this truth by formally divesting Himself of all filial connection with her, and by transferring such relationship to John, "Woman, behold thy son! Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home" (John xix. 26, 27). JOHN PRESLAND.

A

(To be continued.)

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.

"Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.”
CHAPTER II.

SSUMING, then, that man constructed language, by what means or process is it probable that he effected this great work? To complete and consolidate the theory of the human origination, of course we want the modus operandi. If it can be proved that terms, first for physical objects, secondly for emotions and abstract ideas, could readily have been contrived. by the early members of society, the requirements of the argument will be met.

The contrivance of such terms is perfectly compatible with the human faculties

and powers, and eminently congenial to human aptitudes. How men have actually conducted themselves on particular occasions, in the absence of any positive and authentic record, it is obviously impossible to pronounce with certainty, especially in such an inquiry as the present, when the period of the events is so very distant. It is easy, however, to determine how they are likely to have proceeded, and there is no danger of getting astray when the inquiry is conducted under the guidance of the following considerations:-(1) the physical circumstances by which the parties were surrounded; (2) their probable mental capacity; and (3) the known laws of human action, as learned from history and experience, the laws of mind being as fixed as those of matter. The facts which lie within the limits of historical and psychological knowledge constitute a quite admissible basis of reasoning with reference to the facts which lie beyond those limits. All past things in language may be explained by reference to causes which are still in operation, and which have been so by continuity from the very beginning.

(1). The external physical circumstances.—Whatever may be meant by the Garden of Eden, there can be no doubt that, in the days of the first members of the human race, the complexion of nature generally was exactly as at present. There is not the remotest reason for supposing that the sun then shone more gloriously, or that the brooks rippled with gentler music, that the birds of those ancient spring-times sang more cheerily, or that the sea rolled more grandly. There were palm-trees in the east, and oak-trees and woodbine and bluebells in the west. The seasons were the same. April

The eyes and hearts that delighted in these things were probably many. The human race probably existed from the very beginning as a community. Such at least appears to be the teaching of Scripture, taking its statements, as most people are disposed to accept them, in the plain and straightforward literal sense. "Adam," though ordinarily considered exclusively a proper name, or, at most, the Biblical word for a man, or the man, is primarily and essentially a collective term, signifying what in English is expressed by the word "mankind," i.e. man in general, both men and women. It has the same meaning in Hebrew that äv@poros had among the Greeks, as opposed to ȧvp, and that homo had among the Romans, as opposed to vir, the Hebrew word corresponding to avip and vir being (eesh). The latter word has a feminine form, eesha, literally "she-man," but "adam" has no feminine form; neither has it any plural, being in itself already a plural in sense. "So God," says the record, "created adam in his own image; male and female created he them." That in other passages Adam appears to stand as the name of an individual is quite true. The probability is that Genesis contains two distinct narratives, perhaps more than two; one stating the Divine origin of the human race in

general terms, the other the Divine origin of that particular branch of the human family the annals of which were destined to become so sacred and momentous, the Lord Himself. The command to be fruitful and multiply final event being the birth into the material world of our appears before any mention is made of Eve; and what is said about Cain and about Lamech seems to indicate the existence of human beings of families other than 'Adam's." The Pauline expressions in Rom. v. 19, and 1 Cor. xv. 22, 45, do not in the least interfere with the idea of an original community, when the full meaning of those expressions is recognized, and the reasons for their being employed are sought from unbiassed principles. Of course it is quite possible that mankind may have commenced in a single pair. But the weight of evidence and probability is quite on the other side. of all mankind from a single pair cannot be proved from Dr. Pye Smith remarked long ago that "the origination Scripture." Let no one imagine that the plurality view is necessary to the support of the doctrine of the human origination of language. The latter stands upon its own independent merits.

The difference between adam and eesh is admirably illustrated in the use made of their equivalents in the classical languages. When St. Peter, discoursing upon the duties of wives, tells them to be in subjection to their husbands, Toîs avôpáσw, he adds that still, instead of outward adorning, they must put on "the hidden man of the heart,” ὁ κρυπτὸς τῆς καρδίας ἄνθρωπος, i.e. the proper heaven-seeking nature of a human being. Cicero, when his daughter Tullia was on her deathbed, told her she could not expect to be immortal because she was a homo. Elsewhere he describes Metellus as "nobilissimus homo, et optimus vir." The want of corresponding terms in the English language is one of its defects. The nearest approach to them is found in the adjectives "manly" and "humane," which answer to the Latin virilis and humanus. In the English version, both of the Old Testament and the New, the defect in question is often very strikingly disclosed.

(2). The probable mental capacity of the framers of oral language. Whether many, or only two, it can hardly be doubted that the first members of mankind were intelligent and active-minded individuals. The "Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geological Science," ed. 1852, note É.

*

notion held in days gone by that the first members of the human race were governed only by the instincts which they shared with the brutes-that, in a word, they were "savage."-is utterly unsupported by evidence, and is contrary to recorded experience. That which is "savage" tends to decay rather than to endure and grow; instead of developing it declines; the start of an immortality such as that of the intelligence of the human race must have been admirable indeed. Every relic of the primeval ages attests the vividness and the enthusiasm of the impulses and the impressions of the men who lived during their lapse; the mythologies alone, antique fragments even in the days of the Iliad, showed that man in his earliest breathings stepped forth a poet. Go back as far as we will we cannot reach a time or find a country where man was not a poet. Everything goes to show that the human mind, a Jupiter in its maturer days, began life as an Apollo, his lyre already strung.

(3). The known laws of human action.-That men act in similar ways when urged by similar necessities, and while exposed to similar perils, needs no illustration. In regard to language it remains therefore only to inquire how men have proceeded in contriving the forms of speech which exist at the present day. The history of existing tongues is the history, so far as concerns the laws of their life and development, of tongues that are extinct. The vocabulary actually framed by the first members of mankind is of course wholly undiscoverable; we may determine pretty nearly, nevertheless, after what manner it was made by considering how vocabularies have been constructed in times nearer our own. Like ourselves, the primevals were surrounded by objects which would constantly call their faculties into play, and excite feelings which they would desire to express, for it must be remembered that He who gave the intellect to reflect, and the lips to utter, gave also the voluntas to communicate. The instruments of speech were ready; the corporeal powers and functions were adequate, and the intellectual capacities were ample: why should not the development of their faculties be as rapid as we are assured our own would be under similar conditions? And why should not a mode of becoming orally intelligible result as certainly as we may be confident would be the case with ourselves? LEO H. GRINDON.

UNFURNISHED APARTMENTS.

A SERMON TO THE YOUNG.

(Matt. xxiii. 38.)

EHOLD, your house is left unto you desolate!" These words, my dear young friends, were spoken by the Lord Jesus to the Jews, and through them to all people who are in a like condition. It was at a period in the history of the Jewish nation when there was but little goodness practised and little wisdom received. These facts we learn from the statements made in the chapter before us. They had no love to the Lord who had blessed them so abundantly. Instead of being obedient to His commands they contented themselves with wearing broad phylacteries, that is, scrolls of parchment on the forehead and arms, with texts of Scripture written thereon. They "paid tythe of mint and ainse and cummin," were scrupulous about little and unimportant things, while neglectful of "the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." Humility, the virtue without which the Lord says none can enter heaven, was altogether disregarded, for they "loved the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues.'

They had no desire to enter heaven, but rather endeavoured to close the door that others might be excluded. Instead of protecting and helping those who were defenceless and in need, they 66 'devoured widows' houses, and for a pretence made long prayers.' Instead. of cherishing and defending the good and wise men who were sent to tell them of God's great love, to reveal His wisdom, to unveil His majesty and power, they drove them from their houses and towns and cities, casting at them large stones, bruising, and even killing them. Yea, God's house did not even afford them protection, for they "slew them between the very temple and the altar." Now, on account of these things, their unkindness, cruelty, and wrong, Jesus said to them, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!" You will perceive, therefore, that the words of the text do not refer to their bodily homes, but to the state and condition of their minds. You have heard the proverb, "Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Evidently there is another meaning in it than that which the bare literal sense conveys. It is another way of saying, and a more expressive way, that those whose character is not spotless and altogether pure should not condemn others. So in the words of the Lord there is a terrible significance, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate !"

But a

Houses inhabited by active and industrious people are well furnished. The various articles of use are bright and clean. There is an air of warmth, comfort, and cheerfulness everywhere. You see elegant and chaste workmanship, designs of skilful hands; charming and beautiful pictures, all calculated to inspire happy and contented thought. Such is a furnished house. desolate house! what a contrast is there! Behold a desolate house. You see the gathered and the gathering dust. dust. Cobwebs are there reaching from ceiling to floor, woven across the doors and the windows, the sunlight struggling in vain to enter. A damp, unwholesome. atmosphere pervades the place. How cold and cheerless! No happy faces and pleasant voices are there, no music stirs the air, only dull, heavy, horror-begetting sounds like those heard in crypts and vaults. The Lord told the Jews that their minds were like this desolate place, spiritually cold, cheerless, and desolate.

Now, there are men and women who are like wellfurnished houses. Their minds are stored with heavenly affections and with all useful knowledge, having "a place for everything, and everything in its place." But children and young people are rather like new houses having many compartments, or rooms with little or no furniture therein. Thus their minds are, if you understand me aright, unfurnished apartments.

Let us further illustrate this. Consider what houses are. They are not merely four walls run up from the ground and covered with a roof. What would be the use of such places without doors for entrance, and without windows for the admission of light? In all large and elegant houses there are many divisions, and each division or apartment is fitted up with appropriate articles of furniture. There are the kitchen, the diningroom, the drawing-room, and the chambers for rest and sleep, and also upper and lower rooms. Well, here we have a representation of facts in regard to young people. Your minds are composed, so to speak, of many compartments which require to be properly furnished, in order that you may become "buildings of God, houses

not made with hands."

Think for a moment of the construction of your bodies, the home, for the time being, of your spiritual self. Here we discover many apartments with entrances, windows, and so forth. In the first place there is the chamber for

food, called the stomach, the mouth is the door to this chamber. You know at once what furniture is adapted to this apartment. Meats and drinks of various kinds. Just so. Then there is the chamber for sound, with its door the ear, through which enter all pleasant and delightful music, the music of the human voice, the songs of the birds, and the grand melodies and harmonies of nature. These are the furniture of the ear chamber. There is also the apartment of the light, the eye is the window through which it cheerfully enters. In this room can all bright and beautiful forms be stored, all sweet and lovely images, delicate and charming colours, and all objects the knowledge of which is so necessary to a true and full performance of the duties of life. You see that there is an apartment for each, we cannot put sound in the eye, or light in the ear. Each chamber requires its suitable furniture. But sometimes these apartments are unfurnished. Hungry people have an unfurnished apartment, so also the deaf and the blind, they cannot furnish these rooms, and hence in their house there is a desolate chamber.

Now, we wish you to enter a little further into the consideration of this subject; notice the word "enter," we use that term not in reference to your body, but to your spiritual self. We desire you to enter the apartment of your mind, where you think and reflect, in order that thereby you may become better able to furnish, adorn, and beautify your spiritual abode. Your spiritual abode, or mind, is separated into several compartments like your natural house and your body, to which we have called attention. We shall speak especially of three compartments, two of which are compartments of the mind, and the third in which all human beings reside, and we shall point out, also, some of the proper articles wherewith you can furnish them. We will name them—

1. The Heart-room. 2. The Head-room.

3. The Hand-room.

These rooms are distinct from each other, as distinct as the several apartments of a house, and, in regard to the young, are for the most part unfurnished.

