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proceeded to argue that were it given to man to choose his cross it would inevitably end unfavourably with him. What would be his choice? Sickness of body? He would recommend his hearers not to choose that, for he had had experience of it, and knew what it was. Poverty? It was a sore trial to experience poverty; not to know in the morning how the day's necessaries were to be got. Having explained the nature and characteristics of "divinely-sent afflictions" and visitations, he alluded to an order of religieuses in Rome-the nuns of St. Anne, as well as he recollected-who used to sleep upright in their coffins. After some time they became used to it, and no one pitied the poor ladies. During a visit to Antwerp he went to a convent in which, over the beds, were hung scourges with which the monks flogged themselves. He was sure they enjoyed the flogging, and would wish them to lay on, because he believed they did enjoy it and deserved it. "You smile,' tinued Mr. Spurgeon, "but does God wish, or is He disposed to see His people miserable? Go into your gardens some of these summer evenings, and see the thousands of gnats and other creatures flitting about. God made them, and they appear to be happy. Pass along the sea-shore, and observe the fringe along the edge of the retiring wave-the shrimps and sandhoppers full of life, and joy, and happiness. That is what God does, and He would rather see these nuns in comfortable feather beds than sleeping upright in their coffins, and the monks enjoying sound slumber than giving themselves such a whipping." We cordially agree with the remarks of the Tabernacle pastor concerning self-imposed inflictions, but he ought to recognise the distinction that exists between divinely-sent and divinely-permitted chastisements. God "does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men," though He permits affliction and grief for the great purpose of promoting our spiritual welfare.

Mr. Gunton visited Bristol on Sunday, September 22nd, and preached in the little church there morning and evening to good attendances. On the Monday evening he delivered a lecture on "The Miraculous Increase of the Widow's Oil," which was fairly attended, and well received.

The Rev. Joseph Ashby of Derby has received a unanimous invitation to the pastorate of the Society at Southport.

Mr. Gunton proposes to spend the month of October at Liverpool, where no doubt he will be able to work the members of that Society into a state of enthusiasm and generosity prior to their meeting to invite some person to become their minister.

The Society at Horncastle have recently held a special service as a Harvest Thanksgiving. The proceedings were very successful. Mr. Bates is to be congratulated upon the venture. There is no reason why the members of the Church of England should be the only thankful people.

For some months past a little mission has been conducted at Wincanton, in Somersetshire, by two of the friends residing there who have been brought to the acceptance of New Church views. The services are held in the afternoon and evening, and the address (as the title of sermon or discourse is modestly disclaimed) is given either by Mr. G. Sweetman or Mr. C. Pocock. The place of meeting is the Templars' Hall, and the subjects at present engaging attention are the Ten Commandments and such themes as Encour agements," based on Rev. iii. 8-12; "A wonderful empire" (Ps. viii. 6-8); "Entering into rest;" "The Blood of the Lamb." The only indication of the services being New Church is in the motto printed in larger type, "All religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good," to which the name of Swedenborg as its author is appended.

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The Christian Register has seen the advanced sheets of a new book of 284 pages, entitled "Swedenborg and Channing," written by the Rev. B. F. Barrett. It is dedicated "to the Unitarian denomination in America," of which the author was once a minister, and in which he has retained a living interest, notwithstanding the profound modification of religious opinions brought about by long and admiring study of the writings of the Swedish seer, with which he is probably, says the Christian Register, as familiar as any man living. Recurring in recent years to the writings of Dr. Channing, he has been more than surprised to find that on many points the spiritual insight of the Unitarian brought him into harmony with the doctrines of the "New Jerusalem;" and it is the purpose of this book to bring out these points of agreement.

The Rev. Chauncey Giles is at present on a visit to Birmingham before his departure for America, and he will preach there on Sunday, October 6th, morning and evening. The distribution of prizes to the Sunday scholars will be made by him in the lectureroom at three o'clock. It is further intended to present him with an address, at a public meeting, on Monday the 7th, in the lectureTea will be provided at half-past five, and the chair will be taken by the Rev. R. R. Rodger at seven o'clock. A farewell meeting in honour of Mr. Giles will also be held the following

room.

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SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSONS.

JESUS' TEACHING PICTORIAL AND DIVINE. October 13th, Morning.-Matthew vii. 21-29. The Lord desired to teach that the working of iniquity shuts man out of heaven-and that knowledge, power, and actions, whatever their external character, are of no avail when evils are not shunned as sins. Man is judged according to his works-and the works that qualify for heaven are those which are performed in the effort to carry into life the Divine "sayings."

