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have any other book you have of a similar character." I will conclude by saying I wish Mr. Westall every success in preaching the glorious doctrines of the New Church.

The Rev. Dr. BAYLEY rose, in conclusion, and said: Before the meeting separated, he wished to express to them how highly he was pleased in being permitted to have had once again an opportunity of visiting them, and to find once more so many cheerful countenances amongst them. He wished to them all a hearty good-bye. I need not tell you, he said, what has been the opinion I have had of the excellences and fitness for a minister possessed by our young friend, Mr. Westall. I will, however, mention one fact as an illustration. At the time Mr. Hyde left Brightlingsea, I was applied to to find them a minister, when my choice at once fell upon our young friend. Brightling sea Society, I always designate, said he, Accrington at the sea-side. At that time he had not made up his mind to take charge of a church; however, it gave him great pleasure, said the reverend Doctor, that Mr. Westall had now agreed to take the responsibility of a minister, and his fervent prayer would be with him in all his labours; and he trusted that the Lord would bless him, and give him good success.

APPEAL BY THE EDINBURGH SOCIETY TO

THEIR BRETHREN OF THE CHURCH. The additions which have been made to the New Church Society in Edinburgh, with the prospects of still greater increase, have forced upon its members the necessity of enlarging, altering, and improving their place of worship. The expense of the proposed enlargement, &c., will be about £120. The society has already a debt upon the building of £160. The interest on this sum, with ground rent and taxes, amounts to about £20., besides which there is the minister's salary with incidental expenses to provide for. The society numbers 59 members, none of whom are rich, and some are scarcely able to contribute anything towards the expenses of the church. The society does not, however, ask their brethren to supply all the means necessary to effect the improvement of their place of worship. The members have subscribed among themselves £65. towards this object, which is the utmost

they are able to do. Under these circumstances they appeal to the liberality of their Christian brethren. Every contribution, however small, will be thankfully received and duly acknowledged. (Signed) CHAS. GLADWELL, Minister. THOS. ISBISTER, President, 2, Rutland-place. Post office Orders made payable at the Post Office, Edinburgh.

We, the undersigned, consider the Edinburgh society deserving the assistance of the church to supplement their own exertions, and recommend their case to the liberal consideration of the friends.

W. BRUCE, Minister.

J. H. SMITHSON, Minister.

HULL.

The society here has been visited by the Rev. E. D. Rendell, who delivered two sermons in its place of worship, the New Temperance Hall, St. Luke-street, on Sunday, June 14th. The subject for the morning's discourse was-" The Blessedness and Right of those who do the Commandments of the Lord;" and in the evening,-"The One God of Revelation ;"-also a lecture on the following Tuesday evening,-" The Opening of the Book that was sealed with Seven Seals;" and on Wednesday evening, in Mr. Bell's schoolroom, Derringham-street, "The Dispensations of Revelation, and the Church of Prophecy," which to the New Church friends were a source of great delight, from the able and earnest manner in which the subjects were treated. Announcement being previously made by placard, there was a goodly attendance of strangers on each occasion, doubtless desiring to hear what could be taught concerning subjects of such deep import, so significantly intimated in the words of Scripture, and respecting which the teaching of the age is so spiritually deficient as to leave it enshrouded in darkness and mystery; and such, we feel assured, did not hear Mr. Rendell in vain, as the interest and attention of the audience throughout denoted. At the close of the last lecture, the Scriptural basis of the lecturer's views on the doctrine of the Atonement, the nature of the various Dispensations of the Church, and other points, were called in question by a gentleman present, a member of the Established

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Church, whose remarks were ably replied to; and although the object of the lecturer was not to provoke public discussion, explanations were offered, whose tendencies were such as could not fail in some degree to arrest prejudice, and court an earnest and prayerful spirit of inquiry for more light and truth.

LIVERPOOL.-BEDFORD-STREET.

