his mind inclined towards it, is, to think that it must not be done, because it is contrary to the Divine Commandments. If a man accustoms himself to think in this manner, and acquires, by practice, a sort of habit of it, he is, by little and little, brought into conjunction with heaven, the superior part or faculties belonging to his mind are opened; in proportion as these are opened, he sees what insincerity and injustice are and in proportion as he sees them they are capable of being removed from him; for it is impossible for any evil to be removed till after it is seen. This is a state into which man has the ability of entering from freedom, for who cannot think from freedom in the manner just mentioned? But when he has entered into it, the Lord works in him for the production of every thing that is good, and causes him not only to see evils, but also to reject them from his will, and finally to hold them in aversion. This is meant by the Lord's words, My yoke is easy, and my burthen is light.'" This surely is most clear and convincing. But now follows a statement which makes it most important and interesting to the young. “But (the enlightened writer proceeds to say) the difficulty of thinking in this manner, and also that of resisting evils, increases, in proportion as men commit evils from actual will: for so far as he does this, he accustoms himself to them, till at length he does not see them, and at last he comes to love them; when, influenced by the delight inspired by love, he makes excuses for them, confirms them by fallacies of all kinds, and calls them allowable and good. But this is what takes place with those, who, on first arriving at adult age, rush into evils as if regardless of all restraint, and at the same time reject Divine things from the heart."

How important, then, you see, my young friends, it is, that we should remember our Creator in the days of our youth; and that the young man should cleanse his way, by taking heed thereto according to the Divine Word! If set about in youth, this is easy. All have an inclination towards evil by the hereditary corruption of our nature; but in youth, and by the course that has been explained, this is resisted without difficulty. The putting away of evils only becomes difficult, in proportion as the inclination towards them is yielded to. Then they become rooted in the will, the inclination towards them increases into a passionate love of them, and then, rushing without restraint into practice, they become confirmed. Many, alas, we see, who do, on first arriving at adult age, rush into evils, as if regardless of all restraint : and too many of these, also, make their recovery from such a state, far more difficult, and, in fact, almost impossible, by, at the same time, re

jecting divine things from the heart.

I trust that none of the young people who now hear me, will be guilty of such mad infatuation.

You cannot but see how easy the conquest over sin is, when set about in early life, compared to what it possibly can be, when men have spent a great part of life in willing slavery to the destructive

monster.

It is constantly shewn in the doctrines of the New Church, that sin, or evil, can only be removed by combats against it; but those doctrines again expressly declare, that "such combat is not grievous, except to those who have quite surrendered themselves in the rejection of the holy things of the Word and of the Church. To others it is not so grievous; let them but resist evils in intention (meaning, by examining what evils they are inclined to, and forming resolutions against them) only once a week, or a fortnight, and they will perceive a change."

Is not this most gratifying encouragement for the young.

With you, my young friends, evils cannot yet be confirmed by long practice and indulgence. You can only escape from the thraldom by combats against them, but, for you, those combats will not be grievous.

According to the rule that has been given, when any evil suggests itself, and you feel an inclination towards it, you must think within yourselves, "This is contrary to the Divine Commandments, therefore, I will not give way to it." You must frequently consider what evils you you are inclined to set yourselves on the watch against them, and form resolutions against them. You must look and pray to the Lord to be enabled to keep such good resolutions: and you assuredly will be enabled by him to obtain the victory and its blessed rewards.

Thus you see, my young friends, that when the Word of God prescribes to you, and to all, obedience to the Divine Commandments as the only way to happiness, it does not prescribe any thing so extremely painful and difficult. And it would be a very false view of true religion, which should represent it as consisting in nothing but trials and mortifications. In youth the mind is naturally cheerful; and there is nothing in true religion which tends to make it otherwise. Delights and recreations suitable to all states, are provided and permitted; but then they must be such as are within the limits of true order, and must be delights and recreations of good, not of evil. I have already intimated, that the love of worldly pleasure is one which is peculiarly attractive to youth; but great care must be exercised not to allow the pursuit of mere pleasure of any kind, to become a paramount object in

the mind. What truly contemptible creatures do those, who ought to be rational beings, become, when they suffer themselves to be led captive by the incitements of the mere animal within them, and stifle the nobler powers of their nature in a round of pleasure-seeking and frivolity! Let every young person, therefore, who is entering into life, be especially careful how he gives in to such a destructive course. In the present state of society many cannot enter the bonds of the married state, till after a considerable portion of the period of youth has passed away, and some are prevented by circumstances from entering them at all. But all ought to look towards a union with an amiable and religious partner of the opposite sex, as the most desirable state, and to be careful not to plunge into the evils which lessen or destroy the inclination for it. Here again the young have great advantages; but the realising of them depends upon themselves. Our doctrines expressly declare, that such a state is provided by the Lord for those, who from their youth, have desired a blessed and happy union with one of the sex, have sought it of the Lord, and have shunned wandering lusts. And those doctrines also declare, that such blessed, happy, and everlasting unions, though long almost unknown in the world, will be restored in the New Church, and will be among the chief of the blessings conferred upon those who immediately approach, in worship, the Lord Jesus Christ, and keep his commandments.

