latter because he did not accept the doctrine of "the natural immortality of the soul." It is eminently curious and very humiliating to see the devious courses which doctrinal errors will compel even truth-seeking men to adopt: with such a bias, they seem to think that every light is less brilliant than their own, and even that they feel to be dim enough! When will men learn that it is the affection of charity which unites, and not the sentiments of faith; and that the church may be one, notwithstanding diversities of belief, provided its people will suffer themselves to be influenced by genuine goodness. The Independents in several localities are also aiming at the introduction of a liturgical service in their worship. A book of public prayer for four Sundays in the month has been compiled, not by any public authority of the body, but privately, as a contribution towards what is thought to be desirable by many who are favourable to the adoption of such a service, in order to check what is said to be the growth of that " pompous nonsense" in which some of the "original thinkers" are stated to indulge.

We notice, also, that the Baptists and Independents in several parts of the country are making efforts to draw closer to each other. It is felt by influential parties on both sides that there are only slight differences of opinion between them, and this feeling is obtaining favourable expression in some of their public meetings. It was referred to by Dr. Gotch, of the Bristol Baptist College, at a late meeting in that city of the Auxiliary of the London Missionary Society. It is, however, believed by others that no union of the two bodies can result, for the differences, though slight, are considered to be vital. Still it is pleasant to see that charity is making an effort to obtain a right place in the denominations of our country. A new chapel has just been erected, not far from the Tabernacle" of the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, London, for "The Strict Communion Baptists." It cost about £10,000., and will accommodate 2,000 persons, It was opened on the 20th of September to a very crowded congregation, among whom were some of the leading preachers of the connection. The minister, the Rev. James Wells, preached; but the substance of his sermon is reported to have greatly

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scandalised many of the persuasion, and caused some of the ministers who had engaged to take part in the opening services to decline the work. The subject of his discourse was-"Rahab the Harlot," (Jos. ii.) and he insisted that she was perfectly justified in telling the lies she did, because God, in her case, "suspended the moral law," as He could and might do whenever He pleased. God," he said, "here suspended the law concerning falsehood, and by suspending that law, did thereby take away the criminality of Rahab's falsehood." This, the report says, was considered "most awful; and so the spiritual trouble of this body has begun in the midst of their natural triumph. building is intended as a rallying point, where the doctrines of unconditional election and reprobation are to be proclaimed; and where, according to the audacious sentiment of Calvin, it will be taught that God calls the reprobate that they may be more deaf, kindles a light that they may be more blind, brings His doctrines that they may be more ignorant, and applies the remedy that they may not be healed. Who can wonder at alarm being taken by thinking men at the open avowal of God suspending His moral law to justify a falsehood and take away its guilt? Surely such bold utterances in these our days can only be regarded as the prelude to a better knowledge of such errors for the surer detestation of them.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon seems to have made some reference to these presumptuous attempts of Mr. Wells and his fraternity in a sermon which he delivered before the "Baptist Union," Bradford, on the 12th of October. He therein "deprecated the ambition of those who unnecessarily scaled the heights of Predestination," which he described as "the Matterhorn of our spiritual republic, where there are levels unexplored at the base."

"The Congregational Union of England and Wales" commenced their proceedings at Bristol on the 23rd of October. The Rev. D. Thomas, B.A., delivered the opening address. The salient point of it was the responsibility which rested on parents in relation to the religious education of their children. The subject was handled with earnestness and ability. It referred to the circumstance of the young people who

have been introduced into their churches not continuing in the connection, and endeavoured to direct attention to the cause and the remedy. The cause, it was considered, could in some measure be found in the external attractions of other churches; the young people, it was said, insensibly drifted away from the sanctuary of their fathers because some higher standard of companionship was supposed to exist in other quarters. The remedy, it was thought, might be found in the parents being more faithful in the teaching of their children-in their not delegating so much of their religious instruction to others, but earnestly taking much of the work into their own hands. The address was approved, and directed to be printed. Other papers were read on the Deconate of the churches, and on the religious condition of Wales. The subjects of catechetical exercises and middle class education were also discussed. It was contened that laying hold of the educational element was essential to retain the young people in the Non-. conformist churches, and that right principles of church polity should be taught to the young ladies as well as gentlemen. The laying hold of what is called the educational element" is clearly of the highest importance to the interests of the church; and it is to be observed that most of the sects are becoming more earnest in its employment. No doubt good must result. The people cannot be educated, and spiritual truth escape their knowledge and admiration.

