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first, good and honest hearts; second, enlightened understandings; and, third, holy principles established in our hearts and conduct. The Lord is ever ready to supply our wants, but He requires our coöoperation; and the way in which we are to labour with Him is to shun all evil as sin against Him. Thus would the holy principles we profess become realised in our life and business.

The Rev. E. D. RENDELL, President of Conference, was the first speaker, and he laid stress upon the point, that we did not really want a thing unless we strove to attain it. What could be the want of the heaven-descended New Jerusalem, but that mankind might be brought to live as angels live-that is, every one endeavouring to promote the happiness of all by promoting the happiness of each. There was no position in which a human being could be placed that did not afford an opportunity for the exercise of this heavenly love. One of the church's wants was an increased number of ministers, and efforts were now being made to train them. Then we wanted a little more manliness in the avowal of our principles, and the acknowledgment that Swedenborg was the herald of the New Jerusalem.

The Rev. W. WOODMAN, of Kersley, said he understood the church to mean the individuals who embodied the principles of goodness and truth. We had no abstract church. Therefore the "wants of the church" meant the wants of those who constituted the church. He consi. dered wants under two aspects-as deficiencies and desires. Persons might want things who would not confess to deficiencies. There was a certain church who thought they had need of nothing, whereas they were wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked. He would rather ask-What is it that the church does not want? We live by the continual reception of those things which make us a church, and constitute the basis of our usefulness and happi

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essential wants. With regard to the internal wants of the church, the chairman bad named the three essentialswarmth in the will, light in the understanding, and fruitfulness in the life. These embraced all the details of our wants-and one of the first was Piety. We have very little piety amongst us. We have a great many meetings, but comparatively few for the cultivation of the religious element of the church. It is very important we should both desire and cultivate within ourselves this element of piety, which would open the heart in devotion to the Lord, spread a sphere of sanctity amongst us, and prepare our minds to become more receptive of the other gifts and graces by which we are to be built up in the Christian character. In the second place, we want Zeal-earnestness. The New Church is in a state of winter, very cold and indifferent. Our institutions frequently languish for want of our sympathy and active coöperation. Then we want next that great fundamental principle of Charity. If we had more charity we should be more comfortable, and have less bickerings. Then there is Humility. We have a vast amount of intelligence; but knowledge, said the Apostle, "puffeth up." With our knowledge we require to cultivate humility. In the religious world at large there are some external forms of these graces that we might very profitably copy, especially if we cultivated at the same time the corresponding internal graces. Mr. Woodman closed his speech with an expression of gratitude for the happiness afforded by their Manchester friends in connection with the Conference.

Mr. WILLIAM WESTALL, of Bolton, was introduced by the Chairman as "a young friend who has very recently entered upon the work of the ministry." Mr. Westall asked, Why is it that with our interior understanding of the Word, we have at the same time a listlessness, a sort of indifference, with regard to the true progress and active prosperity of our churches? The New Church is different to all other churches in this respect. Other churches make their creeds and matters of faith the principal thing; but in the New Church the principles of truth, derived from the Sacred Word, have to be implanted in the life. There is required not only the assent of the understanding, but a conformity of life; and as such this church must be

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of slower growth than those that require simply the assent of the understanding. We often find it very difficult, when in certain states, to make these great truths the guide of our life; hence, we get into states of coldness and neglect. The great want of the church is that these principles of goodness and truth should find a lasting basis in a life of obedience. If we would cultivate the virtue of obedience, it must be done at first from a sense of duty. One of the fundamental principles of our church is that we must act out the truth from a sense of duty. Believing this, it is imperative upon us to do all we can to overcome this want of earnestness, this coldness, this apathy. One good result of Conference has been the adoption of a resolution that it would be wise for the ministers to meet together to consult upon the best means of promoting the progress and welfare of the church. This will promote greater social feeling, and band us together in the golden girdle of love.

