much whether they can come to any conclusion that would satisfy the friends in general, or that the writings of E. S. will bear them out in; for Swedenborg has given no directions upon that subject; indicating, in my opinion, that all societies are free to adopt what rituals they may think proper. Hence London, or any other

place, assuming to itself an

order, and will smell of the old leaven of priestcraft, church power, sanctified touches, &c. It would occasion discord for a time, and afterwards come to nothing. Besides, it would bring the ORIGIN of their own ordination into investigation; I mean, by the twelve laymen at East Cheap, and which by no authority whatever can be proved to be divine. Provided it could be so proved, then, that is the right

authority to direct in these matters, is quite out of

mode of ordination, and no other.

Perhaps it would be best to let this question alone. The societies in London will go on in their own way; other societies and their ministers will do the same; and upon undecided questions, where their lives are in the right, they should be left uncontrolled. Neither Mr. Clowes nor any other clergyman will acknowledge the assumed and disputable right of London to ordain, and I, for one, trust they never may; for it would be introducing a Papal New Church authority, originating with

and to be maintained by

men.

extent by East Cheap, was the dissolution of that society, and will be that of any other. One society has not the shadow of right to dictate to another upon its formalities; and if it does, it is wholly from proprium, and to exercise dominion. James, the father of Robert Hindmarsh, after his ordination some years ago at East Cheap, aimed at this authority, for which he justly obtained the nick-name of Bishop of

This very thing, when carried on to a certain

Babylon.

On E. S. being

An idea has lately started in my mind, that we are near the fiftieth year since asked how soon the New Church would begin to increase, he replied, in proportion influx is not descending stronger than it has hitherto, done. the last judgment took place in the spiritual world in 1757. Quere, whether the as the number in the New Heaven increased. Be pleased to revolve this in your mind, and favour me with your sentiments thereon in your next.

I have only at present to add my best wishes for your happiness, and believe me

to remain, dear Sir,

Your sincere Co-Recipient,

Correspondence.

HENRY SERVANTÉ.

REV. MR. M'PHERSON AND THE BISHOP OF BARBADOES.

To the Editor

in a

West Indian

Dear Sir, I observe that you have transferred into the current

periodical, letter of mine to the Bishop of Barbadoes as it apeared

newspaper.

The letter was never intended for publication, and was inserted in the Trinidad Sentinel without my knowledge or consent. It having, however, in this manner become public property, I cannot complain of the use you have made of it.

Now, the printed version is full of blemishes of several kinds; but as I have only retained a rough pencil draft of it, I must not be too critical, lest I should be exposing my own errors as well as those of the typographers.

There is one mistake, however, which is certainly not mine, and which I cannot pasa over in silence: I therefore beg you will allow me to correct it. At page 252 of the Observer, lines 24, and 25, the expression "whether his visions be the relations of his own brain," occurs. In the pencil draft, and I am sure in the leter itself that I posted for the Bishop, if not also in the copy I forwarded to a

friend in Trinidad, it stands thus: "whether his visions and revelations be the productions of his own brain, or," &c. which latter wording bears a sense that the former is void of.

I cannot but consider that his lordship has the right to charge me with a want of courtesy, in allowing any portion of the correspondence to be made public without his permission, as well as with unfairness in putting forth a part of it only and not the whole. I shall therefore write to him by the next packet, explaining the circumstance, and requesting his consent to the publication of all the letters which passed between us on the subject of my leaving the Old Church. Of the result of the negociation you shall be duly apprized. 6th July, 1858.

I am, dear Sir, yours very truly, C. G. MCPHERSON.

SPIRITUALISM AND PSEUDO-SPIRITUALISM.

To the Editor.-Sir, Finding that among the quotations in my article in the July No., on this subject, two most important ones (from the A. E. n. 1182-83) have accidentally been left out, the numbers only having been given. I purpose forwarding these quotations, with a few further remarks, for your next No. London, July 28th, 1858.

DIRCKINCK HOLMFELD.

SOCIETY AT ELMHAM, NORFOLK.

"This Society," writes a Correspondent at Norwich, "became known to the the Church principally through the instrumentality of the Rev. Mr. Abbott, then of Norwich; who furnished the information respecting it, which appeared in the Intellectual Repository, for March, 1852. During its short existence it has met with much trouble and persecution, but its members, who are chiefly of the agricultural labouring class, have held firmly together in the bonds of true Christian Union, and have been enabled to persevere notwithstanding the obstacles that have been thrown in their way. One difficulty which they have had to encounter, has been that of retaining a place to meet in for worship. They have been continually driven from place to place, and are now under notice to quit their present chapel, (previously belonging to the Methodists,) and upon the occupation of which they entered only in July, 1857, fully anticipating a more prosperous future. Under these circumstances, it has, after much consideration, and consultation with others, been deemed advisable to make an effort to place themselves in a more certain and independent position, and their friends are about purchasing a piece of land for them, upon which to erect a suitable and respectable building. The cost, it is expected, will be about £80.; to raise this sum, a Subscription has been commenced among themselves, which is expected to produce £5., and the Norwich Society has guaranteed them another £5., and other friends are at work in their behalf. There are from 25 to 30 persons who attend the worship, and it is wished to have a place that will accommodate over 80: which, when completed, will be placed in the Conference Trust. This appears to be a case in which the Society has no alternative, but to either build or dissolve; it does not appear to have emanated from a desire to build for the sake of building -a mistake that is sometimes made.