The illustration given vers. 26, 27, is one that immediately strikes attention. Those that do the Lord's sayings are wise, those who do them not are foolish. The difference spiritually is equal to the difference between the two builders spoken of.

The Lord is the "Rock (Deut. xxxii. 4, 15, 18; also Ps. xxviii. I; Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Cor. x. 4). He is the "Rock" as to His Divine Truth, and we build upon Him, and are, indeed, built upon Him when we do what He commands. This building is meant (literally so) by the term edification-the building materials are the truths of faith and life contained in the Word. Those who possess the truths of the Word and regard the Lord Himself as the foundation-stone, and do His sayings, remain totally unshaken by the waves of temptation and trial that await all dwellers in this lower world. But those who do not apply the truth to life, lack the foundation-they are unstable as sand; they are like Reuben (Genesis xlix. 4); they are tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine (Eph. iv. 14).

This is Divine teaching from one who spake as never man spake (vers. 28, 29). The Scribes taught a religion of profession, the Lord's religion was a religion of life. In time we build for eternity, and the strength of our own building depends on our foundation (1 Cor. iii. 9-14).

SAUL SENDETH FOR DAVID TO QUIET HIS EVIL

SPIRIT.

October 13th, Afternoon.-1 Samuel xvi. 16-23. Saul had disobeyed the Lord, therefore the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him, and an evil spirit troubled him. This is the inevitable result of disobedience. Not that the Lord is unwilling to bless, but that man is rebellious and will not allow the Lord to reign over him and bless him. The Spirit of the Lord, and all angelic spirits, bring peace and comfort, and tranquillity and joy; when they are driven away, and man by disobedience allies himself with evil spirits, these bring contention and unrest, and trouble and sorrow.

Saul's servant said this evil spirit was from the Lord, this is the appearance. In reality the Lord is good to all, and is kind even to the unthankful and the evil; and the trouble that we feel is the effect of sin working in us, and as long as we remain disobedient we continue to punish ourselves.

The remedy proposed seems a strange one, but it is founded in correspondence. David represents the spiritual man chosen to be king instead of Saul who has fallen. The harp-strings represent the spiritual truths of religion, from which the praises of an enlightened mind are offered to the Lord. When the evil spirit is in us, we are morose, sullen, and passionate as the case may be, and our souls can only be brought into harmony with the Lord and heaven, and our own best interests, by means of those spiritual truths which point out our relationship to the Lord and the neighbour.

Passages about harps: Ps. xliii. 4; Ps. xlix. 4, 5; Ps. cxliv. 9; Ps. cxxxvii. 2; Rev. v. 8; Rev. xiv. 2; Rev. xv. 2; 1 Cor. xiv. 6-9.

Printed by MUIR and Paterson, 14 Clyde Street, Edinburgh, and published by JAMES SPEIRS, 36 Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.

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OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

"It is not often that one meets with a book of this kind, so entirely free from religious cant, bigotry, and

ARGYLE SQUARE CHURCH, bitterness, and yet so full of wise and reverent thought

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and of earnest belief."-The Standard.

"We are prepared to admit that it is decidedly interesting, and that in many points it is conclusive and irrefutable. In one great respect we must express a hearty appreciation of the character of this book. It exhibits with much force and clearness the essential relation which exists between a right state of feeling and a reverent belief in God and His Word. . . . We may bespeak for this book an earnest attention, and promise that it will afford both pleasure and profit to those who will read it."-The Literary World.

"We have rarely read any treatise, however learned, that was more effective in dealing with the shallow scepticism of the day. . . . We can conceive that it would become a powerful agent for the dissipation of doubt in the mind of any person who should thoroughly grasp its impregnable positions."-The Tatler.

"Controversial romances are seldom pleasant reading, but The Evening and the Morning,' while directed against the views maintained in these columns, is an exception to the rule. The victory is given with considerable ability to a sort of good-hearted Swedenborgian Christian, and the book, which is very neatly printed, is above the usual level of novels written for propagandist purposes."-The National Reformer.

"Unlike most books of theological controversy, this is not dull; and, though it may be objected that the writer has both sides of the controversy in his own hands, no one will say that he uses his opportunities unfairly."-Morning Advertiser.

"The author, who writes a style terse, vigorous, and beautiful, has evidently passed through the several phases of speculation which he puts behind and beneath him with no little dialectical skill."-Ipswich Journal.

"The tale before us is written with an excellent purpose. It is the story of a young man who is led gradually from unbelief to Christianity; and though the subject is in itself trite enough, it is not treated in a common-place manner."-Westminster Gazette.