The Rev. E. MADELEY, of Birmingham, said it was with unmingled delight that he again met New Church friends in the city where the venerable and venerated Clowes, and Hindmarsh, and Jones, and Howarth, laboured for so many years. Recurring to his text, Mr. Madeley said he was not one of those who thought we wanted machinery for extending the Lord's New Church upon earth; it was not machinery that we wanted, but the fire and the watermore love and more truth, more charity and more faith to work the existing machinery. We were very apt, in thinking of the wants of the church, to overlook our present privileges, and to think of the deficiencies of others, instead of practising self-examination and selfabasement. Again, our wants were often fanciful, and we should be no better, or more zealous, orderly, or pious, were they gratified. Some of our societies seemed to want more settled organisa tion and more unity of purpose; others needed a determination to get rid of a contentious spirit, and to work with their minister and brethren in harmony. There were some persons who allowed the veriest trifles to disturb the equilibrium of their tempers. Such persons ought to look within to see the wants of the church. Above all, there was often a want in our associations of a cementing, disinterested, abiding, cordial principle of sympathy one with another, and

of mutual love and good-will. Another frequent deficiency was a want of piety. Now, without the cultivation of personal piety, worship was often neglected, always insipid, and zeal very frequently cooled and died away. We want more sincerity and more consistency of character, so that the progress of the church may not be impeded by any thing we do. Mr. Madeley laid due stress upon the cementing and healing power of Christian courtesy of conduct. True and solid sympathy greatly strengthened ministers, and promoted the growth of the church. The value of the ladies' influence, both at home and in the church, he also emphasised. One great want of the church was a spiritual domestic education. Here was the sphere whence the New Church was eminently to be governed and built up. The Lord operated by angels upon parents to sow in the hearts and minds of their children the seeds of His kingdom. If this duty was faithfully performed, the children would grow up into true olive plants, and flourish in the courts of the Lord. In this important work mothers had an important part to perform. Their gentle influence and wisdom produced those deep and early impressions that formed the ground-work of all future advancement. But if this work was neglected, the consequences must almost necessarily be, that the young would grow up without the principles of the church and without attachment to it. We wanted, therefore, good, and intelligent, and pious fathers and mothers, to build up the church within their own households-to diffuse a sphere of piety and goodness throughout their householdsto build up the church from within, out of those whom the Lord had bestowed upon them for the purpose of raising them for His kingdom. He remarked, in conclusion, that a most pressing want of the church was that spiritual life, that awakening which the Lord Jesus Christ can alone bestow, and which, if received, will enter into our hearts, and fill our understandings, and pervade our lives.

The Rev. R. STORRY, of Heywood, said: We might be well assured that all the real wants of the church would be abundantly supplied by the Lord, so far as the church diligently sought to prepare itself for that supply. "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." This was the promise of the great Head of the Church. The first means whereby to

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build up an external church--to have substantial and commodious places of worship well filled-was to seek to build up the internal church. The New Jerusalem was the fulfilment of all the promises of the Scriptures, and one of the promises of the Bible was, that the Church should be one. Jerusalem is to be built as a city that is compact together. The Saviour prayed that His disciples might be one as Jesus and the Father are one. What the Saviour prayed for, and therefore intensely desired, we should desire. The New Church regards the Father and the Son as essentially one, as closely united as the soul and the body; and it was this union that the Saviour desired His disciples to pray for. Unity in the church on earth would make it resemble the Church in heaven. There was nothing in the New Church writings more beautiful than the description of the united activity of the angelic kingdom. We can never obtain unity from our self-love, by saying-"My way, or no way." The first means, therefore, for obtaining unity in the church was the conquest of self. The difficult problem to be solved was, how to obtain perfect unity with perfect liberty. This was, perhaps, more difficult in the New Church than in other religious bodies, where certain influences helped to press down the people and preserve unity. In the New Church we must have unity with earnest and active liberty. We cannot have unity by the suppression of thought and affection. After illustrating this point, Mr. Storry concluded with this golden injunction,-We must strive to reach that state in which we shall love others so well that we shall be willing to give up a little of our own way for the pleasure of seeing them exercise their liberty.

The Rev. Dr. BAYLEY, of London, wanted to say a cheerful word to every brother and sister present, believing that nothing helped more to make the affections and thoughts active for good than a kind and cheerful tone of address. He did not remember to have obtained any spiritual improvement himself by the cold-water application. His practice as a minister had proved that the best way to help his brothers and sisters was quietly to notice their wants, and then to help them to realise what they wanted by a kindly shake of the hand, cheerful words and sympathising actions.

