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DR. TAFEL: HIS LIFE, LABOURS, AND DEPARTURE, ETC. combat,―no agony; only twice in the last night did he lift his hands to be raised. About nine o'clock in the morning he became extremely pale, his hands and feet became cold, and about an hour afterwards, his eyes shone for a moment with inexpressible splendour, then the eyelids sank half down, and without a sigh or a movement he passed away. His soul had ceased to communicate with his body.

This was August 29th, at about ten in the morning. Two days after, and the body, the organ of his dear and active soul, was interred in the Roman Catholic burial ground at Ragatz, near the tomb of Schelling.

His brother and son Theodore, and many New Church friends who had hastened thither hoping to find the dear one still alive, only arrived in time to take part in the funeral, at which also were present a great number of the inhabitants of Ragatz, as well as strangers. I look back at the last days of our lamented friend and brother in the Lord with unmingled veneration, and am grateful that I had such an opportunity of intercourse with one of the Lord's servants,-one of the truest and the best.

SWEDENBORG SOCIETY.

[CIRCULAR.]

36, Bloomsbury-street, W. C., 12th November, 1863.

Dear Sir,-You will no doubt have participated in the strong feeling of sympathy that has been generally, we may almost say universally, felt in the New Church for the family of Dr. Tafel, on the occasion of his removal into the eternal world.

The Swedenborg Society, in behalf of the New Church, has undertaken to purchase the whole of the Latin works of Swedenborg that remain on hand, of the editions printed by Dr. Tafel. They consist of more than 30,000 volumes, and were offered for £500. the family will have their slender resources increased, and these works will be preserved, and brought into current use in the church.

By this means

Unless this had been done, the fruit of Dr. Tafel's eminent and selfsacrificing labours through forty years would have been lost, as the books must have been sold for waste paper; and his family would have been seriously straitened for the want of a sum so much needed for their comfort, and so richly deserved.

Besides the £500. purchase money, a considerable expense will be incurred for freight and other charges.

May we ask your kindest coöperation in this effort to provide the

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requisite sum? If required, one-half the amount of your subscription will be returned in the Latin works.

The committee will be happy to receive immediately your reply, stating the sum that you will contribute to this excellent object.

Yours, on behalf of the Committee,

J. BAYLEY,

S. M. WARREN, Sub-Committee.
T. WATSON,

[We are requested to state that should the subscriptions exceed-as it is confidently hoped they will-the sum required for the purchase of the books, Madame Tafel and her family will receive the full benefit of the liberality of the Church.-ED.]

REVIEWS.

REGENERATION. By EDMUND H. SEARS.

Glasgow: Bell and Bain,

St. Enoch-square. 1863.

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This is a reprint of an American work, which, though not unknown in this country, is not so widely known as its great, merit deserves it should be. The author is better known among us by his later work, "Foregleams of Immortality." When these works were written the author had not, as he since has, avowed himself a receiver of New Church principles. We did not require this avowal to assure us that Mr. Sears never could have written these books if Swedenborg had not written before him on the same subjects. Regeneration" is a treatise of great force and beauty. Its style is one of the charms of the work, but by no means its only or principal one; its treatment of the subject is clear and forcible. The NATURAL MAN, the SPIRITUAL NATURE, the NEW MAN, form the subjects of the three parts into which it is divided. Under these general heads we have hereditary corruption, the law of descent, the primal innocence, total depravity, conflict and victory, with Gethsemane, and the Atonement, all treated in an interesting and lucid manner. Written by one whose vocabulary and style have been formed before he became a deep student of the writings, his work will be found especially acceptable to that class of readers who think that New Church truths may be faithfully taught without being conveyed in strictly New Church phraseology, while it is likely to be read with relish by persons who have not yet drunk at all of the well whence all of us fill our shallow vessels. The volume is handsomely got up; and we hope it may have a wide circulation.