Among the numerous efforts which are now being made to bring the influences of religion to bear upon those who will not seek for them at church, is that of conducting services in the theatres. In the metropolis this is done under the direction of a committee, of which the Earl of Shaftesbury is chairman. Those services were commenced on Sunday evening, the 1st of October, in the following places-the Alhambra Palace, Leicester-square; Standard Theatre, Shoreditch; Pavilion, Whitechapel; and Sadler's Wells, Clerkenwell. Ministers of the Establishment, having popular talent for such work, were selected to preach. All the places are reported to have been crowded by the very class of persons for which the services were intended; and every one must hope that those philanthropic efforts to arouse the

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religious sentiment of those who habitually absent themselves from the teachings of religion, may be extensively beneficial. We cannot but rejoice in seeing such efforts of practical benevolence, and feel that we are right in commending them to the favourable notice of all who desire to see the neglected remembered and improved.

We observe that, for a kindred purpose, a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Bath, Mr. Thompson, of Prior Park, is urging upon the Bible Society the idea of opening a special fund for reducing the price of the New Testament to a penny! It can now be had for twopence. It remains to be seen whether the Society will adopt the suggestion: some have grave doubts as to the wisdom of such a reduction, on the ground that that which can be purchased too cheap is held too cheap, and that the gifts of cheap books are not always much valued. "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny," we are told, signifies that the estimation of good and truth is so small as scarcely to amount to anything." A. R. 315.

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The disease which has afflicted the cattle of this and other countries, calling out the skill of the veterinary surgeon, and the inquiry of sanitary commissions, with a view to trace its origin and stop its progress, has also arrested the attention of theologians. A prayer upon the subject has been prepared by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to be read in the churches, in which it is assumed that the calamity is a judgment of God for the sins of the people. The Rev. W. Rothery,, of Middleton, addressed a very excellent letter to the Archbishop, calling his attention to this painful view of the subject, This letter appeared in some of the local newspapers, and although it led to some correspondence with the Archbishop, of course it has not conduced to any correction. "The Evangelical Alliance," which recently held its twenty-first anniversary at Hull, took a similar view of the subject, and passed a resolution, attributing "the calamities under which both our own country and other nations are suffering-some of the latter to the ravages of cholera, and some from the devastations of locusts, and ourselves from the terrible disease which has fallen upon our cattle, and seems now to be extending to our sheep, baffling human skill and threatening a scarcity of human

food," to "the finger of God, all the more manifestly displayed, as if in stern and startling rebuke of the materialistic Pantheism which has in these times spread itself in so many forms." Who does not see that " the Alliance," in adopting those sentiments, must have overlooked all the true characters of Almighty God, and that the tendency of such utterances must be to direct public attention to the error on which they rest. To suppose that He is the author of suffering under any circumstances, is painful enough; but to declare that He has brought suffering upon unoffending cattle, and destruction upon the abundant crops, to punish the nations, because a few persons have ventured to assert certain speculative opinions, called "Materialistic Pantheism," is exceedingly amazing. Doubtless the doctrine which asserts nature to be God, because founded in error, is greatly to be deplored; still that opinion can be no less an error which supposes God to punish men for their errors, by bringing disease upon their cattle, and destruction upon their crops, and to include in that punishment the innocent with the guilty. Moreover it is to be observed that this punishment is supposed to be inflicted simply for the holding an erroneous opinion, and not for the existence of any moral turpitude. Hence opinion is considered by this "Alliance" to be of more consequence than life, and thereby it carries out the doctrine of "justification by faith only; " a doctrine which is "the abomination of desolation standing in His holy place." May not the publication of such errors in these times be viewed as permissions of the Divine Providence, to be fairly detected by the intelligence of our age, refuted by its learning, and rejected by its justice?

The "Report of a Meeting, held at the Hawkstone Inn, Salop, from Tuesday the 15th to Friday the 18th of August," has just been published. This is the sixtieth year since the commencement of "The Hawkstone Meeting." It was, we believe, originated by the late Rev. J. Clowes, and it has, for the most part, been attended by friends who affectionately accept the doctrines of the New Church without deeming it necessary to separate from those forms of the old dispensation with which they might have been connected. Those meetings have, no doubt, been times of spiritual refreshing; and

their reports, from the general piety of their tone and the intelligence of their sentiments, must have contributed many thoughts eminently useful to the treasury of truth. This year's report contains an essay on "The existence of a Spiritual Sense in the Holy Word." It is written with great ability, and distinguished by an earnest and amiable spirit. The author is not named, nor is any reference made to the source from which more information on that doctrine, and others necessarily associated with it, could be obtained. The subject for the next year's consideration is "Charity," and the meeting will commence on Tuesday, the 3rd of July, 1866, at the same place.