"The Members of the Church," continues our Correspondent, "are respectfully solicited to aid in this useful work." The whole sum required is not large, and might easily be raised if those who are able to do much could be impregnated with the feeling of those who are willing to make an effort and do what little is in their power.

[Believing the above to be a genuine and deserving case, and well worthy the consideration of the Church, our publisher has agreed to receive contributions for the object. —ED.]

"THE ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY" AND LADY BULWER LYTTON. OUR attention has been called by a Correspondent to a work by Lady Bulwer Lytton, entitled Behind the Scenes, in which two Extracts are made from, and approbation bestowed upon, the Rev. E. D. Rendell's Antediluvian History:-The Extracts are in the first volume. One is as follows:

"How many things there are belonging to our nature, which actually exist a long time before we become properly aware of them! The internal man exists, and we may have this fact declared to us by infallible authority; still we have no right perception of its truth until we begin a course of interior thinking. By this, man attains the evidence of its existence, and then believes."-P. 7.

Upon which the Authoress remarks,

"And it is a question whether this course of interior thinking ever would begin in many of us, but for affliction, which is the whetstone of all the soul's blunted intelligences; for by interior thinking is meant self-examination, with a view to acquiring self-knowledge, and must not be confounded with those mere intellectual exhalations, of which even the lowest moral natures are capable, and which have often no more to do with the construction of our higher and spiritual intelligence, than have the vapours that rise from the ocean to do with the great world of waters, beyond a throwing off of its worser and more evanescent particles. But of the truth of the above remark, of there being many things belonging to our nature which actually exist a long time before we become properly aware of them, we have physical, as well as moral demonstration; for have we not (though perfectly useless to us there) the germ of all our faculties, passions, and feelings in our mother's womb?—and may it not be that the very highest intellectual pre-eminence, that the efforts or ambition of man can attain to in this life, may be compared with the perfection he is destined to arrive at in a future and eternal state, quite as embryo and undeveloped as were the elementary and component attributes of his nature prior to his terrestrial birth? And oh! may it not also be the comparatively narrow confines of its present sphere, that occasions all the throes, struggles, and chafings of the future great and emancipated spirit; and causes it to consider the said throes, struggles, and chafings, as so many trials, afflictions, and even unjust persecutions, for want of a broader light to view them by, which would show that each and every struggle was but the germination of the unborn angel?"

In page 110, the writer in answer to a question by one of the characters, whether a certain individual is not "very clever indeed?" Says,

“Oh, very. And in order to finish the sentence, and express my own thoughts more tersely, I took up Mr. Rendell's volume on Antediluvian History, which I had given Edith, and turning to page 184, read aloud the following most true passage, which I should like to see inscribed in golden letters over all the doors of our colleges, and on those of every public and private school:

"How often are clever men discovered to be crafty? Does it not sometimes happen, that men with enlarged understandings have narrow souls and selfish hearts? Is it not a fact, that wise men are sometimes wicked?-that they perpetrate their ills with sagacity plate their sins with gold?' Every one knows these truths; but why are they so? Simply because they have eaten of the tree of knowledge; they have devoured information with a great appetite; regarding knowledge as the end; desiring to be clever, rather than to be good. The mischevious tendency of such a course is evident. It places the perpetrator in the position of that servant who knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will (and who, therefore, shall be beaten with many

stripes).' How wise, then, is the command,-Ye shall not eat of it;' and if men do so, how certain their fall—a fall into a criminal neglect of the laws of order, propriety, integrity, and virtue.

"Does not experience prove that this is just the course which the sensual appetites of men suggest? It desires to separate itself from superior guidance, and to be left to its own controul. It strives to prevent knowledge from exercising its salutary influence upon the lower affections. It would persuade us that its only province is the head-that men are wise in many things, because they may happen to know something of a few, and so leave the heart untouched to mistake its way.”—P. 110.

"Now this," added I, "is as true as the Gospel which it elucidates; for it is this gorgeous illumination of the intellectual portion of man's nature, while the more important moral part is left in total darkness for every vice to stumble through-that is the real curse of our age. Tell to any one the most atrocious traits of character, or blackest deeds of a person who has succeeded in the world, and the reply is nearly invariably-Oh! but they are very clever!' Which is as though, in animadverting upon the personal ugliness of a man, you should be reproved, and answered by the assertion. Yes; but, then, he is such an exemplary character, and such an exalted Christian!' In short, cleverness, now-a-days, (that is, intellectual preeminence,) seems to be considered as a sort of mundane ATONEMENT which redeems men from every sin, and blots out every crime! Whereas, spiritually speaking, it in reality aggravates each, and renders both unpardonable; for, though ignorance may, like charity, cover a multitude of sins,' verily, those who know the right, and yet the wrong pursue,' can have no claim on, and, therefore, no hope of mercy."