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He advised every one to look, as much as possible, on the bright side of things, and pray that we may be grateful for the blessings we have, rather than pine for things that we may suppose we want. Dr. Bayley related an anecdote of a worthy old New Churchman, who led a good life, and who remarked to a friend who expressed a hope that he was diligent in attending public worship,—“Oh, ay, I go and do a bit o' thanksgiving now and then." He earnestly recommended them not to forget their thanksgiving, for he feared in our New Church service there was still too much of the Old Church tone-"Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners!"-too much of the spirit of complaining, and not enough of what the Sacred Scriptures are full of-"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name." If we tried to get nearer to the Lord, if we blest Him for all the good we enjoy night and day, week-day and Sunday, the fire from heaven would warm us more, and new blessings would come in rejoicing over those we have. We should next strive to be very loving. I want (said the Doctor) to love my neighbour better than I ever loved him before. It is true that to be loved is a delightful thing, that to be sympathised with is a refreshing and happy circumstance, but you may depend upon it, that to love is ten times better. To be loved is heavenly; but to love is heaven itself. Let us then not satisfy ourselves with hoping that somebody will love us and do us good in various ways; but let us take the active side, and pray to the Lord continually that He will help us to love our wives better than ever we loved them before, and wives to love their husbands better than ever before; and fathers and mothers to love their children better, and every day to add, if possible, to their means of blessing them; and children to love their parents better. You remember that our Lord, in his various commands, scarcely ever speaks of being loved; He always speaks of love, the active principle. "This command I give, that ye love one another;" and it is because heaven itself is love. Let us, then, not seek for things to mourn over, but try how much more we can love, how much more earnestly we can get the holy fire of loving and blessing others. And thirdly, I want to be very obedient in overcoming my faults. I want to be very true to notice

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what I do amiss, or what I am not sufficiently active in doing, and try to mend. And the way to improve is to go continually to the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray Him to cause me to be more and more attentive to all these matters, because I know that if I succeed in overcoming any fault I have, I shall do my next neighbour more good than if I talked to him twenty times about his faults. Last week one of our new members had some conversation with me, and I asked him how he first became interested in the principles of the New Church. He said "About six years ago I was captain of a ship. Amongst my crew I particularly noticed the ship carpenter, who was a thoughtful man, and though he never talked about religion, there was a sweet spirit of gentleness and kindness about him, and he was so diligent in doing his duty, that I felt sure he was a good man, and wished myself like him. I questioned him especially on one point of conduct in which I failed, namely, good temper. Then he told me about the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and lent me a book. Thus the influence of that man's life led me to inquire about his doctrine; then the doctrine commended itself to my attention, and from that time to this I have gone on increasing in my knowledge and love of these heavenly things, and want to become a member of the New Church." Let us try to imitate this ship's carpenter, not by telling one another of our defects, and miseries, and complaints, but by trying to put quietly into practice that part of the doctrines that bears upon our life. Practice will tell more powerfully than precept. It is so with the flowers; they never talk, but they shed their beauties and perfume around, and that is enough. So with all the glorious scenes of creation; each tells by its influence of the goodness of God. May we all strive to resemble these silent teachers, rather trying to be and to do than to demand and to require ;—thus shall we realise the active blessings of heaven here, and prepare for that glorious home where all are happy, because all love others better than themselves, and strive to do them good. Dr. Bayley proceeded to introduce his friend Mr. Mather, who had just arrived from Russia, and was the bearer of cordial greetings from esteemed and illustrious members of the New Church in that country. The in

formation he would communicate would be of a very interesting character, and it included a proposal for the formation of a depôt in this country for Russian New Church books, and some translations had been already effected. These welcome facts and loving messages ought to urge them to labour on in the grand cause of spreading the heavenly kingdom upon earth, and preparing for it in heaven.

Mr. WILLIAM MATHER said that Dr. Bayley had truly stated that he was entrusted with a fraternal message from friends in Moscow; and he rejoiced to meet so many loving hearts and smiling faces, after being seven months in a country where he was debarred these pleasures. A week ago that night he was with these New Church friends in Moscow, at the house of one of their number, and they evinced the utmost desire to know the condition of the church here, and what efforts we were making to spread the heavenly doctrines. They pressed him to stay, but in order to be present at the Conference, he left next day, and had since travelled day and night. His introduction was due to a letter from Dr. Bayley, and their welcome was most affectionate. They were mostly persons of high position, highly intellectual, of most courteous manners, and advanced in the spiritual life. He experienced a delight from this interior intercourse that he could not express. Their zeal and earnestness for the church, considering their restrictions, was most exemplary. I was requested (contiuued Mr. Mather), in the name of these persons, to greet you most warmly and lovingly as sisters and brothers. "We live," they said, "in a far off country, with a rigorous climate, and restrictive social and political institutions, so that your countrymen will think us half barbarians; but here, in Moscow, our little circle of New Church hearts beats with as much love for them, as members of God's church, as they will find in any part of the world." "Tell them," said the Lady Cleopatra, "that our brightest and happiest dream is that we may, in our lifetime, do something to break up the restrictions which at present, in this country, oppose the beautiful truths of the New Church. We long and yearn to visit England, so noble, so generous, with the finest institutions that men live under. You