"The events are pleasantly related; and the argu

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ments are real arguments, not mere rhetorical ninepins EMANUEL SWEDENBORG,

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The Four Primary Doctrines of
the New Church, signified by the New
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Author, and Index. 2s. 6d.

The Doctrine of the Lord is a Scriptural deduction
of the Divinity of Christ, of the personality of the
Divine nature, and of the fact and meaning of the
incarnation. The Godhead of our Saviour is made to
rest upon the whole breadth of Scripture authority, and
that there is a Trinity (not of persons but) of person in
the Godhead, and that Christ is the person in whom
the trinal fulness dwells.

The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture explains that the Word we now possess is written in four styles. The first is by pure Correspondences thrown into an historical series; of this character are the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The second is the historical, consisting of true historical facts, but containing a spiritual The third is the prophetical. The fourth is that of the psalms, between the prophetical style and common speech. It is the Divine sense within the letter that constitutes the holiness of the Bible.

sense.

In the Doctrine of Faith Swedenborg teaches that Faith is an inward acknowledgment of the truth, which comes to those who lead good lives from good motives. "If ye will do the works ye shall know of the doctrine." The Doctrine of Life commences with the proposition "That all Religion has relation to Life, and that the Life of Religion is to do Good.' The shunning of Evils is the first necessity; the doing of Good is afterwards possible. No one, however, can do good which is really such, from self, but all goodness is from God. Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence. With Index. 35.

In all the operations of the Divine Providence, human
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It is a law of the Divine Providence, that man should
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force and destroy that rationality and liberty which
constitute the inmost life of humanity, and by the
exercise of which man can alone be delivered from evil.
The Divine Providence is equally with the wicked and
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HYMNS WANTED.

NO. I.

ELIZA LANE.

HE General Conference at its last sitting appointed a Committee to undertake the compilation of a new Hymn-Book. The existing collection was compiled in pursuance of resolutions passed at the Conferences in 1822-23. At the Conference of 1822 a collection of hymns prepared by Mr. William Mason was presented to the Conference, and a Committee, consisting of Rev. T. Goyder, S. Noble, and M. Silby, and Messrs. Crook, Golding, Mason, Presland, and Wood, was appointed to revise the work and superintend its publication. In the following year the Committee reported that they had done a large portion of the revision, and had issued a circular inviting the friends of the Church to forward to the Rev. S. Noble hymns of original composition. Very few valuable hymns had been forwarded in response to the appeal, and the Committee gallantly volunteered to supply, if possible, hymns on subjects that appeared to be wanting. The Revs. R. Hindmarsh and R. Jones, and Mr. T. O. French were added to the Committee. The Hymn-Book was completed and printed prior to the Conference of 1824. From the report of the Committee (the preface to the first edition of the Hymn-Book) it would appear that the effort to secure variety and excellence must have necessitated an immense amount of labour. After a large number of the least eligible had been withdrawn, they had the onerous duty of selecting 600 from upwards of 1000. The Committee endeavoured to suit every variety of taste and judgment, but declared that "so far are they from conceiving that their best endeavours have been completely successful, that they would rejoice to see the Church grow in interior qualities and literary acquirements, as to render a new and improved Hymn-Book necessary to the improved condition of the Church."

It would appear from a letter published by Mr. Mason in 1856, that of the 600 hymns, half of them were from Old Church sources (generally after revision) and half

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from New Church sources. Of the hymns from New Church sources, the greater portion were taken from the previously published collections of Silby, Proud, and Hodson. Fifty-eight hymns were the composition of members of the Committee, viz. :—

Hymn 71 by Mr. Noble; Hymns 286, 459, by Mr. T. O. French; and Hymns 1, 16, 17, 32, 33, 39, 40, 41, 45, 113, 114, 121, 123, 138, 179, 260, 261, 289, 290, 296, 346, 349, 350, 351, 354, 360, 362, 402, 431, 478, (Parts 3, 4, 5), 480, 484, 487, 489, 492, 493, 506, 507, 508, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 522, 523, 530, 538, 543, 561, 584, by Mr. Mason.

The Conference Hymn-Book proved so generally acceptable that a new edition was called for in the following year, and in appointing Mr. Noble to superintend the printing of the second edition, it was wisely resolved, "That this Conference does not think it expedient that any alterations, except those of manifest typographical errors, be made therein." It would be advisable that some resolution of this kind should be adopted as a standing rule of Conference, that the Conference HymnBook may in future be preserved from the injudicious "tinkering" of amiable (but unliterary) Presidents and Vice-Presidents. Alterations in the books used in the public services of the Church should never be permitted except after due consideration, and with the consent of Conference. Alterations that appear trivial to some persons are deemed important by others, and many alterations are improvements in the wrong direction, indicating an advance backwards!