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LIFE: ITS NATURE, VARIETIES, AND PHENOMENA. By LEO. H. GRINDON, Lecturer on Botany at the Royal School of Medicine, Manchester, &c. Third Edition. London: F. Pitman, 21, Paternoster-row.

A NEW edition of this admirable work speaks well for the intrinsic excellence of New Church principles, sentiments, and truths, when given without a name, and presented in an attractive form. The work ranges through nature, but everywhere penetrates its hidden life, and traces it in its endless forms of use and beauty. Having been reviewed in this magazine when it first appeared, we cannot enter into an examination of the work. We can, however, recommend it, which we do most cordially and earnestly. Yet it hardly requires to be recommended to the members and friends of the church, by whom Mr. Grindon is so well known and so highly appreciated as a writer, both from his excellent works, and from the numerous charming articles with which he has at various times enriched the pages of the Repository. The book is beautifully printed, and handsomely bound; and the moderate price at which it is sold, seems intended rather to secure a wide circulation for the work than a large remuneration for the author and publisher.

THE PATH AN ALLEGORICAL ESSAY ON THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER AND LIFE. By G. J. MACKELCAN. London: F. Pitman, 20, Paternoster-row, E. C.

THE author states that "the objects of this essay are-1st. To give some key to the figurative nature of the Scriptures; 2nd. To show that the Christian character must be perfected in this life; 3rd. To prove that salvation is the result of union with Christ, and not of substitution."

On the first two points the author says nothing noteworthy. On the third, we find the following:

"Fruitfulness is dependent upon being voluntarily in union with Christ. The fruit is then His own, although the result of union,-the sap representing the spirit of Christ in the converted man; and the modus operandi is explained when He says 'For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.' Now, as He is the way, the truth, and the life, He simply explains that He sanctified Himself, or rendered His own fallen human nature sacred or perfect, in order to make it a fit medium through which to operate upon and render all who are thus voluntarily in union with Him, equally sacred and perfect. His perfected human nature being in union with God is thus our Days-man, and unites us to God also."

Whence has the writer obtained this view? We should hardly think he can have acquired it without the aid of the New Church writings. And yet, if he learnt it there, how is it that he seems entirely ignorant

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of the true "key to the figurative nature of the Scriptures," the Science of Correspondences? If the author has not read the writings of Swedenborg, he has studied the Word to excellent purpose, so far as relates to the doctrine of the Atonement. If he wishes to find a system of Christian doctrine in harmony with his view of this great subject, we would recommend him to consult that author's works, where he will find—what he seems prepared to receive-the whole truth.

Poetry.

HYMN FOR DIVINE WORSHIP.

Jesus! Father! met to bless Thee,
Let us now Thy praise record!
As in heart, in voice confess Thee,
Sanctifier! Saviour! Lord!
Christ-Jehovah! Thou who camest
Us, Thy lost, to seek and save,
Thee we bless, that Thou proclaimest
Victory over sin and grave!
Man of Sorrows! Lord of glory!

In our woes, transfigured thus,

Still we trace Thy sacred story,

Living, actual-God-with-us!

Prince of Peace! Thou Everlasting

Father! We, in all our peace

Know Thy wings' blest shadow, casting

O'er us, joy's divine increase.

Who wast dead, Thou Everliving!

In our every hour of death,

To sin and self, Art with us, giving

Life, true life's celestial breath.

First and Last! Jehovah-Jesus!

Thy sole work th' At-one-ment blest

Which from sin's death-severance frees us,

In Thy Oneness, won to rest.

Unto this Thy rest so win us,

Saviour, Comforter adored!

Make us one in Thee! Thou in us

Over all, One God and Lord!

John xiv. 9.

Rev. iv. 11.

Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.
Isaiah xliii 11.

Isaiah xl. 10.
Matt. xviii. 11.

John xi. 25.

1 Cor. xv. 55, 56.

Isaiah liii. 3.
James ii. 1.

Isaiah lii. 4.

Matt. i. 23.

Isaiah ix. 6.
John xvi. 33.

Ps. xxxvi. 7.
John xv. 11.

Rev. i. 18.
Rom. vi. 11.

John x. 10.

Rom. vi. 28.

Rev. xxii. 13, 16.

Rom. v. 11.

(Isaiah lix. 2.

John xvii. 22.

Cor. iii. 15.
Isaiah li. 12.

Zech. xiv. 9.

Rom. ix. 5.

MARY C. HUME.

572

MISCELLANEOUS.

GENERAL CHURCH INTELLIGENCE.

LECTURES AT EDINBURGH, BY THE REV. J. H. SMITHSON.

Our brethren at Edinburgh having (according to several notices recently made in this Periodical) carried out their intention of enlarging their place of worship, in Infirmary-street, of that city, it was resolved formally to open the neat and commodious chapel on Sunday, the 11th of October. It was also resolved to invite the Rev. J. H. Smithson, of Manchester, to undertake the duty, and to deliver two discourses, and also to administer the Lord's Supper on this interesting occasion. It was further determined that Mr. Smithson, under the auspices of the National Missionary Society, during his stay in Edinburgh, should deliver three lectures in the Queen-street Hall; and the subjects proposed were, first-" German Philosophy;" secondly-"The Reformation, its Uses and its Results;" thirdly-"Swedenborg and his Teachings." These subjects were duly advertised in the local newspapers, and owing to the assembly of the "National Association for the Promotion of Social Science" being held in Edinburgh at this time, with Lord Brougham as its president, it was thought by some of our friends that lectures on these subjects might be attractive, not only to the citizens, but also to some of the many visitors and strangers who had come from various parts of Scotland to attend the meetings of the Association. Nor were our friends altogether disappointed in this respect, for at the first lecture, on the evening of October 9th, when the subject of "German Philosophy" was explained and discussed by the lecturer, nearly all the sittings in the Hall were occupied, and this notwithstanding the heavy and incessant rain which fell during the evening. On the following day, October 10th, the subjoined notice from the Daily Review appeared :-"The Rev. J. H. Smithson's Lectures.-This gentleman delivered the first of a course of three lectures in Upper Queen-street Hall last night. The subject of his lecture was German Philosophy.' The lecturer, after explaining the term philosophy, and demonstrating that there

is a philosophy for everything, proceeded to survey the various systems of philoSophy prevalent in Germany, particularly those of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. He concluded by supporting the views of Swedenborg. The lecture was listened to with interest by rather a numerous audience, and was frequently applauded."

A longer notice would have been given by the reporter, had not the columns of the paper been crowded with reports of the meetings and doings of the Association. The writer of this notice regrets this, as a detailed report of this lecture would be interesting to the reader. On another occasion, should the lecturer favour us with another visit, it would, we think, be better to appoint a time when no such excitement as caused by the Association of Social Science exists in the city. Suffice it to say, that the subject of metaphysics has, from the time of Plato down to the latest attempts by the celebrated German philosophers, been proverbially enveloped in great obscurity, so that the thinking mind can scarcely work its way out of the labyrinth of unintelligible ideas into any satisfactory results, in which it can acquiesce with any degree of pleasure and mental repose. Thus, a philosopher was still required who could solve in a manner satifactory to rational inquiry, the grand problems of metaphysical philosophy, and thus supply the mind with a palace of intelli. gence, in which it can dwell with satisfaction and peace. This philosopher, the lecturer demonstrated, was Swedenborg, who had solved the great problems of German transcendental philosophy, and whose name would, ere long, be recognised as the gifted and enlightened mind who had done this good work for our thinking humanity. For in his work on the "Divine Love and Wisdom," together with the work on the "Divine Providence," would be found the solution of the various problems of metaphysical, or rather of mental and of spiritual intelligence which, for ages past, have engaged the intense application of reflecting minds, down to the transcendental philosophers of Germany, who, as confessed even among themselves and their disciples, have not yet arrived

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