gious principles was strikingly exhibited. Not the shadow of a doubt rested over his mind, but his spirit struggled to be free from the trammels of the flesh. He said to a friend, "John, dost thou think thy body will require as much hacking and hewing as this old one of mine does, before it will let the spirit go home?" For two or three days previous to his departure, he appeared to be sensible of the presence of spiritual beings; and when his end drew near, as if openly contemplating the glorious scenes of another and better world, he exclaimed,"Stand up, and see the salvation of God!" and after repeating it several times, he fell asleep in the Lord. 66 On the 14th January, 1846, at Great Lever, Alice, wife of Thomas Howe, and daughter of Isaiah Barlow, was called into eternity, in the 37th year of her age. She was a respected and affectionate member and communicant of the Kersley society. The seeds of divine truth, sown in her mind by a father whom she loved and respected, had fallen on the good ground" of "an honest and good heart," and brought forth their fruit. Her death was the more afflicting to her surviving family from its comparative suddenness. She was at worship in her usual health on Sunday; on Monday evening she was seized with inflammation of the heart, and early on Wednesday was a corpse. It is to be hoped that her family will profit by the instruction they received from her, and grow up in the love and life of those truths she valued, that they may ultimately follow her to the abodes of the blessed, whither she is doubtless gone. On the same day, aged 34, Mrs. Martha Lyon (wife of Mr. William Lyon), of Liverpool, exchanged this mortal for an immortal body.-Mrs. Lyon had long been an active and highly respected member of the Liverpool Temperance Society, and about two years ago joined the New Church, in Rose Place. Although she was acquainted with little more than the leading doctrines of the New Jerusalem, her life corresponded with what she knew. O! that this were the case with all who profess our heavenly doctrines! She manifested much active zeal in doing good. The sick, the afflicted, and the friendless, if poor and deserving, always found in her a kind and generous benefactor. Her delight was to go about doing good. During a long and painful illness, she manifested much resignation to the divine will. R. G. S. On the 31st January, 1846, the society at Accrington lost a venerable and highlyesteemed member, by the departure from the natural into the spiritual world of Mr. Joseph Grimshaw, senior. His age was 81 years, 40 of which he had been a receiver of the heavenly doctrines. He was of a cheerful, frank, and affectionate disposition, which peculiarly endeared him to those around him, especially to his immediate family and numerous grandchildren. His homely hearth was a delightful centre to them all, and all were sure of a share in the smile of the good man. It was delightful to see his firm step and happy countenance as he came regularly to his post at each service on the Sabbath. He was ever there. It was a saying with him, that he would go as long as he could walk. Every thing that tended to the well-being and advancement of the New Church, was listened to with evident gratification, and if a service was held for the support of the Church at the surrounding societies, within moderate reach, no one was more sure to be there than he. He was at worship when his illness first manifested itself. On his return he complained, but supposed it would soon pass away. It increased, however, and his affectionate partner in life, obtained his reluctant consent to receive medical attention. His disorder (which proved to be a fever and inflammation) increased, to the great concern of his family and friends, until the Saturday following, when in the evening he gently breathed his last. He had borne, with calmness and exemplary patience, the pain Divine mercy permitted, and observed the reiterated attentions of his aged partner, daughter, and beloved grandchildren, with evident satisfaction, and a frequent smile. He was a kindly, loving, and beloved old Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester. THE VASTATION OF THE OLD AND THE DUTIES OF THE NEW CHURCH. (Being the substance of an Address* to the Members of the London New Jerusalem Church Missionary and Tract Society, at its last Meeting, May 13. By the Rev. A. CLISSOLD, M.A.) Ir is sometimes useful, as for instance upon occasions like the present, to take a view of the general state of the religious world, in order that we may the better be able to understand our own privileges, and the responsibilities with which we are charged. As, however, a review of this kind cannot but draw our attention to the most lamentable errors, so it necessarily awakens the most painful feelings. Let us refer, in the first place, to the doctrine of the Trinity. The celebrated author of the Antiquities of the Christian Church,-the Rev. Joseph Bingham, M.A., formerly Fellow of