The anniversary meeting of this society was held on 8th July, when a larger gathering took place than had been the case on similar occasions for many years past. After a social conversation over tea, in the schoolroom, the friends adjourned to the church, at eight o'clock, when the minister was called to the chair, and the usual business of an annual meeting proceeded with. In the course of the evening several speakers alluded, in cheering terms, to the present hopeful state of the society, which augurs well for its future advancement and success, as an instrument for spreading abroad the knowledge of the New Jerusalem. Although the expenses have been great during the past year, the treasurer reported a respectable balance in hand to commence the new one with. The establishment of the Sunday-school, the progress of which had been satisfactorily tested at an examination of the scholars held the previous week, formed the subject of congratulatory remarks on the part of some of the friends. The propriety of continuing the reading of the Psalms in alternate verses by minister and people, which was adopted by way of experiment some months ago, was discussed, and the question decided by a considerable majority voting against the practice. Several old friends were formally elected members, and a few new ones testified to their affection for the New Church by becoming connected with it in a similar manner. The committee and officers were all re-elected, showing a happy unanimity to exist in the society truly gratifying to contemplate.

PUBLICATION OF THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS IN "PARTS."

To the Editor.

Rev. Sir, I would beg leave to suggest an idea for the consideration of the Swedenborg Society, namely, the publication of the theological writings in "parts," monthly or otherwise, in a suitably attractive cover. The important

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doctrines enucleated respecting the ways of God with men, as set forth in "The Divine Providence," appear particularly suitable and desirable to be issued in this form. By this scheme the writings might be brought more prominently under notice, and enabling persons of humble means to become possessed of them who could not afford to purchase a complete work at one time. The logical theses of Emanuel Swedenborg appear to me to be just what are required to arouse the slumberers and sleepers in the wilderness of the Old Dispensation; and to those who are thirsting for the clear, bright truth, freed from the mistiness that has been allowed to envelope it, they will be as "rivers in the desert whose waters fail not."-Yours respectfully, "HOPE."

GERMANY.

LETTER FROM DR. TAFEL. Tübingen, July, 1863.

To the Editor.

My dear Sir,-The long expected work of M. Matter, "Swedenborg, sa Vie, ses Ecrits, et sa Doctrine, 1863," I have twice read, with all the attention due to that celebrated man of great influence; and my impression is, that notwithstanding his many and grievous mistakes, which make it necessary to have a new biography, or rather the continuation of one which I have already commenced; it is well adapted to excite the public attention, and so remove many objections to Swedenborg. It is to be regretted that the illustrious man had not sufficient time to make himself sufficiently acquainted with the facts on which his statements and judgments are founded. If we see that he often draws from true facts false conclusions, not in agreement with the laws of logic and of justice, every thinking and impartial reader can himself make the necessary corrections; but if the very facts are removed, or not seen, or disfigured, the case is quite different, as not every one has the means or opportunity of seeing the falsity or fallacy of the statement. Now one of the principal facts in the case of Swedenborg and his mission, which concerns the holy Scripture, is the existence of a principle or canon on which the foundation of the church rests, and upon which depends the possibility of changing the old into

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the new. Such a principle or canon was to be expected in the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Holy Scriptures," and accordingly it is to be found there; but of this canon M. Matter is quite ignorant, and he has therefore not only perverted Swedenborg's principle into its opposite, but deprived in a great measure the New Church of the power to reach those who otherwise would have been receptive of its salutary doctrines. If Swedenborg's mission was to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word of God, it does not follow that the literal sense of it was annihilated or deprived of all value, nor that Swedenborg had nothing to do with it. The Lord was to come with great glory, but "in the clouds of heaven." These clouds can reach every eye; but not so the glory. Accordingly, Swedenborg gives in his "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Holy Scriptures," p. 53, the opposite canon-"That doctrine ought to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and to be confirmed thereby, because the Lord is present in that sense, teaching and enlightening the mind; for all the Lord's operations are performed in fulness, and the Word is in its fulness in its literal sense. The doctrine of genuine truth may also be fully drawn from the literal sense of the Word, for the Word in that sense is like a person clothed, whose face and hands notwithstanding are naked, and thus all things in the Word, which appertain to the faith and life of man, and consequently to salvation, are naked, but the rest are covered and clothed." "It may be imagined that the doctrine of genuine truth might be collected from the spiritual sense of the Word... but doctrine is not attainable by means of that sense, but only capable of receiving illustration and confirmation from it; for... it is possible for a person to falsify the Word by some correspondences with which he is acquainted. Besides, the spiritual sense of the Word is opened to man by the Lord alone... wherefore it is better that man study the Word in the literal sense, as only by that is given doctrine." But M. Matter says, p. 127, and in other places, quite the contrary, and represents Swedenborg's interpretation as an entirely arbitrary one; whilst we can shew that it is founded on necessary rules of universal value; and therefore, as I said, we must

publish a new hermeneutic, in which the true rules are derived and proved by the very nature of things, and, besides, confirmed by authorities. It seems that M. Matter has not read the "Four Leading Doctrines," nor the "True Christian Religion," otherwise he would have seen that Swedenborg has drawn his doctrine not from the spiritual sense, but from the literal sense. He, also, did not see the very reason of the existence of a new era, and understands by Swedenborg's Last Judgment only a condemnation of the Old Church, not seeing that it was a real separation in the world of spirits, in consequence of which we are now enjoying a new influence from thence, and are in more liberty for truth and good. But these are only examples which shew that, vis-à-vis to such an authority, a new documented biography of Swedenborg is necessary.

