and divine subjects. Were we sensible of the Divine operations before they reach the ultimate in effects, we should be deprived of our liberty and rationality, which are the transcendent prerogatives of a human creature. From our most internal part, where our Maker has His highest mansion, we derive, as primary manifest effects, this spiritual liberty of will, and this spiritual rationality of understanding. These are the primary derivatives of our internal human principle, wherein we are capable of exercising ourselves; and in the exercise of these faculties, as if from ourselves, we are in the enjoyment of the highest delights which we can know and feel, as human creatures. It is a law of Divine order, and of the Divine providence, that no one should be compelled, as to his spirit, but that he should be left perfectly free, to will and to think, since the human principle cannot present itself to manifest perception and sensation, except in this liberty and rationality of spirit. From our liberty of will is derived to us the power and faculty of choosing good or evil; and from our rationality of spirit, the power or faculty of imbibing truth or falsity. This is equally the case now as at first creation. The human race stands on the same ground now as in the most ancient times, and will so do throughout all their generations, world without end. This we may learn from the teaching of the Divine Word, in both Testaments. The liberty of the human will, together with the rationality of the human understanding, evidently appear from the book of creation to be the grand, essential, and proper characteristics of human nature. They are referred to and evidently discernible throughout all the law and the prophets; they are palpably visible in the doctrine and parables of Him who spake as never man spake; and are distinctly presented before us at the close of the divine volume of inspiration. In the last chapter of the Bible, verse 17, the divine proclamation is made—“ And the spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst, come; and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." And because man does possess these faculties of liberty and rationality, therefore are immediately added the following admonitory declarations - "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life." But man possesses human powers and principles still more outward than these of liberty and rationality, and which, according to the order of influx and of life, are formed from them. For, according to the universal Divine arrangement, the Divine Essence flows out and forms the external an image of the internal. From the freedom of the will and rationality of the understanding are born loves and perceptions, delights and desires, which could not in any wise be the case if the inflowing life from the Lord passed through us and operated upon us entirely without the consciousness or sensation of something as if our own. We say, as if our own, because, absolutely considered, there is nothing of the divine influx our own; for all we possess, in every form and degree, as human beings, is of and from our Creator. Still it is granted us, that life flowing in from Him may appear our own, agreeably to the formal constitution of our nature, that we may consciously enjoy the delights of His life, and feel His desires gratified in us, as if they were our own, and thereby appropriate the good things of His divine love, and the true things of His divine wisdom, to an endless eternity; and which will be our felicitous portion while, in this our time of probation below, we labour to become animated with the loves and affections, with the same ideas and thoughts, as possess the blessed who have died in the Lord, and are in our Father's heavenly kingdom above. From the love, affection, and delight of the will, from the wisdom, intelligence, and desires of the understanding, we possess a middle part or principle between our internal and our external degree, which may be called our spirit. This middle principle, or human spirit, occupies a place between our internal and external man, and is a power and faculty of action derived from the will, its loves, affections, and delights, and is a power and faculty of speech derived from the understanding, its perceptions, thoughts, and desires. To this latter faculty pertain our exterior thought and memory. That these powers and faculties of action and of speech are constituent parts of our humanity, must be so self-evident to every man, whenever he moves a member of his body, or uses his organs of speech, that to prove it would be a waste of time. Had not man the power so to act and speak, it would be in vain that the muscles of the body or the organs of speech were disposably formed to produce their effective operations; but, having this spirit within us, we are capable of putting forth into act by the body what we have made choice of from our freedom of will; and to utter our thoughts by speech, according to the perception of wisdom and intelligence which rationally illuminates our minds. This brings us to the consideration of our more external part or degree, which is a copy or type of our internal, and so formed by creation that our internal man can perform its uses-put all its delights and desires into practice, in the very ultimate ground. Hence is the origin of the sensations of hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and feeling. Their sensories also, in reality, pertain to the spiritual body, and none whatever to the earthly, which is laid aside at death, never more to be re-assumed. That these sensories pertain to our spiritual body, which proximately encompasses our soul, and is within our natural body, even within every member and every part of it, may be rationally demonstrated from the circumstance, that the body laid down at death is dispossessed of all these sensories the eyes then no longer see, the ears hear, the nostrils smell, the mouth taste, the nerves feel; the whole of every sense is gone, with every other part of the human principle; nothing is left but what will soon return to the earthly and material elements from which it originated. : This earthly elemental body, as compassing our spiritual, is useful to accomplish the purpose of our creation, in first giving us a fixity of existence, and, as long as we are continued in our probationary day, in serving us to perform its necessary uses and functions, and which could not be performed by our spirit, except we were clothed with natural and material elements. But when we shall have done with this natural world, and entered upon a world altogether of a spiritual nature, we want the natural and material body no more. And the spirituallyminded Christian, whose affections are above, when first delivered from this clog of sin and mortality, will feel himself loosened from the shackles which so often led him to confess before his God, in accents of sorrow and contrition-"My soul cleaveth to the dust;" and to make the humble and fervent supplication,-" Quicken thou me, according to thy word." 66 Thus have we endeavoured, in a very brief manner, to trace somewhat of our human-creaturely nature and constitution, as an answer to the question- What is man?" We might further prosecute the inquiry, by considering man as a vessel,-as a recipient form; as containing in himself three degrees, answering to the three heavens; and many other important subjects of investigation; but we forbear. May a due consideration of these things lead us to reflect upon and adore the wisdom, power, and goodness by which we have been so fearfully and wonderfully made, to acknowledge, love, and magnify our Creator, as the Fountain of every gift, of every talent, ability, and faculty which we possess! Let us strenuously use them in glorifying Him, in our day here below, and thereby become prepared to enjoy the felicities of His heavenly kingdom, agreeably to the Divine will towards us in our creation, and in all His other operations as our Heavenly Father. 418 MISCELLANEOUS. MEETING OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE, In the Church in Argyle-square, London, from Tuesday the 12th to Tuesday the 19th of August. When the Conference was appointed to be held this year in London, it was, no doubt, under the conviction that the great International Exhibition, forming as it would a centre of attraction for people from all parts of the civilised world, would be the means of bringing together a larger number of the members and friends of the church, both at home and abroad, than could be expected to assemble in any other place. So far as respects the transaction of the actual business of the Conference, no material advantages may, perhaps, have been gained by this arrangement. But this annual assembly of the church is intended to have social as well as ecclesiastical uses, and it is well that any opportunity that presents itself should be taken of enabling the members of the church to enjoy, in the widest possible extent, those feasts of charity which have been revived in the New Jerusalem, to subserve in a still higher degree the spiritual uses of mutual sympathy, congratulation, and encouragement, which they were the common means of promoting among the early Christians. Arrangements had accordingly been made to combine as much as possible of the social element with the business proceedings of the Conference. It has been a general practice for some years, and has now acquired almost the authority of a custom, for a meeting to be held on the evening preceding the day on which the Conference commences, the purpose of which is to introduce the ministers and representatives to each other, and to the friends amongst whom they are come to sojourn for a season. A RECEPTION MEETING Took place on Monday evening the 11th, in the large room under the Argylesquare church, where tea was provided by the ladies of the society, who personally attended to the comfort of their guests. The meeting was a pleasant one, as any meeting must be where so many friends from so may quarters, and especially New Church friends, find themselves in each other's company. Friends who seldom, perhaps never, meet but on these annual occasions, greet each other with the warmth of deepening affection; and friends who have never met before come to recog nise each other in the new and endearing relations of brethren in the Lord. We cannot introduce the reader to every friend individually who is present at this meeting. Most of the ministers and of the leaders and other representatives who are to form the Conference are there. Several eminent brethren from abroad who were expected to be present, have not yet reached our shores; one brother from America, and another from Australia, are with us; and all these, with a goodly number of our London friends, form a company who evidently enjoy some of the highest and purest delights of social intercourse. At eight o'clock, Dr. Bayley intimated that the time for terminating the meeting had now arrived. He announced the various meetings, religious services, and public lectures that had been appointed for the