many days, can never perfect its fruit."

The chapter on the sowing of seed is encouraging to us in our labours to inseminate the "precious seed" of the Divine Word in our own minds, in the hearts of our children, and in those of our neighbours: