on the following Tuesday, November 19, his subject being "The Tree of Knowledge. What Sort of Fruit grew upon it?" The hall (which will hold about 200 persons) was again quite full, and at the close of the lecture a great many books were sold, including several copies of the "True Christian Religion" and the " and the "Apocalypse Revealed." Several questions were asked, and the greatest interest in the subject was displayed.

JESUS THE CENTRAL OBJECT OF DIVINE REVELATION.*

HE Rev. John Presland, who is now delivering a course of Sunday evening lectures on the great question of the Sole and Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, selected as his theme last Sunday evening week, "Jesus the Central Object of Divine Revelation."

Taking his text from John v. 39, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me," he exhorted his hearers humbly to contemplate the position occupied by the Saviour in inspired revelation; premising that their investigation would necessarily be brief, fragmentary, and general. Beginning, therefore, with the Old Testament, they found the Redeemer the centre of all prediction, since "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. xix. 10). The earliest prophecy of all, then, was distinctly Messianic in character (Gen. iii. 15); foretelling that the mischief of the Fall should be retrieved by the seed of the woman. Descending the stream of time, the descriptions grew more specific. Firstly, the birth of the Saviour was limited to the race of Abraham (Gen. xii. 3); next to the posterity of Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 4); afterwards to that of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 14). Subsequent predictions declared that He should belong to the tribe of Judah (xlix. 10), the family of Jesse (Isa. xi. 10), and the house of David (Ps. lxxxix. 20); while the place of His nativity was determined to be Bethlehem (Mic. v. 2), and its period during the continuance of the Second Temple (Hag. ii. 9). Yet more important, however, are the prophecies which declare the nature of the promised Deliverer, since their unanimous testimony is to the effect that the one only God, Jehovah, would Himself effect the restoration of His children. Thus we read (Isa. xxv. 9): " It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” "Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence" (Isa. xxxv. 4). 'Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand" (Isa. xl. 10). Behold, the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. And this is His name whereby He shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6). Many other texts were cited to the same purport, all declaring that Jehovah would Himself come on earth to seek and save the lost. The manner of His manifestation was also predicted. A virgin should bring forth a son, who should be called Emmanuel, God with us (Isa. vii. 14; Matt. i. 22, 23); a child should be born and a son given, whose name should be The mighty God, The everlasting Father (Isa. ix. 6). This Son was the human form and nature born of the Virgin Mary (Luke i. 35), not a distinct person of the Deity, nor the Lord's Divine

* Under the heading of "A Visit to the New Jerusalem Church, Argyle Square, King's Cross," the above account appeared in the St. Pancras Gazette of November 2nd.

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nature, since Mary could not bring forth what was essentially Divine; but the human body of the Lord, with its accompanying human nature, which was called the Son of God, because God was its only Father, and which was also called God with us and The mighty God and everlasting Father, because therein, as in a body prepared for the purpose (Heb. x. 5), Jehovah manifested His presence upon earth. The identity of Jesus with Jehovah is further proved by His very name : Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. i. 21). For Jehovah is emphatically declared the only Saviour. "I, even I, am Jehovah, and beside Me there is no Saviour" (Isa. xliii. 11). "There is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour, there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else" (Isa. xlv. 21, 22). Evidently, unless Jesus be the same as Jehovah, there is another Saviour, for all the New Testament confirms the language of Peter (Acts iv. 12): "Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Or consider the witness of John the Baptist, to which our Lord Himself appealed in evidence of His authority (Matt. xxi. 23-27). What was foretold respecting John? "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isa. xl. 3). "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in : behold, He shall come, saith Jehovah of hosts" (Mal. iii. 1). Here it is expressly stated that Jehovah would come, preceded in His advent by the preaching of a specially commissioned herald. John was unquestionably the messenger referred to (Matt. iii. 1, 3; John i. 20, 23); and John clearly identified Jesus as the Being before whom he was sent. "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred before me; for He was before me" (John i. 29, 30). Jesus is therefore the obvious centre of all the prophetic portions of the Word; Jehovah manifest in the flesh, as they had declared. He is also the centre of the Jewish law and ceremonies; the substance of the good things to come, of which they furnished a shadow (Heb. x. 1). The fundamental idea of the Jewish system was that of mediation between God and man. In the opinion of every devout Jew the infinite invisible Jehovah dwelt in manifest symbolic presence in the Shechinah which flamed above the mercyseat. Thus the Temple was representatively His dwellingplace with men. But the Humanity of Jesus, "the temple of His body" (John ii. 21), was actually such a dwellingplace; since in it "the high and lofty One" revealed His presence to the world, and dwelt with them as a Man among men. The Jewish priests, again, were consecrated agents, commissioned to act between God and man. The only actual priest, however, is the Humanity of Jesus, because this alone is the real Mediator, not in the sense of one person interceding with another, but as the channel providing the means of mutual access between God and man, the "new and living way" opened for us by Jesus, "through the veil, that is to say, His flesh" (Heb. x. 20). For the relationship of the Son with the Father is similar in nature, and quite as intricate in degree, as that of the body with the soul. The Father dwelt in the Son (John xiv. 10). God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Cor. v. 19). One of the most grossly and mischievously mistranslated of texts, rightly rendered, declares the same glorious truth, viz. the assurance of

St. Paul (Eph. iv. 32), which in our Authorized Version inaccurately reads, "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another: even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." The words here rendered "God for Christ's sake," are in the Greek Ho Theos en Christo, which simply mean, "God in Christ "—" even as God in Christ hath forgiven you." Thus God is in Christ, the Divinity in the Humanity, since "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him" (Col. ii. 9, 10). Just as men can only communicate with each other by using their bodily organs, so neither can they approach nor understand God, except by approaching Him in that Divine body of Jesus, in which He has been pleased to manifest His presence. Again, the Jewish sacrifices constituted, in their true idea, the offerings by which human piety and duty sought to please and serve Jehovah. But such dedication was only complete in Jesus. Assuming a humanity in all respects like ours, that therein He might experience temptations, and thus subdue our spiritual enemies (Heb. iv. 15, ii. 18), He gradually sanctified this nature to the uttermost (John xvii. 19), and meekly submitted to all the sufferings necessary to make it perfect (Heb. ii. 10). Thus while sharing all our susceptibilities and tender sensitiveness, Jesus bowed Himself with perfect acquiescence to everything which the Divine purposes required. The language of His human heart was continually, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt (Matt. xxvi. 39). Thus He was the reality foreshadowed in all the Jewish sacrifices; the centre alike of law and prophecy; the Word made flesh (John i. 14), in whom every type and precept of the Scriptures was entirely fulfilled. To argue respecting His central supremacy in the New Testament would be superfluous. The Gospels are confessedly His biographies; and the Acts of the Apostles record the various stages by which His kingdom was advanced and His doctrines established. Pass on, then, to the Apocalypse, the last book of the inspired Canon. If elsewhere the letter of the Scriptures often gives prominence to our Lord's humiliation, here the beloved Apostle, gazing through the rent veil of corporeal sensation, sees with his spiritual eyes the Divine Master he has served while He was yet manifest on earth in His risen sovereignty and glory. True, he sometimes discriminates between "Him that sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb" (Rev. v. 13, vii. 10); but let us beware how we infer from this distinction any idea of separate personality. For if this part of Scripture should be literally interpreted when it appears to divide the Godhead into independent existences, it must also be similarly accepted when it describes one of these Beings as a Lamb. The Lamb is, however, the name of the Lord's Humanity, which is so styled from its entire and spotless innocence. Thus when John speaks of the Lamb "as it had been slain" (Rev. v. 6), he not only refers to our Lord's crucifixion, but also to the separation, which from the foundation of the Church-the "world" with which the Scriptures are chiefly concerned-was made between this Humanity and the essential Divinity. For, by divid ing the Son from the Father, and declaring each by Himself to be a Divine Person, the Church robbed the Humanity of Jesus of its indwelling soul, and thereby spiritually slew Him. But such dishonour and violence shall not endure for ever. John's prophetic vision culminates in the glorious descent of the New Jerusalem, which shall be the Bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev. xxi. 9). For in the heavenly system of which she is the type, Jesus in His Divine Humanity will be consistently exhibited as the Church's Husband and Head, her King,

her Preserver, her all in all. Thus the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the centre of all Divine revelation. To Him alone law, prophecy, gospel, epistle, apocalypse, bear united testimony as the sole and supreme God. Let us reverently search those Scriptures which testify of Him, and more and more intelligently perceive and lovingly accept their witness, that the Author of all good, the Object of all worship, the Foundation of all hope in time and in eternity, is Jesus only.

SWEDENBORG AND THE AFRICANS.
To the Editor.

S there are many New Churchmen who have taken an active interest in African missions in the hope of hearing something which might in some degree confirm Swedenborg's statements respecting the high character of the Africans, it may be interesting to those who welcome external proofs of the truth of Swedenborg's statements to know that the latest expedition, in common with all preceding ones, has not been successful in discovering any race whose faith and life, manners and customs, are at one with those of the Africans described by Swedenborg. (See T. C. R. 835-840; C. L. 113, 114; D. P. 274; L. J. 51; H. H. 326, 514; C. L. J. 75, 76; and A. C. 2604.) It was with peculiar interest that I read Mr. H. M. Stanley's letters to the Daily Telegraph which appeared in the issues of Oct. 15th and 18th, Nov. 15th and 16th, 1875; Aug. 7th, 10th, 14th, 1876; and March 26th, 1877. Two more were subsequently published, neither of which, however, contained any. thing touching our immediate subject. On reading the letter published in the issue of Aug. 10th, 1876, I thought that Mr. Stanley had given New Churchmen a most substantial proof of Swedenborg's veracity, at least respecting the Africans. I was not the only New Churchman who arrived at this conclusion. Professor Scocia of the Italian New Church mission was so convinced that we had at last a clue to the long-sought celestial Africans, that he devoted an article to the subject under the title of "News from Africa," which appeared in the Nuova Epoca of Oct. 26th, 1876. In it the Professor says: "We rejoice that Mr. Stanley's report con firms so well what our author wrote and published on the subject more than a hundred years before, and at a time when Africa had not been explored so much by Europeans as is the case now." Feeling assured that in due time an account of Mr. Stanley's mission would be published in book-form, and that we should have further particulars respecting the high-souled "White Race," I waited, I may say, in a high state of expectancy until his work, "Through the Dark Continent," was published; and having, as soon as possible, obtained a copy, how great were my surprise and disappointment on reading the following reflection-probably the result of closer acquaintance with this "White Race"-appended to the explorer's description of them on page 429 of vol. i.: "To my disappointment I heard of nothing that would lead me to suppose they were superior to their less favoured neighbours in manners or customs or their ways and means of life !" EDWIN CUSHING.

PALACE GARDENS CHURCH, KENSINGTON. QUARTERLY MEETING.

'HE quarterly meeting of the Kensington Society was held in the schoolroom adjoining the church on Tuesday evening, November 12. The chair was taken at seven o'clock by the Rev. Dr. Bayley. After a hymn had been sung Dr. Bayley offered up prayer. The minutes of the last quarterly meeting were read and signed, and three applications for membership were acceded to. The business of the meeting consisted mainly in the adoption of the revised "Rules," which, in accordance with a minute of the last meeting, had been under the consideration of the committee, and were then brought forward for the sanction of the Society. The alterations which the growth of the Society seems to have necessitated amounted to an almost total recasting of the old rules, and rendered it expedient to put each rule to the vote, a proceeding which took up the greater part of the evening. With the exception of a few verbal alterations, they were all passed in the form presented, and were ordered to be printed under the direction of the chairman and the secretary.

In congratulating the meeting on the completion of the matter, Dr. Bayley took occasion to remark that the old rules which were now superseded had lasted seven years, and he trusted that those which they had then passed would serve their purpose as well, and last for seventy times seven years. They must remember that the most important matter in connection with them was that they should be well kept. Bad rules well kept were, he thought, preferable to

good ones held lightly. Previously the Doctor, in alluding to this subject, had illustrated it by an incident that occurred during his recent journey in Spain. A gentleman had been complaining to him of the hardships they laboured under in Spain from the want of "liberty of meeting and other matters. But he had replied that he could not quite understand that, as he had read the Constitution and had not discovered anything wanting in this respect there. "Oh, yes," said his companion, "very true, it's all in the Constitution, but the worst of it is, it never comes out!" He (Dr. Bayley) trusted this would not be the case with their new rules, but that when it was needed any rule would be impartially applied.

A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Horncastle (who initiated the revision) and to the committee for the trouble and attention they had given to the matter, and the meeting terminated in the usual

manner.

MISSIONARY LECTURES.

ALBION HALL, DALSTON.

THE concluding lectures of the present series of the above hall have passed off very successfully.

On Nov. 12 Mr. S. B. Dicks (in the absence of Dr. Bayley through indisposition) delivered a lecture on Christ's Second Coming, "When, Where, and How?" The lecture was well received by a very large audience, the majority of which were strangers to the New Church.

On Nov. 19 Dr. Bayley delivered the last lecture, the subject being, "Is there any Scriptural Authority for the Jews as a Nation returning to Palestine?" The hall was again well filled, and the audience expressed their delight at Dr. Bayley's being able to appear in a most unmistakable manner. The lecture was most attentively listened to and gave great satisfaction to all present, except some members of the Christadelphian body, who had evidently come for the purpose of opposition. They availed themselves largely of the opportunity of putting questions at the close of the lecture; but the difficulties they presented were easily explained by Dr. Bayley, and only served to make the truth more clear. It is a noteworthy fact, that while the Christadelphians have recently been giving a course of lectures in another hall in the same neighbourhood, they have not only withheld the right of asking questions at the close, but have also requested that during the lecture the audience will refrain from expressing either their approval or disapproval of the sentiments advanced.

On the whole, the first lecturing effort of the Missionary and Tract Society for the present season has been very successful. Nearly fifty books have been sold, amongst them three copies of "The Evening and the Morning." The course of Sunday evening lectures in connection with the above, now being delivered by Mr. Dicks, have thus far been fairly successful. More than half the congregation (and it was a large one) present on Sunday, November 17, were strangers. The majority of them had been present at all the previous lectures, and the glorious truths now revealed respecting"Heaven and its Happiness" were listened to with greatest interest and pleasure by those who heard them propounded for the first time.

One thing is certain, as the foregoing facts testify, and that is, that the old feeling of blind prejudice against the teachings of the New Church is fast becoming extinct. The lectures are well attended by educated and thoughtful persons, and as a rule, when the difficulties which may be presented are explained, the explanation is received with hearty signs of approval. The books are eagerly bought, and the tracts willingly accepted. In this way the good seed is sown; the harvest will assuredly be reaped in the Lord's own good time.

NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH, NEW YORK.

SERMON BY REV. W. B. HAYDEN.

HERev. W. B. Hayden has been preaching in the New Jerusalem Church, New York, on the Second Advent of the Lord. The New York Herald of Nov. 4th has the following notice: "We, that is, the New Church Christians, are believers in the present existence of a new age of light and life in which, according to the Divine prediction, all things, both in the Church and in human society, are being made new. This great change in the character of our times is wrought by new Divine influences descending from God out of heaven. And this general influx of new thought and new feeling pervades all Christendom like an atmosphere, being unconsciously breathed in and appropriated by many. By many prominent thinkers it is clearly recognised as a new outpouring of the Spirit, which is stimulating active thought on all higher themes of theology-of the soul and of man's destiny-and especially excit

ing inquiry into the meaning of the prophecies concerning the second coming of the Lord. The so-called Prophetic Conference last week was attended and participated in by many prominent clergymen, representing almost every denomination.

