thing, the least as well as the greatest, there are degrees of both kinds, discrete and continuous, without which it could not exist as a distinct entity.

It does not come within the limit of my subject to treat of the original creation of man, But, if preservation, therefore procreation, is continuous creation, there is reason to believe that the first human being had his beginning from a first human germ cell. The production of the first man from the first germ cell was the process of man's development; and the knowledge of this process is the true development theory, to call that theory which is true science. There must indeed have been a matrix in which the first human germ cell was deposited, and in which it was developed into a completely formed man. But the author of "The Love and Worship of God" has found that matrix, not in the animal but in the vegetable kingdom. He did not therefore look upon man as a lineal descendant of a long line of animal ancestors, ending with the anthropoid ape.

The rudimentary cell, as the germ of the human being, must be in the human form. By form we must not however be understood simply to mean shape. The primitive form of man is not that of the human body, terrestrial or celestial, but is another most perfect form known only to the Lord (A. C. 3363), and from which that of the body is derived. But not only every rudiment or germ of man, but every single truth that descends from the Lord to man, is in the human form, not in the human shape, but in that most perfect form we read of, a form having in it all the degrees of life, not only in virtue of its origin in Him who has in Himself three infinite degrees of life, but also in consequence of its passing through all the heavens, and clothing itself in its descent with the form of each heaven successively. It is thus, also, that the soul itself is in the human form; for the soul descends through all the heavens, and clothes itself in its descent with the form of each heaven, so that it is a type or epitome of them all, and has in itself the rudimental form of each. In virtue of its having passed through all the heavens, the soul is itself a little heaven. And when the soul has clothed itself with a body taken from nature and matter, and having in it all the degrees of the natural and material world, man is at once a little heaven and a little world.

But there is another part of man that requires to be noticed. Within or above all the degrees of life which have now been described, and which make man, as to his spiritual nature, a created miniature of heaven, and of the three particular heavens of which the universal

heaven consists, there is one other degree of life superior to them all. For within or above the angelic heaven there is another heaven, which is the common residence of all souls, both of angels, of men, and of demons. But souls can only be in that super-celestial heaven by their having in themselves a heaven corresponding to it-that is, a degree or created receptacle of life superior to that into which the highest angels consciously receive the life of love and wisdom from God. This is "the heaven of human internals;" it is the immediate residence of the Lord in all souls; it is eminently the seat of life and the fount of immortality; the region of unclouded light and of unvarying temperature, it knows no alternations of state, no stages of progression. Above human consciousness, it is above human control. The place in the soul which the Lord has reserved for Himself, the secret place of the Most High, He alone rules it, and for ever preserves it in immediate and, therefore, in undisturbed and unbroken connection with Himself. From this supreme region of the soul, or from the Lord within it, light and heat, or love and wisdom, flow in perpetual streams into the regions of the soul below, giving at once the faculties of liberty and rationality, the power of willing good and perceiving truth, and giving with these faculties the good and truth that may be willed and perceived; and in virtue of the liberty bestowed, these may either be used or abused, preserved or perverted, according to the inclination of the recipient.

Such then is the constitution of the human being as he comes from the hand of his Creator. He has, first and highest, the human internal,analogous to the heaven of human internals. Then follow the three degrees of the internal man, analogous to the three heavens-the celestial, the spiritual, and the celestial- and spiritual-natural; then the intermediate region, which we shall call the natural-rational, corresponding to the world of spirits; and then succeed the three degrees of the natural mind, the natural, sensual, and corporeal, corresponding to the three kingdoms of naturethe animal, vegetable, and mineral. The first, or human-internal, may be called kat ex., the soul, considered as the first receptacle and as the immediate seat of life; this is not only above the region of time and space as they exist in the natural world, but above the appearances of time and space, of appearances as they are in the spiritual world, and therefore above the region of consciousness. This, in the Lord at His birth, was the soul from the Father, the indwelling divinity, above all infernal and human assault, and in itself infinite, eternal, unchangeable. The next, the internal, may be called the mind, and specifically