The heart-room is that division of the mind called the "will," it is unfurnished when there are therein no good things to love. The Jews, to whom the words of the text are addressed, cherished no good things in their hearts. They had no love to the Lord, no affection for the revelation he had given them; indeed they "made the Word of God of none effect through their tradition." Entertaining no actual or true love to their neighbour, caring very little even for their children, except from some selfish motive, without desire to receive the Lord Jesus into their heart-room, for "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." They only permitted Him to look in, not allowing Him to enter, and hence the words, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." And in another place, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." He bade them enter into this room, which He calls "thy closet," and shut the door and pray, and then He would come and give to them great and precious rewards.

What is the condition of your heart-room, are you procuring furniture for it? If I knew what you were loving I could tell you. Do you love the Lord, who gives you all the good things you enjoy so much? who gives you health and strength of mind and body; who imparts to you all that which renders life joyous and happy; who made the earth and the ten thousand pleasant things which exist upon it, and allows you to use and enjoy them in the

fullest possible way; who gives you home friends, and all the blessings of this earthly existence. Do you love His Word, the Bible, which "is able to make you wise unto salvation,"-to instruct you in all true wisdom, to teach you concerning God, and the grand and beautiful world He is preparing for all who love Him and keep His commandments? And do you love to attend His House, where good men and women meet to worship Him, and "praise Him for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men," and where His Word is unfolded and its lessons are applied? Do you truly love your parents, by being obedient to them, and your teachers and companions by being grateful and kind? And are you earnest in the love and pursuit of knowledge, that you may know, and thus be able to do, what is right and useful? Have you a sincere affection for these things? Unless you love them your heart-room is desolate and unfurnished. I believe you desire it to be furnished, and wish to know how best it can be done. You must, in the first place, ask the Lord in your prayers to renew your will from day to day, and then you must try to do what those who are wiser than yourself bid you. This is the way to furnish the heart-room. Unless it thus be done, when you pass into the other world the angels, who are there and will welcome you, will look in and see, not beautiful articles of heavenly furniture, but what will make them sad and sorrowful, even spiritual dust and cobwebs woven there, across window and door, by the crafty spiders of falsehood and folly. Or else they will behold it "empty, swept, and garnished." Rather, my young friends, may your heart-room be like that upper room into which the Lord entered with His disciples to eat the passover, a large upper room furnished and prepared." This room is an inward heavenly love which may be cherished by every man, woman, boy, or girl. Into that the Lord comes with His disciples to commune with the soul, and to impart the sweetest joy and blessedness. You thus may furnish this heart-apartment by loving the Lord, your neighbour, and all good things, as you become acquainted with them.

2. There is what we have named the Head-room, this is that department of the mind usually called the "understanding," where we think and reflect, hence we may speak of it as the thought-room. Whether this be well furnished or not depends very much upon the heartroom furniture, because we think about those things we love. Still, on the other hand, we can only love those persons and things that we know something about. If, for example, you had not learned from your parents, minister, or teacher, that there exists such a Being as the Lord Jesus Christ you could not possibly love Him. So of everything and everybody, you must learn something of them before you can either love or think of them. And, therefore, before your thought-room, or understanding, can be called a furnished apartment you must gather facts, get information, and learn truths. "But," say you, "whence are we to collect these facts and truths?" From every possible and available source. At proper times ask questions, ask the why and the wherefore of things. fore of things. You may reply, "We are told that young people should be seen and not heard." This is sometimes true, but not always. "There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak," says the wise man. So there is a time to ask questions, and a time to listen. Ask of whom? Of everybody who knows better than yourself. Ask your parents, your teachers, your friends. Ask of books, good books. Read, and read well, the best book you can procure, not those silly and foolish tales which have no sense nor moral in them. You cannot furnish your thought-room by reading them, but