"But, surely, you do not think that goodness and cleverness are incompatible?" "Far from it; on the contrary, I maintain that the highest order of intellect is always based upon goodness; for it has been well said, that ‘a man may be great by chance, but never good by chance.' It might be very clever, for instance, to begin building one's house downward, from the upper story, and would doubtless arrest the attention, and excite the admiration, of the wayfarers; but at the same time, it would be woefully insecure and unstable for all who ventured their persons, or their property, in an edifice thus constructed, and begun at the wrong end. And even as vanity renders beauty less attractive, by making it ridiculous, so vice, in my opinion, renders genius itself contemptible."

Miscellanca.

THE ENSUING GENERAL CONFERENCE-ACCOMMODATION OF THE MEMBERS.— The next General Conference will be held in London, and will meet in the Church in Cross Street, on Thursday, the 12th of August, at 10 o'clock in the morning. The three societies in London, being desirous that their country friends should meet with a warm and friendly reception, worthy of the position of both parties, as visitors and guests of New Churchmen, have appointed a Committee to see to the arrangements ecessary for the accommodation, during their stay, of the Ministers and Representatives who may be present. It is therefore earnestly requested that resident members and friends who may be able and willing to afford accommodation, will be kind enough to communicate at once with the Secretary (as under), so that he may be able to inform each member either previous to or on his arrival, where he will meet with a kind and welcome reception.

It is also requested that those friends who purpose to be present should apprize the secretary of their intention.

143, Holborn Bars, E.C.

J. C. PENN, Secretary to the Committee.

NEW CHURCH MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY.-Lectures to be delivered during the second month of the Third Session, 1858. To commence at 8 p.m. August 6th, On Spiritualism, its Uses and Abuses, by H. W. Watson,-13th, On Arabia and the Arabians, by F. Heath,-20th, Charles Dickens, by H. W. Bateman,-27th, On Phrenology (4th), by J. Holm. The Society will meet during August at Devonshire Street, Islington.-H. BARBER, Hon. Sec.

THE MONTHLY OBSERVER.-To the Publisher,—Sir, I thank you for the number of the Monthly Observer which you lately sent me. The contents are particularly interesting. I was much pleased to note the public discussion at Leamington. That is what we want-publicity. Our church cannot be too much known and too much talked of; its doctrines being sound and pure, publicity can never harm them, and I think there are many minds and hearts thirsting for them, that will not fail to become recipients when they know them. They may pick Swedenborg to pieces they can never find a flaw in him; and I long for the day to come when we shall see him seated in the high place of honour he deserves to hold, receiving from all men that respect and veneration which is due to him. Then shall we see God worshiped more truly on earth, and the world, in consequence, happier. I think we could not have had a better champion than Dr. Bayley, and I feel sure that his efforts will be crowned with success, for the truth must be triumphant. M. A. N's. critiques are very interesting.

C. G.

QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY THE REV. W. BRUCE to be answered by the Junior Members of the Cross Street Society.-We insert the Five Series of these Questions complete; and will then give such Answers to them as we have been favoured with. Although written for a particular Society, they are applicable to the junior members of the church at large, and may be useful in calling the attention of the members generally to the subjects involved, and perhaps induce them to give answers to them.

No. I.

1. What would be the consequence to us, if we did not possess a Divine Revelation? What then do we owe to the Holy Word? (T.C.R. 11.)

2. What constitutes the Scriptures, in the strict sense, the Word of God? (4.C. 2.) In what do they differ from the writings of men?

3. What is the nature of the Inspiration by which the Word is written? (4.C. 7055.)

4. Explain and illustrate the Law of Correspondence according to which the Word is written. (H.H. 89. A.C. 2987.)

5. Enumerate the Books of the Bible which are thus inspired and thus written, and which therefore constitute The Word of God. (4.C. 10325.) Name the others. 6. How many and what are the different styles in which the Word is written? (4.C. 666.) Enumerate the Books distinctly according to this classification.

7. What part or parts of the Word are not literal, but allegorical? (A.C.1403.) 8. Of what subjects do the first chapters of Genesis treat? State generally the meaning of the six days of creation and the seventh of rest-the garden of Eden with its two trees-the fall of man by the seduction of the serpent-and the promise of redemption by the seed of the woman.

No. II.

1. What are the two great truths and duties in which all others are included, and which form the teaching of the whole Word of God, even in its plain, literal sense? Cite the passages of Scripture in which they are mentioned.