University College, Oxford, maintains that the Trinity are "three distinct numerical substances," "three personal substances," "three individual subsisting substances," "three perfect or infinite in-corporeal beings," "three infinite minds or spirits in a personal acceptation," &c. &c.; and upon this principle he explains the intercession in the following manner, vol. 9, 357: "It is very inconceivable how one office should intercede or mediate to another. Intercession is an act of a rational or intelligent being; and intercession of one to another supposes distinct intelligent beings, one interceding another to whom the intercession is made." By many of you, perhaps, the names of Bishop Bull and Dr. Waterland will be recognized as names of the highest repute in the Church of England; and yet, what do these writers maintain? They maintain a * Some remarks have since been added which, for want of time, were not addressed to the meeting. doctrine handed down to us from the time of Origen; namely, that prayer, properly so called, is prayer to the Father only; and that prayer to the Son, is prayer only in a figurative sense; or is only prayer improperly so called. Hence we are told that we ought to direct our prayers to the Father through the Son, and that this is the general principle upon which the prayers are formed which now constitute the liturgies of the several churches throughout Christendom. Of this principle Dr. Waterland and Bishop Bull express their approbation;* but then, they think that prayers may, nevertheless, be occasionally addressed to the Son; that is to say, I suppose, prayers improperly so called, for it seems that prayer, in a proper sense, ought never to be addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this led the celebrated Dr. Samuel Clarke, formerly Rector of St. James, to advocate doctrines which were generally acknowledged to deny to the Lord Jesus as God, prayer in any sense, whether proper or improper; and justice to his memory requires me to say, that when the church had denied the orthodoxy of offering up prayer to the Lord in any proper sense, the act of ceasing to offer up prayer to him in an improper sense was a thing of but slight importance,-nay, it seemed to follow as a matter of course, and Dr. Clarke was but exposing a delusion, in shewing the futility of direct prayer to Christ in an improper sense. How much better was it, he thought, to pray to the Father through Christ, according to the form of most of the prayers of the Church of England; and hence not to pray at all to the Lord Jesus Christ as God? But, my friends, what can we think of such astounding doctrines? Are they not a rejection of Jesus Christ as the corner-stone of the building? And if the corner-stone be rejected, what must follow but the certain fall of the temple; for the different stones of the building ceasing to be united, the result must be a universal ruin. Accordingly we are informed of this circumstance in the writings of Swedenborg. A Last Judgment, he tells us, has been performed in the world of causes, and the consequences of it we are to witness in the world of effects. When the Lord in his wisdom perceives that the period is come, those societies in the spiritual world who had thought externally from the authority of others, are reduced to a state in which each member of it thinks from himself, that is to say, from the evils and falses within himself which had not been removed when he was under the influence of only external authority. Every individual member being thus in a state * The original authorities on which these statements are founded, will be furnished in the Review of the Principles of Apocalyptical Interpretation, the two concluding volumes of which are now in preparation. in which he thinks from himself, and in this erroneous manner for himself, the consequence is a state of utter confusion and contradiction in fine, a sort of spiritual chaos. Society consequently being broken up, and in a state of universal dissolution, each one betakes himself to his own place, and this is one way in which a last judgment is performed. Now, as we are told that this has taken place in the world of causes, do we see any evidence of it in the world of effects-or in the visible church? The following extract is taken from a work entitled the Real Danger of the Church of England, by the Rev. W. Gresley, M.A., Prebendary of Lichfield. It has not long been published, but has already gone through three editions. I quote from p. 58 of the first edition : “What is the cause of the strife that rages in so many parishes? Simply the preaching of contradictory doctrines by those ordained and licensed by our Bishops. Our Bishops ordain men who on vital points hold different opinions. These men naturally deem it their duty to propagate their own views. The doctrines preached in adjoining parishes, and in the various churches in the same town, and the modes of acting recommended by the clergy, are diametrically opposed to