only fill it with a lot of useless rubbish and filth. Read the Bible, become familiar with the great and grand men whose characters are therein portrayed. Seek to become well acquainted with the history of the people chosen by God to represent His Church. You can gather from the Bible the wisest, noblest, and most reverent thoughts that have ever furnished and adorned the understandings of mankind. Here you can learn truths about God, about heaven, about your own being and destiny. Then, also, there are the books of the Church, you should not be ignorant of these and of the wise teaching they contain. You can find truths here with which to beautify your thought-room as well as furnish it with heavenly and manly principles. You have many opportunities of learning truths. Listen to sermons. Attend lectures. Join societies and classes which are instituted for the purpose of mental and moral improvement. Be in your

place at the service of the Church, and in the class at Sunday school. Show yourself to be in earnest by regularity and attention. Always have some good book at hand, that you may well employ your spare minutes. And while we recommend these things so strongly, you should not forget to observe, "A wise man's eyes are in his head." There are things about you that demand your thought. Cultivate an inquiring mind. The patriarch Job bids us "ask of the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee;-or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee." And One wiser than Job, nay, a greater than Solomon, commands us to "consider the lilies and the ravens," to "behold the fowls of the air." You can furnish your thought-room, then, by learning truths, without which your understanding is a desolate, unfurnished apartment!

3. The last room we can now speak of is the handroom, or the room for action. You can see that it is not enough to have a room in which to love, and a room in which to think, there must also be a room for deeds. And in this we manifest what we have in the heart-room and the head-room. Now this room for action is the great world itself. Here you meet with your fellowbeings, and must do the daily work of life. Unless you set your heart to do right, to be true to your better self, you will find this world a desolate region. It will be for you bleak and cold, like a dreary, wretched, miserable apartment. You must seek to fill it with warm earnest action. "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." Furnish your world with noble deeds, deeds of self-denial; deny yourself merely bodily ease for the sake of future good for yourself and others. Do your work in life well, your work, for there is work for all. And remember, too, that the work which is yours you alone can do or leave undone. Do not grumble and fret, therefore, because you have not some one else's work to do. Perform your own as in the sight of God, to whom you are responsible. If you wish to rise, be assured you must work well and perseveringly. Usually the door opens to the position one fits himself for. "Knock, and it shall be opened to you." Let the world in which you live be furnished with useful, helpful, and kindly deeds, that it may become more and more like the kingdom of heaven, which is a kingdom of uses, so will you enjoy "the days of heaven upon the earth.”

In conclusion, my dear young friends, allow me to add, you are to be the future men and women upon whom must devolve the support of the Church, the continuance of society, and the honour of your country. It is for you to determine what kind of men and women you will become; whether poverty-stricken, poor,

empty, ignorant, unloving and unlovable, idle and worthless, like desolate houses; or whether you will become rich, rich in love, in knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, "thoroughly furnished unto all good works." May you serve your day and generation nobly, wisely, and well, and pass into the spiritual world respected, honoured, and beloved, there to receive your eternal reward in one of the well-furnished mansions in the House of your Heavenly Father. JOSEPH ASHBY.

THE CHURCH IN PARLIAMENT.

HE first ecclesiastical debate in the present session of Parliament took place on Tuesday, Feb. 12, on the subject of Church Livings.

Mr. Leatham called the attention of the House to the traffic in Church livings, and moved that it was desirable to adopt measures for preventing simoniacal evasions of the law, and checking abuses in the sale of livings in private patronage. The present state of things, he remarked, was an admitted scandal to the Church and an insult to parishioners.

No attempt was made to meet the position taken by Mr. Leatham, Mr. Goldney and Mr. Beresford Hope, who were the speakers representing the Church Party in the House, both admitting the necessity for Parliamentary action in the matter.

No division, however, was taken on the question, the House being counted out as Sir George Bowyer rose to address it.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Our attention has been called to the following pertinent observations in No. X. of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon's Lectures to my Students:-"I do not believe in that preaching which lies mainly in shouting, 'Believe! Believe! Believe!' There must be instruction, otherwise exhortation to believe is manifestly ridiculous, and must in practice be abortive. I fear that some of our orthodox brethren have been prejudiced against the free invitations of the Gospel by hearing the raw, undigested harangues of revivalist speakers whose heads are loosely put together."