July 9th.-A few days ago I received a letter from the prelate, Dr. Djunkowskoy, from which I learn that his health is now restored. He has since been here to pay me a visit, and to shew me a volume of his Memoirs in French, which M. Le Boys des Guays has promised to him to publish. I read the chapter which contains an apology for E. Swedenborg, and at the same time a short biography of his father, by which is confirmed what I said on both in the Intellectual Repository for May, 1862. He asked me for some corrections of M. Matter's statements of Swedenborg's principles and doctrines, to be annexed to this chapter, in order that the unfavourable opinions respecting him, exerted by such mistakes, may be removed also through the same channel. Perhaps an extract from these Memoirs, containing that chapter, and translated into English, will be suitable, after the appearance of the volume, for the Intellectual Repository. There are some persons in England who feel an interest in these Memoirs, and a lady there wrote me to ask if the Memoirs will appear. Dr. de Dj., after having left BadenBaden and Weisbaden, where he was in a water-cure establishment, is at present residing in a similar institution of Dr. Zipperleh, at Teinach, in Würtemberg. It seems that the entire abstaining from wine, connected with such cures, is very salutary for him, and gives him strength. He brought me a letter of General Mouravieff, at. Moscow (not to be con

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founded with the Governor-General at Wilna, in Poland), to M. Tustanowsky, which I sent back to the General, as we supposed that M. Tustanowsky was no longer in London.

With my kindest regards to your dear family and to all friends, I remain, my dear Sir, very truly and affectionately yours, EMANUEL TAFEL.

DR. TAFEL AND AN ENGLISH

CORRESPONDent.

A letter has been received by Dr. Tafel, from an unknown friend in London, proposing some rather extensive operations in Germany, and promising assistance to carry them out. Dr. Tafel would be but too glad to engage in any undertaking having for its object the diffusion of the truths of the New Church among his contrymen; but before anything could be attempted beyond what he is at present doing, he would require to be supplied with the necessary means. If the writer of the letter of the 14th June is ready to provide these, he is requested to communicate with Dr. Tafel, whom he will find ready to engage in any useful work.

A MOMENT IN HEAVEN. (A Popular Tale of Denmark.) There were two young fellows who had long been the best of bosom friends, and they agreed that wherever they should be, or however far separated, they should come to each other's wedding. But one died, and years passed before the other was married. On the wedding-day, as he sat at table by his bride, and the feast was nearly ended, the bridegroom saw his deceased friend enter the room; but no one else could see him. The bridegroom rose, went to meet his friend, and led him outside. His friend said-"See! I have come to your wedding, as I promised." The bridegroom asked-"How is it with you where you now are?" His friend answered-"It is so well with me that I cannot describe it. But, if you like, you can come yourself for a little and see." "But," said the bridegroom, "I am just going to dance with my bride." "The dancing won't begin for a little," said the other; "come away."

So they went together to Heaven, and there all was more beautiful than tongue can tell. Presently the bridegroom's

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friend turned to him and said "You had better go; your bride misses you." "Oh, I have hardly been here a moment yet," replied the other. His friend turned to him again and said "Make haste, now, and go; they are all anxiously seeking for you." But he answered again-"Oh, I have hardly been here one moment yet."

His friend said the third time-"Now, you must begone!" So he returned to earth, and went to the house where the bridal was held; but it all seemed changed. He saw no chaises waiting outside, nor could he hear any music. Then he felt quite strange, and asked a woman who was coming out at the door-"Isn't there a wedding here today?"

"Wedding!" said the woman; "its many a long day since there was a When I was wedding in this house. a little girl, my grandmother told me that there had been a wedding here a hundred years ago; but just when the dancing was going to begin, the bridegroom disappeared and never came back."