each other. What is the necessary result? The greatest bewilderment arises in the minds of serious people." But it will be said that this tract was written by a Tractarian, and that it has since been answered by an Evangelical clergyman. Be it so; but this clergyman, the Rev. F. Close, perpetual curate of Cheltenham, in his Apology for the Evangelical Party, observes on the subject of baptismal regeneration, p. 17:— "There is no one subject upon which there are so many shades of opinion among all parties as on this; and I would dismiss it with an expression of my conviction, that it is a point not clearly defined by the Church herself, and upon which her services are not easily and palpably reconcilable with her more dogmatic teaching." Now Mr. Gresley, in his pamphlet, quotes from the works of several clergy who maintain that the doctrine of baptismal regeneration is a soul-deluding doctrine; whereas Mr. Gresley maintains that it is the fundamental doctrine of the Church of England; hence he observes, "I wish to call attention to the fact, that there is within the pale of the Church a body of men professing to belong to it, who nevertheless hold doctrines diametrically opposed to the plain language of our formularies."... ..." Under cover of the national prejudice against Popery, which recent circumstances, not without reason, have re-awakened, this zealous but mistaken party are increasing their influence to an alarming extent, and by methods the most questionable. A popular cry is fostered against the positive ordinances of our church-her undoubted doctrines are in a most bare-faced manner denied-her old divines mutilated and corrupted-her ancient institutions undermined, or changed in character; and this system is gaining ground, especially in our populous and important cities, in such a manneras to have become a formidable power in the church. What I hope to do is, to draw the timely attention of those who have power and authority, to the existing state of things, which appears in many respects very much the same as that which existed in this country previously to the breaking out of the Puritan rebellion." Such, my Christian friends, is the present state of the Church of England; more especially in regard to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. But what shall we say of the doctrine of Justification by Faith only? Have not the Tractarians openly denounced it as a soul deluding doctrine? On the other hand, what says the perpetual curate of Cheltenham ? "The Tractarian tutors, teachers, and scholars of Oxford have gone over to Rome; where are the Evangelical deserters ? It must be some interference with the fundamental truths embodied in the Thirty-nine Articles which we have signed in a natural, honest, old-English sense-some repudiation of such a doctrine as that of justification by faith only, which will drive us out of the bosom of that Protestant Church in which we have been bred, and born, and nurtured, and which we will not suffer to be unprotestantized through indifference or pusillanimity. Touch these, and not thirty or forty leading evangelicals, but some thousands of faithful clergy would rise up to protest, defend, or depart." (p. 31.) But if the Evangelicals are ready to rise up to protest, defend, or depart, what say the Tractarians? Mr. Gresley observes, p. 63: * * * "If the evil be permitted to advance as it is now advancing, without an attempt to control it, I see not what is to prevent Puritanism again getting the upper hand and overspreading and remodelling the Church; so that the Old Church of England men, who keep to the prayer book as it is, shall be driven from the pale of the Establishment, and become a second body of Non-Jurors. It is with the firm conviction that such an event is not only within the compass of possibility, but much more probable than many will allow themselves to believe, that I have endeavoured in such plain language to draw the attention of those who hold authority in the Church to the real state of affairs, and the actual progress of Puritanism, of the stealthy encroachments of which I fear they are little aware. Again Mr. Gresley says, "What I want to prove is, that the Evangelical party are at issue with the rest of the Church, as to what the true Gospel really is." To which the Evangelical advocate justly replies, "Until we have settled this great question all else is trifling;-what the true Gospel really is!" (p. 33.) Well then, my friends, the Church is commanded to preach the Gospel to all nations; how many missionary sermons are there which have these words as their text, and yet, after a lapse of eighteen is still a question what the true Gospel really is! preach the Gospel if they know not what it is? remark the consequences of this state of things. hundred years, it But how can they Let me beg you to At this time of the year we are accustomed to hear very flourishing accounts of Missionary Societies. The Bishop of Calcutta has, however, been more candid, I |