the spiritual mind; for here, in the highest or inmost of which human consciousness begins, spiritual affection and thought reside. Between the spiritual and the natural is the rational mind. It partakes of the nature of both, and communicates with both. From this region man can look upward to heaven and downward to the world. It is intended not only to be the medium of communication, but the medium of conjunction between them; and here is the seat of that equilibrium to which we give the name of free-will. The last, formed after the likeness of the world, is the natural mind; for it is the seat of natural affection and thought, the continent and basis of spiritual affection and thought. The natural mind is to the spiritual mind as the world is to heaven. The natural encloses and corresponds to the spiritual. As the natural world is the divinely appointed passage into the spiritual world, so is the natural mind the appointed passage into the spiritual mind. Nature leads up to spirit. We can only open a way into the spiritual mind through the medium of the natural mind. And as the natural mind is concerned about and conversant with the things of the natural world, we must seek to educate the spiritual mind by educating the natural, by enriching and cultivating the natural with the view of enriching and cultivating the spiritual.

When the human being, thus constituted by creation, is ushered into the world, all the degrees of the mind are closed and undeveloped. The spiritual mind is wrapped up in the natural, like the flower in the calyx, and the process of development is to be effected by the twofold operation of life from within and the use of means from without. The use of means constitutes education. Life, which comes immediately and constantly from God, works downwards; means, which come immediately from man, work upwards. Development has therefore at once a descending and an ascending progression. In all true education the Lord alone may indeed be said to be the Teacher; he educates by the agency of angels from within and of men from without. By the agency of angels the Lord influences and enlightens; by means of men He instructs and guides. This may be differently expressed, not so much in reference to the agents as to the means. Principles, not persons, are the real agents or powers by which all true education is effected. Good and truth are one in God, and the end of all true education is, that they may become one in man. Originally they entered into the mind of man united as they came from God. Man then had inward revelation as well as inward desires and impressions. His understanding was united to his will, and his thoughts

came immediately from his affections. The fall, and the constitutional change which it necessitated, altered this. When the understanding was separated from the will, truth, which had hitherto flowed into the mind, was revealed to the sense, and instead of being received inwardly, had to be acquired outwardly, instead of being intuitive had to be learnt. The principles of good and truth, as two heavenly messengers, come now as hitherto, united from the throne of God; but in descending into the do main of nature they separate, one coming and appealing to man through his inward affections, the other coming and appealing to him through his outward thoughts. Good enters, or seeks to enter, into the mind through the affections of the inner man, and truth enters, or seeks to enter, through the thoughts of the outer man. Their work is different, but their aim is one. All their efforts are directed to this one end, to meet and unite again in the mind of man, as before their descent they met and were united in the mind of God. As in all their labours they constantly aspire after union, their labours are necessarily such as to promote and secure that union. Good seeks to work its way downwards, and truth seeks to work its way upwards; for "truth springeth out of the earth, and righteousness looketh down from heaven ;" and when they meet together and unite in the conscience, man is truly an image of God, because the marriage of goodness and truth, which exists infinitely in the mind of God, exists finitely in the mind of man. It will be our endeavour to show how truth works its way upward, and how good works its way downward; and how we may most usefully assist in advancing this divine work by means of education.

When loud the tempting ones rejoice,

Their storm-waves surging high,
Near may I hear my Saviour's voice-
"Be fearless-it is I."

If in the shades of Death's cold night
All dim my way appear,

O break the clouds, and let the light
Of op'ning morn be near.

Then if on Canaan's shore I stand,
Enrob'd in spotless white,
Thankful, I'll own my Father's hand
Hath won for me the fight.

There shall I grasp the loving hand,
And meet the kindling eye,
No cloud can enter that sun-land,
To raise the long-drawn sigh.

O blessed home, abode of peace,
Land of the truth-born light,
There shall my fears and darkness cease,
"Where faith is lost in sight."

Then shall I in my Father's house

Join those I love the best;

Where the wicked cease from troubling,

And the weary are at rest.

H. A., Melbourne.

FRAGMENTS OF THE EARLY SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN THE NORTH.

NO. IV. FAILSWORTH-Continued.

In conversation with a friend on the last paper, a question was asked me on the particular idea intended to be conveyed by Mr. Wilson in his rejoinder to Mr. Carlile, who, when blowing out a candle asked what had become of the flame? viz., that he (Mr. C.) had "shifted" it. Thinking that possibly a similar query might be suggested to others, propose, before entering on the account of Mr. Wilson's second debate with his opponent, to offer a brief preliminary remark explanatory of what, from my knowlodge of his views on these subjects, I infer to have been the force intended in his observation.

I

It must be obvious that after a debate of five hours' duration there