We gather, from a local paper, that "On the 26th ult. Mrs. Roe, the talented wife of the Mayor of Derby, read a singularly interesting and instructive essay, at the Lecture Hall, on the subject of The Education of Girls."" We need scarcely say that the subject was handled from a New Church point of view, as the reader is a New Church lady widely known among us. A notice of this interesting circumstance will be found in another column, under the head “ "Derby."

"The English Mechanic (of the 27th of October), a record of Mechanical Invention, Scientific and Industrial Progress, Building, Engineering, Manufactures, Arts, &c.," contains the first of an intended series of papers on Swedenborg, illustrated by a portrait. From the specimen offered by this first paper, and the nature of the work in which it appears, it is presumed that they will be mainly directed to an exposition of Swedenborg's career as a philosopher in the department of science. His claims in this respect are in this paper set forth in a popular and interesting manner, and there can be no doubt that this effort to bring him before so large a number of readers as is commanded by "The English Mechanic," which we understand has a circulation of thirty thousand, may be instrumental in directing the attention of some to his other claim of being a Divinely appointed expositor of the Sacred Scriptures, and thus the herald of a new dispensation of religious truth in the world.

GENERAL CHURCH INTELLIGENCE.

INTERESTING INFORMATION FROM A GENERAL OFFICER IN INDIA.-I am informed that a very clever New Church bishop, a Belgian, has located with fol

lowers on the Sheveroys. Mr. N−, at my instance, addressed him, but I have not heard the result; it will prove of great interest. I forget his name, but Mr. C told me this day that he had assisted in getting him lands to colonise. Dr. Bayley's sermons charm all; I am frequently asked for them. A few copies sent out to the bookseller, Mr. Hawkins, in Popham, Broadway, would meet with ready sale. Colonel W says they might be preached in the orthodox churches. I am doing some good, and hope ere long that the books Dr. Bayley gave me will be of service. They are still with Captain C-, at Hapon; but I shall make a move, and see what success they will have here. Captain S is much taken up with Noble, the sermons, and the "True Christian Religion." The time must come when we will make a stir in these parts; but difficulties have presented. Should there be another volume of sermons published by Dr. Bayley, you must let me have them. I am badly off for those nice little books of morning and evening prayers. Haw kins has nothing of the sort; and it seems to me strange that he has not all Swedenborg's works also in French, for our Pondicherry friends. I was in hopes that our Banda prize would have been settled ere this, and enabled me to show some respect and interest in matters of the church.

I have received a letter from N—, in reply to one he wrote to Bishop B-, at my instance, as I could not fancy that the reports could be depended on, touching his position and missions. The result is of such interest that I cannot delay making known such particulars as I have received, and think it best to transcribe what is said:-"In accordance with my promise, I wrote to him, and had the pleasure to receive a long and interesting reply. You will be much gratified to know that his intention is to establish himself at the Sheveroys, to preach the doctrine of the Lord's New, Church on the theology of Swedenborg, He states in his letter to me that he is expecting a number of people shortly from Switzerland, Russia, Bessarabia, and other parts, to settle on the Sheveroys, and form a central mission station, with schools to prepare preachers in the different Indian dialects on the theology of Swedenborg. The bishop hopes the mission will become a self-supporting one,