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have a free press, freedom of speech and of conscience, and every thing that can aid you to spread these beautiful doctrines. We here are restricted and pent up, but the holy fire burns silently on the altar of our hearts; and we hope some day it may be seen of men, and its incense ascend to heaven." This was said eloquently, and expressed in elegant English. Mr. Mather added a few facts to shew the influence of the leading persons in this society. General Mouravieff, of Moscow, at the age of 44, commenced to study Hebrew and Greek, in order to translate the Word into the Russian language. He had completed the Gospels and the Apocalypse, and had obtained permission from the Emperor to publish this work in Moscow. This General Mouravieff was the noble who aided the Emperor more than any other Russian in procuring the emancipation of the serfs, to which many of the nobles had shewn great opposition. Their Christian names were the same, and it was a saying that, had there not been two Alexander Nicolaiffs, the emancipation of the serfs would not have taken place. Another of the gentlemen was one who bad received a university education, and was a very intellectual man. At the age of 17, he said to his professor"You have taught me most of the physical sciences; can you do something for my soul?" The professor placed in his hands the works of Swedenborg, advising him to make them the guide of his life. This he had done, and had devoted his life to translating the works of Swedenborg from Latin into Russian. Mr. Mather said he had brought with him the manuscript of the Divine Love and Wisdom, the Four Leading Doctrines, and other works; and the translator's desire was to have them printed in London, as the nucleus of a New Church library for the use of Russian travellers, &c., the sale of these books being prohibited in Russia, and the first inquiry of travellers was for prohibited books. In this way a present good would be done, and the way would be prepared for flooding the country with books when the proper time arrived. These Russian friends had embodied their sentiments in an address to the Rev. J. H. Smithson, supposing him to be still the editor of the Intellectual Repository;* they also expressed *This address will be found appended to this report of the meeting.

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their thanks for the instruction afforded by Dr. Bayley, in his sermons on the Divine Word. If the proposed depôt could be established in London, they were prepared to send the means. their New Church friends generally in this country they sent a loving message, with the expression of an earnest hope for more intercourse, and more zeal in spreading the heavenly doctrines.

Mr. BATEMAN, of London, next addressed the meeting, remarking on the pleasurable conjunction with the Russian receivers of the heavenly doctrines, and addressing his observations chiefly to the necessity of embodying our belief and affections in uses, because it was only by the charities of life that religion became infixed in us. Amongst the many wants of the church he noticed the want of education for our children, towards which they desired to found a New Church College, where these holy principles could be taught by loving men and women. Another want was of a Training College for young ministers.

The Rev. JOHN HYDE, of Derby, was the last speaker; and he said that God never gave a want but he gave the power of its realisation. The wants of the church included more knowledge of God's Word. Happiness (he said) was to be found in the realisation of our wants, therefore the more conscious we were of our wants, the more certainly we were on the road to happiness, which consisted in the activity of the power of love. We ought to be good, rather than talk about it. The last want to which he referred was genuineness, thoroughness, not only in the ideas of the understanding, but in the affections of the heart. His closing remarks enforced the duty of studying the Holy Word, and embodying its teachings in our lives.

LETTER FROM RUSSIA. (Referred to in Mr. MATHER'S address.) To the Rev. Mr. Smithson.

Sir,It is to your most excellent Magazine that we are indebted for the precious accounts we receive of the zeal with which the Swedenborg Society labours for the propagation of the truths of the New Jerusalem through all the countries of the globe. As we owe to your publication many inexpressible intellectual delights, we cannot help expressing to you, Sir, our sincere gratitude. But we must tell you, at the same time, that all the truly

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