*After further reference to the work of the Conference the preacher discussed The Manner of our Lord's Coming and His Object in Revisiting the World.' To these questions, he continued, the New Church has a definite reply; and our answer is that He comes now through the shedding forth of more light. He is the light of the world, and came into the world to enlighten it. A second coming, therefore, in the large general sense foretold in Scripture, is the breaking forth of a new degree of light. Something so remarkable as to attract universal attention. Something that should be as much brighter than the preceding ages or times as the light of the apostolic age was beyond that of the Jewish Church. The Divine prophecies of the event declare the Saviour's second advent to be of this nature to consist in the breaking forth, as it were, of a new and larger volume of extremely powerful, almost dazzling, heavenly light. Our Lord, therefore, in reality declares that His second appearing will consist of a new and remarkable disclosure of heavenly truth. The age is foretold to be one of knowledge and intelligence. Truths will exist in great abundance and on all subjects, especially on Divine and sacred subjects. We have the heavens opened and wonderful scenes occurring therein, disclosing new views of heaven, bringing its reality near, uncovering, too, the other parts of the spiritual world, with the scenes transacted in them, showing their nearness to and their powerful influence on mankind in this world. And then we have, too, the opening of the great book, sealed with seven seals. And what can the opening of the book be but the opening of the sacred volume of Divine Truth and the disclosures therefrom of new truth by an explanation of its meaning the explanation of mysteries before hidden or sealed up? To Daniel was told that this book must be sealed and could not be understood until the time of the end-the time of the second coming.

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But, it will be replied, there are in the Scripture statements which seem to imply that the Lord's second advent will be a personal appearing visible to mortal eyes, and that the whole world will see Him. We reply that such declarations are not so frequent as many suppose. His coming is indeed very much spoken of; but that it is to be a coming in the body, and visible to the natural eyes of men, would be hard to prove. The assumption that it is to be such an advent has arisen from a too hasty inference drawn from a very few passages. At least nine-tenths of the prophecies relating to it, nay, nineteen-twentieths, declare it to be of another nature, and as taking place in an entirely different way."

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Glasgow New Church Mutual Improvement Society held its usual monthly meeting on Saturday week past. A most interesting paper was read by Mr. James Caldwell, in which he endeavoured to show that it was possible to conduct a musical association on the principle of Parliament, so as to do away with those frequent eruptions which are so proverbial in all musical societies. The meeting was very well attended, and thoroughly appreciated Mr. Caldwell's paper. Although this Society only sprung into existence a year ago, it is in a most flourishing condition, and gives promise of becoming still more successful.

The

At a social meeting lately held in Glasgow, at which the representatives of Conference gave a report of its work, the idea of inviting the Conference to assemble in Glasgow at an early date was brought forward. The proposal was favourably received, but as it was not a business meeting nothing definite could be done. matter will likely be considered at the next business meeting of the Society, when perhaps the members may see their way to invite the Conference for 1880, notwithstanding the not very ample accommodation which the church and schoolrooms of the Society can offer to the ministers and representatives and the usual gathering of friends and visitors.

Under the heading "Orthodox Generosity" the following appeared in the Unitarian Herald of November 8th. We, like the Unitarians, seem to have been shut out of the Christian fold, as some people choose to define it. It would seem that ignorance requires to be removed as well as "a spirit of something like bigotry:" "Mr. Bemrose, the retiring Mayor of Derby, is a man of liberal hospitality, and, during his civic year, it is said has shed much lustre on the office and the borough. As his year of office drew to a close he determined to invite-according to the newspapers-all the Sunday-school teachers of the town to a party in their honour, to be held at the Drill Hall on Monday week. This was a very graceful proposal, and the prospect of accepting the invitation of the Mayor was no doubt deeply appreciated by those engaged in Sunday-school work. From many points of view, too, the idea was