time; and, expressing a hope of seeing most of them next morning at the Conference, declared the meeting to be closed. PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE. The Conference assembled on Tuesday morning at nine. As usual, the President of the last Conference took the chair till the President of the present one should be elected. But before his election can take place, there must be a Conference to elect him, which is not actually the case till those who are to compose it have signed the Declaration of Faith contained in the Conference roll. The Chairman, therefore, calls upon the ministers individually, according to their place on the list, to come forward and sign; and when all present have attached their names, the representatives are required to make the same written declaration. Having announced who are the members of the present Conference, consisting of twelve ministers and thirty-seven representa. tives, the retiring President proceeds to open the Conference by reading a portion of the Word (on this occasion the 60th chapter of Isaiah) and offering up the Lord's Prayer. The first business is the choice of a President; and it was On taking the chair, the President addressed the Conference in a brief but appropriate and excellent speech. He congratulated the members on their assembling together for the purpose of performing the important uses which such a body as the Conference is adapted to effect in promoting the improvement and extension of the Lord's new and blessed dispensation, and affectionately exhorted them to conduct their deliberations with as great a regard to brevity as the efficient transaction of the business would admit, but above all, with that charitable feeling, calm temper, and happy moderation which should characterise the members of the Lord's true church. He then intimated that they had now to elect a Vice-President. Since the office was instituted, a few years ago, the choice of this officer has been made chiefly with the view of his becoming the President of the next Conference. As there was a motion to be brought forward for abolishing the office altogether, it was considered better not to make the election with a prospective view; it was therefore agreed that the ex-President, the Rev. J. B. Kennerley, should act as Vice-President for the present year. Mr. Pitman was reëlected Secretary. Being now organised, the Conference proceeded to the business which was to occupy them during the session. The first day of the Conference is chiefly occupied, however, rather in preparing for the business to be done than in actually transacting it,-in collecting the materials relating to the subjects and matters upon which action is to be taken. A number of documents are brought up and read. One class of these consists of reports of committees appointed by the last Conference, as, of the National Missionary Institution, the Students and Ministers' Aid Fund, the Crompton Bequest, the President's and the Secretary's circulars. A second class includes the reports of the President, Secretary, and Treasurer,-of the Trustees south and north of Trent,-of the Editor of the Magazine, and of the Storekeeper. Then comes a third group, consisting of addresses prepared by direction of the last Conference, and of addresses received by this Conference. These include the address to the members of the church throughout the United Kingdom, and those which have been sent to and received from the branches of the church in other lands. A fourth group contains applications to the Conference from various societies and individuals for licensing of leaders, for continuance of assistance from the Pension Fund, for the office of agent for the Conference publications. And lastly are laid upon the table, the registers, minute books, and reports of the several educational committees; the reports and memorials of the several day schools which receive and ask for grants from the funds for educational purposes; and the reports of the Manchester Printing Society, the Manchester and Salford and the London Missionary and Tract Societies, the New Church Tract Society, the Sunday-school Union. The reception of all these documents, many of which are read at length, occupies the greater part of the first day. As we intend to attempt no more than to give a brief outline of the proceedings of Conference, noting only those which relate to matters of general interest, it is not necessary to record them in the order in which they took place. Besides directing an address to be sent, our American brethren had commissioned a member of their church on a visit to this country to act in the capacity of a messenger from the Convention to the Conference. When introduced to the Conference, he was heartily received; and his letter of appointment being read, a resolution was adopted, expressing how gladly the Conference welcomed a messenger from the brethren in America, and affectionately invited Mr. Westall to take his seat as a member. A similar invitation was given to Messrs. Holden and Goldsark, of Adelaide, Australia; also to Dr. Tafel, from Germany, and to M. Le Boys des Guays and M. Harlé, from France. On these gentlemen entering the Conference, they were invited by the President to approach. A feeling of affectionate respect for these three devoted and distinguished labourers on behalf of the Lord's New Church, caused the members of the Conference to rise simultaneously, and to remain standing while the President extended to them the right hand of fellowship, and assured them how heartily they were welcomed |