What I have now mainly dwelt upon,-the necessity of guiding our way by the Word of the Lord, is the principal thing, and includes all other duties whatever. Be this, then, the great object of you, my young friends, and of us all; so shall we assuredly be led by the Lord to things blessed and happy in eternity. Amen.

A NEW TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.

WHY do we ask for a new translation? The authorized version is incorrect in many places; the language is unsuited to the modern ear and to modern tastes; the present letter is out of harmony with the estab lished facts of science; and a more judicious adaptation of the original meaning to the best phraseology of our own time, would, without violating the sense or spirit, obviate the numerous objections which are urged by sceptics and scoffers to the Sacred Book. Would it? We sincerely believe that much more would be lost than gained by any alteration whatever; and for this very reason, those who care as little,

and perhaps less, for the Bible, than they do for the works of "Tom Paine," are as loud as any in their demand for another version of the Scriptures. To make the Bible a subject of mere ordinary criticism, to treat it as the offspring of a merely human intellect, and to fashion and dress it to suit an affected delicacy, or to gratify a discontent that originates in the discrepancy between plain statements of the Word of God, and the narrow creeds which numerous sectarians have wrapt around themselves, would be the very course to pursue, if we wish to meet the earnest wishes of a large party, who would rejoice in wresting from the English mind the strong hold which the inspired volume has long maintained, and with which our earliest recollections are associated. We know of nothing which would be more detrimental to the cause of religion in our own country, than a change in the Authorised Version of the Bible. What essential doctrine of the Christian faith, what vital principle of truth contained in the Word, is obscured or misrepresented in this translation, that we could hope to see rendered more intelligible and indisputable, after being subjected to the revision of a host of conflicting sects, who would justly claim to be represented in the accomplishment of the hazardous work of a new translation? Revise, alter, correct the phraseology and general construction of the present version, without sacrificing the genuine sense of God's Word, if you can; and after all the Bible will stand, as it always has done, a stumbling-block and foolishness to the sensual and profane. The humble, honest searcher after truth, will ever find a thousand gateways to the temple of Divine Wisdom, in defiance of all the obstacles which a proud scholasticism finds impossible to surmount. Our sentiments on this subject are well expressed in the following extract from a review of 4 Vindication of the Authorized Version of the English Bible, by the Rev. J. C. Malan:

"The popular mind exaggerates the importance of uncertainty of interpretation, and if people hear of various renderings, they begin to think the passage has no definite meaning. For this reason, it is most important to have no changes, unless some very clear case can be made out. We do not assert that our Authorised Version is faultless, but we believe there are few passages where it could be altered so as to gain, without at the same time incurring a loss. We may gain in keeping a paronomasia, and at the same time lose much more by dropping some deeper allusion which is of far more importance to the argument. We may gain by making the meaning much clearer, and at the same time lose by limiting the interpretation to one channel of thought, whilst the original included many things in the comprehensiveness of its undefined intimation. We may make the Psalms the easiest book of poetry in the world, and in so doing display great phi

lological research, and astonish the world with notes upon Arabian etymologies; and yet our new and easy translation may be quite a different book from anything that was put into the hands of Asaph. It is very important for people to remember, what the uneducated cannot even understand, that a translation must have its faults. It is simply impossible to reproduce in one language a train of thought composed in another. Are we to suppose that our generation is the first to find out that the original Hebrew and Greek might, upon very good grounds, receive in some places a different rendering? Surely not. The translators did not set about their task without weighing many arguments. Nothing is easier than to find a reason for altering a translation of any given passage, but very probably the translators knew that reason, and knew at the same time that there were more reasons for the rendering which they chose.

"I readily admit," (says Mr. Malan,)" as I have already done, that the English Bible requires a few—very few corrections or alterations, in order to adapt it altogether to public reading; and most persons would welcome those alterations, if made with a sparing, skilful hand, and with good judgment. But no one can taste of the corrections, improvements, alterations, or revisions, offered in this specimen,' without regretting the labour be stowed upon them. And with every due deference to the good intentions of the revisers, it is impossible to read one page of their NEW BIBLE, without straightway saying in sober earnest,-THE OLD IS BETTER.”

Ten years ago, a committee was appointed by the New Church Convention of the United States, to consider and report on this subject. The result of their deliberations are still applicable to present circumstances. We extract the following:

"Suppose the contemplated translation should not be satisfactorily or correctly made, it is obvious that the Church would be much embarrassed by it, and that the difficulty of obtaining another translation subsequently, would be greatly enhanced. And if the translation should be incorrect in any instance, it would be the more injurious to the Church, from the very fact of its being made by New Churchmen, and authorised by the New Church. That there are errors in the existing translation is known and admitted by biblical scholars generally; and while this fact is known to New Churchmen, they are less likely to be misled by any errors in the present version,

"It deserves to be remarked, however, in respect to our present version, that it does not, if we include the marginal readings, contain many very important errors. The errors are generally of but little consequence. It should be borne in mind, that this translation was not executed hastily, nor by a few or incompetent men. Great industry, devotion, fidelity, and all the learning of a learned age, were brought to the work. We are apt to forget how far the men of that age excelled those of our own, in the department of philology. We suspect that the number of those at the