successfully carried out. We gather from a local report that 'the invitation of his Worship was so largely responded to that about seventeen hundred persons were present at the Drill Hall on Monday evening, of whom we believe more than one-half were Dissenters. The gathering was quite unique in character, and one could hardly look upon the vast assemblage without feeling what a powerful engine the Sunday-school is in improving the moral and religious condition of the people.' We should have been glad if the evening had not possessed the additional feature of exclusion; but such a fact now, as often before, has to be put into the other scale. Like most men, the Mayor of Derby casts a shadow; and his shadow, unfortunately, followed him into the festive place, and was thrown long and dark across the success of the proceedings. Two denominations were distinguished by being left outside in the October cold, and these were the Swedenborgians and the Unitarians. The blessing was not for them. At their heresies the Mayor felt obliged to draw the line. Not receiving the usual invitation card, and feeling naturally that a man's a man for a' that,' and that even Unitarians come under some religious denomination or other, Mr. John Green wrote saying that, despite the promise that all denominations were to be called to the feast, neither he nor any of his cohelpers had received tickets. Upon this an exchange of sentiments passed between Mr. Green and the Mayor, who wrote among other things: I put it to you whether, considering your theological tenets, and the whole tone and character of the meeting, I should have been acting conscientiously and according to the true principles of courtesy in asking your attendance, or whether you would have been at ease in accepting the invitation.' Some correspondence appears in the newspapers on the subject, and in one of them the matter is commented on in an excellent editorial paragraph. The writer regrets that 'a grand and truly catholic idea has been in a measure marred by a spirit of something like bigotry, which we thought would hardly have been exhibited in these days by a gentleman who has the honour to occupy the post of chief magistrate, and who, as such, represents the whole town.'

The Sunday meetings of the New Church friends in Paris are no longer held at the house of Dr. Poirson and under his leadership, but have been transferred to the house of Mlle. Holmes, at 80 Rue de la Faisanderie, which is situated beyond the Trocadero and near the Bois de Boulogne. Though not so central as the former meeting-place the salon is larger and more commodious, and the neighbourhood charming. M. Bertheau, an avoué, is at present acting as leader. He has a decided talent as a preacher and seems to have his heart in the work, though the duties of his profession prevent his giving as much time to the work as might be desirable. The average attendance lately has been between twenty-five and thirty.

Mrs. J. H. Brotherton delivered a lecture on Herculaneum and Pompeii" in the lecture-hall of the Camden Road Church on the evening of Monday, Nov. 18. Dr. Tafel occupied the chair and briefly introduced the lecturer, who was listened to with great interest. Mr. Gunton spoke with respect to the object of the collection. The Rev. J. Presland proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs. Brotherton for the graphic and instructive lecture she had given. This proposition was seconded by Mr. H. N. Banes, and carried most heartily. About 120 were present, and the collection made at the close on behalf of the fund of the Conference Committee on Foreign and Colonial Missions amounted to £5, 5s.

In our issue for August 10th (page 320) we quoted a remark made by the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Freemantle in the Contemporary Review for July, to the effect that the literature of modern Judaism was not more repellent to the ordinary Christian mind than that of the Swedenborgians. To any one who considers the exactly opposite views held by the two bodies named upon the all-important subject of the Divinity of Christ-an opposition which must in the very nature of things largely permeate their respective literatures— the comparison would appear to be most inexact and misleading. A letter written from this standpoint was addressed by the Auxiliary Society to Mr. Freemantle, and has elicited a reply, in several respects very satisfactory, which, with the consent of its author, we now present to our readers: "2 Gloucester Place, Portman Square, W., October 14th, 1878. Dear Sir,-I have not been able, mainly through absence, to reply till now to your letter of the Ist. inst. I am truly sorry to have caused pain to a body of Christians by any expression of mine. But I think what I said need not have conveyed the sense in which you have understood it. What I alluded to in speaking of the Swedenborgian literature was not its theological substance but its style and expression. That there are some great truths in the Swedenborgian books which are capable of benefiting the Church at large, I should be the last to deny, however little I may feel attracted to their main tenet. But the ordinary Christian in reading many of them-I speak as one who has consistently tried the experiment several times-finds himself lost in what appears to him a maze of mystical ideas which I think make the expression repellent' quite rational. I