The session of 1829 directed the stereotyping of the work, and again expressly directed that no alterations be made in the hymns themselves. This direction, however, was disregarded, for at the following session a minute was passed expressing regret that the Committee should have departed from the positive instructions given to them. But as the stereotyping was an accomplished fact, the Conference considered that the alterations had improved the work, and sanctioned the same, and ordered that the leaves containing the altered hymns be printed by themselves and distributed gratis among the Societies.

In the Repository for November 1855 a letter, signed "J. H.," appeared, containing a proposal to publish the Hymn-Book with musical notes, in which the writer urged that a more critical selection might judiciously be made. "Many of the hymns," he urged, "might be left out with advantage, some as unpoetical, others as over rhapsodical, others as inappropriate and frivolous in their metre."

"An Old Missionary" replied to "J. H.," defending the hymns condemned by the latter writer, and suggesting that the compilation of a "Supplement" would be preferable to curtailing the number of hymns. The discussion lasted for some time.

At the Conference of 1865 a Committee was appointed to prepare a "Supplement' the Minutes say a Committee of four-viz. Revs. Hyde, Madeley, and Storry, and Messrs. E. J. Broadfield and Willson. The next Conference disestablished the remainder of the Committee and placed the whole matter in the hands of the Rev. J. Hyde, who completed the work prior to the Conference of 1867. It was referred to a Committee, who in 1868 reported that their work was unfinished, and it was again "referred." The same thing was repeated in 1869, and in addition the Secretary was requested in his next annual circular to ascertain the feeling of the Societies as to whether they would prefer a Supplement or the revision of the Hymn-Book. Only 17 Societies replied to the question, 8 Societies (of course headed by Birmingham) advocated complete revision, 7 preferred a

Supplement, 2 opposed any change. There was evidently no enthusiasm on the matter; the Conference therefore for the sixth time referred the matter to a Committee, and again the Committee in 1871 reported. their work unfinished. The seventh time, however, settled the matter, and the Conference in 1872 heard that the Supplement was at length in print. Only 5 Societies adopted it within the first year after its publication, and it has never been brought into general use.

At the Accrington Conference (1876) a Committee was again appointed on the Hymns question-to consider the propriety of preparing a new Hymn-Book-and again in 1877 the subject was re-committed to a larger and more representative Committee, which reported at the last session in favour of a revision (see Morning Light, No. 34).

The Resolutions adopted by Conference for the guidance of the Committee will, we think, effectually prevent any approach to the perpetration of "atrocities" on the old hymns; and the fact that the book now in use is stereotyped will enable those Societies who prefer to do so to retain their old favourite. The best testimony to the excellence of the existing Hymn-Book is the fact that it has served the Church, and with general satisfaction, for more than half a century. The feeling of veneration for the Hymn-Book of 1824 is almost universal; it is a collection that has done the Church good service. But the Conference has decided that the time, anticipated by the original compilers, has now arrived to endeavour to revise and improve upon our present Hymnal. Many will view this decision with regret, lest favourite hymns should be expunged from the Revised Book, feeling that— Take it for all in all, it is a gem

We may not look upon its like again.

But there is no need to anticipate that the Old Book will be dealt with in a ruthless or revolutionary spirit.

The matter has been relegated to a large Committee, representing Societies in all parts of the kingdom, and every state of feeling in regard to the Hymn question; and no hymn is to be expunged without the consent of three-fourths of the members present at a general meeting, and no alteration of the existing Book is to be adopted except with the approval of two-thirds of the members present at a general meeting of the Committee.

The Hymn-Book Committee are also instructed to take the existing Hymn-Book as the basis of the new collection, and to utilize as far as possible the various New Church hymnals used in America, the Conference Supplement, various other collections of hymns used by New Church by New Church Societies, and indeed any suitable published hymns that are available.

But the most interesting part of the instructions given to the Committee is that relating to "original New Church hymns." We transcribe it from the Minutes: "That the Committee be empowered to inform the Church, in any way they deem suitable, that they are prepared to receive contributions of original New Church hymns for insertion in the new Hymn-Book; that all hymns sent in response to this intimation be forwarded by the contributors to Mr. Speirs, 36 Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C., who shall cause eight copies to be prepared, . . . concealing the authors' names; and that such hymns only shall be adopted as shall be approved by threefourths of the members present at a general meeting of the Committee."

We presume that these precautions are taken to preserve anonymity, and to ensure that the Committee shall be in a position to decide upon the merits of each composition without fear or favour.

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