In accordance with a suggestion from the London Association of the New Church, arrangements have been made for the delivery of a course of addresses at the various New Church Sunday schools in London under the auspices of the London New Church Sunday School Union. The following is a plan of the course :Mr. A. J. Johnson.

Kensington, Buttesland St.,

Mr. Tarelli.

Feb. 17th 24th Mar. 3rd

Argyle Square,

Camberwell,

Buttesland St.,

Islington,

Camberwell,

Argyle Square, Camden Road, Deptford,

Birmingham in many respects claims-no doubt with truth-to be ahead of the times. And as regards the allies of religion, it seems to have discovered a new one, which has never to our knowledge been cultivated before, in a school of cookery. The Manual for February contains the following announcement :-"The course of lectures by Miss Fosbrooke is continued this month. The lectures are well worth attending, and the charge for admission, 6d., is very moderate. The course finishes this month, and we would recommend all our lady friends to attend, and induce others to do the same." It is not often that Swedenborg has been quoted as an interpreter of Scripture, as has been done by the Rev. Edward White in the last edition of his Life in Christ. The passage is: "The tree of life in the midst of the garden was plainly accessible to Adam until the hour of his transgression; for we read that permission was granted to eat of every tree of the garden, with the single exception of the tree of knowledge. The effect of the tree of life seems to have been to repair the decays of nature, and to prevent the approach of death; for we read that after his sin God said, 'Now, lest he put forth (or as Swedenborg rightly interprets, in

order that he may not put forth) his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever;'-implying a strong negative, that having chosen the creature rather than the Creator he should not possess that immortal life, which, under the Divine Will, access to the tree of life would have sealed to him in obedience." As to Swedenborg's rendering, however, it seems that the Authorized Version is nearer it than the translation which Mr. White furnishes as Swedenborg's. The literal rendering in English of Swedenborg's Latin, as made by one of our best scholars, is: "And now perchance (nunc forte) he will put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life, so as to eat and to live to eternity."

Dr. James Freeman Clarke in a small work recently published, entitled "Essentials and Non-Essentials in Religion," makes the following interesting remarks upon Christianity :-"The only progressive religion in the world to-day is Christianity. All others are decayed, arrested, or retrograde. But Christianity is capable of self-development. It unfolds itself into new forms, puts forth new branches, and makes every day a new heaven and new earth.

"The principle of this wonderful vitality is to be found in Christ Himself. Christianity is not an abstract creed-a system of thought; it is not a philosophical system. It is the personal influence of a great soul. Christendom may say, as the Apostle said, 'The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God.' One method by which the Creator causes the progress of humanity is by sending new impulses into the world through great men. Every civilization has been largely made what it is by the influence of great souls. The great souls of history almost constitute history; but One towers above them all, so that, as Horace said of Zeus, there is nothing like Him, nothing next to Him.' . . . I believe with Augustine, with Luther, and with Fénélon; with Wesley and Swedenborg, that Christianity is the Life of Jesus Himself, prolonged and unfolded on the earth. . . . He is still the great power in human history—the great motor in human progress. I believe Jesus to have been the Son of God, and Divine, because filled full of the Divine love and truth, and always abiding therein.” It is astonishing that one can believe so much and yet not believe more. The only legitimate conclusion from such premisses and such results in the world is that Jesus Christ was God Himself.

