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MISCELLANEOUS.

upwards of fifty houses. These young ladies expressed themselves highly delighted in their new occupation of tractdistributing and visiting; and such a mode of employing time usefully would greatly enhance the pleasure as well as afford the satisfaction of having done a duty and fulfilled an obligation which each Christian owes to all.

To record instances like this may be encouraging to others who are similarly disposed to make a profitable use of their time, either whilst at the sea-side or at any other place, when they are disengaged from their usual duties; for it seems to me that the one great thought which should be uppermost in the mind of every New Churchman ought to be How can I, by the proper use of time or money, tact or talent, books or tracts, &c., bring my neighbour, whom I am commanded to love as myself, to a knowledge of those new and glorious truths which I have received through the divine mercy of the Lord? W. B.

To the Editor.—The British Quarterly Review for the present month (July) contains an article on "The Two Newmans.' Towards the closing of the history of the religious career of Francis William Newman there occur the following statements:-"To his own consciousness he was still a full believer in Christianity. So he resolved for awhile to abandon all ecclesiastical questionings, and settled down with some queer little community, an obscure congregation which had exploded the old creeds in favour of another of their own, namely, that Jesus is Jehovah.' [Ever out of the frying-pan into the fire.] Here, again, he finds himself a heretic, and that the little community could agree upon nothing except that their new brother is doggedly in the wrong."

Not knowing any other community but that of the New Church who hold that "Jesus is Jehovah," and it appearing from the above statements that F. W. Newman was at one period associated with some New Church society or friends, which I do not remember to have heard of before, I have been induced to inquire whether such a fact is at all known to any society or individuals in the New Church?—whether such a description can apply to any other religious body; or whether it is a mistaken assertion of the writer? E. D. R.

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[We believe there is a small body or congregation of Christians who profess this faith; but we think there is little in their view of this doctrine, and less in their general faith, to connect them with the New Church. Some slight contact has not brought out any mutual tendency to union.-ED.]

Married

On the 28th of June, 1865, at the New Jerusalem Church, Brightlingsea, Mr. James Ward to Miss Martha Clarey, eldest daughter of Mr. William Clarey, both of the above-named village.

At the New Jerusalem temple, Heywood, on the 9th July, by the Rev. Thos. L. Marsden, Mr. Thomas Lomax to Miss Mary Ann Gibbs.

At Albion Chapel, Leeds, July 13th, by the Rev. R. Storry, Mr. John Lobley to Miss Mary Rathmell.

Obituary.

Departed into the spiritual world, March 31st, at Coalsnaughton, three miles from Alloa, after long failing health, aged 60, Mr. Jas. Harrower. Deceased was deeply imbued with the principles and spirit of the New Church in his mind and life. He was for some years associated with the New Church meeting in Dunfermline, walking four mtles to attend the meeting. Since he came to reside with his friends here, he was unable to attend the meeting in Alloa. He possessed a good library of New Church works, and took great pleasure in attending any meeting the Alloa friends held in Coalsnaughton. His end was peace.

On the 7th of June, Mrs. Hannah Tickle, of Bolton, widow of the late James Tickle, Esq., passed into the spiritual world, aged 64. From childhood she has been connected with the church of this town, and was a frequent attender at its services during the life of her husband.

She has suffered much from a bronchial affection, and also the heart disease. To these, together with the diarrhoea, she at last fell a victim, and passed on to that world where we know they will trouble her no more.

W. W.

Departed this life, at his residence, Frankford, on Wednesday morning, June 14th, 1865, the Rev. James Seddon, pastor of the New Jerusalem society of Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa., in the 68th

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year of his age, and the 27th year of his ministry. He was as one who was ever attentive to the words, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Although for some time past gradually failing, and experiencing intense pain towards the closing hours of his life, he yet retained his mental faculties, and bore his sufferings with remarkable fortitude. With his departure one of the links between the past and present of the New Church has been severed. He was the eldest and last surviving descendent of the Rev. Thomas Seddon, who was one of the early receivers and ministers of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and one of those through whom they became established in this place.

Mr. Seddon was ordained as pastor of the Frankford society, July 15th, 1838, by the Rev. Dr. L. Beers, of New York, and was consecrated an ordaining minister of the General Convention of the New Church, June 15th, 1845, remaining at the time of his decease the second on that list. He was also for many years president of the Pennsylvania Association of the New Jerusalem, in which capacity he took especial interest in promoting harmonious intercourse and performing

general uses among the several societies composing it. He also endeavoured to enlist general interest in the spread of the doctrines among the Germans, through the labours of the Rev. Mr. Brickman; and cherished a hope that at some future day the Association might be able to provide means towards the support and education of orphans under the influence of the church. In his ministerial career, during which the church-edifice was enlarged and filled, we can recall but two interruptionsone being on the occasion of a visit, with his sister, Mary, to his native land, England; and the other an absence of a few months prior to the division of the society in 1854, at which time he was recalled to officiate in the original society, and continued therein actively engaged in almost constant service until a few weeks previous to his decease. Although the societies still remain separate, there seems to exist an earnest hope among many that a reunion may yet take place; in which event the church might renew an appearance of its former usefulness and prosperity, and in some degree repay to the general view the labours and efforts of our departed pastor and others in its behalf. J. W. L., Frankford.

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

All communications to be sent to the Editor, the Rev. W. BRUCE, 43, Kensington Gardens Square, London, W. To ensure insertion in the forthcoming Number, communications must be received not later than the 15th of the month, except recent intelligence, which will be received till the 18th.

Removal.-The Rev. Thomas Chalklen has removed to 4, Albert Villas, Cotham, Bristol.

Notice. The Committee of the National Missionary Institution and Students and Ministers' Aid Fund will not meet in the month of August.

