Obituary. MISCELLANEOUS. At Farnworth, near Bolton-le-Moors, on the 12th of April last, in the 50th year of her age, after a protracted and painful illness, Eliza, wife of Mr. Joseph Barrow. The subject of this notice was born of pious parents, and brought up among the Independents, where she received her early religious impressions, and for several years remained an active and consistent member of that body. At a later period, circumstances led to her removal from her native place, and brought her into association with the Unitarian body, whose tenets she for a time embraced. A few years afterwards, however, she with her husband returned to her former residence, when, through the instrumentality of the Rev. W. Woodman, the doctrines of the New Church were brought under her notice. In early life she had imbibed the common prejudices against our views; but the transition through which she had passed had shaken the sentiments of hostility which she had acquired in regard to them. She did not, however, at once accept them, although she found much to admire in them; whilst her admiration was mingled with astonishment at the beauty of a system she had been taught to regard as the offspring of a disordered brain. The operation of truth for the most part is gradual, and in some cases it requires a lengthened period ere it carries conviction to the mind. Instances, it is true, do occur when its light bursts like a sudden radiance on the understanding; but these are comparatively rare. In most cases it breaks like the early dawn, gradually increasing till it attains its mid-day splendour; or its approach is like the returning sight of him mentioned in the Gospel, who first beheld men as trees walking ere he was enabled to discern objects in their true proportions. In the case of our departed friend, every position was carefully investigated ere she yielded her assent; but this process, whilst it apparently delayed her full reception of the doctrines which she afterwards so highly prized, only served to strengthen her convictions in their truth when received. Little, however, did she imagine to how severe a test they would be subjected, nor had she any adequate conception of the great value she afterwards found them to possess, when subsequently she was placed on a bed of sickness. Her health had 287 been delicate for some time, and symptoms resembling those of chronic rheumatism manifested themselves; but evenl tually her joints became ancylosed, untiat length she was unable even to feed herself. It was when thus prostrated on the couch of suffering, and ofttimes racked with pain, that she became fully cognizant of the priceless treasure which Providence had brought within her reach. The periodicals and other works of the New Church, and especially the writings of Swedenborg, together with the Word, were her daily bread; and the consolation she drew from the views there presented-the sole and supreme Deity of the Lord, the unchangeableness of His divine love, and the nature of His providence-was greater than she could find words to describe; whilst the vista opened by their means into the world beyond the grave supported her fainting spirit during the acute sufferings she experienced. When unable to move, she had a small rest placed before her adapted to hold a volume of the Arcana, the Apocalypse, or some other work, the leaves of which she turned over by means of a small stick; and after her joints had become too much contracted to allow of this operation, she pondered over the pages open before her till some one, coming into her room, performed that service for her. Endowed naturally with strong intellectual powers, it is not surprising that her perceptions of truths so highly prized by her were proportionably clear. In the frequent interviews the writer of this notice had with her, the benefit he received was at least equal to that which his ministrations conferred; and he will ever regard it as a great privilege to have been permitted to visit one in whom the new birth had evidently so far progressed: similar also was the experience of most who visited her. It may encourage his brother labourers, who sometimes feel that their admonitions from the pulpit fall on listless ears, that she assured him that many things she had heard, which at the time did not affect her as they ought, long afterwards, when on the bed of suffering, returned with a vividness, and brought a degree of consolation she could not describe. During the long period-a period of more than eight years-in which she was thus confined, many and varied were her experiences. Deep and sometimes agonising temptations alter nated with seasons of consolation and peace; and yet, amid pain and mental suffering, there was a cheerfulness, when conversing on the subjects nearest to her heart, which one often felt as a practical rebuke to the repinings at comparative trifles, in which we are too prone to indulge. She ever spoke of her affliction as a merciful dispensation of her Heavenly Father's providence, and experimentally recognised its beneficial effects in breaking down her natural pride, by teaching her her own helplessness; and great was the comfort she derived from feeling that the discipline which stripped her of her fancied goodness, and laid her spirit bare before her mental sight, was the merciful means of leading her to cling more closely to Him whose grace is sufficient for all our needs. A few months previous to her removal, she felt a strong yearning towards those with whom she had formerly been associated, and some of the visits she received from her former friends were a source of deep satisfaction to her. Among these may be mentioned one from Mr. Barnes, the present member for Bolton, which she often spoke of with pleasure and gratitude; and it clearly shows that the bond of spiritual union may exist with Christians notwithstanding they may differ on matters of faith. This notice has, however, exceeded the usual limits; nevertheless much might be added which would interest, and probably benefit, many of those who may peruse it, but we must forbear. That one so chastened and weaned from worldly things should experience no apprehensions of the approach of what to many is associated with dread, will readily be conceived. On the last occasion of receiving the Lord's Supper she told the writer how greatly she had desired this privilege once more ere her departure, especially as she felt that the term of her sojourn here was drawing to a close; she had also frequently intimated to those around her that they would probably at some time find the earthly tenement vacated by the soul. And so the event proved. On the morning of her decease her attendant left her apparently in her usual state, and on returning shortly afterwards found that her spirit had quitted its earthly tabernacle for the " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." W. On the 18th of April, Mr. William Reader, of 17, Cullum Street, City, departed this natural life for a spiritual one, in the 61st year of his age. He was for many years connected with the society at Doctors' Commons and Argyle Square, where his attendance was regular until prevented through declining health. His kind and charitable disposition gained him the good will and friendship of his fellow-citizens and of all around him. TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. All communications to be sent to the Editor, the Rev. W. BRUCE, 43, Kensington Gardens Square, London, W. To ensure insertion in the forthcoming Number, communications must be received not later than the 15th of the month, except recent intelligence, which will be received till the 18th. The Forty-ninth Annual Meeting of the Manchester and Salford New Jerusalem Church Missionary Society will be held on Tuesday evening, June 27th, 1865, in the Schoolroom, Peter Street; tea on the table at six o'clock. Presidentthe Rev. Richard Storry, of Heywood Representatives from the societies are invited. ALPHA. We have never seen "A New Treatise on Redemption." The statement mentioned we regard as a mistake, and can therefore offer'no explanation of it. L. S. B.