Then he perceived that he had been in Heaven for a hundred years, and that all his friends on earth were dead and gone; so he prayed to our Lord that he might return to the place from which he had come. And our Lord heard his prayer.-Macmillan.

NEW PUBLICATION.

Lessons in Life for All who will Read them. By T. S. ARTHUR. C. P. Alvey, 36, Bloomsbury-street, London. This little work contains nine short stories, told in Mr. Arthur's easy and interesting manner, each conveying a useful moral or religious lesson. They are intended more especially for the younger members of society and the church, though not for these exclusively.

Mr. Alvey has justly considered the work of sufficient value to reprint it from the American edition; and we hope his enterprise will be rewarded by a large demand.

Obituary.

April 18th, at Banbury, after a lingering and painful illness, Mr. Richard Harbert, aged sixty. At an early age, at Wellingborough, through the instrumentality of Mr. James Mitchell, he

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embraced the doctrines of the New Dispensation, which afforded to him so much consolation and happiness; and he delighted in presenting them to his family and friends, many of whom received them with affectionate earnestness, and long will they revere his memory. In 1826 he removed to London, and for many years attended divine worship in Crossstreet, under the late Mr. Noble. Ill health and family afflictions led him to call in Mr. Bateman, a valuable and sincere friend, and warm advocate of the church, who finally introduced him to the Argyle-square society, then under the ministry of the late Rev. T. C. Shaw. In 1837 he was left a widower, with three young children, daughters, each of whom, on reaching an age to be a comfort to him, rapidly sank under the fatal disease of consumption, of which their father died. Deeply as he felt their loss, he was supported under these successive trials by a firm reliance on the infinite love of his Saviour God, and a belief in the realities of the eternal world, as revealed in the writings of the church. Bereaved of all his dearest earthly relations, he retired to his native place in 1859, and spent the few remaining years of his life in reading and distributing the works of the New Church,-living in obedience to the Divine commandments, grounded in self- renunciation, as the means by which the divine work of regeneration is effected in the soul. E. S.

Departed, May 5th, into the spiritual world, Miss Emily Ann Twiss, in her 29th year. This departed sister was a member of the Peter-street Society, Manchester. From her earliest years she was characterized by a devout and reflective spirit, and in her youth, unlike most other girls, she preferred retirement to playful association with others. About eight or ten years ago her parents came to reside in Manchester, and joined the Peter-street Society. Here her mind was especially directed to meditate upon the New Church doctrines, and upon the Truths of the Word as opened by their instrumentality. She regularly attended the worship of the Lord on the Sabbath, and, as often as her health permitted, came to the Tuesday evening meetings. By conversing on the Truths of the Word, and on the state of the life after

death, her devout and reflective mind found its proper nourishment, and her affections became awakened to a powerful and holy love of Truth, manifested chiefly by a strong desire to understand the spiritual sense of the Holy Word. About four years ago she was attacked by a grievous illness, arising from an internal malady, which baffled the skill of the doctors. During a period of more than four years she often suffered intensely from this complaint, and it was the wonder of all her friends that nature could hold out so long. She was, at times, deeply depressed in spirits, and experienced direful internal temptations. Her only comfort was from the Lord, through His Word; and she often repeated some of the Psalms, and especially the 43rd, which, together with the Lord's Prayer, and the occasional taking of the Sacrament, afforded her the strength she needed. Her mental sufferings and temptations increased towards the last, when she was reduced to a state in which, at times, she seemed deprived of the hope of salvation. On these occasions, other friends of the society besides the pastor visited her, and by their united prayers and consolations dissipated, of the Lord's mercy, these tempting influences from the powers of darkness. From all these trying states, she rose up with the conviction, as expressed by the Psalmist, that "it was good for her that she had been afflicted." She felt that, whilst her external man, by these trials, was decreasing, her internal was increasing, and at length, with her countenance irradiated with celestial smiles, she passed from this earthly state of suffering into "the joy of her Lord." The writer of this notice has had much experience in visiting the sick, and in watching the development of mental states previous to their departure, but during the four years he was in the habit of visiting this departed friend, he witnessed so much progress in the spiritual life, as manifested in the love of the Truth, that, he trusts, his own states were thereby much benefitted, for the school of affliction is the school of humility and of spiritual improvement. This experience will also, no doubt, be the blessed lot of her parents and relatives who lament her loss.

J. H. S.

CAVE & SEVER, Printers by Steam Power, Hunt's Bank, Manchester.

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