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as the colonists are working-men, accustomed to daily field labour, and their intention is to plant vines, make cheeses, &c.; but at present his (the bishop's) means are very limited, and he has begged me to ask friends to aid him with their subscriptions, and at the present time efforts are being made in England to raise a little money on his behalf. He is now engaged in preparing for the coming colonists, and in preaching to the natives and others at Salem and Yercord. He is also preparing an address to the natives of India; the first portion he sent me a copy of, and I consider it very good. It is probably by this time completed, and I will give him your address, as he has asked me for it, that he may send you a copy, amongst others, to every collector and missionary, Catholic and Protestant, in India. He has asked me for books (Swedenborg's), as several persons have made inquiries after them from him; his are all French and Latin. It has occurred to me that the stock of books you have by you would be of great use to him; but it is quite certain that he cannot afford to buy them. If you think it a good plan, they could be sent to him for sale, or, better still, they might be given, if you are agreeable, and I will willingly share the cost of them with you, for they could not, I think, be in better hands than his. He states that Mr. B. D-, of Yercord, has become a receiver of the doctrines, and others are reading his books. As to the bishop's past life, I know little; but he states that for the last 17 years he has been preaching in Bessarabia and Russia to upwards of 20,000 people. He is evidently now much in want of assistance for the support of himself and family. The following is from his last letter: "This assistance has been as yet very scarce. I have received for the last six months only, in all, 149 rupees, for a family of six members. Nevertheless, I go forward in the Lord's name, without being discouraged by such a call, but fully convinced that the affair is a good work, able to spread the truth in a dark country, and fully convinced that the Lord in His mercy will provide in the future, as He provided in the past, according to His wisdom. It is His eternal love for us, for the whole world, and consequently for the poor Indian people, who are yet without a knowledge of the true Christian religion, the

religion of love to God and the neigh bour, the religion of life, for time and eternity."

I much approve of Mr. N-'s proposition to hand over Dr. Bayley's box of books as a gift to the Bishop, and request you will kindly ascertain the cost of them, as I have have got no memorandum, and the amount shall be sent home. When I get the prize money, I hope to be more useful. We should be glad to see Mr. Hawkins get out Dr. Bayley's sermons, for all read them with pleasure. Col.W-considers them grand, and Col. C and his family also. On this reaching, consult with Dr. Bayley as to what measure can be taken to forward the surprising effort that is now made in these parts to introduce the glorious doctrines of the New Church. You have done much, and I am sure that not a stone will be left unturned, as far as your powers and means go, to move all hearts in this direction. I was told by a Frenchman on Sunday last, that he had given the Bishop some ground in the Sheveroys, and that he was evidently a very learned man. The time, you see, is coming to make a grand stir. The success is beyond a question, as no New Churchman would withhold his mite. Nothing more is wanted. The books, in proper hands, are the great desideratum; I hope, ere long, to find that every one of the illustrious authors will be forthcoming, besides others by such men as the Rev. Dr. Bayley. We want tracts by clergy who have given their reasons for accepting the doctrines, Macpherson, I think, is one; they make a strong impression. Hawkins prints much to give away, but he has not the more useful, or even the services, so that he should be really induced to provide every work; and in my opinion, a good article in the monthly magazine, pointing out the necessity of a bookseller, particularly of the New Church, being able to provide any work that may be desired. I did express to Mr. Hawkins my surprise that he was not provided with them. Even Noble's "Appeal" and the Sermons would be of much importance. Remember me with respect and best regards to Dr. Bayley; let me know what the glorious leader recommends on the subject of this mission.

Now CHURCH COLLEGE-In addition to the purely theological duties of Mr.

Hiller, that gentleman is giving some instruction in the Hebrew language to the students. This will be enough to put them in train for higher acquisitions at a future time, without diverting them injuriously from their studies for the Matriculation examination at the University. Mr. Goldsack is also pursuing his literary labours at Wivenhoe, by the aid of books from the College, as well as providing for the spiritual wants of his flock. In this way we can carry out our rule to encourage the students to take a degree in connection with the University of London, without at all infringing upon any principle of right.

At our Council meeting on the 31st ult., we proceeded to the election of six additional members from amongst the adult male governors, making up the number to twelve. Since that meeting, one lady, Mrs. Thomas, of Twickenham, has become a subscriber of a guinea, which will entitle her to become an annual governor, on complying with the necessary forms.

Our Building Committee, consisting of an equal number of conference trustees and college governors, met again last night (9th October). The architect was also present, with his modified plans and specifications, and a sub-committee was appointed to examine them still further, and authorised to obtain tenders for the work agreed upon. As the money voted by Conference out of the Crompton Bequest, even when supplemented by that possessed by the college, or already promised, is insufficient by about £1,500., we have to appeal to the New Church generally for pecuniary aid. This we do confidently! The object is a noble one! All our congregations are interested in seeing it nobly carried out! Let us say to each and every member of the New Church-What will you give?

Subscriptions may be forwarded to Mr. Gunton, Mr. Baily, or Mr. Henry Bateman, 32, Compton-terrace, Canonbury, W.

The Laws of the New Church College.1. The name of this institution is the New Church College.

2. The object of this college is to educate young members of the New Church in the various branches of literature and science, and especially in the doctrines and life of the New Jerusalem; and to prepare such as are suitable for the ministry.