-A letter in the present number directs his attention to a work which will answer his inquiry. CAVE AND SEVER, Printers by Steam Power, Hunt's Bank, Manchester. MOST of the miracles. performed by the Lord Jesus Christ while He tabernacled in flesh on earth, consisted in delivering the afflicted from their maladies and infirmities,—either the natural maladies and infirmities of sickness and debility, or the extraordinary ones occasioned by the immediate power and agency of evil spirits. For, strange as it appears to the apprehensions of mankind at the present time, it is most unquestionable, if the Gospel history is worthy of the smallest credit, that not only in past ages, as in all ages, did evil spirits, in an imperceptible manner, exercise an influence on the minds of men, inclining them to wickedness, and holding them bound in the chains of error, delusion, and sin, but they also, in many instances, exercised a direct control over the bodies of those to whom they gained access, guiding their senses and organs at pleasure, in a manner painful and distressing to the unhappy subjects of their malignant operation,actually possessing them-speaking and acting by and through their organs of speech and motion, and often making the persons possessed speak and act in the character of the foul spirit possessing them, and not in their own persons. "And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him."-MARK i. 27. 290 DEMONIACAL POSSESSION. These facts, and the truths connected with them, are well worthy of most serious contemplation. Great pains have been taken by learned half-infidel theologians of modern times, both in this country and on the Continent, to have it believed that the cases of spiritual possession recorded in the Scriptures were not in reality anything of the kind— that, in fact, no spirits were concerned in producing the effects described; but that they all were mere ordinary cases of lunacy or of epilepsy, without any special agency connected with them whatever. Because similar possessions are not commonly witnessed now-a-days, and persons afflicted with epilepsy and lunacy do exhibit symptoms resembling some of those which the Scriptures ascribe to the agency of evil spirits, it has repeatedly been attempted to be proved, with great displays of erudition, that the persons described in the Gospels as possessed by evil spirits were merely afflicted with those natural maladies, and that the sacred writers have only ascribed their condition to spiritual agency in accommodation to the ignorance and prejudices of the Jews. If we could suppose that the Lord Himself should so far flatter such ignorance and prejudices, as, when he well knew he was only curing a natural disease, to rebuke it as a foul spirit, and to say to an unconscious disorder, "I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him," the explanation might appear plausible in cases where the spirit did not speak. But how will it apply to such as that referred to in our text? The miracle was wrought by the Lord in the synagogue of Capernaum. "A man" was there (as related in verses 23 and 24)" with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God." It is quite evident that this man, of himself, could have no more knowledge of the Divine character of the Being before whom he stood, and by whose presence, though the Lord had not yet spoken to him, he felt distressed and tormented, than any others of the congregation yet he declared who Jesus truly was, and displayed a knowledge also of the work for which He had assumed the human nature, and of the true nature of the redemption which He came to accomplish, far superior to that which is possessed by the most intelligent and learned of Christians in general at the present day. He knew that the work of redemption was to consist, in the language of the doctrines of the New Church, "in removing hell from man,”-in overcoming the infernal powers, confining them to their own place, and thus delivering man DEMONIACAL POSSESSION. 291 from their preponderating influence. He saw, in the apparently humble being before whom he stood, the Mighty Conqueror, the Resistless Victor, that all hell would oppose in vain. Seized with dread in such a presence, he entreats to be "let alone;" acknowledges that there was no communion of affection or purpose between such as he, the oppressors of man, and man's compassionate Saviour; and, dreading annihilation for the too near approach, he asks with terror, "Art Thou come to destroy us?" In all this it is evident it is not the unhappy possessed man that speaks, but the infernal spirit that possessed him; and if such words were ever spoken (which it were madness to doubt), it is certain that at that period evil spirits did sometimes get such near access to man as actually to possess his bodily frame, and to speak and act through its organs. It is vain, then, to attempt to resolve the instances of demoniacal possession recorded in the Gospels into ordinary cases of epilepsy or insanity. Nor is the argument at all conclusive-"There are no such possessions now; therefore, there never have been." And if it were, the premises it assumes are not altogether indisputable. Generally speaking, it is true, that evil spirits are not permitted to possess the bodies of men. They were dislodged from that close proximity to man which enabled them to do this by the Lord's victories over them while He was in the world, or by the judgment upon them which He then performed. But, in these last times of the professors of the Christian church, it is no less certain that hell had again made a mighty insurrection. If the evil spirits that occupied the world of spirits about the time when the Lord was in the world were then cast down into hell, and there confined, their places have since been taken up by others, rendering another judgment and casting down necessary, being the last general one that will ever be performed, and which is abundantly foretold in the New Testament. And though it is true that the power of hell has since been exercised chiefly in the obsession of men's minds, and not of their bodies, so that it is correct to say, speaking generally, as is done in the writings of our church, that mental obsessions take place at this day more than ever, but not bodily ones ;-yet it does not thence follow that bodily ones never take place at all; and I certainly have read accounts of some extraordinary cases in which, if the facts were as related, and which appear to be unexceptionably authenticated, it is unquestionable that possession by evil spirits took place; and which therefore prove that, though such possession is not now common, and the Divine Providence is ever active to prevent its occurrence, yet cases do now |