The Rev. Joseph Cook says in his work on "Transcendentalism, with Preludes on Current Events," when explaining the doctrine of the Trinity, "Listen to the last words of the martyrs through all

the first five centuries of Christianity. They are these, and such as these: O Lord God of heaven and earth, Jesu Christ, to Thee do I bend my neck by way of sacrifice! O Thou Who abidest for ever!' These were the words of Felix, an African bishop condemned to death at Venusium. 'O Lord Jesu Christ, Thou Maker of heaven and earth, give peace to Thy Church!' So spoke Theodotus of Anegra in the extremity of torture. Saturate the centuries with the certainty of the Divine Personal Immanence in matter and mind. Do this, and, in the name of science itself, the labouring ages will slowly learn not merely admiration, but adoration of one God, incontrovertibly known in external nature, history, and conscience, as Creator, as Redeemer, as Sanctifier."

Social meetings, at which enjoyment can be mingled with instruction, are one of the most valuable agencies for bringing and knitting New Church people together. The following extract from the Urbana (Ohio) letter to the New Jerusalem Messenger shows what form such meetings take in America :-"Our social meetings inaugurated this season are progressing very pleasantly and profitably. At the first of the regular meetings of the series, which occur monthly, Professor Cabell read an original paper on some interesting aspects of the 'Divine Providence,' after which a young gentleman, one of the College students, read some chapters from that most interesting New Church romance, The Evening and the Morning,' which proved so entertaining to all that it was voted to have the reading continued from meeting to meeting.

"The next meeting was our usual Christmas frolic at Mr. Sewall's on Friday after Christmas, when, as for a number of years past, we played the old-fashioned parlour games, and the old folks twirled the platter' and rolled at ten-pins, and the 'young folks' would have found it difficult to tell where to draw the dividing line.

"At the last meeting Professor Moses read some very interesting extracts from Swedenborg's Diary of his Travels,' as given in the new volumes of the 'Documents' recently published. It is wonderful how much lifelike portraiture of the man himself is contained in these daily entries of the observations of that traveller who saw nothing in vain, and to whom nothing was unimportant or without its interest. These extracts lead to a lively chat, which was discontinued at length to give way to our other entertainment from 'The Evening and the Morning,' Meanwhile the ladies do a vast amount of knitting. One would think, to see them, that some unprecedented demand for knitted goods had suddenly burst upon the community."

THE DEVIL CAST OUT FROM THE BLIND AND DUMB.

March 3, Morning. This teaches us to adore the mercy and omnipotence of the Lord Jesus, who came to destroy the works of the devil, whether wrought on the bodies or minds of men. The miracle enables us to distinguish what are the two mental defects of blindness and dumbness; when we are "blind" to the knowledge of heavenly truth, and “ dumb," or unable to think, utter, and teach any truth which would promote a good life. This compound state shuts one up to the sense of touch for a knowledge of the external world; and the wants of spiritual sight and speech does so in a somewhat similar manner with respect to spiritual subjects. The different effects produced on different minds by the miracle shows the importance of attending closely to the temper and disposition of our minds, so that we may always be in a state willingly and thankfully to confess the works of the Divine power, and escape from the crime of perverting the Lord's purposes. It should teach us in every state of spiritual blindness and dumbness to apply to the Saviour Jesus Christ, that we too may be healed by Him, and may thereafter both see and speak His praises.

LOT.

March 3, Afternoon.— Lot signifies the senses, or what we know

as the sensual principle, in opposition to Abraham, who represents the spiritual principle in man. These dwell together at first in harmony in every man, and they ought to continue to do so, because the lower should serve the higher; but in every man there comes a time when strife arises between the herdsmen of the two principles, and, when agreement can no longer be maintained, a parting. They are brothers, because every principle in man should serve the common Father above; but the senses lead to external, and the spiritual faculties to internal, pleasures. Lot's separating himself and going towards the well-watered cities of the plain, which were in very great evils however, shows how the natural man judges; and when he has given up spiritual considerations how he tends towards all that he thinks pleasant even though there dwell within it all the evils represented by Sodom and Gomorrah, and their inhabitants.

MARRIAGE.

On Feb. 16, at the New Jerusalem Church, Palace Gardens, Kensington, by the Rev. Dr. Bayley, Mr. James Butcher to Miss Mary Anna Marks.

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