F. PITMAN, Secretary. Committee of the Swedenborg Society.-The meetings will in future be held, as formerly, on the first Thursday in each month. All communications for the society should, therefore, be sent in time for those meetings to the secretary, Mr. BUTTER, Norton Villa, 249, Camden Road, London, N.

Index to the Arcana Calestia.-We have the pleasure to announce that this important work, in two volumes, which has been so long in the press, is now ready.

CAVE & SEVER, Printers by Steam Power, Hunt's Bank,

Manchester.

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ADDRESS FROM THE GENERAL CONFERENCE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE NEW CHURCH THROUGHOUT THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

BELOVED BRETHREN,

Of the many duties which the Conference has to perform, including that of addressing the different branches of the Churches abroad, no one affords it more pleasure, and none is more likely to be productive of greater usefulness, than that of addressing itself to the Church at home. Home duties are in this, as in all other respects, the most imperative and the most important. The Conference is the friend of other branches of the Church, but it is the Guardian of its own. It is more. Composed of the ministers and representatives of the different societies of the Church in this kingdom, the Conference is that Church itself, so far as it exists as a deliberative body,—so far as its societies can meet together, and consult with each other on the best means of promoting their common interests, and can adopt, and agree to act upon, such measures as in their collective intelligence may seem best adapted, either in themselves or under existing circumstances, to accomplish the greatest possible amount of good to each and to all.

The Conference desires on this occasion to address you on the Uses and Duties of the Church of which we all profess to be members, and whose prosperity, as an instrument of saving health, lies of all things nearest to our hearts; for the cause of the Church is the cause of God, and therefore of humanity.

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ADDRESS FROM THE GENERAL CONFERENCE

It is a well-known doctrine of those illuminated writings which a beneficent Providence has given to men in this grand epoch of the world's religious history-the time of the Second Advent of the Lordthat it is absolutely necessary for the salvation, and even for the preservation, of the human race, that a church should exist in the world. Salvation comes indeed to men through the consecrated medium of the Holy Word. Through this alone the Spirit of the Lord operates savingly upon the human mind; for although the Lord employs human and angelic agency to effect the salvation of His creatures, yet it is only by the truths of the Word which men and angels possess, and thus by these agents so far as they possess them, that He can enlighten and

save.

We may here remark that the doctrine of a visible church, limited to those who possess the Word as an immediate Divine revelation, does not exclude that of a universal church, consisting of all throughout the whole world who live according to their religion, whatever it may be;-and all others besides the Christian religion, are in fact derived indirectly from the Word, either the ancient or the present one. Without the visible church, the invisible could not exist. A church was as necessary in the most ancient times, when revelation came immediately from the Lord as an internal dictate, as it is now, when revelation exists among us in the fixed and ultimate form of a written book. Light from the Lord still flows in, as at first, through the inmost of the human mind; but the inferior degrees having become. perverted by evil, the inflowing light cannot now enlighten, except by being first received in, and reflected by, the truths of the written Word, as objects which have been introduced into the memory. The light of the mind is in this respect like that of the body. The sun would shine for us in vain were there not objects to refract and reflect its light. Refracted and reflected by innumerable objects, its pure light clothes itself with the many-coloured garment of external nature, rendering itself at once perceptible and grateful to the eye, and instructive and delightful to the mind. So is the light of God to the soul when it falls upon the truths of the written Word. But as the beauty and instructiveness of nature are greatly enhanced to us by science and philosophy, so are those of the Word by doctrine and exposition. The Word without doctrine is unintelligible. Doctrine and expositionsacred science and philosophy-bring out the hidden beauties of the truths that lie concealed like gems in the matrix of the letter, and dispose them according to the laws of contrast and harmony, in a circle

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE NEW CHURCH..

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of beauty, like the precious stones in a regal crown. In more exact terms, doctrine systematises the truths of the Word, as science does the truths of nature, presenting clearly under a few distinct heads innumerable truths which, separately, would only convey some obscure, and in some cases, conflicting notions to, and make some faint impressions on, the mind. The church is the instrument by which these truths are eliminated, and by which, when eliminated, they are taught, disseminated, and diffused;-taught to her own children, disseminated to those around her, and diffused to the most distant nations of the earth. Such is the function and such are the uses of the church. Nothing could give us a more exalted idea of the indispensable necessity of the church, as an instrument in the Lord's hand for effecting human regeneration, than the relation which she sustains to the Lord Himself as the Regenerator. She is the Bride, the Lamb's wife. The connection of the Lord with His church, as formed by the covenant of the Divine Word, is that of a true marriage. The regenerate owe their spiritual existence, by the new birth, to the Lord as a Father and to the church as a mother. The church is the honoured mother of the Lord's children. She is to them more than all that a human mother can be to her offspring. Born of her, they are cherished by her with more than all the care and tenderness of the wisest and most affectionate of earthly parents. They are borne upon her sides and dandled upon her knees; they suck, and are satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; they milk out, and are delighted with the abundance of her glory." Can such a mother forget her offspring, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Alas! the church, after the Lord had espoused her to Himself in the purest love and by the most precious gifts, has hitherto shown how possible it is for even the most favoured wife to leave her first love, and forget the care she owes to her children. The character and conduct of the church have been such as to draw from the Lord the terrible reproof-" Plead with your mother, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband." And so little has she done for the regeneration of those within her border, that it has been said of her "More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord."

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Now, all that is recorded of the church as the covenanted wife of the Lord, and of her having, in several successive dispensations, fallen away from the love and worship she owes to Him as her husband, teaches us most emphatically that the church has her duties as well as her privileges, and that the exalted uses she is designed to accomplish depend on her faithfully performing the duties which her high vocation

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