confess myself to be fairly baffled by them. No doubt quotations can be made-as the extracts show which you have sent me--which are quite plain; but I think ordinary Christian readers will find the mass of your books such as I have described. I hope that this explanation, though it may not be altogether gratifying to you, will remove a good deal of what has pained you and other members of your community in the expression which I used.-Believe me, yours very faithfully, W. H. Freemantle.-H. T. W. Elliott, Esq."

The President of Conference has granted a licence to Mr. J. R. Boyle of Hull to administer the Sacraments.

Mr. Edward Austin, for so many years, in fact since its origin, the minister of the Camberwell Society, has intimated his intention of resigning. He finds that his secular duties have multiplied so much that he must now give up the ministerial duties he has conducted so long and so efficiently.

The Auxiliary New Church Missionary and Tract Society has recently had under consideration a proposal submitted by its Man. chester Committee for obtaining the insertion in the Christian World newspaper of regular information as to the work of the New Church, similar to that supplied to that journal by other religious bodies. There can be no doubt that it is most desirable that the doings of our Church should regularly find a place in the columns of a periodical so influential and widely read, and we are glad to say that the editor is willing to give as much publicity to the proceedings of the New Church as the information supplied him will allow. The steps for the organization which will be necessary to provide this weekly are at present being taken, as it is desired to commence the work on the 1st of January next.

Notwithstanding the truly winterly aspect of Monday evening (Nov. 18) a large and respectable audience assembled in the New Jerusalem Schoolrooms, Wigan, to enjoy that which is always involved in the successful performance of a good programme, namely, a musical treat. Had the weather been more favourable it is probable that the room in which the concert was given would have been much too small, as the programme was of that popular character which is calculated to attract large audiences. The attendance was, however, eminently satisfactory, and betokened the realization of a respectable surplus in favour of the treasurer. In their several departments the performers acquitted themselves admirably, giving evidence of that taste and correctness of interpretation which is born of a thorough appreciation of the subject.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSONS.

JESUS DISCLOSES A PROPER VIEW OF THE
SABBATH.

December 8th, Morning.-Matthew xii. 1-9. The corn-field is the emblem of the Church, and the corn of the spiritual food which the Church provides for the support of her children. The hunger of the Lord's disciples is expressive of the spiritual appetite which all true disciples have for the corn of heaven. Standing corn typifies good in the mind growing or increasing still. Eating denotes appropriation. The opposition of the Pharisees refers to the opposition of those who have separated the letter from the spirit, the forms from the purposes of the forms. The instances the Lord adduced respecting David and the showbread, and the priests and the sacrifices, show us the real use of the Sabbath. It is to preserve spiritual life and to offer up genuine worship, and therefore to care for the truth in the mind, from which only true worship can flow. The Son of Man's being Lord also of the Sabbath is a claim to Divinity, as being the one whom the Sabbath typified. When goodness and truth are conjoined in us, the Sabbatical state is formed in us, and over it and over us the Lord is then the supreme Lord.

SAUL BY DISGUISE OBTAINS AN INTERVIEW WITH DEPARTED SAMUEL.

December 8th, Afternoon.—1 Samuel xxviii. 15-20. After we have behaved wickedly, like Saul, and find that our former good advisers are silent and no longer commend and encourage us in our course of action, we are very apt to act like Saul, and seek evil and unlawful counsellors, who will, we hope, countenance our conduct and flatter our evils. If these act as we wish we become worse, and if they speak truly they offend in foretelling the disastrous con sequences which will and must attend our steps. The only true counsellor is the Bible, and the only trustworthy advice as to what to believe and what to do is the teachings of its spiritual sense. We are near the spiritual world, and our souls are in it; the spiritual guardians and tempters are near us, but we do not know and should not know they are near us consciously until we join them when we die.

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